Following the sacred communion with the Angelic Triad, the intervention of Ael'mael, the ascension of the Exarchs, and their subsequent transformation from duamvi into ascended duamvi, the Akkari class is now available as part of the Templars Guild!

Akkari is a mirror of the Praenomen class, and, before I get into the specifics of the class skills and such, I have a few important points to make.

Vampires are one of the core parts of Aetolia and have some of the most intricate mechanics. While we have worked hard to come up with suitably thematic mirror equivalents for all of the various different aspects of vampire gameplay, there are some minor changes that were necessary in order to preserve the theme. This will be reflected as you go through the AB files and start figuring the class out.

With that in mind:

- The mirror of the vampire subrace is an ascended duamvi. HELP DUAMVI STATS has been updated to reflect this.
- Akkari are ascended duamvi, and thus you must be a duamvi to become an Akkari.
- The Akkari equivalent of nightstalkers are ASPIRANTS and Aaranu is able to make someone into an Aspirant. (ASK AARANU BECOME ASPIRANT
* NOTE: For lore reasons, you will still need to first become a duamvi before you can ascend in full.
- Akkari, like vampires, do have to still manage and spend blood (to clarify a lore point, blood and spirit are heavily intertwined); use of the DELIVER and EXORCISM abilities will be of interest here.
- Upon death, instead of assuming a mistform, ascended duamvi revert to a state of ascended consciousness.
* Instead of earthmelding, they must anchor themselves back to the Prime by INHUMEing in the earth until the light provides them a new body.
* DIFFUSE MIST becomes APPEAL TO SANCTUARY for ascended duamvi.
- In place of bloodlines, Akkari have chains of command; these mechanically obey the same rules and ability-access as bloodlines.
* This hierarchy is only for the branch of duamvi on Prime under command of the Templars. The native duamvi have a separate hierarchy of their own.
- In place of a Primus, the head of the Akkari hierarchy is known as the Grand Crusader.
* This is a separately elected guild position within the Templars.
* To elect the first Grand Crusader, CONTEST VACANCY AS GRANDCRUSADER OF TEMPLARS. Subsequent contests can be done using the current position holder's name.
* Only ascended duamvi can hold this position.
- Sires become Superiors, and Childer become Subordinates.
- Direct Superiors or direct Subordinates are always the next 'link' in the hierarchy chain.
- Superiors and Subordinates may also be used to refer to anyone in that chain.
- For Akkari, blood rituals are now PRAYERS, and can be carried out before the pyre of the faithful at v73479.
- Instead of sunlight damage, ascended duamvi suffer physical pain and maladies from the dark star, and only at night.
* Like vampires, this is negated if your blood level is high enough.
* The Illumination Blaze and Subterfuge Light skills can also negate this, as well as the Light artifact power.
- Where vampires gain special proficiency in scythes, Akkari may now use the twin-bladed manta.
* These are now available to make in Forging.
- In place of coffins, Akkari use holy icons to sanctify a location as a sacred bunker. These icons can be made by jewelcrafters.
- Akkari do not raise minions from the dead but enlist living sentient beings as squires in their holy crusades.
* This is only possible in certain 'good-associated' areas, details of which can be found in AB DISCIPLINE RECRUIT.
- Similar to how Praenomen works, if you are not an ascended duamvi while holding the class, your skill ranks will be capped at Skilled for Ascendance/Dictum and Inept for Discipline. You are effectively considered an Aspirant again.

Some lore points:

- Native duamvi from Spirit are more heavily in tune with spirit in terms of body make-up than Primal duamvi. This is why native duamvi are susceptible to the dark star while Primal duamvi are not. It is also why native duamvi can use Akkari abilities but Primal duamvi cannot.

- Becoming ascended for a Primal duamvi gives them a greater font of spirit, allowing them to properly utilise Akkari abilities, but also leaving them susceptible to the dark star if their spirit falls too low.

** New characters selecting Akkari as their class upon creation will be made into duamvi. Much like vampires, you will need to be properly evangelised (embraced) in order to become an ascended duamvi in full. **

Lastly before I move on, is this: THERE IS CURRENTLY NO 'CURE' FOR BEING AN ASCENDED DUAMVI. THINK CAREFULLY BEFORE CHOOSING TO BECOME ONE SINCE BECOMING AN ASCENDED DUAMVI CAN HAVE ROLEPLAY IMPLICATIONS DUE TO THEIR ABUNDANCE OF SPIRIT.

- - -

With the skills of Ascendance, Dictum, and Discipline, Akkari are soldiers in the grand armee of the light, zealous warriors of spirit capable of wielding the holy light to supplement their incredible martial and mental prowess. In battle, Akkari dictate afflictions into the minds of their enemies while wielding the twin-bladed manta and enacting incredible miracles using their own spiritual lifeforce.

The skills translate in the following ways:

Ascendance - Corpus
Dictum - Mentis
Discipline - Sanguis

Nianvi at v11390 is currently the only denizen tutor available for Akkari skills. Learning from players is unrestricted.

HELP AKKARI RP and HELP AKKARI HIERARCHY are available for your perusal, as are HELP files for each of the three skills, and learning messages which may be of interest!

While some abilities are directly shared between the native class and this mirror, most (particularly in Ascendance and Discipline) are entirely distinct and a significant departure from the original theme. I'd encourage reading all the helps and the AB files in order to get a full grasp of what we're aiming for with it!

Sharing the class, particularly with veteran players, can be done via the EVANGELISM ability in Discipline. This will make an existing duamvi into an ascended duamvi and grant them the class in the process. There are no limits on how many people you can evangelise.

Artifacts for Akkari will be available in the next few minutes for your enjoyment:

- a radiant ingot (hunt_akkari1-3); for hunting
- a holy icon of the sacred flame (artifact_holyicon); mirror of artifact_coffin
- a banner of the Dauntless Host (spirit_bind); mirror of blood_thin (NOTE: This power and its mirror will work mechanically with either class, the difference is purely flavour.)
- a book of holy scripture (swift_sect1-3); mirror of quick_path
- an amulet of the dawn (nightbane); mirror of sunbane
- a holy ciborium (spirit_preserve**); mirror (sort of) of corpse_store

** The spirit_preserve power has some different functionality to reflect the differences in how minions (squires) are raised (recruited). See the AP INFO for details!

As always, while we've done a lot of testing behind the scenes, please report any bugs or typos right away through BUG or TYPO respectively.

The release of mirror ???? is underway and will be concluding tomorrow!

As a final note, the number of maximum class slots has now been increased to 16 following this release. These are the same cost of 500 credits to obtain as other slots beyond the 10th.

Enjoy!

Penned by my hand on Quensday, the 5th of Haernos, in the year 504 MA.
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