![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
[ 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.
Re: Perne Archevauliere | MMO OC - Part I of 3
Character: Perne Estelle Archevauliere
Age: 31
OC Type: MMO - Final Fantasy XIV
Point Taken: Post-Heavensward - Patch 4.0 (Start of Stormblood)
World Building:
• 1.0 • A Realm Reborn • Heavensward • Stormblood •
Backstory:
Perne was born a daughter of the Holy See to Reauneaux Alderic Archevauliere and Nolene de Sauveterre. Reauneaux served as a member of Ishgard's military in his younger years before he began a family with Nolene, who had aspirations to study thaumaturgy, plans that were later put aside for the sake of social duties expected of her. Before Perne, they had sons—Cyril, Asheaux, and Dion. Perne was the last of their children, with no plans for any additional, leaving much in the way of expectation upon their youngest.
Ishgard being rooted in tradition, involved outdated concepts such as common gender roles, transparent social castes, religious persecution, and an impressive history of war and bloodletting. Growing up in that kind of world, Perne was given expectations that varied greatly from those offered to her elder siblings. Where her brothers were permitted to chase glory with the squadrons of the militia and aspire to follow in the footsteps of legendary dragoons, Perne was largely sheltered from the world that lingered outside of the Archevauliere estate. She was given private tutelage on a number of subjects that were deemed appropriate, such as Ishgardian history, social diction, reading, writing, and music—specifically harp, flute, and performance. All of this was done in an effort to make Perne seem appealing enough that her family could betroth her to another minor house and secure legacy and amass fortune. She was raised and groomed to believe that her worth was only what she could ultimately provide for her family, which was meant to be her foremost and only priority.
Often left to her solitude when she wasn't pursuing studies, Perne developed both an admiration and an envy for her brothers, and she too wanted to join them in their excursions. Although it wasn't permitted, her youngest brother, Dion, took to the habit of teaching and training Perne in secret, even going so far as to procure her a custom-made set of armour that she could train in. This continued for a couple of years, but was eventually discovered by the two retainers (guardians) that Reauneaux had assigned to look after Perne in his absence. Both Dion and Perne faced punishment, and Perne's armour was confiscated.
In Perne's blooming adolescence about the sixteenth winter, Nolene and Reauneaux began to scout for potential families that Archevauliere could be tied to. The Archevauliere history had been serving and supporting House Dzemael, which had something of a reputation for being a bit underhanded and deceptive (yet to be fair, such behaviour came to be considered a bit commonplace in Ishgard's social circles). Perne served as a ward to the same house along with a number of her cousins and the stigma against House Dzemael, those who supported it, and Perne's own personal behaviour served as obstacles in securing her a betrothal. While she had no lack of options to her disposal, Perne had very little interest in marrying and was still more fanatically obsessed with wanting to be like her brothers, in spite of what her household's defined focus for her was supposed to be.
Her paths crossed with an aspiring dragoon named Aubrent Lemelle, an acquaintance of her brothers', some years her senior, and fellow soldier of the militia when he made visit for home. Perne found in him a confidant and a refreshing mind that wasn't set on following traditions of old. He supported Perne's desires to be more than what her family tried to mould her into and regaled her with [likely] embellished tales of his travels both in and out of the company of his squadron. It was through him that she learned more of the patron deities scattered across Eorzea, religious theory, and that even an Ishgardian could follow the beliefs of someone other than the Fury, though in doing so, it made that individual a heretic in the eyes of the Holy See Inquisition as defined by the Orthodox Church, which was represented and its notions upheld by the Knights of the Heavensward. Aubrent was a follower of Oschon, the Wanderer and in merely spending time with the man, Perne was rather inspired to do the same. Where she found in herself restriction and confinement, she found in Aubrent liberation and the ability to follow heart's pursuits.
Over the years that followed as Perne's affections for Aubrent birthed, grew, and deepened, the Inquisition's efforts to quell heresy and to silence those that would speak out against them intensified. Heresy became more than simply religious intolerance, but rather any opinion differentiating from what the Archbishop Thordan VII demanded of his people. Aubrent meant to serve as a self-proclaimed vigilante of justice, offering refuge to those accused of heretical support or affiliation, in addition to silencing the voices of the Inquisition's representatives. Agreeing with his perception of Ishgard deeply in need of social and religious reformation, Perne chose to join him, despite the concept that she had never seen true combat and had very little real knowledge on the world's hardships that existed outside of the Holy See's luxuries and comforts. It could be argued that due to Ishgard's history, every elezen within its gates was susceptible to the use of force and Perne's ability to stand at Aubrent's side even knowing that they would pursue justice by way of violent means implied that even she was not immune to the history of their people. Through affiliates of the growing 'resistance' movement, Aubrent and Perne succeeded in escorting a trivially low number of individuals facing (or fearing) potential execution from the gates of the Holy See. Perne's hands did not escape unscathed, however, and in time she was stained by both her actions and the voices they had to silence infinitely in the midst of delivering their liberation.
Their efforts did not last long. In less than a cycle, Aubrent's motives were discovered by an unnamed man hired to hunt him down on charges of heresy. Perne was found alongside Aubrent and both were charged with heretical conduct and obstruction to the church's justice. It was only by the showering of coin and a great deal of bribery that Perne managed to escape execution herself, though in doing so, House Archevauliere suffered deeply for the payment of the church's silence. Had it not been for Reauneaux's years of devoted service and allegiance to the city-state, his words would have fallen on deaf ears and Perne's story would have ended rather abruptly. Convinced she had been wrongfully influenced by Aubrent's presence and not actually a heretic herself, Reauneaux forced her into quarantine once more. Aubrent was said to have not been so fortunate. News delivered of his gruesome execution passed the doorstep of the Archevauliere estate and Perne was forbidden from further association with the man or his family name, issuing her a lack of closure as she was shoved back toward the purpose her father had chosen for her.
As Ishgard's evolution and the grasp of its Inquisition reached a height and climax, the cries for revolution grew. Not simply for reformation, tolerance, and alliance with the great dragons, but for Ishgard as a whole, to change with the world that changed outside of it. In order to continue thriving, Ishgard's only option was to adapt or crumble, while acknowledging its faults of the past and making effort to turn away from older, outdated traditions. To put a bloody end to the long-standing war with the dragons, the Holy See opened its gates to outsiders, formerly having been an utterly nomadic city-state. Although Perne had heard the tales of a great saviour who lent assistance to the revolution's efforts, her personal knowledge was sparse and her participation nonexistent as her family kept her from being involved, concerned that events of the past would somehow pave way toward repetition. With the eventual fall of the corrupt Heavensward knight collective, the primal King Thordan, and Archbishop, his illegitimate son, Aymeric de Borel, responsible for much of the revolution's growth, took up the mantle of leadership (though mayhaps a bit reluctantly), and took the reins to turn Ishgard toward a new future and potential providence for its people.
In spite of the way Ishgard slowly began to move in a progressive direction, Perne's family and many others of older tradition, remained tied to habits difficult to break. Although nothing stopped her from leaving the Holy See, Perne's lack of worldly knowledge and fear of losing her inheritance kept her rooted to Ishgard, considering it was the only world and lifestyle she'd known. Begrudgingly, she tolerated her family's antics.
Looking for a constructive and healthy way to spend her free time that did not involve dreams of glory and battle with weapons of the polearm family, word reached her ear of an operatic theatre company looking for investors and patrons located in oceanic region of La Noscea. While granted leave with escort to investigate the possibilities of supporting the arts and expanding her family's name, it was only done under the pretence that Perne agree to the most recent match directed toward her—Raffael Prideaux, a man of the cloth and dedicated to the older ways of the Orthodox Church. With little to contest against it and her parents unwilling to hear her repetitious excuses, Perne finally acquiesced, and gained something akin to freedom. Within extent.
In La Noscea, she found one Oleandre Torchier, executive of the opera house in question, the Palazzo Aldenard. Upfront about her intentions, it was as he questioned her background that he decided she would be of more use to him as a direct hand rather than a patron, and with some convincing, he extended to her an offer that was both practical and would allow her a reprieve from the life that awaited her back at the estate. Perhaps it was simply intuition of his, or he found himself sympathetic to her cause. Whatever the reason and whatever his motives, Oleandre hired her then and there on the spot to serve as a member of the opera house staff, in means of both performance and his casting executive.
With word from one of two escorts sent along with her, she issued response to her family, making a promise that she would remain honourable and uphold her portion of the agreement, but that she would take up temporary residence in La Noscea to stay near Oleandre and the opera house. Thinking her time better spent in La Noscea than daydreaming about squadrons and the fallen Aubrent Lemelle, Reauneaux allowed her the privilege of her request, provided that his retainers remain with her that they might report back to the Archevauliere estate his daughter's progress until she was recalled for her eternal bonding ceremony.