Anvil ref guidelines
This page contains general guidance for Anvil reffing (as opposed to Skirmish reffing). It applies equally whether your are wandering or in a fixed location.
These are not detailed "how to" instructions for these tasks - but rather principles, and the general approach that you should have in mind while performing them.
Processing rituals – requirements
- The rules as written say that players should get a ref "if possible" before performing a ritual, in order to allow it to be logged
- The player-to-ref ratio is far too high for this to be viable as a general approach. It is fine for most rituals to be reported after the fact
- It is NOT required for all casters and targets to be present when the ritual is logged – a list of participants is fine
It is common for rituals (and other processes) to be reported after the fact – with few exceptions, this is entirely acceptable. Exceptions – cases where it is critical that a ref knows in advance, and possibly needs to observe the ritual – are uncommon, and are usually obvious, typically involving PVP (e.g. ritual curses involving a Pronouncement of Doom).
There is no requirement for caster(s) and target(s) to all be present at the point that the ritual is logged - it can be useful for this to be the case (in order to help ensure that correct details are logged), but it is not required. If a caster turns up with a list of targets, or targets turn up with details of the caster(s), then this is still fine to log.
It is preferable if players who do this include both PID and character name (or other identifying information) on their lists, so that transcription/handwriting/etc. errors can be detected and resolved; however, if all they have is PIDs then that’s still acceptable, and we do our best with the available information. Only if you reasonably have significant concern that the target is not being correctly identified should you decline to process it without satisfactory confirmation or clarification.
In principle, it is possible for players doing this to be knowingly reporting false information (e.g. they have the ID of a caster, but did not actually get that person to cast the ritual on them; or they are reporting a target upon whom they did not actually roleplay the casting). However, so long as they are still spending the relevant resources, the combined risk and impact of this is vanishingly small: they would just be cheating themselves out of roleplay.
Updating character records
- Things you can update on a character record as a ref:
- Ritual Mastery and/or Artisan Items – if they have a suitable free slot
- Adding new skills – if they have sufficient unspent XP
- Retraining – if you are aware of the process and comfortable with following it
- Leaving a banner/sect/coven – if they are not immediately joining a new one
- Breaking item bonds – where it is more convenient than via the ribbon record
- Removing active effects on the “Magic” tab when they have been fixed IC
- Do not change character records for anything else without Shift Lead/Head Referee permission – in most such cases you will refer the participant to GOD
- Avoid updating character records without the player or their registered proxy being present
Updates to character records are generally things that participants should edit themselves through their own accounts, GOD functions, or things that they need to email in about; however, there are a number of exceptions where (mostly for reasons of convenience) it is acceptable normal practice for refs to make updates during events. It is always fine to (at the participant’s request) fill available ritual mastery or artisan item slots, or to spend available XP gaining new skills.
If a participant wants to use their Retraining slot, in order to free up ritual mastery/artisan item slots or XP, then you should only do this if you are comfortable with the process detailed here, paying close attention to the cutoff date. 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 a character is leaving a banner/coven/sect without joining another one then this is processed by editing their character to set the relevant field to blank. If they are joining another one then this should be processed as Create Bond on the Magic menu as normal (administratively the new band will simply overwrite the old one on their record – in character they still needed the Create Bond spell casting twice, once to remove them from the old band and again to bond them to the new one)
Occasionally it is more convenient to break existing item bonds via the “Bonds” tab of the character record (rather than via the Ribbon record as normal), and this is also fine.
Sometimes an ongoing effect listed on the “Magic” tab of the character record is ended early (typically when a Curse effect is removed) – this is performed using the “Break Enchantment” button next to the relevant effect on that tab.
Other than the cases described above, you should not amend character records without the explicit permission of your Shift Lead or Head Ref, and (if possible) refer the participant to the correct route for their request.
As a general principle, you should avoid updating anyone’s character record without them being present, or having some kind of confirmation that they are OK with it. If the person asking you to do it is a registered proxy for the player of the character being updated then this is OK, and the responsibility of the proxy; proxy details appear on player records, “Details” tab, and they indicate “Proxy for:” (i.e. this person can may proxy decisions on behalf of the person(s) listed) and/or “Proxy by” (i.e. this person may have decisions made on their behalf by the person(s) listed).
The most common situation you are likely to encounter such requests is in a coven ritual casting, where one or more of the casters does not have the ritual mastery that the player reporting it expects; is OK to exercise your judgement in these cases – for example, if one or more casters without mastery of the ritual being reported have free slots (that could be used for it), but are not present to check with, then it is acceptable to process the casting (recalculating magnitude achieved and mana required) as if they did have the mastery, with a request that they get their character record updated at their earliest convenience. If you have concerns that any participant is abusing levels of trust placed in them, in such situations, then you can put a note on the character and/or player record as appropriate (remember that Ref Notes are only visible to a more restricted audience than User Notes.)
Messaging Eternals
Text originally written for E2 2026 RefInfo page, but added here as generally applicable
- Players can only send a message to an eternal if they are using a ritual/ribbon/etc. that explicitly says that they can
- Note that, just because ritual/ribbon/etc. allows something to be sent through (e.g. specific items, resources, etc.), it still does not allow a written message to be included unless it explicitly says so (the magical channel/portal/etc only accepts the stuff actually specified)
- Ruling confirmed on Crew Discord ref-text channel by Graeme (link) and Matt (link)
- General explanation of why this is restricted can be found in the "OOC Note about Communication" box here
- In summary:
- Part of the game is about who gets to negotiate with an eternal - the more communication routes allowed, the more that part of the game is undermined
- Every message from a player to an NPC is extra work for plot - limiting to expected communications ensures that sufficient resources are available to respond, and prevents player disappointment and frustration from failed attempts to initiate communication with eternals (who may not currently even be active in plot)
- In summary:
- Additional explanation from Matt:
Think of a ritual as a thing that can carry things.
Think of stuff as being light, so it's easy to carry with a ritual. You can put resources in a box and send them - easy.
Think of words as being heavy - in magical terms they weigh a lot. Think about how long it takes you to type up the message afterwards to see why words are "heavy" in Empire. That's why pleni is word count limited...