Your first hour - the Academy¶

"Learn before you bleed." - sign over the Academy door

You just finished chargen. You walked through the gate. The sign overhead said LEARN BEFORE YOU BLEED and the door behind you closed with a clean wooden thunk. Welcome to the Academy.

The Academy is the game's tutorial zone - eight small rooms that walk you through every mechanic the engine actually uses. It's quiet, it's safe, the doors are clearly marked, and nothing in here will kill you. Take your time.

This page is the guided walk. Read it once and then play it. By the time you reach the graduation room you'll know every verb the game expects you to know.

At a glance¶


Where you are	Academy Entrance, Ghelmyon
How long	20-40 minutes if you read the prompts
Can you die here?	No
Can you skip it?	Yes - `exits`, then `go square`. But you'll wish you hadn't.
What you'll learn	Movement, combat, conversation, trade, quests

Room 1 - Movement Hall¶

You start at the Entrance. There's a desk, a worn rug, some posters. The first thing to do is the simplest:

look

That gives you a description of the room. Every room has one. Read them. The game writes you scenes; the room description is the first frame.

exits

Lists every door out of the room. The Academy is signposted Movement Hall is north, the gate back to town is south. To move:

go north

(Or just n - every compass direction has a single-letter shortcut. The right-side Cmds panel in the web client also shows clickable buttons for every available exit.)

You're in the Movement Hall. Practice the three things:

look - situational awareness
exits - what's reachable
go <direction> or <direction> letter - move

When you're comfortable, head east into the Combat Arena.

Room 2 - Combat Arena¶

A wooden training dummy stands in the middle of the room. A rack of practice weapons along the wall. Combat in this game is turn-based, verb-driven, with stance + aim modifiers.

The three things to try here:

1. Basic attack.

attack dummy

You swing with whatever's equipped. (Use /gear to check what's in your hand.) The dummy doesn't fight back. Watch the damage line - it'll show roll, weapon, hit zone.

2. Aimed attack.

attack dummy aim high

Three zones - high (head / chest), mid (torso / arms), low (legs). Aiming costs accuracy and pays in damage location. High is the canonical headshot. Low is for when you want them to fall over.

3. Stance. Type stance on its own to see your class's stances, then switch to one with stance <name>:

stance

Each class has its own set, but the shapes are familiar: an offensive stance lands more hits and leaves you open, a defensive one guards but lands less, an evasive one trades both for dodging. You also slot passive auras alongside your stance with /attune - check the whole setup with /loadout. The trainer here will let you swing in each before you leave - do the loop so the muscle memory's there before the first real fight.

When you're done, the Conversation Corner is east.

Room 3 - Conversation Corner¶

The room has two chairs, a low table, and a single NPC sitting and waiting for you. This is where the engine teaches you that NPCs are not vending machines.

greet
talk <their name>

A conversation starts. NPCs have traits, moods, and a Trust score with you that runs from 0 (stranger) to 100 (lifelong). At zero Trust you get surface greetings and shop prices. At higher tiers, secrets, quest hooks, gift acceptance, and (eventually) romance unlock.

This trainer will accept any of:

ask <topic>
flirt <name>
joke
farewell

Watch the response. The first few responses will feel generic - that's because Trust starts low. By the end of the conversation you'll have ticked up a few points and their next greeting will be a little warmer.

Two things worth knowing now:

You can lie. lie <claim> is a real verb. NPCs roll to detect it; high-perception NPCs catch you.
You can give gifts. Some NPCs love a specific gift; a hit is a chunky Trust boost. A miss is neutral. An anti-like hurts you.

When you're done, the Market Stall is south.

Room 4 - Market Stall¶

A stall keeper, three goods on display, a coin pouch on your belt. This room teaches the economy.

trade
buy <item>
sell <item>
appraise <item>

Two things to know:

Coins come in four metals, worth more as they climb. Copper is the lowest, then silver, then gold, then platinum, and each step is worth 100 of the metal below it. So 100 copper make a silver, 100 silver a gold, 100 gold a platinum. You'll see them written c / s / g / p. Everyday odds and ends cost coppers and silvers; gold and platinum are real money.
Prices respond to Trust, faction rep, and supply. The stall here will quote you the full markup; trade enough with a vendor in town and the price softens.

Buy something cheap. Try appraise on it. Sell it back. Note the spread. Now you know the shape.

The Workshop is east.

Room 5 - Workshop¶

A bench, a fire, a few tools. This room is a one-screen preview of the crafting system. You don't need to craft anything to leave the Academy - but if you're playing a crafter class (Tinkerer, Alchemist, Herbalist, Bard, Blacksmith, etc.) take a minute here.

/cookbook

Lists the recipes you currently know. New classes start with 2-5 recipes. Each recipe lists the station it needs (workbench, alchemy bench, forge, kitchen, etc.), the materials, and what it produces. To craft:

craft <recipe>

The Quest Board Room is east. You're almost done.

Room 6 - Quest Board Room¶

A cork board covered in pinned notices, a quill on a side table. This is where you'll come back to repeatedly - the notice board in every town is the bread-and-butter quest surface.

read board

Lists the available notices. Each one has a title, a giver, a tier (Easy / Medium / Hard), and a reward.

accept <quest>

Adds it to your active quests. Cap is usually 5-8 active at once depending on class.

A      # accept all
AE     # accept all Easy
AM     # accept all Easy + Medium
AH     # accept all (including Hard)

If a quest is time-sensitive the prompt will warn you. To check your active list any time:

/quest

(or just q). Quests come in three rough shapes:

Fetch + deliver - short, gold reward.
Investigate + report - Trust gain with the giver + small gold.
Multi-step chain - pieces unfold across days, the rewards compound. The chain rewards are usually the best gear you'll see this week.

Accept one or two before you leave. Easy. The board is where the rest of the game starts.

Room 7 - Graduation¶

A small room with one NPC, one cup of warm tea, and a list of the verbs you'll need outside.

The trainer will hand you a graduation certificate (small gold value, some classes get a token gift) and tell you the gate to Ghelmyon proper is south.

This is your save-prompt moment. The Academy is the safest place to test save / load before you head out:

/save
/load

Take a beat. You're done.

What you've just learned¶

Movement - look, exits, go <dir> or <letter>
Combat - attack <tgt>, aim high|mid|low, stances
Conversation - greet, talk <name>, ask <topic>, flirt, lie, farewell
Economy - trade, buy, sell, appraise, copper-denominated pricing
Crafting - /cookbook, craft <recipe> (stub - full track is per-class)
Quests - read board, accept <quest>, A/AE/ AM/AH, /quest
System - /save, /load, /inventory, /gear, /skills

If any of those still feel unclear, the room you learned them in is still right there. Walk back. The Academy doesn't lock behind you.

What's next¶

The gate south of the Graduation room drops you at Ghelmyon Town Square. Town Square is the hub of the five-district town: north to the Academy you just left, east to the Market District, south to the Velvet Curtain (adult district - opt-in), west to Coin Street (banks, courier post, the Notice Board you'll come back to a lot).

Don't run. Walk the town first. The First day in Ghelmyon article picks up at the Square gate.