[RULES 02] CHARACTER RULES

[admin tetris]

[RULES 01] || [RULES 02] || [RULES 03]

ROLEPLAYING AND
CHARACTER RULES

HIGH RANK RESPONSIBILITIES

- This is more of an OOC-related rule, but it depends on who plays the current leader and deputy of the clan, so it is going here. Basically, your character will have responsibilities in their high rank, but so will the player behind the character. These are very simple, but tie in to the IC part, so we thought it would make sense and help staff workload at the same time.

- The clan leader:

1) will be in charge of assigning apprentice/mentor pairings. They can either PM a staff member with their choices, or post them up themselves.
2) will also be in charge of keeping track of the training threads between mentors and apprentices (explained below) so they know when apprentices are ready to become warriors.
3) will be involved in choosing a new deputy when the position is open.

- The clan deputy:

1) will be in charge of organizing patrols every other month (also explained below).

- The clan medicine cat:

1) will be involved in choosing a medicine cat apprentice when the position is open.

NAMES

- I (Tetris) personally follow a relaxed, traditional naming system. Or, according to this, I’m more of a “third” kind of namer – and we expect the names on this site to reflect that. Basically, your names need to make sense; they need to describe the cat in an obvious way, and not include words that the clan cats would not be familiar with. (Ex: there won’t be much argument about flora/fauna names not native to England like “Wolf-”, but if you try to use “Emerald-”, we’re going to ask you to change it.) There are references on the “App Guide” (Ref 02) to help you find names.

- If you fill out the app correctly, you will answer the “name reasons” question, which should cover all your bases and so there shouldn’t be any problems. If any staff member seriously has a problem with one of your names, we will be polite and clear about why, and what we can do about it. Please react in kind.

- When your character is accepted, please post in the “Name Claim” (Ref 04). This is to avoid multiple cats with the same prefix in the same clan. Note: There will be multiples of suffixes, and I am not going to do anything about them. If you have a problem with someone else sharing your character’s suffix, I’m sorry.

- Note for kits and apprentices: on your app, or when you adopt a kitten from an on-site litter, you can reserve your character’s full warrior name – but you don’t have to. If you claim a prefix-suffix pair on the name claim, you can always change the suffix, or simply claim their -kit/-paw name. (Sometimes it’s more fun to see what kind of name their leader will give them, or what they will earn as they grow and change through roleplaying.)

APPEARANCES

- Odd cat colors – for both fur and eyes – are not permitted. You can have rare colors (male tortoiseshells, tabbies with blue eyes, even red/violet eyes) – but you must be appropriate with them and pay attention to the genetics behind such things. Ex: male tortoiseshells have crap immune systems and will likely not survive.

- A good rule of thumb for “possible” cat colors is this: if you can’t find a picture of the way you want your cat to look, it cannot look that way. And no, that does not mean photoshopped pictures. (As to purebreds, look below.)

- For clan cats: no pure bred cats will be permitted. Be aware of what is likely to happen with genes in the wild. You do not have to be an expert on biology to realize that the pointed pattern from Siamese cats would not last very long among solid-colored cats and tabbies.

RELATIONSHIPS

- There will be no “forbidden romances” allowed on-site, at least for the time being. Currently, that means only two things: 1) no medicine cat may have kits, and 2) no clan cat may have kits with a non-clan cat.

- Female leaders and deputies will be allowed to have kits – but this should be done rarely and with caution. I cannot promise how these situations will go over IC, but the most obvious solutions are that they either find a surrogate queen to watch after their kits, or choose a temporary replacement in their leadership role until they are physically fit to take it up again.

- Just because this has to be said: yes, you can have cats that are not heterosexual (so asexual/bisexual/homosexual/pansexual/etcetcetc) – but the moment a staff member thinks you are using that character in an offensive or demeaning way, that character will be removed. You will have a chance to recreate the character, but if you continue to play them in such a way, they will be permanently removed from the site, whatever your objections might be.

- On that note: queens will be the only ones caring for kits. Yes, of course, your tom can be extremely involved in their kits/adoptive kits lives, but toms can’t produce milk, so they’re out in the cold there.

KITS

- If you would like your characters to have kits on site, you simply have to fill out the "Litter App." Each parent will need to fill out the small form, and staff will respond with the results of their litter.

- It is suggested that you find at least two interested parties in playing your kits - while it is perfectly acceptable for parents to play their kits as well, we discourage that happening too often as it limits your plotting opportunities.

- You will receive 1-4 kits in a litter; their appearances will be based purely on genetics (albeit a basic understanding of genetics), and their personalities will be simple. We encourage the future rpers to explore their personalities and change them as the kits grow.

- Those interested in adopting the kits will need to make new accounts and post in response to the litter thread. A simple "I'm playing kit ___" will suffice.

- Naming: Either the parents will take full control of naming the kits, or they may work with the rper who is adopting said kit. However, these names are still subject to the above naming rules, and staff may become involved if extreme names are suggested.

- RPing: The parents may powerplay kittens up until the first moon of age, when the kittens truly start interacting with each other and their surroundings. It is up to the rpers involved exactly what age they will begin being played.

AGING

- To keep things streamlined, character aging shall be mandatory and controlled by staff. We will age your cat two moons every time we have a “gathering.” This may be adjusted depending on the speed of roleplaying. Kittens can be speed-aged and elders can be slow-aged (with staff permission and notification).

- Accepted ages for ranks are as follows (in moons) : kits 0-6; apprentices 6-18; warriors/queens 18-60/70; elders 70-120; deputies 30-70; leaders 30-120. Except for kits and apprentices, these are estimations/suggestions (especially the end of the spectrum). We would prefer if your cats do not live past 10 years, as this does not often happen in the wild, but as long as you are realistic with the aging process and their work in the clan, we won't force you to kill off your elders. It is also understandable if leaders pass this age, as their nine lives might grant them more longevity compared to other cats.

- Note: Because we all love water-timing, you can rp your character at whatever age you want; just try to keep things organized and don’t confuse the people you are roleplaying with.

APPRENTICE TRAINING

- In general, no apprentices will be made warriors until approximately 18 moons. (There may be special cases in regards to battles or significant actions, etc.)

- Every apprentice must train in every area of training. IE: swimming, fishing, hunting on all different kinds of territories, climbing trees, etc.

- There will be a thread requirement between mentors and apprentices. This can be modified for apprentices that are created older than the traditional 6 moons. Also, we know that this list of requirements is a bit long - but with the current aging system, the mentor/apprentice pairs will be together for one year IC and 6 months OOC. So you should have plenty of time to cover all of these threads.

- 4 hunting threads (one in each territory)
- 3 battle threads
- 2 patrols (one hunting and one border) - these threads are the responsibility deputy assigning patrols
- 1 other thread (must be training related, but it open to interpretation.

GATHERINGS & REQUIRED PATROLS

- Every month IC (and every two months OOC) there will be a clan meeting beneath the full moon. These are still known as "Gatherings," but they are not limited to the full moon - should an important event require a clan meeting. All clan characters will be required to show up; think of these as IC activity checks.

- Every other month OOC (opposite of the Gathering months) there will be a series of required patrols. The clan deputy will be in charge of assigning these groups - and they will not all be happening simultaneously IC (otherwise the camp would end up pretty empty... which isn't a good thing), but we'll also be making sure these get done! Remember: there can be any number of hunting patrols involved in this, and because the clan territory now encompasses the whole forest, there are plenty of borders that will need to be split up between the patrols.

STARCLAN CHARACTERS

- You cannot create a StarClan character right off the bat. However, if at any point you kill off one of your characters, you can keep them around in Silverpelt - all you need to do is let staff know that you would like their membergroup changed.

- You do not have to worry about keeping StarClan characters active - especially because they can't interact with anyone besides other StarClan characters. (Except for in special cases, of course - and staff will be sure to ask who's interested when these come up!)

LONERS, ROGUES, & KITTYPETS

- Kittypets are pet cats, loners are stray cats or barn cats who tend to be ambivalent toward clan cats, and rogues are the more aggressive street cats and who are often seen as a threat by the clans. The cats themselves might not think of themselves in these ways, but this is how the clan cats see them.

- Whether or not kittypets or loners can join the clan depends on the current leader - but in general they are not entirely welcomed. Younger cats are treated more kindly (by the clan as a whole, not necessarily every cat) because they can become more engrained in the clan life as they grow - thus becoming more loyal.