This is the practical guide to joining the three live civic Orders on Immortal Realm: the College of Chirurgeons, the High Ledger, and the Velvet Hand. For the broader institutional layer, Civic Orders is the meta-page.
Quick Answer
| Order | Where | Who to Talk To | Starting Rank | Joining Gate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| College of Chirurgeons | Britain Hall (Trammel) | Master Aldric Vermeer (the Provost) | Orderly (rank 1) | Single-Order membership only |
| High Ledger | Britain Hall (~1476, 1645 Trammel) | Keeper Marcellus Vane | Clerk (rank 1) | Single-Order membership only |
| Velvet Hand | City placements | Idle Hand presence in cities | Initiate (rank 1) | Single-Order membership only |
The single-Order check is enforced by OrderRegistry.JoinPlayer, which returns AlreadyInAnotherOrder if you're already a member elsewhere. After leaving an Order, a 14-day cross-Order cooldown applies before you can join any Order again — JoinResult.OnCooldown blocks the attempt with a "you recently left the {Order}" message. There is no civic-record screening — players with active Crown Writs against them aren't blocked from joining any of the three Orders.
Quick Facts
| All three Orders are live | Yes |
| Joining cost | None (no gold paid at join) |
| Skill requirements | None enforced; Healing/Magery help in the College, lockpicking helps in the Hand |
| What you receive on join | Order-specific: Velvet Hand drops a Code book + 12 lockpicks to your pack; the others run their own induction |
| Rank progression after joining | Service-based (see Order pages for ladders) |
Step-by-Step: College of Chirurgeons
The healing institution. The most accessible Order for new and casual players.
- Travel to Britain (Trammel). Take the moongate from any major city.
- Find the College Hall. It's in Britain proper.
- Approach Master Aldric Vermeer. He's the Provost — the College's joining NPC. The Provost is the institutional figurehead, not a player rank.
- Open the joining gump. Master Aldric walks you through the College's expectations; on accept, the system calls
OrderRegistry.JoinPlayerand registers you. - You're now an Orderly. The entry rank (rank 1 of 7).
- Begin service work — treatments and civic powers toward your first 30 service points and the Orderly→Attendant exam.
The full Order page is at College of Chirurgeons.
What to expect at the College
| Aspect | Detail |
|---|---|
| Joining gate | Single-Order membership only; no civic-record screening |
| Skill recommendation | Healing and Magery help in practice; not enforced at join |
| Service-point sources | Cure Shakes 4, Cure Mire Lung 8, Cure Call Stones 12; civic verbs (Absolve / Bless Writ / Prestige Hunt / Relic Aura) 4 each |
| First promotion gate | 30 SP + Orderly exam (multiple-choice gump, 24h cooldown on fail) |
Step-by-Step: High Ledger
The records, contracts, and writ institution.
- Travel to Britain (Trammel, ~1476, 1645). The Ledger Hall is separate from the College Hall.
- Approach Keeper Marcellus Vane. He's titled the Keeper of the High Ledger — the Hall's joining NPC.
- Open the joining gump. A multi-page induction reads through the Code of the Ledger, the Order's binding rules. Accept calls
OrderRegistry.JoinPlayer. - You're now a Clerk. The entry rank (rank 1 of 7).
- Begin service work — Ledger lookups (1pt cap 10/day), attestations filed (2pt each), contracts witnessed (3pt each); 200 SP/day overall cap, 20 filings/day ceiling.
The full Order page is at High Ledger Guide.
What to expect at the Ledger
| Aspect | Detail |
|---|---|
| Joining gate | Single-Order membership only; no civic-record screening |
| Skill recommendation | None enforced; Magery helps for travel between filings |
| First promotion gate | 20 SP + Clerk exam (24h cooldown on fail). Subsequent ranks add witnessing-breadth gates and minimum hold-time gates |
Step-by-Step: Velvet Hand
The operations Order. Membership flows through the same OrderRegistry.JoinPlayer plumbing as the others — there's no special selectivity gate. The flavor is more selective; the mechanic isn't.
- Find idle Hand presence in cities. The bootstrap places Hand-flavored NPCs in major cities (city-placement bootstrap fires on world load).
- Approach a Hand NPC. The joining flow opens; accept the Code.
- You're registered as an Initiate. The entry rank (rank 1 of 7). The system drops a copy of the Code book and 12 lockpicks to your pack.
- Speak with the steward again when you're ready for a training-lane assignment. The lane is singleton-occupied (one initiate at a time on a given lane) and resets on its own timeout if you leave the Order.
- Begin operations — each successful operation registers 1 service point (
AwardOperationPoint) toward the Walker exam (5 SP).
The full Order page is at Velvet Hand.
What to expect with the Velvet Hand
| Aspect | Detail |
|---|---|
| Joining gate | Single-Order membership only — same as the others |
| Skill recommendation | Stealth and Hiding help in practice; lockpicks come from the Order on join |
| First promotion gate | 5 SP + Walker exam (24h cooldown on fail) |
| Mid-rank pacing | Reach (3-day Walker hold) → Whisper (7-day) → Sleeve (14-day) → Open Hand (21-day) → The Hand (30-day). Total minimum 75 days held-rank time from Walker to The Hand on top of the operation grind |
Which Order Should You Join?
Decision tree:
| You Want To... | Order |
|---|---|
| Heal others, treat maladies, civic-good work | College of Chirurgeons |
| File contracts, maintain records, civic-good work | High Ledger |
| Disrupt writs, free prisoners, counter-civic work | Velvet Hand |
| Stay neutral but engage civically | Either College or Ledger |
| Combine PvP focus with civic identity | Velvet Hand or PvP-side guild |
You can't be wrong with this choice; rejoining is possible if you change your mind, and Orders aren't lifetime commitments.
Common Mistakes
- Joining day 1 without exploring. Wait until you've at least completed New Haven and visited Britain. You'll make a more informed choice.
- Treating leaves as casual. The 14-day cross-Order cooldown after leaving means you can't bounce between Orders week-to-week. Picking your first Order is a 2+ week commitment regardless of how it goes.
- Joining the Velvet Hand expecting a casual try-out. The Hand is more selective than the others.
- Treating the joining oath as flavor. It's not just text — accepting binds you to the Order's civic responsibilities.
- Forgetting to do service work after joining. Membership without activity stagnates; you won't promote.
What to Do After Joining
| Stage | Action |
|---|---|
| First week | Conduct your first 1-3 service actions |
| First month | Build toward your first promotion |
| Long-term | Attend public scenes, build reputation, climb ranks |
For Order-specific paths beyond joining, follow the linked Order pages.
Where to Read Next
- For the institutional overview, Civic Orders.
- For the College specifically, College of Chirurgeons.
- For the High Ledger specifically, High Ledger Guide.
- For the Velvet Hand specifically, Velvet Hand.
- The download page is the on-ramp when you're ready.
