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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.
III
Dray is emotional but charming, often gullible and demanding. Very, very curious, too, like all cats tend to be and because being locked away for ten years makes you highly interested in the outside world. This, of course, leads him to be drawn to anything that’s aesthetically pleasing or noteworthy and often also gets him in trouble. Any activity that helps him pass the time is of great interest to him and he’s very excited about learning new things.
Just because he’s been locked away most of his life doesn’t mean he’s stupid. Knowledge and intelligence are two different things. Given his confinement and interrupted education, Dray doesn't know about many things that might be common knowledge, but he is highly intelligent and uses his instincts to make decisions. One of the reasons why the Guardian's plans to keep him locked up backfired on them so spectacularly was because no one expected Dray's memory to be so dependable or for him to be so skilled with the few things he had available. He’s a fast learner, usually a good judge of character, and capable of recognizing danger when he sees it.
He’s concerned about his appearance and might come out looking more shallow that he actually is. The only times Dray bothers to get dressed is at the request of others and because he’s excessively sensitive to criticism or disapproval. When he lived in the Red Bastion, disapproval meant he got beaten up for going against his captor's wishes and, while Dray still fought with them, he had learned to play along when it looked like it wasn’t worth the trouble.
He has a deep need to feel close to people and a strong sex drive. For the last ten years most of his experiences interacting with others had involved sexual contact, unrequired or not, and normal interactions were scarce, ignored or trampled upon. That led to Dray coping with a dysfunctional system in a dysfunctional way. He thinks that if he's not getting attention, there must be something wrong with him.
He shows sign of histrionic personality disorder, but focused mostly on his partner rather than a larger group. He doesn’t want everyone’s attention, but he wants his current partner to be focused on him and his needs. The idea that the only way to get attention is by exploiting himself is ingrained in his mind. Dray becomes depressed and upset if he feels like he’s losing the interest of the person he’s bonding with, or if he’s feeling unworthy. Dray controls his partners through emotional manipulation or provocative behaviour while at the same time being dependent on them on another level. He’s not always consciously aware that he’s behaving that way, he’s just trying to survive using what had worked for him so far.
Dray doesn’t regret using sexual manipulation because when he was trapped in the Red Bastion it was the only leverage he had, the only way to ensure his life wouldn't get any worse.
Mostly, Dray needs reassurance. He's so consumed by the idea that he's worth nothing that sometimes he gets grouchy, needy and highly anxious. Because of his time in captivity, sex is the first thing on his mind when it comes to being useful. His assortment of issues and PTSD mixed with his low self-esteem blend together to create a constant need for attention. Sex gives him the illusion of emotional closeness and boosts his self-esteem.
Avin is aware of Dray’s manipulative ways and tries to help Dray to see himself as a person rather than something to be used. That said, it's not like Dray wants to have sex all the time. In the Red Bastion he rarely had visits that didn't end that way; now that he's free it's taking him a while to adjust to the idea that some people might want his company because they like to spend time with him. Avin wasn’t used to having a partner like Dray, but as their relationship progressed the Tryad started to become aware his moods and reacted accordingly. That helped Dray understand that it's okay to say no, that he's more than just a body, and that sharing a bed with someone can happen just for the sake of sleeping near your loved ones. In essence, his relationship works because Avin learned how to stop being a solitary grouch and Dray was able to grow into his own person.
Dray, who reacts badly when someone gets between his child and him (that being his berserk button), surprisingly warmed up almost immediately to Cara Ree. They both had their offspring taken away from them, they had been shaped beyond repair by the experiences and they are very protective of the youngsters. From one mother to another, they get each other.
It’s worth noting that while Avin, as well as meeting Cara Ree, helps Dray’s emotional growth and maturity, it doesn’t miraculously make his issues go away. Dray’s a very emotionally compromised person with long-lasting trauma and will never truly be able to get over the years of imprisonment and abuse. He understands desperation and the need for survival but he won't forgive what the Guardians did to him and his children. However, Dray understands why the war started and how both sides were wronged. That's also why he mostly avoids other members of his own species, even regular Eidions.
Issues aside, he’s generally kind, easy to get along with and very protective of those he cares about, especially children. He might be wary and shy around strangers and new environments, but he grows out of it pretty quickly if he feels he’s safe and that people aren’t going to try to trick him. Because he owned nothing when he lived in the Colony, not even his own life, he's defensive of the little possessions he has and overprotective when it comes to people.
He wants to see the world, experience new things and grow as a person but at the same time he’s afraid of it. Living in The Red Bastion was an occasional nightmare but it also meant that he had shelter, regular food and was relatively safe from threats. The world outside meant freedom but it was also really big and scary. Sometimes Dray gets tired of being social, being outdoors, and likes to hide in a place he considers safe and save up his energy.
Dray rarely loses his temper, when he does the most primal parts of his personality take over. Eidions are, after all, more animal than anything else. He will claw, bite and aim to maim his enemy in the worse possible way. He dislikes killing and will show mercy, unless his foe is trying to hurt his offspring or any other young creature. When that happens, his need to protect overcome his insecurities. As an example: Vaaros Barh came to Avin’s house asking for help when he discovered that an Eidion was in his house. He didn’t know how to take care of his newborn children after their mother had died during childbirth. Upon seeing the babies, Dray growled at Vaaros, who was known for being one of the strongest and biggest fighters in the Tryad’s clan, and took the children from his hands to take care of them. Needless to say, that didn’t sit well with Vaaros. But Dray put his foot down and the Tryads were impressed at how someone who was half their size could adamantly protect their babies. The misunderstanding was cleared up soon enough and Dray helped to keep the babies alive and nursed them back to health. Thanks to that, the rest of the Tryads started accepting him as part of their tribe.
He has many fears, too. First and foremost is the fear that his children will be lost forever or hurt, suffering the same fate he did or worse. The fear that he will be caught and locked away again is deeply rooted in him. He’s terrified of fire because his village was burned down during the Guardian’s attack. Just seeing smoke makes him uneasy. Most of all, he’s scared of being deemed useless and being alone. Deep in his soul, he longs to form stronger bonds with people and a peaceful existence.
Abilities:
He has the regular Eidion abilities:
- Accelerated healing, perfect night-vision and keen hearing. Regular Eidions and Queens are also extremely fast because their survival depends on it.
- Eidions are builders and highly imaginative. They can climb anything and build nests everywhere if they have the time and raw materials. Dray also has a very good memory, and an incredible eye for detail.
Abilities specific to Queen Eidions:
- Hive mind / bond telepathy [Only works with members of his species]: His most special ability without a doubt. They can create mental links with Guardians they have shared fluids with (blood, semen, vaginal fluids and breast milk, but not saliva), or who are their direct relatives. The ability allows Queens to influence other individuals, calm them or inspire them, as well as demoralize them or enrage them.
If their bond is strong enough, they can control the individual’s actions. The hivemind makes them natural leaders but can cause mistrust and resentment. The resentment is totally justified, some corrupted Queen Eidions used it for their own benefit instead of for their community.
IV
Piphron: distrust and trust | Dray has been hurt plenty of times in the past as in naturally wary but he's longing to make deeper connections with people. It's because he learns to put his faith in the new friends he meets that he's able to grow as a person and let go of the past, so this is the alignments that suits him best right now.
General Sample: Test Drive | A conversation with Thace.
Emotion Sample: Test Drive | Options E-2: Dray's negative emotions affect the environment (temperature dropping, frost...)
Revision
Your application is very thorough! However, we would like to see a different sample, as the current one is a bit too hard to follow due to the thread's format (multiple conversations at once).
Additionally, we have a question about an aspect of Dray's character. Sexual activities are perfectly fine and allowed in the game, but you mention in his personality his need for sex as a coping mechanism. We were wondering how that was going to play out or be worked with in a game like Empatheias, where such needs aren't really stressed as a whole. We do also allow minors to join into the game, so there would likely need to be a permission post depending on how it's done.
Please submit your revisions as its own comment in reply to this one. You have one week to submit the revisions, otherwise we will consider it a revocation of your application. If you have any questions or concerns, ask away!
no subject
Here are a few more examples of Dray interacting with people, they're mostly from bakerstreet and the last one it's only from a sex game because a friend of mine wanted to test her other muse but no real sex is involved at all:
- Clothes are overrated
- This is why cats and alcohol shouldn't mix
- New meetings
If you need a different example of Kay's way of thinking rather than him interacting with others, I can write it from scratch.
As for his need for sex, I wasn't really going to focus on that in Empatheias, I would like to explore other parts of his personality more, like his need to see the world and working on his trust towards new people. Dray is flirty to a point of course, and I was already thinking about making a permission/opt-out post in his journal due to his background. That wouldn't be a problem. If in game anything turned too explicit, it would be labeled appropriately or moved to Dray's own journal.
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.
All that sounds good with us!
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
no subject
Thank you! This is the journal for Dray. I'll have the op-out permission post soon and I already had the app in Kay's journal here. He already has an IC contact/message box here.