The Faction System Apr 12 2000 11:15AM CST   The faction system will allow guilds and individual players in the Enhanced PvP area to participate in battles that have consequences and meaning. Currently, guild warfare in the game has little to no context unless provided by the participants. The faction system will create this context for those who wish to participate. Factions are groups of players that fight together towards a common goal. The Factions There will be four factions at the start of the faction system. Each faction will have their own stronghold and ranking system. The four factions are: Minax Faction Lord British Faction The Shadowlords Faction Council of Mages Faction All factions are aggressive towards each other. Joining a Faction Players can join a faction either through their guild or individually. Only one character per account per shard may be in a faction. Guilds Guild masters can join a faction by visiting the faction stone. Double left-clicking the faction system will bring up a window with an option to “Join this faction.”. By joining a faction, the guildmaster’s entire guild joins. A guild cannot join a faction if it is at war with another guild. If a member of a guild already has another character in a faction, the character that is in the guild is removed from the guild. If an account has two or more characters in a guild, the system will remove the other characters to ensure that only one character per account is in the faction. Guilds cannot declare war on other guilds once in the faction system. Individuals Individual players may join a faction by visiting the faction’s stronghold and using the faction stone. If the character is in a guild, they must either resign from that guild before attempting to join or have their guildmaster join the faction. If a player wishes to quit a faction, they must wait 7 days before they are actually removed from the faction. At that time, that character (or another character) may join another faction. To quit a faction, the player must use the faction stone and click the “Leave faction” option. If a guildmaster quits a faction, the entire guild is removed from the faction. You will not be able to damage members of your own faction at all. Non Participants Characters who are not in a faction will not be able to perform beneficial acts (such as healing, curing, etc.) on characters in a faction. They will however still be able to attack a character in a faction, but can receive a murder count if they do so. Ranks/Points System Each faction will have a ranking system for its members. The ranks will parallel each other but will have different names dependent on the faction. Some ranks will be determined by individual actions (such as from fighting) and others will be given to players by higher ranking players. Your individual rank will be determined by your point total in relation to all of the other members’ point totals. These points will decay slowly over time. Therefore, only members actively participating in the faction wars will be able to maintain a high rank. A points system based on kills during faction battles will determine individual ranks within the faction. You will get more points for killing characters of higher rank than you and less for killing someone of lower rank. Once a character is killed, there is a delay before killing that character again will yield any points. Conversely, you will also lose points for being killed. The lower the rank, in relation to your own, of the character who killed you in relation to your rank, the more points you will lose. Leaders and Voting Faction members can vote for their leader. Only members who are in the highest two ranks can run for leadership. Declaring yourself in the election to be a leader and voting are done at the faction stone. Elections are held once a week. Only 10 members can run at one time. The start of an election is called the campaign process. Eligible Members have 24 hours to apply for the leader position. Once 10 eligible members have declared themselves in the election and/or the 24 hours expires, no other members can run. The election lasts for 24 hours. Each faction member gets one vote. Once the election is closed, the member with the highest vote total is the faction leader for that week. Six days after the election is closed, the campaign process begins again. Leadership functionality will be detailed at a later date. Strongholds Each faction will have a stronghold in the Enhanced PvP area. The exact location of these strongholds will be released in the future. The strongholds will hold 8 sandstone tiles. The purpose of these sandstone tiles is detailed later in this document. Capturing Cities Each faction in the Enhanced PvP area can fight to take over cities. The method by which a city is captured is detailed below: To capture a city, a faction member must steal a sigil from inside that city and bring it to their faction stronghold. There are eight cities that can be captured. Each of the eight cities (Britain, Trinsic, Minoc, Moonglow, Yew, Delucia, Skara Brae, and Magincia) will have a sigil on a sandstone pedestal somewhere within the city’s boundaries. In order to get the sigil, a player must use the stealing skill and target it. You will be required to have at least 80.0 in stealing in order to remove the sigil from the sandstone pedestal. If successful, the sigil will appear in the character’s backpack. You will not be able to actually pick up the sigil. To give the sigil to another player, double-click it. A targeting cursor will appear. Target and click on the player you wish to give the sigil to. Attempting to give the sigil to an opposing faction member will result in the sigil returning to it’s previous location. The player carrying the sigil will appear purple. A player may only carry one sigil at a time. Carrying a sigil will prevent you from recalling, using player made gates (both the gate spell and moonstone gates), hiding, and teleporting. Additionally, other characters will not be able to cast invisibility on you. Once stolen, the faction has one hour to bring the sigil to their stronghold and place it on the corresponding sandstone tile. To place the sigil, double click it. A targeting cursor will appear. Target and click the sandstone tile you wish to place the sigil on. If the character carrying the sigil is killed by an opposing faction member, the sigil will appear in the attacker’s backpack. If the character carrying the sigil is killed by a non faction member or a monster, the sigil will return it it’s previous location. Characters not involved in the faction wars will not be able to pick up or steal the sigil. The sigil cannot be put in a bank. If the character carrying the sigil logs out, the sigil will return to where it started. Note this will not occur if the character loses connection until the character actually "disappears" from the game. Once the sigil is in the faction’s stronghold, it must be defended for 24 hours. During this time, members of the faction controlling the sigil may not steal it or remove it from the sandstone tile. You have a set amount of time to recover a sigil stolen from your stronghold before the 24 hour clock resets. After 24 hours, the sigil will be “corrupted” and must be returned to the city. Once this is accomplished, the faction that returns the sigil to the city will control that city. The sigil cannot be stolen by another faction for one week. After that week, another faction may attempt to steal the sigil. Once the week passes, the sigil will again be stealable. At that time, opposing factions may attempt to take the sigil from the city and return it to their stronghold. The same rules stated above will apply. Once a faction controls a city, the faction leader will have access to the town’s townstone. The leader will be able to appoint two faction members to roles in the city government: The Financial Minister and the Sheriff. The Treasury Each city the factions control will have a “treasury”. The treasure is not pooled and is separate for each city. This treasury will not be the same currency as gold in the game, rather it will grow based on the prices set by the financial minister in the cities a faction controls. Financial ministers and sheriffs will be able to further their cause with this treasury. The Financial Minister: Will have control over the economic aspects of the city and has the following powers: Typing a phrase (to be determined at a later date) while in the town will bring up a window giving the financial minister various options including: The prices in the town. Prices of items in the town can be set a certain percentage lower or higher than the current prices. Changing the prices in a town will also change the daily income for the treasury from that town. Purchase special shopkeepers. The financial advisor can purchase and place four different shopkeepers: Reagent Vendor Ore Vendor Wood Vendor Bottle Vendor The Sheriff: Will have responsibility over the defenses of a city. He can use the treasury to purchase town guards. There are four types of guards. The first two types of guards are the same or each faction, while the last two are different depending on the faction the sheriff is associated with. The guards are more powerful and more expensive to purchase and maintain the higher their rank. By saying a phrase (to be detailed at a later date) while in a town the sheriff can bring up a menu to hire guards. Rank 1 Henchman Rank 2 Mercenary Rank 3 Minax: Beserker Council of Mages: Sorcerer Lord British: Knight Shadowlords: Death Knight Rank 4 Minax: Dragoon Council of Mages: Wizard Lord British: Paladin Shadowlords: Necromancer All of these vendors and guards cost a certain amount from the treasury and will have daily upkeeps. If there is not enough in the treasury the vendors will be deleted starting with the oldest shopkeeper or guard first. If a city is taken by another faction after the first week expires, they receive a portion of any left over treasury and all guards and shopkeepers are removed. Back