Like anywhere else, there are rules to follow if you want to play at 'Souls. By joining the game, you agree to abide by these rules. Failure to do so can result in a variety of consequences, elaborated on in the Punishments section.
Rule infractions are dealt with by the administration; please contact a member of the 'Souls Assemblage if you feel there has been a violation of the rules.
Conduct and Courtesy
Disrespect towards or harassment of any member of 'Souls will not be tolerated. Remember your manners; act maturely and respectfully. You are free to disagree, but if you can't say something kindly, don't say anything at all.
You must be 18 years of age to register on the forum.
Mature content is prohibited in character names, avatars, and signatures. 'Souls is rated PG-13, except in properly-marked mature threads. See our Mature Content Guidelines for further information.
Characters
The minimum playable age for characters born on-board and adopted is two months. The minimum playable age for all other characters is seven months.
Luperci must be of the genus Canis. See Species for a list of Luperci-capable species.
Your character's origin should be sensible for their species (e.g., jackals are not found in North America; a character with jackal heritage must come from Eurasia or Africa -- or otherwise explain their species presence in a non-native area).
Hybrids are permitted within the Canis genus; Canidae hybrids (e.g., a fox-wolf hybrid or maned wolf-jackal hybrid) are not permitted.
Purebred dogs are not permitted. Dogs can still have the breed characteristics of a viable purebred, but cannot actually be purebred. Landrace dogs are preferred.
Extinct species (as of 1988) are not permitted for play.
Character appearances must be realistic. See Character Appearance for complete information.
Eyes may be of any color or heterochromic; however, only blind characters may have pupilless eyes.
Coat colors may be any natural shade (e.g., Henna Red fur is acceptable, while Red Orange fur is not).
Extreme and sudden changes to a character's appearance are not permitted. Seasonally and age-based changes to coat color are acceptable (e.g., a wolf who is Dove Gray by summer or in youth may become Dusty Gray by winter or old age).
Coat patterns should be a naturally occurring pattern for a given species, or otherwise explained (e.g., a brindle wolf-dog and a jackal with albinism are acceptable; a purebred wolf with brindle striping or a jackal who is simply white are not).
Fantastical elements (wings, color-changing eyes, horns, fish tail, extra legs, etc.) are not permitted. Polydactylism (extra toes and fingers) is acceptable.
Body modification is permissible. See Body Modification for further information.
Character histories must be realistic.
The minimum age of shifting for young Luperci is six months, but may delay as late as sexual maturity. Shifting as early as five months may be triggered by traumatic events but is rare.
Character histories should not have specific references to interactions with other characters or packs unless permission has been granted.
Sea travel is possible, and you may therefore play a character from overseas. However, Luperci civilization and technologies are not very advanced: political systems, currencies, universities, etc. have not developed even in the "most developed" parts of the Luperci world (i.e., Eurasia and North Africa).
Your character's history cannot involve humans.
Character skillsets must be realistic.
Magical or supernatural abilities are not permitted (e.g., telepathy, elemental control, eyes changing according to mood, etc.). Ghosts are acceptable, as per the Supernatural guide (advanced topic warning).
Working firearms, guns, and other heavy ordinance are not permitted.
Electronic devices are not permitted.
Balanced skills should be kept in mind: young characters will not have as many skills nor as refined skills as an older character with experience. Some skills (e.g., blacksmithing, writing, tattooing) may take many years of apprenticeship to perfect -- including multiple "heavy duty" skills is unrealistic, while other skills (e.g., hunting, hide tanning, and even reading in the more advanced parts of the Luperci world) are commonplace and may be learned by most young Luperci in a given area.
Advanced knowledge (hard sciences, such as physics, chemistry, or astronomy) is extremely rare -- there are very, very few Luperci with such high-level knowledge, and most of them are in the most developed parts of the Luperci world.
Character NPCs must be realistic.
Characters are permitted a maximum of one (1) canine companion NPC. This can be a parent, sibling, child, friend, or any other associate of the character. (A child cNPC must be 7 months of age or older.)
At joining, a maximum of two (2) hoofed livestock cNPCs is permitted per adult character. This means your character and its canine cNPC (if it has one!) may have up to four animals between them. Hoofed livestock include horses, cattle, oxen, sheep, goats, pigs, etc. Traveling into the area with a large number of livestock is not permitted. Characters that join packs can, post-joining, obtain more personal livestock within a reasonable amount. Loners remain restricted to two livestock per adult.
Other non-canine, non-livestock NPCs are permitted within reason. Please consider the time and effort required for a character to care for and protect multiple creatures.
Once accepted, new characters must make an in character post within five days.
Each character must make an IC post at least once every four (4) weeks. After roughly three (3) weeks of inactivity, the player is given a 7 day post-by deadline. If the member fails to reply to the message and/or does not make an IC post, the character is removed from the game. (Note: accounts are not deleted, so members are free to rejoin later).
Art & Graphics
All artwork and photography must be credited, including work you made/took yourself! Please ensure that you have permission to use all materials made by others.
Artist credit should be in an easily accessible and obvious place -- such as the field for avatar credit in your account profile! If using a service to rotate through multiple avatars, you can use the credit field to link to a page that lists the artists for each of your avatars. Similarly, photo manipulations involving multiple source photos should have all sources credited.
Use of colored bases and template art is permitted as long as the original artist expressedly permits template use for roleplay and that original artist is credited. Do not assume any bases are free for use unless there is a statement from the artist saying so!
Avatars must depict your character -- e.g., a photo or drawing of them. Puppies not yet old enough to shift should not have avatars depicting a shifted form. Silly avatars are welcome, so long as they're still relevant to the character and of the correct species. This rule is waived annually on April 1st.
Avatars and signatures must be PG-13. Imagery exceeding this rating may be included in individual threads as long as these threads are clearly marked in adherence to our Mature Content Guidelines.
Tables and signatures should not stretch the board (on desktop view). The maximum height for signatures is 400 pixels.
Adoptable pet site character clickables/etc are restricted to OOC account signatures and profiles. You may not have more than ten (10) total clickables from any adoptable pet website on any part of the board, including a maximum of five (5) in your forum signature, five (5) in your forum profile, and any individual topics.
Animated images (GIF files) and text (marquees, blinking effects) may not be used in avatars or post tables. GIFs may be used in profiles and signatures, provided the animation is non-intrusive (e.g., not overly distracting), loops smoothly (e.g., not flashing, strobing, or looping at a high speed), and not excessive (e.g., 10+ animated banners in your signature).
Embedded content is prohibited on the forum. This includes, but is not limited to, Flash or Javascript applets, other video content, and music players. You may link to such content, but you may not embed it.
Procedures
In addition to the above game rules, 'Souls also has a list of Procedures for additional characters, changing characters, mateship, puppies, and other roleplay-related rules.
Warnings & Bans
Warnings. A warning about a rule infraction will usually come via Private Message or, in rarer instances, by email. Most of the time, the 'Souls Assemblage will issue multiple warnings to those who violates the rules and work extensively with them to resolve issues and misunderstandings before resorting to a ban of any type.
However, for some severe cases, bans may be instated without prior warning.
Types of Bans.
Contest Ban -- Contest bans bar individuals from participating in board-wide contests and are given to individuals that either 1) fail to fulfill obligations in exchange-type contests (like Secret Santa), or 2) are caught cheating in a contest. For the former, the contest ban will usually be lifted when the obligation is met.
OOC Ban -- OOC bans are given to individuals that break rules regarding courtesy, respect, public drama, etc, but have no issues in the IC sphere. The OOC ban will restrict the individual's forum access to IC boards and certain OOC necessities (like the Maintenance thread). They will be barred from all other OOC forums and the chatroom. OOC banned members cannot participate in any board-wide contests.
Chat Ban -- Chat bans bar individuals from accessing the chat and are given to individuals who break the rules there.
Full Ban -- Individuals that receive full bans are suspended from the board. They will be unable to view any forums or access their Private Messages while logged in.
Regardless of which type of ban they are receiving, individuals will be banned, or suspended, for a set amount of time -- a week, a month, several months, a year. However, we have also banned members permanently. The length of a ban depends on the type of offense and the severity. For contest, OOC, and chat bans, members will be PM'd the details of and reasoning behind the ban, as well the date and time the ban expires. For full bans, members will be emailed. You may, of course, appeal to the administration if you wish to contest the ban.
Warn-able and bannable offenses include, but are not limited to:
Repetitive refusal or inability to follow the rules.
Repetitive refusal or inability to follow posted procedures.
Severe disrespect or harassment to any member.
Excessive powerplay or godmoding.
Plagiarism or post-recycling.
Image and graphic theft.
Flooding or spamming the forums or chatroom.
Playing multiple characters without permission.
Purposefully being deceitful to members and staff.
