Ok, so Magi are kinda expected to fight, hard to be a pacifist. Guardians are kinda expected to lightly defend, easier to do the pacifist thing. Where do Bards fall in this line of thought?

Everyone is expected to fight; it just varies how.

Last time I checked, no one outside of warrior guilds (which are for... warriors, yeah) was expected to fight. That doesn't mean you won't get *rewarded* if you fight. You also get rewarded if you help with village influencing. Which you can do without fighting, and pretty well to that.

EDIT: Forgot to add. Breaking enemy demesnes on your territory and carving totems (if you're a druid) doesn't really count as combat.

Maybe it depends on where you are. Must be somewhere where there's raids and you're not berated to come fight.

Really, please. Who'd force a newbie/lowbie to come fight or defend? They can come if they want or feel patriotic, but shouldn't if they don't want to. Because they usually, let's face it, are rather weak and can be immobilised even by demesne effects if they don't have basic triggers. In 90% of cases, newbies just get in the way of the defenders.

There's a different case if you're an experienced fighter but don't come defend... but then, if you don't want to fight, why did you learn to in the first place?

Wanted to fight, got a taste of real combat, and changed your mind?

That's not an experienced combatant. I mean something like Talkan or Narsrim.

Got bored with combat, and are doing other things now? Seriously, there's no reason a person should have to fight if they aren't Protector/Security/Champion.

sorry to bring up this fighting / non fighting ire :-( the question is strictly from a pacifist RP standpoint, like my other questions

Don't worry about it too much Tiestor. Sometimes things go awry. Lusternia generally has a lot of conflict with all of the cities/communes/order/guilds whatever. However, you can still be a pacifist and go right along with the flow, in the center of the chaos. An example, a Celestine at the pool of stars on Celestia. Radiating healing auras and casting benedictions on those going into combat. You are not fighting yourself, but you there nonetheless.

To answer your question about bards .... they lie a little in the middle. I have seen many bards in the middle of combat, some on the outskirts and others not at all.

Dugan.

A Serenwilde example of support would be to join resurgem covens during fighting. Any Moonchilde (shows up as a defense) can be in a coven, and you can be a Moonchilde regardless of which Seren guild you're in.

Meh. This isn't really an argument, so no big issue.

Anyway, the point here is: there are NO rules for helping in combat (maybe except for warrior guilds or some Magnagoran ones). But you are expected to help - you won't get punished if you do, but it shows that you are dedicated to improving your organisation if you do, and have a much better time (easier favours, you make friends, etc). Helping does not necessarily mean fighting, and in case of newbie/lowbie characters often means not fighting. In fact, we don't want you to fight until you feel comfortable and capable doing so. Which, in case of non-combatants or pacifists, may mean "never", and it's still okay.