Monstology Guide
by Little Boo, Ruppert Smee, March 15 2007

Monstology Requirements:

1. You must be a citizen. Pay off the king by transfering 1 million silvers to the king's bank account.
2. You must have a boat. Buy a boat from any port with 5 million silver from your bank account and 10 nets in your backpack.
3. You must travel to Thord-Artin and kill 100 monsters in the Thord-Artin army. This can be done as early as level 29 with an extremely well-built character, but levels 30 or 31 are more reasonable goals.

Monstology Equipment:

1. Nets. Each time you catch a monster, it uses up one of your nets. Nets are also sometimes lost while trying to catch monsters. I like to keep ten in my pack so that I don't have to go back to the store too often.
2. Fodder satchel. This keeps your captured monster fed. An unfed monster will either die or attack you after a few steps. Since the fodder satchel will explode when put in your pack with other another type of satchels, be sure that you aren't carrying a miracle satchel or manasatchel. I carry two just in case the first one runs out, as all satchels eventually do.
3. Fodder. I carry this as additional protection against my fodder satchel wearing out. I keep 15 in my pack at all times, which is enough to make it to Thord-Artin and find a place to release the monster.

Catching & Releasing Monsters:

1. Go out and engage a monster in combat.
2. Hit him with your ranged attack (so you don't throw a net on the ground) and then use the drop-down menu to "Catch the monster." If the monster is of a level that is significantly lower than your character, you should throw a net the first round instead of attacking with ranged so that you do not kill it (you WILL waste one net this way).
3. Often you won't catch the monster on the first attempt. Just keep tossing nets until you have to run away due to low hit points or until you catch it.
4. You can only carry one monster at a time, so head to the port after you have caught one.
5. Sail to Thord-Artin. Pay attention to the number of steps the monster can last without starving. This will be at 3 if you have a satchel. You must feed every five steps if you are using fodder alone.
6. Once you're on Thord-Artin, find a block that is not on the front lines (a block with no army on any surrounding block). You will see one of the following messages on each non-front line block:
   1. The current ecosystem will not support additional monsters of the type you have captured. You will need to find other specimens!
   2. You can release the first specimen of your monster's kind here!
   3. You can release your monster here!
7. If you can release the monster on the block (cases b and c above), use the drop-down menu to "Release caught monster". Congratulations! You are now a bonafied monstalogist.

Monstology Points:

1. The catch will get you 1 point.
2. A first-release (case b above) will get you 5 points.
3. Releases of the 2nd through 11th monsters (case c above) will get you 2 points each.
4. Release of the 12th monster on a block will get you 6 points and repopulate the block.
5. If your monster dies before you can release him, you lose the point for the catch.
6. If your character dies while carrying a monster, you lose the point for the catch.

Helpful Tips:

1. If you repopulate (establish, "repop") a monster, please click the block on the map of Thord-Artin, click the red X icon () beside the monster's name and fill in the form. This is currently the ONLY way that monstalogists can see which monsters can be released and where they may be released. If monstalogists do not report their repops, it makes it difficult for all of us to know what can and can't be released. We will soon find ourselves capturing and transporting monsters which can't be released anywhere.
2. If you find a mistake in the monstology information displayed on this site, please take the steps to fix it. If it is an established monster that wasn't reported, simply report as you would report your own repopulations. If it is a monster that is listed as established but it actually isn't, then post your discovery in this thread.
3. If you intend to spend a great deal of time on monstalogy, it is advisable to upgrade your boat once or more times so that you spend fewer clicks per trip. Boat upgrade costs can be found here.
4. Realize that monstalogy, while fun and rewarding (you can't beat a surprise repop), is quite an expensive hobby. You must pay for nets, fodder, satchels, and port fees to transport your boat. It helps to have the ability to either dig to generate silvers or to steal nails on Thord-Artin to support your hobby.
5. Stay on God mode to meet more monsters that will give you more XP per release. The amount of XP you receive per release = the number of monstology points you received * the amount of XP the monster was worth.
6. Ensure that the monster you caught CAN be released somewhere on Thord-Artin before you try catching it. Monsters can only be released in the districts where they can be found. For example, monsters that are found everywhere (e.g. plaguecarriage) can be released anywhere while monsters found in the caverns (e.g. calloussoled rhynoceros) can only be released in the caverns – and there aren't any caverns on Thord-Artin as of yet.
7. The Monster Browse By Level search allows you to see all monsters within a specific level range that can still be populated somewhere on Thord-Artin. You can also view a monster page (e.g. pawnwhale) to see which blocks it has been populated on, and which ones it has not.
8. Even if you catch an "unknown monster" (a monster you have not defeated yet) and release it, it will stay as unknown until you actually defeat it.
9. Naturally, keeping this site at all times is highly recommended, not only for monstalogy, but also for the game in general!

Finally, in the words of that drunk guy in the pub: "Do you know it sonny, that the most powerful heroes are all masters of monstalogy!"