here is a good example of rules from a structured kingdom. yes i know its long, but it helps define what is expected from the kingdom. if you want you may copy this and edit it to fit the needs of your kingdom
Legion Rules
First off, I would like to welcome you to the Legion. This kingdom is Chaos and Order, a merging of demonic and angelic entities.
As such, the laws binding this kingdom are non-negotiable and are designed for strict control of our forces. Read these rules fully. We're going to be following them to the letter.
1. The first rule is about activity. I'm not going to demand that you be on this game 24/7. Some of you have lives and I will respect that. The way I check activity is via the kingdom page. All you have to do, really, is log on. If you're trying to stockpile resources, just log into the game, and log off, that's all it takes. Keeping the log-in ticker below the numbers 3 & 4 is the minimum requirement, though you will have better performance, and grace in my eyes, if you log in once a day. If you will be unable to connect to the internet, let me know. This is the only way to prevent being kicked out of the kindom. Every Thursday, Tuesday, and Saturday, I look at the kingdom page to be sure everyone's following the activity rule. At random, I may check the list Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, just to keep everyone on their toes. Best way to avoid being kicked: Just be active.
A good way to keep on top of things is also being active in the kingdom forum. I drop in almost everyday into the forums to read up on the latest or to just have a good laugh in a bad day. So if you post something in our kingdom forum: I'm gonna see and I'm going to read.
2. Kingdom pacts determine the level of cooperation we give other kingdoms and how we treat them. In the past, we never did full-kingdom NAPs. This has changed. Here is the list of Naps in order of least to greatest priority.
NIP - Non-interference Pact. We don't go into their territory, they don't come into ours. If either enters the other's territory, battles may be faught against the 'invading' forces at the discretion of the kingdom who holds the territory. This pact is the lowest the Legion holds. It can be broken with 12 hour warning by any Rank 5 member or myself for any reason whatsoever. We may not like them and that's reason enough to break it for us.
NAP - Non-aggression Pact. Armies can move through each other's territory unhindered by other armies. Great walls may/may not be open to travellers. Colonies may not be settled in one another's territory and such colonies may or may not be attacked at the discretion of the kingdom holding that territory. This pact may be broken by Rank 5 members or myself with a 24 hour warning to the other side of the pact. This pact is immediately void when a colony is settled in the other kingdom's territory and can be broken with probably cause.
MAP - Military Aide Pact. An agreement exists that the kingdoms will provide military aide to one another during war. Colonies may not be settled in one another's territory, and such colonies may or may not be attacked at the discrettion of the kingdom holding the territory. This pact can be broken by a concessus between me and the Rank 5 members with a 48 hour warning. This pact is immediately void when a colony is settled in the other kingdom's territory and can be broken with cause with proof.
Blood Pact - A special binding between Legion and the receiving Kingdom is formed. Legion and the recipient now act as if part o*beep*reater whole. Almost as if they were one kingdom. Both kingdoms keep their independence, but during battle, fall down on their opponent in unison. Colonies are allowed in each other's territory. This pact can only be broken with a 72 hour warning, and requires one hellacious case to break. It cannot be broken just to start a war.
3. War declarations are a serious matter. I decide who we go to war with, not a council. I may bring it up as a council subject, but I have the final say in the entire matter. Any attempts to start a war will start a thorough investigation with the victim kingdom. Out of this, you WILL NOT get a defense. This is your only warning. The amount of damages done will determine your punishment within the Legion's side. Worse case scenario: You're kicked out and Legion will hunt you down and slaughter you, regardless of to what kingdom you run to.
4. Self-defense. If someone attacks you, by all means pursue justice. If their kingdom attempts to back them up, it's war. I will not let one of our members be pushed around. If there is a Pact with the kingdom, and a member of that kingdom attacks you, retaliate and alert me IMMEDIATELY. I will warn the kingdom that any interference from either side will result in the IMMEDIATE revocation of the Pact. NIPs are excluded, since they were in our territory to begin with, and that pact will be voided immediately with a notification sent to the kingdom.
5. Veterans versus new players. There is no special treatment in this kingdom. If you been around ten eras, great, lend a hand to those who haven't. If you just started this era or last, tough luck, I ain't going easy on you. Welcome to Legion, buddy. If you can't stand the fact that your 'skills' won't mean squat in this kingdom for your ranking or in earning my favor, get used to it. And note to the new guys: Just because we're going to drag you along doesn't mean we won't try and give you a hand. See rule 6 below.
6. Asking for Help - Nothing wrong with it. However, try to figure it out on your own. If you're really stumped, ask either in the forums or, if you aren't brave enough, message a veteran or an 'old timer', those that have been around awhile but don't claim veterancy just yet. I'm an old timer, our dreadlord is also an old timer, though I bet he claims veteranship and I sure as hell ain't contesting that. We've been around a while and can probably answer some questions.
7. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. I will spell it out, bold it, type it in italics. But you will give RESPECT to all members of this kingdom. This does not just extend to me, our viceroys or rank 5/6 members, or whomever the hell else I give high command to. This extends to EVERYONE, newcomers, recent recruits, even the punished. A single insult gets a warning, a second is subject to 'City Arrest'. A third WILL get you kicked. Three strikes, YOU-ARE-OUT.
Exceptions: Racial references depending on situation (Human, dwarf, elven, etc. references between two or more players of the same race are ignored). The term 'mortal' when used by immortal beings in reference to a player and/or his race is also ignored. Immortal beings include Rank 5 players and those whose histories note how they gained it. Also, custom races require some sort of history denoting some sort of description. If you take hits from the racial reference, don't take it personal, it's just RP. This exception is ONLY valid in "(RP)" labelled threads.
8. The penalty for breaking ANY of the rules can include a warning, automatically being kicked, or being placed under 'City arrest', meaning you MAY NOT expand for a fixed period of time or risk being expelled from the kingdom. I will decide if you will be kicked or not, on the get go. If I decide you may stay, your 'punishment' will be decided either by a group or a single individual I will pick myself.
9. Victory is life. When we do enter war, the only thing you need to know is once we go to war, we stop for nothing short of complete and total annihilation of the enemy. Their kingdom, their members, their towns. Raze them, capture them, enslave them. I don't give a rats ass how. We will not stop until they are totally and utterly destroyed. Remember, this goes for me as well. I will not save my own skin during war...
10. Magic. Yes, Legion has a rule about Magic. If you walk down the magic path in the ranking system, you need to post your magic level in the magic thread so we can reference what spells you have on demand. Magic-users will be expected to have huge quantities of MT's and MU's on hand for use, from the moment they start up those ranks. In fact, before you get that first mage promotion, it's a good idea to have a good handle on your numbers. Cuz if we only have three magic-using players, you're gonna get alooooooot of action.
11. WAR TIME ACTIVITY. When we go to war, the rule about activity improvements, BIG TIME. At war, you are expected to log in once a day if not more, there is a 3 day buffer to this going into effect, afterwards, YOU CAN AND WILL BE KICKED OUT. Less than once every day will cause one of the Council to kick you and all members of this kingdom WILL capture your towns almost immediately there-after. The only way out of this is to let me now three days in advance of any problems. In a similar nature to before. But because of this, we have to protect you while you're AWL (Away with Leave), so I expect you to fight your ass off when you get back. If the war's over when you get back, you get none of the after-war cuts.
12. Battle Ettiquette - Here's a pet peeve of a few players: They're sitting on a city, trying to take it, when one of their kingdommates swipes it while they're offline. It can start arguements. As a result, if you see a kingdommate sitting on a city, do a merge instead of lauching a seperate attack on that city. De-merge when the city is taken because merges take a long time to move.
13. Roleplay. This is not a requirement for the most part. It does, however, add flavor to the kingdom. There are some things I may pull off at random that will require roleplay and these will be noted with a "(RP)" trailing after it. That's not to say someone else can't start one either.
14. PROMOTIONS. We do have an internal system. There's a thread listing all the ranks and their requirements. You have to fulfill all the requirements to get a rank. No exceptions based on race. Naturally, this means Elves make better magic using Ranks than Dwarves.
The flow of promotion is this: Rank 1> Rank 2> Rank 3> Rank 4> Rank 5> so on and so on.
If you don't have the previous rank, you cannot gain the one above it. Meaning if you're rank 2, you can't get Rank 4 because you haven't obtained Rank 3. You can only gain 1 rank per day.
15. Demotions. It is possible to lose your hard earned rank and have to work back up. You can get shot down to Rank 1 in any given alignment, even from the nearly untouchabled Archangel, Arcane Dervish, or Dreadlord. It depends on the reason of your demotion as to how severe the drop will be.
There will be a "lock" on how long you have to remain in your rank before you can try walking up the ranks again.
16. Last, and my personal favorite. Have fun. Enjoy the game. It is a game, after all. While you should abide these rules if you want to stick around the Legion, have fun with this kingdom and others. If you don't have fun, sorry, luckily this rule doesn't carry a punishment with it. There's no way I can possibly enforce it.
Lord of the Legion
~Domses Drathor
