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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.
Part 2
Pilouette is coming from a Modern Earth setting in 2010; every major event that has happened in Earth’s history has happened in this universe. The only real difference is alternate versions of most popular culture, though this is mostly to avoid fourth walling. For example, while the original fairy tale Snow White exists, the Disney movie (and Disney itself) does not. Instead her world’s Disney Equivalent made a movie about Little Red Riding Hood which serves the same role in history.
Backstory:
Originally from Lille, France, Pilouette was born in 1994 to Armand Bonheur and his wife, Camille, who met while working for the same company, though they worked for different branches. An exceptionally serious woman, Camille lacked a sense of humor, so when Armand made a joke about naming their infant daughter after his childhood dog, Camille went ahead with it.
Since her parents worked a lot, Pilouette spent much of her formative years with her grandparents in Lille, while Armand and Camille worked, both overseas and in Paris. She would often go weeks at a time without seeing either of her parents and as a result became very attached to her grandmother, a retired kindergarten teacher, and her grandfather, a doctor specializing in athletic injuries. Not long after Pilouette turned three, Armand was transferred to the US branch of the company he worked for and, along with his wife and child, moved overseas to Key City, New York, a city several hours outside New York City. Being so attached to her grandparents, Pilouette was very anxious about the move, more so than she would have been just moving to another house or city.
It was at this point that her parent's marital problems began. Little by little they began fighting about one thing or another and eventually got divorced. Shortly after Pilouette's fourth birthday, the two were divorced. Camille, for personal reasons that still remain unknown to her daughter, decided to sign over her parental rights and give her husband full custody. Not long after, she was transferred to the company's Chicago office and would begin living there.
From this point on, Pilouette and her mother had little significant contact. Armand, thinking he was doing what was best for his daughter never offered an explanation because she never asked and having no explanation offered, Pilouette found herself afraid to ask. Feeling as if she was rejected by her own mother, Pilouette became a very shy child and had a hard time making friends with other children when she started school. It was in kindergarten that she met Peter Hartell, an equally shy boy who had difficulty making friends due to his unintentionally angry –looking way of holding his face and generally quiet nature. Since neither had made much progress in the way of socializing with the other children, the teacher encouraged Pilouette and Peter to play together and the two gradually became close friends. Within a few years, the Hartells became almost like a second family to Pilouette and she would often stay with them when her father was working late. It was during this time that Pilouette developed an interest in baking after watching Mr. and Mrs. Hartell testing out recipes for their cafe. As she became older, this interest in baking became something Pilouette would consider making a career of later in life.
Many years later, just before Pilouette hit middle school, her father was promoted into a position that required him to make regular business trips to Paris. He and his daughter moved to a neighborhood across town that was a little closer to the local branch of the company he worked for and Pilouette was transferred to an all-girls private school that was closer to their new home. Pilouette was initially upset about the move since it would prevent her from seeing the Hartell family, especially her best friend Peter, quite as often and her shyness began to increase. While across town may not necessarily be terribly far, to ten year old Pilouette it was quite a long distance, especially since she was going to a new school with no friends.
However, it was at this new school that she met Patty Summers who had just moved to town (coincidentally in the same neighborhood as Pilouette) and the two became friends. Patty, who was a little more outspoken and positive than Pilouette, helped her new friend become more outgoing, eventually leaving a good deal of her shyness behind, though she still remained awkward when meeting new people and in unfamiliar situations. In an attempt to make herself more likable, throughout her middle school years and into high school she would become something of an “unofficial club member,” willingly helping out and taking on tasks from clubs and other extracurricular school groups when they needed extra help, despite not actually being a member of any of them and, at times, not having any actual “friends” in a particular club.
Shortly after she turned fourteen, she convinced her father that she would be alright on her own while he was away on trips, though he initially only allowed it because Patty's parents would offer to check in on her every now and then. However, over the next two years these check ins would become less frequent. Though Pilouette wished to prove how mature and adult she was she was by taking care of the house on her own, as she came to believe that being an "adult" was something desirable and respectable, she simultaneously wanted him to be home more and secretly resented the fact that he seemed to constantly put his work before her. However, believing that a “mature person” would not feel that way, she insisted she didn’t mind despite many missed or cancelled plans and a general lack of parental presence.
Part 3
Pilouette is very much a typical teenager; she rarely experiences anything that could be called extraordinary and, like many kids her age, just wants to fit in and be cool. She’s a good kid, but she's also a bit immature and wears her heart on her sleeve, often feeling emotions in strong bursts like some sort of emotional confetti cannon; feeling them strongly and usually levelling out before too long. As much as she tries to play it cool sometimes, she's not exactly a good liar and it's easy to tell when she's being dishonest about how she feels...or anything else for that matter. However, she still tries (sometimes, a bit too hard) to appear calm and mature because of how badly she wants to be taken seriously.
Being liked and accepted by others is something Pilouette values very much and is what drives a good deal of her actions. Unfortunately, she can be a bit naive in this regard; a bit of praise and kindness (sincere or not) is all it takes to allow someone to gain her trust. Also, while she is pretty friendly and gets along with people, she generally has difficulty forming close bonds with people due to her own self-consciousness. However, once she makes a friend, that person will mean a lot to her and, unless what they want to do is very obviously wrong, will have little trouble getting her to follow their lead.
Though she doesn't hold the highest opinion of herself or have any abilities she considers “real talents”, she genuinely tries to get better and works hard at what people ask her to do so she can be more helpful to others. She’s content to see others succeed, having resigned herself to the idea that she will always be less interesting, less intelligent, less…everything than others. However, this also means that when she has any measure of success she feels a little more pleased with herself than others would in the same situation. However, she can be just as easily discouraged. She’s a bit contradictory in this way; she wants so badly to be able to stand on her own and be taken seriously, but due to her own insecurities she would rather follow someone else’s lead than take charge herself.
While Pilouette may be a bit ditzy she’s not altogether stupid or unintelligent despite her opinion of herself. In fact, when she really puts her mind to it, she can come up with a good idea or two. However, her way of thinking can be described as a bit of a slow burn. When shocked or suddenly being put into a strange situation, she tends to freeze up and it can take her a few moments to fully comprehend what’s happening. She sometimes also jumps to somewhat bizarre conclusions and occasionally lets her imagination run away with her.
Abilities:
Pilouette is just your average human.
Alignment: Elios. Pilouette has a lot of love for others and a great desire to be loved, mostly in a platonic or familial sense. Though it can be hard for her to form close bonds with others, when she does her affection for them is genuine. On the other hand, what hatred she does have is mostly turned inward. While she seems to have accepted her self-perceived inferiority, part of her hates being (at least in her mind) so much less useful and talented than others are.
Other:
N/A
Sample: Test Drive Thread
Questions:
None!
Accepted!
• Reply to this comment with the journal you will be joining with.
• We do require you to keep a copy of your application and/or an information post in your journal for easy player reference. In doing so, you are free to use one of our Profile Codes.
• Comment to the Taken list.
• When your journal is added by the mod journal, comment to the Player Contact list.
• Join
• Introduce yourself in our Player Intro post and start playing!
Optional:
• Review the Game Info, Emotions, Amulet, and Island information pages.
• Make sure you understand how the Network works. Remember, Empatheias uses telepathy as communication!
• Feel free to make a "Message Box" type post for any private messages that could be sent via messenger bird.
Please use the Character Introduction Log for your character intro. If you have any questions at any time, feel free to contact us! Have fun :D
Re: Accepted!