In this document we have laid out the rules as clearly as possible and given the reasons why the rules exist. It has therefore become quite long. Please do take the time to read it though, as connecting to Valheru MUD implies your agreement to these rules of play. It is important to note that these rules are open to interpretation by the Immortals. One Immortal may judge more severely than another, so it is not advised to "only break them a little". If you truly feel you are innocent you may appeal your case to a higher level Immortal than the one who busted you.

Obviously there are ways around some of these laws, but abuse of loopholes just results in more damned rules, so why not play fair?

I got a little carried away playing lawyer here, so if any of this is hard to understand just ask me in game or by email. Otherwise you are assumed to have understood. - Iteki

1. Rule of Names.
Pick a name that is suitable for a medieval role playing MUD. Best of all is if you can choose a name that is suitable for your race. Searching the net for information on grolls, orcs, elves etc should give you an idea of how these races are usually named. Here are some examples of the sort of names that are not suitable. It is not a complete list, but should give you an idea.

- NPC (mob) names from the game, both racial and individual.
Adolf, Cityguard, Tiamat, Kobold, Satan
- Names with titles in them.
SirJames, HunterJoe, MightyMary, Sneakmaster
- Names making sentances, in fact no 'real words' at all.
IRock, BornToXP, NightshadeSux, DieTroll, BloodBlade
- Names of objects, animals etc.
Pickaxe, Oak, Wolf, Stingray
- Religious, godly or demonic names, also fictitious.
Jesus, Buddha, Paladine, Myrkul
- Names not suitable for a fantasy environment.
LaserDude, Nuke, Bombman, JetArm, Volvo
- Names of historical persons and celebrities.
Tyson, Hitler, Clinton, Madonna, LarryKing
- All CAPS or “chaos” CAPS letter names.
RHUNGARD, LaFiRarr, rHuGuL, MerTHO, KhuThUT
- Profane, offensive or "curse-like" names.
Sodof, Blowme, Fuckface, Asshole, Dickhead

WHY? This is a role-playing game. We wish to create a "realistic" environment that imitates a medieval fantasy world. Unsuitable names disturb that realism for other players. This policy came into effect 2000-02-13 and does not apply to characters created before then. Which is why you will still see people with names that are not in appliance with this policy.

If your name is not suitable an Immortal will ask you to change it. To do so you must log off and create a new character from scratch. XP, EQ, money etc are not transferred to the new character. Alert an immortal if you need help creating a name. Players deliberately and continuously picking offensive names risk being banned for a period of at least one month.

2. Multiplay Rules.
Valheru has a limited multi-play system. This means that while you are allowed to have more than one character you may not let them interact in any way. If this is hard to remember then just pretend your characters doesn’t know the other characters exist, or that they hate each other and would never do anything that would make the others life easier. Interaction between your characters is generally called "multi-play" on the mud, if you are unsure if a certain action would be multi-playing ask a god. If you are not sure if an action is mult-playing or not, it usually is. You may have as many characters as you like, but no more than three of them may be online at the same time.

WHY? The reason multi-playing is not allowed on Valheru is that we want people to interact with each other, not just play with themselves ;) For example, if you can heal your newbie and XP with a group made solely by your own characters then there is no reason for you to talk and cooperate with other players.

3. The Book Of Blood Rules.
The exact rules are under discussion at the moment as there is much that is unclear. The reasons for the rules do not, however, change. If you wish to contribute to the BOB-Rules discussion email rules@killing-time.co.uk stating your character name, BOB status, what the present rules as you understand them are, and what you think they should be to best benefit the game. Any and all other feedback or ideas are welcomed also.

WHY? The Book of Blood is a great way to let people who want to try their combat skills and EQ combinations on their friends do so. However sometimes certain people can get carried away and one character can end up being killed over and over again and loosing all their EQ. When people get stripped naked then there is no hope of them being able to fight back to retrieve their gear. This has fairly low entertainment value for the victim and in cases of "overkill" people can be more or less bullied off the MUD. This can make PK seem like a bad thing and frighten people from signing up, which means less BOBs. The more players we have both BOB and non-BOB the more fun we all have.

4. Rules of Conduct.
Everyone has the right to be an asshole. This however does not mean that harassment is accepted on Valheru. Bearing in mind that we players are from very varied backgrounds and age-groups we have some simple guidelines on what is cool and not.

- Please refrain from using strong swear words in public places (that is, say, shout and comm channels). "Mild" swearing is fine, roleplay curses (May your shield break in battle, you greasy son of a sewer troll!) is even better.
- Sexual, racial harassment etc is NOT acceptable and will be strongly punished.
- Best to let the Real World stay where it is. Keep the conflicts on a MUD level, if someone stole your girl in the Real World™ try not to turn others against them on the MUD ;) it is only a game after all.

5. Rules on Scripting.
Scripting means having triggers or aliases that automate certain parts of MUD life. It is almost impossible to have a proper rule about scripting since it is so hard to enforce. Extensive scripting is not allowed. Light scripting is. For example it is totally OK to have an alias that changes your EQ for you, that’s why we have dictionaries. It is however not OK to have triggers and aliases that allow you to xp completely AFK for long periods of time. Try use some judgement in the matter.

WHY? To try and keep things fair. Some people pay per minute for their internet and are with their characters BTK at all times, some people have flat-rate at home or school and just log their character into an XP group and then go to work, sleep, school etc. They end up winning the competitions and getting the nice renames and DILs etc without actually being present or contributing to the atmosphere of the MUD.

PUNISHMENT: Varies. Since this is such a hard rule to "police" it is up to the judgement of the "arresting officer" ;)

Five rules, it's not a lot. Keep them in mind and we should get along nicely.