F.A.Q.
Basic Questions
+ Is this a fast paced roleplaying community?
No, it's not. So if you're looking for a place that has characters updating everyday and flowing over with activity, this isn't it. We're pretty lax around here so having booming activity isn't all that important to us. We just like role playing with each other.
+ Where do first-person posts go?
In your character journals. (Noted, just to clarify that this is journal-based, not community-based)
+ Why is there a separate community just for posting applications? Why not just post them as a comment, like every other role-play?
Some characters being applied here will likely be those who actually died in their fandom. To avoid people scrolling through and being hit with onslaughts of spoilers, people post their applications with all the possibly spoilery bits behind an LJ-cut. The whole concept of not remembering how one died also makes it a mystery as to whether the mun fabricated a death for their character or the character actually does die in their fandom.
+ My reserve ran out! Can I re-reserve right away?
No. If you do miss your reserve date, you are allowed to ask for a three day extension. After that point if the application is not in, you must wait a week before reapplying.
+ Is there any time during the role play where I CAN NOT apply?
Yes. During the full moon events, we do not allow applications. This is because someone who has just arrived to the village, it might be hard for them to jump right into an event. During the time of the event, we do close down applications. We'll note it in the application section so we won't spring it on you. But for a list of the times we'll shut down applications, you can find the full moon event schedule here. If an application is posted during that time, we will inform you, not consider the application, and delete it (in that order). Once the event is over, feel free to send in your application again.
+ What exactly constitutes godmoding?
Godmoding is something all RPers have done at least once in their lifetime. When godmoding, people tend to have a character attack another character and not give that character a chance to dodge, forcing another character into a situation that could be avoided but not giving that other character the chance, killing another character without informing the mun of that character or planning the whole plot out with the other mun, never letting your character take a hit or two, and outright controlling the other characters actions. You can't say that another character looked at yours with awe when you don't know whether or not that would happen -- honestly, you wouldn't want someone to tell you what your character is doing according to them, so please don't do that to others.
Sheol Related Questions
+ How do 1st person interactions work here?
For Voice Messages: The crow your character has is linked to everyone else's crow. Speak to the crow and it will play back the message through everyone else's crow, unless you request that the crow only play back your message to a specific person (in other words, that's how a filtered entry works). Voice messages can also be made private. Sometimes, your private thoughts can be released if someone notices their crow trying to hold back saying something and shakes the crow hard enough until it tells all. The percentage of how hard it will be for someone to get their crow to spill someone's private messages is determined by the mun who made the message. If your character is getting annoyed by the voice messages of others or wants to sleep without the crow playing back people's voices, just tell the crow to "shut up" or anything along those lines and it will stay silent until you wake up or until you start talking to it again.
For Written Messages: The crow can also turn into parchment, still keeping it's one eye on the top of the page, dead center. This happens when you either grab the crow and squeeze it or if you mention anything about wanting to write something. Other people's written messages will appear on the parchment. Written messages can be made private or filtered, just like voice messages. Private messages that can be hacked into appear as a 'shiny spot' on the parchment to other people. Just like with the voice posts, the percentage of how hard it will be to hack the message is determined by the mun who made it. The crow will automatically turn back when you're done using it as parchment.
How Icons Work: The eye acts as a sort of 'camera', so you can see a person's smile, tears, or anger. It's sort of like a webcam with the 'screen' showing who you're talking to being the crow's eye. You can only see the reactions of the person you're speaking/writing to, as the crow can't show you everyone at once.
By The Way: Of course, the crow isn't the only way to interact. Action posts are encouraged so the characters can actually meet face to face.
+ Can I hurt/kill the crow?
If you try, the crow will make you see in your minds eye one of your worst memories as it reforms itself. It'll continue to follow you and record messages for you, but it'll be wary of your actions for the next time. Even attacking the crow in any sort of hostile way will reward you with a punishment.
+ Is there a reoccurring event in this village?
Yep. Four days before every full moon, the Reaper comes along to kidnap anyone who was foolish enough to not hide themselves. People who are taken can be gone from as short as overnight or up to three days (this is if they are not on hiatus). When they return, they'll be ice cold to the touch for a day or so and very visibly frightened of something they can't remember at all. The fear will die down either after someone calms them down or after they realize they're safe.
+ Does anything special happen during the four days before a full moon?
You bet. During the four days before the full moon, the perks of no pain, no sickness, no hunger, no thirst, and the automatic closing of wounds are temporarily taken away. If they haven't been eating or drinking, they'll be extremely hungry or thirsty when they wake up on the first day of that week. If they were injured yesterday, they'll feel it in the morning. It'll be easier than normal for them to get sick. Wounds won't close. On top of that, that Spring-like weather is now more like the dead of winter and outright freezing. All of those 'perks', as well as the nice weather, come back after the night of the full moon.
+ What other events happen here?
Since the Reaper gets bored from time to time, it'll also do little week-long events every so often, such as the classic gender-swap or body-swap to something downright odd, like your log cabin suddenly talking to you. If you have an idea for an event, don't be afraid to PM sheol_mods about it ♥
+ Since Sheol is in Hell, there must be monsters around, right?
Nope. The Reaper might send some imps out to play during an event, but the only 'animals' in Sheol and the forest surrounding it are your character and everyone else living around him/her, unless the Reaper decides to send some dogs or cats to Sheol for whatever reason.
+ Are there any major buildings in this village, besides the log cabins?
There are unmanned stores containing food, clothing, and various other goods (spices, oils, sheets, blankets, lanterns, candles, stuff like that). Those stores are larger than the log cabin houses and are only there as a source of familiarity (people are used to eating and drinking daily, even though there's no need for it here ... most times). There are four other large cabins around, but they are empty initially. If you want to do something with one of the large empty cabins, please leave a comment here or PM sheol_mods.
+ What if my character arrives with a cell phone or another electronic device? With Sheol having no technology, what does this mean for them?
Most characters usually have a cell phone. It's all right for them to arrive with the cell phone to check and see if they have service. But the power won't last for long. Any electronically device won't last more than 20 minutes, even if your character charged it before leaving the house (and then arrived in Sheol). If the device is turned off, the battery life will still drain and maybe when your character decides to turn it back on, it won't. The Reaper doesn't like gadgets and will be making sure you can't use yours.
+ Does Sheol have clocks?
No, it doesn't. Clocks run on some sort of energy and it's not allowed. So unless someone makes a sundial or something of the sort, your character will have to develop a sense of time on their own.
Character Related Questions
+ Where exactly is my character right now?
They're in the village of Sheol, which is a village of log cabins surrounded by a forest. The forest is surrounded by a fog that, if walked through, will send your character to the other side of the village (sort of like a 'world map' in a game -- if you go to the end of it, your cursor representing you ends up on the exact opposite side). The weather in this village is always a pleasant temperature (think Springtime -- not cold, but not hot either). Sheol is a peaceful looking village, but it is in full control of the Reaper and is literally a piece of Hell, but your characters won't know that right away.
+ What is my character like when they first arrive?
On arrival, your character will either end up in the middle of the village or in the forest. They will have no memory of how they died or even the DAY they died. The last thing they'll remember is the last time they went to sleep (or, if by some weird chance your character doesn't sleep, the last time they closed their eyes before entering the situation that caused their death). They will be wearing a black collar with strange, claw-like silver symbols all around it that can't be removed no matter what they try. It's loose enough that they can slide their fingers under it, but that's about it. They will also have a small black crow with one eye in the center of it's forehead that will follow them around for their entire stay.
+ How will my character know a cabin is his/hers?
It's something that they'll just know.
+ My character can't stand this place anymore! Can he leave?
Nope ♥ If you choose to drop a character, then it will be as if the Reaper has appeared randomly before the full moon comes out and has swept your character away. When this happens, anyone in the area will notice it. If someone else apps as a character that was dropped, then they'll have no memory of their previous stay in Sheol. Edit: If you character wanders through the fogged up forest, they'll eventually end up back at the village. If they try to fly out, they'll lose control of their wings and fall to the ground.
+ Can my character fight the Reaper?
It'll give the Reaper a good laugh before sweeping you away, but that's about it. The Reaper looks like a hooded form with nothing inside it (basically, a floating, tattered, black hood), but everything that makes up the Reaper is made of wind. You'll see any place your character tries to attack on the Reaper distort, though.
+ My character is an all-powerful god!
Not here, he/she isn't. All magical abilities have been lowered to the point where they're practically non-existent and any over-use of the simplest spells will tire your character out. It's sort of like starting on level one all over again.
+ My character is a highly skilled ninja!
That's nice. As long as they aren't using magic in any of their techniques, they're still a highly skilled ninja.
+ Besides the collar, the crow, the loss of magic, and not knowing how they died, is there anything else that has happened to my character?
Yep. They can't feel pain, they can't get sick, open wounds close within minutes no matter how severe they are, and they don't need food or water (but they can still eat and drink out of habit). If you get injured, while your wounds are closing, you can still bleed enough to faint. Your wounds won't close up if you've been decapitated or strewn in half, though.
+ Can my character die while in Sheol?
Something like that. When your character gets taken down in a way that there would be no way for them to survive (Ex. Chopped to pieces, ripped in half, decapitated, so on), they turn to ash and are carried away by their crow to be revived. After 24 hours, they will reappear in the forest with their crow. After dying two times, they will lose something very important to them (not like, 'they lost their wallet and passport', I mean like 'they cant feel happiness anymore' or 'they are now blind/deaf/dumb'). Every two deaths will make them lose something else precious to their humanity.
+ Will my character ever learn how they originally died?
Unless another character who is sent to Sheol witnessed their death at least a day before their own comes over and tells them what happened, they'll never know until the Reaper decides to let them know.
+ The stores are unmanned. Can my character work there?
If they're that bored, sure. There's no form of money there, so they'd only be monitoring what is being taken from the stores.
+ My character wears a collar and it's canonly important that they have it on them at all times.
The black collar with the silver writing on it will either be underneath or over that collar. That's up to you to decide.
+ My character is deathly afraid of birds.
You might want to consider applying as another character then.
+ My character would never want to shake the crow. Will they never be able to hack private voice entries?
Unless the entry is fairly easy to hack (as in an above 50% chance to hack), then that's correct. Shaking it is the only way to hack voice entries with a 51% or higher difficult to hack, so if they would never do that, then they'll never be able to. Don't worry about the concept of 'how the heck is my character supposed to know about your moonlogic in order to hack the entries', as the Reaper will hint at it when he decides to let everyone know where they are, unless of course, they figure it out by accident. It'll be up to other characters to tell newcomers how to do it.
+ My original character was based off of a fandom where he/she knew characters that were canon to that fandom. Will he/she remember them if they appear in Sheol?
If your fandom-based OC knew canon characters to that fandom, then they have no knowledge of those fandom characters coming in here. If there are other OCs around that they knew from whatever fandom-based place they originated from, then sure, they will still remember them, but they won't remember any canon characters (for example, A may be best friends with B and canon-character-1 from where he originated from, but he will only remember being friends with B. At most, A could comment that he feels as if he's forgetting something, but those memories won't return). Some people felt it could create awkward and very Mary-Sue-ish situations, so that's why this is being changed.
+ I think someone's original character is a complete Mary Sue. What should I do about it?
Kill it with fire Inform the mun about her character. If you're afraid of the situation that could occur from it or they don't take it well, then PM sheol_mods and we'll handle it. We take care to make sure Mary Sues don't make it past the application process as it is, so we hope none slip through.
+ In canon, my character never died! Can I not apply as them here?
You definitely can. Their death does not have to be in canon at all and you can completely make it up. Just don't get too carried away if you choose to get creative.
+ There's a character in this RP who dies before he meets my character/is supposed to die in canon, which happens to be right near my character. I really want to play my character as if that didn't happen. Is this possible?
Actually, yes, it is. You can think of it as 'multiple possibilities to multiple situations' -- a sort of 'this could have happened, and in my version of this timeline, it did, but in your version of the same timeline, it did not' thing. Don't feel as if you absolutely must play characters according to another player's timeline. If you still want to do things that way, that's most definitely fine, but I'm just letting you know that you don't have to.
Questions Asked By Other Players (Added to avoid any accidental repeats of questions already answered)
+Due to an inconsistency in the fandom itself, a character I want to app exists and dies in various ways. Sad thing is they're all cannon. Will it matter which existence I choose?
No, it doesn't matter which one you choose.
+Does the character need to have done something Hell-worthy in order to be consigned to Sheol? Or is it determined by the whims of the Reaper, or some other factor?
People who do Hell-worthy things definitely get tossed into Sheol, but a lot of people who were supposed to go to a much nicer place at the end of their lives end up there too "by mistake" and get stuck there. The Reaper just likes to get his hands on whoever he can, so it's pretty much determined by his whims.
+Are there any restrictions on the type of character you can create? For instance, I had the idea that it might be fun to create a Siren/Merfolk type character who actually lives in that lake. You made it clear that magic becomes very basic and unreliable, and god-type characters aren't anymore, but are there restrictions on things such as a character who has minor shapeshifting abilities (re: fins to legs and back) or mostly harmless 'flavor' abilities?
Yes, if it's a minor ability, such as the one mentioned, then it's perfectly fine.
+What belongings, if any, does the character have with them when they appear in Sheol? Do they show up completely naked? Clothing only? Small, commonly carried items? Normal Equipment (armor and sword, for example, if character is a career soldier)?
They're wearing whatever clothing they were wearing before they died and have with them any non-magical items they had with them before they died. And any magical items they had with them no longer work.
+If a character was possessed before they died, would this carry over to Sheol?
No they wouldn't be, unless the possession affected their soul somehow and whatever was possessing them was attached to it.
+What if the character killed him/herself completely willingly? If the reaper showed them how they died, they wouldn't be affected that much, would they?
If the character killed him/herself willingly, then they more than likely won't be affected as much as someone who was murdered or anything along those lines. To make up for that, the Reaper will also show people who committed suicide how any loved ones they had reacted to it, in an attempt to at least make them feel like crap for doing it.
+Can my characters see/hear conversations between two other characters? I know you can filter stuff, but it just seems weird to me that my character's crow would repeat entire conversations between two other people.
Revised: Yes, but not completely. The words will be scrambled beyond the point of being able to decode it if you're reading and if you're listening, it's like talking to someone when you're about to lose service on your cell phone. So while the crow broadcasts everything, everything cannot be heard or understood if it directly doesn't involve the interaction of your character and another. Filtered or Private conversations can't be interrupted or heard. Also, please don't butt into everyone's conversations -- only do so if you feel it is important that your character do so, as it might annoy other muns.
+What if a character (accidentally) tries to drown himself in the lake? Do they need oxygen, or will they die and turn to ashes so the crow can carry 'm off?
They will need oxygen initially, but if they don't get it in time, then they'll turn to ashes.
+Does my character know he's dead?
No, the characters do not know that they are dead right from the start. They can guess that they are or think that they are, but they do not know for certain. They will have to be told by someone else who arrived in Sheol before them.
+Can I have more than one character?
You can have up to 6 characters here.
+Let's say I want to create an OC from the Fandom God of War, and he/she knew the main character and had lived with them for several years. Does my OC completely forget or what?
They completely forget, but they do know that there's something wrong with their memory, since there's huge blank spots in their lives that they don't remember.
+Does it matter if there's a canon afterlife? Like there are ghosts or reincarnation or heaven mentioned in canon?
No, it doesn't matter.
+Are the characters capable of changing the landscape of Sheol? For example, if they cut down a tree, does it remain cut, or reappear at some point? Does it regrow over a reasonable period of the stump? Also, if they dig rocks from the quarry (rocky area to the north) do the rocks reappear, and if so, can they use that as a way to have unlimited building materials? If they tried to dig out the lake to make it bigger or deeper, would it remain dug out? This also applies to run-off into the lake swelling its level and to chopping trees for firewood.
Cut-down trees will grow back, but things such as rocks won't reappear when taken. Also, it is possible to dig out the lake and make parts of it bigger.
+Just how big IS the lake?
It's supposed to be around 200 meters, give or take.
+If a character comes to Sheol as a child, do they physically remain a child forever, or do they age to a reasonable point (say, mid-twenties) and stop?
When you come to Sheol, your aging process stops.
+Can I RP someone with a split personality but separately?
Yes, you can do this. This is because they are two manifestations of the same soul, sort of like a split soul, and upon death, both manifestations are grabbed, but usually separated. Depending on the personality split, this can be good or bad for the original personality.
+Wait, can I just not RP someone with a split personality unless the personalities are two separate people?
Nope, you can RP the person as one entity. This is explained easily -- not all of the manifestations are split into two separate people. Some are, some aren't.
+Can I RP something like a non-mortal/undead character or a character that doesn't have a soul?
Yes. Their soulless shell was broken down after it was destroyed and recreated in Sheol, so what they have now is something similar to a soul, but not quite. Sort of like a placebo. The chances of them realizing that they have such a thing are almost impossible unless they would canonly know if they did.
+What happens if someone burns their cabin down, be it an accident or intentional?
First of all, you better get out of there before you burn down with it. But the next day, your cabin will fix itself. But if you keep burning down your cabin, the Reaper just might take it away from you for good. Better get a buddy if that happens ... I'd say that would happen after it being destroyed three times. Try to avoid doing that.
+What if my character, who has died in canon and that's the point where I'm taking them from, has a body part missing. Will it come back?
No. You can't gain back something lost when you're dead.
Contact/Mod Related Questions
+ Can we contact the moderator of the RP herself?
Her information is in the Mun Contacts page, but is F-locked. If you want to speak with her about the RP itself (any OOC problems with others or the RP itself, please just contact her through the sheol_mods journal.
+ Someone who RPs here is from the same fandom I want to apply from. How can I contact said person?
LiveJournal has this new fancy PM-ing system. As long as the character journal doesn't block PMs from someone not on their friends list, PM them away. But if you're unable to send a private message to their account, send one to the sheol-mods account that you would like to get in contact with the mun who plays the character.
+ I have another question!
Leave a comment and we'll answer it ♥ Remember, nobody's question is stupid -- if you don't know something, just ask and we'll tell you.