Is every battle non-consensual?
Absolutely not! Obviously, the opposite of non-consensual is consensual, and we consider consensual conflict to be truly meaningful in the game world. This is reflected in Athiria with the ability to declare duels and war declarations between guilds, cities, and kingdoms. Issuing commands from the respective individuals or leaders starts these consensual battles. Once the server knows that both sides have accepted (engaged in) a consensual duel or war, any resulting deaths will not be considered murder since they were casualties of war versus grief-killings. Both sides must accept the combat before the death will be considered not a murder. Using this mechanism we hope that dynamic struggles between player-run cities will result in epic tales and sweeping sagas. PvP is a good thing and is necessary in a world where players have so much control over their environment. We have designed these rules to allow meaningful PvP and to minimize non-consensual PvP, a.k.a. grief killing.
