Monarchy

Type /monarchy to open the Monarchy window. You can also use /mon as a short form. The tree shows how everyone in your monarchy is connected. Click a player's node to see more detail about them in a small popup.

If you have one or more vassals and no patron, you are a monarch. Monarchs can open Monarchy settings for their monarchy from the gear icon in the header of the Monarchy window. There you can set things like the monarchy name, coat-of-arms image, optional chat tag, and tax rate. Vassals do not see that gear button.

While you are someone's vassal, your patron receives a tribute bonus based on your Skill Tree XP gains. You do not lose any XP; your total stays the same. Pending tribute is paid out when your patron is online; you will see messaging when things catch up. Most tribute and activity details are shown on each player's node in the Monarchy window.

Vassals can contribute part of their earned RP toward the monarch's monarchy coffer. That coffer is a shared pool the monarch can use to buy perks and kits for the whole monarchy to enjoy. The monarch chooses the tax rate in settings and can set it to zero if they do not want to collect any RP tax. You may see a short chat notice when RP tax is collected from you. The same batched processing described under Tribute applies here too, so coffer balances and tax lines can also lag behind what you expect in real time.

If you or your patron are offline for a long time, the plugin may warn you before monarchy links are removed for inactivity. Pay attention to in-game messages so you are not surprised if a link dissolves.

The clock for inactivity is measured in weeks, not days; you have plenty of runway. You only need to log in for a short visit to reset that timer and show you are still around. A quick hop on to touch base is enough.

Every player in a monarchy holds a rank based on their retinue: the total number of people beneath them in the tree, not just direct vassals. As your retinue grows, your title upgrades automatically. Here are the ranks from lowest to highest:

Next to the close button in the Monarchy window header you will see a Player Options button. Clicking it opens a small overlay with personal toggles that affect only you. Currently there are two options:

• Receive XP Tribute - On by default. When enabled, you receive bonus Skill Tree XP from your vassals' activity. Turn it off if you do not want tribute flowing to you for any reason.
• Display Rank Emoji in Chat - On by default. When enabled, your current rank icon appears before your name in chat (requires BetterChat). Turn it off if you prefer a clean name.

Each player can have at most 5 direct vassals. If someone already has five people pledged directly under them, new pledge requests to that person will be declined with a message suggesting you pledge to someone else in their monarchy instead.

This limit only applies to the vassals directly under a single player; it does not cap the overall size of a monarchy. Your vassals can recruit their own vassals, those vassals can recruit more, and so on. The tree can grow as deep as people are willing to build it; it just cannot grow wider than five branches at any one node. This keeps the structure organic and encourages people to build downward rather than having one person hoard every recruit at the top.

I want to be straight with you about why Monarchy exists, because it is not just a random flavor feature.

One-off "refer a friend" rewards never sat right with me for our community. They are a single transaction: someone punches in a code, both sides get a prize, and the incentive to actually stick together and teach each other the server basically ends. I cared a lot more about something ongoing, where veteran players have a real, lasting reason to invest in new players, and where new players have a reason to invite friends and learn the ropes instead of rage-quitting at the first steep hill.

Monarchy is that idea in plugin form. When you pledge to a patron, their bonus XP from your Skill Tree gains does not come out of your pocket. It is extra gravy for them. That means the person above you in the tree genuinely wants you to succeed, level, and stay, because it compounds for everyone above them too. The network can grow deep: vassals can have vassals, and activity trickles up. The players who put time into building community and helping others are the same ones who see the most benefit from that structure, and I like that alignment.

On top of XP, the coffer and tax side is there so monarchs can eventually pool RP into something the whole monarchy shares: perks, kits, quality-of-life boosts, without touching core server performance (we lean on permission-based rewards we already know how to run safely). Set tax to zero and run casual, or raise it a little and make sure you are actually delivering value so people want to stay. I expect some politics and drama in a good way; that is social glue.

There is more I want to add over time: richer monarchy-wide perks, a clearer shop flow for monarchs to spend coffer funds on the group, maybe more visibility into goals and unlocks. Nothing here is finished on a whiteboard in a vault; it will grow with how you all actually use it. If something feels confusing or unfair, tell us. I built this to help retention and mentorship, not to punish anyone for learning slowly.

Thanks for reading, and for playing here.