Order of the Phoenix

Overview

What Is the Order of the Phoenix?:

• Guild for good-aligned players
• Located at Grimmauld Place, Sirius Black's house
• Join for 10 gems, fight evil by redeeming forest creatures
• Earn merits for kills, spend them on rewards
• Attack/defense gains available — one of each per Voldemort Encounter; they last until that next Encounter resets your character
• Deadly consequences for leaving without merits

At a Glance:

• Display name: "Order of the Phoenix" (Harry Potter themed)
• Leader: Sirius Black
• Runs on the same merit engine as the rival Slayer's Guild, dressed in different flavor text

Joining the Order

Requirements:

• 10 gems to join
• Minimum number of Voldemort Encounters (varies by server; default is none)
• Cannot be a member of the Slayer's Guild (mutually exclusive)
• Must visit Grimmauld Place in your village

Join Rewards:

• First Time Only: +50 alignment (if the alignment system is active)
• Subsequent Joins: No alignment bonus after you've already claimed it once
• Starting merits: 0

Join Process:

• Visit Grimmauld Place (dark foyer, troll leg umbrella stand)
• Meet Sirius Black
• He explains the Order's mission: defeat Lord Voldemort to save the wizarding world
• Pay 10 gems to seal your bond
• Receive the alignment bonus (first time only)
• Gain access to the Order's chambers

Merit System

Earning Merits:

• Redeem Evil Creatures: +1 merit for every evil creature you defeat in the Forbidden Forest
• Examples: dark wizards, Death Eaters, evil-aligned monsters
• Alignment Bonus: +1 alignment per redemption (if the alignment system is active)
• Message: "You have redeemed their soul!"

Striking Down Innocents:

• Penalty: lose HP (1 by default) for defeating an innocent creature
• No Merit: you gain 0 merits for it
• Message: "By sending an innocent, you have wasted energy!"
• Death Risk: if that HP loss would drop you to 0, you die on the spot
• Death Consequences: experience loss and a visit to the graveyard, same as any other death

Merit Limits:

• Maximum merits held: 30 (may vary by server)
• Cannot earn merits beyond the cap
• Excess kills simply stop paying out once you're full — spend before you cap out

Spending Merits

Three Reward Categories:

1. Increase Specialty Uses (3 Merits)

• Reward: +1 specialty use per game day, plus +3 skill points in your specialty
• Repeatable: yes, unlimited purchases
• Works with whichever specialty you've trained
• Flavor: Sirius Black extracts the merits from you with a summoning charm

2. Forge a Gem (7 Merits)

• Reward: +1 gem
• Repeatable: yes, unlimited purchases
• A way to convert forest kills straight into gem currency
• Flavor: Sirius hands over a gem after extracting the merits

3. Attack or Defense (20 Merits Each)

• Attack Increase: +1 attack for the rest of this run. "Sirius hands you a dark potion. Raw strength flows through you."
• Defense Increase: +1 defense for the rest of this run. "Sirius casts Protego. Your skin gets heavier."
• Limit: one attack purchase and one defense purchase per Voldemort Encounter — defeating Voldemort re-opens the offer for the fresh run it just handed you
• Hitpoints option: not currently offered

Stat Bonus Mechanics:

• You can buy +1 attack and +1 defense in the same Voldemort Encounter window — they aren't mutually exclusive with each other
• Once you've bought a stat this window, that option disappears from Sirius's offer until you defeat Voldemort again
• The point survives everything except victory: newdays, deaths, and detention leave it alone, but defeating Voldemort resets your whole character — level, attack, defense, and these points with them — before reopening the shop for your next run
• At 20 merits a pop, this is the most expensive thing merits buy

Merit Spending Strategy

Value Analysis:

• Specialty Uses (3 merits):
  • Cheapest, repeatable, flexible utility
  • Value depends on how good your specialty is
• Gems (7 merits):
  • A straightforward way to turn forest kills into gem currency
  • An alternative to buying gems outright
• Attack/Defense (20 merits):
  • The priciest reward; it holds for your entire current run, then goes wherever the rest of your stats go when Voldemort falls
  • Limited to one of each per Voldemort Encounter, so you can't binge-buy your way to godhood in a single afternoon
  • The best long-term investment if you're patient

Optimal Spending Path:

• Priority 1: buy the attack and defense point as soon as you have 40 merits banked
• Priority 2: buy specialty uses
• Priority 3: convert any excess into gems
• Never: sit at the 30 merit cap without spending — kills past that point earn you nothing

Leaving the Order

Leave Process:

• Speak to Sirius Black and choose to leave the Order
• Confirmation required — this choice is irreversible
• Sirius casts Obliviate
• What happens next depends on your current merit count

If You Have Merits (more than 0):

• Sirius spares your body from death
• You get back the 10 gems you paid to join
• You lose all unspent merits and your Order membership
• You survive — no death, no experience loss

If You Have 0 Merits:

• Sirius says he now has to take your life to protect the Order
• You still get the 10 gems back — small comfort
• You die: hitpoints to 0, plus the standard experience loss and graveyard visit for any death
• The town hears about it: "The meritless body of faithful member %s was found on an old trail"

Strategic Implications:

• Never leave while sitting at 0 merits — it is a guaranteed death
• Keep at least 1 merit in reserve if you might quit
• Spend down to a merit or two before leaving so nothing goes to waste

Grimmauld Place

Atmosphere:

• A dark foyer of a seemingly long-neglected house
• A cobwebby hallway lit with several gas lamps
• Threadbare carpet, wallpaper peeling in spots
• A strange umbrella stand made from a severed troll leg
• Sirius's late mother's home, as in the books

Inner Chambers:

• Sirius disappears and reappears as if by Apparition
• Sparkling lights fly from your skull as your merit tally is read off
• Your merit count glows before you as you decide how to spend it

Integration with Other Systems

Alignment:

• First join grants +50 alignment
• Each redeemed creature grants +1 alignment
• Reinforces a good-aligned playstyle and rewards choosing your targets carefully

Slayer's Guild:

• Mutually exclusive — you cannot join both
• If you already belong to the Slayer's Guild, the Order won't appear as an option
• You must choose one path

Specialty Training:

• Merit spending increases specialty uses and grants bonus specialty skill points
• Works with whatever specialty you've trained

Voldemort Encounters:

• Defeating Voldemort re-opens the attack and defense purchases for another round
• The victory itself resets your character — the purchased points go with the rest of your stats, and the reopened shop is your consolation prize
• Encourages a steady merit-farming cycle, one purchase window per encounter

Character Stats Display

Merit Counter:

• Displays your current merits in the Personal Info section of your character sheet
• Only shows while you're an Order member
• Updates as you earn and spend
• Can be turned off if you'd rather not see the number

Profile Visibility:

• Membership is not shown on your public profile, since it would reveal your alignment — and players' alignments are meant to stay hidden

Lore

Order of the Phoenix in Harry Potter:

• Secret society founded by Albus Dumbledore
• Mission: fight Voldemort and the Death Eaters
• Headquarters: Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place — Sirius Black's house
• Members: Sirius, Lupin, Tonks, Mad-Eye Moody, Molly and Arthur Weasley, and others
• Protected by the Fidelius Charm, unplottable to outsiders

In HogwartsLive:

• The Order is simplified to a merit-based guild
• Sirius Black stands in as its sole representative
• Grimmauld Place is the guild hall
• Merits reward redeeming evil creatures
• Attack and defense points are the per-run payoff, wiped and repurchasable each Voldemort Encounter

Strategy Guide

Should You Join?:

• Yes, if:
  • you're good-aligned, or you want the +50 alignment boost
  • you regularly fight in the Forbidden Forest (merit farm potential)
  • you want a +1 attack and defense boost for each school run
  • you want more specialty uses per day
• No, if:
  • you'd rather join the Slayer's Guild (mutually exclusive)
  • you don't have 10 gems to spare
  • you rarely fight in the Forbidden Forest (low merit gain)
  • you're evil-aligned — the alignment gains work against you

Optimal Play Pattern:

• Day 1: join the Order (10 gems), start earning merits from forest fights
• Once you hit 20 merits: buy the attack point
• Once you hit 20 more: buy the defense point
• After that: farm merits for specialty uses
• At the cap: convert excess merits to gems
• Next Voldemort Encounter: the attack/defense purchases open back up — repeat

Avoiding Death on Leave:

• Always keep 1 or more unspent merits if you might leave
• Spend down before leaving rather than walking away from a full bank
• If you're at 0 merits, redeem one more creature before you quit
• The death penalty — experience loss and graveyard time — is a real cost, not a bluff

Advanced Mechanics

Which Creatures Count:

• Forest creatures are marked evil or innocent behind the scenes
• Evil creatures — dark wizards, Death Eaters, evil monsters — grant merits when redeemed
• Innocent creatures grant nothing and cost you HP instead

HP Penalty Death:

• If the HP lost from striking down an innocent would take you to 0, you die on the spot
• The game reports it plainly: you expended too much energy trying to convert an already pure soul

Leave Death:

• Leaving at 0 merits is an instant death, no exceptions
• The town hears about the meritless body found on an old trail — public and permanent

Limitations

• Mutually Exclusive: cannot join the Slayer's Guild at the same time
• Depends on the Forest: only pays out on evil creatures encountered there
• Death Risks: striking down innocents, or leaving at 0 merits, can kill you
• Merit Cap: can't bank more than the maximum — spend or lose the overflow
• Purchase Limit: attack and defense can each only be bought once per Voldemort Encounter, and the Encounter's character reset reclaims them before the next window opens
• No HP Option: the hitpoints reward isn't currently offered
• Alignment Reveal: membership isn't shown on your profile precisely because it would out your alignment