Shadow Walkers — Terms of Service

Last updated: 12 April 2026 Effective date: 12 April 2026 Publisher: Dwarven Stronghold Limited

Important — read this first. These Terms form a binding contract between you and Dwarven Stronghold Limited. By creating an account, launching the game, or otherwise using Shadow Walkers, you agree to them. If you do not agree, do not use the game.

1. Who we are

• Dwarven Stronghold Limited ("we", "us", "our", "Dwarven Stronghold")
• Registered in England and Wales, company number 11228461
• Registered office: 42-44 Bishopsgate, London, England, EC2N 4AH, United Kingdom
• Contact: [email protected] (legal), [email protected] (support)

"Shadow Walkers" or "the Game" means the Shadow Walkers MMORPG client (WASM web client at wasm.shadow-walkers.com, and any successor or native client), the associated game servers, the Thari Engine runtime, the Thari Music Tool, the account system, the chat systems, the website at shadow-walkers.com and any related services operated by us.

2. Eligibility

• You must be at least 13 years old to create an account. If you are between 13 and the age of majority in your country, you confirm that a parent or legal guardian has read these Terms and agrees to them on your behalf.
• Some regions require a higher minimum age for the processing of personal data without parental consent. If the minimum age in your country is higher than 13 (for example 16 in several EU member states), that higher age applies.
• You must not be on any sanctions list maintained by the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United States of America, or the United Nations.
• If we become aware that an account belongs to a user below the minimum age, we will close the account and refund any unused portion of a paid subscription on request.

3. Your account

• You are responsible for keeping your login credentials confidential. We will never ask for your password outside the official login flow.
• You must provide accurate registration information and keep it up to date.
• You may only hold one personal account unless you have purchased additional character slots or a Supporter Pass that permits it.
• You may not sell, rent, share or transfer your account. An account is personal to the registered user.
• Automated access ("botting"), use of unauthorised third-party tools that interact with the game client or server, reverse engineering of the protocol, and exploitation of bugs for unfair advantage are prohibited and may result in suspension or termination of the account.

4. Purchases, subscriptions and in-game content

• Prices, payment terms, Supporter Pass benefits and the Monetization Pledge are set out in the Pricing & Monetization document, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference.
• All payments are processed by Paddle.com Market Limited as Merchant of Record. Paddle is the legal seller of record and is shown on your statement.
• Refund rights are set out in the Refund Policy, which is also incorporated into these Terms.
• In-game currency, cosmetic items, crafting materials, character progress and any other in-game entities do not have monetary value and cannot be exchanged for real money, exported from the game, or transferred to another account. They are a license to use that feature of the game, not a property right.

5. Licence to play the Game

Subject to these Terms, we grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to download, install and run the Game client for the purpose of playing the Game for non-commercial entertainment.

You may not:

• Copy, modify, translate, create derivative works of, or redistribute the Game client, server software, assets, source code, protocol definitions or documentation, except as expressly permitted by these Terms or applicable law.
• Use the Game or any part of the Game to train a machine-learning model or dataset that is not operated by Dwarven Stronghold Limited.
• Use the Game to host, distribute or facilitate illegal content, malware, phishing, or activity prohibited by Section 7 (Acceptable use).
• Circumvent or attempt to circumvent any licensing, DRM, rate-limiting or anti-cheat mechanism that is or becomes part of the Game.

Supporter Pass holders receive an additional explicit licence to monetise gameplay footage on streaming platforms, as described in the Pricing document. Non-subscribers may still share non-commercial gameplay footage under fair use / fair dealing, and for normal streaming where advertising revenue is a byproduct (standard YouTube / Twitch partner programmes).

6. User-generated content

Shadow Walkers allows you to create content inside the Game, including but not limited to:

• Character names, guild names and text labels
• Chat messages (direct, party, guild, global)
• Thari Music Tool compositions
• Screenshots and video captures taken inside the Game

You retain ownership of your user-generated content. You grant us a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to host, store, display, transmit, moderate and back up that content solely for the purpose of operating the Game and the services around it. This licence ends when you delete the content or close your account, except where we are required to retain it for legal, regulatory, or safety reasons (e.g. logs of reported harassment).

You are solely responsible for your user-generated content and you represent that you have the right to share it.

7. Acceptable use

You must not, and must not allow anyone else using your account to:

• Harass, threaten, defame, dox or impersonate any person.
• Post content that is unlawful, infringes intellectual property rights, incites violence, promotes terrorism, sexualises minors, or violates the dignity of any protected group.
• Use the Game to commit fraud, run scams, launder money or sell regulated goods.
• Exploit game bugs to gain unfair advantage or damage the economy.
• Interfere with other players' enjoyment through griefing, spam, advertisement or disruptive automation.
• Upload malware or attempt to compromise the security or availability of the servers.

Violation of this section is treated as a material breach of these Terms. We may, at our discretion, remove content, mute, suspend or terminate accounts, and cooperate with law enforcement where required.

A fuller Community Code of Conduct (to be published separately) sets out examples and moderation procedures. Where it conflicts with this section, this section prevails.

8. Our intellectual property

All right, title and interest in and to Shadow Walkers — including but not limited to the Game client, the Thari Engine, server software, the THARI Protocol, source code, lore, world names (Luminaris, Entropia, Shadow Walkers, Sygil, and related faction and location names), character designs, artwork, music, sound effects, the Thari syllabary, and the Thari Music Tool — is the exclusive property of Dwarven Stronghold Limited or its licensors and is protected by copyright, trade mark and other intellectual property laws.

Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of any of that intellectual property to you.

9. Third-party services

Shadow Walkers integrates with the following third-party services as part of its normal operation. Each service has its own terms and privacy policy which apply to your use of that integration:

• Paddle.com Market Limited — payment processing and Merchant of Record
• Hetzner Online GmbH — server hosting (European Union)
• Anthropic PBC — AI dialogue for a small number of named NPCs (see the Privacy Policy for details)

We are not responsible for the content, policies or practices of third-party services.

10. Availability, maintenance, and service changes

Shadow Walkers is an online service. We will use reasonable efforts to keep it available, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted access. Scheduled maintenance, patches, rollbacks, balance changes, region migrations and content updates are a normal part of operating an MMORPG and do not constitute a breach of these Terms.

If we permanently shut down the Game service, we will give paying customers at least 90 days' notice where reasonably possible, and we will offer a pro-rated refund of any unused prepaid subscription time.

11. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Game, in whole or in part, at our reasonable discretion, in particular where:

• You materially breach these Terms, including Section 7 (Acceptable use).
• We are required to do so by law, court order, or a regulator.
• Continued access creates a serious risk to other players or to the service.

Where a suspension or termination is caused by our own mistake, we will reinstate the account and refund any lost subscription time on request. Where it is caused by a breach on your side, any prepaid amounts for the affected period are forfeited to the extent permitted by law.

You may close your account at any time via the account settings page or by writing to [email protected]. Closure is subject to the Refund Policy and to the Privacy Policy's data-deletion procedure.

12. Disclaimers and limitation of liability

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes our liability for:

• death or personal injury caused by our negligence;
• fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation;
• any other liability which cannot lawfully be limited or excluded under the laws of England and Wales, including your statutory rights as a consumer under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

Subject to the paragraph above:

• The Game is provided "as is" and "as available". To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement, save for the statutory rights of consumers which cannot be excluded.
• We will not be liable for loss of profits, loss of business, loss of data, loss of goodwill, or any indirect or consequential loss.
• Our total aggregate liability to you in connection with the Game, whether in contract, tort, statute or otherwise, is limited to the greater of (a) £100 or (b) the total amount you paid us for the Game, any expansion and any Supporter Pass in the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to liability.

This section does not affect your statutory consumer rights.

13. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold Dwarven Stronghold Limited harmless against reasonable losses, damages and costs arising from any third-party claim caused by your breach of Section 6 (User-generated content) or Section 7 (Acceptable use), except to the extent those losses are caused by our own negligence or wilful misconduct.

14. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms to reflect changes to the Game, new features, legal or regulatory changes, or operational needs.

• Minor, non-material changes (for example, fixing a broken link or clarifying language without changing your rights) take effect immediately on publication.
• Material changes (changes to your rights, the licence, liability or pricing commitments) take effect no sooner than 30 days after the update is published and you are notified by email and an in-game announcement. If you disagree with a material change, you may close your account and request a pro-rated refund of any unused prepaid subscription time.

Your continued use of the Game after the effective date of an update constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

15. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms and any dispute or claim (including non-contractual disputes or claims) arising out of them or their subject matter are governed by the law of England and Wales.

Each party irrevocably agrees that the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any such dispute or claim, except that:

• If you are a consumer resident in the European Union, the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you may also bring proceedings in the courts of your country of residence, and any mandatory consumer protections of that country apply in your favour.
• Nothing in this clause prevents us from bringing an action to enforce our intellectual property rights in any jurisdiction.

16. Out-of-court dispute resolution

Before starting legal proceedings, we encourage you to contact us at [email protected] so that we can try to resolve the matter informally. EU consumers may also use the European Commission's Online Dispute Resolution platform at https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr. UK consumers may contact the Citizens Advice consumer service.

17. Miscellaneous

• Entire agreement. These Terms, the Pricing document, the Privacy Policy and the Refund Policy make up the entire agreement between you and us in relation to the Game.
• Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force and effect.
• No waiver. Our failure to enforce any right under these Terms does not amount to a waiver of that right.
• Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our written consent. We may assign them to a successor entity as part of a corporate reorganisation, sale of the business, or similar transaction.
• Third-party rights. A person who is not a party to these Terms has no right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any of their provisions.
• Notices. Legal notices to us must be sent to [email protected] with a copy by post to the registered office at 42-44 Bishopsgate, London, England, EC2N 4AH.