Two and a half decades of peace has seen the shinobi world rest on its laurels. In that time, individual nations have been able to build themselves up, while others constantly bicker against their kin. The last two years had seen rather tumultuous changes in leadership, which have led to instability. With instability, war is quick to follow......

Iwagakure's Offensive
Shortly after the turn of the new year, Nohime Kounen after rebuilding his village to 3/4ths of its former capacity, he has decided to lay sieged on Ishi no Kuni on the basis that the people of Ishi and Tsuchi should be one. The 'Will of Stone' has proven enough to motivate Iwagakure's shinobi to join him on the conquest. Villages look toward the act as one of brute force, particularly worrying other smaller villages like Kusagakure, Takigakure, and Amegakure.

Having successfully annexed the central part of the nation and splitting its east, and west into two isolated areas, they saw their proximity with avowed enemies in Sunagakure as an opportunity they could not pass up. Splitting their forces into two, they have sent half of their invading army though the arduous desserts of Kaze no Kuni toward a nearby town in the north of the country. The city is a major grain producing area for Sunagakure, forcing them to retaliate, and attempt to send these forces back, especially because the Tsuchikages has called the act the beginning of the Fourth Shinobi War. Other nations looks on and consider whether they should join their allies, or find ways to take advantage of a neutral stance....

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• Application for Kages ONLY

The initiative to join the war should come from leaders of their respective villages. Say, Kage of village A wants to invade village B. In order to get the thing going, he first must send a request for admins to review. In it, he or she must underline IC reasons for the invasion, the goals that he or she wants to reach by doing so. He or she must also present a list of members that would be willing to participate, and with whom said leader has already talked over and got their agreement.

List of ninjas willing to participate:


1) [a href="http://"]Me[/a]

2) [a href="http://"]John Doe[/a]

3) [a href="http://"]Jane Smith[/a]

4) [a href="http://"]Robert Black[/a]

5) [a href="http://"]Richard White[/a]

6) [a href="http://"]Barack Obama[/a]

7) [a href="http://"]Deez Nuts[/a]


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How will the War Operate?

Active war phase


In order to conquer a country, the attacker must overcome the enemy at three stages. Each stage represents progression of the invasion into the country. Here are the generalized stages. They can always change depending on what we hear from Kages and their strategies, but they will go in increments.:


1) The border.


In general, this is supposed to be the easiest stage, since fortifications on the border are supposed to be rare to nonexistent. At this stage, the defender usually doesn’t have much of an advantage. However! Depending on what country is being invaded, the advantage the defenders have could be greater than usual. It means that lands with strong natural defenses will have greater initial advantage during border fights. Players must keep these in mind as they RP their characters. However, if attacker had successfully completed recon missions in the Prelude, this advantage can be lessened in some situations. Border battles are usually over essential areas to the defending village, such as over supplies, or a certain resource in order to weaken them.


If the attacker succeeds in fighting through this stage – they proceed to stage 2. If the defender repels them – the first invasion is considered failed, and is over, but it can be supplemented by later attacks.



2) Going deeper into the country


At this point fortifications and clear defensive lines start to appear. The defender always has the advantage here due to knowledge of terrain and prepared positions. However, that advantage could be lessened in Prelude, if sabotage and infiltration missions have been successfully completed. Once more, the overall terrain of the country suggests the type of advantage given – defending steep mountains around Iwagakure is easier than doing so with plains and hills of the Land of Fire.


If attacker succeeds in defeating the defenders here, they move on to stage three. If the defenders win – the attacker is pushed back to stage 1.



3) Storming the ninja village


This is the most fortified place in the entire country. The defender will have huge amount of advantage here that cannot be reduced by sabotage or infiltration. Minefields, walls, various traps, sensory barriers etcetera – all of this await the attacker if they got this far. The stakes are high for the defenders here – if they lose the battle – they lose the country. If the attacker loses – they’re pushed back to stage two and fatigue on the invading army will take place. This fatigue will depend on the time and other variables.


• How the battles are going to be carried out?

STAFF ADVISES THAT MEMBERS MUST KEEP CIVIL, AND TRY TO HAVE FUN. STAFF WILL DO THEIR BEST TO KEEP THINGS FAIR, AND HOPE THAT MEMBERS CAN RESOLVE THINGS BETWEEN THEMSELVES. IF NOT, STAFF CAN INTERVENE, BUT FIGHTING BEFORE OR AFTER THIS INTERVENTION ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS IN A BATTLE WILL BE SEVERELY LOOKED DOWN UPON AND WILL RESULT IN BOTH PLAYERS BEING BOOTED FROM THE EVENT. PATIENCE, AND UNDERSTANDING ARE THE ONLY THINGS THAT WILL MAKE THIS ALL RUN SMOOTHLY. REMEMBER, STAFF'S WORD OVER A BATTLE IS FINAL.

Before the battle commences, participants from each team are going to be split into pairs. As a rule, the mods will try to match the combatants by their skill level (jounin vs jounin, chuunin vs chuunin, genin vs genin, etc), in order to make sure battles are not one-sided. However, in case the teams are unequal in numbers, we may match a stronger opponent against 2 or more weaker opponents (jounin vs 2 chuunin, for example).


In case one side greatly outnumbers the other in players, NPCs could be used to pair up against unoccupied players. The NPCs are going to be played by staff members, or veteran players, if they volunteer. Players can temporarily use adoptable characters. Also, moderators will be tasked to watch over the fights to prevent any cheating.


Each battle will start with a moderator post describing the setup, and the objectives for each participant, kind of like a mission. For the most part, attackers will be tasked to attack something, while defenders – defend something from the attacker. The defender will usually have some sort of terrain advantage – what kind of advantage is up to the moderator in question, but he/she must always assess the successes/failures of Prelude missions before doing so, as well as natural landscape of the country the battle is being fought in. I suggest that a limit to thread size is 16 (plus/minus 2) posts in total – one either must win before reaching that limit, or the moderator overseeing the battle will choose the winner, judging by progress made so far. In some cases, (if we’re not in a hurry), a fight can be allowed to continue further beyond the limit.


When all fights are finished, we calculate the points. Whichever side gets the most wins – wins the round. A draw on points should be considered in the defender’s favor OR a stalemate in which both teams regroup and convene.


Players are expected to post within 48 hours. If the player fail to comply with this demand, the outcome is decided by the moderator, and usually ends up in a loss. This is to keep the battles from taking forever due to a person vanishing in the middle of the thread.