Chapter 7: Meditations

Meditations are mind over body techniques which are taught by the Order of Zarathustra. Members of this Order follow the teachings of the ancient Persian religious philosopher Zarathustra. Zarathustra was a real person, and his philosophies profoundly influenced the course of western thought and religion. During the game, you will get a chance to learn a great deal more about the prophet Zarathustra by meeting and talking to members of his Order. The Zarathustrans are usually located in town temples, since they are a religious order.

You do not need to be a member of the Order of Zarathustra to learn meditations, but you must be a pious and charitable person. Acts of charity are expected of people living in the Near East, especially well-to-do people like noble men and women. Since you are role-playing a character of the Princely class, you will need to donate some of your wealth to the religious Order of Zarathustra, who will distribute alms to the poor in your behalf. Once you have demonstrated your charity by donating regularly, the Zarathustrans will teach you the meditations they know.

What are meditations?

Meditations are special skills that your characters can acquire throughout the game. These skills are largely defensive in nature, and allow your characters to do such things as heal their own vitality or stamina, or purge deadly poison from their bodies.

One thing you may notice right away when you start playing Jewel of Arabia, is the absence of a "healer" character. This is a standard character in most RPGs and is usually a holy man or priest. Rather than designate one character as the party healer, we decided to give all characters the opportunity to heal themselves. This lends a greater strategic and dynamic feel to the game, since all characters get to acquire and use new skills. Also, if you've ever played traditional paper RPGs, there are always plenty of people who want to be fighters or magicians, but almost no one ever jumps at the chance to be the priest. It's just not as much fun.

Meditations are an integral part of the game, but are not required. You may learn as many or as few meditations as you choose. To learn new meditations, visit the Zarathustrans at the town temples. Talk with the Order member there and find out which meditation he or she knows and if it is one you would like to learn.

To access a character's meditations, click the "Meditate" button. This will bring up the selected character's list of meditations. Most meditations are valid both in and out of combat. If a meditation is ever not allowed, its name will be dimmed, indicating that you can not chant it at this time.

Meditations are only half as effective during combat, due to the more stressful conditions that you have to meditate under. Also, chanting a meditation consumes a character's entire combat "turn". So, if your character has two attacks that round, use the first one to attack a monster, and the second one to chant a meditation.

What is prana?

Prana is the life force or essence inherent in all living things. It is more of a concept than anything physical. If you are familiar with martial arts, then you have probably encountered something very similar to prana called chi or ki. And if you are a fan of the Star Wars movies, prana is "the force" as in "May the force be with you".

For purposes of gameplay, prana is the "currency" which allows you to meditate. Each time you meditate, you use a fixed portion of your available prana (usually 1/4 to 1/2) to perform a meditation. As you gain levels, you gain additional prana, and so the power of your meditations is always increasing.

Prana serves one other purpose: it enables your characters to withstand mental attacks by intelligent creatures. Intelligent monsters (usually other races' Sufi characters) will try to cast mental spells on your characters. Characters with high prana will be able to resist these spells more effectively.

Meditating is a physically and mentally demanding activity, and the prana you tap into when you meditate can be restored only by physical rest. Thus, you must camp or rest at an inn to restore your prana once you have used it. It will not restore automatically as you walk around.

Donations: making charity a way of life

In order to learn meditations, you will need to donate money regularly at the temples in towns. Whenever you visit a town, you should get in the habit of visiting the temple and "talking" to the Zarathustran there. Whenever you talk to a Zarathustran, an extra button appears at the bottom of the talking form with the word "donate" on it.

To make a donation, simply click this button. Each time you donate, 10% of your treasure is taken and this amount is recorded in your favor.

Since charity is not just the amount you give, but how often you give, the number of times you donate is also recorded. In fact, the amount you donate is not as important as how often you give money. You can try and figure out the donation model, but it's easier to just donate regularly than to try and find a way to "beat the system".

Can I join the Order of Zarathustra?

During the game, you will be given the opportunity to join the Order of Zarathustra. This is your choice, and you do not have to join the Order to finish the game.

There are several advantages to joining the Order of Zarathustra. First off, you will be able to learn some additional meditations that are only taught to members of the Order. And second, you will not need to donate to the Order regularly to learn all of the basic meditations. Members of the Order will teach them to you automatically.

If joining the Order of Zarathustra sounds too good to be true, that's because there is one catch. If you join the Order, you must take a "vow of charity". This vow is serious and it requires that you donate half of all of your treasure to charity. This money will be taken from you automatically, each and every time you win treasure on the battlefield. So, you the player must weigh the rewards against the costs when deciding if you really want to be a member of the Order.

May Zarathustra guide you.