View Full Version : LotR - Rules, FAQ, Installation, and Guides
Table of Contents
1. FAQ (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=1926149&postcount=2) - If you're new, start here first!
2. Installation Instructions (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=1988289&postcount=3) - How to install the necessary mods.
3. The Rules (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=1999919&postcount=4)
4. So You Want To Be A Megas (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=1999920&postcount=5) - A guide to help people who achieve the rank of Megas Logothetes.
5. So You Want To Be An Exarch (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=1999922&postcount=6) - A guide to help all players gain rank and power.
6. Code of Conduct (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=2002042&postcount=7) - How to avoid getting smacked around by the moderator.
Last of the Romans FAQ
Q: What is Last of the Romans?
A: LotR is essentially a role-playing game using the M2TW engine. All players are represented by a single in-game general or family member. You are completely responsible for the fate of that person, not only in terms of life and death battles, but also in the complex world of politics and power. The are no overall goals or objectives in LotR and it is impossible to 'win' the game. You get to decide what the purpose behind your character is. You can achieve great political power, conquer a foreign foe, convert a heathen people to the 'true' religion, and countless other things. You can even battle against your fellow players in a Civil War, perhaps even slaying the Basileus (Emperor) himself in single combat. The fate of your character is up to you.
LotR attempts to mimic the feudal political system of Medieval Europe. There are many ranks which each player can obtain, all of which come with their own powers and privileges. All players begin the game as a lowly Strator and advance in rank as they gain land and vassals. However, all ranks of power require the loyalty of other players. That is why, above all else, LotR is a social game. Often times the battles you will have to fight on the field will be far easier than the battles you will have to fight in the Senate.
Q: How do I join?
A: Post in this thread (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=103847). We'll take care of the rest.
Q: Ok, I've joined. Now what do I do?
A: A good first step, if you haven't already done so, is to read the Rules (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=1999919&postcount=4) from top to bottom. They are designed to be reader friendly, but they are still complex and can take some time to get used to. Next, read the Exarch Guide (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=1999922&postcount=6), or at least the first section on Strators. That should give you an understanding about how to get yourself started. If you have any questions about how the game works, post them in the OOC Thread and Chatroom (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=103960). Next, you should create a post for yourself in the Status and Orders Thread (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=104219). Now you're ready to start roleplaying and controlling your avatar. Roleplaying can be done in many places, but is mainly confined to The Magnaura (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=104321) for official government purposes, The Hippodrome (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=104197) for more casual purposes, and the various 'House' or 'Alliance' threads. The Magnaura and Hippodrome are generally open to all players, but it is considered bad form to post in a House thread without first being invited to do so. Roleplaying also regularly occurs in other places, such as through PMs and on secret forums located outside the Org. The Megas Logothetes will regularly post updates on the state of the game and the latest saved games in the Megas Logothetes' and Senators' Reports Thread (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=104324). From there you can download the save to move your avatar and fight battles. Summaries of battles can be posted in the Battle Reports Thread (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=104232). These are optional, but it is considered good form to at least post a screenshot of the results of the battle. Finally, if you want to write a short story about your avatar, you can post it in the Stories Thread (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=104231).
Q: Where can I upload save game files?
A: There are two recommended places to do this. The preferred spot is the Org’s own PBM File Uploader (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/local_links.php?catid=199). Just click 'Add Entry', enter a name for the file, then scroll down to the Upload File section and browse to the file you want to upload and hit Submit. If that system is experiencing an error that prevents you from uploading, then you should use the Backup PBM File Uploader (http://www.mizus.com/files/pbmupload.php). Regardless of which one you use, make sure that you compress (.zip or .rar) your files before uploading them.
Q: Hey! The Byzantine Empire wasn't a feudal system! It was a dictatorship; a self-perpetuating autocracy...
A: Yeah, we know. The rules were written to generically apply to Medieval Europe. They don't fit perfectly with the historical reality of Byzantium, but we're very loose on the historical accuracy in LotR. Where it fits, we use it, but enjoyable gameplay comes first. It's really more of an autonomous collective, specifically an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the term, but all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special deka-turn meeting, by a simple majority in the case of normal affairs, but by a two-thirds majority in the case of rule changes.
Q: Well, how do you become Basileus, then?
A: The Total War AI, its programing incomprehensible to mere mortals, names you as the Faction Heir, signifying by Divine Province that you will become Basileus when the current Basileus dies. That is how you become Basileus.
Q: Listen, an arbitrary and buggy AI, handing out traits to random Senators is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical AI programming.
A: Be quiet!
Q: What is the proper format for proposing Edicts and Amendments in The Magnaura (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=104321)?
A: Edict/Amendment X.Z: Text of Edict/Amendment. (X = Number of the Senate session, Z = Number of the Edict/Amendment within the Senate session.) For example, the third Edict proposed at the fourth Senate session would look like this: Edict 4.3: All Senators will wear togas. The numbers of all Edicts and Amendments proposed during an Emergency Session will be the same, but with an E preceding the numbering (i.e. Edict E4.3).
Please also be aware that an Edict cannot contradict the Rules. Edicts that conflict with any part of the Rules will be considered invalid and will not be put to a vote, no matter who proposed them or how many people seconded them. The only legislation which may conflict with the Rules are Amendments.
Q: What is the proper format for swearing an Oath of Fealty?
A: There are three procedural requirements for swearing a proper Oath of Fealty. Oaths which do not meet these requirements will not be considered valid.
First, all Oaths of Fealty must be sworn in a public thread. Public threads are essentially any IC game thread, most commonly the The Magnaura, The Hippodrome, and the various 'House' threads. However, even the Stories Thread and the Battle Reports thread are public threads by this definition and can be used for swearing, if you think they are the appropriate place under the circumstances.
Second, all Oaths of Fealty must specifically use the word "Oath." You can make an Oath, swear an Oath, take an Oath, or any other term you wish to use. However, you absolutely must use the word Oath. This is because Oath is seldom used in normal IC conversation to mean anything other than an Oath of Fealty. If the word "Oath" is always used, the chance of confusion will be greatly reduced.
Finally, you must name a specific Senator as the target of your Oath. You cannot swear an Oath to a 'House,' to a title (i.e. Comes), or to any other entity. The feudal system we use has special rules that are greatly impacted by the precise hierarchical system created by the players. Thus it must be perfectly clear who is Lord and who is Vassal in every relationship.
As a final note, a Lord will be presumed to have automatically accepted an Oath unless he specifically states otherwise in a public thread. An 'acceptance' may be posted for IC purposes, but it is not required in order for an Oath to be valid. Similarly, when an Oath is broken and is immediately followed by a new Oath to another member of the same House/Alliance, the former Lord will be presumed to have consented to the breaking, unless he specifically states otherwise in a public thread. In contrast, when an Oath is broken and the person then either does not swear to a new Lord, or swears to a Lord outside his old House/Alliance, the oath breaking will be presumed to have been done without the consent of the Lord unless the Lord specifically states otherwise in a public thread. Thus, unless the Lord gives specific permission, the former Vassal will not be allowed to swear another Oath until 5 turns have passed. (See Rule 2.5)
Q: How do I communicate with other players anonymously?
A: If you want to contact someone IC without them knowing your identity, create an 'anonymous' message (such as an unsigned note) and PM it to me along with a list of the players that you would like it sent to. I will forward the message with your name removed and forward any replies to you.
Installation Instructions:
To play Last of the Romans, you will need to patch your game to version 1.3, install Stainless Steel 4.1, and install a custom mod made for LotR.
1) Install a clean copy of M2TW.
2) Install the M2TW 1.2 Patch (http://files.filefront.com/Medieval+II+Total+War+v12+Euro+Patch/;7428598;/fileinfo.html).
3) Install the M2TW 1.3 Patch (http://files.filefront.com/Medieval+2+Total+War+v13+EU+Patch/;8477508;/fileinfo.html).
4) Install Stainless Steel 4.0 (http://files.filefront.com/Stainless+Steel+40exe/;8068080;/fileinfo.html).
5) Install the Stainless Steel 4.1 Patch (http://files.filefront.com/Stainless+Steel+41+patchexe/;8220351;/fileinfo.html).
6) Download LotR Mod 1.3. There are two methods to do this. The easiest is using the self-extracting installer created by Rowan. Simply download it (http://www.iki.fi/rowan/lotr-mod/LotRMod1.3.exe), run it, and direct it to your base M2TW directory. The installer will put everything in the proper place and create a LotR shortcut for you. If you prefer to do the installation by hand, you can download the .zip version (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/local_links.php?action=jump&catid=193&id=4107). Extract this file into your base M2TW folder and let it overwrite anything that it asks about. The .zip includes a LotR icon for you to use, but you'll have to create a new shortcut yourself.
7) Launch the game using the Stainless Steel or LotR shortcut.
Q: What's in LotR Mod 1.3?
A: Several things. (1) Relatively new versions of Lusted's Campaign and Battle AI mods, to make the AI better (2) Modification to make recruitable generals available from every Byzantine settlement in the game and to reduce their cost and upkeep to 1 florin each (3) A LotR icon for you to use (4) Fixed text description for the traits Overconfident and Blatantly Overconfident (5) Removal of the triggers for the entire SS 4.1 Civil War trait system (6) Removal of the triggers for the Near Loyalty and Far Loyalty trait lines (7) Removal of the triggers for the Stripped trait line.
Q: Will LotR Mod impact my other saved games?
A: LotR Mod will not impact any vanilla M2TW games or any games run under mods other than SS 4.1. Lotr Mod WILL impact all SS 4.1 games played in this installation. All of the above listed changes will exist in any SS 4.1 game you play. They won't make any games unplayable (the new AIs might actually improve them) but you might see the Byzantines spawning recruitable generals more than usual and the Civil War system will be completely absent for all factions. If you want to play SS 4.1 without these changes, it would probably be best to make a second installation of M2TW.
Q: How do I install multiple copies of M2TW on my computer at the same time?
A: Read these (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=101640) threads (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=97536). If for some reason you need to remove your original copy of M2TW from the registry and Windows Installer, without deleting the actual game itself, use the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301).
Q: Will this mod prevent me from playing the vanilla game?
A: No. The mods install in a separate "Stainless Steel" folder within your M2TW folder. They do not overwrite the original files. The shortcut provided for SS 4.1 will launch the game in the proper configuration for LotR. If you want to play the vanilla version of the game, just use the vanilla shortcut.
Q: I am already using a mod and I do not want to install a second version of M2TW. Will this installation work for me?
A: That depends on the mod you are using. Many M2TW mods install in separate directories and do not overwrite any of the original game files. Mods that work in this way are completely compatible with this installation method and will not cause you any problems. However, if you are using a mod that overwrites the original game files, you may encounter problems.
Last of the Romans Game Rules
1. General
1.1 - Game Settings:
M2TW with the 1.3 patch
Stainless Steel 4.1 w/ Lusted’s Campaign and Battle AIs
Hard Campaign, Very Hard Battles.
Large Unit Size
Battle Timer On
Show CPU Moves
Manage All Settlements
Only two land units (including a general) may travel on each ship.
1.2 – Avatars: Each player will roleplay a Senator of the Byzantine Empire. On joining the game, each player will choose an avatar to represent this Senator. Avatars can be ‘family members’ or recruitable generals. Players are reminded that due to limitations imposed by M2TW, only avatars on the family tree will be able to marry, have children, and have a chance of becoming Caesar and Basileus. Recruitable generals can be spawned at any time, but family member creation is beyond our control. Players may not use agents as avatars, since agents cannot fight battles and have a different set of stats from family members and recruitable generals. If a Man of the Hour adoption is offered to an avatar, the choice of whether to accept it is entirely up to the avatar who is the adopter. (Added by CA E2.2.)
1.3 – Battles: A player whose avatar leads an army that is involved in a battle will be expected to fight that battle. This will involve downloading the savegame of the battle, playing it and then uploading the resulting savegame. Uploading the post-battle save must be done within 48 hours of the pre-battle savegame being uploaded. If the deadline expires, the battle is autoresolved. If a player cannot fight a battle that is assigned to them, the battle may also be fought by any player whose avatar will also be present in the battle. Under no circumstances will a battle be fought by a player whose avatar is not present in the battle. If there is no player available to fight a battle, it must be autoresolved. If there are no allocated avatars involved in the battle at all, it must be autoresolved.
1.4 – Game Management: At the start of each turn, the Megas Logothetes will post an annual report on the events of the last turn, including a save game file for the new turn. After the annual report is posted, players will have 24 hours to download the save, and make their personal moves. Players can move their avatars, move any unit or fleet their avatar owns, and fight any battles against the AI that they are capable of fighting with their avatar’s army. Player may also move any unit, fleet, or avatar they have been given specific permission to move by the respective owner, as long as that permission is posted in a public thread. The Megas Logothetes may extend the time limit beyond 24 hours at his discretion, but all players are encouraged to act as swiftly as possible to keep the game moving. Players may not move avatars or armies into the territory of a neutral or allied faction without the permission of the Basileus. Nor may they attack the settlements or armies of neutral or allied factions without a declaration of war from the Basileus, a Megas Dux/Exarch or an Edict. (Modified by CA 2.1.)
1.5 – Events: Whenever they desire, but no more often than once every 10 turns, econ21, TinCow, or anyone they choose may create an in-game Event. Events are not limited in scope, subject matter, or method of implementation. All game rules can be violated to implement an Event. The players can prevent the implementation of any single Event through a simple majority of unweighted votes.
1.6 - Game Master: TinCow will serve as Game Master and is responsible for management of the game and enforcement of the Game Rules. TinCow can delegate any of his powers to another person whenever he chooses. (Added by CA 6.2)
2. Feudal Heirarchy
2.1 – Rank Gain and Loss: All Senators enter the game at the rank of Strator. Senators will be promoted to a higher rank as soon as they meet the requirements for that rank. If, at any point, a Senator ceases to meet the requirements of their existing rank, they will be demoted to the highest rank whose requirements they meet.
2.2 – Gaining and Losing Provinces: Except as stated in Rule 2.7, Senators gain control of all provinces they personally conquer. In the event that multiple Senators are part of the conquering army, the Senator controlled by the player who actually fought the battle is considered the conqueror. If the battle is autoresolved, the commanding Senator is considered the conqueror. If no Senator is involved in the battle whatsoever, the Basileus is considered the conqueror. At the start of the game, TinCow will determine which Senators receive control of the starting provinces, to a maximum of one province per Senator. Senators can only lose control of one of their provinces if they voluntarily give it to another Senator, if it is conquered by an AI faction, or if it is occupied by the army of a Senator who has made a Declaration of War against them (See Section 5).
2.3 – Retinue: At any time, a Senator may give any retinue item/member they possess to another Senator or remove it from their avatar without giving it to anyone else. If a retinue item/member cannot be transferred or removed due to game coding or distance between avatars, console commands may be used to allow the transfer or removal. If, at any time, a Senator possess a retinue 'title' to a province they do not own, that Senator will be required to immediately transfer that retinue 'title' to the Senator who controls that province. If the Senator who controls the province already has a full retinue, he may either transfer or remove one of his own retinue to make room for the 'title' or have the 'title' deleted.
2.4 – Wills & Inheritance: On his death, all of a Senator’s provinces and retinue are distributed according to the most recent valid Will. In order for a Will to be valid, it must have been posted in a public thread or PMed to econ21 or TinCow prior to the Senator’s death. Except as noted below, a Will provision is only valid to the extent that it names a living, of-age avatar that is controlled by another player as the inheritor of the province or retinue stated. A player's next avatar may only inherit a single province and a single retinue. A Will may name multiple Senators as inheritors, so long as each province and/or retinue is only bequeathed to a single Senator. Any provisions of the Will that do not meet these requirements will be invalid. Valid provisions of a Will will not be negated due to the existence of invalid provisions in the same Will. If there is no valid Will provision for an owned province, the Senator’s immediate Lord gains possession of the province. If the Senator also has no Lord, the Basileus gains possession of the province.
2.5 – Oaths of Fealty: In order to become a Vassal of another player, a Senator must take an Oath of Fealty by specifically swearing allegiance to that player in a public thread. The prospective Lord has the right to refuse to accept the Oath. An Oath of Fealty can be broken if either the Lord or the Vassal specifically revokes it in a public thread. If a Vassal breaks an Oath of Fealty without the permission of his Lord, he cannot swear a new Oath of Fealty until 5 turns have passed. A Senator can only have one Lord at a time, but he may have an unlimited number of Vassals. Oaths of Fealty cannot be sworn or broken while the Senate is in session.
2.6 – Loyalty in a Feudal Chain: A Vassal’s loyalty is always to his Lord, even if his Lord is himself a Vassal of another Senator. If a Senator swears or breaks an Oath of Fealty, his relationship to his Vassals remains unchanged. In this way, a Lord can bring his entire chain of followers into the service of another Senator without anyone else having to change their status. Similarly, a Senator will take his entire chain of followers with him if he breaks his Oath of Fealty.
2.7 – Feudal Ranks: In the event of a conflict, Rule 2.7 takes priority over all other rules. The feudal ranks and positions are as follows:
Strator:
Requirements: None
Influence: 1
Powers:
(1) Can propose one Edict per Senate Session.
Penalties:
(1) Cannot run for Megas Logothetes.
Comes:
Requirements: Must have personal control of a province.
Influence: 1
Powers:
(1) Can propose one Edict per Senate Session.
(2) Can set the build queue and tax rate for their settlement and all unallocated settlements under their control. Can destroy any building in their settlement and all unallocated settlements under their control. Can rename any settlement under their control at any time.
(3) All provinces conquered by any of their vassals become their property, unless the Comes is loyal to a higher rank.
Penalties:
(1) Loses control of all provinces if they fail to vote in two consecutive Normal Senate Sessions. All provinces lost in this way are given to the Comes’ Lord. If the Comes has no Lord, the provinces are given to the Basileus.
Domestikos:
Requirements: Must have personal control of a province. Must have at least 1 land-owning Senator as a vassal.
Influence: 1 + up to 1 Stat Influence.
Powers:
(1) Can propose one Edict or Amendment per Senate Session.
(2) Can set the build queue and tax rate for their settlement and all unallocated settlements under their control. Can destroy any building in their settlement and all unallocated settlements under their control. Can rename any settlement under their control at any time.
(3) All provinces conquered by any of their vassals become their property, unless the Domestikos is loyal to a higher rank.
(4) If this rank is held during a Normal Senate Session, can Prioritize a total of 2 units per full 10 turn Megas Logothetes term, unless the Domestikos is loyal to another Senator.
Hypatos:
Requirements: Must have personal control of a province. Must have a total of at least 2 land-owning Senators as vassals, vassals of vassals, etc.
Influence: 1 + up to 1 Stat Influence.
Powers:
(1) Can propose one Edict or Amendment per Senate Session.
(2) Can set the build queue and tax rate for their settlement and all unallocated settlements under their control. Can destroy any building in their settlement and all unallocated settlements under their control. Can rename any settlement under their control at any time.
(3) All provinces conquered by any of their vassals become their property, unless the Hypatos is loyal to a higher rank.
(4) If this rank is held during a Normal Senate Session, can Prioritize a total of 4 units per full 10 turn Megas Logothetes term, unless the Hypatos is loyal to another Senator.
Antypatos:
Requirements: Must have personal control of a province. Must have a total of at least 3 land-owning Senators as vassals, vassals of vassals, etc.
Influence: 1 + up to 2 Stat Influence.
Powers:
(1) Can propose one Edict or Amendment per Senate Session.
(2) Can set the build queue and tax rate for their settlement and all unallocated settlements under their control. Can destroy any building in their settlement and all unallocated settlements under their control. Can rename any settlement under their control at any time.
(3) All provinces conquered by any of their vassals become their property, unless the Antypatos is loyal to a higher rank.
(4) If this rank is held during a Normal Senate Session, can Prioritize a total of 6 units per full 10 turn Megas Logothetes term, unless the Antypatos is loyal to another Senator. (Modified by CA 6.4)
(5) If this rank is held during a Normal Senate Session, can Prioritize one building in any build queue in any settlement owned by any Senator in their feudal chain, unless the Antypatos is loyal to a higher rank.
Patrikios:
Requirements: Must have personal control of a province. Must have a total of at least 4 land-owning Senators as vassals, vassals of vassals, etc. Must have served 5 consecutive turns as a Antypatos at some point in time.
Influence: 1 + up to 2 Stat Influence.
Powers:
(1) Can propose two Edicts or Amendments per Senate Session.
(2) Can set the build queue and tax rate for their settlement and all unallocated settlements under their control. Can destroy any building in their settlement and all unallocated settlements under their control. Can rename any settlement under their control at any time.
(3) All provinces conquered by any of their vassals become their property, unless the Patrikios is loyal to a higher rank.
(4) If this rank is held during a Normal Senate Session, can Prioritize a total of 8 units per full 10 turn Megas Logothetes term, unless the Patrikios is loyal to another Senator.
(5) If this rank is held during a Normal Senate Session, can Prioritize one building in any build queue in any settlement owned by any Senator in their feudal chain, unless the Patrikios is loyal to a higher rank. (Modified by CA 6.4)
(6) Once per full 10 turn Megas Logothetes term, can destroy one building in any settlement owned by any Senator in their feudal chain, unless the Patrikios is loyal to a higher rank. Buildings in the barracks, archery range, stable, siege engine, and gunsmith lines cannot be destroyed with this power.
Dux:
Requirements: Must have personal control of a province. Must have a total of at least 5 land-owning Senators as vassals, vassals of vassals, etc. Must have served 5 consecutive turns as a Patrikios at some point in time.
Influence: 1 + up to 3 Stat Influence.
Powers:
(1) Can propose three Edicts or Amendments per Senate Session.
(2) Can set the build queue and tax rate for their settlement and all unallocated settlements under their control. Can destroy any building in their settlement and all unallocated settlements under their control. Can rename any settlement under their control at any time.
(3) All provinces conquered by any of their vassals become their property, unless the Dux is loyal to a Megas Dux/Exarch.
(4) Can call Emergency Senate Sessions.
(5) If this rank is held during a Normal Senate Session, can Prioritize a total of 10 units per full 10 turn Megas Logothetes term, unless the Dux is loyal to another Senator.
(6) If this rank is held during a Normal Senate Session, can Prioritize one building in any build queue in any settlement owned by any Senator in their feudal chain, unless the Dux is loyal to a Megas Dux/Exarch. (Modified by CA 6.4)
(7) Once per full 10 turn Megas Logothetes term, can destroy one building in any settlement owned by any Senator in their feudal chain, unless the Dux is loyal to a Grand Megas Dux/Exarch. Buildings in the barracks, archery range, stable, siege engine, and gunsmith lines cannot be destroyed with this power.
(8) Once per full 10 turn Megas Logothetes term, can force a transfer of one retinue member/item from any Senator in their chain of followers to themselves or anyone else in their chain of followers, unless the Dux is loyal to a Megas Dux/Exarch.
(9) Cannot be banned from a Senate Session.
Megas Dux/Exarch:
Requirements: Must have personal control of a province. Must have a total of at least 6 land-owning Senators as vassals, vassals of vassals, etc. Must have served 10 consecutive turns as a Dux at some point in time.
Influence: 1 + up to 4 Stat Influence.
Powers:
(1) Can propose an unlimited number of Edicts or Amendments per Senate Session and their Edicts and Amendments do not need to be seconded.
(2) Can set the build queue and tax rate for their settlement and all unallocated settlements under their control. Can destroy any building in their settlement and all unallocated settlements under their control. Can rename any settlement under their control at any time.
(3) All provinces conquered by any of their vassals become their property.
(4) Can call Emergency Senate Sessions.
(5) If this rank is held during a Normal Senate Session, can Prioritize a total of 12 units per full 10 turn Megas Logothetes term.
(6) If this rank is held during a Normal Senate Session, can Prioritize one building in any build queue in any settlement owned by any Senator in their feudal chain. (Modified by CA 6.4)
(7) Once per full 10 turn Megas Logothetes term, can destroy one building in any settlement owned by any Senator in their feudal chain. Buildings in the barracks, archery range, stable, siege engine, and gunsmith lines cannot be destroyed with this power.
(8) Once per full 10 turn Megas Logothetes term, can force a transfer of one retinue member/item from any Senator in their chain of followers to themselves or anyone else in their chain of followers.
(9) Cannot be banned from a Senate Session.
(10) Can declare war on any AI faction at any time, for any reason.
(11) Can veto one Edict or Amendment per Senate Session.
Penalties:
(1) Cannot swear an Oath of Fealty to another Senator.
Caesar:
Requirements: Must be the in-game Faction Heir
Influence: +1 to the Stat Influence cap of their other rank
Powers:
(1) This rank is always held at the same time as other feudal ranks. The Influence and Powers of the Caesar are added on top of the Influence and Powers of the Senator’s other feudal rank(s), unless the Power specifically states otherwise.
(2) In the absence of the Basileus, the Caesar can ban Senators from a Senate Session. Banned Senators cannot speak or propose legislation, but they are permitted to vote.
(3) In the absence of the Basileus, the Caesar can adjudicate on rule disputes. However, if a rule dispute directly involved the Basileus or the Caesar, the Senator of the highest feudal rank will be the adjudicator. If there are multiple Senators of that rank, the dispute will be decided between them by a simple, unweighted vote. In the event of a tie, the Caesar will cast a tie-breaking vote.
(4) If this rank is held during a Normal Senate Session, can Prioritize a total of 2 units per full 10 turn Megas Logothetes term. This Power is cumulative with the ability to Prioritize units under any other rank held by the Caesar.
Penalties:
(1) Cannot hold the rank of Dean. (Added by CA 3.3.)
Basileus:
Requirements: Must be the in-game Faction Leader
Influence: Authority Stat
Powers:
(1) Can propose an unlimited number of Edicts or Amendments per Senate Session and their Edicts and Amendments do not need to be seconded.
(2) Can set the build queue and tax rate for their settlement and all unallocated settlements under their control. Can destroy any building in their settlement and all unallocated settlements under their control. Can rename any settlement under their control at any time.
(3) Can call Emergency Senate Sessions.
(4) If this rank is held during a Normal Senate Session, can Prioritize a total of 15 units per full 10 turn Megas Logothetes term.
(5) If this rank is held during a Normal Senate Session, can Prioritize two buildings in any build queue(s) in any settlement(s). This power cannot be used on any settlement controlled by a Senator who is in a state of War with the Basileus. (Modified by CA 6.4)
(6) Twice per full 10 turn Megas Logothetes term, can destroy one building in any settlement. Buildings in the barracks, archery range, stable, siege engine, and gunsmith lines cannot be destroyed with this power. This power cannot be used on any settlement controlled by a Senator who is in a state of War with the Basileus.
(7) Twice per full 10 turn Megas Logothetes term, can force a transfer of one retinue member/item from any Senator to themselves or any other Senator. This power cannot be used on any Senator who is in a state of War with the Basileus.
(8) Can declare war on any faction at any time, for any reason.
(9) Can veto one Edict or Amendment per 3 ranks of Authority.
(10) Decides which Senator, if any, a Princess should marry.
(11) Once during his reign, the Basileus may automatically assume the post of Megas Logothetes. The Basileus must declare he is exercising that right at a Senate session; he will then be appointed Megas Logothetes with no election. This right can only be invoked once, but the Basileus may also compete in normal Megas Logothetes elections at other Senate Sessions. However, Ioannis Komnenos (OOC: Family tree spot 2.1) is barred from automatically assuming the post of Megas Logothetes. (Added by CA E2.1.)
(12) Can ban Senators from a Senate Session. Banned Senators cannot speak or propose legislation, but they are permitted to vote.
(13) Can adjudicate on rule disputes. However, if a rule dispute directly involves the Basileus or the Caesar, the Senator of the highest feudal rank will be the adjudicator. If there are multiple Senators of that rank, the dispute will be decided between them by a simple, unweighted vote. In the event of a tie, the Basileus will cast a tie-breaking vote.
(14) Can rename the Byzantine Empire at any time.
(15) Can move the Capital at any time, as long as the new Capital is controlled by the Basileus.
(16) Banishment The Basileus can banish Senators from all provinces controlled by the Byzantine Empire. While Banished, a Senator can be attacked by any other Senator without the need for a Declaration of War, unless the Banished Senator is not inside a province controlled by the Byzantine Empire. Any provinces owned by the Banished Senator can also be attacked without the need for a Declaration of War. Any provinces conquered in this manner will become the property of the Senator who conquered them. The Banished Senator cannot be attacked on the same turn that the Banishment is ordered, unless he is in the same province controlled by the Byzantine Empire as the Basileus, or an adjacent provinces controlled by the Byzantine Empire to the Basileus. The Banished Senator can defend himself, but cannot initiate an attack without making a Declaration of War. No units may be disbanded or removed from the Banished Senator's armies or settlements without his permission. The Basileus will determine the fate of a Banished Senator who is captured in battle. A Banishment can be ended by an Edict passed by the Senate. If the Banished Senator is in a feudal chain at the time the Banishment is issued, the highest ranking Senator in that feudal chain can call an Emergency Senate Session. This session can only be called on the same turn that the Banishment is issued.
The duration of the Banishment is determined by the Basileus' Authority. With an Authority of 5 or lower, this power may not be used. With an Authority of 6 or 7, one Senator may be Banished for 5 turns. With an Authority of 8 or 9, one Senator may be Banished for 10 turns. With an Authority of 10, two Senators may be Banished for 10 turns each. Regardless of the level of Authority, this power cannot be used within 10 turns of a previous use. Banishment ends when a Banished Senator is publicly pardoned by the Basileus, the time limit expires, an appropriate Edict is passed, or the Basileus dies.
(18) During normal Senate sessions, can bestow on or remove from any player the rank of Dean, as long as there is never more than 1 Dean at any one time. (Added by CA 3.3.)
(19) The two offices of Lord High Chancellor and Lord High Steward, as well as the Privy Seal, can be assigned by the Basileus to any Senator. Only one of them may be assigned to each general, and each adds +1 to that Senator's Stat Influence. If the Basileus chooses to keep these retinue himself, he does not receive the Stat Influence bonus. (Added by CA 3.1.)
Penalties:
(1) Cannot hold another feudal rank except Megas Logothetes.
(2) Cannot swear an Oath of Fealty to another Senator and cannot have any Vassals.
Inheritance: On the death of a Basileus, all Oaths of Fealty pertaining to the Senator who is the new Basileus are instantly broken. Rule 5.2 does not apply to Oaths broken in this manner. The new Basileus takes control of all provinces owned by the previous Basileus, unless they were given away by a valid Will. The new Basileus retains possession of any provinces he controlled prior to inheriting the throne.
Megas Logothetes:
Requirements: Must have been elected Megas Logothetes
Influence: During Emergency Sessions called during his term, 2 + up to 5 Stat Influence, or the Senator's normal Influence, whichever is higher. For every term of 6 turns or more that a Senator serves as Megas Logothetes, he will receive a permanent +1 bonus to his Influence and a permanent increase of +1 to the maximum Stat Influence of his feudal rank. This bonus is cumulative for Senators who serve multiple terms as Megas Logothetes. The in-term bonus does not apply to the Basileus. The post-term bonus does not apply to the Basileus or to any Senator who ceased to be Megas Logothetes because he was impeached.
Powers:
(1) This rank is always held at the same time as other feudal ranks. The Influence and Powers of the Megas Logothetes are added on top of the Influence and Powers of the Senator’s other feudal ranks.
(2) The Megas Logotheses is responsible for all monetary expenditures in the game. The choice of what to build/recruit and where is entirely up to him, except as stated in the Limitations on Powers.
(3) Except as stated in Rule 4.1, the Megas Logothetes can move all armies that start a turn led by a Captain, unless that stack started the turn inside a Realm. (Modified by RC 8.1)
(4) Except as stated in Rule 4.3, the Megas Logothetes can move all fleets, unless they started the turn inside a port in a Realm. (Modified by RC 8.1)
(5) The Megas Logothetes can move and use all agents.
Limitations on Powers:
(1) The Megas Logothetes must respect all settlement tax rates and build queues. With the exception of Prioritized Buildings, the Megas Logothetes is not required to build anything. However, if anything is built in a settlement, it must be the first item on the build queue. If no build queue is posted for a settlement, the Megas Logothetes can build whatever he likes. The Megas Logothetes may upgrade a province’s walls at any time unless such an upgrade is forbidden in advance by the Senator who owns the settlement.
(2) Prioritized Buildings – No money can be spent on any construction until all Prioritized Buildings have been funded, unless the Senators who Prioritized them agree otherwise. If there are multiple Prioritized Buildings, and not enough funding for all of them, the Megas Logothetes may choose which to construct first. Prioritized Buildings cannot be funded until all Prioritized Units have been funded. (Modified by CA 4.1.)
(3) The Megas Logothetes must respect all requests for the transfer or deletion of retinue members/items, as long as these requests comply with the rules.
(4) Prioritized Units – No money can be spent on any recruitment until all Prioritized Units have been funded, unless the Senators who Prioritized them agree otherwise. If there are multiple Prioritized Units, and not enough funding for all of them, the Megas Logothetes may choose which to construct first. Senators may specify the Type of Unit to be recruited and the Location for the recruitment. The Type of Unit is restricted to the broad classifications of infantry, foot missiles, and cavalry. Artillery and Mercenaries cannot be Prioritized. A unit may be retrained instead of recruited if the unit is already located in a settlement where it can be retrained in some fashion. Except for the Basileus, the Location is restricted to any settlement owned by the Senator requesting the Prioritization or any settlement owned by a vassal in his feudal chain. The Basileus may specify any settlement in the Empire as the Location.
(5) Cannot remove a building from any build queue if construction has already begun on it, unless the owner of the province agrees otherwise.
Dean: (Added by CA 3.3.)
Requirements: Must have been appointed by the Basileus
Powers:
(1) This rank is always held at the same time as other feudal ranks.
(2) During normal Senate sessions, can bestow on or remove from any Senator the rank of Scholar, as long as there are never more than 5 Scholars at any one time.
(3) Twice per full Megas term, can alter or add any trait listed in Rule 3.10 to his own avatar. Traits that are added must be given at the lowest level. Traits that are altered can only move one level at a time.
Scholar: (Added by CA 3.3.)
Requirements: Must have been appointed by the Dean
Powers:
(1) This rank is always held at the same time as other feudal ranks.
(2) Once per full Megas term, can alter or add any trait listed in Rule 3.10 to his own avatar. Traits that are added must be given at the lowest level. Traits that are altered can only move one level at a time.
Rebel: (Added by RC 8.1.)
Requirements:
(1) Must own at least 2 contiguous provinces and then declare oneself a Rebel in a public thread OR
(2) Be a vassal of a Rebel.
Influence: None
Powers:
(1) This rank is always held at the same time as other feudal ranks. The Powers and Penalties of the Rebel are added on top of the Powers and Penalties of the Senator’s other feudal rank(s). In the event of contradictory Powers and Penalties, the Rebel Powers and Penalties take precedence.
(2) If the Rebel rank is obtained by declaration, rather than swearing, the Rebel must designate one of his provinces as his Capital. The Capital must be contiguous to at least one other province owned by the Rebel or any of his vassals. At the moment that the Capital is declared, provinces owned by the Rebel or his vassals which are not connected to the Capital by contiguous land borders are instantly lost and become the property of the Basileus. TinCow will determine whether an island province is contiguous to continental provinces. This territory will be known as the Rebel's 'Realm.'
(3) If the Rebel rank is obtained by declaration, the Senator automatically breaks any Oath to his Lord.
(4) If the Rebel rank is obtained by swearing an Oath, all of the Senator's provinces which are not contiguous to the Realm of the new Lord become the property of the Basileus.
(5) Is not bound by any Senate Edicts or Amendments.
(6) Is immune to Basileus' Powers 6, 7, and 16.
(7) Can pass an unlimited number of provinces on to the player's next avatar through a valid will. The player's next avatar will instantly gain the rank of Rebel.
Penalties:
(1) When this rank is obtained, the Rebel is considered to have made an automatic declaration of war against all Senators who are still part of the Empire. Rebels cannot make Peace Treaties.
(2) Cannot propose or vote on Edicts or Amendments in any Senate session. Cannot run for or vote in the election for Megas Logothetes.
(3) Cannot prioritize any Units or Buildings.
(4) Taxes are set to Very High in all settlements within the Realm.
(5) If the Capital is captured by a hostile Senator, the rank of Rebel is lost. In order to continue the Rebellion, the Senator must proclaim himself a Rebel again, assuming he still meets the requirements for it.
(6) Cannot hold the ranks of Dean or Scholar.
Secessionist: (Added by RC 8.1.)
Requirements:
(1) Must have been a Rebel for 5 turns OR
(2) Be a vassal of a Secessionist.
Influence: None
Powers:
(1) This rank is always held at the same time as other feudal ranks. The Powers and Penalties of the Secessionist are added on top of the Powers and Penalties of the Senator’s other feudal rank(s). In the event of contradictory Powers and Penalties, the Secessionist Powers and Penalties take precedence.
(2) If the Rebel rank is obtained by swearing an Oath, all of the Senator's provinces which are not contiguous to the Realm of the new Lord become the property of the Basileus.
(3) Is not bound by any Senate Edicts or Amendments.
(4) Is immune to Basileus' Powers 6, 7, and 16.
(5) Taxes are set to High in all adjacent non-Realm settlements.
(6) Can pass an unlimited number of provinces on to the player's next avatar through a valid will. The player's next avatar will instantly gain the rank of Secessionist.
Penalties:
(1) When this rank is obtained, the Secessionist is considered to have made an automatic declaration of war against all Senators who are still part of the Empire. Secessionists cannot make Peace Treaties.
(2) Cannot propose or vote on Edicts or Amendments in any Senate session. Cannot run for or vote in the election for Megas Logothetes.
(3) If the Capital is captured by a hostile Senator, the rank of Secessionist is lost. In order to continue the Rebellion, the Senator must proclaim himself a Rebel again, assuming he still meets the requirements for it.
(4) Cannot hold the ranks of Dean or Scholar.
Independent Ruler: (Added by RC 8.1.)
Requirements:
(1) Must have been a Secessionist for 5 turns OR
(2) Be a vassal of an Independent Ruler.
Influence: None
Powers:
(1) This rank is always held at the same time as other feudal ranks. The Powers and Penalties of the Independent Ruler are added on top of the Powers and Penalties of the Senator’s other feudal rank(s). In the event of contradictory Powers and Penalties, the Independent Ruler's Powers and Penalties take precedence.
(2) May create his own title instead of "Independent Ruler" and may determine the correlating titles of all his vassals, unless the Independent Ruler is loyal to another Senator.
(3) If this rank is held during a Normal Senate Session, can Prioritize a total of 1 unit per province within the Realm and 1 building per 3 provinces within the Realm per full 10 turn Megas Logothetes term. This Power is cumulative with the ability to Prioritize units under any other rank held by the Independent Ruler. This power is void if the Independent Ruler is loyal to another Senator.
(5) Can declare war on any faction at any time, for any reason, unless the Independent Ruler is loyal to another Senator.
(6) Is not bound by any Senate Edicts or Amendments.
(7) Is immune to Basileus' Powers 6, 7, and 16.
(8) Unless they have the permission of the Independent Ruler, any neutral Senator entering a province of the Realm owned by the Independent Ruler is considered to have automatically declared war on the Independent Ruler.
(9) During any Senate session, can give a temporary bonus of 1 influence to any loyal Senator of the Empire for every 2 provinces in the Realm. The loyal Senator must agree to accept this temporary bonus before it can be added. The offer and acceptance of the bonus may be kept secret until all votes are tallied, but TinCow must be informed of the deal via PM. This power is void if the Independent Ruler is loyal to another Senator.
(10) Taxes are set to Very High in all adjacent non-Realm settlements.
(11) Can move the Capital to any other province within the Realm, but this results in the Independent Ruler becoming a Secessionist once again. This power is void if the Independent Ruler is loyal to another Senator.
(12) Can pass an unlimited number of provinces on to the player's next avatar through a valid will. The player's next avatar will instantly gain the rank of Secessionist.
Penalties:
(1) Cannot propose or vote on Edicts or Amendments in any Senate session. Cannot run for or vote in the election for Megas Logothetes.
(2) If the Capital is captured by a hostile Senator, the rank of Independent Ruler is lost. In order to continue the Rebellion, the Senator must proclaim himself a Rebel again, assuming he still meets the requirements for it.
(3) Cannot be a Dean or a Scholar.
3. Government
3.1 –Sessions: The Senate will meet in a Normal Session every 10 turns. Out of session, there can be open debate and deliberations. Each Normal and Emergency Session consists of 3 real time days of debate, followed by 2 real time days of voting. econ21 or TinCow can change the length of individual sessions at will.
3.2 – Proposing Legislation: During each session, Senators may propose Edicts and Amendments, up to the limit allowed by their rank. Edicts and Amendments must be seconded by two other Senators before they can be put to the vote.
3.3 – Edicts: Edicts require a simple majority of weighted votes to pass and remain in effect until the next normal session of the Senate. Tied Edicts fail. If contradictory Edicts are passed, the one with the most votes takes priority. Edicts can only be enforced by IC means. Edicts cannot contradict the Game Rules. (Modified by CA 6.1)
3.4 – Codex Amendments: Amendments require a two-thirds majority of weighted votes to pass and remain in effect permanently, or until repealed by another Codex Amendment. Codex Amendments can only be enforced by IC means. Codex Amendments cannot contradict the Game Rules. (Modified by CA 6.1)
3.5 – Rule Changes: Rule Changes require a two-thirds majority of unweighted votes (1 vote per player) to pass. Rule Changes can permanently change the Game Rules. Any player can propose Rule Changes, regardless of IC rank. TinCow can veto any proposed Rule Change, but does not vote. Game Rules are enforced by IC or OOC means, as TinCow sees fit. (Added by CA 6.1)
3.6 – Influence: Each Senator’s voting power is equivalent to his total Influence, as defined by Rule 2.7. No Senator’s Influence may ever be lower than 1. For the purposes of determining Stat Influence, a Senator can gain 1 point of Stat Influence for each of the following conditions that he meets: (a) 5+ ranks of Command (b) 10 ranks of Command (c) 5+ ranks of Chivalry or Dread (d) 10 ranks of Chivalry or Dread (e) 10 ranks of Loyalty (f) 8+ ranks of Piety (g) 20+ total stat points (h) 30+ total stat points (i) 40 total stat points (j) Senator’s name is modified by a trait title that bestows more negative than positive stat points (i.e. the Mad) (k) Senator is married to a Byzantine Empire Princess (l) Senator possesses the title of Lord High Chancellor, Lord High Steward, or Privy Seal.
3.7 – War: Except as allowed by rank powers under Rule 2.7, any declaration of war must be authorized by an Edict.
3.8 – Elections: At each Normal Session, on the death of the Megas Logothetes, or on the impeachment of the Megas Logothetes, there is an election for the post of Megas Logothetes. Ties lead to a fresh ballot. A second tie is decided by seniority (avatar age).
3.9 – Impeachment: The Megas Logothetes can be impeached and removed from office by a two-thirds majority vote of the Senate. Impeachment takes effect immediately after the vote is passed. After impeachment, a fresh election is held to elect a new Megas Logothetes, although the Basileus may also exercise his power to become Megas Logothetes at that point. The Senator replacing the impeached Megas Logothetes serves out the remainder of the impeached Megas Logothetes’S term. All Edicts passed in the Senate session that elected the impeached Megas Logothetes remain valid, unless overturned by new Edicts at the Emergency Session that impeached him.
3.10 - University: The following traits may be altered by the Dean and the Scholars, but only to levels which are listed herein. Levels which are omitted from this list cannot be gained or lost through the University:
Trait GoodAdministrator
Level Budding_Bureaucrat
Effect Trading 3
Effect Law 1
Level Skilled_Bureaucrat
Effect Trading 5
Effect Law 2
Level Superb_Administrator
Effect Trading 10
Effect Law 3
;------------------------------------------
Trait BadAdministrator
Level Poor_Administrator
Effect Trading -3
Level Inefficient_Administrator
Effect Trading -5
Level Total_Incompetence
Effect Trading -10
;------------------------------------------
Trait InspiringSpeaker
Level Can_Tell_a_Tale
Effect Law 1
Level Great_Speaker
Effect Law 1
Level Inspirational_Speaker
Effect Law 2
;------------------------------------------
Trait BoringSpeaker
Level Poor_Speaker
Effect Law -1
Level Awkward_Speaker
Effect Law -1
Effect TroopMorale -1
Level Incredibly_Boring
Effect Law -2
Effect TroopMorale -2
Effect Command -1
;------------------------------------------
Trait AcademyTrained
Level Academy_Trained
Effect Command 1
Level Officer_Training
Effect Command 2
;------------------------------------------
Trait ForcedReligious
Level Conforming
Effect Piety 1
Level Reverant
Effect Piety 2
Level Godfearing
Effect Piety 3
Effect TroopMorale -1
;------------------------------------------
Trait Superstitious
Level Silly_Beliefs
Effect Piety -1
Level Superstitious
Effect Piety -1
Effect TroopMorale -1
Level Slave_to_Superstition
Effect Piety -2
Effect Authority -1
Effect TroopMorale -2
;------------------------------------------
Trait Pragmatic
Level Mostly_Rational
Effect Authority 1
Level No_Nonsense
Effect Authority 2
Effect TroopMorale 1
Level Utterly_Pragmatic
Effect Authority 3
Effect TroopMorale 2
;------------------------------------------
Trait GoodTaxman
Level Good_with_Taxes
Effect TaxCollection 10
Level Thorough_Taxman
Effect TaxCollection 20
Effect Unrest 1
Level Cruelly_Exacting_Taxman
Effect TaxCollection 30
Effect Unrest 2
;------------------------------------------
Trait BadTaxman
Level Poor_with_Taxes
Effect TaxCollection -5
Level Sloppy_Taxman
Effect TaxCollection -10
Level Tax_Farmer
Effect TaxCollection -15
;------------------------------------------
Trait Scout
Level Adopts_Scouting
Effect LineOfSight 1
Level Adept_Scout
Effect LineOfSight 2
Level Reconnaissance_Expert
Effect LineOfSight 3
;------------------------------------------
Trait GoodFarmer
Level Farming_Knowledge
Effect Farming 1
Level Rural_Expert
Effect Farming 2
Level Agriculturalist
Effect Farming 3
;------------------------------------------
Trait GoodMiner
Level Mining_Knowledge
Effect Mining 10
Level Mining_Expert
Effect Mining 20
Level Geologist
Effect Mining 30
;------------------------------------------
Trait GoodEngineer
Level Admires_Technology
Effect SiegeEngineering 20
Level Mechanically_Minded
Effect SiegeAttack 1
Effect SiegeEngineering 40
Level Engineer
Effect SiegeAttack 2
Effect SiegeEngineering 60
;------------------------------------------
Trait BadEngineer
Level Questions_Technology
Effect SiegeAttack -1
Level Befuddled_by_Machines
Effect SiegeAttack -2
Level Distrusts_Evil_Machinery!
Effect SiegeAttack -3
;------------------------------------------
Trait GoodTrader
Level Understands_Trade
Effect Trading 10
Level Trader
Effect Trading 20
Level Master_Trader
Effect Trading 30
;------------------------------------------
Trait BadTrader
Level Fiscally_Challenged
Effect Trading -10
Level Incompetent_Trader
Effect Trading -20
Level Trading_Liability
Effect Trading -30
;------------------------------------------
Trait Just
Level A_Sense_of_Justice
Effect Chivalry 1
Effect Law 1
Level Just
Effect Chivalry 2
Effect Law 2
Level Serves_Justice
Effect Chivalry 3
Effect Law 3
;------------------------------------------
Trait Unjust
Level Swift_to_Judge
Effect Unrest 1
Level Lacks_Justice
Effect Chivalry -1
Effect Unrest 2
Level Unjust
Effect Chivalry -3
Effect Unrest 3
;------------------------------------------
Trait HarshJustice
Level Hard_Justice
Effect Unrest 1
Effect Law 2
Level Harsh_Justice
Effect Unrest 2
Effect Law 4
Level Severe_Justice
Effect Chivalry -1
Effect Unrest 3
Effect Law 6
;------------------------------------------
Trait LenientJustice
Level Soft_Judge
Effect Chivalry 1
Effect Law -1
Level Merciful_Judge
Effect Chivalry 2
Effect Law -2
Level Kind_Judge
Effect Chivalry 1
Effect Law -3
;------------------------------------------
Trait HarshRuler
Level Iron_Fisted
Effect Chivalry -1
Effect Law 1
Level Harsh_Ruler
Effect Chivalry -2
Effect PersonalSecurity -1
Effect Squalor 1
Effect Law 2
Level Cruel_Ruler
Effect Chivalry -3
Effect PersonalSecurity -2
Effect Squalor 2
Effect Law 3
;------------------------------------------
Trait KindRuler
Level Reasonable_Ruler
Effect Chivalry 1
Effect Squalor -1
Level Kind_Ruler
Effect Chivalry 2
Effect Squalor -2
Level Benevolent_Ruler
Effect Chivalry 3
Effect Squalor -3
;------------------------------------------
Trait GoodBuilder
Level Active_Builder
Effect Construction 5
Effect Squalor -1
Level Urban_Planner
Effect Construction 10
Effect Squalor -2
Level Great_Builder
Effect Construction 15
Effect Squalor -3
;------------------------------------------
Trait BadBuilder
Level Not_Constructive
Effect Construction -5
Effect Squalor 1
Level Sloppy_Builder
Effect Construction -10
Effect Squalor 2
Level Abhors_Construction
Effect Construction -15
Effect Squalor 3
;------------------------------------------
Trait Authoritarian
Level Firm_Ruler
Effect Unrest 1
Effect Law 2
Level Strict_Ruler
Effect Authority 1
Effect Unrest 2
Effect Law 4
Level Total_Authoritarian
Effect Authority 2
Effect Unrest 3
Effect Law 6
;------------------------------------------
Trait NonAuthoritarian
Level Fair_Ruler
Effect Unrest -2
Effect Law -1
Level Understanding_Ruler
Effect Authority -1
Effect Unrest -4
Effect Law -2
Level Liberal_Leader
Effect Authority -2
Effect Unrest -6
Effect Law -3
;------------------------------------------
Trait Cultured
Level Cultured
Effect LocalPopularity 1
Level Very_Cultured
Effect Authority 1
Effect LocalPopularity 2
;------------------------------------------
Trait Ignorance
Level Ignorant
Effect Authority -1
Effect Trading -2
Effect TaxCollection -2
Level Sadly_Ignorant
Effect Authority -1
Effect Trading -5
Effect TaxCollection -5
Level Blissfully_Ignorant
Effect Authority -2
Effect Trading -10
Effect TaxCollection -10
;------------------------------------------
Trait Clergy_Edu
Level Novice
Effect Piety 1
Level Ordination
Effect Piety 2
Effect Loyalty -1
Effect TroopMorale 1
Effect Law 1
;------------------------------------------
Trait Castle_Edu
Level Squire
Effect MovementPoints 10
Level Knighted
Effect Command 1
Effect Loyalty 1
Effect MovementPoints 10
Effect Chivalry 1
;------------------------------------------
Trait Cap_Edu
Level Paige
Effect Law 1
Level Enobled
Effect Law 2
Effect Authority 1
Effect TaxCollection 5
;------------------------------------------
Trait RhetoricSkill
Level Well_Spoken
Effect Authority 1
;------------------------------------------
Trait StrategicSkill
Level Promising_Strategist
Effect Command 1
;------------------------------------------
Trait TacticalSkill
Level Promising_Tactician
Effect Ambush 2
Effect LineOfSight 1
;------------------------------------------
Trait MathematicsSkill
Level Talent_with_Numbers
Effect SiegeEngineering 10
Effect Trading 5
;------------------------------------------
Trait PoliticsSkill
Level Political_Promise
Effect Authority 1
;------------------------------------------
Trait LogisticalSkill
Level Understands_Logistics
Effect TroopMorale 1
Effect MovementPoints 1
;------------------------------------------
Trait HorseRacer
Level Good_Racer
Effect MovementPoints 1
(Added by CA 3.3.)
4. Armies
4.1 – Armies: Except as stated in Rule 4.2, all Senators own all army units that begin a turn in a stack led by their avatar, in the garrison of a settlement they own, and in the garrison of a fort inside a province they own, regardless of how the units got there. Senators instantly own any Captain-led stack that their avatar moves onto. No one may move or disband any units owned by a Senator without his permission.
4.2 – Seizing Armies: Any Senator may move his avatar onto an army owned by another Senator from the same feudal chain. If this occurs, the Senator with the highest feudal rank instantly owns the entire combined army. If both Senators are of the same rank, the eldest Senator will own the entire combined army. The Basileus may instantly seize any army his avatar moves onto, regardless of the status of the Senator that previously owned it. A Senator may not move his avatar onto an army owned by a Senator from outside his feudal chain unless both Senators agree to the move beforehand. If there is a subsequent disagreement about who owns the units in the army, where the army is to move, or who commands the army, the Basileus will decide. This Rule does not apply to garrisons of settlements or forts. Avatars may never be seized.
4.3 – Naval Fleets: All Senators own all fleets that begin a turn in the port of a settlement they own, regardless of how the fleet got there. Otherwise, naval fleets are owned by the Senator with the highest feudal rank who is onboard the fleet. If there are multiple Senators of the same rank, the eldest Senator will own the fleet. No one may move or disband any ships in a fleet owned by a Senator without his permission.
4.4 – Historical Army Composition: An army of 10 units or less cannot have more than 3 units of heavy cavalry. An army of 11 units or more cannot have more than 5 units of heavy cavalry. For the purposes of this rule, bodyguard units do not count as heavy cavalry. Armies that do not meet these requirements cannot fight battles under any circumstances, though they can be used for transportation.
5. Civil War
5.1 – Declaration of War: A Senator must make a Declaration of War towards a specific Senator in a public thread before they can attack any of that Senator’s armies or settlements. A Declaration of War applies to all Senators of lower rank in the vassal chains of both the Senator who makes the Declaration and the Senator who is the target of the Declaration, including vassals who swear an Oath of Fealty after the Declaration of War has been made. A Declaration of War does not apply to any Senators in the vassal chain who are above the declarer or the target. Neither the Senator who made the Declaration of War, nor anyone below him in his vassal chain, can attack the target of that Declaration, or anyone below the target in his vassal chain, until the target(s) have been provided with one full turn's worth of movement. This rule does not limit movement in any way, nor does it prevent the target(s) of the Declaration of War from attacking the declarer(s).
5.2 – Civil War through Oath Breaking: If a Vassal breaks an Oath of Fealty, anyone above him in the feudal chain may choose to instantly enter a state of Civil War. For the purposes Rule 5.1, the Senator who broke the Oath of Fealty will be considered the person who issued the Declaration of War, and the Senator who chooses to enter the state of Civil War will be treated as the target of the Declaration of War.
5.3 – Ending a Civil War: A Civil War will end when all Senators on one side are dead or all living Senators on both sides publicly agree to a Peace Treaty. A Senator's public agreement to a Peace Treaty will also remove all Senators below him in his feudal chain from the Civil War, unless the vassal Senators specifically state otherwise in a public thread. So long as it is limited to changes to the provinces, settlements, armies, Oaths of Loyalty, and retinue of the Senators signing the Peace Treaty, it will be considered binding law. All terms of a Peace Treaty that go beyond these limits, particularly those that increase a Senator’s influence or powers beyond those allowed by the rules, will only be binding if adopted by a two-thirds majority of the Senate at the next normal session. Individual Senators may unilaterally remove themselves from a Civil War within one turn of the Declaration of War that brought them into it by breaking all Oaths of Loyalty that tie them to any Senator involved in the War and by publicly declaring Neutrality. Neutrality cannot be claimed by a declarer, a target, or any Senator who has been involved in a PvP Battle during that specific Civil War. (Modified by RC 7.4.)
5.4 – PvP Battles: Whenever two hostile armies enter adjacent squares, a PvP Battle will occur, even if the armies have movement points remaining. If both players agree, the battle will be fought via multiplayer, with econ21, TinCow, or anyone they choose acting as umpire. The umpire will determine the map and the precise composition of the armies. If the battle is not fought via multiplayer, there will be a 24 hour voting period to determine how the battle will be fought. The voting options will be (a) Tabletop Battle (b) Abbreviated Tabletop Battle and (c) AI Battle. All players may vote, even those not involved in the battle, all votes will be unweighted, and the option that receives the most votes will be chosen. Tabletop Battles will be in the style of the Battle of Bern and the Battle of Trent and will be umpired by econ21, GeneralHankerchief, or anyone they choose. Abbreviated Tabletop Battles will be identical to a Tabletop Battle, but will be 1 turn in length. Players will determine their starting positions and outline a general strategy for the battle. The umpire will then play out the battle and determine the victor. The umpire may allow a maximum of 1 or 2 additional turns beyond the starting turn if they so choose. The Abbreviated Tabletop Battle will be run by econ21, GeneralHankerchief, or anyone they choose. AI Battles will be custom battles in the TW engine in which the AI will control all units on both sides. AI battles will be umpired by econ21, TinCow, or anyone they choose. The umpire will determine all settings to be used in the battle, including the map and the precise composition of the armies. Regardless of the type of battle chosen, the umpire must attempt to have the battle replicate the in-game state of affairs to the best of his ability. Regardless of the type of battle chosen, the umpire will determine the results, including, but not limited to, units to be disbanded as casualties, avatars to be killed off as casualties, and changes in the control of provinces. Console commands may be used to implement the results.
So You Want To Be A Megas
NOTE: Due to CA 5.1, large portions of this guide are now obsolete. Until it is updated to deal with the new army rules, use the guide at your own risk.
The rank of Megas Logothetes is by far the most powerful and rewarding rank in the game. If you are elected to this position, you will be able to greatly strengthen yourself and your allies, as well as hinder your enemies. It also comes with an impressive permanent boost to both your absolute Influence and Stat Influence, which can make you a formidable person during Senate Sessions. However, the role of Megas is very complex and can be both time consuming and difficult to play. This guide is designed to help players understand how to properly play as the Megas Logothetes.
Remember, if at any time in the game you have any questions whatsoever, ASK THEM. You can either post them in the OOC thread for general help, or you can send a PM to TinCow (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=6193) for a more official ruling.
Pre-term Preparations
So, you’ve just won the election and are ready to start playing. How do you begin? The answer is by reading three specific threads:
The Rules (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=1999919&postcount=4) – Even if you’ve read them before, read them again. You may have forgotten something since the last time, or skimmed over a section that didn’t apply to you because you weren’t the Megas. Knowing the Rules is vitally important for any player, but especially the Megas. If you aren’t sure about something, just ask and it will be clarified.
The Senate Library (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=103861) – This is your main point of reference for determining the current feudal hierarchy. As will be explained later, it is very important that you know who is what rank and who owns what settlement. These things determine whether a person is entitled to a Private or Royal Army, or has other abilities to which you need to pay attention. If you do not know what someone’s rank currently is or who owns a particular settlement, you may accidentally violate a Rule. It may be useful to take notes or print out the Overview of the Senators and Imperial Family (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=1925729&postcount=4) post. If you do not think that post is up-to-date, pester TinCow (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=6193) until he gets it fixed.
The Status and Orders Thread (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=104219) (SOT) – This thread is your friend, get to know it. You will be checking this thread regularly and understanding what information it contains is critical. It is a good idea to print out the entire thing as a convenient reference when you begin your term as Megas, so that you do not have to tab out and check the forums constantly. However, if you do this, make sure you check the SOT thread before you make any changes to the game. The easiest way to do this is simply to look at the bottom of each post. If you see a line like this "Last edited by XXXX; MM-DD-YYYY at HH:MM" AND the date is after the time when you printed out the thread, then something about that post has changed and you need to pay attention to it. If you do not see that, you can ignore it, because nothing has changed since you printed out the SOT thread.
Playing a turn as Megas
Every turn you play as Megas should be approached in a systematic manner. Use the following outline of suggestions and you will probably have a relatively easy time.
1) Wait for everyone else to make their moves. If this is the very first turn of your Megas term, you will have to ‘open’ the save for people to begin playing it. This simply means posting that the save is available for people to download. It is very helpful to also post the time at which the save will be ‘closed.’ At a minimum this is 24 hours from the time when you open it, but you can make it longer if you want to. Regardless of how long you leave the save open, unless you really need to do something before another player, you should wait until everyone else has completed their actions before making your own. If this is not the first turn of your Megas term, this is the easiest step of all, because you don't have to do anything! Just wait until the time limit you previously set expires, then move on to the next step.
2) Mandatory Duties. So, now everyone else is done with their moves and you have the save. Your initial instinct may be to start moving your avatar, fighting battles, and helping your allies. DO NOT DO THIS YET! First, you need to make sure that you are properly obeying all the Rules. You can violate Edicts whenever you want (assuming you can get away with it) but the Rules are set in stone and you absolutely must follow them or risk being removed from office. So, to make sure that everything is done properly, it is a good idea to deal with your mandatory duties before you do anything else. So, what are the mandatory duties? There are three of them, and you should do them in the following order:
Royal Armies - Make sure all Royal Armies are up to their minimum strength. You’ve been checking the Senate Library, so you know who is at what rank. Remember that the ranks of Megas Dux/Exarch, Caesar, and Basileus control a Royal Army each. Keep track of all players who are at these ranks and where their Armies are located. Now check each one to make sure they all meet the minimum requirements. If they do not, immediately figure out a way to increase their strength so that they meet these minimum requirements. If you run out of money in the process of doing this, DO NOT SPEND MONEY ON ANYTHING ELSE THIS TURN. Keep in mind that it is possible to temporarily have a Royal Army legally under minimum strength, but only if you get permission from the Senator who owns it first. For ease of reference, the minimum requirements for a Royal Army are: 4 infantry regiments, 3 ranged regiments, and 2 cavalry regiments and Generals’ Bodyguard units do not count as cavalry regiments.
Private Armies – Make sure all Private Armies are up to their minimum strength. The ranks of Hypatos, Antypatos, Patrikios, and Dux control a Private Army each. Do the exact same thing you did with the Royal Armies, checking to make sure each one meets minimum strength requirements. If you run out of money in the process of doing this, DO NOT SPEND MONEY ON ANYTHING ELSE THIS TURN. Keep in mind that it is temporarily possible to have a Private Army legally under minimum strength, but only if you get permission from the Senator who owns it first. For ease of reference, the minimum requirements for a Royal Army are: 3 infantry regiments, 2 ranged regiments, and 1 cavalry regiment and Generals’ Bodyguard units do not count as cavalry regiments.
Prioritized Buildings - Make sure all Prioritized Buildings have been built or are being built. There are not likely to be many Prioritized Buildings in any single Megas term, as a House has to have a Senator at rank Antypatos or higher to use this ability and even then there can only be one per House per term. However, the Basileus always gets two Prioritized Buildings per term, so there will likely be at least a couple of these. If you run out of money before all Prioritized Buildings are completed, DO NOT SPEND MONEY ON ANY OTHER BUILDINGS THIS TURN. If you cannot afford to build all of the Prioritized Buildings at once, you can choose which one to start with on your own. Keep in mind that it is possible to temporarily skip over construction of a Prioritized Building, but only if you get permission from the Senator who owns it first.
3) Optional Powers. Now you’ve completed the ‘chores’ and it’s time to start doing what YOU want to do. This part is the reason you ran for election in the first place, but there are still Rules to be followed and you need to make sure you help your allies and destroy your enemies legally. If you're not sure exactly how you should go about helping an ally or hurting an enemy, PM TinCow (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=6193) for advice. He is always eager to help create more conflict between the players. The following is a suggestion of a good, well-organized way to approach this.
Spending Money – If you have money left over after the Mandatory Duties, you can finally start doing what you want to do, rather than what the Rules require you to do.
Buildings - Building construction can only be done if you have completed ALL Prioritized Buildings. You are generally restricted to building what is listed in the build queue of the Senator who owns each settlement (check the SOT thread), but it is entirely up to you which settlements you fund. You could spend your entire term only building in settlements of allies if you want while letting your enemies' settlements stay poor and undeveloped. You could horde all the money for yourself and make your city a rival of Constantinople! You could even refuse to build anything at all if that is what you want. Just make sure you follow the build queues posted in the SOT.
Military Units - Military recruitment can only be done if all Royal and Private Armies have been brought up to the the minimum strength requirements. If this is done, there are no restrictions on what you can recruit, but you need to pay attention to where you recruit it. Senators can prevent any units in their settlements from being removed with a proper post in the SOT. If you’re not careful, you could find the armies you are building seized by greedy Senators. Make sure that if you want to remove the unit from the settlement it was built in next turn, that the SOT post by that settlement’s owner will allow it. If it doesn’t, you should either build the unit somewhere else or negotiate with the owner of the settlement. It is much harder for a Senator to seize control of ships in this manner, but remember that it can be done by those with the rank of Dux, Megas Dux/Exarch, and Basileus. Mercenaries can be a useful way of getting around the bottleneck of recruiting in an area where all the settlement owners are hostile to you. Since mercenaries are not recruited in cities, they cannot be ‘seized’ in this manner. Just make sure you’re not recruiting the mercenaries into a Royal or Private Army where the same thing could occur!
Everything Else - This is also the time to do other, miscellaneous things that cost money, such as building watch towers and forts, recruiting agents, and using money in diplomacy.
Moving Armies – Now that you’ve gotten all of the financial details out of the way, it’s a good time to start moving things around and fighting battles. Some units will have movement restrictions on them, and some will not. Units that will never have any restrictions on them are: Units your avatar controls in his own stack, all Captain led army stacks, and all naval units except for extremely rare circumstances when a Dux, Megas Dux/Exarch, or the Basileus has seized control of some ships. For all other units, you need to check the SOT before moving them. You may also remove any unit from a stack commanded by another player’s avatar, as long as that stack is not a Royal or Private Army. Avatars in commands like this are essentially serving at your pleasure, and you can use their units however you want.
You can move another player’s avatar as long as their SOT post doesn't say otherwise, but they usually will. You can remove a unit from a settlement owned by another player as long as their SOT post doesn't say otherwise. Often times they WILL say otherwise, but you can try and find loopholes in the way they have worded their SOT. For example, if the post says that no Militia may be removed from the city, then any unit that doesn't have Militia in the name is free for you to grab. Removing a unit from a Royal or Private Army owned by another player is a bit trickier. First, you have to make sure that doing so would not drop the army below the minimum strength requirement. Then, if that won't happen, you can remove the unit as long as the relevant SOT post doesn't say otherwise, though it usually will. As with the settlement garrisons, try and find loopholes in the SOT posts you can exploit. Before you do ANY of these things, make sure you check the applicable SOT posts to make sure it is legal. If it isn’t, but you really want to do it, you can always negotiate with the other player to get him to change his SOT post.
Moving Agents – There are absolutely no Rule restrictions on this whatsoever. Do whatever you want, whenever you want.
4) Ending the Turn. Now you’ve done everything you want to do and it’s time to move the game onwards. There are a few final steps to take to make sure this is done properly.
Make sure the 24 hour timer has expired – If you want to give people more time to do various things, you can extend the timer for as long as you want. However, you cannot end the turn less than 24 hours before you opened it.
Save the game – The previous steps might have only taken you 5 minutes, but they also might have taken you an hour. Create a backup save UNDER A DIFFERENT NAME to make sure you don’t lose all your work in case you encounter an unexpected problem.
Hit End Turn – Now you get to sit back and watch the AI do its thing. If defensive battles pop up and they are for your avatar, you can fight them. If they are for fleets or Captain lead stacks, autoresolve them. If they are for armies with other players' avatars in them, save the game at the battle popup screen and get the players concerned to resolve the battle in some manner. Once all defensive battles are done, the new turn will pop up and you’ll get the usual start of turn information scrolls. Guilds are up to you to accept or reject, but keep in mind that you have to fund EVERYTHING in the Mandatory Duties section before you can accept them. As such, if the Guild is something you want to accept, it's a good idea to keep the scroll open until you've completed the Mandatory Duties. Don't worry, the scroll will not disappear if you save the game while it is up. Just minimize it by clicking on the small square icon in the bottom left of the screen and save it for later. If you know instantly that you will not want to pay for the Guild, you can just instantly reject it. Adoption and marriage offers should only be accepted if the player concerned agrees. Minimize them as with the Guild offers and give people time to decide what to do. All other scrolls are for your own personal information and you can do whatever you want with them. DO NOT DO ANYTHING WITH THE SAVE OTHER THAN READING THESE SCROLLS.
Open the Turn for Play – You’re done! Save the game, post the new file in the Megas Logothetes' and Senators' Reports Thread (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=104324) along with at least a brief summary of the things you did. Then post the time at which the turn will end. Now return to #1 and start it all over again!
OPTIONAL - Using the Console.
Sometimes the console will need to be used deal with avatars’ retinues. If you are not comfortable with using the console, notify TinCow (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=6193) of what needs to be done, and he will do it for you. Generally, the command to add a retinue to an avatar is:
give_ancillary “AVATARNAME” “ANCILLARY”
The command to remove a retinue from an avatar is:
remove_ancillary “AVATARNAME” “ANCILLARY”
For both of these commands, AVATARNAME is the first and last name of the avatar. Avatars with two words in their names just have a space between the words (e.g. “Aleksios Komnenos”). Avatars with three words in their names have a space between the first and second names and an underscore between the second and third names (e.g. “Aleksios ek_Ikoniou”). Capitalization does matter.
For both of these commands, ANCILLARY is the game code for the particular retinue title you are trying to add or remove. This can be found in the export_descr_ancillaries.txt file in your /M2TW/Stainless_Steel_Mod/data/ directory (e.g. “dearmad_corinth”).
So You Want To Be An Exarch
NOTE: Due to CA 5.1, large portions of this guide are now obsolete. Until it is updated to deal with the new army rules, use the guide at your own risk.
You've joined the game, picked out your avatar, and are ready to make your mark on the world; the only problem is that you've got no power, no influence, no friends, and no prospects. You're a lowly Strator and the only thing you own is your own bodyguard, which isn't much good against the AI armies or your fellow players. How in the world are you going to gain rank and achieve all of those wonderous things you are dreaming of? This guide is designed to help you down the path to power and glory, and hopefully avoid getting killed along the way.
Remember, if at any time in the game you have any questions whatsoever, ASK THEM. You can either post them in the OOC thread for general help, or you can send a PM to TinCow (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=6193) for a more official ruling.
The Life of a Strator or The Art of Brown-Nosing
All players enter the game at the rank of Strator. While veteran players who have accumulated land in the past are allowed to pass one province on to their next avatars, this is not the case for new players or for people who have lost it all to the AI or in a Civil War. You are all waking up in brand new bodies and there's not a whole lot you can do. So, let's review the Goals of a Strator:
Gain Land.
Gain Land.
Gain Land.
Why land, you ask? The answer is simple: land is everything in LotR. Owning a province is the most basic requirement to advancing in rank. With land you are a player in the great political game and can wheel and deal with the best of them. Without land, you're nothing more than a whiney moocher who is tryig to syphon off the success of others, at least that's what they'll think! The key thing to remember is that it doesn't really matter how much land you own at this point. One province is enough to last you the entire game and propel you to the highest levels of power, if you play it right... but you still need that one province. So, regardless of your objectives and desires in LotR, you should set out on a mission to gain a province. How do you do this? There are two general options:
Conquer a province - This can be a fast method to gain land, but it is difficult to achieve for a Strator. You could try to conquer a province with only your avatar's bodyguard, but that is usually extremely difficult and is more likely to get you killed. If you want to pursue this method, you will probably only be able to do it if you can convince a more powerful player to lend you an army. A House/Alliance is very unlikely to lend you one of their Private Armies without first swearing an Oath of Fealty to them, so your best bet is to look to Megas, the Basileus, and possibly the Caesar.
The Megas - The Megas controls all of the miscellaneous armies in the Empire and he can easily grant you command of an army. However, he is likely already a powerful member of an organized House and he will have his own allies to reward with the armies he controls. In most cases, he will probably demand that you join his House/Alliance, in which case you can skip down to the Join a House/Alliance section below. However, it is possible that you may be able to do a service for him or otherwise play on his sympathies in such a manner as to achieve a command without swearing an Oath.
One option is to offer yourself as something of a mercenary for the Megas. As the Megas is likely a highly placed Senator with many political connections and responsibilities, he may be constrained in his actions by the demands of the Senate and his own allies. You could offer to do some 'dirty work' for the Megas, such as violating an inconvenient Edict, attacking an AI city that is within the 'sphere of influence' of another House/Alliance, or even declaring war on another Senator who has irked the Megas. You could suggest that the Megas provide you with an army for completely innocent reasons, and then allow you to do the dirty deed while denouncing you in a hollow manner, thus preventing his own hands from getting dirty and preserving his reputation while still accomplishing his goals. This is just a suggestion, and the Megas could very well be willing to loan you an army for other reasons. The only way to know is to contact him and ask.
The Basileus - The Basileus is in a unique position. He owns a Royal Army of his own, but has no vassals of any kind. This means he cannot require that you swear an Oath to him before he can give you an army. In addition, the position of Basileus is a very powerful one and is extremely difficult to reach. A Senator who reaches this rank is likely going to be more concerned about his personal survival than someone else of lesser rank. Thus, you can use this survival instinct to your advantage. Perhaps suggest that the Basileus loan you his own Royal Army so that you can do his bidding without him needing to risk his own life... on the condition that you are allowed to conquer a province with the Royal Army along the way.
The Caesar - The Caesar will rarely be someone worth contacting to help you conquer a province, but he is an option under the right circumstances. He owns a Royal Army of his own and he is next in line to the throne, which means he is probably just as concerned about his own survival as the Basileus. Usually the Caesar will be part of a House/Alliance and thus you would have to deal with him through that system. However it is theoretically possible for the Caesar to own a Royal Army while still being unaligned. If this is the case, treat him like the Basileus and you may have some success.
Join a House/Alliance - This is a relatively easy method of gaining land, but it can take time to achieve. The general objective is to join a House that either has land to spare or has access to armies which can conquer new lands. Joining an already established House is a relatively easy affair. While some Houses will have complex rule systems directing how you behave and what you need to do to become a member, joining is usually pretty easy. Houses usually want more members, because the more members they have, the more power they gain. Choosing the right House to join is a far more difficult affair.
Please note that finding a House that fits your avatar comfortably on an IC level is important, but that is a separate issue which goes beyond the scope of this guide. This discussion is only focused on the decision to join a House based on the desire to gain land exclusively. For all Strators, roleplaying should be weighed and balanced with the desire to gain land at all times. Pursuing one at the expense of the other is not recommended.
In general, there are two kinds of Houses that have the potential to reward a Strator with land:
Houses with Extra Land – Some Houses will accumulate land faster than they can gain vassals. Joining one of these is by far the easiest method to gain land for one important reason: the land is already conquered and can be given to you by a simple forum post from the current owner. Determining why the House has extra land is important in figuring out how to get them to give you one.
If the House simply has more land than members, the answer is obvious: they are simply waiting for more vassals. This is perfect, because you are exactly what they are looking for. If you can convince them that you’ll be a good and loyal member, you could easily find yourself accepted and given a province almost immediately.
If the House has extra land but still has Strators within their ranks, it’s an entirely different situation altogether. This indicates that there are far more complex political issues at work and that you will have to overcome these before they will give you a province. Perhaps there are complex hurdles that the Strators have to go through before they will be trusted with a province. Perhaps the leaders of the House simply want to control the land personally for their own reasons. Regardless, you need to figure out why the extra land has not been given to the currently loyal Strators. If this reason is not something you think you can overcome, then you had best look elsewhere for a province.
Houses with Private Armies – Many Houses will accumulate vassals faster than they can gain land. While they will not be able to supply you with land immediately when you join, they do have the potential of helping you acquire it in the future, as long as they have access to a Private Army. Houses that do not have at least one Senator of rank Hypatos or higher do not have access to any Private Armies and thus should be completely avoided if your objective is to gain land. For those with Private Armies, consider the following factors when making your choice:
The Number of Private Armies – The more Private Armies a House has access to, the more likely they will be able to conquer a province for you.
The Number of Strators – The fewer Strators in the House that are waiting for provinces of their own, the faster you will get one. Most Houses will give provinces to the Strators who have been waiting the longest, so if you are the fifth Strator on the list, you might be waiting long, long time.
The Location of the House’s Lands – Most Houses keep their Private Armies in their provinces and only campaign into adjacent provinces. This is for defensive reasons and also because the SS 4.1 supply system makes long distance campaigning difficult. As a result a House which has no easy way to access vulnerable lands (be they AI or player owned) will be far less likely to gain a new province for you than a House which borders on several lightly defended provinces owned by an AI with which the Empire is currently at war.
SimSettlement or Constantinople on 5 Florins a Day
Woohoo! You’ve got your grubby little hands on a province! It’s yours, all yours! Now how do you make the most out of it? The first thing to do is to figure out what your settlement is good for. Check out the city in-game and see where it is located, how developed it is, and how much money it earns. Well developed cities can earn lots of money. Well developed castles can supply high quality military units.
Once you know what your settlement is good for, you can use that bargaining power to negotiate with the Megas. If the Empire’s income is low and your city makes lots of money, you can threaten to lower taxes if the Megas does not give you what you want, or offer to raise taxes to help him out. If the Empire badly needs to recruit troops from your settlement, you can demand that the Megas recruit extra units for your garrison or fund one of your buildings, otherwise you’ll seize every unit he creates there. The more you invest in your settlement, the better you’ll be able to use it to negotiate with.
If you settlement doesn’t have much going for it at all, then you’ll have to make do with whatever dribblings manage to trickle their way down to you. Oh well, at least it’s good for keeping your rank up! Try and develop the settlement over time through your political deals with other Senators, and perhaps some day it will be important enough to do something with.
One aspect of your settlement that you should never neglect is the garrison. A decent city garrison is useful in numerous circumstances. Even at the ranks of Comes and Domestikos, it provides you with at least some means of military independence in the case of an attack by the AI or another Senator. While it can be difficult to increase the size of your garrison, you always have the ability to prevent it from decreasing. It is very, very, very important that you keep your SoT (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=104219) post up-to-date and to make sure that it says exactly what you want it to say. The more detail you provide, the better. The Megas is free to exploit loopholes in your SoT post and if you do not pay attention, you could find your carefully assembled garrison evaporating before your eyes. In general, every time something about your city garrison changes, you should check your SoT post to ensure that it covers the new situation.
To Comes, And Beyond! or The Vassal Hassle
Now you’ve finally gained a province and been promoted to Comes, but you’re hungry for more. You’re not going to spend your entire life posting dull build queues which just get ignored, are you? No, of course not! So, how do you go about gaining rank and power? Well, now you’ve got to start playing the great game of Politics.
Gaining Rank – In order to advance in rank beyond Comes, you’re going to need vassals. There are nearly infinite ways to gain vassals, but here are a few basic routes to a higher rank:
Advance within a House – By this point, most of you will already be part of a House. If you are, you’ve got one option already open to you: work within your House. Support the senior members of your House in whatever way they desire. If you are a loyal vassal and do good work, you will likely be designated as the new Lord to any incoming Strators. As they in turn gain lands, you will be promoted right up the chain. As the senior members of the House die of old age or less ‘natural’ causes, you will slowly work your way towards the top, perhaps becoming the overall Lord of the House yourself some day.
However, in order for this to work, your House needs to survive and prosper. If you House is small, you will never reach a high rank. If you House loses land to the AI or other Senators, then your own power will be reduced. If members defect from your House, you will similarly lose power. Thus, you should devote your efforts towards advancing the overall goals of the House.
All does not have to be sunshine and roses, though. Even at low ranks you can wield great power within the House, simply because if you break your Oath and leave the House, its power will be diminished. You can use a combination of loyal service, and the threat of going elsewhere, to gain greater favor and rank within your House. The exact balance between using the carrot and the stick is difficult to achieve, but both are important tools and should never be discarded.
Freelance – Once you own a province, it is yours until you die or it is taken from you by force. This means that you can shift loyalties freely. How you go about doing this depends on your circumstances.
Unsworn Senators – If you have not sworn an Oath to anyone, your options are nearly limitless, as no one can penalize you for breaking an Oath and you are unlikely to anger anyone by splitting from a House. You are a true free agent and you should start negotiating for a good deal with the existing Houses.
Unlike Strators, Senators with land have a good bargaining tool with which to negotiate. The fact that you own land means that any House you join will instantly experience an increase in rank and power, with all that entails. Depending on the situation, this extra bump in rank could be a massive increase in their power. If you join a Domestikos-led House, they will suddenly gain access to a Private Army. If you join a Dux-led House, they may be able to advance their leader to the ultra-powerful level of Exarch. Since this increase in rank is only achieved if you join the House, you control whether it is obtained or not. Use this as a bargaining chip. You could demand that you enter the House somewhere in the middle, instead of at the bottom. You could demand that a good retinue be given to you. You could demand that the Lord use one of his Prioritized Building powers to upgrade your settlement. You are only constrained in your demands by your own imagination, so figure out what you want and then ask for it, you may be surprised what you’ll get.
The overall situation of a House should be taken into account when making your demands. The more badly the House needs the extra power you can provide, the higher the price you can place on your loyalty.
Defection – Things get a lot more complicated if you are already a vassal, especially if the people above you in your feudal chain were responsible for helping you obtain your land in the first place. This is known as ‘poaching’ land and most Houses will not look kindly upon it.
If you are going to break your Oath, it is very much in your interests to get the approval of your Lord before you do it. If you do not, serious consequences could result. The most common and likely is that your Lord will not give his permission for you to break your Oath, and you will be banned from re-swearing for 5 turns. This will usually relegate you to the rank of Comes for that entire period, unless you have vassals who are leaving with you.
A more serious consequence is Civil War. If the House that you are leaving has access to a Private Army, they could take advantage of your 5 turns of vulnerability to declare war on you and take your land by force, possibly even killing you. This is an extreme reaction, but it is possible and should be given serious consideration. If you are going to break an Oath with your Lord, you know he will not give his permission, and the House has the power to take your land by force, it would be a very good idea to negotiate your ‘defection’ with another House privately before you split. Get the other House to promise to protect you with their political and military power for the period that you are vulnerable. Once you are free to swear an Oath again, refer to the Unsworn Senators section above.
In general, defection will reduce your bargaining power with other Houses for the entire duration of your 5 turn ban on oath swearing, as you will not be able to provide them with an immediate boost in rank. However, there is an exception to this. Defection not only has the ability to give strength to another House, it also has the ability to take it away from the House you are leaving. Milk this for all it is worth by negotiating with other Houses who are rivals or open enemies of your current House. They will likely be willing to pay a far higher price for your defection, as it will injure their opponents in addition to aiding themselves.
Create your own House – Creating a new House is not an easy thing, but it can be very rewarding. If you found a new House, you will likely be a very senior member if not the top-ranked Lord himself. The disadvantage is that you will have to start from scratch and assemble your own group of vassals around you. Vassals can be gained in multiple ways:
Unaligned Strators – These are easy to recruit, as they are usually looking for a way to advance themselves. However, as you well know, they are looking to gain land of their own. If you are capable of giving them land or of providing them with an army to conquer land, then they may flock to your side. If you are not, then you had best look elsewhere for support.
Freelancers – These are harder to recruit, because they will demand a higher price from you, but they also bring you more power as they already have land of their own, which will result in an immediate rank increase. Determining whether the price they demand is worth the benefits they will bring is up to you, but you’ll never know what that price is unless you ask!
Defectors – These people are very dangerous to recruit for a brand new House, as they will likely make you an enemy of the House that they left behind. So, the question is whether the benefits they bring will outweigh the risks that come with creating new enemies.
In general, it is a good idea to get commitments from other Senators before creating your House. Few things are more embarrassing in LotR than making grand plans for a House, posting a beautiful IC House thread, and then finding that no one wants to join you. Make sure your House will have other members before you create it! If it won’t, then you should probably wait until you have more power to offer other people in order to entice them into following you.
Maintaining Rank – Achieving a higher rank is all well and good, but it is largely meaningless unless you can maintain that rank as well. In order to maintain your rank, you need to keep a stable number of vassals. This can be difficult, because most Senators want to climb in rank just as much as you do. They won’t want to be a Comes forever and if they feel like they are being neglected or are not gaining what they want, they may abandon you. As if that problem wasn’t bad enough, the higher your rank, the more people you have to keep happy. It’s a precarious situation. There are two general methods to keeping vassals happy: the carrot and the stick.
The Carrot – There’s no better way to encourage loyalty in vassals than by helping them improve their own rank and power. The higher your rank, the more powers you will have that can be used to keep your vassals happy. You can put your Private Army under their command to help them take a province or gain traits. You can Prioritize a building that in one of their settlements. You can give them a desirable retinue from your own avatar.
Most importantly of all, you can help them gain rank. Happily, in almost every circumstances, when your vassals gain rank, you will grow stronger too. So, this is the most perfect way of rewarding a vassal that you can find. It is also very simple. To promote a vassal, you need to have someone of Comes rank or higher swear fealty to them. If you can induce a Freelancer or a Defector to do this, that’s great. If not, recruit a Strator and find a way to get them a province. Just make sure that your hard-earned province isn't poached out from under you!
The Stick – Punishing vassals is a dangerous thing, as it will often provoke further resentment amongst them. However, it is an option that should never be forgotten and when used sparingly and in the right circumstances, it can be effective. The most direct methods of punishment are the high level powers that allow for destruction of buildings and forcible transfer of retinue. A more subtle method is to demand that any vassals below the miscreant re-swear to someone else within the House, essentially demoting the Senator. The most severe method, but also possibly the most effective, is the threat of severe retaliation if the vassal breaks his Oath. You can instantly declare war on any vassal who breaks an Oath without permission and you don’t need to give him one turn’s worth of movement first. Park a Private Army next to the rebellious vassal’s settlement and he’ll likely think twice before defecting. Just be careful that you do not spark a larger rebellion in the process…
Hypatos Kubrickios or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Private Army
Well now, look at you, you’ve achieved the rank of Hypatos (or above) and you’ve been given this interesting thing called a Private Army. This is a major milestone in achieving power in LotR; you now wield military power that answers to you and you alone. The days of relying on other people to supply you with armies are over! Now you just need to keep it that way.
The Care and Feeding of a Private Army – Your Private Army is only as good as the units that are in it. As soon as you get your army, you should constantly be trying to improve it in both quality and size. A minimum strength army of Peasants and the like will hardly help you at all, but 10 elite units will make you a fearsome foe! So, don’t squander your men. When you get high quality units, keep them safe! Use the cannon fodder during battles, and preserve your best regiments for only the most critical situations. If you really want to keep a unit safe, march over to your settlement or a fort you own and drop it off in your garrison to keep it completely out of harm’s way. With this method, you might be able to assemble a large group of reinforcements for you to draw from in times of need.
Just as with your settlement, you also need to pay very close attention to your SoT (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=104219) post. The Megas is required to keep your Private Army at minimum strength, but if your SoT post does not say otherwise, he can remove any excess units that he wants and even exchange high quality units for low quality ones. The more specific the language in your SoT post and the more often you update it, the less likely you will be to suffer unexpected losses.
(Don’t) Divide and Conquer – A Private Army usually exists as a single stack, but some people might be tempted to split it into multiple stacks for various reasons. If you have a cooperative Megas, this can be done, but it is dangerous. A new Megas who is hostile to you could be elected, or the current Megas could change his mind. Since the rules do not allow for a multi-stack Private Army, any forces that are divided in this manner are completely subjected to his whims. Dividing your army risks losing part of it. It is far, far better to keep it concentrated in a single stack at all times.
The Selection of a Commander – You are allowed to put another person in charge of your Private Army, but you should carefully consider this decision before you do it. The commander of the army can move it however he wants and will almost always be the person who fights the battles in-game. Thus, a bad commander can wreck your beautiful army. In addition, without your army close by, you are far more vulnerable to enemy attacks, be they from the AI or other Senators. That said, giving someone else command of your Private Army can sometimes be a good thing. If the job you assign them is dangerous, then someone else’s neck will be on the line instead of yours. It can also be a useful bargaining chip to recruit more vassals or reward vassals who are too low of a rank to own their own Private Armies. Command of a Private Army means that a person has the chance to fight battles more often and thus the potential to earn good traits. Remember, if you are the top level Lord in your feudal chain, the provinces conquered by your vassals become yours, not theirs. So you can sit comfortably at home in your fortified castle while your vassals risk their own lives to increase your power.
War and Peace or It’s Good to be the Megas
No matter what rank you are at, the disposition of the Megas will have a major impact on your avatar. A friendly Megas can provide you with large armies, improve your settlements, and enable you to conquer more provinces. He can also greatly injure your enemies and provide you with the perfect opportunity to declare war on that troublesome Senator or House which has been a thorn in your side for so long. At the same time, a hostile Megas can bring all of your progress to a grinding halt and cause you immense damage. Let’s take a look at what to do in both situations.
Friendly Megas – A friendly Megas should be seen as a time of ‘good harvest.’ You need to take advantage of these favorable circumstances to profit from them as much as you can. Get the Megas to increase the size and quality of your garrisons and Private Armies. Have him fund your desired constructions. Get him to build forts in your provinces so that you can store garrison units in them as remote resupply depots. Have him build watchtowers on your borders so that you can see hostile AI armies before it is too late. Best of all, you now how an excellent opportunity to declare war and attack your enemies. Just make sure you confirm with the Megas that he will support you, or at least remain neutral, in your little Civil War. You don’t want to wake up one morning to find out that your Friendly Megas is now a Hostile Megas.
Hostile Megas – A hostile Megas should be seen as a time of a ‘bad harvest.’ This is a time to batten down the hatches and prepare for hard times. You should not expect to receive more than the absolute minimum level of help from the Megas. This is why you’ve saved up your good military units and bulked up your garrisons and Private Army. At least I hope you did, because if someone decides to take advantage of your ‘disfavor’ to declare war on you, then those units are going to be all you can rely upon to defend yourself. For this reason, you should be very careful about spending any of your accumulated resources while a hostile Megas is in power. Unless you are an extremely good commander and can win a battle with hardly any losses, fighting battles will only sap your strength. Make sure that every battle you fight with a hostile Megas in power will be worth the potential losses you suffer. In addition, be wary of leaving your settlements undefended while campaigning elsewhere. Even if you have a strong army, an enemy could declare war and seize your settlements before you can return to defend them. A hostile Megas probably won’t lift a finger to reinforce them and will instead reinforce your enemy who is now using your own walls against you!
As you can see, having a Friendly Megas is a very good thing, and having a Hostile Megas is a very bad thing. So, it is very much in your interest to make sure you back the right person at election time. The best way to ensure that the Megas is friendly to you is to gain that position yourself. If you can’t do that, you should put all of your efforts into backing the winning candidate. If your vote is critical to getting the Megas elected, you will likely be able to reap great rewards from him during his term.
Civil War, what is it good for? Absolutely Everything! or Why Can’t We Be Friends?
As you may have noticed, I’ve been talking a lot about Civil War. Now, why would any sane Senator want to do such a thing? Two reasons, my friend: fun and profit! Why march all the way out to some rotten, stinking AI city that is poorly developed, has 0% Orthodoxy, and is 10 turns from your other settlement, when you can grab that beautiful, well-developed castle that is sitting right next door and is almost completely undefended? So, let’s take a look at when you should use Civil Wars and how to fight them.
Who to Fight – Generally, you want to attack two kinds of people: political enemies and Senators with weaker militaries. If you’re lucky, they will both be the same people.
Attacking political enemies is useful because it will reduce their power or eliminate them altogether. If you seize their provinces and/or kill their vassals, they will drop in rank. If you kill them outright, they will never bother you again.
Senators with weaker militaries are what is known as ‘ripe for the plucking.’ These could be unaligned Comes, weak Houses, or major Houses that are down on their luck. Regardless, if you have a significant military advantage over them, you stand to gain a great deal by attacking. Any provinces you seize in the war become yours, but more importantly you can impose severe terms on a defeated enemy in exchange for peace. You could force them to disband their House, give up all their retinue, reduce their Private Armies to 1 unit for 20 turns, or give you several military units to bolster your own garrisons. While Peace Treaties will generally be limited to changes to the provinces, settlements, armies, Oaths of Loyalty, and retinue of the parties involved, you can be very creative about the terms you impose within these areas. You can gain even more drastic terms in a Peace Treaty, but anything that goes beyond the areas listed in the previous sentence will have to be ratified by a 2/3 vote of the Senate. Unless you wield immense political power, you probably won't be able to achieve this, so it is best to try and get everything you desire from within the areas that do not require Senate approval. Even so, a well organized Civil War fought against a weak enemy can strengthen your House more in 3 turns than 30 turns of campaigning against the AI.
When to Fight – As we noted above, a friendly Megas can make your life easy and a hostile Megas can make you life very hard. This is even more true when it comes to Civil Wars. Unless you are extremely strong and expect to win a lightning victory, it is highly inadvisable to fight a Civil War with a hostile Megas in power. At the same time, having a friendly Megas in power can make a Civil War a piece of cake, even when your enemy starts out stronger than you.
So, you’ve got your target picked out and you’ve got a friendly (or at least a neutral) Megas in office; now you’ve got to pick the right moment to attack. Remember, if you are the person declaring war, you cannot initiate a battle until your enemies have been given one full turn’s worth of movement. You can move into position in this time, but you must give them one turn to respond to your assault.
A good rule of thumb is to wait to declare war until your armies have moved into position one turn’s worth of movement from your enemy’s settlements. He can run away, but his settlements can’t. Strike hard and fast and seize them quickly. If your enemy is stronger than you are, a good time to attack is when his armies are a long way away from the settlements you are going to attack. They will take time to march back in your direction and you can use that time to capture the settlements and prepare them for the counter-attack.
How to Fight – All’s fair in love and war, especially Civil War. Fight dirty, because a chivalrous dead man is still a dead man. Attack your enemies with vastly superior forces and do not give them a chance to run away or get reinforcements. Take their cities first to prevent them from using the garrisons to supplement their Private Armies. Attack from multiple directions if you can. Attack without warning. Most importantly of all, be quick about it and inflict as much damage as you can in as short a time as possible. Politics is a delicate game, and Civil War will rile up the Senate more than anything else. You can never tell when a friendly Megas will turn into a hostile Megas, or when another House will enter the Civil War against you. End the war as fast as possible to prevent these things from occurring.
If you really must be chivalrous, you can show it when the war is over. Release any captured Senators instead of killing them. Impose reasonable and fair terms in the Peace Treaty. This is how a chivalrous man treats a Civil War. You can afford to be magnanimous when you are victorious, not before. Fighting fair is fighting dumb.
A Self-Perpetuating Autocracy or Well how do you become Basileus then?
Ah, the ultimate ranks of Basileus and Caesar. If you aspire to these ranks, you’re likely to be very disappointed. They are few and far between and they are largely beyond the control of most Senators. The first rule of gaining these ranks is that you must be on the family tree. If your avatar started there, that’s great, but most Senators will start out with a recruited general. The only way to get onto the family tree with a recruited general is to win a Man of the Hour nomination. This means fighting (and winning) battles when the odds are against you. Do that often enough, and you may just get lucky, though there are no guarantees.
Once you’re on the family tree, things don’t get a whole lot easier. The Caesar is only chosen when the old one dies or is promoted to Basileus on the death of the old Basileus. There is also no reliable way to accurately predict who will be given the rank of Caesar by the game. So, if you’re really, really determined to achieve these ranks, there’s only one course of action that can improve your odds: embark on a royal slaughter. Kill the Casear and/or Basileus and keep killing everyone who comes after them until you are chosen. If you manage to accomplish this barbaric feat and actually do achieve the rank, you’ve probably earned it. If you’re not up to bloodshed on a titanic scale, there’s always the ultra-powerful rank with the extra cool title: Exarch.
LotR Code of Conduct
LotR is a complex game which relies heavily on following the rules properly. Violation of the rules can lead to severe problems because they may give one player an illegal advantage over another. Since this game allows for PvP combat, this can become a serious issue. As such, the rules must be strictly obeyed.
In addition, the level of creative writing and social interaction that goes on in this game poses other issues which have the potential to cause strife if the players do not behave properly. The following Code of Conduct has thus been implement to govern the behavior of all LotR players.
The following rules are binding on all players of LotR, and they will be enforced.
Do not violate the LotR Game Rules (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=1999919&postcount=4). IC legislation may be freely violated (though it may result in IC consequences), but Game Rules may not. If at all possible, Game Rule violations will be handled exclusively IC. If IC handling is not possible, the punishment will be designed to rectify the error rather than to punish the perpetrator, unless the violation was intentional and malicious. Intentional and malicious violations can result in temporary or permanent suspension from the game. In all cases, the action to be taken will be determined by TinCow and will be designed to minimize the disruption to the game and maximize enjoyment.
Keep IC and OOC separate. Since players can kill each other and take their land and other possessions, there is great potential for conflict. Remember that this is just a game and that we are all friends. Leave the feuds on the floor of the Magnaura and do not let them spread to real life.
Do not use another player's characters in a story without their permission. A lot of creative writing is done in LotR. This often includes not only a player's own avatar, but also 'NPCs' they have created as part of their own storyline. Do not write a story with another player's avatar or any of the NPCs they have created without their permission.
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