War

*Note: this article is incomplete. A lot of features are being discussed or will have to be fully developed. You should expect some changes.*

When two kingdoms have a "neutral" or "enemy" stance towards each other, there can be war between them. In order to support an ally in war you have to be at least not a friend of the attacked faction, if you help an ally defending him, the stance between the two kingdoms doesn't matter.

## **Relationship between kingdoms**

*Note: how to change the stance is not defined, but generally helping someone raises the relationship, while killing members or refusing to help an ally lowers it*

All kingdoms, by default, have the same stance as decided in the mod. Blood feuds, lands conquered, ancient disputes can be the reason of the negative opinion between two kingdoms, but more grievancies and claims to lands can be added, or old ones lifted.

There are five possible relationship stances:

* Allied: the two kingdoms swear to help each other in war and other matters. Killing citizens of the other kingdom is considered a great felony.
* Friendly: the two kingdoms have close bonds and usually it's expected to help the other in time of need, like when one of them is fighting in a defensive war.
* Neutral: there are no motivations to start a war, but no motivations to help in one either. The two kingdoms are expected not to help each other, except if their goal is common.
* Enemy: when the hostilities are open, raids are possible only if you have this stance towards another kingdom. Full war has not yet came, but there are all the reasons to start one.
* At War: an official declaration of war has been sent, the armies will march in full might, allies will be called, spears shall be shattered, shield shall be splintered, a sword day! A red day! Ride! For the world's - Ahem.

## **Prelude to a war in D major**

D stands for dick. Because in order to start a war one of the kingdoms have to do some major dick moves. Kill members of the other kingdom, raid some villages, or simply owning some land that was peviously owned by the other kingdom.

Remember that war is mainly a matter of gold: who gets the most benefits from a war usually starts one, while a kingdom that doesn't find many advantages could (and should) limit its offensive to border raids and some minor sieges. But what's the advantage of a raid? What does it mean to raid?

Raiding is the action of going into a settlement not defended by walls (or defended by really shitty walls) and stealing its production. The production can consist of coins, that are gained each week through taxes or commercial activities, or materials, if there are buildings to extract them. The amount of materials and coins you can raid is limited to the number of people. The amount has still yet to be defined, but generally is true that more people equals more booty. The raids are limited to one day, currently sunday, because the staff has to be on to certify that you and your friends are raiding a place. A neutral memeber of staff has to guarantee you stood unopposed inside the settlement for 20 minutes. If there are members of the same faction, or allies that know the location, they can defend the place. Once the 20 minutes have passed, the remaining enemies in the settlements are able to take away everything they can, if they were more than 5 minutes in the settlements. In this way, a well determined player can eventually kill or rout raiders, or disrupt their efforts to prevent them from stealing. You can't raid the same place twice, so choose carefully.

When a walled settlement is encountered, if the walls aren't too fortified or the place has some clear issues, the defenders have to call for a siege. The resources are limited and the attackers have to stand near the gate for 3 minutes before being able to break in. This siege is avaliable only for small settlements, places like Minas Tirith can't be expected to be attacked efficiently by a raiding party, but they have to be sieged by a real army. Provincial capitals follow the same rule. All castles, small cities, villages can be sieged this way, unless staff doesn't prevent them from being sieged (if it's the case, it will be announced).

## Declaring a War

Write in the channel #diplomatic-discussion a message with:

1. Your faction name highlighted in bold
2. The enemy faction name highlighted in bold
3. Allies called to war

There are no rigid rules regarding what you write, but keep it lore-friendly and keep it clear and respectful.

Example:

"I, Maedhros, leader of the **House of Feanor**, the Valar may assist me, declare war on the **House of Ulfang**, due to their unfaithfullness and their broken vassallage. I call my banners and hope that the **Blue Dwarves** will assist me, since our friendship is strong and our lands are divided by my treacherous vassal."

## **Moving your army**

When a war is started, you can move your army from a province you (or you ally) own or control to another. There are only three limitations:

1. You can't go through passes if you don't control the fortified settlement.
2. You can't go through mountain provinces.
3. You need a land or sea connection in order to move from a province to another. You can't teleport your army to your ally: if you aren't connected, you can't wage war from your ally's lands

I'll reiterate: **Holding a pass means you can stall your enemy indefinitely, in order to go through the province, they have to siege you.**

If you are moving from your province to a non-pass province, your enemy has the option of meeting you there, or retreating, doesn't matter if the province is neutral or not. *If you move your army through a province owned by your enemy and you defeat them, or they let you go through, you will occupy the province*, meaning that you can move your army further and treat that province as if it was your own. However, **if the enemy holds a fortified settlement**, you have to besiege it first before being able to fully conquer the province, else, they will be able to use that province as well to move armies and wage wars on your territories.

### How to move an army

Each faction can move an army once a week. If you move your army, it means you're not with your allies and won't be able to partecipate to other wars the same week (with your company at least, you'll be still allowed to join, but without troops). If you want to unite your armies, though, you have to be connected by land or sea and all factions between you and your ally have to allow you to move through their provinces.

In the right channel (#army-movement), write "<Faction> moves its army from province <id> to province <id>".

The enemy can accept the challenge, or retreat, notifying it on the same channel.

## Field battle

A Field battle can occur each time an army moves in a province that is not controlled or occupied by you or one of your allies.

### **Rules**

Unless specified, every rule broken means a 1h ban

1. Don't tp in the middle of the battle
2. If you leave the province, you're out of the battle
3. Fight only with armors and weapons of your faction
4. Special characters' gear overrides the previous rule
5. Kings can use special equipment linked to their faction (e.g. Valinorean for elven kings, utumno for orcish)
6. Lava and water are forbidden in any shape or form
7. Bombs and units with bombs aren't allowed.
8. If an army keeps running away, the overseeing staff can demand they surrender or start fighting. This can happen only after 20 minutes of battle
9. The defenders, aka owners or controllers of the province, can remain in their starting spot and win if the enemy doesn't attack them
10. The overseeing staff can call a draw, or declare the victor if the battle drags on too much.
11. If a side leaves their starting location before the start of the battle is announced, they will lose automatically.
12. If a player attacks another one before the start of the battle is announced, they will be banned for 1 day the first time, then the ban will be progressively harsher

### **Before the battle**

* The overseeing staff is invited in the both sides' fellowship
* They share with them their respective starting spot
* Each player can, if allowed, bring a company of npcs to help them in battle.

### **During the battle**

* The overseer will oversee the battle, if they think a rule has been broken, they can pause the battle, however, they can't pause when the two sides are clashing, only when someone is retreating or the two sides are divided
* Each player outside the two fellowships (side1 and side2) that will be found roaming the battlefield will be told to go away, if they interfere with the battle, they will be banned for the duration of the battle.

### **After the battle**

* All gears that are bound to players/roles, must be given back
* You can still fight, however, the outcome of the battle won't be changed

## Siege battle

Your objective is simple: own the fortress at the end of the battle, or kill all the enemies.

**Rules for field battles apply here**, the side inside the fortress will be treated as the defending side.

Rules:

1. You can break only wooden/dirt/sand/gravel blocks **with your hands**
2. There has to be at least one entrance to the fortress and a clear path (meaning the attackers can always break in)
3. Gates will be replaced with wood
4. Obsidian will be used to replace the gate of the citadel of the faction's capital. You can still break it.

## Ending a war

Once the two sides agree, a peace treaty is signed, it has to be endorsed by all of the leaders of the sides involved, if they gain or lose something.

A peace treaty can include:

* Provinces (they have to be owned by one of the signatories of the peace treaty and connected by land with the faction that is acquiring them)
* Coins
* Weapons
* Obligations (truces)
* Diplomatic concessions (breaking/making a diplomatic pact between two factions, or vassallage)
* The restoration of the ***Senātus PopulusQue Rōmānus***

### How to write a peace treaty

Write, in #diplomatic-discussion:

1. Sides involved
2. the conditions of the treaty
3. @ the rulers involved at the end. They have to confirm the peace treaty, or it's invalid

Example:

"I, Maedhros of the House of Feanor, have agreed with the ruler of the House of Ulfang and the ruler of Blue Dwarves to restore the previous state of the House of Ulfang as my Vassal; moreover, the House of Ulfang will pay 5000 silver coins in damage to the Blue dwarves, break all diplomatic ties with Angband, and abandon the province 153, that will be occupied by the forces of the House of Feanor.

@Alex\_137 @SargonDG "