Draft:Rampart
Rampart is Omega's starting city and a home base for buying equipment, joining guilds, practising a religion and recovering between expeditions. Its streets mix temples, barracks and an arena with fast-food shops, a gym and a public library. Many important choices can be made before leaving for the countryside.
Getting around
The street layout and major institutions stay in fixed positions, while many shops change location between games. Major destinations, including the martial guilds, hospice and Pantheon, are known from the start. Explore and read shop signs to discover the other establishments.
Press M, then ? to list known destinations. Type a destination name and press Return to travel there. The menu uses categories such as armorer and fast food, not every business's full signboard name.
City travel takes time and triggers the destination's service on arrival. It is unavailable while immobilized, near hostile monsters, or on certain restricted tiles. It also advances conditions such as poison, so it is not an instantaneous rescue from a dangerous status effect.
Shops and everyday services
| Establishment | Travel name | What it offers | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Julie's | armorer | Fixed stock of ordinary weapons and body armor | 07:00-20:59, except the noon hour |
| Knight's Pawn Shop | pawn shop | Buying and selling equipment and other goods | 07:00-20:59 |
| Commandant Sonder's | fast food | Portable food rations, 5 Au each | All hours |
| Rampart Diner | diner | A filling meal, 25 Au | All hours |
| Rampart Healers | healer | Injury treatment, 50 Au; disease cure, 250 Au | All hours |
| Rampart Gymnasium | gymnasium | Physical training, 2,000 Au per session; accepts Arena credit | All hours |
| Orphanage and Hospice | hospice | Donations that can improve Lawful alignment | All hours |
| First Bank of Omega | bank | Deposits, withdrawals and the ATM's one-time robbery sequence | All hours |
| Ambrosias' Potions et cie. | alchemist | Buys selected monster remains or transforms them into magic items | 07:00-20:59 |
| Public Library | library | Reference documents and Intelligence research, 50-1,000 Au per selection | 07:00-20:59 |
| Explorers' Club | explorers' club | Return spell, keys, torches and rumors; level 2 and 100 Au to join | All hours |
| Rampart Arms | condo | A week's recovery for 1,000 Au; ownership and storage for 50,000 Au | All hours |
| Department of Public Works | department of public works | Eligible welfare claimants have carried cash topped up to 99 Au | All hours |
Other establishments include the tavern, casino, brothel and Les Crapeuleaux restaurant. Shop signs are useful discoveries even when you do not intend to buy anything immediately.
Guilds and religion
Three martial careers connect directly to the choice of a starting weapon:
- The Legion of Destiny offers equipment, cash and physical advancement, with a daytime curfew.
- The Order of Paladins offers a horse, blessed spear and return services, but requires Lawful conduct.
- The Gladiators' Guild offers an additional maneuver and Gym credit. Registration is separate from entering a match.
A new character chooses between these martial memberships. Magical and thieving careers can accompany a martial one, subject to their own requirements:
| Organization | Why join? | Main restriction |
|---|---|---|
| Collegium Magii | Intelligence, Power and spell research; free enrollment at Intelligence 18 | Intelligence 13 minimum; no active Circle membership |
| Circle of Sorcerors | Large Power gains and a predictable series of combat spells | Neutral or Chaotic to join, Chaotic for ordinary promotion; no College membership |
| Thieves' Guild | Utility spells, thieving skills, cheap identification and better sale prices | Alignment at most +10 to join; nighttime service |
Membership is not required for every guild service. Outsiders can pay for College spell research, Circle mana restoration and Thieves' Guild identification. The Circle even restores mana free at character level 0. These services provide useful options before committing to a career.
The Pantheon in the northwest contains altars to Odin, Set, Athena, Hecate and Destiny. Worship can establish a priesthood without visiting a main countryside temple. The nearby hospice provides an inexpensive way for a neutral beginner to become slightly Lawful. A priesthood can coexist with a martial guild, but memberships using guild experience divide experience awards between them.
Preparing to leave
Choose a career before buying equipment it supplies for free. Then equip the weapon you intend to use, review your combat sequence, and obtain food for the journey. A meal at the Diner fills you immediately; a purchase at the fast-food shop provides rations to carry. The distinction matters when budgeting both cash and pack weight.
Locate the healer and pawn shop during ordinary exploration, so their destinations are available when needed later. The healer treats injuries and disease, but has no poison-removal service. Check whether your guild can cover recovery before paying for it elsewhere.
At level 2, the Explorers' Club teaches Return for a 100 Au membership fee. It can bring you back outside Rampart from the countryside or shuttle between the first and deepest explored levels of the current dungeon. It needs mana and has a charging delay. On the way home, keep useful monster parts for the alchemist before selling all your loot.
The ATM offers both savings and a one-time robbery payout, with different long-term consequences. When cash is nearly gone, the public works office may cover basic supplies. For accumulated attribute damage and temporary conditions, a week's rental provides broader recovery than a single healing treatment.
The city gates open onto the countryside on the eastern edge. The Oracle offers direction for further adventures, while the castle and other organizations provide their own goals. Neither visiting every institution nor entering the Arena is required before the first expedition.
Dangers and city life
Rampart is a base, not a guarantee of safety. The sewers, cemetery, guarded sites and private properties are different propositions from visiting a shop. Hostile encounters can arise inside the city, and alarming the guards also involves the Justiciar and can interrupt access to the Order.
Some services close at night, and Julie's closes for lunch even during the day. Plan around the clock rather than assuming a remembered destination is always usable. City travel may get you to a locked-up shop just as efficiently as an open one.
Background and trivia
The in-game Guide to Rampart, presented as a publication of the Rampart Tourist Association, describes the city as a bastion in LOCUS with a truce between Law and Chaos. Its suspiciously emphatic denial of treasure-filled passages below the city sits beside warnings about missing sewer explorers. Read it as the city's publicity, not a promise of safe exploration.
The businesses preserve a deliberately mixed setting: fast-food buckets, the Diner's refusal of a free lunch, and the Arena's garage-door opener coexist with traditional fantasy quests. Their individual articles explain the specific jokes and cultural connections.