Newbies who pass through the Portal of Fate will now notice that they
have some extra equipment at the end of their journey. This varies by
archetype, and includes the following:

All Newbies
---------------
- A health, mana and a bromides vial

Warriors
---------------
- A 2-handed claymore

Bards
---------------
- A lute

Additionally, all guilded newbies will begin with their primary skillset
selected for them (e.g., Knighthood for Warriors, Nature for Druids and
Wiccans, etc.). This does not apply to secondary skills due to the
divergence in skillchoices. Likewise, Aethercraft and Dramatics no
longer require selecting for newbies and will appear with the rest of
the Common Skills.

Also, when a newbie steps through the Portal of Fate, their arrival will
be announced over CT (in addition to GNT) if they are a member of a city
or commune.

Note that the vials, lute and claymore are substandard, and all of it
(vials included) will decay after only 5 months in Lusternia - so as not
to steal business from our player merchants. This equipment is meant to
make the starting process for newbies faster and easier, so they can
begin fully exploring Lusternia.

Last, you may have noticed that cwho and gwho now indicate how many
members are on other planes. This is to help facilitate a greater sense
of community in Lusternia's organisations, and help players realize when
they're not alone - even if they are the only one on the plane at that
time.

Enjoy!

Penned by My hand on the 8th of Juliary, in the year 171 CE.