Let me offer some of mine

I stepped down I didn't get leadership removed About Imperial ganks - they happen because it's the easiest way to rack up PK corpses. Nothing wrong with that. If I knew an efficient killer in the Fort I would not be averse to enlisting him for that. So... gangs happen. Just don't let them get you down. If you start feeling upset at them, just take a break for a while. Yell at people on Dio's or yell ICly on your cabal channel.

Point to note: A group of TWO is probably the best gank group. EG: Sarien summons, Humbert bash, Sarien wrath spam, Humbert bash. EG: Healer curse, Warrior entwine, Healer keeps warrior alive. The Fortress' cabal powers and class selection has so much incredible synergy that it is only player skill that is holding them back. Let's just say that Ahtieli will not face a bashgiant/lightofheaven pair unprepped, and a good pair will know how to retreat when enemy is prepped. And strike when not prepped. Repeat, and all you have is a Lich who's sick and tired of blowing his phylacs/wands just for two people who won't ever let him kill them, who CAN kill him if he does not use said wands/phylacs.

You can beat the Imperial Horde. Just ignore the calls of 'coward' because like any other player they want to get their PK. You'd be pretty dumb to be caught on Eastern. Instead, wait and slaughter the people near Ahtieli. Even Ahtieli herself can be killed, with the right combination of players who know how to PK, who synergise in terms of classes. It is unlikely that a Fortress group will be the one to kill Ahtieli, for the reason that Fort is too newbie-friendly. Now if you had players like Chrichuk's player and Nepenthe playing a pair with OOC ventrilo/skype coordination...

Wrath spam - a lot of people are going to complain about it, and a lot of people will gang you by using that as justification. Certainly there are some skills game mechanics wise that are unfair, but let me tell all the wrath-haters out here.. that IF you know the exact CODE behind assassinate, you WILL assassinate a lot. PBF check Deas, Jil, (Nep's assassin) Pladgett, etc. Probably the dirtiest trick in the book for enemies who cannot see hidden. Another point - templar's vigilance, twitchy or dangersense will not work against an assassin who knows how to work around it.

Comparing the two: Wrath spam - flee from paladin. You cannot beat the paladin. Just run. Otherwise, gang.

Assassinate - every 6 hours, spend 3 hours underwater. Assuming you know the assassin is even logged on. Teleport often. Move really fast, keep nofollow players up. Assassins with 100% assassinate can assassinate with only 3 stalks. Assassinate = instant death, or the assassin escaping. You can TRY to gang, but if your cabal has nobody who can see hidden... then your cabal is a farm for the reaping.

And since I'm the one posting... Bash - Reduce and quickly sing distort or whatever it is you need to do to nullify bash. Have enough hp not to be permabashed to pieces (it's hard to permabash a 1200 hp imperial elite blade bard with imperial defense up).

Sleep - If said 'sleep'er calls in the gank often (Seyriannia) then don't even risk it. If said 'sleep'er does not call in gank and you can survive with your tele, heal, cure blind, return potions, then go ahead and give it a shot.

I could probably write an entire PK guide, but that might be considered 'bad' for the game since a lot of PK is about knowing how to not die to stupid gangs/class combo matchups, etc. So just practise hard and keep going Hero range is bad for learning because the gear requirement is anal. Try playing a fire giant sword spec at level 31, or assassin, or angel conjie, etc. Play until you con-die, and try not to die at all and try your hardest to rack up kills. You'll improve very very quickly like that.