I think I may be able to answer some of these questions for you!
Biakko wrote:
1 - What should I expect at spawn? Is there a safe hub? Are there any basic supplies for new comers or should I be careful to only log in when I know my count (duke? boss? protector? dude?) is online and available to greet me / show me around?
You will spawn in the beautiful city known as Concordia. We began work on it last summer and it is one of the servers largest cities to date. It is not a "safe hub" per say, but you should enjoy relative peace while there. There's plenty of food lying around, as well as an abundance of farms for you to harvest from.
When you get accepted to the server, you will be required by tradition to choose a liege lord. This can be a King, Duke, or even a Count (I believe). You will live in their lands until they see fit to give you the title of Count, at which point you can choose to continue to stay in your lieges lands and work your way up to duke, or request permission to move out on your own.
When you are logging on for the first time, your liege will set up a time where you two can meet up and he can show you around the Empire. We do this so that you don't get frustrated wandering around the immense world (and increasingly confusing nether highway network). Your liege will also be able to provide you with some basic supplies and give you a plot of land in their realm to begin building on.
Biakko wrote:
2 - I have yet to find actual rules. Do we have a list, such as no nerd poles, no floating tree tops, no pixel art, no dirt houses and such? Some are obvious, but some servers have rather unique ones.
Before certain events transpired, we had an entire constitution written out for everyone to read. We are in the process of rewriting this, but until then you may find this thread helpful!
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=54Biakko wrote:
3 - Do serfs get to keep ownership of their inventory? From what I read it seems to be the case but I'd rather not assume anything and get confirmation.
Any items that you acquire are yours to keep! A liege should not be demanding that you turn over anything to him/her. Some realms have taxes that you may be required to pay every month or so (although this hasn't typically been the case since we moved to New Hermertia). So enjoy your items!
However, your lands, while living in a liege's kingdom, duchy, or county, are technically the property of said liege. This typically never creates any issues though
Biakko wrote:
4 - Do borders stop at the surface? Below the surface? All the way to the bedrock? Can I get in trouble for mining through a border?
I'm not sure if this has ever been officially written anywhere. However, I believe tradition has it that borders do continue below the surface. So, if you are mining close to another realm's borders, be sure to ask their permission before you take any ore from their side.
Note that the nether is international property. Anyone can build in it, and it is collectively owned by the Empire. We use the nether to provide quick "highways" to other peoples lands, as this allows us to avoid extreme overworld journeys.
Biakko wrote:
5 - What are the mining rules? Only aesthetic mines with reinforcement, lighting and signage, free for all or in between?
Mining is basically a free-for-all. No need to keep aesthetics while creating one. However, some people do opt to, as it does look pretty neat when done properly.
We've actually had some pretty interesting international incidents occur that have to do with mining! A past citizen claimed that he had invented a new form of mining called "fractals" that allowed him to produce thousands of diamonds in a few mere days. When we sent a team of investigators to his lands, we discovered that his apparent new mining method had no scientific basis, and it was concluded that he had "duped" his items using an old glitch. He later confessed to this during his trial and was exiled from the Empire (banned).
Biakko wrote:
6 - Building: strictly medieval Europe style, or can we bring influence from our character’s birthplace? How about steampunk? Else?
While players on our server do tend to build in a more medieval European style, this is not an official requirement. We have had tons of really unique styles in Hermertia! I am currently creating a co-city with a Count that is attempting to mirror a Barcelona type style.
We do like our builds to fit our collective lore however (see our library when it is eventually back up), so builds need to be cohesive with that. For example, in the past we had a player build a boat that was operated by steam power. It was decided that this did not jive with our lore, and he was pressured to remove the build.
Anyways, hope that this cleared some things up for you! If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!