ALLIANCE INVASIONS

Description

Invasions may occur in four Alyrian towns, one on each continent; Pirate's Cove, Templeton, Sigil, and Xaventry. Invaders come in a variety of forms, with varied attack techniques and strategies. A town may be defended against by an alliance that has taken on that town as its hometown. Hometowns may be granted by retrieving encoded notes for stronghold guards, who alliance liaisons that exist in each of the four towns, in special alliance strongholds. The encoded notes are possessed or guarded by various Alyrian monsters, which must be killed before the notes can be taken and retrieved in order for a hometown to be granted. Invaders will only target hometowns that have defenders. To see which town an alliance has sworn to protect, view its ALLIANCE INFO.

Every invasion is headed by a unique leader. The leader is invulnerable until all of its minions are killed by members of the defending alliance. When the leader dies, the invasion has failed and the defenders are rewarded. When an invasion starts, many invaders infiltrate the town, and are backed up by gradually diminishing of reinforcements every Alyrian hour. The stronghold guard gives a warning forty Alyrian minutes before each wave of reinforcements comes, announcing that they are coming. Individual invaders do not give rewards for being slain, but rewards are instead based upon Favor Points (FP), which are granted in direct relation to the speed with which a given invasion is repelled by the town's defenders. If all of the minions and the leader are not killed in 9 Alyrian hours, they successfully finish invading the town, and proceed to pillage it. Questmasters and shopkeepers are kidnapped, and townsfolk are murdered. Kidnapped dignitaries are held for approximately six Alyrian hours until they are released. If an invasion is successful, the defending alliance falls from favor, losing [500+(200 for every 10 invaders remaining)] FP. If at any time an alliance has 0 or fewer FP, that alliance is kicked out of the town, is no longer defending it, is deprived of rewards, and may not get another hometown for 30 Alyrian days.

Preparations

Preparations for invasions start eight Alyrian days before the actual invasion commences. The town's stronghold guard will give a warning at the eight day mark, and three more times at the six, four, and two day marks preceding the actual invasion. Anytime between the invasion is first planned and the actual invasion, any alliance member may NUDGE the STRONGHOLD GUARD, and he will announce the exact Alyrian time that he was notified of the plans: eight Alyrian days after that time is when the invasion proper will ensue. If the time at which the invasion will begin is inconvenient for the defenders, a clan owner of the alliance may opt to SAYTO STRONGHOLD "PROVOKE". Doing so will make the stronghold guard provoke the invaders into attacking immediately.

Invasion

When an invasion is occurring, any member of the alliance may POKE the STRONGHOLD GUARD, and he will announce how many invaders remain within the town. If the invaders are all killed within the designated time, FP are granted at a rate of [.75*(Alyrian seconds remaining before the invaders triumph)]. If it took defenders exactly an hour to kill the minions and the invader leader, they would be rewarded with 1550; for two hours, 350 FP.

Bribery

At any time, the stronghold guard may be given gold by a clan owner of the alliance to initiate a conspiracy against a specified alliance's hometown. At a cost of 2000 FP, the stronghold guard will incite invaders to head towards another hometown imminently. If the acting alliance has fewer than 2000 FP, they may not initiate the conspiracy.

Pennants, Invader Attention And Rewards

Within each stronghold, there exists a pennant on a flagpole that serves as a sort of barometer for pride and temerity. The pennant has 4 heights, each correllated to a maximum of rewards granted and gradually increasing probability of invasion. To alter the height of the pennant, simply PULL FLAGPOLE; at its highest setting, pulling it will lower it to the bottom. To prevent tomfoolery, the flagpole may only be pulled once every Alyrian day, although it may be raised and lowered by any alliance member. At its lowest, the pennant only attracts 25% as much invader attention as the highest setting, resulting in infrequent invasions; however, due to cowardice, only minimal FP rewards may be taken advantage of. As the pennant rises, the probability of invasions increases faster, and