Tiax? What's wrong with Tiax? I like Tiax...

Edit: And Cooper for that matter.

Which would be why I choose the word 'Achaeans'. In any case, what a terrific advert for Lusternia. Well done, Lucan.

I'd wager my right testicle that while Achaea may implement as many new concepts as it likes, it won't 'tighten roleplay'. I feel that roleplay in a mud like Lusternia or Achaea is rather like my waist-line in that.. once you've let things slip, you're essentially stuffed.

I'd add that you're too used to Achaea's overcrowding, and you're creating more of a problem out of the difference in population between Achaea and Lusternia than there actaully is. I found Lusternia quiet for the first few months.. and then I realised that I much preferred a less populated place. Sure - we need a few more players.. but given a choice between the 'too few' of Lusternia and the 'far too many' of Achaea.. I'd choose the first, every time.

Agreed, totally. The lesser playerbase of Lusternia was refreshing. It forces people to look outside their cities for companionship and to actually get involved with other people.

And Achaea won't be tightening roleplay. Even though they have those Rolepay Managers, they will encourage people who want to RP to do it, but they won't force the 11 year old "pwners" to do anything they don't want to do.

He's very badly behaved on the forums.

Cooper is a griefer? I don't know why he mentioned Cooper.

The rest of them can stay in Achaea. I'm sure they wouldn't come over for all the fans they've built up there. They're in the A-hole Band... so there is little chance of them migrating.

I can't vouch for other organizations, but Mhaldor enforces roleplay as well as anything I've seen in Lusternia. Also, there have been a few high-profile efforts at enforcing rolepoints, etc. which have pissed off the 11 year old clientele, but the rest of us are very pleased by them. We certainly still have complaints, I have a few of my own, but we also have a number of former-lusternians returning to Achaea because they're describing this place as a "sad party." I wouldn't go that far, but it's nice to at least have the option to take part in a bustling, busy, city atmosphere.

Tiax is only mean to Christian fundamentalists, to be fair. Anyone that claims the Earth is 5,000 years old is probably going to catch a little flak, yes.

If the chap that used to be Cooper here is the same chap who is Cooper in Achaea, then I will atest that yes, he is an asshole.

Please refrain from personal attacks, that includes insulting remarks about players from Achaea.

And on a less admin note:
Iago, please don't act so smart, it's hardly going to get you well-liked if all you do is express how much better Achaea is than Lusternia, no one is forcing you to play Lusternia.

Tiax is the coolest person left in Achaea He's actually the one that brought me to Lusternia, then he went back to achaea. Hmph.

99% sure they aren't the same.

Edit: But no personal attacks!

Lets not turn this into an Achaea vs Lusternia thread. There is no reason for that.

For those of you just staring your explorations in Lusternia, welcome! Come take a walk in the hallowed halls of the Celestines, and learn about Lord Elostian from the erudite dracnari Neerth. Engage in a debate (‘non-violent’ ego PvP battle) as soon as you step out of the portal! Steal farmers from the village of Estelbar to be enslaved by the Orcs of Acknor! Not only does it make you stronger, it increases political tensions between Magnagora and Serenwilde! Explore each city and commune’s nexus world! Join the Star
Aviators of Celest and go on an aether-jaunt in the city’s aethership. Read our history in the World Library. Are your interests spiritual? Pray to divine at the right shrine and you may gather Their attention.

Lusternia should hire you to write ads

They kinda did when they gave him Aural.

I suppose it's only proper that we link them to our histories ().

Cosmogensis - How it all began

The Elder Wars - Explanations about our unique type of Gods
(Still in the process of being written, but you can read the juicy parts that have come about already. Links to the rest are in a box to the right.)

The Vernal Wars - The mortals strike back!

Aftermath of the Divine Wars - Get ready for the good part!

History of the Holy Celestine Empire (AWESOME!!) - The meat of the histories, the origins of the Taint
(Like the Elder Wars, this section is also split up into groups. Use the handy links to the right.)

And finally... The Coming of Estarra - The modern age begins

The great thing about Lusternia is that the histories are referenced so much (because they're so good!). Just about every major event involves what's said in them, people allude to them even when just chatting, and in contrast to Achaea they are defining and important (when I played Achaea I didn't even touch their histories... or know they existed for that matter). So when you people have some time, dig into these for a good read.


P.S. If you know Achaea's histories, you may see a bit of a similarity between Lusternia and Achaea.

P.P.S. I used entirely too many parentheses.

For those who are coming here from Achaea:

(Achaean thing) = (Lusterninan equivilient)

Shield tattoo = circle/pentagram (inept skill in low/high magic)
Hammer tattoo = nullify/void (16 lessons into low/high magic)
Moss tattoo = kingdom enchantment
Boar tattoo = mercy enchantment
Moon tattoo = perfection enchantment
(beauty enchantment is like boar/moon, but for ego)
Starburst tattoo = vitae elixir
Levitation elixir = levitation enchantment
Speed elixir = quicksilver (potion)
Tree tattoo = allheale (potion)
Restoration salve = regeneration salve
Irid moss = sparkleberries
Focus = Focus Mind (we also have focus body for curing paralysis and focus spirit for curing otherwise incurable afflicts)
Waterwalking boots = waterwalking enchantment
Prickly pears = waterbreathe enchantment (or spiritbond trout if you're in a commune) (and neither goes away!)
Wormholes = mystic pathways
Kola = kafe
Eagle wings = (transplanar) prism
Atavian wings = (transplanar) cubix

A few other notes:
- HELP DICTIONARY is your friend, though they are missing some important terms. Here are some of the ones that are missing:
--- demesne - A temporary set of contiguous rooms melded to a druid or mage that they have control over.
--- manse - A home, basically a bubble of reality that the owner can mold to his will. Manses are accessed from the aetherplex chamber on Avechna's Peak, or the portals room of a city or commune.
--- algontherine - Often used to refer to an aethership, but specifically means the sentient, living part of the ship.
--- essence - Solidified bits of power that are dropped by specific denizens when they die and can be used to empower a nexus.
--- aetherwave - The IC term for a channel.
--- conglutinate - Refers to auto-reviving at your nexus with minimal experience loss. This happens if you die in your org's territory, die in a village that is revolting, die on Astral during the Wildnodes (our version of CTF), or die off Prime with the transcendant planar skill called Conglutinate.
--- fulcrux - Two meanings. One, the first room of a manse where it is entered. Two, the place where a Divine's master shrine is located. These fulcruxes are found at the top of Avechna's Peak, in a place known as the Transcendental Fulcrux.
--- Peak - Refers to Avechna's Peak, the mountain that was raised when Avechna was born, and which houses the nine seals on Kethuru's prison. The Peak is the only truly neutral place in Lusternia.

- Recognition and clot are newbie skills here.
- Paralysis is cured by the skill focus body instead of by an herb.
- Graduation from novicehood happens after 24 hours of gameplay, and you can graduate sooner than that if your guild has a novice advancement program, which most do. These are always optional, they just get you graduated sooner.
- Lusternia is designed to be extremely rogue-unfriendly, though there are some who are rogues anyway and some who do quite well, like Richter and Exarius.
- People are often off prime. If you don't see people around, it doesn't mean they aren't around.
- You need to learn 22 lessons of Planar to get your Rift.
- Until you learn about 22 lessons of planar, people can't hear you over channels if they aren't on the same plane as you, and you can't hear them either, so learn that first (all guilds require it anyway for Rift).
- Complete skill lists can be found at the Lusternian Wiki - http://www.avaerin.com/scryingpool/
- Nearly every area has a backstory and an honours quest associated with it - no place is just a bashing ground.

EDIT: Updated with a bit more information.

You mean... You hate the post she made, you don't hate her do you? This thread honestly pisses me off by how snobbish we really are being. I agree with Aiakon that we aren't better as a playerbase, we just play in a generally un-corrupted game, whereas Achaea has been degraded by the need to cater to those with lots of money, and little desire to RP.

I don't know if I can put the difference I think of in words, but I see it more like we play in a fresh new pond of spring water, while Achaeans play in a kiddy pool.

No hate to Achaeans, we don't need to compare ourselves to them, we should just point out our own qualities, and not Achaea's weaknesses. We're all IRE here!

Shorlen: I wish I'd had a reference like that when I first came over to Lusternia! That was a very useful list. Thank you!

To everyone coming from Achaea: Welcome! I'm a fairly recent newcomer as well, and I hope that all of you have as much fun as I have thus far. It will definitely require some adjustments (particularly if you're at all interested in combat), and quite a lot of reading (files like HELP PREPARATION were incredibly helpful to me in trying to get a better grasp of cures and such), but in my brief experience it's been completely worthwhile. Lusternia, with its smaller playerbase and atmosphere, reminds me very much of what Achaea was years ago. I'll probably never actually stop playing in Achaea, but Lusternia is a breath of fresh air if you're looking for a rewarding world in which you feel you can genuinely make a difference.

What's slightly amusing is that most of the venom-laced posts are being made by recent Achaean defectors.

But yeah, keep the hate down.

To those of you Achaeans who are considering: don't be afraid to ask! It may pain you to use Newbie, but if you're itching to know the answer to such questions as "What is the Taint?" we'll be happy to answer (although you probably shouldn't ask that question on Newbie... people will answer with bias on that). Heck, I'll answer it right now to save you the trouble.

Taint in a nutshell: The emperor of the Celestine Empire opened a conduit to the big evil antithesis of creation, Kethuru the Almighty. When Kethuru released his essence across the Basin of Life (our "Sapience"), his "footprint" was the Taint. Originally it controlled people and mutated them, but now his essence is no longer in it and it's been compared to Kethuru's feces which are not directly connected to him.

A few things to remember. We're not better than the Achaeans, we're all IRE gamers, though we may have our own preferences. Achaea is old, and while we've tried for the last two years to maintain a good RP atmosphere and tried to keep everyone nice on the forums, think about what nine more years might do to us. Are we going to be that tightly moderated?

What we can do is welcome them, and assist them, just like any other newbies. I'm sure the guides don't ask people if they're Achaean after they leave the intro.