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 Q: Can I join the team? how can I help? how old is this shard? A: All are welcome to join at this time, just send me an email at razimus@gmail.com for further details. You can help by spreading the word, not spamming but simply mentioning the website URL or shard name in conversations, in games, in forums where it is allowed. You can help if you have read the page and have the same or similar vision. You can help if you know how to Script/Program custom scripts, Sphere is the current scripting UO emulator choice, know how to make custom maps, know how to make and patch custom 2d artwork, or were a member of a previous shard team and have experience and want to help. This shard is simply a project, it is in the beginning stages, the website went up in early September of 2009. Q: What & where is Serpent Isle? A: Serpent Isle is a land that exists in it's own world or dimension, it can be entered through a portal that appears between 2 serpent pillars in the arctic waters of Britannia. The exact location of the pillars and how they appear is unknown. The landscape is full of ruins from an ancient serpent worshiping people known as the Ophidians. Originally the Serpent Isle was a continent of Sosaria, it was known as The Lands of Danger and Despair, this was During the First Age of Darkness. After Mondain's defeat the four continents including Serpent Isle broke off and became their own seperate worlds. Q: Who currently populates Serpent Isle? / Where did they come from? A: The population of Serpent Isle consists mainly of refugees that originated from the main Britannia continent of Sosaria, the civilized beings include humans, gargoyles, goblins and a native humanoid race with white fur known as the Gwani. The ancient human inhabitents were known as the Ophidians, they are basically extinct and their religion is long dead, they were a wise people who worshiped the Chaos, Order and Earth Serpents, their construction of the Serpent Gates is proof of their magic skill. The written history of the modern human Serpent Islanders is very anti-Lord British, they refer to him as Beast British. In early Britannia when Lord British instituted the virtue system those who disagreed fled to Serpent Isle before it broke off into it's own world. The warriors of Monitor claim Courage was the greatest virtue. The city of Fawn was named after the Old Fawn of Sosaria, they worship Beauty and claim it is a virtue. The city of Moonshade was founded by the mages of Moon, a group of mages that disagreed with Lord British because they refused to practice the virtue of Honesty, their magic arts heavily relied on illusion based on deceit. The Gwani are a primitive snow white humanoid creature with fur. Theirs is a matriarchal society who believe magic corrupts the balance of nature. They reside in the north frozen wastes and are likely the oldest residents of Serpent Isle. The Gwani are referred to as savage fearsome beasts by the residents of Monitor and are hunted for their exotic white pelts. The human friendly gargoyles are lead by the gargoyle King Zhelkas, they reside in the underground city of Furnace. The gargoyles moved into this lava filled dungeon area after the Ophidians left which likely had nothing to do with Lord British's virtue system. Their move was likely motivated due to the fact that Gargoyles can comfortably live next to molten magma. The goblins are lead by the goblin King Pomdirgun, their city is located in a valley hidden between the northwest mountains, humans are their mortal enemy, their native residence in the area may go as far back as the Gwani, it is unknown. The most recent visitors to Serpent Isle are from Britannia, they came by way of the Serpent Pillars, they include two parties. Gwenno the explorer, and later the fellowship founder Batlin and his crew, he brought with him 6 men and 1 gargoyle. They refer to Serpent Isle as New Sosaria. Q: Do I need to be familliar with the DOS games Ultima 7 or Serpent Isle? A: Don't worry about not being too familliar with Ultima VII or Ultima VII: Part Two. Serpent Isle came out in 1993, back then computer games weren't as big as nintendo and sega, so it's understandable that few people today even remember the game let alone played it, with this in mind I'm going to add to the site the full history of Serpent Isle, players won't even need to be too familliar with Britannia, the project is focused on one island with a rich history of it's own, players can read up on Serpent Isle or play the old game if they wish but it is not a requirement. Playing a game without knowing anything about the history can allow you to see the world with new eyes and can be a good thing. Q: Is Roleplaying required on this shard? A: All Ultimas are technichally RPGs, RPG=Role-Playing-Game, the answer to this question depends on your definition of the term 'Roleplaying', there will not be any strict roleplaying rules or requirements, it is encouraged but not mandatory. To some roleplaying means; 1. To get into the role of the character you are playing. To some it means; 2. Speaking in broken old english sentances constantly. I prefer option 1. personally but you are free to roleplay how you wish. If you don't want to participate in any roleplaying you are free to do so, but consider this, you may speak in modern day english as long as you minimalize the number of times you make an earth reference, such as an earth holiday, earth holidays will not exist in Serpent Isle Online, perhaps native Serpent Isle holidays exist but they will not even remotely resemble any known earth holidays. Is roleplaying required? no, but anti-roleplaying is discouraged, what is anti-roleplaying? it's when a player ruins the atmosphere with crude earth phrases and words including expletives, if you can however find a curse word documented in Ultima lore you may use it seldomly, but no strict policing will take place unless a character gets way out of hand and basically begs to be jailed or banned. If you are familliar with Britannia you may choose to roleplay as an explorer or refugee from Britannia. If you are familliar with Serpent Isle you may choose to roleplay a native of the island. If you know nothing about Britannia or Serpent Isle you may choose to roleplay a character from another land of your choice. There are shards with strict roleplaying rules, this is not one of those shards. Q: Is scamming or cheating okay? A: Scamming will be 100% illegal, enforced by jail and banning, one warning may take place but a second offence will not end well. Cheating or exploiting any bugs without reporting those bugs will result in jail and banning after a warning but only once the shard is out of the testing phases. Q: (PvP) Player vs Player, (PKing) Player Killing, will I be able to roleplay a mass murderer? A: Player vs Player combat will take place outside of town excepting the dueling pit in Monitor. Player killing will be a part of the natural world, but killing new players will not take place, nor will res-killing. The beginning areas of the game will be heavily guarded, to further the safety of new players, they will not be attackable by other players until they reach a decent number such as lvl 10. South of Gorlab swamp will be relatively safe but north of Gorlab swamp will be more of a risky area, and the northern icelands will be deadly for more than one reason. Resurrection killing will not take place because when you 'die' you will not 'resurrect', death will be just like it was in the original Serpent Isle, when you 'die' your body will not leave a corpse and you will never be a ghost, your near-mortally wounded body will awake from unconciousness at Monk Isle or the bed in a kind hearted NPCs home. There will be rewards for those who win a duel, and some type of item loss system may take place if you are bested in the wilderness. There will be penalties for death but steps will be taken to prevent 'res-killing', such a practice requires zero skill and has nothing to do with roleplaying, it is called griefing or harassing and will not be tolerated in Serpent Isle Online. Further details will yet to be revealed and this FAQ is subject to change at any time. Q: If I join the team can I make any changes to the storyline, rules, gameplay? A: In short, yes. If you contribute with scripting/2d art/mapping/patching you will have an equal voice as long as your vision is similar to the original Serpent Isle, you can create new dungeons, new monster bosses, but custom artwork for custom monsters will not be created unless you wish to create them, and any new monsters or dungeons will not be the focus of the main quests in the shard, but rather side quests or expansions, also if your goal is to change the story and world so drastically that it would result in an OSI-clone or a world completley un-relatable to Serpent Isle I would recommend you either look elsewhere or start your own project. If your 'contribution' to the team is simply your vision and your story in words alone it will not be considered a contribution, I have been on teams where the only work other team members did was talk about their perfect shard, talking about it will get you nowhere if you don't contribute in the art/script department, I will focus on my vision and you are expected to focus on your vision, if our visions are similar or the same it will be more ideal, but if you feel strongly about an issue you are welcome to voice your opinions, team members will vote on an issue if there are any differing views, no member of the team will be the final judge, I am simply the project organizer, web designer, 2d artist and mapper.  |
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