FAQ
It's a complex world we roleplay in. The sheer wealth of information, amassed over a period of more than four years at the time of this writing, can be overwhelming. And thus we present a crash course in the world of Shadow Star, in the form of an FAQ.
First off, Shadow Star as a game is a roleplaying game played out through email using a mailing list system called YahooGroups. A definition of roleplaying games, and of playing play-by-email games specifically, can be found here (part of an FAQ from another RPG).
Shadow Star as a setting is a large islandic country on Calacia, a world much like our own - if you go back to the middle ages and toss in magic and mythological critters. Add in a few active deities, tweak several details, and you've got a basic idea of the setting. Oh, and don't forget the smaller hostile island country to the southeast with its hordes of evil creatures and its cruel, evil goddess.
The situation? I'll give you the short version first. Shadow Star's people, the Realm Unity, are in almost constant conflict with Chaos Island (that's that hostile island country to the southeast, with all the evil types).
The longer version? Well, the forces of Chaos took over Shadow Star with a bit of help from an usurper king over four centuries ago, back when SS was ruled by only a single monarch. Chaos reigned and caused a lot of, well, chaos, for about 400 years, until the prince Ryntan (who had been secretly brought up to follow the non-Chaotic gods of the four "good" realms) was crowned king and managed to drive out Chaos. He petitioned the gods to create a telepathic link between himself and the newly-bonded Jessamyn Lacora. The gods agreed, and Jessamyn (who'd bonded a royal air dragon) became queen of the air realm. Then Ryntan died in a Chaos attack. But then Tyrona Starfyr bonded a royal phoenix and became queen of the fire realm, and eventually all four realms had leaders, and those kings and queens are called the Council. There's been Chaos attacks and other events of note, but that's all you really need to know for now.
Although, before creating a character, you really should read the Guide. And the more in-depth History section. And such.
3. What are these "realms" you keep talking about?
Realms. The five realms. They're more religious/political than anything else, though they pertain a bit to magic as well. There are five realms: Land, Air, Water, and Fire, which make up the Realm Unity, and then the Chaos realm, which opposes the Realm Unity. Each realm has its patron god. First there's Irotana, the Mother Goddess; she doesn't have a realm, but all the other deities are her children. Then there's Tyrea, goddess of land; Aeryon, god of air; Laugar, god of water; and Claeryn, god of fire. Then there's also the goddess of Chaos, called the Nameless One or just Chaos, or sometimes the Lady, or the Lady of Darkness, or the Dark Lady, or - well, she's got a lot of names. Her true name's been lost to time; we think she likes it that way.
So anyway. Each realm has a deity, and each realm has a leader (Fire King, Air Queen, Water King, Land Queen, and the Chaos High Demonlady). Each species and animal (except wylraen elves and humans) can be categorized as belonging to one realm or another, but that isn't important unless you're a druid (see: Religion) or dealing with elementals (see: Species).
For more in depth info on realms or the gods, see the Religion page.
4. What's this "bonding" thing?
Ah, bonding. Ever read Anne McCaffery's "Dragonriders of Pern" series? Bonding's a lot like Impressing (though our bonds are just about equal to humans in their intelligence). Who a bondcreature bonds is decided upon by the gods; it's fated, destined. Kind of like a soul mate, but without the romance.
Still confused? There's more in-depth Bonds page in the Guide.
5. What's a royal, and what's that got to do with bonding?
There are common bonds, and there are royal bonds. Royal bonds are very rare, and identified by their coloring, usually metallic. If a person bonds a royal, then that person automatically becomes royalty, part of Shadow Star's government, no matter what station the person was in before he bonded. That's how we got a Water King who was also the thieves' guildmaster, and a Fire King who couldn't read. For more info on that, see the Government and Bonds pages.
Guilds are organized occupations. Through a guild, a character can find a master of her trade to apprentice to. She can be evaluated and certified as skilled in her trade. She can find jobs, advertise, etc. A guild is a trade school and a union all in one, really.
There are various people who don't belong to guilds, yet are still skilled in some way. Maybe there's no branch of their guild where they live, or maybe there's no guild for their skill or line of work. But being part of a guild is the best way to make money. Guilds take care of their own.
A quick rundown of the guilds, in 21st-century layman's terms: