Who keeps the peace
Some offices and ranks carry the authority of the law. Everyone else is a private citizen, however well armed.
| Officials | Every official of a hold, the County of Bruma or an Orc stronghold, from the ruler down, except a Court Mage, Shaman or Wise-Woman. A place in a court's household, such as a Thane or Housecarl, does not count. Who sits where is in the Holds & Factions Guide. |
| Guards | Every Guard, Guard Sergeant and Guard Captain of a hold or of the County of Bruma. |
| Faction ranks | The leaders, officers and sergeants of the Imperial Legion, the Imperial Civil Commission, the Penitus Oculatus, the Stormcloaks and the Great Houses of Morrowind. A plain member of a faction, or a Citizen of a hold, is not one of them. |
| The Thalmor | The First Emissary, Justiciars and Inquisitors, but only in Cyrodiil, where the White-Gold Concordat gives the Thalmor their authority. In Skyrim a Thalmor rank gives none of these powers; they come back as soon as its holder returns to Cyrodiil. |
What they can do
Look at another player and press X. A lawful rank finds these in the menu, as long as their own hands are free.
| Restrain | Binds the player's hands at once, without asking. A bound player can walk and talk, but cannot fight, sneak or use their hands, and is led: they follow the one who bound them, through doors too. Someone who is down can be restrained as well, which stands them up in bonds instead of leaving them to bleed out. |
| Uncuff | Takes the bonds off again. |
| Search | Asks to search the player, who chooses whether to allow it. If they do, their pack opens to you as a chest would. |
| A cell door | Not in the menu: use the door of a jail cell with the prisoner beside you to put them in jail. See below. |
Nobody else can restrain or search a living player. Capture has rules of its own (Server Rules 10 to 13): captivity should stay interactive and reasonable, and should not be used just to keep another player out of the game for long.
Jail
Jails and prisons have cell doors that lock. Bruma's jail is the dungeon of Castle Bruma.
| Sentencing | A lawful rank who uses a cell door with the prisoner beside them chooses Imprison and a sentence: 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes, 1 hour or 2 hours. The door shuts and locks, and the prisoner's bonds come off as it does. |
| At the door | A lawful rank at the door of an occupied cell sees the time left, and can add 10 minutes, release the prisoner early or open the door. |
| Serving time | Time counts only while you are online and inside the jail. While you are logged out, or outside it, the clock stops. When your time is served you are told, and the door unlocks. |
| /sentence | The time you have left, how long you were given and who sentenced you. The Stats tab of your journal (F3) shows it under Current Effects, and so does the Status section of your Profile tab. You are reminded when you log in. |
| /unstuck | Does not work in a jail, nor anywhere while you still have time to serve. |
| Picking the lock | Anyone with a lockpick may try a locked cell door, from inside or out. You need no skill to try, but Lockpicking shows more clearly where the pins give and snaps fewer picks. A wrong choice may snap your pick. A picked door opens with a push, and a lawful rank can lock it again. |
| Escaping | An escape does not end a sentence. The time left waits for you until you are back in that jail, or until a lawful rank releases you at your cell door. |
Logging out to get away from an arrest or a cell is combat logging, which the Server Rules forbid (rule 13).
Bound hands
When your hands are bound, press U and choose /struggle to try to break free. While you are bound, the panel opens at Help & trouble, where it is. You can also type /struggle in chat.
| Read the rope | There is no timing. Each pull shows a few spots on your bonds, and one of them gives, with the clearest sign: choose it and the pull lands. Six good pulls in a row are needed, and one wrong pull means the bonds hold. Even a clean round does not always break them. |
| Being watched | If a guard or another lawful rank, other than your captor, stands close by, more spots show and the false signs look more like the true one. They are told that you are struggling, and your captor always is. |
| Trying again | After a try your wrists are raw, and you must wait a few minutes before the next. You cannot struggle while you are down. |
| Breaking free | Your captor and the people near you hear of it, and for a short while nobody can bind you again unless you fall. |
The Concordat in Cyrodiil
The White-Gold Concordat ended the Great War between the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion in 4E 175. Among its terms, the worship of Talos was outlawed throughout the Empire, and the Thalmor were free to enforce the ban. In 4E 211 Bruma is Imperial land, so the law holds there.
| Who may arrest | The Thalmor's First Emissary, Justiciars and Inquisitors, and only in Cyrodiil (in the alpha, Bruma and the land around it). |
| The arrest | They look at a follower of Talos (a character whose god is Talos), press X and choose Arrest under the Concordat. The one arrested is told why: the worship of Talos is outlawed in the Empire, the arrest is lawful, and the guards will not stop it. Nobody else can be charged. The arrest stands for an hour, in which the Thalmor restrain the prisoner and take them to jail. |
| The sentence | At a cell door of a jail in Cyrodiil the Thalmor may pass the Concordat's sentence of 30 minutes. Only the First Emissary, Justiciars and Inquisitors can release the prisoner early or add to the sentence. Bruma's own guards and officials cannot. |
| In Skyrim | No arrest powers at all. The Concordat binds only the Empire and Skyrim's Holds rule themselves, so there the Thalmor cannot arrest anyone, not even with the ordinary powers of a lawful rank. |
| Informants | When anyone kneels at a shrine of Talos in Cyrodiil, the First Emissary, Justiciars and Inquisitors who are online hear of it: which shrine, where and when, but never who. The first time a follower of Talos kneels at his shrine, they are warned of the law. |
| Dossiers | The Thalmor keep notes on named characters, up to 500 characters a note. They are in a Thalmor tab of the journal (F3) that only those three ranks see, beside the informants' reports. The First Emissary and Justiciars write and strike notes; Inquisitors read them. A Concordat jailing is written into the prisoner's dossier by itself. |
Dossiers are roleplay, written in character. Like any text you write in the game, they must follow the Server Rules, as the Terms of Service say, and a note that does not may be removed. How the notes are kept, and who can read them, is in the Privacy Policy. Who may serve the Thalmor is in the Holds & Factions Guide.
Crime as roleplay
Theft and banditry belong in the game when your character has a reason for them, and so do the consequences: see rules 12 and 13 of the Server Rules. Both of these are in the X menu on another player. Neither works on, or by, someone in a beast form.
| Rob | Demand their coin. They get a panel and 20 seconds to answer. If they give in, you take 15% of the gold they carry and up to three things from their pack, one of each, never anything they wear; gold in the bank is safe. A courier may also lose one of the sealed parcels they carry, as Pigeon Post and Notice Boards explains. If they choose to fight or flee, or give no answer, it comes to a fight: bring them down within 10 minutes and Rob takes the same share without asking. Walk away before they answer and the demand is dropped: their panel closes and they keep everything. You cannot rob in the middle of a fight, or rob a member of your own party. |
| Pickpocket | Crouch to sneak, step within arm's reach of a player, press X and choose Pickpocket. Your Lockpicking sets the odds: 20% without the skill, then 30% at Novice, 40% at Apprentice, 50% at Adept, 60% at Expert and 70% at Master. They are better from behind, and worse against a drawn weapon. A lift takes a share of the coin they carry, larger as your Lockpicking grows but never more than 500 gold, or one item from their pockets (a few, if it is arrows), never a key, never a courier's sealed parcel and never anything they wear. |
| Being noticed | If a pickpocket fails, the victim feels the hand and is told at once, by the name they know the thief by: the thief's own name if the thief once introduced themselves to them, Stranger if not, or Masked Person behind a mask. If it succeeds, the victim finds out what is gone about a minute later, but not who took it. |
Masks
| H | Pull up a borrowed mask. Others see a Masked Person instead of your name, and inspecting you shows a face hidden behind a mask rather than who you are. Press H again to take it off and hand it back. |
| While masked | You cannot introduce yourself, and you cannot put a mask on or off in a beast form. Logging out or changing character always takes it off. |
| Who knows you | Since 12 October nobody finds you by typing your name while you are masked or in a beast form, only by the #TAG under the mask, and the people who stand near you do not add you to their ledger. Lists such as the Court roster show you as Masked Person, and someone in a beast form by their own name, never as Werewolf or Vampire Lord. Since 13 October, a notice you pin on a notice board is signed with your own name even behind a mask. |
| Keep it on you | The mask is lent, not given. If you drop it, store it or trade it away while you wear it, you need that mask back before you can wear one again. |
Since 11 October a mask can no longer leave you stuck as a Masked Person. If that happened to you before, send a /bug and staff will give your name back.
Since 12 October, logging out in a beast form while wearing a mask no longer loses your character's name either. Before, the character came back as a Masked Person for good. If that happened to you, open a ticket, in the Discord or with /ticket mod in the game, and staff will put your name back.
Executions
Since 13 October a chopping block stands on the plaza before Castle Bruma. A beheading there ends the condemned character for good, so it is a player kill that a GM must allow and witness. Rule 7 of the Server Rules covers character death.
| The condemned | Kneels at the block by using it (E) themselves. Nobody can be put on it, and a player whose hands are bound cannot use it. Nothing more happens unless a GM allows it. |
| The headsman | Another player uses the block and takes up the axe. A GM must stand within 20 metres of the block, or nothing happens. That GM cannot be the headsman or the one at the block. |
| The GM decides | Every GM at the block is asked to approve or refuse. Once one approves, the headsman confirms with Execute, or lowers the axe. The approving GM must stay at the block until the headsman confirms. Once the headsman confirms, the blow falls: standing up, walking away or logging out no longer stops it. |
| No execution | Before the headsman confirms: if the condemned stands up or the headsman steps away from the block, a GM refuses, the GMs leave before deciding, the approving GM leaves, or nobody decides within two minutes, there is no execution. |
| For good | The condemned dies at the block and is logged out. The character stays on your character list marked Dead and can never be played again. Delete it there to free its slot for a new character. |
Onlookers do not see the beheading itself yet: it comes with the next client. Until then the condemned simply dies at the block, about 17 seconds after the headsman confirms.
If you fall
Lying down and bleeding out, being raised, /respawn and Death's Chill are all in Starting Out in Alpha. Three things matter here:
- Bonds, not the temple. A lawful rank can restrain you while you are down. That stands you up in bonds, and you do not bleed out.
- A robbery you refused. If the robber you stood up to is the one who brought you down, they take their share without asking.
- Your body. While you are down, another player can search your body once with E: they take a share of your coin and two kinds of things you carry, all of each, never your keys, and you are told what they took.