Avatar

Avatars are the units in Shores of Hazeron that are controlled by players of the game. Your avatar is you, as you appear in the game environment.

Health

The health of your body is measured in hit points. The nominal human body has 50 hit points. Your maximum hit points are determined by your DNA, which varies from specie to specie.

Many hazards in the game will injure your avatar, including wild animals, other players, and physics. Your avatar falls unconscious when the injuries to your body equal or exceed your maximum hit points. When unconscious, your health ebbs away at the rate of one hit point per second until you are dead, at -30 hit points.

While you are unconscious and dying, you can be revived with prompt medical attention. You can also be injured, hastening your death.

While you are unconsious, you can be picked up by other players. To pick up a fallen avatar, look at them and press E. This lifts them onto your back and stabilizes their bleeding so they will stop dying while carried. Press E to drop them. The fallen avatar can press E to fall from the back of someone carrying them, to avoid capture in this helpless state.

When you die, your body is replaced by an Animal Carcass commodity, representing your dead carcass. You cannot be revived after you have died.

Afflictions

Hazards of the Shores of Hazeron universe can afflict your avatar with conditions that affect your health or performance.

Acid	Corrosive acid on the surface of the body.	Acid inflicts large amounts of damage that decreases rapidly over time until the acid is gone. Decontamination treatment can be applied using a surgery unit in a sick bay. Requires/consumes water from the ship's stores for decontamination. Decontamination treatment can also be performed on yourself or someone else using water in your inventory.
Bounty	Reward posted for the death of your body.	Bounties on your head are listed on the Bio (F8) window. Bounties trigger bounty hunter jobs for other players in your area. Players must observe the bounty hunter job on the Jobs (F9) window and accept the job to become eligible to collect the bounty. Bounty is collected by anyone carrying out a bounty hunter job specifically hunting for you. Once collected, the bounty is removed.
Disease	Harmful organism inside your body.	Virulence is the measure of severity for diseases. Virulence determines the amount of damage inflicted periodically to your body by the disease. Virulence increases steeply to the maximum strength of the disease then tapers off slowly over time until the disease is gone. Contagion occurs during the period of peak virulence of the disease. While contageous, the disease can be spread to nearby people who are not protected by an environment suit. Antitoxin can be applied directly or using a surgery unit in a sick bay. Disease severity is a number indicating the tech level of antitoxin required to completely cure the disease. Disease 12 requires one single antitoxin TL12 to cure it completely. Lower tech level antitoxins will reduce a disease by the tech level of the antitoxin. Antitoxin TL5 applied to Disease 12 reduces the severity to Disease 7. Two more doses would cure the disease completely.
Implant	Gestating parasitic organism implanted in a host creature, you.	Implant lies dormant inside the host as it grows through three stages: embryonic, growth, and emergent. This can take several hours. Implant inflicts damage to the host upon emergence from the host. Implant emerges at small size then grows rapidly to full size. Emergent creature has animal intelligence, even when implanted by a sentient creature. Removal of implanted organisms can be accomplished using a surgery unit in a sick bay.
Paralysis	Reduces the mobility of your body.	This could be a mental or neural effect or perhaps a physical encumberance, such as a spider web or sticky goo. Movement speed is reduced the most at first. Speed reduction drops off over a relatively short time until the condition is gone. Physical therepy treatment can be applied using a surgery unit in a sick bay.
Poison	Harmful chemical compound inside your body.	Toxicity is the measure of severity for poisons. Toxicity determines the amount of damage inflicted periodically to your body by the poision. Toxicity starts at its peak and decreases over time until the poison is gone. Antidote can be applied directly or using a surgery unit in a sick bay. Poison severity is a number indicating the tech level of antidote required to completely cure the poison. Poison 12 requires one single antidote TL12 to cure it completely. Lower tech level antidotes will reduce a poison by the tech level of the antidote. Antidote TL3 applied to Poison 12 reduces the severity to Poison 9. Three more doses would cure the poison completely.

DNA and Sentient Races

The physical make-up of your avatar's body is determined by its DNA. Factors such as speed, agility, hit points, innate weapons and defenses, and locomotion are all determined by your DNA. Your DNA describes all of the physical aspects of your body.

Your avatar is synthesized using the same DNA as the animals in Shores of Hazeron.

In addition to animal species, each planet stores the DNA of one sentient race. When a planet is created, no sentient race is established yet. The first avatar to create a town square on a planet establishes its sentient race to be their DNA.

When you join the game for the first time, an empire is selected for you. Your homeworld is the capital city of your first empire, if it has a capital when you join, otherwise it will be any city in that empire. While creating a new avatar, the default DNA of your body is set to match the citizen race of your empire's home city. That way you can be just like them, slightly different, or entirely different, your choice.

When you start the game by creating a new empire, you must configure the DNA of your race. Your DNA establishes the sentient race of your homeworld immediately, before you create a town square. That way you can take your time to find a good location for your first city.

It is rumored that hospitals are developing methods for manipulating the DNA of player characters. The Shores of Hazeron medical community is hopeful but the prospect of DNA altering weapons presents a bleak misuse of that technology.

Procreation

Avatars and citizens can procreate if their biology is sexually compatible with their mate. To be sexually compatible, both mates must be of the same phylum and ecological role. One must be a male and one must be a female who is not already pregnant. Both mates must be fully grown. Neither mate can be an animal.

To mate, both must be naked. The male mounts the female. The female becomes pregnant immediately when mating is successful. Both participants realize their success via a thought message.

The new baby is a combination of the DNA of the mother and the father. The DNA combination differs with every baby, unless the DNA of both parents is identical. The baby grows within the female until it is born. Presense of the baby is shown on the Bio(F8) window and upon examination of the female at a surgical station. The gender of the baby can be determined at the surgical station after the baby is 50% developed. Gestation time for a baby varies based on the overall size factor in the baby's DNA; it should typically take several days.

The female can name her baby using the Bio(F8) window. While pregnant, the bio shows the due date of the baby and a button appears so she can name the baby. A baby that is not named is assigned a random name when it is born. After it is born, the baby's name cannot be changed.

It's a good idea to be healthy when the due date arrives. When the baby is born, the female suffers a small amount of health damage. She receives a thought about birthing the baby, with birth date, gender and birth weight. When the mother is an avatar, the baby will not be born while she is off line; it will wait until she is on line to be born.

When born by a citizen mother and citizen father, the baby is born as a passenger. When aboard a ship, the new passenger attempts to join the roster, otherwise it is lost. To join the roster, there must be an empty passenger berth and ship policy must accept passenger berth requests. When in a city, the new passenger joins the local populace. A passenger born anywhere else is lost.

When born by a citizen mother and avatar father, the baby is born as an avatar. The new avatar is added to the login account of the father, if an empty slot is available. If no empty slot is available in the father's login account, the new avatar is lost. The new avatar is marked as "on line" when born, so it will appear in the environment for about 30 seconds before going off line. The new avatar does not appear on the switch avatar window; the father must re login to access it.

When born by an avatar mother, the baby is born as an avatar. The new avatar is added to the login account of the mother, if an empty slot is available. If no empty slot is available in the mother's login account, the new avatar is lost. The new avatar is marked as "on line" when born, so it will appear in the environment for about 30 seconds before going off line. The new avatar does not appear on the switch avatar window; the mother must re login to access it.

The new child starts small and grows to full size in a relatively short time, minutes.

Number of females impregnated appears in the avatar stats of males, when the count is not zero.

Number of children conceived appears in the avatar stats of females, when the count is not zero. It is possible for a mother to lose her baby before it is born.

Number of children born appears in the avatar stats of females, when the count is not zero.

DNA Combination

When DNA from two creatures is combined, the result is random based on both DNA. Size values are selected within the range created by the two DNA traits, e.g. hand size 2 combined with hand size 5 results in a hand size from 2 to 5 inclusive. Type values are selected from one of the two DNA traits, e.g. hand type will be one or the other, not something else.

Mutations do not occur. Values do not stray outside the range or types of the DNA that is combined. There is no mutation when identical DNA are combined; that way identical parents will always produce identical offspring.

Lineage

Avatars are affected by their lineage. Lineage of avatars falls into three categories: demiavatar, avatar, and highborn.

Demiavatar

An avatar with a citizen in its ancestry is a demiavatar. This begins when a female avatar becomes impregnated by a citizen, or a female citizen becomes impregnated by an avatar; her child is born a demiavatar. Children whose father or mother is a demiavatar are born demiavatars. Demiavatars have some of the traits of citizens.

Demiavatars do not disappear from the game universe when the player logs off. They do disappear from the game universe when the owning player's account activation expires. In that case, they do not die; they remain invisible until the player logs back on, just like a regular avatar. It is not sufficient to simply reactivate the account; the demiavatar must be operated by a player to reappear in the game universe.

When not logged on, the demiavatar acts very much like an AI controlled citizen. If it has a berth on a ship, it fills the role of whatever type of berth it holds, including officer. When holding the captain's berth, it acts like an officer.

Chain of command permits selection and issuance of orders to the demiavatar. Orders are issued using the Unit Orders (F3) window.

• A demiavatar who holds a captain's berth, or no berth at all, is not in anyone's chain of command.

• A demiavatar is in the chain of command of the captain and all officers of their ship.

• A demiavatar passenger is also in the chain of command of all crew of their ship.

When commanding a ship, demiavatars send ship logs and contact logs by mail like AI officers. They only send these logs to the captain of their ship and to themself, so the owning player can access them.

Demiavatars are not immortal. While they can recall home, like other avatars, they do not respawn when killed. Death of demiavatars is permanent and they are removed from the owner's login account when they die.

Dying demiavatars send a mail message when they die. This mail is sent to it's mother and father. The mail is also sent to the captain and officers, if the demiavatar holds a berth aboard a spacecraft.

Demiavatars drop an officer log item when they die, just like an AI officer.

When using the Recall Home ability, demiavatars have the longest trance ranging from 30 to 45 seconds.

Demiavatars are not greeted by Targoss when they enter the Universe.

Avatar

A regular avatar. These avatars are created in the game universe in reponse to a player starting a new avatar, to create a new empire or join an existing empire. All new players start as regular avatars.

When an avatar the Recall Home ability, the trance ranges from 15 to 45 seconds before the transition occurs.

Avatars are greeted by Targoss when they enter the Universe. Targoss is a character in a short introductory story that teaches new players the basics of the user interface.

Highborn

An avatar is highborn if each of its parents is an avatar or highborn. Highborn are distinguished as native avatars, born into the game universe, unlike regular avatars who are conjured up from the ether.

Highborn avatars have the shortest Recall Home trance, ranging from 5 to 15 seconds.

Highborn avatars are not greeted by Targoss when they enter the Universe.

Highborn avatars do not leave a carcass when their body dies.