Things You Need To Know

From Mizahar Lore

This article is about a rule of the game.

Below is a list of things you'll need to know before you begin the process of playing in Mizahar. If you have any questions on these or any other items, please contact a Storyteller and we'll be happy to help!

12 Things You Need to Know Before Playing Mizahar

1. Volunteer Staff run Mizahar. Thus if a city is (closed) in its title, it means it has no voluntary storyteller to run it. Cities can open and close any time depending on the availability of people willing to volunteer to run them. No matter how much we want all the regions open to roleplay in, the Help Desk cannot handle overseeing everything a Domain Storyteller can handle for their small domain. Think about how big of a task that is? We tried it. It didn't work. So if you'd like to see a city open, qualify to be a Storyteller and apply for that city and open it up! The City list has a current updated list of every city's status of Open or Closed, who runs it, and a brief description of what it is like. Links lead to more elaborate city pages. We have a Migration system in place on Mizahar for cities that close.
2. Mizahar is first and foremost about collaborative storytelling, but there are rules involved in both character creation and playing. However, these rules were developed and written by the Founders of Mizahar. They are not D&D rules, or White Wolf rules, so please be sure to look them over and be aware of how things are done. Reading the Rules, Lore and following the Character Starting Guide will save you an awful lot of trouble.
3. This game does not have vampires, werewolves, demons, angels, faeries, unicorns, or dragons. There are also no anthropomorphic animals - please read the Kelvic description CAREFULLY! They can only be in either fully human or fully animal form. No humans with cat ears or wagging tails. It's also important to note that Kelvics are animals that can take human form, not the other way around, so be prepared to roleplay an animal's behavior and psychology.
4. Mizahar is a dangerous world. The cities that exist do so because a large number of people have huddled together and carved out that existence with blood and sweat. Anything outside of those cities is in danger of being destroyed by predators, monsters, bandits, slavers, and the land itself. Because of this, there really aren't any villages or small settlements dotting the land. There aren't small towns ruled by Lords, and people don't live alone in cabins in the woods - if they did, they'd be killed very quickly. In fact, traveling anywhere alone, and most especially in the wilderness, should almost always end with your character in dire straits.
5. Read the Lore page of the city your character will be starting in. If a Lore page is not available, read some of the threads on the Forum or send a Private Message to the Domain Storyteller with any questions you may have before you start playing your character. This will give you vital information on the setting that you'll be playing in. For instance, Syliras is ruled by the Syliran Knights, who are fastidious about keeping crime out of it. As such, there are no assassin's guilds, mafias, crime syndicates, or gangs roaming the streets. However, these organizations might exist in Ravok or Sunberth. Knowing your surroundings is part of being able to properly play your character and interact with other characters.
6. Along the same lines, please keep in mind that Syliras is not the default "starting" city. A lot of new players seem to be under the impression that their character must start in Syliras, but you're welcome to start in any city you like! There's a lot of fantastic cities in Mizahar with a wide range of settings, plots, and awesome moderators - feel free to explore other forums and find out what they have to offer!
7. As a rule, everyone in Mizahar can read and write their native language.
8. When you create your account on the forums, your handle MUST be your character name. It cannot be "babygrrl89" or "TheDarknessWithin" or anything like that, it needs to be an actual character name.
9. After the Valterrian, there are no large-scale governments. Each city is autonomous, and has its own system of law and order (or lack thereof). There is no King or Queen, no overarching system of Lords or Dukes or what-have-you. Each city sets its own rules, and it's up to you to learn what those rules are.
10. The primary metal for items that exists in Mizahar is common iron. No need to go on and on about how your steel katana can cut through four bodies in one stroke, 'cause it just ain't so.  :) The other type of steel found in Mizahar is Isurian Steel; a very rare steel created by the Isur.

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    Once you build your character and start playing, there are a few key things you'll want to know...

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11. In order to gain Experience Points and further your Character Sheet, you must submit a completed thread to the Grade Request thread located in the forum that the thread takes place in. Any money your character makes or items they may attain will be awarded as part of the XP Award and should not be added to your character sheet until it is approved by a moderator.
12. Flashbacks are scenes which take place in the past and allow you to further your character's training or explain backstory points of their plot. Flashbacks can only take place prior to the season in which you joined the game. For instance, if you created your character in Spring 510 AV, your flashbacks can only take place in Winter 509 AV or earlier. Once you reach Summer 510 AV, you can't do flashbacks in Spring 510 AV.
13. No, we will not restructure the Skills because you think Markmanship should be it's own category. No, we don't think it'd work better if it were structured like World of Warcraft. No, we are not accepting ideas for new races, you have over 20 to choose from. This is not to say that we aren't looking for interesting ideas or for people to submit work to help us flesh out the Wiki - we have, in fact, dedicated an entire forum to encouraging player-based ideas for development. But please keep in mind that the basic foundations of the game are in place for a reason and have been in place for quite some time, and it's unlikely that they will be changed.