Raid Rules
A Preamble to the Articles of Raid
What follows was not written in a single night. It was not assembled from the idle musings of those who have never stood in the heart of a failing raid and felt the moment slip beyond recovery. It was forged across years, hammered into shape on the anvil of hard experience, tempered by the failures that taught us what discipline truly demands and the victories that proved, beyond all argument, what discipline truly produces.
Every word herein carries the weight of something learned the difficult way, in the heat of conflict, when the cost of disorder was measured not in gold but in the collapse of everything the assembled fellowship had worked to build. These articles did not emerge from theory. They emerged from necessity. To those who have walked these roads before, who have stood in the torchlight of a dozen raid nights and understand in their bones what order buys and what chaos costs, much of what follows will require no explanation. It will read as familiar truth, the kind that settles into the mind not as instruction but as remembrance. Read it regardless. Hold to it without exception. The veteran who believes experience excuses them from the law is the first to unravel what the law was built to protect.
To those who are new to these halls, who have not yet seen what this fellowship looks like when it moves as one, the counsel offered here is simple and it is earnest. Watch. Listen. Observe before you speak, and think before you act. The purpose behind each article will reveal itself to those possessed of sufficient patience to witness these rules in practice before demanding justification for their existence. The raid zone is not a forum for debate, and the Raid Leader's voice is not one that pauses mid-encounter to explain itself to the unconvinced. Seek your understanding before the banner is raised, in the quiet hours before the march, when questions may be asked and answers may be given without cost to the fellowship standing ready around you.
These articles exist for one purpose and one purpose alone. To keep the march moving, the ranks unbroken, the chain of command clear, and the night worthy of every soul who chose to spend their hours within it. They are not a burden placed upon the capable. They are the architecture that makes the capable more formidable still. Read them. Know them. Follow them without being asked, without being reminded, and without reservation. The fellowship is watching. It always has been.
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Mordven Nocturnis, Lorekeeper of the Veil, Norrath Secret Society, Antonia Bayle
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​Article I: On the Measure of Those Who March
Mentoring is forbidden within the raid. No exception exists. No appeal shall be heard.
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This is not a rule born of cruelty, nor of indifference to those who walk at lesser levels of advancement. It is a rule born of respect, respect for the content before us, respect for the souls who stand beside you, and respect for the nature of what we are undertaking when we assemble and descend together into the trials this world has set before us. When you cross the threshold of a Society raid, you cross it as you are. Not as a diminished shadow of yourself, not as an echo of an earlier age, but as the full, unaltered measure of the character you have built and brought to these halls.
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The practice of mentoring, of willfully reducing one's own advancement to match the level of another, has its place in Norrath. That place is not here. What it introduces into a raid is an inconsistency of power that cannot be fully accounted for and ought not to be. The raid was designed with certain expectations of those who enter it. We honor those expectations. We do not circumvent them through voluntary diminishment, however well-intentioned the diminishment may be.
Article II: On Arms, Armor, and the Tools of War
There are no gear restrictions within the Society's raids. None. There never shall be.
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No restriction shall be placed upon the arms and armor carried into our raids. If your character may equip an item, you may wear it. The Society does not inspect its members at the gate, and no officer shall presume to do so. Bring your finest steel. Bring your most cunning adornments. Socket what serves you. Strengthen what can be strengthened. Every advantage your character may lawfully bear is an advantage the raid itself may draw upon, and the raid is stronger for it. This holds equally and without reservation going forward. There will be no gear restrictions of any kind, at any tier, under any circumstance. A warrior who enters with less than their full complement of power does a disservice not to themselves alone, but to every soul standing beside them. We did not come to these halls to hobble ourselves for the sake of manufactured difficulty. The content before us was built to be faced, not to be made harder by our own hand. We are here to see it, to walk its passages, to press against what it offers, and to do so as we are, at our fullest measure. Leave the self-imposed handicaps to other orders. The Society has never had patience for theater disguised as discipline, and it does not intend to begin now.
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Article III: On the Tradeskill Arts
No ceiling shall be placed upon the tradeskill level of any member who stands within our raids. None now, and none in the ages to come.
The Society honors the crafting arts as it honors the blade. This is not courtesy. It is conviction, held at the core of this fellowship since the first fire was lit in our halls and never once permitted to cool. The adventurer who strikes the killing blow is remembered in the moment. The artisan whose work kept that adventurer standing long enough to deliver it is remembered in everything that follows. Do not mistake silence for insignificance. The forge has decided the outcome of more battles than the sword ever shall. Members are expected to pursue their tradeskill level to its absolute maximum. Not to a comfortable resting point. Not to whatever tier the guild's march has reached. To the summit, without pause, without ceiling, and without apology. No restriction shall ever be placed upon tradeskill advancement within this Society, at any tier, under any circumstance, in any age Norrath has yet to offer. This is not a guideline. It is a permanent edict, as fixed as the foundations of this order and as enduring as the name we carry. Advance. Master your craft. The guild has need of what only a true artisan can provide, and it will never ask you to be anything less than the fullest measure of what you have become.
Article IV: On Alternate Advancement
No restriction shall be placed upon the Alternate Advancement Points a member carries into our raids.
No ceiling shall be placed upon Alternate Advancement Points within the Society's raids. Bring every point accumulated across the full breadth of your career. None shall question it, and none shall restrict it. We do not handicap excellence. Members are encouraged to pursue their Alternate Advancement to the fullest extent possible. It is not a requirement for participation, but those who arrive at their fullest measure serve the raid and their companions well.
Article V: On the Bearing of Hired Blades
Mercenaries are forbidden unless stated otherwise. Dismiss them before accepting a raid invite.
Mercenaries are permitted within our raids under strict and narrow conditions. Members are expected to dismiss any hired blade before accepting a raid invitation. A mercenary in your company prevents the Raid Leader from moving you among the groups as necessity demands, and that limitation serves no one. Once the raid is assembled and all groups are set, the Raid Leader will survey what remains. Only when a vacancy exists that no member of the Society can fill may a mercenary be called to stand in that gap. They are a measure of last resort, not a convenience to be reached for at will. Every effort shall be made to complete the raid without them. Do not assume they are permitted. If the Raid Leader has not stated otherwise, they are not. Wait for that word before you summon one.
Article VI: On Summoned Companions and Cosmetic Manifestations
Cosmetic pets and familiars shall not be displayed during raids. Dismiss them or hide them before accepting your invitation.
All cosmetic pets and familiars shall be dismissed or hidden before accepting a raid invitation. What serves as decoration in the wider world has no place in the hall of conflict. It clutters the field, burdens the eye, and draws attention from what demands it. Two exceptions are recognized. The bonded companions of Conjurors and Necromancers are not ornament. They are arsenal, and they shall remain. Purpose-driven companions, such as the spirit companions of Shamans, are likewise permitted. All else shall be hidden or dismissed before the raid begins. If you do not know how to hide a familiar or cosmetic pet, dismiss it. If you are found in the raid with such things visible, you will be asked to remedy it at once.
Article VII: On the Conduct of Voice During Raids
The raid voice channel shall be muted for all members except for the Keeper of the Veil and the Raid Leaders.
The voice channel is not a tavern. It is not a market square where a dozen conversations may tumble over one another without consequence. It is a command line, as vital to the raid as the blade in your hand or the spell at your fingertips, and it shall be treated accordingly. Before each gathering, two or three souls shall be designated to speak. Their voices carry the weight of the Raid Leader's authority. When they speak, the raid moves. When they are silent, the raid listens. Every other member shall hold their voice in full and complete reserve throughout the course of active raiding. Not mostly. Not nearly. Entirely. Understand what is at stake when this edict is ignored. A single errant voice at the wrong moment can drown a command that fifty souls needed to hear. A moment of confusion in the heat of conflict does not merely cost time. It costs lives, it costs encounters, and it costs the trust that holds a raid together when every other thing is falling apart. We have seen it. We remember what it costs. We will not pay that price again. This is not a punishment handed down from those who enjoy the sound of silence. It is the architecture of precision, built from hard experience and the memory of what happens when discipline is permitted to unravel at the edges. The Society has endured across the long years of Norrath's history because it understands that some structures are not optional. This is one of them. Hold your silence. It is the most powerful thing you can offer the raid.
Article VIII: On the Recording of Combat and Its Proper Place
No posting of Advanced Combat Tracker output into the raid channel.
Those who employ instruments of combat analysis are welcome to pursue that practice. What they are not welcome to do is carry its findings into raid chat. Records of damage dealt, healing rendered, and the measure of individual contribution belong in the channel appointed for that purpose, and nowhere else. The raid channel exists for the conduct of the raid. It is not a stage for personal accounting, and it shall not be treated as one. Members who persist in cluttering the raid channel with such records will be asked to leave. This warning will not be repeated twice. Beyond the matter of channel discipline lies something worth saying plainly. To boast of damage output while cutting through content two decades old is a vanity without foundation. There is no glory in it. The encounters before us in these early tiers will yield to the assembled might of this guild with little resistance. What you struck hardest, what you burned brightest, what number appeared above a dying enemy, none of it speaks to your worth in this fellowship. Remember also that no damage is dealt without those who keep the living alive to deal it. The healing arts and the utility of those who hold the line are not lesser contributions dressed in quieter numbers. They are the reason the raid stands at all. A fellowship that forgets this is not a fellowship. It is a collection of individuals waiting to fail together. There will come a time, at greater depths and harder tiers, when such measures carry genuine weight. When that hour arrives, we will speak of them openly and with purpose. Until then, keep your personal tallies to yourself, keep the raid channel clear, and remember why we are here. We are here to endure together. Not to outshine one another.
Article IX: On Readiness and the Appointed Hour
Raid members are expected to be on time, ready to muster and ready to zone in on time.
When the hour of our gathering is declared, it is not an approximation. It is a covenant. Every member who intends to stand in that raid is expected to be present, prepared, and ready to enter at the moment appointed. Tardiness is not a private matter. It is a debt levied against every soul who arrived on time, and the Society does not forgive that debt easily.
Arrive early. Fifteen to thirty minutes before the appointed hour is not excessive. It is the standard expected of those who take this fellowship seriously. Use that time well. Gather your provisions, your reagents, your ammunition, and whatever else your class demands. Present yourself to the Guild Strategist so that she may convey you to the appropriate place at the appointed hour, not after it. On the matter of the guild flag: do not ask in guild chat, in raid chat, or through any other avenue of communication whether it has been placed. You may determine its readiness yourself by consulting the Guild Window. Look before you speak. The answer is already there. When the time for raid invitations arrives, a single word in the guild channel is sufficient. Speak it plainly: "invite." Do not send private tells to the Raid Leader. That burden need not fall upon one set of shoulders alone. Any group leader already within the raid may extend an invitation, and you are encouraged to seek one out rather than add to the noise that surrounds the Raid Leader in those opening moments. Come ready. Come early. Come without need of reminding.
Article X: On the Guild Standard and the March to Battle
Raid members are expected to follow the guild marching protocol.
The order of march is fixed. It does not change from week to week, and it will not be explained in the raid channel each time we gather. Members are expected to know it before they arrive, and to execute it without prompting. It is as follows. Assemble at the guild house. When the guild flag is planted, march to the muster area. When the raid zone is cleared, return to the guild house and hold there until the flag is planted again. Then muster once more. This cycle does not vary. It does not bend to individual preference or improvisation. Do not ride ahead. Do not wander from the line of march and proceed on your own initiative. The guild moves as one. A single soul who breaks from the formation and advances without following the established order creates delays that ripple outward and cost the assembled raid time it cannot recover. Solo travelers do not merely slow themselves. They slow everyone behind them, and the Society has no patience for it. This is not a complicated order. It demands nothing more than attention and the discipline to follow what has already been established. Read it now. Understand it before the appointed hour. When the banner is raised and the march begins, you will know your place in it, and you will hold that place without needing to be told. The guild moves as one. There is no other way.
Article XI: On Discipline, Efficiency, and the Economy of the Night
Raid members are expected to follow directions.
We are granted a fixed span of time in which to accomplish our purpose. That span does not expand to accommodate confusion, and it does not pause while instructions are repeated to those who did not listen the first time. Every minute lost to disorganization is a minute taken from the content itself, and it cannot be reclaimed. When an order is given, move. Do not wait to see if someone else moves first. Do not ask for clarification that patience and preparation would have made unnecessary. An officer who must repeat a command has already paid a cost on behalf of the entire raid, and the entire raid bears that cost with them. This is not an abstraction. It is felt in every encounter that falls just short of completion because the night ran out before we did. The expectation is simple and it is absolute. Listen when orders are given. Act upon them without hesitation and without delay. Move with intention from the first moment to the last. The more cleanly and swiftly this guild operates, the deeper into the content our hours may carry us, and the more of what we came to see we shall actually witness before the torches burn down. Efficiency is not the exclusive province of the scout or the assassin. It belongs to every soul who crosses the threshold of the raid zone beneath our banner. Bring it with you. It is as vital as any weapon you carry.
Article XII: On Matters Brought Before the Keeper of the Veil
There shall be no complaining to Guild Master or Raid leaders about other players during the raid or after. Learn to be a constructive adult and take you concerns up with the other players directly.
The Keeper of the Veil will not entertain conversations pertaining to damage output, buff distribution, combat optimization, or the personal grievances members carry regarding how another soul chooses to build or play their character. This is not a negotiable boundary, and it will not soften with repetition or persistence. The Keeper of the Veil holds one purpose during the raid: to keep the fellowship organized, the march moving, and the night worthy of those who gave their hours to it. That purpose leaves no room for disputes that belong between the individuals involved, not before the desk of the guild's master. If you take issue with how another member specifies their character, what abilities they choose, or how they conduct themselves in combat, take it to that member directly. Settle it between yourselves, quietly and without theater. The Keeper of the Veil is not a mediator for personal grievances dressed in the language of raid performance, and those who bring such matters forward will find the door closed to them without apology. Spare the Keeper of the Veil the complaints. Bring instead your readiness, your discipline, and your patience. Those are the only currencies accepted here.
Article XIII: On the Sharing of Counsel and Strategy
Share your knowledge about raid encounters beforehand, not after watching the raid fail.
If you possess knowledge that may aid the guild in an encounter, speak it before the raid begins. Not during. Not after the first attempt has already failed and the fellowship stands bruised and regrouping in the aftermath. Before. Holding useful counsel in reserve until failure makes it convenient to offer is not wisdom. It is a disservice to every soul who stood in that encounter without the benefit of what you knew. The Society does not look kindly upon those who watch their companions struggle toward a preventable end and choose silence until the moment has already passed. Bring your knowledge forward. Share it openly, and share it early. Submit it before raid night if at all possible, so that those who plan the march may weigh it and act upon it accordingly. There is no glory in being right after the fact. There is considerable honor in ensuring the raid never needed to fail in the first place. Speak early. Speak plainly. The guild will be better for it.
Article XIV: On the Raid Schedule and the Order of Assembly
There will be no raid schedule posted. Targets will be determined on raid night.
No schedule shall be posted. No proclamation shall be nailed to the guild hall door naming the zone, the hour, or the order of advance. None is needed. The protocol is the schedule. The protocol has always been the schedule. It was the schedule before you arrived, and it will remain the schedule long after this night is written into the chronicles and forgotten by all but those who were there. The protocol does not change. It does not bend to confusion, and it does not repeat itself for those who could not be troubled to learn it before the torches were lit and the banner raised. Muster at the guild house. March when the flag is planted. Enter the zone. Clear it without mercy. Return to the guild house. Hold. Wait for the flag. March again. This cycle is not complicated. It is not ambiguous. It demands nothing more than the ability to read and the discipline to remember what was read. Those who appear in raid chat to ask where the raid is, which zone we enter, or when we march have already answered their own question by asking it. They have told the assembled fellowship, plainly and without intending to, that they did not prepare. That they did not read. That they expected the Raid Leader to carry their ignorance on top of everything else the night demands. The Raid Leader will not carry it. Learn the protocol. Hold it in your mind as you hold your weapon. When the hour comes, you will not need to ask. You will already know. And the night will be better for it.
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Artivle XV: On the Distribution of Spoils
All treasures claimed during the Society's raids shall be governed by the ancient and honored principle of Need Before Greed.
What you require for your advancement, you may claim. What you do not require, you shall not hoard from those who do. No ledger of debt shall be kept, no system of points tallied, no coin exchanged for the right to reach into a fallen enemy's vault. Such mechanisms belong to guilds that measure loyalty in numbers. We measure it otherwise. Given the age of the grounds we walk and the pace at which our assembled might dispatches what dwells within them, it serves no one to halt our advance and deliberate at length over every trinket shaken loose from the darkness. We press forward. Loot falls where it falls, and those who need it most shall take it. If there is a particular piece among the spoils of a given raid zone that you seek for your own progression or purpose, the solution is simple: return on your own time and claim it. The Society places no restriction upon the farming of raid zones outside of scheduled gatherings. Those halls will keep their secrets until you come to take them. Go. Take them. What is there belongs to any who are strong enough to reach for it.
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