The Midnight Watch

Egbert

S'a hammerin'.

Registered: 2013-05-16

Posts: 221

The Defiled

Greetings, citizens of Blackwell.

For the past few weeks, I have been hard at work implementing some new features for the shard. As I'm sure you noticed, there's an apocalypse going on, and all sorts of undead nasties plagueing the shadows, waiting for their chance to take the life blood of the innocent.

More intelligent undead threats were devised primarily by GM intervention, but today I would like to open those doors to the public, and add a system whereby players can participate in the evil side of the shard. Death is no longer the end...

It should be noted that playing as a defiled is not easy, nor is it meant to be. You have several powerful advantages over players, but the system is designed such that while you pose a dire threat, as an individual minion of the Guardian, you are at a disadvantage over the forces of good. Playing as an undead should be considered hard mode.

## The Defiled

Soul corrupted, flesh stripped away, they are not what they once were. They are the defiled, and they serve only evil.

Playing as an undead allows you to provide an intelligent antagonist to the players. The actions of the defiled are guided and defined by the game mechanics, enabling more balanced and spontaneous play than can be achieved with GM interaction.

As undead minions, the defiled can pass peacefully among other undead minions such as zombies and ghosts. They do not tire, or feel pain, but for reasons not entirely clear, they are highly susceptible to silver.

### The Defiled Shrine

The Defiled Shrine is the centre of undead activity. The shrine is where the defiled commune with the Guardian, and where they recieve rewards for their dedication and the evil that they have wrought upon the world.

It is also where defeated undead may be brought back to un-life.

*double click on the shrine to pray to the Guardian*

### Evil

Your contributions to enacting the will of the Guardian are quantified by evil points (EP). You can gain EP through general play, by hunting animals or humans (most profitably players, or animals that are useful to humans), or you can be awarded EP through individual prowess during events led by an undead GM character. These points can be spent on a variety of rewards, as well as undead powers such as necromancy and spirit speak.

Even the undead need supplies, so EP can be gained by depositing items such as certain weapons or body parts in special resource chests.

### Necromancy

As an undead minion, the Guardian grants you access to powers chanelled from the life force of others. Like all things undead, these powers can be accessed once you have accumulated the EP required to be granted a book and the appropriate scroll. These are powers granted by the Guardian rather than herbalism, so they cost no reagents but instead cost EP equal to the mana cost.

### Healing

The undead have had their flesh stripped away, and their organs are decaying and torn. They cannot benefit from human healing techniques such as bandages and potions, but they can instead channel the life force of nearby corpses, or if no corpses are nearby, channel from the spirits at a cost of 10EP.

Unlike humans, undead do not have injury points, but they have a limited amount of favour from the Guardian. Fail him too many times in a short period, and he may cease to reanimate your body. Favour is lost in the same way that injury points are gained, and can be restored at the Defiled Shrine at a rate of 10EP per point. Unlike injury points, favour will not restore naturally over time. The Guardian expects you to work for the power he grants you!

The advantage to these bodily changes is that they are no longer affected by the first two levels of poison.

### Additional play guidelines for the defiled

* When defeated in PvP, you may not engage in PvP again for 6 hours.
* When defeated in PvP, your corpse is forfeit. You should return to the defiled shrine for resurrection.
* You may only attack the main portion of a settlement (e.g. within the main walls of Blackwell) once every 24 hours.

## Other Changes

A number of smaller changes have been working their way into the code while this has been in the works, and are being introduced with the same update:

* Darker night times
* Disguise kits are now craftable by tailors and usable by all except undead
* You can only dismember a permadead character
* Polearms now have a range of 2 tiles
* Bandages now have a range of 2 tiles
* More weapons are now throwable - just double click and fling!
* Damage to and from other players should be more reasonable

P.S. A huge thank you to Black Tom a.k.a Nathaniel Vane, who was instrumental in helping to planning and testing these features. Our daily brainstorm was a pleasure.