This sunday, March the 17th, marks the nine hundred and third anniversary of the day that Sir Bors started his Crusade to the Holy Land. (March 17th, 1099) Sir Bors was named to Arthur's personal guard in battle with the Romans, and he acted as Sir Lancelot's Executive Officer during his fighting with Arthur. Sir Bors and his entire family were also noted for the ferocity and attacking rage displayed in battle. We of Midgard do our best to follow his example, mindlessly rushing into battle time and again, heedless of the personal consequences, and sometimes we even win In honor of the courage of Sir Bors de Ganis the defender, we of Midgard on the Dark age of Camelot Bors server are having a newbie Runemaster event. (As a side note, our realm is REALLY short of Suppression specced Runemasters) It is our feeling that Suppression specced Runemasters best personify Sir Bors himself, as they are wildly offensive casters that have the ability to act as guards (with their fend line) for all of their realm and groupmates. The Suppression specced Runemaster is the best defensive caster (that is still largely offensive) in all of the three Realms. A Suppression specced Runemaster has cold and fire direct damage blasts, area effect blasts, direct damge snares, root spells, strength and dexterity debuffs, Archer sight debuffs, a group run song, and, most importantly, the FEND line of defensive spells. The Fend line of spells negates the first melee hit you (or at higher levels your groupmates) take in combat. The highest level Fend spell refreshes itself every 6 seconds. This spell is stackable with itself if 2 Suppression specced Runemasters are in your group. At this time, we have only a few Suppression specced Runemasters in our entire realm. Most Runemasters follow the Runecarving line, as few are able to see the advantages of suppression until it is far to late to change. Following the suppression line of spells does have its disadvantages though. It makes the first 9 levels of life VERY difficult. (At suppression spec level 10 you get your first cast on other fend, and become invaluable in groups). To combat this, we are having a Runemaster newbie event. This event is open to everyone. We encourage all people that have thought about trying to play an caster, but were hesitant, to give it a try. The formal event will start in the Town of Vasudheim, next to the capital city of Jordheim. This is one of the best newbie areas in the game, and we will be stationed in the middle of the town for the entire event. The event will run all day Sunday, with several contests running througout the day. To start a good Suppression Runemaster, click on the Bors Server, and choose the Midgard Realm. Pick Mystic as your class (you become a Runemaster at level 5), and Norseman (or woman) as your race. Vasudheim is the starting city for Norse, and if you choose other races you will have to travel to get there, a difficult proposition at level 1. We also recommend you choose a tall character, as this will help you see over ramparts easier in Realm versus Realm combat to cast spells on the vile inhabitants of Hibernia and Albion. We further reccomend you put 20 of your 30 starting points into piety, which will give you more power for spells later in the game, and put the last 10 points into constitution, which gives you more hitpoints. If you choose, however, you can put 10 points into piety, con, and dex. This will give you less casting power, but you will be able to cast spells margianlly faster. Choose a haircolor, face and hairstyle, and a name. Your name has to be at least three charaters long (Shorter names are easier for your friends to remember) and names that are offensive or trademarked will be changed by Mythics Customer Service staff. Click proceed and you join us in Midgard at the town of Vausheim. Make a note of the Non-Player Character (NPC) in front of you, this is your trainer. You will come back to her to put your points in suppression every level from 2 to 5. If you right click on her now (her name is Rogna), she will give you a quest. To find the person she asks you to seek, walk up to a guard, target the guard, and type /where name. The guard will then point to the person you were told to seek. Go talk to that person as well (right click on them). Talk to others in town, there are several quests here to do at low levels. When you are ready to leave town, ask Baam (a player character, or PC) at the bind stone for a Damage Add buff. Baam will buff you and then you can go do your quest or go and kill monsters (mobs). The damage add buff makes you hit FAR harder than normal, but only lasts 10 minutes. When it wears off, come back to town and ask for another one. When you reach level 2, go to Lyf, another PC, for a better weapon. Lyf will give you a better staff that will last you until you reach level 5. Every time you level, more quests will open up to you in town, so be sure to check with all of the other NPCs. In addition, make sure to visit your trainer Rogna every level, put your points into suppression, and check to see if she has a new quest for you to do. Eventually she will send you into Jordheim to talk to the Runemaster and Spiritmaster trainers. Here is a link to a good map site, we recommend you print out a map of Jordheim and of East Svealand, where Vasudheim is located: http://daoc.catacombs.com/map.cfm As well, we suggest you plan the way you want your points to be spent at level 50, by using this site: http://daoc.catacombs.com/cbuilder.cfm?classid=43&raceid=11 In the character builder, notice that you have enough points to put suppression to level 50, and still take either Runecarving or Darkness to 20. We recommend you take Suppression to a minimum of 44 (for the last runic fend) and think about 46 (for the big suppression ae spell). If you choose to stop there you will have more points to put into the other lines. If you want to go all the way to 50 with Suppression, that is ok too. Just remember when you start your character to put all of your points into suppression for at least the first 10 levels. During your 40s, you will be getting bonus points every half level, and that is the best time to put points into Runecarving and Darkness. During the event, the first contest, and the longest one, will begin at 12 noon EST (10am MST, 9am PST, figure out your timezone from one of these) and go until 8pm EST. This is a leveling contest. We will write down all beginning Runemasters (Mystics) that are level 1 (higher levels than 1 not eligable for this contest, though we will buff everyone that wants) at 12 noon. At 8pm the Runemaster that is the highest level will be awarded the mighty RUNIC EMBER staff: http://camelot.allakhazam.com/item.html?citem=1997 AND 100 gold pieces. The second runner up will get 50 gold, and the third place contestant will get 25 gold. We will also have a player tailor in Vasudheim, they will give you the opportunity to have player made armor (player made armor is far superior to store bought armor) made throughout the day, but they may need your help to get components for the armor... Good luck all aspiring Runemasters, if you have any questions please feel free to post here. We hope that all those who join our Glorious Realm will do their best to honor the memory of Sir Bors! Cya all in game, Lyf, 50 Healer of Bors Midgard