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We are not a fan-site for the
Lord of the Rings. If you decided you love Elves after seeing the
movies, this is not the site for you.
Q. Do you meet in person, or is this just an internet guild? A. Although there have been a few instances where guild members have met socially, we are primarily an internet guild. Most of our guild activity actually takes place with in the game of Ultima Online (UO).
After you've done that, if you still don't understand the process, here it is concisely:
Q. How can I get a sponsor? A. You can get a sponsor by meeting us in Tel'Ruid. You'll eventually get to know someone who will volunteer to be your sponsor and take you through the application process. As a potential applicant, you must gain a member's Trust, Respect, and Friendship before they'll be your sponsor. Even if you feel that those three are met, be patient. These things take time. For more information please check our Guild Charter.
Q. What is a sponsor? A. A sponsor is a current member of the guild who invites someone to join the guild. This member, the sponsor, will then walk the applicant, or initiate, through the application process. For more information please check our Guild Charter.
Q. What is an Elf? A. Loosely speaking, an elf is a pointy eared, long lived (or immortal, by some accounts), creature with a penchant for nature, music, and the arts. We are not Santa's elves, we aren't Keebler's elves. If you have seen Lord of the Rings, as most of you have, then you should be able to picture us with some degree of accuracy. In a more doctrinal sense, an Elf is a creature either created directly by Eru/Illuvater with the Song of Creation, and the first born of all the races of Middle Earth (Tolkien definition) or a race of beings created by Corellon Larethian. To most Elves in our particular guild, Eru, Illuvater and Corellon Larethian are the same being... which is a bit confusing, and doesn't make a lot of sense, but our guild is comprised of Elves of all types, so it's easier that way. Whether you call him Illuvater, Eru or Corellon Larethian, he is basically our creator, and we are his children. You can take a look in the Role-Playing section of our Tel'Ruid site for more info on the different subraces. Though some of it is incomplete, it should get you started.
Q. Can I be an Elf? A. Sure, anyone can roleplay an Elf. Whether or not you can become one in real life I haven't figured out yet. If you want to play an Elf with us, then you have a number of options. You can create a persona and play out with us on our board here, or you can take the far more preferred course and join the online gaming world of Ultima Online, and play with us in a real graphical setting. See the questions above and below for more details.
Q. How old do you have to be to play? A. When it comes to roleplaying, age doesn't matter as much as maturity. That said, almost all our members are over 18 (human) years.
To get Ultima Online, you must first purchase the game, which costs around $20-$50, depending on the version. Also, you must pay a monthly fee of $10. The monthly fee can be paid either by automatic debit from a checking account or credit card, or you can manually purchase game time in 90-day blocks. When you purchase the game, it comes with one free month of play so you can try it out.
Q. How do I start playing UO? A. Your first step is to buy the game. There are several versions of the game, but you'll probably only find the newest one or two. From newest to oldest, they are:
After you purchase it, you need to install it onto your computer and set up a game account. The installation program will walk you through the entire process.
Q. Where can I find more imformation about Lake Superior? A. One of our members manages a web site dedicated to the entire shard (world) of Lake Superior (LS), so all you have to do is go there. It is called UO Lake Superior and can be reached at http://uols.net. They also have many message board forums for other guilds on the shard, and if you want to search them out for information on joining their communities you can look at http://boards.uols.net.
Q. UO is confusing! Help! A. Let's give you a simple list of places that'll help:
Q. I'm in UO! Where are you? A. There are multiple worlds in UO, called shards. Once you have created your account and logged in, it will take you to a shard selection screen. Tel'Mithrim plays on the "Lake Superior" shard. The name is misleading, the shard is actually located in Virginia, and if you are in Europe or overseas it might be a bad shard for you to play on. The farther away you are from the shard, the slower your game play will be (Internet Latency... I am not explaining it). Now that you are logged into Lake Superior (or LS, as we call it) it will give you the opportunity to create your character. Choose the skills you think would best suit what sort of persona you want to create and play. Remember, this is fantasy! You can be whatever you want, from a blacksmith and tailor to a swordswoman or mage! Don't worry if you choose skills and change your mind, you can learn new skills (and forget old ones) after you have started. You'll begin play in a place called Haven. This is a special land just for new players. Take your time and go through the interactive tutorials, learning how to use the game interface and get around. There are a number of simple quests for you to complete as you gain in skill, and each of them will teach you all sorts of interesting new things! I suggest you give them a try. Once you have learned all you feel is necessary, find the moongate in Haven (its in the Southern corner under the town, on a peninsula) and go to Trammel Yew. Make sure not to go to Fellucca, as it is a dangerous place where other players can kill your character. This can be fun if you like the thrill of battle, but as a new player it is probably too much for now. From Yew, follow this map to find Tel'Ruid, our village. 
Pretty much just head straight to the East or click here for more details. It is much easier to find us if you use the radar map... you can find it on the menu bar on the top left of your screen. Try and match up the vegetation to what's on the map till you stumble across the buildings of Tel'Ruid. If you don't know what you are looking for, then take a look at our village map here. Once you are here, we can help you learn more about the lands and what to do. I should note that you might be contacted by a special player called a "Companion" (you will see companion over their names). These are special player's who try and help new players. Ask them as many questions as you like.
Q. I can't/won't get Ultima Online. Can I still join? A. The short answer is "no". Without UO you would restricted to participating only on the boards.
Q. Why are some posters' names in grey italics? A. Tel'Mithrim members are able to sign their posts with a distinctive style: italic, grey text. Any post signed in this way was made by a current member of Tel'Mithrim. Any post signed in the default bold black, non-italic, was made by someone who is not a member of Tel'Mithrim. Member Non-member
Q. Can I format the text in my posts? A. You can use HTML in the body of the message. Some Examples are :
Q. Why didn't my post show up? A. Your post most likely did not show up because your browser did not reload the page, it simply pulled it out of cache. Please reload the page and it should then appear. You should not try reposting your message until you have confirmed that it didn't appear on the reloaded message listing.
Q. I saw my post but now it's gone. What happened? A. The board administrators probably deleted it because it was determined to be inappropriate. If you disagree with the board administration policy, feel free to go somewhere else.
Q. It says I'm banned, but I didn't do anything bad! What's wrong? A. Your post most likely did not show up because your browser did not reload the page, it simply pulled it out of cache. Please reload the page and it should then appear. You should not try reposting your message until you have confirmed that it didn't appear on the reloaded message listing. To request that your ISP be un-banned, please send a message to Tel'Mithrim Council requesting such and include the banned IP Number. If we believe that you are innocent, and the removal of the ISP from our blacklist is unlikely to allow an offender to resume posting, then we will remove the entry from our blacklist. To obtain your IP Number, you can visit this page. Please note that you must tell us your IP number or we won't be able to help you.
Q. What's this about an Elven Language? A. When J.R.R. Tolkien wrote the setting for the Lord of the Rings he crafted an entire world to go with it. Included in that world were the grammatical structure and a rudimentary dictionary for a number of Elven Tongues. Since we roleplay Elves online, we took that dictionary, simplified the grammatical structure and expanded the dictionary heavily. It is not cannon Elven as Tolkien wrote it, simply our own adaptation. Which we like better. Thank you very much. For more details and a downloadable dictionary, go to our language resource page here.
Q. Do you have any symbols, how did you get the Elven characters (font) on your site, and is it downloadable? A. Look at the links on our Language section.
Q. Could someone tutor me in the Elven Language? A. None of our members are fluent enough in the language to be of assistance in this case. We use what we know of the language more for effect and to help set ourselves slightly apart from other roleplayers in UO. However, for those who wish to learn Quenya (one of Tolkien's Elvish languages), there is a tutorial link available in the Language section. |
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