This document is copyrighted Leslie & Margusko.|
(C) 1996.3.23 by Leslie & Margusko             |
All rights reserved                            |
------------------------------------------------

Introducing:

                       +--------------------+
                       |  The City of Light |
                       +--------------------+

                   A V3.0 virtual city development.

Introduction:
=============

     In the beginning there was God, and God was floating over the
nothingness. One day God spoke: - Let there be Light, and Darkness! And he
split the sea of reality to Brightness and Shadows, to Day, and Night. Now
we can feel in our Heart and understand with our mind: God makes light, and
he keeps us alive. However, there is always the darkness, the possibility to
turn away. He gives us the choice. Upon this belief gathered people from the
darkness. They gathered all over from the Dark World of Sins, and they found
peace in all their Hearts. They found the Light, the Meaning of Life, and
built a city to strengthen their Sanctuarity. So rose from the Earth: The
City of Light.
     The years went by, and the city grew and grew. Its inhabitants lived in
peace, and the civilization was prospering with bright beauty. Citizens
built up a huge Temple in their joy. For thousands of years this
Temple has been the fortress of their belief, and God was with them. He gave
them the power to survive every evil strike, and His Heart was always there
in the sacrificed building with them. He supported his people with mighty
magic, and the willpower super mankind. The people developed and developed
far way from all other races. They were isolated from all others, and they
lived in peace, and harmony.
     Once upon a time there was a King in the City of Light. He was very
old. Nowdays you just find a little ballad from his time:

 Let me sing a song about the Beauty.
 Let me chant the words of the Past.
 What happened, cannot be undone,
 Great will and power is asked.

 Once upon a time there was a King,
 This King had everything he wished,
 But one: He had no Kids, and Children
 Though this was for what he always begged.

 As Time passed by his words were heard.
 And our Lord smiled down on him
 From the Heavens, and presented the King
 With a beautiful smiling girl.

 The King was the happiest beyond all.
 His Heart was beating as fast as
 The fastest horse, the fastest lightning.
 His Heart was born.

 Heart was the most beautiful girl one can imagine,
 She was the legend for all the World.
 Her voice was gentle, Her eyes were shining.
 She was smiling, whatever she heard.

 She was dancing like an Angel,
 She was singing like a Bird,
 She was honest and nobel
 As She was what She was called.

 Heart grew and grew, and as She was eighteen
 Princes from all over the world came
 To see Her and her great beauty
 To take her innocense away without Mercy.

 Noone got her, and one spoke up
 'You will be cursed for ever
 Be the ugliest ever!
 Do never return, You will always be hated!'

 As he spoke his words
 The space opened
 There were four dimensions,
 And one of them swallowed Heart

 ...

     Noone knew what happened. The King lost his Heart, and he died a few
days after. As he had no heir, the unity broke. The City of Light faded
into shadows. The Sin ruled the city, and people went mad. The streets
often became places of fights, and hate ruled the people's Hearts ... maybe
all missed a part of the lost girl. They began using weapons, and they
spiled the blood of their blood. Father against son, and brother against
brother. Evilness ruled, noone else, only the Temple of God stayed in power,
and kept all good alive. The magic became even stronger to keep away the
bad, and the sin.

The City of Light today:
========================

     Nowdays the city holds a well developed civilization with high
technical possibilities. Lots of artifacts still remained, and can be found
around. People act like normal people in normal life, but anarchy rules
everywhere. Their weapons are still primitive though, as they have been
developing it for just quite a short time. Still every-day working
instruments and tools are being used as weapons. Just like plain knives,
hammer, flails, chainsaws, axes, broken glass, medical instruments like
scalpel, driller, and all others that can be considered primitive for a well
developed city.
     Armours are just light ones. Noone uses heavy plates, but
just light hides, jackets. Still these are powered up with magic, that work
quite effective, and people can still move well wearing it. Shields are rare
here. Just few transparent-metal shields are in tact, but these are
extremely hard to get, and have higher prices as most jewels. People like to
decorate their jackets, and stuff, that makes them more expensive, and more
elegant.
     People follow the triad of sins: they drink, use drugs, and have
sex. Drinks are as usual: mainly alcoholic, but there are some softdrink
bars, too. Drugs are rare, but still effective. They do some arising feeling
and power for some little time, but then they cause serious problems. Of
course there are light, and hard drugs. Light drugs are easier to get,
because they are legal. Hard drugs are very hard to get, and they have
random effects. They can even make one unconscious for some hours.
     In general there are some special weapons like greek fire, and such. In
medical cases the civilization is very developed. Some medical kits can
heal even large wounds. Some can even be used in combat (though with less
effectivity). Creams heal smaller wounds, and scrathces, and can be applied
fast.
     The magic of the city is of the most powerfull in the world. Scrolls
and wands do big use in each person's hand. However, the real magic still
resides inbetween the walls of the Temple, but this magic can be only used
to defeat the evil. Noone really makes use of this power, as they fight evil
against evil.
     The center of sins is the Sin's Cavern. This is a bar with several
prostitutes who satisfy the needs of the hungry men, and women. This center
makes place for many loving couples, too, who want to be together alone for
some moments of life.
     The old castle of the King is empty since his death, and still noone
dares to enter it. It is said to be cursed. Evil monsters are guarding it.
Or good ones? Noone knows. Maybe they guard the spirit of the King.
     Gangs plunder around the city. They attack and rob innocent people,
though nearly noone is innocent there these days. They usually attack
suddenly from dark shadows, and eliminate their enemy fast. Noone likes
them, so there are just a few in town. Their main aim is destroying other
gangs, and set the base tone for the plunders.
     One of the main entertainment of the citizens is the arena, where lots
of animals and humans fight each other just for pleasure. They love killing
the aimals, and love watching them killing each other. The arena can be
considered as the main income of the city.


The City of Light: Map
======================


     0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
   +--+-----------------------------------------+--+        +-----+
 0 |T |                                         |T |        |     |
   +--+-----------------------------------------+--+     +--+     |
 1 |  |      North wall road                   E|  |     |        |
   |  |  +--------+  +--+  +--+  +-----------+ a|  |  +--+        +--------+
 2 |  |W |Temple  |  |  =  |  =  |  Sin's    | s|  |  |                    |
   |  |e +--+  +--+  +--+  +--+  +--+        | t|  +--+                    |
 3 |  |s |    (2) |C =  |  =  |  =  | Cavern |  |  |                       |
   |  |t +--+  +--+i +--+  +--+  +--+        | R+--+     Arena (4)         |
 4 |  |  |        |t |  =  (7)   |      (3)  | o|  =                       |
   |  |W +||+  +||+y +--+  +--+  +-----------+ a|  +--+                 +--+
 5 |  |a |  |  |  |  =  |  |  =                d|  |  |                 |
   +--+l +--+||+--+  +--+  +--+                 |  |  |                 |
 6 |T |l    (8)    S |  =  =  |  Marketplace (6)|  |  |                 |
   +--+  +||+--+||+t +--+  +--+                 |  |  +--+           +--+
 7 |  |R |  |  |  |r                            =  |     |           |
---+--+o +--+||+--+e +--+-----------||----------+--+     +--+     +--+
 8 |E |a    (9)    e |T |           ||          |T |        |     |
---+--+d +--+||+--+t +--+-----------||----------+--+        +-----+
 9 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |                       |  |
   +--+  +||+--+||+  |  |                       |  |
10 |T |     (10)     |  |                       |  |
   +--+  +--+||+--+  |  |                       |  |
11 |  |  |  =S =  |  |  |                       |  |
   |  |  +--+h +--+  |  |    Castle (5)         |  |
12 |  |  |  =o =  |  |  |                       |  |
   |  |  +--+p +--+  |  |                       |  |
13 |  |  |  =s =  |  |  |                       |  |
   |  |  +--+  +--+  |  |                       |  |
14 |  |  |  =1 =  |  |  |                       |  |
   |  |  +--+  +--+  |  |                       |  |
15 |  |  |  =  =  |  |  |                       |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-----------------------+--+
16 |T |              |T |                       |T |
   +--+---------------------------------------------
     0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20


T : Towers
E : Entrance

1. Shops.
---------

     These shops do the supply of everything for the city. Main shops are:

 - medical
   selling medical creams and packages. balanced ~ portable healing

 - magic
   scrolls, wands, magician books. costs depend on level of spell
   will discuss further balance.

 - weapon
   primitive weapons: knife, axe, razor, etc.

 - armour
   armour shop. mainly leather stuff, with a drop of magic. no shields.

 - general
   a general shop for selling/buying

 - drink shop
   for portable drinks, not especially for healing. (orange juice)

 - sex shop
   ahem

 - jewelry
   jewel stuff

 - restaurant
   food at place. order taking, and instant consuming.

2. The Temple.
--------------

     This holly place is still run by monks. They still believe in the Light,
and follow God's path. God gave them powerfull magic, though they can use it
only against the evil. All good players are welcome in the temple, and they
can seek healing for the body, and guidance for the spirit.
     There is possibility to revive, and to heal your soul, and body. The
monks even sell some _powerfull_ magic potions, will cost a huge amount of
money indeed, that do HEAL for most of the time, but other types can be
found too.

3. Sin's Cavern
---------------

     This cavern is a pub, and a place where you find many girls (like a
saloon in last century). People come here to drink, and listen to music,
dance, and for the girls, of course. That means there are non-portable
alcoholic healing stuff. However, some would want to play around with the
girls, should be very wealthy. Even young couples can come and get a free
room for some cash.

4. The Arena
------------

     Lotsa monsters for fun of the citizens to kill.

5. The Castle
-------------

     A 3 storey virtual place. Should be implemented later (with the quest)

6. The Marketplace
------------------

     The usual marketplace with lots of people and stuff for sale. This is
the basic information for all illegal or rare stuff (heavy drugs, shields,
etc)

7. Becker alley

8. Sanctuary way

9. Welcome road

10. Wealth alley

The Sewers:
===========

     A great labyrinth of sewers remained from the old days. On junctions of
roads people can enter the system. Some may think, its abandoned, alas its
the center of some huge gathering of underground gangs. These gangs are way
stronger than the others above surface, because they live here, and they
take each bit of advantage of the sewers. The water's level reaches our
knees, and it hides several other creatures ... One of the traps may be the
slide, that leads the water out to the creek of the surrounding forest. Its
a one-way road, since the player wont be able to climb back up - even won't
notice where he came from. In the center of the sewers there is a primitive
guild of thieves, and there would be a shop here with specialities for
thieves. This center is heavily guarded, and full of traps. The leader of
this guild is a very _powerful_ one called Barkas. Traps will be designed
later. Some of them will be death traps. The map will be added later.


The Monsters
============

     There are basically four kind of monsters:
   - the citizen
   - the gang
   - the monk
   - the families

the citizen
-----------

     People of this kind do the largest part of the community. They are
evil, and do not thrust anyone other. They are usually armoured, but they
do not engage in unnecesary combats. They still fear their life, and a drop
of the ancient belief still lives in some of them. These are like the
sellers at the marketplace, and other shopkeepers, the bartenders, the
average man, the unemployees, beggars, city policemen, and others. These use
standard weapons, and standard outfit. They should prove slight challange
for the adventurer in town.

the gang
--------

     Lot of unemployees, mainly younger ones who march around in the city in
5-7 member groups. Where there is a gang, there is a fight. All citizens
fear them and try to avoid them. They are very well armoured, and have
superb weapons that can be even rare. Some might carry even some hard drugs,
or very rarely shields. They always fight together, so they are very
powerful. Gangs follow their victims, and either the victim dies, or all of
the gang. Two gangs never can be at the same place: they attack at once.
They are very dangerous even for the most experienced adventurers. They are
the most evil as possible. They should die.

the monk
--------

     Monks hunt gangs. One monk has the power of nearly 2 gangs. They have
very good protection, and their magic is overwhelming. Monks are good, and
they fight for good. Their good tactic and willpower saves them from death
each time. However, they go out only daytimes, and pray along with others in
the nighttime. Their biggest problem is that there are only just a few of
them, but their belief is stronger that in each other's Heart. They believ
this time of the sin will be over, and God will rule in the city again.

the families
------------

     They are poor, they are weak, the children are exposed to extreeme
dangers. They seek hiding in their houses, but still gangs plunder their
homes. Children cannot go to anywhere, they hunger nearly all day long. Most
fathers are alcoholics, and invest their earned money into alcohol. They
have to fear the life.

+ additional monsters in the arena:
-----------------------------------
      Some huge amount of animals that are relative easy to kill.

Monster Handling:
=================

The basic idea is, that there is a certain chance, that we meet a kind of
monster while walking around. This chance depends on the type of the
monster, and how much we have killed already. The chance is reseted every
reset. Certainly there can be more of these, and even noone. There are
certainly some chances to encounter more of them, or even more kind of
monsters. This will be balanced with the following idea:

monster_types: the types of the monsters (citizens, monks, gang, family)
               == ({ "citizen", "monk", "gang", "family" })
int *monster_type_allow: bitmap to show wheter the type is allowed or not
               eg: in room 56:
               monster_type_allow[56] = 7 = 0x0111b =
               1 << 0 + 1 << 1 + 1 << 2 + 0 << 3
                    ^citizen          ^gang
                             ^monk             ^family

               this means in room 56 only citizens, monks, and gangs can be
               cloned, and no families.

monster_type_chance: the general chance vector, that a kind of monster will
               be cloned.

sample code in reset() :

i = sizeof(monster_types);
while(i--)
    if(monster_type_allow[cord_of_room] && (1 << i))
         while(random(100) < (monster_type_chance[i]-killed_monsters[i]))
              clone_monster(i);


Only gangs and monks will wander in city. Moving others is too expensive for
the driver. This should be handled by the monster server with heart_beat and
call_out-s.

Addendum on monsters:
---------------------

     As these monsters always come in big amount, and they are too hard to
kill, and as this area will be far away from every other with no teleport
possibility, i could recommend additional exp values of 50-100% for all
monsters and of 100-150% for gangs. In sewers generally monsters should have
an exp value of 200-250% greater than normally, because of the traps, and
other special attacks (eg backstabbing thieves).

Appendix
========

1. The castle should be the next area to complete.
2. The quest for the city: Bring back the City of Light to Life.

>> This area is to be for a 2-3 member group of the highest level players.


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>              Heartless Leslie && Newbie Margusko
