I.A Community Standard

I.B Respect and Player Conduct

VS3 does not place blanket restrictions on strong or offensive language. Players may speak freely, but that freedom is not unlimited.

• Do not behave in a persistently hostile, disruptive, or antisocial manner.
• Do not repeatedly target specific individuals in an OOC capacity.
• Do not attempt to provoke, harass, or wear down other players over time.

I.C Boundaries, DMs, and Prohibited Content

Players must respect basic boundaries in all server spaces. Discord Terms of Service apply fully within VS3.

I.D Real-World Safety

I.E Separation of IC and OOC

In-character actions and out-of-character behavior must remain separate. Conflict, betrayal, theft, and war are part of the game. Keep them in character.

• Do not take IC conflict personally.
• Do not escalate OOC because of IC events.
• Do not bring OOC grudges into the game world.

I.F Metagaming and OOC Information Use

Metagaming is the use of information your character would not reasonably have access to in-world. Your character only knows what they have learned in-character.

For voice-platform rules (Discord vs in-game VOIP), see I.P.

I.G Good Faith Participation

Players are expected to engage with VS3 in good faith. Staff may act on behavior that violates the spirit of the rules, even if the specific loophole is not listed word-for-word.

• No loophole abuse.
• No "technically allowed" behavior that violates the intent of the rules.
• No behavior designed to undermine other players without meaningful roleplay.

I.H Sportsmanship and Fair Play

Sportsmanship and fair play are expected in all situations. VS3 is a video game, and the purpose of these systems is to create fun, memorable, and meaningful roleplay for everyone involved.

• Do not engage in behavior designed to make the game miserable for others.
• Do not rules-lawyer in bad faith to win arguments instead of playing the game.
• Do not escalate out-of-character hostility over in-game events.
• Do not turn every setback into a staff issue.

If you have a serious issue with another player or faction, bring it to staff instead of escalating it yourself.

I.I Evidence and Enforcement Standards

All major claims, reports, and compensation requests require credible proof. Witness testimony alone is not sufficient for compensation or bug-related claims.

Accepted Evidence	Use
Video clips	Best for PvP, theft, harassment, and rule disputes.
Screenshots	Useful when full context is visible.
Server logs	Useful for timing, commands, deaths, and technical checks.

I.J Exploits and System Abuse

Players may not exploit bugs, unintended mechanics, or system loopholes. If something feels unintended or clearly broken, do not use it.

• No using broken mechanics for advantage.
• No bypassing intended gameplay systems.
• No abusing technical limitations of the game.

I.K Targeting and Harassment Patterns

Conflict inside the game is allowed. OOC fixation is not.

• No persistent harassment across sessions.
• No attempts to drive players off the server.
• No ongoing unwanted interaction outside normal gameplay.

I.L Romantic and Erotic Content

Romantic relationships and erotic roleplay of any kind are not permitted within VS3 spaces. This applies to in-game roleplay, Discord channels, voice communications, and server-related direct messages.

I.M Solicitation, Raiding, and Spam

I.N Staff Authority

Staff decisions are final in the moment. Players are expected to comply with staff instructions during incidents. Disputes and appeals may be handled after the situation is resolved.

I.O Scope of Rules

These rules apply to all VS3-related spaces, including in-game interactions, Discord channels, voice communications, and server-related direct messages. Attempting to bypass rules by moving interactions to another platform or private channel is not permitted.

I.P In-Game VOIP and Voice-Platform Standards

This rule governs which voice platform you may use, and when. For knowledge / metagaming rules see I.F. For coordinate-transfer mechanics see §XXI.

I.Q No Powergaming

Do not force impossible outcomes or deny reasonable reaction through unfair RP mechanics.

• Invalid: "I instantly kill you."
• Invalid: "You are tied up and cannot resist."
• Invalid: "My spell cannot fail."
• Invalid: emoting actions that give no chance to respond.

I.R No Griefing

Random destruction, malicious nuisance theft, trap abuse, repeated disruption, or hostile behavior with no meaningful RP context is prohibited. Conflict should generate stories, not pointless frustration.

II.A No Kill on Sight

Neutral players and neutral factions may not be attacked on sight. If no active war or recognized hostile situation exists, violence must be preceded by roleplay escalation.

II.B Positive Identification

During wartime or organized conflict, players must positively identify targets before using lethal force. Killing neutral or uninvolved players through negligence may be treated as unlawful PvP.

Acceptable recognized heraldry, uniforms, known faction members, confirmed faction identifiers, witnessed hostile participation.

Unacceptable "they looked suspicious," "wrong place wrong time," or "I guessed."

II.C Declared War

Recognized PvP factions may formally declare war through the official system. Once war is active, enemy combatants may be attacked on sight after positive identification. Ambushes, supply raids, territory conflict, and military action are allowed under these rules.

II.D Neutrality Protection

Players or factions not party to a conflict are neutral unless clearly proven otherwise. Attacking neutral parties based on assumptions may result in penalties.

II.E Criminal PvP

Banditry, robbery, bounty hunting, kidnapping, mercenary work, and criminal gameplay are allowed when roleplayed fairly. Criminal PvP requires clear initiation, a reasonable chance to respond, no meaningless execution spam, and no repeated farming of the same players.

II.F New Player Protection

New or developing players may still encounter danger, theft, conflict, and hostile RP. However, they may not be repeatedly targeted, farmed, bullied, or relentlessly oppressed to the point of driving them off the server.

II.G Combat Logging

Logging out to avoid death, arrest, robbery, capture, or other consequences during any PvP situation is prohibited. This rule applies only to PvP. Logging during PvE encounters, temporal storms, or other non-PvP world events is not a violation of this rule.

II.H Temporal Gear Restrictions

Temporal gears may only be placed within the official, on-map boundary of a faction's Headquarters or primary base. HQ boundaries are visually indicated on the server map.

II.I Prohibited PvP Equipment

Certain weapons and items are prohibited in any situation where player-versus-player combat could occur. These items remove the tactical and roleplay aspects of PvP and are restricted to PvE use only.

If you carry a prohibited weapon into a situation where PvP becomes possible, you are responsible for putting it away before any cross-player conflict begins. Using a prohibited weapon against another player is treated as serious rulebreaking.

II.J New Life Rule

The New Life Rule, or NLR, applies to any death, including PvP, PvE, node fights, events, wildlife deaths, mob deaths, environmental deaths, starvation, and any other cause.

• NLR duration is 30 minutes.
• After death, you forget the last 30 minutes of events completely.
• You may not return to the place you died during the NLR timer.

Example: You die during a fight. Even if 30 minutes passes, if the fight is still ongoing, you may not return until the engagement has fully ended.

II.K Self-Looting Restriction

You may not loot your own body if you were killed by another player, during any PvP situation, or during any node fight, including PvE node fights. In those cases, your gear is out of your direct control and may only be recovered by allies or other players.

The only exception is death to an NPC, wildlife, or the environment outside of any PvP or node-fight context. In that case, normal 30-minute NLR applies, and you may return afterward to recover your own gear.

II.L Body Looting and Escalation

Anyone present may loot a dead body, including friendly, hostile, and neutral players, subject to the Self-Looting Restriction above.

Looting another player's body is not automatically a hostile act, but it can become one. If a faction sees an outside party looting the bodies of their dead allies or faction members, that may be valid escalation for violence depending on context. Think of it as battlefield scavenging or desecration of the dead. The looter does not need to be the one who killed the ally for it to provoke a response. Standard escalation rules in II.A apply.

III.A Recognized Factions

Any organized group may apply to become a recognized faction. When registering, factions choose either PvE or PvP status. Any group may still roleplay, trade, settle, and organize informally without recognition, but only recognized factions may use formal systems such as node ownership, declared wars, and treaties.

III.B PvE Faction Identification and the Right to Depart

Violence against another player should never begin without roleplay (see II.A). If a hostile situation begins anyway, a PvE faction member must make every reasonable attempt to identify themselves as PvE as soon as the situation becomes apparent. Identification may be verbal, visual (worn colors, banners, heraldry), or both.

Once a player has identified as PvE, the instigating party must immediately cease hostilities and allow them to depart unharmed with their gear. This applies even if violence has already started. Failure to honor this is a serious rule violation.

PvE faction members may identify themselves through worn colors, displayed heraldry, carried banners, or by verbally claiming PvE status during the encounter. Any of these are valid. Disputed claims of PvE status are resolved through staff review.

III.C Public Barring of PvE Merchants

PvP factions may publicly bar specific PvE merchants or PvE factions from their territory. Bars must be announced openly through declarations, posted notices, or known faction policy. They are never enforced retroactively.

If a barred PvE merchant enters that territory anyway, they must depart immediately on identification (see III.B). They may not be attacked, robbed, or detained, but they also may not conduct business or remain in the territory.

III.D PvE Hostile Acts and Forced Status Change

If a member of a PvE faction acts in a hostile PvP manner, such as instigating PvP combat, conducting a robbery, posting hostile contracts (bounties, assassinations, war contracts, mercenary or sabotage contracts), or otherwise initiating PvP, the affected party may file a rulebreak ticket with proof.

III.E Changing Faction Type (One-Time Switch)

PvE to PvP

A PvE faction may announce intent to become a PvP faction. This requires a public announcement to staff and players. The change becomes official after 7 days. This consumes the faction's one-time switch.

PvP to PvE

A PvP faction may announce intent to become a PvE faction. The 7-day waiting period still applies. All non-HQ nodes and all holdings outside HQ are forfeited, all formal diplomacy with PvP factions ends, and all active wars are resolved as immediate defeat for the faction switching status. This consumes the faction's one-time switch.

Live by the sword, die by the sword. Once a faction commits to PvP, it cannot retreat to safety; once a faction commits to PvE, it cannot pick up the sword again.

III.F Casus Belli

All formal wars against PvP factions must include a valid reason for war. Valid reasons include border disputes, theft, assassination, treaty violation, religious conflict, succession crisis, trade embargo, caravan interdiction, or retaliation.

III.G Civilian Spaces and Safe Zones

Only areas explicitly designated by staff are safe zones. Spawn hubs, event grounds, and admin markets may be protected. All other land is potentially contested.

III.H False Neutrality and Intrigue

Recognized PvP factions may publicly claim neutrality while secretly aiding one side of a war. This may include covert supplies, hidden financing, intelligence leaks, mercenary support, or proxy conflict. If discovered, this becomes valid political and military content.

IV.A Claims & Territorial Scope

Recognized PvP factions may claim large swaths of land within reason. The golden rule is simple: if a faction can realistically control, patrol, use, and defend the land, that land may be claimed.

PvE factions are strictly limited to claims within their official HQ boundary (see III.A). They may not hold territorial claims outside HQ.

Non-faction players, informal groups, and individual members of PvE factions may also claim land, but their claims should remain much smaller in scope. Personal and informal claims should be limited to buildings actively in use, attached farmland or workyards, and a small buffer around those structures.

This allows individual players and small groups to build roadside inns, small farms, workshops, ferry points, hamlets, orchards, and other infrastructure along the edges of major factions so they can benefit from trade and travel without needing to become full territorial powers.

All claim disputes are subject to final staff judgment.

IV.B Vertical Claim Abuse

Claims may not be abused by placing claims directly above or below another player or faction's existing claim for the purpose of griefing, blocking expansion, or trolling.

There is an important distinction between legitimate unclaimed underground activity and claim abuse. If a player failed to claim deep underground resources and another player mines into unclaimed space beneath them, that may be legitimate gameplay. However, placing your own claim underneath or above another claim specifically to weaponize the claim system is prohibited.

IV.C Unsecured Storage

Any storage left unsecured outside a protected land claim is vulnerable property. If a player leaves goods in an unlocked or unprotected container, those goods may be stolen.

IV.D Breaking Into Houses

Structures outside protected claims may be entered, looted, and occupied. Do not destroy builds pointlessly. Crime is allowed. Vandalism and grief demolition are not.

IV.E Offline Property Theft

Offline property outside claims may be stolen from. However, repeated offline targeting, body camping, or nightly wiping of the same player may be treated as harassment or griefing.

IV.F Farm Sabotage

Crop destruction, livestock killing, irrigation sabotage, and industrial disruption are wartime acts. They are allowed only during declared war, active node conflict, or formal retaliation that fits the rules. Farm sabotage outside these conditions is prohibited and may be treated as griefing.

This is the canonical farm sabotage rule. See §XX for additional limits that apply during war (no permanent map ruin, no rendering settlements unplayable, etc.).

IV.G Faction Stockpiles and Logistics

Node resources are not automatically delivered to faction bases. They are produced and stored at the node. Factions must physically transport goods where they want them to go.

Players may raid caravans, wagons, pack animals, and transport parties even if no formal war exists. This is trade interdiction and can become a valid Casus Belli for war.

IV.H Mounts and Wagons

Mounts and wagons outside secure claims may be stolen. Stolen property may be used, ransomed, sold, or captured as spoils. It may not be intentionally despawned, deleted through grief methods, or dumped irretrievably.

IV.I Roads, Borders, and Terrain

IV.J Theft Severity

Not all theft is equal. Severity affects the likely IC and OOC consequences.

Severity	Examples	Likely Consequences
Petty Theft	Loose tools, food, small goods, unclaimed storage	Local RP consequences, fines, grudges
Burglary	Entering a camp, home, shop, shed, or storehouse to steal	Arrest, bounty, ransom, local punishment
Strategic Theft	Maps, seals, currency plates, black powder, node goods, faction ledgers	Casus belli, treaty breach, sanctions, war
Destructive Theft	Stealing while destroying the facility or making it unusable	May become griefing unless war or GM-approved

IV.K Not Every Loss Is a Rulebreak

Being stolen from does not automatically mean staff should compensate the victim. Staff asks whether the action was valid gameplay with consequences, or whether it was exploit abuse, repeated targeting, OOC harassment, or destruction for its own sake.

V.A Capture and Fear RP

Players may be captured when they are overwhelmingly outnumbered, surrounded, disarmed, or tactically defeated. Players are expected to roleplay reasonable fear and surrender responses when the situation clearly demands it.

V.B Detention Time Limits

Situation	Maximum Detention	Notes
Standard criminal or peacetime encounter	30 minutes	Robbery, bounty capture, interrogation, ransom negotiation.
War or GM event	60 minutes	Battlefield capture, prisoner exchange, formal sentencing.
Beyond 60 minutes	Requires player consent and GM supervision	Both conditions are required.

If a captured player must leave unexpectedly, players should work cooperatively to conclude or pause the RP. Options include negotiated release, execution, escape narrative, temporary holding area with agreed continuation, or GM-mediated conclusion.

V.C Executions

Executions are permitted with meaningful RP justification, such as traitor punishment, wartime officer execution, cult ritual, bounty sentence, or revenge killing with narrative basis. Routine mass prisoner execution without RP purpose is discouraged and may be moderated.

V.D Confiscation

Captors may seize reasonable spoils such as weapons, armor pieces, contraband, ransom goods, carried valuables, and mission documents. Do not use confiscation solely for humiliation or repeatedly strip players to nothing.

V.E RP Searches

Vintage Story does not provide a natural visible inventory inspection system. Searches therefore function through honor-based RP, witnessed evidence, and staff oversight when needed.

Searchers should use specific RP language such as "I search your satchel," "What is visible on your person?" or "Empty your bags for inspection." Avoid acting as if you magically know a full hidden inventory.

V.F Contraband

Contraband must be publicly known law or obvious context, not invented on the spot.

VI.A Node Ownership

Only recognized PvP factions may own nodes. PvE factions may not own any nodes (see III.A). Unrecognized groups, individuals, and informal communities may not hold formal node ownership.

VI.B Node Types

Nodes may represent farms, mines, forests, trade roads, forts, ruins, ports, herd lands, river crossings, workshops, holy sites, or other strategic assets approved by staff.

VI.C Neutral Node Capture

Unowned neutral nodes may be claimed by recognized PvP factions through a staff-scheduled capture event. The event may be against mobs, hostile NPCs, environmental threats, or another faction (see VI.D).

VI.D Contested Neutral Node Claims

If a neutral node is unowned and two or more recognized PvP factions wish to claim it at the same time, staff may schedule a contested node battle to determine ownership. For the duration of that battle, normal PvP node fight rules are in effect, including battle scheduling, fight size limits, paid reinforcement rules, GM oversight, POI capture rules, and the standard evidence and conduct expectations.

The factions do not need to be in a formal declared war to fight over the neutral node.

VI.E PvP Node Warfare

VI.F Node Fight Death and Single-Life Rule

Node fights are single-life engagements. If you die during a node fight, you are done for that fight entirely.

• You may not return to the node fight.
• You may not rejoin after the fight ends.
• You may not return to recover your own gear.
• Your faction may send players who were not part of the node fight to secure the area or recover gear after the fight is concluded.

VI.G POI Capture & Victory

Every node has a defined Point of Interest (POI). Victory in a node fight is achieved by either of the following:

Victory Method	Rule
Eliminate or Route Hostiles	All hostile players inside the node are killed, routed, or retreat off the node.
POI Control	One faction holds the POI for 10 continuous minutes with no hostile faction member present inside the POI at any time during that period.

Players outside the POI do not contest control. To contest a capture, a hostile player must physically enter the POI. The intent is to force factions to fight for the actual node objective instead of sniping from the edge or avoiding the fight while the POI is being held.

VI.H PvP Node Battle Size Limits

PvP node fights have a maximum number of combatants based on node tier. This keeps small nodes from turning into oversized server-wide brawls while still allowing larger, more important holdings to support larger battles.

Node Tier	Standard Fight Size	Absolute Maximum Per Side	Applies To
Tier 1	5v5	10 players per side	Small farms, small mines, woodlots, minor outposts
Tier 2	10v10	20 players per side	Established production nodes, trade posts, workshops
Tier 3	15v15	30 players per side	Forts, important mines, ports, major production sites
Tier 4	20v20	40 players per side	Capital nodes, rare resource complexes, major strategic holdings

VI.I Paid Reinforcement Slots

Attackers or defenders may bring additional players beyond the standard fight size by paying SP for each extra combatant. The cost increases sharply for each additional slot. This represents the difficulty of moving, feeding, coordinating, and supplying a larger force for a limited battlefield.

The first additional player costs 20 SP. Each further additional player uses the escalating cost table below. The cost is paid per side. If both sides want extra players, both sides pay separately for their own additional slots.

Tier	Standard Size	Extra Slot	Players Per Side After Purchase	SP Cost For That Extra Slot
Tier 1	5v5	+1	6	20 SP
Tier 1	5v5	+2	7	65 SP
Tier 1	5v5	+3	8	120 SP
Tier 1	5v5	+4	9	190 SP
Tier 1	5v5	+5	10	260 SP
Tier 2	10v10	+1	11	20 SP
Tier 2	10v10	+2	12	65 SP
Tier 2	10v10	+3	13	120 SP
Tier 2	10v10	+4	14	190 SP
Tier 2	10v10	+5	15	260 SP
Tier 2	10v10	+6	16	340 SP
Tier 2	10v10	+7	17	420 SP
Tier 2	10v10	+8	18	510 SP
Tier 2	10v10	+9	19	600 SP
Tier 2	10v10	+10	20	695 SP
Tier 3	15v15	+1	16	20 SP
Tier 3	15v15	+2	17	65 SP
Tier 3	15v15	+3	18	120 SP
Tier 3	15v15	+4	19	190 SP
Tier 3	15v15	+5	20	260 SP
Tier 3	15v15	+6	21	340 SP
Tier 3	15v15	+7	22	420 SP
Tier 3	15v15	+8	23	510 SP
Tier 3	15v15	+9	24	600 SP
Tier 3	15v15	+10	25	695 SP
Tier 3	15v15	+11	26	790 SP
Tier 3	15v15	+12	27	890 SP
Tier 3	15v15	+13	28	990 SP
Tier 3	15v15	+14	29	1095 SP
Tier 3	15v15	+15	30	1200 SP
Tier 4	20v20	+1	21	20 SP
Tier 4	20v20	+2	22	65 SP
Tier 4	20v20	+3	23	120 SP
Tier 4	20v20	+4	24	190 SP
Tier 4	20v20	+5	25	260 SP
Tier 4	20v20	+6	26	340 SP
Tier 4	20v20	+7	27	420 SP
Tier 4	20v20	+8	28	510 SP
Tier 4	20v20	+9	29	600 SP
Tier 4	20v20	+10	30	695 SP
Tier 4	20v20	+11	31	790 SP
Tier 4	20v20	+12	32	890 SP
Tier 4	20v20	+13	33	990 SP
Tier 4	20v20	+14	34	1095 SP
Tier 4	20v20	+15	35	1200 SP
Tier 4	20v20	+16	36	1310 SP
Tier 4	20v20	+17	37	1420 SP
Tier 4	20v20	+18	38	1530 SP
Tier 4	20v20	+19	39	1645 SP
Tier 4	20v20	+20	40	1760 SP

VI.J Non-PvP Node Events

Battle size limits in VI.H and the paid reinforcement system in VI.I apply only to PvP node fights. Normal non-PvP node events such as capture against mobs, GM-run defense events, or environmental threats do not use these limits, and factions may bring any number of players to such an event.

If a PvP faction owns a node and another PvP faction attacks it through PvP war mechanics, the node fight limits in VI.H apply. If the encounter is a normal non-PvP capture, defense, or GM-run event, the limits do not apply.

VI.K Node Fight Scheduling

• Node fights may be scheduled at the earliest 48 hours in advance.
• This applies to all node fights, including neutral node conflicts.
• A faction may only schedule one node fight every 3 days.

Example: Schedule a fight on Monday for Wednesday. The next available fight would be Saturday.

Benefit of the doubt is given during scheduling. VS3 has players across time zones and real-life obligations. If after 48 hours of genuine scheduling attempts the defending side cannot field enough defenders or finalize a time, the attacking side may select a reasonable battle time.

VI.L Node Fight Rosters and Staging

Factions must submit their final battle roster no later than 30 minutes before a scheduled node fight. Only players listed on the submitted roster may participate.

• No unlisted player may join the fight.
• No player may enter the node fight area unless they are on the roster.
• No player may replace a fallen participant.
• Alt accounts may not be used to bypass roster limits, death rules, or NLR.

Rostered players must be ready near the node no later than 15 minutes before the start time and must stage outside the visually marked exclusion zone.

VI.M Pre-Fight PvP Restriction

PvP between factions involved in a scheduled node fight is prohibited before the fight begins. Do not attack players staging for the fight, traveling as part of a scheduled roster, or preparing for the sanctioned engagement.

Each node fight has a visually marked exclusion zone. Players may not enter that zone before the fight begins unless staff directs them to do so.

This is a controlled PvP event with agreed rules. If you do not want to follow those rules, do not participate.

VI.N Node Fight Quick Reference

• Single life: if you die, you are done for the fight.
• NLR: 30 minutes, applies to any death (see II.J).
• No returning if the fight is still ongoing.
• Cannot loot your own body in PvP or any node fight (see II.K).
• Victory: wipe enemies OR hold the POI for 10 minutes.
• POI timer resets to 0 if any non-friendly player enters the POI.
• Roster locked 30 minutes prior.
• Only rostered players may participate.
• No pre-fight PvP on staging players.
• Temporal gears only allowed in HQ (see II.H).

Item Turn-In	Category	SP	Difficulty Logic	Notes

VII.A Category Caps

No more than 40% of a node’s weekly upkeep may come from Raw Renewable goods, and no more than 40% may come from Currency. This prevents factions from sustaining empires entirely through firewood, reeds, or money alone. A healthy node payment should usually include a mix of food, materials, tools, metals, fuel, or other practical supplies.

VIII.A Standard Weekly Node Upkeep

Each node has a simple baseline weekly upkeep based on tier. This is the normal amount of SP required to keep the node fully maintained before overextension, war maintenance, damage, or special event modifiers are applied.

Node Tier	Standard Weekly Upkeep	Typical Node Scale	Design Intent
Tier 1	40 SP per week	Small farm, small mine, woodlot, herd site, watch post	Affordable for small groups and starter factions.
Tier 2	80 SP per week	Established farm, productive mine, lumber mill, trade post, workshop	Meaningful upkeep that requires regular logistics.
Tier 3	160 SP per week	Fort, important mine, major farm, port, strategic production site	Expensive enough that serious holdings need organized supply.
Tier 4	240 SP per week	Capital node, rare resource complex, major port, large fortress	High-value holdings that should feel powerful but burdensome.

VIII.B Individual Node Upkeep

Each node is maintained individually. Factions choose which holdings to fund, neglect, abandon, or prioritize. This allows strategic triage during hard times.

VIII.C Overextension Multiplier

Overextension applies as a multiplier to each individual node's upkeep based on the number of nodes a faction owns.

Faction Holdings	Multiplier Applied to Each Node	Meaning
1 node	x1.00	Local administration
2 nodes	x1.10	Small domain
3 nodes	x1.20	Regional burden
4 nodes	x1.35	Overextended holdings
5 nodes	x1.50	Empire-scale strain
6 nodes	x1.65	Sprawling empire
7 nodes	x1.80	Critical overreach
8 or more nodes	x2.00	Maximum strain

Example: A faction owns 3 nodes: a Tier 1 farm, a Tier 2 mine, and a Tier 3 fort. Their base weekly upkeep is 40 SP, 80 SP, and 160 SP. With x1.20 overextension, those become 48 SP, 96 SP, and 192 SP. Each node is paid separately.

VIII.D Funding Status

Status	Payment	Production	Instability Effect
Fully paid	100%	Normal production	Instability may decrease
Partially paid	50% to 99%	75% production	No stability gain
Severely underfunded	1% to 49%	50% production	+1 instability pressure
Unpaid	0%	No production	+2 instability pressure and revolt risk

VIII.E Captured Node Damage and Repair

Whenever a node changes hands violently, it becomes damaged and unstable. It produces only 50% output until repaired. This applies every time the node changes hands through battle, seizure, raid victory, or other forceful capture.

If a node changes hands non-violently through trade, diplomacy, inheritance, tribute, surrender terms, or a peace treaty, it does not suffer damage penalties unless staff declares a special circumstance.

Repair cost is paid in SP and scales by node tier. These values are exact and binding.

Node Tier	Repair Cost	Use Case
Tier 1	50 SP	Small farm, small mine, herd site, lumber camp
Tier 2	100 SP	Established mine, trade post, workshop, crossing
Tier 3	200 SP	Fort, port, major road hub, strategic production site
Tier 4	300 SP	Capital node, major port, rare resource complex

VIII.F Instability Scale

Instability	Weekly Roll	Event Chance	Interpretation
0	No roll	0%	Fully controlled
1	d100	1 to 5	Minor unrest
2	d100	1 to 15	Growing disorder
3	d100	1 to 30	Serious instability
4	d100	1 to 50	Near revolt
5	d100	1 to 75	Open rebellion risk

VIII.G Reducing Instability

Instability may be reduced through expensive investments or good governance RP.

• SP investment: 40 SP reduces instability by 1.
• Good governance: GM may reduce instability for roads, feasts, patrols, tax relief, rebuilding, defense of locals, religious ceremonies, or fair treatment.

VIII.H Roads and Stability

• Roads count for stability/logistics benefits only if they are at least 3 blocks wide, suitable for wagons and beasts of burden.
• Roads must connect back to faction HQ directly or through a continuous chain of owned nodes.
• Example: HQ → Node A → Node B grants Node B connection benefits while Node A remains controlled. If Node A is lost, Node B is considered disconnected until another valid route exists.

Constructing and maintaining roads is one of the best ways to support stable node control. Roads are not mandatory, but they make a faction's control feel real, improve travel and transport, justify patrols, and give staff a strong reason to view the node as well governed.

VIII.I Water Logistics and Harbor Supply

Water logistics is an alternative supply method for factions with access to rivers, lakes, coastlines, docks, boats, and Harbor nodes. A valid water connection grants the same stability and logistics benefit as a valid road connection. Road and water connections do not stack direct bonuses, but they do provide redundancy if one route is lost.

Faction HQ Dock Requirement

A faction may support one node by water from its HQ if the faction headquarters has water access and a physically built dock, pier, or harbor area. This does not cost SP, but the build must visibly function as a logistics point with ship access and a staging or storage area.

Harbor Supply Capacity

Owning Harbor nodes expands how many nodes a faction may support by water. The Harbor itself does not count against its own supply capacity.

Harbor Tier	Water-Supplied Nodes Supported	Boat Requirement
Tier 1	1 additional node	1 dedicated boat
Tier 2	2 additional nodes	2 dedicated boats
Tier 3	3 additional nodes	3 dedicated boats
Tier 4	4 additional nodes	4 dedicated boats

Boat Requirement

Each water supply slot requires a dedicated boat. A Tier 4 Harbor can support up to four nodes by water, but only if four boats are physically present and assigned to those routes. If a boat is lost, stolen, destroyed, or unavailable, the matching water supply connection is lost until replaced.

Valid Water Route Requirements

• The node must be on water, near water, or close enough to water that ship-based supply makes sense.
• There must be a believable route from ship to landing point to node.
• If the node is not directly on the water, a road must be built from the landing point to the node being supplied.
• Water supply slots must be assigned to specific nodes.

Weekly Assignment and Redundancy

Harbor supply assignments may be changed once per cycle, resetting with the normal upkeep tick every Saturday at 23:59. A node may have both a road connection and a water connection. This does not give a double bonus, but it means the node remains supplied if one valid connection is lost and the other remains intact.

Harbor Dependency

If a Harbor node is lost, all nodes supplied through that Harbor immediately lose that water connection. They may continue to function normally only if they still have a valid road connection, HQ dock connection, or another valid Harbor route.

VIII.J Negative Event Examples

IX.A Node Failure Ladder

Status	Cause	Effect
Stable	Paid, repaired, controlled	Full output
Strained	Partial upkeep	75% output
Unstable	Underfunded, recently captured, neglected	50% output or event pressure
Failing	Repeated missed upkeep	Minimal output, negative event likely
Collapsed	Long neglect, disaster, total loss	Neutral, ruined, occupied, or requires recapture

IX.B Node Types

Node	Description	Typical Output	Notes
Farm	Open farmland or managed plots.	Owner chooses one or two crops per cycle, such as grain, vegetables, flax, or fruit if climate permits.	Flexible output, seasonal flavor.
Ranch	Animal pasture and herding land.	Meat, hides, fat, bones, wool, or milk equivalents.	May require defense against predators or raiders.
Orchard	Managed fruit trees and preserves.	Fruit, juice, alcohol ingredients, resin-adjacent goods if appropriate.	Slower, stable food economy.
Mine	Ore site with veins, shafts, and labor crews.	Specific ore types assigned by staff, such as copper, tin, iron, lead, silver, gold, or modded ores.	Output depends on local geology and tier.
Quarry	Stone, chalk, granite, limestone, marble, or building material site.	Stone blocks, lime materials, building stone, gravel, sand.	Strong for construction and fortification.
Clay Pit	Clay-rich ground and pottery labor.	Blue clay, fire clay, bricks, pottery goods.	Useful for industry and food storage.
Forest	Managed woodland.	Logs, sticks, seeds, forage, charcoal inputs.	Raw woodland output.
Lumber Mill	Processed timber operation.	Boards, planks, beams, firewood, barrels if upgraded.	Higher tier than simple forest.
Resin Farm	Managed resin trees.	Resin.	Output is mostly unchangeable because the site exists for resin.
Peat Bog	Wetland fuel extraction.	Peat bricks, reeds, wetland forage.	Good low-tech fuel source.
Salt Works	Salt deposit, brine, or coastal evaporation site.	Salt and preserved food support.	High strategic value for food storage.
Workshop	Crafting, smithing, textile, or mechanical production site.	Finished tools, parts, textiles, machine goods, ammunition components.	Often needs input goods to produce full output.
Trade Post	Market, caravan stop, or crossing.	Coins, trade goods, paper records, faction influence.	Strong diplomacy and economy node.
Military Node	Escalating defensive structure: Tier 1 watchtower, Tier 2 outpost, Tier 3 fort, Tier 4 bastion.	SMD from tolls, local taxes, checkpoints, and controlled traffic; also provides military staging value.	Good for PvP control, road pressure, border enforcement, and defensive warfare.
Harbor	Water transport, port infrastructure, and trade site if geography supports it.	Fish, trade goods, boat traffic, harbor fees, and water logistics capacity.	Allows water supply connections based on tier when valid boats and routes exist.

IX.C Military Node Reinforcement Benefit

Owning a military node allows that faction to bring additional players to eligible node fights without paying the normal extra-slot SP cost. The free reinforcement bonus equals the tier of the military node.

Military Node Tier	Structure Name	Free Reinforcement Benefit
Tier 1	Watchtower	+1 free player
Tier 2	Outpost	+2 free players
Tier 3	Fort	+3 free players
Tier 4	Bastion	+4 free players

IX.D Tier Baseline

The Output Guidance column is a general scale of how much a node produces relative to its tier. Volume and the specific goods produced vary substantially between node types and individual nodes. Staff sets the exact output per node. Repair costs are taken from VIII.E and are exact and binding.

Tier	Example Scale	Upgrade Cost	Repair Cost After Violent Capture	Output Guidance
Tier 1	Small farm, shallow mine, woodlot, watch post	100 SP to upgrade to Tier 2	50 SP	Basic output
Tier 2	Established farm, working mine, lumber yard, trade post	300 SP to upgrade to Tier 3	100 SP	Standard output
Tier 3	Regional estate, deep mine, fortified mill, strong market	600 SP to upgrade to Tier 4	200 SP	Significant output
Tier 4	Major industrial site, fortress, strategic regional hub	Maximum tier	300 SP	Premium output

Events should create gameplay, logistics pressure, repairs, escorts, diplomacy, or defense opportunities rather than arbitrary punishment.

Node Type	Event Name	Description	Practical Effect

XI.A War Maintenance Modifier

War cost means a direct increase to node maintenance. While a faction is in an active declared war, all nodes owned by that faction cost more SP to maintain. This represents military supply strain, escorts, patrols, ammunition, field repairs, replacement equipment, medical supplies, and the general waste of wartime administration.

Active War Situation	Node Maintenance Increase	Practical Effect
At war with 1 enemy faction	+15%	Every owned node costs 15% more SP to maintain.
At war with 2 enemy factions	+30%	Every owned node costs 30% more SP to maintain.
At war with 3 or more enemy factions	+50% or staff-set	Large wars become expensive and difficult to sustain.

XI.B Coalition Cost

When multiple allied factions pile into the same war, staff may apply additional upkeep pressure to prevent effortless mega-bloc dogpiling. This should be used only when large coalitions begin removing meaningful counterplay.

XI.C Rebellion and Disorder Events

Large, overtaxed, or constantly warring factions may face tax riots, deserters, corruption theft, sabotage, border unrest, bandit uprisings, or internal political crises.

XI.D Occupation Penalties

Captured enemy nodes suffer 50% output until repaired, receive instability pressure, and may trigger negative events. No hidden loyalty meter is required at launch. Visible mechanics are preferred.

XII.A GM Declared Truces

Any truce explicitly declared by a GM during an event is binding. Breaking it may result in immediate administrative action.

XII.B Player-Made Truces

Truces negotiated between players or factions are in-character agreements. They may be honored, broken, betrayed, or renegotiated through RP. Consequences remain in-world.

XII.C Event Loot

Event loot is handled event by event. Staff may declare loot contested, faction-locked, shared, auctioned, or narratively assigned.

XII.D No Event Monopolies

Factions may not monopolize every event through meta pressure, OOC lobbying, or overwhelming attendance abuse. Staff may use participation caps, rotating access, cooldowns, or anti-zerg mechanics.

XII.E Character Death, Notional Death & True Death

Most PvP deaths in VS3 are notional deaths, not mandatory canonical deaths for the specific player character. They may represent severe injury, rout, capture, unconsciousness, battlefield confusion, or the death of an unnamed soldier, retainer, scout, laborer, or similar figure attached to that group.

Example: You fight an enemy faction, are defeated, captured, and executed. Unless you agreed that your named character was the one killed, the canon interpretation is that another person of your faction or archetype was killed instead. Your actual named character did not participate in that exact event and has no memory of it.

True Death only applies when it is agreed upon by the player whose character is being killed, or when the event is clearly defined in advance as a true death scenario by staff and the participants.

XII.F Rerolls

Players may reroll names and characters. If a player chooses to fully kill off or retire a character, they may do so, but permanent death is never assumed from ordinary combat loss.

XIII.A Mine Ownership

A mine is considered owned if it is inside a valid claim, attached to a registered node, marked and actively worked by a recognized faction, or clearly tied to a settlement through roads, signs, stockpiles, supports, and regular use. Unclaimed and unmarked holes in the ground are wilderness and may be explored.

XIII.B Mine Trespass and Theft

Entering another faction's active mine without permission is trespass. Removing ore, tools, ladders, supports, stored food, lanterns, or prospecting records from an active mine may be treated as theft, espionage, sabotage, or a casus belli depending on context.

XIII.C Mine Sabotage

During war, mine sabotage may include blocking shafts, collapsing tunnels, stealing access materials, destroying workstations, or ambushing miners. Outside war, mine sabotage must be limited, roleplayed, and tied to a specific motive. Destroying an entire mine purely to make the game worse for someone is griefing.

XIII.D Prospecting Intelligence

Prospecting results, ore coordinates, survey maps, mine ledgers, and cave routes are valid intelligence assets. They may be sold, stolen, forged, hidden, copied, used as bargaining chips, or used as war justification.

XIV.A Trader Protection

NPC traders may be traded with, mapped, escorted, taxed indirectly through roads, and fought around. Players may not grief trader camps, permanently block all access, claim-lock a trader, trap the trader, or destroy access to the trader unless a GM event explicitly allows it.

XIV.B Trader Location Intelligence

Trader locations are valid intelligence. Players may keep trader routes secret, sell coordinates, forge bad maps, spy on trader roads, or establish markets near them. The trader remains protected, but information about the trader is part of the game.

XIV.C Public World Assets

Staff may declare spawn roads, public hubs, event sites, major archives, or special landmarks protected assets. Protected assets may not be claimed, griefed, or blocked without staff permission.

XV.A Storm During Captivity

If a temporal storm begins while a prisoner is detained, captors must make a reasonable in-character decision: move the prisoner to shelter, release them, execute them with valid RP, pause under GM supervision, or continue only if both sides accept the danger. Captors may not simply leave a helpless prisoner to die to storm pressure while claiming it was roleplay.

XV.B Storm as World Pressure

Staff may use storms as event modifiers. A storm may increase instability pressure, trigger a node defense event, interrupt travel, inspire cult activity, or justify temporary local truces.

Note: Combat logging is governed by II.G and applies only to PvP situations. Logging out during a temporal storm or other non-PvP world event is not a combat-logging violation.

XVI.A Ruin Law

Ruins are free to explore unless staff marks them as an event site, they are inside a valid claim, they are attached to a node, or they are clearly part of an active settlement. Loot inside unclaimed wilderness ruins is contested by default.

XVI.B Dungeon and Expedition Loot

Dungeon loot may be raced for, guarded, sold, auctioned, or fought over unless an event states otherwise. Players may ambush outside a site, sell maps, hide entrances, or hire escorts. Players may not claim-block public entrances, permanently destroy access, use alts to camp spawns, or trap players with no RP.

XVII.A Contract Types

Contracts may cover guard duty, caravan escort, construction, delivery, trade, theft, smuggling, kidnapping, assassination, mercenary defense, siege support, propaganda, sabotage, or diplomacy.

XVII.B Bounty Requirements

A good bounty should name the target, reason, reward, proof required, issuer, whether the target is wanted alive or dead, and whether the bounty is public or secret.

XVII.C PvE Faction Restriction

PvE factions may not post hostile contracts of any kind, including PvP-based bounties, assassination contracts, war contracts, mercenary contracts, or military sabotage contracts. A PvE faction cannot use third parties to wage a war it is protected from joining.

XVII.D Assassination

Assassination is allowed when it has a real RP motive, a contract or personal reason, and no metagaming. Assassination does not bypass true death consent. Killing a player mechanically does not permanently kill their named character unless that player agrees.

XVIII.A Local Law

Recognized factions may create laws that apply within their borders and in any area where they can reasonably enforce power. If a faction patrol catches a lone traveler outside the formal border and has the force to impose its law, that may be valid RP. The question is whether the claim of authority makes sense in the scene.

XVIII.B Examples of Local Laws

• Weapon restrictions
• Mining licenses
• Road tolls
• Market taxes
• Curfews
• Contraband lists
• Hunting rights
• Religious or cultural restrictions

XVIII.C Courts and Trials

Factions may hold trials for crimes. Staff does not need to enforce faction verdicts unless server rules were broken, detention limits are exceeded, execution is involved, or punishment becomes harassment.

XVIII.D Sentencing Options

Good sentences preserve play while creating consequences: fines, exile, ransom, forced labor contracts, public apology, loss of market rights, temporary imprisonment, duel, confiscation of contraband, outlaw status, or bounty posting.

XIX.A War Goals

Every formal war should name at least one war goal, such as seizing a node, forcing reparations, punishing caravan raids, recovering a relic, enforcing a border, ending an alliance, securing a road, destroying a fortification, or demanding surrender terms.

XIX.B War End Conditions

A war should end when the war goal is achieved, peace is signed, a faction surrenders, both sides become inactive, a war exhaustion settlement is imposed, or staff rules the conflict has stopped producing meaningful gameplay.

XIX.C Siege Definition

A siege is an organized attempt to surround, blockade, pressure, or force terms from a settlement or fort. A siege against a recognized faction settlement requires declared war or GM approval.

XIX.D Siege Camps

A siege camp is a physical forward position used to project power near an enemy settlement. It must be built at a reasonable distance, must not claim-box the target, and must be attackable. The camp may contain beds, food, ammo, tents, storage, watch posts, roads, trenches, or banners. If it cannot be raided, bypassed, negotiated with, or contested, it is not a fair siege camp.

XIX.E Actual Siege Effects

Effect	How It Works	What It Does Not Do
Interdiction	Attackers physically stop caravans, wagons, patrols, and node shipments moving in or out.	It does not magically delete supplies from claims.
Access Control	Attackers hold roads, gates, passes, and nearby open ground through patrols and presence.	It does not prevent defenders from sneaking out or fighting through.
Pressure Timer	If a siege camp remains uncontested for a staff-set period, defenders may face negotiations, sortie requirements, morale events, or node pressure.	It does not force automatic surrender by itself.
Sorties	Defenders may attack the camp, burn supplies, kill scouts, destroy roads, or break the blockade.	Defenders are not required to sit passively inside walls.
Supply Burn	Attackers must feed and maintain their camp. A siege is expensive and can become unstable if neglected.	Attackers do not get free infinite pressure.

XIX.F Suggested Siege Procedure

1. Declare siege and war goal.
2. Build or mark siege camp.
3. GM records start time and affected roads.
4. Both sides may attack, scout, negotiate, smuggle, or raid supplies.
5. If camp holds pressure for the agreed period, staff may call a siege event, negotiation deadline, surrender terms, or instability effect.

XX.A Livestock Theft and Killing

Animals outside secure claims may be stolen. Killing livestock outside war with no clear RP purpose is likely griefing. During war, livestock raids may be valid if tied to famine strategy, ransom, node sabotage, or military pressure.

XX.B Farm Sabotage During War

The canonical farm sabotage rule is in IV.F: outside war, farm sabotage is prohibited. This subsection covers limits that apply during wartime farm sabotage.

During declared war, enemy farms and farm nodes may be raided, burned, harvested, or damaged within reason. However, players may not permanently ruin the map, scorch terrain into permanent unusability, or render a settlement structurally unplayable for no military purpose. Wartime damage should be repairable; total annihilation requires staff approval.

XX.C Fire, Explosives and Destructive Force

Any mechanic that causes broad environmental damage must have RP context. Valid uses include wartime breach attempts, destroying your own structures, sabotaging a military target, or GM event destruction. Random burning, crater spam, public road grief, and map uglification are prohibited.

XX.D Traps

Traps are allowed when protecting property, defending territory, or supporting RP conflict. They may not be placed at spawn, public hubs, new player routes, or in unavoidable death loops. Traps should create danger, not administrative cleanup.

XXI.A Valid Intelligence Assets

Base coordinates, mine coordinates, trader locations, node locations, road maps, cave routes, translocator locations, faction borders, patrol routes, and prospecting results may be stolen, sold, forged, or used as casus belli.

XXI.B Coordinate Transfer Mechanic

If you want to share a waypoint, walk up to the person in game, tell them the coordinates you have on your map, and let them mark it on their map. This is the proper IC information transfer described in I.F.

XXI.C OOC Coordinate Restriction

Coordinates learned through screenshots, streams, admin maps, private DMs, external voice, or death-related OOC information may not be used IC unless the information is properly transferred in-game per XXI.B.

For voice-platform rules see I.P. For knowledge / metagaming rules see I.F.

XXII.A 48 Hour New Player Protection

For the first 48 real hours after joining, a new player may not be robbed, pressured into war, imprisoned, taxed aggressively, killed except in clear self-defense, or recruited under duress. This protection ends early if the player joins a PvP faction or initiates violence.

XXII.B Abandoned Personal Claims

Small personal claims may be considered abandoned after 7 days of inactivity if there is no notice, no maintenance, and no response to staff.

XXII.C Abandoned Faction Holdings

Faction holdings may be considered abandoned after 14 days of inactivity, unpaid upkeep, or total failure to respond. Consequences may include claim removal, node return to neutral, salvage events, or GM-run decay.

XXIII.A San Marco Denarii (SMD)

San Marco Denarii, abbreviated SMD, are the official staff-minted reserve currency of VS3. Only staff may create SMD. All players may own, trade, store, spend, tax, ransom, or accept SMD.

SMD is the baseline currency used for official prices, administrative rewards, fines, contracts, and any SP submissions involving money. Currency is useful, but it is not meant to replace the physical economy. Node upkeep still expects practical goods such as food, tools, fuel, building materials, metals, and other supplies.

Standard exchange: 10 SMD = 1 SP. This makes SMD easy to calculate while keeping physical resources valuable. For example, 50 SMD equals 5 SP, and 100 SMD equals 10 SP.

XXIII.B Faction Currency

Any recognized faction may mint or issue its own currency, trade notes, seals, vouchers, or letters of credit. Staff does not automatically guarantee the value of faction currency. Value comes from trust, reserves, market acceptance, treaty recognition, faction power, stability, and willingness to redeem it for goods or SMD.

XXIII.C Counterfeiting

Counterfeiting is valid criminal RP. Forged coins, fake seals, false writs, and counterfeit trade notes are contraband where recognized. Counterfeits must be distinguishable through some in-world process and may not rely on impossible OOC confusion.

XXIII.D Treaties

Treaties should list parties, terms, duration, penalties for breach, witnesses, node transfers, trade rights, military clauses, and whether staff recorded the agreement. Breaking a treaty is allowed in-character unless GM-locked, but creates casus belli and reputation damage.

XXIV.A Valid Espionage

Players may join factions under false identities, lie in character, steal maps, report troop movements, forge letters, bribe guards, fake neutrality as a PvP faction, sell intelligence, or plant rumors.

XXIV.B Prohibited Espionage

No alt account infiltration, staff impersonation, hacking, OOC deception to bypass rules, private DM pressure, Discord voice spying during PvP, or use of real-life harassment.

XXIV.C Spy Consequences

If a spy is discovered, they may face arrest, trial, ransom, exile, execution as a notional death, or true death only with player consent.

XXV.A Staff Discretion

Staff may act against behavior that violates the spirit of the rules even if not explicitly listed word-for-word. Loophole abuse will not be protected.

XXV.B Evidence Standard

Screenshots, logs, witness statements, and video clips may all be considered. Players are strongly encouraged to run Medal or similar recording software while playing.

Evidence	Weight
Video with context	Highest
Server logs	High
Full screenshots with chat and time context	Moderate to high
Multiple consistent witnesses	Moderate
Cropped screenshots, hearsay, angry accusations	Low

XXV.C Enforcement Goal

The purpose of enforcement is to keep VS3 playable, fair, immersive, and story-rich. Staff should punish bad faith, not good-faith conflict.

Quick Reference Rules

Question	Answer
Can I just play normally?	Yes. Factions, nodes, war, and advanced politics are optional.
Can I KOS neutral players?	No. Neutral violence requires roleplay escalation.
Can wartime enemies be attacked on sight?	Yes, but only after positive identification.
Can caravans be robbed outside war?	Yes, with proper RP initiation. This may create casus belli.
Can I steal from unclaimed storage?	Yes. Unclaimed and unsecured storage is vulnerable. Secure important property with claims and RP precautions.
Can a PvE faction post PvP bounties or hostile contracts?	No. PvE factions may not use bounties, mercenaries, or proxies to participate in PvP conflict. Doing so triggers forced PvP conversion (III.D) and burns their one-time switch.
Can a PvE faction be attacked, robbed, or kidnapped?	No. PvE factions are completely exempt from PvP attacks. Members identify (verbally or by visible heraldry) and depart unharmed even mid-violence (III.B). Note: this protects the living member, not their corpse. Bodies left after non-PvP deaths may be looted normally (II.L).
Can a PvE faction own nodes or hold land outside HQ?	No. PvE factions may only own faction-affiliated property within their official HQ boundary (III.A).
Can a PvP faction bar PvE merchants from their territory?	Yes, with a public announcement. A barred PvE merchant who enters anyway must depart immediately on identification (III.C).
Can a faction switch between PvE and PvP?	Once. Each faction has exactly one status switch in its lifetime, in either direction. After it is used, the faction is locked permanently (III.E).
Can a node transfer peacefully?	Yes. Peaceful transfers do not cause damage penalties.
What happens when a node is captured violently?	It becomes damaged, unstable, and produces 50% output until repaired. Repair is 50/100/200/300 SP for T1/T2/T3/T4 (VIII.E).
What money counts for SP payments?	SMD, using 10 SMD = 1 SP, capped at 40% of a node's weekly upkeep.
Can death permanently kill my character?	Only with your consent or clearly defined true-death event terms.
Can I be forced to empty my inventory during a search?	Yes, if you are lawfully captive, detained, arrested, or searched after surrender or defeat.
Does emptying inventory mean robbers can take everything?	No. They may inspect everything, but taking items must remain within reason and fit the situation.
Can I use Discord voice during gameplay?	Discord is fine for OOC coordination, solo play, and internal-faction coordination during peaceful gameplay. For any cross-player interaction, use in-game VOIP. Golden rule: always default to in-game VOIP (I.P).
Can I share coordinates over Discord?	Discord is fine for OOC coordination, but coordinates and other IC information must be transferred in-game per the XXI.B mechanic. Do not treat Discord screenshots or DMs as IC knowledge.
Can I destroy someone's unclaimed house?	Not without meaningful RP context. Theft is allowed, pointless destruction is griefing.
Do PvP node fights have player caps?	Yes. Caps are based on node tier, with expensive SP costs for extra slots up to double the normal size.
Does NLR apply to all deaths?	Yes. NLR applies to any death, including PvP, PvE, node fights, events, wildlife, mobs, environmental causes, and starvation (II.J).
Can I loot my own body?	Not after PvP death or any node fight, including PvE node fights. After NPC, wildlife, or environmental death outside a node fight you may recover gear after NLR ends. See II.K.
Can I return to a node fight after dying?	No. Node fights are single-life engagements (VI.F).
Where can temporal gears be placed?	Only inside the official on-map boundary of your faction HQ or primary base (II.H).
Is the Jonas Ash-Spitter allowed in PvP?	No. The Jonas Ash-Spitter is banned in any situation where PvP could occur. NPC and wildlife use only (II.I).
Do non-PvP node events use PvP fight caps?	No. Caps apply only to PvP node fights between PvP factions (VI.J).
What does SMD mean?	San Marco Denarii, the official staff-minted reserve currency.
Can currency fund all node upkeep?	No. Currency can provide no more than 40% of a node's weekly upkeep.
Can raw renewable goods fund all node upkeep?	No. Raw renewable goods can provide no more than 40% of weekly upkeep.
What happens if a node is underfunded?	Output drops and instability pressure may increase depending on how underfunded it is.
What is a Military Node?	A military node is a watchtower at Tier 1, outpost at Tier 2, fort at Tier 3, and bastion at Tier 4.
What do Military Nodes produce?	SMD over time, representing tolls, taxes, checkpoints, and controlled traffic, plus military positioning value.