The Academy of Mercinae

All newly born adventurers in Avalon begin life with only an insubstantial taste of the skills which they might one day learn. The Academies are charitable institutions set up by city councils that invite all novices to join so that they may be trained in a few more of the basic adventuring skills.

The Mercinean Academy is situated south and then west from Cassiandora Square; you go to the far south of the square, then west a short way and finally north into the entrance hall.

Purpose

Before you can progress to a fully-fledged guild you must have graduated from your city's Academy. This means that you must acquire a level of competency sufficient to warrant your progression to a more specialised guild.

The Academy will teach you much about the game, your character and about the city of your birth, Mercinae - City of Light.

Skills

Upon joining the Academy, you will gain five skills in addition to your five basic newborn skills. These skills are necessary to ensure the protection of your character, and provide some advanced abilities.

Swordplay:	This is used during combat to determine how effective you are at melee combat using a weapon.
Riding:	It deals with your ability to ride animals, to spur animals in battle, to lead animals about, and general your ability to master a dumb animal in day-to-day situations.
Survival:	This is a general ability, dealing with your ability at various outdoor or physical pursuits.
Itemlore:	Your ability to assess items of their inherent worth, weight and assorted properties.
Throwing:	This is both a combat and a dexterity skill. It deals with your accuracy and ability to throw objects or weapons around.

Sevenius, The Head Tutor

Head Tutor: Sevenius - a kindly old man with fierce loyalty to Mercinae.

Locations in the Academy: Entrance hall, Great Hall, small gardens, a library, a gymnasium, and an upstairs dormitory.

Accolades

Eight novice quests (known as accolades) must be completed in order to graduate from the Academy. These help you learn basic movement, and character progression through quests, lessons and exploration. The individual accolades are as follows:

Accolade	Description of requirement
Pathfinder	Seek the village of North Ogg.
Adventurer	Retrieve an artifact from a quest to prove your worth.
Quick	To find and retrieve a colourful poster from the forest.
Leader	Lead a dwarf to the gate of Thaumacie.
Trustworthy	You must deliver a note to Iorwenn, the kinswoman, in Eleusis.
Spiritual Eye	Locate a temple of a God, and kneel in their presence.
Brave	Find the house of the bandits, and spit in the face of Jaskar, chief bandit.
Learned	You must find the ruined library of Ilmarael and study there.

Words of Sevenius, Master of the Mercinean Academy:
If you are truly new to this land then my advice is simple. Take the time to go through in detail as much information as you can digest from this web site - especially the introduction and the cities and guilds.