The prison is watched. Guards are posted throughout the prison world, and they don't take kindly to inmates attacking each other on their watch.
The three ranks
| Rank | Threat |
|---|---|
| Sentinel | The everyday patrol — dangerous to an unprepared player, but the weakest of the three |
| Guardian | A serious step up in toughness and damage |
| Archon | Elite enforcers — do not pick a fight you can't win |
You'll see a health bar with a ❤ icon above each guard. Guards at their posts can't be attacked — only a guard actively hunting you is a valid target, and only for you.
The watch isn't all stick: stand right beside a guard at its post and you'll slowly recover health, with higher ranks healing you faster. It's a courtesy reserved for inmates with a clean record — villains and followed players get nothing.
Becoming a villain
Attack another player within a guard's awareness and you're instantly branded a VILLAIN — the label appears above your head for everyone to see. (Roughing up someone who's already a wanted villain doesn't count.) Guard awareness is directional: they see much further ahead of them than behind, they need line of sight to witness a fight visually, and they can also hear scuffles that break out close by even behind their back.
Villain status lasts 15 minutes, and it follows you:
- Guards are dispatched to hunt you down — one of each rank that spots you — and every hit they land keeps your timer running.
- You can fight back against the guards hunting you — but killing guards has a price: while you're a villain, every guard you cut down makes the remaining guards hit you noticeably harder. Guard kills are announced to the whole server.
- Logging out doesn't clear it. Your record is remembered and the hunt resumes when you return.
Getting caught
If the guards bring you down — or anything else, like a fall or a mob, finishes you off while they're hunting you — your gear is confiscated: everything you would have dropped goes up in smoke instead of hitting the ground. The only way to loot a hunted villain's corpse is to land the killing blow yourself: a kill by another player drops the loot as normal, and the guards keep their hands off it.
Dying as a villain (to anyone or anything) clears the villain mark, but the guards don't forget: you're marked FOLLOWED for the next 5 minutes. A guard escort shadows you, and if you attack anyone while your escort is watching, you're a villain again on the spot — no guard post required.
Staying clean
Survive the full 15 minutes without being caught and your record clears on its own. Or simply don't start fights where the watch can see you — the overworlds (Forgotten Polis and Ancient Roads) have their own rules of engagement, with no guards looking over your shoulder. See the PvP Basics page.