Legends of Belariath

This applies to all players whether you are IC or OOC: IRC and TLI are not a democracy. We don't hold votes and we don't recognize any concepts of free speech. An IRC channel is a private room in which you are a guest who may be invited or excluded at the whim of the channel founder. So if you think you will be unable to exist under the guidance and restrictions we feel it necessary to enforce, it will make life far easier for all concerned if you go elsewhere now.

Let's make it a bit clearer since subtlety is not a universally appreciated mode of communication. If the Ops tell you to do something, do it. If they tell you to stop doing something, stop doing it. If a rule elsewhere is unclear, open to interpretation or completely absent, the combined Ops present will consider it using their best judgement based on experience and the intent of the rule. They will inform you of their decision which will be enforced just as if the rule was written here in exactly that way. If you wish to argue or discuss or gain clarification, do it in a PM with that Op but keep your language moderate. If you are still unhappy, you can raise the topic on the message board or in a complaint to a more senior member of the admin. However, in all cases, you are required to follow the Ops instructions until you hear differently.

Having said all that, 9 out of 10 visitors never need more than a simple nudge when they make a mistake. They are reasonable people who are happy to play under the fairly minimal restrictions we impose and they understand our need to regulate certain aspects in order to provide a safe and friendly environment for the majority to play out their fantasies.

Ops can be identified by a @ in front of their nick and they assist the founder in running IRC channels. They have the power to exclude visitors from the channels when those visitors are considered disruptive or when they break the channel rules, so arguing with them is not a specially rewarding hobby. If they find it necessary to tell you to do something, or stop doing something, the first step is to comply. After that you can always ask for an explanation, though a busy Op may not have time to enter a lengthy discussion. Such conversations should take place in a private message, not in an open channel.

Ops are also there to help you and most of their time is spent doing just that. They may not know every page of the site by heart but they can normally give you advice or point you in the right direction if there is some aspect of the game which you do not understand. They are also the people to talk to if you have a problem of a more personal nature such as being harrassed or intimidated.

All IRC clients are capable of logging all activity, both in channel and in private messages. While it may not be possible for everyone to store log files, especially when the topic is explicit sexual play, Ops will almost certainly require logs as evidence when you need to make a complaint.

In order to help avoid the activities of malicious and immature people who wish to disrupt other people's fun, all visitors need to be voiced in all channels before they can post any message. You will normally see this by the nicknames on the visitor list having a + in front of them. Instructions elsewhere on the site (Desdaemona Commands) will tell you how to log in and be voiced yourself. Of course you will need to have registered a character before you can do this.

Respect the channels you visit as a guest and respect the other players you meet or you will be unwelcome here. Just because a girl may enjoy playing the fantasy of forced sex it doesn't mean she is a slut or a degenerate in real life any more than it does if a guy wants to play the same theme. We require you to tolerate the acceptable beliefs of all other players you encounter. We also demand respect for the Ops and Admins of this game. That does not mean you have to bow down and grovel to their every whim. But it does mean that verbally abusing these people who volunteer their time will not be tolerated.

Ops will routinely enforce this rule if they see that it is being abused or trifled with. What does that mean for you? If we feel that your comments are edging on disparaging of another, too edgy, insultive, disrespective or anything that might fall in between, an Op will enter into your PM with a polite nudge and a request to stop it.

If for some strange reason, you don't catch the first clue and continue sniping, displays of disrespect in the OOC at your fellow players, or at Ops, you will earn an OOC ban for 3 hours.

If for a very odd strange reason, you had forgotten you shouldn't be doing these things for a third time, we will with firm authority, ban you from OOC for one week. IF for another very strange reason it happens again? We will speak on the matter and you likely will be banned from the OOC for a length of time we feel is appropriate.

We don't care if all players actually like each other. But what we do demand is that in all OOC interaction between players, they avoid discourteous, denigrating and insulting comments. If you can't say something polite, keep it buttoned. Unlike face to face encounters, you have the ability to pause before hitting that Enter key and modify what you were going to say. Use that power wisely.

Note that this also applies in private messages between players which take place whilst they are within the realms of TLI.

Harassment for this purpose is loosely defined as repeated actions designed to make another player feel unsafe, unhappy or unwanted within our community. It is not tolerated. Everyone comes here to have fun and within the regulations of the channels, we intend to make sure they do so.

A lower level of harassment we define as making another player feel uncomfortable. This may not be enough for them to want to make waves by complaining unless it happens frequently or escalates. You may find it all quite innocent until it turns around and bites you in the ass. So you need to be aware of the possibility, so you cannot claim not to have been warned.

Things which typically make a player uncomfortable are trying to control their roleplay and/or unwanted intimacy out of character. Just because your character had sex, raped, collared or married the character of someone else it doesn't give you any rights over the player themselves. It doesn't give you the right to say who they can play with and pressuring someone with passive/aggressive behavior in PM to achieve such will see you in trouble. So too will an assumption that you can grope, fondle and generally demean other players at random in OOC. Just because they play sexually available characters does not mean you can treat the player that way. Keep your OOC and your IC separated.

At times, threats and bullying. or making another feel uncomfortable within this environment do happen. Threats can consist of telling one that you will get them fired just because they wouldn't stop their hard earned rp session to serve your whims. Or perhaps that you will track them down using various resources and call their homes, their families or their work places. Threats IC can include getting higher level characters to come harass and beat another simply because they've managed to anger you out of character. These will not be tolerated.

Note that this also applies in private messages between players which take place whilst they are within the realms of TLI.

Psuedo RP is defined as short sentences that mimic actual RP, but is aimed at individuals while they are out of character, usually while sitting in OOC or in a private message. All Pseudo RP, while fun to an extent, should never cross a line. Try not to just grab someones tits in the middle of OOC if you are unsure you know them well enough to do so. We also ask that you refrain from pretending to lounge about in OOC wearing a pert lil short skirt, and walking around pinching bottoms for an hour, or pop into someone's PM with things that make others uncomfortable. If it makes you uncomfortable, more than likely it could make the other person as well if you persist in doing it.

If you are the person on the other end, if at any point you begin to feel uncomfortable from someone's PM or how they are treating you in OOC, it is your job to tell them immediately "NOT APPROPRIATE!" If they continue afterwards, please report it to an Op.

Please remember that IC is meant for IC channels. When you pop into another's PM, that is them, the Mun if you will, the person behind the screen and it may not be taken as IC. It usually isn't. Failure to comply by this rule time and time again will be considered a form of harassment and it will earn you a one way ticket out of the game.

It is not intent of this game to appear insensitive to some of its online players; however, we must reiterate the policy of this online roleplay and its community in respect to those who have psychological or psychiatric problems which affect their ability to fit in with society.

TLI is not a therapy clinic. We're not here to rescue lost souls, assuage teenage angst or provide psychological advice. We are not here to provide a support group for those who feel they were born in the wrong body and we are certainly not here to offer counselling to would-be suicides. We are here to provide a relaxed recreational environment to those who are capable of integrating with this community.

Here we recognize that there are any numbers of people online and in real life, who use the label of a mental disorder as an excuse for selfish or uncontrolled behavior. But also we know that there are a lot of people in our community who have overcome real hardships, really abusive childhoods, and really debilitating mental and physical problems in order to make a life for themselves.

We acknowledge that there are people here who are still wrestling with their problems and honestly trying to overcome them and we admire them for that too. But we cannot feel sympathy for the ones who use their problems as a shield or an excuse or as a way to gain pity or attention.

We have expected standards of behavior and if you are unable or unwilling to stick with them, then you need to go elsewhere. If your actions are continually unsettling to the rest of this community and stopping them from having a pleasant and relaxed escape from their own problems, then we will bar you from TLI.

It is not unknown for a visitor to IRC to become fixated on another player, following them from room to room and generally making them feel uncomfortable by a continual presence, even if no overt threats are made. Since we run a role-play in which sex plays a significant part, we take the safety of our players very seriously. They must be able to feel secure while acting out their fantasies and a stalker does much to undermine that. As such we take a very dim view of such activities.

IRC is an international community with visitors from many countries and following many religious beliefs and sexual preferences. We do not encourage political or religious discussions anyway, since they have no relevance to the role-play but we have absolutely zero sympathy for anyone who expresses racial supremacist ideals of whatever color. Nor do we allow the expression of religious or sexual intolerance.

Visitors often sit in two or more rooms at once. We don't try to stop you co-channeling with rooms outside TLI, but we do insist that the rooms you share your attention with are ones that we don't actively object towards. If you are also in a room we dislike, we will ask you to choose one or the other. Failing to comply in reasonable time will result in you being kicked.

Objectionable rooms feature underage sex, animal sex, toilet sex, torture and degradation, racism, bigotry and intolerance, and anything else a Leader looks at and goes 'yuck!!' There are also certain channels which have no purpose except as a hang-out for morons whose idea of humor is to either flood other channels or to sit in them copying blocks of text to their home channel for derision. You may acquire a temporary or permanent ban by such co-channeling habits.

Flooding the channel with text or bots for the purpose of disrupting the room is considered a hostile act. So too is the use of 'war scripts' against another visitor. Any such activity may gain a permanent ban based on your IP.

Promotion of illegal activities, such as hacking, sharing of mp3s, sharing of things commonly called warez, or any other illegal activities will not be allowed here. They will result in a kick or a ban.

Persistently inviting visitors of The Lonely Inn to also join other channels is piracy. We work hard on bringing people here and don't take too kindly to people trying to leech them away. If you do it, expect to be thrown out. If you keep getting approached with invitations please tell one of the Ops. This refers only to public channels, not to offers for you to go somewhere private to play out a specific scene.

AFK: If you need to go away from your computer, you should leave any roleplaying channels. Roleplay channels are for active play of your character. You may remain in the OOC channel with your nick suitably modified to indicate that absence (ie: your_nick-AFK not your_nick-GoneToTheShopToBuyEggsAndMilk).

Lurking: You may not be in more than one roleplay channel at a time without special permission, just so you can watch what is happening. And of course your character can hardly be in two places at once doing two different things. That would be a stretch even in a world of magic!

Trolling: Sitting around in OOC so you can find partners for private roleplay while having no inclination to be a part of the TLI community and roleplay is not welcomed. Nor is the sending of private messages to the channel visitors asking for ASL or webcams. Just go away.

To elaborate, we don't want people who sit around OOC without going IC and just sending random PMs to other players looking for private play. This is a roleplay environment not a pick-up joint. This doesn't affect those who also play here, only those who rarely or never play here. Keep doing it and you'll get a warning for starters. After that it depends on our tolerance levels.

We don't mind people who play here using PM to suggest private scenes of the type which just don't fit the TLI theme, such as vampirism or tentacles. The key point is that those people actually play in TLI as well. We don't want people, whether they play in TLI or not, sending PMs to other players asking for private play on subjects which are not allowed to be done IC. These include the obvious such as underage and toilet sex. Do it once and you get a warning. Do it twice and you're out.

We don't take any control over what you do in other environments away from TLI, in other parts of IRC, using messengers, etc etc. That isn't part of our domain unless you start harrassing another player that you met in TLI and it becomes uncomfortable for them to come into TLI because you are here. Then we get to thinking the channel is not big enough for both of you.

Occasionally we ban a player for a short period or even permanently for being a general disruption. This is rather a catch-all that means 'you haven't broken any specific rules but your presence and/or attitude is unsettling the harmony of our general community'. The interchangeable term 'you are being an asshole' also works to explain our basis for banning under this heading. When these bans are occasional and short term, they are soon forgotten. But if you make a habit of it you will receive a General Disruption notice and then things get a lot more serious.

Visitors can spend up to an hour watching role-play to help decide if they wish to create a character and join TLI. During that time they will be unvoiced in the role-play channel (unable to post) and are expected to also join OOC to gain any information they need. Note you should contact one of the Ops in OOC by PM, or respond if they send you a message asking about your presence.

Visitors abusing this privilege to lurk for sexual gratification, troll for private scenes or to copy the role-play into other channels will be banned.

All role-playing channels require you to be in character for your time there. Limited messages can be passed OOC by using ( ) around the text but the preferred methods of OOC communication are the OOC room, notice and PM, so as to avoid disrupting the play.

If your character is not in disguise, it is strongly advised that your IRC nick coincide with the character name you are logged in as. Shortened versions may be used, but should stick relatively close to avoid any OOC confusion.

Using information not gained IC (ie: from conversations in the OOC room or from witnessing events in channel that your character would have been unaware of), is very poor role-play and will result in a loss of exp. Events created from such knowledge may be negated by the Ops.

Belariath is a world similar to Earth in some respects but in others quite different. It is a world in which Might Makes Right - where the strong take and the weak try to become strong so they can do their share of the taking. While such concepts are modified to a degree by OOC conventions towards roleplay, you should understand the basic mindset of the world and tailor your character to belong there. It is not a world of Arthurian chivalry by any means and since your character was born here, s/he accepts the world as being naturally the way it is.

It should be fairly obvious that roleplay centers on the physical and psychological world in which this fantasy is set. Whilst a complex world, it can be considered more simplistic than the real world we all know since for most, the business of a character's survival in roleplay is far more demanding than is that of the player in their normal life. This leads to a focus upon the basics of life and staying alive; hunting for food, gaining money, avoiding being captured by a slaver or killed by an angry barbarian, all tend to give that focus on survival. There are no state schools and no welfare subsidies. Entertainments are where you find them and much more limited than in a world of mp3 players and video on demand. This is not to imply that the inhabitants are stupid, nor that they are incapable of learning. However, it does not automatically follow that the least fortunate peasant has an ability to read and write, nor that the artisan who turns a pottery wheel for a living has a large house, servants and ample leisure time. Magic and the wonders of RPG's obviate much of the limitations of medieval life and a good thing too. To play otherwise would be boring. Nevertheless, it helps the sense of belief in the roleplay to take allowance of the world your character inhabits.

Sexual activity is allowed in the roleplay channels. This includes forced sex (rape), slavery, bondage and BDSM, slave training and, of course, consensual sex. If you don't wish to play those topics, you don't have to. There are lots of other aspects including combat, character development, quests and storyline events. However, you can't object to anyone else doing so.

All sex scenes require your OOC consent. No one can pressure you into playing out an explicit scene, no one can force you to make your character a slave and no one can tell you that you don't 'belong' here if you prefer not to play those topics. Anyone found doing that will get a severe warning or a ban.

NOTE: See below for details of implied OOC consent.

By joining this roleplay, you accept the basic premises of the type of fantasy world in which you are playing. So to a large degree, you are giving consent to various things which may occur in the course of such roleplay just by taking part. However, some activities always require definite consent, some require definite consent unless such consent is implied by roleplayed actions, and some activities are artificially inhibited in order to create an enjoyable place for people to play within.

Anyone misrepresenting the channel themes to obtain roleplay needing a specific consent will be immediately banned.

Sex: Scenes of willing or unwilling sex always require the free explicit or implied OOC consent of players. Pre-consent is not needed for something like a casual grope but be aware that the character whose ass you squeeze in passing may be a lot higher level than you and may take exception to such unwanted familiarity.

Slavery: Always requires the full OOC consent of both parties, which must be posted on the message board following the rules laid down elsewhere. No exceptions. Defeating a character does not give any automatic right to collar them.

Scenes specified as taking place out of general view: A channel may include a lot of different locations within itself. For example, the Inn channel includes public rooms, private rooms, booths, cellars and so on. The forest channel includes easily found locations, the palace, private homes and remote glades. While those locations are visible to anyone else within the channel, IC your character is unaware of what is occuring within them. As such, any scene specified as happening out of view needs the OOC consent of all involved before your character can become aware of its existence.

Events: Scenes of activities such as combat and sex may form part of designated events. While these events take place in public, they do not carry any automatic right for your character to join in. Examples of events include arena sparring matches, tournaments, sexual worship at temples and so on. Unless the event rules state otherwise, OOC consent is required from those involved before interfering.

This can also be termed 'actions bring consequences'. Or 'if you go looking for trouble you might find it'. It generally takes the following forms:

Implied OOC consent for sex: You can walk around in provocative clothing or naked if you wish without that being taken as an invitation to sex without OOC consent. But walk up to a Troll and stick your hand down his trousers while saying "Hello there, big boy" is giving reasonable grounds for said troll to take up the implied offer. If you get in over your head, so to speak, you can play a minimal FTB scene but you can not say it never happened.

One important note here: Implied consent for sex does NOT give automatic consent for anything and everything the character becoming the aggressor wishes to do. Any implied consent to sex gives consent to normal sex, it cannot be used as a lever into scenes which go beyond the standard ravagement normal to Belariath. Anything else, such as extra violence, additional characters joining in or variations that make the victim uncomfortable still require an explicit OOC agreement.

Implied free-for-all: Scenes of sex and combat, or indeed any other activity which are not stated as taking place in a private location out of general view, or as part of a designated event, are by default taking place in public. As such those taking part are giving implied consent for others to react towards whatever is happening.

While Belariath itself is a fairly lawless place in which those who can do so take whatever they want, we have to remember that this is a roleplay in which people come along to have fun. It's not enough to say 'well I've been here three years and my character is level 50 so I'm going to go around demanding money from anyone below me, attacking them for no reason and generally making their lives miserable'. It may be appropriate to the world itself but it is not being a good member of a roleplaying community. So while we don't have a long list of specific rules on the subject, we discourage such behavior by retaliation against such activities both IC and OOC.

In IC terms, the concept of consequences works both ways. However strong your character is, believe me, there are stronger ones and they WILL come and kick your ass if it is deserved. In OOC terms, if you make yourself a pain by messing up the roleplaying fun of everyone around you, or even target one individual who you dislike, we are quite capable of nulling scenes and giving you a long holiday. Play the channel theme, but play it in such a way as to create enjoyable interactions for everyone.

Apart from the ongoing activities of daily life in Belariath, and frequent special events (quests), scenes of combat and sexual play are probably the most common feature of the roleplay. Combat can be freeformed or diced, which must follow the rules elsewhere. Sex play must be in character for the room and for the characters involved. Subjects not allowed in co-channels are not allowed in scenes either.

Scenes in channel can be public or private in OOC terms. For example, if the scene takes place in a closed booth at the Inn, OOC you will be able to follow what happens but In Character you are unaware of it. Since your character is not aware of the scene, they will not comment on it and they certainly will not interfere; not even to conveniently happen to stroll close by and hear an odd noise.

Other scenes will be happening in public and in that case your character sees what is happening. However, that does not always imply that you should just pile in to the fun, let alone try and stop it. Firstly you have to remember the morality of Belariath. Seeing a girl getting raped or someone getting beat up is not an automatic cue to try and stop the event. That is poor role-play and the purpose of the channel is to allow such scenes to be played out. We don't encourage anyone to try and stop a rape without a good IC reason and we don't encourage the pack-animal mentality of ganging up on another character. If it's part of the general tone of the scene, take part. If your character has a real reason to react, do so. Otherwise you can probably avoid ill feeling by talking in OOC first, or taking bets on the outcome!

Other than the above, there are no closed plots in public. Any player is welcome to interact with any other, and you, by being in the inn or other public places, by default, agree to that. So except for what has been said already, everything else is fair game for your character to make a reaction. Do remember the idea of action and consequence though. It works in both directions.

Belariath is a world onto itself, where characters interact on a regular basis and stories evolve from those interactions. Some of those interactions may be considered 'in passing' by both parties, while others hold long ranging repercussions for both sides. It's important to remember that everything your character does carries consequences, so if you do not want to face them, do not invite them.

It is courtesy that when you are involved in a scene with someone else, and you provide OOC consent to rape or harm, you are also informing the other of any possible consequence that might come from such an IC situation; such as anyone who might seek revenge for the assault. On the other hand, if you enter into a scene that is intended to push another character to their mental brink, harm, rape or kill them, you are taking on the implied consent of future action as a result of that scene from any who would be involved with the other character.

Failure to repeatedly avoid the consequences of your IC actions, or to consistently forget to tell your partner of any repercussions that later occur, will result in disciplinary action from the Ops

Characters working in such places are not prohibited from becoming involved in sex or combat. It's generally considered good form to finish serving the customers before servicing that horny troll, but it still counts as work time, even if he doesn't buy anything afterwards. Managers will not take exception to such things. Nor will they take revenge on behalf of an employee unless there was some unwarranted savagery in the attack which rendered the employee unavailable for work.

Specific topics which are prohibited from the roleplay are listed below. Other topics which the Ops deem unsuitable or inappropriate will be drawn to your attention as they occur. These may be simple lapses into modern day jargon and slang, or they may be more involved concepts and activities which would not be thought native to the world of Belariath. In extreme cases, they may concern themes that we simply do not wish to see played out in public, even when they do not directly contravene any specific rule. In all such cases, you will be expected to stop and, if necessary, take your activities into a private role-play.

Bestiality involves sex between an animal and a human, or between animals. Non-human races in Belariath are chosen so that this cannot happen. Races which take some of their physical attributes from known animals - such as cat, wolven etc - are not descended from animal ancestors and they are basically humanoid in form but with certain features reminiscent of that animal. These do not include the primary sex organs, which are recognizably human. Anyone playing a character in a sex scene without recognizing this distinction will have the scene terminated. There is absolutely no provision for any race to turn into a full animal form for sexual or any other purpose.

Centaurs are an exception to the humanoid form as they comprise a normal horse in the lower areas, but even their generative organs are humanoid. However, male centaurs do trend towards the large size where it counts, as do male trolls, minotaurs, ogres etc.

Characters in Belariath are primarily human as has been established above. So we don't expect to see them walking about on all fours and cleaning their ass with their tongue. Nor do they have multiple teats or a knot in their penis. Aspects of the beast side pass beyond mere cosmetic appearance into the mindset of the character, but they are still primarily human in their physical appearance and physical actions.

Snuff, defined as the death of one partner as part of a sexual act, is disturbing to many people. As such, anyone wishing to play such a scene may start it in open channel but will have to play at least the end of it in private chat. Public snuff is not allowed.

Violence during combat is inherent and can be fairly graphic, but descriptions should be kept within publicly acceptable limits. Detailed expositions on severed limbs and the effects of bringing an opponent's inner organs to view are not welcomed. There is also an amount of violence inherent in both rape and slave discipline, but this is more closely regulated. Torture has no place in TLI whatsoever, whether OOC consensual or not; neither does unacceptable levels of brutality when training or punishing a slave. It is not possible to define exact limits to cover every situation so if in doubt, consult an Op beforehand. In any event, if an Op decides the violence involved in a public scene is not appropriate for TLI, they will move in to bring it to a halt or require it to be taken to PM.

Some players wish to play having their characters made pregnant and giving birth. While not prohibited, this activity is not a focus of the channels and not of interest to many players. The following restrictions apply:

• Pregnancy is only possible under the half-breed rules
• No effects of pregnancy may be played in public
• The birth does not take place in public
• Any offspring may never become playing characters or be brought into public as NPCs

Further, no parent/sibling combination of any sort is allowed in the role-play. This is a sex channel and we don't hold with even potential incest. Brother / sister combinations are allowed by special consent but they may never have any sexual contact between themselves.

NPCs will normally be brought in as part of a structured scene such as a raid. Individual players wishing to introduce an NPC as part of their storyline should check with an Op first.

Belariath takes place over several locations but it doesn't make sense for your character to be in more than one place at once. So leave one room before entering another. This does not apply to the OOC channel. In addition, players can only play a single character at any one time in one channel.

Natural hermaphrodite characters are rare. They are allowed in Belariath under certain conditions. We don't need them as glorified sex machines, so a potential hermaphrodite will need to create a plausible background that recognizes what will certainly have been a troubled upbringing, different and set apart from 'normal' people. This background should be carefully thought out and detailed. On completion, send it to Stormbringer. If approved, the character can gain a bio page which will identify them as authorized to play a dual-sex role.

Experience points are added to characters for taking an active part in the role-playing channels. Additional XP may also be added by Ops who witness a particularly outstanding event, or when players are especially helpful to newcomers. However XP will also be deducted for such things as poor role-play, role-play that doesn't reflect the world of Belariath, too much time being silly in OOC, using OOC knowledge IC, being a pain in the ass and not playing fair in freeform combat.

You do not earn, xp sitting in the OOC room. While it's fun to goof around and chat in the OOC room, keep in mind you do not earn any XP for doing so. If you linger about for 24 hours in here and don't go IC, don't expect to gain a level, nor to be rewarded. It is also considered bad form to complain to your fellows next to you who just got a promotion and you didn't, if all you do, is sit in the OOC.

Now, occasionally the Ops do patrol the IC rooms. If we see some very good scenes that follow the theme of TLI, or simply nab our attention, we may tap you on the shoulder and tell you, we have rewarded you with XP! Now and again, we may even announce in channel that there is a Quest in progress if you wish to joint it, or a mini-event. Those who participate, in addition to those who display exceptional role-play talents, or, simply acting as their character as they should be despite the circumstance, will be rewarded behind the scenes from the Ops on duty.

This is a very sensitive subject which polarizes opinions among players. Normally there are two extremes. At one end of the spectrum a player uses machine-gun posts - many very short posts one after another - and at the other end, a player may take half an hour to make a thousand word responses to a character who said hello. Neither is useful to the flow of role-play.

Machine-gun posting is penalized by negative exp automatically. Too much of it, in the opinion of any Op present, will earn a warning followed by a kick or short ban.

Over long posts (up to four buffers) may be allowed in channels with no more than six characters (excluded Opped characters) present providing majority approves. If the room count later goes above six, existing scenes may continue to run to four buffers, new scenes will revert to two. If the room gets exceedingly busy and it is felt anything over four buffers repeatedly is a detriment to others, Ops may and will ask you to tone it back. Don't try and get clever with this or you'll annoy the Ops and you won't like the result.

• Whips: No blades attached that slice and dice characters
• Disguises: (change self/swap gender) - players have to roleplay out making the disguise. If knocked out in a fight, they revert back. If they role-play it out, then they can use a disguised nick. Not to be over used, or as way to play a different character permanently without registering it.
• Swap gender means just that - swap from one to another, not become dual-gender
• Items in the game must be purchased. The cave you found in the woods and now use as your private palace does not come equipped with racks, bondage equipment, brass bath tub, cooking gear, etc.
• No auto-hitting imperial buildings, homes. If no one is around to see you, then it is dead end rp.
• Homes are off limits, unless icly you have been taken there by others, or have ooc permission from the owner to find it.
• Transfer of items or Mhl between characters of same player is not allowed. Nor is using any number of third-parties to affect the transfer.
• Character nicks cannot imply a different sex than what your character gender is.
• No artistic blurring of gender in descriptions. If you want wide hips, peachy arse and legs like a Las Vegas showgirl, then either play a female character or use the appropriate magic to change the appearance of a male character.
• The general rule of action and consequences applies. If you want a male character who dresses as a girl then you give blanket OOC consent for the natural responses of other characters who come into contact with him.