Guard's and Rules in a city.

[Miah]

Hi all.

Alright, i'm posting here just to try and discuss and maybe get some clarification on ground rules around conduct in towns where guards are prevalent, such as capital cities, neutral cities and the like. If anyone knows of any official rules to the server regarding this, I would be very happy to be pointed to them, as other than the general respect and common sense rules, I can't find any specifically on the topic.

The issue being, what would a guard react to? Would they always help? Would they help everyone?

SO i put together a little..kind of like a min-compendium of how in my mind the guards would act. its all opinion so don't get me wrong I wouldn't ever force beliefs on someone, i'm here to role-play with people after all

1. Remember who you are.

Okiedoke, this is my first worry reguarding the guards. You have to take into consideration who you are, and who the guards and general population are, if you want to feel safer around the guards. For example, in Stormwind, a human paladin is probably going to be much safer with the guards than a night elf death knight. If a clash came about between the two, unless it was utterly beyond a doubt that the paladin had caused all the trouble, then it is likely that the deathknight would be the one to be thrown out of the place where the trouble started. Why? Because there is far more hate and distrust towards them in stormwind than there is to paladins.

But if we take that human paladin to ratchet, it could be a whole different story. If an orc and a human confronted each other there, the goblins would likely throw them both out within an instant of them being disruptive. Even if the character is rich, or has spent a lot of money on the goblins, barroom brawls are very bad for buisness, and a goblin would likely see you ousted in moments, and wouldnt care if you were an honorable paladin, an all powerfull warlock or a blind old woman.

I guess what im trying to say is. Take into account when your choosing a race and class, where you want to RP, and how you want the character to be percieved, as depending on both your race and class, you will be treated a lot different. Deathknights have a very hard time everywhere except ebon-blade outposts, as do warlocks if they make themselves known, and each class and race has it's own safe havens and danger zones.

2. Your conduct.

In most of these cities, such as ratchet or in Stormwind, the guards have a presence mostly everywhere, and a commotion is gonna draw even more attention. If you spend all your time antagonizing other people, these guards are going to notice. Imagine your the guard, and you see someone picking a fight with others for a good hour of the day. Your far less likely to step in and help them right away, because, lets face it, they have it coming to them. They won't come and save the day the moment you call if you bring it on yourself. Now of course, if your an innocent victim of a random crime, then they likely will. Just take into account that the guards are not 2 dimensional NPC's, imagine them as real characters, if your making their job harder, and purposefully causing trouble, they will likely just throw you out before you have a chance to cause fights.

Final point. If your in view of a guard, and start causing trouble, they will likely intervene before you get a chance to do much of anything. If you wanna cause trouble however, which can make for some fun RP, remember almost every city has back alley's and hidden places where the guards won't see. Im not saying don't cause trouble, be evil or agressive or violent tempered, just, keep it logical

Phew, I wrote a lot more than I thaught. Oh, and I certainly don't wanna start any kind of flame war or anything like that, but if people want to raise points I missed, or question things I wrote, then I of course don't mind.

[Manufreak101]

Excellent guide,
Makes sense,
Problem is we're only either in a Human city, a neutral goblin town, or a orc city.
Only humans and Orcs can benefit on the guards ever being on their side.

[Miah]

Well, in silvermoon the blood elves will certainly have authority, in undercity the undead will, basically capitals look after their own race most, though some more than others.

[JackofBlades]

like Miah said, some more then others...human guards might take a gnome or dwarf's side in Stormwind for example over a Night elf because A) Night elves are distrusting as it is I believe and B) Ironforge is in direct connection to Stormwind.

[Silverstripe]

I'm curious as to how this will be affected with Cataclysm coming. Since the goblins are now allied with the Horde, they would no longer retain neutral relations with the Alliance. So, I'm wondering if Alliance will be attack-on-sight or if some of their cities will still be neutral commerce centers, like Booty Bay and Ratchet. If they are, I'm guessing their guards might start leaning towards more friendly relations with the Horde races and less so with the Alliance races.

Like in that fight. Maybe they'd kick out the human paladin, but the orc would get off with a warning.

[Miah]

Only a specific group of goblins join the horde. Its the same with trolls, only a certain group of them are allied with the horde.

[Piroska]

It's important to recognize that just because one group within a race joins a specific faction, it does not mean that all of them do. Goblins will remain overwhelmingly neutral, beholden to their interests and their interests alone; it's just a select group that eventually joins the Horde.

[Beltharean]

I just made a post not noticing this thread here... I guess great minds think alike, heh. I'm just gonna copy/paste the post right onto here!

I've been reading through the Earthen Ring wiki's article on The Laws of Stormwind. They seem rather reasonable, and a good addition to RP. I normally play pretty rowdy characters who are prone to breaking the law, and I know there are quite a few other people with similar characters *cough* Anyone in The Crew *cough*. It seems like a good idea to, on our own wiki, have a list of set laws for say... Alliance lands, Horde lands, and then the Cartel cities. What say you? :B

[Kaghuros]

It's important to recognize that just because one group within a race joins a specific faction, it does not mean that all of them do. Goblins will remain overwhelmingly neutral, beholden to their interests and their interests alone; it's just a select group that eventually joins the Horde.

And heck, even the ones in the Horde are fairly profit-minded and independent.

[LuckyDave]

And heck, even the ones in the Horde are fairly profit-minded and independent.

Right, for more distinct clarification. The Steamwheedle cartel remain the independent, neutral controllers of Ratchet, Booty Bay, Everlook, Gadgetzan, and anywhere I forgot about. The Bilgewater Cartel, a recently introduced division of the goblin race, have sworn allegiance to Thrall after being stripped of much of their goods and holdings by a catastrophe and being shown aggression by Alliance naval vessels.
This means that when you're in Booty bay, they won't treat an orc, or probably even a bilgewater Goblin (Because the trade princes are constant rivals), any different than they would a night elf or a gnome.

Concerning the great post at the top of this thread, those are very good guidelines. It is important to think about both who you want to be and how you want people to react to you when creating a character to roleplay.

[Darkneon]

Besides the obvious laws of a city, you have to also take into account the system of government. Say as in Silvermoon. Arcane Guardians spit propaganda, rowdy civilians in the Bazaar are mind-controlled into submission, and Blood Elfs have a jingoist attitude, it's safe to assume Silvermoon has a Facist-like government. Regardless if you broke a law or not, whether you're blood elf or not, if you get on the authorities bad side - you're in trouble.

However, this is not the same in a place like Stormwind. It has a monarchy. Even though laws are enforced, the king's word is law. If he says bar fights are cool, you can have bar fights. This also means that the authorities act in the interest of the king - not the civilians. So if you say something bad about the king, you're going to be hanged for treason.

Night Elf, Tauren, and Orc cities are also different because they rely on tribal codes of honor and tradition. Thus, why Thrall is able to be overthrown and spoken against in Cataclysm.

This is just something else to take into consideration when determining what flies in the city life.

[SpiralLateralus]

And heck, even the ones in the Horde are fairly profit-minded and independent.

Right, for more distinct clarification. The Steamwheedle cartel remain the independent, neutral controllers of Ratchet, Booty Bay, Everlook, Gadgetzan, and anywhere I forgot about. The Bilgewater Cartel, a recently introduced division of the goblin race, have sworn allegiance to Thrall after being stripped of much of their goods and holdings by a catastrophe and being shown aggression by Alliance naval vessels.
This means that when you're in Booty bay, they won't treat an orc, or probably even a bilgewater Goblin (Because the trade princes are constant rivals), any different than they would a night elf or a gnome.

Concerning the great post at the top of this thread, those are very good guidelines. It is important to think about both who you want to be and how you want people to react to you when creating a character to roleplay.

The Bilgewater is also kind of forced into joining the Horde. Their leader Gallywix actually tries to enslave the Bilgewater (and also steals the player characters girlfriend). This is because you freed Thrall, and I think Gallywix planned on killing Thrall. Well, Thrall ends up kicking ass and taking names, and forces Gillywax into an alliance with the Horde.

[Benislav]

Besides the obvious laws of a city, you have to also take into account the system of government. Say as in Silvermoon. Arcane Guardians spit propaganda, rowdy civilians in the Bazaar are mind-controlled into submission, and Blood Elfs have a jingoist attitude, it's safe to assume Silvermoon has a Facist-like government. Regardless if you broke a law or not, whether you're blood elf or not, if you get on the authorities bad side - you're in trouble.

However, this is not the same in a place like Stormwind. It has a monarchy. Even though laws are enforced, the king's word is law. If he says bar fights are cool, you can have bar fights. This also means that the authorities act in the interest of the king - not the civilians. So if you say something bad about the king, you're going to be hanged for treason.

Night Elf, Tauren, and Orc cities are also different because they rely on tribal codes of honor and tradition. Thus, why Thrall is able to be overthrown and spoken against in Cataclysm.

This is just something else to take into consideration when determining what flies in the city life.

This is right. Except Thrall being overthrown. Thrall left on his own means to hold the world together. He can be found in the maelstrom making sure it doesn't tear Azeroth apart. He is very much an agent of the horde and will probably resume his post as Warchief come next expansion.

Back on topic, you have to remember cultures as well. For example, if a human and Night Elf get into a fight in Darnassus, the guards will be on the night elf's side, but it may be different if the Night Elf is burning a tree. Draenei will probably take the side of the person who isn't a warlock.

And, as has been said, only the Bilgewater Cartel of goblins joins the horde. Even though they're still pretty fiscally oriented, they are allied with the horde, and it isn't forced. Keep in mind, while Gallywix was forced to join the horde, the others weren't, and are probably very happy to be kept out of slavery, as well as thankful to Thrall for it.

[Arrillion]

To add something, if you like to pick fights with nobles, or vice versa. There's a big chance you will be blamed, nobles seem to get away with more things because they are..nobles.