PvP: Who Can I Kill, And When?

  It is the best of mechanics, it is the worst of mechanics.  Testing one's mettle against a truly tough opponent is a rush, (and so is, for some, smacking down a helpless newb) but getting beat down unexpectedly, when you are in the middle of trying to accomplish something stinks like week old fish entrails.  Striking the balance is difficult, but I think that a rather open and broad stance toward PvP is critical for many of the other systems of Orison.

  One example: assassination.  What use is that shiny prestige poison if you cannot attack a politician with a dagger soaked in it?  Sure, attacking a politician with this sort of poison could be an exception to the normal PvP rules, but what about the politician who wants to use guards to beat down anyone who approaches them in a suspicious way?  I suppose 'guarding a politician' could be a thing in the PvP system, which would trigger another exception, but why not incorporate all this behavior into the base rule of the system?

  One way this has been done is with 'factions.'  A character is in a faction (which could be a guild)  which can be at war with any number of other factions.  The most successful implementation of this system is, in my opinion, EVE Online.  Done badly, this system is very restrictive and actually reduces PvP to pre-set border battlefields that go back and forth, giving one faction or other bonuses.  Guild Wars took this concept to an extreme.

  Another example is trade.  Theft and piracy make for a good story for those on the winning side, and revenge makes a good story for those on the losing side.  This means fairly open PvP out in the areas between towns.

  Instead of making a long list of who can attack who, where and when, I'm going to make a short list of the conditions under which a player cannot be attacked.

• A player under a certain low level cannot be attacked unless they attack first (and cannot carry trade goods in any case).  The exception is that a Villain can attack players of any level.
• A player may not attack a member of his own party.

  That's it as far as conditions go, now for the consequences.

• If one player initiates combat, inside the borders of a political unit (PU), with a player other than a Villain or someone marked as Criminal in that political unit, the initiating player loses prestige in that PU.
• NPC guards might get involved.  This depends on the settings put in place by either the PU leader, or the player to which the leader delegates the position of sheriff/captain/general. (collectively known as 'warchief' WC)
• A player that initiates a combat which would result in loss of prestige (whether or not the player actually has that prestige to lose) is reported to the leader or WC of the PU.  The leader or WC may then mark the player as a criminal.  (The leader or WC can mark anyone as a criminal at any time, but the system prompts them about these players.)

  Only Villains gain experience for killing another player with the exception that any player (even a Villain) gains experience from killing a Villain.
  One other thing.  Whenever a player dies, a fraction of their gold is lootable from their corpse, and there is a chance that one or more pieces of their equipment also drop.