Arbiter Commandments


As an Arbiter of the Law there are several rules you must follow in
addition to the laws of Thera. These rules will be strictly followed by
all Arbiters and failure to obey them will result in your immediate
removal from the cabal.

1. Entropy is our sworn enemy. You will not group with them nor assist
them in any manner. Rather you will use all means necessary to rid Thera
of this chaos.

2. You will NOT use your special guards as pets. You may only use them
to assist you in the destruction of criminals, to help you defend the
cabal, and to defend yourself if an attempt on your life is made. You
may not use them to help you kill mobs or players. However if you are
without doubt as to the affiliation of the player in question you may
use your guards to assist you in the killing of any member of Entropy.
One violation of this will result in removal from the Arbiters.

3. You may not remove a flag which you did not place. If you feel a flag
was wrongfully placed speak with the issuing Arbiter. If they are not
available speak with an Elder, Lord or Bria.

4. When issuing a flag you will make certain to be visible and you will
tell the criminal that you did or are flagging them and you will inform
them as to why they were flagged.

5. When hunting criminals you may enlist the services of others granted
that they to are lawful in ethos. You will also make certain that they
understand the only time they are allowed to kill criminals in town is
when accompanied by an Arbiter.

6. Arbiters are not above the law. You will obey all laws at all times.
Any Arbiter who breaks a law will suffer a fate worse than death.
The only exception to this is while hunting a criminal and then you are
to follow the rules posted here. Area spells are still not allowed.

7. You will not flag your fellow cabalmates. If an Arbiter breaks a law,
follow the chain of command set on the plaque in the room to the south.

8. When investigating a case you will always listen to both sides, unless
of course you personally witnessed the crime and then it is not
necessary to investigate. Make certain that you are certain of guilt
before flagging. If you are not completely certain drop the case.

9. Criminals cannot receive multiple flags after the first has been
issued. Once a flag has been placed all actions taken by the criminal
are exempt from the law until the flag is removed.

10. If you successfully kill a criminal you may take all of the criminals
equipment. If you kill a repeat offender, one who has been flagged 4
or more times, you must take all of the criminal's equipment or
sacrifice it to the gods. If a criminal turns themselves in then take
the best item, and 25% if they are a hardened criminal.

11. Arbiters will not hold or bring in to the headquarters another cabals
sacred item. Also you will not raid to help retrieve or to get an item.
If you kill a criminal who has a item then you are to return it to a
member of a the items cabal. Arbiters will not take sides in other Cabal
disputes.

12. You have been given many powers to help you enforce the law, do not abuse
any of them or they will be taken away this includes saying anything
blasphemies on the cabal channel.

Remember that you are an Arbiter of the Law. If you want the cabal
to be respected and the law upheld, then follow the rules contained
herein. The Law is everything.

Arbiter Witnesses

When looking in to a crime, all parties are to be considered equally. Weither
they are Good or Evil, a Knight of Thera or a Battle rager, it does not matter
in the eyes of the Law. All that matters is if they are a criminal or have
been in the past or if they are lawful. People who are with either party as a
group have a taint and thier words should be considered as questionable.

As for Knights of Thera and their honor and oaths, they are not to be taken
as any more then a statement. You must judge for yourself if what they are
saying is true and never take thier word over another based only on their
word or oath.

Arbiter Powers

As an arbiter, you have several cabal powers to further help you enforce
the law. Here they are, what they do and how to use them.

JUDGE - skill. When in the same room as someone, you may judge them to
find out their ethos and past crimes. 'Not a criminal' means they have
never been flagged. 'Occasional criminal' = 1-4 flags. 'Criminal' or
'Hardened Criminal' = 4+ flags. This information is important when one is
gathering evidence, or determining what percentage of possessions to return.

MANACLE - skill. Only usable on criminals. Removes their ability to cast
spells, and gives them a -10 dex penalty. Also it reduces Armor class and
imposes a penalties to Hit and Damage. This can be done to criminals even
if they are not within your PK range. Make sure you manacle them even if
you aren't strong enough to beat them yourself.

VIGILANCE - skill. Keep this on at _all_ times. Allows you to see hidden
and invisible people, but also allows you to tell true yells from false ones.
True yells say, ' yells wildly' whereas if someone fakes a yell it
will only say ' yells'. (It will also only say 'person yells' if you
do not have vigilance turned on. This is all most people can see.)

SHIELD OF JUSTICE - spell. Creates a shield you can use. This shield gets
better at ranks 21, 31 and 41, to a maximum of +4 hit/dam, and +80 HP.

GUARD CALL - spell. Summons your guards. This can only be done in protected
areas, and only once every 12 hours. They follow you everywhere, are the same
rank as you, and will attack criminals on sight. The guards are the same rank
as you, so as you gain ranks your guards will also get stronger.

WANTED - skill. Syntax is 'wanted y|n' - you can unflag people using
this skill, but should not do so unless you flagged them in the first place,
as per the instructions on the pillar.

By: Canopus of Whistlewood, Arbiter Elder

Arbiter Flaggings

It is important that flaggings are done properly and legally - nothing loses
an arbiter more respect than if they screw up on this, their most essential
function. The steps for flagging someone (assuming you hear the yell) are:

1 - Hear the yell. Make sure it is not fake, and that you are vigilant.

2 - Flag the person.

3 - Do a 'where' to ensure that they can be seen, and are in the same area
as the victim. Dopples do not show up on where commands. (more on entropy
and dopple in the book on Entropy).

4 - Send the flagged person a tell, stating why they are flagged. I usually
use 'You are WANTED for blackjack in Galadon' (change as appropriate). It
is a good idea to try and send a tell to 2.person as well; if there _is_ a
dopple, then the tell will go through. See Entropy book for more
information.

5 - Go kill them, if you can; manacle them if you can't.

6 - Loot the corpse. Guards can pick up things from the ground, or hold
things you give them. Grab as much as you can from the criminal's corpse,
give some to guards if you can, and watch what's left in the corpse, flagging
any looters (if the corpse is in town).

7 - Get to a safe place, and look at what you took. Take the amount you are
entitled to, and return the rest. Always keep weapons, as a rule.

8 - Send the no-longer criminal a tell, and arrange to have them get the rest
of their stuff. Anything you don't personally need should go to the cabal into
the donation pit for other Arbiters who may need it when they arrive in Thera.

If you do _not_ hear the yell personally, but rather have the crime reported
to you, then you have to investigate the crime. If it is the word of one
person against that of another, then it is not likely that you will be able to
place a flag with 100% certainty. No one can know the hidden motives of
another, and the complainant may be lying to try and get the other person into
trouble. The best thing to do is to find witnesses; preferably lawful ones who
have not been flagged (use Judge), but listen to all witnesses that are
available and assess their testimony based on their _ethos_ (not their
alignment). Groupmates generally are not the greatest witnesses, as they will
support whatever is said by their friend, but are better than nothing. Try
and find others in the town who saw the attack, heard the yell, etc. Ask the
victim if there was anyone else around who saw anything.

If you cannot get such proof that you are 98% sure of the accused's guilt, drop
the case. If the accused _is_ a criminal, they will commit other crimes and
get caught at that point. If the accuser is lying, however, then nothing can
remove the 'criminal' stain from a man wrongly flagged. Besides that, if you
place a flag wrongly, you may get bounced from the cabal--and it is better in
the long run that a criminal go free once than that we lose an arbiter forever.

By: Canopus of Whistlewood, Arbiter Elder

Arbiter Entropy

The biggest headache of any arbiter is the Entropy cabal. Some of them seek
to be chaotic in law-abiding ways, but others are out to break the law and
screw Arbiter any way they can. Here are some of the ways the Barons of
Chaos can cause trouble.

GARBLE - Renders you unable to cast spells or speak. Can only be done to you
if you are in their PK range.

DOPPLE - their most potent weapon. A doppled person does not show up on a
where command, nor do guards see through dopplegangs to shout the true name
true name of the person (although they will still attack a wanted dopple).
Despite this, there are ways around it. When flagging someone, always send a
tell to 2.person as well; if there is a dopple of that person, then the tell
will go through, otherwise it will say 'That person is not here'. If there
_is_ a dopple, look at the 'who wanted' screen. On that screen, the real name
appears. If you have flagged the 'wrong' person, remove the flag, and try
placing it on 2.person, then look again. It should be corrected at that point.
It is always a good idea to send that extra tell - that way, the criminal
can't tell you later 'It wasn't me - I was doppled!' as you will know better.

MIRROR - Barons can create many versions of themselves. If you are trying to
flag an entropy member, and you get back 'Mobs don't do crimes - their masters,
do' then try flagging 2.person, 3.person, etc. until you finally get an OK
message. Then check 'who wanted' just to be sure. Requesting something from a
mirror will cause them to attack the requester; This is a true yell (i.e.
'yells wildly') but the real person is not attacking. A flag should not be
placed for this, but you will have to investigate it quite thoroughly.

If the Book of Laws is gone, it is likely that Entropy has it. The location
of their cabal is as follows:
Stand on Park Road, SE of Galadon Bank. Then go: 10n, w, all n, d, all n,
east, north, west, all n. Cabal is to the west. All areas in the Entropy
cabal are randomized, so once you flee past (or kill) the defender, you will
have to scan the exits. First square in, there are two exits; one leads back
to defender, one leads further in. Second square, you should be able to see
the Entropy Healer if you scan - that is the Circle of Chaos, where the book
usually resides.
Also, there is a chance of becoming 'confused' every tick you are in the
Entropy cabal, so be aware of it when you leave, or try to attack anyone.

By: Canopus of Whistlewood, Arbiter Elder