Region Safety

All regions have a Security level based off of several factors. First, all regions have a baseline security level. The center of a settlement is going to be inherently safer than a frozen plain miles from civilization. Time of day also is taken into account- all regions drop one level of security at night. Storms will also lower the security level of a region, as it is very difficult to see what is going on in the whiteout. The security level of a region can be raised by maintaining the infrastructure of a region, specifically the Electricity which provides external lighting.

This means while some areas such as the City are generally safe, they are not guaranteed to be so at all times.

These safety levels are enforced by the game mechanics, and are generally understood in non-specific terms by your character. The general rules for PVP still apply.

You can determine the Region Safety of the area you are in at any time by opening the World Map.

Safe (Green)

PVP is NOT possible in these regions, and players are unable to attack or perform negative action on other Humans (PC or NPC). Guards, NPC or otherwise, are generally understood to be enforcing the peace in these areas from an in-character perspective.

Unguarded (Yellow)

PVP and combat in general is possible, but players may not murder or inflict amputation on other players. While these areas are not actively guarded, there are generally enough bystanders understood to be watching and willing to intervene to prevent outright murder.

Lawless (Red)

PVP, murder, and all other actions are unrestricted by game mechanics. There are no NPC witnesses that a character would care about.

Note - Ambient Population

You should generally be under the assumption that in any Safe/Green or Unguarded/Yellow areas that your character can most likely be seen or heard by an ambient population of NPCs, even if those NPCs are not physically present in game.

It should also be noted that players have many different tools in the Forensics skill to obtain clues as to who committed violent acts, despite any concealment or disguise they may have had at the time.