Donovan's Point of View - Part 3 - The Curse, Destruction and the Amlulets

PART 3 - THE CURSE, DESTRUCTION AND THE AMULETS


WHAT IS "THE CURSE"?

Each night at Midnight Standard Linden Time (United States Pacific Standard Time) Bloodlines Vampires and Lycans are subjected to a blood or lumen deduction known in game as "The Curse".  Human players are not subjected to automatic deductions in their humanity based on time.  Vampires and Lycans require Vital Blood or Vital Lumens in order to survive (not starve to death) and avoid becoming what's known as "Destroyed".  Avoiding destruction is crucial to game play, and requires the daily consumption of blood or lumens to stay alive.  Should a Vampire or Lycan become destroyed, the souls of the players they have collected along the way will be cast into the Abyss, and stripped from that Vampire or Lycans soul count.  Basically stated, if you die, your souls go to the Abyss and your soul count goes to zero.  This is not only problematic for your individual soul count, it's also costly to the players you were guarding to recover themselves from the Abyss.  As a liege or leader you have an obligation to fully understand how this situation occurs in order to avoid it.

As stated earlier, the curse takes away vital blood or vital lumens each night at midnight.  A vampire holds, when full, 5 Liters of Vital Blood.  A Lycan holds, when full, 50 Units of Vital Lumens.  At midnight, the game automatically deducts a quantity of blood or lumens from each player that does not have "Protection" that wards off the effects of the Curse.  We'll discuss Protections at the end.  The amount stripped from a Vampire at midnight is .25 Liters of Blood, and for a Lycan it's 2.5 Units of Lumens.  At this rate a Vampire or Lycan (without Protection) that is full can survive without feeding for 20 days, but will become destroyed on the 21st day at Midnight SLT. 

HOW DOES A PLAYER AVOID DESTRUCTION?

To avoid destruction, a Vampire or Lycan simply needs to feed to maintain their Vital Blood or Lumen levels.  A good habit to get into is wearing your HUD all the time (don't take it off), and scan yourself each day to monitor your blood or lumen levels.  To do this, click the small left circle under your hud that looks like a skull, and select your name.  Then, watch the Local Chat feed to see your Vital Statistics.  If you're getting low (in my estimate anywhere below half full) simply eat.  At Haud Pluvia we provide Casks of Blood and Tanks of Lumens for all our family to use freely.  There are other ways to eat mind you, and those will be addressed below.

Each time a Vampire or Lycan attacks a registered Bloodlines Human, they collect one days requirement of consumption ( .25 Blood or 2.5 Lumens respectively), and thus live to play another day and avoid that days effects of the Curse.  If they attack another registered Vampire or Lycan the amount is reduced based on a formula in game that determines the exact amount collected.  Note, that the amount collected is only approximated as it is based on the percentage of Vital Blood or Lumens remaining in the player they've attacked.  Conversely, if you allow another player to attack you, you will lose a percentage based on what you have remaining to give, and will reduce your amount of time remaining before being destroyed yourself.

The simplest way to avoid destruction without protection is to eat from casks or tanks.  The next most simple way is to bite or scratch a Vampire or Lycan.  The third most simple way is to bite or scratch a registered Human.  If none of those options are available to you, the final way to avoid destruction is to purchase Curse Protection at an authorized Bloodlines Location or Vendor.

WHAT IS "CURSE PROTECTION"?

Curse Protection is the act of wearing an Amulet or Totem that nullifies the effects of the Curse for a stated period of time.  There are varying lengths of time available for purchase ranging from 10 Days to Forever Protection.  Wearing Forever Protection is highly recommended by me if you are caring for more than 5 subordinate souls, or if you foresee amassing 5 or more over the course of your game play.  Forever Protection is an expensive undertaking to say the least, however, there are advantages to this Amulet or Totem  strategy that pay for themselves over time.  First, as you will no longer be subjected to the effects of the Curse, you no longer need to feed to stay alive.  A blood shot at the Main store retails for 14L$.  Basic arithmetic will show that at this rate to remain full for 20 consecutive days will cost a player 280L$ (or roughly 420L$ for a typical 30 day month).  Simply never allow your Blood or Lumen levels to hit Zero from any other act or circumstance (i.e. draining yourself to zero by accident, or allowing too many other players to feed off of you).  Voluntarily or incidentally dropping to Zero will still destroy you.  The Amulet or Totem simply means the Curse can't get you anymore.  The second benefit is the peace of mind that both you and your minions will have knowing there's a far reduced worry of your soul ending up in the Abyss due to an accidental destruction (should your internet connection fail, and you cannot return to game in time to feed for example).  As a Liege, I strongly recommend you seriously consider Forever Protection.  It may seem expensive now, but will pay for itself as well as large dividends over time.