All over the lands the town guard captains are telling the same tale. When interviewed the town guard of Skara Brae told us

The citizenry of Britannia are beginning a rebellion, and we must do what we can to maintain order.
Many of our poorer brothers and sisters are protesting because they cannot earn a living in these hard times. Gifts of money, food and clothing would go far to ease their fears.
Some of our citizens have begun to riot. They have crossed the line and are causing destruction! There are too many of them for the city guard to handle. Please, take this rope and use it to arrest the rioters, and return them here.
The rioters are starting fires and leaving trails of destruction behind them we deperately need your help putting out the fires. Also, cleaning up the garbage would certainly be appreciated. (to put out a fire or pick up garbage, double click)
Groups of raiders from other cities have been infiltrating our city and attackinginnocent citizens! These vagabonds must be stopped. Use spell and steel, or set your dragons loose on them if need be.
Slay the raiders if you must. However, you may attempt to subdue and arrest them. If you do so they must be returned to their home city. Our jails are overflowing!
Our coffers are empty. The city cannot offer you any reward other than our thanks. Word of your deeds will spread.
Be wary, though, Britannians are turning against each other. If you try to lend a hand to everyone, all may end up hating you. Right now your loyalty means as much as your assistance!

We must rally to support our towns!

• We must clear garbage
• We must give gold/food/clothing to the protesters
• We must put out the fires
• We must arrest the rioters
• We must subdue and arrest the raiders and return them to whence they came.

By doing these tasks we shall demonstrate our loyalty to the town of our choice. Be sure to heed the captain’s warning, to aid all towns and show loyalty to none may result in your being the enemy of all!

 

Guard Captains and rope chests can be found:
Britain – Guard Tower (Cat’s Lair)
Jhelom – Guard post by The Morning Star Inn
Minoc – Town Hall
Moonglow – Wooden hut by Moonglow Academy of Arts
New Magincia – Magincia Dock
Skara Brae – Town Hall
Trinsic – Trinsic Jail
Vesper – Vesper Dock
Yew. – Court of Truth entrance

Loyalty  (research by Frarc)

Accessed via your character’s context menu:

Loyalty level remains at ‘unknown’ for any town where a character takes no action

Aiding one town will build loyalty for that town, aiding a second town will build loyaty for the second town, but decrease loyalty for the first. Aiding many towns will decrease loyalty in all but the most recently helped. Loyalty goes down faster than it goes up.

Loyalty is further explained in this document as follows:

For each city, each player character has individual ratings for Love, Hate, and Neutrality. These values are numeric and the raw values are not displayed.

• Performing beneficial acts in a city causes the city to gain Love for that character
• Performing negative acts in a city causes the city to gain Hate for that character
• Any time a city gains Love for a character, a small fraction of the city’s Hate for that character is converted into Neutrality
• Any time a city gains Hate for a character, and that city already had Love for that character, some of that Love is converted into Hate
• Any time a city gains Love for a character, all other cities will convert some of their Love for that character into Neutrality.
• Hate for a character decays at the slowest rate
• Love for a character decays at a moderate rate
• Neutrality for a character decays at a rapid rate

A character’s loyalty rating from a city consists of two parts: how well the character is known, and how “pure” the character’s actions are. There are essentially three possible outcomes:

• If the character only performs beneficial actions for one city, the character gains positive ratings
• If the character only performs harmful actions for one city, the character gains negative ratings
• If the character performs a mixture of actions for a city, or performs beneficial actions for multiple cities, the character will tend to gain positive or negative ratings to a lesser degree or will gain distrustful ratings.

Here are all the possible ratings:

• Tier 0
  • “Unknown” – this is the default rating and all characters will remain Unknown until they have taken several actions to modify their loyalty rating from the city
• Tier 1
  • Positive: Commended
  • Neutral: Doubted
  • Negative: Disfavored
• Tier 2
  • Positive:
    • Respected (most positive)
    • Esteemed
  • Neutral:
    • Distrusted
  • Negative
    • Disliked
    • Detested (most negative)
• Tier 3
  • Positive
    • Adored (most positive)
    • Admired
    • Honored
  • Neutral
    • Disgraced
  • Negative
    • Loathed
    • Despised
    • Reviled (most negative)
• Tier 4
  • Positive
    • Venerated (most positive)
    • Revered
    • Exalted
    • Lauded
  • Neutral
    • Denigrated
  • Negative
    • Scorned
    • Shunned
    • Vilified
    • Abhorred (most negative)

Notes about the system:

• It is possible to shift a city’s favor slowly over time, but this is much more difficult for those with checkered pasts
• Negative deeds are worth more hate than positive deeds are worth love
• Negative deeds are remembered longer than positive ones
• While the world is in chaos, all cities distrust each other. This is why trying to be devoted to multiple cities will just earn neutral ratings from all. However, this will not always be the case…