Post by PebbleSteps on Oct 11, 2017 16:11:41 GMT
Kit Rules And Guidelines
When planning kits, you and the kits' roleplayers only get to plan their number and genders, not their appearances or stats, except in certain, rare situations (such as if there is a prophecy or plot requirement). At birth, each kit's stats will be decided upon by myself or if one of my staff members are in that roleplay in some way then they will roll a die and whoever rolls the larger number will get to pick how many kits there are. The other people in that roleplay will roll the die as well and whoever gets the larger number will choose what one of the kits traits and stats are. They will keep doing this until they have named, given the kits a gender, given stats, and given personality and looks to the kits that they will be ready to roleplay with the kits. The kits will need to be unborn for two moons(I'ma just say a week) and then you may roleplay with them. All kits will need to be posted here. If you have any objections with these guidelines then please PM me a message so that I can help.
Character Rules And Guidelines + Stat Expanations
Characters are, of course, what drives the story of any roleplay, and as such, characters creation is designed so that characters are consistent and all mesh together well when they come into play. On this forum, you will be allowed only one living character at a time, and your profile will reflect that character, with your display name being the name of the cat, your profile image their picture, and all of your information theirs. When that character dies, they go to StarClan (or the Dark Forest, as the case may be) and their information is recorded in the StarClan/Dark Forest allegiances so that you can change your profile to match your new character without losing all the information for the old one.
Your first character will likely be completely original, though subsequent characters may very well be the kits of pre-existing characters. While I will touch on claiming kits in this guide, this mostly focuses on creating a character from scratch.
When you claim a kit, their stats are randomly-rolled based on their parents'; therefore, they may have any number of points put into their stats. Also, while you may choose their gender, the rest of their appearance is randomized based on family traits. Their parents name them, and while you may influence their decision to be something that you are both happy with (as long as you claimed the kit before it was named), in the end, the parents choose the names for their kits. If you chose the kit after they have already been named, you must simply deal with the name they were given. And, when they become a warrior, they will be named by the leader of the Clan. Like with their prefix, you may out-of-character request a specific suffix, or the character itself may request it at its ceremony if it has adequate reason to do so, but in the end the decision is up to the leader.
When creating a character from scratch, none of this is true. You may choose everything from their gender to their appearance to their age, ***ign their points to any stats, and essentially do whatever you want with the character (besides a few guidelines). This will walk you through the process step-by-step, though you will actually submit your form on the joining page of the Clan which you wish to join.
The first step to creating your first character is choosing a Clan. In roleplay, both Clans have their own personality, as well as certain traits which are consistent between Clan members (for example, most MireClan cats will be a variation of gray or black, while TempestClan cats are often brown or ginger). Past that, choosing a Clan puts three extra points into a particular stat or group of stats. Kittypets, loners, and rogues do not get this particular boost, and instead get two extra points to put into any stat they choose.
The number of points you have to put into your character at the beginning depends partially on age. There are five stats- strength, endurance, speed, agility, and perception- which are explained above. You start with one point in each category, and then have 10 more to distribute however you like no matter your cat's age. Following this paragraph is a list explaining how many more points you have to distribute depending on your cat's age.
0-2 moons: 0
3-5 moons: 1
6-7 moons: 2
8-9 moons: 3
10-11 moons: 4
12-13 moons: 5
14 moons: 6
20+ moons: 8
Fully adult cats (20+ moons) will have 23 points total distributed among their stats before their Clan (or non-Clan) bonus is applied. As mentioned in the stats category of this guide, you may have no more than 8 points in any one category.
Next, you should decide on your cat's appearance and personality. Again, take your Clan into consideration when choosing, as cats who are drastically different from their Clan's standard may be rejected. Having one or two opposing traits isn't a huge deal (ie, a MireClan cat who is friendlier than most, but otherwise fits with the MireClan image, or a TempestClan cat who is very large, but otherwise has mostly stereotypical TempestClan traits) since that's what makes each character unique within their Clan, but keep it to only a couple traits. Clans have a particular image for a reason, and that's because most cats at least more-or-less fit with that image.
On your profile, you'll notice that there are several categories under the "personal" tab. The ones you should focus on for now are short description, full description, personality, and virtues. Short description and virtues will appear under your profile picture when you post in the forums; this is called a "mini-profile," and is used so that people can have a general idea of who your cat is and what they look like at a glance. It is by no way the full extent of who they are, but it is enough information to get the general idea across. The full description and personality only appear on your full profile if a member clicks on it. The first two should be short and concise (a cat will have two virtues such as "loyal & determined" or "fierce & brave"; their appearance will be a summary, such as "small white she-cat with blue eyes and a long tail" or "large ginger tabby tom with green eyes and white paws"), while the second two can be as long as you wish (though I would recommend no more than a few sentences each). Only warriors (or medicine cats) and higher have virtues. Kits, apprentices, loners/rogues, and kittypets do not have virtues, because virtues are the two personality traits that the leader lists at a Clan cat's warrior ceremony (and obviously those listed above haven't ever had one of those).
After this, you should also fill out age and rank. Your cat, unless otherwise specified, will never start out as deputy, leader, or medicine cat. You may only be a medicine cat apprentice with the permission of your Clan's medicine cat, and only if they do not already have an apprentice.
Next on your profile, you will see profile fields marked mother, father, siblings, mate, and kits. Obviously if you claimed a kit, the names that will go in these boxes will be obvious. However, if you create a character from scratch, there will likely not be any pc (player characters) to go here. You can try to find other characters who are looking for parents/kits, siblings, or a mate, in which case you would then list each in the appropriate category. Or, if you would prefer, you can simply make up cats to put there (particularly for parents). If cats are made up, it is ***umed they are dead, in which case next to their name you should write (deceased). If they were a part of the Clan, please make a short form for them so that they can be added to StarClan; in this case, they will be considered your characters, and if they are ever called upon to roleplay in StarClan, that will be your responsibility. If they were not a part of the Clan at any point, don't bother with that.
On the subject of family, an important thing to note with descendants is lineage. Obviously, in order to be considered a "descendant," a cat must have descended from the Ancestor Clans. Only cats with warrior blood in their veins will be allowed to join the new Clans, and they may only join whichever Clan to which they have the corresponding blood. So, all TempestClan cats must have descended from a ThunderClan, WindClan, or SkyClan cat, while all MireClan cats must have descended from a RiverClan or ShadowClan cat. Thus, you must trace your character's lineage down from the last surviving Ancestor Clan cats. To do this, there is a list of all cats who survived the plague and their currently known descendants, or you may also consult this family tree. Just find cats who, in their "bio notes" are listed as having survived the plague. Your cat may be descended form those cats or any lower branches of their family tree. You may also "claim" any cat who is listed as still living, so long as they have not already been claimed. Your cat does not HAVE to be descended from Clan cats, but if so, they will not be allowed to join either of the Clans. If you would like to be a Descendant but aren't picky about your lineage, just tell me which Clan you would like to join, post your immediate relatives (parents & siblings), and I will take care of the rest.
Finally, there is the matter of stat points. Decide how you would like to distribute them, and then list that on your joining request post on the joining page of your desired Clan. If you are accepted, the moderator for your Clan will input those stats for you, and you will be ready to roleplay.
The Clans
For the sake of ease, here is a short description for both Clans, a summary of their traits, and their stat boosts (so that you don't have to go to each of their joining pages individually).
ShadeClan: Descended from ancient ThunderClan, WindClan, and SkyClan, ShadeClan cats are small to medium in size but with proportionally strong muscles, which they use to run the meadows and climb the trees of their territory. They generally come in sunny, foresty colors such as brown, golden, tawny, ginger, calico (in the case of she-cats) and occasionally tortoiseshell. ShadeClan cats gain a +2 to agility and a +1 to strength.
GladeClan: Descended from ancient RiverClan and ShadowClan, GladeClan cats are sneaky and cunning warriors who live deep in the swamp. GladeClan cats are large and muscular, but still lithe enough to climb among the cypress trees, over fallen logs, or across large lily pads, and come in dark, murky colors such as dark brown, gray, russet, or black, with occasional tortoiseshells; however, they are very rarely bright or vivid colors such as ginger or white. MireClan cats gain a +2 to endurance and a +1 to perception.