The universe - all that we know, all that exists - is dying. It is time for a new universe to be born.
In a place far removed from our own mortality, spirits and souls do battle to determine whose ethos will midwife the birth of the new one.
This place is known by many names - Valhalla, Purgatory, - but those there refer to it as The Nexus.
Nexus War is a "low tech" MMORPG that you play in your browser. It's a modern fantasy RPG that is heavily basied around player run factions warring against each other. The entire game is focused on PvP. A player in Nexus War is known as a Mortal when they first start out. These are souls of regular people who have been picked to fight in the Nexus War and have been brought to the Plane called Valhalla. Valhalla is an area that resembles Earth in a way. From there, you begin your fighting. You will run into other plays, friend some and kill most of them. You can join a Faction, jump to different planes of existance, and even fight the few and rare legendary monsters.
If you've played Urban Dead, you might like what you see. The game is very similar to Urban Dead.The Game
So what do you do in Nexus War? The primary idea is to pick one of the three sides of morality and fight for Good, Evil, or stay in the middle and fight for anyone. It becomes even more complex when you start to get into factions. Quick example ahead. If you've played Urban Dead, you might know of the
Ridleybank Resistance Front. Well, they are in Nexus War too as the
Ridleytown Resistance Front. They hold Ridleytown like a fortress and even break down their faction into different teams that work at different times and do different things. They are all about keeping Saint Germaine, the main newbie zone, free from anyone with an allignment and take only those who are a neutural class. As a faction, you can have a large and complex operation like them, or you can be be Good and fight Evil, visa versa. Or just have an all inclusive faction that hold hands and sing songs like a bunch of wusses. There are even factions dedicated to one class type. Playing Nexus War isn't all about killing each other tho. Some factions are established for the exclusive purpose of crafting items and trading for rare materials. In Nexus War there is no "end game". There are no raid bosses for phat loot. There ARE
wandering monsters, but if you can tell me
how to kill these mother fuckers then I congradulate you. Killing them is more for bragging rights. This game is pretty much what you make of it within the world they give you.
Screenshot spoil'd due to size.
This is a screenshot of the game. At the top you have your character statistics. HP and MP should be self-explanatory. Morality is your characters moral standing and it plays an inportant role in your characters future class. Fighting and healing players, fixing and destroying barricades all have an effect on your Morality. AP is your actions point and you can have up to 50 at once. They renegerate at one every 15 minutes. CP are Character Points and these are gotten every time you level up. The max amount of CP you gain over a characters life, from leveling, is something like 550. You spend CP on skills and some skills are VERY expensive. Under that is the Messages window. This is where all actions that you and other players do will appear. Under that on the left are several small windows, compacted because they went off screen. Status Effects is easy to figure out. Occupants are the people in the same room as you. Pets are the current pets in the room, but not nessesarily yours. Items are the items that are scattered about the room, but they are large things like vending machines. In the middle is the decription of the room you are in, including information on the faction that would occupy the building. Under that, compacted, are different menus for actions you can take while in the room. On the right side is the map with various information.
The Classes
When you start out in Nexus Wars you begin the game as a Mortal, also called Teir 1. At level 10 you gain a Teir 2 class and have four classes to pick from depending on your Morality. At level 20 you move on to Teir 3 and pick your final class which is baised on your Teir 2 pick.
(All classes are spoiler'd for length except the Mortal.)
Mortal - Teir 1, Unaligned
All characters in the Nexus begin as Mortals. Mortals are just that: mortal beings with no extraordinary powers. Mortals begin their existence unaligned and with the precious gift of free will: they are able to choose their own destinies. When a mortal reaches level 10, he or she may choose a new character class. There are a total of six exits for this character class, but an individual character will only ever be allowed to choose between a maximum of four. Four of the exit classes are aligned to either Good or Evil, which means that they will only be available as choices if the character has a sufficiently high (or low) morality score. Choosing one of these classes will initiate the long process of transformation into an Angel or a Demon, depending on the path chosen. The character is then forever locked into that alignment.
Read here about the Myrmidon, the Teir 2 Unaligned class.
Myrmidon
Myrmidons are extraordinary warriors who have spent their energies increasing their combat prowess. They are extremely adaptive in combat situations and masters of weaponry. All Myrmidons possess an innate (5%) ability to perform "critical hits" when attacking their foes. From time to time, an attack will be performed so well that additional damage is dealt to the target (the damage is equal to 1.5 times normal). This is a feature of the class and no skill purchase is required to use it: it happens automatically. Myrmidons are a non-aligned character class. Choosing this class means that the character can never ascend to a Divine class or descend to an Infernal one: the raw moral factions of Good and Evil are closed to them. This does not mean that the Myrmidon cannot be "good" or "evil" - quite the opposite. It means, rather, that these individuals believe in free will and freedom of choice over a particular ethos.
Read here about the Teir 3 Unaligned classes following the Myrmydon.
Eternal Soldier
There exists no greater fighter in the Nexus than the Eternal Soldier. They are the ultimate in military prowess and they achieve this power by studiously focusing on the Cosmic forces of the Nexus itself. The powers of the Eternal Soldier are almost all based around combat and are learned through deep study and philosophy. They are akin to warrior-monks and even the dreaded Infernal Behemoths owe them respect.
Nexus Champion
The Nexus Champion is perhaps the epitome of free-will in the Nexus: a supremely adaptable soldier who is comfortable both with a sword and with a spell. A Nexus Champion gains their power through several mystical tattoos that cover their body. These tattoos are, in effect, cosmic spells written in the language of the pure Nexal mode. The powers of a Nexus Champion are a complicated toolset and are intimately tied with the tattoo language that binds them to the Nexus. Even the spells that a Nexus Champion learns are tattooed onto their body.
Revenant
The Revenant is a warrior who has tapped into the greater Nexal powers to move beyond life itself. Revenants are undead soldiers and through their connection with the forces of death are granted many powers beyond those of the other unaligned combat classes. Revenants suffer severe penalties when operating in daylight (even taking damage if they move through the outside) but are terrible engines of blood and destruction at night. Over time, the Revenant will gain the ability to use the life-forces of his foes to fuel his own power as well as taking the form of night creatures.
Read here about the Sorcerer, the Teir 2 Unaligned class.
Sorcerer
Sorcerers are practitioners of the magic arts. They have managed to attune their souls to the cosmic energies that bind reality together - so much so that they are able to manipulate it to their own ends. Sorcerers are a non-aligned character class. Choosing this class means that the character can never ascend to a Divine class or descend to an Infernal one: the raw moral factions of Good and Evil are closed to them. This does not mean that the Sorcerer cannot be "good" or "evil" - quite the opposite. It means, rather, that these individuals believe in free will and freedom of choice over a particular ethos. There are no particular alignment requirements to enter this character class.
Read here abiout the Teir 3 Unaligned classes following the Sorcerer.
Elementalist
The Elementalist is a specialist wizard and a master of the four elements: earth, fire, air, and water. He has learned to summon the physical aspects of the elements to do his bidding (in the form of Servitors). The powers of an Elementalist are based around the manipulation of the four elements and the mastery of them. As the Elementalist grows in power, he becomes more attuned to the elements he studies, gaining their strengths - and also their weaknesses. For each elemental skill that the character purchases, he gains a point of innate soak versus a specific damage type as well as a corresponding point of negative soak versus a specific damage type.
Lich
The Lich is a sorcerer who has studied death and learned to master it. However, in doing so, he has become undead himself: a gaunt, skeletal frame that abhors sunlight is all that remains of his mortal self. The powers of the Lich deal with death and the control of it. They are immune to death-type damage and so weapons and spells that deal it as damage have no effect on them. Liches are able to animate corpses and summon skeletons to do their bidding.
Wizard
The Wizard is an advanced spell caster. Wizards are extremely powerful in this regard: their spells will always do more damage than non-wizards and tend to use fewer Magic Points. Wizards are possessed of a variety of utilitarian powers, each one enabling him to achieve his goals in a broad sense. Because of this, Wizards tend to be able to adapt easily to any situation.
Read here about the Paladin, the Teir 2 Good class.
Paladin
Paladins are angelkind. They are individuals who have chosen the path of Good and righteousness. Paladins comprise the bulk of the Divine faction's military might and are terrible warriors on the battlefield. Their powers grant them extraordinary abilities at smiting evil and great protections from damage. Paladins are a Good-aligned character class. They believe in fostering goodwill and the value of the group over the individual. Choosing this class means that the character will forever be locked into the path of Good. He or she will be restricted to joining only Good-aligned human factions or the Divine Army. In order to qualify for this class, the character's alignment must be Good. If the Paladin ever drifts from the just path, many of his or her innate powers will cease to function until righteousness once again is the master of the Paladin's soul.
Read here about the Teir 3 classes following the Paladin.
Divine Champion
While the Seraph is a single-purpose soldier, the Divine Champion is somewhat more flexible. They are soldiers for the forces of good, but they have little use for the strict military discipline that is expressed by the Seraphim. Instead their powers are more concerned with the transformation of the body into powerful alternative forms. Divine Champions are able to learn spellcasting.
Seraph
The Word has many aspects. One of those aspects is that of vengeance, and the Seraph is the expression of the Word in that regard. They are the ultimate soldier in the armies of Paradise. The abilities of the Seraph are almost entirely geared towards combat. They are unflinching in their focus and terrible in aspect.
Read here about the Shepard, the Teir 2 Good class.
Shepard
Shepherds are angelkind. They are individuals who have chosen the path of Good and righteousness. Shepherds are spell casters and their innate skills involve healing and helping others. They are not geared towards offense in the way that the Paladin is: if the Paladin is the Divine soldier, the Shepherd is his medic. However, the most powerful tool in the Shepherd's toolbox is that of Prayer: sometimes, the gods answer. Shepherds are a Good-aligned character class. They believe in fostering goodwill and the value of the group over the individual. Choosing this class means that the character will forever be locked into the path of Good. He or she will be restricted to joining only Good-aligned human factions or the Divine Army. In order to qualify for this class, the character's alignment must be Good. If the Shepherd ever drifts from the just path, many of his or her innate powers will cease to function until righteousness once again is the master of the Shepherd's soul.
Read here about the Teir 3 classes following the Shepard.
Advocate
Advocates are true Angels. They are the voice of the Word that is, and their abilities reflect a philosophy of unity and justice. Advocates possess few combat abilities when matched against the soldier Seraphs, but those that they do have are powerful. They are often leaders of Angelic combat squads, assaulting Demonic strongholds in Stygia.
Lightseeker
Lightspeakers are the caretakers of the good souls that abound in Paradise. They are the arbiters of justice, and it is they who speak the Word that is Law. Because of this, they are able to summon the manifestations of these things for aid and succor. Lightspeakers are, by themselves, ill-suited for combat. However, armed with their summoned allies, they are deadly foes and are able to strike fear into the dead hearts of demonkind.
Read here about the Pariah, the Teir 2 Evil class.
Pariah - Teir 2, Evil
Pariahs are demonkind. They are individuals who have chosen the path of Evil and it has damned their souls for all eternity. Pariahs are the grunt soldiers of hell: their abilities center around harming others as efficiently as possible. They are less flexible than their Defiler brethren, but are more capable of dealing raw damage. Pariahs are an Evil-aligned character class. They believe in self-reliance, individualism, and selfishness. Choosing this class means that the character will forever be locked into the path of Evil. He or she will be restricted to joining only Evil-aligned human factions or the Infernal Horde. Pariahs, like all demonkind, are unable to accept healing by other characters. They must fend for themselves. In order to qualify for this class, the character's alignment must be Evil. If the Pariah ever drifts from the dark paths, many of his or her innate powers will cease to function until evil once again is the master of the Pariah's soul.
Read here about the Teir 3 classes following the Pariah.
Infernal Behemoth
The dread Infernal Behemoth is the ultimate soldier in the Infernal army. He is a true demon, and Hellish forces have strengthened his frame into one geared towards one purpose: the annihilation of life. In this the Infernal Behemoth succeeds admirably. The powers of the Infernal Behemoth are almost entirely geared towards combat - with Angelic forces specifically but the Behemoth isn't picky about his targets. However, while their innate attacks and armor are formidable, perhaps the reason they are most feared for is their Bloodlust ability.
Void Walker
The Void Walker is a true demon, one that bespeaks of a different kind of death than that of the Infernal Behemoth. Where the Behemoth revels in blood and battle, the crushing of bones and the bursting of organs, the Void Walker is a creeping, silent cancer: the death that smothers children in the night. No doors can bar a Void Walker. No prisons, no ropes. They are innately free of constraints, both physical and moral. Void Walkers are able to learn spell casting abilities and this, combined with their travel prowess, make them excellent spies and assassins.
Read here about the Defiler, the Teir 2 Evil class.
Defiler - Teir 2, Evil
Defilers are demonkind. They are individuals who have chosen the path of Evil and it has damned their souls for all eternity. Defilers are practitioners of the magic arts, and while their wizardly abilities are not on par with those of a Sorcerer, their innate skillset makes up for this lack. Defilers are an Evil-aligned character class. They believe in self-reliance, individualism, and selfishness. Choosing this class means that the character will forever be locked into the path of Evil. He or she will be restricted to joining only Evil-aligned human factions or the Infernal Horde. Defilers, like all demonkind, are unable to accept healing by other characters. They must fend for themselves. In order to qualify for this class, the character's alignment must be Evil. If the Defiler ever drifts from the dark paths, many of his or her innate powers will cease to function until evil once again is the master of the Defiler's soul.
Read here about the Teir 3 classes following the Defiler.
Dark Oppressor
Dark Oppressors are true demons. They are the ruling class of demonkind, cruelly Machiavellian and political. They are less powerful when away from their home plane of Stygia. However, the fact that they control the firepits lends testament to their power: within that frozen plane they are nigh unstoppable, with high innate bonuses to all combat-related abilities.
Wyrm Master
The frozen wastes of Stygia are rife with all manner of insane and dangerous creatures and the Wyrm Master holds the leash that binds them. Wyrm Masters are able to summon a variety of Hellish creatures to do their bidding.
The Planes
There are seven different planes of existance in Nexus Wars and they are all important. Generally, access to the planes will be from portals scattered around the game world. Each plane has different properties and some cannot be accessed without taking damage under certain circumstances. Each plane also has a specific allignment. A core skill of any character in Nexus War is
Planar Protection. This will protect your character in all the planes. Another way to protect yourself from the planes is to join a faction that has a stronghold in a plane. You will have protection from whatever plane that stronghold is in automatically.
Valhalla is the first plane you will experiance. Valhalla is the official name for the "Earth" zone in Nexus War. It consists of the Caivan Sea and the islands of the Saint Germaine Archipelago. The zone takes its name from Norse mythology. Valhalla was the realm where warriors went to when they died. They would continue to fight for all eternity. The Saint Germaine Archipelago refers to the islands that make up the planes land mass. This is a neutural plane.
Paradise is the formal name for the plane of existence populated by all things good. It is the home plane for Angelic character classes.
Nimbus is the formal name for the plane of existence that lies among the clouds above Paradise. It is the holiest of holy places, and is accessible by climbing magic beanstalks that grow out of the grasslands of Paradise. The Nimbus is composed primarily of several large "islands" that are, as far as anyone can tell, made of solid "cloud". These clouds are known as the Firmament, and are connected by several Rainbow Bridges. People obviously once lived and thrived in the Nimbus, as small settlements dot the plane.
Stygia is the formal name for the plane of existence populated by all things evil and chaotic: demons, devils, their dark servants and even darker masters. Stygia is a land of extremes. The bulk of the plane is filled with howling, screaming Frozen Wastes, punctuated by enormous, hellish Fire Pits. Standing dominant over the entire plane are several Iron Fortresses. The
Stygian Warrens is the formal name for the plane of existence that lies below the frozen wastes of Stygia. It is a dark, cavernous realm, where twisted passages have been mined and power has been harnessed. History and myth says that the plane of Stygia actually lies upon the back of the Elder Power Tholaghru. The Warrens would seem to indicate that this is more than a mere fancy of poetry, as the cavern walls are organic in nature and pulses can be felt through the walls. In some areas, a dread heartbeat can be heard.
Purgatorio is the formal name for the plane of existence populated by all things neutral and unaligned, focused on free will. Like its ethical alignment, Purgatorio is a fragmented land, consisting of hundreds of small (and large) rocky land-masses floating within an endless void of nothingness. Some of these islands are connected to one another by giant iron chains, which serve the dual purpose of keeping the islands from floating apart and providing a method of travel between them (for those who do not possess the ability to fly). Purgatorio is an extremely large plane - easily twice the size of the Saint Germaine Archipelago - and "medium" sized land areas there can be the equivalent of "large" islands in the archipelago.
Nifleheim Nifleheim is the formal name for the plane of existence that is most deeply aligned with death, death magicks, and the Elder Power of Hashaa. It is a plane of dust and dryness. Legends state that the appearance of Nifleheim changes depending on the observer. That is, everything within the plane is, in actuality, a physical representation of abstract ideas. These ideas are impossible for mortal (and immortal) minds to comprehend, and thus they are "translated" into a form that is better able to be understood. The format that the plane takes - its flavor and features - depend primarily on legends and stories from the dominant cultures of the most recent Nexal "breath." In its current incarnation, the bulk Nifleheim appears as a great desert while its buildings and history that of the United States "old west". However, there are huge areas that are represented by darker, more European stories of ghosts and other creatures of the night.
Resources
The next thing I am going to share may be the most important link you can have when playing Nexus War. Not only is it a map to the entire game, but it gives locations of all the exploratory badges, portals, shrines, and links to all the other important resource sites for Nexus War like the Wiki. It's a one stop shop.
The Nexus War Uber Map
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Ok, I'm done. Click the logo at the top to get to the game. I'll maintain a list of P-A'ers in game names here too. Give me your in game name and profile link and I'll have you on here ASAP.
I would like have a faction estabished for us by the end of the week. What should we name it?P-A Player List
Colt -
thebrassthief /
Syria
Shorn Scrotum Man -
Sojak
Kayne Red Robe -
Kayne
Amikron Devalia -
Amikron /
Danayis /
Marius Devalia
Posts
Edit: And to be more constructive... put the pics in spoilers, silly.
Lotta shit there huh? :P
I created an account for this back when it was mentioned in a Urban Dead thread, but couldn't get into it solo. I had no clue what was going on. Willing to give it another shot though. Give me a moment and I'll post up my info.
I have a character named Sojak - http://www.nexuswar.com/characters/view.do?characterID=147222
Level 1 mortal.
I know the feeling. After one day I was like "What is this crap?" I had no idea where to go and never saw anyone. When I finally found someone I didn't know if I should attack or not. I logged off and woke up dead by that person the next day.
After that I got an invite from the Newbie Welcome Wagon and they helped me out SO much. It really is just go out and kill other people (or conservativly kill people and heal everyone else if you want to be Good :P).
And I do love low tech MMO's like these. It's easy to play and take 10-30 minutes a day and is fun. I can't ask for much more.
Yeah, sorry.
Took a new pic. Not as big and blurry.
Might give this another shot, I like the concept but I got lost and confused the first time I tried to play.
Join a faction man. I always come back to base wounded and get healed up by people who run out and find FAK's and repair stuff to keep their Morality up. Right now, on both my characters, I could care less about Morality. thebrassthief is going to be a Myrmydon which doesn't need alignment and Selaria is going for a Void Walker because they sound fucking amazing.
Also, you will find a lot more people online to fight in real time. Every few days someone will run into me and it will be an epic battle.
You gotta give it more then one day. It will be hard to spot people right away. I went all of today without seeing anyone, then I got killed with 2 AP left. The day before tho: I killed 3 people!
You should come to where I'm at. Coords 29, 45. Lots of people around here in the surrounding buildings. Sometimes you don't even have to search. A hospital is close for FAK's. I killed two more people tonight on half AP.
Edit: Yes, we are, although the page hasn't been updated in a while it seems. ( http://wiki.nexuswar.com/index.php/Knights_of_Arcadia ) The faction is still around though, I wonder if it's still PA controlled?
Knights of Arcadia?
Edit: Well, I am surprised to state that my character is still kicking around in the server database. Kayne, level 25 Advocate at your service.
Tier one is pretty much exactly the same, either beat the shit out of other people wandering around, or heal them for xp. I went the healing route, because I wanted to be good later on, but it's not required. The mortal skills are pretty self explanatory, pretty much everything other than "Sense x" will give you experience, from breaking and repairing doors to search, which lets you find books to read. The Grapevine tells me that the Necropolis in Nifleheim is a good place to find people to beat on.
It takes some wiki reading, for sure. That, or join the newbie faction I linked too. They will answer anything for you and the leader is awesome at getting information out to the members. I'll post some of the mail I got from him...
If you join a faction biased in Stygia, it has a lot of death farmers (people going for the death badge) that will stand around and wait to be killed. I'm doing this on my (to be) Void Walker.
So should I just make a faction, declare a stronghold in Valhalla, and we try to get something rolling?
Mail I got from my faction lead...
First off, the game is currently in a death spiral. Jorm -- the game's sole developer -- recently became a full-time employee at EA, and is now contractually prohibited from working on the game. If he touches it, it becomes EA's property. This apparently includes bug fixes, because the game has been locking up for days at a time recently. The player base is down to just 3,500 active characters (from 12,000 in 2007), and there are massive swatches of once highly-contested territory that are no longer even infused. Several of the game's largest factions have disbanded in the last few weeks (including The Shining Ones, Oblivion Squadron, and ACROSS -- names which any long-time player will instantly recognize), and rumor has it that a few more big names will be closing up shop in the next few weeks.
The game feels very, very empty right now. The game's geography and mechanics are geared toward 10,000 to 15,000 active characters competing for resources, and there's currently only a fraction of that playing.
Second, as far as I know, Knights of Arcadia is completely unaffiliated with the Penny Arcade forums at this point. The founders of the faction (Dr. Allon, Kate of Lokys, myself, Hoodie13, and other G&T-circa-2006 mainstays) have all left the game, and despite our wishes to shut down/rename the faction when the PA members all stopped playing, it soldiers on with the Arcadia moniker.
While I think highly of a couple of the faction's current leaders, the environment they provide is very unfriendly to the sensibilities of a typical PAer. If there's any interest at all in having a PA guild, I'd strongly recommend starting one from scratch. I'd be glad to loan you guys one of my level 30s if you get something going.
Just take some advice from someone who's been playing since day one of the beta: don't get too emotionally invested in Nexus War, because its days are probably numbered. It's a bummer... there were a ton of amazing people playing the game a few years back (sup Kayne). I ended up meeting quite a few of my faction mates in person, and I'm engaged to one of them right now. It's sad to see it dying out so ungracefully, but I guess that's how it goes.
Agreed, I showed back up at the Knights HQ and asked around a bit, but I got mostly blank stares when I tried to figure out if there was any connection to PA anymore. From what I can tell the faction is pretty much entirely about raiding now, which is great, but won't do anything for newbies. I didn't know about Jorm being employed by EA, which I suppose makes why it felt so empty out there make sense. Unfortunate.
Anyone still playing? I wouldn't mind getting together even if there's just 3 of us.
Given that Nexus War was a really big deal around here back in its prime, I figured this thread deserved a bump. If anyone from KoA (or WC if you're really oldschool) wants to hook up to reminisce, kick in The Phoenix's teeth like we always secretly wanted to, or whatever, drop me a line. I'm sure both Macha and I will find our way back into the game in some capacity for the grand finale.