[Romani]

Subject: Major news from the Pantheon of Asgard Nexus (Cleric Upgrade!)

For some time now, Murdock has been sharing with us what news and gossip he can glean about deities and their recent struggles.

Long has there been strife between the deity groups of the Pantheon. This recently reached crisis when signs of restlessness among individual deities exercising new found powers became apparent. In particular, much evidence pointed to their granting boons to followers, the like of which has not been seen before. A struggle for dominance ensued, each deity offering greater rewards for followers, culminating in two major events.

Deity Devotion Changes

Murdock reports:
"A great boon to mortals has been made clear to me. The deities are finally relaxing their strict grasp on their devotees.Traditionally, a devotion to a deity required the mortal to be bound to the deity for at least a 100 year period. With the changing tides and the emerging strife among the three deity pantheons, the deities have relaxed their devotion length requirements."

But, far more interesting for devoted Clerics ...

Cleric Paths of Devotion

In choosing a Deity, Clerics align themselves with a path of service to the Deity more than any other class. Many of a Cleric's spells and skills are manifest out of devoting to their Deity. Having high favor allows the devoted Cleric to cast certain spells that only the truly faithful followers of their Deity have access to.

Within the Pantheon are three Deity houses. Each house grants a new set of spells and skills to their Cleric devotees:

ARCANA EVIAE: Grants Clerics more prowess in battle, especially against the undead.
VIS LIBERATA: Based in the elements and, as such, grant their Clerics more power and control over the same.
AMNIS UMBRA: Grant their Clerics more ability to heal and support others.

The staff of Realms of Despair are very proud of this announcement. With 55 new or adjusted skills and spells for Clerics to access, this is arguably the most exciting change since Mage Paths. The change would not have been possible, though, without much input from The Symposium and the tireless efforts of our playtesters. THANKS BE TO THEM ALL!

For more information:

• Follow the Cleric Upgrade Information link on our main page: -=Realms of Despair: A FREE Smaug based MUD=- Here you can read the list of spells and skills.
• Read News in the left-hand navigation bar
• See the related help files in the game. Start with help cleric_devotion_benefits and the help files listed under See also. (Our help files are highly cross-referenced!) And, of course, the help files for the individual spells and skills.
• Talk to Murdock in Darkhaven
• Follow us on Twitter: RealmsOfDespair (where RoD news is often reported ahead of anywhere else)