Guilds are one of the most interesting experiences for adventurers under the Midnight Sun. Much of the power in Midnight Sun emanates from the magics of the gods. As a member of a guild, you will have the benefit of certain powers your god bestows upon you. Newbies may try out any of the guilds at no cost. They may try one then change to another if they prefer. Once a player reaches level 4 they will lose experience if they decide to change guilds. The experience they lose will be equivalent to approximately one stat. When choosing a guild remember that the balance of powers are equal. Since the gods have been endowed with powers over certain spheres, you will find that each guild has a special set of powers that the other guilds won't have. In the overall picture, these powers are all balanced so no guild will have any special advantages over another.
The Druid Guild
Their love of nature allows the druids to call upon companions from the wilderness to assist them as needed during combat or exploration. Druids can summon fireflies to bring light to dark places. The druids' hawks can help carry objects, sell items or deliver things to the druid keep in the old oak, and they also report on the health of an opponent. The druidic magic also centres around nature and their god, Silvanus.
Druids depend heavily on wisdom and neutrality to cast their spells. The greater wisdom a druid has, the longer and more powerful spells he can cast. A druid must strive to maintain the neutrality. Good or Evil druids will find their spells to be less powerful, and Silvanus will only protect those who are neutral.
The druids are a very friendly and talkative clan who have many forms of communication. They talk to one another by sending sounds over a rift in space and by speaking in foreign tongues. They play songs on their lyres, and they also enjoy tales of lore and myth, as their guild is very rich in history.
The Circle of the Druids under the Midnight Sun can be found in the forest of Llorien, in the realms of Lady Galadriel. If you wish to become a druid, you must speak to someone who is already a member of the clan and ask them to enroll you.
Statistics
The stat/level-system in Midnight Sun is different from most other
lpmuds. Here, a player advances only stats, not the level. The level is
automatically adjusted to be the mean of the stats. A stat can be
advanced in the School of Stats in the Central Castle, but only when
the total experience is high enough (see "help experience"). It is also
possible to LEARN a stat there, if you have enough money and your
experience is close enough to the next stat.
A well-rounded Druid will not only aspire to collect wisdom ('wis' - the most important stat for Druids as they rely heavily on casting spells, which become more effective and take up less mental power the wiser you become) and constitution ('con' - which affects a player's maximum hitpoints, and also determines the damage from the hitpoints a player receives!), but also a reasonable amount of strength ('str') for a better carrying ability/ larger inventory space. Charisma ('cha') also helps a player have lower shop prices, better bank rates, and cheaper stat raises. Potions from Argalon, our friendly old Bard, will also be less expensive. Dexterity ('dex') can help a player avoid hits in combat, whilst intelligence ('int') is supposed to affect your maximum spellpoints, yet seems to have little effect on those Druids who have taken the trouble to raise it once or twice.
Abilities and Druid Feelings
Certain abilities are specific to Druids, and others have similar parallels with other guilds but go under guild-specific names (such as public channels and dealing with corpses).
'active' shows any active spells which don't dissipate as soon as being cast (such as barkskin) and potions.
'balance' helps a Druid decide which object is heavier of two objects he is carrying, for example, 'balance sword with staff'.
'clan' will show all members of the druid guild currently online. & means the druid is idle (for three minutes or more), * means the druid is listening to the rift, and o means the druid is currently planeshifted when those characters appear next to the druid's name and title. More on the titles and experience can be found elsewhere.
'consider' a target - you will discover if it is tougher than you. You also sense the alignment of the creature, and if the living being is wiser than you or not, for example, 'consider butterfly'.
'guildbug/guildtypo/guildidea' can be used to report guild-specific problems or ideas direct to the guild coders. Follow it with a concise (to the point) and precise (saying exactly what's wrong) message, for example, 'guildtypo The sbane emote doesn't show a full stop at the end to the player it's targetted towards' or suchlike. It is generally appreciated that you use the correct type of report; contrary to popular belief, typos are not fixed faster if reported as bugs...
Guild-specific feelings and emotes are a nice way of irritating others with the cool things a Druid can do. However, if cool-looking emotes are your sole way of choosing a guild, find out about the blademasters first! Typically, druid emotes are very spammy. Below I give examples of what happens when you type the emote, casting it on a target. Many can be done without a target, however... play around and see.
'dcrawl' - causes little tiny bugs to crawl over your target.
'dleaf' - causes tiny little leaves and plants to spring up inside your target's clothes (notice a pattern yet?!)
'dperch' - several cute birdies perch on your shoulders.
'dtickle' - a merciless tree-tickle.
'fflower' - give a beautiful flower to your player friend.
'greet' - greet someone. This is now a general emote and no longer confined to druids.
'qtrap' - magically change the ground beneath someone's feet into quicksand.
'sbane' - summon Silvanus to show how tough you are.
'treehug' - run to the nearest tree, and huggle it.
Druid Spells
These are divided into three domains, and by making a progress in one domain, you gain more spells within it - however, this is at the expense of the other domains. Ask an expert how to do this, preferably the 'Heart of Silvanus', Hand of Silvanus' or 'Voice of Silvanus', titles bestowed on the dual-masters, or the 'Avatar of Silvanus', the wisest Druid to have graced the clan with their presence that boot. I have never quite worked out how to raise more than one domain at a time, and can't really seem to progress in anything other than Spirit - this is a useful domain with a selection of nice offensive spells at the top end (such as lightning, balefire (uses diamond components which must be bought) and the Elemental Bolt), and also cure and aura, nice defensive numbers. Animal domain revolves mainly around attacking spells, and Plant around defense, but you will no doubt find the right combination to suit your methods of play. This is one area nobody can really tell you what is best for you.
However, there are four spells instantly available to all:
'planeshift' - allows you to transfer your spirit into the Druid Circle, so you can raise, learn a potion, read a message or just heal for a while without being beaten thoroughly by the monster you are in the process of fighting... your body will be left spiritless, and your hawk will continue to circle any prey in the room. It takes a tiny amount of mental, but you are still able to use it when you have run out, at no cost. One of the best things about being a Druid. Alias it quickly!
'familiar' - a companion (such as a hawk, the original familiar) who can carry things for you, keep an eye on your belongings by guarding a room, report on the health of your prey, and value your winnings. You can name it, feed it, cuddle up to it... but if you treat it unwisely, by asking it to do things it cannot (such as 'familiar sell' when it holds nothing), it may quit your service, leaving you to summon another. And this costs rather a lot of mental indeed.
'firefly' - like a torch, only needs a moderate amount of mental to start it off (and seemingly uses a little for maintenance while it hovers about your head), a firefly will light up a dark place, allowing you to check your inventory or pick things up where otherwise it would be 'too dark'. If you try to cast a firefly with too little mental, you will conjure one up for a split second, the glimmer will not last long enough, and you will have wasted your mental. That sucks when you're fighting someone underground and need to keep an eye on their health bar.
'barkskin' is a basic extra layer of protection for the whole body, provided courtesy of the plant domain. It again uses a moderate amount of mental, and as with all spells, lasts longer the more mental you have. It helps your body receive less damage from your sparring opponent.
And a few more, just for fun:
'djinni' - this annoying chap can be conjured by typing his name, and will ask a series of questions before delivering an item in your posession to another player, and returning the money to you if you wish to charge for it. Check with the receiving party that they have enough space in their inventory and/or enough money. He won't always listen, however, which leads to annoying repetition (especially if you use telnet or PuTTY as opposed to a MUD client - I wish I had zMUD back!). He will also run off with your cash, eat your food and drink your booze if you are foolish enough to let him have it, and spam you if you wait long enough. Some companion to have! Uses as much mental as planeshifting.
'dryad' - a young dryad will provide a newbie with basic sword and armour, if they are level 4 and below. A nice way to help from afar. Use 'dryad [target]'. Uses as much mental as planeshifting, and can also be done on zero mental. (See also 'djinni')
'ensnare' - a silly little spell to have fun with, which works better on druids with lower wisdom than you. Needless to say, I can't use it as much as I would like, especially as 'vines do not seem to attach themselves to immortals' and the Central Castle Guard won't let you do it there. But it can be fun in the circle if a lot of players are planeshifted. It, um, makes your target fall over lots, and bounce about instead of entering a room normally. And it costs about the same as a firefly, whether it is successful or not.
'lyre' - a noisy spell which enables you to write songs and ballads, or collect the lyrics from elsewhere if you haven't the time and/or imagination, and then repeat them in time to other unsuspecting adventurers nearby. You can pick up a lyre in the Druid Wardrobe (west of the Arcane Circle), or magically create one by typing 'lyre'. It can hold very many songs... perhaps too many in the cases of a certain Petrus...
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