© Mira Pietila, images by Paula Alavesa

Good day comrades! Let me be the first to welcome you to the land of Imperial. From the moment you step out of the Hall of Justice as a fledgeling adventurer, you will be greeted by a world of mystery and magic. You will meet many people along the way, and some of them will become life-long friends. But beware, dangerous creatures wander through the forest and hills beyond the town gates. You will need all of your cunning and bravery to survive in this land. This information has been carefully compiled to help you stay happy, and alive.

If you are a first time player, or just want to be sure and get off to a good start, be sure and check out the Newbie Walk-Through page.

THE BASICS

Imperial DikuMUD came online in early 1992, making it one of the oldest Dikus in existence. The mud has gone through many changes since it's inception. Imperial is a heavily-modified DikuMUD. Some of the features that have been added are listed here:

  • Stand Alone World, Not just linked Areas
  • Original Home City of Kial-Qwyn
  • An Auction system for equiptment
  • No rent charges
  • A Meta system to improve stats
  • An Honor Rank system for extremely high level advancment
  • Over 190 areas to explore!
  • The friendliest players anywhere

Now, in version 3.5, with an extended race and class system. There are 8 races and 12 classes. Below are better descriptions of the people of Imperial.

Back to top

THE RACES

The race you choose when creating your character helps determine your characters primary stats. Each race also has additional features that can affect how you play your character. The world of Imperial has eight races, these being Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, Human, Orc, Pixie, Mandrake, and Lemyrian .

HUMANS - Humans are the basic race inhabiting the lands of Imperial, they gain no special abilities, but have no special restrictions either. Humans have great adaptability to new situations and can become powerful in any class. Humans learn new skills a bit faster than any other race.

ELVES - Elves are a very intelligent race, perhaps because of their relationship with nature. Elves have permanent infravision and the ability to detect magic. Elves get a positive attack bonus outdoors and in sunlight and a negative modifier when inside dark, indoors rooms. Elves learn new spells faster than other races do and are naturally able to fade into forest terrain, becoming invisible to normal detection by using the fade command. Elves of evil alignment are sometimes called Dark Elves, or Drow.

DWARVES - Dwarves are very tough, as solid as the rocks they come from. Because of their affinity to steel dwarves get an attack bonus when wielding any weapon. Dwarves have permanent infravision because of the perpetual darkness of their homeland and they are immune to paralyzation and poisoning. Dwarves of evil alignment are sometimes called Duergar. Dwarves have the ability to go mining in mountain regions and dig for gold and gems using the "mine" command occasionally.

HALFLINGS - Halflings are small and quick, and can often pass unseen where larger races cannot. Halflings love food and need to eat often, due to the pleasure they derive from eating food, they cannot be satiated by magic. Halflings are generally well mannered and polite, getting a positive modifier to shop prices. Halflings cannot become Clerics. Halflings are adept with a sling and are quite lucky at times.

ORCS - Orcs are a strong race, and regenerate quickly, but they are very sensitive to the sunlight. Because of this their attack bonuses and regeneration are lower in sunlight than in the dark, they also get infravision due to their affinity to the dark. Orcs tend to be good fighters, gaining an additional bite attack in combat. Orcs are also generally ill mannered and unpleasant, resulting in them getting a negative modifier to shop prices. Orcs can't become Mages. Orcs can go into a frenzy and lose control of themselves for short periods of time. This creates more damage to their attacks at a loss of accuracy in aiming the blows.

PIXIES - Pixies are the smallest of the races. Tiny and fragile, these fairy folk make up for it by being exceedingly quick in both mind and body. Born of magic, all classes of Pixie can detect magic. Natural wings allow them to traverse any terrain and they can use their "dust" once in a while to soar even higher into the upper elevations. Pixies may not be warriors.

MANDRAKES - The combination of a Human and a Dragon, Mandrakes are the largest of the races. Great strength and a thick hide make Mandrakes of any class fearsome at hand to hand fighting, using their claws and teeth to good effect. However the natural armor that Mandrakes develop on their bodies is much too large for any armor to be worn on the body or about the body.

Mandrakes have several special attacks, they will gain an elemental breath and if they are not wielding a weapon they will fight with their claws and teeth. As a mandrake matures (gains levels) these attacks get more powerful. To use these attacks Mandrakes must train second and third attack skills. They achieve the ability to fly upon choosing a guild.

Mandrakes may not be thieves.

LEMYRIANS - Lemyrians are aquatic people who normally live deep under the water. They have webbed tissue between each digit and both gills and lungs, allowing them to breathe in air and water. Lemyrians have high constitution and strength due to the high pressure of their native areas.

Back to top

THE CLASSES

Your choice of class will affect the entire course of your characters life. The differences in the classes are differences in philosophy and strategy. Choosing the one that most closely follows your playing style will make it much easier for you to advance. Imperials four classes are the standard role-playing classes of: Warrior, Thief, Cleric, and Mage. Each Class also has three sub-classes.

WARRIOR - Warriors are known to have more strength than the average player. This makes them better at hand-to-hand-combat as they possess skills of violence and fighting unequaled by the members of any other class. However, they lack the ability to use magic beyond the rudiments. Warriors are often referred to as "tanks" because they usually bear the brunt of the damage. The sub-classes of warrior are Paladin, Ranger, and Avenger.

THIEF - Thieves are known to have special sneaky qualities that no other class offers. Many of these qualities can come in handy in many situations, such as picking locks. Thieves are also masters at the 'Knife in the Back' and can do large amounts of damage. Even in the middle of a fight a thief can sometimes manage to circle around behind his opponet for another well placed hit. The sub-classes of thieves are Bards, Rogues, and Assassins.

CLERIC - Clerics have an ancient belief in not carrying sharp weapons. Hence, they can only wield bludgeoning weapons. This class gives you the wisdom of peace, blessing and healing, although it is possible to learn more violent spells. Clerics are the helpers in the game, and rely on the other classes as much as the other classes rely on them. The sub-classes of clerics are Healers, Druids, and Inquisitors.

MAGE - This is the class of powerful and violent magic, but the magic users do not control the nature, and can therefore not bless, heal, etc. Mages have been known to create items from nothing and improve armor by enchanting it. The Mage is the true power hitter in the game, altough typically they aren't the most robust fighters. The sub-classes of Mages are Enchanters, Conjurers, and Necromancers.

Back to top

POLICY OF IMPERIAL

What follows could be said to be the way of classifying different muds, by there policies. The policy of Imperial has evolved in a collabrative process over a period of four years, and is always changing and improving.

  • MULTI-PLAYING IS NOT ALLOWED
    • Playing more than one character is strictly forbidden in Imperial; you are allowed to have more than one character, but are not allowed to play them at the same time.
  • STEALING FROM PLAYERS
    • No-one is allowed to steal from other players. STEAL skill is to be used only on mobs.
  • ROBOTS ARE NOT ALLOWED
    • Playing a 'robot' character is forbidden, do not use your clients to run the character of it's own accord.
  • OBSCENITY AND RUDENESS
    • These are tolerated within certain bounds; public harassment of groups or individuals might not be tolerated, but offending the person behind the keyboard as well as offending an Immortal are certainly not.
  • MISC.
    • - It is not possible to sell donated equipment.
    • - Stat hunting is not permissable. All new characters are automatically rerolled to have at least average stats. There is no reason to delete your character and start all over again a few times to get just the stats you want.
    • - English is the accepted language for the public channels.
Back to top