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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.
Zephyr Taiyoh | OC (1/?)
Player: Scott
Contact:
Age: 25
Current Characters: None
Character: Zephyr Taiyoh
Age: 23
OC Type: Pure / Tabletop OC
Point Taken: From the middle of the campaign, I guess?
World Building: The continent of Thaumasia is a land set in the early stages of a magic-centered industrial revolution. While magical energies are abundant, it is extremely difficult for living creatures to make use of them, and therefore must resort to elementally-enchanted metals in order to utilize that power.
Magitech is a cornerstone of everyday life, and nothing exemplifies that more than the abundance of Frames, stories-tall mechanized automatons powered and controlled by the magical energies of a pilot. They range everywhere from construction models, to transportation vehicles, and most importantly military and mercenary combat units.
A number of nations have flourished with the development of magitech, but the rapidly-increasing demand for magical minerals and the riches they provide tend to cause friction, if not all-out war between nations. It's a world where conflict is abundant, innovation is at a dangerous high, and if the people don't kill you, the local megafauna will.
Also half the population are some extent of furry so there's that sort of racial strife going on, too.
Backstory: Zephyr Taiyoh grew up in a town-sized beastfolk tribe in the mountains, a tribe known by and large for its artisanry. Their culture, religion, education, and almost all facets of life involved creation in some shape or form, be it art, music, literature, or, most notably, smithing. Creation is a sacred act to them, and as such, encouraging children to do so is paramount, no matter what it is. This worked out well for Zephyr, who found herself more interested in the art of exploration and combat than the magitech systems most of her family were involved in. While she did learn the basics of engineering and smithing simply by growing up in the tribe, she took more of a liking to the grand stories of glory in faraway lands, heroes with towering and elegant Frames spreading justice where there was none, and exploring the far, unknown reaches of the continent in search of knowledge and treasure. That was what she wanted to do: go off on grand adventures instead of staying cooped up in a shop all day.
These feelings were only compounded over the years, as the tribe began to feel increasing tensions with the very theocratic government whose territory they were housed in. While their artisanry was well-appreciated, their method of religious worship did not fall in line with the national church's beliefs and practices. Nothing has happened yet, but even a kid like Zephyr could tell that tensions were rising, and if something weren't done, things might get a little bit unpleasant for the tribe.
And so, with a religious conflict on the horizon and a head full of tales of adventure, Zephyr decides her best course is to get herself a Frame, and set off to find a new place for the tribe to live, away from potential persecution. To that end, she enrolled in the Acadamie Castello, a renowned military school in the neighboring country designed to teach students the very best in Frame piloting and combat. Ever supportive of her endeavors, her friends and family came together to build a custom Frame to send her to school with- christened the Beaming Botany for its plant-like motif and main armament: a giant, intimidating laser cannon, because bullets are just so passe.
While she took well enough to the schoolwork aspect of academy life, she had some trouble adapting to the rigorous, no-nonsense culture a military academy tends to push. All cold, she could have very well gotten used to it in time, but that hope was dashed upon meeting her now-best friend and partner in crime: Mercedes, a carefree, wild badger girl who would rather replace the morning reverie with butt rock than actually heed its call to go to morning classes. The two of them became known as the Trouble Twins throughout campus, creating all sorts of mischief and near-unexplainable prankery in their wake. Oddly enough, they still managed to keep their grades up to spectacular levels, which was the only thing keeping them from expulsion by the end. They graduated among the top in their class, much to the confusion of their teachers, and instead of taking a guaranteed position of military officers, the two decided to strike out on their own for adventure and shits and giggles.
(2/2)
Her motivational spirit also applies when it comes to trying new things. she's willing to try just about anything once unless it's blatantly sketchy, and she has no issue with encouraging others to do the same. This applies equally to encouraging someone to try to learn a new skill, and getting someone to do something stupid because "it'll look cool" or "it'll be funny". She had a reputation in school for being a terrible enabler, and it was well-founded, with her and her best friend, Mercedes, being at the head of all sorts school pranks and legally-questionable but otherwise harmless activities.
Though she is not a master craftsman like many in her village, she still has a head for it. She's quite good at logical thought, although her form of logic can be sometimes removed from traditional mindsets. While she can readily solve practical problems, her solutions aren't always the most efficient, or straightforward. They work more often than not if given the chance, but it is sometimes difficult to follow her reasoning, or the plan itself once put into action. She herself has given up trying to explain her machinations and simply refers to her more grand achievements as "incidents". For example, the "Noodle Incident" that somehow solved a pest infestation at school, but left half the cafeteria covered in cook buckwheat noodles. How it accomplished the former is vauge at best, but it did. Somehow.
Abilities: Though she is a fount of magical power, Zephyr cannot use any abilities or cast any spells by herself. Instead, she must channel that energy through a green gem implanted in her left wrist in order to power magical constructs. Most commonly, this would be her Frame, the Beaming Botany, a 2-storie tall mech-like construct with a giant mounted laser cannon and a throwing spear for good measure. Outside her frame, she can take the cores from said weapons, Xylem and Phloem, and channel energy through them to make them float and shoot lasers. Aside from that, she can power and control most magical devices, but that's about it.
Alignment: Peromei. Zephyr's MO usually takes the form of unbridled optimism and hope, opting to push forward with a given task relentlessly, despite any obstacles that may arise. Her thought process usually starts with "how can I do this?" rather than "Can I do this?", and if the straightforward way doesn't work, she is quick to try something roundabout to get to her goal. She also does what she can to impart this on others; offering to help those that struggle, or simply give one of her trademark motivational tirades. They may not work all the time, but if she keeps doing them, she'll get better at them, and thus can inspire anyone into action, right?
Other: Her weapon cores, the floating orbs known as Xylem and Phloem, will be arriving with her. Her Frame, unfortunately, is a little too big.
General Sample: Catching bugs with Mickey
Emotion Sample: Prompt A
Questions: Nah.
Revision
The current personality section does give a good insight into Zephyr's character, but we would like to see some expansion (at least a paragraph) on how she thinks of and treats others, from acquaintances to enemies, if she has them, to close friends and family.
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!
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Zephyr is quite a social and hands-on person when it comes to others. She doesn't hesitate to approach strangers if she wants something, or simply make comments to them if it's relevant in passing. To her, pretty much everyone is a potential new friend, or at least a contact or acquaintance. However, she can sometimes have a difficult time getting a read on how a new person is feeling, and this often results in her invading personal space or asking too deeply into sensitive subjects too early. Fortunately, she will back off if called out on it, and she will pick up on more subtle cues over time, but she can often come across as pushy at first.
For those she already knows, Zephyr is a bastion of support and motivation. By her own admission, she likes to see the best in people, encouraging friends into action, persuading enemies to reconsider their actions, and generally trying to bring out that potential to be good. To do this with everyone is a nigh-impossible feat, and she knows this, but she's going to try anyway. Friends, family, foes, that random drunk on the street... If there's an opportunity for her to help, she'll take it.
Of course, this selflessness does tend to cause her to neglect her own ambitions. By herself, she's somewhat aimless. Though she did graduate from a respected academy with honors, she doesn't have much of an idea of what she wants to do with that accolade. Helping people is all well and good, but such a vague, nebulous goal will only hold up for so long. Still, she keeps doing what she's doing in hopes that she can find some of that direction along the way.
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: Canons A-M | Canons N-Z
• 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.
• Check the monthly mod post for some announcements and an idea of what's in store for the month.
• 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.
• Check this month's plotting post.
• Follow the mod plurk for game announcements.
• Join the game's Discord chat. You can join it by following the link here.
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
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