(lib/text/info)
[Note: Further information can be gained on the capitalized words by using the
HELP command]

Welcome to EmpireMUD. You start the game at a Tower of Souls, in a friendly
and hospitable part of the world. You can use TRANSPORT to get to other Towers
of Souls from there. If you've played other types of CircleMUDs before, some
of the commands will be familiar to you already. But you've already noticed the
biggest difference: You see a map of the region around you instead of a room
description.

If you're using the ASCII map, each map tile is 4 letters wide and uses icons
like &c~~~~&0 for river and &g^^^^&0 for forest. You can see more symbols on
the help files for LEGEND and CROPS. There's also a non-ASCII version if you
type 'toggle screen-reader'.

You can type SCORE to see a sheet of information about your character including
your attributes and skills. You can also get this information in your PROMPT or
over MDSP. If you prefer not to see a prompt after every line, the SMESSAGES
command can toggle it off. You can use DISPLAY to get prompt info on-demand.

Here are some starting commands you will want to know from the get go:
   EQUIPMENT (eq)   INVENTORY (i)   SKILLS         QUEST (q)
   SEW              CRAFT           TOGGLE         EMPIRE
   DIG              CHOP            SKIN           GET
   SCRAPE           HARVEST         PICK           WHO
   BUILD            /NEWBIE         TELL           WEAR
   EEDIT            EAT/DRINK       WHOIS          REMOVE

You can find tutorials around the starting area that will teach you to gather
resources, build a house, and craft clothing. You may also find areas such as
the Goblin Mines, where you can learn how to go on adventures.

Your empire has goals that you can complete to unlock more buildings, larger
cities, and other perks. Use the PROGRESS command to see your current goals.

Before it gets dark, you should learn to make a torch. GATHER some sticks in
the forest. CRAFT 'fire sticks' from two of the sticks and then LIGHT a third
stick to make a torch.

You begin the game with some bread to EAT and water to DRINK. If you see a
river or an oasis, you can FILL your bottle with water again. You can FORAGE
for fruits and nuts for simple foods in the wild, but they aren't very filling.
Or, you can BUTCHER animals to get meat and COOK food. But don't worry, you
won't starve to death -- you'll just find that you take longer to perform some
tasks and you regain health and moves more slowly (you can always SLEEP to
regenerate faster).

If you find it difficult to navigate the map, you may want to buy the
NAVIGATION ability, from the Survival skill. It will give you coordinates for
each location. When you buy this ability, your map may rotate. That means your
character didn't know which way was actually North until now.

Additional Utilities:
  TOGGLE - Lets you turn on and off various modes and preferences.
    - toggle political: shows ownership on the map
    - toggle informative: shows building status as map colors
  MAPSIZE - Change the size of your game map.
  NEARBY - See cities, adventures, and starting locations near you.
  ADVENTURE - Shows information about any adventure you come across.
  CONSIDER - Tells you how hard an enemy will be to fight.
  IDENTIFY - Tells you how good an item is, and where it's stored.
  HELPSEARCH - Look for help files by searching for text.

After 12 hours of total gameplay, you will get the opportunity to reset the
BONUS TRAIT you picked during character creation. After 48 hours of gameplay,
you will receive a second bonus trait when you next log in.

If you need more information than you can find in help files, don't panic! You
can always ask on the &j/newbie&0 channel.

You can find more information via HELP GETTING STARTED. And be sure to type
'policy' to see the game's rules.

More quick-start guides:
* Founding an empire: HELP EMPIRE GUIDE
* Building your first house: HELP HOUSING GUIDE
* Mining and forging: HELP IRON GUIDE
* Vampires: HELP VAMPIRE GUIDE
