Storytellers' Vetting Process

You've decided to join us in the great hobby of Roleplay?! That's fantastic news! We can't wait for you to join us, but before that can happen we've got to do a bit of vetting.

Why do we vet all potential roleplayers?

As an organization and a community, we advertise that we offer a tightly knit, active group of role-players who write at a minimum lit level. Defined as following basic grammar and spelling. Clear to follow posts that are min. 3 paragraphs long.

This includes that the style in which stories are written here uses the Play-by-Post style that was wildly popular in the early 2000's on roleplay forums.

{ Link: Defines what Pbprpg is - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play-by-post_role-playing_game }

That our community is full of individuals who are great writers, AND wonderful character creators and world builders. We pride ourselves on the ability to come together to discuss ideas and develop wonderful roleplays for people to enjoy.

To ensure that we deliver on all those aspects, its paramount that new roleplayers show us that they meet the bare minimum of our requirements.

Its also crucially important to us that we have a chance to see if each new individual meshes well with the current group.

That they are active, and share in similar morals that our crew shares as a whole.

Such as, seeing the importance of communication, I.E. Communicating when they won't be around. ( Not ghosting ).

Along with having an even temper and an ego that won't get in the way of discussing story ideas.

Being able to take constructive feedback and work in a collaborative manner with the other role-players.

Understand, appreciate and respect the amount of work, and time it takes to run a good story, and a well organized and maintained space.

Along with this, we do require all our members to maintain a base level of activity on the server as well.

That looks like:

25 messages of any kind on the server over a 2 week period. Checked every 1st and 15th on the server.

If an active Roleplayer is found lacking, that will lose IC privileges, and have the next two weeks to fix this.

( IF this happens repeatedly, they will be kicked regardless )

What is the Vetting process?

Its a three step system 1). Spend some time with us:

As a close knit community, it's paramount that all our members get along. So we require all new members to hang out a bit, and interact with the community. Let us get to know you, and you, get to know us.

Once you've reached established member rank, you can move on to step two.

[ This step takes about 75 or so messages to reach, Tatsu bot awards it automatically ]

After vetting to keep IC privileges, members must maintain the active role. Statbot automatically awards it, when a member has made 25 messages on the server over 14 days. We check this every 1st and 15th of the month.

This equates to 1/3 of the activity it took to start the vetting process 2️). Step Two: Submitting a piece of writing:

After you've reached Established Members Role, Staff will ask you to create a ticket with a button on our discord server, and provide us with a sample of your skills as a writer.

The Ticket will have a space for you to provide a link to a google doc. In the google doc you will COPY AND PASTE a previously written reply/ response to a Roleplay you've been in before.

We ask that you please pick something that you've written recently and that you're proud of. This should show case your best writing.

It should:

Follow the POV of one Character

Min. 3 Paragraphs long, ( a standard paragraph is 5 sentences long )

Should not be more than 50% dialogue.

Be in 3rd person POV, and Past tense.

Should have content or a hook for the replier to build off of.

Should be just 1 (one) roleplay response, not several pushed together. 3). Showing us your Character creating skills:

When your written sample is approved, You'll gain access to our OOC Gen Chat.

In that channel, in conjunction with your ticket channel. You'll work with staff and members alike to create a NEW character for our themed Roleplay forum "Cityscape".

You'll get to talk with members about ideas you have, Characters they're playing. Open RPs, or new RPs that could be created. Anything and everything you'd need to be able to create a character to jump into our themed area with.

[ This ensures that out the gate you have people and a RP to jump into ]

When does the vetting start, and how long does it take?

Vetting process starts the moment a new potential role-player joins the server and they have the first two weeks to go through the whole process. Staff ensure they'll only take two days to review the written sample and the character sheet. And if by chance they take longer, those days will be added to the time frame. If a member doesn't get through their vetting during the first two weeks, they'll be asked to wait a month to try again.

Things we will not accept during the vetting process!

- Unoriginal Characters: Do not try to pass off a character from a show, book, movie, video game. Or whatever, as an original idea that you came up with. We consider that stealing someone else's property. - NSFW Material: Do not put nsfw as in spicy material in your vetting paperwork. that will grant you an instant rejection. - Adult/Dark themes: Such as abuse, drug use, and other such triggering material. Needs to be brought up to staff when vetting paper work in submitted, so they don't walk into it unaware. That's just not nice. - Fandom Characters: We are not a fandom specific server. There is far to much information missing in fandom characters sheets that it slows down the vetting process. So we no longer will accept them. - Character sheets with D&D ( or other table top) stats: Those stats mean literally nothing outside of their specific game setting. The information is useless to us. - Fursonas or Anthro characters: We want to preface this with, we hold no hatred towards furry's or the way they RP. WE are not a furry server. Fursonas are written specifically for the Furry universe, they are in our eyes closely linked to a Fandom character. We don't accept fandom characters either. Anthro characters are lumped in, because there is no way to know for sure if its a Fursona or not. With all of that said, We want to make it clear we are NOT excluding any specific group of people from RPing here, we are simply excluding specific content. As an example. Say we were a generic super hero roleplay group. And in our rules we said, NO Cannon or Self Inserted Characters written for the MCU or DCU are allowed here. People who love to write MCU or DCU fandom RP wouldn't be banned, or not allowed to RP in the group. But characters linked to those Fandom Universes would be. Again, that is about banned Content,.. not people/ or group of people. It is our right to decide what kind of content we want to play host to or not. Even though Discord is an open to the public app. Each discord server is privately ran. Which means its via the owner/s discretion what they want to allow in their communities. We ask everyone here to go through the same processes, and abide by the same rules so that we can maintain consistency, fairness, and integrity to the community and vision we have worked on for close to 2 decades now. So if we ask for no Fursonas, No Fandom Characters, No Table top structured characters, and most important no stolen characters in the application process. To ensure that the people who might potentially Roleplay here have the skills and knowledge on how to write original concept characters. That is also our right, and should be respected.

Roleplay Reply Sample 1

Heart pounded and with it adrenaline surged. Cassi, frightened and wide eyes watched the remaining monster before them. Labyrinth down, the dark knight for all they knew killed. Their options just about wasted, the witch could feel their death approach. The mission would be a failure, but maybe with the rift sealed ( at least what she believed to be sealed ) it would keep the foundation from this place. Maybe it wasn't all for not. What a heroic thought. A little chuckle left Cassi at that.

"no,.." The witch protested, she couldn't stand those potions to begin with. Two just moments apart from one another, by the stars Cassi had no idea what havoc that would have. She'd rather try her luck with the crystal and its ley line.

That was when the world froze, not that any of them knew it. Cassi went to step towards the source of ether, an attempt to absorb and recharge. Then next thing, her view point of the world completely changed, as the roar of millions of rocks deafened the world as they crashed down upon the monster.

Blood sprayed and dust billowed, the full vision and magnitude of what took place concealed in the aftermath. Yet, there was no way to mistake it. The beast was slain, and it only took a glance at Jules to know the little clock had a hand in it.

"Just what the fuck are you?" The normal combative tone replaced with something of awe and maybe a little fear. " You ok over there Borlin," Cassi called to next, but only after she had stared at the clock for a long moment. "Can you check on Labyrinth, make sure she didn't get harmed in the after math."

Roleplay reply sample 2

The panic that they'd be spotted or worse, caught by the rival crew, was quite quickly replaced by a different kind of fright as the ship took off with a violent start. As they whipped out of the docks with a sharp descent into the clouds, Naomi, literally for her dear life, held onto whatever she could of the ship, be that rope or wooden railing, whatever her hands could grip tightly on to.

As the ship sped up and rumbled through the clouds, the fear-stricken woman couldn't help but hold her breath just as tightly as she clawed whatever her hands held onto. In spite of the fact, the chef would argue that the roller coaster of a take off lasted tens of minutes. To her own survival, it was a wonderful thing that it didn't, and she hadn't passed out from lack of oxygen.

Though that may be all true, it didn't take away the lasting effects on Naomi as she stood there now damp from the clouds, pale, and on shaky legs.

Once they,..or really the ship settled into an even ride through the wind seas, the woman couldn't help but to cast a dark glare over at Percival. She wasn't actually upset with him,.. He had after all done as asked and from the look of things got them away without being spotted. But by damns, and the currents of the wind, Naomi thoroughly hated how it was done.

It would take a moment before Naomi could find her voice, but once she did, it seemed everyone wanted to comment on how well she had handled, or not handled the ride.

"I'm not your boss,...."was all Naomi said to Percival at first, she would have continued but Alina, be it from her nature, or because of her profession was quick to inquire about Naomi's wellness.

"I'll,.." She'd take a breath and try to stand at her complete height. "be fine... We. "again she'd take a moment to steady herself, so the slight warble in her voice would settle. "We should set a course for the next cluster. Somewhere we can lay low..." She'd glance back at Percy as the words left her mouth. Though she wasn't technically his boss, nor the ship's captain. At this moment, it seemed important that someone set them on a course of sorts. They could properly vote later on.

"....Rather fucking go through that again,..than touch you..." Naomi would grumble under her breath, the most she could muster in reaction to Duke. She just didn't have it in her at the moment to come down on him with a full assault, but give it time She'd remember his little remark and make good on it later.

"Has anyone called down to Kastalia? See if she fared ok?" The Chef would ask next, as she worked to straighten out her clothes, and hair before she in effect joined Duke in the effort to clean up the deck, and then actually deal with the supplies and her kitchen.

As she looked between Alina, Percy, and Duke,.. it then dawned on her that that pesky woman was nowhere on the deck. Did she fall overboard? Was she off rummaging through things she had no business touching...Alarmed, and pissed off, the next set of words came out much harsher. " And Celeste,..where is that damned woman?"

Character sheet sample 1

Name: Zera

Alias: Dr. Zera

Age: 650 ( looks to be about 24 )

Gender: Female

Race: Dryad

Origins: The Dryad Forest of Cityscape ( its location unknown to outsiders )

Occupation: Doctor with a fellowship at St. Yarrow’s main hospital building in Holistics.

ALignment: Lawful Evil

Appearance:

Like vibrant leaves on a tree, that brilliant green was the color of Zera’s skin. It seemed to teem and glow with the same brilliance of life.

This made Doctor’s overall small form seem larger, as she only stood to be about 5 ft. She weighed only a mere hundred pounds, with the slight silhouette of an hourglass figure. Compared to most, Zera was like a wisp,

Her facial features were soft and girly, with the only real thing to stand out were her eyes. There were large, yellow glowing orbs that sparkled with a sense of curiosity and kindness. Almost childlike.

The other feature to note was her hair. A deep emerald color, it was several shades darker than the dryad's skin. It cascaded down her form in large, loose banana curls. Entwined in the locks were tiny leaves and flowers depending on the time of years.

( Spring - Small yellow-green leaves, with tiny clusters of pink flowers, Summer - large Vine like leaves with medium size red blossoms,

Autumn - The large vine like leaves of Summer but now Deep reds and Gold

Winter - Many tine pure white flowers )

Zera is usually always found in her Doctor's clothes. A pair of black flats, a simple black suit skirt, and a nice silk cami ( a different color each day, but usually cooler colors of purples and blues, some maroons ) all under her lab coat. All very neat, tidy and professional.

Personality:

There are two sides to Zera’s personality, the side of her before the break, and who lays beneath the surface now.

On the surface, Zera behaves like she always has. Extremely shy, soft spoken, and timid. She almost seems to scurry away from any form of confrontation, and will almost bend over backwards to accommodate others' needs. Yet when it comes to healing others, there is a softness, coupled with an eagerness to do a good job.

Behind the timid Zera is the twisted monster. A mixture of Dryad's true nature, and the psychotic break brought on by Dark Spike’s games.

This side of Zera is twisted, hungry and sadistic. Her once love of experimentation to find cures, is now a love to create monsters.

She’s tough, fierce, and practically fearless. She enjoys the mind games, and is quick to dish them back out. She’ll push buttons, and even attack just to get reactions.

Abilities:

As a Dryad, Zera has dominion over plant, and plant material. In general she can manipulate them to move.

This also includes the following specific things.

Rapid Growth:

Plants within a ten foot radius, she can cause them to grow at a much quicker pace, this includes making plants mature and bloom. She could take a seed to a seedling in a matter of a minute. So to take a seed to mature blooming plant - about 5 minutes. Taking something from seed to bloom uses much more energy, than just growing a plant larger. ( blooming and bringing to fruit takes several times more energy to produce ) So she can simply make an already matured plant just grow large much much faster. She could double a plant’s size in a matter of moments.

Shared Intelligence:

Zera has the ability to communicate with plants, gaining information on what has gone on around them, and she can even get information from a whole network of plants ( based on their root system ) (down side, like any game of “telephone” If the information is coming from far off, it can get distorted )

Lethal Vines: Zera can at any given moment grow up to ten vines from her body that can reach up to 50 feet from her body.

( Ten Vines is her max, and usually only achieved with a high emotional state. It’s usually only around five at most )

These vines can get about 6 to 7 inches thick, and can in fact grow four inch thorns. ( again the thicker and more lethal the vines the more energy it takes. Getting them started takes a bit of time, but growing them large is fast, just like growing a plant bigger. The thrones would grow in slowly, just producing a bloom or Fruit ) Like any magical creature, or Plant. When using her abilities, it uses energy. If Zera does too much, she will become wilt-y like an uncared for plant. It can make her slow, sluggish, and unresponsive. She’ll need water, and meat to regain her strength and time to convert those materials into energy. The more she uses = the more time and fuel she needs to recover.

History:

All of Zera’s life she dreamed of the outside world beyond the Dryads forest. There was something in her soul that called, a sense of exploration, a need to understand the world around, and most of all a want to heal the world. Unlike most Dryads, Zera could feel the pain pouring out in the world, and she knew that the ancient healing techniques of the Dryads could help the world’s suffering.

After several years of begging, pleading and then finally convincing the high archie of their tribe,. Zera was allowed to leave. Their Queen had a fairly friendly relationship with one of the owners of the St. Yarrow’s Medical group, and allowed Zera to part ways and join them.

It wasn’t long that they began to utilize her expertise in Herbal medicines. This eventually led to her having a spot on the team at the Central hospital, and below her own grow lab.

Her eagerness to heal, and prove herself caused the ‘young’ Dryad to spend almost all her waking time at the hospital. This only increased after she met Spike.

A patient who stormed the hospital in a fit of rage, transformed into a monster. When they were able to finally calm him down, and the transformation subsided, the man asked for Death.

This went against EVERYTHING the Zera believed in, and on the spot she vowed to heal him of his condition.

What Zera didn’t know was there was no true way to heal the dark version, if was very much a part of Spike. The more she spent time with him.. The more Dark Spike corrupted her. NOt by normal means either,.. But slowly he awoken her blood lust.

In a twisted stockholm and co dependent relationship Zera slowly started to want Dark spike to stick around. What started as a quest to rid the man of this monster, turned into riding the monster of the man.

At first she wanted Dark Spike to Suffer for all the Pain and torture had had put her through. For all the death is caused around her. It was that thought that brought forth the first batch of serums to keep Dark Spike in control. But as time goes on, Zera’s motives Change. This brings us to her time at The Research facility.

Character Sheet Sample 2

Name: Lucia Grey

Alias: Lucy

Age: 26

Gender: Female

Race/Species: Human/ Werewolf

Origins: Born and Raised in downtown Cityscape

Occupation: Police Officer - Detective (Missing Persons department in Cityscape West’s District)

Alignment: Neutral Good

Condition: Healthy and Athletic. Fit enough to be a cop. Only ailment is the hereditary Werewolf genetics.

Appearance:

Lucia stands at about 5 feet and 6 inches and weighs about 160 pounds. The lean muscle on her body contributes to a good portion of her weight, giving her a solid and what some would call a thick frame. Given her solid form, even though she had feminine curves, she doesn't have the "traditional" fragile hourglass figure usually associated with women, and beauty standards.

Her face could be categorized as a diamond shape, featuring soft features and lips, with a small, under projected tipped nose. Her eyes are downturned, big, bright, and golden in color.

Her skin is fair, moontouched some would say. Since she seems to only work the nightshift there has never been a reason for it to tan, She is slightly freckled over her whole form, and it's easy to tell the stress of her job wears on her. Worry and frown lines already seem to be forming. While on the job, Lucia wears her reddish brown hair half pulled up in a hair clip. Just enough to keep it out of her face and way. On her own time though She typically wears it loose, keeping it no longer than shoulder length.

Black work slacks, a solid colored blouse, ( usually in more muted tones nothing to draw the attention of others. ) a cardigan if the weather permits it, and smart tenny shoes. That’s Lucy’s go-to outfit while on the job. Simple, professional, easy, and unremarkable. Lucy needs to be forgettable. Off the clock, Lucy can be seen in all sorts of outfits to fit whatever she needs. She’s still trying to figure out her own style, and at the same time find comfort in all of them, JUST in case she needs to go undercover in the future.

Werewolf form. Large Reddish Brown Wolf that can carry up to two fully grown average men on her back. Her strength grows several folds, to the point she could run at full speed ( with carrying others 20 minutes ), Make up to 25 vertically, and 35 feet horizontally ( with carrying others ) Full speed run is 40 miles per hour. Stamina at running at full speed is about the length of 10 miles or about 15 minutes. Personality: Lucia is cunning, clever, and calculated.

Her wit is quick, she keeps herself and others on their toes. She's got what you'd call a silver tongue, her words can be sharp or they can be pleasant.

To put it plainly, everyone or anything outside of her deemed Pack, is prey to be hunted. Oh boy does she enjoy the hunt, and how it satisfies her primal urges. And not all hunting is bad, sometimes it’s just in play. But it does do her wonders when working as a detective. Like a dog with a bone,..she can be single minded.

She likes to challenge those around her, especially those in a perceived position of power. Especially those who believe they outrank her. This only applies to those she doesn't view in a revered way. There are only a few she truly respects. ( thankfully most of her bosses at work, she does respect )

Her behavior toward those she respects, or whom she considers in her pack, is fiercely loyal, over-protective, and extremely tactile.

Truth be told, even those she doesn't consider hers, she is tactile with. Always touching or rubbing up against others.

If asked why she says it's a wolf thing.

In the right environment, she can easily be overly excitable. Quick to talk, quick to react, quick to puppy pile. Lots of big excited dog energy.

That would be her default when not having to behave in rank. Dominate to those beneath her, submissive to her superiors. Or when she is focused on the job. She is very professional, hyper focused.. Almost like a switch goes off in her brain. This is probably why outside of work, she’s again, BIG DOG ENERGY. Pack, those she cares about, her sense of internal judgment and justice prevail over all else. This makes her a good cop, she cares deeply for the safety of Cityscape citizens. But,.. dig a bit deeper you’ll find her loyalty to is to them, and what she believes is right,.. Not always the law per its word.

Abilities:

Large Reddish Brown Wolf that can carry up to two fully grown average men on her back. Her strength grows several folds, to the point she could run at full speed ( with carrying others 20 minutes ), Make up to 25 vertically, and 35 feet horizontally ( with carrying others ) Full speed run is 40 miles per hour. Stamina at running at full speed is about the length of 10 miles or about 15 minutes. As a werewolf, she has a heightened sense of smell and hearing same as that compared to a regular wolf

( google says wolves can hear things up to 8-10 miles away. So we will just go with that. But given this is an urban setting, She sometimes has a hard time pin picking a sound ) And her sense of smell. She can smell things up to a mile away. ( as long as the air isn’t too polluted by other vastly strong smells that might cause temporary smell blindness ) As for the limitations on her Werewolf abilities.

unlike the traditional tales of werewolves who involuntarily shift during a full moon. The werewolves she descends from have the ability to shift whenever they please, aside from during the full moon.

During the three days when the moon is dark, Lucia will appear to be no stronger than your average human.

Now all werewolves share the same shifting rules or patterns. So she tried to keep her time of weakness a secret. It also needs to be noted: The longer Lucia stays in her were form the more feral she becomes. Both in wolf form, and in human form. Her abilities of a cop: Lucia passed all the tests within the Academy. Her speed and endurance test she ranked high among her peers, but not at the top. She is able to hit the bullseye on the target in standard practice up to 30 yards. And she knows basic self defense/ hand to hand taught in the Academy. ( but she is by no means an expert fighter. Just enough to hold her own and beat your average wrongdoer. Or be able to hopefully get away from someone who could seriously cause her harm ) Gear:

While on the job, Lucia usually has the following things on her. A small pocket notebook and pen. A separate recording device. Fully charged cell phone, ( and backup battery pack )

Covert camera and binoculars GPS tracking device. A pair of cuffs Handgun holster with a 9mm Parabellum

History:

Born and raised in a not so great area of Cityscape’s Western district, Lucia understood all too well it's dark underbelly. The only daughter to her parents, Minerva and Laurence Grey, Lucia was paid extra special attention amongst all her brothers, all 6 of them. Her formative years were as peaceful as they could be, for one growing up with so many siblings, all of them being brothers, and in a house that was probably two sizes too small for them. Their parents did right by all those children though, even if neither parent’s career was anything impressive. Minerva worked at the local restaurant, she had started on as just a server in her youth, when she and Laurence got married. But overtime the owners put more and more trust in her until she was brought on as management. She still waited tables a lot of the time, a favorite server among the community. Laurence was a car mechanic, and through Lucia’s youth she remembers him mostly covered in grease, wearing mechanic overalls, and always looking a little worn. But he worked hard for that family,and was known within their little corner of Cityscape as a damn good mechanic and a fair man. He’d do a lot of favors for people in binds, saying that karma would always come back to them. And it seemingly did. They never went without food, or the things they needed. And though they lived in a rough area, they were pretty much always left alone. As werewolves, they followed the ideology of their kind. They followed the moon in her phases, partied hard, loved hard, and put family above all else. Pack was at the heart and sacred.

Their family is large and their extended family just as large as you scaled out. Lucia spent a lot of time with cousins, aunts and uncles, and others who she was in one way or another connected to. There was never an absence of love in her youth, and had all things stayed their course. Lucia probably would have settled down with some non-blood related member of this extended pack, popped up several pups, and had some low to middle class job. Just like most of those in her family. And nothing would have been wrong with that. But, then took a turn, and weres and wolf shifters alike started to go missing. Not just in the western district, but in all areas of Cityscape. Even the upper class areas. It caused quite the panic, and their parents tried their best to keep their little pack safe. But their second eldest son (Edward ) went missing. This devastated her parents of course, her and her other brothers too. But the tragic event didn’t end there. Laurance of course went in search of his son,.. As the man of their house he couldn’t just let it be. He couldn’t handle seeing his dear sweet wife so upset. They found him dead, in a dumpster all the way in the east district,.. In a pleasure zone. It was clear to their family,.. To the pack this was a cover up. But the cops at the time refused to hear any of it. Then her brother (Lucas), just younger than Lucy, in his grief became troubled. His loss of faith in the system and in the cops, he turned to the gangs. If the side of good couldn’t help,..then maybe the other side would. Over time the family would lose him too, his soul darkened, the once bright, happy young boy lost. The eldest of their family (Ian) tried to fill out their father’s shoes, He’d take over his mechanic shop and their youngest brother (Silas) would follow suit. Of course he followed suit, he had been so young when their dad died, that he practically looked up to Ian as a father. They’d both go on to get married. Ian already with 2 kids. Girls so far. And Silas still with that first year of his marriage. They all still lived close to mom in the same neighborhood Warren, the brother just older than Lucy, also went into public service. He took the route more in politics, working with various council people trying to get new policies and projects pushed through. His sense of justice told him that was the route to make things better… if the police department had, had more support then, THEN they should have found their father’s killer and their brother. Lucia of course had different plans. Single minded she ignored anything outside of school, or what was social normal of a girl in her family, or of her race. She paid no attention to boys despite her mother’s constant poking. Or the shame she’d tried to guilt Lucy with. It wasn’t right for a young wolf like her to not be wed, and already with pups. UNHEARD OF! But Lucy didn’t care, she wanted to right the wrongs in the. So straight out of high school she started on the path to become a cop. She’d worked any shift they’d give no matter to work, no matter the long hours. Lucy planned to put in her dues and then make Detective. After years of dedicated work,.. That day finally came. And this would be her first week in the position. .

Purpose:

The first RP will be to establish her in the City. Her role as a dedicated Detective who is more focused on actually finding solutions to problems, than following the law word for word.

To Establish her relationship with Wicked’s Character, and forming that story lore and depth in cityscape for the “present”