Manifesto
No archived “Nilgiri Manifesto” text was recovered from Wayback. This page is an honest player editorial summarizing design principles that show up in Game Law, Code Law, and Codex: Economy — not a claim to be a lost official document.
Principles we can point to
Friendship and information
Game Law puts communicating and exploring first: organize campaigns, make friends, trade knowledge — or keep secrets as an advantage. Friends tracking and boards reinforce long-term social play.
A living note economy
Treasure becomes Banking Guild notes; shops use auctions and market pressure instead of only fixed mob gold tables. Codex: Economy argues for uniqueness controls and resisting runaway inflation so the world stays playable for a long time.
Classless growth
Skills and spells follow the stats you roll, not a locked class ladder. Practice and the skills tree are the progression spine.
Harsh but readable justice
Cities uphold murder / theft / looting with witnesses and courts. There is no imprisonment fantasy — conviction means death. The rules are meant to be knowable, not bureaucratic.
Transparent systems
Pseudo-dice, game time vs real time, and auto-generated spell/skill pages exist so players can visualize what the server is doing. Code Law favors Java libraries, embedded H2, and Beanshell so creators can extend the world dynamically.
Open connection
The game stays reachable with ordinary SSH: ssh nilgiri@nilgiri.net. Code lives at github.com/nilgirian/Neo-Nilgiri.