Lieging & Groups

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Bloodlines uses a lieging structure, where a player can pledge allegiance to another player. This allegiance allows souls to be totalled upwards in the clan, and also affects the totals and stats related to Bloodlines Groups.
== Families ==
== Allies and Enemies ==
Through the Bloodlines web interface, family leaders can request alliances with other families, and also designate enemy families. You can set another family as your enemy without their approval, but in order to form an alliance, the target family must approve your alliance request. If you set a family as an enemy, it will only show up in your list of enemies, not on theirs, unless they also set you as an enemy, in which case the enemy will be listed on both profiles as "Mutual". You can remove an enemy that you have set at any time, and either part of an alliance can terminate the alliance at any time. Only the family leaders can manage allies and enemies, but we encourage you to hold your own internal discussions and negotiations for which families should be considered allies and enemies.
You should receive an IM in-world whenever any of the following happens: someone sets you as an enemy, someone removes you as an enemy, someone requests you as an ally, someone rejects or accepts your ally request, or someone removes you as an ally. When you receive notification that someone has requested you as an ally, you can log into the Bloodlines website and go to your family profile in order to accept or reject the request. If you accept the request, then your alliance will be formed and you will be listed under allies on each other's profiles. If you reject the request, then the request is marked as rejected, but still listed for both families in your "Pending Sent" tab for the requesting family, and in the "Pending Received" tab for the receiving family. Both families are given the option to "Dismiss" this rejection listing, but if the receiving family dismisses the listing, the requesting family will be able to request you as an ally again. If you want to prevent a family from sending you another request, don't dismiss their rejection listing. It won't show on your public profile, it will just be listed at the bottom of your "Pending Requests" tab as rejected when you are logged in.
There is a limit of ten alliances and ten enemies per family. Pending alliance requests count towards this limit for the requesting party. This means that if you request 10 families as allies, you won't be able to request any more unless you withdraw one of your requests. You can withdraw unanswered requests by going to your 'Pending sent' tab on your family profile.
== Family Roles ==
Bloodlines clans (vampire leader), packs (lycan leader), hordes (hybrid leader), guilds (human leader), flights (angel leader) and legions (demon leader) are referred to in general as "Families". Family Roles are versatile names and badges that can be defined by the Family leader. The Family leader can define roles by logging into the website at slbloodlines.com, then selecting 'Edit Family Profile' from the dropdown that shows their Second Life name in the upper right of the site, then using the 'Family Role's dropdown in the upper right of the edit profile page. There are four options on this dropdown:
* Edit Roles: use this option to view the list of roles that have been defined so far, delete roles, or change the order that the roles appear on the Family profile. To delete a role, press the delete button on the row of the role. To re-order roles, drag the order roles using the handle on the left side of the role, and then press the 'Save' button at the bottom of the page.
* Add Role: use this option to add a new role. You can define the following fields for a role: Name, Description, and Badge. Badges are optional, but if you choose to have a badge, you can use one of the default badges that we have provided, or you can upload your own badge image. Badges should be square to prevent distortion when the image is processed.
* Members with Roles: use this option to view a list of members that have been set to roles, and to remove a role from a member of your family.
* Set Member to Role: use this option to assign a member to a role.
When you assign a member to a role, the role name and badge will appear on their profile underneath the family emblem. The list of roles will also appear on the family profile in order, and you can click on the role in the list of roles to view a roster of family members who are assigned to that role.
You can manage roles however you like in your clan. You can use them as awards or ranks for your own custom family achievements, or use them for organizational purposes. It's up to you!
== The Empires Update ==
March 18th, 2020 by Mars Bracken
After many years of suggestions and requests, we have designed and implemented an update to the core way that families and lieging work: The Empires Update.
=== Goals of the Update: ===
* Smaller families can retain their family name and cohesion while still becoming part of a larger clan
* Smaller families have a chance to get their logo / name on the homepage via pledging to a larger / higher ranked family
* Larger families will have a clearer idea of the coalitions under them
* Due to empowerment of clans banding together, the higher level rankings will be more realistically attainable
=== How the Update Works: ===
* Once you log into the Bloodlines site, if you are a family leader, go to your name in the upper right and ‘Edit Family Profile’. Under ‘My Family’, you will see pages for ‘Empire’ and ‘Houses’. Empire is to manage the Empire that your family is pledged to, and if you are an empire, the Houses page will list the houses pledged to you, and allow you to release or ban them.
* Once another family pledges to your family, you become an Empire. Once your family pledges to another family, you become a house of that Empire.
* If you are a house and you want to liege into and be absorbed into another family (without retaining your family name) you must unpledge first (through the family profile editor). If you are an Empire, and wish to be absorbed into another family (without retaining your family name) you must release all of your houses first, also through the family profile editor.
* Right now the limit is 10 families pledging to 1 larger family, with no cascading pledging below that (IE if your family is pledged to another, you cannot have families pledged to you) but this may change over time if we see that this update is stable and has the desired effects.
* And in case you missed it, we also recently did a Family Naming Update, allowing more freedom in the family type selection.
Thanks to everyone’s feedback and suggestions on this, and happy hunting!