First Steps¶

This page covers orientation: the commands that report your state, how movement and rooms work, and the rules that keep you alive in your first minutes.

Connecting¶

Browser: play at the main site — browser play starts from a free web account, and a signed-in account with claimed characters opens on character select (pick a number, no password).

Telnet (phoenixsagas.servegame.com 4000, TLS 4443): no account needed. You are prompted for a name:

A new name begins character creation.
An existing name prompts for the password and returns you exactly where you logged out.

The connect banner names the running build (v0.1.0 <sha>) — quote it when reporting a bug. Everything is saved automatically and continuously — position, stats, skills, inventory, and learned spells. You can quit and return at any time.

Your first minute

A brand-new character is hailed by name at the fountain — answer with GREET EILWEN. TASKS lists the finding-your-feet checklist and spells out each next keystroke; finishing it hands you to the saga.

The four status commands¶

Use these first; they never cost anything and never apply recovery:

Command	Aliases	Reports
`LOOK`	`L`	The room: description, occupants, ground items, and exits
`STAT`	`STATS`	The eight attributes with bonuses, current/max Health, Mana, Spirit, and Stamina
`INFO`	—	Level, experience and next-level threshold, available Training, silver, posture, stance, recovery
`SKILL`	`SKILLS`	Trained skills with ranks and bonuses (`SKILL ALL` includes untrained)

Two more are worth knowing immediately:

Command	Aliases	Reports
`EFFECTS`	`AFFLICTIONS`	Active wounds and status effects, with remaining durations
`RECOVERY`	`RECOVERY`	Seconds of recovery left before you can act again

Movement¶

Directions are single commands:

N  S  E  W            cardinal
NE NW SE SW           diagonal
UP DOWN  (U D)        vertical
OUT                   the room's default exit
GO <landmark>         try a noun from the room prose (GO HALL, GO IRON DOOR)

LOOK <target> examines a creature, item, exit, or a piece of scenery named in the room description. Some exits are hidden and not listed by LOOK — they must be discovered. Some are one-way. Doored exits show their state ([closed], [locked]); open them with OPEN / UNLOCK (see Inventory).

Two commands connect the room graph to the larger geography:

ROUTES [name]          roads, scale, signed hunts and staffed level 16–30 journeys
TRAVEL <place>         walk the connected rooms to a known destination

A room step is topology, not a claim that the places are only a few yards apart: it may represent a long road mile, a climb or a scheduled crossing. ROUTES explains the authored scale; TRAVEL follows the ways your character can actually walk. After level fifteen, ROUTES MOUNTAIN, ROUTES COAST, or ROUTES SUNWARD finds the staffed markers for the Three Roads After Fifteen. Beyond thirty, the Roads Beyond Thirty guide separates the finite Hallward, Singing and Marchhold fronts from the contiguous Crownward ladder through level one hundred.

Recovery¶

Recovery (RECOVERY) is a forced pause after an action — every combat swing, every spell, every lockpicking attempt. It begins the instant you act, even on a miss or a fizzle.

While in recovery you can still use the status commands above, HELP, and light vocal or facial socials. You cannot attack, move, cast, change stance or posture, or use most active verbs.

Choose a stance before you swing and hold that commitment through RECOVERY. Once you are free to act, change stance if the next exchange calls for a different risk.

See Combat for exact RECOVERY values.

Sanctuary: the town is safe¶

The marked streets and interiors of Coldhollow are fully protected:

No creature can start a fight with you.
Hostile creatures cannot follow you in through the gate.
You can rest, heal, train, and trade with no threat.

The old drains beneath Shuttered Lane and the country past the wall are hunting ground, not sanctuary. The drain stair and town gates give you clear retreat lines. See The First Fifteen and The Frostspine.

Finding your feet¶

A brand-new character has a short orientation checklist — type TASKS to see it. It asks you to walk the safe streets of Coldhollow and GREET a few of its people (the empath in the square, the priest at the chapel, the herbalist at the apothecary, and more). Each one you complete grants experience — enough to carry you beyond level 1 while you learn to move, LOOK, and TALK. Your calling's road kit is already issued; the list ticks itself as you go and has nothing to turn in.

Getting help in game¶

HELP            the in-world topic list
HELP COMBAT     combat mechanics
HELP MAGIC      the incantation system
HELP TRAIN      spending Training
HELP DEATH      what dying costs

Most mechanics on this wiki have a matching HELP <topic> entry in game.