Meridian 59: Konima's Legacy

May, 1997

Bards and sages remember fondly the tale of Konima who, with his small band of stalwart adventurers, drove the orcish hordes from the walls of Tos, and back into their home. Intent on ending the threat to his homeland for once and for all, Konima vowed to go deep into the caverns the orcs called home and eradicating them at the source. However, aware that he might fail, Konima ordered the cavern behind him sealed shut, to protect the peaceful folk of Tos from trouble. No one heard from him or the orcish hordes since.

But of late, troublesome signs have begun. Orcish raiding parties have begun to harass merchants and travellers. And an adventurer, Joman, has reportedly been to where the door to the orc caves sat shut for all these years. The door, he said, was open......

New Gameplay Additions

• Orc Warrens - An extremely difficult maze, more like a standard dungeon than anything else. A couple of puzzles, and the mana node that is in the icky caves may well be moved here. At least two, possible three new kinds of orc (Cave Orc, Orc Chief, Orc Shaman), as well as a ghoul.
• Konima's Island - The band of adventurers went a long way towards driving the orc hordes towards extinction, but eventually, the tides turned and they were forced to flee for their lives. Knowing that the way home was barred to them, Konima led his men into a new direction, heading upwards until the survivors of the party found the caves open up to sky, and their feet on the sandy soil of a small island. With little other options, Konima's Island declared it home, and made a civilized but dangerous life there.
  The new Temple of Riija is here, as well as new weapons technology (bows and arrows) and new clothing options (robes). The economy also evolves differently, operating around a different currency.
• Riija spells -
• An entire spell school (Riija), dedicated solely to illusion and deception, has it's main monastery on the island. A full gamut of ~12 spells will be added.
• Anonymity (1) - changes a person's name to 'someone', and hides their description.
• Flash (1) - Causes a bright flash to go off in the room. Any trances in the room are lost.
• Distract (2)- Causes all the monsters to chase the spellcaster.
• Foresight (2) - Gets a list of the spells and skills that the target player has.
• Illusionary Wounds (2) - An enchantment. When initially cast, player loses 10 HP of life. They get that back when the enchantment wears off.
• Apparition (3)- creates a 1 HP version of a common monster.
• Illusionary Token (3) - Creates a fake Duke/Princess token, which will fool an average player but does nothing to fool a councilor.
• Forget (4) - Causes the target player to forget a spell for a short period of time. The spell forgotten is chosen at random.
• Denial (4) - The player gets healed up to full health. When the enchantment wears off, he loses as much health as he had originally gained.
• Mirror Image (4)- Creates a mirror image of yourself with 1 HP. That mirror image attacks whatever monster attacks you.
• Personal Apparition (5) - Creates a monster that only the target player can see. That player must defeat that monster.
• Morph (5) - Player holds the appearance of a common monster, and gains some limited powers of that monster.
• Orc Raids - Sure, players can raid the Orc Warrens. The Orcs will also be raiding Tos, laying siege and preventing all comers from entering the town. As a result, the town will suffer for the siege, largely in the form of higher prices and unsafe streets.
• More Clothing and Hair options - Robes will be available, as will different colored shirts.
• Lair of the Lupogg King - The tunnels beneath Barloque and Jasper connect here, home of the largest Meridian monster to date.
• Improved Monster Intelligence, Including:
• Faeries who attack each other
• NPC guards that attack player killers
• Bodyguard monsters (or pets) who protect their 'owner'
• Ally monsters, who will try to protect each other.
• Craven monsters, who will flee when wounded, especially when fighting a tough player
• Improved NPC/Quest engines, including
• NPC Moods
• Spell Effectors
• Qor spells more potent at night, Shal'ille spells more potent in forests, etc

New Monsters

How many of these we get done depends on the number and quality of the artists we get. Therefore, these are listed in order of preference.

• Lupogg King (Sewers) Supermonster for sewers area.
• Avars - (Konima's Island) flightless bird humanoids, good in karma. Extremely short arms wielding a spear.
• Orc Shamans - (Orc Warrens) magic slinging orcs which are much tougher than their mundane counterparts.
• Ghoul - (Orc Warrens) evil, hugely powerful nasty things that create another ghoul if they kill someone.
• DragonFly - (Konima's Island) a pint-sized dragon with dragonfly wings instead of reptilian wings.
• Lava Beast - (Volcano) Glowy, nasty thing, troll-level in difficulty.
• Shadowbeast - (Orc Warrens) a monster that makes whatever room it's in darker. Very tough.
• Avar Chief - (Konima's Island) Lord of the flightless bird humanoids.
• Cave Orc - (Orc Warrens) Tougher, nastier orc.
• Whip Vine - (Konima's Island) Not too tough but extremely tricky. Drops from the canopy to attack it's prey.
• Lava Lord - (Volcano) Extremely big and ugly Lava area supermonster.
• Orc Chieftain - (Orc Warrens) Orc Supermonster.

New Client Modifications

• Latency Meter - because latency is a fact of life on any internet game, the Latency meter allows you to help identify when your connection is good, and when it is spotty, allowing you to make the best decisions as to when to engage in deep risk, and when to play it safe.
• Profanity Filter - in an attempt to allow you to take control of your own playing experience, Meridian 59 offers a user-editable profanity filter, which will replace any objectionable terms with garbage characters for your convenience. Also, the option to completely not hear any obscene statements at all is available.
• Tellguild- improved communications makes it easier to keep in touch with your guildmates.
• Command Line Aliases - Use command line aliases to make your emotes more personal and interesting, livening up your conversation with others from around the globe!