THE RULESET.

• One active claim per pack leader. Splinter packs inherit the parent's claim for 10 min after splitting.
• Sanctuaries (Swamp Sanctuary, Water Access Sanctuary, Hidden Sanctuary, East Sanctuary) cannot be claimed — they are permanent truce zones.
• Wallowing holes are shared resources — no exclusive claim, but engagement caps still apply at them.

• Open a challenge via /challenge in Discord or issue the in-game species vocal.
• Resolves on: first downed combatant · full disengage (90 s both sides clear) · 20 min timeout.
• You cannot challenge while an active nest is present in the territory. Nesting = truce window.

• Allosaurus + Carnotaurus — the two western apexes may not run together.
• Troodon + Dilophosaurus — base-camp grief pattern. Separate packs only.

• Allosaurus + Ceratosaurus — classic Morrison pairing. Allowed.
• Any herbivore multi-species herd — allowed up to combined group cap.

• Semi-aquatic carnivores may claim one terrestrial territory adjacent to their water lane.
• Beach raids are capped at 10 minutes per lunar cycle — tracked automatically.
• Open-ocean crossings by terrestrial species are logged but not penalized.
• Zone entries into Swamp, River Delta, West Tail, East Coast trigger semi-aquatic rule checks.

• Species vocal challenge (in-game call system)
• Visible posture — approach from front, within 20m, hold for 3 seconds
• Scent-mark the target territory
• /hunt open in Discord (requires --hungry flag if hunger > 70%)

• Defending your claimed territory against an intruder
• Protecting an active nest or juvenile (<0.4 growth)
• Retaliation within 5 minutes of being attacked
• Target is a marked bounty

• First offence: -500 karma, engagement flagged in #combat-log
• Repeat at -2,000 total: auto-kick + temporary ban
• Overkill while sated: -150 karma (separate from KOS)

• A herbivore laying an active clutch creates a 30m truce radius for 12h or until the nest hatches, whichever comes first.
• Any carnivore entering the truce radius without --starving declared (hunger <25%) takes a -400 karma NEST-BREAK penalty plus auto-kick on repeat.
• Other herbivores inside the radius may not initiate combat against the nesting parent.
• Imprinting parent-bond pays +100 karma if a juvenile the parent incubated reaches 0.6 growth alive.
• Nest events surface on the live feed as NEST DETECTED and on the map as a pulsing green circle.

Carnivores should actively hunt vulnerable young. Bonuses scale with species fit, predator age, weight, and diet. All criteria are evaluated from log data — no self-report required.

> Maximum stacked bonus: +390 karma per valid young-hunt. Bonuses do NOT stack for the same prey player more than once per 6h.

• Fresh-spawn juveniles are guided by the bot to spawn in the biome matching their species' core habitat (see Territory data) and within 350m of a living adult of the same species when available.
• If no adult of the species is logged in, the spawner routes to the nearest sanctuary with matching biome — never open plains.
• Tells: you will receive /spawn brief whispered by the bot in Discord before you load in, naming the territory and the nearest adult's screen name (or "no adults online — routing sanctuary").

• Base mutation rate: 5% per birth for brand-new mutations. Hereditary rate (one parent is a carrier): 30%.
• Pass-down range: 30–85% depending on the mutation's rarity (common → 85%, mythic → 30%).
• Every mutated individual is stamped with a unique 🧬 identifier (🧬-ABCD-1234) visible on their profile card, in /lineage, and on the live feed.
• Cannibalism trait: 15% hereditary. Carriers gain +25% nutrition from conspecific kills but -50 karma per action. The trait skips a generation 70% of the time — surprise re-emergence is expected.
• Color palette is inherited from parents — offspring base coat is a weighted blend of both sire and dam palettes, with a 5% chance of a novel hue if both parents are palette-drift carriers.
• First discovery of a new mutation on-server = +500 TrailCoins + announcement in #genetic-alerts.
• Lineage trees tracked per bloodline. Legacy unlocks at Ascended karma tier. /lineage renders the full tree.

• Gigantism — +15% size, +10% bite & health, -8% stamina. Legendary rarity. Carrier is visibly larger than all peers.
• Standard — no modifier. The vast majority of individuals.
• Island Dwarfism — -12% size, +10% speed, -10% bite. Rare. Grants Compact Frame title on Discord.

• IC vs OOC — In-character taunts in #field-log are fine. Out-of-character harassment is a 1-strike permanent ban.
• No metagaming — do not relay live position data across Discord unless both players are in the same pack channel. Logs are monitored.
• Voice channels — pack voice rooms are auto-created on claim. Trespass into a rival pack's voice is logged and reported.
• DMs — the bot will never ask for credentials. Any DM claiming to be "staff" asking for RCON is a phishing attempt; report to #abuse-reports.
• Language — slurs of any kind = immediate ban, no appeal. Heated trash talk between packs is tolerated so long as it stays within IC/PvP scope.
• Nicknames — your Discord nick is auto-synced to your in-game name when you link with /link. Mismatches make appeals unreviewable.

• The bot monitors every channel. Violations generate Incident records tied to your player profile.
• Three active incidents within 30 days = auto-mute 24h. Five = temporary ban. Ten in a bloodline = ancestral karma reset.
• /strikes in any channel shows your current active incident count.
• All enforcement is appealable via /appeal incident:<id> — the appeal embeds the log evidence and routes to staff review.