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These rules are subject to change at the discretion of the moderators. We promise this won't hurt much.
1. This game allows adult themes, so we require that all players be at least 17 years old in order to participate. No exceptions. If we discover that you are under 17, we will have to remove you immediately. 2. All players must be able to post a completed log at least once every ten days. If a player falls behind, she will be emailed a reminder from the moderators. The player will then be given a week to either post in the community or contact the moderators; if neither is done, she will be removed. Be sure to notify the moderators if you need to be gone for an extended period. Announcing in the OOC community that your character is on hiatus does not count. 3. Your writing ability must be developed enough that it will not be a distraction. All we require is that you demonstrate the ability to write with a decent grasp on grammar and spelling. Text is our means of roleplaying, so we need to insure that everyone can understand each other without a problem. A poorly written application will be grounds for rejection.
4. Play nice with the moderators. We're quite reasonable and like to be shiny happy people holding hands; please don't make our daisies wilt. 5. Play nice with each other. Any player who behaves in a manner that is disruptive to the game will be given one warning. If the behavior continues, she will be removed. Be courteous to each other and with luck this rule will never have to be enforced. 6. If there is ever a problem between yourself and another player, please bring it to the attentions of the moderators. We're here to keep things running smoothly and we will address the issue to the best of our ability. 7. If a player asks you if you want to roleplay with them, or proposes a plot between your characters, or if they want permission to do something to your character, do not feel pressured into going along with it. You are in no way obligated to do anything that makes you uncomfortable and saying no will probably save you from a lot of future grief. 8. Keep IC (In Character) and OOC (Out of Character) issues separate. Just because a person's character talks about your character behind his back does not mean the player does not like you personally, and just because a player's character is homophobic does not mean the player hates gays. Similarly, do not have your character gang up on another character simply because you don't like his player. Bullying of this nature will not be tolerated. 9. No character coddling. Your characters will occasionally get humiliated or screwed over in some way. Such is life. In-character actions have in-character consequences, so if you decide that your school-girl character is going to have a shopping spree in Knockturn Alley, you don't get to ignore The Bad People who see her as an easy target. 10. Be consistent. The character that we accept into the game is the character that we expect to see played in the game. Please stay true to your application and don't pull any abrupt turn-arounds in your character's personality unless you have a very, very good explanation prepared. If a character's behavior is contrary to his application without a satisfactory reason, the player will be asked to either play the character we accepted or leave. We don't appreciate deception.
11. IC and OOC knowledge must remain separate. Everything in the game is open for everyone to see, so you will know considerably more about what is going on than your character will. You have to keep what you know and what your character knows separate and not allow them to bleed into each other. Your character is not omnipresent, so he cannot possibly know everything or everyone or somehow be able to see past every lie. Do not have your character know something that he has no feasible way of knowing just because you, personally, want him to know. If he can't find out in a reasonable way then he won't find out at all. 12. Brit-pick. The students come from Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England (yes, even the Asians and Indians), so you must write with the appropriate spelling and language of your character's country of origin. If you don't know how people from these areas speak or write, or if you have a general idea but not a good enough grasp on it to use it in the game, keep things neutral by not using any slang at all. Spelling is something you need to remember, however; for the American players, remember that words like honor and rumor are spelt honour and rumour, dreamed and learned is dreamt and learnt, whine is whinge, a cookie is a biscuit and fries are chips, a garbage can is a rubbish bin or dustbin, no one says "dude" every other word, etc. 13. New spells, potions and magical items must be approved by the moderators before you use them in the game. This stipulation is in place so we can stop any potential power-gaming before it happens. Be as detailed as you can when describing your invention to the mods, including wand motion, basic brewing instructions, if it's difficult or simple, history, special instructions and possible consequences. We ask you for this detail so it can be posted up on our list of magic for other players to possibly use in the game. 14. Divination is a spotty art that few understand and even fewer have mastered. It's vague and cryptic and usually consists of people saying, "Oh, so that's what that meant," in retrospect rather than being clear about the exact details of the future. If your character will be using divination, please keep it reasonably obscure. All prophecies must be cleared with the moderators.
15. In Harry Potter there are certain absolutes. No one is smarter than Hermione Granger, no one's ancestry is purer than Draco Malfoy's, and so on. A character may be just as, but not more than. Keep this in mind when creating your character. 16. Canon characters (CCs) must be played appropriately in-character. This means that Draco is not a pillar of morality who is dating a non-pureblood or blood traitor, Hermione does not suddenly resemble Aphrodite after the summer holiday, Snape is not a steamy sex god who shows favor to any house but Slytherin, Percy does not go clubbing in mesh shirts and hot pants, and so on. If you claim a CC and portray him grossly out of character, the moderators will discuss other character options with you. Note: Any character's behavior and ideas may change over time, but the more drastic the transformation, the more you'll have to work to achieve it. For instance, having Draco roleplay scenes with Hermione for a few months is not nearly enough justification to alter the aggressive bias against non-purebloods that's been drilled into his psyche since birth. A change like that is going to take a lot of roleplaying to rationalize. Please, do not be impatient with character development. 17. Original characters (OCs) are allowed, but they will be heavily scrutinized, especially if you want your OC to be unusual. If you want to play a half-human of any kind, you'll have to do a phenomenal job of selling your character to us. Non-humans will not be accepted. 18. NPCs (non-playable characters) are used in this game when they are needed for plot purposes. All narratives and NPCs for the main plot are controlled by the moderators through the journal schism_npc. Since they are not actual characters, players may create and control NPCs for their own plots without having to clear them with the moderators. But, as they are NPCs for a reason, they are to be used only if a scene calls for them and nothing beyond that. If an NPC is used to the point of seeming like an actual character in play, then it becomes excessive and the player in control of it will be asked to tone it down. 19. You are allowed to play a maximum of three characters. However, if you are new to the game, you’ll be restricted to one character for four weeks. If you do well in the game and decide that you want to stick around, you'll be welcome to apply for more characters. If the moderators feel that you have so many characters that you are favoring some and neglecting others, you will be asked to drop the neglected ones so they might be made available for others to pick up. 20. You cannot have more than one character per house. Characters in the same house interact with each other frequently, and if a person has multiple characters in the same house, she would often end up having to do scenes between her own characters. Scenes between your characters is allowed, of course, should the plot or situation call for it, but it isn't much fun for anyone to sit and write out an entire event by yourself. 21. Close friendships between your characters are not allowed. Roleplay is about gaming with other people, and having your characters interact with each other to that degree means that everything is happening in your head and not in the game. If you're going to do scenes with yourself that often, you might as well just write fanfiction. 22. Character icons are optional. You may choose a person to represent what your character looks like in the game, or you may use more abstract images to convey a mood, such as books for studious, something red and stormy for anger, etc., or you may use nothing at all. If two people play identical twins and you choose to use a person to represent your characters, you have to use the same person for both characters and icon changes must be agreed upon by both players. 23. No insanely famous people are allowed as icons. This means people like Liv Tyler, Keira Knightly, Orlando Bloom, Brat Pitt, etc., are unacceptable. If the moderators feel that your icon choice is inappropriate, you will be asked to change it. Please know that the moderators will be happy to help you to find a person for an icon if you have trouble finding one yourself. 24. All character icons must look the appropriate age for your character, especially if he is a student at Hogwarts. The cut-off age for teenaged icons is 20, because anyone past that age is very unlikely to look right. If there is a person you absolutely must use who is over 20, the moderators will decide whether an exception can be made.
We all know that Rowling's version of the wizarding youth is squeaky clean and that she barely hints at the subject of sex or substance use in her books, but this is because of the young age of her original target audience. Anyone who has attended a boarding school for teens or knows someone who did knows that these things do, in fact, happen. Since this game is not going to exclude typically occurring behavior such as this, these things will be allowed while the kids are attending school, but with strict conditions.
25. Don't go wild with the shagging. Keep in mind that Hogwarts is a formal boarding school and that sex will be a difficult, if not utterly impossible, feat to accomplish without getting caught. If caught, your character faces expulsion, as they would in any real-life boarding school. Sex outside of Hogwarts will not be moderated. See #28.
29. If the moderators feel the character application you have submitted is not acceptable for the game, we reserve the right to reject it. If you want to know why your application has been rejected, you may ask and we will respond with a critique. 30. Variety is important. If there is too much of one thing in the game, be it a personality type or sexual orientation or bloodline, we'll make it off-limits for a time until things balance out again. It would be prudent to talk to the moderators or read through the character profiles before creating your character so you're sure that you're not applying for something that already exists in abundance. 31. Do not withhold any information about your character. If you want certain things about him to remain a mystery, you may edit your profile before it is made public. It is important that we have all of your character's information when making our decision. Coming out with "My character was raped/abused/a drug addict!" or something equally as shocking after you have been accepted will be grounds for reconsideration. 32. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco are not available for play, since the first three are off searching for horcruxes and the latter is with the Death Eaters. If and when they appear in the game, they will be NPCs and controlled by a moderator. Professors are controlled by the moderators and also not available for play.
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