War rules

All other rules:

* Community and gameplay rules
* Roleplay and artifacts
* Colonization and kingship
* Factions and Cohalitions

## **5. - WAR RULES**

**5.1** - To start a new war is needed a Declaration of War, that has to follow this template:

* DECLARATION OF WAR: <Name of the war>

* Attacker: <Faction name>

* Defender: <Faction name>

* Target province: <Province number>

* Casus belli: <Type of war (see below)>

* Summoned attackers' allies: <Faction names>

* Players authorized to pay the War Fee: <Player names>

* Suggested date: <Friday/Saturday/Sunday>

Moreover, it is needed to pay a War Fee and your faction needs to have, somewhere, a War Camp.

* **5.1.1** - The declarations not following the template will be ignored.

**5.2** - There can be two types of war: the Invasion and the Civil war. The first happens when a faction wants to conquer another faction's province, the second when inside a faction there is a rebellion and an usurper obtains the right to make a war against the current ruler.

**5.3** - Invasion rules

* **5.3.1** - The invasion is a long lasting war, that has a minimal duration of 3 weeks, for a minimum amount of 3 battles (unless a treaty is signed). After the declaration of war, the first battle is a Raid Battle. The battle takes place nearby the province's smallest settlement, that has to be unfortified and without banner protection. The goal of the attackers is to take down the village before their attack force is extermined, whereas the defenders have to prevent the complete destruction. The battle ends when the settlement is destroyed or the attack force killed. If this battle is won by the defenders the war ends, else the second battle takes place. This one is a Pitched Battle, which means that it has to be held far from settlements, or if it's not possible the settlement must be under protection and ignored during the fight. The battle ends when one of the two armies is completely killed. If the defenders won, the war ends won by the defenders, if the attackers won, it holds a Siege Battle: this means that the defender army has to fortify and prepare for a siege the biggest settlement of the province, and the attackers have to try to occupy the settlement. The battle lasts maximum 1 hour, so it can end if the time runs out or if one of the armies is completely defeated; the ones who hold the castle at the end of the time win the battle. If the battle is won by the attackers the war ends (won by them), else they fight again a Pitched battle with the possible endings said before.
* **5.3.2** - The war can end as said in rule 5.3.1, or if a treaty is signed. This can happen at whatever stage of the war, and it's the only way to end it before the decisive battle. If the first battle didn't happen and the factions want to not make war anymore, the staff will cancel the war and refund half of the payed War Fee.

**5.4** - Civil war rules

* **5.4.1** - The civil war needs a survey to start. To be made the survey, the rebel leader must be assigned to the faction in this discord for at least 5 weeks; if this condition is satisfied, the survey will start, and in a dedicated channel will be opened a poll. There, the active faction members must vote Yes, if they want to change leader, No, if they don't want. If the Yes votes will be >80%, there will be no war and the ruler will switch; if 40% < Yes < 80% there will be a civil war in the capital province, if Yes < 40% the ruler will remain the same.
* **5.4.2** - If Yes < 40%, the rebels can still start the war, but they won't be able to have foreign volunteers and they can have at most the 70% of the numbers of the governative forces.
* **5.4.3** - The Civil war has only two battles, a Pitched Battle exactly as before, that if won by the government will lead to the end of the war, if won by the rebels will lead to the Siege Battle. In civil war, the Siege Battle takes place at the city used by the ruler to claim kingship of the faction. If this battle is won by the government, the war ends without changing the ruler, if it's won by the rebels the war ends with a ruler change. There can't be a treaty that stops a civil war, nor it can be cancelled.
* **5.4.4** - After the end of a Civil War, there can't be another survey for 5 weeks.

**5.5** - There is a maximum of 15 players per side allowed in a battle. The max gap between players in the two sides is 1 if the lesser side has 1 - 5 players, 2 if the lesser side has 6 - 15 players. The bigger side has to reduce its number until the gap requirement is fulfilled.

**5.6** - On each side there can be at most 5 NPCs armies and 3 mounted players. Since there are no horses with "rohirric" stats in Beleriand, there aren't requests on the max stats allowed for horses (and generically mounts). If a mounted player wants to bring an army, it will be counted among the 5 and has to be made of mounted units only.

**5.7** - Other factions can send at most 2 volunteers per faction to only one side of the battle, and there can be at most 4 volunteers per side. The volunteer exceed the 3 players and the maximum players number rule (rule 5.5).

**5.8** - If your character allows you to bring a mount or an army to a battle, this isn't counted in the 3 mounted players (5 armies) rule before.

**5.9** - The partecipants have to be on the battlefield, with halted armies and without attacking the opponent, 30 minutes before the start of the battle.

**5.10** - If your faction and the attacked province border, you can bring an army to war.

**5.11** - If two factions are in a cohalition, there is no need to be directly bordering the attacked province to bring an army.

**5.12** - If you are volunteering in another war, you can bring an army only if your faction borders the attacked province.

## **6. - BATTALION RULES**

**6.1** - A Battalion is the hired units army a player brings to a battle.

**6.2** - A player can bring only 1 Battalion to a war.

**6.3** - All the hired units have to be from the player's faction.

**6.4** - The player cannot bring mounted units, unless he himself is mounted in the battle. In that case, he can bring *only* mounted units. The maximum number of mounted armies allowed in a battle is 1.

**6.5** - Your battalion can have at most 24 lightly armored units (e.g. Nargothrond Rangers) or 12 weightly armored units (e.g. Hithlum Warriors); in case your faction has special hireable units like Boldogs or Trolls, keep in mind that 1 Boldog/Troll = 5 heavy units = 10 light units. (generically you can mix units keeping in mind this relation). All mounted units count as weightly armored, so you can bring at most 12.

**6.6** - You aren't allowed to bring warg bombardiers to battle. Only 1 bombardier orc is allowed and counts as weightly armored; moreover he can bring only 2 bombs of the low tier. Moreover, you can have at most 5 Angband Firethrowers in your Battalion.

**6.7** - You can bring only 2 banner bearers at most, mounted or not dependingly on wether you are mounted or not, that exceed the points system of rule 6.5.

**6.8** - Hired units must be at most of level 5.

**6.9** - Hired units can wear only their faction's armor pieces and bring their faction's weapons. Those can be maxed regarding to LotR Mod enchantments. You cannot equip a unit with an artifact, a bound or a crate weapon, nor units can wear Valinorean, Utumno or Galvorn armor (mithril one is not craftable) or bring Valinorean or Utumno weapons (again, mithril is not craftable).

**6.10** - If a player's battalion doesn't fulfill these requirements, the player can be excluded from battle or denied to bring the army, according to staff's judgement.

## **7. - BATTLE RULES**

**7.1** - General rules

* **7.1.1** - If you walk out of the delimited battlefield you will be considered fled and no more battling. That means you cannot return in the fight.
* **7.1.2** - Any form of /tpa and /back, especially after death, is highly forbidden. Doing such a thing means to be *banned for the time of the battle*. Same goes for fast travel.
* **7.1.3** - If there's a claimed personal structure in the battlefield (read: player base), you cannot repair there to refurnish of items, and you cannot shoot or fight from there. Entering on purpose a claimed structure will be seen as surrender, and you won't be able to rejoin the battle.
* **7.1.4** - By the time of the start of the fight, all the players must be on the battlefield with halted armies. If you are late, you can join in the first 3 minutes of the battle, if the overseer allows you.
* **7.1.5** - The overseer will teleport the members to the battlefield at the right time. Obviously, players with mounts or armies will save a temporary waypoint and will go back there with army or mount.
* **7.1.6** - All the players will be checked before battle. The players with an army ought to have it ready 20 mins before the beginning.
* **7.1.7** - During the time of the battle, you cannot ask staff to recognize a build or to make an artifact.

**7.2** - Items and equipment

* **7.2.1** - Angband Hellfire is allowed to be used only by Angband players; same for the fire-pots. Other kinds of fire cannot be placed, and you can extinguish fire with hands or water.
* **7.2.2** - Orc bombs are allowed only for NPCs, as stated in Battalion Rules.
* **7.2.3** - You cannot use glitched or duped items, nor a dead player's artifacts and bounds.
* **7.2.4** - You can only wear your faction's armor pieces; there aren't restrictions on weapons instead, except for a dead player's artifacts, that cannot be used.
* **7.2.5** - Morgoth, Sauron and Balrogs can use Utumno armor in battle; elven factions kings are allowed to use Valinorean or Galvorn armors. Maeglin character is allowed to bring a Galvorn armor. Dwarven kings can use trimmed armors and Belegost Dragonguard Armor. Human kings can use: Doriath armor (Brethil King), Hithlum armor (Dor-Lòmin King), Feanorian armor (House Bòr King), Angband armor (House Ulfang King).
* **7.2.6** - If you have a not allowed item at the beginning of the battle, after the check, you'll be *disqualified from battle*.

**7.3** - Raid battles

* **7.3.1** - A raid battle has to be hosted in a flat area, and nearby a minor settlement.
* **7.3.2** - The attacker can reach the battlefield 10 minutes before the start of the battle, the defenders 5; no modification to the terrain or the settlement is allowed before the battle. Automatic terrain regeneration is disabled, due to the nature of this type of battle.
* **7.3.3** - Any damage-dealing block, obsidian or water cannot be placed. It's allowed to place fire for all factions only in order to destroy the settlement.
* **7.3.4** - Any block can only be destroyed by hands.
* **7.3.5** - An official Lore Build cannot be used as settlement for a Raid battle. They can be attacked only in specific organized events.
* **7.3.6** - The defenders are allowed to build dirt trenches and wood fences barricades, and to repair them.
* **7.3.7** - After the battle, the settlement won't be rebuilt, except if the battle (not the war!) is won by the defenders. In the other cases, if it was good-looking, it can be saved as a schematic and rebuilt in another place by Builders, with respect of the roleplay and map progresses.

**7.4** - Pitched battles

* **7.4.1** - A pitched battles cannot be hosted in mountain biomes, only in their foothills. Leaving the foothills will be considered as leaving the battlefield (and surrendering). The only exceptions are Ered Wethrin, Dor Daedeloth Mountains and Ered Engrin, due to the fact that some of the provinces in these biomes don't have foothills. If a pitched battle is held in one of these biomes, the area should be relatively flat and every attempt of climbing high peaks will be considered as surrendering.
* **7.4.2** - It's obvious that if possible the battlefield should be a plain area, whenever possible.
* **7.4.3** - The two sides can reach the battlefield only 7 minutes before the start of the battle at most, teleported by staff members. It's not allowed to modify the terrain before the start of the battle.
* **7.4.4** - Until the beginning, players cannot move and have to keep armies halted.
* **7.4.5** - If a block needs to be destroyed by a player, it has to be done by hand: no tools are allowed.
* **7.4.6** - You're not allowed to place fire, lava, magma blocks or any damage-dealing block (except orc chains or elven ropes, they deal damage only to specific players and it's a normal unavoidable dynamic).

**7.5** - Siege battles

* **7.5.1** - The settlement has to be checked by staff before the battle and it's needed to take screenshots, so that Builders can repair it after the battle. The owner can ask to remove valuables and such before the battle.
* **7.5.2** - An official Lore Build cannot be used as settlement for a Siege battle. They can be attacked only in specific organized events.
* **7.5.3** - The attackers aren't allowed to enter the battlefield until the start of the battle.
* **7.5.4** - The settlement cannot be recognized during the war, nor it can be expanded. Minor fixes are allowed, but have to be supervised by staff members and screenshots have to be provided.
* **7.5.5** - Quagmire, water and lava cannot be placed. They're allowed only if the settlement has been built in a biome with these blocks.
* **7.5.6** - Obsidian and damage-dealing blocks cannot be placed, nor can be in the settlement.
* **7.5.7** - Gates have to be replaced with their respective main block (bronze portcullis with bronze block, silver gate with silver block, gold with gold block, iron portcullis with iron, dwarven doors with stone, every other with wood planks). The blocks have to be broken by hand.
* **7.5.8** - Generically, every block has to be broken by hand. Both the attackers and the defenders are allowed to build basic defenses, like wooden fences barricades or small dirt trenches, that cannot be repaired when destroyed.
* **7.5.9** - To prevent major damages and a bigger work for the Builders, when a bomb breaks a wall, you have to wait it regenerates before throwing another one.

**7.6** - In every battle, there are class-specific mounts: horses are valid for every faction, but if the lag allows it's better for orcish factions to use wargs, for dwarves to use boars and eventually for Laegrim Elves to use elks.

## **8. - RAID RULES**

**8.1** - Is called "raid" every attack of a player or a group of players onto another player or group of players, outside of a battle or an event.

**8.2** - Before raiding someone, it's better if you read well these rules and the Gameplay Rules(#📋-rules-community-and-gameplay, that are rules 3.x). Any illegal raid will be punished.

**8.3** - A raid is considered illegal when:

* gameplay rules are not followed by the raider;
* the target is a non-attackable player (e.g., a newbie);
* the raid works thanks to glitches and hacks, for example entering a structure glitching with a mount;
* the raided player was already raided by the same player or group of players less than 2 hours before.

In all of these cases, the raider has to give items back and will be *warned*, and if he refuses he'll incurr in a *2 days ban and items refunded*.

**8.4** - All items are allowed in a raid, except unobtainable creative items or duped ones or op items obtained through glitches.

**8.5** - A raid is considered finished when all players of a side are dead. A killed player can do /back but cannot fight nor be killed again. If this rule is broken, raid is invalid.

**8.6** - Inside a raid, there are applied Battalion Rules (#📋-rules-war, 6th point), so you can bring an army but with respect of rules. In case rules aren't respected, punishment as in point 8.3.

**8.7** - You can escape a raid in every way except flying away. In this case, you'll get applied the punishment for fly abuse.

**8.8** - The items lost in a legal raid (the ones that the winner decides to keep) change their possessor. If a player is killed while having more than 1 artifact (not bound) on him, he'll choose one to hand over.