Join Us!

Becoming part of Ista is easy! Just follow these simple steps!

1. Connect to the game! You can connect by telnet or via a mush client at norcon.genesismuds.com port 4210.

   If you think you'll be with us for a while, you'll most likely want to download a client if you don't have one. The two most popular ones are SimpleMU and MushClient and if you have trouble with either you can just ask for help on the game!

   Once you're connected, you should see this:

   Welcome to NorConMUSH
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   "connect " connects you to an existing character.
   "create " creates a new character.
   "WHO" tells you who is logged in to the game (case sensitive).
   "QUIT" exits the game and saves your character.
   "news" informs you about recent program changes and items of interest.
   "help" gives help on the commands, "help commands" for a list.
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Log in as a guest. Just type 'connect guest guest' in your game window and you'll be in! Now you can poke around, see who's online, ask questions and get a feel for things.

   To page people and ask about the game, type:

   • p <name of the person you want to page>=<what you want to say>

   example:

   • p Fayre=Hello! I'm new and I have some questions.

   To see who's online at Ista, type:

   • +rwho isw

   To learn more about a person, type:

   • +finger <name>

   example:

   • +finger Griere

   And when you're ready...

3. Create a character. Just pick a name and a password and log on as before, but this time instead of typing 'connect guest guest', type 'create <name> <password>'. So if you wanted to create the character Sally with the password mustang, you would type:

   • create Sally mustang

   Make sure you remember your password as there is no way to retrieve it if you forget.

   Also, when picking a name, avoid those ending in 'th' as they are generally thought of as dragon names. Contracted names, such as F'lar or T'gellan are reserved for male dragonriders.

4. Now you'll find yourself in the birth place where you'll get a chance to set the most basic stuff about your character, namely set your character's sex and description. Setting the sex of your character is easy, just type:

   • @sex me=Female
   or
   • @sex me=Male

   Descriptions take a little more work. You'll want to take about ten to twenty lines to show what your character looks like and what he or she is wearing. Make sure you touch on the following in your description:

   • Approximate age
   • Height and build
   • Hair color
   • Eye color
   • Complexion
   • Clothing

   If you'd like to split your description into two paragraphs, you can use %r to insert a return carriage and %t to insert a tab indentation.

   • @desc me=%tSally is a young woman who seems not to have escaped the gangliness of youth despite signs that she may be in her mid twenties. Tall and thin, everything about her seems elongated, from her narrow face to her stilt-like legs. It doesn't help that her blonde hair is pulled into straight pigtails and there's a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose, blurring her age a little more. She has warm brown eyes, though they're touched with some vacancy.%r%tToday Sally is wearing a long skirt that billows as she moves and gives the illusion that there might be hips somewhere under that fabric. She has on a light, airy blouse that's tucked into the top of her skirt. It's sleeveless with little ruffles on the edge to add some decoration to its mostly plain appearance. Her feet are adorned with simple sandals that show off her surprisingly tiny feet.

5. Develop your character. Just as you are more than just the way you look, your character is more than a description. Much much more! We encourage you to visit our Character Creation page to explore what goes into a well-developed character.

6. Before you leave the birthplace, you'll have to set a few more things.

   To make sure that you and only you have control of your character:

   • @lock me=me
   • @lock/use me=me
   • @lock/enter me=me
   To enable yourself to carry things:
   • @set me=enter_ok

   We also encourage you to set an alias, something of an OOC nickname for your character. This is particularly handy if your character has a very long name as then people don't have to type the whole thing out every time they page you. Sally might be 'Sal'.

   • @alias me=Sal
   
   Keep in mind that many aliases are in use.

And now you're ready to go out and find your niche on Pern! If you'd like to come play with us as Ista, check out our Residency Questions!