Ladon, Serpent of the Tree
NPCs
*sentry_ladon



Moderators:

Chex
*dragonalchemist
*pretiossissime @ AIM

Sand3
*sand3
*thevilcomputor @ AIM

Please, when filling out everything, try to be succinct, but detailed. Your application, when done, should be around one and a half to two pages or more in word.

Please only apply for one character at a time. Copypaste it into a blank document or email, and fill it out, then send the completed form to hesperadiamods@gmail.com. Please put the name of your character and "Hesperadia App" in the subject.



Player's Name: AIM/email: LJ: Character: Age: Sex: Gender: Appearance: Personality: Abilities/Weaponry: Weaknesses: History: Sample RP Post: The last leaf.

Here's what you need to know about the application:

Character needs your character's full name and nicknames.

Age. Immortal/ageless characters may list their outer age as well as the number of years they've existed.

Sex is your character's biologial body.

Gender is what your character identifies as, be it man, woman, etc.

Appearance must tell us how your character looks. Sending us a picture does not count! (Though that's helpful, along with a description.) This is to tell whether or not you're good at physical description. Just explain it to us as though we have no idea who your character is (which we probably don't! :D)

Personality tells us you know how your character acts, their general outlook on life, et cetera.

Abilities/Weaponry examines what your character is capable of; this doesn't have to be restricted to battle situations.

Weaknesses is a very important part of the application. If your character has no weaknesses or faults, they can't be a very interesting person, can they? This can apply to things that are physical, mental, etc.

History is the one that tells us your character's background. Where they came from, where they want to go. What they're doing, and who was in their life before they ended up here. This is the big bad boy. Don't be afraid of this. You don't need to write a novel! There is a minimum, however: the history section must be at least two five-sentence paragraphs long.

The Sample RP Post is you putting your character in any situation you want to give us a good example of what you play like. Including dialog would be a good plus. This is one of the most important sections, as it shows us how you'll actually play the game. Be as detailed as possible, please.

Please, as well, add "The first fruit" in response to 'The last leaf.' This is just to prove you've read all this information. ^^

Character Creation
Playing the Game
Story and Plot
Setting
Out Of Character

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Character Creation

-What does "Original Character" mean?
An original character is any character you made yourself. For the purposes of this game, you are allowed to play fan characters, which means original characters from a world you didn't make yourself. For example, you can't play Naruto, but you can play a character you invented for Naruto's world. Or you could play your steampunk wizard from that novel you've been writing. Just try not to make characters who really are another character with some minor change or a character who is ridiculously powerful. Those sorts of characters will not be approved.


-Are canon characters allowed?
As this RP is for original characters only, characters from a published canon (such as Naruto) will not be accepted.


-What's the character limit?
Each player is allowed five (5) characters total, and applications must be written for each. See the application process for more details.


-What's a Mary Sue and how do I tell if my character is one?
Wikipedia gives a good, descriptive article on the usual attributes of 'Sues.' There are Mary Sue tests that can give you some sense of whether your character is a Sue or not. In general, Mary Sue (or Gary Stu) characters tend to be exceedingly powerful, cliché, and need the story to revolve around them. As such, they are not much fun for other people to roleplay with.


-I want to play a non-human character (cat-girl, pokémon, etc) Is that allowed?
Of course. Wolves, dragons, anything you can think of. Feel free to extrapolate!


-I like playing villains. Do I have to play a good guy?
There is nothing which requires you to play a good guy. If you think your character would start stealing or getting together a gang, then feel free to try and do that. Between-character tension can be fun to play out. Just remember, you aren't allowed to kill characters without the player's permission (which goes for your character as well) and things are not required to turn out like you think they will.

Playing the Game

-How do I start a new thread?
Simply figure out what your character would be doing and create a new post. It is suggested that you talk to the other players and get more people involved or plan out things the characters would be doing productively in order to make play more interesting.


-How do I join an active thread?
If the thread is set in a place close to you, feel free to have your character simply show up by posting in the thread. If the thread appears to be trying to accomplish something specific between a set group of characters or set in a less common area, it's polite to check with the other players involved before joining. Please follow posting guidelines when active in a thread.


-I'm not having fun with one of my characters anymore. How do I drop that character?
Start by informing a moderator of your intentions. If you have an ending planned for your character, that is fine, but the moderators still need to know what is going on. Finish up any threads you have open, and then remove your character's journal from the community.


-This thread is taking forever and I'm bored. What can I do?
Summarize, summarize, summarize. You don't need to act out every little thing. If you and the other people involved in the thread are fine with it, feel free to assume you succeed at simple tasks like cooking breakfast without having to act out setting the fire up, choosing all the ingredients, etc. Those sorts of things fill time without being that exciting and tend to bog down quickly.

Story and Plot

-My character wants to punch another character. How do I settle in-character disputes?
It is polite to start by informing the character's player of your intent. They might know something you don't that would change your action. Then, post your character's action. You cannot write the punch connecting without the consent of the other players in the thread. They have the right to react and attempt to dodge. By the same token, if their character is dodging everything with ease and you think that shouldn't be the case, inform the moderators in case someone is god-modding.


-I need to interact with a specific character, but they are in a thread that is behind mine in time. What can I do?
You're a bit stuck in that situation. Threads should try to stay generally in the same time area as each other and a certain amount of fudging will occur for smoother play. However, all you can do is talk to the players involved and see if they can summarize or otherwise speed up their current thread. If not, you might want to start a new thread that tucks your character out of the way until they catch up to you or even start the new thread you need to act out with the other player writing in both threads. That second option only works if the end results of their prior thread can be predicted generally and should not be used too often due to confusion.


-Can I as a player change the world or plot?
I certainly hope so. If you knock down a building, it's knocked down. If you build something, it's built. If you manage to create a plant that grows in this environment and plant it, it will spread. Just remember, make these changes in character. Try to figure out what your character would do to change the world and then try and act that out. Still, don't forget that there may be occasional happenings that will be out of your control and will effect your character, like an earthquake.

Setting

-What's the name of this place? What's it like?
Hesperadia is in a deep valley located somewhere in the world. Its summers are warm and its winters are cold, and there's always something to do. For full information on Hesperadia, visit this post.

Out Of Character

-Who do I go to if I have a question? Who plays NPCs?
NPCs are played by the mods. However, small NPC actions, such as a squirrel bite, are in the player's hands.

Your two moderators are:

Chex --- dragonalchemist (pretiossissime @ AIM)
Sand3 ---  sand3, (thevilcomputor @ AIM)

There are several ways to get in touch with the mods:
*Comment on the FAQ post
*Send an email to dragon.alchemist(at)gmail(dot)com
*Contact via AIM at the above usernames


-This person is being unfair/trolling/being mean. What should I do?
Contact the mods. The situation will be examined and both sides will be taken into account before a decision is made and action is taken.


-I'm not going to be able to post for a while. What should I do?
If a player really can not post for a period of time, they should place their characters out of the way and announce a hiatus on the OOC community, hesperadiaooc

The character must post when the hiatus ends if the hiatus is longer than a month. If no post is made one week after the hiatus end date, warnings will be issued on a three-strike policy. Please no hiatus longer than two months without some sort of real life emergency that prevents you from posting at all.

General Guidelines
Posting Guidelines
Activity Guidelines

General Guidelines

1. This RP is for players who are 13+ years of age. We are not responsible for checking the ages of players; when someone applies we will take their word for it. There will be some questionable themes popping up in the game, such as sex, homosexuality, death, etc. If you can't handle that, we're not responsible. The only thing that needs to happen is that all questionable content be CLEARLY marked so those who do not want to see it can avoid it.

2. No god-modding or Mary-Sueing. When you describe what kind of person your character is, you need to stick with it instead of changing their strengths to fit every situation as it comes up. Every person in the world has weaknesses.

You are barred from doing anything that would restrict the play of another character, including but not limited to playing them, injuring them, or killing them, without permission from the character's player. We are not going to warn people more than once about these issues. On the second strike, access to the community will be terminated.

3. In the same vein as god-modding, any and all secondary character requests, such as pets, monsters, familiars, etc. MUST be approved by a moderator. Please state, if applicable, any creatures, etc. that you wish to have accompany your character. These will be considered and approved or rejected based on reason given for their accompaniment and what they are.

4. No out-of-character drama or harassment will be tolerated whatsoever. We're going on a three-strikes-you're-out system; so you'll receive a warning if you've been caught doing something not-so-nice or inappropriate (IC god-modding, or harassing someone OOCly regarding something they did.) If you run into any trouble at all, remember, just visit the contact info to find out how you can get a hold of one of the moderators.

5. Please use proper spelling, punctuation and grammar when posting. This roleplay is based in text, and if entries are indecipherable or plain 'what the heck?' inducing, you will be asked to modify your writing. Livejournal has spell-check, and Word can be copy-pasted from.

Posting Guidelines

Posting order will be determined when a thread is first made. As characters join the scene, they may comment in a new thread to the original post. The order that characters joined the post in will be posting order, and should be followed as closely as possible. Example Here.

<b>Character[s]:</b> <b>Content:</b> <b>Setting:</b> <b>Warnings:</b> <lj-cut text="firstlineofpost">


A player may choose to pass when it is their turn but can not be skipped without that permission unless a week has passed. If they are not here, you wait for them unless they provided prior permission to skip, as noted above. If a certain player feels they should go next but it is not their turn, they have to get permission from everyone who would go between now and their next turn.

Each comment in a post should be listed as a new comment, not as a response. It keeps the game neater and easier to follow. Also, please tag your posts with relevant characters, as well as location.

Activity Guidelines

Activity Checks

Monthly activity checks will be posted in hesperadiaooc. A player is required to respond to the activity check post listing character names, journals, dates of posts and reason for inactivity, if any. Further details may be obtained within said post.

If an activity check is not replied to within a week from the issue date, a warning will be issued in the form of an email for the player and their characters. If a reply is not posted within another week (two weeks from the activity check date,) a strike will be issued. Three strikes, and that player will be pulled from the game.


Posting Inactivity

If a character is inactive for a week:
-Automatic skip of character. Waiting for said character is fine if deemed by the person whose turn is next. In two-person threads, the waiting character may either continue to wait or add another post. In this case, a hiatus post is not required due to responsibility resting with the character who is being waited on. In multi-person threads, the below rules still apply.


If a player is inactive for more than one month:
-They will receive a warning and activity check.
-If they don't post or provide sufficient justification to a mod within the next week, another warning will be issued.
-If another week passes without any response, the final warning will be issued, one more day allowed and then they will be removed from the community.
-All their characters will be considered dropped and taken over by the mods long enough to bring them to an end (usually death).


Hiatus

-If a player really can not post for a period of time, they should place their characters out of the way and announce a hiatus.
-All breaks must be posted in the OOC and have a definite end date.
-The character must post when the hiatus ends if the hiatus is longer than a month.
-Warnings will start one week after the end of a hiatus.
-If this rule is abused, limits on hiatus length might be added.

The Awakening

You've been dreaming. You don't know how long; it felt like years and like moments. Memories have played through your dreams, of your life and of your death. Mingled among the snap-shots of your own life have been images that you can't place: unfamiliar, foreign flashes of thought and feeling that never happened to you. You see a tiny village grow into a thriving metropolis at your feet. The people care for you and bring you gifts and you are happy. And then the people are gone and a great loneliness fills your heart.

Just as the longing for companionship grows too agonizing to bare, you are shaken from your dreams by a sudden impact that leaves you breathless and dazed. You come to your senses covered in and surrounded by the soft, sticky flesh of an enormous fruit, split open on the ground, where it fell from the most enormous tree you ever imagined. The canopy spreads over your head like a vast forest, all stemming from one massive, twisted trunk in the center.

You have arrived in this world naked and covered in pulverized fruit. If that was not startling enough you must consider that your last memory, before your dreams, was of dying.

Overview

As you explore Hesperadia, you will find a city of classical antiquity now in ruin. Stone and adobe structures, long since abandoned, are being slowly swallowed by the jungle of smaller trees and underbrush. The city and the tree sit at the bottom of a steep basin in the earth. From the Northwest flows a river, forming a stunning waterfall at the lip of the basin and tumbling down into a lake which laps at the roots of the titanic tree that shades it. The lake has spread beyond its former borders, whether the water rose or the earth sank, it's difficult to tell, but buildings now march into the water, some flooded, some entirely submerged.

The jungle is filled with a rich diversity of flora and fauna, including a multitude of insects along with a variety of birds and other animals. The lake is well-stocked with fish. The roofs of many buildings have caved in, either from the rotting of wooden support-beams or from fallen forest debris, but there are many buildings still relatively intact as well. Smaller residences constructed of wood and adobe will be in poorer condition than large, public structures made from stone or terra cotta. The roads are paved with stone and shallow trenches run alongside some of them in an open sewer system. Aquaducts at one time carried water all over the city but now most are broken or clogged.

Map

	Bathhouses There are the remains of several public bathhouses within the city. They once served not only for hygiene but also as a social arena. Public bathhouses are in fairly good repair, having been built from stone, but some pools are now cracked and empty.
	Aqueducts A sophisticated system of paved channels brings fresh water from the lake to public fountains all over the city, supplying water for drinking, cooking and plumbing. The channels are largely intact, but frequently blocked by leaf-litter.
	Temples The city contains several temples of worship are located around the city. They are characterized by elegant, balanced architecture and intricate floral carvings. They are built of stone and largely intact.
	Library The library is three stories tall and built of stone. It is filled with ancient books with pages made of manuscript and velum, which is slowly being eaten away by insects.
	Roads Streets within the city are paved with large cobblestones and may have at one time been quite smooth and even, but now there are places where growing roots have displaced the cobbles or stones seem to have gone missing entirely, leaving dangerous pot-holes.
	Overgrowth City and farmlands have become overgrown with thriving foliage. Both scraggly trees and dense underbrush have taken over the basin.
	Flooding Some areas of the city closer to the waterfall on the north side have either sunk into the water or been submerged over time; it's hard to say.
	Government Buildings Public and government buildings are mostly constructed of cut stone, and thus have weathered the ages quite well. Many of these larger structures will be in much better repair than smaller, residential structures.
	Orchards A number or orchards and vineyards are mixed among the farmlands of Hesperadia. Many fruit trees still stand in their rows within the orchards, overgrown and imposing.