Legends of Belariath

IC Consequences

NOTE: For convenience I term victims as female and predators as male. That is the most common configuration but everything here applies irrespective of the various genders.

Belariath is an ongoing roleplay environment, not a place for events that happen in a vacuum. So even though rape is considered less traumatic than on Earth, it may still generate some consequences for the rapist after the event. By playing the rape, the rapist's player will give implied OOC consent to any consequences that have been explained and agreed beforehand. The victim failing to explain those possible consequences in OOC PM before the scene takes place means there will be NO repercussions unless the rapist actively consents to them because they sound like fun roleplay.

OOC Note: Nothing here removes the need for OOC consent to sex.

Putting It In Perspective

Belariath is a world in which Might makes Right and the strong tend to take what they want. This leads to a different morality, or at least a more honest and upfront one than is present on Earth. It not only leads to the likelihood that your character will be out for themselves, it also leads to a certain callousness when you see others doing the taking. So if you feel the need to have your character attempt to stop someone from being raped, when that character is not your slave or your bonded partner, then you haven't really got the correct feel for the environment. And if you believe that the rape of your character is cause for vendettas carried out by every able-bodied person you have said hello to over the past five years, you should go and make your own game. Because this isn't that sort of place.

Rape happens. It has probably happened around your character for their whole life. Your father might have done it to your mother when they first met, your friends may do it too. So it's not a surprise to you that it happens and, while it may have degrees of unpleasantness, it is not the sort of traumatic event that requires calling for a non-existent psychiatrist. You didn't get transferred from Earth on a number 49 bus along with a set of beliefs to match. You grew up in a society that considers using others for sexual purposes an acceptable activity.

Who Cares?

Well if you are the victim, you care. If your partner gets raped, you will probably care. And if you are the owner of a slave who gets raped, you may care or you may not. Maybe you only care if your property is damaged?

No one else cares. No one else will do anything about another character who gets raped. Players can refuse rape scenes but they can not call down consequences on the rapist from anyone except those mentioned and even then only when such consequences have been agreed in conversation prior to the event.

If You Get Raped

How you decide to play the scene is up to you. Your character may like to fight or they may give up easily and take what pleasure they can from the event. Some races are notably easier than others and this could have been a factor when you created your character.

But what happens afterwards is more controlled. You may want to gain revenge, or have your owner or partner take action against the assailant. That is fine, providing you have explained the likely course of future repercussions in OOC to the assailant player before the event. However, you do have to know your attacker IC before this becomes a reasonable response. Just because you know a character's nick from the channel list does NOT mean that you know that character IC. You may never have met them before, or they may be using a disguise. So unless you have had some substantial IC contact with the assailant, it is not reasonable roleplay that there are any consequences at all. You should bear this in mind before starting the scene.

Just as we don't encourage rapes to happen in limbo, so too we don't encourage consequences except where they form a logical part of your life and your interactions with other characters.

Raping a Slave

Some players have real-life relationships, either D/s or otherwise, which they carry into Belariath in the relationship between their characters. So the question of whether a slave may give OOC consent to rape is between their player and their owner's player. So too is the question of whether a slave may be damaged during the rape within the limits of accepted public roleplay. In all events you should respect any restrictions. There are plenty of female characters around who are willing to play the victim of forced sex and there is nothing quite so pathetic as a grown man sulking and pouting because a female player does not agree to play cyber sex with him.

However, with OOC consent given, if there will be any roleplay repercussions from such a rape, the rapist's player must be advised as part of the OOC consent before the rape. Continuing the rape gives implicit OOC consent from the rapist to those IC consequences. Failing to advise the rapist of possible consequences beforehand voids any repercussions.

Raping a Bonded Partner

The relationship between partners mirrors that between owner and slave. So the same conditions apply.