Our shared community
The rules of Nineholds
18+ roleplay. Respect the player behind every character.
Community rules version 2, effective 30 September 2026.
18+ and where these rules apply
You must be at least 18 years old; there are no age exceptions. You must own your own licensed copy of Skyrim. These rules apply to the game servers, project social-media pages, official Nineholds-affiliated Discord text and voice channels, approved factions, and private messages with the administration. Do not look for loopholes: respect both the wording and the purpose of the rules.
Respect and zero tolerance for hate
Harassment, threats, bullying, personal attacks, and unwanted conduct are prohibited. Do not attack people for their race, religion, heritage, sex, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Nineholds has zero tolerance for racism, racial slurs, misogyny, gendered slurs, transphobia, and homophobia. Roleplay is no excuse for real-world hate: this includes discriminatory comments about the skin colour of Imperials, Redguards, Nords, or Bretons and invented fantasy slurs modeled on real-world slurs. Sexist uses of insults are included.
Chat, content, advertising, and voice
Avoid excessively obscene language, vulgar or disgusting topics, and content involving self-harm or suicidal themes. Do not spam, flood, or disrupt chat. Do not upload, distribute, link, or discuss illegal or pirated content, shock sites, or material promoting piracy or cheating. Keep political topics, symbols, and slogans unrelated to The Elder Scrolls out of the community. Advertisements must concern Nineholds roleplay guilds or servers. Do not use soundboards or blast music through in-game voice. Fitting roleplay audio, such as lute music for a bard or ambience for an appropriate scene, is allowed when it does not disrupt others.
Fair play, exploits, and approved tools
Do not intentionally exploit bugs, clip through walls or textures for an advantage, duplicate items, or reset or skip potion-use, gathering, or crafting animations. Unauthorized cheats, automation, or third-party tools that provide an unfair advantage are prohibited and can result in severe penalties. The approved Nineholds client, launcher, and required mod collection are allowed. Report discovered vulnerabilities through the appropriate private channels; do not publish instructions that enable abuse. Provide available evidence and report cheating, bug abuse, and rule violations to the administration through the proper channels.
Leave room for other people's stories
Stay in character and use out-of-character channels when speaking as yourself. Separate what you know as a player from what your character knows: Discord posts and streams are not automatic character knowledge. Let your character lose; setbacks give other stories room to grow. Give conflict a story and a motive rather than disrupting others for its own sake. Lasting harm or permanent changes to another character require that player's agreement or a gamemaster ruling.
Staff decisions and instructions
Staff may decide situations not covered by these rules and impose penalties beyond the standard punishment system when circumstances warrant. They may deny leadership or project-team applications because of rule violations and are not required to explain application rejections. Do not interfere with administration work, solicit commands for personal benefit, announce event results on staff's behalf, ignore direct event instructions, or disrupt staff handling of a situation. Administrators may penalize such disruption and are not required to answer personal Discord messages.
Honest reports, privacy, and appeals
Do not deceive staff, attempt to manipulate an investigation, or conceal another player's intent to deceive the administration. Coordinated deception can bring increased penalties for every participant, up to permanent bans. Do not record, stream, distribute, or publish private communications with administration or private report outcomes. Official public responses, developer announcements, and administration announcements may be shared. Raise objections through the proper support or appeal channels; public slander is discouraged. Do not impersonate staff or share another person's personal information.
An evolving world
Nineholds is in active development. Bugs and crashes may cause loss of property or progress; compensation requires administrative approval and is not automatic. Characters, items, currency, and progress remain subject to the project's terms, moderation, fixes, and resets and have no cash value. Chat and character actions may be recorded for operation and moderation. Ask staff through the appropriate channels when you need clarification.
These community rules accompany our Terms of Service and roleplay introduction. Questions, reports and appeals belong in the appropriate channels of the official Discord community.