Dunland Help Files

Rules

Here are some brief rules to help you understand your responsibility in this culture. They should be relatively obvious but if you have any questions, contact your ruler.

• Be considerate of others.
• Play in theme.
• If an LA asks you to do something or not to do something, don't argue unrelentingly. If you need to make an appeal do so to either an arbiter (if it involves your IC behavior and you feel it is necessary), or your ruler (if you don't feel it requires arbitration or it is an OOC issue.). Until such time as there is some ruling by either arbiter, ruler, or admin, follow the instructions of your LA.
• Do not try to get something from one admin that another has refused.

Participate in any way towards the betterment of the culture, whether it be RP, code, building, newbie help or recruitment.

• If someone asks you to stop talking about a topic on the Dunland channel, please be polite and honor their wishes.
• In general, be polite.
• If you must argue about something, do so with consideration, and avoid ad hominem attacks.

Thanks!

Dunland's Rulers

Starting

Welcome to Dunland!

Now that you have chosen the best out of many cultural choices in Middle Earth, there are three things you must do in order to enter the wide world of RP (RolePlay - see +dunhelp RolePlay).

• Set a description for your character by typing @desc me=Text, where Text is the text of your description. For help on crafting a thematic and appropriate description, see +dunhelp description.

• Decide upon and set a history for your character. For help on crafting a thematic and appropriate history, see +dunhelp background.

• Decide whether or not your character is currently aligned with any of the current clans or is part of an independent family. To see information on clans, holds and families, type +dunhelp clans, and for how to set your clan see +dunhelp starting2.

Congratulations! You are now ready to enter the exciting world of Dunland. Make sure that you are in a Dunland controlled room (for help on this, ask anyone in +locals), and type +set ic. You will want to read the complete +dunhelp and game help files to aid you in your RP quest, and to help you refine your character and your RP over time.

Description

Your description should be just that, descriptive. It should tell people what you look like, how tall you are, what clothes you are wearing. It should not speak of demeanour or feelings, these are fleeting things and best left to expression during roleplay itself.

Dunlendings are described by Tolkien as 'swarthy and dark-haired', 'tall and grim'. Our clothing is medieval: trousers and tunics, skirts and bodices, with wool and leather being the most common materials, and colors generally being dark or muted. Clan members often wear something in their clan color (Bear - red, Wulf - green, Stag - blue), or an ornament bearing their clan symbol. Because we rely more on personal heroism than hardware in combat, our weapons are rare and primitive. A dagger, axe or bow is more likely than a sword but just as deadly in Dunlending hands.

Dark hair is predominant, although most hair colors other than blond may be found within the culture. Dunlendings are swarthy-skinned. Fair skin and blue eyes are often looked at askance, and occasionally with more anger than curiosity. Anyone with blond hair is assumed to be one of the hated Forgoil and treated accordingly!

To see examples of some Dunlending descriptions, type +display name/desc. Good people to look at are the folks in +dunadmin, or in your clan.

Background

Your history should answer the following questions: Who are you? Where are you from? What key events have shaped your life? What people have influenced you? What motivates you, now and in the past? Your history does not need to be melodramatic - even 'small' things such as sibling rivalry, a childhood friend or a chance meeting can be a major influence on your character.

Historically, we are a fierce and free forest people, defying our many outside foes, proud of our local families and our clans. Your background should reflect this. Owing to the violent nature of Dunlending society, to lose a close relative is not unknown, but please don't overdo it. Remember that a living family is a good way to enhance your RP and provide material for future TPs, and is strongly recommended.

To set your history, type &history me=Your background info then @set me/history=vis so that your local admins can read it. To see examples of other Dunlendings' backgrounds, type +display name/history. Good people to look at are the folks in +dunadmin, or in your clan.

Roleplay

RolePlay is one of the three focuses of Elendor as a MUSH. The other two, code and building, are addressed elsewhere in the games own help files. But here, we will talk about RolePlay, or RP, the thing that brought most of us together, the thing that everyone does with some of their time here.

What is RP? RP is just that. It is playing a role that you have chosen. Becoming the political leader of a clan, the weaver, the healer, the mother, the son, that you have created as your character. It is not acting. Acting is following stage direction, and uttering the words another person wrote. Acting is playing out a scene with a set concept and a decided upon end. It is not book writing. Books are written to be read later. Books are made with meticulous planning and revisions. RP is in the moment. RP is like playing with dolls, or Matchbox cars, or house when we were little. It's an immediate exchange of 'I do this' and 'you do that'. It is examining what the 'this and that' are based on previous shared experiences of RP, on what you believe your character would think, feel, and do in that moment.

Combat

Combat can be an exciting and exhilarating RP experience. Here on Elendor, we have a neutral arbitration system for combat, called the combat system (CS for short). While it is possible to engage in combat and combative action without using the CS, it is very highly recommended that you do not do so without reading help Combat.

How do you apply for combat? Follow these four easy steps:

• Be active in Dunland for two weeks.
• Have a +top time of at least 8 hours in that two week time period.
• Ask anyone in +locals to send you the written test.
• Complete the written test and a short combat/training RP with one of our trainers.

Voila, you are now ready to go out and experience the danger and thrills of combat RP with the CS.

The following arms and equipment are available to players.

Equipment
Level	Weapons	Armour
Citizen	Axe, Bow, Dagger (Preferred), Also Bare Hands, Spear, Staff, Maul Hammer, Club	Leather
Warrior/Watch	As Above Plus Longsword and Battle Axe	Studded Leather Plus Choice of Helm or Shield
Noble	As For Warrior	Ring Mail
Chief	As for Warrior	Chain Mail

IC Travel

Travel outside of Dunland is rare. We are surrounded by enemies (Forgoil to the left, Orcs to the right...). Dunlendings are also a fairly primitive, unsophisticated people. We are ruled by superstition, and are particularly suspicious of outsiders who do not show the proper respect. Most Dunlendings never travel farther then Kierkgard for the annual festivals. Too many have left only to not return again.

That said, you are welcome to travel, bearing the following in mind:

• Travel in Dunland takes time. We do not ride horses. We walk, or perhaps use a cart or wagon drawn by oxen. A chart of applicable travel times between Dunland's areas is given below.
• Travel alone outside Dunland is foolhardy and dangerous. Attempting to do so has a very high likelihood of having your character meet an untimely end.
• Travel outside Dunland in a group is encouraged, whether to raid our enemies or trade with friends. However, the nature of the MUSH requires that these sorts of expeditions be negotiated between cultures, and require working with your LA corps to set up.

IC travel times outside the culture are as important as those inside. Please keep this in mind, and bring any questions to the LA corps. Please remember that all travel must make sense in a thematic manner. If it does not, you will be halted, and made to re-do the RP in a thematic manner, including the possibility of your character's death if you wander into a hostile area.

IC Days
Journey	Miles	On Foot	On Horseback
Central
Kierkgard-Old Village	5	0.25	(1 hr)
Kiergard-Iolair	10	0.5	<0.5
Redvyrne:
Kierkgard-Redvyrne	65	2.5-5	1.5-2.5
Redvyrne-Crebain	50	2-4	1-2
Crebain-The Gap	80	3-6	1.5-3
Laeg:
Kierkgard-Forthunn	75	3-6	1.5-3
Forthunn-Border Fort	75	3-6	1.5-3
Border Fort-Tharbad	140	6-12	3-6
Caerdh:
Kierkgard-Creatrach	75	3-6	1.5-3
Creatrach-Mathain	100	4-8	2-4

Commands

Code	Function
DunAdmin	Shows a listing of Dunland's Admin
DunAge	Shows the IC age of the person. See +dunhelp +DunAge for details
DunDoing	Similar to the global @doing, places a doing in the 'dunwho' listing under the poll
DunDoing/Clear	Clears your +Dundoing
DunList	Gives a list of all Dunlending players
Dunmap	Shows a colour ascii map of Dunland, +dunmap Laeg, +dunmap Caerdh and +dunmap Redvyrne show text maps of Laeg, Caerdh and Redvyrne respectively
DunMOTD	Shows the Dunland Message of the Day
DunTime	Shows the IC time, weather and date. Shows RL Game Time
DunPoll	Changes the DunPoll on the DunWho list
DunWho	A WHO styled list that shows the Dundoing and Dunpoll of the connected players. +Dunwho also shows the information of all online Dunlendings including status and title.
DunWhere	Shows connected players in Dunland and their location. See +Dunhelp and +Dunwhere for more details.
History	Shows the history of the person
OWho	A Recruiting tool which displays OOC cultured players online