First Age | Manual | 25.21 Issue 2 of Avalon Times (September 1998).

25.21 Issue 2 of Avalon Times (September 1998).

Subj: ISSUE #2 of THE AVALON TIMES. ENJOY.

THE AVALON TIMES
2nd Edition
September 1st 1998

A newspaper for regular, irregular, past and future Avalonians.

On the Web:

   www.avalon-rpg.com

"Probably the most complex, atmospheric RPG on the Net."

         PC Format (Gold Star Award)

==========================================================================

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The newspaper contains five sections covering different aspects of
the land's recent developments and two further sections on accessing
Avalon and contacting us.

Section Contents

   I		Welcome to the second edition of The Avalon Times

II Avalon's Web Site and Java Client
III Avalon Current Political and Social Climate
IV Recent Additions to the Game

   V		Future Additions to the Game

VI Accessing Avalon
VII Business Opportunities with Avalon

Acknowledgements to all those who have contributed opinion and information
for this newspaper. If you have any comments about this or questions about
Avalon e-mail us at support@avalon.co.uk.

==========================================================================

SECTION I Welcome

Remember to keep your e-mail address up to date on Avalon by registering
with up-to-date details. To update your details enter Avalon and type
REGISTER. Use INFO to check what information is currently registered under
your name. You will find a copy of this newsletter on our web site
(http://www.avalon-rpg.com) and as time goes by, past editions will all be
kept there as an ongoing record.

If you don't want to receive this document via e-mail then all you need to
do is let us know, including REMOVE in the subject heading and you won't
see this again.

Well, good reading and we hope you enjoy what's here.

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SECTION II Avalon's Web Site

The Avalon web site has been totally updated at http://www.avalon-rpg.com.
It has a completely new look and feel. As well as the information carried
over from the old site, and brought up-to-date with current events in the
land, the site offers a vast array of Avalon-related content. Histories,
current affairs, game manual, cities, guilds, connections, and more adorn
this meticulous new site. You can use the site to connect to Avalon via
Java or download a suitable client. The site manual is a comprehensive and
invaluable resource for all players. The histories give colourful
accounts of the land's most noteworthy events and the current affairs
sections are maintained regularly with latest occurrences on the continent.
Take a look, set aside a while to browse, and dig into the new site.
Comments, compliments and criticisms are always welcome to
support@avalon.co.uk.

==========================================================================

SECTION III Current Affairs

- The most gripping event of the recent decade of Avalon history has been
the successful invasion of the city of Thakria by their long-time enemies,
Mercinae. For almost a century the Mercinaens have been struggling (often
at great cost) to fend off Thakrian attacks and aggressions. Finally, at
long long last, the tide has turned and quite comprehensively so. Thakria
allowed the Mercinaens to muster and march enormous legions of troops to
their gates and too late was a defensive mounted. The Mercinaens had
weight of numbers, resolve and belligerence. The Thakrians were utterly
routed. Their entire army and those of their guilds were destroyed. For
the first time in Avalon's history, Mercinae marched victories into
Thakria and began to raze and loot her. Frantically the Thakrians
(particularly Lilandrin the former Ranger) worked to gather up whatever
wealth and commodities they could save and flee. Without significant
obstacle the Mercinaen troops ran about the city, plundering the houses,
shops and storerooms of their foe. Finally, when there was little but
dregs left standing in the city the Mercinaen Field Marshall, Sturge, and
its Prince, Culinane, posted a number of thousand strong legions at key
points in the city. Thakria had fallen and was under occupation by the
Mercinaen generals.

- Without a hope of forcibly removing the Mercinaen forces and having
watched the city plundered and razed, the Thakrian government, led by
Panaideos the Sorcerer, had little choice but to sue for peace. The
Mercinaens put together a treaty of surrender which, after some
negotiation and amendment, was accepted first by the Thakrian Barony and
then by Panaideos himself. The terms for withdrawal of troops, a ten year
peace and Thakrian freedom were humiliating and restrictive. Will the
indomitable Thakrian spirit recover from this terrible event, or has
Mercinae finally extinguished the threat of its long time foe and brought
peace to the continent forever? Time will tell.

- In the aftermath of the invasion and treaty after the final Mercinaen
troops had been withdrawn from within Thakria's city walls, the city
barony elected to relieve Panaideos of his princely title and pass on the
mantle to Dartanian the Cavalier. Dartanian was viewed as a more peaceful,
conciliatory leader. It remains to be seen whether he can fill Panaideos
shoes or oversee the reconstruction of his battered city.

- After a long period of reasonably unmolested growth and no major
military action, Parrius has fully regained its status as a major power in
Avalon. Much of the credit for this modern period of excellent growth must
go to the divinely-appointed Guardian, Shenarra. Her hands-on efforts,
enthusiasm and organisation deserve recognition and praise. However in
light of Parrius' economic and military stability and a desire on the part
of the Gods to remove any divinely-appointed leaders in the city, a
hastily called but long meeting was called to discuss a new constitution
for the City of Parrius. The result of the meeting was a simple but
extremely interesting constitution for the city and the removal of all
traditional government/noble postings. Full details of Parrius' new
constitution can be found in the Parrian Public Library east of Hellespont
Square, or on Avalon's web site.

- Sometime prior to Thakria's fall and alienated by her toil in Thakria as
Minister of State and formerly Princess, and finally embittered by
disagreements with Panaideos, Thakria's then Prince, Kylan of the
Cavaliers sought and obtained divine permission to leave the city of
miracles and take control of the fortress of Gaurthang. Though limited by
divine edict to a small and select citizenry, Kylan has taken upon herself
the task of building the fortress back to a position of wealth and
influence. She holds divinely appointed Guardian Status of Gaurthang.

- The hidden city of Gant was formerly declared depopulated and defunct by
the Gods. Ithakus, former Prince of Mercinae and last citizen of Gant went
to Thakria with what remained of Gant's wealth and commodities.

- Two divine gems are on offer at around this time. The Divine Ruby Quest,
an ongoing elimination and then true combat test, is underway. The
elimination period is almost complete and soon the final sixteen will
compete in earnest for the threefold prize; the divine ruby of the god of
war, the right to contend in the next divine ordination, and the title of
greatest combatante. To begin in a few days, some time in the latter part
of Avalon year 978, is the Divine Amber Quest. The quest lasts for one
Avalon year and is managed by Apollo, the god of light. It will test the
full range of a mortal's ability and resolve. As with all gems, the amber
bestows great power on its wielder and the right to contend for
ordination. Complete details will be posted shortly in Avalon.

- But one new guild has been formed (for public entry) in the past two
decades of Avalon life. This is the Prophets Guild, formed in the city of
Springdale by Saphir. The guild was founded to follow the teachings of the
mystic with a smattering of evocation.

- Castigere, the god of justice has re-emerged as an active deity in the
land. As a former patron of Mercinae the victories enjoyed by their armies
must have pleased him greatly. Castigere was patron of Mercinae during its
fall to Thakria a century ago.

- Below we have the briefest summary of the current state of the four
major cities of the continent:

- Mercinae is the strongest military city even after the invasion of
Thakria and having crippled its major foe and secured total alliance with
Springdale looks only to Parrius for potential conflict. Its economy is
strong, its citizens are diverse, confident and enthusiastic. Culinane the
Bard is a strong and active Prince, with Allanon, Omacron, Katherine and
Sturge (the worthy Field Marshall) in his Barony. Growth continues at a
reasonable rate and the city prospers.

- Thakria, in the aftermath of invasion, occupation, plundering and the
terms of the treaty of surrender, is weak and demoralised. Most of its
valuable buildings, stores, shops and houses were demolished or stripped
down by the Mercinaens. Its armies are inconsequential. Its guilds are
weakened and low on resources. Having deposed Panaideos as prince and
given his title to Dartanian, with a barony of Loremaster Yairi,
Loremistress Rowena, Sir Arthor and Panaideos himself, the city looks to
rebuild and regroup. Is there the will to recover from this terrible
defeat, though? Will the Thakrian spirit remain? Its guildhouses are in
tact. Its resources, though slender, are enough to make a start on the
rebuilding task. Though some citizens fled the conquered city, and some
capitulated to the invaders and cast away their citizenship, many remain
and many chose to act. Thakria is not without allies in the land, the only
sure route to failure is in its own hands.

- Parrius has only recently decided to follow a new constitution, a
constitution without leaders or rank, of common individual freedom and no
lawful obligation or hierarchy. Shenarra has voluntarily surrendered her
post as Guardian and the god of time has passed over the burden of future
appointment and all city affairs to its true citizens. Parrius' military
is strong, its wealth extensive, its resources second to none, and its
growth impressive. Whether the new constitution will help or hinder
Parrius remains to be seen - certainly it affords the individuals greater
scope for idleness and failure - but such is the price of the freedom it
has elected to pursue.

- Springdale has been through a great deal of internal conflict over the
past decade. In light of a majority decision to replace the long serving
Prince Tarkus, a conflict arose between the two rival candidates for this
most illustrious of positions - between Amygdala the Wizard and Orielle
the Pacifist Craftmistress. Initially Amygdala courted enough support to
gain the appointment but a rift was opened between two opposing camps
within the city. The rift widened as time went by and eventually, for the
sake of the city, Amygdala was forced to step down and Orielle took the
post. Since then Springdale has drifted towards a more pacifist stance,
limited military skirmishes. The city enjoys reasonable growth and strong
defences. Its alliance with Mercinae ensures its safety. Its barony
consists of Orielle herself, Panamon, Johnii, Lady Gwendolyn, and the
wizard Marik. Orielle's betrothed, Warfarin, stands at her side as the
Minister of State. The city's founding divinity, Andromeda, goddess of
dreams, remains absent and missed by much of its older citizenry.

- Below is a list of the currently active public guilds, together with the
head of the guild and its patron deity. This roll of honour is likely to
change regularly.

Guild Name        ^  Guildhead     ^  Patron Deity
----------           ---------        ------------
Knights Guild     ^  Trell         ^  Apollo, the god of light
Mages Guild       ^  Fredegar      ^  Apollo, the god of light
Sorcerers Guild   ^  Panaideos     ^  The Diabolus
Animists Guild    ^  Sirona        ^  Aldaron, the god of life
Rangers Guild     ^  Tryn          ^  Magellan, god of civilisation
Astrologers Guild ^  Urania        ^  Orthwein, the god of fate
Seers Guild       ^  Blondel       ^  Nostradamus, god of darkness
Alchemists Guild  ^  Grundy        ^  Rhadamanthys, the god of compassion
Artisans Guild    ^  Catt          ^  Apollo, the god of light
Bards Guild       ^  Culinane      ^  Apollo, the god of light
Loremasters Guild ^  Yairi         ^  Magellan, god of civilisation
Cavaliers Guild   ^  Arthor        ^  Nostradamus, god of darkness
Enchanters Guild  ^  Alkadar       ^  Genesis, the god of time
Warlocks Guild    ^  Loric         ^  No Patron
Wizards Guild     ^  Marik         ^  Castigere, the god of justice
Paladins Guild    ^  Belgareth     ^  No Patron
Warriors Guild    ^  Jacinta       ^  Genesis, the god of time
Mystics Guild     ^  Cricket       ^  Apollo, the god of light
Bandits Guild     ^  Sturge        ^  Magellan, god of civilisation
Prophets Guild    ^  Saphir        ^  Wraith
Craftmasters Guild^  Warfarin      ^  Magellan, god of civilisation

- Three mortals hold the lofty title of Prince; Dartanian the Cavalier now
heads Thakria, Orielle the Craftmistress is Princess of Thakria and most
influentially of all at time of writing, Culinane Guildmaster of the Bards
is Prince of Mercinae.

- A note to anybody using 'avalon.co.uk' address to connect to
Avalon. Though this continues to work, people in England and
some parts of Europe should use 'london.avalon-rpg.com'
instead for speedier connections.

==========================================================================

SECTION IV Recent Additions

Here's a summary of the more recent additions to Avalon which everybody
should be aware of.

- Across the board skills have gained a handful of new abilities,
particularly in the specific professional skills. More details cannot be
revealed here to preserve the secrecy of the skills.

- Since the last newspaper the warfare system has been much updated and
the new system has seen much activity as the cities and guilds flex their
muscles. Most notable of the military encounters were Thakria's invasions
of the Rangers Guild and of Mercinae (supported then by Field Marshall
Plaman of Parrius), and in retaliation, Thief Guild attack on Thakria's
lakeside frontier and Mercinae's full-scale invasion and occupation of
Thakria. More changes are promised in the warfare area, including terrain
effects on engagement, flanking, tactical manoeuvers and battlefield
positioning. Section 21 of the online manual covers warfare entirely; this
is held both online in Avalon and on Avalon's web site at
http://www.avalon-rpg.com.

- Spheres of influence for cities and towns has been expanded to give
greater value to the controlling city. Taking populated areas (such as
neighbouring villages) into the sphere benefits military recruitment,
resource acquisition and taxation. Unpopulated areas give lesser benefit,
thus encouraging conflict over control of the many villages and small
towns around the continent.

- Expanding the autonomy of guilds has led to expansion of the positions
within the guild; quartermasters for resource, commodity, food, and
equipment management, captains for military matters and the status of
Elder for the most venerable and worthy members. Guilds are now able to
expand their guildhouses, erect buildings and stores. They can build their
own wealth, military and resources just as a city can. Indeed in Thakria's
failed invasion of Mercinae some decade or two earlier it was not the
Mercinaen city legions which thwarted the invaders, but the troops of the
Artisans Guild mustered by Catt (guildmaster) and Patrice
(quartermistress) and led by Mutt (captain) that saved the city from
destruction.

- There has been much continued development of Avalon's online help
system, a comprehensive manual for all players. The help system is kept
up-to-date on a regular basis and can also be found in its entirety on the
web site. You should be aware of the section called 'events' which details
forthcoming date or events of note in the Avalon calendar.

- Matters of city government have been decentralised. No longer is one
council chamber the focus for all government and ministerial activity but
the trade and state ministries, together with the chancellory, have
separate defensible buildings to carry out their work.

- The profession of the Thief has been altered somewhat with a voluntary
specialisation being offered to thieves of sufficient rank and skill, the
choice of focussing closely on the arts of burglary or the ways of the
assassin. With the specialisation comes a range of new abilities.

- Regularity and output from mines and various commodities about the
land has been enhanced. After such a lengthy period of wide-scale
military action the land is starved of resources and the Gods have
benevolently increased the flow of raw materials to redress the
balance.

- Villages have gained a greater degree of intelligence and endeavour;
they now collect commodities, for storage and eventual trading. They now
represent an excellent source for raw materials and rare commodities,
often targetted by the wealthier folk who wish to procure resources
without toil.

- Entry to the underworld has been made public and free of charge. The
underworld is often used as a training ground for the aspiring combatante.
Details of entry and effects can be found both in Avalon and on our web
site.

- Bloodlust restrictions inhibiting an individual's ability to fight have
been eased somewhat.

==========================================================================

SECTION V Future Additions

Avalon is always evolving, cities and guilds expanding one way or being
beaten back in others, skills growing with more abilities, greater scope,
the list goes on. Below we've highlighted a few specific additions coming
into Avalon over the next few months. Hopefully you'll find them
interesting and enticing. Remember we always welcome comment, criticism
and new ideas.

- Avalon is in the process of securing site and completing contracts for a
new network position and new hardware. The new network position, still on
the East Coast of the United States, has huge bandwidth and, more
importantly, is at the optimum point on the global internet to serve the
wide spread of Avalon players with least possible lag. It is impossible to
eliminate network lag and problems completely but this new location is as
good as we can achieve. In addition to the new location Avalon is
completing contracts for a much larger server capable of coping with
hundreds of frenzied, active players and not sagging under the pressure of
big or popular events.

- There is much will now to amend or develop new abilities in the various
skills, particularly guild/profession specialist ones. To this end we'd
like to invite open submission of ideas via e-mail to
genesis@avalon.co.uk. The two criteria for suggestions are that they be in
fitting with the skill, and, most importantly, original. There is no point
suggesting for one skill a duplicate of an ability already found under
another skill set. Original ideas only.

- Warfare is an area that intrigues a great number of players and is due
for further expansion now that the long period of military conflict
appears to have subsided. Terrain effects, manoeuvering during battle,
tactical positioning and more will be brought into play.

- There are hundreds of quests in Avalon, ranging from the commonplace
to the global and epic. Many of these remain undiscovered by most, some
are even forgotten to all of mortalkind. On the back of a long period of
militarism, though, there will now come to bear a wide range of new
quests. Quests mostly of the larger, more involving scale. Quests for all
walks of life, testing a whole range of abilities. Submissions for quest
ideas and writing are always welcome. Send anything you would like to see
in Avalon to support@avalon.co.uk. We read everything we receive. If you
are keen to write your quest idea in full, consult us first for advice on
standard of prose and layout.

==========================================================================

SECTION VI Accessing Avalon

Avalon is accessed most commonly via our web site using your web browser
and JAVA. Once players become more accustomed to the game they tend to
switch to an independent client which will offer more features for the
experienced player (typically zMUD or Avplay Windows are used). We can
offer advice on which client to use, especially for non-Windows platforms.
E-mail us at support@avalon.co.uk with any questions you might have.

With the continued expansion of the internet, we've been aware for a while
that LAG has been an increasing problem for our players. In order to
minimize this and offer alternative routes for players to connect to
Avalon we have set up hubs at different points of the net. Often when one
route is overloaded, an alternative hub (which uses a different route) may
be relatively speedy. Avalon's main servers are sited in Washington DC at
avalon-rpg.com and at time of writing we have installed three further
hubs, one in New York, one in Los Angeles, the third in London. These can
be reached at newyork.avalon-rpg.com 33, losangeles.avalon-rpg.com 8888
and london.avalon-rpg.com 33 respectively. The numbers listed there are
port numbers which must be included when you use these alternative routes.
It's worthwhile trying all of the hubs whenever you experience problems,
even if the hub doesn't appear to be the closest one to your location -
the internet is a curious beast and often somebody in Florida can get a
faster link by routing via London or LA rather than going direct.

If you continue to experience unacceptable lag you should get in contact
with us (support@avalon.co.uk) and perhaps we can help. If you know how to
run a traceroute to investigate the state of your route to us, send us the
results, it'll help us suggest a solution.

Points of Presence (hubs):
Washington DC (Main) avalon-rpg.com 23 (207.153.200.8)

	New York (EastUSA)    newyork.avalon-rpg.com 33
	London (European)     london.avalon-rpg.com 33

Los Angeles (WestUSA) losangeles.avalon-rpg.com 8888

If you're in the United Kingdom the fastest way to play Avalon is often
via our direct modem links. To use these, dial 0645 250112 or 0171 723
7300, and at the login prompt type ibmpcav and you'll roll straight
through to us.

==========================================================================

SECTION VII Business Opportunities

Avalon offers a number of business opportunities, mostly centred around
publicity and the World Wide Web.

- We are always interested in reciprocal advertising. Our web site is
popular and well-linked to the net (via search engines, advertising
banners, relevant sites).

- We are prepared to reward well positioned advertising, carrying of one
of Avalon's web banners or any effective marketing. We have a number of
very stylish banners which would look good on any pages. Any player who
places an Avalon banner on their homepage, for instance, can apply for a
free credit reward.

- Reviews or coverage in the press is both appreciated and rewarded
depending on the extent of the effort involved and coverage obtained.

- We are keen to discuss with any prominent, well-positioned, well-used
web sites the possibility of distributing access to Avalon via Java with
potential for both payment and ongoing royalty. These should be major
sites with thousands of regular hits.

- Contributions to Avalon in the form of fully-fleshed out ideas,
additions, creative work such as quests and events, are always appreciated
and may be rewarded.

==========================================================================

Thanks for reading!