RULES
(Last Updated and Effective- July 2008)
*Characters*
To join Haven of Valdemar, you must join our Forum at :
http://havenofvaldemar.proboards77.com/index.cgi
Once there please go to the Persona submission board at http://havenofvaldemar.proboards77.com/index.cgi?board=submissions Copy and paste the Blank Persona Sheet into a new thread and fill it out. Once submitted the Moderators will go over it and let you know if any changes/additions/corrections need to be made or if it is approved. Once approved the sheet will be copied to the appropriate Persona Sheet board and any updates/changes must be posted in the Persona Update sub-board under the Persona Submissions board. These will be edited in as quickly as possible to the full persona sheet.
Please make your characters realistic, keeping in mind the limitations Ms. Lackey wrote into her world, and the fact that No one is perfect.
You will need to keep your Persona's updated with new information, because that is how we update the Webpages!
*Role-Playing*
Everybody starts out with a Trainee...No Exceptions!
* Every member must begin with his/her first character's entrance to one of the Collegia. However, you may begin with a maximum of 2 characters.
* You may not have more than 2 characters in the same Collegium, and the first 2 characters must be of different Collegia. Once a character has graduated you may have another trainee in the same Collegia, no more than 4 of any one type of character however.
* If you wish a third character may be applied for when you have been a member for 3 months and additional characters after 6 months. Ranking characters, such as instructors, may be applied for after 6 months of active play and must be specially approved.
* Nonhuman characters are permissible, but they must be played in accordance with the behavioral traits described in Ms. Lackey’s literature. For example, no hertasi mountain-climbers or tervardi weightlifters. They can enroll in any of the Collegia except for Heralds’ Collegium.
* You may have no more than 2 nonhuman characters total. (Companions are not included in this total)
* You may use the same name as one of Mercedes Lackey's characters, but you
may not have that character.
This RP takes place 100 years after the Owl series! (We assume that all
long-lived persons in ML’s books have died.)
No all-powerful characters are allowed. You may choose your own Gift(s) for your character(s), but remember, there are NO characters who have all the Gifts. The more gifts you have, the weaker they'll be. Also, not everybody can be a Firestarter, Empath, or Herald-Mage. Please see the Gifts page and Gifts Chart for available Gifts and possible restrictions.
If you think you have a good reason to get around these rules, ask the Moderator(s) and you *might* get permission.
Then again, you might not.
Age of Consent/Maturity
For Valdemar/Rethwellan/Hardorn/Karse- 16
For Tayledras/Shin'a'in/Kaled'a'in- 14
The law of the land rules, meaning that Tayledras in Valdemar would have to
stick with the 16-yr old limit.
*Character Status*
Each character on the board belongs to one of four classifications:
Played Character (PC): A character created by a player for primary play. These characters must follow the rules of creation and play as listed above. Their use/control is reserved exclusively for the creating player. You may interact with another person’s PC freely so long as you don’t exert any control over him/her without permission. That means you are not allowed to auto any character without the player’s express permission.
Inactive Played Character (IPC): These are characters that were
created for primary use by players who are no longer involved with Haven of
Valdemar. You may use one of these characters, but only
after getting permission from the moderators. We don’t like making you wait, but
there are issues of intellectual property that we have to consider. Speaking of
which...
Sometimes PCs are ‘willed’ to the group, so to speak, by a departing player.
Since they have already given permission for the reuse of their character(s) we
don’t hold them as IPCs, but make them NPCs immediately.
Non-Played Character (NPC): A character created to fill a need beyond that provided by PCs or IPCs. These are available for free use by anyone with permission from the moderators. For example, you might need a senior Herald to take your Trainee on his/her first Circuit; if you cannot find a player with a full Herald you may use an NPC. You must inform a moderator when you use an NPC in your threads, but you don’t have to wait for permission before playing them. NPC's are adoptable.
Permanent Non-Played Character (PNPC): A character that is only playable by their creator or a Moderator. Most of these that are in ranking positions can be replaced with PC's if you are interested. PNPC's are adoptable with special permission only.
*Disclaimer*
Posting characters, plot threads, or story ideas to this board implies your
consent to their use by other players in the context of game play. The founder,
owners, and moderators of Haven of Valdemar is are in no way responsible or
liable for any use of or modification to any character that might be unwanted or
undesired by any player, including the player who invented the character(s)
originally. Your involvement with this club constitutes agreement with all
guiding principles and with this statement. Haven of Valdemar, its owners,
moderators, and players, Yahoo! and all subsidiary or related businesses,
ventures, or conglomerates are exempt from liability for protecting the assumed
or implicit intellectual property of any party.
What we mean by that is- if you post an idea here and somebody steals it we are
not responsible!! This board is not highly protected. People can take
stuff they see, so if you have a problem with that please don’t post it.
However, this hasn’t happened to our knowledge in four years, so we like to
think we're a pretty safe group.
If you leave the club with notice your character will be written
out or placed into NPC status immediately, your choice which. You will be
considered to have quit by default if we don’t hear from you by
email or on the board for two calendar months and your characters will be
made IPC's for one month and then either removed from the group or made
NPC's.
If you intend to come back to the game and are only absent temporarily, or if you want to lurk for a time, you must email one of the moderators stating your intent. We do allow lurkers but we hope that you will decide to join us in our RP.
Bouncing emails will result in removal from the Group. Soft bouncing will get two reactivation requests; hard bouncing will get one reactivation requests. Two weeks after the last request we will assume that you have quit the group; your profile will be removed and all your chars will be converted to NPC status. (Invalid/discontinued email addresses will result in immediate removal from the Group.)
If you leave the group in any manner and have one of the 'Lifetime' positions, Monarch/Heir/Monarch's Own, your character will be killed off in a logical manner to make way for a replacement at such time as we have someone interested in the position.
*Use of other Players Characters*
We have a strict rule of No Autoing of any character without the permission of
the player who owns that character. For those of you who don’t know, and there‘s
nothing wrong with that, autoing means controlling another person’s character.
Making them say or do something that their player did not mention previously and
did not approve is autoing.
A seemingly harmless example is if a person posts their character walking
*toward* a door and in your next post you mention that person being down the
hall taking the stairs two at a time. (This *might* be acceptable, though not
preferred, if you and the other person were planning to go upstairs, and the
other person’s character was very active. Acceptability is determined by the
characters owner.) A more extreme example would be posting a pestilence that
kills hundreds of people, or a tremendous storm that levels half of Haven.
Either of those would infringe on the freedom of others to play their own
characters outside of the control of others. Ms. Lackey can put devastating
storms into her books if she chooses to because she’s the only writer involved.
But we are all the writers of this story, and as such we all have rights. If we
decide on major plot events as a group, they will apply to the whole group. But
if the majority does not approve them, the group will not be obligated to follow
them.
If there are any doubts about something being okay, Ask the person the
character belongs to. If it’s your character that has been used without your
permission, calmly contact the offending player, explain your objection, and
politely ask for an explanation. And if it’s you that gets a questioning
message, take a moment to see things from the other person’s perspective before
you decide they are blowing things out of proportion. Please resolve any
problems privately through email, not on the OOC board.
*Game Flow*
Every subject line should include the following:
Title (season/week/day) if it happens at a certain time then include that (i.e. morning or dinner time).
Season short hand (and length of terms) is as follows.
Spring = Sp (10 weeks long)
2 week between terms break
Summer 1st half = Su1 (5 weeks)
MSu = Mid-Summer Break (2 weeks)
Summer 2nd half = Su2 (5 weeks)
2 week between terms break
Fall = Fa (10 weeks)
2 week between terms break
Winter 1st half = Wi1 (5 weeks)
MWi = Mid-Winter Break. (2 weeks)
Winter 2nd half = Wi2 (5 weeks)
2 week between terms break
Knowledge learned Prior to Enrollment
If a persona is created with prior knowledge related to some normal aspect
taught in the Collegia it may be possible to not take the basic course; however,
an advanced course may still be required. The classes that may be skipped will
be agreed upon during the Character Approval process with a Mod or on a class by
class basis within Roleplay.
Example- Your persona was a Trader. This persona might be able to skip
Mathematics, Geography, Cartography and/or some Languages since presumably some
or all of these would have been learned before coming to the Collegia. This
aspect will be dependent on age and background; be realistic about what
experience and knowledge your character could/would have.
Levels of Training and Graduating
Any persona with Inactive Gifts during their 1st Level should have their Gifts come active at some point during their 2nd Level, unless there is a particular reason for leaving them to open after that.
Level 1-
1st Year trainees- Introduction,
Orientation and 1 played out class. (Total 2 classes)
2nd Year trainees- 2 played out
classes.
Level 2-
3rd Year trainees- 2 played out
classes.
4th Year trainees- 2 played out
classes and 1 non-class thread between these two.
Level 3-
5th Year trainees- Internship 20+
good-sized posts about Internship/Journeyman travels.
Graduation/Master
status will be conferred upon verification of completion of the above
requirements.
Level 4-
Adept status/Dual Specialty requires
special approval and an additional 2 classes in the appropriate type of class or
Fieldwork.
This means your characters only need to complete 8 classes (including Orientation) and 2 non-class threads (including your Introduction) to get to Internship level!!!
Level 3 Posting Suggestions:
* Heralds on their Internship Circuit should
describe part of the travel; problems encountered, solutions implemented by
Trainee, interaction with Internship mentor, etc.
* Bardic Journeymen should include something of their travel (e.g. meeting
another char, places visited, songs written based on the journey, letter to
someone about what they're experiencing, recalling events to another person
after the fact, etc.) for at least one post.
* Healer, Mage, and Blue Trainees should describe some way that their training
is applied in 'real-world' situations (e.g. Healing a patient, moving a storm
off with magic, detaining and questioning a suspect, etc.) to show that the
character is able to perform his/her job. Original ideas and solutions or the
'personal touch' would be appropriate -- show how your char would fill the
need/solve the problem in his/her own way.
Dual specialty refers to those that will have a dual title
like Herald-Mage, Healing-Mage, Herald-Healer etc.
All members must follow the appropriate guidelines for the corresponding level.
Examples of Specialties for Dual Specialty personas:
Heralds- Spy, Special Messenger, Teacher, Assassin, Envoy/Ambassador, etc.
Healers- Animal Care, Nonhuman(Trondi'irn) Care, Geriatrics, Pediatrics, Mind
Healing(Kestra'chern), Trauma, Burns, etc.
Mages- Weather Working, Tayledras or Earth-Healing, Shamanic magic studies, etc.
Bards- Theory, Composition, Music History, Theatre, etc.
If a persona adds on a second title after having earned their primary
title they must complete 2 classes to receive that second rank. Example-
John Doe becomes a Herald, 2 yrs later he decides to be trained as a spy.
He takes 2 classes played out and is then a Herald-Spy.
Each player must keep track of his or her own threads and must notify the
moderator(s) when he/she is ready to move up in level. We suggest keeping a list
of thread names and other details of the requirements. It doesn’t have to be
long or exhaustive, thread titles (with date) are all that we specifically need.
It will be easier for you to have it
all in hand ahead of time.
All players participating in a given thread should try to play equally,
rather than one or two people carrying the bulk of the thread. Allowances will
be made for circumstances in Real Life that prevent online access; if you can,
notify your fellow players of any extended absence, and tell them what you want
done with your characters. Note: This is a prime example of acceptable autoing
-- permission is given by one player to anoother to use his/her character during
his/her absence.
Orientation classes for new students will be started at regular intervals,
to be decided by the person who plays the character teaching each orientation
class. The players, subject to Moderator review and censure, will also decide
format decisions for the orientation classes.
Other classes will be started when 1) people express an interest in
taking them and 2) an instructor is approved by the Moderators. They will last
for at least 15 *substantial* posts -- that means more than one-liners. (Yes,
you can post one-liners if you choose, but you won’t get credit for them.)
Instructors can invent or borrow NPCs to fill out a class if needed.
The number of trainees in a class will be decided on an class-by-class basis
by the Moderators at the same time as a decision is made about the teacher of
the class.
New Rules for Lurking!!!
Ok so as a whole we don't mind having lurkers in our group but
we don't want our group to fill up with folks that join just to look around and
then never come back... So the following rules are in effect as of June 1st
2007.
Anyone may join but after 2 months with no activity (as in 0 posts) your
membership will be deleted without notice!
(As of July 1st, I will be deleting folks falling under this criteria, giving
one months grace)
After 6 months with very little activity (1-10 posts and no persona's put up for
approval) you will be required to become active and create a persona or you will
be removed from the group.
And for those that were active (as in had a PC charrie) and went on LOA, after 9
months of not checking into the group at all, your charries will be made NPC or
killed off and your membership closed. I will try to give everyone that falls
into this category (very few indeed) a heads up when you time is close but I
will not guarantee it.
Also- Duplicate Memberships will be deleted without Notice!!! If I (or another
Mod) see a person has joined under several ID names with the same email or
personal info we will choose which profile will remain and delete the rest
immediately upon discovery.
Rules of RP Etiquette
These are a few simple rules to live by when RPing in HoV.
1) Never, ever blame another member for something you don't like that happens IC
(In Character) unless it was something totally out of character for their
persona OR something that affects your character in a god-moding/autoing manner.
If it seems way out of character, don't be rude or huffy, simply ask for an
explanation via email, IM or PM. Usually you'll get one and possibly a revision
of the problematic post.
2) If you do have a problem with someone autoing your charrie PLEASE ask them
politely not to do it again via email, IM (Instant Messenger) or the forum PM
(Private messages). Do NOT have these conversations in IC posts! For Rules on
autoing please see the main Rules page.
3) If another member will not stop autoing your character after you ask them to
please email, IM or PM myself, or Gina. We will handle it from there. Further
action by you should not be needed.
4) If you are the one contacted about something you have 'done wrong' but you
feel wrongly accused please email, IM or PM myself or Gina. Do not reply with a
nasty note, and do not assume the other member hates you because they felt you
did something wrong. Chances are they are trying to help you too.
5) Remember just because your character gets attacked, verbally or otherwise, by
another within the game does not mean that the other member hates you! Part of
the fun of RP is having interpersonal relationships, and we all know that life
does not go smoothly all the time. So please do NOT email, IM or PM another
member about how upset you are that they hate you, or how they shouldn't have
done that (even though it was perfectly in character for their persona) because
you didn't like it on a personal level. Remember it's a game we're all here to
have fun.
6) Never, ever use any profanity in OOC comments or when emailing, IMing or
PMing another member. Insulting other members will not be tolerated and using
foul language, even in jest or as an exclamation, is insulting to many people.
Plus we have the possibility of young members, those that should not be taught
the use of that kind of language by their online friends. Mild cursing within
the correct context ICly is OK, but please keep it to a minimum and only when
absolutely needed.
7) Please try not to leave other members characters behind in IC play. Some
members can not get online every day, or even every other day. Please keep this
in mind and try not to go posting a lot and leaving the other characters
basically standing there like statues.
This does not mean that, most of the time, if two characters are having a quick
interaction (something that in RL would happen in less than a minute) that you
can't move on with that. But please then pause and let other characters react
before moving farther.
8) Any member who starts a new thread may place some reasonable 'rules' to
follow IF they post them in the First post of the thread.
Examples of acceptable 'rules' would be-
Please post in the order in which you enter the thread.
Only Heralds/Healers please.
Only adult persona's please.
Any 'rule' that excludes types of characters must have a logical reason for the
exclusion. I.e. It takes place in the Grove and you ask that only
Companions/Herald participate. This is logical because non-Heralds will very
rarely intrude on the sacredness of the Grove.
Of course some threads logically only apply to some types of characters (ex.
Orientations), those type need not be stated as a 'rule'.
If you do not set any 'rules' or tag a specific persona the thread will be
considered open to anyone
Rules and Regulations on content:
1. You may not harass, abuse, threaten, or advocate violence against other
members or individuals or groups.
2. You may not post content that is harmful to minors.
3. You may not post content that is obscene, otherwise objectionable, or in
violation of federal or state law.
4. You may not post content which infringes the intellectual property, privacy
or other rights of third parties.
Based on these rules, we'll have to say *no* adult-oriented content, use the "fade
to black" trick or something similar.
Last Updated: 07/20/2008