Atalanta's Armory
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The Armory is currently open for business. To arrange an order, please stop by #armory on irc.nexuswar.com, or post a request on our message board.
The heavy scent of molten steel hangs in the air around this woman, and her strong hands are marked with the burns and calluses of a smith. Arcane knowledge gleams in her eyes, flashing in the darkness like sparks from a forge.
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[edit] Who is Atalanta?
Little is known about the reclusive enchantress Atalanta: her origins are a mystery, her aspect is unfixed. Nobody knows when she first appeared in the Nexus, although there are those who insist that she has always been here. It is known, however, that in her youth, she served as an apprentice to the smiths of Satan's Workshop, honing her skills in the fires of their great forge; later on, she lingered for a time with the Knights of Arcadia, enchanting weapons of great and holy power for their warriors.
Yet a life of labour amidst the noise and bustle of a faction did not suit Atalanta. She grew weary, discontented, and longed for a sanctuary of her own, a place in which she would be free to pursue both the art of enchanting and her original trade of smithing. So, she dwells now in a long-forgotten factory of Purgatorio, plying her trade, keeping her own counsel.
She is not, however, entirely alone. From time to time, travellers appear at the doorstep of her factory. They bring gifts of steel, or of leather, and in return they claim some small use of her skill: a sword to be enchanted to deal extra damage, a ring to be imbued with natural defence. Atalanta accepts their gifts, grants their requests, and then is left to herself once more in the quiet of her home.
Which, really, is just the way she likes it.
[edit] Terms of Service
Atalanta's terms are simple:
Four Stygia/Paradise books for one enchantment attempt,
or,
One piece of non-magical jewellery for two enchantment attempts.
Corinthus may accept alchemical components as well; that needs to be arranged with him privately.
Note that there is no chance of failure when enchanting pristine weapons or armour. If you bring me a pristine piece, the enchantment will work, guaranteed, and you will walk away happy. If you bring me an item in imperfect condition, the enchantment may fail. There is, in fact, a 10% flat failure rate on all clothing and jewellery items. If the enchantment fails, you do not get a refund of any sort - you are essentially buying my AP and MP when you request an enchantment, and the AP gets used even on a failure. So, if it fails, give me more payment, and I will try again.
There is only one rule that customers are expected to abide by while waiting for their orders: if you are in Atalanta's Armory, do not attack anyone. There are no exceptions to this rule. The Armory is a non-combat faction, and it is cowardly in the extreme for customers to exp on Atalanta's neighbours, then hide behind her ward to prevent them from fighting back. If you wish to gain exp while you wait for your item to be enchanted, don't join the faction: sleep outside, and accept the risk of dying. If you want to enjoy the benefits of a safe place to rest, don't jeopardize that safety by breaking the peace and neutrality of the Armory. The area of Marrakun is frequently patrolled by friendly Nexus Champions with Eye of Death, and should they see a kill committed by any customer of the Armory, that customer will be banned from the faction, their account will be wiped, and they will sure as hell not get any sort of refund. So don't do it.
[edit] Enchantment Request Procedures
If you want an enchantment, post a request on our message board. Once your request has been taken by one of our enchanters, they'll work with you to co-ordinate delivery. We have a channel on IRC - #armory. Whenever I am online and semi-active, I will be there under the nickname Kate, and some of the other enchanters may be present as well.
Although IRC is the preferred method of communication due to its real-time nature (and the fact that I can be found there for about ten hours out of every day), it is also possible for individuals who wish enchantments to join Atalanta's Armory as customers. This provides them with a relatively safe place to wait while their order is being completed, and since the Armory is located near a Damned Library and a museum, they can search for books and jewellery while they wait. Customers are not, however, permitted to engage in combat while members of the Armory. The Armory exists and survives because of the tolerance and protection of its neighbours, particularly KoA, and it would be uncharitable in the extreme for customers of the Armory to attack their members.
[edit] (Re)Pristining Weapons
Every enchantment performed on a degradeable item (ie, swords, guns, and bows) lowers the quality of the item by one step. And the lower the quality of the item, the higher the chance of failure: enchantments performed on pristine items are guaranteed to work, but below that the odds get considerably lower. There are three ways to address this issue:
1. Fix your weapon yourself between enchantment steps. Many of my customers so far have been higher-level players who had the wisdom and foresight to pick up the advanced crafting tree for their weapon of choice. For these people, I can simply hand them the weapon after each stage, and they can repair it and hand it back to me. Note that joining the Armory is necessary for this to work.
2. Trust in the luck of the random dice. If you only require a couple of enchantments on your weapon, you may prefer to have me just go ahead with the enchantments without bothering to re-pristine, accepting the possible risk of failure. If any of the enchantments fail, however, you will be responsible for providing additional payment should you wish me to try again.
3. Hire me or one of the other crafters to re-pristine your weapon or armor between each stage. The fee for this service is negotiable; the enchanter may, at their discretion, choose to do it for free, or add a small amount to the cost of the overall order.
[edit] Why Killing Atalanta Is A Bad Idea
Atalanta runs a very small faction. Behind her 700hp ward are three or four wizards, a shepherd, a sorcerer, and a couple of mortals. There are much more efficient ways to gain experience, and very few factions would gain any honour at all by capturing her standard. Another matter to consider is the fact that Atalanta performs many enchantments for larger factions, such as the Knights of Arcadia and MFD. These factions enjoy having an inexpensive source of enchantments, and would be most distressed if anything should happen to disrupt Atalanta's operations. So if you need to pick on someone, pick on someone else.
Atalanta also holds grudges. If you would know the extent of her wrath, look to the Megalomaniacs, currently hiding in Stygia after losing their stronghold twice in two days. They thought crafting factions would be an easy source of honour. They were wrong.
[edit] Joining The Armory
Soon after establishing her small stronghold in a quiet industrial corner of Marrakun, Atalanta noticed a surprising thing: messages started appearing, scribbled on her door by other crafters and artisans who expressed an interest in joining her in her solitude. Though unexpected, these requests were not entirely unwelcome: although the bustle of a large raiding stronghold was too much for Atalanta, the company of a few of her fellow crafters seemed much more enjoyable.
Anyone who wishes to devote themselves to crafting may join the Armory, provided they abide by the following rules.
1. First, do no harm. The Armory is a non-combat faction. Those who wish to kill things should go elsewhere.
2. Contributing to the faction is not necessary. If all you wish is a relatively safe place to search for components and craft with them, you are welcome to do so.
3. Those who do wish to contribute to the faction will be granted safe access, and may use whatever materials they find in there. (Note that the safe is not by any means an unlimited resource). Contributions can take many forms: a lightspeaker may summon judgemasters to guard the stronghold, or a sorcerer may volunteer to take responsibility for re-pristining all weapons of a particular type. Wards against evil may also be useful, to prevent bored high-level demons from knocking the stronghold ward down for fun, but those would need to be co-ordinated carefully to prevent customers from being blocked.
4. Those who wish to perform paid enchantments are welcome to do so, under any terms they wish. They can drum up their own business and handle it themselves, or they can for for the Armory at our standard rates, claiming orders on our message board.
To join the Armory, simply send a faction invitation request specifing what role you would like to play: solo crafter, contributing crafter, solo enchanter, or contributing enchanter.
[edit] Account Credits
No additional items are being accepted for credit. This has been announced via faction mail; from now on, it will be assumed that any items handed to Armory employees are intended as gifts or other tokens of appreciation, not as payments.
johnnymayhem: 4 item credit
Stryker: 3 item credit
Xianghua: 18 item credit
Yoda: 37 item credit
