I know I am getting old, but if memory serves me, didn't starting items for new players include a Book and a Candle in the old OSI Renaissance release? I would personally love a newbie-fied journal and candle... and it would be era appropriate, wouldn't it?
faint memory but... I believe even here, inscription starts with a empty book that once written in, remains "newbied"
Different starting skills give different newbie items, all three skills need to be at least 20 I think. You can get all types of newbie items
Below is a list of Newbie Items from the old T2A forum. So far, all of these items seem consistent with what we receive at character creation in UO Renaissance, but there are no books or candles mentioned anywhere. The thread also confirmed that all new characters started with the following: 100 Gold pieces book candle dagger Clothing (random) I have confirmed that Scribes do start out with a single purple book in UO:R. I have written in it but I have yet to determine if it will be present upon resurrection. Still no sign of a candle or any other source of light as a newbie item, though. Alchemy - 3 each of 4 random Reagents, 5 Bottles, Mortar & Pestle, Robe (red) Anatomy - 3 Bandages, Robe (grey) Animal Lore - Robe (green), Shepherd's Crook [practice weapon] Animal Taming - Shepherd's Crook [practice weapon] Archery - 25 Arrows, Bow [practice weapon] Arms Lore - Random practice weapon Begging - Gnarled Staff [practice weapon] Blacksmithy - Half Apron (brown), random blacksmithing tool Bowcraft - 14 Boards, 5 Feathers, 5 Shafts Camping - Bedroll, 5 Kindling Carpentry -10 Boards, Half Apron (brown), random carpentry tool Cartography - Blank Maps, Sextant Cooking - Kindling, 3 Raw Birds, Flour Sack (full), Water Pitcher (full) Detect - Cloak (dark grey) Enticement - Random musical instrument EvaluateINT - None Fencing - Spear [practice weapon] Fishing - Fishing Pole, Floppy Hat (brown) Forensic - NONE Healing - 5 Bandages, Scissors Herding - Shepherd's Crook [practice weapon] Hiding - Cloak (dark grey) Inscription - 2 Blank ScrollsScribe Item ID - [practice weapon] Lockpicking - 5 Lockpicks Lumberjack - Hatchet [practice weapon] MaceFighting - Mace [practice weapon] Magery - 3 random First Circle Scrolls, 3 of each Reagent, Spellbook Meditation - Robe Mining - Pickaxe or Shovel Musicianship - Random musical instrument Parrying - Wooden Shield Peacemaking - Random musical instrument Poisoning - 2 Poison (Green) Potions Provocation - Random musical instrument ResistSpell - Spellbook Snooping - 4 Lockpicks SpiritSpeak - Cloak (Grey) Stealing - 4 Lockpicks Swordmanship - Longsword [practice weapon] Tailoring - 4 Folded Cloth, Sewing Kit Taste ID - 3 random Potions Tinkering - Half Apron (brown), random component, Tinker Tools Tracking - Boots (brown), Skinning Knife [practice weapon] Veterinary - 5 Bandages, Scissors Wrestling - Leather Gloves [edited on 12/24/16 at 10:00 est - reason list clean up]
At some point there had been talk of allowing clothing bless deeds to work on lanterns, torches, and candles.
Oh, and @Tsarkon made this handy guide for UOR: http://uorforum.com/threads/list-of-items-at-character-creation-by-skill.15353/ Note: On further inspection, this list may not be wholly accurate.
I 100% remember the brownish/dark red newbie book. It was awesome. it fit so perfectly along with scissors and a dagger in the lower right corner of your backpack. The blue one does too, but its a bit bulky and I end up opening it on accident sometimes. The blue inscription newbie book is indeed newbied and will stay with you after death.
Hmmm... I was going to make that same joke earlier, but I thought, "No, no... that is too corny even for UO:R" That was an obvious overestimation, I now realize. You just made my day! (...and considering that it is Christmas Eve, that is kind of sad.) Still, this seems like a work-around means of acquiring one of two newbied items that ALL players should receive at character creation, in my opinion.