• This is a roleplaying game and the mechanics of the game should be seen as tools to tell a story. Playing optimized or meta gaming is not okay, if you play too strong you might get a debuff to stabilize game health, but if you deliberately optimize your playstyle and it does not fit your RP narrative, then it is a rulebreak.

• Remember this is a multiplayer game and we value community health very high. Rivalries between players, bullying, bleeding or personal attacks are not tolerated. Memeing about other players or their nations are not okay unless they consent to it. Your nations RP should be aimed at their nations RP, not the players.

• If you feel treated unfairly please contact a game controller immediately.

• No exploiting of the loan system/bankruptcies.

• War declarations in player vs. player have to follow the guidelines of EU4 War Declarations .

• AI wars with the intention to demand any land from a player allied to the war target is considered a PvP war and needs to follow the rules for PvP declarations.

• Condottieri:
  Using condottieri in player wars must be agreed upon during the debate of the War Declarations. It should be written whenever they are allowed in the statement. If both sides agrees to them, then condottieri are allowed and with no limits. We demand a high standard of the roleplay use of condottieri. Jumping around the alliance rule by having some players of your alliance block simply join in as condottieri is not acceptable.

• Disinherit & Re-Electing:

  • Disinheriting requires a roleplaying statement explaining what is going on inside your nation since this heir decides / was forced to leave the line of succession. Exploiting disinheriting is a major rulebreak.

  • Re-election of the same ruler occurred historically a lot. But re-electing the same ruler again and again requires a major RP path in your narrative and should be statements.

• Alliances (Player Wars only):

  • Each player has 4 player slots on both sides.

    • Great Powers count as 2 player slots.

  • Ways to increase player slots (+1 each):

    • National ideas & idea groups that increases diplomatic relations.

    • Being Holy Roman Emperor or the Papal States.

    • Increased diplomatic relations from great projects, government reforms, events, missions ex does not increase player slots.

• No Blobbing

• No Meta Gaming or Exploiting

• No Meta abuse of mages

• No exploiting of the loan system/bankruptcies

• Expansion Rules explains how we view expansion and how our expansion limits function

• Be reasonable with your peace deals

• Scorched Earth can only be used in your OWNED provinces

• No bullying, bleeding or trying to hurt other players personally

• Use common sense and prioritize role play narrative over winning

• If you feel treated unfairly please contact your Game Controller

• War declarations in player vs. player have to follow the guidelines of EU4 War Declarations

• Honorable Duel is a special war justification for RP duels between two nations. And has additional rules:  Honorable Duel Rules

• When declaring war against someone who is already engaged in a player war you need GC approval. 

  • To be able to declare a war like this you need to "punch up", meaning your war target needs to be stronger than you

  • Respectively declaring an additional war against someone that is considered weaker or equal to your strength (punching down or even) is not allowed

  • Your RP reasons to go to war must differ from the war your target is already fighting (no splitting up of what in RP should be one war party)

• AI wars with the intention to demand any land from a player allied to the war target is considered a PvP war and needs to follow the rules for PvP declarations

• If either side wants to have more than 15k on their side, you will have to discuss the number of condos as part of the war declaration.

• You can not have more colonies then you have colonists (you can finish started ones)

• Military idea groups can't make up more than 1/3 of your total current idea groups (rounded down,  1-3 ideas = 1 mil, 4-6 ideas = 2 mil, etc.).

• You can only conquer land from free cities if they are co-belligerated.

• Undead Army, or allying with undead army nation, can only be done with GC approval. 

• Lichdom behind GC approval. 

• Nations with “Dwarovar Claimer” modifier can’t go over 10 FL in player wars. 

• Mainland Sarhal nations can not pick idea group with colonizer before tech 7.

• You can only dev institutions if you have an RP reason and post for it.

• You must adopt the National Ideas of the nation you are forming .

• Alliances (Player Wars only)

  • Each conflict has 5 player slots on each side

    • GP's (rank 8 and above) count as 2 player slots

    • Super GP's count as 3 player slots

  • Ways to increase alliance slots (+1 each)

    • National ideas & idea groups that increases diplomatic relations

    • Permanent Mission Rewards

    • Permanent Province Modifiers

    • Great Projects

  • Sources with +X relations only give +1 alliance slot

  • For coalition wars other coalition members do not count as alliance slots, but you can not call in allies not in the coalition without GC approval
    
    

Remember that you can always make exceptions to these rules if all participating and affected players agree. Be advised that in this case GCs can only provide limited moderation.

General Rules

• Follow the Universal Commandments of the Server.
  These rules are above all else and should always be followed to the letter. 

• GC Rulings
  Any ruling made by a GC in a session is final and must not be brought up again in that session. Should you feel that a GCs decision is incorrect or unfair then a ticket can be raised after the game to further discuss it. 

• Use of the rules.
  These rules are guidelines, it is the GCs prerogative whether or not to allow for the bending of these rules as well as the extension of them to cover actions not mentioned bellow. 4.Restrictions Certain Civics and Origins will be restricted or banned. The list for these will be announced alongside the season announcement post.

RP Rules 

• No Copying exact tropes, fictional empires or real nations.
  While we do accept taking inspiration for the nation you create, we expect for it not to be too similar to an existing nation whether it be fictional or from earth's past or present. 

• Keep your rp sensible.
  While we accept that a game like Stellaris can often lead to silly or outrageous situations, we do expect that rp be kept sensible and for the most part serious. For example we expect all the names that you can edit yourself to be serious as these are meant to represent the real people and places of your Empire. 

• Federations must have considerable buildup and commitment. Federations are an important institution and should be represented as such by your rp. We expect there to be reasoning behind a Federations formation and consistent rp to be done beforehand to build up to its formation. After its formation however it should be treated as a real organisation and as such mean that all members should be expected to consistently do rp regarding the federation for as long as they're in it. Should a member of a federation not have rp in relation to the federation then actions may be taken by the GC's depending on the specific situation regarding it and should a member consistently not interact with it then it is expected for the other members to act as any member would if an equal wasn't pulling their weight. 

• Your rp must be consistent with how your empire has been built.
  The choice you make must remain consistent with the Origin, Civics, Ethics and Traits that you pick for your nation. Choices in game, whether related to other players, AI or just decisions or events that you can make, must follow what the nation you built would do as opposed to what would be the best logically or mechanically. All events, special projects, anomalies and similar mechanics and decisions should be treated as if you don't know the rewards as to put further enthuses on the rp potential of these decisions.

• Actions taken in game are always canon.
  Any action you take as a player in game is considered canon and will not be changed without legitimate reasoning. You are expected to live with your decision and play the consequences of them out in rp. You should also respect the actions taken in game by other players, for example if another player is purposely harming or improving relations with you it should be reflected in rp you conduct with them in the future. (edited) 

• Any action taken against a player that will directly affect them must be communicated beforehand.
  This is a cooperative experience and as such even if an action is meant to be a surprise the player must be informed of it beforehand so that you may work together to make the best rp out of the situation. Any disagreements that arise due to this are to be brought up to a GC before any escalation. 

• Any decisions in rp that will majorly affect multiple other players directly must be discussed with a GC beforehand.
  So to ensure the game balance and stability of the game and major decisions made in your rp that will affect more than just yourself should be discussed with the GC team first to allow us to properly vet the decision to allow you to progress your rp without it leading to excess negativity with other players.

Expansion/Development Rules

• Snaking.
  Although Snaking is understood to be a part of Stellaris there is still a distinction between what is acceptable and what is malicious. For example, in the early game Snaking for one of your habitable worlds or for an important resource deposit is fully acceptable. However, for example, Snaking to cut off another player expansion route is not. 

• Keep yourself in check.
  Good RP requires you to take a step back.

• War Rules

• All player wars must have a post in the War Declaration channel.
  All wars must have a post in the War Declaration channel that lists participants, the war goals of each side and the demands of each party. 

• Wars must have consent of both parties and have an equivalent demand.
  Wars must be planned beforehand with the consent of both the primary war combatants and any demands must ,unless both sides have agreed not to, have equivalent value. Any issues that arise due to this should be brought up to a GC.

• Aim to Vassalize, Not Destroy.
  Due to the nature of Stellaris we wish for all players to be able to continue as the nation they built and to rp as them following any wars they have engaged in. As such we expect players to aim to vassalise other players instead of destroying there nations to allow for this. Should both players agree to a nation being destroyed however then it is allowed. In either scenario however a GC must be informed to mediate over the process. 

• Titan and World Cracker restrictions.
  Weapons carried by Titan class ships and World "Crackers" (assuming your opponent agrees to their use in a war) of any kind (shield, Holy, Big smashy smash) cannot use jump-drive technology; flinging all those volatile weapons half way across the galaxy is a recipe for disaster. This is extended even further for World Crackers, who are unable to use gateways either. Shockingly, folding space and jamming enough physics melting engines to decimate a planet inside tends not to go well for anybody involved. (edited)

Rules Document

• https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSjrtAM8bJ6DCZbavW-YBI7nqEl0XKzQcJLLd2gy_HmU5xLWCnqTbmuDXB--JWf5vMeAfXcFoPN7Z_5/pub 

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