Terms of Service

These Terms govern your use of the Beyond the Black Sea Platform and the Tales of Zar’Grim services operated by Epiphany Entertainment Limited, 736 Makara Road, Makara, Karori, New Zealand (“we,” “us”). By creating an account or using the Platform, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you don’t agree, don’t use the Platform.

1. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old. If you’re under 18, you may only use the Platform and make purchases with the consent and supervision of a parent or legal guardian, who agrees to these Terms on your behalf. You’re responsible for meeting any age requirements in your country.

2. Your account

• You sign in via Google, Discord, or Steam, and may link multiple providers to one account.
• Keep your credentials secure. You’re responsible for activity under your account; tell us of any unauthorized use.
• Access may be subject to approval, and we assign account roles (member, editor, admin) at our discretion.
• One person, one account. Don’t impersonate others or misrepresent your identity.

3. Purchases, pre-orders, and keys

• Purchases (including pre-orders) are processed by Xsolla, the merchant of record. Xsolla’s terms and refund policy apply alongside these Terms.
• Prices, editions, and availability may change. Pre-orders are for a Game in development; features, timing, and content may change or, in rare cases, not ship. Refund eligibility is governed by Xsolla’s policy and applicable consumer law.
• Steam keys: if your purchase includes the Game, you may claim a Steam key once your Steam account is linked. Keys are single-use; once revealed they’re generally non-refundable, and you redeem them under Valve’s terms.

4. Renown rewards

Renown is a discretionary loyalty and engagement system. Points, titles, referral rewards, and Discord roles:

• Have no monetary value, are not currency, and cannot be sold, transferred, or redeemed for cash.
• May be earned, adjusted, expired, or removed at our discretion, including to correct errors or address abuse.
• Are subject to anti-abuse rules — fraudulent or self-referrals, automated activity, or gaming the system may result in forfeiture and/or account action.
• Discord roles are delivered via our bot to your linked Discord account and depend on Discord’s own service.

We may change Renown earning rates, thresholds, rewards, and rules at any time.

5. Server rentals

• Player-hosted servers are provided through Nitrado as recurring subscriptions; each paid period provisions or extends your server. You authorize recurring charges until you cancel.
• Cancelling stops future renewals; your server lapses at the end of the paid period.
• Server availability, performance, regions, and specs depend on Nitrado and are not guaranteed.
• You’re responsible for how your rented server is run and for the conduct of players on it (see §6).

6. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Break the law, infringe others’ rights, or harass, threaten, or harm other users.
• Post unlawful, hateful, or infringing content; distribute malware; or attempt to breach, scrape, overload, or reverse-engineer the Platform.
• Cheat, exploit, or abuse rewards, referrals, keys, or rentals.

User content: if you submit content (posts, server names, etc.), you keep ownership but grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, display, and use it to operate the Platform. You’re responsible for what you submit, and we may remove content that violates these Terms.

7. Intellectual property

The Game, the Platform, and all associated content — art, lore, the Codex, names, logos, and text — are owned by us or our licensors and protected by law. We grant you a limited, personal, non-transferable license to access the Platform for its intended purpose. You may not copy, redistribute, or create derivative works except as expressly allowed.

8. Third-party services

The Platform relies on Google, Discord, Steam, Xsolla, Nitrado, and others. Your use of those services is governed by their terms, and we’re not responsible for their acts or outages.

9. Disclaimers

The Platform and Game are provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, to the fullest extent permitted by law. As an indie, in-development project, we do not guarantee uninterrupted availability, specific features, release dates, or that the Game will meet your expectations. Nothing here limits your rights under non-excludable consumer laws, including the New Zealand Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 and Fair Trading Act 1986 where they apply.

10. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages, or loss of data, profits, or goodwill. Our total liability for any claim relating to the Platform is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim, or NZD $100. Some jurisdictions don’t allow certain limits, so these may not fully apply to you.

11. Termination

You may stop using the Platform and request account deletion at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access if you breach these Terms, abuse the Platform, or where required by law. On termination, licenses granted to you end; sections that by their nature should survive (IP, disclaimers, liability, governing law) continue.

12. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of New Zealand, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules, and disputes are subject to the courts of New Zealand — without limiting mandatory consumer-protection rights in your home country.

13. Changes

We may update these Terms as the Platform evolves. Material changes take effect on posting with a revised effective date; continued use means you accept them.

14. Contact

Epiphany Entertainment Limited — 736 Makara Road, Makara, Karori, New Zealand. Questions about these Terms: support@beyondtheblacksea.com (privacy matters: privacy@beyondtheblacksea.com).