I'm needing help doing research for my character. I've just found this server through a friend of mine and after everything he's told me I simply have to play here. My problem is that I've decided to play an archaeologist/treasure hunter type of character who's entire motivation for coming to the island of Amia is primarily to study and further document the lost and failed civilizations/cultures that grew and fell on the isolated island.

I'm not very good with D&D lore to begin with so I'm pretty much working on catching up from the get-go here, but I have read trough the "History of Amia/Forgotten Realms" section in the lore forum (and likely will several more times), and my friend helps me with what little he knows, but the wall I'm coming up against is learning what my character should know prior to having come. Is there any source material I should know of to look up for me personally to apply knowledge to my character? Are there any in-game books that my character should know about and have read, or could read at the library regarding the history of the island (and is that knowledge available for me to dissect)? Are there any approved player fictions regarding these topics from a previous like-minded player that I could read through?

I don't want to force anyone to have to dig through tons of material just to keep me from having to, but I'm really not finding much since this island isn't cannon and I'm having more trouble finding anything that isn't in the wrong setting. I don't really want to fake it either since I doubt my character's knowledge of the lost Smurf Empire that used to rule the island would go over well when there are ruins and old civilizations that do exist already and likely have some lore associated with them. I'm also not asking anyone to give me information that I should learn in-game, I don't want all of the knowledge just handed to me or my character would have no reason for studying the ruins in the first place. I just want a good basis of knowledge to work from that seems reasonable for a character with previous archaeological experience to have coming to Amia. Any help with this probably outlandish request would be very appreciated. I mean what kind of loser plays a fantasy RPG of a character who's major goal is learning and not slaying dragons? Thank you for any help you can give and I hope I make a good addition to the playerbase.

I think knowledge about the history of Amia and its surrounds is something best acquired through anecdotes from NPCs and PCs both, rather than intense study at your local library.

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feel the blood gushing from your anusfeel the blood gushing from your anus

First, welcome! Love seeing new players ^_^ Play a drow, damnit *cough* I mean, yay new people!

There's really not much you need to know beyond what you have read. I didn't know anything when I started, really, and it's rather easy to catch up. Most PCs start off as coming to Amia, anyways, so not knowing anything makes sense. If you want to play a PC that grew up on Amia, though, that's a bit trickier, but you can fob not knowing things. After all, it's not like anyone is gonna quiz you and even if someone does your PC can even just say 'oh, I forgot about it' XD

But if you want IG type books, check the Libraries forum. Lots of player-made stuff there. As for source books, I would only really suggest anything that would pertain to the character you want to make. Anything else would be just extra.

Other than that, you can ask Lore-type questions in the Lore thread (for example I was contemplating a new drow character and I asked there about the original two drow settlements on the server that were destroyed before I joined Amia). There's a General Questions thread, too, but that's more for more generalized type things. Lore-monkeys are good about answering things in the Lore forum if you need.

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Whomst've'll'd'mn't I play:
Salema Nefahri :: A penny for your thots
Zrae'a'stra'fryn :: That which nightmares are made of
Khasir :: From the East a storm is coming

Firstly, welcome to the server!

I'm also really excited about your concept, and would tell you that you're on the right track for a new character on Amia. Hell, a few weeks ago I had a very similar character concept in mind, and on paper-- I just never put him into game. In my experience, its good to play a character that's naive or learning for your first character or so. Some of the actual In-Game Libraries also now have player-made books in them that you can read. So those could be very neat to look into.

I think what you're asking for is a carrot, or a snippit of information that would have made the character want to come to Amia, right? (Rather than learning everything before you get in). So with that in mind, I would say this:

Ask for a little 'researched' information on the Mysterious Ruins on Amia proper. Just enough that could have been learned through rumors, and enough that could have been looked into when your character found interest in it (Someone else would probably be better at doing such a description). Then have your character arrive, finding and asking natives, adventurers, etc about these ruins. You'll probably learn that they're a bit dangerous, so you'll adventure in preparation. And from there, I wager, you'll learn about alllll the other ruins and treasures and neat stuff the Island has to offer. There are tons! Opportunities abound!

Of course, I'm not telling you how you should play your character. I do, however, think Bini is right in that you'll have a lot more fun with character interaction with other characters, rather than books.

Oh my word, I totally missed the OP's first paragraph >_> Now I feel like a dick, hah.

Hackmus has some good ideas that are more on target with what you want!

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Whomst've'll'd'mn't I play:
Salema Nefahri :: A penny for your thots
Zrae'a'stra'fryn :: That which nightmares are made of
Khasir :: From the East a storm is coming

Yes, most of the information that I'm looking for at the moment is simply the names and rough dates of the previous settled regions that are now nothing more than ruins or simply gone. Things like what the mylocks(?) were called when they were more civilized (friend informed me of their existence), or other such lost and decrepit locations. Mainly I want to have the right topics to query people in-game about. So I could walk up to person X and say something like, "You wouldn't happen to know the whereabouts of the ruins of the (insert lore appropriate name) that existed around (insert lore appropriate era), would you?" Though I will try pestering the lore forums for the list of the well known failed civilizations if there are any, if not I'll use that lack of known information for why my character came, since clearly ruins exist but no one has done much research on them if that's the case.

There's a thing called the "Myart Shrine" near Bendir Dale, that's allegedly the remnant of something more elaborate. Maybe that's something like what you're looking for?

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Winner of Amia's "Most Ethical Time Traveler" award 2026

Character Portraits!

Tarkuuuuul

Its not technically on Amia Isle, but for whatever reasons its connected. There is plenty of ruins and tombs in Khem... Like 7 maps or more easily.

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The Peacock wrote:

[GreatPigeon] is better than me.

Pfft, Tarkuul is where all the emo's hang out.

I mean, have you even seen Lucius? Totes emo.

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Whomst've'll'd'mn't I play:
Salema Nefahri :: A penny for your thots
Zrae'a'stra'fryn :: That which nightmares are made of
Khasir :: From the East a storm is coming

I was going to start a project cataloging all the ruins of Amia to help sketch a comprehensive overview of the island's history. IC, of course. Alas, nothing came of any of my plots in game so I ran out of steam. But that's what you should probably be doing: looking up snippets of information in game and forum posts, asking around other PCs, and then compiling your own version of events. You can probably contact DMs on specific questions you want to investigate IC, and submit your research for peer review IC.

The Cordor librarian, for example, tells some decent, basic but quite outdated information if you speak with the NPC. There are also several books, and the timeline of Amian events.

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This is very much what I intend on doing. Thank you for the info about the librarian, I saw the location on my map and went in but didn't think to try talking to the npc as I had assumed it was programmed to tell me to be quite or something like. Most of what I've been looking for, and have gotten some good help with, was the names of places and the people's who occupied them so I had a basis to start inqueries from. I now know of many ruins and items/artifacts from which to base inqueries from and once I'm strong enough do first hand exploration. I'll probably wind up needing DM assistance or at least DM approval/guidance for whatever I discover but I'm looking forward to getting in there and leaving my mark.

Here's the IC topic if you're interested:

viewtopic.php?f=58&t=67633

I am mostly inactive at the moment, but I'll log in at request if you want to talk about it and take over. Or you can just do your own thing.

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I'll give you some clue words and you may or may not wish to follow them ICly:

Lumorier

Myart

Enzan

Thay

Benwick

Thornius

Guthma

Ais

Life Stone

Mystra's Tower

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Character Status:
Mynna- Guldorand
Samrael Cymere-Winya Ravana
Laika-Unknown