So I've never really talked about this before, but for the last three years I've been part of a rather amazing, my personal opinion, MUD called The Inquisition: Legacy, or TI:Legacy for short. For those who don't know what a MUD is, it stands for Multi-User Dungeon. It's essentially a Text-Based MMO. However what sets TI:Legacy apart from a majority of it's fellow MUDs is the fact it is heavily RP Driven, such as the BZPRPG, where as most MUDs are hack and slash type games. Though that isn't to say TI:Legacy doesn't have it's fair share of combat, but it isn't the key driving force of the game.

TI:Legacy was the first and only MUD I've ever played, and before it I didn't even know what a MUD was. However the people on it are very helpful when it comes to explaining the game and are open to questions. This brings me to my first key point of TI:Legacy; The community is great. While it has a rather small playerbase compared to other MUDS, 50+ players with multiple characters, this has created a very friendly group of players, ranging mostly 18+ but with a few still in their teens. The community is mature yet still able to joke around with each other quite a bit. They are also very open to new players, instead of many communities where new players are shunned or find it hard to get into the pre-formed cliques. It also has a very active group of 7 staff members, including the owner of the game, who are on almost every day and are responsive. They are constantly trying to make the game better, whether that be creating plots, new locations on grid, new skills or handling policy matters that come up. I've never met a group of staff who are such a part of their community, except maybe TTV.

Moving forward we have the actual world of the game. It's set in an alternate 'dimension' world called Urth, where Magic is very real. Originally magic was as common day as dirt, but after a group of mages assassinated the kings family, the Inquisition and Consolidation began. While the Holy Order of Dav, the main religion in the game, sought to eradicate magery from the face of Urth, the kingdom sought to bring the varies duchies together into one unified kingdom. Fast forward several hundred years and mages are no longer the public figures they were, instead forced to hide their magic or face the Inquisition. Almost all of the duchies are under the Lithmorran Flag, except for the Daravi Sultanates who continue to resist the Lithmorran kingdom and being the only people who still openly embrace Magic. There are numerous helpfiles in the game that explain the lore further and more indepth.

On top of the lore of the game, there are numerous 'guilds' within the game and different races you can be representing the numerous duchies. Many of the races share key traits with real life races. For example you have the Lithmorrans who make up most of Urth's population are your basic Europeans. From there you have the Tubori who could best be described as 'Islanders' since their race takes traits from many sea-faring people. There are 5 more races to choose from including the Farins, Vandagans, Vavardians, Charali and Hillmen, each with their own traits and extensive lore and culture. For those looking for fantasy species I'm afraid you will be disappointed for there are no elves, centaurs, vampires, unicorns, etc. However there is a very real demonic presence in Lithmore, though often only when summoned. Did I mention demon summoning is a thing, because it is.

I could go on and on about the lore and culture of the game, but I won't bore you further with it, and instead allow you to discover it yourself. Instead I shall talk further about the various skills in the game. Currently TI: Legacy boasts a 72-skill system, with an extensive crafting system, with more in the works currently. These skills are organized into different categories including: Combat, Survival, Communication, Magic, Covert, Trade and Performing. With the vast amount of skills you aren't limited in what type of character you want to play. You want to play the blacksmith who also one bad mofo in combat, well we got skills for that. Want to play the cook, well we have an extensive cooking, brewing and foraging system. Maybe a medieval Walter White is more up your alley, well we have an herbalism skill that includes illegal ingame substances with a fully functioning addiction system. And of course we have skills to facilitate your basic combat character. The possibilities are endless, and the only limitation is what you can imagine and time. However it should be noted that in order to increase your skills above whatever rank you start at, you have to rp with others. When you rp you will be awarded with xp, which can be used to increase your skills and purchase silver, the ingame currency, among other uses. If you don't rp, you can't increase your skills because you will eventually run out of XP. But I assure, you won't regret rping with the wonderful people on here.

If the skills weren't good enough for you, TI: Legacy also has a massive ingame grid, with 1700+ rooms which include: A fully explorable Sewer system, many hidden rooms that can only be found through exploring, and a recently added skygrid. What is a sky grid you ask? Well it's a brand new addition added earlier this week that can allow you to fulfill your assassin's creed dreams of running across rooftops, along as your character is nimble enough. On top of the afore mentioned the game also boasts a mage exclusive grid which is called the astral realm, where your mage leaves their body to take the form of an ethereal 'animal' where they can interact with other mages and collect nodes which can increase your magical skill and teach you new rituals for evoking spells. While the ingame grid is massive, it is worth noting that it is centralized around only one city in Urth, Lithmore, the Capital City of the kingdom. This is merely so that the world does not become too big and as such prevent people from finding rp. A staff member created a map of the game, excluding player homes, the sewer system and skygrid, which should give you a rough estimate of the size of it.

Now to get into some of the more serious information. Death is Permanent in TI: Legacy. If your character dies that is the end of them, however that does not mean you don't get anything in return for their death. You will receive a xp bonus for your next character, along with an xp bonus which is based on a percentage of how much xp you spent in skills during the course of your character's life. On top of that if you feel your character's death went against policy somehow, you can request that staff look into it to make sure whether or not it was handled properly. If it turns out it wasn't, there is a chance your character can be brought back to life and the rp surrounding the death nulled. While this doesn't happen often, it does exist incase. Secondly TI:Legacy is considered a somewhat mature game, however there are options that make it safe for those who may not be comfortable with gore, graphic scenes, etc. On top of that if you are not comfortable with a scene, most players will understand if you ask to avoid those type of scenes. As I mentioned before, the community of players are very understanding and majority of them want to make sure everyone is having fun, for afterall it is a game.

The final thing I wish to bring up is that The Inquisition: Legacy is not a Pay to Play game, nor are there things that you can purchase with real money to gain a benefit in game. So you don't have to worry about Joe Schmo having the best armor in game only because he bought it for 4 easy payments of $9.99. It's an equal footing game with no way to gain a footing above your fellow player with moolah.

Phew, that went on longer than I expected, but hopefully it's convinced some of you to give the game a look. If you are interested, head on over to The Inquisition: Legacy's website, which some guides and general info into the lore of the game and also includes an in-browser way to play, or if you are like me and prefer a program to play the game, I would suggest MUSHClient, which is a free program I've been using for 3 years that is built exclusively for MUDs and MUSHs. It's also worth mentioning that TI: Legacy is Screen Reader friendly, for those who are Sight Impaired.

So yeah, go on and check it out, I promise you likely will not be disappointed. And should you have any questions about aspects of the game, I am more than happy to try and answer them as best as possible.

Edit: Comment merged into entry; please don't double comment.

-Wind-