Achaea's PK Rules
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As seen by Anonymous. Posted under Achaea as a Funnies log.Warning: Long!
Submitted 19 Apr 2009. 2610 views in total, 0.44 per day.15.4 PK (player killing) also known as PvP
(See also: HELP PKRULES, HELP PKCAUSE, HELP PKTERMS, HELP ASSASSINS,
HELP CHAMPIONS, HELP WRITS, and HELP THIEVERY.)
PK means player killing, which means adventurer vs. adventurer combat.
It refers to whenever adventurers fight each other, and is
restricted here in our realms.
PK IN SUMMARY
-------------
Then victim can For how
If you* kill you issue long after
---------------- -------- ------- ------------------
Insult someone once no 2 Achaean months
Attack someone once yes+ 30 Achaean months
Murder someone twice yes+ 30 Achaean months
Assist** once no 30 Achaean months
Defend^ once/twice no 30 Achaean months
Rob someone twice no 30 Achaean months
+ Anyone who is open PK cannot issue (see open PK below)
* You means you or your loyals or totems you own.
^ once if you defend but do not kill. Twice if you kill.
** Someone is being attacked. If you heal or help them get away,
that's ASSIST. If you attack the attacker, that's DEFEND.
In assist or defend, it's the original attacker's rights listed.
You are open PK if you To whom are you open PK?
------------------------- -----------------------------
Are a Champion/Assassin Everyone
Robbed someone Everyone for 7 Achaean months
In Full PK areas Everyone in the area (Open PK)
On Nishnatoba plane Everyone in the area (Free PK)
Robbed a House/City/Order Everyone in the organisation
until it's paid back
There is a lot more to the PK rules than this! Don't base anything off the
summaries above without understanding what they mean. For those details read on
and read the related documents.
INTRODUCTION
------------
This scroll is being revised constantly. We also want to just let you know that
we don't expect to be right 100% of the time. Sometimes we ARE going to punish
people unjustly. We're not perfect and that's just life. Because of that we
punish lightly unless there's a pattern of bad behaviour, a brazen and
intentional scorn of the rules, or a violation of certain clear-cut rules like
the multiplaying rules.
**PLEASE NOTE: The primary purpose of the PK rules is to ensure that
no individual or group is harassed, persecuted, or victimised without
due cause.
If you follow these rules (here, in HELP PKRULES and HELP PKCAUSE) and
still find ways to make another adventurer miserable that go beyond the
boundaries of acceptable behaviour, you are going to be punished. These
rules do not list every single possible thing that is punishable. People
are way too clever at coming up with new ways to screw with other people
for it to ever be complete. If something is not explicitly listed here
it doesn't automatically make it OK. The big advantage of our PK rules
is that human judgement can be applied to take into account details that
no software can.
TWO GUIDING PRINCIPLES
----------------------
Achaea is a land of drama, and without adventurer-killing the level of drama
that can be attained is reduced. Nothing evokes the sort of emotional response
that being killed by another adventurer does. With this in mind, adventurer
killing in Achaea is an accepted method for the resolution of disputes between
adventurers. Two principles - 'cause or consent' and 'IC resolution' form the
foundation.
THE PRINCIPLE OF CAUSE OR CONSENT
---------------------------------
Don't attack or kill without cause or consent.
What is consent? Consent is making it explicitly clear, in advance, that your
attack is welcome by the target. Don't assume - make sure. Or the fault is
yours.
What is cause? Many things, most of which are listed in the HELP PKCAUSE
scroll. Cause gives you the right to kill an individual, or have them killed
(via contract) without that individual being able to return the favour at a
later date. If you kill or attack someone WITHOUT cause, then that person now
has cause to kill YOU, or issue you. Much more detail is present in HELP
PKRULES and HELP PKCAUSE.
In short: PK is NOT an endless loop.
What is attack or kill? Lots of things, not all listed here. Newbie KICK,
Newbie PUNCH, and MOUNTKICK are attacks. Summoning is an attack. Attacks by
proxy or at range, such as bombs, traps, or totems are attacks. Room attacks
also count. Creating or even possessing a doll or puppet is an attack.
An attack need not cause damage or affliction to be deemed an attack. Damage or
affliction must be a possible result though. If damage or affliction is
possible as a result of any act, then it is an attack.
Restraining someone in any way is similar to an attack, but is not quite the
same thing (e.g. blocking, or setting up a firewall or icewall).
THE PRINCIPLE OF IC (IN CHARACTER) RESOLUTION
---------------------------------------------
Try IC resolutions first. ISSUE as a last resort. People who issue frequently
tend to have their complaints taken less seriously.
Look for IC ways to resolve situations - through city, order, House, or clan
contacts. Diplomacy can often be far more effective than combat. Settle for a
publicly-posted apology. Accept a cash payment. Make some sort of exchange.
Besmirch the family bloodline! Issuing is really rarely the best course of
action and issuing a lot is a clear indication, to us, of someone who invites
trouble and then tries to get the administration to protect him or her.
If there is no evidence at all of any attempt to seek IC resolution, unless it
is simply impossible to do so (which may be the case sometimes, we realise -
but even then, you can almost always try something), then you should not pursue
filing an issue (HELP ISSUES).
After all, issues are a blatantly OOC remedy. That doesn't make them wrong, but
it should give you pause to consider whether it's really important enough to
take OOC.
**History matters
The administrators of Achaea WILL take into account your past actions in order
to shed light on present intentions. If you're known as a person who looks for
reasons to kill people, your creative excuses for killing will be less
convincing. In other words, the slate never gets wiped clean even if past
offences fade with time.
Frequent use of ISSUES is often a sign of abuse of the system. Frequent
frivolous ISSUES will result in being taken less seriously in the future, and
may involve other penalties.
We realise that not all situations can be resolved IC. In those cases, use the
ISSUE system.
Use common sense and you'll generally be fine.
15.4.1 PK RULES
(See also: HELP PK, HELP PK CAUSE, HELP ISSUES, HELP ASSASSINS,
HELP CHAMPIONS, HELP WRITS, and HELP THIEVERY)
PK means player killing, which means adventurer vs. adventurer combat. It
refers to whenever adventurers fight each other, and is restricted here in our
realms.
For definitions of terms such as 'cause,' 'IC resolution,' 'attack,' and other
terms used here, please refer to HELP PK and HELP PK CAUSE.
SUMMARY
-------
This is just a summary. Read the full explanations below or you won't know the
nuances of these rules.
1. You can always defend yourself.
2. Attacking without cause gives your victim a choice of revenge
(killing you back) or filing an issue.
3. Attacking with cause gives your victim no rights at all.
4. At certain times, certain adventurers are considered "open PK" -
all this means is that these people can't file issues.
5. "Free PK" is usually for events and worldgames and means that
no cause is given or extinguished - indeed, that neither killing
nor any attack has any further implications whatsoever.
6. Neither anything OOC nor actions in the arenas give cause for PK.
7. PK for the purpose of gaining experience is not allowed.
8. What your mobiles/totems/loyal creatures do can be held against you.
9. Soldiers in War can kill each other pretty much at will.
10. Once you file an issue(*), you give up all IC right to revenge even if you
cancel that issue later.
11. The admins are not stupid and there are no loopholes.
(*) To learn more about issues, refer to HELP ISSUES. Do not file an issue
without fully understanding HELP ISSUES, including almost universal
requirement to seek IC resolution first before issuing.
THE RULES
---------
1) PERMANENT RIGHT TO SELF DEFENCE
Everyone always has the right to defend while under attack.
In short - you don't have to stand still and remain inactive
WHILE someone is attacking you. You may counterattack and continue
to fight as long as you are being attacked. Whether someone is
attacking you with or without cause, if he starts it, you always
have the right to defend yourself during the attack with no further
repercussions. This does not imply any right to pursuit. If you do
defend yourself, you do not create any rights for your attacker.
2) WITHOUT CAUSE
(a) ATTACK - If you attack someone without cause,
then he has cause on you for 30 Achaean months.
He may seek in character resolution to this situation, or
he may issue(*) you, kill you, or have you killed once.
(b) BLOCK or HINDER - If you block or hinder someone without cause,
he has cause on you for one minute from the event.
He may not issue or have you killed, but may kill you once
if the attempt commences within the time limit.
(c) KILL - If you kill someone without cause,
then he has cause on you for 30 Achaean months.
He may seek in character resolution to this situation or
he may issue(*) you, kill you, or have you killed twice.
(d) INSULT
If you insult someone (see note under HARASSMENT below),
then the victim has limited cause on you for 2 Achaean months.
He may snub you, seek in character resolution, kill you,
or have you killed. He may not issue.
If the victim is an organisation, then the rights (issue,
kill, etc) may be exercised by exactly one member of that
organisation.
If you keep insulting it may be HARASSMENT.
(e) HARASSMENT
If you insult someone repeatedly it may be deemed harassment,
depending on the adjudication of an administrator or immortal.
The victim of harassment has only one right: ISSUE. The
victim does not gain cause on you. This is because harrassment
is considered an OOC offence and thus an OOC punishment is appropriate.
NOTE: Insults and harassment are always without cause.
There is no such thing as insulting or harassing with cause.
(f) DEFEND
If you defend someone who is being attacked with or without
cause, then the attacker has cause on you, for 30 Achaean months.
If you defend without actually killing the original attacker,
then the original attacker has cause for one kill. If you
defend and kill the original attacker, then he has cause for
two kills. In either case, he may seek in character resolution
to this situation, or he may kill you, or have you killed, either
once or twice depending on whether you killed him or not. He
may not issue.
(g) ASSIST
If you assist someone who is being attacked with cause,
then the attacker has cause on you, for 30 Achaean months.
He may kill you once, or have you killed once, or seek other
in-character resolution to this situation. He may not issue,
however.
If you assist someone who is being attacked WITHOUT cause
the attacker does not have cause on you. Helping someone
who is being illegally attacked is not grounds for you to
lose rights or to be killed.
(h) ILLUSION
If you witness someone who has created a hostile illusion -
an illusion that makes it appear as though you have been attacked -
then you have limited duration PK cause, for one minute only,
after the illusion.
3) WITH CAUSE
If you attack or kill someone (or have them killed) with cause,
they have nothing. They may not issue, attack, or kill in
response. They can defend, because everyone always has the right
to defend.
There is no such thing as harassing with cause.
4) OPEN PK / SPECIAL PK
(a) OPEN PK
If a person is "open PK" that means he's lost or forfeited
his right to ISSUE. That is ALL it means. You do not have cause
just because someone is "open PK." And the "open PK" person
retains all other rights (seek IC resolution, or kill you, with
cause).
All members of the Ivory and Quisalis Mark are "open PK."
Thieves are "open PK" for 7 Achaean months after their last theft.
Everyone in an "open PK" area (e.g. the Underworld) is "open PK."
You may attack any of these without fear of issue, but you still
have no cause. Attacking without cause is covered in rule 1 above.
So, while you may attack people who are "open PK," they will gain
cause against you if you do so.
(b) SPECIAL PK
The "special PK" designation may only be given by a Divine, and is
rarely done. Typical reasons: breaking an oath to a House or city,
betraying an organisation in some way, or failing to behave in a
formally agreed-upon manner. The designation is given on a case-
by-case basis, and will always include limitations as to duration,
extent, etc.
One form of "special PK" is automatic and does not require Divine
designation: Organisational Theft. See item (c) below.
(c) SPECIAL PK for Organisational Theft
If you steal large sums of gold or credits from an organisation by
abusing a position of trust within the House (such as withdrawing the
House funds and leaving the House) the remaining members of that
organisation may now treat you exactly as though you were "open PK" -
they do not have cause, but they may attack and/or kill you repeatedly
(until such time as the money and/or credits and possible penalty are
paid in full) without fear of issue. When the remaining members kill
you, you may seek IC resolution, or you have cause against them, one
kill, but you may not issue.
This is an automatic SPECIAL PK designation which does not
require divine involvement, though such involvement should
be sought in order to fix the amount of a penalty, if any.
(See public post 11569)
5) "FREE PK"
"Free PK" is typically reserved for arena and worldgame (e.g. foozle,
egghunt) events. "Free PK" means that no cause is created on the
basis of any attack or kill, and no cause is extinguished. In essence,
in "free PK" situations, attacks and kills have no further implications
in terms of Achaean law.
6) CANNOT GIVE CAUSE - OOC, ARENA, and all "Free PK" situations
Out of character (OOC) considerations are never relevant, such as
real life disputes or difficulties. Nothing OOC can ever give cause.
Events inside the arena can never give cause.
Any "free PK" situation cannot give cause, or use it up, or have any
further implications at law whatsoever.
7) KILLING FOR EXPERIENCE
You may never kill someone for the purpose of gaining experience,
whether the victim is willing or not. If you allow someone(s) to kill
you for xp, even if you're leaving the game, we will punish everyone
involved.
8) TOOLS, AGENTS, LOYALS, TOTEMS
With exceptions noted, any act by one of these groups below is
your act. It is as though you did it, and you bear the consequences.
(a) ASSASSINS AND CHAMPIONS - MEMBERS OF THE MARKS
If you take out a contract on someone, then your hired Assassin
or Champion is acting on your behalf and you are responsible.
It is as though you yourself did any attack or killing, assuming
the contract is a valid one. If the attack is without cause, see
rule 2. If the attack is with cause, see rule 3. In either case,
if the victim gains cause, it is gained versus you not the hired
Assassin or Champion.
(b) LOYALS AND CONTROLLED BEINGS
Any act by one of your loyal animals, mounts, or pets, or
someone whose acts you are forcing or controlling (by
whatever means) is counted as though you did it. Cause may be
gained by others against you in this manner.
(c) TOTEMS
Any attack by a totem or rune is an attack by you, the owner.
The creator of the totem is not necessarily the same as the owner.
Shop stockrooms and houses are private property and may be defended
with totems. Unwanted entry into private property is trespass. It
must be clear that the entry is unwanted - if you are invited in,
then attacked without being asked to leave or having done anything
to make yourself unwelcome, that's not for trespassing! Trespassers
attacked in these cases gain no cause against owner or implanter.
Avoid private property!
(d) ORGANISATIONAL OWNERSHIP
Totems owned by an organisation are either planted on clearly
identifiable 'organisation property' (ORG PROP) or not. ORG PROP
is as follows:
FOR A CITY: sewers, subdivisions, and pretty much anywhere that
gives the city name in SURVEY, plus one room beyond that.
FOR A HOUSE: the House Estate.
FOR AN ORDER: any temple of that order.
FOR OAKSTONE: any forest or jungle location.
Totems ON ORG PROP - their attacks are seen as attacks by the
organisation. No rights are granted to the victims of these
attacks, except for the right of IC resolution.
Totems NOT ON ORG PROP - these attacks are seen as attacks by
the crafter/creator of the Totem. Rights are definitely granted
to the victims of such attacks!
(e) PRIVATE OWNERSHIP
Totems owned by an individual are either planted on clearly
identifiable 'private property' or not. Private property
is as follows:
a stockroom
any room in a private home
Totems on private property - their attacks are seen as attacks by the
owner and rights are granted accordingly.
Totems not on private propery - these attacks are seen as attacks by the
crafter/creator of the Totem and rights are granted accordingly.
(f) TOTEM REMOVAL
If a totem is smudged, the owner of that totem has cause on the
smudger. If a totem is uprooted, the owner of that totem has cause
on the uprooter. This only applies if the smudger/uprooter can be
identified and if the totem was legal in the first place (i.e.
the totem was tuned only against people the owner had cause
against, and on the property of the owner, or other property on
which the owner was given permission to implant.
(g) WORMHOLES
If you are cancelling a wormhole you may be attacked ONLY in these
circumstances:
(I) The attacker is a member of the serpent class.
_and_
(II) The attacker ONLY uses attacks designed to stop the cancel.
This includes: attempts to move, strip a shield, etc. No
damage- or death-causing attacks are allowed.
Other members of the serpent class may assist the attacker. The
canceller may be defended normally. The canceller gains PK cause
on the attacker for the attacks.
9) WAR AND HOSTILITIES
Soldiers may attack or kill soldiers during hostilities between
their respective cities. Such attacks or killings have no effect
on PK cause - PK cause is not gained, neither is it extinguished
during wartime/hostilities, for soldiers.
Only soldiers may defend soldiers during hostilities.
Non-soldiers may not defend soldiers during hostilities.
10) ISSUER GIVES UP ALL OTHER RIGHTS
Once you file an ISSUE in a situation, you forfeit all other rights.
If you had cause, you no longer have it. You may not attack or kill
at all. You may not seek IC resolution. You may not withdraw your
ISSUE in order to regain these rights. No exceptions.
11) SPECIAL NOTICES
(a) The Admins are not stupid. Seriously. It's often obvious to us
when someone is provoking harassment and then coming to cry to
us or when someone is clearly trying to abuse the rules.
(b) There are no loopholes in the PK rules (HELP PK, HELP PKCAUSE, etc).
Admins will exercise judgement as required, such as where rules
may be incomplete.
(c) Adjudicating issues of any kind, especially those related to
PK, is not a legal proceeding, however detailed our laws and
rules have come to be! So we're not going to go into a long
list of the rules of evidence, how to give testimony, or
presumption of guilt. We may check with the involved parties,
including witnesses. We may not. We will look at the evidence,
and we have a LOT of evidence that you will probably never
see, and then we'll decide. Period. If you think "innocent
until proven guilty" is a God-given right, think again.
15.4.2 PK CAUSE
(See also: HELP PK, HELP PKRULES, HELP ISSUES, HELP ASSASSINS,
HELP CHAMPIONS, HELP WRITS, and HELP THIEVERY.)
(for kill stealing, see 10(a) below)
The following situations will give cause to kill another adventurer (see HELP
PK and HELP PKRULES for further information about what CAUSE is, why you need
it, etc):
1) THIEVERY
Thievery is causing another adventurer to drop or give away their
belongings. Whether the thief is successful or not, the victim of
thievery has cause on the thief (or thieves), for 30 Achaean
months, two kills (each, if more than one).
If one adventurer hypnotises, another snaps, and another receives the
items and does not immediately return them, the victim has cause
on all three individuals for 30 Achaean months, two kills each.
If the theft was successful, the thief is (thieves are) also "open PK"
for 7 Achaean months (see PK rule 4a) and cannot hire a mark during
that time.
Thievery can also apply against an organisation, with similar
implications. If a thief steals an organisation's totems, then
the organisation gains cause, two kills against the thief. The
organisation may not issue, but may seek IC resolution. The thief
is also "open PK" for 7 Achaean months, as any other thief.
CON jobs, trickery, deception, broken promises, and the like are NOT
thievery. If gold, credits, or other items of value are involved in the
trade, these are considered scams and are illegal. See HELP SCAMS for
further information.
See DEFENDING and ASSISTANCE below for cases of thievery.
Picking up items dropped by someone who died is not theft, unless
the retriever forced that adventurer to have the items out and
droppable upon death.
Giving back the items stolen will not change any of the above.
Any attack (see #2 directly after this) by a thief while trying to
thieve from someone is considered to be an attack not theft. In other
words, an adventurer can steal from people without penalty, but cannot
attack them while doing so unless he has separate cause to kill
that adventurer. This includes hindering the victim with abilities
like web or icewall.
There is an exception to theft when it comes to causing someone to drop
or give away a vodun doll or puppet of yourself. Since clearly your aim
is not theft but self-defence against the continual attack that
possession of a vodun doll or puppet of yourself represents (see Section
19), this does not grant the victim any theft cause upon you, nor any
open PK status on yourself.
2) ATTACK/KILL
An attack is anything that does physical damage, mental damage, gives
an affliction, removes a defence, upsets balance or equilibrium,
entraps or entangles, moves someone without permission, creates a doll
or puppet, and other similar things. It is quite similar to blocking/
hindering, yet distinct (for which, see next item). You do not have to
lose health for something to qualify as an attack. It is the
adventurer's responsibility to be aware of his actions and the
consequences of them. If an adventurer uses attacks that hit everyone
in the room, everyone that he hits without cause now has cause on him.
Adventurers unwilling to accept this consequence should avoid aggressive
acts that may affect an unknown number of people.
An attacker has killed another adventurer if the other adventurer dies
as a direct result of the attacker's actions, regardless of
whether the system credits the attacker with the kill.
In team attacks, the adventurer who struck the killing blow is
considered the killer. If someone is killed and resurrected by
a starburst, a kill has resulted - the adventurer did die.
Transmogrify and soulcage, on the other hand, do not involve
death and thus triggering one of those is not a kill.
An action that is an attack yet does not have an effect for
whatever reason, may be defended against, but does not grant
further cause. Examples: attempting to raze defences that
are no longer there, an attack that is neutralised by a shield
or an aura of rebounding, attempting to move someone whose
defences prevent the movement, etc. If there are any subsequent
successful attacks, the victim gains cause as normal.
Attacks that have absolutely no chance of succeeding do not count
at all for the purposes of PK and cause. Examples would be attacks
on an adventurer who is graced, attacks on an adventurer who is nowhere
near the attacker (assuming non-ranged attacks), etc.
(a) WITHOUT CAUSE
If an adventurer attacks or kills someone without cause, the victim
now has full rights against the attacker. (IC resolution, issue(*), or
cause).
(b) WITH CAUSE
If an adventurer attacks or kills with cause, the victim gains no rights.
There is no such thing as harassing with cause.
3) BLOCKING AND HINDERING
Blocking and hindering impede your ability to travel in some way,
such as blocking an exit, closing off an entire forest, putting up
an icewall, freezing the ground, and the like.
(a) EXCEPTIONS
Targeted attacks such as web or transfix are not blocking and
hindering for the purpose of this rule - they are normal attacks
and give cause in the normal way.
Grove cage is not blocking or hindering. It is not an attack at
all. It does not give cause.
(b) CAUSE
You have cause to kill whoever blocks or hinders you for 1 minute
from the last time you were blocked or hindered.
Example: if you attempt to move in a direction and are blocked,
you have 1 minute in which to attack the blocker and use the cause
you have gained.
4) DEFENDING and ASSISTANCE
(a) DEFENDING (also called AIDING or INTERVENING)
If an adventurer attacks, with or without cause, the victim's
friends may intervene to help their comrade by attacking the
attacker. This is called DEFENDING. The friends may only DEFEND
the victim if they have actually witnessed the attack personally.
Hearing about the attack is not enough. The friends must
either be clearly affiliated with the victim (in the same
House, city, clan, or order) or must have explicit request
from the victim to help. Thinking that the victim may need
help is not enough because the potential helper can't know
the situation adequately.
If the DEFENDER is truly qualified (witnessed the attack, and
friend, affiliated, or explicitly invited), the attacker has all
rights on this DEFENDER except for issuing. If the friend DEFENDS
and kills the attacker, then the attacker has cause, two kills.
If the friend DEFENDS but does not kill the attacker, then the
attacker has cause, one kill. In either case, the attacker may
resolve it IC with the defender, or kill the defender once (or twice,
depending on the circumstances above), but may not issue.
If an adventurer attacks someone, nobody has any rights to intervene
on behalf of the attacker. There is no such thing as DEFENDING
the original attacker. Any intervention on behalf of an attacker
is simply another, separate attack which will likely give cause
to the victim.
Theft and shrine defiling, while not classified as 'attacks', are
still hostile actions initiated by the thief or defiler. If a thief
steals from someone and the victim attacks back in self-defence at
the time, the thief's friends cannot then jump in to 'defend' the
thief. The thief began the conflict. Similarly, if a shrine defiler
is witnessed and attacked within a minute of being witnessed, the
defiler's friends cannot jump in to defend the defiler, as again,
the defiler began the conflict. Nor can, in that situation, can the
witnesser's friends jump in to 'defend' the witnesser, since the
defiler did not attack the witnesser first.
The moral: make sure you know the situation before jumping into
a fight, or risk being issued. Ignorance about the fact that
you were helping the attacker is no excuse.
DEFENDING or ASSISTING apply equally to cases of attacks and
cases of thievery.
(b) FLIGHT AND PURSUIT
If an adventurer attacks and then flees, friends who were DEFENDING the
victim may pursue but only if they had already attacked the attacker
before they fled. If the attacker manages to evade pursuit for at
least a minute, then the event is over and pursuit must end.
(c) ASSISTANCE
If an adventurer attacks someone with cause and others assist the victim
during the attack by healing him, providing him with needed supplies,
summoning him away to safety, or anything similar then the attacker
has cause for one kill against those who assisted the victim.
If an adventurer attacks someone without cause and others assist the
victim, then the attacker has no cause or any other rights against
those who assisted the victim.
5) ASSASSINS/CHAMPIONS
Members of either Mark, also known as an Assassin or Champion,
are "open PK" for the entire population.
This means that a Mark member may be attacked at any time.
This also means that he will have cause on his attackers, though
may not issue.
If a Mark member accepts a contract on an adventurer (the target),
then target has cause to kill the assassin/champion in order
to attempt to nullify the contract. Cause lasts as long as the
contract remains unfulfilled. If the Mark member fulfils the
contract (by killing the target) the target has no rights
against the Mark member, but may have rights against the one
who originally hired the Mark member (see PK rule 8a).
The target, or anybody else, may still kill the Mark member
at any time, but the Mark member gains cause in return.
If a Mark member has a contract and attacks the target, and the
target dies as a direct result of the Mark member's attacks on
him yet the death is not credited to the Mark, the contract
is still fulfilled. The Mark cannot kill the target again.
The Mark member must be the attacker in this situation. In short,
it is no excuse to claim that the death shows up on Deathsight
as bleeding to death, or misadventure, or anything else: if the
Mark member clearly caused the death, then the contract is fulfilled.
If an adventurer's PK rights have expired against a target, it is his
responsibility to cancel any contracts he might have against that
target. If he fails to do so, and his target is slain via his
contract, it is an illegal kill and subject to full rights by the
victim.
Having a contract on someone ONLY gives the Mark cause to kill him.
The Mark member cannot use the contract to use attacks to more
easily rob an adventurer.
6) INSULTS (see next item as well)
If an adventurer insults someone, the victim gains limited cause.
The victim has the right to IC resolution and has cause for one
kill within 2 Achaean months. He does not gain the right to issue.
Multiple insults may transition into HARASSMENT (see below).
If an adventurer insults an organisation, the rights gained are the same
(IC resolution, cause for one kill by one organisation member, but no
issue) unless multiple insults transition into HARASSMENT.
An insult must meet several qualifications:
- The victim did not provoke the insult. This is rather broad. If an
adventurer is messing with someone anyway then he's provoking the
insult and has no cause unless the insults transition into harassment.
- The insulter must have a reasonable expectation that the insulted
adventurer could hear the insult. Meaning, for example, that if you
eavesdrop, or just hear about an insult, that's not enough.
- The insult must be serious (serious name-calling, profanity,
questioning the sexual habits of the victim or victim's family,
etc).
- Personal insults may have been made in any manner (say, tell, etc).
- Organisational insults must have been made on public channels ONLY
(such as shout, yell, market, newbie, city, House, order, or posts).
- The victim must remember the precise date and wording of the
insult(s) and be able to supply both on request. If the victim
cannot remember, how big a deal could it really have been?
TRANSITION TO HARASSMENT:
- Multiple insults are required to transition to harassment.
- The victim must demonstrate that he has snubbed the insulter.
This is a prerequisite for transition to harassment.
Meaning, the snub must come before the claim of harassment,
and the sooner the better.
- The precise determination of this transition is a judgement call
to be made by an administrator or other immortal.
- The victim must remember the precise words of the insults and
be able to repeat them on request. If the victim cannot remember
then it must not be that big of a deal.
- The victim must remember the precise date of the insults and
be able to supply such information on request. Again, if the victim
cannot remember, how big a deal could it really have been?
In cases deemed harassment, the victim gains only the right to issue.
About provocation: If you are arguing with someone chances are you
provoked him to insult you. If you insult this adventurer, you
provoked him to insult you. If you just robbed or killed someone,
you provoked him so have no cause to retaliate for insults, etc.
7) HARASSMENT - (see also HELP HARASSMENT)
Harassment will not be tolerated. Any form of sexual harassment
whatsoever is banned. At the sole discretion of Achaea staff, we
may consider any or all of the following as harassment
- multiple insults
- stalking, badgering, or refusing to leave someone alone
who requests it and has done nothing significant to the attacker.
- bringing out of character differences or disputes into Achaea.
All valid claims of harassment will be taken very seriously, provided
the harassment is serious. Achaea IS a living world, after all, and
in a living world sometimes bad things happen to people. Harassment
is only harassment in our eyes when the victim did not invite it and
when the harassment is of a genuinely serious nature.
Most punishments for harassment are not IC - harassment itself
is very OOC, and the punishments are suited to the crime.
Punishment for harassment may include, at our sole discretion,
banning, character deletion, and/or alerting your internet service
provider (ISP), workplace, university, or other relevant
institutions, giving them details of your use of their resources.
8) ENEMIES and ENEMY PROPERTY
(a) ENEMY PROPERTY DEFINED
The term ENEMY PROPERTY applies equally to cities, House property,
order property, forests, and private property. If you are an enemy
to the owning organisation, or private owner, of the property, or
if you are clearly acting destructively towards the property
(whether you are an official enemy or not) then you are on or in
ENEMY PROPERTY.
ENEMY PROPERTY, in the case of CITIES, includes the entire city
and one room outside of it - beyond the gates, outside the walls,
or whatever else may serve as the entrance or entrances to the city.
Forests fall under the provisions of this section. "Forests" here
are classed as being any place where forest defences operate.
(b) VOLUNTARY PRESENCE IN ENEMY PROPERTY
If an adventurer is an enemy of an adventurer or organisation and
is inside ENEMY PROPERTY voluntarily, then any adventurer physically
in the enemy property at the time has cause against the enemy while
they remain in the enemy property. The enemy may always defend
himself, of course, but he has no cause against any defenders that
may attack him beyond the right to defend and pursue the adventurer
while he remains in the enemy property. Calling for guards at the
location of the city invader(s) gives cause to the enemy/invader(s),
but only while in the ENEMY PROPERTY.
An adventurer cannot attack someone simply because that adventurer is
defending the organisation's property, or because that adventurer is
a member of the organisation which owns the property.
If a defender attacks an enemy, and another adventurer assists the
defender (by summoning, healing, giving herbs, etc), then the enemy
has NO rights against the assister. Enemies are invaders and only
have rights against those who harm them directly.
(c) WHO IS AN ENEMY?
If someone who is not officially an enemy of any adventurer or
organisation is within ENEMY PROPERTY and clearly associated
with a group who are enemies of the organisation, or are doing
actions which are clearly against the interests of that
organisation (such as attacking guards, rescuing organisation
enemies, robbing shops, etc.) then that adventurer is considered
an enemy regardless of whether official enemy status has been
given yet.
In short: do not go into a city/House Estate/temple/home/forest,
wreak havoc, get killed, and then complain that you were illegally
killed simply because the organisation or owner did not get
around to enemying you prior to attacking you.
(d) FLIGHT AND PURSUIT
If an adventurer is voluntarily inside enemy property and flees,
defenders can only pursue the attacker outside the property if
they have already attacked the enemy specifically
(** i.e. not just an area attack **).
If more than one minute passes from the last time a defender actively
attacked the invader, the invader may no longer be pursued for this event.
(e) INVOLUNTARY PRESENCE IN ENEMY PROPERTY
If an adventurer is summoned or otherwise forced into an enemy property
and dies as a result, he now has cause against the summoner for two kills,
lasting up to 30 Achaean months. If he does not die, he has cause against
the summoner for one kill.
All other rights apply as above in 8(b) VOLUNTARY PRESENCE
9) TRESPASSING
An adventurer who enters the private, group, or interest property of
another adventurer or group of adventurers and refuses to leave after being
asked to (or is clearly not welcome - for example, has force boarded a
ship,
or entered org property of an enemy organisation, or is clearly a personal
enemy of the private property owner) is trespassing.
(a) GROUP PROPERTY - see 8(a) above for a definition of group property
Group property applies to Houses, orders, and cities. Every member of
the group has cause against trespassers until they leave.
(b) PRIVATE PROPERTY - a private home, a shop stockroom, or a ship. In the
case of a private home or shop stockroom, the owner alone has cause against
trespasser until they leave. In the case of a ship, all those who are upon
the ship with permission have cause against the trespasser until they
leave.
(c) PROPERTY OF INTEREST - property that is owned by no one in
particular, but has been administratively declared defendable by those
with a specific interest in the property against trespass. All those
with the defined interest has cause against trespassers until they leave.
At this time, the only properties of interest are: 1) groves, which are
properties of interest to the imprinter alone; 2) any room or series of
rooms accessible through a specific skill that is designed to take the
skill user to that room or series of rooms only, and nowhere else. All
users with that skill have cause against any trespassers who do not have
that skill. Rooms that can be reached through non-magical means (such as
walking) do not fall under this definition. Nirvana, the Chaos Plane, the
Inferno, and Glade of Isolation are examples of what does fall under this
definition as group interest property.
Note: totems can be implanted in properties of interest, but if implanted
where more than one person can have interest, they can only be tuned to
attack those without interest. Otherwise, they will generate cause against
the totem crafter/implanter.
10) DENIZENS
(a) STEALING KILLS
An adventurer attacks a denizen that some other adventurer was
attacking or intending to attack. The other adventurer has no rights,
and no cause.
Simply put: We don't recognise the concept of "stealing kills."
NPCs are not resource points that you may place claim over.
(b) LOYALS AND LEADERSHIP SOLDIERS
An adventurer's loyal golem/falcon/mount/pet is -killed- by someone.
The owner now has cause for two kills for up to 30 Achaean months.
This does not give any rights if the loyal is simply attacked
(beyond coming in and defending the loyal). An adventurer who is
following the attacker, and not also attacking - the owner has no
rights whatsoever against that follower.
For leadership soldiers or alchemists following you, or loyal forestal
entities (excluding golems), occultist entities, and any other loyals
which may be resummoned, no cause is given. The owner may defend this
sort of being/loyal.
EXCEPTIONS: If an adventurer leaves his soldier/pet/denizen/loyal
in an enemy city, he has no rights at all. If the adventurer's
soldier/pet/denizen/loyal attacked the other adventurer first,
the owner has no rights at all beyond being able to intervene in
defence of that soldier/pet/denizen/loyal if he is in the same
room where it is being attacked.
(c) ORGANISATIONAL ALLIANCES
An adventurer who is a member of an organisation that is FORMALLY and
MUTUALLY allied to a denizen group or organisation (such as Arcadia)
may defend those denizens. See HELP DENIZEN ALLIANCES for more
information.
11) PROVOCATION
If an adventurer is purposefully going out of his way to annoy another
adventurer and using the PK rules to hide behind he will not be protected
by these rules if the adventurer he is provoking chooses to fight back.
This is obviously a grey area and admins ARE able to apply their
own judgement so please exercise some common sense and avoid
attempts to skirt the rules. It frees up our time to work on
improving and extending Achaea.
This only applies to serious, active provocation. This is not an
excuse to kill just because someone is irritating you.
- If you act so as to spam an organisation's logs, then that
organisation has cause, one kill, for each occurrence, maximum
of one per Achaean month, the cause lasting 30 Achaean months.
12) PURSUIT
Some acts may create a right of PURSUIT. These include:
- entering an enemy city voluntarily and being attacked by citizens.
The citizens have the right of pursuit on the enemy anywhere
in Achaea as a result.
The enemy has the right of pursuit on the citizens only as
long as the enemy stays in the city.
- attacking a victim without cause and being attacked by some of the
victim's friends who thus DEFEND the victim. The DEFENDERs have
right of pursuit on the original attacker.
If the attacker flees in either of these cases, those attacking him
(citizens, or those DEFENDING the victim) have the right of pursuit.
The right of pursuit allows the citizens or defenders to follow
and continue to attack the attacker. This right of pursuit expires
when one minute has elapsed during which no direct attack is made
on the attacker. Once that minute has expired, the event is over
and the right of pursuit ends.
13) TOTEMS
If an adventurer is attacked by a totem, the attacker is whomever
the totem is serving, not the adventurer who made the totem itself,
unless they are one and the same. A totem is treated no differently
than a sword, elixir, or armour. The adventurer who crafts or implants
or tunes it is not responsible for how it is used provided that consent
for the tuning was given by the adventurer or organisation that it is
tuned for.
The only time the crafter (implanter) is responsible for who a
totem attacks is when the implanter plants a totem for an individual
or an organisation on land that is not private property or grove
of that individual, or property of that organisation.
A city includes sewers, subdivisions, and anywhere that gives the
city name in SURVEY, plus one room beyond that. For a House it
would be the House Estate. For an order it would be any temple.
If an adventurer implants totems outside of these areas on behalf
of any individual or organisation, then he is the attacker, giving
cause to anyone who is harmed by the totems.
Note: forest and jungle locations are ORGPROP for Oakstone.
14) WRITS
The writ system mainly applies to organisational responses to
attacks against assets of the organisation. The primary case in
point is shrines of a religious order.
If an adventurer defiles a shrine, the only response against him is
to use the writ system. If the defiler is witnessed, the witnesser
gains a writ on behalf of the shrine's Divine Order. The witnesser
then has valid cause against the defiler as long as the witnesser
holds the writ - until the writ expires or is yielded, or until the
witnesser has killed the defiler. Nobody else gains cause against
the defiler, even if they watch them defiling.
If the witnesser yields the writ to his or her Divine Order, the
Divine Order may then hire a Champion or an Assassin to carry out
the writ with a contract.
15) WAR AND HOSTILITIES
Soldiers may freely attack and/or kill enemy soldiers during
hostilities between their respective cities, without creating
or extinguishing cause.
16) WORMHOLES
If you are cancelling a wormhole you may be attacked ONLY in these
circumstances:
(a) The attacker is of the serpent class.
_and_
(b) The attacker ONLY uses attacks designed to stop the cancel.
This includes: attempts to move, strip a shield, etc. No
damage- or death-causing attacks are allowed.
Only other members of the serpent class may assist the attacker. The
canceller may be defended normally. The canceller gains PK cause on
the attacker for the attacks.
17) ILLUSIONS
If you witness someone who has created a hostile illusion - an illusion
that makes it appear as though you have been attacked - then you have
limited duration PK cause, for one minute only, after the illusion.
18) BEARING ARMS
If you wear anything emblazoned with arms, and you are not doing so
with permission, then the armiger (the owner/registrant) of the arms
gains cause against you, one kill. The armiger obviously can wear his
own registered arms at any time, and have them emblazoned as he sees
fit. If the armiger is an organisation, this organisation gains cause
for exactly one kill total, not one kill per member.
If there is any doubt as to whether permission has been granted or
not, this will severely limit the likelihood of granting PK cause,
so be very careful to be exceedingly clear about such things, if you
do for some reason grant permission to someone else to bear your arms.
19) VODUN DOLLS AND PUPPETRY PUPPETS
Creating and/or possessing a doll or puppet of anyone is an aggressive
act like any other attack. See Item 2) above.
20) SHIPS
(a) ATTACKING SHIPS
Whilst on the oceans, any ship can be attacked by another and the owner
of the attacked ship (be it an individual player or an organisation)
will gain one count of cause on the attacker but does not gain the
right to issue. The same is also true if an individual is hit by an
attack from an enemy ship.
If a ship is sunk by an attack from another ship, the owner of the
sunken ship also gains an additional count of cause on the attacker.
In both the provisions above, the 'attacker' is defined as the person
who gave the order/executed the command for the other ship to be
attacked. That is, if a ship owned by Ashdor attacked a ship owned by
Sarah at Bob's command, Sarah would gain cause on Bob, not Ashdor.
(b) TRESPASSING
A ship is considered either private property or organisation
property, depending on whether it is owned by an individual or an
organisation. Any trespassers upon a ship are subject to the
trespassing rules in HELP PKCAUSE Section 9.
(c) HELP GRIEFING
It is not acceptable to use the provisions in sub-section (a) of this
section to 'grief' a player at sea. Anyone found to be attacking ships
for no good reason shall likely be classed as breaking the rules as
listed in HELP GRIEFING and duly punished.
(*) To learn more about issues, refer to HELP ISSUES. Do not file an issue
without fully understanding HELP ISSUES, including almost universal
requirement to seek IC resolution first before issuing.
(See also: HELP PK, HELP PKRULES, HELP ISSUES, HELP ASSASSINS,
HELP CHAMPIONS, HELP WRITS, and HELP THIEVERY.)
15.4.3 PK TERMS - Free PK, Open PK, Full PK
(see also: HELP PK, HELP PKRULES, HELP PKCAUSE)
The three primary terms used in relation to pk are Free PK, Open PK, and Full
PK. They are defined as follows:
Free PK - this generally applies to worldwide games and special events.
It may also sometimes apply to geographical areas if announced
by the administration. In Free PK situations, nobody gains or
uses up cause. Kill or be killed freely. Nothing is changed by
doing so. Cause is neither gained nor extinguished.
Open PK - if you are open PK, then you cannot issue anybody that attacks
or kills you BUT YOU STILL GAIN CAUSE. This is most often for
thieves, or the infamous, or mark members, but can apply in
other situations as well.
Full PK - full PK is usually a geographical designation. It means that
anyone in the area may be attacked or killed and may not issue
in response. Think of it as something like a 'no issue' zone,
or Open PK as applied to everyone in the area, rather than to
one specific person. Cause may be gained, or used up, in a
Full PK situation.
Summary:
--situation-- --cause-- -victim may- ---typical---
-created?- ---issue?--- --situation--
Free PK no no world events, announced area
Open PK yes no thievery, infamy, mark
Full PK yes no underworld, other areas
(see also: HELP PK, HELP PKRULES, HELP PKCAUSE)
15.4.4 THIEVERY
THE THIEVERY (THEFT, STEALING) RULES
------------------------------------
1. You may steal from anyone for any reason at any time, barring any
exceptions noted in this file.
2. The above does NOT mean you can do anything to your intended victim in
the name of theft, unless you have PK cause on the victim, or the victim
is open/free PK to you. If you have no such legitimate reasons, then you
are forbidden from using any attacks* in the course of your theft, and only
those force abilities that do not cause the victim to lose equilibrium or
balance (mind force, soulmaster, minuet, hypnotism, etc) are permitted. The
only exceptions to this are noted in FAQ #1 further below. The stripping
of any defence** is forbidden. Furthermore, you may not knowingly block or
hinder a victim for the purpose of theft.
* For our full definition of "attack", see HELP PKCAUSE Section 2,
paragraph 1.
** A defence here is defined as something that would show up when using the
DEF command, such as selfishness.
3. In the event that your victim fights back, others do NOT gain cause to
assist you. Further, the victim's act of self-defence does not grant you
any cause on him (even if he successfully slays you), so you cannot start
using attacks if you didn't have cause before, such as stripping
selfishness.
4. Theft against anyone under level 30 is not permitted, unless the target
is infamous. See also item 10 below.
5. Theft while in an Arena is not permitted.
6. Theft during worldgame events (foozles, bandersnatch, and egghunts) is not
allowed, if either the victim, the attacker, or both, have joined
the game.
7. Con jobs, deceit, trickery, and the like involving gold are illegal (see 8
for credit-related con jobs). If, for instance, you promise to exchange
gold for services or the other way around, accept the other party's half
of the deal, and then refuse to follow through on yours, that's considered
a scam. See HELP SCAMS for further information.
8. Con jobs and credits. Something like a credit transfer at an unexpected
price is a con job. We safeguard you in this way: you have to AGREE to
such transactions, or else you have to type out the entire TRANSFER x
CREDITS TO person FOR y GOLD command. If you get fooled, or if you
put in the wrong command, then you've been conned, and you have nobody
to blame but yourself.
Con jobs relating to paying credits for things (whatever: shops, bulk
herbs, etc) are definitely forbidden and will be handled strictly.
Don't do that!
Please refer to HELP SCAMS.
9. Taking things from a stockroom that you do not own, and without prior
permission, is theft.
10. Whether you succeed in your theft or not, if you attempt it, it is
theft. This is also explained in HELP PK CAUSE. So, for example,
theft -- attempted, successful, or failed -- against anybody under
level 30 is forbidden (unless he or she is Infamous).
TIPS TO PROTECT AGAINST THIEVERY
--------------------------------
1. Run away. Remember, the thief isn't allowed to restrain you.
2. Make sure your important items have fist sigils on them.
3. Keep your gold in the bank!
4. Put flame sigils on your pack(s) and keep your important items in your
pack.
Frequently Asked Questions
--------------------------
1. Is it permitted to force throwing items and removing armour?
Yes, these are the only two situations where a thief may force an action
which removes your balance.
2. Is it permitted to force eating herbs, if you secret them the herb
beforehand? (To cure things that may prevent theft)
It is permitted if the herb that the victim is being forced to eat does not
strip a defence. Thus, a thief cannot use this to strip blindness or
deafness.
3. Is it permitted to icewall one exit as long as you leave every other exit
open?
The rules here only require that the victim has a way to escape; so as long
as a single exit is open, this is permitted.
4. Is it permitted to force wake?
Yes, waking a person, on its own, does not count as an attack in theft, as
long as it's done through a method that does not harm the victim, strip his
defences, or attack him in any other way. For example, you could use a force
command to make your victim awaken, but you couldn't kick him in the gonads
to wake him up.
5. If someone is in a stockroom, is it permitted to icewall the down exit
from their shop them prism to them and rob the shop?
No. Even though the property being stolen may be on the ground, rather than
in an inventory, this counts as theft and thus you may not use blocking.
6. Is it permitted to rob someone who is being blocked from one exit
(possibly without cause) by someone other than you?
This would probably be okay, so long as the thief wasn't being completely
unreasonable about it. E.g. no specifically setting situations like this up.
But if it happened to have occurred and a thief genuinely didn't realise,
it.d be fine.
7. Is it permitted to strip phase in order to steal?
No. Phase is a defence, and you cannot strip it, nor anything else that shows
up in DEFENCES for the victim.
8. Is it permitted to dig, if on snapping someone, they burrow underground?
No. This would be forbidden, since by digging you would be moving them.
9. Is it permitted to kick someone who auto-qq's on snap?
It is not permitted for a thief to kick a victim for ANY reason, unless the
thief has PK cause on the victim or the victim is open/free PK. However,
QQing to escape from theft would be completely OOC and a serious breach of
HELP HONOUR on the victim's part. If someone does do this, just inform us
via issues . see HELP FILING AN ISSUE for more information on that.
10. Ok, so if I steal from someone who is open PK, and I do not have PK
cause on that person, I can use attacks on them. How does this work
with PK cause?
In this scenario, your victim would gain normal PK cause on you for any
attacks PLUS whatever PK cause they are warranted from the theft itself.
Got a question which isn't covered here? Either file an ISSUE ME or email
[email protected].
15.4.5 Scams, impersonating Immortals, and con jobs
Somebody wants to steal your adventurer. Failing in that, he wants to scam you
to take your money, or credits. He'll pretend to be an immortal, guide, or
admin of Achaea, or he'll try to trick you other ways. Read below for
information on keeping your adventurer safe and on avoiding scams.
Things you can do to keep your adventurer safe
----------------------------------------------
- No Admin or immortal of Achaea will ever ask you for your password.
We don't need it. We don't want it. It wouldn't do us any good anyway.
- Never tell your password to anyone. Ever. Even if we ask you to.
Which we won't!
- Make sure whoever you talk to is legitimate, using HELP <name>,
HELP GODS, HELP ADMINS, HELP GUIDES, or even HONOURS <name>.
- Many immortals have help scrolls. Try HELP SARAPIS, for example,
or HELP <name> for others.
- Try HELP GODS. The people on that list are proper immortals of Achaea.
- Proper admins are Lathis, Lycon, Meletus, and Anytus. HELP ADMINS.
- Any other immortal will be obvious in HONOURS <name>.
Be careful! If someone claims to be a god, immortal, admin, guide, or staff of
Achaea, check it out first. One impersonator created a new adventurer named
Serapis to try to fool other players into giving away money or credits or
passwords. Another created Moya. The true immortal names would be Sarapis
or Maya. Watch out! This stuff happens all the time.
Don't give us your password. We don't need it. We won't ask for it.
Credits
-------
Don't hand over your credits to just anybody. Don't transfer credits to
immortals, admins, guides, or any staff of Achaea. If we need your credits,
we'll handle it in a very safe way. You won't have to transfer anything. When
you are buying artefacts or customisations, don't transfer anything! We'll do
it.
Use the artefact shops or via direct emails to [email protected].
Things you can do to keep your credits, gold, and possessions safe
------------------------------------------------------------------
- Check every single detail in a credit transfer offer.
Now check them again. Then again. Example:
(Hammer, the Scammer) offers to sell you 1 credits for 350000 gold.
Type AGREE if you wish to accept this offer.
Once you AGREE, it is all over. We will not intervene to help you.
Your gold is gone. Too late.
- If you are transferring your credits TO someone else, then that's
your responsibility. Make sure the transfer command is correct!
And check your own credits before and after the transfer. Don't
believe someone who tells you "it didn't work!"
- Con jobs involving credits (except as above, with credit transfers)
are illegal! File an ISSUE if you don't get what you paid for.
* For instance, someone who illusions the message "(x) offers to
sell you 2 credits..." - that's an illegal scam.
* For instance, someone illusions "(blah) has transferred 20 credits
to you." This is also an illegal scam.
* For instance, somebody says he's a guide, and wants credits for
something. Doesn't matter what. Don't do it.
- Make absolutely certain when you loan something out that you will
be getting it back. Because if the person doesn't return it, it
IS NOT THEFT. It's bad. It's not nice. It's a scam maybe. But it's
not theft.
Illegal cons/scams
------------------
Illusioning about credits, hypnotising people to give you credits, and
anything similar, will almost certainly result in permanent loss of
your character, through shrubbing or other means. Don't do it!
Con jobs or scams with gold are equally illegal. If Herb, the harvesting fool,
offers you 1000 moss for 30,000 gold, then you hand over the gold, and Herb
laughs and won't hand over the moss, or won't hand over all of it, or gives you
something else instead, then Herb is going to be in a world of hurt. Let us
know right away so we can fix things up for you. We'll all have fun with it.
15.4.6 denizenalliances
Certain groups or organisations of denizens may choose to form a mutual
alliance with adventurer organisations. In such cases, members of
the adventurer organisation have the right to attempt to defend the denizens
with whom they are allied.
Denizen Defenders
-----------------
It is your responsibility to make certain that anyone attacking denizens you
wish to defend are aware of the potential consequences of his or her
actions. Where any doubt at all could exist, an explicit warning must be
given before you defend the denizens.
You cannot attack another adventurer for simply being in a denizen area you
are defending and nothing more. Your alliance is not a free ticket to
indiscriminately attack anyone you see in the allied denizens' vicinity.
Neither is your alliance a free ticket to attack without retribution. Those
you attack in defense of mutually organisationally allied denizens can seek
IC retribution as appropriate, including the hiring of a Mark.
Pursuit is not permitted. If an adventurer leaves the denizens' area, do not
pursue them. If you have forced them to leave, that is your victory.
Denizen Attackers
-----------------
There are many, many places to hunt in Achaea. If you choose to hunt
denizens that have defenders, and you are aware of the consequences of your
choice, you have willingly opened yourself up to conflict with the
defenders. HELP COMMON SENSE applies.
13.13 CHAMPIONS AND THE IVORY MARK
(See also: HELP CONTRACTS, HELP ASSASSINS, HELP WRITS)
The Ivory Mark is an organisation dedicated to helping to avenge those who are
unable to do it themselves. In order to join the Mark, you must find Atlantia
in the Sangre Plains and JOIN IVORY MARK. Doing so costs 5000 gold. You must be
at least level 30 and 21 years of age.
You will then be a registered Champion. You may not quit the mark until after
approximately 12 Achaean months have elapsed since joining.
Once in the Ivory Mark, you gain grace for two minutes, but you can champion
other people. The key here is that only Champions and Assassins are allowed to
slay people on behalf of others. If you kill someone while championing someone
who contracted you to slay that person, you will be held blameless by the
administration. The person who you were championing will be considered to be
the person who did the actual killing, from the administrator's point of view.
Syntaxes:
REQUEST <champion> as CHAMPION FOR <target>.
- Any person who has cause against someone else, and is not also a
Mark member, may request that a champion attempt to kill the target,
as long as the contract is created within three Achaean months of
gaining cause.
- Each time you contract with someone to Champion you, the Ivory Mark gets
a fee. This fee is 300 gold + 7 gold for each level of the target. The
fee is paid by the person asking for the Champion.
- If the victim slays the Champion, the contract is cancelled, and you will
not receive the fee that would go to the Ivory Mark back.
CONTRACTS
- This will show you who is Championing you and, if you are a member of
the Ivory Mark, who you have agreed to be Champion for.
CANCEL CONTRACT <contract #>
- This will let you cancel a Championing. You will not receive back the
fee you paid to the Ivory Mark, however.
QUIT IVORY MARK
- This will cause you to leave the Ivory Mark.
You may not quit the mark until after approximately 12 Achaean months
have elapsed since joining.
Rules regarding Champions:
1. If a Champion paid by you kills someone, it is as if -you- killed the person
in the eyes of the law. Think of the champion as a tool that you are using
to take revenge. By taking out a contract on someone, you open yourself to
legitimate revenge - so be sure you have cause!
2. Champions may be attacked or killed at any time, by anyone. They can take
revenge on those who attack them without cause. This 'any time, by
anyone' rule may be overridden temporarily by the rules of various game
events such as Foozles.
3. Killing a champion who has a contract on you will negate that contract. The
champion will receive no fee, and the person who took out the contract will
receive no refund.
4. Further, it is NOT LEGAL to take revenge on someone for killing you if you
have a contract on them, unless someone else takes a contract out on them
(in which case that person should have a good reason to take a contract out
on them). The idea here is that if someone kills you in self-defence,
because he or she knows you've been paid to kill him or her, you can't use
that as an excuse to then go back after that person for revenge. No mixing
business and personal.
13.14 Contracts, Hiring, and the Mark(s) - Quisalis and Ivory
(See: HELP PK, HELP ASSASSINS, HELP CHAMPIONS, HELP WRITS, HELP ISSUES)
You have cause and you'd like help in getting revenge through the death of your
enemy, do you? Here's how!
Hire a Mark With a Contract
---------------------------
The way to get aid is to hire a member of the Ivory or Quisalis Mark - also
known as a Champion or an Assassin, respectively. This is done by creating a
contract where you pledge to pay your Assassin/Champion, and the
Assassin/Champion pledges to kill your enemy.
Getting Cause
-------------
When you have been wrongly attacked and/or killed by another adventurer, you
will likely gain cause, which is a legal term meaning you now have legal rights
against your attacker. If you have cause, you have the option to seek in-realm
resolution directly, to hire an Assassin or Champion to take up your cause or,
as a last resort, to file an issue. If you do have cause, and you'd like to get
revenge, then hiring an Assassin or Champion is an excellent option to take
advantage of the cause.
Creating the Contract
---------------------
The specifics of hiring a mark are in HELP CHAMPIONS or HELP ASSASSINS. Refer
to those places for the way to get started.
How the Contract Operates
-------------------------
- You may create a contract within three Achaean months of gaining cause.
- Contracts are always valid until they expire, regardless of when the
cause expires.
- Contracts expire after 77 Achaean days.
- Contracts don't move toward expiration unless the target is:
- active in the realms,
- on the prime material plane,
- not phased,
- not in the wilderness,
- not in any private home (in or out of subdivision),
- not in Nirvana,
- not in the Inferno,
- not in the Grove of Isolation, and
- outside of any 'defendable' area of _ANY_ city, temple,
or House estate.
What Happens When the Contract is Fulfilled
-------------------------------------------
- The target dies. Enjoy the sweet taste of revenge.
- You, the hirer, gain a substantial amount of experience!
- The mark gains a small amount of experience.
- Your cause is extinguished. You used it up.
What Happens When the Contract Fails
------------------------------------
- That means the mark died trying to kill your target.
- The contract is now gone. Dead. Finished.
- You cannot hire again, unless still within the original
three Achaean months of gaining cause.
What About Marks?
-----------------
You want to be a mark member? Being a mark has other implications:
- When you kill any other adventurer, with or without contract,
you gain a fair amount of essence for your patron deity, if any.
6.29 ORGANISATIONAL WRITS OF REVENGE
(See also: HELP ASSASSINS and HELP CHAMPIONS)
Summary
-------
Writs are owned by organisations and pertain to an individual. So, for
instance, a city may have three writs against Bob the Evil Overlord for
offences against that city. For each writ an organisation has against an
individual one assassin or champion may be legally hired to kill that
individual, in the organisation's name. Writs are generated by various acts,
detailed below.
Keep in mind that if it's listed here as a 'writable' offence, this system is
the only means of retribution open to you. You must obtain a writ for your
organisation to take revenge.
What is a Writ?
---------------
Sometimes, a person may commit certain acts against an organisation (such as an
Order, a House, a city, etc.), and the organisation needs to be able to strike
back without the individuals involved violating the rules in HELP PK
(PlayerKilling). In order to facilitate this, we've created what are called
Writs.
How does an organisation get Writs against people?
--------------------------------------------------
When an individual commits one of the offences against an organisation that the
code recognises, a member of that organisation will be given the opportunity to
officially bear witness to that crime, generating a writ for the organisation
against the offender. This is done using the WITNESS command.
The writ is initially given to the witnesser of the offence, and the witnesser
may choose to try to kill the offender as long as the witnesser possesses the
writ. Else, the witnesser may yield the writ to his or her organisation for the
organisation to handle (either by hiring a champion or assassin to kill the
offender, or working it out with the offender in other ways).
What can I do with a Writ?
--------------------------
If you have obtained a writ against someone, you can see your writs by typing
WRITS. Until your writ expires, you have cause to attack those you have writs
against. The writ will expire after a time duration, or when you have
successfully slain the offender.
You can also yield the writ to your organisation to be handled as your
organisation sees fit. The syntax is WRIT YIELD <# of writ>.
What can my organisation do with Writs?
---------------------------------------
Once an organisation has a writ against an individual, authorised members of
the organisation may take out a contract on that individual, from either
Assassins or Champions. You may only take out one contract per writ, so an
individual will have to have commited multiple offences against an organisation
in order for that organisation to hire a pack of assassins or champions.
Further, remember that if an organisation hires an assassin or champion to kill
someone, that someone may kill the champion or assassin first, nullifying the
contract. The organisation does not get its writ back in that case.
What specific acts generate Writs?
----------------------------------
The writs system is currently in effect only for the defiling of shrines. When
someone defiles a shrine, the shrine will announce on the order channel that it
is being defiled, though it will not say by whom. An Order member then has 20
seconds to get to that shrine and type WITNESS SHRINE. If the member got there
in time, a writ will be generated for that organisation, against that
individual. Note that you can witness -multiple times-. You'll be able to
witness once for each separate person that defiled in the last 20 seconds.
Commands for the Order:
ORDER WRITS
- List who the org has writs against.
- You must have the order privilege "conwritshow."
CONTRACTS ORDER
- Lists what contracts your Order has.
- You must have the order privilege "conwritshow."
CONTRACT <assassin> FOR <target> AT <gold> FOR ORDER
-or-
REQUEST <champion> AS CHAMPION FOR <target> FOR ORDER
- Hires an assassin or requests a champion to eliminate an individual.
- You must have the order privilege "conwritmake."
- Will be logged in the order log.
CANCEL CONTRACT <contract#>
- Cancels a contract.
- You must have the order privilege "conwritmake."
ORDER WRITS FORGIVE <person>
- Deletes one PK credit against that person.
- You must have the order privilege "conwritmake."
Commands for the individual:
WITNESS SHRINE
- At a shrine that has been defiled within the last 20 seconds, this will
generate a writ to the witnesser against the defiler.
WRITS
- See what writs you possess on behalf of your organisation.
WRIT YIELD <# of writ>
- Yield one of your writs to the custody of your organisation.
SEE ALSO: HELP PK, HELP ASSASSINS, HELP PATRONAGE, HELP SHRINES
Our reasoning behind the Writs system
-------------------------------------
The current PK rules are not suitable for handling adventurer vs. organisation
conflict. As it stands, if a adventurer defiles a shrine or kills a city guard,
whom should we let attack back? If we allow just anyone in the organisation to
fight back, then the net effect is that committing one crime against an
organisation, once, results in potentially hundreds of people having PK rights
against you, which amounts to a death sentence. If committing a crime against
an organisation is a death sentence, people know they can't really get away
with anything, and so conflict is lessened. Conflict is, however, good.
There is also the problem of determining who actually did defile a shrine. We
don't want to let people kill shrine defilers just because someone said someone
else defiled a shrine, as a single liar can cause a ton of problems that way,
but requiring shrine members to actually be at a shrine that's being defiled in
order to take revenge is too difficult, and functionally nearly impossible to
do if your order has more than a few shrines. So can't just let people get
away with defiling shrines and not empowering the organisation to retaliate in
some way. Orders spend a lot of time building up their shrines.
In summary then, we needed a system that:
1. Gives individuals a chance to actually get away with defiling a shrine (or
killing a city guard, or exterminating a forest room, or other things we will
use this system for if the shrines work out.)
2. Officially keeps track of who the organisation has PK rights against.
3. Ensures some sense of proportionality: A single offence can't be a
guaranteed death.
We think this system does all of this. #1 is satisfied, because an Order member
has only 40 seconds to get to the shrine. We can always fine-tune the amount of
time Order members have to get there. #2 is satisfied because the system does
keep explicit track of who an organisation has PK rights against, and #3 is
satisfied because a single offence only allows a single witnesser to gain
rights to attack the defiler, OR for the organisation to hire a single assassin
or champion.
(See also: HELP PKRULES, HELP PKCAUSE, HELP PKTERMS, HELP ASSASSINS,
HELP CHAMPIONS, HELP WRITS, and HELP THIEVERY.)
PK means player killing, which means adventurer vs. adventurer combat.
It refers to whenever adventurers fight each other, and is
restricted here in our realms.
PK IN SUMMARY
-------------
Then victim can For how
If you* kill you issue long after
---------------- -------- ------- ------------------
Insult someone once no 2 Achaean months
Attack someone once yes+ 30 Achaean months
Murder someone twice yes+ 30 Achaean months
Assist** once no 30 Achaean months
Defend^ once/twice no 30 Achaean months
Rob someone twice no 30 Achaean months
+ Anyone who is open PK cannot issue (see open PK below)
* You means you or your loyals or totems you own.
^ once if you defend but do not kill. Twice if you kill.
** Someone is being attacked. If you heal or help them get away,
that's ASSIST. If you attack the attacker, that's DEFEND.
In assist or defend, it's the original attacker's rights listed.
You are open PK if you To whom are you open PK?
------------------------- -----------------------------
Are a Champion/Assassin Everyone
Robbed someone Everyone for 7 Achaean months
In Full PK areas Everyone in the area (Open PK)
On Nishnatoba plane Everyone in the area (Free PK)
Robbed a House/City/Order Everyone in the organisation
until it's paid back
There is a lot more to the PK rules than this! Don't base anything off the
summaries above without understanding what they mean. For those details read on
and read the related documents.
INTRODUCTION
------------
This scroll is being revised constantly. We also want to just let you know that
we don't expect to be right 100% of the time. Sometimes we ARE going to punish
people unjustly. We're not perfect and that's just life. Because of that we
punish lightly unless there's a pattern of bad behaviour, a brazen and
intentional scorn of the rules, or a violation of certain clear-cut rules like
the multiplaying rules.
**PLEASE NOTE: The primary purpose of the PK rules is to ensure that
no individual or group is harassed, persecuted, or victimised without
due cause.
If you follow these rules (here, in HELP PKRULES and HELP PKCAUSE) and
still find ways to make another adventurer miserable that go beyond the
boundaries of acceptable behaviour, you are going to be punished. These
rules do not list every single possible thing that is punishable. People
are way too clever at coming up with new ways to screw with other people
for it to ever be complete. If something is not explicitly listed here
it doesn't automatically make it OK. The big advantage of our PK rules
is that human judgement can be applied to take into account details that
no software can.
TWO GUIDING PRINCIPLES
----------------------
Achaea is a land of drama, and without adventurer-killing the level of drama
that can be attained is reduced. Nothing evokes the sort of emotional response
that being killed by another adventurer does. With this in mind, adventurer
killing in Achaea is an accepted method for the resolution of disputes between
adventurers. Two principles - 'cause or consent' and 'IC resolution' form the
foundation.
THE PRINCIPLE OF CAUSE OR CONSENT
---------------------------------
Don't attack or kill without cause or consent.
What is consent? Consent is making it explicitly clear, in advance, that your
attack is welcome by the target. Don't assume - make sure. Or the fault is
yours.
What is cause? Many things, most of which are listed in the HELP PKCAUSE
scroll. Cause gives you the right to kill an individual, or have them killed
(via contract) without that individual being able to return the favour at a
later date. If you kill or attack someone WITHOUT cause, then that person now
has cause to kill YOU, or issue you. Much more detail is present in HELP
PKRULES and HELP PKCAUSE.
In short: PK is NOT an endless loop.
What is attack or kill? Lots of things, not all listed here. Newbie KICK,
Newbie PUNCH, and MOUNTKICK are attacks. Summoning is an attack. Attacks by
proxy or at range, such as bombs, traps, or totems are attacks. Room attacks
also count. Creating or even possessing a doll or puppet is an attack.
An attack need not cause damage or affliction to be deemed an attack. Damage or
affliction must be a possible result though. If damage or affliction is
possible as a result of any act, then it is an attack.
Restraining someone in any way is similar to an attack, but is not quite the
same thing (e.g. blocking, or setting up a firewall or icewall).
THE PRINCIPLE OF IC (IN CHARACTER) RESOLUTION
---------------------------------------------
Try IC resolutions first. ISSUE as a last resort. People who issue frequently
tend to have their complaints taken less seriously.
Look for IC ways to resolve situations - through city, order, House, or clan
contacts. Diplomacy can often be far more effective than combat. Settle for a
publicly-posted apology. Accept a cash payment. Make some sort of exchange.
Besmirch the family bloodline! Issuing is really rarely the best course of
action and issuing a lot is a clear indication, to us, of someone who invites
trouble and then tries to get the administration to protect him or her.
If there is no evidence at all of any attempt to seek IC resolution, unless it
is simply impossible to do so (which may be the case sometimes, we realise -
but even then, you can almost always try something), then you should not pursue
filing an issue (HELP ISSUES).
After all, issues are a blatantly OOC remedy. That doesn't make them wrong, but
it should give you pause to consider whether it's really important enough to
take OOC.
**History matters
The administrators of Achaea WILL take into account your past actions in order
to shed light on present intentions. If you're known as a person who looks for
reasons to kill people, your creative excuses for killing will be less
convincing. In other words, the slate never gets wiped clean even if past
offences fade with time.
Frequent use of ISSUES is often a sign of abuse of the system. Frequent
frivolous ISSUES will result in being taken less seriously in the future, and
may involve other penalties.
We realise that not all situations can be resolved IC. In those cases, use the
ISSUE system.
Use common sense and you'll generally be fine.
15.4.1 PK RULES
(See also: HELP PK, HELP PK CAUSE, HELP ISSUES, HELP ASSASSINS,
HELP CHAMPIONS, HELP WRITS, and HELP THIEVERY)
PK means player killing, which means adventurer vs. adventurer combat. It
refers to whenever adventurers fight each other, and is restricted here in our
realms.
For definitions of terms such as 'cause,' 'IC resolution,' 'attack,' and other
terms used here, please refer to HELP PK and HELP PK CAUSE.
SUMMARY
-------
This is just a summary. Read the full explanations below or you won't know the
nuances of these rules.
1. You can always defend yourself.
2. Attacking without cause gives your victim a choice of revenge
(killing you back) or filing an issue.
3. Attacking with cause gives your victim no rights at all.
4. At certain times, certain adventurers are considered "open PK" -
all this means is that these people can't file issues.
5. "Free PK" is usually for events and worldgames and means that
no cause is given or extinguished - indeed, that neither killing
nor any attack has any further implications whatsoever.
6. Neither anything OOC nor actions in the arenas give cause for PK.
7. PK for the purpose of gaining experience is not allowed.
8. What your mobiles/totems/loyal creatures do can be held against you.
9. Soldiers in War can kill each other pretty much at will.
10. Once you file an issue(*), you give up all IC right to revenge even if you
cancel that issue later.
11. The admins are not stupid and there are no loopholes.
(*) To learn more about issues, refer to HELP ISSUES. Do not file an issue
without fully understanding HELP ISSUES, including almost universal
requirement to seek IC resolution first before issuing.
THE RULES
---------
1) PERMANENT RIGHT TO SELF DEFENCE
Everyone always has the right to defend while under attack.
In short - you don't have to stand still and remain inactive
WHILE someone is attacking you. You may counterattack and continue
to fight as long as you are being attacked. Whether someone is
attacking you with or without cause, if he starts it, you always
have the right to defend yourself during the attack with no further
repercussions. This does not imply any right to pursuit. If you do
defend yourself, you do not create any rights for your attacker.
2) WITHOUT CAUSE
(a) ATTACK - If you attack someone without cause,
then he has cause on you for 30 Achaean months.
He may seek in character resolution to this situation, or
he may issue(*) you, kill you, or have you killed once.
(b) BLOCK or HINDER - If you block or hinder someone without cause,
he has cause on you for one minute from the event.
He may not issue or have you killed, but may kill you once
if the attempt commences within the time limit.
(c) KILL - If you kill someone without cause,
then he has cause on you for 30 Achaean months.
He may seek in character resolution to this situation or
he may issue(*) you, kill you, or have you killed twice.
(d) INSULT
If you insult someone (see note under HARASSMENT below),
then the victim has limited cause on you for 2 Achaean months.
He may snub you, seek in character resolution, kill you,
or have you killed. He may not issue.
If the victim is an organisation, then the rights (issue,
kill, etc) may be exercised by exactly one member of that
organisation.
If you keep insulting it may be HARASSMENT.
(e) HARASSMENT
If you insult someone repeatedly it may be deemed harassment,
depending on the adjudication of an administrator or immortal.
The victim of harassment has only one right: ISSUE. The
victim does not gain cause on you. This is because harrassment
is considered an OOC offence and thus an OOC punishment is appropriate.
NOTE: Insults and harassment are always without cause.
There is no such thing as insulting or harassing with cause.
(f) DEFEND
If you defend someone who is being attacked with or without
cause, then the attacker has cause on you, for 30 Achaean months.
If you defend without actually killing the original attacker,
then the original attacker has cause for one kill. If you
defend and kill the original attacker, then he has cause for
two kills. In either case, he may seek in character resolution
to this situation, or he may kill you, or have you killed, either
once or twice depending on whether you killed him or not. He
may not issue.
(g) ASSIST
If you assist someone who is being attacked with cause,
then the attacker has cause on you, for 30 Achaean months.
He may kill you once, or have you killed once, or seek other
in-character resolution to this situation. He may not issue,
however.
If you assist someone who is being attacked WITHOUT cause
the attacker does not have cause on you. Helping someone
who is being illegally attacked is not grounds for you to
lose rights or to be killed.
(h) ILLUSION
If you witness someone who has created a hostile illusion -
an illusion that makes it appear as though you have been attacked -
then you have limited duration PK cause, for one minute only,
after the illusion.
3) WITH CAUSE
If you attack or kill someone (or have them killed) with cause,
they have nothing. They may not issue, attack, or kill in
response. They can defend, because everyone always has the right
to defend.
There is no such thing as harassing with cause.
4) OPEN PK / SPECIAL PK
(a) OPEN PK
If a person is "open PK" that means he's lost or forfeited
his right to ISSUE. That is ALL it means. You do not have cause
just because someone is "open PK." And the "open PK" person
retains all other rights (seek IC resolution, or kill you, with
cause).
All members of the Ivory and Quisalis Mark are "open PK."
Thieves are "open PK" for 7 Achaean months after their last theft.
Everyone in an "open PK" area (e.g. the Underworld) is "open PK."
You may attack any of these without fear of issue, but you still
have no cause. Attacking without cause is covered in rule 1 above.
So, while you may attack people who are "open PK," they will gain
cause against you if you do so.
(b) SPECIAL PK
The "special PK" designation may only be given by a Divine, and is
rarely done. Typical reasons: breaking an oath to a House or city,
betraying an organisation in some way, or failing to behave in a
formally agreed-upon manner. The designation is given on a case-
by-case basis, and will always include limitations as to duration,
extent, etc.
One form of "special PK" is automatic and does not require Divine
designation: Organisational Theft. See item (c) below.
(c) SPECIAL PK for Organisational Theft
If you steal large sums of gold or credits from an organisation by
abusing a position of trust within the House (such as withdrawing the
House funds and leaving the House) the remaining members of that
organisation may now treat you exactly as though you were "open PK" -
they do not have cause, but they may attack and/or kill you repeatedly
(until such time as the money and/or credits and possible penalty are
paid in full) without fear of issue. When the remaining members kill
you, you may seek IC resolution, or you have cause against them, one
kill, but you may not issue.
This is an automatic SPECIAL PK designation which does not
require divine involvement, though such involvement should
be sought in order to fix the amount of a penalty, if any.
(See public post 11569)
5) "FREE PK"
"Free PK" is typically reserved for arena and worldgame (e.g. foozle,
egghunt) events. "Free PK" means that no cause is created on the
basis of any attack or kill, and no cause is extinguished. In essence,
in "free PK" situations, attacks and kills have no further implications
in terms of Achaean law.
6) CANNOT GIVE CAUSE - OOC, ARENA, and all "Free PK" situations
Out of character (OOC) considerations are never relevant, such as
real life disputes or difficulties. Nothing OOC can ever give cause.
Events inside the arena can never give cause.
Any "free PK" situation cannot give cause, or use it up, or have any
further implications at law whatsoever.
7) KILLING FOR EXPERIENCE
You may never kill someone for the purpose of gaining experience,
whether the victim is willing or not. If you allow someone(s) to kill
you for xp, even if you're leaving the game, we will punish everyone
involved.
8) TOOLS, AGENTS, LOYALS, TOTEMS
With exceptions noted, any act by one of these groups below is
your act. It is as though you did it, and you bear the consequences.
(a) ASSASSINS AND CHAMPIONS - MEMBERS OF THE MARKS
If you take out a contract on someone, then your hired Assassin
or Champion is acting on your behalf and you are responsible.
It is as though you yourself did any attack or killing, assuming
the contract is a valid one. If the attack is without cause, see
rule 2. If the attack is with cause, see rule 3. In either case,
if the victim gains cause, it is gained versus you not the hired
Assassin or Champion.
(b) LOYALS AND CONTROLLED BEINGS
Any act by one of your loyal animals, mounts, or pets, or
someone whose acts you are forcing or controlling (by
whatever means) is counted as though you did it. Cause may be
gained by others against you in this manner.
(c) TOTEMS
Any attack by a totem or rune is an attack by you, the owner.
The creator of the totem is not necessarily the same as the owner.
Shop stockrooms and houses are private property and may be defended
with totems. Unwanted entry into private property is trespass. It
must be clear that the entry is unwanted - if you are invited in,
then attacked without being asked to leave or having done anything
to make yourself unwelcome, that's not for trespassing! Trespassers
attacked in these cases gain no cause against owner or implanter.
Avoid private property!
(d) ORGANISATIONAL OWNERSHIP
Totems owned by an organisation are either planted on clearly
identifiable 'organisation property' (ORG PROP) or not. ORG PROP
is as follows:
FOR A CITY: sewers, subdivisions, and pretty much anywhere that
gives the city name in SURVEY, plus one room beyond that.
FOR A HOUSE: the House Estate.
FOR AN ORDER: any temple of that order.
FOR OAKSTONE: any forest or jungle location.
Totems ON ORG PROP - their attacks are seen as attacks by the
organisation. No rights are granted to the victims of these
attacks, except for the right of IC resolution.
Totems NOT ON ORG PROP - these attacks are seen as attacks by
the crafter/creator of the Totem. Rights are definitely granted
to the victims of such attacks!
(e) PRIVATE OWNERSHIP
Totems owned by an individual are either planted on clearly
identifiable 'private property' or not. Private property
is as follows:
a stockroom
any room in a private home
Totems on private property - their attacks are seen as attacks by the
owner and rights are granted accordingly.
Totems not on private propery - these attacks are seen as attacks by the
crafter/creator of the Totem and rights are granted accordingly.
(f) TOTEM REMOVAL
If a totem is smudged, the owner of that totem has cause on the
smudger. If a totem is uprooted, the owner of that totem has cause
on the uprooter. This only applies if the smudger/uprooter can be
identified and if the totem was legal in the first place (i.e.
the totem was tuned only against people the owner had cause
against, and on the property of the owner, or other property on
which the owner was given permission to implant.
(g) WORMHOLES
If you are cancelling a wormhole you may be attacked ONLY in these
circumstances:
(I) The attacker is a member of the serpent class.
_and_
(II) The attacker ONLY uses attacks designed to stop the cancel.
This includes: attempts to move, strip a shield, etc. No
damage- or death-causing attacks are allowed.
Other members of the serpent class may assist the attacker. The
canceller may be defended normally. The canceller gains PK cause
on the attacker for the attacks.
9) WAR AND HOSTILITIES
Soldiers may attack or kill soldiers during hostilities between
their respective cities. Such attacks or killings have no effect
on PK cause - PK cause is not gained, neither is it extinguished
during wartime/hostilities, for soldiers.
Only soldiers may defend soldiers during hostilities.
Non-soldiers may not defend soldiers during hostilities.
10) ISSUER GIVES UP ALL OTHER RIGHTS
Once you file an ISSUE in a situation, you forfeit all other rights.
If you had cause, you no longer have it. You may not attack or kill
at all. You may not seek IC resolution. You may not withdraw your
ISSUE in order to regain these rights. No exceptions.
11) SPECIAL NOTICES
(a) The Admins are not stupid. Seriously. It's often obvious to us
when someone is provoking harassment and then coming to cry to
us or when someone is clearly trying to abuse the rules.
(b) There are no loopholes in the PK rules (HELP PK, HELP PKCAUSE, etc).
Admins will exercise judgement as required, such as where rules
may be incomplete.
(c) Adjudicating issues of any kind, especially those related to
PK, is not a legal proceeding, however detailed our laws and
rules have come to be! So we're not going to go into a long
list of the rules of evidence, how to give testimony, or
presumption of guilt. We may check with the involved parties,
including witnesses. We may not. We will look at the evidence,
and we have a LOT of evidence that you will probably never
see, and then we'll decide. Period. If you think "innocent
until proven guilty" is a God-given right, think again.
15.4.2 PK CAUSE
(See also: HELP PK, HELP PKRULES, HELP ISSUES, HELP ASSASSINS,
HELP CHAMPIONS, HELP WRITS, and HELP THIEVERY.)
(for kill stealing, see 10(a) below)
The following situations will give cause to kill another adventurer (see HELP
PK and HELP PKRULES for further information about what CAUSE is, why you need
it, etc):
1) THIEVERY
Thievery is causing another adventurer to drop or give away their
belongings. Whether the thief is successful or not, the victim of
thievery has cause on the thief (or thieves), for 30 Achaean
months, two kills (each, if more than one).
If one adventurer hypnotises, another snaps, and another receives the
items and does not immediately return them, the victim has cause
on all three individuals for 30 Achaean months, two kills each.
If the theft was successful, the thief is (thieves are) also "open PK"
for 7 Achaean months (see PK rule 4a) and cannot hire a mark during
that time.
Thievery can also apply against an organisation, with similar
implications. If a thief steals an organisation's totems, then
the organisation gains cause, two kills against the thief. The
organisation may not issue, but may seek IC resolution. The thief
is also "open PK" for 7 Achaean months, as any other thief.
CON jobs, trickery, deception, broken promises, and the like are NOT
thievery. If gold, credits, or other items of value are involved in the
trade, these are considered scams and are illegal. See HELP SCAMS for
further information.
See DEFENDING and ASSISTANCE below for cases of thievery.
Picking up items dropped by someone who died is not theft, unless
the retriever forced that adventurer to have the items out and
droppable upon death.
Giving back the items stolen will not change any of the above.
Any attack (see #2 directly after this) by a thief while trying to
thieve from someone is considered to be an attack not theft. In other
words, an adventurer can steal from people without penalty, but cannot
attack them while doing so unless he has separate cause to kill
that adventurer. This includes hindering the victim with abilities
like web or icewall.
There is an exception to theft when it comes to causing someone to drop
or give away a vodun doll or puppet of yourself. Since clearly your aim
is not theft but self-defence against the continual attack that
possession of a vodun doll or puppet of yourself represents (see Section
19), this does not grant the victim any theft cause upon you, nor any
open PK status on yourself.
2) ATTACK/KILL
An attack is anything that does physical damage, mental damage, gives
an affliction, removes a defence, upsets balance or equilibrium,
entraps or entangles, moves someone without permission, creates a doll
or puppet, and other similar things. It is quite similar to blocking/
hindering, yet distinct (for which, see next item). You do not have to
lose health for something to qualify as an attack. It is the
adventurer's responsibility to be aware of his actions and the
consequences of them. If an adventurer uses attacks that hit everyone
in the room, everyone that he hits without cause now has cause on him.
Adventurers unwilling to accept this consequence should avoid aggressive
acts that may affect an unknown number of people.
An attacker has killed another adventurer if the other adventurer dies
as a direct result of the attacker's actions, regardless of
whether the system credits the attacker with the kill.
In team attacks, the adventurer who struck the killing blow is
considered the killer. If someone is killed and resurrected by
a starburst, a kill has resulted - the adventurer did die.
Transmogrify and soulcage, on the other hand, do not involve
death and thus triggering one of those is not a kill.
An action that is an attack yet does not have an effect for
whatever reason, may be defended against, but does not grant
further cause. Examples: attempting to raze defences that
are no longer there, an attack that is neutralised by a shield
or an aura of rebounding, attempting to move someone whose
defences prevent the movement, etc. If there are any subsequent
successful attacks, the victim gains cause as normal.
Attacks that have absolutely no chance of succeeding do not count
at all for the purposes of PK and cause. Examples would be attacks
on an adventurer who is graced, attacks on an adventurer who is nowhere
near the attacker (assuming non-ranged attacks), etc.
(a) WITHOUT CAUSE
If an adventurer attacks or kills someone without cause, the victim
now has full rights against the attacker. (IC resolution, issue(*), or
cause).
(b) WITH CAUSE
If an adventurer attacks or kills with cause, the victim gains no rights.
There is no such thing as harassing with cause.
3) BLOCKING AND HINDERING
Blocking and hindering impede your ability to travel in some way,
such as blocking an exit, closing off an entire forest, putting up
an icewall, freezing the ground, and the like.
(a) EXCEPTIONS
Targeted attacks such as web or transfix are not blocking and
hindering for the purpose of this rule - they are normal attacks
and give cause in the normal way.
Grove cage is not blocking or hindering. It is not an attack at
all. It does not give cause.
(b) CAUSE
You have cause to kill whoever blocks or hinders you for 1 minute
from the last time you were blocked or hindered.
Example: if you attempt to move in a direction and are blocked,
you have 1 minute in which to attack the blocker and use the cause
you have gained.
4) DEFENDING and ASSISTANCE
(a) DEFENDING (also called AIDING or INTERVENING)
If an adventurer attacks, with or without cause, the victim's
friends may intervene to help their comrade by attacking the
attacker. This is called DEFENDING. The friends may only DEFEND
the victim if they have actually witnessed the attack personally.
Hearing about the attack is not enough. The friends must
either be clearly affiliated with the victim (in the same
House, city, clan, or order) or must have explicit request
from the victim to help. Thinking that the victim may need
help is not enough because the potential helper can't know
the situation adequately.
If the DEFENDER is truly qualified (witnessed the attack, and
friend, affiliated, or explicitly invited), the attacker has all
rights on this DEFENDER except for issuing. If the friend DEFENDS
and kills the attacker, then the attacker has cause, two kills.
If the friend DEFENDS but does not kill the attacker, then the
attacker has cause, one kill. In either case, the attacker may
resolve it IC with the defender, or kill the defender once (or twice,
depending on the circumstances above), but may not issue.
If an adventurer attacks someone, nobody has any rights to intervene
on behalf of the attacker. There is no such thing as DEFENDING
the original attacker. Any intervention on behalf of an attacker
is simply another, separate attack which will likely give cause
to the victim.
Theft and shrine defiling, while not classified as 'attacks', are
still hostile actions initiated by the thief or defiler. If a thief
steals from someone and the victim attacks back in self-defence at
the time, the thief's friends cannot then jump in to 'defend' the
thief. The thief began the conflict. Similarly, if a shrine defiler
is witnessed and attacked within a minute of being witnessed, the
defiler's friends cannot jump in to defend the defiler, as again,
the defiler began the conflict. Nor can, in that situation, can the
witnesser's friends jump in to 'defend' the witnesser, since the
defiler did not attack the witnesser first.
The moral: make sure you know the situation before jumping into
a fight, or risk being issued. Ignorance about the fact that
you were helping the attacker is no excuse.
DEFENDING or ASSISTING apply equally to cases of attacks and
cases of thievery.
(b) FLIGHT AND PURSUIT
If an adventurer attacks and then flees, friends who were DEFENDING the
victim may pursue but only if they had already attacked the attacker
before they fled. If the attacker manages to evade pursuit for at
least a minute, then the event is over and pursuit must end.
(c) ASSISTANCE
If an adventurer attacks someone with cause and others assist the victim
during the attack by healing him, providing him with needed supplies,
summoning him away to safety, or anything similar then the attacker
has cause for one kill against those who assisted the victim.
If an adventurer attacks someone without cause and others assist the
victim, then the attacker has no cause or any other rights against
those who assisted the victim.
5) ASSASSINS/CHAMPIONS
Members of either Mark, also known as an Assassin or Champion,
are "open PK" for the entire population.
This means that a Mark member may be attacked at any time.
This also means that he will have cause on his attackers, though
may not issue.
If a Mark member accepts a contract on an adventurer (the target),
then target has cause to kill the assassin/champion in order
to attempt to nullify the contract. Cause lasts as long as the
contract remains unfulfilled. If the Mark member fulfils the
contract (by killing the target) the target has no rights
against the Mark member, but may have rights against the one
who originally hired the Mark member (see PK rule 8a).
The target, or anybody else, may still kill the Mark member
at any time, but the Mark member gains cause in return.
If a Mark member has a contract and attacks the target, and the
target dies as a direct result of the Mark member's attacks on
him yet the death is not credited to the Mark, the contract
is still fulfilled. The Mark cannot kill the target again.
The Mark member must be the attacker in this situation. In short,
it is no excuse to claim that the death shows up on Deathsight
as bleeding to death, or misadventure, or anything else: if the
Mark member clearly caused the death, then the contract is fulfilled.
If an adventurer's PK rights have expired against a target, it is his
responsibility to cancel any contracts he might have against that
target. If he fails to do so, and his target is slain via his
contract, it is an illegal kill and subject to full rights by the
victim.
Having a contract on someone ONLY gives the Mark cause to kill him.
The Mark member cannot use the contract to use attacks to more
easily rob an adventurer.
6) INSULTS (see next item as well)
If an adventurer insults someone, the victim gains limited cause.
The victim has the right to IC resolution and has cause for one
kill within 2 Achaean months. He does not gain the right to issue.
Multiple insults may transition into HARASSMENT (see below).
If an adventurer insults an organisation, the rights gained are the same
(IC resolution, cause for one kill by one organisation member, but no
issue) unless multiple insults transition into HARASSMENT.
An insult must meet several qualifications:
- The victim did not provoke the insult. This is rather broad. If an
adventurer is messing with someone anyway then he's provoking the
insult and has no cause unless the insults transition into harassment.
- The insulter must have a reasonable expectation that the insulted
adventurer could hear the insult. Meaning, for example, that if you
eavesdrop, or just hear about an insult, that's not enough.
- The insult must be serious (serious name-calling, profanity,
questioning the sexual habits of the victim or victim's family,
etc).
- Personal insults may have been made in any manner (say, tell, etc).
- Organisational insults must have been made on public channels ONLY
(such as shout, yell, market, newbie, city, House, order, or posts).
- The victim must remember the precise date and wording of the
insult(s) and be able to supply both on request. If the victim
cannot remember, how big a deal could it really have been?
TRANSITION TO HARASSMENT:
- Multiple insults are required to transition to harassment.
- The victim must demonstrate that he has snubbed the insulter.
This is a prerequisite for transition to harassment.
Meaning, the snub must come before the claim of harassment,
and the sooner the better.
- The precise determination of this transition is a judgement call
to be made by an administrator or other immortal.
- The victim must remember the precise words of the insults and
be able to repeat them on request. If the victim cannot remember
then it must not be that big of a deal.
- The victim must remember the precise date of the insults and
be able to supply such information on request. Again, if the victim
cannot remember, how big a deal could it really have been?
In cases deemed harassment, the victim gains only the right to issue.
About provocation: If you are arguing with someone chances are you
provoked him to insult you. If you insult this adventurer, you
provoked him to insult you. If you just robbed or killed someone,
you provoked him so have no cause to retaliate for insults, etc.
7) HARASSMENT - (see also HELP HARASSMENT)
Harassment will not be tolerated. Any form of sexual harassment
whatsoever is banned. At the sole discretion of Achaea staff, we
may consider any or all of the following as harassment
- multiple insults
- stalking, badgering, or refusing to leave someone alone
who requests it and has done nothing significant to the attacker.
- bringing out of character differences or disputes into Achaea.
All valid claims of harassment will be taken very seriously, provided
the harassment is serious. Achaea IS a living world, after all, and
in a living world sometimes bad things happen to people. Harassment
is only harassment in our eyes when the victim did not invite it and
when the harassment is of a genuinely serious nature.
Most punishments for harassment are not IC - harassment itself
is very OOC, and the punishments are suited to the crime.
Punishment for harassment may include, at our sole discretion,
banning, character deletion, and/or alerting your internet service
provider (ISP), workplace, university, or other relevant
institutions, giving them details of your use of their resources.
8) ENEMIES and ENEMY PROPERTY
(a) ENEMY PROPERTY DEFINED
The term ENEMY PROPERTY applies equally to cities, House property,
order property, forests, and private property. If you are an enemy
to the owning organisation, or private owner, of the property, or
if you are clearly acting destructively towards the property
(whether you are an official enemy or not) then you are on or in
ENEMY PROPERTY.
ENEMY PROPERTY, in the case of CITIES, includes the entire city
and one room outside of it - beyond the gates, outside the walls,
or whatever else may serve as the entrance or entrances to the city.
Forests fall under the provisions of this section. "Forests" here
are classed as being any place where forest defences operate.
(b) VOLUNTARY PRESENCE IN ENEMY PROPERTY
If an adventurer is an enemy of an adventurer or organisation and
is inside ENEMY PROPERTY voluntarily, then any adventurer physically
in the enemy property at the time has cause against the enemy while
they remain in the enemy property. The enemy may always defend
himself, of course, but he has no cause against any defenders that
may attack him beyond the right to defend and pursue the adventurer
while he remains in the enemy property. Calling for guards at the
location of the city invader(s) gives cause to the enemy/invader(s),
but only while in the ENEMY PROPERTY.
An adventurer cannot attack someone simply because that adventurer is
defending the organisation's property, or because that adventurer is
a member of the organisation which owns the property.
If a defender attacks an enemy, and another adventurer assists the
defender (by summoning, healing, giving herbs, etc), then the enemy
has NO rights against the assister. Enemies are invaders and only
have rights against those who harm them directly.
(c) WHO IS AN ENEMY?
If someone who is not officially an enemy of any adventurer or
organisation is within ENEMY PROPERTY and clearly associated
with a group who are enemies of the organisation, or are doing
actions which are clearly against the interests of that
organisation (such as attacking guards, rescuing organisation
enemies, robbing shops, etc.) then that adventurer is considered
an enemy regardless of whether official enemy status has been
given yet.
In short: do not go into a city/House Estate/temple/home/forest,
wreak havoc, get killed, and then complain that you were illegally
killed simply because the organisation or owner did not get
around to enemying you prior to attacking you.
(d) FLIGHT AND PURSUIT
If an adventurer is voluntarily inside enemy property and flees,
defenders can only pursue the attacker outside the property if
they have already attacked the enemy specifically
(** i.e. not just an area attack **).
If more than one minute passes from the last time a defender actively
attacked the invader, the invader may no longer be pursued for this event.
(e) INVOLUNTARY PRESENCE IN ENEMY PROPERTY
If an adventurer is summoned or otherwise forced into an enemy property
and dies as a result, he now has cause against the summoner for two kills,
lasting up to 30 Achaean months. If he does not die, he has cause against
the summoner for one kill.
All other rights apply as above in 8(b) VOLUNTARY PRESENCE
9) TRESPASSING
An adventurer who enters the private, group, or interest property of
another adventurer or group of adventurers and refuses to leave after being
asked to (or is clearly not welcome - for example, has force boarded a
ship,
or entered org property of an enemy organisation, or is clearly a personal
enemy of the private property owner) is trespassing.
(a) GROUP PROPERTY - see 8(a) above for a definition of group property
Group property applies to Houses, orders, and cities. Every member of
the group has cause against trespassers until they leave.
(b) PRIVATE PROPERTY - a private home, a shop stockroom, or a ship. In the
case of a private home or shop stockroom, the owner alone has cause against
trespasser until they leave. In the case of a ship, all those who are upon
the ship with permission have cause against the trespasser until they
leave.
(c) PROPERTY OF INTEREST - property that is owned by no one in
particular, but has been administratively declared defendable by those
with a specific interest in the property against trespass. All those
with the defined interest has cause against trespassers until they leave.
At this time, the only properties of interest are: 1) groves, which are
properties of interest to the imprinter alone; 2) any room or series of
rooms accessible through a specific skill that is designed to take the
skill user to that room or series of rooms only, and nowhere else. All
users with that skill have cause against any trespassers who do not have
that skill. Rooms that can be reached through non-magical means (such as
walking) do not fall under this definition. Nirvana, the Chaos Plane, the
Inferno, and Glade of Isolation are examples of what does fall under this
definition as group interest property.
Note: totems can be implanted in properties of interest, but if implanted
where more than one person can have interest, they can only be tuned to
attack those without interest. Otherwise, they will generate cause against
the totem crafter/implanter.
10) DENIZENS
(a) STEALING KILLS
An adventurer attacks a denizen that some other adventurer was
attacking or intending to attack. The other adventurer has no rights,
and no cause.
Simply put: We don't recognise the concept of "stealing kills."
NPCs are not resource points that you may place claim over.
(b) LOYALS AND LEADERSHIP SOLDIERS
An adventurer's loyal golem/falcon/mount/pet is -killed- by someone.
The owner now has cause for two kills for up to 30 Achaean months.
This does not give any rights if the loyal is simply attacked
(beyond coming in and defending the loyal). An adventurer who is
following the attacker, and not also attacking - the owner has no
rights whatsoever against that follower.
For leadership soldiers or alchemists following you, or loyal forestal
entities (excluding golems), occultist entities, and any other loyals
which may be resummoned, no cause is given. The owner may defend this
sort of being/loyal.
EXCEPTIONS: If an adventurer leaves his soldier/pet/denizen/loyal
in an enemy city, he has no rights at all. If the adventurer's
soldier/pet/denizen/loyal attacked the other adventurer first,
the owner has no rights at all beyond being able to intervene in
defence of that soldier/pet/denizen/loyal if he is in the same
room where it is being attacked.
(c) ORGANISATIONAL ALLIANCES
An adventurer who is a member of an organisation that is FORMALLY and
MUTUALLY allied to a denizen group or organisation (such as Arcadia)
may defend those denizens. See HELP DENIZEN ALLIANCES for more
information.
11) PROVOCATION
If an adventurer is purposefully going out of his way to annoy another
adventurer and using the PK rules to hide behind he will not be protected
by these rules if the adventurer he is provoking chooses to fight back.
This is obviously a grey area and admins ARE able to apply their
own judgement so please exercise some common sense and avoid
attempts to skirt the rules. It frees up our time to work on
improving and extending Achaea.
This only applies to serious, active provocation. This is not an
excuse to kill just because someone is irritating you.
- If you act so as to spam an organisation's logs, then that
organisation has cause, one kill, for each occurrence, maximum
of one per Achaean month, the cause lasting 30 Achaean months.
12) PURSUIT
Some acts may create a right of PURSUIT. These include:
- entering an enemy city voluntarily and being attacked by citizens.
The citizens have the right of pursuit on the enemy anywhere
in Achaea as a result.
The enemy has the right of pursuit on the citizens only as
long as the enemy stays in the city.
- attacking a victim without cause and being attacked by some of the
victim's friends who thus DEFEND the victim. The DEFENDERs have
right of pursuit on the original attacker.
If the attacker flees in either of these cases, those attacking him
(citizens, or those DEFENDING the victim) have the right of pursuit.
The right of pursuit allows the citizens or defenders to follow
and continue to attack the attacker. This right of pursuit expires
when one minute has elapsed during which no direct attack is made
on the attacker. Once that minute has expired, the event is over
and the right of pursuit ends.
13) TOTEMS
If an adventurer is attacked by a totem, the attacker is whomever
the totem is serving, not the adventurer who made the totem itself,
unless they are one and the same. A totem is treated no differently
than a sword, elixir, or armour. The adventurer who crafts or implants
or tunes it is not responsible for how it is used provided that consent
for the tuning was given by the adventurer or organisation that it is
tuned for.
The only time the crafter (implanter) is responsible for who a
totem attacks is when the implanter plants a totem for an individual
or an organisation on land that is not private property or grove
of that individual, or property of that organisation.
A city includes sewers, subdivisions, and anywhere that gives the
city name in SURVEY, plus one room beyond that. For a House it
would be the House Estate. For an order it would be any temple.
If an adventurer implants totems outside of these areas on behalf
of any individual or organisation, then he is the attacker, giving
cause to anyone who is harmed by the totems.
Note: forest and jungle locations are ORGPROP for Oakstone.
14) WRITS
The writ system mainly applies to organisational responses to
attacks against assets of the organisation. The primary case in
point is shrines of a religious order.
If an adventurer defiles a shrine, the only response against him is
to use the writ system. If the defiler is witnessed, the witnesser
gains a writ on behalf of the shrine's Divine Order. The witnesser
then has valid cause against the defiler as long as the witnesser
holds the writ - until the writ expires or is yielded, or until the
witnesser has killed the defiler. Nobody else gains cause against
the defiler, even if they watch them defiling.
If the witnesser yields the writ to his or her Divine Order, the
Divine Order may then hire a Champion or an Assassin to carry out
the writ with a contract.
15) WAR AND HOSTILITIES
Soldiers may freely attack and/or kill enemy soldiers during
hostilities between their respective cities, without creating
or extinguishing cause.
16) WORMHOLES
If you are cancelling a wormhole you may be attacked ONLY in these
circumstances:
(a) The attacker is of the serpent class.
_and_
(b) The attacker ONLY uses attacks designed to stop the cancel.
This includes: attempts to move, strip a shield, etc. No
damage- or death-causing attacks are allowed.
Only other members of the serpent class may assist the attacker. The
canceller may be defended normally. The canceller gains PK cause on
the attacker for the attacks.
17) ILLUSIONS
If you witness someone who has created a hostile illusion - an illusion
that makes it appear as though you have been attacked - then you have
limited duration PK cause, for one minute only, after the illusion.
18) BEARING ARMS
If you wear anything emblazoned with arms, and you are not doing so
with permission, then the armiger (the owner/registrant) of the arms
gains cause against you, one kill. The armiger obviously can wear his
own registered arms at any time, and have them emblazoned as he sees
fit. If the armiger is an organisation, this organisation gains cause
for exactly one kill total, not one kill per member.
If there is any doubt as to whether permission has been granted or
not, this will severely limit the likelihood of granting PK cause,
so be very careful to be exceedingly clear about such things, if you
do for some reason grant permission to someone else to bear your arms.
19) VODUN DOLLS AND PUPPETRY PUPPETS
Creating and/or possessing a doll or puppet of anyone is an aggressive
act like any other attack. See Item 2) above.
20) SHIPS
(a) ATTACKING SHIPS
Whilst on the oceans, any ship can be attacked by another and the owner
of the attacked ship (be it an individual player or an organisation)
will gain one count of cause on the attacker but does not gain the
right to issue. The same is also true if an individual is hit by an
attack from an enemy ship.
If a ship is sunk by an attack from another ship, the owner of the
sunken ship also gains an additional count of cause on the attacker.
In both the provisions above, the 'attacker' is defined as the person
who gave the order/executed the command for the other ship to be
attacked. That is, if a ship owned by Ashdor attacked a ship owned by
Sarah at Bob's command, Sarah would gain cause on Bob, not Ashdor.
(b) TRESPASSING
A ship is considered either private property or organisation
property, depending on whether it is owned by an individual or an
organisation. Any trespassers upon a ship are subject to the
trespassing rules in HELP PKCAUSE Section 9.
(c) HELP GRIEFING
It is not acceptable to use the provisions in sub-section (a) of this
section to 'grief' a player at sea. Anyone found to be attacking ships
for no good reason shall likely be classed as breaking the rules as
listed in HELP GRIEFING and duly punished.
(*) To learn more about issues, refer to HELP ISSUES. Do not file an issue
without fully understanding HELP ISSUES, including almost universal
requirement to seek IC resolution first before issuing.
(See also: HELP PK, HELP PKRULES, HELP ISSUES, HELP ASSASSINS,
HELP CHAMPIONS, HELP WRITS, and HELP THIEVERY.)
15.4.3 PK TERMS - Free PK, Open PK, Full PK
(see also: HELP PK, HELP PKRULES, HELP PKCAUSE)
The three primary terms used in relation to pk are Free PK, Open PK, and Full
PK. They are defined as follows:
Free PK - this generally applies to worldwide games and special events.
It may also sometimes apply to geographical areas if announced
by the administration. In Free PK situations, nobody gains or
uses up cause. Kill or be killed freely. Nothing is changed by
doing so. Cause is neither gained nor extinguished.
Open PK - if you are open PK, then you cannot issue anybody that attacks
or kills you BUT YOU STILL GAIN CAUSE. This is most often for
thieves, or the infamous, or mark members, but can apply in
other situations as well.
Full PK - full PK is usually a geographical designation. It means that
anyone in the area may be attacked or killed and may not issue
in response. Think of it as something like a 'no issue' zone,
or Open PK as applied to everyone in the area, rather than to
one specific person. Cause may be gained, or used up, in a
Full PK situation.
Summary:
--situation-- --cause-- -victim may- ---typical---
-created?- ---issue?--- --situation--
Free PK no no world events, announced area
Open PK yes no thievery, infamy, mark
Full PK yes no underworld, other areas
(see also: HELP PK, HELP PKRULES, HELP PKCAUSE)
15.4.4 THIEVERY
THE THIEVERY (THEFT, STEALING) RULES
------------------------------------
1. You may steal from anyone for any reason at any time, barring any
exceptions noted in this file.
2. The above does NOT mean you can do anything to your intended victim in
the name of theft, unless you have PK cause on the victim, or the victim
is open/free PK to you. If you have no such legitimate reasons, then you
are forbidden from using any attacks* in the course of your theft, and only
those force abilities that do not cause the victim to lose equilibrium or
balance (mind force, soulmaster, minuet, hypnotism, etc) are permitted. The
only exceptions to this are noted in FAQ #1 further below. The stripping
of any defence** is forbidden. Furthermore, you may not knowingly block or
hinder a victim for the purpose of theft.
* For our full definition of "attack", see HELP PKCAUSE Section 2,
paragraph 1.
** A defence here is defined as something that would show up when using the
DEF command, such as selfishness.
3. In the event that your victim fights back, others do NOT gain cause to
assist you. Further, the victim's act of self-defence does not grant you
any cause on him (even if he successfully slays you), so you cannot start
using attacks if you didn't have cause before, such as stripping
selfishness.
4. Theft against anyone under level 30 is not permitted, unless the target
is infamous. See also item 10 below.
5. Theft while in an Arena is not permitted.
6. Theft during worldgame events (foozles, bandersnatch, and egghunts) is not
allowed, if either the victim, the attacker, or both, have joined
the game.
7. Con jobs, deceit, trickery, and the like involving gold are illegal (see 8
for credit-related con jobs). If, for instance, you promise to exchange
gold for services or the other way around, accept the other party's half
of the deal, and then refuse to follow through on yours, that's considered
a scam. See HELP SCAMS for further information.
8. Con jobs and credits. Something like a credit transfer at an unexpected
price is a con job. We safeguard you in this way: you have to AGREE to
such transactions, or else you have to type out the entire TRANSFER x
CREDITS TO person FOR y GOLD command. If you get fooled, or if you
put in the wrong command, then you've been conned, and you have nobody
to blame but yourself.
Con jobs relating to paying credits for things (whatever: shops, bulk
herbs, etc) are definitely forbidden and will be handled strictly.
Don't do that!
Please refer to HELP SCAMS.
9. Taking things from a stockroom that you do not own, and without prior
permission, is theft.
10. Whether you succeed in your theft or not, if you attempt it, it is
theft. This is also explained in HELP PK CAUSE. So, for example,
theft -- attempted, successful, or failed -- against anybody under
level 30 is forbidden (unless he or she is Infamous).
TIPS TO PROTECT AGAINST THIEVERY
--------------------------------
1. Run away. Remember, the thief isn't allowed to restrain you.
2. Make sure your important items have fist sigils on them.
3. Keep your gold in the bank!
4. Put flame sigils on your pack(s) and keep your important items in your
pack.
Frequently Asked Questions
--------------------------
1. Is it permitted to force throwing items and removing armour?
Yes, these are the only two situations where a thief may force an action
which removes your balance.
2. Is it permitted to force eating herbs, if you secret them the herb
beforehand? (To cure things that may prevent theft)
It is permitted if the herb that the victim is being forced to eat does not
strip a defence. Thus, a thief cannot use this to strip blindness or
deafness.
3. Is it permitted to icewall one exit as long as you leave every other exit
open?
The rules here only require that the victim has a way to escape; so as long
as a single exit is open, this is permitted.
4. Is it permitted to force wake?
Yes, waking a person, on its own, does not count as an attack in theft, as
long as it's done through a method that does not harm the victim, strip his
defences, or attack him in any other way. For example, you could use a force
command to make your victim awaken, but you couldn't kick him in the gonads
to wake him up.
5. If someone is in a stockroom, is it permitted to icewall the down exit
from their shop them prism to them and rob the shop?
No. Even though the property being stolen may be on the ground, rather than
in an inventory, this counts as theft and thus you may not use blocking.
6. Is it permitted to rob someone who is being blocked from one exit
(possibly without cause) by someone other than you?
This would probably be okay, so long as the thief wasn't being completely
unreasonable about it. E.g. no specifically setting situations like this up.
But if it happened to have occurred and a thief genuinely didn't realise,
it.d be fine.
7. Is it permitted to strip phase in order to steal?
No. Phase is a defence, and you cannot strip it, nor anything else that shows
up in DEFENCES for the victim.
8. Is it permitted to dig, if on snapping someone, they burrow underground?
No. This would be forbidden, since by digging you would be moving them.
9. Is it permitted to kick someone who auto-qq's on snap?
It is not permitted for a thief to kick a victim for ANY reason, unless the
thief has PK cause on the victim or the victim is open/free PK. However,
QQing to escape from theft would be completely OOC and a serious breach of
HELP HONOUR on the victim's part. If someone does do this, just inform us
via issues . see HELP FILING AN ISSUE for more information on that.
10. Ok, so if I steal from someone who is open PK, and I do not have PK
cause on that person, I can use attacks on them. How does this work
with PK cause?
In this scenario, your victim would gain normal PK cause on you for any
attacks PLUS whatever PK cause they are warranted from the theft itself.
Got a question which isn't covered here? Either file an ISSUE ME or email
[email protected].
15.4.5 Scams, impersonating Immortals, and con jobs
Somebody wants to steal your adventurer. Failing in that, he wants to scam you
to take your money, or credits. He'll pretend to be an immortal, guide, or
admin of Achaea, or he'll try to trick you other ways. Read below for
information on keeping your adventurer safe and on avoiding scams.
Things you can do to keep your adventurer safe
----------------------------------------------
- No Admin or immortal of Achaea will ever ask you for your password.
We don't need it. We don't want it. It wouldn't do us any good anyway.
- Never tell your password to anyone. Ever. Even if we ask you to.
Which we won't!
- Make sure whoever you talk to is legitimate, using HELP <name>,
HELP GODS, HELP ADMINS, HELP GUIDES, or even HONOURS <name>.
- Many immortals have help scrolls. Try HELP SARAPIS, for example,
or HELP <name> for others.
- Try HELP GODS. The people on that list are proper immortals of Achaea.
- Proper admins are Lathis, Lycon, Meletus, and Anytus. HELP ADMINS.
- Any other immortal will be obvious in HONOURS <name>.
Be careful! If someone claims to be a god, immortal, admin, guide, or staff of
Achaea, check it out first. One impersonator created a new adventurer named
Serapis to try to fool other players into giving away money or credits or
passwords. Another created Moya. The true immortal names would be Sarapis
or Maya. Watch out! This stuff happens all the time.
Don't give us your password. We don't need it. We won't ask for it.
Credits
-------
Don't hand over your credits to just anybody. Don't transfer credits to
immortals, admins, guides, or any staff of Achaea. If we need your credits,
we'll handle it in a very safe way. You won't have to transfer anything. When
you are buying artefacts or customisations, don't transfer anything! We'll do
it.
Use the artefact shops or via direct emails to [email protected].
Things you can do to keep your credits, gold, and possessions safe
------------------------------------------------------------------
- Check every single detail in a credit transfer offer.
Now check them again. Then again. Example:
(Hammer, the Scammer) offers to sell you 1 credits for 350000 gold.
Type AGREE if you wish to accept this offer.
Once you AGREE, it is all over. We will not intervene to help you.
Your gold is gone. Too late.
- If you are transferring your credits TO someone else, then that's
your responsibility. Make sure the transfer command is correct!
And check your own credits before and after the transfer. Don't
believe someone who tells you "it didn't work!"
- Con jobs involving credits (except as above, with credit transfers)
are illegal! File an ISSUE if you don't get what you paid for.
* For instance, someone who illusions the message "(x) offers to
sell you 2 credits..." - that's an illegal scam.
* For instance, someone illusions "(blah) has transferred 20 credits
to you." This is also an illegal scam.
* For instance, somebody says he's a guide, and wants credits for
something. Doesn't matter what. Don't do it.
- Make absolutely certain when you loan something out that you will
be getting it back. Because if the person doesn't return it, it
IS NOT THEFT. It's bad. It's not nice. It's a scam maybe. But it's
not theft.
Illegal cons/scams
------------------
Illusioning about credits, hypnotising people to give you credits, and
anything similar, will almost certainly result in permanent loss of
your character, through shrubbing or other means. Don't do it!
Con jobs or scams with gold are equally illegal. If Herb, the harvesting fool,
offers you 1000 moss for 30,000 gold, then you hand over the gold, and Herb
laughs and won't hand over the moss, or won't hand over all of it, or gives you
something else instead, then Herb is going to be in a world of hurt. Let us
know right away so we can fix things up for you. We'll all have fun with it.
15.4.6 denizenalliances
Certain groups or organisations of denizens may choose to form a mutual
alliance with adventurer organisations. In such cases, members of
the adventurer organisation have the right to attempt to defend the denizens
with whom they are allied.
Denizen Defenders
-----------------
It is your responsibility to make certain that anyone attacking denizens you
wish to defend are aware of the potential consequences of his or her
actions. Where any doubt at all could exist, an explicit warning must be
given before you defend the denizens.
You cannot attack another adventurer for simply being in a denizen area you
are defending and nothing more. Your alliance is not a free ticket to
indiscriminately attack anyone you see in the allied denizens' vicinity.
Neither is your alliance a free ticket to attack without retribution. Those
you attack in defense of mutually organisationally allied denizens can seek
IC retribution as appropriate, including the hiring of a Mark.
Pursuit is not permitted. If an adventurer leaves the denizens' area, do not
pursue them. If you have forced them to leave, that is your victory.
Denizen Attackers
-----------------
There are many, many places to hunt in Achaea. If you choose to hunt
denizens that have defenders, and you are aware of the consequences of your
choice, you have willingly opened yourself up to conflict with the
defenders. HELP COMMON SENSE applies.
13.13 CHAMPIONS AND THE IVORY MARK
(See also: HELP CONTRACTS, HELP ASSASSINS, HELP WRITS)
The Ivory Mark is an organisation dedicated to helping to avenge those who are
unable to do it themselves. In order to join the Mark, you must find Atlantia
in the Sangre Plains and JOIN IVORY MARK. Doing so costs 5000 gold. You must be
at least level 30 and 21 years of age.
You will then be a registered Champion. You may not quit the mark until after
approximately 12 Achaean months have elapsed since joining.
Once in the Ivory Mark, you gain grace for two minutes, but you can champion
other people. The key here is that only Champions and Assassins are allowed to
slay people on behalf of others. If you kill someone while championing someone
who contracted you to slay that person, you will be held blameless by the
administration. The person who you were championing will be considered to be
the person who did the actual killing, from the administrator's point of view.
Syntaxes:
REQUEST <champion> as CHAMPION FOR <target>.
- Any person who has cause against someone else, and is not also a
Mark member, may request that a champion attempt to kill the target,
as long as the contract is created within three Achaean months of
gaining cause.
- Each time you contract with someone to Champion you, the Ivory Mark gets
a fee. This fee is 300 gold + 7 gold for each level of the target. The
fee is paid by the person asking for the Champion.
- If the victim slays the Champion, the contract is cancelled, and you will
not receive the fee that would go to the Ivory Mark back.
CONTRACTS
- This will show you who is Championing you and, if you are a member of
the Ivory Mark, who you have agreed to be Champion for.
CANCEL CONTRACT <contract #>
- This will let you cancel a Championing. You will not receive back the
fee you paid to the Ivory Mark, however.
QUIT IVORY MARK
- This will cause you to leave the Ivory Mark.
You may not quit the mark until after approximately 12 Achaean months
have elapsed since joining.
Rules regarding Champions:
1. If a Champion paid by you kills someone, it is as if -you- killed the person
in the eyes of the law. Think of the champion as a tool that you are using
to take revenge. By taking out a contract on someone, you open yourself to
legitimate revenge - so be sure you have cause!
2. Champions may be attacked or killed at any time, by anyone. They can take
revenge on those who attack them without cause. This 'any time, by
anyone' rule may be overridden temporarily by the rules of various game
events such as Foozles.
3. Killing a champion who has a contract on you will negate that contract. The
champion will receive no fee, and the person who took out the contract will
receive no refund.
4. Further, it is NOT LEGAL to take revenge on someone for killing you if you
have a contract on them, unless someone else takes a contract out on them
(in which case that person should have a good reason to take a contract out
on them). The idea here is that if someone kills you in self-defence,
because he or she knows you've been paid to kill him or her, you can't use
that as an excuse to then go back after that person for revenge. No mixing
business and personal.
13.14 Contracts, Hiring, and the Mark(s) - Quisalis and Ivory
(See: HELP PK, HELP ASSASSINS, HELP CHAMPIONS, HELP WRITS, HELP ISSUES)
You have cause and you'd like help in getting revenge through the death of your
enemy, do you? Here's how!
Hire a Mark With a Contract
---------------------------
The way to get aid is to hire a member of the Ivory or Quisalis Mark - also
known as a Champion or an Assassin, respectively. This is done by creating a
contract where you pledge to pay your Assassin/Champion, and the
Assassin/Champion pledges to kill your enemy.
Getting Cause
-------------
When you have been wrongly attacked and/or killed by another adventurer, you
will likely gain cause, which is a legal term meaning you now have legal rights
against your attacker. If you have cause, you have the option to seek in-realm
resolution directly, to hire an Assassin or Champion to take up your cause or,
as a last resort, to file an issue. If you do have cause, and you'd like to get
revenge, then hiring an Assassin or Champion is an excellent option to take
advantage of the cause.
Creating the Contract
---------------------
The specifics of hiring a mark are in HELP CHAMPIONS or HELP ASSASSINS. Refer
to those places for the way to get started.
How the Contract Operates
-------------------------
- You may create a contract within three Achaean months of gaining cause.
- Contracts are always valid until they expire, regardless of when the
cause expires.
- Contracts expire after 77 Achaean days.
- Contracts don't move toward expiration unless the target is:
- active in the realms,
- on the prime material plane,
- not phased,
- not in the wilderness,
- not in any private home (in or out of subdivision),
- not in Nirvana,
- not in the Inferno,
- not in the Grove of Isolation, and
- outside of any 'defendable' area of _ANY_ city, temple,
or House estate.
What Happens When the Contract is Fulfilled
-------------------------------------------
- The target dies. Enjoy the sweet taste of revenge.
- You, the hirer, gain a substantial amount of experience!
- The mark gains a small amount of experience.
- Your cause is extinguished. You used it up.
What Happens When the Contract Fails
------------------------------------
- That means the mark died trying to kill your target.
- The contract is now gone. Dead. Finished.
- You cannot hire again, unless still within the original
three Achaean months of gaining cause.
What About Marks?
-----------------
You want to be a mark member? Being a mark has other implications:
- When you kill any other adventurer, with or without contract,
you gain a fair amount of essence for your patron deity, if any.
6.29 ORGANISATIONAL WRITS OF REVENGE
(See also: HELP ASSASSINS and HELP CHAMPIONS)
Summary
-------
Writs are owned by organisations and pertain to an individual. So, for
instance, a city may have three writs against Bob the Evil Overlord for
offences against that city. For each writ an organisation has against an
individual one assassin or champion may be legally hired to kill that
individual, in the organisation's name. Writs are generated by various acts,
detailed below.
Keep in mind that if it's listed here as a 'writable' offence, this system is
the only means of retribution open to you. You must obtain a writ for your
organisation to take revenge.
What is a Writ?
---------------
Sometimes, a person may commit certain acts against an organisation (such as an
Order, a House, a city, etc.), and the organisation needs to be able to strike
back without the individuals involved violating the rules in HELP PK
(PlayerKilling). In order to facilitate this, we've created what are called
Writs.
How does an organisation get Writs against people?
--------------------------------------------------
When an individual commits one of the offences against an organisation that the
code recognises, a member of that organisation will be given the opportunity to
officially bear witness to that crime, generating a writ for the organisation
against the offender. This is done using the WITNESS command.
The writ is initially given to the witnesser of the offence, and the witnesser
may choose to try to kill the offender as long as the witnesser possesses the
writ. Else, the witnesser may yield the writ to his or her organisation for the
organisation to handle (either by hiring a champion or assassin to kill the
offender, or working it out with the offender in other ways).
What can I do with a Writ?
--------------------------
If you have obtained a writ against someone, you can see your writs by typing
WRITS. Until your writ expires, you have cause to attack those you have writs
against. The writ will expire after a time duration, or when you have
successfully slain the offender.
You can also yield the writ to your organisation to be handled as your
organisation sees fit. The syntax is WRIT YIELD <# of writ>.
What can my organisation do with Writs?
---------------------------------------
Once an organisation has a writ against an individual, authorised members of
the organisation may take out a contract on that individual, from either
Assassins or Champions. You may only take out one contract per writ, so an
individual will have to have commited multiple offences against an organisation
in order for that organisation to hire a pack of assassins or champions.
Further, remember that if an organisation hires an assassin or champion to kill
someone, that someone may kill the champion or assassin first, nullifying the
contract. The organisation does not get its writ back in that case.
What specific acts generate Writs?
----------------------------------
The writs system is currently in effect only for the defiling of shrines. When
someone defiles a shrine, the shrine will announce on the order channel that it
is being defiled, though it will not say by whom. An Order member then has 20
seconds to get to that shrine and type WITNESS SHRINE. If the member got there
in time, a writ will be generated for that organisation, against that
individual. Note that you can witness -multiple times-. You'll be able to
witness once for each separate person that defiled in the last 20 seconds.
Commands for the Order:
ORDER WRITS
- List who the org has writs against.
- You must have the order privilege "conwritshow."
CONTRACTS ORDER
- Lists what contracts your Order has.
- You must have the order privilege "conwritshow."
CONTRACT <assassin> FOR <target> AT <gold> FOR ORDER
-or-
REQUEST <champion> AS CHAMPION FOR <target> FOR ORDER
- Hires an assassin or requests a champion to eliminate an individual.
- You must have the order privilege "conwritmake."
- Will be logged in the order log.
CANCEL CONTRACT <contract#>
- Cancels a contract.
- You must have the order privilege "conwritmake."
ORDER WRITS FORGIVE <person>
- Deletes one PK credit against that person.
- You must have the order privilege "conwritmake."
Commands for the individual:
WITNESS SHRINE
- At a shrine that has been defiled within the last 20 seconds, this will
generate a writ to the witnesser against the defiler.
WRITS
- See what writs you possess on behalf of your organisation.
WRIT YIELD <# of writ>
- Yield one of your writs to the custody of your organisation.
SEE ALSO: HELP PK, HELP ASSASSINS, HELP PATRONAGE, HELP SHRINES
Our reasoning behind the Writs system
-------------------------------------
The current PK rules are not suitable for handling adventurer vs. organisation
conflict. As it stands, if a adventurer defiles a shrine or kills a city guard,
whom should we let attack back? If we allow just anyone in the organisation to
fight back, then the net effect is that committing one crime against an
organisation, once, results in potentially hundreds of people having PK rights
against you, which amounts to a death sentence. If committing a crime against
an organisation is a death sentence, people know they can't really get away
with anything, and so conflict is lessened. Conflict is, however, good.
There is also the problem of determining who actually did defile a shrine. We
don't want to let people kill shrine defilers just because someone said someone
else defiled a shrine, as a single liar can cause a ton of problems that way,
but requiring shrine members to actually be at a shrine that's being defiled in
order to take revenge is too difficult, and functionally nearly impossible to
do if your order has more than a few shrines. So can't just let people get
away with defiling shrines and not empowering the organisation to retaliate in
some way. Orders spend a lot of time building up their shrines.
In summary then, we needed a system that:
1. Gives individuals a chance to actually get away with defiling a shrine (or
killing a city guard, or exterminating a forest room, or other things we will
use this system for if the shrines work out.)
2. Officially keeps track of who the organisation has PK rights against.
3. Ensures some sense of proportionality: A single offence can't be a
guaranteed death.
We think this system does all of this. #1 is satisfied, because an Order member
has only 40 seconds to get to the shrine. We can always fine-tune the amount of
time Order members have to get there. #2 is satisfied because the system does
keep explicit track of who an organisation has PK rights against, and #3 is
satisfied because a single offence only allows a single witnesser to gain
rights to attack the defiler, OR for the organisation to hire a single assassin
or champion.