The entire world is divided up into hundreds of "zone" areas, or areas of influence. Upon character creation, players are given a great horn of their race, which they will never lose unless they betray their race. Within each territory, the players must hook their race's horn up to a special artifact in each zone. Some examples are: a great hollowed out tree, a special rock, a hole in the roof of a cave, or an abandoned fortress with a place where sound echoes off the walls. Players can blow the great horn (each race has a different note that is blown) and it will summon some NPCs from the nearest city. They ride in real time. When they arrive, they will fortify the area and it will then belong to the player’s race. When the player blows the horn, the territory starts flashing on the Political Map. This alerts everyone that the area is under attack.
If players are convicted of being a traitor to their race, then their horn is taken away and split in two. The player must try to get one from another race. The traitorous act is usually killing many players of the same race. Any player who falls too low in their overall racial faction is in danger of being convicted of betrayal. In this way, players can essentially change what race they are aligned with. If they lower their faction with their race and raise it with another, then they can switch over. They will now spawn in the new race's land, and can quest to get that race's horn.
Capturing Cities
When players attack a city controlled by another race, all the NPCs can be killed. This includes bankers, merchants, rulers, crafting instructors, and farmers. Buildings will have realistic structures. Players destroy wooden buildings by actively torching them. They destroy stone buildings by smashing them with a hammer or similar weapon. Siege engines can be used to destroy anything. Frequently, however, in a city siege, players may want to destroy as little as possible to reduce the amount that they must rebuild later. The city is captured when a player acquires the ruler's three things (throne, scepter, and crown). When this happens, a cry of victory goes up from the attacking NPCs that are with the players and the Political Map changes to reflect the capture. There is then a five minute period where there is no punishment for looting/pillaging.