The Rules of War:
Before Declaring War:
You must have a valid reason to declare war. E.g. not "I'm bored, let's declare war". Don't declare out of nowhere. Usually there will be rising tensions. Let politicians have a chance to solve things.
Related: diffusing a conflict should totally be something that can earn a solid reward by Council.
Declaring War:
One side in the conflict will have to post on Tales of Light a thread named "Ultimatum - NATION". E.g. "Ultimatum - Tear". This will give that clan a headsup and allow politicking, if both sides want to go that way. After at least one week/ 7 days and there being no peaceful resolution, either nation can declare war in a post including "Declaration of War against NATION". This will ensure both imms, players on the opposing side, as well as your side are alerted.
In this post, you must include 3 demands from each pool.
Pool 1 (immortal required change, choose 3), for at most 3 months:
- Addition of a patrol. Winning clan patrol placed in an agreed upon position. Considerations given to placement like in a no mob to avoid callmob farming.
- Clan mob hostage. Hostage to be jailed in the winners city, or kept as a "guest" in a palace, townhouse etc. Possible stipulation that hostage will be perma-killed if clan acts agressively. Hostage mobs possibly purpose-built, or non-essential clan mobs. E.g. a relative of Berelain, a Lord Captain, a High Lord/lady, a noble etc.
- Embassy in city of loser. E.g. a CoL mob grouped with Morgase, a Defender grouped with Berelain etc. Will be insta-removed in case of abuse.
- Implementation of a transport system between 2 places linked to the winning and losing clans.
For example a to'raken between Amador and Caemlyn after SS war, or coach from Tear to Mayene avoiding the swamps. Provision: coach zone needs to have room. - Removal of a gate in capital/ addition of a jump exit. Jehannah/ Tanchico/ EF has no coded gates, so a gate can be removed. Other cities have coded gates, thus would likely require a jump exit.
- Undo one previous concession. E.g. Andor could demand Omerna is removed from Whitebridge.
- 20.000 gold in the clan coffers.
- Advisor role for one of the victors, as shown by a title, e.g. Bobby Bobberson, Advisor to the First of Mayene.
- Demotion of up to 3 members of the losing clan for a period of one month. Questpoints and master status will be retained. This can be imm-assisted.
- Player execution. E.g. those who were the instigators, those who raided enemy city or other, limited, selection. Up to 5 players.
- Public apology. Terms mentioned in the apology to be approved by the winning clans council before it is publicly posted. If players drag their feet for too long, this will default to 20.000 gold in clan coffers, after suitable imm warnings. If the victor is dragging their feet in order to get the 20k, the demand may be forfeit altogether.
- Roleplay demand such as acknowledging Mayene is an independent state, or Tarabon/Arad Doman control Almoth etc., Tear demanding the location of oil fish shoals. Demanding unrestricted hunting rights. Demand may be formulated by clan, but will need immortal approval prior to declaration of war or the declaree posting their demands.
Duration of War:
Any war will last for 7 days RL after the first Declaration of War has been posted. After those 7 days, immortals will do a tally of turn ins and declare a winner, or draw. If there is a draw, only one demand is ceded to each side.
At any point during the war, participants in the conflict can start negotiations about ending the war. If it looks like you're losing, you might be able to negotiate a better deal than having to cede X amount of demands.
Objective:
-kill the enemy's general and bring home their banner victoriously, for 10 points.*
-kill the enemy's clan members and bring home their scalps, for 10 points.*
-kill the enemy's official declared allies and bring home their scalps or banner, for 10 points.*
-kill the enemy's affiliates and bring home their scalps, for 10 points.*
*It is absolutely imperative that you return to your own city and turn in your spoils of war to your general, otherwise they will not show up on the logs and will not count. You are advised to also keep track of these turn ins on forums, or appoint a member to do so, so your clan can gauge how the war is going. However, this is not compulsory.
"Invincibility lies in the defence; the possibility of victory in the attack."
Gaining Quest Points:
If you kill the enemy's general, the participants will gain 2 qp, in a similar way as the extra smob qps.
If you kill the enemy's clan members, you will gain the normal amount of qps, e.g. 3-7.
If you kill the enemy's official allies, official affiliates or mercenaries, you will gain the normal amount of qps, e.g. 3-7.
Council/clan masters are free to add an extra set of council quests for the duration of the war, for up to 30 qps. E.g. in case of Andor vs *oL:
-Kill Morgase for 3 qps for each group member, doable without limitation.
-Kill Tallanvor for 2 qp, doable once.
-Kill the Baerlon gateguards for 1 qp, doable 3x.
-Kill the Whitebridge gateguards for 1 qp, doable 3x.
"A good commander is benevolent and unconcerned with fame."
Multiple Factions:
Suppose the Red Eagles also declare against the *oL, while Andor and *oL are already fighting. Each faction is separate, unless they officially allied, so no hitching free rides to demands by ganging up on one enemy.
E.g. *ol vs Andor and Red Eagles can result in *oL winning from Andor, but losing to Red Eagles. That would mean that Andor has to concede to some *oL demands, but *oL will have to concede to some Red Eagle demands.
Treaties:
With the improved turn in recording, in this iteration of the war, there will be room for -ONE- official ally per warring side. This ally must have a war general, as the alliance will mean that the opposition should be able to hit said general.
The ally has to officially declare an alliance with the warring party on Tales of the Light forum. Please use the word alliance somewhere in the title of the post, for clarity. A clan may reject such a posted alliance in favor of another clan's assistance.
E.g. Cairhien would have to post an official declaration of an alliance with Andor against the *oL.
This will merge the Andoran and Cairhien war efforts, but it will also mean that *oL have an additional general they can hit. Be careful who you ally with.
Spies, bribes and subterfuge:
Having spies or bribing someone is allowed. However, a spy/ mole will need to have longevity with the clan in order to be counted. No purposefully newly clanned people 'being bought'. Scalps of newly clanned alts of opposing faction will be disregarded entirely, as they are likely based on OOC sentiments with no legitimate RP behind it.
If someone is bribed or otherwise compelled to die easily, only one scalp will be counted, unless it's a legitimate pk kill. If you want legitimate pk kills on your spy etc. to count, document the pk kills in great detail.
Official affiliates:
If an individual player is declared as an official affiliate on the side of one clan, such as an applicant who has a title and/or corresponding thread in the respective clan's forums, their scalps will count towards the opponents' war effort.
If you hit a general patrol, you will be officially logged as an affiliate. For any pk related reveals, I'd suggest players fighting affiliates record this on forums.
Hopefully we can extend this to include all affiliates, but small steps!
"In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity"
The Tally and Results:
After 14 days, the count ends and the immortals will tally each faction's results and post the results
For all pk scalps goes that alts and how they are aligned during a war will be considered, too. E.g. if someone has 2 alts against Andor and that person's inactive Lion Warden just happens to die, the scalp will likely not count for war points, unless it can be proven it was a legitimate kill.
Winning/Losing:
Within 7 days of a winner being determined, the losing clan has to pick from the opposing side's demands. If the clan fails to do so, these demands will be picked by imms and implemented at our earliest convenience.
There will be a tiered system, with amount of demands ceded based on how great the victory was:
-in case of a draw, both sides pick 1 demand from pool 2.
-losing with <100 points, loser picks 1 demand from pool 1 and 1 from pool 2.
-losing with >100 but <200 points, loser picks 1 demand from pool 1 and 2 from pool 2.
-losing with >200 points, loser picks 2 demands from pool 1 and 2 from pool 2.
"For them to perceive the advantage of defeating the enemy, they must also have their rewards."
Pardons:
With the exception of the Illian-Tear-Mayene conflict, after the war, all sides, winner, loser, allies, as well as official affiliates have to be pardoned. This excludes pardons that were given for being a male channeler or darkfriend (if issued based on evidence, e.g. not "You are a darkfriend!" "No, YOU are!").
Banishments have to be lifted. For most clans this means that they can only be re-warranted/ banished after they commit a crime.
One cannot be re-warranted for affiliation, e.g. being a Seanchan, being a clanned human, or being a Dragonsworn for a period of 1 month after the war.
This whole war system was put in so wars wouldn't be permanent. If warrants and banishments remain, it goes against the very purpose of the war system.
Cooldown:
For four weeks after the end of a war, neither the declarer, nor the declaree are allowed to be declared on. This is to ensure the game returns to 'normal' and it will not become a war-fest with all the rewards that come with warring.
(All quotes from Sun Tzu's the Art of War.)