General

1) Respect. Everyone here deserves it.
2) Hoof Prince is open to all players and levels of experience.
3) Hoof Prince has no word count, with the exception of your inital sample post on the join board. Please be thoughtful and creative though, we love that!
4) You may only post your own characters, anyone caught posting someone else's character will be banned.
5) You must join and be assigned an Element before posting in-character anywhere on the site.
6) Some mature content is allowed, but be conservative with it's use. No excessive swearing. No long breeding.
7) Please dont let Out of Character issues effect your In Character interaction. If you have a problem with another member, please talk to a staff member or owner. Contacts
8) Please only join as many characters as you can maintain.
9) Powerplaying is considered causing grievious bodily harm to another character without permission. This is not allowed.
10) If you break the rules, you may recieve a warning, or be banned without one. This depends on the offense.
11) Game time progresses that 1 game year = 4 real months. (1 month=1 season).

Appearances

1) Any horse breed is allowed.
2) Make certain the height and color is acceptable to the breed standard of your character.
3) Horses are measured in hands, and partial hands can be measured as 14.1, 14.2, and 14.3. The next largest size is 15 hands. (as an example)
4) If two horses breed, the appearance and gender of their foal will be decided randomly according to the parent's stats. This is to make the game more realistic.
5) Traits include: Wings, special colors/markings, horns, etc.
6) Defects include: Deafness, blindness, club foot, etc.
7) All traits/defects must be approved by Staff before a character is joined. You can contact them here: Contacts

Mares & Claiming

1) Stallions determine the original lead mare of their herd. Lead mares determine the original positions for the rest of the herd.
2) You may challenge for your freedom or a new position within the herd. You cannot leave the herd until you have challenged for and won your freedom however.
3) Mares may only challenge the mare one position above her own unless challenging the lead mare. Mares must challenge the lead stallion for their freedom.
4) Challenges can only be issued once a week. Position challenges may only happen one at a time.
5) If you are won by another stallion in a challenge or a steal, you must go with him.
6) If an unclaimed mare wanders into a territory, she may become part of that herd.
7) A mare can not adopt an orphan foal under weaning age unless she is producing milk due to pregnancy or having had a foal or stillborn recently.

Stallions

1) A stallion can have as many mares in a herd as he can maintain.
2) You may challenge for a territory, a mare, or for an entire herd.
3) A territory becomes open for claiming if the lead stallion hasn't posted in two weeks without notice of being away.
4) You must post on both the territory board and the Updates board for your claim to be valid.
5) One adult stallion per herd. Three years old is considered adult.
6) As a lead stallion, you choose your original lead mare and which Kingdom you wish to be aligned with. You may approach a kingdom, or they may approach you.
7) Stallions may be captured as the result of a challenge or a steal.

Kingdoms

1) A kingdom can be good or bad depending on the leader or leaders ruling it.
2) A kingdom can be under "Invite Only" status. If a kingdom is under such a status, a horse from that kingdom must invite your character to live there.
3) Kingdom characters are permitted to freely walk among the herds that are under their kingdom.
4) One player cannot play more than one character that rules a kingdom.
5) Kingdoms can ONLY be challenged for when the current monarch falls inactive. Owner permission must be given for a monarch position to be challenged for.
6) If the current King/Queen names an heir, that character gets first rights to the throne. If no heir was named, the kingdom is put to a vote or the new monarch is determined by staff.
7) The Valkyries are the "rebel mares" of Hoof Prince. Only mares are permitted to reside freely in their lands. Stallions are either visitors or prisoners.
8) The Rajputs are the stallions of Hoof Prince who do not lead territories and live outside of the world of regular kingdoms. Only stallions are permitted to reside freely in their lands. Mares are either visitors or prisoners.
9) The Scythians are the former Rajputs and Valkyries. When the flood came, the lands combined, and both kingdoms were thrown together.

Breeding & Foaling

1) Both parties must be over the age of 3 to breed.
2) NO inbreeding or line breeding to any blood relative.
3) The foal form must be completely and properly filled out or a stillborn foal will be granted.
4) Foal stats and due date are posted in the breeding thread by a staff member. They are decided at random based on the parent's stats. Twins are extremely rare.
5) Traits and defects are given randomly. (12345)=NOTHING (6)=TRAIT OR DEFECT. If a 6 is rolled the die would be rolled twice more, once to determine whether a trait or defect is given and a second time to determine the specific trait/defect that will be given out. (123)=TRAIT (456)=DEFECT.
6) Breeding can occur at any time, though the odds of survival will be figured into the breeding… These will be decided by dice roll as follows: Foals born in the WINTER=(123) live, (456) die. SPRING=(12345) live, (6) die. SUMMER=(12345) live, (6) die. FALL=(12345) live, (6) die.
7) Mares may only breed once every three months, real time. Except in the case of a stillborn: mares must wait until after the due date of their stillborn to breed again.
8) Foals are born one week real time from the day they are conceived. Any foals born early will be stillborn.
9) A foal is dependent on its dam for the first year of its life and will stay with her during this year.
10) Foals are not permitted to challenge for mares/prisoners/lands.
11) You may join as an orphan foal, but these foals must be adopted by a foster mare. The foster mare must be producing milk otherwise the foal will die.

Challenging

1) All challenges and results will be posted on the specified challenge board (The Ridges)
2) Battles may be role played, a debate or left to dice roll provided both parties agree on the type of battle.
3) The challenger is free to set the terms for the fight but both players must agree to them. If players cannot reach an agreement, admins will either provide terms for you or the fight will be thrown out.
4) Word limits are prohibited at all times. Nonelemental battles are prohibited in the cases of Guardian or Spirit challenges.
5) If you make a challenge to someone, you are the attacker, and they are the defender. The challenger posts first.
6) If you are being challenged and are active, you have 3 days to reply to the challenger. If you do not reply within that time, you automatically forfeit.
7) If you are away, your herd and lands will only be protected for 3 weeks. If you have not returned after 3 weeks, your herd may leave and your territory may be claimed. If there is a VALID reason that you will be gone longer, you must give other players the option to leave.
8) Only the challenge master may judge or determine outcomes of a fight. Any disputes can be taken up with the staff.
9) For a basic Hoof Prince battle set-up, request for one and it will be posted.

Stealing

1) Herds may only steal from herds. Kingdoms may only steal from kingdoms.
2) A thief may only steal one individual at a time. The exception being a mare and her dependent foal. Dependent foals cannot be stolen individually.
3) All members of kingdoms can write steals or post blocks, but only the lead stallion or mare can write steals or post blocks for a herd.
4) Only 2 blocks per herd or kingdom per steal.
5) You may be as creative as you'd like, however we do not allow foreign language or codes (example selrknalekrnalkesrna). Poetry, symbols, colors, etc may be used.
6) Every steal must include a clue to the stallion you are stealing from, their territory, and 3 clues about the mare you are stealing as well as clues about your own territory and a clear statement of whether or not the steal is for a kingdom or a herd to be valid. Your character's name must be posted in the "name" field unless you provide additional clues pointing to your own character.
7) If your steal is not found in three days, you must reveal the answer to your steal. Staff will determine if you are successful.
8) If a guess has been made on a steal, the thief must post stating if the block correct or incorrect. If you fail to respond to a block and are seen ANYWHERE else on the site the steal will be invalid. If you need to go on away before the deadline, email the steal's answer to an admin so they can answer guesses.
9) When a horse is stolen, the stolen horse must stay in the thieving kingdom or herd for three real life weeks before they can be challenged for or counter-stolen. In addition they must be active in that kingdom or herd, posting at least once a week. If you fail to do this, your character will be ineligible for challenges or steals.

War

1) Upon the Admin & Staff's discretion, wars will occur that give each character an opportunity to win tokens.
2) Fighters that respond to the sign up post are paired up. Once the pairs are posted, you have three days to respond or you forfeit.
3) In a War, you are allowed 2 physical attacks and 1 use of a single element, be it for attack or defense.
4) All judging decisions are final.
5) All war battles are "quick series" battles, consisting of three posts.
Challenger -- (2 Attacks)
Defender -- (2 Defense, 2 Attacks)
Challenger -- (2 Defense)

Crusades

1) Upon the Admin and Staff's discretion, Crusades may occur for characters to have the chance to win special traits or items.
2) Only Guardians and Spirits are permitted to attend a Crusade. Each character may only fight for one temple that he or she belongs to.
3) Crusades, like Wars, are "quick series" battles.
4) More than one type of element is allowed to be used during a Crusade, but after one power attack, the others count as regular attacks.
5) Prizes given are determined by HP staff.
6) You may only recieve ONE prize from a crusade, and the prize will only be from the temple you fought for. No double dipping or saying that because your character is a spirit/guardian of the winning temple and you fought for a different temple, this means you get the prize.

Raids

1) A raid is when one kingdom invades another.
2) Any kingdom can raid any other kingdom, but Admin permission must be given first.
3) When a raid is fought, it is 5 on 5; the best of 3 wins.
4) Warriors may be chosen from the defensive/offensive kingdoms and as well as any allies.
5) Terms must be set before the raid is fought.
6) A Deity has the ability to edit any terms and the Deity judges the battles.