This post (hopefully!) covers all the basics of how the community works, and goes over some behavioral rules, which I'm sure you'd all follow anyway. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!
Community Mods
sanalith/Shannon: Owner and maintainer, responsible for challenges
inabsentialuci/MC: Leader of Team Red Rose
erinm_4600/Erin: Leader of Team White Rose
General Rules
1.) Play nice! Don't harass any members, leave rude comments on their challenge submissions, or engage in any sort of bullying or threatening behavior. If you ever have an issue with another member you can't resolve, please don't hesitate to
contact me or your team leader.
2.) No bashing of any fandoms, characters, the actors and actresses who portray them, or the real life people they may represent. We won't all agree on everything, and discussion is not only allowed but encouraged! Being a historical community, I hope we're all open to learning new things. But be sure to keep things civil.
3.) Please be cognizant of spoilers, but also be aware that - especially in the case of older fandoms - you may learn things you weren't expecting. Works relating to shows that are still airing or movies that are still in theatres should be entirely behind a cut and clear warnings placed.
4.) Plagiarism of any kind will not be tolerated. All work you submit to this community must be entirely yours (unless a challenge specifically calls for collaboration).
Community Info
Most of you are probably used to the way things go, but just in case we have some landcomm newbies, here's how everything works!
Landcomms are interactive challenge communities where members join teams and earn points by completing various challenges. Landcomms can focus on a single fandom, all fandoms, or anything in between. This one deals specifically with historical fandoms. This means that all challenge submissions must relate in some way to a historical fandom or - in some cases - historical persons. More information and examples of acceptable fandoms can be found
here. If you're not sure if something counts, don't hesitate to ask!
Our community is broken up into three parts:
>>
a_war_of_roses: This is the main hub community, which is named for a series of battles between two Houses for the throne of England in the 15th Century. All challenges will be posted here, as well as any important announcements.
>>
team_red_rose and
team_white_rose: Each member will join one of these two teams, named for the two rivals in the War of Roses, House Lancaster and House York. These communities will be completely locked, so members of opposing teams can't see any strategizing that may be occurring.
>>
union_rose: When Henry Tudor of House Lancaster became King of England, he married Elizabeth of York and combined their two crests into one red and white flower, known as the Union Rose (or Tudor Rose). As such, this community is open for posting from members of both teams. It's main use is as an option for posting challenge submissions, but it's also open to completely social posts of all kinds.
Challenge Rules
1.) Rounds will generally run for three months.
2.) Normal challenges will be posted weekly and will be open for two weeks. Occasionally, we may have flash challenges that are only open for two or three days. Depending on interest, we may also have more involved challenges that last for a month, or for the entire round.
3.) While some people enjoy entering every challenge, do NOT feel as though you have to. Ideally, I'd like everyone to participate a minimum of once every two weeks. If you've not participated in a month, I will send you a warning. If you remain unresponsive, you may be removed from the community. This is to keep participation among the teams as even as possible, so each side has an equal chance of winning.
4.) I will do my best to vary challenges as much as possible to give everyone a chance to enter the things they're best at. Examples includes graphics (icons, picspams, wallpapers, etc,), writing (fic and meta), puzzles (word searches, crosswords, griddlers, jigsaws, fallen phrases, etc.), fanmixes, stamping, and other miscellaneous things like dollmakers, flash games, and polyvore.
5.) As stated earlier, all challenge submissions must relate in some way to historical fandoms. If you end up using a fandom I don't consider appropriate, you will receive full points for that challenge, but I will notify you and ask that you not use that fandom again.
6.) All submissions must be posted in one of three ways: Directly in the comments of the challenge post, in an unlocked personal journal or community, or to
union_rose. Be sure to link to your work at the challenge post, otherwise it will not be counted for points!
7.) Any images larger than 400x400 pixels should be placed behind a cut to preserve our members' bandwidth. For fanmix challenges, please do NOT include a download link if you are posting directly in the comments or to
union_rose. You may post it to your personal journal and then link to it. However, you must also provide a non-downloadable option, such as a playlist at 8tracks or YouTube.
8.) All submissions must be newly made specially for each challenge. You may not submit work you've previously used in other communities, or in your own personal journal.
9.) I'll often be entering challenges and earning points along with everyone, unless of course it's for a trivia quiz or crossword puzzle, or something I basically already know the answers to. My points will always go to the team with the least amount of participation for that challenge. (My "team" will be Tudor Rose, since that combines both red and white.)
Signature Tags
A sigtag is a way of signing your challenge entries. It consists of your name/username and your team name. Unless otherwise noted, using a sigtag when you submit your work will earn you an additional point. Here are some basic rules concerning tags:
1.) Sigtags must be no larger than 450px combined. The most common size is 300x150px, but you can split it however you like.
2.) Images on sigtags must fall into one of the following categories:
>> Anything pertaining to an acceptable fandom. This includes characters, costumes, scenery, props, etc. Actors out of character do NOT count.
>> A real-life historical figure
>> A famous historical location, such as a castle or temple, or something like the Pyramids or Great Wall of China
>> Heraldic crests
>> Stock images containing red or white roses
3.) You can obtain sigtags in a variety of ways. You can make your own, or you can make a post in your team comm asking other members to make one for you. Some challenges will also allow you to create tags, both for yourself and for others.
Here are some examples: