BatMUD and the two paths to immortality
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An ancient legend tells the story of two dwarves, brothers by blood but not
by trait, Haptur and Istur Ironmold. Even at an early age the two brothers
showed quite unusual and undwarflike behaviour. The older of the brothers,
Haptur, had an inclination to thoroughly consider all aspects of the world
in an analytical fashion, often building strange contraptions with rotating
wheels and complex steam engines to compete with his rather artistic
relative. For Istur had taken up painting and spent his time drawing the
beauty of nature, often incorporating subtle twists and plots into his
elaborate works.
Despite their peculiar behaviour and a lifestyle that was the subject of
great mockery by the dwarven society, the story of Haptur and Istur would
not have made it past the forgetful gust of time, had it not been for the
brothers' mutual dream to become something more and their desire to leave a
permanent mark on the world. Hence both Haptur and Istur implored the gods
of earth and sky, to accept them among the ranks of immortals.
Haptur pleaded to the gods, offering them his miraculous ability to build
machines and other wonderful pieces of technology. Istur, on the other hand,
prayed to the gods and asked them to let him paint beauty and life into the
world, just as he had been doing with his paintbrush on a canvas before.
Through an odd twist of fate, an immortal being of significant power, known
only as Erelon, heard the pleas of the two brothers. The immortal had long
been planning to further his domain, which consisted mainly of barren rocks,
but had lacked the time and strength to complete the task on his own.
Listening to the two dwarves offering their unique services, the immortal
being decided to act, and before long the two brothers found themselves by
the thrones of the elder gods. The elder gods saw the sincerity in Haptur and
Istur, granted them the gift of immortality and placed them in Erelon's care.
Erelon was a smart immortal who knew how to bring out the best in both Istur
and Haptur, and the three soon learned to work as a team - Istur spent his
time painting the world with his neverending desire for beauty and Haptur
crafted the contraptions that were needed for the sun to rise in the morning
and the stars to shine at nights. And when the two brothers argued about what
color the stars should be, Erelon was quick to amend the rifts.
Years became decades, decades became centuries and centuries became millenia.
But what is time to an immortal? Over time other people reached immortality
and joined Erelon, Haptur and Istur in forming the realm, and eventually the
creation was ready - a splendid kingdom populated by magical creatures and
dilligent humans, but also by tribes of orcs and goblins to keep the cosmos
in balance. Erelon sighed with relief, thanked his immortal friends and sat
back to enjoy the beauty of their creation. But for Haptur and Istur the
journey was only beginning...
^o^
BatMUD is a massive game, powered by the creative works of hundreds of
developers. We have guilds, we have cities, we have monsters - but there
is always room for more. Because we are a big group of people, who work
hard to keep BatMUD the best fantasy MUD in existence, teamwork and the
ability to follow some rules and specifications are essential.
We offer two alternative paths to immortality, roughly reflected by the
lives of Haptur and Istur - the path of the libcoder and the path of the
contentcoder. Neither path is superior to the other and both are needed
for the future development of BatMUD.
A libcoder is a skilled coder, who preferably has indepth knowledge of
the LPC, C++ and/or C programming languages, as well as common algorithms,
database structures and so forth. The role of a libcoder is twofold -
to participate in developing core systems of the game (weather engines,
news systems, bug tracking, chest code etc to name a few) and to help
content coders with the more complex coding aspects (complex NPC code,
advanced skills/spells, virtual map controllers for areas etc).
A contentcoder is a person with a good understanding of what BatMUD's
world is like, possibly coupled with a past history of gamemastering
traditional fantasy rpg's. The contentcoder has good english verbal
skills, a vivid imagination and an overall touch for how to make
the game interesting for a player. Tho initial codingskills are not
as critical as for a libcoder, the person will have to learn basic
programming skills based on examples and guidance. The contentcoder
participates in developing areas, guilds and other aspects of the game
that are directly visible to the players.
New libcoders and contentcoders work under the supervision of senior
wizards, usually under the umbrella of a bigger project. What this means
in practice, is that your first pieces of work will be predefined in scope
by a senior wizard (consider him a teamleader or project manager of sorts).
After you have a solid understanding of the immortal life, rules and what
kind of things to develop, you have the option of starting your own teams
(assuming your ideas are approved by the archwizards) or to continue in
the existing teams. Also, the line between libcoder and contentcoder is
not absolute - preferably with time you will learn something of both worlds.
^o^
Applications for immortality should be addressed to an Archwizard via email
or mudmail. Please state in the subject if you are applying to be
a libcoder or a contentcoder. If you want to follow the path of the lib-
coder, please include a resume of your current codingskills, if any. If
you want to follow the path of the contentcoder then impress us with your
elaborate language and elegantly crafted opinions of what the batrealm
lacks. Also include some general background about yourself and your
career on bat, as well as free-worded explanation about why you want to
become a wizard. The application should be in english!
After you have submitted the application the hardest part begins - waiting.
Your application goes into a pool with other wizard applicants - one for
libcoders and one for contentcoders. Whenever a senior wizard is ready to
start a new project he/she will go through our existing wizard staff, and
failing to find the resources he/she needs, will go through the pool of
applications. I.e. we will NOT wiz applicants until we have a clear task
for them to participate in.
Should you actually be selected to join the ranks of immortals, know that
your mortal character, along with its experience, gold and other assets,
is lost. It is possible, but not recommended, to end your wizard career
and start playing a new character from scratch. Immorting twice is not
possible! After becoming an immortal, you are expected to contribute to
the game by participating in the project you have been assigned to.
Failure to do so not only hurts the work of your teammates, but will also
cause your wizard character to be removed.
Do note that becoming an immortal is not a right, but rather a gift and
display of trust on our part and the administration has the final say in
who we feel are worthy of such a recognition, based on our evaluation of
how candidates can further Bat. We have a good atmosphere in our little
immortal world - wizards and archwizards are often answering the questions
of newbie coders. We have our laughs and it's almost like a community within
a community.
^o^
So what did this lengthy ramble have to do with Haptur and Istur? Err...
well nothing really - they never existed, or maybe they did. But patience
is a virtue, especially for one who aspires to join the ranks of wizards.
If you have gotten this far without falling asleep or tearing your hair in
frustration, you probably have what it takes :)
On behalf of the wizards and archwizards,
Gore
See also: help coding in bat