BASIC RULES:
1. No power may attack another power as defined below:
- a. If X gains a supply center belonging to Y, X is said to have attacked Y.
- b. If X moves to a territory Y occupies, whether or not the move is successful, X is said to have attacked Y.
- c. Regarding unoccupied territories belonging to Y, WHETHER THERE IS A SUPPLY CENTER OR NOT, if X moves to such a territory X has NOT attacked Y by default. However, Y may make a statement that move to the territory in question will be considered an attack; this can be done unilaterally, but it must be before the move is processed. It only applies to the Diplomacy phase in question.
- d. Two units bouncing over a neutral territory that does not already have a unit in it, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER IT HAS AN SC, is not an attack. Nobody can unilaterally claim it as one, either.
- e. All of this applies in both Diplomacy and Retreats. Forward retreating is not a way around this system!

2. If you have attacked a country by these rules, you are considered "Marked". The marks are considered to have been applied after a Retreat phase, but before the next Diplomacy phase. (Thus, if you forward retreat into a country that wasn't marked but will become marked, you yourself will be marked as well!)

3. If you are not marked and you perform an attack on a marked country, above, then you are not marked.

4. Countries may make treaties to form exceptions to the rules listed above. The treaties can be pretty much whatever you want, as long as you want (but finite), between as many people as you want (but not everyone); subject to the following caveats:
- a. The treaty should be discussed in individual chats, or globally if absolutely necessary.
- b. Once the terms have been agreed upon, one of the powers involved should post it in the global chat, naming the affected parties.
- c. All affected members must ratify it in order for it to be binding.
- d. The treaty must be ratified BEFORE orders are evaluated that would otherwise break the treaty. That is, treaties cannot be used as a last-ditch effort not to get marked.
- e. Once the treaty is ratified, there is no way out of it unless you establish another treaty canceling the first one.
- f. Treaties must be specific and finite. It is up to the non-signatories to override the treaty (see #5) if it circumvents the basic rules completely.

5. When a treaty is formed, the countries not involved may try to override the treaty. If all of the other countries vote in favor of an override, then the treaty is overridden.
- a. Yes, this can be done by just one country unilaterally if six powers try to form a big treaty. So don't do it. =)

6. If another actual attack on an unmarked power occurs later on, the marks are dropped completely and reassigned just by the attacks that turn.

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These are the basic rules, with some modifications I had already posted about added in. Below, I will post some clarifications I had made in the other thread.