Editing Unwritten Rules (section)

==Known Rules==
*Respect the secret identities of fellow parahumans.<ref name="II5.8 e1"/><ref name="20.5"/><ref name="18.3e1"/><ref name="20.4e1">"Taylor," Charlotte whispered.  "If they know who you are, they know.  They could find you again, or put your face on the news."<br>"If they did, it would be breaking a good few unwritten rules.  Especially if they only knew who I was because I helped with the Echidna situation.  They can't afford to punish villains for helping against the big threats.  It would mean fewer people showed, and they need all the help they can get.  Here, at least, they could say I was intruding on neutral ground." - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/03/30 Excerpt] from [[Chrysalis 20.4]]</ref> Private lives are a needed outlet and taking that away is asking for trouble.<ref name="MW1">To be clear, the self-reproducing creations thing is what gets you labeled as a Class-S threat. That's basically a kill order, but more in the line of "We're going to call in everyone we can to put you down."<br><br>Unwritten (well, some are written) rules in the cape community extend to: no murder, no rape, no going after families, you maintain the overall ''peace'' (generally meaning keeping the truce and not being such a monster/threat that people can't sleep in their beds at night - Bakuda broke this one). You don't **** with people's secret identities or private lives (ie. their families), etc, etc. Different areas maintain different variations on these rules. Breaking these rules may get you sent to the Birdcage. Consistently breaking them may get a kill order placed on your head. - [https://www.myth-weavers.com/showthread.php?p=7361715#post7361715 Wildbow on MythWeavers]</ref>
**No attacking the civilian family members of parahumans.<ref name="MW1"/><ref name="18.3e1"/><ref name="7.4">[[Buzz 7.4]]</ref><ref name="3.6e1">You've heard about it happening.  Someone finds out another cape's secret identity, goes after the cape's family.  Or a cape wins a fight and decides his downed opponent isn't in a state to say no if he's feeling lusty?  Word gets around, and the cape community goes after the fucker.  Protecting the status quo, keeping the game afloat.  Bitter enemies call a truce, everyone bands together, favors get called in and everyone does their damndest to put the asshole down. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/agitation-3-6/ Excerpt] from [[Agitation 3.6]]</ref>
*No violence or using powers during a meeting between multiple parties.<ref name="5.1e1">"You know the rules, here?" Grue asked Trickster.<br><br>"We've been to similar places.  I can guess.  No fighting, no powers, no trying to bait others into causing trouble, or everyone else in the room puts aside all other grievances to put you down."<br><br>"Close enough.  It's important to have neutral ground to meet, have civilized discussion." - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2011/11/05/hive-5-1/ Excerpt] from [[Hive 5.1]]</ref>
*Try not to use lethal force.<ref>I'd like to keep to the unwritten rules, as abused as they have been, lately.  Killing should be a last resort. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/04/06/interlude-20/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 20.y]]</ref><ref name="R2">To the PRT, on the surface, they've got a villain that's getting too big for their boots, who're eliminating competition, breaking the rules, and who could very easily be willing to escalate to start targeting heroes. A murder out in public is very visible and newsworthy, and people in the public get scared. It's controversial. They don't want things to escalate.<br>To the PRT, more behind the scenes, they have a vested interest in the balance and the unwritten rules. They want to keep parahuman numbers up. So they have task forces who are exclusively trained to keep stuff like this from coming about. - [https://redd.it/5ip94x Wildbow on Reddit]</ref>
*No widespread attacks against civilians.<ref name="MW1" /><ref name="I15e1" />
*Enslaving others with mind control is not permitted.<ref name="18.3e1">"You violated the code by association when you took someone, took control of someone.  The same someone who you saw unmasked.  You violated the code again when you attacked Triumph's family.  So what's stopping us from tearing off your mask right now?  The same code you've disrespected and broken?". - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/01/26 Excerpt] from [[Queen 18.3]]</ref><ref name="I15e1" /><ref>[[Prey 14.3]]</ref>
*No rape or sexual assault of any kind.<ref name="MW1" /><ref name="3.6e1" />
*Don't use guns.<ref name="II5.8 e1">The rules of ‘the game’ were that guns were ''verboten''.  ‘The game’.  Gangs liked the terminology, and I was pretty sure it had stemmed from that culture.  It was the nature of social groups to self-moderate.  Things that were selfish and advantageous but that went against the group’s greater interests were acted on.  Capes leaned pretty heavily on that abstract moderating force, because the laws had never kept up with us and we’d had to moderate ourselves.<br><br>That was the game.  It was the walking of the line between the selfish things we did for ourselves and our teams and what served the greater good.  Secret identities were to be left alone.  Families weren’t to be touched.  The day to day of the city and civilian lives weren’t allowed to be disrupted.  No killing; no guns. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/03/22/shadow-5-8/ Excerpt] from [[Shadow 5.8]]</ref> If you absolutely have to carry a gun be careful using them.<ref name="R1">As stated by others, it depends on what you do, not what you have.<br>A lot of people (especially backseat critics who like to go on at length about what in-story characters are doing wrong) tend to say 'Gawd! just bring a gun, shoot them!', but in reality carrying a gun tends to say a lot, changing all interactions surrounding a cape. Knives and other weapons do to, but carrying something like that can often be considered almost an extension of the costume/image. Guns fit into that less.<br>Carrying a gun adjusts all interactions. You're saying 'I'm not in this to play' or 'I'm expecting to hurt seriously and risk being hurt, and I'm prepared to defend myself'. It escalates the game and makes everyone a little more tense. A gang of thugs that all carry guns are going to come across as much more serious and will be treated as such. Getting arrested while having a gun, even if you don't use it, the group is going to get hit that much harder. Less so for a single individual carrying a gun in a larger group.<br>In short, it's discouraged.<br>Keep in mind that I'm talking about handguns here. Rifles, SMGs, shotguns, the context is much different. You don't bring a SMG to perform more effective warning shots.<br>''Using'' a gun, though, that changes things. The moment someone gets shot, it stops being theatrics and posturing and becomes an omnipresent danger. The game is no longer being entertained. In large part, context aside, the shooter is giving up the unwritten rules that would benefit them.<br>Tattletale played by the rules. She shot Glory Girl to disable the forcefield. Still softballing it. Skitter shot Coil, but there was a longstanding relationship (and it was fairly discreet). Still sketchy, still a problem.<br>Doing it with no warning, shooting a civilian, doing it recklessly enough civilians get caught in the crossfire, doing it against someone weaker, all will be perceived as dangerous and reckless. Maybe the entire city's cape population doesn't band together to go after you like the ABB did, but others may start playing it like the referee isn't watching anymore.<br>You're the guy who shot Smokey Bandit, I don't know the whole story, and I'm not going to give you the benefit of a doubt and fight you one on one. I'm going to blindside you with two of my buddies at my back. Oh, you want to join Dark Lord Prowess' team? Well he doesn't want a jackoff who shoots B-listers working for him. Hm, you want to deal with me? Work together? Fuck you, it's your recklessness that's scaring civilians and making it harder for me to keep stuff running smoothly.<br>The way the rules work, people know what's up and ''generally'' things work against those who pack heat and those who use it recklessly. They end up alone, they end up with more enemies rallied against them, hitting harder, and generally they get enough warnings that they should cut it out that they'll quit it or commit. Typically the approach of the opposition will be 'we know he uses guns, so let's not make this a thing that keeps escalating'.<br>In different areas, though, the situation may well be different. I can picture Texas having more gun-wielding capes in general. - [https://redd.it/31q3ht Wildbow on Reddit]</ref> They lead to escalation and death.<ref>'''TL;DR:''' Unwritten rules discourage guns, in-setting logic has downplayed them in terms of AU, and by the time you're dealing with threats where it's worth ignoring all that and packing heat... you're probably dealing with a threat guns don't work against or that's accounted for the possibility their enemies might use one. - [https://redd.it/q9ekps Wildbow on Reddit]</ref>
**Stick to less "lethal" archaic weaponry, swords crossbows shields, things that work with powers.<ref name="II5.8 e2">Capes used swords, crossbows, they used bows and other weapons that were just as lethal as a gun, given a chance.  Most of the time it was to coordinate with another power.  Capes threw explosive chunks of their bodies, among other things.  My home town had had Miss Militia in a role as lieutenant of the Protectorate and then as leader of the team, and she had guns as part of her power.<br><br>It came down to symbols, to what the gun meant, and whether the person with the gun was playing along.  With a sword or bow, the assumption was yes.  When a gun was drawn or fired, barring any context, the assumption was –had to be, even- no.  Carrying a gun as a cape and using it implied things that other weapons didn’t. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/03/22/shadow-5-8/ Excerpt] from [[Shadow 5.8]]</ref>
*A subset of rules are applied in areas currently under attack by [[Endbringers]], and other [[S-Class]] threats.
**No attacking people who volunteer, irrespective of grudges.<ref name="8.6e1">I couldn't really believe they were going to arrest me.  Like Tattletale had said, there were rules.  Largely unspoken rules, but still more important than anything else in the cape community.  You didn't profit from an Endbringer attack, you didn't attack your nemeses or take advantage of undefended areas to steal.  You didn't arrest a villain that came to help.<br>
Because when people started doing that, the truce broke and things became ten times easier for the Endbringer. - [http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/extermination-8-6/ Excerpt] from [[Extermination 8.6]]</ref><ref name="28.5e1"/>
**No taking advantage of an attack for personal gain or to advance your faction.<ref name="8.6e1" /><ref>"Tattletale," Miss Militia said, "I'm going to remove the gun.  Think very carefully about what you say.  Deliberately attempting to divide our ranks could be seen as a violation of the truce, and I will push for the kill order if it goes that far." - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/03/02/scourge-19-4/ Excerpt] from [[Scourge 19.4]]</ref><ref name="28.5e1">The code has been there since the beginning. If a bigger threat shows up, we band together. We don’t distract each other with attacks or murder attempts, we don’t take advantage of the situation to fuck with civilians. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/09/10/cockroaches-28-5/ Excerpt] from [[Cockroaches 28.5]]</ref>
**No setting up others to die.<ref>"You broke the truce when you said what you did about her.  You risked breaking the ceasefire between heroes and villains that stands whenever the Endbringers attack."<br><br>"I broke the truce before that.  I set others up to die." - [http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/05/17/interlude-10-5-bonus/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 10.5]]</ref><ref name="I13e1">"But we have a store of equipment we confiscated from Bakuda when we raided her laboratory.  Miss Militia deployed a number against Leviathan, but we have more.  Once the other factions have engaged, we bombard the area with the remainder in a second strike.  Our research suggests that several of these explosives can bypass the Manton effect."<br><br>"This breaks the unspoken rules between capes.  And the truce against the Nine.  [[Legend|I]] don't like this." - [http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/interlude-13/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 13]]</ref>
**Medical care is provided without discrimination for past deeds.
*If anyone breaks the rules, all willing parahumans work together to effect punitive action.<ref name="3.6e1"/><ref name="5.1e1"/><ref name="6.1e1"/><ref>"It's customary for there to be violent retaliation if someone causes trouble at a meeting like this," Skitter said.  "Usually involving every other party that's present." - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/04/06/interlude-20/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 20.y]]</ref>
**Repeated and flagrant breaking the rules could be grounds to be sent to the [[Birdcage]] or for receiving a [[kill order]].<ref name="MW1"/>