Mephais Players Guide
Copyright © Author J.A. Dempsey-2002
All rights reserved.
Please do NOT enter a character in Mephais unless you have read and understand this Guide. This guide is NOT meant to tell you how to play, but to explain how and why your character is in Mephais.
Game Guide for Playing in Mephais
See: Mephais Aendor Map
A- Gate powers do not work in Mephais unless a Gate Marker is used (see Gate Markers below). Each region in Mephais has a gate marker. Look at Map and Decide where your character will be journeying and from what point they are starting out. Keep in mind that dark 'kinds' live in the Eastfold, including, vampires, demonic types, wauru-{werewolves}, Ariad Elves, dark changelings, fallen angels and desert tribes. Not all people in the desert are corrupt, some are simply born in the desert or settled there. Below the map is a list of native races to Mephais and where they would be located. Those dark kind who journey, or even have the guts to live in the Westfold, do so at their own risk, just as those from the west who are not of the desert and are loyal to the Kings, causes and lords of the west travel in the Eastfold at their own risk. This rivaly is explained on the Mephais History page.
Mephais Random Gate Marker Roll
Roll 1d6 to determine which gate character/s emerge from.
6-Anmeth Gate
4-5-Westfold Gate
2-3-Sqaith Anendor Gate
1-Arthomir Gate
B- If not playing your character as a Mephais Aendor native; character must have entered the realm by one of the 'Gate Markers'. Characters must have some kind of Shadow Walking, Dimensional, or Planes Walking ability or magic item to be able to access one of Mephais Aendor's Gate Ways, even if their method is a purchased talisman for Gate Travel. Post which Gate Marker character entered through by refering to basic location, and why character is there. Gate Markers are stone, all massive but plain looking boulders jutting up from the ground in clearings, and carved with beautiful runic reliefs in the Ancient Tongue of Esurian, which is the common tongue in Mephais.
C- Milage: pay attention to milage scale on map, and figure 25 miles a day on foot, and 80 miles a day on horseback when making camp and running into encounters. 100 miles on horseback if riding hard.
This does not include time for encounters. Add half an hour to an hour for each encounter, depending on how dangerous or long it was. GM can call how long it takes to travel each grid. This information is just to help if GM wants time to flow realistically during the game. Distance is a KEY factor in traveling in Mephais. It is a very large continent.
D- Gate Markers: Gate powers do NOT work in Mephais except at Gate Markers. One can travel through one Gate Marker to the next to cover long distances if they have gate abilities or know the Gate Commands to trigger the Gate Markers.
E- Hasted Travel: Beings who move with supernatural haste or Celerity, can cover distances MUCH faster, two to ten times faster in fact, depending on how strong they are in that ability, but covering long distances can exhaust their energy. When posting travel, you can cover hours, days, weeks, months and even YEARS travel by catching up to the present day and hour in your posts by explaining how long your character has been traveling to reach their destination. How much detail you go into is up to you.
F- Character Types: Decide if you are playing a Mephais native, or a character traveling from abroad to visit Mephais. If playing a native, choose a human or elven kind. The vampires and demons are too complex to just JUMP into the role of, and if you decide later you want your char to be sired, dominated or enslaved by a vampire or demon, it can be played out that your character gets sired, dominated or enslaved. {Exceptions CAN be made for experienced players who are good at assuming complex roles.} This way, your character learns about the race he was reborn into through his sire, which may be an existing PC, or an NPC the GM-{Game Master} or CM-{Chat Master} plays. If playing a native human or elf, decide which Lord he/she serves or is an adherent of, or whether neutral. Lords are listed on Map with the Kingdoms they reside over, and Lords available for NPC interaction are listed on Race list below Map. Those not available for NPC play are marked with a N, meaning they are loners, VERY dangerous, or choose who serve them very carefully. MOST of the Lords are NPC controled by the GM and CM. Loose interaction WITH NPC can be played out by all characters in Mephais. No deaths to NPC allowed unless approved by GM. Such RP actions MUST be explained in detail, for the Lords of Mephais are well protected.
G- Mephais Languages: Natives speak their OWN native language which is only known to very specific races outside of Mephais, so unless your character is a native, do not assume they understand what is being spoken. UNLESS it is posted that a character is speaking in English, they are speaking their native tongue if a Mephais based character. The language is known as The Ancient Language of the Dark Star, or called in their own Elvish tongue, Esurian (ancient language). FEW speak English, but some, who are well educated, and travel outside their country to 'english speaking' realms can speak English, French, or various other languages, and are able to write and decipher other elven tongues and script. It all depends on their experiences, where they have journeyed, and their education. ALL Kings and Lords of any distinction either speak English, or have translators. If you play a Mephais native, they WILL speak in Esurian, Neffari, OR Mugol, and what other languages they speak is up to player, just be sure to have an explanation of HOW they are able to speak languages from other worlds. {Language is a character ability, and does not need to be a mun skill. Simply post what language character is speaking in, tones used, and post it in English, or post translation if posting in another tongue, even if it is not a language known by other characters. Expression, tone and body language, can give a clue, at least to whether character is being friendly or not, unless they are trying to deceive someone.} We have an Esurian and Shaamaa (for desert peoples) dictionary available, which IS copyrighted. You may use the language in our chats, but not for any publishing purposes.