                        SLEEPING GODS LIE

Typed in by MEDUSA. Edited by PARASITE.


      Waking, I rose from my pallet  and  gazed at my room through the mist
created by early-morning eyes. Some leafalets had been pushed through the door
and were now lying untidly on the floor. The smaller of the two was a crude
pamphlet proclaiming the writers intention to take on the power of the
Archmage despite the latter being backed by the full force of the imperial
court in Morav. I smiled bitterly: such bravado never seemed to achieve any
thing, except for the disappearance of the author.Presumably the pamphlet had
been delivered earlier in the night in an attempt to avoid capture. The other
item was, surprisingly enough, an advertisement. It seemed encredible to me
that in this time of plague and oppression the sycophants of Morav still
managed to produce and deliver such trash.
        Not that they would get much custom around here: more than half the
occupants of the city had been dragged off by the agents of the Archmage to
face and unknown but doubtless terrible fate.

      Suddenly, I heard the crash of something heavy falling against the door.
Fearing the agents of the Archmage, I reached for my back door key, intending
to slip away and hopefully avoid capture- but the key was missing. I waited,
sweat  cool against my brow, and braced myself for a last- ditch stand I
already knew to be hopeless.

      Silence, Cautiously approaching the door I could hear the sound of
tortured breathing. I opened the door a crack, and saw to my amazement a
Kobbold, one of the old creatures whose dealings with humankind had been a
fundamental link in the trade routes of Tessera before they all mysteriously
disappeared. This one was in a bad way, bruised and bloody- the crash had been
the sound of his body hitting the door as he fell. He looked up with pained
eyes, and tried to speak.

"Hold on", I said. "I'll get something to help you."

"N-no",he whispered. "just listen. we kobbolds - we have been attempting to
wake the Sleeper,N'Gnir, but its difficult. We needed a device from this
kingdom. Four of us were sent to get it....but the demons....all dead".

His head dropped.

"Hold on", I said. "You're not finished yet. I have some herbs...."

"No time. Just take....device....to Sleeper. Go."

He pressed a small object into my hand.

"Wait!", I cried. "Where is the Sleeper? Where do I go?"

A barely audible hiss escaped his lips. I pressed my ear close.

"Hermit...."

He was dead. I looked at the object in my hand. It seemed to be nothing more
than a curiously-wrought iron bangle, marginally too small for my wrist,
inlaid with intricate lines of jade.

I considered his request. Unauthorised travel had been illegal ever since the
Archmage had declared a state of emergency in the name of the Emperor, and I
had no proof that the Kobbolds story was true. It seemed so unreal that a
dying Kobbold fleeing imperial demons should turn up outside my door. But if
it was true - to wake the Sleeper ! I had to try.

PLAYING SLEEPING GODS LIE
Playing Sleeping Gods Lie, is very simple: everything may be accomplished by
movement and the firing of weaponry. If you walk over an item which may be
carried, you will automatically pick it up ( see the notes on weaponry and
clothing). Often characters will attempt to talk to you :pay close attention
to what they have to say, as it will often be useful. To travel between land
scapes in Tessera you should approach likely exits at the edge of your current
playing area, though it will sometimes be necessary to fight characters and
creatures guarding these exits. Otherwise you will progress by defeating
assailants,conserving your strength and using your wits.

SCREEN LAYOUT
1.Viewing Area : This shows what you actually see in front of you, and so it
is the single most important part of the screen. As you reach the edge of the
playing area, the screen colours lighten.

2.Compass: This shows the direction you are facing.

3.Clock: One Tessera hour corresponds roughly five minutes of our time. The
day is divided into twelve hours, starting at dawn. There are nine hours of
day, and three of night. Below the clock the Tesseran date is displayed. The
year is divided in 17 months of 17 days, with each month named after one of
the old Gods.

4.Pie Chart of Stamina: This is an indication of your physical well-being; it
can be increased by sleep, rest or food and decreased by strenuous effort,
arduous conditions (such as extremes of temperature) or wounds from battle.
The colour of the pie will redden as your condition deteriorates.

5.Pie Chart of Magical Presence: This becomes more powerful the more magical
devices you collect. Your presence will be more obvious to the creatures such
as demons who can detect magic.

6.Weapon: At the start of the game you will only have your bare hands, but as
you progress and find weaponry the most powerful weapon that you are carrying
will be displayed. If you wish to select another weapon that you have picked
up then press the F2 key until it is graphically displayed.

7.Clothing: Your figure will display all of those items of clothing which you
acquire on your travels. If any two items of clothing cannot be worn together
(for instance a hat and a helmet) the first will be dropped.

8.Text Window: The top line displays:

i. The weapon which you are currently using and its status:loading,reloading
or empty. The reload time of some weapons is longer than others. If you run
out of ammunition for a weapon, but still have ammunition which you can throw,
the display will inform you that you are using your bare hands.

ii. The ammunition currently being used. The most powerful ammunition available
for your weaponry is automatically selected.

iii. Your experience rating, or game score.

The lower area of text displays your ammunition and an inventory of all of the
objects you pick up (except weaponry and clothing). When you pick up an
interesting object, or if anyone wishes to say something to you, it will
display a message for you to read for a few seconds.

CONTROLS
You can move within Sleeping Gods Lie by using your Mouse, Joystick
(in port 1) or Keyboard. The view of the playing area is a first person view
from the players eyes. You may freely move about the landscape by moving the
on-screen cursor up or down to move forwards or backwards respectively; and
left or right to rotate left or right respectively (note that the cursor is
self-centering for left-right movement). The cursor also displays the aiming
direction for your weapon. To fire, simply press the fire button. You should
find this method of control very easy to master.

THE KEYBOARD CONTROLS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
ARROW UP       Move forwards
ARROW DOWN     Move backwards
ARROW LEFT     Rotate left
ARROW RIGHT    Rotate right
SPACE BAR      Fire
HELP           Options Menu
ESCAPE         Toggle game pause

In dialogue boxes:
RETURN:            To accept the option
UNDO (ST)          To reject the option
DELETE             To reject the option

OPTIONS SCREEN
To access the options screen, press the Help key on your Atari ST and Amiga,
or the Escape key on your PC compatible. The options screen allows you to load
and save your game position and to quit or return to the game. You may save
your game position at any time, and we recommend that you do so at regular
intervals if you are making progress. In load or save game mode, you may
select desired directories, drives and file names by moving the pointer to
highlight your selection and clicking on the relevant  area of the screen. In
the case of entering directory and file names, you can type in the information
and enter it by pressing return.

USEFUL KEY PRESSES
F1                SLEEP          F2/ALT             CHANGE WEAPON
F3                SPEED UP       F4                 SLOW DOWN
F5                50Hz           F6                 60Hz
F8                LOAD           F9                 SAVE
F10               QUIT           SHIFT F10          QUICK EXIT

SLEEP: You may choose this option at any stage in the game. Time progresses
much more quickly in sleep mode, and your stamina will recover. The rest of
Tessera does not sleep, however, and you will be woken if you are attacked
by any assailant.

CHANGE WEAPON: This option allows you to select the different weapons you
may have collected.

SPEED UP : With this option, you will move at twice your normal speed. However,
since time passes more quickly, all of the other characters move faster as well.
In this mode the hands of the clock turn red.

SLOW DOWN: This option returns you to normal speed.

LOAD:This option brings up the LOAD options menu.

SAVE:This option brings up the SAVE options menu.

QUIT:This option allows you to quit from the game.

QUICK EXIT:This option allows you to quickly exit the game.

KINGDOMS OF TESSERA
The world of Tessera is composed of eight separate Kingdoms, with each Kingdom
comprising up to six external landscapes. Try to make a map, as you will often
have to return to a previous landscape to solve a problem. Your major task
will be to work out how to get from landscape to landscape and from Kingdom to
Kingdom in your search for the sleeper. Once you travel to a new Kingdom, you
will not be allowed to return to a previous one.

For those of you who are mathematically minded, the Kingdoms map like a four-
demensional hypercubek or Tesseract. But fear not, because a Ph.D in mathematics
is not prerequisite to succeeding in the game. If you cannot wait to find what
you may encounter, here follows a brief description of Tessera.

CAILA and TAIRA
The quiet green Duchy of Caila remained long untouched by the changes imposed
by the Archmage, but now, even here, the population has been depleted. The
main population centre was the great city of Thurin, one of the few outside
the Urban City of Morav, and this is still the players home. Taira is an
altogether wilder place, and always less populous. Its major claim to fame is
the Magic Tree, whose magical powers are renowned.

SYLVAR
Once a thickly forested zone, Sylvar has been much thinned by over-enthusiastic
deforestation, with the result that many of the trees are heavily prejudiced
against human civilization.
        This is the home of the fierce Sylvar dwarves, who may be found on the
surface, but prefer to inhabit their subterranean caverns. Deep in the woods
lies the Fountain, source of all arboreal intelligence.

DELANDA
The lakelands of Delanda used to be home to a thriving community of fishermen
and sea farmers. The passivity of the waters made it ideal territory for
ferrymen, some of whom still ply their trade-although it has become a
dispiriting task-mostly transporting agents of the Archmage from place to place.

THE MISTY MOUNTAINS OF SIMALA
The mist-enshrouded Simala Hills form the home of some of Tessera's wildest
creatures, yet in olden days proved popular for winter holidays for the wealthy
neighboring Morav. Now, the snow demons hold solitary sway, save for the
occasional sighting of the wierd sisters,who seem to regard the area as a
home-from home.

THE URBAN CAPITAL of MORAV
The city of Morav, the capital of Tessera, is home to the imperial Family and
nearly a quarter of the entire human population. However, doors remain locked,
and the inter-city areas have become barren from neglect. All exits from the
level have(supposedly) been closed except for the one in the Palace, which is
so heavily guarded that only a magician could possibly hope to get into it
without permission.

THE DESERTS of SUNDERABAD
Sunderabad had been reduced to desert long before the current Archmage ever
assumed command, through natural climatic problems and over-explotation of
natural resources. Nonetheless, it is home of the Priests of Pha, chief of
whom is the Archmage himself. Many have sought peace of mind by joining the
sect, whose mysterious Pyramids dot the landscape hiding strange and arcane
secrets.

THE CATACOMBS OF ESTAMANE
In certain ways, almost the opposite of Sunderabad, Estamane (known colloquially
to the Moravese as "Hel") is a cold place of mists and ice. It is rumoured to
be the abode of the dead, and certainly there seems to be a large body of
evidence supporting this view. Few wander outside the catacombs onto the
surface,possibly because of the rumour that the Three Fates live somewhere in
Estamane, stirring the vast, black cauldron in which they brew up the lives of
men and women.

THE CORATINIAN STATE
Much like a cross between Caila and Delanda in their heyday, the Coratinian
States are now in a mess. The need for the Waking is the disaster here, and by
a cruel fate this is where the Sleeper lies. The response of a Nature pushed
beyond breaking point has been the main reason for the Kobbold's failure to
perform their task-and the reason for your quest. Strange, warped creatures
roam an even more warped landscape. Who knows where your quest will end ?

WEAPONS
For the techinically minded player, and the curious, we provide a list of
weaponry, ammunition, armour and accessories that you will find during the
course of the game. May God's strength be with you !

The weapons are ballistic in nature, and more powerful ones should become
available as the game progresses. You carry simultaneously all weapons which
you have picked up, and although the most powerful is automatically displayed,
you may select the weapon of your choice (see Useful Key Presses).

NAME                 SPEED      RANGE       DAMAGE      RELOAD       RENEWAL
Bare Hands            30         30          5            5            No
Sling                 33         30         15           10            No
Staff Sling           35         70         17           10            No
Blowgun               38         80         10           10            NO
Light Crossbow        45        160         25           20            No
Shortbow              40        100         20           10            No
Heavy Crossbow        60        200         50           30            No
Longbow               50        240         30           10            No
Rod of Flame          oo        180         50            5           100
Fireball Wand         55        200         60           10            70
Lightning Spear       oo        250         90           20           150
Dragon Spear          75        250         100           5           120
Ring of               oo        400         150          10          1000
Annihilation

SPEED is the speed of the projectile (m s-1). RANGE and DAMAGE are relative,
RELOAD is the time it takes to reload after firing, and RENEWAL is the time it
takes magical items to recharge after they have expended the stored number of
shots.

AMMUNITION  and ACCESSORIES
     Pebbles              Lead Shot             Pellets
     Throwing Stars       Darts                 Poison Darts
     Bolts                Flame Bolts           Arrows
                          Flame Arrows

     Armband of Strength          Throw Accuracy Gauntlet
     Belt of Lung Capacity        Pouch of Renewal
     Quiver of Renewal            Amulet of Channeling

The damage incurred by a particular weapon will be incremented by the power of
the ammunition available.

ARMOUR and ACCESSORIES
        Travel Cloak                   Leather Tunic
        Chain Shirt                    Metal Plate
        Helmet                         Dragonskin
        Adamantine Armour              Greaves
        Sheild                         Robe of Camouflage
        Gloves                         Hat
        Glasses of Ultimate Cool       Necklace
        Circlet of Concentration       Amulet of Protection
        Boots of Speed                 Bracelets
        Sandals of Water Walking

GAME PLAY HINTS
As you play Sleeping Gods Lie, you will find that various strategies will
serve you well in your quest. Here we provide you with just a few hints which
might be helpful to start you off.

(a) When you kill assailants, they will often drop weapons and ammunition
which you can use. You will find that this will help your mission.

(b) The mouse and the Joystick work simultaneously with the keyboard controls,
and you will find that rotating with the keyboard leaves you to concentrate
on shooting when you are in a tight spot.

(c) Try to get your retaliation in first-there is normally time to hit
assailanat before he or she hits you. Remember, however not everyone is an
enemy !

(d) Keep a close eye on your compass, and make a map. Note that a Tesseract
has a curious way of mapping.

(e) Look out for natural signs of gateways-not just gates-to help you to move
between landscapes.

(f) Save the game when you have made some progress-it will make life much
easier if you are killed !.

(g) Search each area carefully for usefull objects, those with keen sight will
be rewarded.

(h) Look for natural food to sustain your stamina.