Avatar

Avatars are the units in Shores of Hazeron that are controlled by players of the game. Your avatar is you, as you appear in the game environment.

Health

The health of your body is measured in hit points. The nominal human body has 50 hit points. Your maximum hit points are determined by your DNA, which varies from specie to specie.

Many hazards in the game will injure your avatar, including wild animals, other players, and physics. Your avatar falls unconscious when the injuries to your body equal or exceed your maximum hit points. When unconscious, your health ebbs away at the rate of one hit point per second until you are dead, at -30 hit points.

While you are unconscious and dying, you can be revived with prompt medical attention. You can also be injured, hastening your death.

While you are unconsious, you can be picked up by other players. To pick up a fallen avatar, look at them and press E. This lifts them onto your back and stabilizes their bleeding so they will stop dying while carried. Press E to drop them. The fallen avatar can press E to fall from the back of someone carrying them, to avoid capture in this helpless state.

When you die, your body is replaced by an Animal Carcass commodity, representing your dead carcass. You cannot be revived after you have died.

DNA and Sentient Races

The physical make-up of your avatar's body is determined by its DNA. Factors such as speed, agility, hit points, innate weapons and defenses, and locomotion are all determined by your DNA. Your DNA describes all of the physical aspects of your body.

Your avatar is synthesized using the same DNA as the animals in Shores of Hazeron.

In addition to animal species, each planet stores the DNA of one sentient race. When a planet is created, no sentient race is established yet. The first avatar to create a town square on a planet establishes its sentient race to be their DNA.

When you join the game for the first time, an empire is selected for you. Your homeworld is the capital city of your first empire, if it has a capital when you join, otherwise it will be any city in that empire. While creating a new avatar, the default DNA of your body is set to match the citizen race of your empire's home city. That way you can be just like them, slightly different, or entirely different, your choice.

When you start the game by creating a new empire, you must configure the DNA of your race. Your DNA establishes the sentient race of your homeworld immediately, before you create a town square. That way you can take your time to find a good location for your first city.

It is rumored that hospitals are developing methods for manipulating the DNA of player characters. The Shores of Hazeron medical community is hopeful but the prospect of DNA altering weapons presents a bleak misuse of that technology.

Afflictions

Hazards of the Shores of Hazeron universe can afflict your avatar with conditions that affect your health or performance.

Acid	Corrosive acid on the surface of the body.	Acid inflicts large amounts of damage that decreases rapidly over time until the acid is gone. Decontamination treatment can be applied using a surgery unit in a sick bay. Requires/consumes water from the ship's stores for decontamination. Decontamination treatment can also be performed on yourself or someone else using water in your inventory.
Bounty	Reward posted for the death of your body.	Bounties on your head are listed on the Bio (F8) window. Bounties trigger bounty hunter jobs for other players in your area. Players must observe the bounty hunter job on the Jobs (F9) window and accept the job to become eligible to collect the bounty. Bounty is collected by anyone carrying out a bounty hunter job specifically hunting for you. Once collected, the bounty is removed.
Disease	Harmful organism inside your body.	Virulence is the measure of severity for diseases. Virulence determines the amount of damage inflicted periodically to your body by the disease. Virulence increases steeply to the maximum strength of the disease then tapers off slowly over time until the disease is gone. Contagion occurs during the period of peak virulence of the disease. While contageous, the disease can be spread to nearby people who are not protected by an environment suit. Antitoxin can be applied directly or using a surgery unit in a sick bay. Disease severity is a number indicating the tech level of antitoxin required to completely cure the disease. Disease 12 requires one single antitoxin TL12 to cure it completely. Lower tech level antitoxins will reduce a disease by the tech level of the antitoxin. Antitoxin TL5 applied to Disease 12 reduces the severity to Disease 7. Two more doses would cure the disease completely.
Implant	Gestating parasitic organism implanted in a host creature, you.	Implant lies dormant inside the host as it grows through three stages: embryonic, growth, and emergent. This can take several hours. Implant inflicts damage to the host upon emergence from the host. Implant emerges at small size then grows rapidly to full size. Emergent creature has animal intelligence, even when implanted by a sentient creature. Removal of implanted organisms can be accomplished using a surgery unit in a sick bay.
Paralysis	Reduces the mobility of your body.	This could be a mental or neural effect or perhaps a physical encumberance, such as a spider web or sticky goo. Movement speed is reduced the most at first. Speed reduction drops off over a relatively short time until the condition is gone. Physical therepy treatment can be applied using a surgery unit in a sick bay.
Poison	Harmful chemical compound inside your body.	Toxicity is the measure of severity for poisons. Toxicity determines the amount of damage inflicted periodically to your body by the poision. Toxicity starts at its peak and decreases over time until the poison is gone. Antidote can be applied directly or using a surgery unit in a sick bay. Poison severity is a number indicating the tech level of antidote required to completely cure the poison. Poison 12 requires one single antidote TL12 to cure it completely. Lower tech level antidotes will reduce a poison by the tech level of the antidote. Antidote TL3 applied to Poison 12 reduces the severity to Poison 9. Three more doses would cure the poison completely.