CASTLE DEFENSES

Subject: CASTLE DEFENSES Wed Sep 26, 2007 7:43 pm

The castle's various basic defenses are listed and described here for your understanding. Please note that while we are an extremely tolerant realm when it comes to visitors and their roleplay, we do expect some level of cooperation on your part. The information below is not an onerous burden for anyone seeking to interact with us. Blatant "modering" will likely result in your removal by the character
designated as "Room Owner", identified by the Lightning Bolt graphic
next to their name in the room. We do not like things to reach that
stage, but it is sometimes necessary.

Overall OOC Rules

1) We are playing a "gunpowder" existence. Therefore, firearms, of the matchlock, or flintlock persuasion will be recognized. They will be the only personal gunpowder weapons acknowledged. There are shoreline battlements with cannon and all battle ships are fitted with cannon as well.

The Castle as a Whole

Basic Non-Magical defenses that should be acknowledged are as follows:

1) The castle walls are approximately 60 feet in height (that's 6
floors)around the entire perimeter, with higher towers at varying
intervals. There are no external ground floor windows, only arrow
slits, which are not wide enough to enter through. (External width of
an arrow slit is approximately 2-3 inches). This is, of course, because
having windows that allowed people to break in on the ground floor
would rather defeat the purpose of a castle. Makes sense right?

2) 1,000 members of the elite Royal Guard are based in the castle,
with a minimum of 250 on patrol at all times. Each guard has access to a ranged weapon (typically a crossbow), a pole arm (spear or halberd) and a melee weapon (typically a sword, axe or mace). Guards are armoured with a plate cuirass over mail and a burgonet helm.

3) The guards on the walls and grounds move in various patrols,
guarding against "unannounced guests". Such unannounced visitors will likely receive a less than hospitable welcome. In other words, a person trying to slip across the courtyard, moving from shadow to shadow etc., etc., ad nauseum, would in all likelihood be shot. And let me tell you, a crossbow bolt does more than sting a little...

4) The guards at the various entry gates would disarm any entering
visitor who is not a member of the Royal Court. (In other words, if you are not a member of the tKoS roleplay group, your character will be disarmed, NO EXCEPTIONS).

4) There are large numbers of servants in the castle. Very few (if
any) areas would be unattended. Servants have always been known to
scream for the guards if they feel threatened, thus raising the "hue
and cry" as it were.

5) The castle is home to many hounds, horses and other such animals
that would react negatively to your average evil entity (undead,
demons, etc.). This would probably end up alerting the guards to your
evil entity's presence.

Basic Magical defenses that should be acknowledged are as follows:

1) Visitors can not teleport into, or out of, the castle grounds.
Nor can members lacking the imprimatur of the Mage Corps. (NO
EXCEPTIONS). This includes astral, ethereal, shadow warping and any
other extra-planar methods. The upper level is considered the "Royals
Chambers" and has the strongest wards and the most battle hardened
elite guards.

The Great Hall / Throne Room

Basic Non-Magical defenses that should be acknowledged are as follows:

1) Only visitors who have been disarmed by the guards would be
allowed to enter this room. Sneaking in a weapon will likely result in
an unfriendly welcome from the Defense Ministry player characters
(Warriors & Combatant Mages).

2) Twenty NPC Guards are stationed in the room, and they can be
called on to remove troublemakers. (Handled at the behest of the room
owner.)

3) The Great Hall / Throne Room is on the second floor of the Keep,
thus there is no climbing in through the windows short of a grappling
hook. Not to mention the fact that a couple of nice iron bars are set
into each window, making it too small for the average humanoid to
enter. The floor below the Great Hall is a Guard Barracks.

Basic Magical defenses that should be acknowledged are as follows:

1) The castle is WELL lit, both conventionally and magically. This
means there are no shadows to warp in through or hide in. If you have
confusion on the subject of magical entry, please refer to Rule 1 under
Basic Magical Defenses of the Castle as a Whole.

[i]

Subject: Re: CASTLE DEFENSES Wed Sep 26, 2007 7:45 pm

(This is copied from Helgraz post))

Okay, I'm reconstructing these from old memory since I can't bloody well find them on the old boards, but everything here I _know_ was a part of the old wards we had.

WITHOUT THE IMPRIMATUR OF THE MAGE CORPS (or by being a direct member of the Royal Family), the following rules always apply.

Conjurations, Teleportations, Summonings, Creations and all similiar ilk
I) As noted above - no transportation into or out of castle grounds - I don't care if your ability is magical, psionic, involves the manipulation of fractal math or the underlying fabric of spacetime. It doesn't work here. I don't care if you're a God, Vampire-Werewolf-Assasin-Paladin-half-dragon, half-kraken, half-Cthulhu creature. I don't care if you try to say you're using the realm of subconscious dreamers to do it. It doesn't work here. Let me repeat this with the peculiar emphasis it requires. *It does not work here* Furthermore, any attempt to access the castle grounds in this manner will result in the character being shunted outside the gates - and repeated attempts will put them - in consecutive order - in:
A] Outside the Gatehouse
B] In the Moat
C] In the middle of a godsforsaken swamp in Shadow Cove
D] On a little tiny ledge suspended over a sea of lava.
E] Inside one of the power-null cells in a prison located somewhere underground _somewhere_ in the kingdom.

II) While we're on the subject of teleportations and conjurations : No object larger than a goblet can be so transported while within the castle walls. Additionally, no bladed object of any sort can be so called, nor any object whose primary purpose is that of a weapon or magical device. If ye want a knife, ye'd best to carry your own for eating with or to ask one of the many many servants to bring you one. In short - conjuring your ale, good. Conjuring flowers to give to a someone, good. Conjuring poison - won't work. Conjuring weapons - won't work. Which brings us to point the third:

III) No conjuration or summoning of sentient matter of any sort (and this includes suitably advanced plant or fungal life and all animals and insects) is permissable within the castle.

IV) Telekinesis : Operates under largely the same rules as teleportation. Moving small, harmless objects, good. Moving dangerous objects bad. Tryinging to violently fling any object, not going to happen.

Charms, Compulsions, Dominations and Possessions:
After the incident with the entity known as William, additional steps were taken to insure such an event could not occur again. While within the castle proper, these effects are suppressed - leaving the one so afflicted in charge of their own mind once more. As one ascends to the level of the Royals' Chambers, the wards there purge any and all such effects, cancelling them and expelling any controlling force, whether magical, psionic, daemonic, diabolic, celestial, chaotic, lawful, neutral, good, evil, indifferent, living, dead, undead, construct, or what have you. The immediate royal family are protected by this portion of the ward during all events of state (including Court Night) as well.

Atmospheric Changes
Changes in your personal environment that do not affect the comfort or well being of others (making the air around you slightly warmer or cooler or damp or drier, for example) are permitted. Making the fire warmer, hotter, larger, smaller is alright - but it cannot be made large enough to endanger anyone present or the integrity of the castle proper.

Illusion
Under normal circumstances, illusions that conceal or change the appearance of a significant portion of the body - or face - will become translucent so that the true features beneath can be observed and troublemakers thus weeded out. Purely cosmetic illusions that do not change the fundamental appearance of a person are not restricted.

Necromancy
With the marked exception of a small number of necromantic magics whose purpose is to provide aid and comfort, this art is forbidden and will not function within the castle grounds.

Fire (whether natural or magical), and other energetically destructive phenomena
After the Castle was rebuilt, ensuring that it would never face such a catastrophie again was one of the many tasks entrusted to those charged with defending the castle and her people. A direct result of this is the fact that much of the castle has been extensively fireproofed - redundantly so where possible with both magical and mundane means. This measure also gives the Mage Corps some flexibility in using magical fire as a weapon when the castle needs defending, as they have not to worry about accidentally burning, say, the King's favorite tapestry, or the throne. This said, as fireproofing the _people_ is a rather more difficult endeavor, magical fire, like all other forms of destructive energy, cannot be used.

:whew: And those are just the ones I remember. I know there were ones that involved dragons and demons and such (with exceptions for Drach and Val, of course)....

Subject: Re: CASTLE DEFENSES Thu Oct 23, 2008 2:32 pm

*BUMP*

Subject: Re: CASTLE DEFENSES Fri Apr 23, 2010 11:39 am

These wards are NOT in response to anything that has happened recently. They've always been in effect since we built the new castle a few years ago. I know Lord Helgraz has posted them in the past, I have asked our Minister of Defense to post them also on the permanent part of the rp basics for the defense of the castle, when she has time.

We do NOT want to stymie free form rp in any way, but to prevent things from happening within the castle proper that could disrupt otherwise excellent rp opportunites, we wanted all to know that if the kiddies arrive with their all powerful godlike personnae that you have our express written consent to send them into one or all of the outlined destinations.

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