[JackdawGrey]

Heeeeeey! I was looking into making a character for this server, but I didn't want to make too ill informed a decision on well.. The general character type. So I thought it might help to list out a few questions.

*Does the setting see much violence or crime? Or is it more peaceful?

*Does the setting see an abundance of trade? Is there local trade? Or any trade between the setting and out of setting?

*What sort of skills and professions do we need in the setting? And what are common?

*How is the male/female ratio looking?

*Can I submit an app privately to preserve character secrets? Or does it have to be in the public section?

*What age group are most of the characters?

*Is there any place in the setting for political characters? How about Criminal Investigators? Sailors? Merchants? Sharpshooters?

*Aliens. I mean.. Umm... Hail Hydra!!!

[Rokku_Ryu]

Hi there Jack. Im Rokku, and I've been enjoying this server for over a year.. nearly two. I'll do my best to answer some of your questions.

*Does the setting see much violence or crime? Or is it more peaceful?

This one falls right at about 50%/50% Fighting between characters is rare.. the last fight that took place that resulted in a death was.. several months ago. That being said, the setting has some monsters (The Dusk Spawn) that attack from time to time, but this is at the desecration of the players RPing.. If you are in the woods, you can decide if a dusk shows up.. or not.. Though if it's at night, you'll want to consider it for realism sake.

*Does the setting see an abundance of trade? Is there local trade? Or any trade between the setting and out of setting?

The way trade works, is that if there is a character in the setting that can produce an item, you have to trade with them for their goods/services. If there is no one in the setting who can, say, craft arrows, you'd have to talk to staff, and go through the towns trade-master (Which was me until about two weeks ago) But you will have to pay much more to have it ordered from outside of town... and if the item is too specific, you might find that it just won't arrive.

*What sort of skills and professions do we need in the setting? And what are common?

This is constantly changing currently, we have several bases covered, we have chefs, cooks, doctors, hunters, farmers, guards.. a cobbler.. engineers... We are currently minus a miner, and a blacksmith as well. You'd get decent RP, as you'd have to fix everyone's weapon when they break it off in the skull of a duskspawn. But at the end of the day, have a job your character and you will enjoy. Do something you will have fun RPing out.

*How is the male/female ratio looking?

Could be better. This is the info from SentaiPink's Active Character List:
Number of Females: 10
Number of Males: 17
Number of Children: 3
Number of Babies: 0

But all in all, it's good. The players who play females are more active than the men, so it feels more tilted towards women then men.

*Can I submit an app privately to preserve character secrets? Or does it have to be in the public section?

Your first one will probably have to be public, but that's not my call. That being said, I don't know of any players who take the time to read the character sheet. Its much more fun to get to know the character IC. And once its accepted and you're good, you can always hide the Back story, but leave in the skills, age, name, that stuff.

*What age group are most of the characters?

We have some children, as you saw above. We also have some old characters... upwards of about.. 50-60 I believe. We've had older, and we've had younger (newborns). But if I had to ballpark an average, I'd say 24-34

*Is there any place in the setting for political characters? How about Criminal Investigators? Sailors? Merchants? Sharpshooters?

The town has a government, and it's currently held by a more or less placeholder, due to recent and fun IC events... That being said, your character would need to spend years, getting to know the town, and its people, before they'd be voted in.. and it wouldn't be a very fun climb.

Criminal Investigator 'could' work, but we don't see that much crime. And when we do, its usually someone getting into a bloody fist fight due to other reasons.. Only with a few select incidents, has those skills been missed.

Sailor could work. The town has a dock, but you can't enter the setting with a boat, and the town doesn't own any boats... but just like Criminal Investigator, there have been a handful of times that having a sailor would have been handy.

Merchant... I found this out the hard way.. but due to a lack of currency in the setting, and people trading and bartering directly, there's little need for a merchant. I had a shop full of stuff.. and got no RP out of it (for the most part)

Sharpshooter. We have one of those... and she nearly gets arrested every other day because she points a crossbow at people, and is not a member of the guard. Which is a shame, because the guard could really use a archer/crossbowman on the roster.


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I hope some of that helped. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.. and Im sure a member of the staff will be around sooner or later when they wake up.

[JackdawGrey]

Awesome! Thank you for the answers, now.. For round two.

*Are there any addictive substances or painkillers in the lore?

*Harpoon fishing, thoughts?

*Are there any kingdoms or navies or anything of that sort already established
that I could write my character into instead of writing my own new ones?

*Is there any system or ideas set forward for noble blooded characters? Anything
like a set of rules or even just a notion of what can be done in good taste?

*You guys got a Team Speak channel? Or a Skype group? Anything?

[Michelle]

Hey there, I'm Michelle.
Uuuuuuuhhhh I wanna build upon some stuff Ryu said and add my own thoughts. This means my information will probably be general rather than specifically answering your questions; Ryu's covered most of it anyway. I've been here for three years and have worked various staff positions on and off in that time. That being said, my word is totally not the staff's word so please don't take my personal opinion as such. This is just my way of saying, "I know a thing or two about making a good character for the setting".

*Aliens. I mean.. Umm... Hail Hydra!!!

Haha! Not on our lore.

Some of your questions can be answered by our handy Active Characters List, mentioned by Ryu but not linked by him (god dammit, Ryu). But, it's a little outdated even though it was edited a month ago.

The male:female ratio is more like 15:12, including child characters (they're people too!). But like Ryu said, those who play lady characters are currently more active, so despite those numbers dude characters are definitely under-represented.

The list of needed jobs on the bottom of the page is pretty accurate; it's listed from most needed to least needed. Currently, the setting doesn't have a single mason, and it could really use one because of a housing shortage. The setting also may be losing its only miner and tailor atm, as well as 1/2 of its blacksmiths... but that largely depends on how things go IC.

Really, you could apply with a character with any job you wanted, but here's a few tips:

• Don't do a thief or a con man. Not because you should make an antagonising character, but because your character will find that there isn't much to steal or con people out of.
  
• Don't do a politician. There's no guarantee of work for your character--it's heavily dependent on whether or not you're skilled enough as a RPer.
  
• Don't make a prostitute or a sex worker. For various reasons, it's very unlikely to be accepted.
  
• Do give your character a secondary occupation. Unless your character's main occupation is something that will always have work (i.e. taking care of basic needs: cooks, doctors, tailors, etc.), it's best to give your character something else that's somewhat related to their main occupation. For instance, brewing and baking. So... yeah you could do a thief, a politician, or whatever you like, but a safety net is best.
  
• Do read this skill guide. You'll be told to read it at some point, so you might as well now.
  

*Can I submit an app privately to preserve character secrets? Or does it have to be in the public section?

As far as I know, yes, you probably can submit an application or part of it through PM. The server has rules against metagaming but... yeah. But like Ryu I'd run this one past actual staff.

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Hey look, you posted more questions while I was typing this post. Lemme answer those:

• 1. Yes, there is alcohol and tobacco like there is IRL. There are painkillers (see this nifty lore) but I don't know if they're an addictive substance. They have been RPed as such before, but standards have changed since then.
  
  2. No idea, leaving this one for someone better qualified... or willing to do the research, haha.
  
  3. Yes and no. The main continent in the lore is intentionally vague so that people can basically make their character be from where ever they like--generally, no one has to read any of the lore outside of the lore page on this website if it isn't relevant to their character. That being said, there's a bunch of player-created lore locations and cultures here, but using these will probably mean you'll have to work with the creator of the lore and such... basically, you can do it, but it's extra work. You can make your own lore proposal, but a) it must be accepted before your character, and b) you don't really need one unless your character's from a place that is very well-known, or a place that is vastly different in culture. Any new languages especially need their own lore.
  
  4. Noble-blooded characters are fine, and we've had plenty: your only real set-back is a) researching the part b) where they're from (see above answer). And yes... the rules have plenty of guidelines as to what is acceptable or not (the server is PG 13+, we don't do ERP at all, etc.), but if you're unsure, PM a staff member. They'll let you know.
  
  5. I believe there's a Skype group chat, but not everyone is in it. Joining isn't compulsory. Other than that, no. Just the forums and the server at the moment.

[FireDog]

Heyo! FireDog here! One of the Game Moderators at this place so I thought I should add my thoughts.

*Does the setting see much violence or crime? Or is it more peaceful?

This really depends on how your character is and just how involved with violence he or she is. For example, my first character, Alec, was a doctor. Due to being a doctor, he saw many instances of violence due to injured guard characters and other events. Meanwhile, another character of mine, Calina, worked the bar and tavern in town. Due to being behind the counter most of the time, she seldom saw violence in town. Instead she had more pleasant conversations with new folk, heard all the gossip, and was flirted with often.

Violence, as Ryu said, depends on just where your character goes and what he or she does.

*Does the setting see an abundance of trade? Is there local trade? Or any trade between the setting and out of setting?

This is a bit tricky. Some characters are directly involved with trade. One of my most recent, Lance, had a huge part to deal with things with trade due to being a merchant. Trade can also be done in the way of: My fisherman catches fish. He then proceeds to sell fish in the market by trading with others. So it's rather up in the air and once again depends on character.

*What sort of skills and professions do we need in the setting? And what are common?

I can think of a blacksmith right off the bat.
Miner is another one.
This constantly changes. Characters come and go. For a new player, I suggest selecting an occupation that can easily find work. But remember to do something that you think will be fun.

*How is the male/female ratio looking?

Easily more men than women. As Ryu pointed out, those with female characters are usually more active.

*Can I submit an app privately to preserve character secrets? Or does it have to be in the public section?

I do not think we have anything going against this. Just know that we have strict rules against meta-gaming. Meaning if someone magically knows that your character had say, murdered someone in his past, we can crack down on it. I would just submit openly.

*What age group are most of the characters?

We have a few older adults characters in about 30-40. The majority of these characters are married and have children. We have a few older 45-50. These characters have been around a long time.

Most characters are about 16-29, especially when coming into the setting.

As reference using some of my own characters:

Alec, male, starting age 28. Alec was in till he was around 32.

Calina, female, starting age 16. Calina was in her late twenties when she left.

Thomas, male, starting age 10. Now, 28 years old if I'm correct and up to date. Still in the setting.

Nadia, female, starting 22. Now age 23. Still in the setting.

Note, in the past characters aged with 1 month IRL = 1 year in character. Now it's 2 months IRL = 1 year in character.

*Is there any place in the setting for political characters? How about Criminal Investigators? Sailors? Merchants? Sharpshooters?

Political characters I would avoid starting with.
Criminal investigators are pretty much just guards.
Sailors do not see too much sailing, just as Conradian.
Merchants have a place, depending on things.
Sharpshooters, possibly not. Just as guards.

*Aliens. I mean.. Umm... Hail Hydra!!!