First I want to give a big applause to the Carrion Field community for having such an in-depth and extensive role play system. I've been playing MUDs since middle-school and my college buddies still gawk at me for finding scrolling lines of text ("It's too fast to read!") entertaining and fun ("Come on, lets go play Halo instead"). And out of all the "top-ranked" MUDs I've tried, I have to say Carrion Fields is one of the few I thoroughly enjoy and proud to have invest so much effort in creating a character instead of leveling up and such.

My first question is regarding shrines. I get the feeling that shrine locations are something sacred and rarely mentioned by players in-game and out, which I can understand for a good reason. But I was wondering if it would be okay seek assistance regarding a shrine location while in character (IC). My perspective IC is that if a pilgrim was making a pilgrimage and needed directions, he would be more than free to ask around a town unless the god struck down mortals who utter any syllables regarding the shrine locations or something. I'm not saying I would approach absolute strangers and ask "Hey you got speedwalks to X shrine", but rather asking people I frequently travel with or hang out with for suggestions or hints. My OOC reason for this is that shrine locations are often incredibly vague from the help file and the few libraries I've hit have come up empty. Perhaps I just picked a god that required an extra bit of effort from his worshippers; but exploring possible areas with often dangerous monsters, dying repeatedly, and then finding out the shrine is not in the area can be quite frustrating after the fourth or fifth time. A little guidance to narrow down a search can often boost a player like me with enough confidence to finish the search.

My other question is concerning guilds and cabals. I'm more familiar with the "clan" system and I've a little bit confused on the distinction between a guild and a cabal. Are they both forms of clans or are they different things? The helpfile for cabal makes it sound like a "clan" but the helpfile for guild suggests and organizational system much like that of a clan. The last sentence in the guild helpfile also throws me off regarding thieves being the only ones having this organizational structure. Are they the only ones able to blackball fellow members or are they the only ones who have a guild system? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Please be kind, for I am the first to admit I don't know nearly enough about CF although I am committed in learning more.