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[ application: original characters ]
IMPORTANT! We are officially in endgame until August 31, 2020. Applications are on a rolling basis. There is a small "block" period from the 1st through the 4th of every month to allow a bulk of apps to be submitted, and then applications can be submitted at any time during the month. Notices will be sent out all at once after the first "block" period, and then between 24 hours to the end of the weekend depending on how many and our schedule. Applications are guaranteed to be processed during the weekends.
IMPORTANT: Only the following types of original characters are allowed to be applied for—
The following would not be allowed:
Before applying, please be sure to read the following:
We have compiled sample applications from our players to show what the mod team and the application moderators are looking for in terms of writing quality and depth. We hope you find these samples useful!
⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player:
Contact: Journal/Plurk/AIM — anything to help identify since someone might share your name handle.
Age: You must be at least 13 years old to apply.
Current Characters: If a new player, just put "N/A"
⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character:
Age:
OC Type: Indicate whether this OC is a Pure, MMO, or Blank Protagonist type of OC. If it is a Blank Protagonist, indicate the canon here.
Point Taken: A sense of time when the character is taken. More applicable to MMO and Blank Protagonist OCs.
World Building:This is separate from the character's personal history. This section is to provide us with information about the character's “canon” in general. We will have no idea what kind of world that the character is coming from, and this is the only place we can learn about it. We don't want an encyclopedia, but we will need to know important details about it so that we can understand the culture the character is coming from and how that will affect how they think and behave. What countries are important? What kind of geography or political climate? Are there any social conflicts that would impact the character or would influence how they view others? For MMO and Blank Protagonist OCs, linking us to wikis will suffice, but feel free to add more to it.
Backstory: While we don't need a play-by-play, what we would like to see includes how the character lived, what choices they've made and why, what events occurred that developed them, and other important facts that will help us understand the character. For MMO OCs: Most MMORPGs will have a set storyline that the player character has the opportunity to play through. Keep in mind that rather there being a singular "Great Hero," all MMO OCs are to be seen as a part of a large group of heroes if you choose to follow the main storyline. Also keep in mind that all MMO OCs will have to follow their game’s canon lore. For example: A character could not save the NPC that canonly died, nor could a mission fail if it is set to succeed. However, your character could have died and or had difficulty fulfilling the mission. It is also possible that your character had no part in the overall game's story and had their own adventures in the world instead. Finally, there can be no romantic or familial relationships with named NPCs.
Personality: We're looking for how they think, why they act the way they do, their strengths, their weaknesses, their thought processes, their opinions, their conflicts, what makes them feel the way they do, their significant traits. When writing your character, be careful! We want to avoid characters that are the super invincible almighty hero that can do no wrong. The one who can charm anyone with a smile, can easily trick and deceive, has the power to bend wills with ease. All characters have flaws—no one is perfect. But more importantly, such infallible characters are not interesting to play and interact with. In short, the character should be realistic, balanced, and well thought out. If we feel that your character does not meet this standard, then we may ask for a revision or reject if it cannot be changed.
Abilities: If there are any particular abilities the character has supernatural or otherwise, list them here. Referencing to a wiki list is acceptable if applicable. However, if there are any particular abilities that need to be weakened or removed, note them here.
Alignment: Please refer to the Alignment entry to choose which alignment your character would most likely fall under. Include a brief (a couple of sentences max) just to help explain why you think your choice is the best fit.
Other: Anything else you'd like to mention.
⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉
Sample: We have two sample requirements.
General Sample: We should see examples of the character's dialogue as well as some introspection or additional narrative to further show how you intend to write the character. This is the most important part of the sample and where most of the weight will be.
Emotion Sample: This is our "game setting" requirement. Essentially we want to ensure that you have a basic grasp of the game's premise, especially with the use of emotions. It can be a small scene, even incidental to the main sample. A reminder that apathetic characters will also create effects, such as loss of color, surface distortion, holes forming. This section doesn't have to be lengthy, but the effect must be clear for us to see.
The emotion sample can be part of the general character sample. If so, please link directly or directly quote that portion so that it's easier for us to quickly find it.
The samples can be "written" in three different ways and you can choose which one will work best for you:
Format wise, you can use either [ brackets ] OR narrative prose. We do require that the writing at least be coherent, have proper sentence structure, and is mostly grammatically correct (we realize that writing styles can be loose/creative in [ bracket ] form so we're giving a bit more leeway). One last suggestion we have is try to have the character interacting with the environment and try thinking of the sample less of a narrative piece but more like a post or thread prompt you might make in the game. That will help the sample show not only how you will write the character, but also how you will play them in practice.
Questions: If you have any questions, ask them here.
Clean copy and paste form here:
IMPORTANT: Only the following types of original characters are allowed to be applied for—
- Pure OC. These are the typical kind of OC that everyone is familiar with. They are characters that are the player's own creation with their own world that is also of the player's design. There is zero relation to any pre-existing canon.
- MMO OC. MMOs, or Massively Multiplayer Online games, particularly those with a lot of roleplay and character build-up, have existing world building and lore that they have to follow. These characters are created by the player and can have their own story, but they have to follow the rules of the game lore. We consider "main hero" characters as those who are one of many in a great group that influenced the storyline, rather than the singular Great Hero character. This is to help multiple MMO OCs from the same game to have stories that mesh well together. In the sake of fairness to current FFXIV OC players and consistency with previous mod teams' decisions, we do not currently allow FFXIV Warriors of Light.
- Blank Slate Canon Protagonists. For our criteria, these types of characters are those which you control throughout the game and essentially make the player the main character. They may have a name and a couple of personality traits, but everything else is up to the player to interpret. Examples of these are most of the main characters from Dragon Age, Skyrim, Pokémon, etc. Important: Please note that this category ONLY pertains to the protagonists of canons. This does not allow side characters or other support NPCs as they have set stories and personalities. This section has nothing to do with how much headcanon is used and is only about the purpose and design of the protagonist character.
The following would not be allowed:
- Fanon/AU OCs. Characters that are based off pre-existing canons or an alternate version of the canon. We would not allow these OCs not because we are against them on principle, but it could cause unwanted confusion and complications with current existing casts. This type of OC would have needed to be allowed from the very beginning so players would know what they were getting into.
- Game Native OCs. Currently the game is not ready for such a type of character, as it would introduce other complications and worldbuilding that the interested player would have to be aware of. In addition, it would require more close connection with us the mods than we are currently ready for.
Before applying, please be sure to read the following:
- Read the Rules and the Game Information.
- RETURNING PLAYERS! You only need to submit any old application. Does not matter how long ago, as long as it was accepted and you have good standing (ie, not banned), it will be valid.
- Suggestion: Find some character sheets that have questions directly related to character building. These will help flesh out your application and give some guidelines as to how to write about your character.
- Feel free to use the most recent test drive both for practice as well as to use for samples. IMPORTANT! If you submit threads as samples, you must submit the application with that character journal. This is the only way we can ensure that the samples are from you and not someone else.
- Linked samples must have been made within the past year.
- You may apply for up to two characters per cycle.
- Do not plagiarize. If we find that the information provided was directly taken by either another player or some other source material, the application will be rejected immediately. If we find this after processing the application, we will revoke the application and have you removed from the game with potential ban.
- Reusing your own applications from other games is allowed. We only ask any original written samples to conform to our game. That is, we don't want to read samples that are set specifically for another game's premise. Note: this does not apply to threads linked from other games used as samples.
- If you are rejected, you cannot reapply for the same character for two weeks. However, you can apply for a different character in that same period.
- Those accepted must fill out all of the required entries within a week to be considered part of the game. Otherwise, we will consider it a revocation of the application.
- Fill out the form and comment to this entry! All applications must be posted directly to this entry; no linked-in applications allowed.
We have compiled sample applications from our players to show what the mod team and the application moderators are looking for in terms of writing quality and depth. We hope you find these samples useful!
- Sun Wukong (RWBY)
- Luke Skywalker (Star Wars)
- Goro Akechi (Persona 5)
Player:
Contact: Journal/Plurk/AIM — anything to help identify since someone might share your name handle.
Age: You must be at least 13 years old to apply.
Current Characters: If a new player, just put "N/A"
Character:
Age:
OC Type: Indicate whether this OC is a Pure, MMO, or Blank Protagonist type of OC. If it is a Blank Protagonist, indicate the canon here.
Point Taken: A sense of time when the character is taken. More applicable to MMO and Blank Protagonist OCs.
World Building:This is separate from the character's personal history. This section is to provide us with information about the character's “canon” in general. We will have no idea what kind of world that the character is coming from, and this is the only place we can learn about it. We don't want an encyclopedia, but we will need to know important details about it so that we can understand the culture the character is coming from and how that will affect how they think and behave. What countries are important? What kind of geography or political climate? Are there any social conflicts that would impact the character or would influence how they view others? For MMO and Blank Protagonist OCs, linking us to wikis will suffice, but feel free to add more to it.
Backstory: While we don't need a play-by-play, what we would like to see includes how the character lived, what choices they've made and why, what events occurred that developed them, and other important facts that will help us understand the character. For MMO OCs: Most MMORPGs will have a set storyline that the player character has the opportunity to play through. Keep in mind that rather there being a singular "Great Hero," all MMO OCs are to be seen as a part of a large group of heroes if you choose to follow the main storyline. Also keep in mind that all MMO OCs will have to follow their game’s canon lore. For example: A character could not save the NPC that canonly died, nor could a mission fail if it is set to succeed. However, your character could have died and or had difficulty fulfilling the mission. It is also possible that your character had no part in the overall game's story and had their own adventures in the world instead. Finally, there can be no romantic or familial relationships with named NPCs.
Personality: We're looking for how they think, why they act the way they do, their strengths, their weaknesses, their thought processes, their opinions, their conflicts, what makes them feel the way they do, their significant traits. When writing your character, be careful! We want to avoid characters that are the super invincible almighty hero that can do no wrong. The one who can charm anyone with a smile, can easily trick and deceive, has the power to bend wills with ease. All characters have flaws—no one is perfect. But more importantly, such infallible characters are not interesting to play and interact with. In short, the character should be realistic, balanced, and well thought out. If we feel that your character does not meet this standard, then we may ask for a revision or reject if it cannot be changed.
Abilities: If there are any particular abilities the character has supernatural or otherwise, list them here. Referencing to a wiki list is acceptable if applicable. However, if there are any particular abilities that need to be weakened or removed, note them here.
Alignment: Please refer to the Alignment entry to choose which alignment your character would most likely fall under. Include a brief (a couple of sentences max) just to help explain why you think your choice is the best fit.
Other: Anything else you'd like to mention.
Sample: We have two sample requirements.
General Sample: We should see examples of the character's dialogue as well as some introspection or additional narrative to further show how you intend to write the character. This is the most important part of the sample and where most of the weight will be.
Emotion Sample: This is our "game setting" requirement. Essentially we want to ensure that you have a basic grasp of the game's premise, especially with the use of emotions. It can be a small scene, even incidental to the main sample. A reminder that apathetic characters will also create effects, such as loss of color, surface distortion, holes forming. This section doesn't have to be lengthy, but the effect must be clear for us to see.
The emotion sample can be part of the general character sample. If so, please link directly or directly quote that portion so that it's easier for us to quickly find it.
The samples can be "written" in three different ways and you can choose which one will work best for you:
- Test Drive. You can utilize our test drive to cover both requirements of the sample. So long as there is enough character portrayal and a scene with an emotional reaction, be it within the prompt or done during the thread, then it can be used for both.
- Link out + Written. You can link to threads/entries from other games, memes, or museboxes to show character portrayal, and then write an additional short scene for the emotion portion of the sample.
- Original Sample. You can write a complete sample that shows both character portrayal and a scene involving emotion use. This can be one sample or two separate samples. If you opt to write an original sample, you are welcome to use any prompts from any of our Test Drives, Intro Logs, Task Board, and even past events. You are also free to change things up and are not restricted to any of these prompts. They are just here to help offer ideas.
Format wise, you can use either [ brackets ] OR narrative prose. We do require that the writing at least be coherent, have proper sentence structure, and is mostly grammatically correct (we realize that writing styles can be loose/creative in [ bracket ] form so we're giving a bit more leeway). One last suggestion we have is try to have the character interacting with the environment and try thinking of the sample less of a narrative piece but more like a post or thread prompt you might make in the game. That will help the sample show not only how you will write the character, but also how you will play them in practice.
Questions: If you have any questions, ask them here.
Merisia Thenel | Final Fantasy XIV (OC) 2/4
Merisia grew up in a family of bandits in the many caverns of Thanalan, stealing to survive. However, over time Merisia became a bit of a treasure hunter while out scavenging and thieving with her siblings. This led to a few nasty mishaps, and Merisia ended up being essentially grounded on a frequent basis. During one of her solo outings, Merisia happened upon adventurer bound for Thanalan, returning from a trip to Limsa Lominsa with a hefty bounty in tow and chatting with his party about their recent successful excursion. Merisia found herself more than a little envious of such freedom and rich rewards. Soon, Merisia left home and took up thaumaturgy magic, opting to be an adventurer rather than a thief (though she was not opposed to picking a few pockets to make ends meet from time to time). She immediately made for Ul'dah, familiarizing herself with the city while picking several rich pockets and even carrying out a few small-scale robberies of her own.
Eventually, her hand was caught. Although Merisia feared her time was done and she would be imprisoned, the man instead gave her an offer. He introduced himself as Emereck, claimed to be a practiced gladiator and member of the Adventurer's Guild, much like Merisia. Although still wary of him, Merisia agreed to keep in touch, if anything as thanks for not turning her in. Over time, the two grew to be good acquaintances, and eventually close friends (though Merisia was reluctant to admit it, even when Emereck teased her about it).
Several months later, Emereck and Merisia ended up on a request to check the roads for a lost caravan. Upon arriving on the scene, the cart was wrecked, the cart's chocobos all but fled, the cargo either damaged or ablaze, and the survivors were trembling in fear. Just as Merisia began approaching one of them, a vision of the past flooded her vision, showing the caravan being attacked by imperial soldiers, several of the survivors setting off with precious little cargo on the chocobos that once drew the cart while the rest attempted to fight off the soldiers. As the vision ended, Merisia heard Emereck cry out that they needed to return to Ul'dah immediately.
Merisia spent the next few days silent, reluctant to speak to anyone other than Emereck about the incident. Emereck again and again extended offers for Merisia to accompany him somewhere as a "Path Companion", but she refused until eventually he dropped the offer, much to her relief. Merisia soon returned to her adventuring like before, albeit much more cautious this time. Soon, the whispers of Imperial activity became too great to ignore, and Merisia found herself joining the many adventurers fighting in the Eorzean Alliance against the Garlean Empire. Though this was mostly at Emereck's behest, Merisia reluctantly admitted that she was doing it on her own accord as well, especially after her vision at the ruined caravan and the rumors of the rapidly descending moon, Dalamud, being the work of the Empire. While at first her excursions involved smaller missions with Emereck against smaller groups of imperial soldiers, it was not long before a full-scale battle ensued in the desolate region of Mor Dhona.
The battle took an unexpected turn when the red moon Dalamud above them burst into pieces, out of which sprung Bahamut. Soldiers of both sides of the conflict fled while Bahamut laid waste to the battlefield. When Archmage Louisoix attempted to re-seal Bahamut, however, the ancient primal proved to be too powerful, shattering the spell and beginning to summon an enormous flare. Louisoix, in a last ditch effort to save the valiant adventurers - including Merisia - that fought for Eorzea, transported them forward through time. Thus was the Calamity, and the end of the Sixth Astral Era.
Merisia quite suddenly found herself alone on the shores of Limsa Lominsa five years in the future, dazed and confused. For some time, she retreated in solitude, relieved that the realm survived to see another day, but shocked at the sudden shift in scenery and mood. She also found that not only were some of the citizens of Limsa Lominsa that formerly knew her suddenly unaware of who she could possibly be, but she was no longer familiar with her own magic. To make things worse, Emereck was nowhere to be found.
After finally recovering, Merisia began seeking a new way of life in a new realm. Fortunately for her, the Arcanist's Guild was not only open, but accepting members. Deciding that it was a perfect opportunity for a fresh start, she joined the guild, and quickly rose through the ranks to become a formidable arcanist. Merisia began to search for Emereck, but to no avail. There were no signs of him on the battlefield, nor had any other adventurers heard of him. In hopes of finding some clues, Merisia resumed her previous travels as an adventurer and "treasure hunter", hoping that perhaps by returning to her previous lifestyle, she'd run into him again just as she had the first time.
Soon enough, her travels took her to Thanalan, where she searched for her family to see if they escaped the Calamity's destruction, only to find her home completely destroyed. When Merisia questioned the inhabitants of one of the nearby camps about this, she began hearing rumors of repeated kidnappings in the area by beastmen. Merisia, taking it upon herself to investigate these rumors, found herself on the receiving end of an Amalj'aa ambush. Though a skilled arcanist, Merisia was grossly outmatched, and wound up kidnapped herself. To her horror, the Amalj'aa planned to bring her to the primal Ifrit to be tempered with several other victims. As Ifrit doused them all with blue fire, however, everyone was shocked to find that while the flames had tempered the souls of the other victims, Merisia's remained untouched.
Ifrit, enraged, attacked Merisia. Knowing she was outmatched and not wishing to remain to fight a primal, Merisia managed a narrow escape and fled the Amalj'aa encampment, not eager to see how the lizardmen would react to the turn of events. Word of Merisia's exploits soon made their rounds, and soon she received an invitation to join the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. Hoping it would lead her to Emereck, she made her way to their headquarters with many questions on her mind. There, she learned of the Echo, the strange ability she (and many other adventurers) possessed that made her immune to tempering and able to see the past, among other things. She also discovered that her late companion was among their members before the Calamity, and his constant pestering to be his Path Companion was actually him trying to introduce her. Upon discovering that Emereck truly was nowhere to be found, the reality struck Merisia that Emereck was not simply missing; he hadn't survived. For a time, Merisia remained silent on the offer to join the Scions, overcome with heartbreak that her only friend was lost to her forever. Perhaps had she listened to him, joined him sooner, aided him more, he would still be alive. She wouldn't be suffering this pain and none of this would have ever happened. Merisia resolved to never let such a thing happen again, not only in being more careful of not letting others come to harm, but also in not letting them too close.
After a short time, Merisia finally agreed to join the Scions in their efforts to halt the primal threat to Eorzea, but only if she retained her independence as an adventurer. It was not long before Merisia met a few new companions within the Scions. An archer by the name of Seda'li befriended her first, although admittedly it was a very one-sided notion. Although at first a little too forward and eager, Seda'li proved to be reliable and skilled with the bow, and Merisia agreed to fight alongside him, "...but only because I have to. Don't get any ideas." Merisia still preferred to work on her own, and the sting of losing Emereck was far from gone.
Alongside many of Merisia's explorations in Eorzea, her investigations as Scion did not go neglected. Her next duty sent her to make peace with a beast race in the Black Shroud. Merisia, having no fondness of Gridania for many reasons, was immensely reluctant to go, and only ended up being dragged there at Seda'li's behest. Upon meeting and working with the Sylph, Merisia found that they were one of the few things she doesn't mind about Gridania, and eagerly worked with them, especially satisfied that she has no need to fight the tempered sylph and thus avoiding conflict with their primal. In aiding them, Merisia began to hear the voice of the mothercrystal, Hydaelyn, and encountered an Ascian by the name of Lahabrea, whom made it immediately clear that he had no intention of letting the scions continue their efforts and would quickly become a thorn in their side.
Merisia continued her investigations and adventuring, until the Scions rose a call to action against the next primal threat, Titan. After some trials involving gathering food for a feast, which left Merisia confused and frustrated ("How in seven hells does fetching a bottle of fine wine have anything to do with defeating Titan?!"), Merisia finally faced the kobolds' primal with a small party and soundly defeated it. Seda'li, whom fought alongside Merisia, complimented her on her skill and helpfulness, and promised her a special gift in celebration. Merisia, however, was exhausted and needed some time to recover from the battle, and Seda'li promised to meet her back at the Waking Sands.
Upon returning, however, Merisia found a horrifying scene waiting for her. The lanterns that weren't shattered were devoid of light, and the normally quiet chatter was absent. The Scions had been attacked, with many of them either gravely injured or dead. Among them, Merisia found no trace of Seda'li aside from his bow lying broken in half on the floor next to his equally damaged (and bloodstained) masked turban. Upon learning via the Echo that the Empire was behind the attack, Merisia swore vengeance. They had taken Emereck from her, they'd had a heavy hand in causing the Calamity, and apparently they wouldn't stop at murdering innocent people.
"It doesn't matter whether or not I knew them or even trusted them. What matters is that none of these people deserved being mindlessly slaughtered."
For a short time, Merisia retreated in a cathedral in a nearby encampment until a few surviving Scions coaxed her out. After learning of the next primal threat, Merisia's journey next took her to Coerthas to stop Garuda. However, Garuda's winds were impenetrable, and priority fell to finding Cid's airship first. It was not a journey she made willingly at first. Having grown up in the deserts of Thanalan, Merisia was not fond of the cold at all, and it took some convincing, but Merisia eventually went. She carried with her Seda'li's broken mask, her excuse being that it would be a shame for such a valuable piece of equipment to go to waste, and that she'd simply make a new hat for the mask to go with since the original one had been too damaged for her to repair adequately.
In Coerthas, Merisia soon ended up amidst a feud among several Ishgardian houses. She quickly grew frustrated with the stubbornness of the houses and their reluctance to aid her, and it took much of her willpower (and some warnings from the other Scions aiding the investigation) to keep from shouting insults at them for being narrow-minded and unhelpful. After unraveling a conspiracy and putting an end to the madness, Cid's airship was located and - many slain dragons later - liberated from Stone Vigil.
With Garuda finally approachable, Merisia faced the Ixali's primal. Although she prevailed against Garuda after a vicious battle - resisting Garuda's last-ditch effort to temper her in the process - the victory was a short-lived one. The Ixali's worship and stash of crystals bestowed Garuda with more power, revitalizing her. Imperial forces appeared from nearby, having hidden for some time. Their leader, Gaius van Baelsar, mocked Garuda's power, enraging her. The wind primal responded in kind by attacking the nearby Amalj'aa and Kobold prisoners, causing them to summon their primals, Ifrit and Titan.
Outmatched and overpowered, the scions fled aboard Cid's airship. From afar, Merisia watched in horror as the Imperial juggernauts delivered a powerful, beast-like magitech. Not only was the monstrosity easily able to overpower all three primals, it also absorbed their essences, becoming incredibly powerful. Lahabrea informed Gaius that the machine would only grow more powerful with every primal it absorbed, making it a formidable weapon against the beastman tribes.
With the only comfort being that the other beast tribes wouldn't dare summon their primals with such a threat looming, Merisia suddenly found herself with one of her two enemies being a far greater threat than ever before. With many of the more skilled and knowledgeable scions missing, kidnapped or dead, Merisia was once again alone, not with a disaster behind her, but looming not far in front.