Meridian 59 User's Guide
Paying Rent
As you know, guilds without a guild hall are subject to administrative fees that must be paid to the Guild Creator (who, as you may have guessed by now, is largely in this for the money) at least once every two days.
Once you own a guild hall, these fees are greatly increased, because they now include your rent as well. Your rent is based on the number of people in your guild, the opulence of your edifice, and your current numbers of allies and enemies. To find out how much rent you owe, go to the Guild Creator, type say rent at the text line, and press Enter.
You must pay your rent every day. Anyone in your guild may undertake this task, which involves making the trip to the Guild Creator's House. Once inside, type Offer. Your inventory list appears. Type the amount you want to pay, and click OK to hand it over.
Taking A Guild Hall by Force
If your guild is low on money, but high on hit points and not averse to a little bloodshed, you can also acquire a guild hall by simply marching in and taking it. This is a major military operation that should not be undertaken without considerable planning, and only with people you trust implicitly. Your mission plan will need to consider the following steps:
- You need to get someone into the guild hall. Guild doors only open for members and allies, but an agile burglar can sometimes slip in behind an authorized person while the door is open.
- You need to find out where the switch is. This is usually a closely-held guild secret.
- You need to get to the switch, and flip it before anyone can stop you. Flipping the switch disables the guild hall's defenses, allowing anyone to come inside at will. What happens next depends on the your relationship to the guild:
Conquest By Enemy Guild
If you are a member of an enemy guild:
- All members of the defending guild and allied guiilds are immediately notified that the guild hall's defenses have been breached, and by which guild.
- The defending guild has ten minutes to reach the switch and flip it back into position. If they can't recapture the switch within 10 minutes, the hall is considered conquered.
- The conquering guild has one hour to get someone to the Guild Creator's House to claim the hall by paying the rent on it. The hall may only be claimed by the conquering guild. If the hall is not claimed within one hour of conquest, the guild hall is considered abandoned, and may be rented by anyone who has the money.
Conquest by Allied or Neutral Guild
If you are a member of an allied or neutral guild:
- All members of the defending guild only are notified that the guild hall's defenses have been breached. They are not told by whom, and the message may be delayed by as much as three minutes.
- The defending guild has seven minutes to reach the switch and flip it back into position. If they can't recapture the switch in time, the hall is considered conquered.
- The conquering guild has one hour to get someone to the Guild Creator to claim the hall by paying the rent on it. The hall may only be claimed by the conquering guild. If the hall is not claimed within one hour of conquest, the guild hall is considered abandoned, and may be rented by anyone who has the money.
Conquest By Mercenary
If you are not a member of any guild:
- All members of the defending guild are immediately notified in detail that the guild hall's defenses have been breached.
- The defending guild has ten minutes to reach the switch and flip it back into position. If they can't recapture the switch within ten minutes, the hall is considered conquered.
- The hall is considered abandoned as soon as the ten minutes are up. For a period of one hour, neither the mercenary nor the members of the conquered guild may rent the hall. During that time, any other mature guild may go to the Guild Creator and claim the hall by paying the rent on it.
Conquest By Betrayal
If you flip the switch in your own guild hall, here's what happens:
- All members of the defending guild and allied guilds are immediately notified that the guild hall's defenses have been breached. This message is not very detailed, and may be delayed.
- The defending guild or its allies must reach the switch and flip it back into position. If they can't recapture the switch within the allotted time, the hall is considered conquered.
- The conquered hall is up for grabs: it will ultimately belong to the first guild -- it could be ANY mature guild -- that can get to the Guild Creator first and put up the rent on it. The former owners cannot rent it until an hour has passed.
Words of Wisdom
A few things to remember before you rush off to seize someone else's hard-earned guild hall:
- The switch does not work in abandoned guild halls. The only way to acquire these halls is to buy them from the Guild Creator.
- Members of immature guilds may not flip the switches. Your guild must attain full maturity - that is, your members must have spent a combined total of three hours in Meridian as a group - before you can go off and raid someone's guild hall. (Secret guilds require six hours.) The Guild Creator will notify you when you have achieved maturity.
- You can only raid a guild hall while at least one member of the defending guild is present in Meridian 59. If all the guild members are off-line, the hall is sealed and considered under the protection of the Gods.
