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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.
May | Pokemon ORAS
Player: Jingle
Contact:
Age: 25
Current Characters: None
Character: May
Age: 15
OC Type: Blank Protagonist (Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire)
Point Taken: After becoming Champion and receiving the Eon Flute.
World Building: Wiki Link!
Backstory:
Born in Johto, May's family was uprooted and moved to Hoenn when her father, Norman, became the Gym Leader in the region's Petalburg City. May was fourteen when the move happened, and it shook her already-rocky relationship with her father. Norman was often more focused on training his Pokemon than on his family, and now he was taking May away from her childhood friends and home. But of course, the teen had no choice but to start a new life in Littleroot Town, and there, her adventure began.
May had just arrived in Littleroot when she met the Birch family. Notably, she met the family's patriarch, Professor Birch... By saving him from a wild Pokemon that was chasing him. This required battling the wild Pokemon, and so May had to act as a Pokemon trainer for the first time. She picked a Pokeball at random, and inside was the grass-type Treecko. May managed to fight the other Pokemon off with her "temporary" Pokemon partner. She wasn't happy when Professor Birch praised her skill as a potential trainer, but the man ran with this, insisting on giving the Pokemon to May and urging her to learn more about being a trainer from his son, Brendan. This trend continued, with May finding herself in the role of a real Pokemon trainer. She was far from thrilled, and often acted unenthusiastic or even bitter early in her journey. What kept her from just quitting was the undeniable fondness she had for her new pal, Treecko, who sported a cool and detached attitude.
Two strange things happened as May began to travel the Hoenn region doing tasks for others and challenging gyms. For one, she began encountering the nefarious Team Aqua, whose leader, Archie, boasted big plans to improve the world for Pokemon. He intended to do this by using the legendary Kyogre to raise the seas. May never quite saw how that logic added up, but got increasingly tangled in their plot. Despite May – and Team Aqua’s rival, Team Magma – trying to stop them, the group eventually managed to awaken Kyogre. A horrible storm threatened to end the Hoenn region and beyond, and Archie and his team realized the flaws of their plan. Still, it somehow ended up that May was the one who had to calm the legendary beast by defeating it in battle.
That was okay, though, because the other strange thing that happened as May journeyed through Hoenn was that she became happier in her new home – and her new role. She came to love her Pokemon team, and all Pokemon, and to respect her fellow trainers. In fact, shortly after May saved the world from Kyogre, she took on Hoenn’s Pokemon League and became the Hoenn Champion.
Other notable events along the way included May getting involved in Pokemon Contests and learning to use Mega Evolution, as well as having her fifteenth birthday while on the road.
Personality:
A trainer who started her journey with a grudge against Pokemon isn’t exactly common, or something that tends to end well. Yet, for May, it worked out – because as she traveled, her Pokemon weren’t the only ones evolving. May has grown a lot over her time in Hoenn, although she hasn’t changed entirely by any means.
May is a bold and spirited teen; fiercely independent and reluctant to accept help from others – though she’s always willing to offer her own services as help. She speaks up for what she believes is important, and in this behavior is often impudent. May also has a strong temper and is rash when that temper is provoked. She’s pretty stubborn, though her mind has grown more open as she’s traveled. But what are May’s beliefs? What is she stubborn about? Well, for the most part, it all links back to her being so independent. She believes that relying on others is setting herself up to be let down, and so she’s stubborn when it comes to admitting she needs help. She’s also stubborn in the fact that she won’t back down from a challenge or task. May is a determined individual.
As Hoenn’s fifteen-year-old Champion, she’s much happier than she was when she first moved to Johto. She's more carefree, and even bubbly - not bitter like she once was, and she’s less rude and somewhat less likely to start an argument or fight than she used to be. She's always had a sense of humor, and isn’t a very serious sort of person. In fact, she comes across as easygoing until her stubborn streak or her temper show. She's a kindhearted girl despite her rashness, and she's compassionate and caring towards others.
May is protective of both her Pokemon and her human loved ones; she would do anything for them. She is a friendly person, despite her social shortcomings. May's typical idea of fun is training and battling with her Pokemon, which means she struggles to connect to people who aren’t Pokemon trainers. However, this is something she’s working on improving, thanks especially to the contest idol Lisia who she befriended on her journey.
May is as brave and adventurous a youth as one will ever find. While some of that can be chalked up to impulsive behavior and her stubbornness, there's also just raw courage and a need to travel and discover new things. She's curious about the world around her, and never wants to stop being surprised by life.
May’s relationship with her father is complicated, even now that she’s come to understand the many joys and the appeal of being a trainer. She still resents how much time he spends away from home. It leaves her torn, as she’s no longer as comfortable with these feelings of resentment as she once was. She wants to get along with Norman, but it’s still difficult for her.
Despite her success as a trainer, May has remained (mostly) humble. Braggarts and those with big egos have always rubbed her the wrong way - she only is like this herself in a joking manner. She also, in a hypocritical manner, doesn’t like dealing with impulsive people. Yes, May is definitely impulsive. She doesn’t think of potential danger when heading into a situation; she just keeps her eyes on the prize.
Abilities:
May’s connection to her Pokemon, specifically her Sceptile, allows her to cause him to Mega Evolve when she is in possession of her keystone and Sceptile is in possession of Sceptilite.
Sceptile (level 62) holds Sceptilite and knows the moves Leaf Blade, Dual Chop, Quick Attack, and Agility. His ability, Overgrow, powers up Grass-Type moves when he is at low health.
Sableye (level 60) holds a Muscle Band and knows the moves Shadow Sneak, Confuse Ray, Zen Headbutt, and Foul Play. His ability, Keen Eye, keeps his accuracy from being lowered.
Cosplay Pikachu (Libre) (level 60) holds a Yellow Scarf and knows the moves Quick Attack, Thunderbolt, Thunder Wave, and Flying Press. Her ability, Lightning Rod, draws most Electric-Type moves to Pikachu, who will not be damaged by the move and who will have her special attack stat boosted one stage.
Camerupt (level 61) holds Charcoal and knows the moves Lava Plume, Flash Cannon, Rock Slide, and Earthquake. Her ability, Magma Armor, prevents her from being frozen.
Milotic (level 59) holds Leftovers and knows the moves Surf, Toxic, Ice Beam, and Recover. His ability, Marvel Scale, increases his defense by 50% when he has a status condition.
Alignment: Aiada. It's a great fit for May, as her journey took her from envying Pokemon to deeply appreciating them.
Other: May will be accompanied by Sceptile, Sableye, Cosplay Pikachu (Libre), Camerupt, and Milotic. May herself will have her Mega Bracelet with the keystone embedded in it.
General Sample:
General Link...
Emotion Sample:
...also serves as Emotion Link
Questions: Let me know if any of the Pokemon's powers need nerfing.
Revision
We'd like to understand more of your portrayal of May's personality through her interactions with Team Aqua and Archie. How did the weather crisis affect her, and what are her feelings on those responsible for it? Additionally, May is canonically only 12 or 13 in the series, and we would like a more specific canonpoint, given the importance of the post-game plot.
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!
Re: Revision
Regarding May's personality and Team Aqua/Archie:
May's views on Team Aqua as a whole and on their leader are very different. Early on in her encounters with them, she saw Team Aqua as a nuisance - a dastardly, immoral nuisance, yes, but a nuisance all the same. It wasn't until saving Latias that she truly saw the organization as capable of being a threat, and before then, she would get very annoyed at their interruptions of her journey. However, even once seh realized they could be a danger, Team Aqua - including, if not especially, Archie - baffled May. She didn't understand the logic to their weather plan in the slightest; seeing it as an absurd and ill-planned notion.
Overall, though, May thinks Archie is pretty cool. She likes that he seems far more easygoing and relaxed than her father, who she can't help comparing him to. May made friends with many adults over the course of her journey, and to a certain extent, she considers Archie among them. She has forgiven him and Team Aqua as a whole, for she truly believes they have seen the error of their ways and will, moving forward, be dedicated to fixing their mistakes.
That said, the weather crisis itself provided a brief backslide for May's growth as a person and a trainer. She found herself feeling that it shouldn't be her job to save the day. She resented this role, like she initially resented her role as trainer. However, it took her far less time in this case to come around. May realized that her resentment was disguising her fear of letting the world down, and she knew she had to face this fear and not let her self-doubt stop her from trying to return the world to normal.
Accepted!
Please follow these next few steps to officially be considered part of the game. Remember that you have one week to do all this, otherwise we will consider it a revocation of the application.
➟ Reply to this comment with the journal you will be joining with, then join the following communities:
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➟ Please comment to the appropriate Taken Characters list: Canons A-M | Canons N-Z.➟ You are required to create an information post on your character journal for easy player reference. Using your application is perfectly fine! You are also free to use one of our Info Post Templates.
➟ When your journal is added by the mod journal, comment to the Player Contact list.
➟ Introduce yourself in our Player Intro post and start playing!
➟ Use the Character Introduction Log for your character intro!
Some optional things:
➟ 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 an Inbox post for any private messages that could be sent via messenger bird.
➟ Check this month's plotting post.
➟ Follow the mod plurk (
➟ Join the game's Discord chat. You can join it by following the link here.
If you have any questions at any time, feel free to contact us! Once again, we welcome you to Empatheias, and we hope you enjoy the game!
Re: Accepted!