Geneforge 2

Geneforge 2

                            GENEFORGE 2

              FAQ/WALKTHROUGH (version 1.5) by Matt P,
Contact elementalizard@aol.com for information/comments on this FAQ.  
 If I use your comments in this FAQ, you will be given full credit.
         Geneforge 2 and all names in this FAQ are copyright
               Spiderweb Software (www.spidweb.com)

  If you are playing the Windows version, be sure to update your game!  
You'll get a lot more bang for each level up if you do!

  Seletine has helped me finish the directions part of this FAQ, for 
which I am very grateful.


TABLE OF CONTENTS
0. Quick question guide
1. Class Guide
2. Skill Guide
3. Creation Guide (incomplete)
4. Spell Guide
5. Strategies and Frequently asked questions
6. Walkthrough (incomplete)
7. Sect Guide (incomplete- Barzites still needed)
8. Skill and stat locations (incomplete)
9. Item Guide (incomplete)
10. Opinion Guide (from Publicly Displayed Name)
11. Thanks and Acknowledgements, version info


0. QUICK QUESTION GUIDE 
Q: Can I use the Geneforge?
A: No.

Q: Can I enter the NW room in Benerii-Uss Holding? 
A: No.

Q: How do I get into Gazak-Uss?
A: First talk with the hermit to the SW.  This gets you into outer 
Gazak-Uss.  Then collect 3 broken crystal pieces- this gets you into 
inner Gazak-Uss.  

Q: Where do I find ____? 
A: Check the Item Guide at the end of the FAQ.  It has ingredient 
items, puresteel rings and broken crystal pieces.  Otherwise, use ctrl 
+ F to open up the Find box, and look for it that way.

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1. CLASS GUIDE
Guardian- the Warrior Class
  Basic Play- Guardians are good at giving and taking damage.  They are 
pretty lousy at casting spells, but can still shape decently.  Make one 
or two creations for assistance, maybe some sort of range attacker.
  Skill Focus- Melee skills should be your primary focus.  Choose one 
shaping skill and stick with it.  I'd suggest either magic or fire, as 
you're as good or better than most of the battle creations.  You will 
want some spell skills, especially mental magic (5 is a good goal, 
although that will cost ~30 skill points.  Blessing magic is also very 
useful.  Ignore spellcraft, although maybe you could get a few points 
from a trainer.  Increase strength and endurance, with some focus on 
intelligence (enough to cast a spell every now and then).  A Guardian 
tip from Scales: Here's another small tidbit on playing as a Guardian. 
Spend all your initial points on parry and quick action. This maximizes 
the bonus Shanti gives you and makes the first half of the game really, 
really easy (I play on torment).
  Item Focus- Strong weapons, and heavy armor.  Strength should be one 
of your focus skills, so heavy armor shouldn't be too much of a 
problem.  Melee weapons should make up your main attack, although a 
baton or wand won't hurt.
  Difficulty- Have not tried this character as of yet.  In Geneforge, 
Guardians were fairly easy at the beginning, but progressively became 
more difficult.  Some on the spiderweb message boards report similar 
phenomena.
HP (Hit Points)- 24 + 5/8 * End * (Level + 1)
SP (Spell Points)- 6 + 1/2 * Int * (Level + 1)
EP (Essence Points)- 6 + 3/4 * Int * (Level + 1)

 
Agent- the Mage Class
  Basic Play- Agents are the spell slingers of the group.  They get the 
most energy, and can cast spells for a long time before running out of 
energy.  Essence is best saved for spells.  I find a hit-and-run agent 
works best.  Namely, strike an opponent hard, then run off and let his 
buddies come for you.  Turrets and pylons should be fairly easy for an 
agent.
  Skill Focus- Magic and melee.  I would suggest completely ignoring 
creation skills.  At most, put one point in them, maybe into magic 
shaping so as to make glaahks when necessary.  Strength and 
intelligence help improve your main areas of skill.
  Item Focus- Always use melee weapons.  Use your spells for missile 
weapons.  Firebolt will probably hit as often as a missile, and it 
barely costs a thing.
  Difficulty- Hard at the beginning, easier at the end.  Going solo 
means you get all of the experience for yourself, which can add up.
HP- 20 + 1/2 * End * (Level + 1)
SP- 6 + 3/2 * Int * (Level + 1)
EP- 6 + 3/4 * Int * (Level + 1)

 
Shaper- the Conjuror class
  Basic Play- Your creations should do your fighting for you.  You'll 
generally be too weak to take many hits, so stay off of the frontlines 
unless you're going in for a killing blow.  Shapers are surprisingly 
skilled with melee attacks at higher levels, often getting to hit% 
similar to those of a battle alpha.  Missile weapons are great at the 
start, but later you'll want to equip a stat-enhancing melee weapon, 
like the guardian claymore (+2 to creation's strength makes them 
significantly more powerful).  Also, don't worry if you're weighed down 
at the beginning of the game.  If you have ~5 AP, you're about as 
useful as a low-level shaper will be at that point.  Additionally, you 
can always drop items at the beginning of your turn in combat (dropping 
items uses no AP), allowing for a unfettered second round.
  Skill Focus- Shaping skills and magic.  Don't worry too much about 
melee skills, you'll find ample opportunity to increase them with a 
trainer early in the game.  Intelligence should be your main primary 
stat, as you'll need a large pool of essence to make you creation army.
  Item Focus- Heavy armor is a bad idea.  I'd stick with some sort of 
magical chitin, as basically if you're getting hurt, you're playing 
wrong.  I like the crystal woven chitin, and used it for the majority 
of the game.  Infiltrator items are nice at the beginning.  However, 
once you get the emerald chestguard, definitely switch to it.  +2 AP is 
well worth whatever problems come with it.
  Difficulty- Stays about average the whole way through the game.  
Create new creations when you get them to see how they perform, and 
maybe keep a few steady creations to fight with you through the whole 
game (like a cryoa, vlish, or searing artila).  
HP- 12 + 3/8 * End * (Level + 1)
SP- 6 + Int * (Level + 1)
EP- 6 + Int * (Level + 1)

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2. SKILL GUIDE
  Skill points are a valuable commodity, one which is all too small in 
number, especially when playing the Windows version.  Ideally, the way 
you'll want to play is to train with a trainer, then increase a skill 
with skill points, then get a bonus from a quest or book.  This is not 
always possible, especially when trainers for some of these skills are 
a LONG way from the start.  This may be possible with melee skill 
trainers and perhaps spell skill trainers, although you'd have to aim 
for doing this at the start of the game.  

Primary stats:
  Strength: This skill affects your melee damage and chance to hit, as 
well as your carrying capacity.  Guardians and Agents will both want a 
high score in this skill.  Shapers will find it not as necessary, but 
still quite nice.  I'd recommend trying for about 5 points in it 
overall.  From Blueman00- for creations, this affects chance to hit 
(+5%) and damage.
  Dexterity: Affects your missile weapon chance to hit, helps increase 
your dodge %, and also helps you act faster in combat.  I didn't find 
this skill to be nearly as necessary as some of the others.  I waited 
till I purchased two points in this skill from Learned Guas before 
adding points to it.  From Blueman00- for creations this affects chance 
to dodge by 5%, but does not affect chance to hit even for missile 
attacks.
  Intelligence: Necessary for everyone.  Shapers and Agents especially 
need this skill, or else they'll be extremely limited.  My shaper has 
around about 10 points in it, and still could use more.  Higher energy 
and essence means more creations for shapers, and more spell casting 
for agents.  Guardians still should not neglect this skill.  Creations 
need 2 points to be controlled.  More points increase spell points and 
some resistances.
  Endurance:  Adds hit points and increases poison resistance.  Very 
useful, for you may often find yourself dying in one hit without a few 
points in this skill.  Get it up to about four before using any 
canisters or getting any quest rewards.  Creations gain more HP and a 
few resistances from this stat.

Combat skills
  Melee Weapons: Melee weapons are the most powerful in the end game 
mainly because of the bonuses they give.  Shapers can neglect this 
until buying a few points from a trainer or two, but Agents and 
Guardians may not want to.
  Missile Weapons: Reaper batons are very powerful.  Wands and crystals 
also use this skill to determine their to hit%.  Nonetheless, it's easy 
to hold off till you get a few points from trainers before attempting 
to buy this skill with skill points.
  Quick Action: Occasionally gives you a second attack, and also helps 
you attack faster in combat.  Very useful, especially since it's fairly 
ubiquitous- numerous trainers and quests will give you a few points in 
this skill.
  Parry: Extremely nice for guardians, who can really get high values 
in this skill.  The ability to completely dodge a skill should not be 
overlooked.  The rare chance of riposting shouldn't be a factor in 
getting this skill, however, as you'll probably only get a 5% chance at 
high levels.

Magic Skills 
  Battle Magic: Casting potent spells is the hallmark of the agent.  
Damage from a distance will save her some furious fights, especially 
with immobile enemies.  Other classes won't find too much use for this 
skill, as missile weapons and melee weapons can generally do more 
damage relative to the investment in the skill.
  Mental Magic: Some extremely potent skills are part of the mental 
magic tree.  It is highly recommended that ALL classes aim for at least 
five in this skill to get the all-important spell, mass daze.  Agents 
should go even higher.
  Blessing Magic: A very useful branch for both shapers and agents.  
Aim for at least three points in this skill for all classes (even with 
guardians).  Speed is extremely nice, especially when coupled with some 
AP-raising items.  Five points for shapers will get them the spell mass 
energize, which is a great blessing.
  Spellcraft: Agents will be able to purchase a lot of points in this 
skill, and they should.  Shapers can as well, and guardians will find 
it quite difficult to do the same.  Nonetheless, agents will be spell 
slinging some great spells after getting this.  There are a few other 
sources of this spell, don't neglect them.

  Fire Shaping: Shapers will want several points in all shaping skills.  
It's often advantageous to pick a specialty and increase that somewhat 
exclusively, but you'll probably want about seven in all these skills 
near the end of the game (with items).  This way you can create 
everything.  Fire shaping allows you to create fire creations, which 
are both good at melee and missile attacks.  Seven points in this skill 
will let you create all of the creations.
  Battle Shaping: Battle creations are great at the start with thahds, 
and battle shaping never really loses its good graces.  Clawbugs can do 
a great job, as can battle alphas.  Again, aim for 7 with a shaper.
  Magic Shaping: Some of the most useful creations are magic creations.  
Again, aim for seven with a shaper.
  Healing Craft: All classes should invest a few points in this skill.  
Shapers should invest the most, as it's quite cheap for them, but 
agents and guardians shouldn't ignore it.  However, agents probably 
don't need to get above 4 or 5 in this skill, after benefits from 
charms and such, as they will be fighting alone, generally speaking.

  Leadership: Very useful for getting good rewards and getting out of 
sticky situations.  Aim for 10 with equipment by the time you're in the 
central Barzite lands.  This means spending skill points to get about 6 
or 7 pre-equipment.
  Mechanics: Similarly quite useful.  Aim for about 12 after clearing 
the clockwork maze.
  Luck: A bit subtle, but still very nice.  With adequate luck I was 
able to claim the roamertooth band, which helps fire shaping immensely.  
I wouldn't focus on this skill, as there are several items which add 
points to it (including boots and a LOT of charms), but put at least 1 
point into it at the start.

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3. Creation Guide
 Note that Blueman's FAQ does an excellent job discussing creations.
I refer you to that guide if you have any questions.
  Guide: 
  Name of creation (base essence cost, base essence cost +2 points of 
intelligence) [starting level]: description.  A creation's level is 
determined by the starting level + skill in that creation + skill in 
the respective creation class (i.e. Fire, Magic, or Battle) + 
experience level gained.  Creations gain +1 to all primary stats every 
two levels.  
Fire creations
  Fyora (8, 11) [0]: A faithful little lizard.  The fyora is a staple 
creation capable of launching firebolts and also possessing a nasty 
bite.  
  Cryoa (30, 39) [6]: Similar to the fyora, only it spits the ice spray 
spell.  
  Roamer (15, 20) [7]: An acid-spitting dog-like reptile.  Casts 
searer, just like an artila, but is a bit hardier and also has a decent 
bite.  It costs a bit more as far as essence is concerned, however.
  Pyroroamer (12, 17) [3]: Exploding Kamikaze Roamers.  May be useful 
in some situations, but generally just there for fun.  
  Drayk (60, 75) [18]
  Cryodrayk (90, 111) [21]
  Drakon (150, 183) [26]
  Ur-Drakon (300, 363) [30]:By the time you get this creation, you 
probably won't need it.

 
  Thahd (8, 11) [3]: These are your starting meatbags.  They have no 
missile attack, but can take a lot of punishment.  Having a few of 
these guys around can save your life.  Agents may also find that making 
a whole bunch of these (using a shaper cloak or the fanged bracelet) 
with no intelligence provides an excellent set of meat shields.
  Thahd Shade (28, 35) [10]
  Clawbug (20, 27) [7]: A somewhat stronger battle creation, the 
clawbug hits harder and lasts longer than the thahd.
  Plated Clawbug (48, 59) [12]: The Plated Clawbug gets 2 AP per round, 
and, according to Stughalf, who kept his plated clawbug through the 
entire game, it did ~140 damage per hit, and with two attacks per 
round, that's not something to scoff at.
  Battle Alpha (50, 63) [15]: Nice big tanks.  You'll find Plated 
Clawbugs to be somewhat more interesting, but they're still a fine 
creation.
  Battle Beta (80, 99) [19]: Even bigger tanks, and with a lot of 
strength.  They are quite expensive though, and not as fun as some of 
the other creations.  However, until I got the Ur-Glaahk, this guy hit 
harder than anything else in my party.
  Rotghroth (125, 152) [24]: Wow. I like these guys a lot- they can 
take a lot of damage, and have a strong attack as well.  Their attack 
does acid damage, and they have a chance of a second attack per hit 
(like quick action with your shaper).  They're a nice step up from 
Battle Betas.
  Rotdhizon (250, 303) [28]: By the time you get this creation, you 
probably won't need it.


  Artila (12, 17) [3]: A little worm that spits acid.  It tends to run 
out of energy quickly at low levels, but is still extremely useful, 
especially since the acid attack lingers and continues to do damage 
after the creature is hit.  Increase their dexterity for a 5% better 
chance to hit.  They hit more often than your average fyora.
  Searing Artila (30, 39) [13]: An improvement on the artila, this worm 
has a lot more energy, and also better stats.  They will probably never 
run out of energy in a fight- you'll either slay your enemy first, or 
they'll die in the process.  Again, increase their dexterity to 
increase their chance to hit%.  Alex states that they're inferior to 
Vlish, and I tend to agree, though they do seem to last a lot longer 
(more HP).
  Vlish (15, 20) [9]: A wonderful creation.  These floating squids 
launch stunning bolts at an enemy that do a fair bit of damage and also 
immobilize the enemy.  As such, they're quite useful, since stunning 
can really save your life especially when fighting tough beasts.  Vlish 
also have a poisonous melee attack, which is especially useful when 
they run out of energy (From ThirdParty).  Vlish hit very often, 
something very important to Geneforge (from Alex).
  Terror Vlish (45, 56) [15]: Also a great creation.  The terror effect 
is superior to the stunning effect, as it's generally more likely to 
hit.  However, they can't attack as frequently as regular vlish can, 
due to the high cost of the terror spell, and they tend to miss 
frequently (from Alex).  Stughalf states that investing a few points 
into a terror vlish or leveling them up results in a very powerful 
combination.  One thing that people do not like about this creation is 
the fact that terrified enemies run off, requiring you to chase them 
down.  Vlish also have a poisonous melee attack, which is especially 
useful when they run out of energy (From ThirdParty)
  Glaahk (40, 51) [15]: wow.  This creation has a strength similar to a 
battle alpha (so it hits as often), and it also frequently stuns the 
enemy.  If you get two hits with a glaahk, expect the enemy to lose its 
next turn.  These creations can't take the same amount of punishment as 
a battle creation, but can definitely hold their own.
  Ur-Glaahk (65, 80) [22]: wow.  Wow again.  My Ur-Glaahks have a to 
hit% on par with that of a battle beta, and stun with great frequency.  
They can take a fair bit of damage as well.  I have two in my group, 
and few fourth-level beasts can stand up to them.  Unfortunately, 
they're quite hard to get.  The demonic depot holds the only glaahk 
canister in the game.
  Gazer (125, 152) [24]:a powerful ranged attacker. It's melee attack 
is weaker, but almost always terrifies the victim (from ThirdParty)
  Eyebeast (250, 303) [28]:the nastiest creation in the game by far. 
Its attacks do decent damage (~100 hp) to every creature in its sight,
but more importantly they stun it. A single Eyebeast hit can be enough
to make a creature miss a turn.  However, by the time you get this 
creation, you probably won't need it.

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4.  Spell Guide
Battle Magic
  Firebolt- a staple spell for all classes.  Firebolt is cheap and 
effective, and best of all, uses no essence.  It won't do much damage, 
but it's very dependable.  This spell can be parried.  Fyoras use this 
spell.
  Acid Spray- a spell that drenches acid on an opponent.  It can be 
quite useful for enemies with high parry, as they can not deflect this 
spell (but it can still miss).  This spell uses essence, and also acts 
slowly, so it's not too useful except in certain circumstances.
  Searer- a damaging spell that also coats an enemy with acid.  This 
spell can be quite potent, and is what artilas use.  It doesn't cost 
much essence, so it may not be a bad choice for agents looking for an 
improvement over firebolt.
  Ice Spray- a strong spell similar to firebolt that does ice damage.  
Agents will find this to be an excellent replacement for firebolt when 
they get a substantial energy pool.
  Essence Orbs- the first multi-enemy spell, this spell is quite useful 
when fighting hordes of enemies.  It fires a maximum of three energy 
balls at up to three enemies, with a strength similar to that of 
searer.  It's fairly expensive, so don't use it against solo enemies.
  Acid Shower- covers all nearby enemies with acid.  This is one of 
those hit and run spells, as acid takes a while to damage enemies.  It 
has a high essence cost.
  Kill- a potent one-on-one spell.  It's a significant improvement from 
ice spray, and will really toast an enemy.  Its high cost prohibits it 
from becoming the main attack for most any class, except maybe a high-
level agent (level 40 or more).
  Aura of Flames- similar to acid shower, this spell strikes all 
enemies with flames.  This is an instant-hit spell, instead of a 
delayed attack spell like acid shower.  It's very expensive, so after 
casting this a few times, you'll soon have to down some essence pods or 
go back to town.

Mental Magic
  Daze- causes an enemy to stop attacking unless it is attacked or 
damaged.  This spell is quite useful for preserving low level agents, 
but is greatly overshadowed by its big brother, strong daze.  Still, 
potentially very useful.
  Mental Barrier- blocks mental attacks.  Not very useful for agents, 
this spell prevents fear and domination.  Agents won't have many 
creations and thus won't need this (they resist most attacks without 
much difficulty).  Shapers and guardians may find it occasionally 
useful, but not frequently.
  Unlock- save those living tools!  Get this spell, and those locks 
that require one or two living tools are no longer a worry.  Casting 
this spell will save you a few living tools every now and then, 
allowing you to conserve them for later.
  Terror- a very nice spell.  This spell has a high chance to hit, and 
is very useful when facing tough solo enemies.  Cast it successfully, 
and a creation has a chance to either freeze in fear or run away like a 
coward.  Well worth the investment.
  Dominate- similar to terror, except a bit less likely to hit 
successfully.  I haven't used this much but it could be potentially 
quite useful. 
  Strong Daze- probably the best spell in the game, so much so that I'd 
recommend even guardians attempt to get it.  Stuns all nearby enemies, 
allowing you to attack them one at a time.  Extremely useful when 
swarmed.  My agent who was quite fast was able to take out many enemies 
by attacking them for two hits, then dazing afterwards.  When used this 
way, this spell is something of a game-breaker, so don't do that unless 
you're really having a tough time.
  Charisma- adds a few points to leadership.  A few points can make a 
difference, but by the time you get this spell, it may no longer be 
necessary.  It may allow you to drop some leadership-raising items 
though, and use other items that increase your power.
  Mass Madness- can dominate, terrify or daze nearby enemies.  Doesn't 
always work, and is fairly expensive.  I prefer strong daze, though 
this spell sounds cool.

Blessing Magic
  War Blessing- increases you and your creations to hit% by 20, and 
also makes them hit harder.  Extremely worthwhile, and always cast 
before large combats.
  Protection- decreases damage taken by 1/5 for you and your creations, 
which can make the difference between life and death.  Cast before all 
large combats if possible.
  Essence Shield- makes the target harder to hit.  Lasts for the entire 
map.  Its high essence cost makes is less useful for the shaper, but 
the agent can cast this spell once on a level and be happy.  If you're 
ever on a tough level and happen to find an essence pool, take the time 
to give this to all of your creations, you won't regret it.
  Speed- hastens the target, giving it 25 or 50% more AP (depending on 
level).  Mainly cast this on your main character to get the strategic 
upper hand in a fight.  Guardians should try to get this spell, agents 
shouldn't go without it.
  Mass Energize- blesses and hastens you and your creations, and heals 
you slightly.  Shapers will live by this spell.  Agents won't really 
care.  Guardians may want it, but it is kind of expensive in terms of 
skill points.
  Steel skin- a permanent shield, similar to essence shield.
  Essence Armor- a stronger version of essence shield, can be cast in 
addition to steel skin.  Agents will want to cast both these spells at 
the start of a map if they're able.  I do not know if the increasing of 
hit points works or not, though.
  Battle Roar- a stronger version of mass energize, shields and cures 
in addition to blesses, heals, and hastens.  Not an easy spell to get, 
but still quite worthwhile.

Healing Craft
  Minor Heal- restores some hit points.  This will completely heal your 
standard shaper and mid-level agent.  Always good to have around.
  Cure Effects- removes poison and acid from the target.  Quite useful, 
and probably the last useful spell for the agent in this class (with 
the possible exception of heal).
  Augmentation- adds some health to the target.  DougThompson has 
stated that this spell does work on your main character, and is a great 
way of helping out HP-poor characters.  Only costs essence, so use it 
around an essence pool if you're going to use it. 
  Heal- heals about double the damage of minor heal.  Use it in combat, 
otherwise use minor heal as it costs the least.
  Group Heal- heals all of your characters, and you should use this 
spell whenever you have two or three creations that need healing.
  Remove Effects- Removes all bad effects except terror, as far as I 
can tell.  Cure effects is still probably better.
  Major Heal- heals about three times better than minor heal.  Useful 
in combat mainly, especially on those creations that have a lot of hit 
points. 
  Mass Restore- acts as a cure all and heal all.  Very potent, though 
expensive.  Use only in combat.

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5. FAQs and Strategies
Q: How do trainers work?
A: Trainers will train you up to two times in a given skill or stat.  
This is on top of whatever you have as your base skill.  For instance, 
all classes start with a point in create fyora.  Using a trainer will 
get you up to 3 in create fyora.  However, if you get a point in create 
fyora elsewhere, like from a canister or as a quest reward, and the 
trainer will only train you one more time.  Thus, it is in your best 
interest to get trained first before getting canisters and quest 
rewards, despite the high cost.  This may not always be practical, 
especially for stats like strength, but just keep it in mind.

Q: Should I use canisters?
A: It'll make your life much easier if you do.  However, it'll also 
make the ending less nice for you if you leave too soon or join the 
loyalists.  The game can be beaten without canisters, though it isn't 
easy.  Trainers and quests provide a lot of points.  The end of this 
FAQ summarizes where you can get points in skills and from what 
sources.

Q: What are Opinions?
A: How you respond to a given question determines some of the sect 
options available to you.  You have the option of being either pro-
servile or pro-shaper.  It should be fairly obvious which is which.  
The area's opinion of you changes if you do specific quests, talk to 
people, or join sects.  Learned Darian can give you a one time bonus of 
automatically setting the island's opinion of you to some level.  
Publicly Displayed Name has provided an excellent opinion guide which 
can be found at the end of this FAQ.

Q: When should I join a sect?
A: It's up to you.  Some sects will give you good early bonuses that 
can really help you get around.  The Servants and the Awakened have 
similar benefits- you can really learn a lot of nice skills from them 
early.  However, I'd strongly recommend not joining until you've seen 
all of the sects.  Note that some sects require violence against other 
sects in order for you to join, thus preventing you from joining at a 
later time.  Also, joining a sect may cause other sects to refuse to do 
business with you.  I'd recommend attempting to clean out merchants 
before joining most sects.  In addition, there are cheap trainers at 
the loyalists camp, and a few places are best for the unaligned (like 
Phariton's hall).  Finally, seeing each sect gives you an idea of what 
belief you want to give a try.  

Q: Can I join multiple sects?
A: I believe so.  I've been able to go from Takers to Servants without 
any problem, so I believe you can do the same.  I believe you could 
milk almost all of the sects of their good items if you don't complete 
their quests.  Join the Awakened first, and get modified to use their 
potent magic, but don't do the Radiant college quest.  Then join the 
Barzites, get all of their creations and canisters, and finish up as 
the Takers.  Finally, try the unaligned route by killing everything 
that moves.  You'll be quite powerful at the end of all of this.

Q: How do I powergame the sects? 
A: First join the Servants.  This is fairly easy with only 6 
leadership.  You'll get a number of decent creations from this, in 
addition to some high level spells.  Then join the Awakened (praise 
some of the serviles or do their quests) and get altered to get the 
highest level spells, but don't do their Radiant College quest.  Next 
join the Barzites (either by insulting serviles or Learned Darian.  Get 
their canisters and train at the Radiant college, but stop before 
offending the Takers.  Then join the Takers (if possible).  Get their 
canisters.  This is all hypothetical, but might be possible.

Q: Should I make creations or let creations join me?
A: Occasionally you will be presented with the option to let a creation 
join you.  These are all unique creations, and have their advantages 
and disadvantages.  Their advantages include not having to pay essence 
for a creation so that your ability to cast spells and make more 
creations in uninhibited, and the fact that you can claim them based 
only on your leadership, not on your shaping skill, allowing you to 
gain a high level creation without actually having to improve your 
skill.  They can also be quite strong and interesting- serviles who 
cast spells or use batons, strong roamers, vlish, and battle alphas can 
all join.  Their disadvantages include their uniqueness (they are one 
of a kind and count towards your four creation type limit), and they 
cannot be controlled in combat.  This last one will be the deciding 
call for you.  It's really not fun having a free-willed creation.  In 
this case, the creation can do whatever it so pleases, including the 
most inopportune action possible.  Imagine your shaper enters the room 
to fight the battle gamma, only to have the huge roamer follow behind, 
spitting at the battle gamma while blocking the doorway, preventing 
your ur-glaahks from entering.  Or imagine you're trying to use a bit 
of stealth and get past some nasty pylons, only to have your abandoned 
vlish decide to follow behind, attacking them because it wants to.  
This is the main problem with joining creations.  I found that as a 
shaper, I quickly grew tired of this nonsense when I had a slew of 
well-behaved creations who didn't do what the joined creations did.  
However, as an agent, I was happy for the help, and actually felt a bit 
sad when my huge roamer decided that pylon was annoying it a bit too 
much and was vaporized trying to release its aggression.  So, as usual, 
it's up to you.  Let a creation join if you want, but don't get too 
attached to it.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Arguments to the contrary from Scales:
1. You can determine where you don't want them to go in combat. If 
there is a room with a door present, just place them in the room and 
close the door. For automatic ones, place them far enough away from the 
door. If there is no room, create a few low level fyoras or thahds, 
move the creature to a narrow enough corridor or some corner and block 
its path with your creations. 
 
2. You can control the placement for the first round. Place the 
creation the desired distance away from place of combat and enter 
combat mode. It will have to run up to the point of contact. This 
generally keeps them from killing themselves by running up too close to 
the enemy. 
 
It's a lot of micromanagement, but I was able keep my huge roamer 
alive. It's now lvl. 36. 

---------------------------------------------------------------- 
6. WALKTHROUGH, Area by Area
 
Area Name
Q: Quests given
S: Skills obtained through quests/books/canisters
O: Opinions (who you can talk to so as to portray yourself as either 
pro-servile or pro-shaper
$: Merchants with amount of money available for selling.
D: Directions to attached maps
  Walkthrough for area.

1. Entry Valley
Q: Locate Zakary and Barzahl
S: One class-dependent boost
O: none
$: none 
D:  N to Drypeak Gates, S to End game. 
  Welcome to Geneforge 2.  You start out in the tutorial region, the 
entry valley.  Head south and you'll find your master, the agent 
Shanti.  She will be accompanying you for these two levels, and will 
give you advice throughout the beginning of the game.  To the south 
you'll find the exit from the valley, which is where you'll head when 
you've done as much as you're going to do.  You'll also find a 
gemstone.  Generally I will not tell you the location of every single 
item in an area, as that's quite tedious and not useful for someone who 
is a meticulous player, but I will a bit for now.  Head a bit west and 
then south to fight a giant rat.  Throughout the tutorial, you'll find 
some minor items that you should equip, mainly armor and weapons.  
Depending on your class, you may also want to equip melee weapons or 
missile weapons.  Generally agents should stick with spells as a 
missile attack, and shapers should go missile all the way.  A bit north 
of here is an abandoned potion shop, in which you can find a healing 
pod.  Continue along the path, and Shanti tells you to check out a 
building to the south.  Do so for an essence pod.  Proceed onwards, and 
Shanti eventually tells you that she will teach you a skill.  She 
teaches Guardians parry and quick action (+1 to both), Agents the spell 
daze, and Shapers get Create Artila.  There are some thorns just east 
of Shanti.  Head north to Drypeak gates.

HINT: You'll be finding some iron bars through the tutorial.   Keep 
these and do not sell them to any old merchant.  In addition, you will 
want to keep all Shaper Equipment, Gemstones, emeralds, research notes, 
mined crystals, and a few other miscellaneous items.  Generally, if it 
looks odd, don't sell it.  A few items are very rare and valuable (like 
demon claws), if you sell these you'll regret it.

2. Drypeak Gates
Q: none.
S: War Blessing.
O: none
$: none
D: S to Entry Valley, N to Drypeak
  There is a locked door just north.  In addition, you'll fight a few 
fyoras.  Most characters should have no trouble with the red lizards.  
If you do, then you may need to make a creation for support (although 
only shapers may be able to do this at this point).  You'll also find 
several locked doors and some living tools.  
HINT: Living tools act as keys.  You'll want to conserve them as best 
you can, especially when it comes to doors that don't need many to 
open.  In this case, mark down somewhere that you've left a door 
unopened, and come back when you can later, with either a higher 
mechanics score, or the spell unlock.  If you find a door with a lot of 
living tool requirements, chances are that there is a key somewhere on 
the level that will make your life much easier.  This is the case for 
this level.
If you come across a locked door, and have enough skill to open it with 
or without some living tools, you'll gain some experience.  Along the 
way to Shanti, you'll find a locked door with some icy crystals inside.  
When you reach Shanti she'll be battling some creations, help her, and 
she tells you to find some means of getting into the northern ruins.  
Head east to fight some rats and check out their nest for a key.  Use 
this key on the ruins and pull the lever to proceed to the next area.  
There are a few more locked doors here, it is up to you whether or not 
you want to use living tools to open them (if you don't need any living 
tools to open them, then by all means go ahead).  They generally 
contain useful minor items.  However, the door to the far west also 
contains a book which will teach the spell War blessing. 
HINT: It is not generally a good idea to learn every spell you can as 
soon as you find it.  Waiting is generally better, as teachers will 
teach you 2 levels of spells and creations.  If you have gained a spell 
or creation already from a canister, book or quest, then you can not 
learn 2 levels from the teacher.  Therefore, wait to get the 
canister/reward/book until after you have maximized your skill from the 
teacher.  This is such a case.
Head north to Drypeak.

Drypeak
Q: Kill rogue creatures, Bring Iron bars, Bring Saltweed, Bring Wiry 
Moss, Rescue serviles from mine, find smart servile, find crystal 
cavern
S: Cure effects (reward for rescue serviles quest), quick action 
(Crystal caverns quest) 
O: Keeper Thossila, Shanti (after meeting with Zakary)
$:  Allizar-1600, Zuniga-750, Elili-580
D: S to Drypeak Gates, E to Drypeak Warrens, N to Drypeak Mines, W to 
Drypeak Fields
  Shanti has a confrontation with guard.  Try to answer the "our 
orders..." response.  If not that, then I find it best to keep silent.  
She head off to meet with Zakary, and leaves you on your own.  Time to 
explore some.  You'll find several merchants here, as well as a number 
of quests.  All of the merchants and Keeper Thossila give you quests.  
Zuniga is especially important, as he will buy your iron bars and give 
you experience and cash.  The reward per bar is rather low, but it 
stays roughly constant (10 gold plus 6 xp).  At later levels, when it's 
harder to get xp from killing things, he is a good source.  Zuniga 
sells weapons, but most are useless as you'll find better just by 
wandering around.   Allizar gives you the kill rogues quests, mainly he 
hopes you'll kill a warped thahd, old artila, and a fyora with a broken 
fang.  Completion of this quest gets you a shielding band, a potent 
ring for someone with few creations (like an agent).  Elili wants you 
to get her some saltweed from Sharon, who you'll encounter while 
exploring.  Doing so gets you some pods and the second quest to bring 
her some wiry moss.  Completion of this quest again results in pods and 
spores.  Keeper Thossila gives you two quests: one to find some 
serviles in the mines, the other to investigate an intelligent servile.  
Talk to the serviles in the fields.  You'll find one that seems 
significantly more intelligent than the rest.  Threaten it, and it'll 
spill the beans.  You can either turn it in, or if you have sufficient 
leadership, can lie to Thossila about there being no intelligent 
serviles.  Both net you the same reward (experience).  There are 
several buildings in this area with locked doors.  Enter them when you 
want, and you'll find some good items (often iron bars).
HINT: Theft is not a crime unless you get caught in this game.  In some 
cases, closing the door to commit larceny will get you decent items and 
no problems with the local authorities.  There are a few cases where 
you can not steal something without others knowing, but I will mention 
these as separate discussions.
Takena is a guard near Elili.  Talk with him and he'll give you the 
crystal caverns quest.  Completion of this quest gets you one point in 
quick action.  Finally, you'll find Zaph hiding to the SW.  He tells 
you to speak with Barzahl, and is also hungry.  I don't know if there 
are any consequences of feeding him.  When you're ready head east.

Drypeak Warrens
Q: Search Drypeak Valley, Find source of rogues
S: Create fyora, Daze, Tyallea (trainer) 
O: Zakary
$: none
D: W to Drypeak
  Head east and north to find Shanti and Zakary discussing things.  
Neither one seems happy with the other.  They talk a bit, then Shanti 
storms off, telling you to explore the valley.  First explore this 
region.  There are some interesting items here, and most important is 
Tyallea, a trainer.  He will train you in the first two spells of all 
spell classes, as well as creating fyoras, thahds, and artilas.  Most 
of your money for the next few regions should go to getting his help.  
In addition, to the NE you'll find shaping platforms, with two artilas 
on them.  They go rogue, and you have to kill them.  The book here will 
improve your fyora creating skill, and if you complain to Tyallea about 
the attack, with sufficient leadership he'll teach you the spell daze 
for free.  Finally, talk with Nova, a guardian, for a quest to find the 
source of rogues.  You get no reward for completion of this quest other 
than experience.  Head back into town and speak with Shanti.

Drypeak Mines
Q: none
S: none
O: none
$: none.
D: S to Drypeak, W to western mines.
  You'll find Zora, who will join you if you have sufficient 
leadership.  Zora is not a good fighter, though, so don't expect him to 
last long.  Most of the nearby doors are locked, but when open have 
iron bars and other minor goodies.  There is a key in the western mines 
for you to use if you want to save some living tools.  Some other doors 
to the NW have much tougher locks, and you may not be able to get them 
open any time soon.  Again, come back with the key- they have mined 
crystals and iron bars.  There are several wandering rogues in this 
region and you have two options on how to kill them.  The first is to 
use your standard brute force.  The second is to activate nearby pylons 
and gain their assistance.  Pylons can be activated by first speaking 
with the Servant Mind.  If you have sufficient leadership, you can 
trick him into telling you how to turn on the pylons.  Check the barrel 
a bit west of him after doing this and you'll get the control key.  
(FROM SELETINE: If you check the barrel before talking with the mind, 
you won't find the key unless you have 2 points of luck or more.)  Use 
this on the big nearby generators and you'll have help when you fight.  
(FROM SELETINE: you can also activate the pylons with adequate 
mechanics skill or with the spell unlock).  However, if the pylon kills 
an enemy, then you do not get any experience.  To the south you'll find 
the three serviles Thossila told you about.  Accompany them to the S 
exit and they'll go home.  

Drypeak Fields
Q: none
S: none
O: none
$: none
D: E to Drypeak, S to Infested woods, W to Crags, N to Shanti's Grove
  Not too much to do here.  Del will give you some items if you have 
sufficient leadership, but otherwise won't help much.  There are plenty 
of rogues wandering about, and a few decent items to the south, but 
other than that, this is mainly a interlude area.  

Infested Woods
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: N to Drypeak Fields
  This are has a number of patrolling rogues, who will run off to help 
if they spot you and you don't kill them.  It's not too hard a region, 
but can be difficult for inexperienced players.  To the NE you'll find 
an "old weathered artila", one of those needed for completion of the 
Kill the three rogues quest.  Also, you'll find some wiry moss.  Keep 
this, as it is an important ingredient and occasional quest item.  
You'll find a servile here who is quite uncooperative, I don't think 
you can do anything with it.  South of the servile is a room with a 
nice ring, the projection band. Finally, to the far south, you'll find 
a spawner.  These are dangerous creatures which make new creations 
every couple of turns.  Killing one almost always gets you a few 
gemstones.  This also completes the "find the source of the rogues" 
quest from Nora.  Additionally, you can tell Shanti about this beast.

Western Mines
Q: none
S: Searer 
O: Ciphar
$: none
D: E to Drypeak mines, W to Salt marshes, S to Sharon's Grove
  Straight to the west you'll find an iron key.  This will help you to 
open some doors.  The rogues here can be a lot harder than the rogues 
to the east, just as a warning.  Again, you have the option of turning 
on nearby pylons, with the same caveat as before.  To the N you'll find 
some particularly difficult rogues.  However, if you're able, do try to 
take them out.  You'll get a number of decent items, including a lucky 
charm, chain mail, an emerald, and some vat boots.  You can head west 
and eventually will clear the mines.  Ciphar is to the north, and is a 
warrior who will join you if you have enough leadership and gold.  He 
is also in possession of the spell searer.  It's up to you whether you 
want to learn it now.  The nearest seller is a ways away.  

The Crags
Q: Bring back servile.
S: none. 
O: Braan
$: Braan-720
D: N to Saltmarsh, W to Crystal Caverns, E to Sharon's grove, S to 
Drypeak Fields
  This are has numerous rogues, as usual.  The main points of interest 
here are to the south, where there's the warped thahd (who drops a 
thahd skin tunic upon death), which should complete your kill rogues 
quest from Allizar.  Also, there's a trap in the ruined building.  If 
you or one of your creations attempt to enter the main room, you'll be 
attacked by a number of rogues.  However, you still get some decent 
items.  NW you'll find Braan, a townsperson.  Braan doesn't do much, 
but complains about losing one of his serviles.  The servile can be 
found in the crystal caverns.  Bringing the servile back results in 
some xp as well as a new shopkeeper.  It is probably a good idea to 
bring the servile back to Braan.  This region is also the only means of 
getting to the crystal caverns, wherein you'll find a perfect crystal 
if you're careful.  Finally, you'll also find an Abandoned Thahd in the 
NW.  It needs leadership in order to be convinced to join, but it can 
act as another creation if you so desire.

Crystal Caverns
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: E to the Crags
  This area has a number of ghosts roaming about.  They will not become 
hostile unless you attempt to steal some of their crystals.  It's worth 
doing, however, if you can beat them.  The crystals fetch a pretty 
penny from most shops.  Naturally, the more valuable the crystal, the 
harder the shades.  You'll also find Braan's servile here.  In 
addition, to the NW is a drayk who is holding a perfect crystal, one of 
Sharon's required ingredients.  If you have adequate leadership, you 
can convince him to give it to you without a fight.  Nonetheless, 
fighting is always and option.  He has a number of good items lying 
around, and may also drop a draykskin tunic.  Just keep it in mind.  
However, if you fight him, you'll also have to fight his shades, who 
can be quite troublesome for the unprepared.  On my first playthrough, 
I found a pair of Carnelian gloves on a dead body in the "lovely shade" 
section.  This has been confirmed by several readers, and are potent 
gloves that raise a few magic skills.
 
Sharon's Grove
Q: Sharon's book, Search Guarded Tunnel
S: Create Clawbug, Spellcraft 
O: Sharon
$: none
D: W to Crags, N to Western mines, S to Drypeak Fields
  Sharon's grove is a neat area where you'll meet the shaper Sharon.  
Make your way to the center of the map, ignoring the creations (they 
won't attack).  Sharon is a good ally, and will help direct you.  Talk 
with her about saltweed, and she'll say there's some in her trash pit 
(to the NE, near the rats).  She'll tell you her story, and say that 
you can have any of her items in her shaping chambers.  There are a 
number of spores in her chambers.  She also gives you two quests- one 
is to gain info on how to translate a book she's acquired (which won't 
be completed for some time), the other is to explore the guarded 
tunnel.  Doing so nets you Sharon's bracelet.  This odd item gains 
power from killing some creations she has stored to the east.  The more 
creations you slay, the stronger the bracelet becomes.  At the end 
you'll have to fight an experimental battle gamma, who will probably 
kick your butt.  There are a few strategies for beating him.  Agents 
surprisingly can beat him relatively early in the game by summoning a 
group of thahds to serve as fodder, and then blessing, shielding and 
hasting, followed by a large group attack.  I was able to beat the 
gamma at level 14-16 using this method.  This gives you access to 
Sharon's purified essence, one of the ingredients for her ring, along 
with lots of other nice small items.  Speaking of which, Sharon will 
make you a very powerful ring if you bring her the following items: 
purified essence, a drayk tendon, and a perfect crystal.  The end of 
this guide has the location of all of these objects.  Her books are 
found to the south.  You will probably want to wait on learning create 
clawbug, as you should first get some assistance from a trainer.  The 
other book is the book she wants your help translating.  You'll find 
the best translation at the Radiant College.  Telling her this gets you 
a point in spellcraft.  Finally, if you're ready to venture to the SE 
part of her chambers, you'll find a reaper turret with a number of 
valuable items, including a reaper baton and a shaper's robe (very 
useful for making creations).  In addition, there's a shielding knife 
in a chamber just to the north.  This is the best weapon you'll get for 
guardians and agents for a while, especially with its armor bonus.

Saltmarsh
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: W to secret tunnel, S to the crags
  This area has a number of tougher rogues.  Turrets are also fairly 
common.  Finally, you'll meet your first hostile servile, Beka (who you 
can get past with adequate leadership).  There are a number of minor 
goodies spread throughout the level.  Most important are a grounded 
robe in a pot to the NW, and a venom baton nearby.  This area mainly 
serves as a prelude to the underground tunnel.  You may want to go back 
and report to Shanti- telling her of your experiences gets you 
experience.

Secret Tunnel
Q: none
S: Essence shield 
O: none
$: none
D: E to saltmarsh, W to freegate
  Here you have two options of exploration- north is the mechanics 
route, west is the fighting route.  Personally, I do both.  The mines 
give good experience when disarmed, and the creations (mainly exploding 
roamers- with these, back off and kill them from a distance) drop good 
items.  There is a maddened artila near the center of the map behind a 
locked door.  Killing it gets you an artila skin tunic.  Near the NW 
you'll find your first canister.  Using this gives you a point of 
essence shield, a fairly useful spell, but will alter your End-game.  
You may also want to wait till you've bought the spell from a trainer 
as well.  Nearby you'll also find a vat chitin, useful armor, albeit 
with low defense.  Head out to freegate after reporting to Shanti (one 
last time)

Freegate
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D:  E to secret tunnel, S to Clawbug canyon, W to experimental valley, 
N to Medab Road
  Entrance to this region completes the "explore valley" quest.  As you 
proceed through this level, you'll be accosted by several serviles.  
They are quite violent, but you'll luckily receive assistance from some 
serviles from Medab.  Once cleared, explore this region to get into a 
number of fights.  Other than that, there's not much to this region.

Medab Road
Q: none
S: none 
O: Loyd Blade
$: none
D: N to Medab, S to Freegate, E to Patrolled path, W to Infiltrator's 
Fort
  A number of rogues can be found here.  Most importantly, you'll find 
two spawners here, one to the SE (which is also guarding a student's 
belt), and one to the west.  These spawners are part of the quest given 
to you by Seli.  Luckily the rogues they make aren't too annoying.  
You'll find a nice number of gemstones near the western spawner as 
well.

Medab
Q: Get Shaper Equipment, Get Zyan's package, Find 3 lost ornks, Bring 
strong healing spores, Find servile sickness cure, Clear Medab road, 
Help Medab troops, Find Dayna's book
S: Create vlish, create artila, Carnelian (trainer) 
O: Carnelian, Learned Pinner, Dayna
$: Medab inn- 230, Lora- 650, Zyan- 2300, Medab alchemist- 930
D: S to Medab Road, E to Eastern Medab, W to Medab West Bridge
  All right, this is the second large city you'll find.  There are a 
bunch of quests for you to pick up.  First and foremost, Lora will buy 
your shaper equipment for 30 coins each, in addition to some xp.  In 
the same inn you can find a "letter to Rising", which you'll need for a 
later quest.  Put it aside for now.  Zyan, the alchemist, lost a 
package and wants you to retrieve it for her.  Doing so (it's in the 
warren of the three) gets you two nice pods.  Praw, to the east, has 
lost his three ornks and wants you to retrieve them.  Doing so gets you 
a few nice items and experience (per ornk).  Be careful as the ornks 
are easily slain.  You can find a key to some of the guard doors nearby 
Praw in a box.  Carnelian is located to the NE, and is a 
shaper who is helping out the serviles.  It seems as though the 
serviles are suffering from a nasty disease.  She gives you a quest to 
bring some major healing spores to her (with a create artila reward), 
after which she gives you a quest to find a cure (which is in Taker 
lands).  Finding the Taker cure will get you a lot of experience, and 
the Forbidden band (+1 to all primary stats), a great reward.  She will 
also teach you the first 4 spells of all 4 categories, in addition to 
creating roamers and clawbugs, for a price.  She also has a canister of 
create vlish in her room.  Seli is a human near Learned Pinner's 
residence.  Seli wants you to clear Medab Road of rogues (namely, 
killing the two spawners).  Doing so nets you a bunch of gems.  After 
doing this quest, Seli asks you to help out Medabs troops to the SW.  
Again, doing this gets you a bunch of gems, in addition to a wand.  
Dayna is a servile who was once an obeyer.  She is ill, but asks you to 
find her the book "Paths of Fire."  Doing so gets you experience. 
Finally, talking with Kashya will get you admittance to Learned Pinner.  
If you have enough leadership, you can get past her without problems.  
Learned Pinner is the leader of the Awakened, and will let you join if 
you so desire.  You can get in the rooms behind her if you have enough 
living tools or have completed a few awakened quests.  Inside you'll 
find Awakened info (special item), a shaped breastplate, a reaper 
baton, an agent robe, a coated cloak, shaped boots, and a lot of gold 
and gems.  It's well worth exploring.  Watch out for the mines, though, 
they'll kill you with ease.

East Medab
Q: none
S: Brodus Blade (trainer) 
O: Ghree, Lorrick
$: none
D: W to Medab, S to Patrolled Path, E to Belik's crossing
  This is the suburbs of Medab.  There's not too much here, although 
the buildings to the north have a number of packs of grain that are 
good for selling (you won't get much, but you'll have a bunch to sell).  
You can rob most of the houses here, except for Crillie.  Crillie is a 
spy for Rising.  You can kill him if you want, it won't affect 
anything.  This is also one of the quests Pinner gives you.  Probably 
most important to this area is Brodus Blade.  This servile will improve 
your combat skills for money.  

Patrolled Path
Q: none
S: Strength, Create Roamer, Augmentation 
O: Twini
$: none
D: E to Stinking Marsh, W to Medab Road, N to East Medab
  This area is loaded with rogues, generally clawbugs and vlish.  A 
nice reward can be found to the SW, where there are 2 books that teach 
create roamer and the spell augmentation.  To the NE you'll find one of 
Praws Ornks, be careful with it as it'll gleefully rush off to its 
death.  The servile Twini is here, who is the object of a Taker quest.  
Finally, to the NW you'll find a bunch of mines.  I generally create a 
thahd and send it off to bust the mines and die for the greater good.  
At the end of the trapped path you'll find a pair of grounded boots and 
a canister of strength, both very useful.

Belik's crossing
Q: Kill Twini, Open shaper pots
S: none 
O: none
$: none 
D: W to East Medab, S to Stinking Marsh, N to Complex Gate
  Again, there are a number of rogues off of the main path.  You'll 
also find a Taker spy here who wants your help killing the Servile 
Twini.  Mekkan demands permission before he lets you cross, try to lie 
your way past.  FROM SELETINE: Mekkan will also let you go past if 
you're Awakened, or if your opinions are pro-servile enough.  Else, 
just go talk with Brodus Blade.  There's no real difference in outcome.  
You'll find your way to an inn with the servile Belik inside.  Talk 
with him and he'll ask your help in getting rid of some rogues to the 
west.  Head west and fight the thahd shades.  When you get to the 
ruins, open each pot to release a charged thahd.  Kill them (one drops 
a thahd skin tunic), and return to Belik for some gems.

Stinking Marsh
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: W to Patrolled Path, N to Belik's crossing, S to Crystal mines
  Here is a rather dangerous area.  Exploding roamers about, be sure to 
kill them from a distance with either spells or missile weapons.  
You'll regret it otherwise.  One of the main problems with this area 
are the shades to the NW.  You'll have to fight 6 shades, but once all 
of them are dead, you'll get a few items.  The area will not clear till 
you head south and slay the spawner in the cave.  In addition, the 
other two of Praw's ornks are here.  Be very careful in returning them, 
as they'll gladly rush an exploding roamer, with nasty results.  Also, 
to the SW is a dead body with a deadeye cloak on it.  It's quite useful 
for shapers wielding batons.

Crystal Mines
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: N to Stinking Marsh
  Head immediately to your east.  There's a spawner here spewing out 
the explosive roamers.  Kill it and you'll clear the Stinking Marsh 
level.  You may want to wait before attempting the rest of this level.  
Shapers will find it more difficult than the other classes as they'll 
have to constantly heal their creations.  This level is similar to 
those found in Geneforge 1 where damaging environments abounded.  
Basically, you'll be hurt by an energy field every few turns you're in 
this area.  The best approach to these sorts of levels is to either go 
at it slowly in combat mode.  There are plenty of crystals similar to 
those seen in the Crystal Caverns that, when touched, may drop decent 
crystals.  Shades abound here, and readily attack without cause or 
provocation.  The main enemy here is a drayk, he can be tough if you're 
unprepared.  He will talk with you first, however.  Killing him may 
result in a draykskin tunic.  If you're here as part of the Awakened 
quest, you can chase him away by using leadership (From ThirdParty).  
The most important thing you can do here is loop around to the north 
and search a dead servile body for a basket of Black Crystal Powder, an 
ingredient for one of the items you'll be looking for later.  If you're 
daring, you can head to the center of the map.  You'll find several 
madness gems, and will also clear the level.  One of the shades on this 
level also dropped a shade cloak (500 gold!), but this may not happen 
often.

Complex Gates
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: S to Belik's crossing, E to Magus Complex, W to Power Station
  This area can be quite difficult.  You'll probably want to take the 
stealthy route, to the west.  The other option is to attack with full 
force the roamer/artila nest near the center of the map.  Avoid the 
crystals to avoid being attacked, or walk next to them to encourage the 
roamers to come out.  The roamers are guarding several decent items, 
including thrusting gauntlets (great for agents and guardians), wiry 
moss, and an ivory band.  To the NE you'll find the entrance to the 
Magus complex.  If you did Ty's "Kill Twini" quest, you'll find a 
feathered token here as well.  If you're feeling up to it, you can 
attempt to take out the main batch of rogues.  You'll find a rod of 
battle, some shaped boots, and if you're lucky (in terms of the skill), 
a roamertooth band (+2 to fire shaping!).  Don't count on getting the 
band though.

Magus Complex
Q: Deactivate Power Station, Find Swofford's books (2)
S: Create clawbug, heal, dominate, speed, Charye (trainer), Raeche 
(trainer) 
O: Loha
$: none
D: W to Complex gates, N to Complex Core
  This is the first of the large research complexes you'll be 
encountering.  You're immediately stopped by a guard, who you can use 
your leadership skills to get past with ease.  The servile Loha will 
ask you to deactivate the power core to the NW of the complex, and will 
give you info on the complex.  Deactivating the power core gets you 
some gold.  Swofford is a librarian who will speak with you about some 
books she's looking for, and you'll also find the book "Paths of Fire" 
to the NW.  Returning "Runecasting" from the Radiant college gets you a 
rod of succor.  Getting "Ember and Onyx" from Benerii-Uss entry gets 
you a fibrous shield.  Nearby you'll also find a slate complex key.  In 
the faculty rooms you'll find some decent items, including an 
infiltrator vest, which is useful to carry with you for special 
situations.  Check the rooms to the south for four books which teach 
create clawbug, heal, speed, and dominate.  There are two trainers 
here, Charye and Raeche.  One will teach you spells, the other will 
teach you shaping.  Both have fairly high prices for unaligned, so if 
you can, you may want to hold off till the Upper Research Hall or 
Loyalist Encampment.

Power Station
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: E to Complex gates, W to Golem Bridge, N to Experimental Chambers
  This area is full of rogues.  Your main goal should be to get to the 
center of the map, and disarm the power core.  First you will need to 
turn off the power spirals, which requires adequate mechanics skill.  
Once you have turned off enough of them, you'll receive a message along 
those lines.  Then go to the main machinery and take the ring (a ring 
of the eye).  This shuts down the power station permanently.  There 
isn't too much else to do here.

Golem Bridge
Q: none
S: none
O: none
$: none
D: E to Power Station, W to Marsh Crossroads
  There's a golem on the middle of the bridge here.  Your main 
objective is to get it to let you pass.  You have a few options.  
First, you can talk with Septi to the NE, and get him to tell you the 
password (requires either high leadership or joining the Awakened).  
Your other obvious option is to destroy it.  Finally, you can also talk 
with the golem and with high luck, guess the password.  There are some 
raiders to the SE who need killing.  Other than that, not too much can 
be found here.


Medab West bridge
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: E to Medab, S to Infiltrator's fort, N to Hunted Fen
  Not so very much to do here.  The guards let you pass without 
incident.  To the west you'll find a storeroom with an awakened guard.  
You can lie to get past him and take his stuff.  The thahd Grahg is the 
main enemy of this region.  Kill him to clear the map.  He drops an 
emerald and a thahd skin tunic.  Continue east to fight some more 
thahds.  You'll find a pair of shaped gauntlets along the way.

Infiltrator fort
Q: none
S: Create Fyora, Essence Shield 
O: none
$: none
D: E to Medab Road, N to Medab West Bridge
  This is the subject of Seli's second quest.  You can come in right 
away and grab a crystal woven chitin from the east, which is guarded by 
several vlish.  Wandering around will get you in some fights, but 
nothing you can't handle if you take it slowly.  If you get swarmed, 
retreat and try again.  To the west is a room with an essence shield 
canister in it.  It is guarded by some serviles.  You can get a lot of 
help from the serviles if you talk to Alverny and have adequate 
leadership.  They will definitely help when you want to take on the 
battle alphas.  Remember that if you bless and shield your party, 
you'll also bless and shield the serviles.  At the end of the path 
you'll have to fight a few serviles, but will get a physician's charm, 
and access to a canister of create fyora.  A warning from PUBLICLY 
DISPLAYED NAME: There is an occasional Charged Artila hanging around. 
It's almost impossible to defeat using a demo party.

Hunted Fen
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: E to Triola, W to Bandit Marshes, N to Fort Muck
  A relatively empty level.  You'll find a bunch of rats who will 
attack frequently, but otherwise, the only thing of interest here is a 
ghost.  Talk with the ghost.  If you have a limb in your inventory, you 
can give it to him and get a shielding band in return.  That's about 
it.

Triola
Q: Check Ellhrah's Tomb, Kill Bandit Leaders
S: none 
O: Wald
$: Maynard-3500, Mill-1600
D: N to Marsh Crossroads, W to Hunted Fen
  A bit of civilization in the marshes.  Here you'll find a few more 
quests and merchants.  Wald is a servile who roams the streets and will 
give you the Ellhrah quest.  Completion of it (getting through the 
tomb) gets you experience alone.  There's a building to the south 
inhabited by a hostile servile, kill him and take his stuff.  Maynard 
is the smith to the SE, who will trade with you, and will also make you 
a shaped sword if you bring him an emerald, a steel sword, and some 
mandrake tincture.  This is a potent weapon for guardians and agents, 
well worth equipping.  Maynard also sells a steel sword, which is the 
nearest one accessible (there's also one in the bandit swamp).  
Griffith is a human soldier in the center of the map, and who will also 
give you a quest to kill the bandit leaders.  Doing so gets you a lot 
of gold and a shaped belt.  At the inn you'll be attacked by two 
hostile serviles.  If you can, scare them away.  You'll get more 
experience that way (but won't be able to loot their bodies, so it's 
sort of a tossup).  Mill is the NE alchemist who will trade with you.

Marsh Crossroads
Q: Retrieve spores
S: Ice spray 
O: none
$: Lindian-850
D: S to Triola, E to Golem Bridge, W to Fort Muck
  This area has a number of dazed rats.  They are generally not hostile 
unless you pick some spores from the bushes nearby.  I'd suggest going 
ahead and doing so, the rats aren't too tough.  Near the center of the 
map you'll find a group of raiders.  If you have the Feathered Token, 
you can get past them without problems, otherwise you'll be attacked.  
Using the token or killing them both clear the level (Or can tell 
Griffith in Triola about them- he will have them removed).  To 
the SW you'll find a canister of ice spray guarded by three rats.
Finally, and most importantly, Lindian is a servile to the NW who 
gives you a quest to retrieve some spores for him.  At this point,
 this shouldn't be a problem.  Give him some for some experience 
and access to his inventory.  He will also make you a powerful 
shield if you bring him some purified essence, black crystal powder,
 and a flawless glaahk scale.  The shield is definitely worth it.  
Again, locations of these items can be found at the end of this FAQ.

Fort Muck
Q: none
S: none 
O: Herik Blade
$: Chom (Awakened only)- 1370
D: N to Ellhrah's Tomb, W to Western Marshes, E to Marsh Crossroads
  Explore the extremities of this area before going center to the fort.  
You'll find Hawke to the NE, who will buy your gems and emeralds for 
less money than shops.  This is good, though.  Shops will run out of 
money much faster if you sell them your gems, and this guy never runs 
out of money.  I'd recommend using him, if you're trying to get a lot 
of money.  To the west you'll find a friendly rat.  It dies easily, but 
it's still a good pet.  Finally, head into the central fort.  After 
you've explored a bit, the fort is attacked.  Respond to the attack 
with prejudice (thahds, artilas, and battle alphas all go after you), 
and afterwards you'll find some strong healing spores (useful for 
Carnelian's quest).  That's about it for this area.

Western Marshes
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: E to Fort Muck, W to Northern pass, S to Bandit Marsh
  Numerous strong rogues abound here.  Luckily, you can recruit a 
battle alpha to the NE.  There's also a very strong battle alpha 
creature to the north of this friendly creation, when dead, it drops a 
mica band.  Two batches of servile raiders can be found to the SW and 
NW.  If you don't want to fight them, then you can show them the 
feather token, if you have it.  The batch to the SW drops a pair of 
swamp boots when slain.

Bandit Marsh
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: N to Western Marshes, E to Hunted Fen, S to Warren of the Three
  Rats are initially the only thing hostile here.  There's a group of 
servile raiders in the center region of the map.  You can convince 
them not to attack if you have 6 leadership.  Killing them 
does result in a living knife, a nice item for a shaper.  To the NE 
you'll find a group of ghosts guarding some good equipment (steel 
sword, shield, breast plate).  Kill them and take their stuff.  
Finally, this is the entrance to the warren of the three, an object of 
one quest.

Warren of the three
Q: none
S: Quick action, Create Thahd, Terror 
O: none 
$: none
D: N to Bandit Marsh
  When you initially enter, you'll see a bunch of mines blocking your 
entrance.  Head west, and you'll open a door.  Head south and you'll be 
attacked by some mad serviles.  Kill them, and continue to head south 
(SW corner).  You'll find Eko blade, kill him and he drops a stability 
belt.  Head to the SW, and you'll find Zyan's package.  Head east from 
here and you'll get a quick action canister, search the boxes for a 
key.  Head north from there, and use a disposable thahd to destroy the 
mines, and you'll find a nice batch of riches.  From there, head to the 
SE section of the map.  Again, more hostile serviles are determined to 
stop you.  Quorn (who drops a reflecting shield) is the leader of this 
section.  There's a book here that teaches terror if you have enough 
mental magic skill.  On the altar is another key.  Head to the center 
of the map, then use the keys to enter the final area.  Again, more 
serviles block you, including several which can cast spells.  Kill 
them, and eventually you'll take out Vizzedra, who drops a transference 
robe.  Nearby you'll also find a canister of create thahd, and some 
info on what was going on.  Also, be sure to take the focus orb from 
the pedestal, it's an ingredient for a nice item later on.

Experimental Chambers
Q: Slay Tuldaric
S: Essence orbs, Strength, Endurance 
O: none
$: none
D: E to Complex core, S to Power station
  This is where the Awakened have got themselves into a bit of trouble.  
Search around, and you'll find the infernal specter who wants you to 
free him by slaying Tuldaric.  If you're not going to join the 
Awakened, then you might as well at some point in the game.  This gets 
you a point of strength and of Endurance.  You'll also find a few 
grounded items (robe, boots), and a guardian cloak to the NW (very 
useful for guardians and agents).  A few tough rogues guard this stuff 
(including a battle gamma and some strange vlish).

Complex Core
Q: none
S: Firebolt 
O: Tuldaric
$: none 
D: W to experimental chambers, S to Magus complex.
  First off, there's a coated cloak immediately to your east (assuming 
you entered from the south).  This area is home to much of the awakened 
power, and is the object of every faction around.  Tuldaric manages the 
shaping platform, and will not help you unless you're a member of the 
awakened.  His chambers to the SE contain two golem guards, in addition 
to a crystalline plate, a canister of firebolt, a bonding knife, and an 
amber pass.  You can use the amber pass to get into the shaping 
platform area and get a mandrake tincture.  Xander to the NW will join 
you if you're a member of the Awakened, are at least level 14, and have 
at least 5 leadership (from Seletine).  Look in the Awakened section of 
this FAQ for more info on alterations.

Ellhrah's tomb
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: S to Western Marshes, N to Pit of the Bound
  This is a relatively annoying area, with few overall rewards.  The 
servile Connavar wants to accompany you through the tomb, you can 
either let him (he is somewhat helpful), or tell him to hold still.  Be 
forewarned that he will go rogue if you let him help you all the way.  
There are numerous ghosts spread out through this level.  It's a fairly 
easy level, a loop of sorts.  There are a healing and essence pools to 
the central south of the map.  A bunch of mines halt your progress 
north, but there's a spore box just to the east of them (you need to go 
back south and around).  Use it to stop the mines.  More ghosts impede 
your progress, and when you finally make it to the end of the level, an 
inferno worm awaits you.  It can be somewhat tough, so take care.  Once 
dead, you can get to the pit of the bound, a very tough area with nice 
rewards.

Clawbug Canyon
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: N to Freegate, W to Kss-Urg's valley
  There's a number of clawbugs that roam this valley.  By this time 
they shouldn't be too difficult.  The main points that may provide some 
difficulty are to the NW where a mommy clawbug doesn't like you 
approaching its nest, and to the east, where the main nest of clawbugs 
resides.  The stinging clawbugs are quite tough in groups, and are lead 
by the queen clawbug.  Killing her gets you a clawbug charm, but isn't 
easy.  The best approach is to swarm her, and maybe to cast major daze.  
Finally, there's a door to the southeast.  If you're doing the Taker's 
quest, you'll find the augmented drayk you've been looking for in here.  
You need to persuade him to go home.  Seletine adds: The clawbugs here 
(except for the mommy clawbug and the ones in the nest to the east) 
will not attack you if you are a Barzite.  However, the likelihood of 
this happening is slim unless you've gone through Taker lands first.
 
Kss-Urg's valley
Q: none
S: create artila 
O: none
$: none
D: E to Clawbug Canyon, N to Experimental Canyon, W to Thahd Dumping 
Ground
  Cryoas patrol this region.  In order to clear this level, you have to 
go speak with Kss-Urg, a drayk.  He will give you safe passage for 1000 
gold (!), or if you bluff your way out of it.  Bluffing is by far 
better, naturally.  The sources of the cryoas are two spawners nearby 
the drayk.  Kill them, and pull the nearby levers.  One opens up a room 
with a create artila canister.  Other than that, nothing else really 
stands out about this level.

Experimental Canyon
Q: none
S: Unlock 
O: none
$: none
D: S to Kss-Urg's Valley, E to Freegate, N to Upper research hall
  This area is best for those with high mechanics scores.  Numerous 
annoying acid sprayers abound, and are bent on spraying you and your 
party with acid.  I would suggest wearing any mechanics-buffing item 
you have (like infiltrator items), and disarming them as best you can.  
To the NE you'll find a canister of unlock, and to the SE are a 
grounded robe and iron breastplate.  I would suggest avoiding the exit 
to the south, it's quite annoying and not very useful.

Upper Research Hall
Q: none
S: Create Vlish, Kill, Elissia (trainer) 
O: none
$: none
D: W to Gheth Gates, S to Experimental Canyon
  Another annoying area, but with much better rewards this time.  This 
area is somewhat difficult to give a good walkthrough to, as the 
numerous spore boxes really confuse things a bit.  I would suggest 
heading immediately north, pulling all spore boxes you find along the 
way.  This should disable all of the mines you come across.  Make it up 
to the halls and you'll find Elissia, a shaper who is a loyalist (a 
relative rarity).  If you have joined Zakary, you can purchase Create 
Drayk from her, as well as the first six healing spells, for cheap 
(FROM ALEX).  She talks about evil in the mountains, and mentions that 
she's holding a canister (of create vlish, located in her bed 
chambers).  Be sure to pull both spore boxes here, as they'll help 
immensely.  To the NE you'll find a canister of Kill, you may not want 
to use it yet, as you can learn this spell from trainers elsewhere.  
South of the main research halls is a box with a puresteel ring in it, 
valuable for some quests.  Loop around to the SW, again pulling all 
sporeboxes, and eventually you should be able to go to the NW (as well 
as exit).  Here you'll find two submission turrets and a reaper turret; 
they are guarding a box with a quicksilver chain in it.  Aside from 
that (and the numerous sets of shaper equipment present here), that's 
about all you need.

Gheth Gates
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: E to Upper research halls, S to Gheth, N to Clockwork Maze, W to 
Guarded Grove
  At last, a bit of civilization!  There are a number of nest around 
here, and Seletine informs me there lives a ghaahk nearby.  Each Glaahk 
has a 25% chance of appearing, and the one nearest the golem will drop
a Glaahk shield when slain.  There's a golem that roams around the 
north, it'll stop and bother you, if you lie to it you get a bunch 
of experience (much more than destroying it).  Alternatively you can
turn it off with a living tool, with the same result.  Pripp is a 
loyal agent in the center of the map.  She tells you about the 
loyalist encampment to the west.  Head south to Gheth 
when done with this area.

Gheth
Q: Retrieve things for Finchy, Get escaped serviles
S: none 
O: Dawn, Commander Brent
$: Gheth smithy-3700, Gheth merchant-1800, Gheth merchant-2100
D: N to Gheth Gates, W to Guarded Grove, S to Thahd Dumping Grounds
  This is a satellite village to Rising (like Triola to Medab).  It's 
filled with mostly friendly people, and gives you your first taste of 
the Barzites.  There are several rich merchants willing to buy your 
stuff, if you've started to run out of sellers elsewhere.  There are 
two notable quests here, the first is to retrieve things for Finchy, a 
servile in the inn (getting past the odd thahds is somewhat difficult, 
but doing so gets you some gems), and the other is to retrieve a 
servile for Dawn.  The servile is hiding with Learned Darian.  
Completion of this quest only gets you experience.  Commander Brent is 
in the SE, he isn't so helpful.  However, you can approach the main 
hall from the back door (to the far east northeast), then head up north 
where you'll find a book describing some of what the Barzites are 
planning.  

Guarded Grove
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: E to Gheth Gates, S to Rising Bridge, N to Old Rising Bridge
  The single most important thing for you to do here is to check out 
the center of the map.  Here you'll find the body of Shanti.  Next 
you'll have to avenge her.  To the SE you'll find a shielding knife, 
and to the SW a supply station.  The area is mainly patrolled by rogues 
consisting of a vlish, two stinging clawbugs and two plated clawbugs.  
They can be tough.  Mezrich is a servile to the NW who will help you if 
you're awakened and give you a quest, and is also the object of a 
Barzite quest.  Seletine adds: The vlish and clawbugs here will not 
attack you if you are a Barzite.  However, the likelihood of this 
happening is slim unless you've gone through Taker lands first.

Rising Bridge
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: W to Darian's Sanctuary, N to Guarded Groves, S to South Rising Road
  This area has a number of battle alphas that roam about.  Your main 
goal is to cross the bridge, which clears the map.  If you want, you 
can go speak with Learned Darian, who asks you to kill the mad beta to 
the SW.  The mad beta should be no more difficult than the experimental 
battle gamma in Sharon's grove (in fact, it should be much easier).  
There are healing and essence pools to the east, and all the alphas 
drop decent items.

Darian's Sanctuary
Q: Kill Battle Beta
S: none 
O: Learned Darian
$: Leaned Darian-2320
D: E to Rising Bridge
  This is the location of a very helpful servile.  Darian will help you 
immensely in your travels.  First off, she gives you a quest to kill 
the battle beta.  Doing so gets you a shining shield, which gives +2 to 
leadership (especially useful in the clockwork maze).  She will then 
sell you items, and has a fair bit of gold.  By far the most important 
thing she can do for you is make some very potent armor.  To do so, she 
needs a flawless glaahk scale, some demon's claws, and a cured battle 
gamma skin.  Finally, she can also aid you in joining any sect you 
want.  You can only do this once, however.  There's also a coated cloak 
in her chambers.  Finally, the servile named Friz will return to Gheth 
if you ask him, unless you're too loyal to the shapers (from 
2Cautious).  However, you have to have received this quest from Dawn, 
and need at least 4 leadership (from Seletine)

Clockwork Maze
Q: none
S: Mechanics 
O: none
$: none
D: S to Gheth Gates
  This is THE area to be to get your mechanics skill increased.  I 
would not recommend attempting this level unless you have 10 leadership 
(fortunately, both the infiltrator's cloak and shining shield can 
help).  I would also recommend about 9 mechanics.  It will save you a 
lot of heartache.  Alternatively, you could take a bunch of living 
tools with you, but you may want to save them instead.  The reason you 
need these is because of the golems that roam this level.  They are 
quite tough to beat right now (and anyways, you can always come back 
later and kill them if that's your desire), and either disabling them 
or lying to them is the best way to get out of a fight.  Doing both 
once gets you a fair bit of experience.  This level is also covered 
with iron bars, so you'll quickly find yourself weighed down.  Luckily 
there's only one enemy in this level, and you get a fair bit of advance 
warning before you need to fight it, so you can drop the items before 
so as to get unencumbered.  To the west of this level you'll find a 
puresteel ring and an orange machine with a bunch of emeralds in it.  
To the north is a gray machine with some living tools.  Also, be sure 
to turn on all of the golems you come across.  They'll help you in your 
fight against the end enemy.  When you've looted the area a fair bit 
and are ready to explore, check the NE.  You'll find a drakon golem.  
If you've recruited the golems, this guy is a lot easier.  When he's 
really hurt, you get an option to use a living tool on it.  Do so.  
You'll get a whopping amount of XP for doing this.  If you kill him 
normally you don't get the bunch of experience.  Either way he drops an 
infiltrator charm, which adds 1 to both leadership and mechanics.  
You'll now have access to the shaper's chambers.  Inside you'll find an 
incomplete golem, as well as a jar of demon bile, and a rogue Drayk 
tendon (an ingredient for Sharon's ring, which adds +3 to leadership, 
luck, and mechanics, and +2 to dexterity).  Enter the west room and 
you'll find the shaper, in addition to a book that teaches you a point 
of mechanics and some tinker gloves (+2 to mechanics when worn).  
Combined (with Sharon's ring now designable), you'll get +7 to 
mechanics.  Wow.  You probably won't need any more than this except to 
open doors.  

Old Rising Bridge
Q: none
S: Dominate 
O: none
$: none
D: W to Loyalist Encampment, E to Guarded Groves
  Head to the south and you'll find a building.  Enter it and you can 
get a canister with a point in dominate.  Head back north to the 
bridge.  The servile here will lower the bridge if your leadership is 
high enough or if you're a member of the Barzites.  Else, you may have 
to use mechanics on the control panel.  Head to the NW and you'll be 
attacked by a number of battle alphas.  They can be pretty tough, and 
their leader (who is faster than all the rest) drops a girdle of 
endurance.  A shaped shield can be found in their strewn supplies.  
There is also an abandoned vlish in the room east of their junk piles.  
It will join with adequate magic shaping skill (from Seletine).  Head 
west to the loyalist encampment.

Loyalist Encampment
Q: Spying in Gheth
S: Quick action, Kima (trainer) 
O: none
$: none
D: E to Old Rising Bridge, W to Mountain Base, S to Trapped Forest
  This is a loyalist encampment full of shapers loyal to the council.  
The guardian, Bunk, will speak with you and give you a quest to figure 
out what Gheth is doing (sneaking into their complex will let you 
know).  Tell them to get a point in quick action after harassing the 
guardian.  Kima, the agent, will probably be your best friend if you're 
unaligned.  She sells spells and creations cheap, she will teach up to 
the sixth level spell in all classes and the second and third level 
creations (excluding drayks) in all classes.  Macnulty the shaper will 
also talk with you and give you some advice.  Head west to fight some 
creatures in vats.  One of them is a glaahk which drops a perfect 
glaahk scale, an important ingredient in two recipes.  There is also a 
dead body to the NW which has a pair of stability boots, a very nice 
set of items for all classes.  Finally, there's a supply depot to the 
south.  Note that if you come here if you've joined either the Takers 
or Barzites, the Loyalists will be hostile and will attempt to kill 
you.  Just a warning from Seletine.

Thahd Dumping Ground
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: N to Gheth, E to Kss-Urg's Valley
  You're probably here for Finchy's quest.  Be warned, there are three 
dangerous types of thahds here.  The first, the purple thahd, dazes you 
when you destroy it or when it attacks you.  They aren't too tough for 
smart creations.  The green thahds poison you when they explode/die.  
The blue thahds release painful energy at their deaths.  Try to kill 
the thahds from a distance if you're able.  Once you kill enough of 
them, the area clears.  To the NE you'll find some nests with decent 
items.  To the SW you'll find Finchy's home and will retrieve his 
submission baton from under his bed.  The building to the north also 
has a farsight chitin inside.  If you're a Barzite, the thahds here 
will not be hostile (except for those guarding the nests- from 
Seletine).

South Rising Road
Q: Get Mandrake Tincture
S: Mass Energize 
O: Manny
$: Manny-1900
D: E to Rising Bridge, W to Breeding Pits
  A little feud is taking place here.  Manny, the servile alchemist to 
the NW, had his mandrake tincture stolen by Bernard, the shaper to the 
SE.  In between are numerous glaahks.  Talk with Manny to get his quest.  
He won't sell to you until you complete it for him (and he gives you 
some potions as a reward).  Any mandrake tincture found throughout the 
game will do (FROM SELETINE).  The ur-glaahk east of Manny is guarding 
a chilling band, but can be tough.  Go to the SE and speak with 
Bernard.  You'll have to intimidate him to get the tincture back (which 
has a leadership requirement).  Bernard will also make you a shaped 
breastplate if you get him 10 mined crystals, demon bile, and a steel 
breastplate.  It's worth doing, as the shaped breastplate sells for 
much more than those items.  Once you've done it, explore Bernard's 
chambers.  You'll find an empathy blade (pretty crummy), and a canister 
of mass energize.  Using it makes Bernard and all his pets angry, but 
that's not really much of a problem.  Use it if you want, the threat 
posed by this punk is minimal.

Mountain Base
Q: none
S: Quick Action, Create Ornk, Heal, Krogst- Trainer 
O: none
$: none
D: E to Loyalist Encampment, S to Rising North Gate, W to Creature 
Holding, N to Mountain Pass
  This area is fairly straightforward.  I would mainly go this way to 
get to Rising the easy way.  Krogst is a "guardian" who is patrolling 
the area.  He is the object of Zoka's hurt Krogst quest, and can be 
quite tough.  If you're a Barzite, you may not want to fight him 
immediately, as he is willing to train you in quick action for a cheap 
price.  If you head to the west, you'll find a drayk.  It's probably 
hostile.  North of it is a room with a canister of heal, and north of 
that is a canister of create ornk (mainly as a joke).  The pylons to 
the east are extremely difficult.  The best way to deal with them is to 
turn them off.  In order to do so, you'll have to move to the NE, and 
kill the plants.  Enter the room here and you'll probably attack the 
serviles (unless you haven't used many canisters, in which case you can 
lie to get past them).  Trigger the spore box and the pylons turn off.  
If you're a member of the Barzites then the pylons will be 
automatically turned off, and the serviles won't attack you even if 
you've used several canisters (from Seletine).

Trapped Forest
Q: none
S: Strong Daze 
O: none
$: none
D: W to Rising North Gate, N to Loyalist Encampment
  This is your other option if you want to get to Rising North Gate.  
You should have a number of points in mechanics if you want to attempt 
this region.  Acid sprayers, mines, and exploding crystals are some of 
the dangers you'll have to face in this area.  First off, you should 
know that there are 3 inferno worms to the NW.  They can really kick 
your butt if you're not careful.  They're guarding an oozing belt, 
which may be worth your time (at least for the gold it's worth).  To 
the SW is a small passage which gets you a rod of succor if you get 
through it.  Most important is the building to the SE.  Here you'll 
find a canister of strong daze, a puresteel ring, an infiltrator 
shield, and a patch of stones (FROM SELETINE: Selithra in Rising will 
take these from you if you're a Barzite).  

Rising North Gate
Q: Hurt Krogst, Speak with Tiree
S: Parry, Searer 
O: Zoka
$: Learned Versa- 730, Lem- 615
D: N to Mountain Base, S to Rising, W to Radiant College, E to Trapped 
Forest
  This is the entrance to Rising.  There's actually a fair bit to do 
here, including a few merchants and quests.  There is also a canister 
of Parry to the west, hidden in a storeroom.  Numerous other goodies 
are spread throughout the level.  To the NW is Rior, a Taker who will 
give you a message.  Also to the NE is a storeroom with a puresteel 
ring inside.  Learned Versa, the servile alchemist, tells you that he 
can make potent healing concoctions if you bring him swamp spores, 
healing pods or spores, and an amphora of wine.  Any amphora will do, 
and this will get you a restoration pod, extremely potent healing.  If 
you are Awakened, Learned Versa is much more friendly.  Zoka is a 
drunk, po'ed servile in the inn who will insinuate that should 
something bad happen to Krogst, then he'd be willing to help out the 
perpetrator.  This quest is worth doing, and gets you a skein of wisdom 
(intelligence +1 charm).  Degena, the innkeeper, asks for your help to 
speak with Tiree, who is in jail in Rising.  Doing so will get her to 
open a room in the inn with a canister of searer.

Rising
Q: Kill Rogue Battle Alphas, Bring Letter, Get canisters
S: Parry, Quick Action, Group Heal, Steel skin, Acid Shower, Terror, 
BARZITES: Strength, Intelligence, Dexterity, Endurance, Spellcraft x2, 
melee weapons x2, Create Drayk
O: Trace, Selithra, Barzahl, Corin
$: Rising Tools- 2870, Rising Clothes- 215, Blacksmith- 3450
D: N to Rising N Gate, S to Breeding Pits
  Ah, at last, one of the main areas in the game.  Here you will find 
Barzahl, thus completing one of those long-kept quests.  But first, 
check to the NE to find a pair of green boots (provide a +3 bonus to 
luck).  Search all of the storerooms for some valuable goodies, all of 
which can be sold for some quick cash.  You'll find the jail with Tiree 
to the SE, who will tell you to go back and speak with his wife.  To 
the SW you'll find Trace, a pseudo-shaper, who will give you a quest to 
kill some rogue battle alphas (which you also did for Learned Darian, I 
believe).  Doing so gets you a pair of puresteel boots (great for 
armor, but heavy), and the option to take another quest, to get a 
letter from Medab.  You may have obtained it already, in which case, go 
back and give it to him for a wand of death.  Troknan, a pseudo-
guardian, will become hostile if you're not careful with talking with 
him (or deliberately want to get into a fight).  If you encourage him 
to fight, then you won't get into any trouble for killing him.  
However, if you have any creations, they may go rogue in the process.  
This happens because of the strange brass rods stuck up around town.  
Corin is a shaper to the SW who will talk to you about canisters.  He 
will let you use one whenever you bring him 20 mined crystals and a 
puresteel ring.  Your other option is to just break in and steal them 
as you will.  You won't be finding any other use for the puresteel 
rings, so it's not a bad thing to do it the lawful route (although you 
can sell the mined crystals for some minimal cash).  The first set gets 
you a canister with a point in group heal, followed by one point of 
steel skin, a point in acid shower, and a point in terror.  Also down 
this hall is a door that's considerably easier to open that will give 
you points in both quick action and parry.  Head north from this region 
to find Shingle.  There's a machine here that's giving off those vibes 
that allows for the control of creations.  If you want, you can 
sabotage it.  In order to do so, you'll have to go a bit to the east 
and push a nub (make sure Shingle isn't around to see you).  Once this 
is done, turn off the machine (again, make sure Shingle doesn't see 
you).  This will make a shaper's life much easier.  When you're ready, 
head to see Barzahl.  He will talk with you about GREAT THINGS.   He's 
somewhat rude, as he's used a lot of canisters.  Stanis, his right-hand 
man, killed your teacher.  You owe him a debt of pain.  Tell both 
Barzahl and Stanis such, and you'll be able to kill Stanis in the 
arena.  Doing so gets you a steel breast plate and guardian cloak.  
Talk to Barzahl some more for information.  You can give him the Medab 
notes for 1000 gold.  If you want to join the Barzites, this is the man 
to speak to.  If you decide to kill Barzahl, you'll find a shaper robe 
and an empathy blade, but will anger the entire town and Gheth as well.  
You will find help in the Drayks if you messed with Shingle's machine.  
Completion of two Barzite quests open up the doors to the west, 
allowing access to a number of canisters (FROM WAYLANDER).  From 
Seletine- just south of the area where the Barzite-only canisters are
located is another canister of Create Drayk.
  BARZITES: After joining Barzahl, you'll be given a magic badge.  This 
badge opens up the doors to the west.  You can immediately claim a 
reaper baton and a shaped blade, in addition to a canister of 
intelligence and of endurance.  Not too shabby.  In addition, Selithra 
will now give you a quest.

Breeding Pits
Q: none
S: Parry, Dominate 
O: none
$: none
D: N to Rising, W to Road to Phariton, E to South Rising Road
  This area should not be hostile, unless you're enemies with the 
Barzites.  Thot-tha is a gazer in charge of this area, and speaks with 
you a bit.  He can be found to the NW.  There's not too much of 
interest here (other than numerous goodies hidden throughout the 
storage facilities), other than two canisters to the west which contain 
parry and dominate.  This is also the way you should go if you want to 
speak with Phariton.  Approach this place with caution if you haven't 
been to Rising yet- the serviles will be hostile, although the Gazer 
will not (from Seletine)

Radiant College
Q: Find Mockli's book, Test Rotghroth, Fix College Power
S: Create Battle Alpha, Protection, Endurance, Acid Shower, Fenen 
(trainer) 
O: Fenen
$: Finn's Potions- 2456, Lacitus- 1728
D: E to Rising North Gates
  This is a rather fruitful area and also the subject of many quests.  
As you enter, Meena stops you (FROM SELETINE: Unless you've joined the 
Barzites).  You can either lie to get in, or you can go to Barzahl and 
ask for permission. She will also give you a fair bit of information as 
to the layout of this place.  Basically, avoid the NW unless you've 
joined Barzahl.  To the SE you'll find a few nice items, including a 
steel breastplate, shaped gauntlets, and a reaper baton.  West of the 
living quarters you'll find Mockli, a paranoid agent who has lost a 
book.  It can be found to the NE, near some of the power crystals.  
Finding it gets you access to a room with the info Sharon is looking 
for as well as a book that teaches you how to create battle alphas.  
You'll also find Swofford's book Runecasting nearby.  Further west 
you'll find Lark, in addition to several microscopes.  Lark wants you 
to fix the college power.  The offending control panel can be found to 
the north, in the harmful energy fields.  Doing so gets you access to a 
room with canisters of endurance and acid shower, very nice.  North of 
Lark is Fenen, a shaper who will train you in several spells and 
creations (including create Drayk, something the loyalists won't teach 
you if you're unaligned, although Phariton teaches it to you for less).  
He also wants you to test out a Rotghroth, a fierce variant of the 
battle alpha.  Killing it gets you access to a canister of protection.  
If you're here to sabotage this place, you have three options.  First 
is to kill the leaders of the college.  The two leaders are Fenen (who, 
on death, drops a reflecting shield and a pair of specter boots), and 
Burham, located to the NW and guarded by golems, who on death drops a 
shaper's belt and a pair of quicksilver boots.  You'll also find a 
puresteel ring.  Your other alternatives are to sabotage the place by 
burning up the acid pool, and to steal the research (From ThirdParty).
  BARZITES: Burham will teach you a number of creation skills, 
including the top three, after you've retrieved the Awakened knowledge 
and are willing to be modified.  Lacitus wants a conduit shard and will 
give you the very nice essence charm in exchange.  You should still 
have one conduit shard left over if you want to change sects later.

Road to Phariton
Q: none
S: Spellcraft 
O: none
$: none
D: W to Phariton's Hall, E to Breeding Pits
  This area can give you a lot of heartache if you don't take your 
time.  I found the easiest way to complete this area is to enter combat 
mode, cast speed, then head to the SE section of the map.   Use the 
control panel and all of the spirals turn off.  Repeat for the NW 
section.  In both cases, a lever is located behind the room which will 
open the door to the control panel.  You can then force-attack the 
spirals and claim their gems as your own.  This is one of those cases 
where it's really advantageous to have some glaahks fighting with you.  
To the south you'll find a canister of spellcraft, and in the center 
room you'll find a vat chitin and leaded shield.  Make you way to 
Phariton.

Phariton's Hall
Q: Retrieve ingredients
S: Melee Weapons, Spellcraft, Endurance, Intelligence, Charisma 
O: none
$: none
D: E to Road to Phariton
  Here is the mad shaper, Phariton.  As you enter you are accosted by 
some nasty serviles (very explosive).  Head to the north and they'll go 
hostile, unless they don't see you (FROM SELETINE).  Kill them from a 
distance.  Once you enter the main hall, you'll be presented with three 
options.  The first option is to go down a hall with a few pillars and 
a cryodrayk.  This is quite easy and may not be a bad choice.  The 
second option is to disarm a bunch of mines (which explode to reveal 
tough monsters), and the third is to fight a bunch of plants.  Along 
the way you may run into Alpha Hryk, a battle alpha.  He wants you to 
release him and will submit if you have sufficient leadership.  Be 
warned, however, that if you do Phariton will try to kill you as soon 
as he sees him.  Don't do this unless you've gotten all you want out of 
Phariton.  Eventually you'll make it to the SW.  There's a lever hidden 
behind a pillar.  Pull it and you'll get access to four canisters (all 
listed above, without Charisma).  This is a hefty bonus.  Head to the 
east towards Phariton, wading through some more nasty bushes, and 
you'll find Phariton.  Phariton will help you if you're not aligned 
with any sect.  He will teach you Create Drayk, something the loyalist 
agent won't do.  In order to get him to do this you'll need a puresteel 
ring (one is hidden in his eastern rooms), a madness gem (common 
throughout), a pen and ink set (again, common), 10 mined crystals 
(again, common), and a cauldron (one can be found near the entrance of 
this level).  Offering to do this gains you easier access to his 
chambers.  Head east from Phariton and you'll find some purified 
essence (the second jar), a conduit shard (vital for three of the 
sect's quests), some mandrake tincture and saltweed.  You'll also find 
a canister of charisma and a charming falchion.  If you ever kill 
Phariton, you'll find a Shaper's boon ring, and a shaped blade.  You 
can do this quite easily by waiting for him slowly and messing with his 
machines.

Creation Holding
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: E to Mountain Base
  A drakon immediately confronts you.  If you are a Barzite you 
shouldn't have any problems, else you'll need to lie to get out of this 
confrontation.  To the NW is "Storage in Quantity," where cryoas, 
thahds, and searing artila attack as you proceed through the level.  At 
the end you'll find holding cell C key.  To the NE you'll find a toxic 
area and two oozebeast guards, as well as some vat boots and chitin.  
At the end of this area you'll find a stasis shield.  To the SW (which 
is opened with holding cell C key), you'll find several evil bushes and 
the holding B key.  In addition, you'll get a shielding band, charmed 
plate, and vat chitin.  Finally, make your way to the SE, the 
exceptional creature holding area.  To the west are four levers.  Two 
are pulled relatively easily, and the other two need a key found in the 
first cell, and yield in order from W to E: A reaper spinecore, rats 
(which drop swamp boots and a ratskin shawl, in my game), a battle 
gamma, and an Ur-Glaahk, which drops a perfect glaahk scale.  By this 
time you should have all of the ingredients for Lindian's excellent 
shield.

Northern Pass
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: W to Infected Crossroads, S to Barrier of the Winds, N to Dead Pass, 
E to Western Marsh
  This is the easiest way to get into Taker lands.  If you have a 
feather token (which can be obtained either from Ty's quest, joining 
the Awakened, or searching the area to the south), you'll have no 
problem whatsoever.  If not, you can still head immediately to the 
north, disarming all the mines as you go along.  If you go the pass 
route, you'll have to show off your pass to some of the Takers blocking 
you, but will otherwise have no problems.  To the NE you'll find a body 
with an infiltrator cloak on it.  

Infected Crossroads
Q: none
S: Strength 
O: none
$: none
D: S to Hermit Crossroads, W to Zhass-Uss Outskirts, E to Northern Pass
  If you have entered this way from the east, immediately to your north 
you'll find a dying servile who gives you a vague warning.  Head to 
your SE, and fight the creations that are spawned from a nearby 
spawner.  Along the way you'll find a dead body with a shaped fiber 
cloak, in addition to a copper key.  You'll also find a body near the 
center of the map with a vat chitin and boots, and a wand of inferno.  
Open the door with your copper key and you'll find another section of 
the map.  To the north is an herb farm with several sets of swamp boots 
and some saltweed.  Finally, to the NW is the Gazer who has been 
causing havoc in this region.  It's quite hostile, but will talk 
briefly.  Kill it and its minions (mass daze and some creations work 
wonders).  You'll find a canister of strength and an iron key.  The 
iron key opens the gate to the west, allowing you 
to get out of there.  From Seletine- nearby the gate is a body 
with a sparkling wand.

Hermit Crossroads
Q: none
S: Krayoss, Learned Thani (trainers) 
O: none
$: none
D: E to Infected Crossroads, N to Zhass-Uss Outskirts, W to Infested 
Farmlands, S to Outer Gazak-Uss
  This area is not too tough.  Near the center of the map are a bunch 
of drayks and cryodrayks.  Generally one comes and bothers you to see 
if you have a feather token.  It's a good idea to have one if you can 
in these regions to avoid fights.  There are also two trainers here, 
Krayoss, the drakon, lives to the SE.  You should immediately attempt 
to talk with the drakon as soon as you see it so as to calm it down and 
prevent it from attacking.  Krayoss will train you in magical skills 
(battle- spellcraft), very useful for many classes.  Learned Thani, to 
the SW will train you in combat skills (just like Brodus Blade), and 
will also tell you what you must do to get into Gazak-Uss.  Gazak-Uss 
is the most difficult area in the game, but well worth the effort when 
you're ready.  Essentially he tells you to look at both pillars to the 
south.  Do so and go south- you'll be attacked by a rotghroth.  
Finally, if you head to the NE and fight all of the glaahks, eventually 
you'll reach a body with the spectral rapier on it.  It's quite a nice 
item.

Zhass-Uss Outskirts
Q: Get wand of death
S: Create Drayk 
O: Baer
$: Bayor- 1470
D: W to Zhass-Uss, E to Infected Crossroads, N to Shath's Wastes, S to 
Hermit Crossroads
  Almost to Zhass-Uss.  This area is hostile if you are a Barzite or 
have left the Takers.  Here you'll find a few quests and another item 
maker.  Symon, a human, will make wands for you if you bring 10 
crystals, a stick, and some special ingredient.  It's you're choice 
whether or not you want to do this- you may find it more profitable to 
sell these items instead.  Bayor gives you a quest to get a wand of 
death (doing so gets you a girdle of leadership), and will trade with 
you.  A hostile servile (Ilvner) patrols the west, threatening him 
results in a nice fight.  To the south you'll find Aodare, a true 
shaper.  He is engaged in a contest of wills with Syros.  Not much you 
can do with him, but he will leave if you tell him you've slain Syros.  
You can kill him if you're a Taker, and he'll say he'll tattle on you 
if you've joined a sect but you're not a member of the Loyalists.  To 
the SE you'll find an incubation chamber.  If you go too far south, 
you'll be attacked by a drakon and a rotghroth.  Killing them gives you 
access to a canister of create drayk.  Finally to the NE you'll find a 
hostile servile cult.  Killing them gets you a shining shield and an 
impervious band from the cult leader's body.  A rod of succor is hidden 
in a dresser.

Zhass-Uss
Q: Spinecore Problem, Kill Melancon Eye
S: Quick Action, Major heal, Essence Armor, Create Gazer, Create 
Rotghroth 
O: Syros, Issss-Ta
$: Teresa- 1430, Bach- 2450, Scavenger's Alley- 911
D: E to Zhass-Uss Outskirts, N to Shade Patrol, W to Taker Toll Road, S 
to Infested Farmlands
  All right, the final major city.  Again this area is hostile if you
are a Barzite or have left the Takers.  Here you'll find a number of 
merchants and the leader of the Takers, Syros.  This city is not very 
welcoming, and many drayks will attack you if you wander into their 
homes (with no penalty for slaying them, it may not be a bad idea to 
pick a few fights).  To the NE you'll find Igner who gives you the 
Spinecore Problem quest.  Complete this quest and Igner will tell you 
to find Issss-Ta, who first greated you as you entered.  This drayk 
wanders around, so it may be tough to find.  The drayk gives you a 
corrupting baton as a reward.  Also you'll find a canister of quick 
action and a reaper baton.  Outside you'll find some wiry moss.  You'll 
find Teresa to the NW, who will help you if you're Awakened.  Far to 
the SW you'll find a canister of Major Heal in a locked building (a 7th 
level spell).  To the NW are several locked storage sheds- rob them at 
your leisure.  Finally, to the SE you'll find the Taker headquarters.  
Inside is Dhorass, a Drayk who gives you the Kill Melancon Eye quest.  
Killing Melancon will get you ~500 coins and a shaped sword.  You'll 
also find Toivo (who doesn't help non-takers), and Syros.  Syros will 
fill you in on the history of the Takers and is the person you'll want 
to speak with if you want to join them.  You can give Syros your 
information on Medab for a deflection band as well.  In the room behind 
him you can find a charm of mental focus, Tek's spectral dirk, some 
puresteel gauntlets, a quicksilver chain, and canisters of essence 
armor, create gazer, and create rotghroth.  Doing this without having 
the key makes Syros and the whole town quite angry with you.

Pit of the Bound 
Q: none
S: Kill 
O: none
$: none
D: S to Ellhrah's Tomb
  This level is quite tricky, and may be dangerous.  I would suggest 
not attempting it unless you're at least level 20, and probably closer 
to 30.  You'll find a number of shades to the east of your entrance, 
they are not hostile unless you attack the bound one.  You can go ahead 
and attack them without too much problems, if so desired.  You'll also 
find a number of golems waiting for you- kill them at your leisure.  In 
addition, near the center of the map (with the oozebeast) is a jar of 
demon's bile.  An inferno worm guards the east path, the path you want 
to take.  The NW area should be avoided.  In the NE you'll find several 
ghosts who give you info when killed, Asher, a confused human who may 
attack you and drops a fibrous breastplate, and a bone key.  Eventually 
you'll find the bound one.  Kill his guards first (the battle betas 
shouldn't be too tough- they attack you one at a time), then speak with 
him.  Try lying first to get some experience, then attack him to get 
some more.  Killing him gets you a demon's claw and free access to his 
northern treasure room.  You'll find a canister of kill within, as well 
as a conduit shard and a singing rapier.   

Western Pass
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: W to Icy Breeding Pit, N to Taker Toll Road, E to Pit of the 
Misfits, S to Mountain Base
  This is a somewhat difficult area.  You'll need a decent mechanics 
skill to turn off all of the trapped crystals, but it's definitely 
worth your time.  After disarming 3 platforms, you'll come across some 
pylons.  Your other alternative to head immediately east after entering 
from the south and fighting the rotghroths.  Note that if you have the 
fang token (there's one just to the west), the pylons won't attack you.  
The rotghroths are very powerful and will probably kill you and your 
party unless you take them on slowly.  The reward for this is a shaped 
fiber cloak and a wand of death, both hidden among other decent items 
stashed away by the rotghroths.

Icy Breeding Pit
Q: none
S: Aura of Flames 
O: none
$: none
D: E to Western Pass, N to Infested Pass
  This area is filled with cryoas and cryodrayks.  If you are a Taker, 
the characters will not be hostile, because you will have the carved 
fang token (CONFIRMED BY SELETINE).  If you're not a Taker, then you'll 
be swarmed by the cryoas and later by the cryodrayks.  I found mass 
daze to be indispensable here.  There is one canister here to the south 
(Aura of Flames), which the main leader of this place, Isserm, will 
tell you if you're a Taker and have adequate leadership.  Otherwise, 
Isserm will probably be hostile.  She can be quite tough, and is 
located to the NW.  Killing her gets you access to her things including 
a gruesome charm and a fang token.  The gruesome charm adds two to your 
dexterity and intelligence, and subtracts two from your endurance.  It 
is probably worth keeping if you're a shaper or agent, but maybe not if 
you're a guardian.  Nonetheless, you get more skill points than you 
lose.  The fang token is the second level taker charm, after the 
feather token.  This is the only way to obtain it without joining the 
Takers.  Also in her supplies is a blood poison vial (ingredient for a 
potent item), some demon bile, and wiry moss.  There's an exit north as 
well as a shaped breastplate to the NE.  

Infested Farmland
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: N to Zhass-Uss, S to Pit of the Misfits, E to Hermit Crossroads
  This is the location of Igner's spinecore problem.  First off, there 
are some good items in the cryodrayks' houses to the NE and NW.  The 
spinecores are found to the SW and SE.  The ones to the SE are also 
guarding a puresteel shield, a shaped breastplate, and a rod of battle.  
They can be tough, and missile attacks are definitely the way to go.  
However, the ones to the SE don't need to be killed to complete Igner's 
spinecore quest, only the ones to the SW.  This can save you a bit of 
effort (FROM SELETINE). Seletine also adds that if you haven't visited
Zhass-Uss, then you will need to convince the individuals located here
to not attack you (9 leadership or a feather token).

Shath's Wastes
Q: Test Creations
S: Create Drakon 
O: none
$: Shath- 318
D: S to Zhass-Uss Outskirts, E to Dead Pass, W to Shade Patrol
  An interesting area.  If you have a fang token, you shouldn't have 
any problems from the creations present here, with a few notable 
exceptions.  To the SW you'll find a sparkling wand, and heading to the 
NW reveals some healing and essence pools.  You'll find Shath to the 
north, don't bother with him yet, but pull the nearby lever.  This 
opens the doors to the central building.  Head there, and slay the Ur-
Drakon.  Then turn off the four crystal pylons, then the control panel.  
This keeps your creations from going rogue in this area (and clears the 
level).  Now go back and talk with Shath.  Shath waxes philosophic with 
you (he's mainly a utilitarianist), and will help you if you help him.  
He requests that you test his creations and opens the door to creation 
number one, a drakon.  You can either fight or attempt to reason with 
these beasties, both give the same result.  You'll have to do this 
three times, fighting an eyebeast and a rotdhizon the other two times.  
After doing this, Shath will now sell you items (including another 
lucky charm), gives you access to a canister of create drakon, and will 
also make you a powerful belt if you bring him a demon claw, some blood 
poison, and a focus orb.  You'll find your canister to the NE, along 
with two vats containing a vlish and a rotdhizon, a potent form of a 
rotghroth.

Dead Pass
Q: Honor the ghosts
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: S to Northern Pass, W to Shath's Wastes
  This is one of those areas where haste is extremely important.  Try 
to enter from the west, and head immediately south (entering combat 
mode will make your life a lot easier as well as hasting yourself.  
Talk with the guardian ghost there, and he'll tell you that you need to 
pray at all of the pylons in order to placate the ghosts found on this 
level.  Quickly do so- there are seven total.  Two are west, one is NW, 
one is in the center, one is north, and two are SE.  Once you've done 
this, go back and talk with the guardian (fending off the ghosts as 
best as you are able in the process).  He tells you that you must fight 
him.  Kill the guardian, and all the ghosts disappear (Hunter ghosts 
remain, though).  He drops the guardian claymore, one of the best 
weapons in the game, and great even for shapers!  Head to the NW to 
find several bodies, one of which has a grounding vest, a great item 
for selling.  To the SE you'll find some shaped boots.  Three hunter 
ghosts are waiting for you here around this level, kill them at your 
leisure.  Head to the NE and open a tomb to get a Blademaster charm, 
and to be attacked by four ghosts.  At the end of the tunnel is a 
larger tomb with a particularly nasty charm, the ancient idol.  Make 
sure all of the enemies on this level are dead before taking this, you 
don't want to be fighting with this in your inventory.  This item is 
the object of Toivo's quest, if you're interested in joining the 
Takers.  

Pit of the Misfits
Q: Kill Syros
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: N to Infested Farmlands, W to Western Pass
  If you enter this level from the east, you'll have fewer problems.  
Frem will talk with you and if you lie to him, will send you to speak 
with Melancon eye (this nets you some exp as well), unless you're a 
Taker (FROM SELETINE).  Melancon eye, a gazer, tells you his sob story, 
then asks you to slay Syros.  Doing so causes all the items on this 
level to lose their "Not Yours" status.  Of course, you can accomplish 
the exact same thing by killing everything on the level.  This also 
fulfills Dhorass's quest.  There are a lot of decent minor items spread 
throughout the level, including a servile cultist leader who owns a 
leader's sword, a nice weapon.  To the SE is a rotghroth guarding a rod 
of succor, and to the NE is an unstable drakon with a number of gems.  
To the NW you'll find Heust Blade, who is a good companion (and will 
join if you're pro-servile, but not a Taker), and a few battle betas.  
Past the battle betas is a room with some nice items, including the 
extremely valuable Gloves of the Hammer.  These are the best gloves for 
agents and guardians, and shapers might find them nice as well.

Taker Toll Road
Q: none
S: Create Battle Alpha, Battle Roar 
O: Dryss
$: none
D: E to Zhass-Uss, N to Demonic Depot, W to Infested Pass, S to Western 
Pass
  If you have a fang token, most of this level is safe.  Nonetheless, 
if you wander off the roads you'll be attack by some potent drayks.  
The most important things they're guarding are a girdle of genius (+2 
int) to the SW (SW of the building, guarded by rats), some shaped 
gauntlets SW, and a canister of create battle alpha to the SE.  You can 
speak with the drakon Dryss, who will inform you of some of the things 
found on this level, and who will also sell you a canister of battle 
roar for 1000 coins (I find it best to just unlock the door with living 
tools- it's to the west of Dryss).  There's also a room to the N with a 
lever just behind the stone pillar.  It opens the nearby room, which 
has an alarm that goes off if you enter, making Dryss angry with you.  
There's a lot of gold and gems in this room, so that's not necessarily 
a bad thing.  Plus, if Dryss attacks you, you can kill him and thus 
clear the area (the only other way to clear the level is to be a 
Taker).  The north is also the way you'll want to go to get to the 
Demonic Depot.

Infested Pass
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: E to Taker Toll Road, N to Benerii-Uss Entry, S to Icy Breeding Pit
  This level is shaped like a giant Z.  You start out at the bottom of 
the Z and must make your way through turrets, cryodrayks and battle 
alphas to the tip of the Z, where you'll find a set of spawners (and be 
sure to disarm the trapped crystals).  You can get some thorns from the 
dead turrets by looping back around and taking them from their bloody 
remains.  To the N you'll find a valuable area guarded by acid sprayers 
containing a puresteel blade, a shaped breastplate, and an icy pass 
key.  If you head to the SW you'll also find Bhargeth's girdle on a 
grave.  If you have the horn token (in other words, are a full-fledged 
member of the Takers), then nothing in this level will be hostile 
towards you.

Demonic Depot
Q: none
S: Mass Madness, Create Glaahk, Mass Restore 
O: none
$: none
D: S to Taker Toll Road, N to Benerii-Uss Power
  A tough but fruitful area.  Rotghroths populate this map, and can 
make your life a living hell if you're unprepared.  Enter the west door 
after killing two of the beasties, then kill some more (these are of 
the spot-run-yell-attack variety) to the south and north.  The NE area 
has healing and essence pools, in addition to a canister of mass 
madness.  There's a lever here as well, pull it then head to the ENE.  
You'll find a room with two doors that go down when you approach.  Pull 
the lever to activate them.  A dead body is in the room to the N, it 
has a null wand, and the room to the south has a rotdhizon (which drops 
a puresteel plate.  To the SW you'll find the reason this level is 
called the demonic depot.  Two shades sit nearby, a shaper and a 
drakon.  Talk with them both then kill them, it'll save you a lot of 
trouble later.  When you're ready, take on the rotting demon.  Since 
its two sources of power have been removed, it can't summon any help.  
Kill it and it will drop some claws of the demon.  You'll find a 
puresteel blade on the body to the south as well as a key that opens 
the NW.  The NW is home to another rotghroth, as well as two canisters 
of create glaahk and mass restore.

Shade Patrol
Q: none
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: S to Zhass-Uss, E to Shath's Wastes, W to Benerii-Uss Power
  You'll probably enter this area from the south or east, if so, your 
immediate goal should be to get to the NNW.  Avoid the shades as best 
you can, though kill them if they start to overwhelm you.  In the NNW 
you'll find the source of the shades- quickly turn off the two nearby 
crystals, and this will stop the endless supply.   Now explore this 
place at your leisure.  Nearby the shade generators is a mandrake 
tincture and a rod of succor.  One of the shades dropped a specter robe 
in my playthrough, you may or may not be so lucky (500 gold at most 
shops).  To the NW is a golem who will open the nearby door for you, 
but soon becomes hostile.  To the NE is a dead body with some shaped 
boots, and in the central room of the level you'll find some pylons and 
tinker gloves.  To the WSW are a number of inferno worms, they 
shouldn't be too much trouble at this point.  Finally to the S is Jeek, 
an Awakened agent.  She needs a major healing pod to talk with you, and 
gives you some information, unless you're a member of the Takers.

Outer Gazak-Uss
Q: none
S: Learned Guas (trainer) 
O: none
$: none
D: N to Hermit Crossroads, E to Inner Gazak-Uss
  By far the hardest area in the game, Gazak-Uss is frightening (on par 
with the shaper crypt in Geneforge 1).  Immediately as you enter, a 
mutated battle gamma and some rotghroths may confront you.  Killing the 
battle gamma gets you its skin, an ingredient for the emerald 
breastplate.  You may want to pop in here real fast then check on out, 
with the skin.  This area is best approached after you've done most of 
the things you want to do in the game.  When you're ready, head south 
of the entrance.  You'll have to fight a number of rotghroths, as well 
as a rotdhizon, which drops a puresteel plate.  To the NE is Hideki 
Eye, and his army of gazers and charmed serviles.  He is quite tough, 
but I found that if you surround him, he won't use his aura of flames 
attack.  Upon death he drops the belt of purity, an excellent item for 
those who do not use creations.  To the SW are a bunch of drakons.  
Ossious is their leader.  They have a number of good items, including a 
pair of quicksilver boots, and an essence chitin (+1 all shaper 
skills).  To the SE you'll find Learned Guas, who is the Ultimate 
Trainer.  He will train you in all skills but shaping (from strength to 
luck), so is a good person to pump up your dexterity with.  You'll also 
find the entrance to Inner Gazak-Uss here, but will need to acquire 
three key parts before you can enter.

Barrier of the Winds 
Q: AWAKENED quests are found at the end of this guide
S: none 
O: none
$: none
D: N to Northern Pass
  You're here either because you're a member of the Awakened or because 
you want to mess with the poor serviles.  There's not too much here for 
you as an unaligned shaper- and Agent robe can be found to the SE, as 
well as a number of shaping equipment, research notes, crystals, living 
tools, and other small goodies.  Stay out of the NW unless you want to 
make the Awakened REALLY mad with you.  There you'll find Learned 
Varkan, who will give you a batch of quests if you're Awakened.  
Otherwise, there's no real reason to bother the poor shmoes here, 
unless you want some experience and a few decent items.

Benerii-Uss Entrance
Q: none
S: Create Gazer, Create Drakon, Create Rotghroth, Mass Restore 
O: none
$: none
D: N to Benerii-Uss Shaping, S to Infested Pass
  TAKERS: You'll have a fairly easy time here.  You're greeted 
immediately by a Drayk, Pyre, who tells you that in order to proceed, 
you'll need a key.  A key can be obtained from either Chryst Eye or 
Tessera Eye.  Tessera Eye will drain your endurance for the key, so 
this is obviously not the way to go.  Tessera will also give you a very 
powerful blade, the puresteel soulblade, in exchange for some of your 
strength and dexterity.  It's your choice.  The sword is marginally 
more powerful than the guardian's blade, I would say, but the cost is 
very high.  You'll want to make your way over to Chryst Eye.  Chryst 
Eye is quite hostile, but will help you willingly provided you have 
high leadership.  Threaten him, then be honest, and he'll give you the 
key.  Your other option is to engage him in hand-to-hand combat.  The 
level will NOT go hostile if you do this, so don't worry about it.  
When you've got a key, go north to Benerii-Uss Shaping, talking the 
battle creatures out of a fight with sufficient leadership.
  ALL OTHERS: Rhakkus patrols this region.  He may talk with you before 
attacking, but maybe not.  Interestingly enough, I killed Rhakkus and 
Zhass-Uss was still peaceful towards me.  Who knows?  You'll find a 
number of Drayks and two gazers waiting for you here.  Be careful and 
take your time.  Servile researchers are south, and they can cast 
spells (and are also guarding a puresteel belt).  You'll find a number 
of canisters to the NE (the top 3 creations and mass restore), but 
you'll need to pull four levers in order to open them.  To the south 
you'll find Tessera eye, who is torturing a servile.  Kill it and 
you'll claim a key, as well as a lucky charm and a fyora fang charm.  
There's also a lever here which will open a canister door.  To the SW 
you'll find the book, Ember and Onyx, which is what Swofford had you 
look for way back in the Magus complex.  Chryst Eye is in the SW 
corner, and is also hostile.  Kill it (maybe claim a key if you haven't 
killed Tessera), claim the Tek's spectral dirk, and pull the nearby 
lever.  Head north from here and you'll find the drayk apartments, as 
well as another lever and a living knife.  To the NE are several potion 
ingredients, which may potentially be useful, although probably not.  
To the north are two rotghroths guarding a stasis shield and the fourth 
lever for the canister room.  To the north are several cryodrayks, some 
quicksilver chitin, and a pair of shaped gauntlets.  You'll have to get 
past the battle creations to the NW, but they shouldn't be excessively 
tough at this point in the game.  Note that the Takers do not become 
hostile if you kill Rhakkus, only if you clear this level by violence.

Benerii-Uss Shaping 
Q: TAKER quests are found at the end of this guide
S: Battle Roar, Create Gazer, Essence Armor, Kill 
O: none
$: none
D: S to Benerii-Uss Entry, N to Benerii-Uss Holding, E to Geneforge
  TAKERS:  You are greeted by a battle gamma. You'll find Rhakkus to 
the west.  Rhakkus will modify you, enabling you to cast the highest 
level spells and make the nastiest creations.  You'll have to submit to 
the process, though, which may be a bit unnerving.  Once modified, 
speak with Salgurdar to train for cash.  Rhakkus will also tell you he 
needs a conduit shard to complete work on the Geneforge.  Salgurdar 
will also let you use two canisters if you've stolen the Awakened and 
Barzite Research.  These two canisters are Create Gazer and Essence 
Armor.
  ALL OTHERS:  As before, all drayks and serviles are hostile on this 
level.  You'll find a group of battle gammas to the NE, they are 
guarding a shaped blade and the lever that opens a passage to the 
Geneforge.  Near the central east you'll find a puresteel ring and some 
boots, and also the very important cure for the Serviles (finally 
finishing Carnelian's quest).  You'll also find some grounded and vat 
boots to the S, and to the SW a broken crystal piece (part of the 
Gazak-Uss key) and a canister of battle roar.  Where Rhakkus would have 
been (and near the cryodrayk Salgurdar) you'll find a chest with a 
glowing red key.  To the north is an ur-Drakon who pops out of a vat- 
kill it to get free access to an impervious band.  I avoided the NW, as 
I didn't see any real benefit to looking around.  Joseph says that 
ignoring this area is a BAD idea, as he found a canister of kill 
(Seletine confirms this) as well as two levers that enable non-Takers 
to get Create Gazer and Essence Armor.

Benerii-Uss Power
Q: none
S: Aura of Flames, Major Heal, Create Rotghroth 
O: none
$: none
D: E to Shade Patrol, W to Benerii-Uss Holding, S to Demonic Depot
  TAKERS:  Not too much here.  You may be able to enter this area with 
little difficulty as a Taker, but no other major benefits can be found 
other than a few nice canisters.
  ALL OTHERS: Head immediately to the NE.  You'll find a servant mind 
here, make sure you have a high leadership score (perhaps cast 
charisma), and talk with it.  Convince it to open up the doors and turn 
off the patrolling golems.  The patrolling golems are the most 
dangerous out here, but the regular golems can still put up a good 
fight.  Immediately south of the servant mind are the most tough 
golems, if you can take these out then you shouldn't have any problems.  
There's a door to the north that will open if you pull the lever in the 
room immediately south of it.  Inside you'll find two healing and 
essence pools and a body with an infiltrator cloak and vest on it.  To 
the east is a room with a canister of aura of flames, and south of that 
are several grounded items (the vests are worth a lot of money).  To 
the SE you'll find some stability boots, puresteel gauntlets, and a 
shaped breastplate.  Near the center of the map is a damaging crystal 
area, and a canister of major heal.  Finally, to the NW is a canister 
of create Rotghroth.  This is the third canister available for you 
meaning that you 

Benerii-Uss Holding
Q: TAKER quests are found at the end of this guide
S: Charisma, Mass Madness 
O: none
$: none
D: W to Benerii-Uss Shaping, E to Benerii-Uss Power, S to Geneforge
  TAKERS: Akkat is present in this region.  He sends you on the quest 
to pick up a Drayk.  Bringing it back gets you a key to the Geneforge.
  ALL OTHERS: This is a rather tough area.  You'll want to slay Akkat 
if at all possible.  The best way to do this is to recruit the help of 
Zekzai Eye.  Zekzai Eye and some of his gazer friends can be found near 
the center of the map.  Killing Akkat gets you a puresteel charm and a 
geneforge key.  A bit west of Akkat you'll find a canister of mass 
madness.  You'll find some Rotghroths to the SE along with a crystal 
woven shield and a canister of charisma.  West of Zekzai eye
is an enraged soul, who needs to be put down.  He drops a spectral
rapier upon death.  The most difficult area is found to the NW.  
Therein you will find a few drakons, some ur-drakons, a gazer and an 
eyebeast.  You'll also find a shield, the Agent's shelter, a fourth 
lucky charm, and the second broken crystal piece.  Nearby is a guarded 
door that you'll hear about in the endgame.  Not much you can do with 
it except wait for Geneforge 3.

Geneforge
Q: TAKER quests are found at the end of this guide
S: Firebolt, Create Drakon, Dexterity, Strength, Spellcraft 
O: none
$: none
D: W to Benerii-Uss Shaping, N to Benerii-Uss Holding
  TAKERS: Don't come here unless you have permission.  This is the 
final place you need to be.  Your goal is to find Easss, the drakon.  
Find him and talk with him.  He tells you to place the conduit shard, 
then go back to speak with.  At last, the Geneforge is complete.  Easss 
summons up Akkat and Rhakkus, then they prepare to use the Geneforge.  
Akkat decides he wants to be a drakon, and messes up their plans.  It's 
now your job to kill him.  You can recruit Easss if you have adequate 
leadership.  Once Akkat is dead, Easss uses the Geneforge, and sends 
you back to Syros.
  ALL OTHERS: You're probably here to destroy the Geneforge or Easss.  
It's not really that difficult.  A canister of firebolt and the third 
broken crystal piece can be found to the east.  You'll find a few 
dangerous golems nearby, these are by far and away the biggest threats 
on the level.  In the southern golem room, use the control panel and 
you'll open a room to the NW (through the pylons) with a canister of 
dexterity and strength.  Use the northern control panel to turn off 
grid defenses, this makes some of the nearby areas much easier to take 
care of.  South are a bunch of spawners that generate battle betas, ur-
glaahks, and charged artilas.  Head to the SE to the Triad quarters.  
Here you'll find a leaders sword, reaper baton, charmed plate, and a 
canister of create drakon (the third accessible canister of this type.  
Finally, head to the west.  You'll find some essence and healing pools 
(use this opportunity to cast some potent spells like stoneskin or 
essence armor), then head a bit north.  You'll find a canister of 
spellcraft, and Easss, with his Rotdhizon guard.  He'll talk a bit, 
then he'll attack.  You can convince him not to attack and instead to 
use the Geneforge if you have adequate leadership (must be pretty 
high), and in the process you can kill him without fighting by going 
through the grid defenses, turning on the machines as you progress from 
east to west.  Get Easss to use it, then throw the switch.  It should 
kill him (from Taeweil).  Once you kill Easss, you get his gauntlets.  
Now you can destroy the Geneforge if you so desire.  You CAN NOT use 
the Geneforge, unlike Geneforge 1, as you're not a Drayk or Drakon.  In 
order to destroy the Geneforge you'll have to throw in the gloves.  Run 
right after you do this, or you'll be hurting.  Destroying the 
Geneforge gives you a fair bit of experience.

Inner Gazak-Uss
Q: none
S: Create Drakon, Create Gazer, Create Rotghroth 
O: none
$: none
D: W to Outer Gazak-Uss
  I have discussed this place last as it is the most difficult.  In 
order to get in you must have found the three key pieces.  However, if 
you clear this level you'll get a lot of great items. FROM ThirdParty- 
Inner Gazak-Uss: the monsters here roam around, which means they can 
come upon you unexpectedly. Be careful: wandering eyebeasts can ruin 
your day, no matter how powerful you are, if they come up from behind 
while you're fighting something lese (I was attacking the Rotghroth 
Spawner when three eyebeasts and an Ur-Drakon hit me--ouch). 
Highlights: canisters of Create Drakon, Create Gazer, and Create 
Rotghroth can be found on the west side of the map (go out the back 
door of the building there). I got some gazerskin boots from an 
eyebeast in the northeast corner, not sure if it will always drop them 
or not. Killing the Slime Lord in the southwest corner amid the acid 
pools gets you Putrified Guantlets. The boss of the level is the Drakon 
Lord in the southeast (who's supported by two Ur-Drakons and two 
eyebeasts, and drops an Omnicharm and the excellent Victor's Boon 
shield).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
7. GENEFORGE 2 SECTS: 
Awakened
  Basic Philosophy and How to Join: Serviles are living, intelligent 
beings, and creating them is really awful.  More laws need to be placed 
on shaping, and serviles need to be recognized as independent beings.  
In order to join you'll need to have a generally pro-servile opinion.  
Compliment serviles, don't tell them to be happy as slaves, etc.
  Additional minor quests: Griffith in Triola wants you to send a 
Message to Fort Muck.  Doing so gets you a second quest, a Message for 
Triola.  Both quests get you minor experience.  Teresa in Zhass-Uss 
asks you to find her friend Jeek.  Doing so gets you some exp.  Mezrich 
in Guarded Groves asks you to determine the defenses of Medab.  Doing 
so gets you some experience.
  Benefits:  Merchants: Chom in Fort Muck has 1370 gold.  Several doors 
will now be open for you, and merchants won't charge you so much.  The 
door behind Learned Pinner will be unlocked, allowing you free access 
to their supplies (which can be helpful if you join early).  In 
addition, the Shapers and Mages in the Magus complex will sell you 
higher level spells and shaping skills. 
  Alterations:  Go to the Complex core, and get Tuldaric's aid in 
altering you.  Get altered in the SW room.  You can now purchase the 
top eight spells from him.  

Learned Pinner: Find the Medab Spy.
  Fairly straightforward.  Go to east Medab and talk with Crillie.  
Either scare him away or kill him, both result in the same thing.  This 
quest can be avoided with some leadership.

Learned Pinner: Kill spy Drayk
  In the Crystal Mines there's a drayk who's causing a fair bit of 
problems.  Kill him.  You can now join the Awakened.

Learned Pinner: Destroy the Radiant College
  The Radiant College is a large threat to the Awakened.  You need to 
stop them.  You have two options- either kill the two heads of 
research, or sabotage the facility.  Do either, and this quest will be 
complete.  Pinner will let in on the big secret of the Awakened, the 
Barrier of the Winds, and also gives you a key for easy access to this 
area.

Learned Varkan: Remove Loose Drakon
  The first quest at the Barrier of the Winds is to remove a loose 
Drakon.  The drakon can be found to the south, and will gladly leave if 
you have enough leadership.  This is a fairly easy quest.  

Learned Varkan: Bring back Marjan
  Learned Varkan will then send you on a retrieval mission for a 
servile named Marjan.  Marjan can be found in Gheth.  Try to convince 
him to join you.  He'll ask you to figure out what the Barzites are 
doing in northern Gheth.  Do so for some minor exp.  If you kill him or 
do something else foolish like that, I believe he has some notes stored 
in a barrel to the SW.  Return with Marjan in your group to the Barrier 
of the Winds and he'll leave your party reluctantly.

Learned Varkan: Get a Conduit Shard
  A perennial favorite among the sects, conduit shards are actually not 
too hard to find.  One can be acquired in the Pit of the Bound and 
another is in Phariton's Hall.  Either one works, and essentially 
completes this quest once you.  Once done, Varkan tells you to go speak 
with Pinner.

Learned Pinner: Slay the Drayk Leaders
  This is the last Awakened quest.  It seems as though the Takers have 
gotten too big for their britches.  They want you to kill the three 
Taker leaders: Akkat, Rhakkus, and Easss.  Look in the Benerii section 
of this FAQ for their locations and general strategies.  Once done, 
Pinner tells you to head home.  Do so, and you'll get the Awakened 
ending.


Takers:
  Basic Philosophy and How to Join:  Shapers have long been very cruel 
to their creations, both serviles and Drayks.  Drayks are in fact 
outlawed, and any that exist must be destroyed.  Naturally, this seems 
pretty wrong if you're a drayk.  In addition, in order to Take Our 
Free, the drayk Takers are seeking to perfect themselves and make 
themselves unstoppable.  They will do this at any cost.
  Additional minor quests: Amena blade asks you to clear out the 
cultist in Zhass-Uss Outskirts.  Doing so gets you some spores.
  Benefits:  Standard cost reductions.  Also, immediately a key that 
will open the room behind Syros, allowing you to plunder as you will.  
Also, most importantly, a feather token, a fang token, and a horn token 
with time.  All give you easy access through Taker lands and make it a 
lot easier to speak with Takers in general.  Finally, access to a lot 
of nice canisters.   
  Alterations:  Rhakkus will alter you, Salgurdar will teach you the 
top creations and spells in each category.  Very potent.
 
Toivo: Retrieve artifact.
  In the Dead Pass you'll find a particularly nasty charm, the ancient 
idol.  It subtracts two from all of your primary skills.  Toivo wants 
it for some odd reason.

Amena Blade: Slay a Leader
  Amena sends you as an assassin to kill one of the leaders of the 
sects.  Either Zakary, Pinner, or Barzahl will do.  She gives you some 
advice on killing Barzahl.  Zakary is probably the most difficult one 
to fight of these characters, especially since you can really raise 
hell in Rising by messing with the equipment.  Also, Zakary is the only 
one you won't piss off in the process of doing the Taker quests, so 
it's always good to have a second option available.  You now have the 
option to join the Takers.

Syros: Steal Awakened Knowledge
  Once you've taken your oath, you immediately get a lot of nice items.  
Syros then sends you on your way to steal the Awakened research.  Head 
to the Complex Core and take the items you find therein.  The book 
you're looking for is near the center of the map.  Most of the Awakened 
will be hostile after this, so be sure you've done all you want to with 
them.  Kill Tuldaric in the process for a free +1 to strength and 
dexterity from the infernal shade in the experimental halls.  Return, 
and Syros gives you the horn token and tells you that you can now visit 
Benerii-Uss (except for the Geneforge).

Syros: Attack Radiant College
  Syros doesn't just want you to steal the Barzite's research, he also 
wants you to kill everyone inside.  Killing Burham and Fenen is enough, 
as is sabotaging the college (instructions are earlier in the FAQ).  
Get the notes nearby Burham and that's it for this quest.  Syros then 
sends you to speak with the leaders of Benerii-Uss for further quests.

Rhakkus: Retrieve Conduit Shard
  Again, a perennial favorite.  You have a few options, the Pit of the 
Bound and Phariton's Hall.  

Akkat: Retrieve augmented Drayk
  An augmented drayk ran away from the Takers because it didn't want to 
be chopped up.  You'll find the Drayk in the clawbug canyon, and will 
need to have a high leadership to convince it to join you.  
Alternatively, you can kill it, but you'll need to collect its heart.  
Returing it to Akkat fulfills this quest.  (FROM SELETINE: If in 
fighting the Drayk, you get its health down below 50%, it will submit 
to you). Once collected you'll be given a key to enter the Geneforge.  
Do so when you're ready.

Easss: Slay Akkat
  Once everything is in place, Akkat decides he's tired of being a 
simple drayk and jumps into the geneforge.  He survives and must be 
slain.  Do so and the others get a chance to use the Geneforge.  When 
Easss has used it, return to Syros and then go home.


Servants
  Basic Philosophy and How to Join:  Shapers have been shaping for 
several centuries.  They know what works and what does, how best to 
cope and survive.  Abuse of shaper power should be punished 
immediately.  The shapers give you great power at the price of 
obedience.  Look at the havoc caused by careless shaping in these 
hills- ruined natural environments, rogues everywhere, uncontrolled 
shaping of humans, dangerous creations.  This is too much.  Joining the 
Servants is quite easy if you haven't killed any of them.  I believe 
they'll always be an option, and the unaligned are very much the same 
as these.  In order to join with ease, talk down to serviles.  I think 
you can even join without doing this, although you must have adequate 
leadership.  Zakary is the one to talk with if you want to do this.
  Additional minor quests: None, as far as I can tell.  Unaligned get 
all of the same quests available to them.
  Benefits:  FAST skills.  You get access to a lot of potent skills 
early in the game as a Servant/Loyalist, including the third tier 
creations in the Drypeak Warrens, Upper Research Halls and Loyalist 
Encampment. You'll get some OK items in exchange for completion of the 
quests, in addition to some cheap skills from some servants, but that's 
about it. 
  Alterations:  None.  Alterating oneself is a thing that rogue shapers 
do.

Zakary: Destroy the Magus Complex
  Those no-good Awakened are at it again.  Sabotage their complex.  
Reward: thrusting gauntlets.

Zakary: Destroy Radiant College.
  This is the main source of the evil canisters.  Destroy it.  Reward: 
Quicksilver chitin.

Zakary: Slay the Taker Leaders.
  These are the most dangerous characters out there.  Kill them.  
Reward: Servant ending.


Barzites
  Basic Philosophy and How to Join:  Knowledge is power.  Forbidden 
knowledge is great power.  Mankind is meant to be perfect, and the use 
of canisters will enable this ends.  Plus, who doesn't want to 
completely kick all of your enemy's butts?  The best way to join the 
Barzites is to talk down to serviles.  Serviles should know their place 
as our creations.
  Additional minor quests: Selithra wants you to get some stones from 
the trapped forest.  Commander Brent will ask you to remove Elissia in 
the Upper Research Hall.  Doing so will get you a pair of dodging boots 
(from Shau Kojiru).
  Benefits:  A number of canisters which can only be accessed by 
Barzites, as well as the top creations and spells after being modified.  
In addition, a potent charm is available as the result of a quest.
  Alterations:  After stealing the Awakened knowledge, Burham will 
alter you, allowing you to cast the highest level spells and otherwise 
be a nuisance.

Barzahl: Slay Medab spy
  In the Guarded Grove (where you found Shanti's body), you'll find a 
servile to the NW.  Kill it or tell it to leave.  Doing so gets you 
some of Barzahl's trust.  This quest can be avoided with some 
leadership.

Barzahl: Destroy Loyalist Encampment
  The Loyalist Encampment has been a thorn in Barzahl's side for a 
while.  You can get some help from the Radiant College in doing this 
quest, they'll lend you a drakon for assistance.  Completion of this 
quest will get you some more of Barzahl's trust, and can be avoided 
with a lot more leadership.

Barzahl: Steal Awakened knowledge
  Once you've taken the oath, Barzahl sends you on this quest.  It is 
similar to the Taker's quest, and will get you in trouble with the 
Awakened.  Slay Tuldaric while you're at it then go talk with the 
infernal shade for a nice little stat bonus.  Doing this quest will 
allow you to be modified by the Barzites.

Barzahl: Kill Zakary
  Time to remove the competition, the apprentice becomes the master, 
and all that jazz.  You can get some help from the Radiant college if 
you have adequate leadership

Barzahl: Destroy the Geneforge
  The Geneforge is a huge threat.  It's time to remove it.  Completion 
of this quest gets you the Barzite ending.


Unaligned
  Basic Philosophy and How to Join:  OK.  This valley is full of 
nutcases.  Serviles who think that they deserve equal rights because 
they've got minds and consciences, but will quickly turn around and do 
much worse than the shapers ever do just because they think they 
should.  Crazed serviles and Drayks who think that annihilation of 
their enemies will suddenly make them better than everyone else.  
Humans who think that power should come quickly and don't even bother 
to take a step back and see what they are doing.  And a traitorous 
shaper who let it all go on under his eye, when he should have been 
doing something about it.  He's no better than the rest.  Unaligned is 
the easiest path to play, as no one starts off mad at you.  They aren't 
very powerful as they don't get the help of some sects, but they can 
still completely destroy the enemies of the council.  This is an 
especially easy path to play for those sociopaths among you.  Killing 
everyone in the game will essentially give you this ending.  Zakary 
isn't much further from this ending, but the best people to talk to are 
those in the loyalist encampment.
  Additional minor quests: None.  
  Benefits:  None, really, other than not maddening any of the other 
sects.  Thus you can speak and trade with them without problem.
  Alterations:  None, obviously.  Of course, canisters are always 
available.

  There are two things that you are told to do if you want to join the 
"Unaligned."  The first is to kill Barzahl, the second is to kill the 
three Taker leaders.  Doing this gets you the unaligned ending.  Not 
much else to it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
8. SKILLS: Locations of quests/rewards- these do not alter you in any 
way, but will decrease the amount you can learn from a trainer (Q), 
Canisters- these do alter you, but may still be worth using (Can) and 
trainers- can only train twice in a skill, unless you've added skill 
points to purchase it (T):
  Strength: Learned Guas (T)- Outer Gazak-Uss, Patrolled Path (Can), 
Infected Crossroads (Can), Infernal Shade (Q)- Experimental Chambers, 
Geneforge (Can)
  Dexterity: Learned Guas (T)- Outer Gazak-Uss, Geneforge (Can)
  Intelligence: Learned Guas (T)- Outer Gazak-Uss, Phariton's Hall 
(Can), Rising (Can)
  Endurance: Learned Guas (T)- Outer Gazak-Uss, Radiant College (Can), 
Phariton's Hall (Can), Infernal Shade (Q)- Experimental Chambers, 
Rising (Can)

  Melee Weapons: Learned Guas (T)- Outer Gazak-Uss, Learned Thani (T)- 
Hermit Crossroads, Brodus Blade (T)- East Medab, Phariton's hall (Can)
  Missile Weapons: Learned Guas (T)- Outer Gazak-Uss, Learned Thani 
(T)- Hermit Crossroads, Brodus Blade (T)- East Medab
  Quick Action: Learned Guas (T)- Outer Gazak-Uss, Learned Thani (T)- 
Hermit Crossroads, Brodus Blade (T)- East Medab, Krogst (T)- Mountain 
Base, Drypeak (Q), Warren of the Three (Can), Loyalist Encampment (Q), 
Rising (Can), Zhass-Uss (Can), Entry Valley (guardians only)
  Parry: Learned Guas (T)- Outer Gazak-Uss, Learned Thani (T)- Hermit 
Crossroads, Brodus Blade (T)- East Medab, Rising North Gate (Can), 
Rising (Can), Breeding Pits (Can), Entry Valley (guardians only)
 
  Battle Magic: Learned Guas (T)- Outer Gazak-Uss, Krayoss (T)- Hermit 
Crossroads,
  Mental Magic: Learned Guas (T)- Outer Gazak-Uss, Krayoss (T)- Hermit 
Crossroads,
  Blessing Magic: Learned Guas (T)- Outer Gazak-Uss, Krayoss (T)- 
Hermit Crossroads,
  Spellcraft: Learned Guas (T)- Outer Gazak-Uss, Krayoss (T)- Hermit 
Crossroads, Sharon's Grove (Q), Road to Phariton (Can), Geneforge 
(Can), Phariton's Hall (Can)

  Fire Shaping: None
  Battle Shaping: None
  Magic Shaping: None
  Healing Craft: None

  Leadership: Learned Guas (T)- Outer Gazak-Uss,
  Mechanics: Learned Guas (T)- Outer Gazak-Uss, Clockwork Maze (Q)
  Luck: Learned Guas (T)- Outer Gazak-Uss,

  Create Fyora: Tyallea (T)- Drypeak Warrens, Fenen (T)-Radiant 
College, Drypeak Warrens (Q), Infiltrator Fort (can)
  Create Roamer- Carnelian (T)- Medab, Fenen (T)-Radiant College, 
Patrolled Path (Q)
  Create Drayk- Elissia (T)- Upper Research Halls, Phariton (T)- 
Phariton's Hall, Fenen (T)-Radiant College, Zhass-Uss Outskirts (Can),
Rising (Can)
  Create Drakon- Burham (T)- Radiant College, Salgurdar (T)-Benerii-Uss 
Shaping, Shath's Wastes (Can), Benerii-Uss Entry (Can), Geneforge (Can)
  Create Thahd: Tyallea (T)- Drypeak Warrens, Fenen (T)-Radiant 
College, Warren of the Three (Can)
  Create Clawbug: Carnelian (T)- Medab, Fenen (T)-Radiant College, 
Sharon's Grove (Q), Magus Complex (Q)
  Create Battle Alpha- Fenen (T)- Radiant College, Phariton (T)- 
Phariton's Hall, Fenen (T)-Radiant College, Radiant College (Q), Taker 
Toll Road (Can)
  Create Rotghroth- Burham (T)- Radiant College, Salgurdar (T)-Benerii-
Uss Shaping, Zhass-Uss (Can), Benerii-Uss Entry (Can), Benerii-Uss 
Power (Can)
  Create Artila: Tyallea (T)- Drypeak Warrens, Entry Valley (shapers 
only), Fenen (T)-Radiant College, Medab (Q), Kss-Urg's Valley (Can)
  Create Vlish: Fenen (T)-Radiant College, Medab (Can), Upper Research 
Hall (Can)
  Create Glaahk: Fenen (T)- Radiant College, Phariton (T)- Phariton's 
Hall, Demonic Depot (Can)
  Create Gazer: Burham (T)- Radiant College, Salgurdar (T)-Benerii-Uss 
Shaping,  Zhass-Uss (Can), Benerii-Uss Entry (Can), Benerii-Uss Shaping 
(Can).

  Firebolt: Tyallea (T)- Drypeak Warrens, Carnelian (T)- Medab, Complex 
Core (Can), Geneforge (Can)
  Acid Spray: Tyallea (T)- Drypeak Warrens, Carnelian (T)- Medab,
  Searer: Carnelian (T)- Medab, Western Mines (Q), Rising North Gate 
(Can)
  Ice Spray- Carnelian (T)- Medab, Marsh Crossroads (Can)
  Essence Orbs: Experimental Chambers (Q)
  Acid Shower- Rising (Can), Radiant College (Can)
  Kill- Tuldaric (T)- Complex Core, Burham (T)- Radiant College, 
Salgurdar (T)-Benerii-Uss Shaping, Upper Research Hall (Can), Pit of 
the Bound (Can)
  Aura of Flames- Tuldaric (T)- Complex Core, Burham (T)- Radiant 
College,  Salgurdar (T)-Benerii-Uss Shaping, icy breeding pit (Can)

  Daze: Tyallea (T)- Drypeak Warrens, Drypeak Warrens (Q), Entry Valley 
(agents only), Carnelian (T)- Medab
  Mental Barrier: Tyallea (T)- Drypeak Warrens, Carnelian (T)- Medab
  Unlock: Carnelian (T)- Medab, Experimental Canyon (Can)
  Terror: Carnelian (T)- Medab, Warren of the Three (Q), Rising (Can)
  Dominate- Magus Complex (Q), Old Rising Bridge (Can), Breeding Pits 
(Can) 
  Strong Daze- Trapped Forest (Can)
  Charisma- Tuldaric (T)- Complex Core, Burham (T)- Radiant College,  
Salgurdar (T)-Benerii-Uss Shaping, Phariton's Hall (Can)
  Mass Madness- Tuldaric (T)- Complex Core, Burham (T)- Radiant 
College,  Salgurdar (T)-Benerii-Uss Shaping, Demonic Depot (Can)

  War Blessing: Tyallea (T)- Drypeak Warrens, Carnelian (T)- Medab, 
Drypeak Gates (Q)
  Protection: Tyallea (T)- Drypeak Warrens, Carnelian (T)- Medab, 
Radiant College (Can)
  Essence Shield: Carnelian (T)- Medab, Secret Tunnel (Can), 
Infiltrator Fort (Can)
  Speed: Carnelian (T)- Medab, Magus Complex (Q)
  Mass Energize- South Rising Road (Can)
  Steel skin- Rising (Can)
  Essence Armor- Tuldaric (T)- Complex Core, Burham (T)- Radiant 
College,  Salgurdar (T)-Benerii-Uss Shaping, Zhass-Uss (Can), Benerii-
Uss Shaping (Can)
  Battle Roar- Tuldaric (T)- Complex Core, Burham (T)- Radiant College,  
Salgurdar (T)-Benerii-Uss Shaping, Taker Toll Road (Can)

  Minor Heal: Tyallea (T)- Drypeak Warrens, Carnelian (T)- Medab,
  Cure Effects: Tyallea (T)- Drypeak Warrens, Carnelian (T)- Medab, 
Drypeak (Q)
  Augmentation: Carnelian (T)- Medab, Patrolled Path (Q) 
  Heal: Carnelian (T)- Medab, Magus Complex (Q), Mountain Base (Q)
  Group Heal: Rising (Can)
  Remove Effects:
  Major Heal- Tuldaric (T)- Complex Core, Burham (T)- Radiant College,  
Salgurdar (T)-Benerii-Uss Shaping, Zhass-Uss (Can) 
  Mass Restore- Tuldaric (T)- Complex Core, Burham (T)- Radiant 
College, Salgurdar (T)-Benerii-Uss Shaping, Demonic Depot (Can), 
Benerii-Uss Entrance (Can)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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9. Item guide

Ingredient locations:  These are the locations of the super-rare items 
that are necessary for the most powerful equipment.
Purified Essence: Sharon's Grove, Phariton's Hall
Drayk Tendon: Clockwork Maze
Perfect Crystal: Crystal Caverns
Perfect Glaahk Scale: Loyalist Encampment, Creation Holding
Cured Battle Gamma Skin: Outer Gazak-Uss
Demons Claws: Pit of the Bound, Demonic Depot
Black Crystal Powder: Crystal Mines
Blood Poison: Icy Breeding Pit
Focus Orb: Warren of the Three 

Broken Crystal Pieces:  These are the three pieces of the key needed to 
enter Inner Gazak-Uss.  They are found in Benerii-Uss Holding (NW), 
Benerii-Uss Shaping (SW), and the Geneforge (E).

Puresteel Rings: Upper Research Hall, Clockwork Maze, Trapped Forest, 
Rising North Gate, Radiant College, Phariton's Hall, Benerii-Uss 
Shaping

Charms:
Lucky: Western Mines, Shath's Wastes, Benerii-Uss Entry, Benerii-Uss 
Holding
Physician's: Infiltrator Fort
Clawbug's: Clawbug Canyon
Infiltrator's: Clockwork Maze
Mental Focus: Zhass-Uss
Gruesome: Icy Breeding Pits
Blademaster: Dead Pass
Ancient Idol: Dead Pass
Puresteel: Benerii-Uss Holding
Fyora Fang: Benerii-Uss Entry
Essence: Radiant College
Skein of Wisdom: Rising North Gate
Omnicharm: Inner Gazak-Uss


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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10. Opinion Guide from Publicly Displayed Name
Schrodinger, I have some more info on the pro-shaper or pro-servile 
opinions you can give. 
 
+ is pro-shaper 
- is pro-servile 
 
You begin with +100 points. 
 
In Drypeak: 
Opinion to Shanti is ±3 points. 
Opinion to Keeper Thossila is ±3 points. 
Reporting Sencia/lying about it to Keeper Thossila is ±5 points. 
 
In Drypeak Warrens: 
Opinion to Zakary is ±3 points. 
Joining the Servants is +10 points. 
Sabotaging the Magus Complex is +5 points. 
Sabotaging the Radiant College is +10 points.  
Killing the Taker Leaders is +10 points. 
Joining the Servants requires at least 105 points or 6 Leadership. 
 
In The Crags: 
Opinion to Braan is ±3 points. 
 
In Western Mines: 
Opinion to Ciphar is ±3 points. 
 
In Sharon's Grove: 
Opinion to Sharon is ±3 points. 
 
In Crystal Caverns: 
Bringing back Braan's servile/letting it escape is ±5 points. 
 
In Medab Road: 
Opinion to Loyd is ±3 points. 
 
In Patrolled Path: 
Opinion to Twini is ±3 points. 
 
In Medab: 
Opinion to Learned Pinner is ±3 points. 
Telling Learned Pinner that you have no interest in joining a bunch of 
creations like the Awakened is +3 points. 
Joining the Awakened is -10 points. 
Completing Seli's first quest (destroy Medab Road spawners) is -3 
points. 
Completing Seli's second quest (raid Infiltrator's Fort) is -5 points. 
Opinion to Carnelian is ±3 points. 
Opinion to Dayna is ±3 points. 
You cannot give an opinion to Kashya.  
Joining the Awakened requires less than 95 points. 
 
In East Medab: 
Opinion to Ghree is ±3 points. 
Opinion to Lorrick is ±3 points. 
 
In Magus Complex: 
Opinion to Loha is ±3 points. 
 
In Power Core: 
Opinion to Tuldaric is ±3 points. 
 
In Triola: 
Opinion to Wald is ±3 points. 
 
In Fort Muck: 
Opinion to Herik Blade is ±3 points. 
 
In Gheth: 
Opinion to Brent is ±4 points.  
Opinion to Dawn is ±3 points. 
Turning in an escaped servile to Dawn is +5 points. 
 
In Darian's Sanctuary: 
Opinion to Darian is ±3 points. 
Asking Darian to tell everyone that you are pro-servile sets your point 
score at 90. 
Asking Darian to tell everyone that you are pro-shaper sets your point 
score at 110. 
 
In South Rising Road: 
Opinion to Manny is worth ±3 points. 
 
In Rising: 
Joining the Barzites is +10 points. 
Opinion to Trace is ±5 points. 
Opinion to Selithra is ±5 points. 
You cannot give an opinion to Corin. 
Joining the Barzites requires at least 105 points or 10 Leadership. 
 
In Rising North Gate: 
Opinion to Zoka is ±3 points.  
 
In Radiant College: 
Opinion to Fenen is ±3 points. 
 
In Zhass-Uss Outskirts: 
Opinion to Baer is ±5 points. 
Giving Bayor a Wand of Death is -3 points. 
 
In Zhass-Uss: 
Opinion to Syros is ±6 points. 
Joining the Takers is -10 points. 
Slaying Melancon Eye for Dhorass is -3 points. 
Opinion to Issss-Ta is ±3 points. 
Killing the Spinecores for Igner is -3 points. 
Joining the Takers requires your [Points - Leadership] to be less than 
80. 
 
In Taker Toll Road: 
Opinion to Dryss is ±4 points. 
 
Alright some more info: (for these, I am not counting minor changes, 
such as new conversation options) 
 
In Drypeak: 
Allizar and Elili will raise their prices if your point score is less 
than 86. 
 
In Belik's Crossing: 
Mekkan will let you pass without Brodus Blade's permission if your 
[Points - Leadership] is less than 86. 
 
In Marsh Crossroads: 
Lindian will raise his prices if your point score is greater than 109. 
 
In Pit of Misfits: 
Heust Blade will join you only if your point score is less than 100. 
 
I believe that is all.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
11. Thanks and Acknowledgements

Thanks go out to Gamefaqs for hosting this guide, Spiderweb Software 
for making this entertaining and great game, my parents and all others 
who have helped raise me.

Version info:
0.8 Preliminary FAQ done.  This is mainly to "stake my claim" for the 
Geneforge 2 FAQ, and to provide a fair bit of info for those who need 
it.

0.9 Updates from Seletine (typos and clarifications, and answered 
questions), Alex and Waylander, all from the Spiderweb Software Message 
Boards.  I am also in the process of making it pretty as well.

1.0 Many updates and typo fixes from Seletine (apologies!) and from 
Blackjack.  In addition, Blackjack has provided an item list which I 
will incorporate into this FAQ.  Stughalf and Alex have provided some 
of their opinions on some creations as well.  Publicly Displayed Name 
has given me some info on the Barzites and a special warning for the 
Infiltrator fort.  He also provided the excellent opinion guide at the 
end of this FAQ.  Taeweil gave some info on the Geneforge and how to 
use the power grid.  ThirdParty gave some good info on creations and a 
few changes with some of the walkthrough.  DougThompson clarified some 
things on the spell Augmentation.

1.1 A lot of helpful updates from Seletine- the "D:" section of the 
walkthrough should now be complete.  In addition, I added some minor 
info on Inner Gazak-Uss from ThirdParty (ThirdParty has provided more 
info, but I haven't yet completed that area, and feel as though I'll go 
through it on my own, but I'm still quite grateful for all assistance).  
Scales added a few arguments and a bit of tips on the guardians.

1.2 I have added the location of the Carnelian Gloves, which was sent 
in by several readers.  In addition, I've added a number of small 
corrections from Seletine.

1.3 I've added some items from Blueman00, joevnvdvc.  In addition, this 
FAQ is pretty much finished. 

1.4 Finally got a new version out.  Lots of info from Seletine (as 
always) and ThirdParty, and many others who have helped along the way.  
Is this the last update?  Probably not, but it's sure close.

1.5 Another update, with a lot of info from Seletine (namely small 
fixes).

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