Clan Hostilities (or "Clan Wars") are large-scale battles that are waged between two PGs. Clan Wars will be run like tournaments, only each PG will constitute a team that will send their members to battle each other. To engage in a Clan War, the attacking PG must pay 1000 GP in collateral for the battle. This will be returned if the attackers are victorious.
Keep in mind that clans can become hostile with one another in a variety of ways. The most obvious is a "hot war," with fighting on both sides. However, a trade clan could go "hostile" with a more warlike Clan, and make the storyline of their hostilities that they are organizing a huge boycott wherein sellers of goods and services refuse to sell with the warlike Clan, in an attempt to basically rob the warlike Clan of their suppliers of weaponry and so forth. The storyline arc of how hostilities go forward will always be in relation to the types of Clans involved in the hostilities. The sky really is the limit for this type of struggle, so use your creativity to come up with something new!
Basic Rules:
Here are the steps to arranging a Clan War:
1.) The attacking side must post a formal declaration of war. At this time, the attacker should also state the duration of the war (not to exceed 4 weeks or 28 days) and claim any additional stakes if they would like (e.g. a magical item the defenders possess, a writ of slavery, etc.) These additional stakes are subject to moderator approval.
2.) Shortly after the declaration is posted, a moderator will simultaneously create two quorum threads where all participants must register for the war. The quorum will be open for four days.
3.) There is no numerical limit to the number of participants per side. However, in order to attack or defend, you must either be a member of a participating PG, or a member of a allied PG (see alliances below). Each side is limited to no more than two allies.
4.) A player can only have one character participate per side. An individual player with multiple accounts may also not be involved in more than 3 clan wars at once.
5.) A PG may only be attacked by one group at a time. 3 PGs may not initiate 3 separate wars. They may, however, temporarily ally themselves and fight one war together. Similarly, a PG may only make one declaration of war at a time. However, a clan may find itself having to simultaneously attack and defend in two separate wars.
6.) The attacking clan chooses where it will launch its attack; in this sense, the attacking clan sets the "broad setting" of the battle. But the defending clan has rights to the first post, and therefore has the tactical, if not necessarily the strategic, advantage.
6.) The defending clan chooses the style of the war. This includes not only control over the tactical aspects of the in-character setting (i.e. traps and physical barriers), but also the out-of-character style. There is no set way that a clan war must be fought. You may, for example, opt for one large thread, or many smaller ones with chosen matchups. You have great freedom in this area, however your selections are subject to moderator approval to ensure fairness.
7.) The defender may also choose the scoring style from three choices:There is great freedom in this area, but your suggestion is subject to moderator approval for purposes of fairness. You can't come up with a scoring system, for instance, which automatically gives your side 30 points just because.
- At the conclusion of the war, all competitors' scores are averaged, and the team with the largest average wins. The moderator will compute this score using an equal number of competitors. For example, if 12 individuals are facing 9 individuals, only 9 scores from each side will be computed. This means that the larger side is able to drop its lowest scores automatically.
- Each individual is assigned a rival (by the defender either publicly or privately) for a series of shorter battles. At the end of each battle, the losing rival is eliminated from the war, matchups are re-made, and the next battle begins. The team with the greatest number of individuals at the conclusion of the war wins. Battles may be any variable length of time, but must be chosen ahead of time and conform to the time limit set by the attackers.
- Another scoring method you may dream up.
8.) After the scoring method is determined, the moderator will stipulate the definitions of the varying types of victory. Victories can be "blowout," "decisive," "standard," "marginal," or "Pyrrhic." (For those of you who don't know your history, a Pyrrhic victory is one which destroys the victor even though they've "won." The phrase comes from King Pyrrhus of Epirus, who suffered such great casualties against the Romans in a battle -- even though it was a battle he had won -- that he remarked "Another such victory over the Romans and we are undone.") An example might be, in a standard average-scoring method of judging, to say that a score difference of 15+ is blowout, 10-14 is decisive, 5-9 is standard, 2-4 is marginal, and 1 is Pyrrhic.
Alliances:
Clans may form alliances with other clans as they choose. Allies wishing to support a declaration of war should post in the declaration thread indicating their support. Allies of the defenders may announce their support during the defenders' quorum call. Allied clans are able to send members to the war provided that no more than two allies are involved on either side. Please note that if an alliance successfully assaults an HQ, only the primary clan (who posted the declaration) can claim rights to the HQ. The primary clan may distribute other rewards between the allies as it sees fit.
Mercenaries of any type are not permitted in Clan Wars.
Clan War Rewards:
The rewards for winning a clan war are as follows:
As an attacker:
-A return of one-half of the deposit given as collateral for the war. (no return if victory is Pyrrhic.)
-A portion of the defender's treasury determined by the degree of victory:
--Blowout victory (75% of the loser's treasury is given to the winner)
--Decisive victory (45% of the loser's treasury is given to the winner)
--Standard victory (25% of the loser's treasury is given to the winner)
--Marginal victory (10% of the loser's treasury is given to the winner)
--Pyrrhic victory (No earnings from loser's treasury given to winner)
-Standard experience and gold rewards for each member. (Gold halved in Pyrrhic victories)
-Any other stake the attacker may have declared, provided at least a standard victory was achieved (a magical item the defending HQ possesses, enslaving the defending members, etc.)
As a defender:
-The deposit given as collateral by the attacker for the war (unless victory is Pyrrhic)
-A portion of the attackers' earned gold determined by the degree of victory:
--Blowout victory (75% of the GP earned by losers goes to winner's treasury)
--Decisive victory (45% of the GP earned by losers goes to winner's treasury)
--Standard victory (25% of the GP earned by losers goes to winner's treasury)
--Marginal victory (10% of the GP earned by the losers goes to winner's treasury)
-Standard experience and gold rewards for each member. (GP halved in Pyrrhic victories.)
Surrender and Retreat
If at any point in a Clan War, the defender feels his or her clan cannot achieve victory, they may attempt surrender. Surrender results in a Clan War loss. Surrender ends the clan war and provides the attacking side with 45% of the loser's treasury and 100% of the GP earned by the opposing side in the war. Any special stakes set by the attackers are also awarded to the attackers.
An attacker also has the option to flee, but in doing so loses the 1000 GP deposit and 100% of the GP it earns from the battle (these both go into the defender's treasury).
Attacking a HQ
PGs that have HQs will have to defend them from time to time. However, the incumbent PG will always have the advantage over the attackers, as they know the layout of their HQ better than the enemy does. To attack an HQ, a PG must pay 2000 GP as collateral for the battle (Note: it costs MORE to attack an HQ than to war a Clan. This protects the HQ holders from the flies they might have to swat from time to time).
Note that an attacker does not necessarily have to attack the HQ of the defender if it chooses not to. Since the attacker decides the site of the attack, the attacker might decide to attack a supply caravan to the HQ, or try to take over a nearby trading town that the HQ relies on for protection and supplies. Once again -- creativity counts!
General Rules
Here are the steps to attacking an HQ:
-Standard rules apply. However, the attacker MUST take into consideration that they are attacking an enemy on their home turf, and must account for that in the story. While the attacker still chooses the location of the attack, failure to take into account changed circumstances WILL result in lower continuity scores.
Rewards:
The rewards for winning a clan war against a HQ are as follows:
As an attacker:
-Standard spoils as described above.
-The right to build a new HQ or occupy the old one. When a PG opts to build a new HQ, the old HQ is destroyed. A moderator will archive the current posts and change the name of the sub-forum. If the destroyed HQ was an Elite HQ (see the HQ Rules and Rewards thread for details), the Clan also will receive the standard PG rewards.
As a defender:
-Standard spoils as described above.
-The right to maintain its HQ.
Clan War Limitations
A PG may not declare hostilities against the same clan more than once per month, but could declare hostilities against a different clan within the same month. A PG can be attacked more than once in the same month only if a different PG is doing the attacking.
All PGs, regardless of loss or victory, must wait two weeks after the conclusion of any Clan War in which they are involved before declaring war again.
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