The War explained

The War is the server's endgame. Enemy forces hold every city beyond Lumbridge, and the realm strikes back in five sizes - from the free marches that set out on their own to the King's conquest - with every participant paid out of a pooled reward split by personal contribution.

How an offensive works

An operation starts (on the realm's own schedule, by a ranked player's command, or as a story event), an objective appears, allied knight troops march out from Lumbridge alongside the players, and the fight runs until the victory condition is met or the operation times out. When it succeeds, the loot pool is split (see below). Every victory is a battlefield victory, never a capture: the enemy holds the ground again by the next war, and Fallen Varrock stays fallen.

The commanders' target is Fallen Varrock. The city stays fallen - a campaign there is a temporary battlefield victory over the host that holds it, never a reclamation: the risen dead on the southern approach and lower square, skeletal warriors through the square, and the undead champions dug in at the ruined palace. The deeper the line, the richer the kills. The rogue occupiers - marauders and Black Knights - hold the road outside the walls, where the public marches fight.

Operation	Who starts it	Cost	Realm Supplies	Allied force	Win condition	Reward pool
March (scheduled)	the realm - anyone joins	free	-	10 knights	Kill 15 at the target	Pooled spoils + 1-3 Commendations
Grand March (every 8th)	the realm - anyone joins	free	-	16 knights	Kill 20; fell the Warden	Pooled spoils + up to 5 Commendations + Warden's embers
Lord operation	Lord+ (`::operation`), anyone joins	500,000 gp (not refunded)	-	10 knights	Kill 15 at the target	Pooled spoils + Commendations; sponsor's tithe
Send troops	Lord+	1,000,000 gp	-	8 knights	Boss raid support	Damage share
Summon boss	Lord+	3,000,000 gp	-	Backing raid	Kill the boss	Boss drops (damage split)
Campaign (Varrock)	Minister+ (`::campaign`), anyone joins	3,000,000 gp stake (back on a win)	1,500	40 knights	Kill 60 of the garrison	750,000 gp + 25 prestige
Conquest (Varrock)	King (`::conquest`), anyone joins	15,000,000 gp stake (back on a win)	2,800	64 knights	Kill 140 of the garrison	3,000,000 gp + 60 prestige

The scheduled marches are the free, no-rank way in - see Marches - the realm's warband for the targets, Wardens, Lord operations and the wanted captains. Rank only ever gates starting a war - every citizen may join any war that is under way. A story event can also call the realm to any of these - even a campaign or conquest on Varrock - as a public operation with no commander: free, open to all, and it spends no Realm Supplies.

Fighting beside your companion? His blows count as yours - one share, one service record, coins to your bank.

Commands: ::march, ::marches, ::operation, ::bounties, ::sendtroops, ::summonboss, ::campaign, ::conquest. Check the Realm Supplies stockpile anytime with ::supply - it is filled by skillers handing supplies to the Quartermaster in The Mire (see Skilling & the war effort) and spent only by campaigns and conquests.

Troop command

Troops you sponsor fight autonomously by default. Switch their orders with:

::troops advance - fight on their own (default)
::troops follow - form up and escort you

Lords who field troops earn a damage share for everything their squad kills - commanding well pays.

How loot is split

When a campaign or conquest is won, the pooled reward is divided like this:

The commander gets their war-stake back plus a 10% tithe off the top - rank has its privileges. This does not auto-bank: it's held as war spoils the commander collects with ::claim (a themed claim window - Bank All, or take pieces one at a time). A short banner pops the moment the war is won.
The rest is split by contribution - your time and activity in the battle is tracked every game tick - and paid straight to your bank, no loot scramble. (The commander earns a contribution share too, as a fighter; only their command cut goes to ::claim.)
Donors earn a bonus +1% of the pool value as donor points, minted on top (it never comes out of other players' shares).
Everyone who took part earns prestige / war effort points toward their next rank.

3rd age relics - the war's prestige drop

The 3rd age antique sets are earned in the war, two ways:

Battlefield drop - while a campaign or conquest is live, every enemy you cut down on the battlefield has a small chance (~1/5,000) to drop a random 3rd age piece straight to you. Server-sized rare: a piece surfaces only every few wars, so wearing one says you fought for it.
Leadership relic - the Minister or King who wins the war has a 1/1,000 chance to earn a random piece on top of their coin. It lands in their ::claim war-spoils box alongside the tithe, the moment the war is won.

Both are announced realm-wide. The Quartermaster still sells 3rd age as a slow, tripled-price pity-path, and buys pieces back from Lord+ at a third of shelf value - but the drop is the real story.

Lumbridge is never besieged

The war is fought out of Lumbridge, never against it: the Last Free City's shops, bank and gates stay open no matter how the offensives go. General Zo at the castle reports the live war and musters your companions; the goblin camp east of the castle, across the bridge, is the recruit's training ground, not a siege — the first hostile line outside the gate is the hobgoblins, twenty tiles out.