Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

This Privacy Policy explains how the operator of the Kingdom of Arya project ("we," "us"), based in Alberta, Canada and reachable at court@aryakingdom.com, collects and uses personal information through aryakingdom.com (the "Site"). We act as the data controller for the personal information described here. We handle personal information in accordance with Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and, where applicable to visitors from other regions, the EU/UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and similar laws.

2. Information We Collect

• Petition and order information you provide through our forms or by email: full name, chosen realm name, email address, country of residence, optional field of distinction, optional petition statement, requested tier, and (for physical shipments only) a mailing address.
• Payment information: payments are processed by independent third-party payment processors. We receive confirmation of payment, the amount, and limited transaction identifiers; we never receive or store your full card number or banking credentials.
• Communications: emails you send to the Royal Court, and records of certificates and honors we issue to you.
• Community identifiers: if you join our Discord community, your Discord username. Discord's own privacy policy governs your use of that platform.
• Account information: if you create an account — required for holding land, petitions, the Royal Post and the Town Square — we store your name, email address, and a one-way cryptographic hash of your password (never the password itself).
• Land Registry & community content: content you choose to publish is public by design: your holder name on the map and cadastre, your land page (story, links, artwork), your dispatches and replies in the Town Square. Letters sent through the Royal Post are visible to the sender, the receiving land's holder, and (for government desks) the Chancery. Purchase records for land lots (lot, price, payment method and status) are kept with your account.
• Security logs: we keep short-lived records of sign-in attempts and request rates (by email and IP address) to protect accounts from abuse; these are automatically pruned.
• Technical data: our hosting provider may automatically log standard server data such as IP address, browser type, and pages requested, for security and operation of the Site.

We do not collect sensitive categories of data (such as health, religion, or biometric data) and ask that you do not include such information in petition statements.

3. How We Use Information

• to operate your account, record and display your land holdings in the public cadastre, deliver land deeds, and host the content you publish (land pages, artwork, dispatches, letters);
• to review petitions, issue passports, certificates, titles, and ARYAK balances, and deliver purchased items;
• to communicate with you about your order, your membership, and material changes to our terms;
• to operate community programs (campaigns, the Advisory Council, the Gazette) you choose to join;
• to send optional news from the realm, only where you have subscribed, with an unsubscribe option in every message;
• to prevent fraud and misuse of our items (see Section 7 of the Terms of Service) and to comply with legal obligations;
• to maintain the security and functioning of the Site.

We do not sell or rent personal information, and we do not use it for third-party advertising.

4. Legal Bases (EEA/UK Visitors)

Where the GDPR applies, we process your information: to perform our contract with you (issuing and delivering the items you order); with your consent (optional newsletter, optional public profile listings), which you may withdraw at any time; for our legitimate interests (site security, fraud prevention, community moderation), balanced against your rights; and to comply with legal obligations (such as tax and accounting records).

5. Sharing & Service Providers

We share personal information only with service providers who help us operate the Site and deliver items — such as payment processors, email and hosting providers, and (for optional physical items) shipping carriers — each bound to use the information only for the services they provide to us. We may also disclose information where required by law, to protect our legal rights, to prevent fraud or misuse of our items, or in connection with a transfer of the project (in which case this Policy continues to apply).

6. Public Registry & Community Visibility

Some honors include optional public recognition — for example, a dedicated profile on the Site for Lords and Ladies, listing in the Royal Registry Archive, features in the Royal Gazette, or inclusion in the Great Census. We will only publish your name (or chosen realm name) and honor with your consent, which you may give at the time of purchase or later, and which you may withdraw at any time by emailing court@aryakingdom.com, after which we will remove the public listing within a reasonable period.

7. International Transfers

We operate from Canada, and our service providers may store information in Canada, the United States, or other countries. Where information about EEA/UK residents is transferred internationally, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as the providers' standard contractual clauses. By using the Site from outside Canada, you understand your information will be processed in the countries described above.

8. Retention

We keep petition and order records for as long as needed to provide your items and maintain the Registry of honors, and thereafter as required for legal, tax, and accounting purposes (generally up to seven (7) years for transaction records under Canadian law). Some data is pruned automatically and continuously: security and rate-limiting logs are deleted after two (2) days, and in-account notifications are capped at each account's most recent two hundred (200) entries, with older ones deleted. The land-transfer ledger is retained permanently for the integrity of the cadastre; if your account is deleted, ledger entries are retained in anonymized form (the lot and time remain, your identity is removed). If you ask us to delete your information, we will remove it except where retention is legally required, in which case we will restrict it to that purpose.

9. Security

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures appropriate to a small project — including TLS encryption on the Site, access limited to the project operator, and reputable third-party providers — to protect personal information. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security; if a breach affecting your information occurs, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as required by law.

10. Your Rights & Choices

Subject to applicable law, you may request: access to the personal information we hold about you; correction of inaccurate information (including your name as inscribed on certificates); deletion of your information; a copy of your information in a portable format; restriction of or objection to certain processing; and withdrawal of any consent you have given. Two choices are self-service: your public listing in the Registry Archive can be withdrawn or restored at any time from the toggle on your account page (your honours remain valid either way), and your account name can be edited on the same page. For everything else — including full account deletion — email court@aryakingdom.com from your account email; we will respond within thirty (30) days and may need to verify your identity. On deletion we remove your account, letters, notifications and public pages; payment records are retained as required by law, and transfer-ledger entries are anonymized as described in Section 8. Deleting your account information may end your membership and public listings but does not entitle you to a refund beyond the Refund Policy.

11. Cookies & Tracking

The Site sets a single essential session cookie used to keep you signed in to your account; it contains only a random session identifier, is not used for advertising or analytics, and expires when your session ends. We set no advertising or analytics cookies and use no third-party trackers. Payment pages hosted by our payment processors may set their own cookies under their own policies. If we ever introduce analytics or similar technologies, we will update this Policy and, where required, request your consent first.

12. Children

The Site is not directed to children under thirteen (13), and we do not knowingly collect their information. Purchases require the purchaser to be at least eighteen (18). If you believe a child has provided us personal information, contact us and we will delete it promptly.

13. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time; the "Last updated" date above reflects the current version. Material changes will be announced on the Site and, where practicable, by email. Continued use of the Site after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Policy.

14. Contact & Complaints

Privacy questions and requests may be sent to the Royal Chancery at court@aryakingdom.com. If you are in Canada and are unsatisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. If you are in the EEA or UK, you may lodge a complaint with your local data-protection authority.