There have been several Wheel of Time-themed online games before and there will be many in the future. Many of them, however, have centered around a rather general theme -- their timelines roughly equal that of the books, and have a number of features in common. This file will explain some of the ways in which we feel Mirrors of the Wheel is unique.

The calendar in Jordan's world is different from the one we, as palyers, are used to in the real world. Mirrors has incoporated the calendar that Jordan has established into this game. However, we do not expect all our players to be familiar with it, so for an explanation on how the calendar works, visit our Calendar page.

The Wheel of Time world is filled with terms that relate directly to the world. For players who are very familiar with the world, the terms are probably part of the regular vocabulary, but those who have only read a few of the books might still be struggling with all of the terms that come into play in the world. Visit our Terms section to find that meaning for a certain word.

The Setting: The world of Mirrors is just that, a mirror of Robjert Jordan's world, a world of what *could* be, perhaps a world that does exist in one of the many lands found through traveling the portal stones. Mirrors of the Wheel is set roughly 300 years before the setting in the books. Rand al'Thor has not yet been born, nor will he, not in this world. The Silk Path is still open and Cairhien has profited greatly from the steady trade. The Aiel War has not happened and Avendoraldera still grows. The Forsaken are still trapped in Shayol Ghul, though it is not impossible to think that escape might occur sometime in the near future. Please consider this setting before you create your character.

The White Tower: It has been observed that, in many games, roleplay tends to revolve around the White Tower. New players are typically expected to create Novice or Warder Trainee characters and roleplay their advancement through classes and lessons. Often, when a character graduates to Aes Sedai or Gaidin, they suffer a letdown -- unable to move about the world freely, they are often restricted to teaching. Lessons are one thing when the reward is obvious, but teaching isn't always so rewarding. So we've chosen to avoid this entirely. There will be no Novice or Accepted characters. Players can be Aes Sedai out of chargen, though on an application basis. Aes Sedai and Gaidin will be allowed to move from area to area on their own without as many limitations as on other games. Roleplay in the White Tower, while extremely limited, will center around the Hall of the Tower and relations between Ajahs and the Amyrlin Seat and the relationship between the Tower and the nations of the world. Mirrors staff encourages Aes Sedai characters to head out into the world and attempt to push their own agendas.

Commoners: Many games, regardless of theme, will try to keep the number of noble or otherwise powerful characters to a minimum and encourage creating commoner characters. Our philosophy is: Why? We're all (well, most of us) commoners in real life. This is wish fulfillment. If you wished to be a barmaid, you could probably do that already. How often do you get a chance to angle for the throne of a nation? To punish a servant for spilling wine on your boots? To throw lavish parties with far-reaching, hidden agendas? That's what Mirrors of the Wheel is about. Politics and political maneuvering. We concentrate on the nobility and associated characters. While we do not forbid them we do discourage shopkeepers, blacksmiths and foot soldiers.

Nobles: The nobility are the heart of the game. Mirrors thrives on the deceit and secrecy that exists between and within houses as members strive to gain further power, even raising their house to the Throne of their nation or perhaps tracing bloodlines to another nation in the hopes of capturing another nation's throne for themselves. We encourage noble characters to be created and the creation of new noble houses to further the political and social intrigue on the game. Read over the information provided for each house and contact the house's high seat if you wish to join the House or if one does not yet exist, the area wizard.

The Shadow: There have been some Wheel of Time games that have a strong presence of the Shadow and associated members of the Dark. While we acknowledge the usefulness of having a defined 'bad guy' for plotting purposes, it is our intention to avoid depending on it too much. A Darkfriend here and there will be added to a plot, but our 'bad guys' will be less obvious. In fact, it's entirely likely that who the bad guy is depends entirely on your perspective. Rival Houses act as each other's bad guy in this setting.