This short "book" is meant to serve as an introductory text and reference manual for people who are planning to become nuns in BatMUD, or have already started their career in the guild. The intention is to give an idea what the nun guild is about, and what you can expect when joining it. Even more experienced nuns may find this "manual" to be a good on-line reference.

Most of the text in this document has been borrowed from the two books available in the guild's library, and is thus originally by Zin Zilver and possibly few other wizards. However, the text has been reformatted, cleaned up, edited for better grammar and added to. Hyperlinks between sections and to external documents have been added. The FAQ, map of the convent, most of the data tables and many explanatory sections are completely original works.

One of the reasons this document has been compiled and written are the numerous questions I (Ggr) have received, mostly from new players, who may not have even grasped the basic gameplay. Although I do not wish to discourage anyone from joining the nun guild, it would be advisable that you first consider few things to determine whether you are ready for the undertaking.

Although Sisters of Las is in many aspects similar to any given BatMUD guild, there are also profound differences in the requirements in terms in-game knowledge, areas, monsters, etc. Also, certain vigilance is required, as you may need to accommodate your playing style to follow obligatory nun activities such as prayer hours, and maintaining decent turn rate.

All in all, becoming a successful nun stems from having some of the following:

Naturally these are just few of the things that your career as a nun might benefit from, and not all of them may be strictly necessary. Everything depends on your personal traits and aspirations, after all.

The joining process of nuns is somewhat different from most guilds, as it is requires some "role playing", at least in a very loose sense. Typically, after hunting down some member of Synod and stating your application, the Synod member will conduct a test of a sort. To find out who are currently in the Synod, you can A) go to the guild entrance (where the gatekeeper, Noble soldier of Faerwon is) and 'look at poster' or B) politely ask someone who is already a member of the guild.

Traditionally this test is a verbal one, requiring you to answer some amount of questions related to typical nun actions, and content of the two books in guild library (which are included in this document).

In theory, the test could involve other things too, because this part is "role playing" in a fashion. Anyway, if the conductor of the test is satisfied, you'll be granted an invite to the guild. This invite will typically last until you rebirth, or someone decides to clean up the invites... or you do something stupid, like piss off people, which may lead to banishment from the guild.

You kneel before Demicore and she blesses you in the name of Las, thus
welcoming you to the Sisterhood of Nuns.
You may now join the nuns guild in Abbess office.

For nuns casting is far more complex compared to the other guilds. First of all, a nun needs a special holy relic to cast some of her spells. Learn more about this in the relic section. The relic has major effect especially to the outcome of offensive spells. This effect depends on magnitude of the spell. Mana costs of all nun spells are affected by one's purity.

Nun spells are roughly divided into three categories: offensive spells against evil creatures and demons, offensive spells against undead beings and various protective auras. Offensive spells used against evil opponents are called dispel type spells. Sometimes these are referred as exorcizing spells. The damage made by these spells depends on the target's alignment. However, undead opponents have partialy grown resistant to this type of spells and it is often futile to use dispel type spells on undead targets.

Exorcize spells have no effect on good or neutral aligned targets. Holy type spells are solely used against undead opponents and they are often the best weapon against those treacherous beings.

Good discipline is essential when casting offensive spells. In the old days the spells of the nuns were quite weak compared to the powers of evil and undead opponents. Nowadays the power of the nun's spells has increased considerably - especially the most effective ones are even more destructive than those used by the mages of Bat realm. Nuns with weak discipline are in danger to stray from the path of Light and lose their humility when they see the destructive power of their spell casting.

Nuns use special holy relics to cast certain special spells. A relic is often a cross or rosary or other blessed or holy item, but most rare ones can be anything from a book to an orb. Relics have various powers bound into them, but they are roughly divided in three categories: holy, exorcise and protection. The power of the relic affects either little or much, depending on how difficult and powerful the spell is.

Newbie nuns may receive three (3) basic relics per boot as a gift from Las. See 'nun guidance' for more information.

Good information about different relics and their relative powers can be found, for example, from BatWiki's Relic information page.

Nuns have a special ability to bless water inside small vials, thus creating holy vials. With skill called vial throwing, these vials can be used as a weapon against evil or undead beings.

Vials can be also used to boost protections by sprinkling holy water upon good aligned target, see 'nun help' for more info. To bless water you need a specially prepared vial from the guild shop. This kind of vial filled with water can then be blessed to produce a holy vial.

Turning undeads is an essential part of a nun's daily work. From time to time the saints value your turning rate and remind you if you should turn more. The bigger undeads you turn the longer your turn rate will stay high. You should also keep in mind that casting protective auras diminish your turning rate. See 'nun help' for more information. You can view your current turn rate via 'nun turns' command, there are 9 different status messages, listed below from worst to best.

1. You should definitely turn more undeads.
2. You should turn more undeads.
3. You should turn some undeads in the near future.
4. Your turn rate is good, keep up the good work.
5. Your turn rate is excellent, the Gods are very pleased.
6. Your devotions in turning is admirable, good work sister!
7. You have turned a horde of undeads, Las is pleased.
8. You have turned many undeads and thus made Las very happy.
9. You are feared amongst the undeads, thy are in favour of Las.

It is also possible to "overcharge" the turn rate even above the last turn rate message, in order to keep your rate high for longer periods of time.

Tasks are an important part of a nun's career. When training or studying skills and spells you will notice that some can only be learned halfway to what you are used to. The rest can be gained by proving your worthiness to obtain more knowledge. This is done by performing tasks. Every task can be completed only once. There is no limit on how many times you may try them.

Not all spells/skills are dependant on only one task, but various. When you have obtained enough knowledge the tasks will become available to you in the list in the task room and you may try to accomplish them. Remember that more than one skill/spell (and other things) may affect the availability of a task. Sister Ggr has generated a list of possible requirements for each task, which you may find helpful.

Some tasks have limitations in the amount of sisters who may attempt to complete them at the same time, and you may have to wait a while. If there is the text '(Within the boot)' behind the time to complete it, it means you will fail the task unless you have accomplished it before the boot occurs, no matter how much time you would have left. If there is no such flag it means you may continue the task after boot. This also means that if a crash should happen, tasks with boot flag will fail. NO reimbursement will be given if you fail your task because of a crash!

Before you start a task, read the description very carefully, as it is not repeated when you start the task. There might be more than one goal in the task and achieving them all could provide you with extra credit. If this is the case, you will be informed when starting the task.

You may also end your task when ever you want, this is desirable especially if you know that you are going to fail the task anyway. You may start the same task only once in a boot. Almost all the tasks are saved over reinc. This can be guaranteed by achieving Elder nun status or reincing from nun to nun.

Do not try to cheat while performing tasks! If you are caught cheating you can never accomplish the task again and you will lose purity permanently.

Purity of thy heart is perhaps the most important characteristic of a nun. Purity is shown in your skills as 'Purity of thy heart'. It can't be trained but it will rise along your nun career as you successfully perform nun spells, skills and such. Purity affects, for example, mana costs and damage. In general, purity is the "reputation" metric of nuns.

BEFORE you reincarnate to the guild for the first time or reinc back to it make sure that your invitation is still valid. You may do this by asking any Synod member or visiting Abbess Office and typing 'check invitation'. If you are not invited you must seek the approval of the Synod. Only a member of the Synod may welcome you to the guild.

If you choose to leave the guild of nuns and then return in some point, your reincarnation back falls in one of these three categories.

Nuns have revived the lost art of candlestick making. The guild members are taught the art of moulding a lump of wax into a source of light and warmth. Candles are widely used during incantations and prayers as symbols of purity and enlightment.

Rumours also tell of a sacred place where candles can be dipped into sacred water to receive a blessing and even more powerful enchantment. (The area is nowadays known as Temple of all Gods and is located on the continent of Desolathya.)

As you well know, the Sisterhood is keeping an Orphanage at Arelium (near the church). Beside taking care of the orphans our mission is to clothe and feed the poor. There are a lot of misfortunate ones so we need all the extra clothing and food we can get. Abbess Abigail has ordered that every nun must participate by gathering some clothes and food from time to time and deliver them to Sister Hannah (the donation room is in the convent), who handles the stock and distributions to the orphanage.

The higher your level is, the more you are expected to contribute. From time to time Sister Hannah will go through her papers and the one who has gathered the most both clothes and food is rewarded with temporary enhancement of purity for duration of one week. The amounts of monthly donates are valued when choosing new Synod. You should note, that the clothing and food made by yourself is considered the most valuable.

Sister Alysia is known to test the skills of fellow sisters at holy battlegrounds. The names and accomplishments of best nuns are kept at the ruins and the best nun is known as Master of Holy Battlegrounds and as a gift from las her wisdom, intelligence and spell point regeneration are increased.

The rumour is that the spells of best nun are often one round shorter than the rest of nuns. Find sister Alysia and ask her about test of faith and she will tell you more. Don't forget to check the engravings of the runes.

The Holy Battlegrounds are located in Caverns of Chaos area, on the continent of Rothikgen.

Around the realms there are many places where you can view your progress and the progress of your friends and enemies. We nuns also have the benefit of comparing our progress to fellow sisters.

By the fountain in the convent, one can view plaques showing top 25 of largest undead turned, amount of undeads turned and 20 most pure nuns ranked in order.

A poster at the entrance of the convent shows the times the best 5 have used to complete 'Virtuosic Nun of Holy Might' task.

Sister Alysia's cavern has engravings of the best scores in the battlegrounds.

The Convent of the White Rose was founded by its current Abbess and leader, Sister Abigail. She was the sole survivor of the attack against the old Guild, in which a horde of daemons, with the aid of Wizard Teutonic, murdered the other nuns and occupied the old convent, turning it into a lair of evil. Abigail would have died as the rest without the intervention of Lord Zilver, who fought against Teutonic and turned him into a statue. The background of these happenings are still obscure and the Abbess rarely speaks of those days.

When Abigail was old enough, she was called by Las to establish a new sisterhood in an abandoned monastery located high at the mountain plain near city of Shadowkeep on the continent of Rothikgen. She was aided by Lord Zilver, who then became permanent Guildmaster and protector of the Nuns.

Simple room map of the Convent of White Rose (if the above SVG version does not display in your browser, a PNG image version is available.

The Hour of Prayer is the most important event what comes to worshipping Las. The Hour or Prayer is started and ended by a member of the Synod and one member must be present at all time. When a prayer is called upon, all nuns should gather to the chapel of the convent and pray to Las. You need a candle to complete the praying. Candles made by the nun herself are valued the most.

The guild is obviously closed from outsiders during this hour. When a week has passed, the prayers of active guildmembers are valued by Las. Lack of prayers makes Las angry and it may reflect as raised mana costs. However, devoted praying assures the favour of Las and bonuses accordingly.

Since circa 2013, the maximum duration of prayers was limited, and a new helpful command 'nteleport' is provided for nuns to quickly travel to the convent (and back to where ever they were before).

Some powerful and famous nuns of the past have been proclaimed as saints, who guard those who wander in the realm worshipping Las. Every day has its own patron saint who affects the daily guildlife. The strength of the patron's aid varies from saint to saint. Usually the aid is focused on certain effect. For example, some may affect your spell point regeneration, wisdom or damage made by dispel undead spell, etc.

No-one knows the true amount of saints or amount of different aids they give. The more powerful the saint is, the fewer days will it patron before its 'saintly legend' needs to be restored. This is done by performing a restore attempt. The attempting nun is given an empty scroll and some instruction on how to charge the scroll with the divine power of the saint. The scroll must be charged within the boot and then be given to a Synod member to be recited and thus hopefully restoring the saint. Restoring the saintly powers successfully is known to help one to obtain purity.

This, however, is not always an easy task and it is known to fail from time to time, especially when restoring the most powerful patron saints. If one fails to perform the saint restore within boot, a penalty of approximately 36 hours will be placed, during which you can't begin a new restore. This penalty time will start from the moment of failure, be it game reboot or giving the restore scroll to Sister Bernadette (who usually resides in convent's library). If you are certain you cannot do the given restore task, you can hasten the penalty process by returning the scroll as soon as possible.

The Holy Synod aka "nun council" is the heart of the guild. Actions of Synod affect greatly on the basic daily living. The Synod carries out the Hour of Prayer, influences on the weekly patron saints, recites patron saint scrolls, invites applicants to the sisterhood, gives out punishments and so on. The Synod consists of four elected nuns and the Guildleader.

The election is based on activity. To get elected you must first make sure you are available to the Synod. This is done by signing up in the office (synod register). Factors that affect your synod points are level, guild-age, purity, completed tasks, restored saints, activity in Hours of Prayer, turning undeads, helping the orphanage and many other factors that measure your guild activity. You may review your current points at Abigail's office (synod points). The Synod is chosen for a period of thirty (30) days. Members of the Synod have many benefits such as a special guardian angel 'Seraphim' and the right to channel Wrath of Las.

You should always treat members of the Synod with certain respect and remember that they are the ones who rule over the guild. They are, however, bounded by a sacred oath not to conspire against the members of the guild, like extorting someone to reinc out from the guild. If the other members of the Synod fail to intervene, the conflicts must then be brought before the Guildmaster, who is the highest authority.

Guildleader has the highest authority in the guild amongst the nuns and must be respected accordingly. If one applies the leadership of the guild she will be closely examined by the saints compared to the current leader.

The saints are known to value old and experienced nun with pure heart. The Guildleader is also a member and the leader of Synod thus she enjoys the privileges of a synod member. In addition to that the Guildleader has the right to use the most valued relic known as 'Cross of Angels' which is in display in small glass cabinet at the hallway near the entrance.

Sister Demicore was the leader of nun guild for many years, until Sister Frenor succeeded her in 2013.

A list of people involved in the Guild of Nuns and the Convent of the White Rose.

Nuns that master the Holy Lore and have been in the guild for a long time may apply for the status of Elder nun. Benefits of this achieved status are reincarnation without guild penalties and acquittal from Synod's punishments. Also some other privileges are given to them that are not listed here.

There are 11 requirements you need to fulfill before applying for eldership status. Further information is available at the Abbess' office (ask abbess about elder requirements).

Some old information recovered from scrolls by Sister Clemente. This information can be used in combination with 'identify relic' spell to gain information about what benefits/nun stats given relic has.