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          ♦ Guild Rules and Policies ♦
                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

          This Guild's Rules are split into Golden Rules, Forum Rules, Crew Rules and Roleplaying Rules.

          Golden Rules are our most important rules, and carry heavy punishments if broken.
          Forum Rules are our everyday, garden-variety rules that helps us ensure our Guild's Forums are run smoothly.
          Crew Rules cover rules specific to the Crew Members of the Guild, detailing what they are and are not allowed to do with their Crew Position.
          Roleplaying Rules cover rules specific to Roleplaying here, participating in events, and building or editing your character and their abilities.

          The Guild's Policies detail how we do things, how things are run, and who is in charge of what.

          This Guild's Punishment System runs on a "Three Strikes and you're out" Policy:
            • Every Guild Member starts with a clean record; no strikes, no warnings.
            • Breaching our Rules could result in Warnings being given to the Guild Member or Strikes being placed on the Guild Member's record.
                      - Warnings do not remain on a Guild Member's record permanently; they are non-serious punishments designed to help us discourage potentially
                        harmful behaviors without affecting the Guild Member's record.
                      - Strikes remain on a Guild Member's record permanently, or until removed by the Guild Leader due to compassionate circumstances (for example,
                        they've shown a high degree of maturity, acceptance and growth, and are unlikely to repeat the offense).
            • After a Guild Member obtains 2 Strikes on their record, they are no longer able to qualify for Staff or Crew Positions in the Guild, until such time as
              punishments are removed from their record to the point they have less than 2 Strikes.
            • After a Guild Member obtains 3 Strikes on their record, they are banned from the Guild permanently and may not rejoin, unless they follow our
              "Rejoining After a Ban" Policy and are granted another chance.
            • No matter what, if a Guild Member attempts to circumvent the Punishment System by creating a new Gaia Account, or misleading us about their identity,
              they will immediately gain 3 Strikes on the spot and will be reported to Gaiaonline Staff if their attempts continue.

          The Rejoining After a Ban Policy (found in the "Policies" post below) details what to do if you've been banned, but want to return to
          the Guild.

          The Guild's Blacklist, which contains information on the users who have had punishments placed on their record, or who are banned from
          the Guild until further notice, is located in the "Crew-Only Subforum".

                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

          Suggestions and Feedback
          All Guild Members are able to suggest changes or edits to any Guild Rules or Policies (and in fact, to anything in the Guild).
          Questions, suggestions, concerns and feedback can be given in the Questions, Suggestions & Feedback Thread in the Main Hall.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

          This Thread and its contents are the intellectual property of Siel_Kosane, who reserves the right to change, duplicate or remove it at any time.

          [ꜰᴏʀᴜᴍ ʀᴜʟᴇ] | All content posted must be PG-13+ material only.
               As this is a Guild on Gaia, we are a PG-13+ Community that may include minors. Please keep this fact in mind as you spend time with us here in the Guild.

               Sexually Explicit Material
               Adult or sexually explicit material of any kind is strictly forbidden. Gaia's Terms of Service forbid the posting of any such material.
               The Punishment for breaching this part of the rule is an instant and permanent ban from the Guild.

               In-Roleplay Adult Encounters must be Off-Screen
               There will be times where Roleplayers may suggest that some adult encounters occur between characters, but this must be done off-screen. To do so, simply say that your
               characters "spend the night together" or otherwise "are lovers", but at no point are you to explicitly say what they do off-screen and out of sight.
               The Punishment for breaching this part of the rule is typically a warning. The offending post may also be deleted or edited by a Crew Member. Repeat offences attract
               more serious punishments.

               Horror and Gore
               Because we are dealing with a theme that involves a lot of fighting, bloodshed, plot twists and betrayals, some horror themes and some showing of blood, wounds, etc are acceptable,
               however care should be taken to ensure that the content is suitable for young adults. Story Roleplays may involve strong imagery of tense, somewhat terrifying situations, but they should
               be in the spirit of the theme, and not intended to shock or disturb.
               The Punishment for breaching this part of the rule is typically a warning. The offending post may also be deleted or edited by a Crew Member. Repeat offences attract
               more serious punishments.


          [ꜰᴏʀᴜᴍ ʀᴜʟᴇ] | Swearing and Offensive Language directed at other Members is not permitted.

               Swearing or other offensive language directed at other Guild Members
               Out-of-character confrontations with other Guild Members should be kept as constructive and respectful as possible. Swearing, namecalling, bullying, or other antisocial behavior is not
               acceptable.
               The Punishment for breaching this part of the rule is typically a warning. The offending post may also be deleted or edited by a Crew Member. Repeat offences attract
               more serious punishments.

               In-character Swearing or other offensive language
               Having your character saying "s**t!" or "God Damnit!" in a tense or emotional situation makes sense, but be careful -- you should do your best not to offend other Guild Members with
               the content of your posts, regardless of if they are in-character or not. Offensive language from your Character, directed at other Characters, can be acceptable if it is clearly in the
               spirit of Roleplaying -- for example if your Character and someone else's Character are established as enemies -- however you should always do your best to show that the offensive
               language is purely for the Roleplay, and does not reflect how you would speak to the Guild Member(s) in person.
               The Punishment for breaching this part of the rule is typically a warning. The offending post may also be deleted or edited by a Crew Member. Repeat offences attract
               more serious punishments.


          [ꜰᴏʀᴜᴍ ʀᴜʟᴇ] | You must gain permission from a Crew Member or the Guild Leader in order to post new Threads in the Main Hall.
               The Main Hall is organised so that Members have an easy time finding reference material (such as our Rules and Policies, our Roleplaying Systems, and helpful Threads), and
               can keep up-to-date with the Guild's latest Announcements. Big Events may also make their way into the Main Hall from time to time.

               If you'd like to create a new Thread in the Main Hall, we ask that it be regarding something important, something that's fun for everyone, or something that benefits the Guild or other
               Guild Members in some way. Before you do go posting that new Thread, however, please gain permission from a Crew Member or the Guild Leader first. Tell that Staff Member what the
               Thread will be about, show them any drafts you may have, and if you get permission, go for it!

               Please note that in the case of Competitions, Events or Roleplays, you will need to gain permission from the Guild Leader directly. If the idea is doable, they'll often offer some help, or
               helpers, to ensure it goes smoothly.

               Punishments for breaching this rule are light, normally only earning a warning, but if you repeat this offense or refuse to follow the rule, you can earn more serious punishments.

          [ʀᴏʟᴇᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ ʀᴜʟᴇ] | Follow the RCP Character Creation Rules.
               The Roleplay Character Profiles Subforum has a Sticky for RCP Rules. We ask that you follow the rules we have posted there that refer specifically to banned or limited abilities,
               equipment your characters can have, or special traits or physical attributes characters can naturally possess.

               Its important to know what kinds of abilities, powers and gear your Character is allowed to have in the Guild, because if you try to post an RCP or Character that does not follow
               that setup, the RCP will not be accepted and you won't be able to Roleplay here using it.

               If you ever need help understanding how our RCP or Character Creation Systems work, you can feel free to contact an RCP Judge or the Guild Leader directly.


          [ʀᴏʟᴇᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ ʀᴜʟᴇ] | Character deaths are only allowed if the character's owner allows it.
               Any character can be killed in any Roleplay, if the character's owner specifically allows it. If the Characters' owner has not given their approval, others cannot kill their character,
               under any circumstances. All Characters can, however, be captured, or knocked out, or badly wounded, though these situations, too, will almost always be up to the character's
               owner to agree to, or not.

               In Guild-Wide Story Roleplays, those running the Roleplay may ask Guild Members if they can have those characters captured, knocked out, hospitalised, etc, for the purposes
               of the Story. Those in charge of the Roleplay will typically never ask for permission to, or seek to, outright kill a Guild Member's Character. If the Guild Member particularly
               wants a character of theirs to die during the events of a Story Roleplay, they are welcome to contact those in charge of the Roleplay to negotiate the terms of the event in question.

               Characters' Deaths should be pre-planned in advance with those in charge of the Roleplay.

               Those in charge of a Roleplay can choose which NPCs should die, how, and when, but will need to give fair warning to any Guild Members who control those NPCs in advance.

               As a caution, we ask that you show care when dealing with themes of death, suicide, sacrifice or mortality in this Guild, and remember that we may have Members of varying
               ages present.


          [ʀᴏʟᴇᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ ʀᴜʟᴇ] | One Reaction (per action sent your way) per post, one Action per post.
               During Roleplaying Posts where fighting is present, we follow a simple setup of "One Reaction (per action sent your way) per post, one Action per post".

               For the purpose of simplicity, an Action in Roleplaying is considered to be anything you do that requires another character to react to it, or dictate if the attack connected, or
               an effect succeeded, and how effectively. You are only allowed to perform one such Action per post, because the moment you perform it, you can't continue until the other character
               reacts to it and dictates how it gets resolved.

               For example, if your character launches an attack at another character, you must stop your post there, and allow the defending character to dictate what they do about it, or if they
               take any damage, or are affected by any effects delivered by your attack.

                    Examples of Actions that require reactions from other characters:
                         • Attacking an opponent with your weapon (while still allowing them to dictate if the attack lands, and how much damage they sustain, if any).
                         • Casting a Magic Spell against an opponent (while still allowing them to dictate if the spell hits them, how much damage they sustain, and how badly any
                              secondary effects affect them).
                         • Triggering a trap against other characters, or causing the ground beneath another character's feet to crumble or fall away, or dodging an incoming projectile that
                              is now on-course to hit another character (that last one counts as both a Reaction and an Action).

                    Examples of acts that do not require reactions from other characters:
                         • Speech; talking to yourself, or another character (unless you're specifically waiting for them to answer you).
                         • Preparing a spell, drawing or readying a weapon, adjusting your equipment, eating or drinking, moving about the area. Please make sure your character has enough
                         time to believably be able to do these things, though!

                    Definition of Reactions:
                         The actions you take to resolve or otherwise determine the results of another characters' attack, cast spell, or the results of environmental threats like falling rocks
                         headed your way. So long as your character has enough time to be able to believably perform the reactions you're dictating, you can largely react however you like.
                         A good rule of thumb though, is to react to each Action sent your way, once each, or all at once. If you have five different attacks coming at you and there's a way
                         to believably react to the first three individually, then the final two at the same time, go for it! The key is ensuring your character has enough time to react in the way
                         you claim they are reacting. Plus, whether or not they could pull
                         off the reaction itself should be believable.


          [ʀᴏʟᴇᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ ʀᴜʟᴇ] | No God-Modding or unfair Roleplaying
               The best rule of thumb for Roleplaying is, if you can't make it believable, your character can't do it! If you want to avoid taking damage, you have to know how to RP
               your way out of danger in believable ways. If you want to survive the kills-everything-it-hits ultra-laser attack, there had better be a good reason as to how your character
               is able to pull off such a feat. If you want to trigger a giant trap that your enemies have fallen into, there had better have been time and effort beforehand to set it up.

               There are several ways a person can god-mod or Roleplay unfairly. All of the following are not permitted:
                    • Auto-hitting, Auto-dodging, Auto-blocking and Auto-immunity;
                    • Loadout Clinging;
                    • Puppeteering;
                    • Speedplaying;
                    • Timetraveling (the Roleplaying kind, not the act of characters travelling back or forwards in time in a Story that allows it);
                    • Meta-gaming;
                    • Revisioning;
                    • Powerplaying.

               If you would like to see the definitions of each of these types of Roleplaying no-nos, they are listed in our Roleplay Character Profiles Subforum, in the Roleplaying
               Do's and Don't's Thread.


          [ʀᴏʟᴇᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ ʀᴜʟᴇ] | Please respect the wishes of those running Story Roleplays, Spars, Competitions or other RP Events.
               Typically this will boil down to adhering to the advice and requests of those running these events, so that they can be run smoothly. Guild Members who seek to railroad
               a Roleplay's story in a particular direction that is not where those in charge of the Roleplay want it to go may ask that Guild Member to stop, or change their direction
               in the Roleplay so that everything goes according to plan. Whenever possible, these requests should be made as early as possible, as respectful as possible, and with
               care towards the Guild Member(s) in question. Everyone should have level heads, and be receptive to the needs and preferences of others as much as possible.