15.5 Player Killing

The emotional response and drama created from the possibility of one character killing another is unsurpassed in Imperian. Without this level of involvement, Imperian would not be the rich and realistic world that it is. Death is hardly a permanent thing, but the risk of it makes the game entertaining on many levels, and more importantly, opens up huge areas of roleplay for those wishing to pursue a darker lifestyle. In turn, those wishing to pursue a lifestyle to counter this are given more opportunities, and so on.

The Gods benevolently provide a means by which you can avoid all hostile activities, although we suggest you give them a try at least once. Please see HELP GRACE.

In an effort to enhance the freedom of roleplay in the game, we deliberately do not set out hard and fast laws to govern player killing. The following rules and guidelines apply to those wishing to partake in the roleplay of attacking and killing other characters:

1) Killing for roleplay reasons is permitted, and the only acceptable reason for any killing in Imperian. Those characters with a consistent roleplay and decent character history will be seen as more reliable when it comes to issues of trust with the administration. The onus is on you as a player to show that your character is killing for a good roleplay reason. Killing just because you are a 'pschyo mad killer' is likely to get you in trouble. Do not kill someone repeatedly (more than once) for one reason. If you still need to damage a character, try politics or something other than killing.

- It must be noted that roleplay reasons must encompass actual actions by the individual being targeted. In practice, this means that if someone is insulting you repeatedly or attacking a member of your city, you have a good reason to be attacking them. If you declare war on their city and they happen to be a leader of the said city, that is NOT a good reason for attacking them, as they have not pursued any individual acts warranting such an action. Be conservative in your application of this principle: The administration isn't stupid, and you will be punished for seeking to kill people for trite reasons.

- Killing someone because they are slaughtering innocent villagers (NPCs) in a local village is good roleplay if and only if you have a legitimate claim to the protection of said villagers. Individuals and organizations cannot lay claim to the protection or ownership of an area as a means of giving them a reason to kill their enemies.

2) A real-life day is an Imperian Month. Killing after several RL days have passed since the incident which would have caused your character anger is frowned upon. It would need to be a very big reason to still want your enemy dead after several months. Do not be surprised if you are punished by administrators for breaking this obvious rule.

3) Players who have developed a background and history (HELP BACKGROUND, HELP HISTORY) that shows why they would be killing certain people for doing certain things will be seen as far more reliable than those who have not. We do maintain decent records of how well you roleplay in your everyday life.

- If you tell us your character claims to hate dwarves, why should we believe you unless you can show us that he always has?

4) PK is one of a number of viable ways to resolve something. If you are continually finding yourself resorting to violence to resolve problems, you can be sure that the administration will have noticed too. PK-ing from the moment you log in, to the moment you log out, is hardly good roleplay at all. Indeed, if it is decided that you do less roleplay than killing, you will be punished for killing. Once again, it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO PROVE YOU ARE ROLEPLAYING OUT A CHARACTER.

5) When an admin makes a decision regarding PK, it is final. The administration are not similar to the in-character Entities of the realm. The admins are here act as entirely OOC entities to resolve your problems when you cannot do so for yourself. Therefore, your Entity may well encourage you to kill your enemies, but they will also expect you to stick to the guidelines here. When deciding on an issue, the admin in question will not care about which city your character lives in, or who your characters friends are. They care only for fairness and equality. They will take your (administrative) history into account. Every situation is different, do not expect the administration to rule the same way over two incidents that although similar, involve different people or different circumstances.

6) A player's actions against an organization as an entity are not punishable by multiple deaths from anyone who pleases. A city, council, or guild should exercise its grudges through the organizational bounty system (HELP BOUNTIES). Similarly, organizational bounties should never be used to handle personal disputes. Bounties are only valid against someone who has taken offensive action against your organization. Filing a bounty against a defender in a raid or obelisk battle will not be supported.

7) Stealing items or gold is an attack on a player, just like any other attack on a player. If you are going to steal from a player, you must have some type of conceivable reason as stated above. You cannot just run around stealing from random players. You can attempt to steal from any player you would normally be free to kill as you want.

8) While we keep absolute PK rules as minimal as possible, there are PK situations that have some additional guidelines: champions, assassinations, raiding, bounties, and shardfalls. These are optional systems, but if you do participate, you need to know the rules. See HELP BOUNTIES, HELP RAIDING, HELP CHAMPIONS, HELP ASSASSINATION, and HELP SHARDS for more information. 

9) Pillaging caravans open your character to PK. This window of time will only be while you are pillaging and attempt to stay nearby or re-engage the fight or caravan. If you attack someone working in a caravan, do not continue to attack them once they have escaped. However, if you attack someone who is doing a caravan, this is sufficient reason for a city or council to award a bounty to one of its members who may want to punish you for doing so.

NOTE : In Imperian, one does not "Gain PK" on someone. Nor do we have a system of "PK tokens" like some games. In Imperian, you are expected to behave and roleplay like an adult, with sensibility and rationality. If the moment when your character may wish someone dead has passed, then move on. Clinging to the idea of a 'free kill' will be noticed by the administration and is likely to get you punished. Doing something stupid is also likely to get you punished - try not to be stupid!

See also: HELP BOUNTIES, HELP RAIDING, HELP SHARDS, HELP HONOUR, HELP ISSUES, HELP USINGISSUES.