Accursed Lands is a Lima/MudOS reimplementation of the concepts and style of Dartmud, but using a completely new world, and substantially new code. Accursed Lands is a third generation mud, having arisen from some of the creators of Dartmud, which had in turn arisen from some of the creators of LustyMud. The ideas and experience building this mud is the result of dozens of people's work over many years. From the outset, Accursed Lands was designed to be a mud for hard core players. It is complex, brutal, and highly role-playing oriented. The whining mud newbies among you need not apply (although adventurous newbies who are willing to learn are more than welcome).

Q: Why Dartmud II?

A: Well, there's a long story there. In reality this is the third Dartmud. The first is currently called Lustymud and as far as we know is still up and running. It ran into some problems with the creators, and there were accusations of favoritism, etc. In general, things got messy, so the next Dartmud was made. It's actually called Dartmud and is also still up and running (at dartmud.com port 2525 at the time of this writing). Unfortunately, under the reign of one of its head admins, severe bugs were released into the code. Things were bad there for a long time, the machine was lost, the mud continued it's gypsy nature and hopped from site to site, and managed to hold on. Some of us who loved that mud and were proud of what it tried to do decided that it was time to try from scratch again. Thus Accursed Lands was born. Since most of the current generation didn't know about Lustymud, and since Dartmud was the only mud that still used that title, Accursed Lands acquired the surname, Dartmud II.

Q: Why so many races?

A: Variety. One hallmark of Dartmuds has always been the great number of races that wandered their lands. This one is no different. At one time we had planned on sixteen possible player character races, but we are slowly reducing that number to make the creation of each race more plausible and to ensure that each race not only plays an active part in the history of the world, but also fills a unique niche in the world.

Q: So, when are you guys opening?

A: We will open for beta testing on the 19th of June 1999. This will be the first opportunity for most people to preview the world. The date for the grand opening has yet to be decided and won't take place until we are confident all the bugs are ironed out and we have a complete world ready to explore. While we're writing and coding as fast as we can, we are dealing with truly groundbreaking ideas and technology and don't want to rush things and make mistakes.

Q: What is a Creator?

A: Creator is just our word for wizard, builder, god, what have you. Creators are the people who do the coding, writing, and everything else necessary to build the mud and keep it running. They are also refereed to as Eternals, because that is the role they play in this world.

The Creators adhere to strict codes of conduct. They are here to make Accursed Lands as a rewarding place to visit as possible. They won't show favoritism to players but they will be as supportive as possible when it comes to routing out any problems that develop.

Q: What is an Admin?

A: An Admin is a Creator who has, for whatever reason, been promoted to a position of authority over a particular area. Their word is law, even amongst creators, in this area. The Site Admin, Lathander, runs the whole show. He vetoes the other admins and has the final say in all matters.

Q: Can I become a Creator?

A: If you can bring something to our world, then sure. Just fill out the form and if we think you'll be a good addition we'll invite you to join up.

Q: Can I become an Admin?

A: (The obvious questions as to why you would want to be one aside...) Not without first becoming a creator and distinguishing yourself through good works.

Q: Tell me about the wilderness.

A: The wilderness is a huge (over 6 million room) area which forms the outside world. Each city, town, ruin, etc. is located somewhere in the wilderness. The wilderness contains forests, plains, rivers, oceans, deserts, mountains, tundra, and any other type of terrain you can imagine. It's populated by wild animals and those people who've shunned society. Beyond that, it actually forms a sphere. There are magnetic poles, climate differences, the works.

Q: Tell me about the underdark.

A: Just like the wilderness, only underground. Actually, that's a bit simplistic. It really is an infinitely expanding network of tunnels, caves, mines and burrows. What's more, if you happen to stumble across a vein of valuable metal or gems and mine it out, your work will still be there after the next reboot.

Q: Where do we put our stuff when we quit?

A: You don't have to put it anywhere, you can keep hold of it when you log out and it will be there when you log back in. If you have too much to carry, well you can build a house or rent a room at an inn.

Q: What do I do if I have questions that aren't answered here?

A: Pop on by the mud and ask. Any creator there would be happy to give you a full tour (provided they aren't actually in the middle of something vital) and answer any questions you may have. If no one's around or the person there can't answer your questions either, just post a note on one of the bulletin boards and someone will get right back to you.