Imperian is a "MUD," a computer game that allows players to log into a virtual world through the internet and do a variety of things ranging from interacting with other players from around the world in real-time, to exploring the lands and solving quests, from slaying a variety of fanatical beasts, to waxing philosophical or working as a politician. When you enter the game, you assume a fantasy persona, or "character." How your character behaves and what he or she becomes is limited solely by your own imagination. For example, you can be a strapping slayer of beasts, or the delicate damsel of distress - a religious zealot or a sneaky, manipulative charlatan. The lands of Imperian are collectively known as Aetherius, and your character's life there is completely customizable by you.

Connecting to the Game

There are several ways you can join the game. The easiest is to use the Nexus client by clicking "Play Now" at the top of the page. In addition, you can connect via third-party MUD clients, or even plain Telnet. To do this, you'll need to direct them to server: imperian.com, port: 23.

Note: text in copper designates in-game commands, or simply, what you would type at your keyboard.

Naming your Character

When you first connect to the game, you will need to create a new character. The first thing you are prompted for is a name. The name you select is very important; not only is it a reflection of your character, but also the single thing that will serve to differentiate you the most from other players.

The best name that you could possibly choose is one that is unique and original. A good test of this is to enter the name into an internet search engine. How many results come up? The fewer there are, the better off you are. Common names are acceptable, but consider taking a few moments to create a unique name, something that will set you apart and enhance the realism of the roleplaying environment for you and your fellow players. Names from books, movies, or games are prohibited (e.g. Hermione, Gandalf, Tidus), as are names that are words or contain words found in the dictionary (e.g. Blackmage, Karma, LordKillsALot).

Another option that works well for many people is using a name generator. Samuel Stoddard (no affiliation to Imperian) has created a great one that you can try out here.

Your Password

You'll next be asked to supply a password for your character. This information should be kept to yourself and never given to anyone, not only for the safety of your character's actions and reputation, but also because the sharing or transferring of characters is strictly prohibited and can be grounds for kicking you off of the game.

Next you are asked to choose a gender, and then agree to the game's Terms of Service. Once this is done, you will be transported to Ancient Caanae where you will enter into the game's introduction area.

Ancient Caanae

After character creation, you will enter a novice area based on the faction that you have chosen, and will be asked to complete a series of tasks that will teach you the basics of playing Imperian.

The Newbie Channel

Throughout your time in the introduction, you may hear snippets of conversation such as:

(Newbie) Help! I've died! Now what do I do?

This is commonly referred to as the "newbie channel" and is there to assist those new to the realm. If at any time you need assistance, you can speak on this channel by typing NEWBIE <what you want to say>. Please remember that the channel is for assistance only, and not for idle chatter - there will be plenty of time for that once you've emerged from the intro.

Entering the Realm

Once you have successfully completed your five tasks in Ancient Caanae, it is off to the Abyss for a few final touches. First you will be asked to choose a race. You can learn more about the races that populate Imperian by going here or by reading about them in game with HELP RACES.

Secondly, you are given the option to join a city or council at that time, if wished. The choice of a city or council is not permanent. Some guilds have certain standards regarding its member's citizenship, but don't be overly concerned about it, it is relatively simple to leave a city or council and rejoin another if necessary.

Once all the above is complete, you will find yourself beneath Aryana's Spring, and in the realm of Aetherius, ready to begin your character's life anew!

Roleplaying

The realm may be a bit overwhelming at first, but fear not - you'll get the hang of everything in no time. The first thing you should understand is the concept of roleplaying.

Roleplaying means just that - to play a role. This in a sense means you cease to be a person sitting behind and computer, and become your character. When in Imperian, roleplaying is required anytime one is using any sort of public forum. These include public conversations, the newsboardss, citytells, and guildtells. You should try to make a distinction between the knowledge you possess as a player and the knowledge of your character has. Your character will not know everything about the world that you do. Act this out and you shall find the experience most rewarding.

Speaking correctly in the game goes a long way towards successful roleplaying. As such, you need to be familiar with OOC versus IC. OOC means 'out of character,' just as IC means 'in character.' You must always be cognizant of the fact that you are playing a character that lives in the fantasy realm of Aetherius, and, as such, must behave as that character would. While connected to the game, you should not talk publicly about 'real life' things such as the latest football game, your new computer, or even your job or school. For example, as your character, it would be bad form to tell another player that you need to 'log off.' To 'log off' refers to a real life concept, and thus, is deemed OOC. It would be much better to refer to such as 'resting.' Or perhaps you are experiencing a slow internet connection, which is making the game lag. You would be required to derive a creative way to express this IC, such as, "Pardon me, but my mind seems to be a little slow today."

Perhaps the best way to roleplay your character is to first create a coherent "life philosophy" for your character and then follow that through with your actions in Imperian. Many people find that creating a character much different from themselves is the most rewarding, so you may want to consider that. You might even want to write out a summary of your character's psychological makeup in order to make this process easier.

For example, imagine a character named Valtre, who is a young male Tanari Taekyon monk. Valtre was raised a street urchin in Stavenn and was bitterly unhappy until he began following the way of the monk, and began to experience moments of inner peace. His primary motivation, currently, is to increase his knowledge and power, but his long-term goals are not those of domination over his fellow mortals. Instead, he seeks to rise to political power in order to help the beleagured and down-trodden. He chooses not to worship any particular God, and his primary loyalty is to his race. He despises, perhaps irrationally, all Dwarves, due to mistreatment he experienced at their hands as a child. Finally, Valtre has recently discovered poetry and is given, somewhat pompously, to quoting his favourite poets at what others might consider to be inappropriate times, such as the heat of battle.

With just this brief biography of Valtre, we have an interesting character with well-defined motivations and some indication of his psychological status. You would not find Valtre out slaughtering his fellow citizens, nor would you find him killing most sentients for no reason. He would be extremely interested in practicing his skills in order to master them, and would perhaps, as a hobby, hold poetry readings. While Valtre is open-minded enough to accept Dwarves in the same guild as him, he definitely would not socialize with them, and would likely be quite terse, though not overly rude, with any Dwarves he was forced to deal with.

If you are having problems getting character ideas or would like more examples, you may want to peruse the backgrounds and histories of some of our players.

Joining a Guild

One of the best things you can do as a newcomer to the realm is to join a guild. A guild not only offers skills to help you make your way in the world, but also allots camaraderie and helpful players that will assist you.

You truly should choose a guild based upon your character's personality, not based upon which guild is the most popular, or which has the best skills. You can learn more about the guilds of Imperian here, or IC via HELP GUILDS.

To join once you have made a decision, you must stand before Cerise, who will induct you. You can travel to her easily as outlined in HELP CERISE.

After you have joined a guild, you can speak to your new guildmates by typingGNT <what you want to say>. This is often one of the best ways to get assistance as each guild has members who serve as novice aides to help the novices of their guild specifically.

Getting Help

Imperian is equipped with a very advanced help system. Usually the simple task of typing in HELP <what you need assistance with> will grant you what you are seeking.

Help System

Imperian is equipped with a very advanced help system. Usually the simple task of typing in HELP <what you need assistance with> will grant you what you are seeking.

Guides

There are three Guides that exist solely for the purpose of helping newcomers - Melete, Mneme and Aeode. You can see if one of these Guides are about by typing WHO, which will show you a list of all current characters in the realm. You can speak directly to one of the three by using as tell: TELL <Guide's name> <what you want to say>. A tell is a private communication between you and another, and only the two you will hear such conversation.

Channels

Don't forget about the newbie channel. The Guides monitor the newbie channel and will answer questions asked there, but if none of them happen to be about, don't hesitate to ask there anyway, as a host of veteran players also listen in and will assist you. 

Additonally there is your guild channel and if you are a citizen, your city channel. You can see who is about in your guild by GWHO, and speak to them via GNT <what you want to say>. To see who in your city is about, use CWHO and speak to them by CT <what you want to say>.

Customer Service and Online Support

You can solicit additional game support and customer service as described here.

This website is also a wonderful resource. When you get a chance, you should peruse the various links above. You can find everything from the history and maps of the realms to creative work of our players, from player-moderated discussion forums to web-based access to our help system.