Something I found lacking in the newbie tutorial is for example a room of which you need to read the description and handle an object that is only found in there and not seen with IH.

~ I will gladly help you but in a slightly different way. I'm just starting to play Lusternia and started a blog about it (check out my hompage). I will write my game experiences there as a Lusternia newbie (but not a MUD newbie!) and I hope it will help you to recognize what needs more explanation for new players.

2.14 Lusternia: Newbie Guide
Welcome to Lusternia: Age of Ascension, a land of mystery, intrigue, and
conflict. Diplomacy and combat prowess are your tools of the trade. Do you
have what it takes to become the next King of Celest, or the Dark Marshall of
Glomdoring?

The Lusternia Guide aims to help you out by giving you beginner-level advice,
explanations, commands, and everything you might need to acheive your goals
and claim your destiny within Lusternia!

In Lusternia, you're part of a vibrant, living world of high fantasy where you
can create the future by your accomplishments. Diplomacy or combat prowess are
your tools of the trade. Do you have what it takes to become the next great
ruler, Champion of one of many guilds, or just a famed merchant?

It's time to get started. There's a huge, living, growing world out there to
explore and to tame, and to embellish with your heroic deeds and mighty
adventures!

Quick Start Guide Contents

* 1. Getting Connected to Lusternia
* 2. Intro: The Journey through the Portal of Fate
* 3. The Concept: What is Lusternia?
* 4. Commands
* 5. Early Choices: Race, City, House
* 6. Places to Go
* 7. Classes and Skills
* 8. Experience, Levels, and Power
* 9. Gold, Credits, and Artifacts
* 10. Containers and the Rift
* 11. Quests and Combat (TBD)
* 12. Healing and Afflictions (TBD)
* 13. Death (TBD)
* 14. Getting Help (TBD)
* 15. Going Ahead From Here (TBD)



1. Getting Connected to Lusternia

Join thousands of players like you as they connect their computers to
Lusternia by using a client program like our own Lusternia java client -
called the Nexus client. Just click on 'Play Now' at the top of this page,
or Play Lusternia with the Nexus client. This requires Java on your computer.
Get the latest version of Java from http://www.java.com. Our Nexus Java client
program is the easiest way to get connected, but not the only way. Look in the
Wikipedia Entry on MUD Clients for alternatives, which are called telnet or
mud clients.

2. Intro: The Journey through the Portal of Fate

Every newcomer to Lusternia experiences the Journey through the Portal of Fate.
The Journey is a quick interactive introduction to Lusternia that can take as
few as ten minutes, or as long as a few hours, depending entirely on you.
Twenty minutes or half an hour is a fairly common time for those completely
new to Lusternia.

In the Journey, you'll gain a few useful things for your life in Lusternia
(clothing, a backpack, and a bit of gold), an introduction to commands, and a
few levels of experience to get you started.

You also choose a race for your character (which we call an adventurer) and
may optionally choose a home city and guild.

Journey Commands :

HINT to be reminded of what you should be doing.
SPEEDUP (or SLOWDOWN) to speed or slow the Trial.
HINTSON (or HINTSOFF) to start or stop hints.
NEWBIEON to turn on the newbie channel to ask for
help.
NEWBIE to ask for help on the newbie channel.

3. The Concept: What Is Lusternia?

You, and Your Adventurer

In Lusternia, you take on the role of a single living, mortal being which we
call an adventurer. This is your playing piece in the game of Lusternia.
Through living the life of your adventurer, you play the game called Lusternia.

Your adventurer is further identified by choices such as gender, race, and
guild, and even the organisations it joins, such as a City, a Guild, or a
Divine Order, for those that wish to enter the service of a specific Divine.

To act in Lusternia, simply manipulate your adventurer - walking, fighting,
exploring, examining things, and acting as a living being would.

Roleplaying

In Lusternia, you are playing the role of your character, not yourself. Your
character is of the realm of Lusternia and knows nothing about concepts like
computers, the internet, the Boston Red Sox, or anything that does not exist
in the world of Lusternia. You must remain "in-character" (IC) just about
everywhere. There are a few exceptions, such as in private conversation with
someone else who does not mind if you go "out-of-character" (OOC). There can
be administrative consequences for going OOC publicly, so be careful! If
another adventurer warns you that you are exhibiting "insanity" or acting
"insane", be aware that the word "insanity" in Lusternia usually refers to OOC
behaviour.

For more information, you can read HELP ROLEPLAYING and HELP INSANITY.

The World of Lusternia: Rooms, Directions, Denizens, Items, Inventory

Rooms: The world of Lusternia is divided into discrete locations, also called
rooms. A room might be a section of seashore, a portion of a woodland
path, or an open field. It might even be a room in a house or building.

Rooms are generally connected to each other more or less like you'd expect them
to be - a field might have more field to the east, a river to the north, and a
hill sloping upwards to the west, but be impassable to the south because of a
cliff.

Directions: To move around from one room or location to another, you'd simply
use the direction which connects them - in or out, up or down,
east, west, etc. Sometimes doors or gates or portals or other
things might be in the way, in which case you may have to figure
out how to get around those obstacles (also discussed below).

Denizens: Denizens are the inhabitants of Lusternia that aren't players like
you. They are also called many things, such as NPCs
(non-player-characters), mobs or mobiles (because they move around),
CCCs (for computer controlled characters), or monsters. Denizens may
have things to say, or sell. Many quests involve helping or harming
one or more denizens of Lusternia, so it's important to pay careful
attention to these fellow residents of Lusternia.

Items and Inventory: Other things in Lusternia, the things that don't move
around so much like Denizens do, are books, herbs,
weapons, armour, tinderboxes, clothing, packs, and even
the the mighty artifacts of Lusternia. Wear, wield, eat,
or drink them. Drop them (which puts them on the ground).
Take (or get) them off of the ground, or from a container
like a pouch or a pack. Items may give you benefits, or
may just look pretty. Either way, you'll be seeing a lot
of them in Lusternia.

4. Commands

Commands are the way you get things done in Lusternia. These are a few of the
most important that you should learn right away:

Moving Around
Looking Around
Communicating
Info About Yourself
Fighting
Healing and Recovery

Moving around is a simple matter of entering a direction, like this:

NORTH (or N) NORTHEAST (or NE)
SOUTH (or S) NORTHWEST (or NW)
EAST (or E) SOUTHEAST (or SE)
WEST (or W) SOUTHWEST (or SW)
UP (or U) DOWN (or D)
IN OUT

These commands will move you a single room or location in the given direction,
if it is possible to move that way. Warning! Some clients may interpret NE as
"Move north, then move east."


Things that might interfere: doors or water.

If there's a door in the way, you may need to open it (e.g. OPEN DOOR IN)
before going through, and if you are in or near water (like a stream or river
or lake) you may need to use something like SWIM NORTH. Careful! Train a bit
in Environment first or you may choke or even drown while swimming.


Special Movement:

PORTALS To go to a safe place that can only be reached by Lusternians of the
lowest levels of experience.

While you are still a newbie (which lasts through the 20th level of experience,
and ends when you become level 21) you may use a special command called
PORTALS. This command will whisk you away to a special area called,
surprisingly enough, the Portals area. Portals is an area which can only be
reached with this command and is only accessible to newbies. The PORTALS
command is unlimited for you from levels 1 through 10. From levels 11 through
20 you are allowed a total of 20 more uses of PORTALS. Once you run out, or
reach level 21, then you may no longer use PORTALS.


Looking around

(L)OOK Shows you the location you are in, including things
on the ground and other adventurers or denizens.
(GL)ANCE Direction is something like E, N, WEST, etc. It will
show you what's in that direction, if anything.
(I)NV Shows you what you are carrying around in your
inventory, or wearing.
II
INFO INV Same as I or INV, except it shows more detail, to
cover cases where you may need to distinguish
between, say, two different packs or other items in
your possession.
IH
INFO HERE Similar to II or INFO INV, except it shows detail
about things in your current location. Exceedingly
useful when you wish to attack, say, one particular
rat in a room full of rats!


Communicating

You can communicate in many different ways in Lusternia, both to individuals
and groups. It includes speaking, telepathic channels, and more.

SAY To speak to others nearby you.
TELL To contact someone telepathically and privately.
NEWBIE To use telepathic communications to contact other
newbies and Guides who may be able to help you. NEWBIE
is not a chat channel, but it is great for asking
questions and getting answers about how to get along
in Lusternia in the beginning. Use NEWBIEON or
NEWBIEOFF to start or stop listening on that channel.
CT
GNT
Other telepathic communications channels - to your
city/commune, or your guild. These only operate for
those who have joined a city/commune, or guild. Like
with NEWBIE, you can start listening with CTON, GNTON
(which will be by default), and stop with CTOFF, or
GNTOFF. All of these would be places to seek out
experienced adventurers and get advice.

Info About Yourself

SCORE This shows your name, race, health, mana, endurance, willpower,
strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, age, certain
memberships, and how much gold you are carrying (but not in
packs or other containers).
STAT This shows how hungry and tired you are, how warmly dressed you
are, and a few other bits of important info.

Fighting

KICK
PUNCH
Until you have joined a guild, any of these is fairly effective,
though in slightly different ways. Try them and see! You should
focus on fighting denizens, not other adventurers, at least at
first. Playerkilling, also called PvP or PK, is restricted by
most guilds and is impossible while you walk under the Grace of
Innocense. Wait a while to enter it - until you are solidly
grounded in Lusternia's ways.

Even after you have chosen a guild, weapons may still not be important to you,
so don't just run out looking for a weapon! Ask others in your guild if a
weapon would be helpful.

Healing and Recovery

When you're hurt, tired, hungry, or afflicted in some way, here are a few
things you can do.

SLEEP When you sleep, your health slowly rises to normal levels,
as does your endurance. You also get more rested. If you
get tired enough, you may simply fall asleep whether you
want to or not! Sleeping does not help you recover mana or
willpower. For that, you must MEDITATE (or just MED).
(MED)ITATE Meditation helps you recover mana and willpower. When you
meditate, you must remain in a perfectly calm and inactive
state. Almost anything will disturb your meditation.
Meditation will not help you recover health or endurance.
For that, you must SLEEP.

Herbs, Salves, and Elixirs
A few very important herbs and elixirs are:
Health elixir - to restore your health (sip it)
Focus Body - to cure paralysis
Mana elixir - to restore mana (sip it)
Mending - heal hurt limbs (apply it)
Restoration - cure body part damage (apply it)

Many of thses cures can be found at Trader Bob's, a little southwest of
the Newton Caverns entrance.

All of these do more than just what is listed, and there are a LOT more herbs
listed here Healing List and here Curing Afflictions.

5. Early Choices: Race, City, Guild

You have so many choices to make right away: your race, your city/commune (if
any), and your Guild, if any:

Choosing a Race
Choosing a Guild

It should be noted that choosing a guild will be default place you within the
city/commune that guild belongs to.

Choosing a Race

Lusternia has about a dozen races from which to choose.

There is no single best race, nor even a single best race for a given Guild.
Some races are faster, or smarter, or stronger than others. It's up to you to
decide what's more important.

Speak with experienced adventurers in your chosen Guild. They often have good
suggestions about what's important for you. You can reincarnate once for free,
which allows you to change your race, and after that, by buying and using an
artifact called the Dagger of Reincarnation.

Each race has strengths and weaknesses, and some of them have the chance to
specialise in certain guilds. It is best to look into all the races to find the
one that best suits what you would like to do.

Speed: *The fastest races are Aslaran, Mugwump, Faeling, Furrikin, and
Merian
*The slowest races are Tae'dae, Dwarf, Igasho, and Orclach

Intelligence: *The smartest races are Merian, Elfen, Faeling, and Mugwump

Strength: *The strongest races are Tae'dae, Igasho, and Orclach

Choosing a Guild

Guilds are an important part of Lusternia life and politics. Membership is
highly recommended.

If you choose to join a Guild, you'll gain allies, political influence, and a
group of people you can call on for help. You'll also gain a set of
expectations about how you act, and a group of people who will call on you for
help. Are the advantages worth the obligations? Only you can answer that for
yourself.

Finding the right Guild starts by deciding on the type of roleplay you wish to
pursue. Do you wish to be a grand mage in the City of Light, a grunt in the
armies of the Engine of Transformation, a High Druid in the vast forest of the
Serenwilde, or perhaps a mysterious wiccan in the dark forest of Glomdoring.
Choosing your guild is an important decision as it will also choose the City or
Commune you will be aligned with.

Choosing A City

Lusternia has two cities and two communes among which to choose. Here are a few
things to consider when choosing a city:

* If you have chosen to join a Guild, its city/commune will be
automatically joined as well.
* The ideals of the city/commune. This can be found in HELP
for example, HELP CELEST.
* The city/commune's people and leaders. Look for important citizens in
their help files, for example, HELP MAGNAGORA.

You don't have to join any city/commune to start, so long as you have not
chosen a guild. If you do wish to join a city/commune, find one of the leaders
"Able to induct new citizens" listed in HELP .

6. Places to Go

The most important places you'll need to know right away are Portals and
Newton.

There are numerous quests for newbies.

Portals - this is a completely safe location that can only be reached by those
level 20 or under using the PORTALS. The three portals rooms are magical
locations that open gateways to places that are scattered throughout the realms
- some at a very great distance indeed - for the convenience of newcomers to
Lusternia. Just READ SIGN in each portals room to see where all of those nifty
portals lead.

Newton - Outside Newton is Trader Bob, the merchant, who will sell intrepid
young explorers some items to aid them on their initial ventures. It is
recommended that you ask your guild what things you will need, as many will
offer to help you get started as well. There is a connection from the Portals
to Newton.

7. Classes and Skills

Guild and Guild Rank

Lusternia boasts sixteen guilds. Each guild has at least three skills in a
combination unique to that guild, and each skill is made up of dozens of
abilities. Some skills have specialisations, and some guilds have different
skillchoice selections in which three guild skills you will take.

When you join a guild you will have none of the guild skills and will need to
look at SKILLCHOICE LIST to see what is available to you in your guild. When
you have determined the skills available you will choose them with SKILLCHOICE
SELECT .

Skills, Learning, and Lessons

The most important skills - your guild skills - are not the only options. Just
use the SKILLS command to see which skills you have access to, and may train
in. These other skills, such as Perception, Environment, Combat, and others,
are not generally as important as your guild skills, yet they can make quite a
difference.

Increasing your level of skill is straightforward: find another
adventurer/player (or a denizen tutor) to be your teacher, and (for example)
LEARN 15 COMBAT FROM MIAKODA. This will spend 15 of your lessons on improving
your level of skill in Combat, assuming that Miakoda knows more Combat than you
do!

You gain lessons each time you gain a level of experience. Check how many
lessons you have available with CREDIT REPORT.

You can also get more lessons by converting credits to lessons, using CREDITS
CONVERT howmany TO LESSONS. Each credit converts into 6 lessons.

8. Experience, Levels, and Power

In Lusternia we have 100 mortal levels of experience. Once you have finished
the Journey through the Portal of Fate, you will be level 2. As you rise in
level of experience, you gain expanded access to Lusternia in a variety of
ways, and your maximum health, mana, endurance, and willpower will increase.
You also gain lessons and credits! Eventually, you will transcend the need for
food or sleep, and finally, you may reach level 99, at which point you may
become a Titan. If you excell even further you will transcend many mortal
limitations and walk amongst them as one of Lusternia's Demi-Gods!

To increase in level, you must gain experience, which you can do by:


* Completing Quests that you discover throughout Lusternia (such as Newbie
Quests)
* PK - player killing - with other adventurers like yourself
* NPCs/Mobs/Denizens - with the monsters and creatures you encounter
across Lusternia.
* Influence - If you choose a more peaceful approach to life, you
may learn the skills of influencing, and beg from,
flirt with, or tease many denizens across Lusternia
in order to gain experience.

It's not all a bed of roses though: it's possible to lose experience as well,
both during combat and after, if you lose and die. And if you lose experience,
your level may decrease.

Stats (strength, intelligence, constitution, dexterity) are pretty much fixed,
determined by your race. They do not rise as you gain levels of experience.
Some abilities, and other circumstances may affect stats on a more-or-less
temporary basis.

9. Gold, Credits, and Artifacts

Gold, also called gold sovereigns, is the primary form of money in Lusternia.
You can gain gold in quests, in killing denizens, in begging from denizens, and
through theft. It's probably safest to keep your gold in a container - like
your backpack - or in banks.

Of the many ways to earn gold which you will discover in your journeys, several
are accessible even to those of very low levels of experience:

* Completing quests (which often give experience also),
* Ratting/weeviling - working for some cities to help keep their rat
infestations down.
or

Credits are a sort of currency too. You can gain credits in a variety of ways:


* Free credits given at certain levels
* purchasing on the credit market for gold
* to winning them as prizes in our bardic/artistic competitions
* acquiring them from the Lusternia web site.

Artifacts are not money, but they are very valuable items that can give great
power to the bearer. You may purchase artifacts for credits at the various
shops for that purpose in the Artifact shops on Avechna's Teeth. A mountain
range leading up to the Fulcrux of the Divine.

10. Containers and the Rift

It's likely that you'll accumulate a lot of stuff as you wander Lusternia. This
brings a new challenge: where can you put it all? Depending on exactly what
stuff we're talking about, you'll want to use containers or the rift.

Containers : The pack you got during the Journey through the Portal of Fate is
one of many possible containers you may find. Some can be closed and opened
again, such as boxes. All hold a limited number of items, and all are useful
for keeping track of your growing mountain of possessions!

The Rift is a special storage place primarily for herbs and inks. If something
can go in the rift, it really should go in the rift, otherwise it will fall to
the ground each time your adventurer leaves Lusternia.

Fighting

KICK
PUNCH
Until you have joined a guild, any of these is fairly effective,
though in slightly different ways. Try them and see! You should
focus on fighting denizens, not other adventurers, at least at
first. Playerkilling, also called PvP or PK, is restricted by
most guilds and is impossible while you walk under the Grace of
Innocense Innocence. Wait a while to enter it - until you are solidly
grounded in Lusternia's ways.

9. Gold, Credits, and Artifacts

Gold, also called gold sovereigns, is the primary form of money in Lusternia.
You can gain gold in quests, in killing denizens, in begging from denizens, and
through theft. It's probably safest to keep your gold in a container - like
your backpack - or in banks.