Rules

**Arelith Rules**
Character Creation:
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World Systems:
Settlements - Factions Quarters - Shops - Bank Riding - Sailing Communication - Portals Time - Containers/Bags Radiant Heart - Assassin's Guild Sencliff's Pirates
Item Creation Systems:
Alchemy - Art Craft - Carpentry Herb - Smith - Tailor Dweomercraft - Runes
Armor Weapons - Melee / Ranged / Siege Resources - Poison
Arelith Changes:
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Help:
Rules - Roleplay - Maps Console Commands Common Bugs - Staff Support Tickets - Character Remake [The Astrolabe]

Rules are put in place to keep the enjoyment of Arelith community. There are five major rules on the server, often referred to as the The Golden Rules. Other rules have been developed over the course of the server's history based on evolving systems and other interactions.

The following are rules that all players agree to abide when entering the Arelith server. Players are responsible at all times for abiding by the rules of Arelith and role playing, and will be held accountable to them. Please, make sure that you read and understand thoroughly each of the 5 player rules, and if there is a question, don't hesitate to ask (e.g. on forums). For more explanations and specifics see articles listed here.

We go by the spirit of the rule, not the letter. If you’re trying to game the system, we’ll know. Don’t abuse conventional good faith. Dungeon Masters have the say at the end of it. If you disagree with one of our decisions, send a private message to the Head Dungeon Master for review. Some rules and rulings are for the sake of immersion and we might consider them RPB grading considerations while others may require disciplinary action. We’re forgiving of obvious mistakes. If you have questions, ask a Dungeon Master. Don’t trust your friends who have played for a long time to know all of the rules or contextual rulings. Most of these rulings exist because of something someone did in the past. We can add more at our leisure and make decisions not covered here at a whim. We might also consider, contextually, some things differently than we would in other situations. Don’t be a rules lawyer.

First of all, please address questions about specific incidences with DMs, privately.

The short list below contains some of the more important rules in a concise list. Below them you will find thorough explanations and more explanations about each and every one in more detail. This page is regularly updated and the most up to date list of rules and rulings. We recommend looking here over checking through the forums or other articles/pages for rules or rulings, other locations may be imprecise or contain inconsistencies.

Be Nice, Roleplay and Listen to the DMs

This means that we expect players to be nice to each other out of character.

Roleplaying on this server is a requirement. Do not use OOC in chat. Do not use internet slang or directly reference either real life places, people or events.
You can play a rude and evil character while giving your fellow community members the benefit of the doubt.
Do not message them out of character while angry.
Do not tell someone you’re reporting them.
Do not message them over Discord complaining about an interaction.
Do not spread rumors to hurt someone. Even when slighted, be respectful. This is the fundamental standard for behavior. Even if you’re mechanically in the right, if you’re being childish you might get in trouble too.
Don’t reference inappropriate content.
Do not use 'hard' swears like fuck or cunt. Language otherwise used in voice sets is acceptable. Minor swears like 'shit' can be used sparingly (once or twice a month). Use fantasy alternatives.
Don’t harass someone out of character. Don’t grief, etcetera.
Do not follow a party in stealth and steal their loot.
Don’t kill non-hostile NPCs without the approval of DMs.
Don't dominate/control Non-hostile NPC's without DM approval. Domination by a vampire PC for feeding is allowed due to its temporary nature, as is the act of Charming them for improved merchant benefits.
Don’t exploit. If you’re abusing mechanics in a weird way that’s difficult to notice, we’ll come down on you significantly harder when we do catch you. It’s when, not if.
Both PvP and settlement interactions such as eviction or pariah require interaction before commitment. There must be roleplay.
Muling is the act of transferring items from one character to another. Metagaming is using information learned out of character or another character and using it to benefit yourself. Crossing the streams is getting more than one character involved in the same plotline or helping one of your characters by logging onto another one. Don't do any of this.
This is a primarily English server. You should be using English as your primary language to represent Common.

The Dungeon Masters are to be considered the final authority in any dispute, question, or issue that comes up, and by playing on Arelith, you agree to abide by their decisions. If there is a dispute with a Dungeon Master's ruling, or if you feel you've been dealt with unfairly, OBEY THE RULING at the time, and then contact the Head Dungeon Master either through e-mail or a private message on the Arelith forums so the situation can be resolved. Ignoring the Dungeon Master is grounds for suspension. Intentionally lying is also.

Listen to the DMs

Monster and UD Characters

A full article regarding server expectation regarding monster characters can be found here.
Also keep in mind the specific rules regarding quarters listed below

Rules of Engagement

This one is more complicated. Everything has to be interactively roleplayed. If you evict someone from a shop or a house as a settlement leader or want to attack someone, there has to be roleplay. The person who is performing the settlement leader action or being the first to attack is the one who is expected to roleplay the most. This is to say, in other words:

Settlement Leaders / Political Powers Interactions

If you are a settlement leader, you may evict, pariah, exile anyone for anything. This is within your power for your character to abuse. It’s not really a problem unless you’re just obviously griefing. Every time you perform one of these actions, you must do it in person with the character you’re evicting, making pariah or exiling.

If you give another character mechanical permission to evict, pariah or exile then they may also perform these settlement powers as well. However, they are also required to meet the character face to face and do it in person as well.

If you are a settlement leader or have been given mechanical authority to exile and evict, you may find yourself in a position where a character is repeatedly making themselves a nuisance, however you do not know their name or their identity. As a (very, very) last resort, you may be allowed to take the ear from a killed character and present it to the settlement NPC played by a Dungeon Master - it is recommended that you keep screenshots and logs and dates of all of your attempts to interact with the character as proof that it's actually being used as a last resort before getting permission to do this. Once accepted, the 'ear' will suffice as proof of identity for exile/pariah.

As a settlement leader, you are expected to prioritize your time on the leader character over alts when playing Arelith.

Settlement leaders are not allowed to put down signs to reserve properties. The most they can do is put down a sign that states the new owner is obligated to present themselves to an authority figure to discuss the expectation of the property. If an arrangement can’t be worked out, the owner can then be evicted. However, a chance must be given first.

It is against the rules to avoid eviction, pariah or exile. If you’re summoned through speedy or letter, it’s expected that you make yourself known within a day or two of real life to suffer the in character punishment. These rules exist to foster roleplay, not for you to abuse and avoid by keeping your property forever because you can sneak.

Player Vs. Player Interaction

The same is true for player v. player combat: if you want to attack someone, you can technically do it for any reason. The only requirement is that you roleplay first. However, we prefer that there is sufficient roleplay reason before an attack happens. You will be in trouble if you’re getting into lots of fights without an actual reason. You must make it clear, through roleplay and your actions that you will be about to attack. This can be done through either:

Threatening someone with an emote.
Threatening someone with words.
Giving them demands.

Remember that someone toggling hostile on you doesn’t mean that a fight has to happen. But you should always remember to toggle hostile before fighting.

Setting hostile is an OOC mechanic so that the NWN engine processes spells and abilities correctly. Do not RP knowing that someone is suddenly hostile when you see the prompt that <character> now dislikes you. The RP that comes around a PvP encounter should be a clue to this.

The point is that you must, in some way, alert the other player(s) behind the screen that they might be about to be attacked. It is for the sake of a narrative and being respectful, even if it puts you at a disadvantage. It is also possible for you to set conditions, such as: “If you walk away, I’ll kill you.” “If you ward, I’ll kill you.” If it is clear what you’re saying and they ignore you, then you’re allowed to attack the characters you gave the instruction to. Hostile must ALWAYS be established. First narratively and then mechanically. No fighting until that’s done.

The 48 hour rule is considered active between the character(s) who attacked and the character(s) who died. That is to say, if six people from Team A and six people from Team B were killed in a fight, only the players who died from Team A and Team B are expected to avoid the members from the opposing team. Characters who have died are expected to leave the area if the victor shows up and to not interact with them at all. In areas where this is more difficult such as Skaljard or Andunor, just do your best and try not to draw attention.

Characters on the fourty hour timer are currently allowed to be in the same area. However, they should be not interacting. If they are interacting by a necessary circumstance, they should not be interacting with hostilities. This change is intended for the benefit of characters in the Hub and Skaljard where the play area is smaller.

Subdual does not activate the 48 hour rule until a character is sent to the fugue via -giveup. Subdual must always be represented as the attacker having killed the victim via subdual and they succumbed to their injuries, the wounded person did not 'choose to die'. Suicide roleplay is not allowed on Arelith.

Accepting a resurrection from the player(s) who killed you means that you agree to waive the 48 hour rule. Be careful doing this. It means you can be killed again. Consider roleplaying the gravity of having just been murdered and act like a prisoner.

Accepting a resurrection in combat is forbidden. Do not raise someone in combat either.

Treat death with respect. Don’t surrender and sit for execution because you don’t like what’s happening. From your character’s perspective, resurrection is not guaranteed. It probably is mechanically, but it loses narrative weight if you’re being frivolous and roleplaying like it’s a game. It’s also goofy and poor form to try and bait someone into murdering you so that you can hold it against them and villify them. Don’t wield your own life as a weapon.

Do not stand or sit around your own bashed corpse.

Try not to bash corpses in combat.

It’s also really weird to give people their own ears. Try not to be goofy and do that. Please don’t place ears in shops either for extreme prices either.

Don’t prevent people from getting items from their shop by killing them to prevent access.

Players who show up to a scene in the middle of the fight are allowed to help their friends by joining the conflict.

You may also be attacked by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If you are walking along and stumble into a fight or you are near to a fight when it begins, if you get killed by a spell then that is unfortunate but it happens.

If you walk up to a defeated player and attempt to take their corpse after the fight is over, this can be considered as hostile action towards the attackers and they will be allowed to attack you.

If a character pickpockets you, interaction is now required. You must follow the PvP rules.

Poisoning someone with food or water doesn't require interaction first. It requires minimal interaction such as, 'would you like more tea?'Though the more roleplay the better. In general, just remain actively involved in the scene even if you aren't directly roleplaying with the victim. It doesn't require that you hostile anyone. If caught, you may be attacked. Your attackers should follow the PvP rules.

If two characters are roleplaying and they have friends who are stealthed, the stealthed players may participate in the hostile roleplay as part of an ambush. However, they must not be the ones to initiate the engagement. That is to say, the unstealthed characters must initiate the conflict first who can then be joined by their stealthed companions.

Giving demands and screaming at another character in a language they don’t understand and then killing them is not sufficient. If your character can’t speak Common, that’s fine, but indicate your intention through emote.

Abusing the ability to set conditions is not looked kindly on. If you tell another character to stop buffing while they’re in the middle of it and obviously not paying attention in an environment where buffing is expected, for example, and then attack them? We’ll consider you at fault here.

It’s considered good form to use hostile as early as possible before a fight happens. Surprising with hostile and an attack, if hostile intention isn’t clearly established is poor behavior.

If a character is ignoring you when you make demands and trying to avoid conflict by not replying, you can attack them. This includes silently running away. Try not to kill someone who obviously didn’t notice you on the spot, but if they’re clearly just being a poor sport you can kill them. If they activate a lens or try to teleport away, this is fair game too.

If a fight happens and someone runs away, it’s possible someone gets away and hides. If fighting stops for more than a minute and a half, vaguely, players must roleplay again before fighting. You can’t find someone five minutes later and then attack them on sight.

Use good judgement. Like mentioned previously, we go by the spirit of the rule and not the letter of it. If you’re being mean or intentionally difficult and playing by technicality instead of what’s fair for the other player, we’ll act on that.

Kill on sight is an in character concept. Characters can plan around killing someone on sight. For example, it makes perfect sense for the good characters and evil characters to attack each other immediately and talk about doing that. Guards might even put up notices that someone is to be killed on sight for crimes against their city. However, this is only an in character concept. Despite the in character expectation and statement, out of character, this is not allowed. There must be roleplay first all the same.

Death and Memory Loss

When a character dies, they lose memories relating and leading up to their death as well as their time in their fugue plane. The effects on your memory from death are as follows:

Characters do not remember anything related to the fugue or entering it. You know nothing of your encounters in the fugue even after respawning.
Characters do not remember any participants in the roleplay and in the surrounding area leading up to their death. This includes witnesses, attackers and traveling bystanders.
Characters do not remember conversations, names, or any information that they obtained in the roleplay that lead up to their death.
These rules apply immediately when you enter the fugue plane. No matter the means you are bought out of the fugue plane, these rules immediately apply and your character loses memory.
The spirit of the rule is that the victim should be almost completely removed from the narrative of their own death. They are not investigators, detectives or reliable sources of information into the mystery of their own murder.

Characters are allowed to remember three things. Where they were going, why they were going there and who they were traveling with.
The three things characters are allowed to remember should not implicate anyone in the murder or definitively answer the mystery of their death. When in doubt, remember less.

You should forget entirely any important information you learned in the roleplay or the roleplay leading up to where you died as well, such as that someone was a necromancer, vampire or assassin. You can not die to learn information for the purpose of exposing someone.

If you can not answer a question without doing one of those things, simply determine that your character can not remember it and avoid providing the answer.

Characters can not behave in such a way that they have the ability to avoid memory loss. Even if your chararcter might have access to information, as a player, you should know to refrain from using it in a way which circumvents memory loss or turns you into an investigator, detective or reliable source of information.

If something is unclear, please reach out to a Dungeon Master. We're here to help!

Sailing PvP Requirements

Before engaging another ship in combat you must do at least two of the following:

Swap flags to indicate your hostile intent. Hoist the jolly roger, so to say.
Fire a warning shot at the other players.
Use the shout system, if possible, for intervessel communication. (Note that ship-to-ship shouting only works if both ships are in the same quadrant.)

Give a fair and reasonable amount of time for the other players to react to your presence. We have logs. If you’re trying to game the system for an unfair surprise advantage, we’ll know.

When boarding, adhere to these guidelines:

Once boarding has begun, characters must roleplay before fighting.
Time must be given for everyone to board and to load in.
Do not use persistent area of effect spells like Storm of Vengeance until the fighting has begun.
Do not set traps on the transitions.
Do not jump over and immediately begin attacking. Roleplay.
Do not immediately begin attacking the invaders. Roleplay.
Sinking or being sunk initiates the 48 hour rule. Avoid each other as much as possible. Ships make it hard to know who to avoid. Do your best.

More Sailing Information

Jailing and Capture

PCs should not be kept in captivity alone for more than 30 min without roleplay unless they consent to a longer wait/log off. Capturers should make sure they are getting some amount of RP every 30 minutes, or released when that does not become possible.

A good tip for this is that two or more prisoners can RP with each other for a time, making following this rule a bit easier.
If your settlement has policies of jailing that last a very long time, consider offering players different punishments. Additionally, consider reducing jail times or ways to give players an early release if they do something in exchange, such as a fine, community service, giving up of information, a trade of something valuable, gathering resources, etc.
If you are being kept longer for 30 minutes without consent, ping a DM for assistance.

No Excessive Theft

Property Theft

A Player / Party is permitted to steal one single item per day from Player Owned Property. No exception.
A For Sale Property IS STILL Player Owned
Stacks are a single item. If there are multiple partial stacks of the same item type within a player storage chest, players cannot remove the partial stacks to form a full stack of items to steal for the purposes of "one item per day."
Storage Bags / Boxes / Bookshelves are containers. You cannot steal a container. You may take one stack from within however. (Emptying a container and overfilling a storage chest to steal it risks the overflow being destroyed. Don't do it.)
You can steal from Citizen Storage while someone is accessing it.

Fixture Theft & Bashing

A fixture counts as one item. If a number of fixtures are used to create one device or piece of art, you may only take one singular fixture.
You can Steal / Remove one fixture per day. You can destroy (bash) up to three.
Repeated returning to destroy a fixture is considered griefing.
A party / group is also limited to one theft or three destroyed collectively.
Please do not include OOC messages in fixture descriptions, specifically in regard to telling others to not steal a fixture. Repeating, excessive fixture theft is simply to be reported to the DM Team.

Abandoned Quarters

For Sale IS NOT abandoned. They are protected by the Excessive Theft Rules.
Released / Abandoned property is not protected by the Excessive Theft Rules.

Player Theft

You can only successfully pickpocket a PC once per IRL day.
Corpse dropped Gold from PvP against the same PC may only be collected once per IRL Day.
Corpse dropped Gold from PvE may be collected as and when encountered.
Corpse dropped Gold Piles are NOT considered multiple thefts when collecting more than one pile.
Corpse dropped Fixtures are protected by Fixture Theft and Bash rules.

The Server is Rated T

There are children who play on this server. If you try and use Arelith as a meet up for erotic roleplay In Discord, In Game, In Tells or ask others to continue your roleplay through other mediums, this is a permanent suspension. It’s a zero tolerance policy. We do not allow players to use Arelith as a platform for adult content. We don’t judge, but this isn’t the place for it. No means no. If you’re putting pressure on someone in any sort of way related to sexual content for any reason, you’re out of here. Even if you’re not in the game and you’re just being a creep in the community over Discord or something, if we catch wind of it then you’re gone.

You’re allowed to have your characters fade to black for suggestive material. You can kiss, hold hands, hug. If it starts getting steamy, that’s a good time to fade to black. Don’t emote genitals or private areas, don’t describe overtly sexual behavior. Anything leaning towards specific adult content should be kept in private spaces. Don't be weird and do fade to black type content in front of others.

The line can be difficult to read. If this scares you or you’re not sure where it is, avoid it. It’s the safest option. Keep in mind that someone can be watching you through stealth or scry. Is it inappropriate content for someone else to read? If so, the answer is to stop.

Non-consensual themed content is entirely forbidden. This includes any romance or intimate content with slaves in any way, shape or form.

Vampires and thralls are also forbidden from directly engaging in intimacy for reasons of dubious consent regarding niche lore in the setting.

Don’t be particularly graphic with gore. Don’t be particularly specific with illicit substances or directly reference real drugs outside of what’s directly described for them in game. Seriously, there’s a ton of fantasy substances in D&D. Use those.

Muling & Crossing The Streams

Do not transfer items, gold or properties between your characters. This is referred to as muling.
Do not have your characters in the same faction.
Do not have your characters playing in the same circle of friends or narrative, crossing the streams in a weird way.
Do not use one character to directly benefit another of your own characters.
Do not have one character defend the honor or reputation of another of your characters..
Don’t exploit. If you’re abusing mechanics in a weird way that’s difficult to notice, we’ll come down on you significantly harder when we do catch you. It’s when, not if.
Don’t multi-box. This is cheating. Play one character on one account at a time.
Share your account with friends at your own risk. All users will be treated as one person for anyone who touches the account. If six months ago Bob logged into your account and got banned just now for muling, you’re getting banned for muling too.
Players are only allowed to vote in a settlement election that they're active in with one character. If you play in Cordor, you can vote in an election there one time. If you play in Guldorand and Cordor actively, you can vote in both of those elections separately. You can not vote with multiple characters in the same election. This is crossing the streams.

Other Rulings

Arelith has various other rulings that have been established over the years that fall outside the Golden Rules for clarification purposes. They are listed below.

Raids

There are two types of raids. Hard raids and soft raids. These rules are only considered in areas with a fair amount of intelligent NPCs, like a village or an outpost. We don’t care if big fights or ambushes happen out in the wilderness.

A hard raid requires permission from the team two weeks in advance through the forums or via email. It targets any area with NPCs and can involve any number of players in an attack. The goal can be unspecific such as ‘slaughter everyone in the area’ or something specific such as ‘save Tim from execution’ or ‘get revenge because Tim was executed’. Dungeon Masters are present for the raid to play as NPCs and to try and keep everything under control and playing smoothly. The requirement for roleplay before pvp is a little more lax and a lot of people will die. The two week timing in advance also lets us plan special effects and other fun content.

A soft raid does not require permission. The characters can not kill NPCs. The only requirement is that the team is alerted in the moment with a message to the /dm channel several times before and during the attack. It has a group between five to seven characters. The characters have a specific goal in mind such as saving their friend, killing a government official or kidnapping someone. Once the goal is completed they must leave immediately. They can not linger with the vague intention of picking a fight with whoever is there, waiting and hoping more show up.

It’s possible for a large group of friends to wind up in a fight. This isn’t a raid or a soft raid. It’s just a big fight. They happen sometimes spontaneously. The difference is whether or not it was planned. If you’re on a mission, keep to the soft raid requirements. If you and twelve friends are just hanging out and get into a fight in the middle of Cordor, that can just happen. Don’t be technical and rules lawyer the situation. If you’re trying to cheese the requirements like, ‘we were just going on a walk into Brogendenstein and ended up killing everyone’ then we’ll know you’re being obtuse on purpose. The difference is very obvious to us, we don’t like rules lawyers and they’re never as clever as they think they are.

We will still be monitoring people properly respecting the presence of NPCs. Those who repeatedly and blatantly fail to respect them will find their RPB lowered, and possibly a MoD given out.

As a reminder, a one-line DM channel notification that a raid is going to happen is not enough. And those continuing to raid without permission will be handed punishments accordingly. We are all attempting to tell a story and have fun, let us not ruin it by breaching the rules.

Censorship

Don’t emote or roleplay feces and other bodily liquids. Don’t use terrorism or terrorist in roleplay. Don’t reference specific ideological concepts like fascism. Don’t go around calling people fascists, communists or capitalists etcetera. Don’t reference real life events in game through roleplay. Do not use 'hard' swears like fuck or cunt. Language otherwise used in voice sets is acceptable. Minor swears like 'shit' can be used sparingly (once or twice a month). Use fantasy alternatives. Don’t use derogatory, sexist language like whore to insult someone. Keep memes tasteful and to a minimum.

We don’t want characters calling each other racist or saying racism in game. It’s expected for the fantasy races in the setting to dislike each other on that basis alone. Keep it to what’s inherent to the setting and what would be expected for a character of your race.

Homophobia, Racism

Homophobia is not allowed to be roleplayed in game.

We’ve noticed a growing amount of derogatory references to sexualities on the server in character. Whilst not outright hate language, it’s still concerning. The sexuality of a character should never come up into dialogue, regardless of their associations or motivations. To reference anyone’s sexuality as an insult is derogatory and unwelcome. For much of the realms in the setting, gender and sexuality do not matter. It’s also a topic that is upsetting to players who have to face this every day in real life. So drop it.

Real life slurs are forbidden. Don’t call someone else racist in roleplay. Don’t use racism either. Don’t roleplay real life racism through a narrative lens.

You can find more information regarding our policy on racism in the setting on the forums.

We don’t want characters calling each other racist or saying racism in game. It’s expected for the fantasy races in the setting to dislike each other on that basis alone. Keep it to what’s inherent to the setting and what would be expected for a character of your race.

Underage Characters, Pregnancy

Do NOT roleplay children. Do NOT describe your adult characters as looking like children. Do NOT roleplay underage characters. This is zero tolerance.

Pregnancy roleplay is allowed. But this is a sensitive subject. If your character is pregnant, you have to avoid danger completely. Consider shelving the character. If you try using your character’s pregnancy or parenthood as a shield to get out of danger or accuse someone of harming you despite having a child, we will shelf your character for you.

Offensive Imagery

The posting of images of WELL-KNOWN mass murderers; serial killers; sex offenders; war criminals; et cetera with the intent of humor is not welcome. WELL-KNOWN indicates that both the poster and all responders KNOW and UNDERSTAND the person's identity. The poster may be assumed to know the identity of the person used. Responders may or may not know this identity and can expect either a conversation with moderation or an immediate ban pending investigation. AS OF DECEMBER 19 2017, offending players will be banned and removed from forum and game with no chance of repeal.

Suicidal Themes

Don’t roleplay suicide. Don’t tell other characters to commit suicide or to kill themselves. There’s a difference between a thematic heroic last stand and a suicidal narrative. If you’re suicidal, please seek help. Otherwise, if we discover you’re making suicidal threats out of character or otherwise being manipulative with such a serious subject, you’ll be permanently suspended.

Misandry / Misogyny

Outside of cultures in the setting which are specifically misandrist or misogynistic it’s best to avoid expressing these characteristics through roleplay.

Transition Abuse

This one is a little difficult. The maps are small. It’s impossible to be completely out of line of sight of a transition.

We expect players to do their best not to game the environments around transitions. That is to say, in other words, if you’re making plans to set up an ambush directly on a transition you shouldn’t do that.

The other players need time to load in, come through and to be able to move around and to react to you.

Don’t camp two way portal hubs.

You can be standing around sometimes and end up in a fight around a transition or a portal if your enemy loads in, that’s okay. Just don’t plan around waiting to engage someone by a crummy place right as they load in.

If you see a character you’re at odds with coming through a transition and want to fight them, make your intention known and do your best to give them some space to move away from it.

If you’re in a large skirmishing party wandering around the world, it’s going to be messy. That can’t be avoided. Try to stay away from engaging other players near transitions as much as possible.

Avoid using persistent Area of Effect spells that will trap characters loading into the area on top of a transition.

We can tell when it’s intentional and when it’s an accident. Play fairly with the other person in mind.

Runic Material Abuses & Dungeon Etiquette

Dropping from your party to loot a runic chest * is against the rules and considered an exploit. Players found engaging in this behavior may have the items gained deleted from their character.
Don’t log out by runic chests * or materials like adamantine. This is an exploit.
Do not server reset rush runic material dungeons.
Do not farm at the expense of other players. If someone else shows up, let them have a run or two. Especially if they’re on a writ.
High levels in particular shouldn’t farm low level dungeons at the expense of characters on writs. It’s fine sometimes, but make room if you see someone trying to perform level appropriate content.
Do not use other mechanical exploits to increase your chances of getting loot over other characters. You know the ones I’m talking about. We have logs. We know. If you give us more work over something petty like this we’re going to be very angry.
Don't silently run past someone in a dungeon to take their loot. If someone is a dungeon in front of you, running in front of them to clear the dungeon ahead of them without stopping to interact or to steal valuables from them is inappropriate.

* Note: Runic Chests have mechanical (coded) limitations, you can read more about that here.

Shadovar, Dis, Andunor Hub and Skaljard

Shadovar and Dis have expectations of character neutrality. This isn’t mechanically enforced. However, if your character is disruptive in these areas there may be special in game consequences for it. You should be scared of them. It won’t be fair. This includes picking pockets as well, not just combat.

The Hub is a special area. It’s the only prime social location in the Underdark with all of the vendors. It’s full of lower level characters. In the setting, it represents a sort of neutral area where the Hubmaster welcomes characters from all over to come and do trading. That isn’t to say surfacers should feel welcome, but this particular area should be treated with care and special consideration before you attack someone or cause a scene. We look much more closely at situations involving the Hub than we do other settlements.

Skaljard is designed as a low level experience and is level capped to 19. If you’re at level nineteen and you wish to progress further, you will need to make plans to leave. You may remain on Skal at a maximum level of 19, no exceptions.

Characters are otherwise allowed to fight and roleplay without concern for the NPCs in *OTHER* areas. In short, we don’t want to prevent conflict roleplay from happening just because there are NPC guards. However, we like to see it when players acknowledge them and work around the world as if the guards in settlements are real and will stop you. It isn’t required. This is an RPB consideration. Blatantly ignoring, killing or disrespecting them might also lead to a Mark of Despair or Dauntlessness.

You’re allowed to visit Skaljard, but doing so at a high level means that you’re agreeing not to disrupt the low level experience.

Rules for visiting Skal post level 19

Keep your visit brief. A day or two at most and do not attempt to return immediately following your departure.

No "Big Brothers". You may assist with writs vocally, with your written dialog. Don't complete it on the behalf of the Skal players.

Do NOT disrupt the economy of Skal. You should not be handing out equipment or gold, you should not be charitibly master crafting everything or undercutting everyone. (The materials might be easy for you to get, but don't flaunt it)

You are neither the Hero or the Villian of Skal. Do not try to enforce your own version of justice, vengeance or villainy onto the Skal population.

You break any of these, you will be removed from Skal. If you keep returning to do much of the same, you will be reduced to level 19 indefinitely!

Quarter Ownership

To conserve server resources for all, ownership of game property is limited per PLAYER (not character, CD key, login name, etc. Player. Real, flesh and blood player).

Any number of temporary shops. Please only buy as many as you can use in the moment.
A player is limited to one guildhouse, one quarter and one permanent shop.
A guildhouse is a building with several quarters inside of it and sometimes a shop may be attached.
A vault and ship are both considered quarters. However, some ships have quarters inside of them and those will be considered guildhouses.
Players owning guildhouses can only own a quarter inside their guildhouse. If the guildhouse has a shop associated with it, the guildhouse owner can only own that shop.
If a player owns a quarter with a shop attached, the only shop they may own is the one attached to the quarter.
Characters with evil or anti-triad faiths should avoid owning property in the Radiant Heart.
Surface characters should avoid owning property in the Underdark
Slaves and Outcasts can’t own house properties on the surface.
Slaves can only own property in the slave pits. Or one of the rooms inside of a guildhouse that their master owns. They can also own a vault instead.
Slaves ARE allowed to own a shop, however.
Quarter signs are considered in character information. If you can see the name on the sign, you can know who owns the property.
Quarter sneaking is currently allowed. Quarter sneaking is the act of a character entering from the outside after someone inside opens the door and unbeknownst to them, either in stealth or not, enters their property.
Monster characters - drow, orogs, kobolds, etc - are not allowed to own quarters in the surface.

Fixtures are cool. We like players to share. If you’re an area with a shared fixture limit, consider dividing the maximum number of fixtures by how many quarters tthere are and limiting fixtures in your home to that value.

Some properties are combined as shop and houses. In these instances, the owner of the house is obligated to own the shop as well. If you previously owned the shop and the house but let the house lapse, but you’re keeping your shop because you can refresh it by touching the store without having access to the sign? You’re obligated to give it over to the new owner of the lease.

However, if the quarter owner agrees you may keep the shop. Because the quarter owner can only own the shop attached to their quarter, however, they can no longer own a shop personally.

Some properties in the game aren’t attached to the bid system. Don’t play real estate and auction them for a higher price. If you’re going to be inactive for an extended period of time, let go of your property so someone else can use it. If you find yourself logging in just to refresh for three weeks, seriously. Think about moving on before we have to move you on ourselves.

Disguises

Disguising with your own character name to farm piety is an exploit. It's also not allowed for you to disguise as yourself for the sake of hiding your description. If you want to hide something in your description just remove it. If your character is not concealing their identity by pretending to be someone else, do not use Disguise.

Characters can remain disguised even if they aren’t covered.

Characters are not allowed to hide behind Disguise to conceal their true name forever. You must allow some people to know their name so that the potential of it being exposed is an option for opposing characters.

Disguises should be used as disguises, not as 'nicknames' or 'descriptors.' Ideally disguises should be actual names. 'Descriptive' disguises (hooded male for example) should be used sparingly and briefly.

You can NOT add (slave) or (prisoner) to your disguise name to try and pretend to have a mechanical status that you do not actually have. This is in relation, also, to not using descriptions to offer misleading mechanical content about your character like adding a Radiant Heart or Outcast color coded description.

Please do not do Helm/Hood checks. Some characters have helms/hoods baked into the model. Whilst you can ask PCs to show their faces, a simple emote such as lifts visor/removes or lowers mask or lifts their hood, revealing a non-descript face with [color] eyes and [color] hair tucked into the folds of their collar for such should satisfy your PC.

Scry can only be used if you have the target’s real name or the name of the disguise they’re currently using. Fluff like requiring a piece of hair or an article of clothing are cool when players self impose them but these aren’t requirements.They also don’t substitute the actual requirements.

Scrying, wisps, messengers, projecting image and the Bank Teller are NOT viable options to tell if someone has given you a real name. Scrying and other magic can be unreliable, and the Banker, as well as messenger service, does not have every single name to hand in canon.

If you don’t break someone’s disguise, treating them differently is metagaming. If you’re stalling for no reason to keep them in conversation for more attempts to break disguises or spamming True Sight to try and pierce it, you should reconsider your actions.

If you’re describing someone in a message board post, you have to actually describe them as you saw them. It’s considered metagaming if you post a board post that gives the character’s name as the description.

For example, you can NOT write this:

“This is an artist’s rendition of who I saw. [A picture of Tim is attached here at the bottom.] I saw him murdering someone and summoning skeletons.”

You CAN write this:

“I saw someone evil. He was wearing a black robe, he had a beard and blonde hair.”

What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG)

WYSIWYG means that how things are represented in game are how they are. If someone has stoneskin, they have stoneskin. If a sign is placed down by a player and described as being graffiti on the wall, it's actually a sign describing graffiti and not what the player who put it down intended for it to be. However, this is extreme. It's much more fun to pretend that sign is actually graffiti. So if it isn't hurting anything, just pretend there's graffiti instead. This applies to some things and not others. Use good judgement.

Half-Elf characters must be Half-Human. Their elf heritage is not allowed to be Drow. Half-Drow are not allowed.

Half-Orcs must be Half-Human.

You do not have to acknowledge the skill checks people put in descriptions. If it’s in the description, your character can notice it. It doesn’t hurt anything to acknowledge them, though.

It is forbidden to use color coding in descriptions to try and dupe other players into thinking you are an Outcast, have a Radiant Heart ring or to misrepresent any other mechanical information typically presented in a description.

Roleplay the race on your sheet. If you’re a human, you’re a human. Do not roleplay characters from other spheres like Greyhawk. However, having knowledge and referencing other settings sparsely and appropriately is acceptable.

If you're a paladin, you're a paladin. Though, culturally, you might refer to yourself instead as a holy warrior as a fighter might refer to themselves as a bodyguard. Be creative but respect the fundamental implication of the class.

Keep your character’s appearance within reason for the race. Don’t play a reflective obsidian human or an albino drow. Play what is traditionally expected for a member of that race.

Characters look like they look in game. A kobold, for example, can not disguise as a human because the in game representation is a kobold. If you’re wearing tattered robes and describe it as a beautiful dress, players can choose to disregard that for what they actually see. It’s usually good form to go along with stuff unless someone is being cheesy.

Information that shows up under examine is what your character can see. If you can see Pirate tags, Outcast tag or the Radiant Heart tag when you examine someone, then that is information your character has access to. This includes the racial type.

WYSIWYG does not apply to nameplates such as character names or fixture tags to assert mechanical ownership such as Chair{DM Vivec}. You can not know the chair belongs to {DM Vivec} because of the tag.

Alignment & Roleplay Considerations

We consider the the slave pit gladiatorial fights in the Underdark to be evil. Goodly characters who have no reason to do it and want to avoid scrutiny should probably avoid this. Especially members of the Radiant Heart. It's a good way for your character to lose their ring.

We consider hiring assassins to be evil. Goodly characters, particularly lawful-leaning ones, who want to avoid scrutiny should probably avoid this. Especially members of the Radiant Heart. It's a good way for your character to lose their ring.

Characters in racial settlements should keep it thematic. Humans shouldn’t try to become settlement leader of either Brogendenstein or Myon, for example.

You should seriously consider reading some information about your race before playing something with more niche lore like Avariel.

Players must apply to roleplay as members of noble families represented in game such as but not limited to Freth, Claddath and Derlson. If accepted, you are expected to play them as an unimportant member of that House. Your character will not hold sway or authority to represent the rest of the lineage.

Characters with the noble reward are expected to not roleplay as royalty. Your character is welcome to lie, of course (as is anyone about being noble in the first place), but you can not actually play as a royal character.

Naming Conventions, Titles

Characters are not allowed to have titles in their name. For example, these names would all be forbidden. We will rename your character and forcefully drop the title. Please do not make us do this.

Soldier Bob
Count Dracula
Demetrius the Inquisitor

Characters are also forbidden from using famous names. This includes celebrities, historical figures or characters canonically established in the setting. For example, these names would all be forbidden. We will rename your character. Please do not make us do this.

Bob Ross
Harry Potter
Luke Skywalker
Drizzt Do’Urden
George Washington

Players are also forbidden from making character names that are directly referencing memes, etc. Joke names should be avoided.

Slavery

Slaves are expected to act like slaves. You shouldn't be roleplaying brave and bold with a collar around your neck, generally. Respect the setting.

Non-consensual themed content is entirely forbidden. This includes any romance or intimate content with slaves in any way, shape or form.

In the instance where characters are already in a relationship, they may be allowed to continue. (So long as the other character in the relationship isn't the owner). However, we encourage those players to be more subtle because most people aren't going to understand the context of your characters holding hands or kissing. Please use good judgement and consider toning down the romance until all character(s) in question are freed and no longer enslaved.

Those with Slave Collars cannot own quarters, except a few designated places for slaves as indicated IG or a room inside their master's guildhouse. They are allowed to own shops in the underdark, or own a vault in place of a quarter. Slaves can not own property on the Surface.

If you were previously not a slave and owned a quarter, when you become a slave you must get rid of your property to fall in line with the slave quarter ownership rule listed above.

If your master is inactive, your ownership will revert back to the Slavemaster after a time. If you find this doesn't prompt automatically or if your owner logs on just enough to keep refreshing their ownership of you, please contact a Dungeon Master to have it reverted manually.

We do not remove slave collars on request. There are find out in game (FOIG) methods for losing your slave collar.

However, if for any reason you are uncomfortable with your current owner we will reset ownership back to the NPC for you.

Talking Animals

Talking as an animal is considered poor roleplay. However, it is allowed.

It is suggested that when you are shapeshifted, you use one of either of these languages:

Druidic
Animal

Exploits

Many exploits are not written here for the purpose of not advertising them to the masses. If it’s an exploit, don’t do it. These are some of the more common ones you’re likely to discover on your own or stumble into. If you’re doing something that seems weird and unintended, ask a Dungeon Master.

Sometimes you can tell if a character is sneaking around you in stealth without your character detecting them. But if the stealthed character speaks in another language like Elvish, the language translation will show up in the combat log. Do not use this information to metagame someone’s presence.

Do not place down traps for the sole purpose of knowing when they're activated. You can not know a trap has gone off unless your character can physically see/hear it.

Using -makesafe for anything else than its intended use (unstucking your character, debugging) is not allowed.

When you go through a transition, you can sometimes see a stealthed character for a split second before the game realizes they're stealthed and hides them again. Your character shouldn't acknowledge seeing someone when this happens.

Logging out by a Runic Chest or resource node (any material whatsoever), to farm it is an exploit. Do not do it.

Using -fetch in player vs. player is not allowed.

Do not use stealth and then go through transitions to break line of sight to gain an advantage in PvP.

Do not abuse animation cancelling.

Using macros to bypass the afk timer or to farm RPB is unallowed.

Do not abuse GIGASCHATTAN (the server portal room) to get to areas you shouldn't have access to. This is easy to find and very punishable.

Disguising with your own character name to farm piety is an exploit. It's also not allowed for you to disguise as yourself for the sake of hiding your description. If you want to hide something in your description just remove it. If your character is not concealing their identity by pretending to be someone else, do not use Disguise.

Logging out to avoid roleplay is not allowed. If your character is being chased or in a fight you must wait for the scene to come to an end. You can not log out to avoid a fight if you are being threatened.

Do not use apperance options which grant the character actual skin to conceal a Palemaster arm. The Palemaster arm may only be concealed by appearance options that include actual fabrics/metals such as armor or a shirt.

Do not use -scry on someone when they have just logged into a server. You should not immediately react to the player list updating to use -scry if your character was not previously searching for them.

Characters should not use the Slave or Prisoner functions for anything but their obviously intended purpose. They are not not to be used as an excuse for characters to enter areas they previously weren't allowed to do so and removed without consequence shortly after.

Please don't block walkways or interactive points, such as climb checks, with fixtures, Cheval De'Frise is excluded for the former only during conflict events, as it is excluded from fixture bashing rules and players are at liberty to destroy them.

On Roleplaying Children

On Arelith, it is not permitted to emote the presence of a baby or under-age child. While such references can exist in the universe of a player character's personal development and history, children must always be off-camera and not present in a live roleplay scene. This includes pregnancy and unborn children.

It is, of course, still permitted to interact with child NPCs and characters spawned and played by DMs. As always, the rules regarding friendly NPCs apply.

Roleplay Rule
Famous Names, Titles, and Modified Appearances
Psychic Powers
Slavery
Metagaming
God-Emoting
Griefing

Rule Waiving

Players may if they choose opt out of the Rules of Engagement. This includes the Settlement Leader, Player vs Player and the Excessive theft rules.

This may only be done with the full and prior consent of all players involved. It is advised that everyone takes screenshots to document that the rules have been waived.

As an example, normally you can only steal from a target once every 24 hours, but two rogues may have a pickpocketing contest. They both agree to waive the theft rule and are now allowed to pickpocket from each other freely without repercussion.

A player could also waive permission to settlement officials that they don't need interaction before being evicted, made pariah or exiled.

If your actions are going to affect someone that is not present at the moment you must assume that their consent is not given.

You should be very careful when waiving a rule. Once it is waived, it is implied that the time restriction has been lifted and can not be retracted. For example, if you're in a fight with John Doe and he kills you? If you've waived the 48h PvP rule to talk to him again, you can not retract it to save yourself if you're about to die again.

Just as a reminder, accepting a ressurection from someone who killed you is agreeing to waive the 48h rule. You can be killed again.

These are the only rules players may agree to opt out of. If you think there should be more exceptions, reach out to the staff.

To be more precise and to reiterate, you can never waive rules regarding erotic content, intimate relationships between slaves and their owners, vampires and thralls, muling, etcetera. There are some rules which exist in more of a grey area such as godmoding.