Lore & Info

Many players of UO might want to either create a new character or adapt an existing character to join us. In doing so there are a few things you should consider.

DETAILED SUPERNATURAL LORE PAGES:
VAMPIRES | HALF-BREEDS | LYCANS | WICCANS

CHARACTER TYPES
ALLOWED RACES
SUGGESTED SKIN COLOR
LORE BACKGROUNDS
GUILD TITLES
GUILD SUBGROUPS
CHARACTER ROLES

~*~*~*~ CHARACTER TYPES ~*~*~*~
CoD is centered around the role play of certain character types. Those being the supernatural vampires and werewolves, along with their mortal mates or friends. The general disposition of those character types is defined in the following ways:

  • VAMPIRES are opportunists dealing primarily in territorial acquisitions and straight profit. They are regarded as eccentric humans, keeping their true natures hidden from the outside world. They abide by our common laws and rituals, thus we are Lawful Neutral. Those newly reborn into the unlife are considered weak (possessing only a few basic gifts), easily expendable, ravenous and insatiable, and almost uncontrollable. As they age, their hunger is better satiated and their tolerance of sunlight grows, allowing them to socialize more with the mortal world. They also gain new abilities and/or become stronger in their current abilities. They gain better and stronger control of their nature with age as well. They feel emotions stronger than mortals, thus fall in love easily, are saddened easily, and everything in between. For the most part, they’re considered to be “good-natured” by mortals, although eccentric. To endure their immortality, it is imperative to them to be among the mortal world, unseen, and to make friendships and engage in social functions. They are undoubtedly rich, sometimes bratty, and often belong to the high class social differentiation.
  • HALF-BREEDS are born into the world through the means of a blasphemous act.  They are half-vampire, half-mortal and retain their mortality, although it is absurdly slowed. They are the only race within CoD that has a choice as to what they wish to be.  They can be raised by their mortal families and live life as a mortal would; completely undetectable to mortals. Or they can chose to join their vampiric kin and live their prolonged lives as vampires would; thus seeking to be part of a coven like CoD. They can eat mortal food and drinks but can also drink blood. Their characteristics as a vampire are not unlike full vampires with the exception that they are almost completely mortal in appearance.  They are also Lawful Neutral and abide by all common laws and rituals. They cannot create new vampires however, and while some of the gifts are shared they are not as powerful as full vampires would be in them.  They also have a set of unique gifts, which most say comes from their mortal infusions. Most half-breeds choose to stay in the middle to upper social class often becoming tradesmen and seek entrepreneurial opportunities.  This makes them just as rich and successful as vampires. Half-breeds often take on mortal partners, and can (albeit by slight chance) procreate.  Half-breeds give birth to “super mortals” — mortals that have increased physicality, but nothing else. Having more than one child is an extreme rarity.
  • LYCANS OR WEREWOLVES are quiet, reserved, easily angered, and extremely territorial. In this quest, they ally themselves with the vampires which have an uncanny business sense and calm approach that escapes Lycans. Like their undead brethren, they too abide by a common set of laws and have their own rituals, thus making them Lawful Neutral. Unlike the vampires that are afflicted with vampirism, Lycans are born are lycanthropes. They are forbidden to mate with their own kind, thus often take a human mate and would not mate with Elves or Gargoyles to avoid any deformations in their progeny. As a mate, they are often demanding and dominant; true to their wolf fathers. They run in packs, where a pack leader is asserted through staving off challenges from lower ranked pack members. They age at about the same pace as humans, but would outlive a human by a second lifetime. Lycans can be as old as 200 years. The pack leaders often revere their elders and seek their council in all matters concerning the pack. A Lycan can chose to sacrifice themselves if they become to ill or old in ritual form. Lycans are exceptional fighters, trackers, and workers, thus making them valuable to vampires. Lycans often do not challenge any of the older vampires, as they are eventually overtaken. It would take several pack members to kill a lone vampire.
  • WITCHES OR WARLOCKS are mortals with special abilities in the arts of magic. Following the traditions of the ancients, witches or warlocks are mortals that are trained in and practice magical arts.  (THIS LORE IS IN PROGRESS AND NOT YET AVAILABLE)
  • MORTALS can really be anything they wish to be as long as their story is in line with our lore.

~*~*~*~ ALLOWED RACES ~*~*~*~
UO has a variety of races that players can choose from. The manner that we adapt those races into our lore is as follows:

  • VAMPIRES/HALF-BREEDS can be human or elven.
  • LYCANS can only be human.
  • MORTALS can be human, elven, or gargoyle.

~*~*~*~ SUGGESTED SKIN COLOR ~*~*~*~
Your character’s skin color is a good indicative of the character type you play. Usually, and there can be exceptions to this, we go by the following:

  • VAMPIRES/HALF-BREEDS should be pale and light skinned.  Elves can be a luminescent dark and deep tone and Half-Breeds can be a tad darker than full vampires.
  • LYCANS should be any color but pale, they usually give off a lot of heat as Lycans are a few degrees hotter than mortals.
  • MORTALS of course can be any shade of skin color.

~*~*~*~ LORE BACKGROUND ~*~*~*~
Our lore is based largely on adapted storylines written by several authors as follows:

  • VAMPIRE LORE is largely based on the books by Anne Rice, but do also have our own adaptations to it or even some properties borrowed by other authors such as White Wolf’s Mark Rein·Hagen (who wrote Vampire the Masquerade), Bram Stroker (who wrote Dracula) and Len Wiseman (who wrote the Underworld series).
  • HALF-BREED LORE is largely based on Anne Rice as well, with some properties heavily borrowed from the comic strip of BLADE, written for Marvel Comics by Marvin A. Wolfman.
  • LYCAN LORE is largely based on White Wolf’s Werewolf Series, also written by Mark Rein·Hagen as well as Adam Tinworth, and Len Wiseman (who wrote the Underworld series).
  • MORTAL LORE really can be anything you want it to be that is closely related to the mortal history of Ultima Online.

~*~*~*~ GUILD TITLES ~*~*~*~
CoD has a hierarchy within the guild, that are now reflected in your guild titles.

  • IMPERATORS are the guild leaders.  All the characters with this connotation would mean guild leader. They are the heads of the High Council. In Character they are the coven masters and the head of the family nation.
  • CONSULARIS are the officers of the guild. They function as senior officers, and along with the guild leaders,  form the High Council. They are the authoritative element of the guild and all aspects of the guild — and for ALL character types. In character, they are seen as high ranking command for the vampires and pack leaders for the werewolves. CONSULS are the “Representatives” of the people are often political in nature, thus they are ELECTED OFFICIALS. Consuls can be both Emissary and Warlord ranks. They can vote for other Consuls, but cannot vote on their own elections, and have full use of our Guild Tower and our Death Tower.
  • LEGIONNAIRES are members of the guild that have been with us for a very long time and have active function in PvM or PvP (or both) encounters. They function as the voice for all members to the high council and as such the high council listens. Legionnaires get Emissary ranks for the guild to be able to invite others. They can vote for the Consuls and have full use of our Guild Tower.
  • CITIZENS are full members of the guild that have passed any quests and/or probationary periods for their ranks. Citizens can be members that do not wish to engage in PvM or PvP encounters, more than likely our crafters and “shop owners”.  Also our nobility is part of this rank; so Lords and Ladies and all the aristocrats of our lands.  Citizens are also granted the Emissary rank for the guild to be able to invite others. They can vote for the Consuls and have full use of our Guild Tower.
  • INITIATES are  members who have recently joined.  They must pass a series of quests and/or probationary periods in order to elevate in rank to Disciples. If an Initiate does not make a conscious effort to up their ranks, they will be removed after 30 days.  They CANNOT vote for Consuls but do have full use of our Guild Tower.

 

~*~*~*~ GUILD SUBGROUPS ~*~*~*~
CoD has four varying subgroups, each having specific available character roles.

  • CITIZENSHIPS  (All members are citizens in one way or another.)
  • TRADE AND COMMERCE COMMISSION (A sub-guild of CoD that focus primarily on the import/export business and runs the Trade Center in Umbra.)
  • ROYAL BRITANNIAN GUARD (A sub-guild of CoD that focus primarily on the RBG role playing theme for the city of Umbra.)
  • THE NAVAL CLASS (Members of the guild that wish to focus primarily on Ship vs. Ship combat as well as trade delivery and negotiations.)
  • THE TRIBUNE LEGION (Members of the guild that can engage in PvM and/or PvP skills that wish to play “dungeon master” and lead the efforts of others — can be any skill.)
  • THE BEAST LEGION (Members of the guild that focus primarily on taming abilities and engage in PvM and/or PvP combat with the use of pets.)
  • THE PREFECT LEGION (Members of the guild that can engage in PvM and/or PvP combat with the use of spellcasting skills.)
  • THE CENTURIATE LEGION (Members of the guild that can engage in PvM and/or PvP combat with the use of melee or archery skills.)
  • THE IMMUNES LEGION (Members of the guild that can engage in PvM and/or PvP combat with the use of alternative skills such as thievery, cartography, forensics, and barding skills.)

~*~*~*~ CHARACTER ROLES ~*~*~*~
The following are the character roles that any member can choose to take.

THE LEGIONNAIRES

There are 5 Legions — the Beast Legion, Tribune Legion, Prefect Legion, Centuriate Legion, and the Immunes Legion.

CITIZENSHIPS

ALL Citizens can choose one of these.
Legionnaires can also be any of these but will reflect their Legion in their guild titles.

COMMANDERSare members of a Legion that can effectively engage in both PvP and PvM combat, following the strict ROE’s we have in place for PvP within the Order vs. Chaos alliance. They are several leaders of any one legion, and all underclass follow their orders. There can be several commanders to a legion, however only one Beast Legion Commander is currently in place: Cherry Spy. A LORD/LADY is a member of the guild that holds property estatehoods and run full households or plantations on behalf of the empire.  ARTISANS might seek the investments of a LORD or LADY to start their own shops, cutting a profit margin to the lordships. To select this role, you must have prior approval from the Governors.
CHAMPIONS are members of a Legion that can effectively engage in ONLY PvM combat and does not wish to do much PvP outside of RP encounters. ARISTOCRATS are the members of the nobility that are governed by the Lords/Ladies. A person who has the exquisite tastes, manners, etc., characteristic of members of an aristocracy. The extended families of the Lords/Ladies would be an example of this role.
WARLORDS are members of a Legion that can effectively engage in ONLY PvP combat and does not wish to do much PvM outside of RP encounters. ARTISANS are members of the guild that have a direct focus on enterprise… the architects, the lumber jacks, the miners, the smiths, the armorers, the masons, the smiths, the glassblowers, etc.  An Artisan would run a shop and would employ ATTENDANTS and perhaps seek out SEEKERS as independent contractors.
MASTERS are members of the Beast Legion that have reached 100.0 points in taming, animal lore, and optionally veterinary science enough to command greater dragons and can follow the strict ROE’s for PvP with pets. SEEKERS are highly skilled members that are self-employed… the alchemists, the thieves, the mapmakers, the treasure hunters, the animal tamers, etc. but they can also be smiths, miners, masons, etc. Seekers could also be apprentices of ARTISANS working in their shops for a salary.  Seekers are often more independent and do not usually hire ATTENDANTS to work for them, at least not for a long given period of time.
APPRENTICES are members of the Beast Legion that have yet to reach 100.0 points in taming, animal lore, and optionally veterinary science and cannot currently command Greater Dragons but can follow the strict ROE’s for PvP with pets. APPRENTICES are members of the guild that would be skilled workers and under the tutelage of an ARTISAN. They would receive commission profits from the work that they do.
ATTENDANTS are members that wish to take on the role of a salary worker for any of our establishments under an artisan or lordship. They can also be NPC’s that are found within our cities.

NAVAL CLASS

Captains are appointed by the High Council after completing the necessary guild quests. A christening ceremony is performed where they are then gifted an Orc Class B ship to command.  In turn it is their responsibility to “crew up” their ships.

^ = Appointed by the High Council.
* = Elected by the Captains of each ship.

 COMMONERS are members of the guild that wish to live their lives as common citizens. They may own a small, modest house within the area nearest to our territories (Vamp’s Lair, Umbra, South Jhelom, or Trinsic Hold) or find seclusion in other parts of Sosaria.  They are patrons of the establishments in the cities and often do business with the other member roles. They can also relatives of other citizens, such as wives, children, cousins, brothers, etc…
^ CAPTAINS are members of the Naval Class that own and operate a ship.  They hire the crews, formulate war tactics, manage the navigation and plot courses.
* FIRST MATES are members of the Naval Class that are skilled in sea warfare. They train their ship’s crew on battle tactics and execute the Captain’s commands and have authority over primarily the crew, but at times also assume Captain command especially if the Captain is injured or unavailable.
* MASTER GUNNERS are members of the Naval Class that are expert cannonries, thus are in charge of cannon fires at the command of their Captains or First Mates. They are also in charge of training other gunners on how to use their cannons. Master Gunners operate the front bow cannon.
STARBOARD GUNNERS handle the cannons on the Starboard side of the ship. These are appointed by the Master Gunners.
PORT GUNNERS handle the cannons on the Port side of the ship. These are appointed by the Master Gunners.
DECKHANDS are in charge of cleaning, swabbing, and reloading the cannons and loading up bounty from pirate ships. Deckhands are hired by the First Mate.
CHIEF ENGINEERS are in charge of all the repairs for the ship and in charge of supplies.  A supplies list must be submitted to the Captain, who then in turn submits it to the High Council. CE’s are appointed by the Captain.
PETTY OFFICER is in charge of security for the ship. They are the ones that handle the arrest of known pirates, and turn the pirates in for their bounty. PO’s are appointed by the Captain.