Official Rules: WAR

# IronForge: War Rules

## **Declaration of War**

If a settlement wishes to attack another settlement they can declare war. There could be many reasons to go to war, these reasons should follow the roleplay world **and not OOC**. Now let’s give some valid examples:

   *- Settlement A built a fort and a mine on the only resource-rich mountain nearby. Settlement B needs these resources to not fall behind in terms of economics, so it declares war. Settlement B captures the fort and defeats the enemy army, and peace negotiations are done with Settlement B having conquered the resource-rich mountain.*

*- Settlement A got multiple settlements to join it under one banner, either through force or diplomacy. Now Settlement A declares itself as a nation and a regional power. Settlement B is afraid to be conquered too, so it starts a league with the rest of the independent settlements in the region and declares war on settlement A hoping to weaken them.*

A really important point is that wars are usually and shouldn’t be for survival or a global war. Most wars would be over local resources or for political reasons, such as border disputes and other roleplay reasons.

***Casus Belli*** *- A reason for war is encouraged by the staff. However, deciding what is a valid casus belli and what is pure warmongering is up to all players on the server in RP, so if a nation declares war without a valid casus belli, **we encourage it to be acknowledged by other nations, who may then take some RP action to punish a nation that pursues warmongering.***

## **Non-Settlement/Political Movement War Declarations**

* Non-Settlement political movements (including but not limited to; Crusades, Coalitions of People) may declare war without the need of a settlement, under following conditions:
	+ The movement must have a valid wiki page.
	+ The movement must have IRP motivations and means that match the declaration of wars and what it entails.
	+ The movement must have organized on an IRP level (ex. a meeting.)
	+ The movement's declaration of war must be approved by the Administration Team.

## **Volunteers**

* Volunteers may participate in wars it is determined that they have a sufficient roleplay reason.
	+ These reasons \*may\* include but are not limited to; Religion, Ethnicity, Political Belief, Past relationships, monetary (mercenary).
	+ "A Thirst for Blood", "Wanting to fight" and reasons similar to these are not considered a valid IRP reason to volunteer.
	+ Volunteers might be vetoed to participate in a war by an Administrator.

## **Battles and Sieges**

Hooray! You’re at war! Now we need to see if you will win! The best (and probably the only) way is through battles and sieges. *Sieges* are required to happen when you want to attack a region that is protected by a fort or walls. On the other hand, *field battles* will happen when a nation lacks walls or forts and seeks to meet with the enemy on the battlefield. The place of the battle will be decided upon by the nation leaders. If the leaders can’t agree on a location in the field to meet each other for a battle, a siege is likely to occur (or a field battle outside the town of the defender). In both sieges and field battles, there must be a nonparticipating staff member to watch for rule violations.

### **How do field battles go?:**

Obliging to the combat rules, the two (or more) armies meet on the agreed battlefield, and start building their war camps. In these camps you will have your respawn beds, stockpiled armor and weapons, etc. A war camp is not a fortified base, and if there is a wall around the war camp it may be broken. A war camp must be accessible and in a reasonable location in the area of the battle (eg. not in the sky). A war camp may also be on board a ship, however once the war starts, if that ship is moved away from the area of the battle, it will count as a retreat. Once the war camps are ready, the armies can start fighting - either just rushing the enemy lines and killing them all, or having actual organized formation and using tactics to out-smart your enemies. The battle is over when one side takes over its enemy’s war camp *and destroys all of the enemy beds AND all of the remaining enemies on the field of battle are killed / surrendered*. (Note: **It is not allowed to sneak into the enemy camp and destroy all beds**!) If a war camp is destroyed but the owners regroup and recapture it, they may rebuild the camp during the battle. After the battle the winning side may proceed to siege their enemy’s city (assuming the field battle did not already take place in the city), and if it was a decisive defeat, the defeated side may be forced to the negotiations table.

### **How do sieges go?:**

Obliging to the combat rules. Much like the field battles, if a siege happens, one side must declare which fort / city is to be besieged. *Only an official fort or a tier-2 town with walls (not fences) can force the enemy to besiege.* A siege will last for an hour after the official start time. Once the siege starts, the besiegers need to build a siege camp where they store their respawn beds, stockpiled armor, etc. They may only begin building their camp once the battle time has started. Attackers will deploy siege weapons which should tear down the enemy walls (ie. ballista). **The only way to go over walls is with ladders and with breaches done with artillery.** (**Bining through the walls, climbing with blocks or any other thing is not allowed! This includes going under the wall.**) The siege will be over once the besiegers have successfully captured the fort/city (by taking capture points) and eliminated all signs of enemies or a certain amount of time passes *(to be determined by the staff depending on the siege, prior to the siege taking place),* or if the defenders still hold on to their fort after the period of time. If the city does not contain a fort, a location must be determined in the city as the defenders' war camp inside the city, following the same guidelines mentioned in the *field battles* section. (Note: **It is not allowed to sneak into the enemy camp and destroy all beds**!) If the attackers win the siege they would probably start negotiations and sue for peace, which would probably happen unless the defenders have a real chance at retaking the fort. If the defenders win they may have tired out the enemies and forced them to the negotiation table, maybe start their own offensive or just keep defending their lands.

### Deciding on a Time for Battle

By default, a battle will happen within the next 7 days from the declaration of war. Preferably, the leaders are encouraged to negotiate the time of the battle for themselves, and this way both groups can have more players joining the fight. If the leaders won't negotiate and decide a time themselves, the battle will be decided by the staff.

### War Dodging

Although the admins will try to set a time that works for both parties, if one group is found unreachable and unwilling to set on a date *at least 7days from the declaration,* or if a date is settled and one of the parties won’t show up without a notice beforehand, the admin can deem an automatic victory for the opposing side.

### Captured Settlements & Surrender

When one is victorious and captures a settlement they have the right to decide what to do with the said settlement. If it was their war goal, they may conquer it and banish the inhabitants or assimilate them into their nation. When your enemies surrender in battle/siege, you may let them go to fight another day or capture them and keep them as prisoners of war. The fate of POWs (release, exile or assimilation) is a matter for the warring nations to decide within a day after the battle, or else the admin team will make this decision upon the most reasonable basis.

It is strongly encouraged that each side remembers that the war is part of RP; and RP decisions will have RP consequences. If the winner slaughters the defenders who have surrendered, their reputation will be forever marked in history as a brutal, merciless people. For the defenders, it is encouraged to consider assimilation (remaining in your town, under their control) into the victorious side if they have fought valiantly, and that you can always choose to revolt later on if you so choose.

## **Skirmishes**

When you’re at war it only makes sense that you would want to scout the enemy city or sabotage their defenses, and it also makes sense that your enemies would want to stop you from doing that.

So, if they catch you, they will probably attack you. That’s when a skirmish happens. A skirmish only happens when an enemy of yours is within what you consider to be your territory - then you can attack them (**you can’t start an all out attack against your enemies, that’s what battles are for**). During a skirmish you’re only allowed to do minor damages and you cannot take any loot (except from the corpses of the fallen).

## **Fort Rules and Upkeep**

You can’t just build forts everywhere you want and how you want - forts need to be built as actual fort structures, which will pose RP control over a given area. Additionally, forts will have upkeep which you will put in a designated upkeep chest near / in the fort, similar to settlement upkeep. Like an official settlement, forts must first be approved by an admin, and once marked on the map will officially have ‘fort status’.

Weekly fort upkeep is determined by the distance from the centre of the fort to the centre of your nearest owned settlement. The cost per week is then:

* 0 - 500 blocks distance = 16 gold ingots
* 500 - 750 blocks distance = 24 gold ingots
* 750 - 1000 blocks distance = 32 gold ingots
* 1000 - 1250 blocks distance = 48 gold ingots
* 1250 - 1500 blocks distance = 64 gold ingots
* 1500 - 1750 blocks distance = 80 gold ingots
* 1750 - 2000 blocks distance = 96 gold ingots
* 2000 - 2250 blocks distance = 112 gold ingots
* 2250 - 2500 blocks distance = 128 gold ingots
* 2500+ blocks distance = 144 gold ingots

If you can’t keep paying for a fort it will become disbanded until its upkeep is maintained again, meaning that enemies can ignore the fort. Disbanded forts also can be claimed by any other group who are able to pay the upkeep.

Forts have a similar ‘official claim’ protection status as settlements - players and bandits cannot loot or grief them at will, they must be besieged. Similar to a town, a fort can be raided unannounced by bandits if there are *at least three defenders present in the fort at the time*. Bandits must follow the same rules of combat as a siege - can only scale the walls using ladders and artillery (no blocks, tridents, pearls, etc. to scale the walls).

The surrounding area of a fort or a settlement is not officially claimed, but the owner has the right to a *strong RP claim*, which may lead to such things as valid casus belli.

## **Combat rules**

In **combat**, you can't:

* Log off to avoid dying (combat logging).
* Use flint and steel or lava buckets to set your enemies on fire.
* Use more than **one dog at a time per player**.
* Poison your opponent with a pufferfish.

During a **siege**, you can’t:

* Mine through the walls of the fort or alter the walls in some way without artillery. (e.g. using sticky pistons)
* Dig underneath the walls to enter.
* Use ender pearls, tridents, slime block pistons, or flying machines to pass the walls
* Explode the walls with tnt.
* You can’t place blocks to climb the walls.

## **War Toxicity**

During war, we tend to be more hostile towards our enemies. However, toxic hostility in the discord or OOC in the server is prohibited, and the admin team will take any action we deem necessary. Any RP hostility should stay inside the RP chat of the MC server, discord RP, and announcements of battle / speeches in the nation-news and diplomacy channels. These will be the only places in the discord where RP messages will be sent, and anything else can be interpreted as toxicity if a staff member sees it as such.

Ironforge staff strongly believe that two RP characters that hate each other in-game should be able to be perfectly fine friends OOC. If you cannot separate reality from RP, this is not the server for you.

## Failing to Abide by the War Rules

If anyone who fights for your side is unable to abide by the war rules, your victories, loot, or any damages that you deal on your opponent are likely to be void and undone, depending on the nature of the situation / severity of the infringement. This is entirely up to the staff team.

For example, if *one* of your comrades scales the walls illegally, your victory *will be invalidated*. If a defender tries to frame the attacking side of breaking blocks or something similar, *they are likely to be punished in the same level of severity.*

You are responsible for all people who join your side of the fight. If strangers are showing up and you don’t want them to fight, it is your responsibility to get rid of them before it commences (admins may be called upon if one side is deliberately trying to sabotage the other by sending people to fight for them and break rules).