Anvil ref processes

This page contains guidance information for a number of processes typically encountered by Anvil refs. It does not cover specific rituals that require unusual handling, as that is a fairly extensive topic by itself, and has a separate page here.

For ease of finding what you need, and avoiding overwhelming amounts of text, each section on this page starts out collapsed and can be individually expanded and collapsed.

Bonding an item to a band

• Specific magic items bond to bands rather than individuals
  • Gonfalons bond to Banners and must meet the magical standards phys-rep requirements
  • Paraphernalia bond to Covens and should be orbs, books, chalices or similar
  • Reliquaries bond to Sects and can be any phys-rep of a suitable relic, statue, chalice, tome, or actual reliquary
• Bonding works the same way as any other magic item but the target character ID should be someone who is currently a member of the Band
  • The item will bond to the Band, not to the individual
    • There is no requirement that the individual used for the item bonding remains bonded to the band afterwards, the item stays bonded to the band even if that individual does not.
    • The individual does not need any free "slot" for the bonding to work - these items do not use a Weapon, Armour, or Talisman slot
    • A Band may only have a single item bonded to them at a time

Detect Conjunction

Important Dates and times given for conjunctions/plot encounters etc use "Game Day" even at/after midnight. e.g. 'Saturday 00:00' or 'Saturday 01:00' is at the end of Saturday night, not the end of Friday.

• Players may be looking at conjunctions in one of 2 ways, which are processed differently:
  • In Character - using the Discover Conjunction version of Detect Magic to discover IC information about the conjunction
  • OOC - requesting accessibility information about the conjunction
• IC version:
  • Character performs a Detect Magic spell on the Sentinel Gate, using the Discover Conjunction variant of the spell
  • Select the "Magic" menu, and "Detect Conjunction" from this menu
  • Ensure the "Event" dropdown at the bottom is set to the correct event, and enter the character's ID in the "Caster" box
  • Get as much location information as you can from the player - ideally Nation, Territory, and Region - and enter this information in the dropdown boxes
    • Note that it is not absolutely necessary to complete all the boxes - selecting a Nation will subset the options in the other 2 to only Territories/Regions in that Nation, and similarly selecting a Territory will subset the Region list to only the Regions of the Territory. However, you can just directly select from the longer list(s) in the lower level box(es) without selecting the higher level ones.
    • The "Count:" text will update to show how many conjunctions are present for the selected nation/territory/region. You can force it to include all conjucntions for an event by setting the Nation dropdown to any nation and then setting it back to the blank value at the top of the list
    • A count of 0 means no conjunctions are found in the selected nation/territory/region
    • Assuming that the count is higher than 0, selecting the "Conjunctions" tab to the right will reveal a list of all the conjunctions found in this nation/territory/region, each with a more specific "Location". The character should be able to tell you this specific location information (or something approximating it) in order to positively identify the conjunction. If they do not have this information then they will generally not be able to identify a conjunction.
    • If they have identified the location correctly, click the "Select" button to get the info on the conjunction. Note that this action logs on the plot page that the Detect Conjunction has occurred (along with when, which character, and which ref's account processed it). Plot writers use this information to gauge interest in their plot, so it is important to process the IC checks this way - but also not helpful to click through multiple different conjunctions trying to identify a specific one (as this will log a check occurring on each one each time).
      • If you need to look at different conjuncions to determine which one it is, use the OOC version to do so and then, if an IC check is still being performed, process the IC version on the now correctly identified location.
    • Give the player the information revealed - the date & time, duration, and size (i.e. number of people who can enter the conjunction through the gate). Check if they also want the OOC information on accessibility, combat likelihood etc., and give that to them as well if they want it.
• OOC version:
  • Select the "Plot" menu, and click the "Show Conjunction Data" button (this button toggles back and forth between conjunctions and encounters)
  • Use the search boxes to subset the list of conjunctions if necessary
  • Get information from the player(s) to identify the conjuynction they are interested in (date/time, location etc.)
  • Click "Select" for a conjunction to get additional information
    • Unlike the IC version, this does not log a check as having occurred
  • This will open the plot information on the "Description" tab - generally you will need the information on the "Access" tab, and possibly the "Conjunction" tab.
    • You can give the players any/all information from the "Access" tab, and/or the date/time, duration, size, combat, and accessibility information from the "Conjunction" tab
      • The "Conjunction" tab is also where logged checks will appear from using the IC version (this is not information that the players should be given, as it represents IC information that they should not be able to access)
    • You should generally not reveal information to players from the other tabs, but it may sometimes be useful to you in identifying/confirming the correct conjunction from info the players give you.

Generating S&P/Visions Packets

• On the database, under the Plot menu, Schedule sub-menu:
  • Select "Rituals" in Summary (the upper left dropdown box)
  • Select Sign And Portents in Ritual (2nd row of dropdown boxes, 3rd from right)
  • Press the "Print Signs" button - this will generate a PDF of the visions in a random order
    • Note that it is helpful for each pack of visions to be in a (different) random order, to make it more likely that each individual vision gets issued at least once
  • Send the document to a printer
    • Generally the printer in the Ref Access Tent should be used, but the GOD printers can also be used if needed or more convenient
    • The document is formatted to use A5 pages - if possible, set the page size as A5 and load the printer with A5 paper
  • To print additional packs, refresh the page (to reset the random order) and repeat from the Press the "Print Signs" button step

Pop-up Box on Rituals

• When you process a ritual there is a green information box that pops up with stuff about roleplaying effects etc. and anything additional you need to do as a ref
• Remember to read this after processing a ritual, even if you have processed it before, This is because:
  • Ritual effects change, people forget things, and humans make mistakes. This helps limit the impact of that.
  • Rich has the access rights needed to edit ritual information, and usually tries to update these reminders about event-specific effects where relevant (but note that obviously this info appears after you have processed the ritual)

Recording database notes

There are 2 types of note you can record, “User” or “Ref”, each with different uses and visibility

• User notes are:
  • Visible to anyone with crew database access
  • Typically entered on records for something that exists In Character (e.g. item, ritual, character etc.)
  • Usually used to provide additional information, not otherwise captured in standard database fields
• Ref notes are:
  • Visible only to those with specific access rights
  • Typically entered on player records
  • Usually used to record referee write-ups of individuals and incidents

When you enter a note on the “Notes” tab of any record, there is a dropdown box labelled “Type” – this defaults to “User Note”; if you need it to be recorded as a Ref Note instead then make sure you select this in the dropdown. Some processes (e.g rituals, item bondings, and ceremonies) have a “Notes” field on the processing page - these are stored separately to the “Notes” tab, and do not have a type. For practical purposes they have the same visibility as User Notes.

User Notes are visible to anyone with access to the record that they are on. They are used for providing additional information that may be required, but for which there is no standard database field – e.g. if the performance of a ritual has taken an event-specific plot opportunity; or on a potion record, where the potion says “see ref”, to tell you what to do when the player comes to see you. They are typically made in relation to something (or someone) who exists in game - ribboned items, potions, traumatic wounds, characters etc.

Ref Notes are only visible to those with specific access rights – this includes anyone with a crew ref role, plus certain other individuals or departments with a need to know (e.g. the Game Team). They are used for information that only those people/departments need to see – typically for referee writeups on player records.

Retraining skills

Characters have a single "retraining" slot after each event they attend, allowing them to drop a single skill or a single artisan item they know how to make or up to 2 rituals that they have mastered - to free up XP or make the slot(s) available for something else. In general, participants should be encouraged to do this via their own accounts – our ability to do it is primarily in order to avoid having multi-player ritual processing held up while 1 or 2 people go to GOD to update their characters.
If you are unsure whether you should perform this process for a participant then check with your Shift Lead.

• Rules on the wiki
• Go to the Character, on the Skills tab page
• Check if they've dropped a skill/ritual/item since the last event (See the RefInfo page for the current event for the correct date). All dropped skills/rituals/items are time stamped at the bottom
  • They have one retrain slot per season, which can be used for a skill or ritual mastery or an item recipe (not separate retrain slots for each)
• If they have dropped a skill/ritual/item since the last event, then they cannot drop another, the answer is no.
• Assuming that they've not dropped a skill, hit the "Drop Skill", "Drop Ritual" or "Drop Item" button as appropriate, hit "Retrain" for the appropriate skill/ritual/item, and then hit save.
  • Note that if they are using the retrain slot for ritual mastery then they can drop two rituals if they want, but both have to be done at the same time (i.e. hit "Retrain" for both at this step, before hitting "Save"). They cannot drop one now and come back to drop another later on (until the slot "refreshes" after the event). They can use the slot to drop only one if they want.
  • If they drop a skill which means they have to empty any other slots then the system will enforce that at this point and ask for selections (e.g. if they drop a level of realm lore, reducing the number of ritual mastery slots they have, they will have to pick which rituals to drop if they don't have enough free slots remaining)
• Then hit "Edit Skill", "Edit Rituals" or "Edit Items" as appropriate, and add the appropriate skill/ritual/item

The main thing to note here is that the system will let you do this even if they've already used their retrain slot this season. Note: The "Skills Dropped" list correctly includes ritual masteries and artisan items - and any one of those things being listed counts as the retrain slot being used. (i.e. that's good and all working as intended)

Targeting via general of Citadel Guard

• This effect applies at all events until further notice. Location and character affected will be detailed on the RefInfo page for each event
• One of the Imperial armies, the Citadel Guard, has the Highest Discipline quality, which includes the Magic quality
• The army (via their General as a ritual focus) can be used to meet targeting requirements for the territory they are currently in
  • This counts as meeting a requirement for a ritual which targets a territory/region/fortification to be performed in a regio within the territory it targets
  • All other requirements for such a ritual still need to be met
    • e.g. if the ritual requires a region with a specific keyword then this effect does not bypass that requirement
  • The General must be present throughout the ritual
    • If the General is not at the event then an Urizen egregore may stand in for them
  • If the army is in a region normally targetable from the Imperial regio then there is generally little to no benefit in this effect, and the Imperial regio will typically be used instead