Title: RULES ! ! ! Read this !
RP Rules and Guidelines
Other Characters
They belong to their owners, whether their owner created them or adopted them. Do not play other people's characters. Unless you have been given permission to do so by the elf's owner, playing characters that do not belong to you will result in loss of privileges. The only exceptions are adoptables, which can be played by any member - within reason. Any post that includes an adoptable should only mention that elf, not be written from that elf's point of view, or have that elf carrying on a lengthy conversation. This is what you do with your elf. Do not do it with any elf that is not yours unless specifically directed to do otherwise by the owner of the elf in question, or by us.
Speaking of which, we also reserve the right to move your character if that character is holding up the RP for everyone else. If the entire tribe is ready to start rearranging the Chieftess' furniture, and your elf is frolicking in the bushes with a toothsome wench, your elf will be moved by us to join the rest of the tribe. We don't want to have to do this, so please don't hold up the RP. If we cut off any RP you may have going by doing this, feel free to RP it between those involved and post it as a story.
Post Ettiquette
RP posts are to be written in the past-tense.
Incorrect: Crestfallen walks into the clearing and smiles at her gathered tribe. **Today we rearrange my furniture!** she sends to them.
Correct: Crestfallen walked into the clearing and smiled at her gathered tribe. **Today we rearrange my furniture!** she sent to them.
When replying to a post, delete all posts except the one to which you are specifically replying. Continuous disregard of this rule will result in suspension of all privileges. Having to scroll down through five pages of repeat posts is one of the most irritating things in the world, and our toleration for it is quite low. In addition, for the sake of uniformity and ease of reading, please post your reply after the post you are replying to, and delete anything that comes after your post, including email ads and those little >> thingies.
When possible, avoid posts that are one or two sentences long. If you honestly can't think of anything to post, then it is acceptable, but this will not be acceptable on a regular basis. Be creative, describe what your character is thinking or feeling, make mention of that squirrel that just fell off a tree.
To avoid confusion, we use a standard set of symbols to indicate certain actions. These are to be used in this holt, be it RP or story, no exceptions.
quotation marks ("...") are to be used to indicate speech; ex. "Hello," he said
double asterisks (**...**) indicate sends; ex. **Hello,** he sent
swung dashes on either side of double asterisks (~**...**~) indicate lock-sends; ex. ~**Wuddup?**~ he lock-sent
single asterisk (*...*) indicates thought; ex. *I wonder if should say hello,* he thought
underscores (_..._) and/or hyphens (-...-) indicate emphasis on the word they surround; ex. He _really_ (alt: -really-) felt like saying hello
double colons (::...: indicate wolf-sends, either from a wolf to an elf, an elf to a wolf, or a wolf to a wolf; ex. ::Hello,:: he said to the wolf
When making a comment that comes from you rather than your character, please label it as OOC (out of character).
ex. OOC: My nose itches.
OOC posts should be attached to an in-character post, usually at the end of it. Someone else may reply to the OOC portion of your post as well as the IC; however, no thread unless started by one of us should be strictly OOC. In some cases, a single OOC post explaining a leave of absence or something similar is acceptable, but if it becomes a conversation, you will be asked to continue it in private.
Roleplay Content
Do not start any major RP storylines without permission from us first. It may conflict with a storyline we already have in place. However, do not hesitate to contact us with ideas. This is your holt as much as ours; we need your input and ideas to keep it going. If your idea won't work at the moment, chances are it will work at some point later on, or we can incorporate it somehow. This does NOT mean that you need our permission to do anything. This only applies to plotlines that will involve the entire tribe or a significant portion of it.
Roleplay Conduct
No flaming. Ever. If you have a problem with someone on the list, settle it privately. If you cannot settle it privately, bring it to one of us and we will do our best to settle it for you only if you have tried every possible way to settle it yourself and still failed. We are not your mother, so don't come crying to us because little Johnny's elf hit your elf. If the problem is genuine, and we cannot do anything, one or both parties may be asked to leave the holt. We would rather not do this, so please don't let disagreements get out of hand.
If you have a complaint to lodge against another member, please bring it to our attention and we will deal with it as we see fit.
Although this is an R-rated holt, please keep foul language to a minimum. When posting in character, be as creative as you like with expletives, but do NOT, under ANY circumstances, have your character using modern-day human expletives. You will be stripped of all privileges if you disregard this rule. When posting OOC, you may use our expletives, but please keep it to the milder end of the spectrum. We're sure that you're all intelligent enough to use a words that consist of more than four letters.
Keeping Player Knowledge Separate From Character Knowledge
There may be points in the RP where a secret is revealed and out for everyone to read about. However, if Elf A told Elf B this secret while they were alone, no one else should know it. If you are unsure about whether your elf could have overheard, please ask before throwing this piece of information out as a topic of conversation around the dinner table. This also falls into implied secrets. For example - we all know the drill. A guy character hangs out with a girl character, it's assumed by the players (often correctly) that these two will soon embark upon a romantic relationship. However, if they have done nothing in the RP to indicate romantic feelings for each other, the tribe should not be talking about how these two are madly in love. This requires discretion, and again, if there are any questions don't hesitate to ask them.
READ THIS
This is already in the Holt Rules section, but I'm going to reiterate because this is a big one. THIS IS AN R-RATED HOLT. Descriptions of violent and sexual acts will occur. You will not be forced to read or write any such acts yourself. All posts containing adult content will be labeled as such at the subject line. People who neglect to label their posts will be warned once and then stripped of privileges after that. Do not, at any time, complain about the adult content of the RP. You have been warned, you knew this would happen before you joined and you still chose to join, no one is forcing you to read or write it, so you have no right to complain about it or flame us for it. If you do, you will be removed from the holt, period, the end. On the flip side, if all your posts are labeled adult and your character never does anything but roll around in the furs like a weasel in heat, you will be warned. If you disregard that warning, something unpleasant will happen to your character, such as castration.
