THE RULES | read carefully

[ADMIN]

General

• Be respectful. If you disagree with someone, settle it professionally. There is absolutely no Out of Character drama here. If you really need to, bring it to an admins attention.
• Cursing is allowed, but make an attempt to keep it with the rating of PG-13, as mandated by ProBoards Terms of Service.
• Contention's Secret is catered toward intermediate to advanced writers and has a word count minimum of 200 for IC posts.
• 1 site year equals 4 real life months - 1 season per month.
• ALL horses age up every spring. Staff will post a reminder notice each site year to help you remember this if you forget.

Breeding

• Graphic breeding is absolutely not allowed. Fade to black.
• Breeding on-site is the only way to obtain a Hybrid.
• Cross-breeding between empires is highly frowned upon in society.
• Items can be purchased in the store to get the exact foal(s) you want.
• Both the sire and the dam must post in the conception board before foal stats will be posted.
• A stallion can force breed a mare without player permission if he has successfully stolen her.
• Kings can force breed once per season without player permission.
• Foals are born in the spring, though the conception thread can be created any time. There is an item in the store that will allow for immediate birth.
• Mares can be pregnant only once per site year.
• The Sire and Dam must have at least one finished thread together before conception can be considered.

Stealing

• Any horse over the age of 4 can steal.
• To steal, a horse must travel to the royal land of the empire they wish to steal from. There, he or she will post a riddle depicting the equine being stolen. This riddle is required to have at least 4 different hints about the horse.
• Kings can block any of their subjects. Herd Leaders can block anyone in their herd.
• Kings and Leads can only be blocked by each other or their respective mate or beta.
• How many blocks a kingdom has is determined by how many citizens live there. For every 10 citizens, a kingdom gets 1 block in each steal attempt. This number will round up, so if a kingdom has 11 horses, the King/Leads can block up to 2 horses each.
• Leaders and Kings have the right to challenge the would-be thief to a battle provided they post the challenge within 24 hours of the horse being stolen. If the said thief flees, he forfeits. If he wins the battle, he gets the original horse he was attempting to steal and one other of his choice.
• If a steal riddle is left unanswered for 4 days, the horse is automatically stolen.
• If a challenge is left unanswered for 4 days, the stolen horse is returned.
• Any horse can be stolen.
• The captive can challenge his or her captor after 2 weeks. Winning guarantees release. Losing continues the captivity. Captives can challenge for freedom every 2 weeks after.
• The captive's king, leader, beta, or mate can also challenge for the captive's freedom.
• The captor can work out some sort of deal for the release of his or her captive.
• There are no cool-down or waiting periods required between steals.
• A stolen horse can only post where the captor allows.

Challenging

• Any Ruler can be challenged. 
• Challengers for kingship must be at least 5 years old, have completed at least 5 threads, and be a member of that kingdom's magic class.

• Challengers for leadership must be at least 4 years old, have completed at least 2 threads, and be a member of that empire's magic class.
• Challengers for freedom from captivity can be any age.

• To Challenge a King or Leader simply post IC in the territory that he/she lives. For a captive to challenge his or her captor, the thread would be in the land(s) he or she is allowed to post in.
• Challenges are judged like any other one-on-one fight.
• If the opponents are of opposite gender, the male will get a slight advantage.

• Challenges are judged by the staff and one or two unbiased members.
  

Fighting

• Any two horses can fight.
• Rewards for winning are to be discussed and decided upon at the beginning of the fight.
• Each opponent is allowed 3 fighting posts. In these, there can only be 1 dodge, 1 block, and 3 attacks.
• Each opponent must reply within 48 hours of the previous post. Failure to do so will be considered forfeiture.
• Fights are judged by the staff and one or two unbiased members.

Claiming Land

• A horse must be at least 4 years old to claim an open land.
• To claim, a horse must have at least 2 completed threads as a member of their kingdom. Loners must have at least 2 completed threads as a Loner.
• Kings can create additional requirements for would-be Leaders. These must be listed clearly in the royal rules or hierarchy.
• Any land in any territory is able to be claimed by any horse.
• Land outside the kingdom may only be claimed if the kingdom is currently in possession of both their territories. 

Warfare

• Generally, in order for one herd to take over the land of another, the two herds must battle. A leader can challenge the leader of another herd, as well.
• Empires may only battle for another empire's land if they are in control of both their own homelands.

• If an empire has both their territories and controls another, then loses one of their homelands, they must regain that land in order to control more lands. Ones they already control will stay in their possession. 
• Battle threads (unlike normal one-on-one fights) consist of multiple horses working as a team to defeat an opposing team.
• Each herd can send up to 4 members.
• The first team will make all of their posts back-to-back, creating a defense of some sort. The second team will then all post back-to-back in an attack of that defense. Both sides will regroup and swap roles. Now the second team will create a defense, and the first team will attack.
• Battles will be judged based on the ingenuity, success, and creativity as well as grammar and spelling.
• Judges will be the staff and/or unbiased members.
• Once a kingdom is reduced to only it's royal land, it is able to be challenged. However, both the empire's homelands must be controlled by one kingdom. Unless, for example, two empires owned both the mainlands and had a truce, in which case either empire could challenge the royal kingdom. 

• Only King's may challenge King's in order to take over the entire empire.
• For the defeated kingdom to regain their empire's territory, they must first retake their royal land.