General Rules


SPAMing a forum or a thread is a banable offense

Constant God-moding is a banable offense unless it is a higher Squad officer training a lower ranked character.

Continuous autohitting is a banable offense unless it is a higher Squad officer training a lower ranked character.

Literacy and good writing and roleplaying skills will trump power every time.

No one is a main character from the anime or manga without specific permission of the Guild Captain or Guild Vice Captains.

Be respectful of those who have been playing longer than you. Please see the Code of Conduct for All Players for more details on what "respectful" is.

Current Guild Officers have the final say in any dispute.

A current list of Squad Captains and Squad Vice Captains is available in the thread called "Whos Who"

Follow all Gaia Guild and Gaia Forum rules.

This is a PG-13 guild; there are minors present and active in this guild.

Have a character profile for your character worked out and posted either in the main forum (under Character Profiles) or in the squad you are a member of.

All squads have different rules and specialties. Please apply in the squad you wish to be a part of and follow their rules and obey the Squad Captain and Squad Vice Captain.

Each squad is independent of each other unless there is a guild-wide plot, then each squad is expected to cooperate with each other to further and resolve that guild plot.

If you have a guild that you want others here to know about, PM the Guild Mule or the Guild Owner with the information and we will work on Affiliate status. DO NOT advertise it in the main forum, especially if it is another Bleach guild.

All traffic going to and from Earth MUST roleplay through the World Penetration Gate located in Squad 12. Anyone not posting that they are going to Earth through that portal will have their roleplay deleted.

Bakotou are illegal weapons. There is no circumstance where they will be allowed to RPCs at all. Those using them will either be ejected from the guild or they will be killed in a subplot. All users of these weapons have died, without exception. If you wish to have a plot where your character dies, this is one way to do it, but your RPC will be irrevocably dead, no hope of bringing it back.



Definition of Terms

Autohiting - Declaring that you have hit an opponent without them agreeing to being hit and without giving them a chance to react or defend themselves. Example: "Daven jumped in and hit EvilWolf fifteen times in the throat. She flew backward 30 yards and landed hard on the ground, having trouble breathing."
Bankai - "All Release", a zanpakto's final form, it's most powerful
Character - The person the player is pretending to be. Abbreviated as RPC or PC.
Character Knowledge - Knowledge that the character has gained through play.
GodModing/GodModeing - A roleplaying term for when the character is impossible to hit, never gets hurt, has super uber skills that no one can defeat and for pulling new skills out of thin air.
Guild - The Sereitei
Guild Captain - Daven Moto, the current owner
Guild Vice Captain - red_moon_wolfess, Jan-san and kazi_kage
Hakudo - Hand to hand martial arts ability
Hoho - Using Spirit Pressure to cause effects with the feet, namely Flash Steps and Standing on Air
Kido - Demon Magic or the spells of a Shinigami
NPC - Non-Player Character, an "extra" or an opponent, someone the player is NOT.
Out Of Character - When the player is stating something or declaring something, not the character. Abbreviated as OOC or shown in forum like (( and )).
Player Knowledge - Knowledge that the player has that the Character does not.
Reiatsu - Spiritual Pressure
Roleplaying - The action and reaction you do in playing and pretending to be your character. Abbreviated as RP or PRP for "Private Role Play"
Shikai - First Release, a Zanpakto's special ability
Shunpo - "Flash Step", the ability to instantly move from one point to another
SPAMing - Posting multiple times in various places without the post being relevant to anything.
Squad - The specific group within the Guild, be it the Vizards or the Seventh Squad.
Squad Captain - Crew member in charge of a specific squad
Squad Officer - A member of a squad who has a "seat", similar to being a Sergeant in the military.
Squad Vice Captain - Crew member who is the Vice Captain of a squad and assistant to the Squad Captain
User/Player - The person playing the character, the person behind the computer
Vizard - A former Shinigami with Hollow powers, not a member of the Soul Society
Zanpakto - "Soul Slayer", the Sword of a Shinigami


Powers and Abilities

New members of the guild have a basic Zanpakto, and training in Kidou up to number 10, and that is all. Basic abilities in fighting, hand to hand, running and endurance. The new member is considered to be equivilent to the guard, the extra that gets beaten up by the opponent, the student. They are nothing special.

Consistent and good roleplaying in the guild will move this character up through the ranks to Shinigami where they have their own specialized Zanpakto, built out of their own spirit energy, the ability to stand on the air and Kidou up to 40.

Shunpo (Flash Step) is a special ability restricted ONLY to Vice Captains and Captains. Special authorization from the Guild Captain or Guild Vice Captains is needed to be trained in Shunpo for anyone else. (In roleplaying effect, you can run fast, you can stand on the air, but you cannot instantly move to another point.)

Please see the below rules for Shikai and Bankai.

Training must be gone through for any and all skills not listed here. Any Kidou higher than 40 must be trained for by someone who is either a member of Squad 5 or someone who has that skill already. In no case will Kidou above 60 be taught to those who are not Vice Captains. Vice Captains of Squads can use Kidou from 60 to 80. Only Captains of Squads can use Kidou of 80 or higher.

Please see Squad 5 for a list of authorized Kidou that is in use in this guild.

At any time, anyone who is claiming to be able to use a specific power should be prepared to show the thread that they trained in to get that power. A full list of the character's powers and skills should be posted with the Character profile someplace where others can access it (it is suggested that it either be part of the profile in the main forum, the profile in the squad or in the personal Gaian character journal).

Special abilities (unique Kidou, special attacks, and so on) are able to be developed in the play of the character, but they need to be approved by the Guild Captain or Guild Vice Captains.


Code of Conduct


Never disrespect a Captain or Vice-Captain

Respect higher seats.

Respect others and do not start something with other people.

Even if you say it is just how you're RPC is, it is still inexcusable.

Those found helping them and knowing they were once banned will feel the same wrath.

If you step out of line you be warned by a Captain.

If you step out of line you again you will be confronted by one of the Guild -Vice-Captains.

If you still are causing trouble you are banned.

Players found to be attempting to circumvent the restrictions on Shikai/Bankai/Kidou by the use of anything, including items, animal powers, Squad 12 experiments, will be warned once, then banned.

Players found to be breaking the rules in a very blatant way will be banned. It will not matter if your account was hacked or you were going crazy.

Players who will be away from the Seritei for an extended period of time should let someone know, preferably the Captain of their Squad. Players gone after posting such notification will not lose anything. Players who are missing for an extended period without any kind of notification will be considered to have resigned from the Guild, and anything they have can and will be given to others to play.

Any questions about the rules, any disputes with the rules, any questions about your character should be directed to your Squad Captain first.

Those found to be making up powers in the heat of battle then adding it to their profiles will be warned about this action ONCE. Further actions of the same nature will result in a ban.

Warnings will be issued for poor grammar and bad skills in typing. Please pay attention to how you write. I don't want to have to eject someone from the guild for using 1337 speak.

"Squad Hopping" is frowned upon. If you wish to change squads for some reason, you must secure the permission of your current Squad Captain, the Squad Captain of the squad you wish to transfer to, you must state a good reason why you wish to transfer squads. All requests will be considered, not all requests will be granted.

Any enemy Arancar/Hollow characters should only be played on mule accounts. This is to avoid confusion when a player posts as to which character is doing the actions stated.

Family/Clan groups have no real power in roleplays. It is simply another layer to a character and a way to be allies or friends with others.

Any plots for characters (including those that are going to involve more than just yourself) MUST be cleared with some member of the staff, Captain or Vice Captain or Guild Officers BEFORE play starts. The more people that the plot affects the more people should know about it before hand. This is to avoid having a huge problem where there are only three people who know what is going on, and the entire Sereitei is alerted to a "problem" that is actually not a problem at all.

As of this posting of the rules, all characters who are in the Sereitei are now locked into their squads, no squad hopping. All powers and abilities are in their final form and can't be added to, unless it is through roleplay. All new members are required to come up with new characters (meaning they cannot import their character from other guilds) and all applications to the guild that do not follow the guidelines laid out on the front page of the Guild will be rejected. The grace period is over folks.


Restrictions on Shikai

No new guild member has Shikai to start with. They can acquire Shikai after two months of playing and active roleplay posting in the guild, but upon joining the guild they only have their zanpakto. They may get their Shikai through training with a Squad Captain or Vice Captain or authorized "other" squad member with the approval of the Captain after two months. This is as fast as any new member can acquire Shikai.

Shikai will be a limited special attack, it will involve a transformation of some sort of the Zanpakto from its normal form and it can have a special attack that does extra damage. This is limited to your imagination, but it will be very limited in nature. One effect or power, or one major and one minor will be all that a Shikai can do. It may also be limited in duration or damage.

Shikai should be worked out by the Player for their character and must be approved by the Captain of the Squad they are a member of, or the Guild Vice Captains or Guild Captain if they are not a member of a squad.


Restrictions on Bankai

Restricted to Captains or Vice Captains ONLY, and some Vizards. The list of "authorized Bankai Users" is updated as necessary and kept up to date and can be found in the Main Forum.

Captains can train their own Vice Captains in Bankai with the approval of the Guild Owner/Captain or the Guild Vice Captains. The person to be trained must be a superior roleplayer, as evinced by multiple roleplay threads and consistent posts and activity in their squad and in the guild in general.

Anyone who is training for Bankai MUST have their Bankai power completely worked out as to what it does, how it operates, the play and combat effects, problems and weaknesses. This must be turned in to the Squad Captain who will use it as part of the recommendation process before training begins. Additional powers may be developed off this basic power "template" at later points during roleplay, but all powers and abilities must be consistent and relative to the Shikai power of the character.

Only in extraordinary circumstances should a 3rd seat have Bankai. And those should be on a case by case basis.


Selection of New Captains

All prospective Captains must have their Bankai as a prerequisite.

There are three ways a new Squad Captain is selected:


Appointed by the Guild Owner/Captain and at least two of the three Guild Vice Captains or all three Guild Vice Captains if the Guild Owner/Captain is not available for one reason or another.

Recommended by Five Current Captains (who have had their position for at least two months) and approved by three other Captains who were not involved in the recommendation. (This allows for schedules being off, work and school and real life problems.)

A challenge combat, played out in the forum of the Squad being challenged for, observed by three Vice Capitan or Captain level role players, with the combat going 25 posts on each side (for a total of 50 posts). The three "official" observers discuss in private (PMs) which of the two they believe showed the best role playing ability and the best balance of powers, the least god-modding and autohitting and the most literacy. One of these "observers" has to be a VC or Guild Captain.


Any ties will be decided by the Guild Owner/Captain, or the VCs if the Guild Owner/Captain is one of those that caused the tie.

Any selection for a Captain that goes for longer than a month for various reasons is automatically abolished and the process begins again. This allows for a timely selection as well as understanding about real life of the players.

Any Squad Captain or Squad Vice Captain who for some reason loses their position be allowed to keep any skills they trained in, including Shunpo and Bankai as long as they play the same character. If the player makes a new character, then they have to start over in training as usual.

Vice Captains are appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the Squad Captain.


Special rules for Vizards


They are a separate group from the Soul Society.

They are a loose organization; all Vizards are equal to each other, with one or two being the effective leaders.

Once declared as a Vizard (through a process called Hollowfication) the former Shinigami is cast out of the Soul Society as a traitor.

Generally Vizards are mercenaries who occasionally help the Soul Society for their own reasons, but they are not generally welcomed in the ranks of the Shinigami.

In very extreme circumstances, the Hollow can be sealed back up, but the Shinigami can never loose them again.

To become a Vizard, the character in question must have been of at least Vice Captain level in power and have achieved Bankai.

All powers are kept by the new Vizard (shunpo, kidou and other powers), and the new Vizard gains the ability to fire Cero-like blasts from their zanpakto, some regenerative powers during battle and increased speed of attacks.

While mask is manifest, Vizard specific powers can be used. When the mask is not manifested and worn, those powers cannot be used.



Kido rules


The list of current kidous are located in the fifth division library and is updated frequently.

As stated above, everyone already has training in kido up to number 10. Anything higher than that can only be taught by authorized trainers. (listed below)

New members are restricted to learning kidous up to 35.

Seated active members are allowed to be trained kidous up to 40 unless recommended for more training by fifth division captain.

Squad Captains and Squad Vice Captains are eligible to learn any kidous listed.

Only certain shinigami within the guild are authorized to teach kidou. These individuals are only authorized to teach the kidous they know.

Qualified Kidou Trainers-





Other Kido/Technique Trainers-
(The following are not true kido but are fighting techniques that are combined with kido energy.)
Qualified Shunko Users-




Qualified "Reverse Demon" Users/Trainers-



You cannot invent your own kidous unless:
- You have mastered all current kidous.
- Written approval from the fifth division captain.
- The kidou has a complete description and is reasonable in number and power. (The description will be added to the kidou list in 5th division)


Penalties

Those who are caught disobeying these rules will be warned.
The second time will result in the member being warned by the Guild Captain or Guild Vice Captains.
The third time being caught will result in a ban.
Those found to be returning to the guild will be permanently banned. Any characters of the player will be banned and not let back in.
Squad Captains are the final authority in their squads. Disputes will be settled by the Guild Captain or Guild Vice Captains.