One of the aspects of Achaea that can be really neat is belonging to a religious Order.

There are many different gods and goddesses in Achaea's pantheon. Some of the gods are not active in the mortal realm (i.e. there's no one to play that god right now), but many are. As in many MUDs, in Achaea gods are played by ex-players, who give up all their characters and go through some fairly rigorous training, and then take up a new role as one of the divine. In addition to this roleplaying role, they also work together as volunteers to plan events and ensure a fun and dynamic roleplaying environment. But each god or goddess has their own religious order which they can run as they like.

The Pantheon

Orders tend to be great places for intense and exciting roleplay, because they're fairly exclusive, and because the gods are often great roleplayers, and great DMs--they know how to arrange events that are awesome to participate in.

So, I really want Bryony to belong to an Order eventually. She would need to prove herself first as a more established character, and she can't take for granted that she'd be accepted. But the question is, which one should she pursue?

I think I've narrowed it down to two choices.

One is the order of Phaestus, the Smith. Phaestus created the dwarves, and Bryony is a dwarf, so it makes sense that she would have service to Phaestus as part of her heritage. And I've heard that the person who plays Phaestus is a great roleplayer and a ton of fun; everyone in his Order seems to love it and love him.

The other one I'm thinking about is the order of Mithraea, the Goddess of the Sun. She's one of the 4 Te'Serra--the Good Divine who jointly run Shallam, which Bryony belongs to. Bryony's mentor, whom she looks up to adoringly, mentioned once that she's a member of that Order. So that sounds pretty appealing too.

One benefit of joining one of the Te'Serran Orders is that they are the gods of Shallam, so they're more relevant to Bryony's most important values of doing Good and serving Shallam. It seems appropriate for a Templar to join one of those Orders. Also, a god's shrines can be used to summon magical attacks on enemies of an order, and the Te'Serra's shrines are often used in this way to help defend Shallam during raids. So if she was a member of that Order, she would be able to help keep those shrines intact, and use their powers to help the city.

So it's a tough choice! Bryony is kind of shy and intimidated by the very notion of Gods and Goddesses, but once she gets up the courage, I think she'll try to speak to people from both Orders, and join their initiate clans if they'll let her to learn more, and see if she can make a decision.

People used to huge graphic MMORPGs can't understand what it's like to participate in the kind of roleplay atmosphere of mud games like Achaea, where gods will roleplay directly with you, and where administrators design awesome custom world events regularly, and can do so in a way that's immediately responsive to how the players act. Try out this no-download MMORPG and see the difference!