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FAQ for newcomers on... er... everything
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Posted by Talanithus Tarant on Narvinye 03, 2002 at 07:39:22 am
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Since we seem to have a number of new players coming to our little message board lately, I thought it might be helpful to draft up a simple guide to who we are, where we are, how to join our "game world", and how to join the guild. So without further ado, the Tel'Mithrim FAQ for newbies! What is Tel'Mithrim? What is an Elf? What's this stuff about an Elven language? Can I be an Elf? OK, so what's this about a game? How do I get started playing UO? I am in UO, where are you? Where do I find more info on Lake Superior? UO is confusing! Help! How do I join your guild? Can I just play along on the boards? What is Tel'Mithrim? What is an Elf? Loosely speaking, an elf is a pointy eared, long lived (or immortal, by some accounts), creature with a penchant for nature, music, and the arts. We are not Santa's elves, we aren't Keebler's elves. If you have seen Lord of the Rings, as most of you have, then you should be able to picture us with some degree of accuracy. In a more doctrinal sense, an Elf is a creature either created directly by Illuvater with the Song of Creation, and the first born of all the races of Middle Earth (tolkien definition) or a race of beings created by the blood of Eru. To most Elves in our particular guild, Eru and Illuvater are the same being... which is a bit confusing, and doesn't make a lot of sense, but our guild is comprised of Elves of all types, so it's easier that way. Whether you call him Illuvater or Eru, he is basically our creator, and we are his children. You can take a look in the RolePlaying section of our Tel'Ruid site for more info on the different subraces, though some of it is incomplete. It should get you started... What's this stuff about an Elven language? I heard them talking it in LoTR! When J.R.R. Tolkien wrote the setting for the Lord of the Rings he crafted an entire world to go with it. Included in that world was the grammatical structure and a rudimentary dictionary for a number of Elven Tongues. Since we roleplay Elves online, we took that dictionary, simplified the grammatical structure and expanded the dictionary heavily. It is not cannon Elven as Tolkien wrote it, simply our own adaptation. Which we like better. Thank you very much. For more details and a downloadable dictionary, go to our language resource page here. Can I be an Elf? Sure, anyone can ROLEPLAY an Elf. Whether or not you can become one in real life I haven't figured out yet. If you want to play an Elf with us, then you have a number of options. You can create a persona and play out with us on our board here, or you can take the far more preferred course and join the online gaming world of Ultima Online, and play with us in a real graphical setting. See the questions below for more details. OK, so where are you? What is this about a game? Most of our roleplaying goes on within a MPORPG (Multi-Player Online Role Playing Game) called Ultima Online. This is a computer game, just like any other, with the exception that it uses the internet to connect to a "shard". In regular terms, this is a game you play with thousands of other people at the same time. You start the game, log onto a particular world, and then adventure within it. Ultima Online worlds are VERY big, and involve a lot more players then just us. We are just a small community within a very large world. All right, I want to start playing Ultima Online. How do I get started? Your first step is to buy the game. There are 3 main version you should find in stores at the moment, and I will list each with their positives and negatives. Once you have bought the version best suited to your needs, then you need to install it and setup an Ultima Online account. UO charges $10 a month for access to their worlds, and will walk you through the setup process when you install the game. On the good side, you do get one month free when you sign on... so you can test it out. OK, I am in! Now how do I find you all? There are multiple worlds in UO, called shards. Once you have created your account and logged in, it will take you to a shard selection screen. Tel'Mithrim plays on the "Lake Superior" shard. The name is misleading, the shard is actually located in Virginia, and if you are in Europe or overseas it might be a bad shard for you to play on. The farther away you are from the shard, the slower your gameplay will be (Internet Latency... I am not explaining it). Now that you are logged into Lake Superior (or LS, as we call it) it will give you the opportunity to create your character. Choose the skills you think would best suit what sort of persona you want to create and play. Remember, this is fantasy! You can be whatever you want, from a blacksmith and tailor to a swordswoman or mage! Don't worry if you choose skills and change your mind, you can learn new skills (and forget old ones) after you have started. You'll begin play in a place called Haven. This is a special land JUST for new players. Take your time and go through the interactive tutorials, learning how to use the game interface and get around. There are a number of simple quests for you to complete as you gain in skill, and each of them will teach you all sorts of interesting new things! I suggest you give them a try. Once you have learned all you feel is Necessary, find the moongate in Haven (its in the Southern corner under the town, on a peninsula) and go to Trammel Yew. Make sure not to go to Fellucca, as it is a dangerous place where other players can kill your character. This can be fun if you like the thrill of battle, but as a new player it is probably too much for now. From Yew, follow this map to find Tel'Ruid, our village.  Pretty much just head straight to the East or click here for more details. It is much easier to find us if you use the radar map... you can find it on the menu bar on the top left of your screen. Try and match up the vegetation to what's on the map till you stumble across the buildings of Tel'Ruid. If you don't know what you are looking for, then take a look at our village map here, Once you are here, we can help you learn more about the lands and what to do. I should note that you might be contacted by a special player called a "Companion" (you will see companion over their names). These are special player's who try and help new players. Ask them as many questions as you like. OK, I want to play on Ultima Online and in Lake Superior, but I don't want to be an Elf. Where do I go? You are in luck. I happen to manage a web site dedicated to the entire shard (world) of LS, so all you have to do is go there. It is called UO Lake Superior and can be reached at http://uols.net. We also have many message board forums for other guilds on the shard, and if you want to search them out for information on joining their communities you can look at http://boards.uols.net. OK, I am in UO but this is all too confusing! Is there someplace I can go to learn more about how to do things? Of course there is. Lets give you a simple list: All right, I am in UO, I am on LS, I have found Tel'Ruid. Now how do I join your guild? Joining our guild is not an easy thing. We are a very old community, and have played with each other for over a decade! As such, we require that each potential applicant be someone who is not only a good roleplayer and Elf, but also someone we get along with. You can go over all the details of how to join the guild here in our Guild Charter. However, you do not have to be in our guild to have fun with us! We have all sorts of visitors and friends who are constant guests and residents in Tel'Ruid (The Glade, the town we live in on Lake Superior). You can hunt, sing, dance and make merry with us no matter what your race or preference... (but Orcs and Drow beware!). UO seems nice and all, but I don't think I want to join. Can I just play along on the boards? You are welcome to read and participate on our boards, but I will warn you that most of the RolePlaying scenarios we engage in are based on events that happen in game. Even the stories are usually (but not always) retellings of events that have already happened. I do not wish to discourage you from participating, we would love the interaction, but I feel it is best to warn you that you might get lost as we go along. And that is about all for the moment. If I think of more I will be sure to post them, but that should at least get you started in joining our little gameworld.
 
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