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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.
no subject
Character: Alice Kozakura
Age: 19
OC Type: Pure OC.
Point Taken: A bit before the.final battle.
World Building: More details here! The aim of the setting was to capture the feel of an older JRPG, in the vein of somewhere between Xenogears, the Atelier series, and Final Fantasy VIII. The world is medieval fantasy, where humans and demons live in separate realms, mostly without contact. Monsters roam the world, and adventurers fight them, the monarchy is useless, the usual fare.
In an unnamed world, in the country of Adelheld, the invasion of demons from another plane, ordered by their gods, caused the Age of Catastrophe. Crops withered, droughts occurred, the march of the demons through the land caused seemingly-endless suffering. It was the advent of heroes, the Six Legendary Heroes, that led to the end of the age. But in truth, the Legendary Heroes were not truly heroic, save one- They betrayed the goddess they served to put in her place the god of chaos, instead creating momentary peace for even greater suffering in the future. The leader of the six, the Legendary Hero Ulrich, is of particular importance, but he was known to the public to be a humble man who sought only to help others. This is, of course, absolute bullshit and he has such a huge complex about how he is better than everyone else.
Demons are known to exist by humans, but what isn’t known much of is just how weird they are. Demons tend to look rather alien, not necessarily even having all their body parts attached to each other, and may not even look recognizable as living things. Which raises many questions about the existence of a half-demon. Please don’t ask me how it works. I’m trying very hard not to think about it and so is Alice.
Backstory: Note: Alice is transgender. For clarity’s sake, I’ll be using male pronouns for when she presented male, and female pronouns when presenting female, and will note when that switch occurs.
The Legendary Hero, Ulrich Lightbringer, had a woman he loved. Said woman, however, was actually a demon- One from the demon’s realm, who had fallen in love with Ulrich’s charisma and drive. Disguised as a human woman through her powerful magic, the two courted, and even conceived a child together. But Ulrich was the Legendary Hero, and unmarried- The Legendary Hero could not possibly have had a child out of wedlock. Such a scandal might have ruined everything for him. So instead, when the child was born, he told the world that the child was sent from Heaven, by Caleigh Himself, to help guide humanity on its proper path. Stories began to spread, that as soon as the infant touched the earth, he took seven steps and spoke of a poisoned well, or how his touch brought sight back to the blind, or the like.
The child was named Lucifer. He was a noble child, full of wisdom and never spoke ill of any, dignified beyond his years… Or so the stories would have you believe. In truth, Lucifer was simply a child- Pointed ears and odd markings around his eyes aside, he wanted nothing more than to make his father happy. He fully believed the stories that had been told about him, even if he didn’t remember them, and so he believed it his solemn duty to help people.
But when he displayed special powers none understood, it became a sign of his holy nature- A miracle. In truth, this was nothing more than magic, but none understood it- Demons had their own form of magic, and humans had their own, but a half-demon hadn’t been born in so long, none knew what to make of this magic. So it was called his miracles.
It was then his father gave him a mission- To wear a mask, and to go use his miracles to chaos and destruction at certain places. Lucifer was horrified that such a thing would be asked, but his father soothed his worries- He wasn’t going to hurt anyone, just frighten them. They were people who didn’t believe in the church, so it was better to scare them into joining the church so they’d receive the church’s blessings and protections, instead of just letting them be helpless when real threats came, right? Of course, his father knew best, so Lucifer put aside his worries and did what was asked of him.
But as he grew older, he continued to have doubts. Then, finally, he worked up the nerve to tell his father than he believed this method of converting people was wrong… but his father beat him to the punch. Ulrich told Lucifer that his last attempt to scare people had gone too far, and someone had died. And that being the case… Well, since Lucifer was already a murderer, he may as well continue to assassinate people for the church, so no one else has to get blood on their hands, right? And Lucifer, still a child, was horrified and traumatized by this enough that he agreed. And so he wore the mask of the messiah, the holy child by day, and by night, he wore the mask of the devil, a demon who killed without remorse, at his father’s orders.
As an older teen, Lucifer was sent out once more on a task- An agent of the church, Aran, was infiltrating a party to retrieve an artifact, warded against those of ill intent. They needed a party, pure of heart but also stupid enough to not ask questions, and Aran had found it- An alchemist in training, Sophie, a mage named Lucille, Valencia the knight, and a ranger who had fled from military academy, Marie. With Aran retrieving the artifact from them, it should have been simple.
But somehow, it wasn’t. When Lucifer donned his demon’s mask and fought the party, their power of teamwork fought back, driving Lucifer back. And their loud concern for Aran, failing to realize he had betrayed them, confused him. The way the party cared for each other, even though they had not been together long, confused Lucifer, awakening strange feelings in him.
It was his eighteenth birthday when he returned to Ulrich to report his failure. And as he waited, he overheard something- His father, talking to another. Speaking of ‘Lucifer’s mother’. Which shouldn’t be possible- He was a holy child sent from heaven, so he shouldn’t have had a mother, right? Upon confronting his father, Ulrich finally revealed the truth- Not only was Lucifer the product of the union between a human and a demon, but now that Lucifer had failed, and knows too much, it was time for Lucifer to become a martyr. With nothing else to do beyond allow himself to be killed or escape, Lucifer fled.
But Lucifer was far too famous. Unable to hide as himself, in pure desperation, Lucifer awakened the power of his mother- Though weakened and diluted, as only a half-demon, his mother was still a shapeshifter. And so Lucifer used that same power, taking on a new body to hide in- A female body. She reasoned to herself it would be much easier to hide in… And tried, for a time, to deny that she was much, much happier this way. That didn’t last long.
Speaking of things that didn’t last long, her hiding didn’t either! It was a scant few months- Using her magic and her experience in causing destruction and chaos, she instead reapplied those skills, along with some training from those she passed on the road, to act as a traveling doctor. Fueled by guilt, she at least wanted to save as many lives as she had taken. And for a time, though as guilt-driven as she was, she had found a measure of peace. Naturally, that was when the very same party she had betrayed before came to her in a panic, begging for help. One of their number- Sophie, the alchemist- had been injured, rather badly, and none of the others in their party had the means to heal her.
Of course, Alice was terrified. Though there was no way they could recognize Alice, or connect her to the person who had betrayed them, she nonetheless believed they knew, and were here to make her pay for her crimes. So she treated Sophie’s wounds, with bandages and medicine and a bit of healing magic, and attempted to leave. But the party wouldn’t let her, and basically dragged her along until she would accept some kind of payment.
Alice, fearing this was a trap, snuck away in the night, and was gone for merely a couple of days. However, at the next town, she was careless. In her haste to get away from the party, she hadn’t covered up her ears as well as she should have, and her pointed ears, along with the markings around her eyes, led some rowdy people from the village to realize she was a demon. Or, half-demon, at least- But they recognized the pointed ears from the ‘demon’ who had attacked their village to make them join the church, and no one seemed to notice or care that Lucifer had also had those ears. Recognizing her as a demon, they attacked her.
She finally simply resigned herself, giving up to let the village take her life, if that’s what they wanted. But then the party showed up, and protected her, completely misunderstanding why she had fled in the night. The party swore to Alice they would protect her, and no one would hurt her just for who she was. Even though they didn’t know who she really was, she ended up crying anyway, and joined the party officially.
It was here the party shared their quest, and Alice was surprised, and horrified- Even she hadn’t known just how deep Ulrich’s plot went. He was collecting artifacts, using the power of the entire church, to collect… Something strange. Pieces of a suit of armor, it seemed- Beyond that, it was an armor that could even restrain the gods. Ulrich, they had discovered, was intending to summon the god Caleigh to the earth, and then use the armor to seal the god inside himself, to stay in control but to have all of the god’s powers for his own. Alice was horrified, but couldn’t bear to reveal her true identity now especially.
It is here the bulk of the story happens, but Alice is mostly peripheral to it. The party quests to find the remaining relics, and they mostly succeed. The Church’s minions get a couple, and they encounter a few of the Legendary Heroes in the process, but they always manage to escape. Aran rejoined the party, this time as an ally as well. This continued for long enough for the party to settle into a steady rhythm, and it seemed all would go well. Ulrich would never assemble the full armor, so his plot would end in failure, and they would surely find a way to expose to the public what kind of person he truly was--
But that all ended when Ulrich made an appearance in person. Clad in full armor, wielding his own sword from his days as a hero, his pressure was too much for the party to bear. Especially Alice- One look at her, and Ulrich understood. He understood everything. She couldn’t escape. She could never escape him.
Her trauma, her terror, her fear, her desire for his love, everything took over. Without any will of her own, like a puppet, she took the pieces of the armor and handed them over to Ulrich, who proceeded to fight the party.
It was almost overwhelming. The party would have been wiped out without a chance to resist, had it not been for Alice. Not because she did anything, but just the opposite- Ulrich ordered Alice to fight, and she couldn’t. She was unable to act, like she was broken, and Ulrich decided to make the most of it and to just kill her there. It was then the party sprang into action, to save Alice, who couldn’t fight back.
Somehow, the party managed to repel Ulrich- Or rather, they took Alice and ran, abandoning the pieces of the armor that Alice had given up. And they fled, successfully, as they were simply less important to him than the armor.
From there, nothing seemed to go well. The party attempted to steal the pieces back, or recover the last few pieces, and failed. It soon came to light that the party simply would not be able to stop them, or defeat Ulrich. They could not even approach Ulrich to fight, as the legendary heroes had some manner of divine protection. It was impossible, and so the party searched for a way to fight him.
There were several character side-plots here. Marie grew to distrust Alice, with Alice’s true identity revealed, until Alice could prove herself. Lulu’s lost mother, Lunetha, was found, and sacrificed herself for the party. Aran rescues his self-charged charge, the blind prophetic street urchin Celadon.
Upon Lunetha’s sacrifice, though, it was revealed to the party that Lunetha had been Leta’s high priestess. And her sacrifice had managed to strip the divine protection from the remaining five heroes. No longer untouchable, they could find the chance to defeat these false heroes, if they were strong enough.
Ulrich had collected the entire armor, but the party had broken his protections. And so, the party climbed the mountain towards the Great Temple of Ahlhal, where Ulrich watched over the world to watch people doing pilgrimages for the sake of his power, ready to fight him and end his schemes.
After his defeat, Ulrich would fall, and the armor would break. Caleigh would possess his body, and the party would then have to defeat the God of Chaos himself, restored to his full might. After which, Ulrich would lay dying, and reveal his motivations- Originally, he had only wanted Caleigh’s power to turn back time, and to avert the tragedy that had destroyed his home village as a child. But over time, he had forgotten that goal, and become a dictator. But Alice is being apped from before the final battle, so she doesn’t know that part.