I think u join a guild and then do writ quests. I think you then earn status for your guild (whatever it's called - this gets your guild to a higher level - lots of people doing these) and status points for your char (which u can at some point spend on city merchants, not normal merchants).
A gnome in the mage tower in S Q gives out writ quests. Basically go kill 10 whatevers.
Edited, Fri Jan 14 14:23:58 2005 by EvilGnomes