Favors! Favors! Favors!


Favors are what keep you from walking the Starry Road (eternal death). They are a sign from the Gods that you have found favor with them, and they grant you their protection from the Void. The more favors you have, the more protection you will have... If you die with favors, you can depart without fear of losing everything you've earned, or if you're lucky, you can be resurrected by a cleric. By departing (or being raised) one of your favors will be used so that you may live.

While you are in the game, type HELP DEATH. It explains about death and favors.

If you are a first circle novice who has not died more than 5 times, the Gods protect you, and you can DEPART after a cleric restores your memories. You will not Walk.


Why Do I Need Favors?
If you are NOT a first circle novice, or have died too many times, YOU NEED TO HAVE FAVORS! I cannot stress this enough. Favors are essential if you want to preserve your character and ensure that you do not lose all your hard work forever.

If you do not have favors, you WILL lose everything you've earned when you depart. If you are really lucky and a cleric decides to raise you, the cleric is forced to sacrifice one of his/her hard earned favors. Bear in mind, this decision is based solely on their goodwill. Clerics are under NO obligation to raise favorless.

A paladin who has chosen a certain spell may give one of his or her favors to a favorless corpse. However, this also depends on their goodwill and paladins are under no obligation to choose the spell OR give you their favors.

In favorless resurrections, the Gods also punish you, by removing a small portion of your memories (earned ranks, not just field exp) permanently.

Do not be foolish and think you can continue to die favorless, expecting to get help every time. Most clerics do not look kindly on a corpse who has forsaken the Gods. Get favors the moment you are promoted to the second level of your guild, or better yet, before you are promoted.


How Many Favors is Enough?
Well....There is technically no limit to how many favors you can get... *wink*

I recommend that young adventurers get 3 favors right away. Later as you get promoted, get more favors. Try to always keep a constant number of 5-6 favors...to be on the safe side. By 5th circle, you should be trying to maintain at least 5-6 favors. Trust me on this, it will be better for you if you do this. :)

Obtaining favors involve the use of a favor orb. I do not recommend getting more than 2 orbs each time. There is a limit to how many useable orbs you can get at one time, and any more orbs you get at that same time will be ineffective.

There is some confusion as to how many favor orbs you can get at one time. Most say 3 is possible, some say no more than 2. I think it's best to just stay on the safe side and get no more than two orbs at one time.

Advice:
- Do not take the orb out of the container to rub it. There is a risk of shattering.
- Keep each orb in a separate container. Then, <RUB ORB IN [specific] container> so that you don't accidentally fill the wrong orb.

How Do I Get Favors?
There are 3 known systems of obtaining favors to date. Yes, there is more than 1 way to get favors. On this page, I will discuss the most common and oldest method located in The Crossing. If you want to know more about the others, follow this link to the new favor page.

First, you should already know what god you want to pray to. There should be books in any main library. In Crossing, you can go to the Clerics' Guild and head east into the library. Get the book entitled "The Immortals" and read it. Look on the shelves. There is a list of books there. Get the book you want by its Call Number.

For the Old Favor System, only the 13 MAIN gods are recognized. (If you need to have it spelt out: Chadatru, Damaris, Eluned, Everild, Faenella, Glythtide, Hav'roth, Hodierna, Kertigen, Meraud, Tamsine, Truffenyi, Urrem'tier)... Yes, correct spelling IS important.

Once you have chosen a god for your favors (and yes, you can choose more than 1 god, switching isn't a problem), you need to get to the place where you seek the orbs: Siergelde Ruins (Crossing) or the Mausoleum (Riverhaven). [Thanks Entyycement, Selvera, and Favre] Easiest thing is to use DIR FAVOR to lead you there. Just remember how to come back.

For Crossing: There are tours available at the Crossing Temple. From the bank, go southwest, go through the mahogany gate and go into the mahogany building. You can get tours to Siergelde Ruins where you obtain your favor orbs (ORDER 2). You can also go on other tours if you're interested. Read the sign for details.

I strongly recommend you memorize or familiarize yourself with the directions to the favor orb place. You'll be using the path often if you care about your life. You can use Sablina & Ranik's maps to learn your way around. The link can be found in my links section.

At the Ruins, you should find yourself in the Stone Grotto (Crossing only). There, you are ready to begin your quest to get favor orbs. Just think of the way that people normally worship a god. Clue: What's another word for worship? It's a four-letter word that starts with a P. Next clue: One time may not be enough. If you figured it out, you will be asked to name your Chosen god. Say the God's name and stand.

You will end up in front of an altar. GET your favor orb and go through the arch. (The trees are a much harder and complicated puzzle area.) You will find yourself in a room or area (places can vary). You will need to be observant and try to fix whatever is wrong or missing. LOOKing at or on various things help you find clues. These are simple puzzles. Just use your common sense.

You are NOT done yet! Getting a favor orb is not yet a favor, and is, therefore, useless when you're dead. You need to turn them into favors.

In order to gain favor with your god, you need to offer sacrifice. In this case, the sacrifice is some of your field learning. Type EXP. All your potential learning (concentrating, perplexed, bewildering, etc..) is used to fill the orb. RUB the orb until you sense it is fully prepared.

With your orb prepared, you can now head to the Li Stil rae Kwego ia Kweld in the Resurrection Creche (Crossing Temple) or a specific altar in Riverhaven Temple. This is the place where you end up when you depart in or near the respective cities. This is also the altar where you put your orb on the altar to get a favor.

Seek Mentors, elders, or friends in the game to learn exactly how to get favors if you are having a lot of trouble. Getting favors is considered an in-game puzzle. You should try to solve it on your own as much as possible, or seek the aid of an experienced person.


Why Having Low Favors is Bad
Having less than 4 favors comes with risks:

1. It is possible to lose more than 1 favor by departing. (If you end up in the middle of invasion after you depart....poof dead again!)
2. Having less than 3 favors leave you vulnerable to a significant number of clerics lecturing you on the dangers that come with having low favors.

There are things called bad luck days. Sometimes you may find yourself in the middle of a nasty invasion and forced to depart...then find yourself back in trouble again...dead again! Trust me. You really want to have as many favors as possible to protect against those lousy days.

Fun Favor Tidbits!
Have you ever taken a look at your orb as you rubbed it? The look of the orb changes as you fill it with your sacrifice.

Orb colors appear to be dictated by guild. Let me know if you have evidence to the contrary.

Barbarian -Red
Bard - Brown
Cleric -Yellow
Empath - Green
Moon Mage - Gold
Paladin - Blue
Ranger - Black
Thief - Violet
Trader - White
Warrior Mage - Orange

There may be discrepencies with the list above. I have had two people tell me that their favor orbs did not coincide with the list. Consider this the more common occurrence since most of the people I ask confirm the data above. There may be the possibility of getting "rogue" favor orbs, which could account for the odd contradictions. Who knows? :)