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1. Imperial Saga is an Alternate Universe panfandom role-play. We accept both original and canon characters, but no matter the source all characters must be altered to fit within the setting of the roleplay.
2. Imperial Saga is a community-based game, all in-character posts will be made to the imperial_saga community. To facilitate easier searching, we have created tags for all major locations within the setting, as well as all active characters. Please try to tag your posts with the appropriate character and location tags, if you tag into a post please add your character's tag to the post. If you see a tag is missing, please PM the mod journal or contact us via AIM and we will fix it as soon as possible.
3. You may not play more than 2 characters from a single canon, and you cannot play two characters from the same canon who interact a great deal. So for example, if you were to app from the canon Slayers, you could not app Lina and Naga, as the two interact a great deal, but you could app Gourry and Naga, as the two have never met. In addition, you may only play two original characters max, since this is primarily a panfandom game we encourage players to play canon characters. You may not app more than 5 characters unless you acquire an additional slot (see activity check below)
4. You are limited to one journal per character, unless you can justify a clear reason as to why you might need two. Characters with very distinct and different appearances (i.e. superheroes and sentai characters) or characters with an extremely expressive familiar character/characters (i.e. Digimon and Pokemon characters) are the most likely to benefit from this allowance. We will not allow more than 2 journals for a character. When apping, please include in the notes that you would like to use two journals and why.
5. Imperial Saga is set up to lend itself to antagonistic relationships between a number of PCs. That said, this atmosphere is meant to make for a more fun and interesting game, it should not translate to players. We require all players treat each other with respect, if you have an issue with another player we ask that you contact them and attempt to work it out in a civil and respectful manner. Should you feel you cannot do so, or if you are afraid such a conversation will not go well, please contact the mods and we will attempt to mediate the issue. We're all here to have fun, after all, and getting into big fights with other players is not conducive to a fun environment.
6.Due to the nature of the game, players are given a great deal of freedom to affect the setting and general political situation. Due to this, we ask that players make sure to keep in contact with each other and plan things out beforehand so that nobody ends up feeling slighted. When planning a plot, we ask that you post it in imperial_plots using the templates in the Ongoing Plots post. This gives players a chance to join in and give input on open plots, and see if it might affect their own plots or characters.
7. The game allows a great deal of IC power in the hands of players, such as the power for a ruler to betroth one character to another. These systems are all put in place to give the game flavorful mechanics players can make use of to make things more interesting, but using these systems to significantly alter a character's life should NEVER be exercised on another character without first contacting the player or players and making sure they are OK with it.
Note also that while high-ranking and ruler characters do wield a great deal of political power, characters are not required to accept their decrees. For example, a ruler could arrange a marriage and the character could decide not to and instead flee the Kingdom and join another. In general, if a ruler or high-ranking officer is going to give another character a large, binding order that will significantly alter the character's status in the game, such as marriage, check with the player first. Other, less impactful orders such as "Go reinforce our province's defenses against the invading army" do not require player permission, but again the character is free to disobey the orders if they so choose. By extension a ruler is free to mete out punishment as they choose, but if the order would be significant such as banishment or execution, this again MUST be cleared with the other player first.
Under no circumstances should the player of a higher-ranking character use this to attempt to coerce the player of a lower-ranking character to do something. While it is expected that high-ranking characters will give orders and will generally be obeyed, you should not be using this to force a player into a situation they are uncomfortable with. Again, communication is the key, the general rule of thumb is if it could be a big deal, talk to the player first.
8. Power-play (also known as god-modding) and using OOC information your character should not have to make IC decisions (also known as metagaming) are strictly forbidden. As this game does lend itself to a good deal of combat, players should be aware of and OK with the fact that their character will not win every fight. It's suggested to decide a winner of a battle or duel beforehand, which will help decide the overall flow of an ongoing plot. However, if neither player has a preference or can decide, players are encouraged to contact a mod who will assess the strengths and weaknesses of either side and making a ruling as to how the battle will play out.
9. If a character dies or is killed in the game, they are gone and should more than likely be dropped. However, while death is most likely the end, it does not have to be. There are a number of ways a character can return to life either temporarily or permanently, the most common of which is to escape the afterlife, either by confronting and defeating the proprietor of their respective afterlife realm in a battle of might or wits, or by escaping unnoticed.
Characters who revive in this fashion may, depending on the situation, have minions of the realm of death from which they escaped hounding them. If a character has died and the player, or a new player wishes to app a dead character, it is generally permissible, players who want their character to escape the afterlife and live again are allowed to do so, but there will probably be some IC logging required to justify it.
10. Since a game lives or dies on the activity of its players, we ask that you try to stay active. To that end, there will be an activity check every month. In order to pass activity check, a character must have made a single post or a 6-comment thread, of which they contributed at least 3 comments to. When an Activity Check is posted, you must comment with links to the activity for all your active players. A week after Activity Check is posted, a warning post will go up that will list all characters that failed to have activity posted for them. Players will have one week to post activity, or the character will be put on probation and ejected from the game.
You may also use this to earn an additional slot, if you have 5 or more characters and can make double the activity requirements (2 posts, 2 6-comment threads, or 1 post and 1 6-comment thread), you can earn an additional slot. You cannot earn more than 1 extra slot per activity check. Should you drop a character, you retain your additional slot. However, should a character in your lineup be dropped via probation, you will lose an extra slot.
11. Fortune favors the bold, and so do plots. Players who are proactive in planning and executing their own plots are more likely to see their characters rewarded for the effort. This ties into the "be active" rule, if your characters are active in plots and standard RP they will be rewarded.
12. Although this is an AU, characters are generally expected to remain in character. Obviously there will be variations due to a revised background and experiences within the game itself, but characters should not suddenly act wildly different than their canon versions.
13. Respect the decisions of the mods. While we generally want players to be able to choose the pacing and progression of the plot and setting, mods will still be introducing events and situations that can throw a wrench into plans or the setting at large. Please respect the mod decisions and understand that even the most well-laid plots may have wrenches thrown into them without warning.
While we aren't out to ruin your plots, there will be occasions when the situation will dramatically change something, and while we're trying to let most plots play out unimpeded, occasionally we WILL be introducing situations that will interfere. We ask that you be flexible with this, and if you have issues to please come directly to the mods. In many cases, we may not even be aware that we are disrupting things, and would be more than happy to make changes so as to not disrupt your plots as much.
14. Above all else, have fun! This game is designed to encourage players to come up with interesting and exciting scenarios for their characters, so we hope you make the most of it and enjoy yourself!