Rules of Eneaenigma Equilibria

The rules below are specific to our game and MUST be followed. They go hand-in-hand with the Ten Commandments that you can find in this forum. Please read them carefully and follow them well.
 
Violators of the Rules will face a three strike penalty system:
 
First strike is a mere warning.
 
Second strike will lead to moderation of your posts so that they can not appear on the forum until one of the Moderators have read through and approved them.
 
Third Strike will lead to Banishment—and we will not allow you back, no matter how much you beg, cajole, or plea.
 
1: Die With Dignity
We have made it clear that EVERYONE in this game has the potential to meet their untimely end. The chance of death in this game is 99.99 % likely. Even if the character is a Race generally known for longevity, has a Healing Factor-type power, or is of an ‘Undead’ Species, they can still suffer the ‘True Death’ (to quote one of my favorite TV shows, True Blood). That being said, death is only semi-permanent and there is also a 99.99% chance your character can be brought back to life at some point in the game.
 
So, WHEN your character dies we do NOT want to hear complaining, whining, or bitching about their death. We do not want fights between players to break out because one character killed another, nor do we want to be bombarded with e-mails about how it was ‘unfair’ that their character died, while others lived, or that their character was not immediately brought back to life. Further, we do not want to hear how ‘well my character is like the Wolverine and can heal from ANYTHING so he can’t die, so there’ because, sorry, that is not how this game works. Trust me, the Gods of this game have come up with a contingency plan for all such powers, abilities, and even Undead scenarios to make sure all characters have an equal opportunity at death.
 
With that in mind, we highly encourage all players to have at least 2 characters in play so that if one should die, they can continue to enjoy the game with their other character for however long it takes for the other character to return—if they return. Of course, if ALL your characters end up dead, the Moderators DO have a contingency plan in place to be sure that Players in this game can continue to participate on some level until such a time that their original characters have an opportunity to return. We WILL get in touch with you if and when your characters die and you are left without an active character in the game.
 
2: Have Fun.
This is a GAME. While we do intend to bring a touch of the serious and mature into the storyline, this is still a game and it is intended to be FUN. So we ask that you please keep that in mind as you’re playing. I do not want to see fights between players that are serious or intended to hurt. I don’t want to hear complaints or whining because something happened that you weren’t expecting and you didn’t much care for.
 
That being said, I repeat that this is a game and is for fun, so if there is something you DO want to see, or a personal plot you would like to play with in the game, PLEASE contact us with it! We are more than willing to integrate character plots and personal desires into the Eneaenigma scenario. We ENCOURAGE in-game romance, plotting, deceiving, and anything that allows your character to grow—or degrade—in any way you think will be fun.
 
If you do find yourself incredibly unhappy about something, or you are ‘attacked’ in any non-game way by another member, we also request that you inform us of that. We also encourage ‘tattle-telling’ because if someone is breaking rules, or conducting themselves in a negative aspect outside of the game, we want to know so that we can handle the situation.
 
3: Absolutely NO Mary-Sues/Marty-Stus
Such characters can bring an entire game down and even KILL a game. They often lead to other players becoming bored or frustrated, sometimes causing them to leave the group. I’ve seen Mary Sues/Marty Stus cause fighting between players, and even create situations where one player will avoid another player just to keep from dealing with their ‘Mary Sue/Marty Stu Tendencies.’ They are annoying, problem-making messes, and we will not allow them. Though this is a game set in a highly fantasy and science-fiction based universe, we still allow for a dose of the realistic. No one is perfect, everyone has flaws and weaknesses. Please use common sense when creating your profiles.
Don't know what a Mary-Sue/Marty-Stu is? Please feel free to visit the following websites:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

If we feel your character is a Mary-Sue or Marty-Stu, we will inform you of such. I’m a little more lenient than some, and will attempt to work with you in ‘fixing’ the character so they do not fit into this obnoxious category. However, we will only go so far—sometimes you simply can not help people, and we know this and will make a final decision in this matter that COULD result in Banishment.

4: Character Limitations
With few exceptions, new Players will only be allowed a MAXIMUM of 4 characters. Taking on more than 4 characters is subject to the Moderators’ discretions and will highly depend on how frequently you post and the quality of said posts.
 
Anyone under moderation is not allowed to take on a new character until they have been removed from the list.
 
In this same vein, you’ll note that there are Character Classes—types of characters such as Magicians, Warriors, etc…--and Character Races. Of the four active Characters you are welcome to play, you can not have more than 2 that are of the same class, nor can you have more than 2 that are the same race. Further, if you do have 2 characters of the Race, they can not be of the same class. That means if you play four characters you can have 2 Magician Class characters, but they must be of different races. Or you can have 2 Fae Race characters, but only one of them can be a Warrior, or a Magician, etc.  There must be variety.
We will be keeping careful track of the Classes and Races that are brought into the game.
FURTHER, we will also be limiting how many TOTAL characters of one Race or Class are going to be allowed in the game, as a whole. We are trying to avoid a monopoly of Character Races or Character Classes. Again, we WANT variety.  

5: Mature Content
The Rating for this forum is M—Mature—and I have set the Forum to only allow members 18 years and older in an effort to protect myself, this forum, and the members of this forum.
The rules of Forumotion make it clear that we must be very careful regarding sexually gratuitous content. We will NOT be allowing sexually graphic images on this Forum. Nor will we allow images of nudity.
When it comes to Posts, any post with sexual content, nudity, or gross amounts of violence and carnage must have a warning placed at the top of the post for all to see BEFORE they read the post.
When writing any explicit or graphic scenes, the Characters involved must be 16 or older; under 16 the scene MUST be a ‘fade-to-black’ scenario.
Just so I'm clear, a ‘fade-to-black’ moment is when the character's embrace, it fades out, and you come back, they're getting dressed or whatever. Clothes are going back on, like in a made-for-TV movie.

6: Joint Posting
Also known as ‘Combined Posting’ this sort of writing is generally done via IM or E-mail and involves 2 or more writers working together to create a post between their various characters.
These types of posts are more than welcome and encouraged, but they MUST be cleaned up prior to posting. This means any and all ‘usernames’ and ‘out of character’ commentary are removed from the post, and the post is edited so that it reads clearly.

7: Tagging
Though the Forum allows for some control as to which characters are where in the game, we still require that you TAG the characters you are attempting to speak with or work with in your post so that those characters know they are being addressed in some fashion.
While simply placing a written tag for other characters at the top of the post works, we also encourage the use of the ‘@’ symbol to tag the Player. This will then send the Player a message that one of their characters is being tagged and will—we hope—allow for faster game play. To do this, you merely need to use the Username with the ‘@’ symbol in front of it. Example:  @ “LadyDragon” would tag Dragon—your owner and moderator—directly to let me know that you intended to get my attention. You could then create a list of the specific characters that I play that you are attempting to play with.

8: Moving through Eneaenigma
As has been stated, this game takes place in a labyrinth or maze. There will be multiple levels to the maze, and each level will have multiple rooms. We will be creating a forum for each level of the maze as they are unlocked, and will be creating topics for each room as they come into action. Of course, the rooms and levels will be constantly changing, so any one room can shift at any time.  That being said, IF you have multiple characters in multiple rooms, then we request that you PLEASE create a new thread or topic for the various rooms your characters are in.
Example:  Character A and Character B make it to Level 2 of the maze and are forced to split up. A goes into room 1, B goes into room 2. This means that while you are in the Level 2 Forum, we request that you create 2 separate posts for each character so that anyone that joins A in room 1 can post specifically to that thread, and anyone joining B in room 2 can do so in THAT thread. Further, if A then leaves room 1 and goes into room 2 we request that you end A’s post in the original thread with their leaving and RESTART with their entering in the other thread.
In the same vein, if you're in a big group posting and you're going to leave with a few other people, split off and start a new thread. Example: Characters A, B, and C are all posting together, then A and C have to leave to attend to other business—please be sure to remove them from the thread and start a new thread, entirely.

9: As you have probably noticed we have created a category labeled ‘Out of Character Conversations.’ While I would like to think this category should make sense to most of us, I do want to explain that this is the location that any and ALL out of character actions and conversations need to go. With the exception of Warnings at the top of specific posts (as seen in rule 5 above), the various topics in the Eneaenigma category are for game play. Anything you need to say that is not a post for your character (such as an explanation of something in the post, or a comment from one PLAYER to another PLAYER) must occur in the Out of Character category.
 
10: Profiles and Character Synopses
There is a profile Template in the Rules and Information category. This template must be used to create all characters. NOTHING on the template can be removed—though certain areas are optional and can be left blank—but if there is something you feel needs to be added specific to your character, you are welcome to add to it.
Once you have filled out the Character Template we request that you EMAIL it to LadyDragon. Once submitted, you are welcome to give a brief post in the OOC category letting us know you have submitted a profile for review and acceptance. We will then read through it and let you know whether or not it is acceptable and if anything needs to be removed, altered, or elaborated on. Only when a profile has been completely approved by BOTH administrators will you be allowed to bring your character into the game and post your Character Synopsis (separate from profile).
FULL profiles will only be accessible to the Administrators. What this means is that NO ONE else in the group will be able to read your full profile. The reason for this is that, though all players generally have good intentions when reading through a profile, sometimes people tend to forget what is OOC knowledge and what is IC knowledge, and then tend to use knowledge that their character SHOULDN’T or WOULDN’T know because it hasn’t actually been revealed in the game. To avoid these situations, we are simply NOT going to allow other players to read through your full profiles. You should be keeping a copy of your profile on your computer for access, and the Administrators will have copies for their use in the game and monitoring that you remain true to your characters, but otherwise the knowledge that you wouldn’t want everyone to know right off the bat will remain hidden, just like real life!
That is where the Character Synopses come into play. A Character Synopsis will be a very brief outline of the character you play. This will have only as much information as you feel is welcome to share. Basically, anything that could be gleaned ‘at first glance’ by another person would go on this Synopsis. Alias, apparent age, race, noticeable weaponry or jewlery, a brief description of their look, and perhaps a brief description of their outward personality traits are an example of what could be placed in the Character Synopsis; the very basics of what you want other players and, thus, characters to know about your character.
If it is not on your profile, your character can not do it.
Plain and simple. Any powers, items, extra limbs, or knowledge that your character has at the start of this game MUST be on the profile when submitted to the Administrators. While we Administrators welcome personal plots and 'secrets' from other players, there will be NO SECRETS from the Administrators. You must have personal plots, secret information, and magical items or weapons disclosed to the admins for them to be of use in the game.
In the same vein, any 'new' powers or 'leveling up' you feel could happen to a character as the game progresses MUST be approved by the Administrators FIRST. The same for magical items or special weapons that could be picked up by your character during game play. The best way to do this is to BOTH e-mail Lady Dragon with the desired, new information AND update your profile adn resubmit with the changes marked in some fashion for the Admin's to see.
If you think of something that you feel your character would have that you did not include with your initial submission, please let us know and RESUBMIT your profile with the added information.
I reiterate--if it is not on your profile, your character can not do it, does not have it, and it will not be allowed.