Post by Aphelyon on Dec 23, 2016 13:46:37 GMT -5
The sound of dripping water is what wakes you.
You open yours eyes to darkness as you push yourself up with shaking legs. For a moment you can see nothing, only hear the rhythmic echo of water splashing on stone, feel the cold and pebbly ground beneath your paws, and smell the scent of ancient dust and undisturbed air. For a moment you sit still, eyes wide as they adjust to the light, and slowly the cave begins to take shape around you. From in front of you, dim light comes through what you can only assume is the entrance to the cave, reflecting ever so faintly on massive stalagmites and stalactites. The walls of the cave are for the most part smooth, but between the jutting columns you can almost make out what appear to be delicate scratches on the surface.
As you look around, you come to a sudden realization. You don't know where you are, or more importantly, who you are. For a heartbeat this realization paralyzes you in fear, but you realize that staying in the darkness of this cave will not help you find answers, and so slowly you get to your paws and begin to cautiously follow the light. The tunnel seems much longer than expected, winding and twisting this way and that until you no longer have any idea what direction you're facing. But with every step you take, the air gets fresher and warmer and the light gets stronger. You feel a glimmer of hope.
Rounding another corner, the stone walls suddenly open up around you, and you're forced to close your eyes for a moment against the blinding brightness of the day. As the pain recedes, slowly you open your eyes again to see a lush meadow stretching before you, framed by a forest young, bright trees. A few other cats lounge in the meadow, looking up as you exit the cave and giving friendly purrs of greeting. It takes you a heartbeat to realize that none of them could be older than six or seven moons old. You shrink back as a young she-cat approaches you from across the meadow, followed by a few others who look at you with bright and curious eyes. She dips her head, stopping a tail-length or two away from you.
"Hi, newcomer! My name's Morningpaw! Welcome to the Island," she meows. A few other cats murmur 'welcome' as well. You look around again, before returning your attention to the cats in front of you.
"The Island?" you ask, tilting your head. So many questions swarm in your mind, but that seems to be the most important for now.
Morningpaw nods. "Yes. We're on an island, and a very nice one at that. It's just us young cats here, though our mentors appear in our dreams to train us. And sometimes, the Snow Warrior comes to guide us, though she rarely speaks."
You narrow your eyes, possibly more confused than before. "The Snow Warrior? Mentors?"
Morningpaw lets out an amused purr. "I can see you're very confused. We all are when we first... emerge. Come, walk with me. I'll do my best to explain everything." She flicks her tail at the others and, rather reluctantly, they begin to disperse. You hesitate as she nods for you to follow, padding along the base of the cliffs where the cave entrance rests. Glancing around the meadow, you let out a sigh and follow.
As you look around, you come to a sudden realization. You don't know where you are, or more importantly, who you are. For a heartbeat this realization paralyzes you in fear, but you realize that staying in the darkness of this cave will not help you find answers, and so slowly you get to your paws and begin to cautiously follow the light. The tunnel seems much longer than expected, winding and twisting this way and that until you no longer have any idea what direction you're facing. But with every step you take, the air gets fresher and warmer and the light gets stronger. You feel a glimmer of hope.
Rounding another corner, the stone walls suddenly open up around you, and you're forced to close your eyes for a moment against the blinding brightness of the day. As the pain recedes, slowly you open your eyes again to see a lush meadow stretching before you, framed by a forest young, bright trees. A few other cats lounge in the meadow, looking up as you exit the cave and giving friendly purrs of greeting. It takes you a heartbeat to realize that none of them could be older than six or seven moons old. You shrink back as a young she-cat approaches you from across the meadow, followed by a few others who look at you with bright and curious eyes. She dips her head, stopping a tail-length or two away from you.
"Hi, newcomer! My name's Morningpaw! Welcome to the Island," she meows. A few other cats murmur 'welcome' as well. You look around again, before returning your attention to the cats in front of you.
"The Island?" you ask, tilting your head. So many questions swarm in your mind, but that seems to be the most important for now.
Morningpaw nods. "Yes. We're on an island, and a very nice one at that. It's just us young cats here, though our mentors appear in our dreams to train us. And sometimes, the Snow Warrior comes to guide us, though she rarely speaks."
You narrow your eyes, possibly more confused than before. "The Snow Warrior? Mentors?"
Morningpaw lets out an amused purr. "I can see you're very confused. We all are when we first... emerge. Come, walk with me. I'll do my best to explain everything." She flicks her tail at the others and, rather reluctantly, they begin to disperse. You hesitate as she nods for you to follow, padding along the base of the cliffs where the cave entrance rests. Glancing around the meadow, you let out a sigh and follow.
The Plot
In this roleplay, you are a young apprentice (beginning at six moons old) who simply appears on 'The Island' along with the rest of the apprentices. For now, your origins and reason for being here are unknown, but will be revealed later.
All cats appear in the Cavern of Runes (also called the Runecave), with no idea who they are or where the came from. At this point, it's up to the other apprentices to explain to them what they know and where they are. Morningpaw is the closest thing the apprentices have to a leader, though not formally. Most just simply defer to her judgement as she was the first to appear nearly two moons ago, and is the only one to speak at length to the Snow Warrior.
For now, the apprentices don't really have any sort of structure or hierarchy. There is plenty of prey and space on the Island, and seemingly no predators, and so most of the cats are content to hunt for themselves and their friends and not cause problems, which means there is really no need for a leader or a set of rules. As more cats appear, though, tensions are slowly beginning to build.
As mentioned by Morningpaw, each cat has a "mentor" that visits them when they sleep, teaching them things like hunting, fighting, and even herbs to some. However, no cat knows their mentor's name for now, and their mentors never appear while they are awake. However, one she-cat- known only as the Snow Warrior- occasionally does. Like their mentors, she is obviously a StarClan cat, with fur that glitters with stars. She is called the Snow Warrior due to both her pure white pelt and the fact that she leaves frost wherever she touches. She rarely speaks, but will occasionally appear to guide apprentices where they need to go, or to warn them of danger. Every now and then, she may speak to a cat to give them warnings or advice, but this is very rare, and the only cat to have a full conversation with her is Morningpaw.
Due to a need to retain some secrecy on the plot, I will be playing all of the mentors. Perhaps if I find someone I trust who doesn't care about "spoilers" I'll bring them in on it to share the duty, but we'll see. As for the apprentices themselves, there are a few more important details about them. First of all, it's important to note that all of them, despite having the body of a young apprentice, tend to be a bit more mature than that in personality- perhaps more akin to an older apprentice or young warrior than a kit. Of course, this varies from cat to cat based on personality, and some are distinctly more kit-like than others. Secondly, no cats are "born" with a name, and once they emerge from the cave must choose their own name. Some settle on one quite quickly, while others may take days to decide on the perfect name for themselves. These leads to some interesting names, however, as not all of them have obvious names that relate to their appearance, skills, or even their personality, but even so, each name is meaningful to the cat it belongs to.
Finally, something about the Island. As mentioned before, there is plenty of prey and no predators. As of yet, no cat has gotten sick or died either, though cats have gotten hurt in minor ways- falling out of trees, for example, or getting a thorn in their paw. Nothing serious... yet. Whether apprentices actually can die remains to be seen.
Aaaand finally, two more things on an out-of-character basis. The first is that time progression in this roleplay will be consistent, for the sake of keeping the roleplay moving. Each day will be one moon phase, which means eight days in real life will equal one moon in the roleplay. Time will pass accordingly, causing cats to age and seasons to change. The effect this will have on the roleplay... well, you'll see. Secondly, this is going to be a rather unique roleplay in terms of character creation. Each cat is almost entirely randomized, though you may choose the gender (or let that be random, if you prefer). More on this in the "Joining" section at the bottom of this post.
That's all I'm going to reveal for now, so.... enjoy.
All cats appear in the Cavern of Runes (also called the Runecave), with no idea who they are or where the came from. At this point, it's up to the other apprentices to explain to them what they know and where they are. Morningpaw is the closest thing the apprentices have to a leader, though not formally. Most just simply defer to her judgement as she was the first to appear nearly two moons ago, and is the only one to speak at length to the Snow Warrior.
For now, the apprentices don't really have any sort of structure or hierarchy. There is plenty of prey and space on the Island, and seemingly no predators, and so most of the cats are content to hunt for themselves and their friends and not cause problems, which means there is really no need for a leader or a set of rules. As more cats appear, though, tensions are slowly beginning to build.
As mentioned by Morningpaw, each cat has a "mentor" that visits them when they sleep, teaching them things like hunting, fighting, and even herbs to some. However, no cat knows their mentor's name for now, and their mentors never appear while they are awake. However, one she-cat- known only as the Snow Warrior- occasionally does. Like their mentors, she is obviously a StarClan cat, with fur that glitters with stars. She is called the Snow Warrior due to both her pure white pelt and the fact that she leaves frost wherever she touches. She rarely speaks, but will occasionally appear to guide apprentices where they need to go, or to warn them of danger. Every now and then, she may speak to a cat to give them warnings or advice, but this is very rare, and the only cat to have a full conversation with her is Morningpaw.
Due to a need to retain some secrecy on the plot, I will be playing all of the mentors. Perhaps if I find someone I trust who doesn't care about "spoilers" I'll bring them in on it to share the duty, but we'll see. As for the apprentices themselves, there are a few more important details about them. First of all, it's important to note that all of them, despite having the body of a young apprentice, tend to be a bit more mature than that in personality- perhaps more akin to an older apprentice or young warrior than a kit. Of course, this varies from cat to cat based on personality, and some are distinctly more kit-like than others. Secondly, no cats are "born" with a name, and once they emerge from the cave must choose their own name. Some settle on one quite quickly, while others may take days to decide on the perfect name for themselves. These leads to some interesting names, however, as not all of them have obvious names that relate to their appearance, skills, or even their personality, but even so, each name is meaningful to the cat it belongs to.
Finally, something about the Island. As mentioned before, there is plenty of prey and no predators. As of yet, no cat has gotten sick or died either, though cats have gotten hurt in minor ways- falling out of trees, for example, or getting a thorn in their paw. Nothing serious... yet. Whether apprentices actually can die remains to be seen.
Aaaand finally, two more things on an out-of-character basis. The first is that time progression in this roleplay will be consistent, for the sake of keeping the roleplay moving. Each day will be one moon phase, which means eight days in real life will equal one moon in the roleplay. Time will pass accordingly, causing cats to age and seasons to change. The effect this will have on the roleplay... well, you'll see. Secondly, this is going to be a rather unique roleplay in terms of character creation. Each cat is almost entirely randomized, though you may choose the gender (or let that be random, if you prefer). More on this in the "Joining" section at the bottom of this post.
That's all I'm going to reveal for now, so.... enjoy.
Roleplay Rules
Obviously, follow all the forum rules and ghost rules, which I shouldn't need to reiterate here.
No flaming, bashing, trolling, spotlighting, powerplaying, godmodding, etc.
This is intended to be a fairly literate roleplay, so I will be a bit picky about things like grammar and capitalization, at least in roleplay posts. Do what you want in chat, I don't care. But make sure your joining form is the apex of your best grammar, because that's what I'll use to judge if you're literate enough for this roleplay. I won't be too picky- as long as your grammar is mostly good, that should be fine. It doesn't have to be perfect. However, if your joining form is barely readable and wrought with spelling errors, run-on sentences, sentence fragments, bad capitalization, etc. I will probably ask you to at least try to correct it. If you refuse or are unable to do so to a satisfactory degree, I will not accept you.
No mary sues/"perfect"characters. Your character is almost never going to be the absolute best in the land at anything. Being very good at some things (not everything), however, is entirely acceptable. Your character will be bad at some things. They will have some flaws. They will lose sometimes. Similarly, though, please don't make your character so awful that they have no good aspects and are mopey and depressed and annoyingly flawed. Give them some space to develop and improve, but also let them develop and improve.
As always, keep things pg. So, no excessively graphic violence, language, or other inappropriateness. If you desire any of these things please take it to PM where it is legally out of my control.
Please try to be literate and original. Make your characters and their actions unique and meaningful rather than making them a cookie cutter with nothing personal going for them. Contribute to the plot and roleplay in a meaningful way that is enjoyable for everyone. Use good grammar, spelling, etc. At the same time, please don't write a novel every post. If you try to make things too long and complicated it gets boring and tedious. Find that comfortable middle where it's entertaining for you to write and entertaining for us to read.
As discussed in a previous section, keep your characters realistic. Obviously being made-up cats they don't have to be 100% realistic and perfectly conform to real life cat genetics or whatever. But keep it believable. Like, a gray cat with black spots isn't something that actually exists as far as I'm aware, but it's fine for this roleplay. A cat with purple eyes, on the other hand, isn't even believable. A cat with a vaguely star-shaped mark on their chest is believable. A cat with a perfect star shape in the exact center of their forehead is not. Etc. Of course, with cats being randomly generated by me, this shouldn't be a problem, but it's worth mentioning regardless.
Realism also goes for behavior; keep your character's personality and whatnot consistent and believable. Don't make their reactions wildly arbitrary- everyone has motives for what they do. This also goes for things like roleplay events. When your character attempts to do something, sometimes they'll fail. That's just how it is. You're character can't always be awesome and win at everything. It's not realistic. At the same time, don't make everything always completely awful for your character where they're always miserable and nothing good happens to them. That's just sad.
If you are gone for more than two weeks without prior warning, you will be suspended and your characters moved to the "inactive" slot. If you are gone for two weeks after this, your characters will be entirely removed. If you have any ranks- such as a noble of a kingdom or something- then that rank will be available for other people to fill.
I reserve the right to reject or remove people who are not literate enough, who do not contribute well to the roleplay, who are not active, who do not keep in the spirit of the roleplay, or who do not adequately follow the above rules.
No flaming, bashing, trolling, spotlighting, powerplaying, godmodding, etc.
This is intended to be a fairly literate roleplay, so I will be a bit picky about things like grammar and capitalization, at least in roleplay posts. Do what you want in chat, I don't care. But make sure your joining form is the apex of your best grammar, because that's what I'll use to judge if you're literate enough for this roleplay. I won't be too picky- as long as your grammar is mostly good, that should be fine. It doesn't have to be perfect. However, if your joining form is barely readable and wrought with spelling errors, run-on sentences, sentence fragments, bad capitalization, etc. I will probably ask you to at least try to correct it. If you refuse or are unable to do so to a satisfactory degree, I will not accept you.
No mary sues/"perfect"characters. Your character is almost never going to be the absolute best in the land at anything. Being very good at some things (not everything), however, is entirely acceptable. Your character will be bad at some things. They will have some flaws. They will lose sometimes. Similarly, though, please don't make your character so awful that they have no good aspects and are mopey and depressed and annoyingly flawed. Give them some space to develop and improve, but also let them develop and improve.
As always, keep things pg. So, no excessively graphic violence, language, or other inappropriateness. If you desire any of these things please take it to PM where it is legally out of my control.
Please try to be literate and original. Make your characters and their actions unique and meaningful rather than making them a cookie cutter with nothing personal going for them. Contribute to the plot and roleplay in a meaningful way that is enjoyable for everyone. Use good grammar, spelling, etc. At the same time, please don't write a novel every post. If you try to make things too long and complicated it gets boring and tedious. Find that comfortable middle where it's entertaining for you to write and entertaining for us to read.
As discussed in a previous section, keep your characters realistic. Obviously being made-up cats they don't have to be 100% realistic and perfectly conform to real life cat genetics or whatever. But keep it believable. Like, a gray cat with black spots isn't something that actually exists as far as I'm aware, but it's fine for this roleplay. A cat with purple eyes, on the other hand, isn't even believable. A cat with a vaguely star-shaped mark on their chest is believable. A cat with a perfect star shape in the exact center of their forehead is not. Etc. Of course, with cats being randomly generated by me, this shouldn't be a problem, but it's worth mentioning regardless.
Realism also goes for behavior; keep your character's personality and whatnot consistent and believable. Don't make their reactions wildly arbitrary- everyone has motives for what they do. This also goes for things like roleplay events. When your character attempts to do something, sometimes they'll fail. That's just how it is. You're character can't always be awesome and win at everything. It's not realistic. At the same time, don't make everything always completely awful for your character where they're always miserable and nothing good happens to them. That's just sad.
If you are gone for more than two weeks without prior warning, you will be suspended and your characters moved to the "inactive" slot. If you are gone for two weeks after this, your characters will be entirely removed. If you have any ranks- such as a noble of a kingdom or something- then that rank will be available for other people to fill.
I reserve the right to reject or remove people who are not literate enough, who do not contribute well to the roleplay, who are not active, who do not keep in the spirit of the roleplay, or who do not adequately follow the above rules.
News
In-Character
-
Out-of-Character
12-23-2016 - The Reborn is created and opened for joining.
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Out-of-Character
12-23-2016 - The Reborn is created and opened for joining.
Environment
Season
Mid Greenleaf
Weather
Hot and sunny, with a warm breeze. It is humid, and there are storm clouds on the distant horizon.
Moon Phase
Half Moon
Mid Greenleaf
Weather
Hot and sunny, with a warm breeze. It is humid, and there are storm clouds on the distant horizon.
Moon Phase
Half Moon
Joining
As mentioned before, in this roleplay cats are randomly generated. You may choose the gender, but the rest is random. However, the description given will be fairly vague (for example "small black she-cat with blue eyes and white paws" or "long-furred ginger tabby tom with green eyes and a white tail-tip") so that you can expand on it more and add more information. The only two rules about this are: 1) you may completely change one MINOR aspect of their appearance (for example, you could change the color of their eyes, or take away their tabby markings, or adjust their size or pelt color slightly. You may not, however, completely change their overall look, such as making a black cat white or a small cat large), and 2) you may not contradict anything that's been given (so if the description says they have one white paw, you can't say they have four black paws; however, having three black paws and one white paw would be fine). If you are completely dissatisfied with your character's appearance- like, you don't like a single aspect of it- you can choose to completely re-roll. Cats will be given a randomly-generated "suggested" name but you can change that if you like, it's just something to give them a temporary identifier until they choose a proper name.
As of now, there's no limit on number of characters; you can have as many as you like. I also don't have a rule about having the same number of toms and she-cats. As long as the numbers OVERALL remain fairly balanced (like, no more than about 20% more of one gender than the other) there won't be any rules about individual players balancing their characters.
Finally, your cat will be assigned a mentor by me, which- for now- will also be roleplayed by me. Said mentor will only appear in their dreams while they are asleep. And one last thing: cats generally "spawn" alone in the Cavern of Runes, but on occasion two or even three might be "born" at once. These cats are assumed to be littermates, even though they may not actually share any appearance traits. If you make your character at the same time as someone else, or make multiple at once, it's up to you whether you want those cats to be "born" at the same time or not. Otherwise, when creating your character, you can make them up to a moon and a half old (since they came from the cave at least), so long as they are still younger than Morningpaw. After a few people join and the roleplay is established, this will be changed so that all subsequent new characters will be "newborn."
So, to get started, just request to make a character (or multiple) and either give me the desired genders or say you want them randomized (if you decide you dislike the given genders, you may switch them after the character's creation). I reserve the right to reject people who don't appear to be literate enough for this roleplay.
As of now, there's no limit on number of characters; you can have as many as you like. I also don't have a rule about having the same number of toms and she-cats. As long as the numbers OVERALL remain fairly balanced (like, no more than about 20% more of one gender than the other) there won't be any rules about individual players balancing their characters.
Finally, your cat will be assigned a mentor by me, which- for now- will also be roleplayed by me. Said mentor will only appear in their dreams while they are asleep. And one last thing: cats generally "spawn" alone in the Cavern of Runes, but on occasion two or even three might be "born" at once. These cats are assumed to be littermates, even though they may not actually share any appearance traits. If you make your character at the same time as someone else, or make multiple at once, it's up to you whether you want those cats to be "born" at the same time or not. Otherwise, when creating your character, you can make them up to a moon and a half old (since they came from the cave at least), so long as they are still younger than Morningpaw. After a few people join and the roleplay is established, this will be changed so that all subsequent new characters will be "newborn."
So, to get started, just request to make a character (or multiple) and either give me the desired genders or say you want them randomized (if you decide you dislike the given genders, you may switch them after the character's creation). I reserve the right to reject people who don't appear to be literate enough for this roleplay.
