Rules update 2023
Overview
Every year we carry out a review of some part of the game looking to see what we improve. Although that process has been slowed this year, we've still been working on some important updates. This page summarizes and explains the changes so that players can identify and understand the changes easily. There were no updates in 2021, due to the pandemic.
We try to include a section after each update to explain the reasoning behind the change, as well as providing a in-character rationale for what has changed where appropriate.
Conclave Changes
As Empire has grown, it has become clearer that Conclave is starting to creak under the strain. Conclave sessions have become so long that they've become a standing joke among the player base. It has also become clear that some of the mechanisms aren't providing the kind of game experience we want to promote. With that in mind, we're making some changes to how the Imperial Conclave operates.
Conclave Agenda
- Declarations are raised by Grandmasters, and by a handful of other titles
- The agenda remains publicly available, and anyone can check and see what declarations have been raised and by whom
The first major change we're making is to the agenda itself. Each Grandmaster can raise a single declaration to the agenda each session for a total of two declarations each summit. They can raise these declarations themselves, or pass the declaration on to a member of their order to raise and present.
Certain existing titles have gained the ability to raise a single specific declaration each event (rather than each session). The existing titles, and the declaration they will be able to raise, are:
- Bursar of the Conclave can raise a Declaration of Endowment
- Imperial Censor can raise a Declaration of Interdiction
- Dean of the Lyceum can raise a Declaration of Imperial Lore
- Imperial Magus can raise a Declaration of Concord
- Each Archmage can raise a Declaration of Alignment (which encompasses the old declarations of Amity, Enmity, and Neutrality) for an eternal of their realm
- The Throne can raise a Declaration of Candidacy
Finally, the Rogue Declaration is a special Imperial title that is auctioned or crystal mana each Saturday, and works in a similar manner to an Imperial Wayleave. It allows the Imperial citizen who wins the auction to raise a declaration of their choice to the agenda for the Saturday evening Conclave session. The mana raised becomes part of the font.
As before, declarations are submitted to the Conclave civil servant at the Hub, and are displayed publicly. Declarations are added to the agenda in the order they are received. The deadline for submitting declarations remains the same - an hour before the session is due to begin.
The Senate would be able to create new titles with the power of Declaration but no more than one title per type of declaration. Our intention is to limit the number of titles that can gain the Declaration power so that only one additional declaration of each "type" can be raised during an event (so using the examples above only the Bursar of the Conclave can have the power to raise a bonus Declaration of Endowment, and if the Senate wants a different title to have that power they will need to remove it from the Bursar).
Declarations
We've also overhauled the declarations, pinning down what they can do and wherever possible making them more impactful.
- Alignment - this declaration combines the old Amity, Enmity, and Neutrality into a single declaration that sets the "status" of an eternal in relation to the Conclave. The effects of amity and enmity have not changed.
- Candidacy - this has been significantly overhauled and is covered in its own section below
- Concord - the declaration works the same as it did previously, but the potential impact is much greater, comparable to a statement of principle in the Imperial Synod
- Dissemination - unchanged
- Endorsement - this is a new declaration that allows the Conclave to declare an act of magic to be in the interests of the Empire
- Endowment - the changes to the Font (the pool of mana the Conclave controls) adds significant new functionality to this declaration ensuring there is always a pool of mana for the Conclave to distribute if they wish to do so
- Imperial lore - unchanged
- Interdiction - We've expanded the guidance on how this declaration works, and what it explicitly does in each case. We've also combined it with the Declaration of License (which removes interdiction). We've removed the idea that an item or ritual might be interdicted in a way that means the magistrates seize something and keep it. If the Conclave deems something dangerous, it is destroyed.
- Sorcery - as with Alignment, we've combined Sorcery and Reconciliation into a single declaration. We've also made it possible to use a single declaration to declare multiple people to be sorcerers, but on the understanding that the Conclave either condemns all or none of them.
Candidacy
We've made extensive changes to candidacy to make it more impactful, and of greater interest. Rather than the declaration being "this person should have this title", the emphasis changes to "there should be a new person in this title". When candidacy is declared, anyone can throw their hat into the ring to claim the title. Each of them can then spend mana to speak on their own behalf, but there is no cross-examination. Once every candidate has declared themselves and made their pitch, the Conclave moves straight to the vote.
Our intention is that Candidacy be more impactful in that it has the potential to engage everyone in the room.
Conclave Session
- During a session each declaration is presented in turn
- Orders have one minute to discuss the matter at hand among themselves, then the formal debate begins
- Grandmasters recognise speakers in order of precedence from lowest to highest'
- Discussion continues until all grandmasters pass, or half the grandmasters have moved to vote
During a Conclave session, declarations are raised, discussed, and voted on by the Imperial Conclave in the order they were added to the agenda. The Civil Service read out the precise wording of the declaration. Then the person who raised it can spend mana to make a presentation - to speak before the Conclave on the matter at hand. The orders then have a minute to speak among themselves, and then the discussion begins.
During the discussion the civil servant calls on each grandmaster in order of precedence, starting with the largest order, to contribute to the discussion. They have three options at this point:
- They can nominate someone to speak. This costs mana.
- They can choose to "pass" - they don't nominate someone to speak but their order still participates in the discussion. If all the grandmasters pass, the discussion ends.
- They can choose to "move to vote" - they don't nominate someone, and will not be called on again to discuss the current matter. Essentially they indicate that their order is done with the matter and want to get to the vote. Once half the grandmasters have "moved to vote" the current round of discussion plays out (so that every order has had equal opportunity to discuss) and then a vote is called.
Speaking Before Conclave
- Speaking before Conclave still costs mana but each additional minute costs more than the preceding minute
Speaking before Conclave requires mana. The first minute costs one mana, the second minute costs two mana, the third three mana and so on. This same cost is used whether the magician is making a presentation for a declaration, or speaking during the discussion.
The Font
- Rather than immediately distributing the Font to the grandmasters, the crystal mana in the Font remains under the control of the Conclave and the Declaration of Endowment
- We've added 211 mana to the starting font for the first event of 2023
The Font consists of all the mana used during a Conclave session, plus that raised by auctioning the Rogue Declaration. Rather than being divided among the grandmasters at the start of the next event, the Font remains in the control of the Conclave, subject to Declaration of Endowment like any other resource the Conclave controls. It functions in a similar way to the way the Imperial Treasury works in the Senate, or the Virtue Fund in the Synod. A Declaration of Endowment allows the Conclave to give any amount of it to a specific named individual.
Any remaining crystal mana left in the Font at the end of the event is divided among the grandmasters as before, and received in their packs at the start of the next event. Anything left over is added to the mana raised during the event and becomes the new Font.
We've added 211 mana to the Font for the next event as a one-off payment to cover the transition effects of this rules change.
Conclave Address
- We have removed the Conclave Address as a concept
- A new Conclave session is added on Saturday afternoon specifically for the Archmages to address Imperial magicians
The Conclave Address has been removed (with one specific exception covered below). We want the Conclave to be about characters coming together to make decisions, and addresses, by their nature lack a decision point. In the past we shied away from removing them for a number of reasons, foremost among them was the concern that it would just lead to Declarations of Concord being repurposed as addresses. With the limited number of declarations each session, and the added impact of the Declaration of Concord, this is no longer a concern.
One group of titles, however, had a special relationship with addresses - the Archmages. To recognise this we're introducing the Arcane Colloquium. This is an additional Conclave session specifically for the Archmages. Taking place early on Saturday afternoon, the Civil Service will support the Archmages in a meeting in the Hall of Worlds during which each one in turn has a fifteen minute slot to use as they wish - making announcements, hosting discussion, chairing a seminar, or giving space to other magicians to do the same.
Conclave Titles
- We've made some changes to conclave titles
Where possible we've made as few changes to existing Imperial titles as possible. We've removed the "free address" from those titles that had it, as mentioned above. Those titles who had the ability to make a "free declaration" now have the much more significant power to add a specific declaration to the agenda each summit. Unlike the grandmasters, this ability is very much a power of the title - only the title holder or their proxy can present the declaration during the Conclave session.
The title that has seen the greatest change to their powers is the Throne. They can still nominate speakers as a grandmaster does, but we've removed the Master of Magic power because this ability was simply too disruptive given the changes we've made to the Conclave. Instead given them several new powers;
- when the Throne moves to vote, it ends the discussion once the current round is complete regardless of what the grandmasters may have voted, This gives the Throne greater influence over the business of the Conclave and partly reflects the master of magic power.
- they can raise a Declaration of Candidacy once each summit, partially reflecting the old master of magic power, but reinforcing the idea of the Throne having a say in who is best suited to serve the Empire
- we've given them the ability to address the Conclave - reflecting their power to speak in other houses and their existing ability to address the Empire
- we've given them the ability to influence the agenda - prioritising one declaration and moving another to the end of the agenda
Reasoning
Each of the "houses of power" in Empire (Senate, Synod, Military Council, Bourse, Conclave) works differently. Each influences different areas of the game, and each uses unique mechanisms to do so. The Imperial Conclave ultimately makes decisions about magic, and allows any magician in the Empire to participate through open debate and open voting. We want to try and keep as much of this core identity intact as possible.
The main challenge we need to address is that the Conclave sessions are too long - regularly reaching three or four hours in length and often getting bogged down in discussions that many people in the room are not invested in. Our ideal conclave is no longer than ninety minutes, and has a tight focus on the most important issues to try to get as many as people invested in the matters being discussed as possible.
Our initial approach was to reduce the number of people who could talk on each declaration. The fact that anyone can talk for as long as they want as long as they pay mana is a key factor in the length of Conclave sessions. After further discussion, however, we decided that reducing the ability of characters to argue and debate would be discarding one of the elements that makes Conclave unique - the mass participation. Instead of restricting players' ability to speak, we've opted to take the only other option that would reduce the length of the sessions - cutting down the number of Declarations. By doing that, we hope the sessions will be shorter, and if the declarations are limited in number, then they're more likely to be focussed on key issues that impact the game as a whole.
Of course more people will want to submit declarations than the system allows for - so players will have to fight over what declarations are submitted. We hope that grandmasters in particular will be kept very busy with people trying to persuade them to use one of their orders declarations to support whatever agenda that character is pushing. We expect there will be a lot of politics and roleplay around this, but it will take place outside of Conclave, rather than during Conclave.
We've also taken the decision to remove the Conclave addresses entirely from the Conclave sessions. Most addresses have always had a very specialised audience - they addresses by the archmages in particular are often focussed on eternals and their business. Where you have a part of the game that is of high interest to a small group of players but low interest to everyone else, the trick is to seperate it off, so that only the players who care are there for it.
So that's what we've done - we've moved the archmage addresses to their own special session - the Arcane Colloquium. This is effectively six special sessions, one for each realm of magic, which the archmage can either use to address those assembled or cede the floor to others to let them speak. While we expect there may be less people present than came to Conclave, the audience for the new Colloquium will be there explicitly to hear what is being said and to take part in the discussions, so it should be much more engaged.
Overhauling the way Conclave works required us to look at the role of the orders and how the grandmasters operate. The changes we're making also require us to look at the archmages, and many of the other titles both those that have been in the game since the start, and those the players have created themselves. We've also taken this opportunity to look at the Font; how it's calculated and how it's used and what we can do to make it more integral to the functioning of the Conclave.
We've also introduced a brand new type of declaration - Endorsement. The Conclave was always intended to be the body that regulates magic in the Empire, but without the right legal tools to do that, there was a tendency for everything to fall back on the Imperial Senate. The Imperial Senate should make laws, but the laws are enforced by our magistrates. Rituals and pacts with eternals that are controversial are often ending up for legal interpretation with our magistrates, which means our NPCs are deciding if the players should have done the thing or not. That's the very opposite of what we want - so we've created the new Declaration of Endorsement to put that control very firmly back in the hands of players where it should have been all along!
Finally we've adjusted the significance of the Declaration of Concord to make clear that the Empire's magicians are listening to what the Conclave has to say. We want to try and get some of the game the Synod generates with its use of Statements of Principle and Mandates. Previously there have been so many declarations that it was hard for us to focus on them individually. The Synod has a similar problem, but there we could use the requirement for a greater majority to help us focus on the most important ones. Now the number of Declarations of Concord is likely to be strictly limited, we hope to respond to the most controversial of those passed with winds of fortune or other plot developments. In that way we can further enhance the importance of the Conclave and what happens there.
IC Explanation
Any in-character explanation is always a fig-leaf at best. We're exercising our position as the event organisers to use our experience to try and improve the overall game design. We do that each year because we want to keep improving Empire so that it remains the best game we can possibly deliver for our players. We know any change is always painful and it always upsets people, but it is part of what keeps Empire fresh.
In a situation like this where we have fundamentally rewritten some parts of how the game design works, it is near impossible to create an in-character explanation for the changes that fits the theme of the setting. We could claim this change is supposed to happen after an Empress magically disappears or that a comet did it, but it would be patently preposterous. In the end the only IC explanation that is even vaguely credible is that the Civil Service have the authority to make administrative changes to the processes of the Empire to ensure its smooth running. That is closest to the actual reality - that these changes are being made by Profound Decisions to make the game better - and it will work every time we need to use it in the future to make changes to improve Empire. So that's what we're going with, even if it doesn't fully fit the theme of the setting that the Civil Service have that kind of power.
We do want to be clear that this is just an IC figleaf for anyone who absolutely needs a way to refer to changes in-character. This is a change that PD have made - it isn't a change the characters who run the Civil Service have come up with in-character. There is no point in trying to harangue them to make reverse course or make new changes because they are the justification for this change, not the architect of it.
Site Changes
Due to the growing popularity of Empire we are having to make some difficult choices about how we use the current site. These changes will affect the space allocated to tents for in-character camping as well as vehicle access to the site before and after the event. The changes are summarised below, along with the OOC reasoning for the update.
IC Camping
In 2023, camp planners will only be able to guarantee sleeping space on the IC field to people with accessibility or childcare needs.
- Our camp planners will be asking everyone who is bringing an IC tent to the event whether it is required or optional.
- "Required" tents include all tents for roleplaying in and any tents that need to be on the IC field for any accessibility reason (mobility, fatigue, childcare, etc).
- "Optional" tents include any tents that could move to an OC field if required because they are just used for sleeping or storing equipment and aren’t needed for any accessibility reason.
- You won’t be asked to justify or explain your choices - just mark your tent as optional or required with your camp planner.
- If we run out of space, camp planners will move some or all of the sleeping tents labelled as optional to the new overflow fields we have hired.
- The overflow fields are not in-character and don't form part of the Anvil game area, but they are adjacent to Anvil to keep walking distances to a minimum.
- If we only need to move a few tents, we will ensure we aren't moving the same tents each time.
Vehicle Access
You can drive into the IC area to set-up if conditions allow, but you must set up quickly and then move your vehicle to the OOC camp as soon as you are done. On take-down you must take your tent down and have your kit ready to go before you bring your vehicle on, unless you need your vehicle for accessibility reasons during take-down.
- If you drive into the IC area at the start of the weekend, you must remove your car from the site as soon as you’ve unpacked and set up your tent.
- Unless you have specific accessibility requirements, you must pack up your camp at the end of the weekend before you bring your vehicle back into the IC area. Once everything is completely taken down and ready to be quickly packed away, you can bring your car onto site (assuming ground conditions are reasonable), collect your stuff and go.
- After 7pm on Sunday, all participants are free to drive onto site without needing to take their tents down first. We will actively review this deadline between events and move it earlier in the day if we are confident that we can do so without the site becoming deadlocked.
- All these rules apply to the IC camping areas only, there are no equivalent restrictions on vehicle movements in the OOC or crew camping areas.
- We strongly recommend bringing a plastic sheet, tarpaulin or similar to protect your gear from any inclement weather - please remember that if the weather gets too bad, we won't be able to allow most vehicles on site at all!
Reasoning
We've started planning our events in 2023, and an important part of that is the need to reflect on the amount of field space we have available. We’ve had a really successful 2022 - our numbers across the year climbed by nearly 35%.
This is brilliant news, but by the end of the year we were absolutely at the limit of what the site could cope with. Camping space was at a premium, and quite a few participants had to camp in the OOC areas even if they had a suitable IC tent. During takedown, there were huge delays getting everyone on site to pack their cars, because there simply wasn't room for so many vehicles to come on site when the ground was so crowded with tents.
We've now concluded our negotiations with the landowner to make enough additional space for our use next year, but there are some major challenges. In theory, we could simply assign another field to Anvil, making the IC area 50% bigger - but that is not without drawbacks. Players in Dawn and Wintermark already face long walks to reach the camps at the other side of the site or to reach facilities like GOD, the Hall of Worlds or the regio. The distances everyone has to walk all weekend get worse as the site expands. The physical site is a challenge already for any player who has mobility or fatigue issues; we don't want to make that situation worse if we have any alternative.
After a lot of consideration, we decided to try a different approach for 2023. Before now, some IC tents in the in-character area were being used purely for sleeping or storage. Some of these absolutely need to be there, either because they are being used by groups to roleplay in or because the occupants need to have their sleeping tent nearby for accessibility or childcare reasons. In some cases, however, the IC tent is just to have a tent nearby for convenience. While we understand everyone wants their personal tent on hand, continuing with that approach would mean that next year *everyone* would have to walk much further throughout the event.
In an effort to keep Anvil as accessible as we can manage, this is a new approach we’ll put in place for the first event. It may be that we don't grow much next year and we don't have to ask anyone to move their tent to the overflow area. Equally, we may grow and find that we need to bite the bullet and expand Anvil to cover another field. We will adapt to the circumstances as we find them.
We have problems currently with vehicles blocking camping spots on the in-character field. We can deal with this relatively easily if the owners are present or nearby and are putting up their tent, but it is very difficult to deal with if the owners have simply parked up and abandoned the car, especially if they haven't prerecorded the vehicle registration number with us. Players must make sure they set up their camp as quickly as possible and then move their vehicle to the OOC camp so that other participants can use the space. You must not leave your vehicle overnight in the IC area under any circumstance.
There is not enough room for all participants to bring their vehicles into the IC area during take-down while all the tents are still up. There simply isn't enough space for the vehicles to pull up with so many tents everywhere. As a result the traffic backs up and completely locks up - this led to increasingly long queues for many participants in 2022, with some players having to queue in their vehicles for up to two hours waiting to get onto the site. If everyone takes their tent down first, this will create enough room to let people bring their vehicles on significantly reducing the queuing. If you need to have your vehicle present while you take your tent down for accessibility reasons, then that is fine, otherwise you must follow the new guidelines if you bring your car on before 7pm on Sunday.
At some point enough of the site will be clear that it is fine to let vehicles come on regardless of whether they packed down or not. We will review the 7pm deadline for bringing cars on before you've packed up after each event. If we're confident that we can move the deadline earlier without causing traffic jams and delays for everyone then we will update the time accordingly.
We know we will have to expand Anvil at some point, if Empire keeps growing. However, these two changes will help us delay that point as long as possible, and let us keep the physical size of Anvil to the smallest possible footprint which benefits everyone - especially the many players for whom the physical size of the IC site is a challenge already.