RULES

 CONDUCT

✧ Treat others the way you would want to be treated! Or in other words, don't be a dick. This is the most important rule!

✧ It should go without saying, but things like godmoding and infomodding count as dick moves, as does bashing other players, even (by which we mean especially) if you take it anon. If you cannot handle yourself maturely and treat others respectfully, you do not belong here.

✧Please strongly consider speaking to your fellow players regarding any issues you may have with them before bringing it to a mod. If a problem cannot be worked out between two parties then mod intervention may be necessary, but in general you are expected to communicate with one another.

✧ That having been said, if you feel that another player is bullying or harassing you please contact the mods at solombra.mods@gmail.com and we will take appropriate steps.

✧ Sexual content should be fade-to-boning/taken to personal journals.

ACTIVITY

Activity is kept track of in a spreadsheet that must be filled out by the end of a given month. We’ll keep the spreadsheet updated with character names; all you do is fill in the blanks once a month.

Requirements

✧ Two 15+ comment threads or three 10+ comment threads (that’s comments made by you, not in total)

✧ Being an active participant in the monthly event counts as a 15+ thread even if you don’t have 15 comments all in one thread during the game.

✧ For your first month in the game, you don't need to meet the full activity requirement. However, you do still need to check in on the spreadsheet.

Hiatuses - To declare a hiatus (or see the IC options for hiatuses) go here.

✧ If you know you're going to be gone for more than a week or two, please consider putting your character on IC hiatus for sake of your CR. You don’t need to contact the mods to do this if you can still make activity for the month.

✧ However, if you know you’re not going to make activity for the month, please do contact the mods.

✧ Repeated hiatuses within a short period of time may be grounds for idling depending on the circumstances. Obviously, life happens and we understand that sometimes it can’t be avoided, but please try to keep us informed.

✧ Basically, if you fail activity without calling hiatus or otherwise working something out with us, you may be idled. 

Tagging

✧ Because of the spreadsheet style of AC, tagging your posts will not be strictly enforced. But please tag your posts anyway! 

Drops & Hiatuses

DROP OPTIONS

 ✧The "good end" drop:

The character has already run their event and the Crystal decides it's time to throw them a victory feast and send them home with some treasure of their choice (we'll work it out with you when the time comes). Aw yeah, bling.

 ✧The "I've had this character for a long time and I don't want to run a game with them but I want them to have a good end anyway" drop:

Talk to the mods and we'll plan some other way to purify their darkness and get them a good end.

 ✧The "this character just isn't working out" drop:

The Shadows within them are manifesting too strong to be defeated, so the Crystal quarantines them (in crystal, naturally) and leaches all that darkness from them slowly. These characters are dreaming peacefully and will be sent safely home once they are purified.

 ✧The "I want to reapp when my life is less crazy" drop:

Characters can be put into stasis as with the previous drop, or sent on missions for the Crystal.

 ✧The "some RPers just want to see the world burn" drop:

You want to find some way to permakill your character? Sure, why the hell not. Let us know and we'll figure something out.

HIATUS OPTIONS

 ✧ Get sick and need to stay in your chamber for a few days, or for longer hiatuses, go into crystal stasis.

 ✧ Be commandeered by a flare-up of Shadows and have to go do some mysterious evil thing, some mysterious place. You remember nothing of it when you come back.

 ✧ Skip forward in time. No one seems to notice you were gone until you show up again. Well that's unsettling. It's probably the damn crystal's fault.

To drop or hiatus, please comment to this post with either "DROP" or "HIATUS" in the subject line..

 

<b>Character name</b>: <b>Username</b>: <b>Where do they live</b>: <b>Which drop/hiatus option are you taking</b>: <b>If hiatusing, when do you expect to be back?</b>

Apps & Appability

APPS ARE OPEN

✧ We accept fandom characters, OCs, and AUs. However, we do not accept post-game characters. While we don't mind AUs that simulate post-game CR, the line between the two is up to mod discretion.
✧ Duplicates may be apped if they are from a significantly different AU.
✧ Fandom OCs are acceptable, but should not have a close relationship to existing fandom characters.
✧ At this point in time, you may app up to two characters.
✧ You must wait two weeks after introing a character before apping another (this doesn't apply to characters from the test drive).
✧ Most characters should be fine as-is, but if a character has completely ridiculous circumstances (like they're ten stories tall or need to eat a hundred humans a day or are made completely of antimatter or whatever), accommodations may need to be made.


Player:
Contact E-mail:
Plurk: If applicable!

Character:
Canon/OC/AU: Whatever applies
Reference Pic:
Character Background: Give us some bullet points or a brief summary - not more than 300 words - of what the character’s canon is about and where they fit into it. We’d like a sense of who they are in the context of their canon and generally what they do.

Character Personality: Same as before, we love bullet points and if you’ve gone over 300 words then that’s way too much. We’re after a summary here, not an essay.

Powers: If the character has powers, pop a brief overview in here. Then choose one extra power and tell us about that too. If they DON'T have powers, then you are encouraged to choose between 1-3 fancy new powers for your character! For the most part new powers can be whatever you want, but we may ask you to tone down things that we feel are game-breaking. (More info on the FAQ)

Thread sample: One of the following options:
A) Between 1-2 threads of around 20 comments (made by you) overall
B) IC responses to a survey (you may use a different survey than the one provided as long as it's around the same length)

The app form:
<b> Player</b>: <b>Contact E-mail</b>: <b>Plurk</b>: <b>Character</b>: <b>Canon/OC/AU</b>: <b>Reference Pic</b>: <b>Character Background</b>: <ul><li></li></ul> <b>Character Personality</b>: <ul><li></li></ul> <b>Powers</b>: <b>Thread sample</b>:

And the survey:
<b>1. Hello. Would you mind introducing yourself?</b> <b>2. Nice to meet you. What colors and symbols should I append to your uniform</b>? <b>3. Lovely choice. As you are aware, today you will be doing battle with your ultimate enemy. Who is that, again?</b> <b>4. The dastard! Will you be needing a weapon?</b> <b>5. Are you sure that's what you want? Well, I won't tell you what to do. Or do you want me to help you?</b> <b>6. You will have a royal steed to ride into battle. What species is it?</b> <b>7. And your victory anthem? You know you want a victory anthem.</b> <b>8. Even though you will surely win, it's not likely that you'll be able to look after everyone. Whose protection do you prioritize?</b> <b>9. Let's say you won and were even successful protecting everyone. What comes next?</b> <b>10. Thank you, that's everything I wanted to ask. Is there anything you'd like to ask me?</b>

Game Premise

PREMISE

Solombra is an RP in which characters are pulled by a crystal into a world besieged by a darkness known only as the Shadows. Upon their arrival, they too are Overshadowed and cannot return to their home world, lest they bring the contamination with them. Shadows are reduced via monthly theme challenges, and removed entirely from one character at a time via monthly player-run games.

THE CRYSTAL

The Crystal hangs out in the Crystal Chamber, generally being a crystal. There is no way of communicating with it except through the Priestess of the Crystal, who stands beneath it in the chamber, always, repeating whatever message the Crystal has given her over and over until it gives her another. And she's there to this very moment — never moving, never sleeping, never eating, not even blinking.

In addition to dragging people into its world, the Crystal also has the power of reviving the dead. Though it never seems to revive them perfectly. Stupid Crystal.

THEME CHALLENGES
Every month, the crystal will pass down some suggestions on how to behave to minimize the influence of Shadows. Idle hands are the Shadows' workshop, after all! Challenges will mainly consist of CR-building exercises or status effects. For example, telling and discovering secrets/potions that dole out a variety of status effects/social bingo/costumes/a hurt-comfort flu that goes away far more quickly if the character is being pampered while sick; etc.

SHADOWS
A form of distilled darkness that has latched onto the hearts and souls of your characters. For the most part, the crystal's challenges keep them dormant, but every once in awhile (around once an OOC month) they will fully infest a character, enhancing the darkness and negativity that lie within them. Once they start showing signs, you know it's already too late. They're going to run a game.

MONTHLY GAMES
Once a character's mind has been completely conquered by Shadows, they lose control of themselves and run a game. This game could be just about anything - mafia, an exploradora, popularity contests, whatever. The important thing is that it symbolizes some dark aspect of the character's psyche.

Once the game is over, the possessed character will be vulnerable and can have all that evil smacked right out of them all at once. After this happens, the character is clean of Shadows and cannot be possessed again, at which point the Crystal can theoretically send them home... or inconveniently neglect to send them home because it's a crystal and it does whatever it damn well likes.

See the Gamerunning Page for more info on games.

FAQ

What is the post format?
This game is all in-person with no logs/network divide, but we would like you to use the following header for each post:

Who:
Where:
When:

<b>Who</b>: <b>Where</b>: <b>When</b>:

How does my character arrive in Solombra?
Characters appear in the Crystal Room, where the Crystal's Priestess will inform them that they are a Hero of Light and have been summoned to fight the Shadows. They will also be filled in on any new powers they may have at that time.

What’s the IC:OOC time ratio?
There isn’t an official one at this point in time. We’re going to be keeping an eye on this and it may change in the future but for now the general idea is that every post should advance time a bit, with at least three posts per IC day.

How are powers handled in this game?

✧ Most powers are just fine and an be left as-is.

✧ If your character doesn't come in with powers, you can select 1-3 powers to apply to them when they arrive.

✧ Even your character does have powers, you may still pick one new one! We don't want you to feel left out.

✧ If you aren't sure if what your character has counts as "powers" or not, use this as a rule of thumb: if it's something that seems impossible or like magic from a real-world point of view, it's probably a power. But we aren't going to police this especially heavily so go with what feels right.

✧ Powers can be general ("magic," "summoning," etc) or specific ("super-sonic tap dancing," "the ability to fart bejeweled butterflies," etc), up to the player's discretion. The only thing that's really prohibited are things that would break the RP; powers like hopping into different dimensions, time traveling, blowing up planets are pretty much out of the question.

✧ If we need clarification or revision on your power set, we'll address this at the apping stage. If you have questions about SPECIFIC powers, feel free to ask here.

✧ It's also worth noting that powers may be neutralized, capped, or even added to during games at the discretion of the gamerunner.

Can my character bring their super-cute pet with them?
They sure can! As long as it's not an appable character in its own right, your character may have one pet from home.

What about a my soul-bonded headmonster/Persona/daemon whatever?
Those are fine, too, under the same provision as pets.

Can I app non-humanoid characters as-is?
Yes, in general you can app them exactly as they are. If you have questions about how a specific character would be able to function in the game please let us know and we can work something out.

Can I humanize a non-humanoid character?
Not unless you make them an AU. Basically, if there’s no reason for the crystal to interfere with your character’s physical form, it won’t. If the character is city-sized or has some other sort of unique requirement then we can sort that out on a case-by-case basis.


Have more questions? Comment to this post!

GAMERUNNING FAQ

Will go here at some point! /o/