We're pleased to announce the unveiling of our eagerly awaited war
system: City Destruction!

The aim of this system is to allow cities to attack one another in an
organised and objective-based manner, while still keeping things fair
for all parties. The changes allow a city to leave a lasting mark on its
foes, and allow the defenders a chance to defend their homeland without
the sometimes harsh penalties that come along with it.

As a preface, I'd just like to say that due to the somewhat large-scale
conflict required to extensively test this, there may be some aspects of
this system that require adjustment or reworking, which can only come
with live testing. We'll be monitoring this system very closely and
making necessary tweaks and changes as required.

Experience changes
------------------
- No PK-related experience loss for citizen defenders or gain for
raiders inside cities.
- Experience loss for raiders and gain for citizen defenders is still in
effect.
- "No experience loss" does not extend to infamous adventurers or
contract kills.
- Experience loss for sitting as a soul on zero mana is still in effect.

City Soldier changes
--------------------
- CITY SOLDIERS are now only viewable by members of that city's War
ministry.

Sanctioned Raids
----------------
Members of a city's ruling council or the War minister may SANCTION a
RAID while inside the walls of an opposing city. This requires the
invaders to maintain a strong presence inside enemy territory, with at
least five city soldiers assisting in the war effort. During a
sanctioned raid, invaders may unleash havoc on their enemies, crushing
their opposition while destroying treasured landmarks (see "City
Destruction" below).

A sanctioned raid ends, simply, when there are less than five attacking
city soldiers left in the city. Whether this is due to a crushing
defeat, strategic retreat, or triumphal departure is up to you!
Attacking soldiers will find it behoves them to exit a city once their
victory is complete, rather than standing around endlessly gloating (see
"City Defences" below).

Citizens may rapidly check the status of any sanctioned raids in their
city with CITY STATUS.

City Destruction
----------------
Your city has at its disposal the ability to create a powerful elemental
weapon with which enemy cities can be laid to waste. The particulars of
this weapon's creation are known by one denizen in each city:

- Ashtan: Oquaythe
- Cyrene: Alcine, the ice mage
- Eleusis: Cwincan the Gaian Knight
- Hashan: Ildronabad, an ancient nocturni
- Mhaldor: Jirken
- Shallam: Enran, of the Royal Guard

The preparation of the weapon is an involved process, requiring the
careful monitoring and care by the citizenry over the course of two to
three Achaean months to ensure that the flame-borne creatures reach
their full destructive potential.

Once your weapons reach maximum strength, and preparations are complete,
it is time to strike! During a sanctioned raid, soldiers may SUMMON
SPARK to conjure forth a conflagrant weapon of destruction to destroy
the surrounding cityscape. This action requires the undivided attention
of three soldiers to complete.

When summoning is complete, havoc is rained down upon the environs,
destroying rooms and lining the streets with rubble. A destroyed room
has very limited functionality: shops are rendered useless, as are
banks, post offices, and barracks.

Should your assault force succeed in its mission, each soldier in the
room will be rewarded with an experience bonus, and the city's coffers
will be filled with proceeds from the sacking.

Repairs
-------
The tides of war ebb and flow, and no player-run city is free from
repercussions. Should you find your city's rooms destroyed by the forces
of your enemies, you have two options:

Manual repair: Citizens may take the opportunity to rapidly repair
damaged cityscapes by devoting their attention to reconstructing their
once-proud rooms. You may recruit up to three fellow citizens(*) to aid
in this endeavour and significantly reduce the time required. Having
more than 4 total repairers in one location will not have any additional
benefit.

* Citizens are required to be members of the Development ministry (HELP
DEVELOPMENT)

Automatic repair: During a drawn-out war, there may be little time or
manpower to devote to such a manual task. Cities may enlist the aide of
a denizen crew to take care of the repairs. This option is neither
cheap, nor fast, but requires little intervention by the populace and is
not subject to interruption. Development Ministers may enable this in
the Council Chambers with CITY SET AUTOREPAIR ON|OFF.

City Defences
-------------
Alongside the discovered knowledge of these elemental weapons, it was
revealed that each city's font holds a certain amount of residual power
from the time of its Divine creation. Members of the Security ministry
(HELP SECURITY) may tap into this power to provide an additional measure
of defence against unwanted intruders.

Accessing this power requires your font to be well stocked with power
from the lesser eidolons that reside across Sapience. When sufficiently
powered, members of the Security ministry may EMPOWER their FONT, which
will diminish its reserves in order to amplify its latent power. For
approximately one Achaean day, the font will periodically pulse and
place a stacking effect upon all enemies inside the city, which appears
like an affliction when diagnosed. Each stack of this effect increases
incoming damage from all sources by a small amount. Thus, the longer an
enemy lingers in this hostile environment, the greater the potency of
the effect. The effect rapidly diminishes when not in the same area as
an empowered font.

To allow complete management of the city's font, Security and War
ministers and aides may check on its status at any time with CITY FONT
STATUS.

Penned by My hand on the 9th of Aeguary, in the year 570 AF.