There was an article in the Town Cryer written by "The Stranger" which describes the fiction behind the shards in general and Siege Perilous in particular. Also, a day before the opening of the shard there was a House of Commons chat with the developers about Siege Perilous. The log of that chat is available for reading.

Many changes have been made to Siege Perilous since it's inception. Below is
the current Siege Perilous rule set.

Siege Perilous uses the same rules as all the other shards, with the following
(rather important) exceptions:

Your Character

• There will be only one character slot available per account.
• When creating your character, you will notice the items put into your backpack at character creation will be a little different than on other shards.
  Regardless of which skills you choose, the starting equipment will be the same:
  25 ingots
  Clothing, as normal (newbie items)
  1 dagger (newbie items)
  100 gold coins
  25 ingots
  1 shovel (newbie items)
  1 bag, with 10 of each reagent
  1 katana (newbie items)
  

Townsfolk

• The shopkeepers on Siege Perilous hoard their gold greedily and will not buy items from players. The set price for NPC's selling their wares/services is 3X that of normal shards. However, Faction pricing is in effect on Siege Perilous, so if you search every town, you are likely to find one that is set at, or below the normal price for itms on other shards.
• NPCs will not have any gold in their backpacks and therefore, you will not be able to steal from them or kill them to get their gold.
• Townspeople requesting escort will not travel with someone who is already escorting another, you may only have one escort at a time. As with all NPCs, they will not have any items on their persons either and the only way they will part with their gold is if you actually bring them to their desired location.
• Considering these differences and the ones noted under "Your Character", it would be very wise to befriend, rather than to attack, your local tradesmen. A skilled blacksmith, alchemist, tailor, or scribe can be a very powerful ally.

Magic

• Spellcasters adventuring in Siege Perilous should be wary of the changes to their trade. Most noticeably, the spell "recall" will not function.
• Telekinesis will not work on trapped or locked chests.
• You will not be able to mark runes in dungeons nor cast Gate while in a dungeon.
• For those involved in faction or guild wars, it is vitally important to note that direct damage spells will work in towns.
• The spells Blade Spirits and Energy Vortex have been weakened significantly.

Breaking the Law

• The biggest difference that individuals of ill repute will notice about Siege Perilous is that there is no stat-loss of any kind.
• Characters that hue red will not be attacked by guards when they venture into town. Healing a red character is a criminal offence, but will not get you guard whacked.
• There will be wandering healers willing to resurrect those that stray from the path of good.
• The shrines will no longer forgive murderers of their crimes (as they did on Abyss) and therefore, one cannot remove their murder counts by visiting a shrine.
• Although you must still be in the Thieves Guild to steal from players, you will not be removed from the guild for collecting a murder count, nor are there any skill or time requirements to meet before joining.
• Murderers and Criminals will not be able to kick/ban others from their home. In addition, if a murderer or flagged criminal opens the door to a house in which a blue player has banned players/monsters, the ban list for the house will be cleared.
• The title "Murderer" has been done away with, murderers will now show their karma/fame title.

Skills

• Hiding will no longer be possible while taming; invisible characters who begin taming will be revealed.
• Taming high level monsters (such as nightmares, wyrms, and dragons) is twice as difficult.
• Bards will find some monsters are provoked less easily since the skill "provocation" will now be difficulty-based. The use of provocation will wear your instrument down, requiring that you replace it from time to time.
• In addition to musical instruments, fishing poles, herding crooks and axes used for lumberjacking will also wear down with use.
• Those seeking to gain treasure from chests are advised to have skill in "detect hidden" because all chests in dungeons, in the wilderness, and in towns will be trapped. Opening a chest without detecting the trap first could have deadly results.
• Failing while tinkering will use resources. Also, when a tinker fails at making a trap, he will always take damage.
• The following skills will not unhide you when they are used: Snooping (when used succesfully), Detect Hidden, Item Identification, Anatomy, Arms Lore, Animal Lore, Evaluate Intellect, Forensics Evaluation, and Poisoning.

Rate over Time system

Firstly, once you reach 70 in a skill, there will be intervals of time limiting the amount you can gain in that skills. The time per interval at which a skill can advance will lengthen as the skill raises. For stats, the interval will remain constant regardless of how high your stats are.

Secondly, both skills and stats will have daily caps on the total amount of points you can gain in them in a given day. For skills, this daily cap does not come into effect until you reach 70.0 in that skill. This daily cap is cumulative and affects the progress of all skills of 70.0 or higher. Gains in skills below 70.0 will not count towards the daily cap. For stats, the daily cap is set from the beginning and remains the same throughout the development of your character.

After you hit the daily cap, skills can still be used as normal, but no gains will be made on those skills above 70.0.

Ok, so what does all of this mean for advancing skills and stats on Siege Perilous?

• Skill points for skills under 70 points will gain as normal shards (using the Guaranteed Gain system).
• Skill points for skills between 70 and 79.9 points will gain a maximum of 3.6 points total per day, with a minimum of 20 minutes between point gained.
• Skill points for skills between 80 and 98.9 points will gain a maximum of 2 points total per day, with a minimum of 40 minutes between point gained.
• Skill points for skills 99.0 points and up will gain a maximum of 2 points total per day, with a minimum of 60 minutes between point gained.

Monsters and Players

• Black wisps: These creatures appear as "a wisp," but are a noticeably darker color than their light blue counterparts. These behave as monsters and will attack players on sight!
• Siege Perilous contains the Ilshenar facet. Ilshenar has the "felucca ruleset" and allows faction fighting.
• Siege Perilous is geared towards group PvP, with many large guilds of both PKs and Antis.
• One of the favorite expressions on Siege Perilous is that blue does not always mean innocent, and red does not always mean PK. Guild affiliation is a much more effective way to determine which side of the battle a person is on than hue is.

Factions (Hero/Evil)

• Factions is active on Siege Perilous, with a different ruleset than other shards.
• The True Britannians and Council of Mages factions will be considered "Hero" factions. The Shadowlords and Minax factions will be considered "Evil" factions. All four factions will still be at war with one another, in addition to being integrated with the Hero/Evil system.
• Killing faction characters who are in your own faction will incur a penalty. The killer in this case will lose 50% of his current kill points, lose 100% of the lifeforce accumulated, and be able to be reported as a murderer. An exception to this will be the killing of guild mates, thus allowing characters to spar with guild mates. Another exception is that if your character is attacked by another, you are allowed to defend yourself with impunity.
• Faction characters will gain lifeforce equal to 20% of the life force of the character killed, and that character who was killed will lose an equal amount of lifeforce points.
• Faction characters will gain 1 lifeforce point for each faction enemy monster which that character kills.
• The maximum number of lifeforce attainable is 100 points.
• Players will be able to spend lifeforce points toward special Hero/Evil powers. Players will be able to use a special phrase ("I invoke my good powers," for Hero characters, and "I invoke my evil powers," for Evil characters) to bring up a special menu through which they may control the following effects:
  • Colored Armor (5 lifeforce points; duration is permanent; turns an article of
    armor or clothing white for Hero, black for Evil) (items which have been
    turned "Hero" or "Evil" will only be equipable by someone in the appropriate
    faction.)
  • Detect Evil/Good (1 lifeforce point; duration is immediate; allows Hero
    character to scan the area for Evil, and Evil to scan for good)
  • Summon familiar (10 lifeforce points; duration is 30 minutes; allows character
    to summon a familiar to fight for the character, silver wolf for Hero or dark
    wolf for Evil)
  • Bless (60 lifeforce points; duration is 30 minutes; temporarily "blesses" one
    equipable item, item will note time remaining)
  • Silver/Dark Steed (30 lifeforce points; duration is 30 minutes; creates a
    silver steed for Hero character to ride, or dark steed for Evil character)
  • Holy/Unholy Shield (40 lifeforce points; duration is 60 minutes; character is
    ignored by all monsters and faction guards while this power is active)
• Evil characters will not automatically hue red, and any Evil character which kills a blue innocent may gain a murder count. The faction system hue will be in effect to handle aggression and flagging.

Changes to Combat and PvP (Publish 16)

• Unarmed "to-be-hit" changes (chance to get hit while unarmed is now the better of either Wrestling skill, or an average of Anatomy & Evaluate Intelligence).
• Players will no longer be able to "run away" from arrows/bolts.
• The dexterity stat will no longer affect at what point in the swing animation a hit or miss occurs.
• Mace weapons will now do less damage to armor than before (but still more than other weapon types).
• Staff weapons will do the extra stamina damage that "true" maces do (they still do not get the extra armor damage that "true" maces get).
• The damage done by the earthquake spell has been increased.
• The 8th circle summoning spells will now have a normal spellcasting delay.
• Purple potions deal extra damage based upon the thrower's alchemy skill.
• Ethereal mounts will now have a 3-second "summoning" delay.
• Bolas will now deal damage when successfully dismounting their target.
• Bolas will no longer require the tactics skill to use.
• NPC archers will no longer be able to shoot from outside the normal range.
• Player "bones" will now follow the same rules as player corpses for being looted.
• Players will no longer be able to cut up the bodies of players' characters.
• Red characters will not be able to gain Virtue, or use any Virtue abilities.
• A character that joins a faction no longer receives a reprieve on his murder counts.

Changes to the Dungeons and Lost Lands areas of Felucca (Publish 16)

• Many Dungeon/LL areas of Felucca will contain "champion spawn regions" (a.k.a. "Evil-in-a-Can").
• The various champions of evil and "The Harrower" itself (a new champion monster, not to be confused with the mere "tentacles of the Harrower") that spawn in Dungeon/LL areas of Felucca will carry special Scrolls of Power (detailed further below).
• The Minax faction stronghold will be relocated from the lost lands to another location in Felucca (the mountains west of Trinsic).
• The city of Delucia will no longer be a "faction city." However, the city of Vesper will become a faction city.
• Some new items that are available exclusively through adventures in the Felucca dungeons and lost lands will be "cursed" (the opposite of "blessed"), meaning that they will be assured of staying on a player's corpse upon death and be lootable.
• Note that characters that die in Felucca’s dungeons or Lost Lands areas on Siege Perilous or Mugen will not have to wait 30 minutes before they are able to return, as will occur on non-Siege shards.
• Note that ghosts will continue to be able to enter the dungeons and Lost lands areas of Felucca on Siege Perilous and Mugen (which is not the case on non-Siege shards).
• Note that there will not be any special limitations on what can is stealable or lootable while in the Feluccan dungeons or Lost Lands areas (as there will be on non-Siege shards).

Changes to "Criminal" and "Thief" status (Publish 16)

• Innocents (blues) will no longer be able to negatively affect other innocents through the following area effects indirectly: purple potions, mass curse, meteor swarm, chain lightning, earthquake, fire field, poison field, paralyze field, blade spirits, or energy vortex. This applies to all facets of Siege Perilous and Mugen.
• Stealing will no longer be considered an aggressive act, although it will continue to be a criminal act (players will not be able to report a thief for murder if they attack the thief but lose the fight). This applies to all facets of Siege Perilous and Mugen.

Increased reward in all of Felucca (Publish 16)

• Felucca will have much of its spawn modified to include fewer monsters overall, yet a much higher percentage of medium to high-end monsters (liches, daemons, ancient wyrms, blood elementals, etc.), and far fewer low-end monsters (slimes, rats, snakes, headless', etc.).
• Monsters in Felucca will provide more Fame and Karma.
• Note that mines, trees and sheep will not produce double the normal resources in the Felucca of Siege shards, nor will all creatures that produce leather or feathers produce doubled resources, as will occur on non-Siege shards.

Champion Spawn Changes (Publish 16)

• Champion status shrines to display progress in defeating champion spawns
• Addition of an undead creature group to defeat
• New, dynamic, Felucca spawn locations in dungeon and Lost Lands servers
• Ability to summon the "The Harrower" (super-champion monster)
• New paperdoll titles
• "Champions of Evil" boss monsters will carry Scrolls of Power (see Scrolls of Power below)

Scrolls of Power (Publish 16)

• Skill Scrolls: : A new type of scroll will be added that allows players to raise the limits of their possible maximum skill values beyond 100.0 (up to 120.0).
  • The player's skill will not actually be raised upon using the scroll, but the cap on that skill will be raised to the appropriate level, depending on which scroll was used.
  • These scrolls will only be found on "Champions of Evil" that spawn in the Dungeons and Lost Lands areas on the Felucca facet.
  • For each eligible skill, there are 4 different types of scrolls:
    • +5.0 (raises the appropriate skill's limit to 105.0)
    • +10.0 (raises the appropriate skill's limit to 110.0)
    • +15.0 (raises the appropriate skill's limit to 115.0)
    • +20.0 (raises the appropriate skill's limit to 120.0)
  • The skill scrolls are not cumulative (you must use one +20.0 skill scroll to reach a maximum value of 120.0 skill; that character cannot use four separate +5.0 skill scrolls to achieve the same result).
  • Once a scroll of a given type and value has been used, scrolls of lesser or equal type and value can no longer be used (ie: if you use a +10.0 Magery skill scroll to raise your Magery skill limit to 110.0, that character can no longer use any +5.0 or +10.0 Magery skill scrolls).
  • The more powerful scrolls will spawn less frequently than less powerful scrolls.
  • Once a player uses the skill scroll and raises their skill limit, they will then be able to gain in that skill (through normal means) until they reach their new skill limit.
  • The basic skill cap will remain at 700 (or max. 720 because of Veteran Rewards), and all skill points gained above 100.0 continue to count against the player's skill cap (if the player is a "7x GM" and wants to raise 5 skills to 120.0, they would have to lower 1 of their GM skills and eventually become a 5x 120, 1x 100 character).
  • Skill scrolls are "cursed" items (explained further below), but are consumed upon use.
  • Players may trade and/or sell skill scrolls to other players (it is not required for the player that found them to use them).
  • Only the following skill scrolls will spawn as of Publish 16:
    • Swordsmanship
    • Fencing
    • Mace Fighting
    • Archery
    • Wrestling
    • Parrying
    • Tactics
    • Anatomy
    • Healing
    • Magery
    • Meditation
    • Evaluate Intelligence
    • Magic Resistance
    • Animal Taming
    • Animal Lore
    • Veterinary
    • Musicianship
    • Provocation
    • Discordance
    • Peacemaking
    • Stealth
    • Stealing
  • The interface for skill scrolls will function as follows:
    • Player "uses" the skill scroll (double-click).
    • The appropriate skill now has a "cap" of 100.0 + the value according to the type of scroll (i.e.: 105.0 for a +5.0 skill scroll).
    • The player may view their maximum skill cap value, as well as their current skill value, in the skills window. For example, a player might see: Magery 92.1/115.0
• Stat Scrolls: A new type of scroll will be added that allows players to raise the limits of their possible maximum stat values beyond 225.0 (up to 250.0).
  • Stat scrolls can only be found on "The Harrower" (a new "arch champion" that will also be found in the dungeon and Lost Land areas of Felucca, and will be described in more detail in the near future� not to be confused with the mere "Tentacles of the Harrower").
  • When used, stat scrolls increase the character's actual stat cap, thereby allowing players to gain stats beyond the normal 225-point limit.
  • Stat scrolls can be found in 5 varieties: +5, +10, +15, +20, and +25.
  • The stat scrolls are not cumulative (you must use one +25 stat scroll to reach a stat cap of 250; you cannot use five separate +5 stat scrolls to achieve the same result).
  • As of Publish 16, the new limit on any one stat will be raised from 100 to 125. This is independent of the stat scroll additions, and will be applied to all players, regardless of whether they have obtained Scrolls of Power.
  • Once a scroll of a given type and value has been used, scrolls of lesser or equal type and value can no longer be used (ie: if you use a +10 stat scroll to raise your stat cap to 235, that character can no longer use any +5 or +10 stat scrolls).
  • The more powerful scrolls will spawn less frequently than less powerful scrolls.
  • Once a player uses a stat scroll and raises their stat cap, they will be able to gain in any stat (through normal means) until they reach their new stat limit.
  • Stat scrolls are "cursed" items, but are consumed upon use.
  • Players may trade and/or sell stat scrolls to other players (it is not required for the player that found them to use them).
  • The interface for stat scrolls will function as follows:
    • Character "uses" the stat scroll (double-click).
    • The character now has a stat cap equal to 225 + the value according to the type of scroll (i.e.: 240 for a +15 stat scroll).
  • The player may view their stat maximum status window (this will be patched as a publish 16 client change). For example, a player might see: Stat Maximum 230

House Ownership & Decay Changes (Publish 16)

• Players who owned multiple houses prior to Publish 16, regardless of whether the multiple houses are on different shards or all on the same shard, are allowed to maintain these houses, but they will need to be refreshed manually.
• Acquiring a new house will put all other houses owned by that account on any shard into condemned status, meaning they cannot be refreshed and will decay within 5 days.
• Players may opt to own only one house per account, setting that house as primary, and causing any other houses on that account to become condemned and decay. In exchange, the primary house will be automatically refreshed for as long as the account remains active. (See "Primary Houses" below for more details.)
• Houses that are owned by inactive game accounts will be marked as condemned and will decay within 5 days. Before this occurs, however, there will be a grace period of 10 days after the account has been marked as inactive (this should help to prevent players from losing homes or being opted into the primary house system against their will due to a missed payment or billing error).
  Note that you will be automatically opted into this system if any of the following occur:
  • If you place a new house, or have a house transferred to you
  • If you re-activate an inactive account, provided your account was inactive for more than 10 days before re-activation
• If a player has placed or has had a house traded to him, he may not place or have another house traded to him for a minimum of one week. However, that player can still give away any number of houses on any number of shards without restriction-he simply can't collect another until one week has passed since he last obtained a house.
• Only a house's owner, co-owners, and friends will be able to see a house's current state of decay ("This house is slightly worn," "This house is somewhat worn," etc.) of a house, which will be done by single-clicking that house's sign.
• The co-owner feature for houses will continue to exist, with all the rights and privileges they currently enjoy, although being a co-owner will no longer count against your house ownership status.
  
• Housing states: Houses will be classified as one of three states: "Automatic," "Grandfathered," or "Condemned." These states will be updated upon any placement or acquirement of a new house, and/or changes to the owning account's active/inactive status. Below is a more comprehensive breakdown of the housing refresh states.
  
  • Primary house: This house is owned by an active game account, and has been established by the player to be that account's primary house. The house refresh state on the house menu-gump of a primary house will be listed as "Automatic." Primary houses will no longer display any decay stage, as the house will be automatically refreshed, and will no longer decay.
    
    Note: setting a house as a primary house will automatically set all other houses owned by that account, on any shard, to a condemned state. This includes Siege ruleset shards, in that a primary house chosen on a Siege shard will result in any other houses on that account � on any other shards � becoming condemned.
    
  • Grandfathered house: This house is owned by an active game account, but has not been established by the player to be that account's primary house.
    
    The house refresh state on the house menu-gump will be listed as "Grandfathered." Grandfathered houses will decay "as normal," proceeding through several decay steps lasting approximately 11 days. However, owners, co-owners and friends will be able to manually refresh this house and begin the decay cycle anew by opening and closing any of that house's doors.
    
  • Condemned house: A condemned house cannot be refreshed, and will decay within 5 days. Houses can become condemned through two methods: (1) The house is owned by an active account, but has been put into condemned status due to that player placing or acquiring a newer house on any shard, or (2) The house is owned by an account that has been inactive for more than 10 days. The house refresh state on the house menu-gump will be listed as "Condemned."
    
    Note: Reactivating an inactive account will allow the newest, or most recently acquired, house to become a primary house, and all other houses on that account will remain condemned (provided that it has been less than 5 days since the houses became condemned, since they will decay in 5 days once they are set to condemned).
    
• Implementation: The changes to housing/house decay will occur in three phases.
  
  • House Status Assessment: All houses within UO will be marked with one of the above housing states during this phase, based on their current house status. This phase will last until the associated "Publish 16" (of which these feature changes are part) is active on all shards, during which time all houses (except condemned houses) will continue to be automatically refreshed. Once Publish 16 is live on all shards, we will move quickly to the next phase, "Establishing Ownership."
    
  • Establishing Ownership & Beginning Global House Rules: This phase will begin tracking housing information on all shards, for all game account. From this point forward, placing a house or being transferred a house will condemn all of your houses, on all shards, except for the newest house.
    
    During this stage, players will be able to set their house (or one of their houses) as a "Primary House." Primary Houses will begin automatically refreshing, while all other (non-condemned) houses will need to be manually refreshed. Warning: Setting a house as a Primary House will automatically set all other houses on that account, on all shards, as condemned. This stage will also begin phasing out "ownerless houses," or houses owned by inactive UO accounts. During this phase, co-owners (or friends, if the co-owner list is empty) of an ownerless house will be given the option of claiming that ownerless house as their own, provided they do not already own a house on any shard.
    
    The right of claiming an ownerless house will be "first come, first served," where the first co-owner to access the house and claim it will become the new owner. Should the co-owner list of a house be empty, then those players on the friends list of the house will be given the same "first come, first served" opportunity to claim that ownerless house.
    
    If no one claims the ownerless house by the end of this phase, the house will be marked as "Condemned" and allowed to decay at the start of the third and final Implementation phase, "New House Decay Rules Begin."
    
  • New House Decay Rules Begin: This final phase begins the new house decay rules: all primary houses will auto-refresh, Grandfathered houses will need to be manually refreshed, and condemned houses will not be able to be refreshed and will decay within 5 days (as per the rules specified in the "housing states" section above).

Resource and Crafting Changes (Publish 16)

• Players on shards with Siege Perilous or IGR rulesets will now be able to receive bulk order deeds.
• Armor crafted with colored ore now yields better armor ratings the more rare the ore type.
• Players will now be able to collect the following new stackable resource types.
  • Spined, Horned, and Barbed leather
  • Bones
    
• Blacksmithing Bulk Order Deeds: This system will be introduced into the Siege system in the same manner as non-Siege shards. The most current version of the Blacksmithing Bulk Order System can be read here, but with the following changes coming as of Publish 16:
  
  • The reward value for items with an exceptional requirement has been increased.
  • Large bulk orders will now be received for sets of weapons.
  • Grandmaster smiths will now have a greater chance of getting bulk order deeds with color requirements.
  • Several new rewards have been added to the Blacksmith's bulk order deed system.
    • Prospector's Tool.
    • Powder of Temperament.
    • Blacksmith Scrolls of Power
    • Gargoyle's Pickaxe.
  • A new entry will be added to NPC blacksmith context menus, which will display the time remaining before another Blacksmithing Bulk Order Deed may be collected.
    • When a Siege player selects this context menu options after the timer has run out, she will receive a Bulk Order Deed.
• Tailoring Bulk Order Deeds: This system will be introduced into the Siege system in the same manner as non-Siege shards. The most current version of the Tailoring Bulk Order System can be read here, but with the following changes coming as of Publish 16:
  • Players with an appropriate amount of tailoring skill will now be able to craft bone armor.
  • Tailor NPCs will now issue bulk order quests to players.
  • Several new items have been introduced to Britannia as rewards for completing tailoring bulk order deeds.
    • Special cloth (20 new hues).
    • Brown Bear Rug.
    • Polar Bear Rug.
    • Flower Tapestry.
    • Small Stretched Hide.
    • Medium Stretched Hide.
    • Specially Hued Sandals.
    • Tailoring Scrolls of Power.
  • A new entry will be added to NPC tailor context menus, which will display the time remaining before another Tailoring Bulk Order Deed may be collected.
    • When a Siege player selects this context menu options after the timer has run out, she will receive a Bulk Order Deed.

Changes to NPC Shopkeepers

• NPC shopkeepers will no longer sell gatherable resources (ingots, boards, leather, wool, and feathers).
• All NPC shopkeeper prices are triple the prices of those found on non-Siege shards.