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Rules & Regulations

"Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men."
- David Ogilvy

These rules are written so that the web site runs smoothly. Please follow them at all times! (If you are looking for information about raising requirements, please see our Raising Requirements page. You may also want to refer to our Ranking Systems.) Please note that these rules include the most up-to-date information about the website; content on other pages may be inaccurate.

Section One: Meanings
For newbies to the world of RPing, this can be the hardest part to master; what everyone actually means. This section is dedicated entirely to explaining this to you. Read well, because the rest of the rules will be written assuming that you know all of this.

Section Two: Wheel of Time
We're a WoT RPing site: therefore, how we use the Wheel of Time has a profound effect on our writing. We try to keep it so that we don't have a profound effect on the books.

Section Three: Interaction
How we expect people to behave, get along, and talk to one another.

Section Four: Essential Rules for Survival
The top rules that you have to pretty much memorize, else you'll find yourself in the ditch at some point, with someone breathing down your back. ;)

Section Five: Posting
We work constantly with the boards and writing, especially since we're a writing website. This goes over our expectations, our preferred format, and how the boards are to be used.

Section Six: Characters
Secondly only to writing are our characters. This is your vessel to be creative - without proper creation and realism, they're going to sink. Section six is all about how to make a good character and what traits they are or are not allowed.

Section Seven: Role Playing
By now you've got the basics of characters and posting down, but put them together and what have you got? Role playing. This goes over a few rules & guidelines we expect you to take into account while you're writing and interacting.

Section Eight: Strengths & Talents
Your character will, of course, have to have strengths and/or Talents. This section details what is acceptable and what should be left in the dustbin.

If you have any questions regarding these rules, please email one of the Officers.

These rules were last updated on July 13, 2007.

Section One: Meanings

1.1 Commonly Used Terms

We have a bad habit of using acronyms to save typing time, so pay special attention to these!

Term	Explanation	Acronym
Accepted	Mid-rank in becoming Aes Sedai. The title Accepted refers to the channelers in the White Tower who have gone through the Three Arches. They wear white dresses with seven bands of colour (the same colours as the seven Ajahs) and have a gold ring with a serpent eating its own tail on the third finger of their left hand. Please note that the plural form of Accepted is Accepted, and not Accepteds. (Eg: "She was followed by ten Accepted." and not, "She was followed by ten Accepteds."	None
Aethan'Tar	First rank in becoming Gaidin (equivalent to Novice and Soldier). Translates to "Shield of the Tower".	None
Assistant Mistress of Novices	The Aes Sedai who assist the Mistress of Novices.	AMoN
Balatro	The first rank in becoming a Gleeman/woman. Translates to "Jester".	None
Bekkar'Har	Mid-rank in becoming an assassin. Translates to "Bloody Hand".	None
Black Tower	The establishment that holds male channelers who fight for the Dragon Reborn. This can be used to refer to both the place and the board.	BT
Caballein	Fourth rank title for Citizens. Translates to "Free Man".	None
Changeling	The first rank in becoming a Wolfkin.	None
Citara	Mid-rank in becoming a Gleeman/woman. Translates to "Harp".	None
First Rank Character	Any character who is in the first rank of their training (Novice, Soldier, Aethan'Tar, Changelings, Balatro, and Sorda).	None
Full Rank Character	Any character who has finished all training and requirements and moved on to the final rank (Aes Sedai, Gaidin, Asha'man, etc.).	None
Gaidin in Training	A character in training to become Gaidin or Gaidar (an Aethan'Tar or Sei'Tar).	GiT
Head Gaidin	The person in charge of Gaidin and Gaidin in Training.	HG
In Character	The part of your post in which you are writing from your character's perspective.	IC
Leave of Absence	Time spent away from the site, after notifying the Officers. Also known as Missing in Action (MiA).	LoA
Lycan	Mid-rank in becoming a Wolfkin.	None
Made Up Character	Any character that is used for only one occasion, such as teaching a lesson. Differs from NSWC's in that NSWC's are used frequently. (Please note that this is a WoT RP specific name, and is not to be used elsewhere without permission.)	MUC
Major Role Play	A requirement for moving on to the next rank in all sections of the Tower. This is a RP that includes some kind of major character development, as well as being a complete RP.	MRP
Weaponry Major Role Play	A requirement for advancing from the rank of Sei'Tar to Gaidin. This is much like a MRP, but instead of focusing on character development, it focuses on weaponry.	WMRP
Master of Arms	The master of training for the Gaidin in Training.	MoA
Mid-Rank Character	Any character who has partially completed training (Accepted, Sei'Tar, or Dedicated).	None
Mistress of Novices	The Aes Sedai in charge of Novices and Accepted of the White Tower, both in character and out. This position is currently held by Madeline Sedai.	MoN
Mordero	Full rank for assassins. Translates to "Death".	None
Non-Participating Character	Any character that has been created for the enrichment of the story. This character is not actively being posted by one of the members, or is not being "written."	NPC
No Specific Writer Character	Any character that has been created for use, with permission or without. Please see [blank] for more details. (Please note that this is a WoT RP specific name, and is not to be used elsewhere without permission.)	NSWC
No Text Post	A post on one of the boards that only has a title and no message in the body. Denoted by a (nm), which the boards add in automatically.	(nm)
Out of Character	An optional section of your post where you are writing in your perspective. The OOC Board is dedicated to OOC discussions, as the OOC Lesson Board is used for OOC lesson discussions.	OOC
Participating Character	Any character who has an active real-life person writing for them. (In other words, your character.)	PC
Post	A letter or article put up (posted) on a message board.	None
Role Play	1) Verb: Portraying your character, or playing the role of it. 2) Noun: A string of posts and replies set on a message board.	RP
Sei'Tar	Second level in training to become Gaidin (equivalent of Accepted or Dedicated). Translates to "Eye of the Tower".	None
Shadar	Mid-rank in becoming a Shan al'Sorda. Translates to "Shadow".	None
Shan al'Sorda	Full rank for Darkfriends. Translates to "Lord of Rats".	None
Sorda	First rank for assassins and Darkfriends. Translates to "Rat".	None
String	A series of posts, one following another. Also referred to as a role-play or thread.	None
Tai'Mordero	Fourth rank title for assassins. Translates to "True Death".
Tai'Shadar	Fourth rank title for Darkfriends. Translates to "True Shadow".
Thread	A series of posts, one following another. Also referred to as a string or role-play.
Tsorovan'm'hael	The leader in the Black Tower that oversees battle tactics and training. Translates to "Storm Leader".	TsM
Wheel of Time	The world in which we play, based upon the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.	WoT
White Tower	The establishment that holds Aes Sedai and their trainees, located in Tar Valon. This can refer to the place as well as the White Tower Board.	WT
Within the Wheel	This refers to anything that is outside one of the designated sections of the site, that takes places in the world around us.	WtW

1.2 Board Titles

Our boards all have titles pertaining to what section or location of the site they belong to; for instance, the White Tower board is the generalized board for everyone living in Tar Valon (Novices, Accepted, Aes Sedai, Aethan'Tar, Sei'Tar, and Gaidin/ar). Unfortunately, laziness still reigns high so we use acronyms permanently. This is a list of the board vs. its commonly used acronym.

Some of the boards with the shorter names simply have their name used, but others - like the OOC LB - are rarely ever referred to by their full name. (When these acronyms are used in a post, the ones not ending in 'B' will probably have 'board' tagged on to the end of the phrase. In example, I'll see you over on the WT board!, or, Remember to check the NLB for the lesson!)

Board's Full Name	Acronym
Out of Character Board	OOC
Out of Character Lesson Board	OOC LB
Critique Board	CB
Novice & Accepted Board	N&A
Novice Lesson Board	NLB
Accepted Lesson Board	ALB
White Tower Board	WT
Gaidin in Training Board	GiT
Gaidin in Training Lesson Board	GiT LB
Soldier & Dedicated Board	S&D
Black Tower Lesson Board	BTLB
Black Tower Board	BT
Full Rank Board	FRB
Within the Wheel Board	WtW
Pattern Societies Board	PS
Special RP Board	SRP
Raising Board	None

1.3 Admin, Section Leaders, and Officers

The Officers at the Wheel of Time RP are essentially the administrators of the site, as well as the Section Leaders. For a complete list, you should see the Officers page. We usually call them the Officers, simply because they officiate and we like the word official. *grin* Section Leaders are the Officers whose sections you are in, for instance, the Mistress of Novices would be a Novice's Section Leader. All Officers who work in a section are considered Section Leaders, and they are the ones that you should go to for permission.

1.4 Wheel of Time Books

As you know, this is a site based on the Wheel of Time. We expect all of our members to have read at least one or two of these books, as not having read any of them would make things really quite difficult. If you haven't heard of the Wheel of Time and have no idea who Robert Jordan is, then you're in the wrong place.

The books in the series are: Eye of the Word, The Great Hunt, The Dragon Reborn, The Shadow Rising, Fires of Heaven, Lord of Chaos, A Crown of Swords, Path of Daggers, Winter's Heart, Crossroads of Twilight and the most recent, Knife of Dreams. Robert Jordan recently published a prequel to the series: New Spring. And yes, we have acronyms for these, too. ;)

Book Title	Acronym
New Spring	NS
Eye of the World	EotW
The Great Hunt	tGH
The Dragon Reborn	tDR
The Shadow Rising	tSR
Fires of Heaven	FoH
Lord of Chaos	LoC
A Crown of Swords	CoS
Path of Daggers	PoD
Winter's Heart	WH
Crossroads of Twilight	CoT
Knife of Dreams	KoD

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Section Two: Wheel of Time

2.1 Our Wheel of Time

This site is based closely on Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time fantasy series. We try to keep to his descriptions as much as possible, without plagiarizing his ideas and storylines. 

For the ease of role playing, we're following the 'modern' trend of the books - what with saidin being cleansed and Tarmon Gai'don approaching - but we have several very basic changes. First off, the White Tower is whole. The Amyrlin Seats have been in this order: Ava Jeen al'Lesel (previously Blue), Ariana ni'Darine Nequa (previously Grey), and now Hesper Melody L'Pree (previously Blue). Ava Sedai was Amyrlin for a good two centuries, so that should be going back as far as you need. Ariana was Amyrlin for several decades. Hesper Sedai is still our Amyrlin Seat.

The Black Tower was not founded by Mazrim Taim. Aside from being a false Dragon in Saldaea, as far as we're concerned, Taim dropped out of the story there. The founding M'Hael was Cahal sur Paendrag, followed by Rodric Eldron, Canin al'Pazi, and finally Nickolas al'Reed. Women were accepted into the Tower just before Canin resigned. The Tower has been running for approximately five years.

You may not include any of Robert Jordan's characters in your plots or writing. If they are essential to your plot, their part must be minor and you must obtain permission from your Section Leaders (see the Contacts page) to include them. As noted later on this page, you are not to write anything that changes what we know of Robert Jordan's characters. This means that if you do choose to include one in your plot, you must stay true to the characteristics he has written for them. Likewise, you may not kill any of his characters.

You may do nothing to change his world without permission from all of the Officers. If you wish to write a role play that does change something, you must change everything back to how it was before by the end of the plot.

2.2 Monarchies, Politics, and Warfare

As stated in the above rule, you may not make any large changes to Robert Jordan's world without permission from the Officers. This entails that you may not change the political status of any countries. No making feuds, no settling feuds, no taking over land previously claimed, etc.

Your character may not rule any country, forcibly become a dictator, or become a prominent leader (such as Clan Chief, Elder, Sh'boan, Wavemistress, etc). Direct claims to thrones (or equivalent) are not allowed. Distant claims are permitted, so long as you realize that your character will never get the throne. Anyone may create Houses with their own politics, but these may not affect the general Wheel of Time plotline.

2.3 Wheel of Time Characters

You may not use any names already used in the books. No Egwene's, Rand's, Elayne's, Nynaeve's, etc. You must also have an entirely unique character - you may not submit for a character who pulls their braid when angry, for example.

Your character may not be closely related to any of Robert Jordan's characters. This means no sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, best friends, neighbors, etc., to any of his characters.

Interaction with any of Robert Jordan's characters is prohibited unless you have gained permission. Certain characters (such as Laras, the Mistress of the Kitchens in the books) may be socialized with, but only if you see them mentioned in an Officer's post. (Note that this does not count if the Officer's character is talking with someone like Elayne, Rand, or Egwene, as unlikely as it is.) You'll be safest to email your Section Leader prior to posting - posts will be deleted if the interaction is not allowed.

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Section Three: Interaction

3.1 Respect

We understand that all of our members are human, right up from the Novices to the Amyrlin, M'Hael, and Creator. Even so, you must understand that the Officers at this site have done an unbelievable amount of work to keep it alive and running smoothly for your enjoyment. We don't expect to be worshiped, nor be followed unquestioningly - if you have an opinion or a concern we want to hear it - but we take hours out of our leisure time just for you. Please respect this, and by doing so, respect us. You don't have to like or get along with us, but blatant disrespect or rudeness will not be tolerated. Conversations are quite likely to be saved for proof of disobedience to this rule.

It should also be noted that we are not able to be friendly to everyone; we may very well come off as cold or unfeeling. Please know that it is not our intention to belittle you, but there simply are not enough hours in the day to be inquiring after everyone's health and writing three paragraph emails when a single line would suffice. If you take all of our emails on a business-like level, I assure you that we sound much better. ;)

3.2 Getting Along

Again, one of those "we know you're human" rules. As stated above; you do not have to like or get along with other people at the site. You do, however, have to remain at least polite to each other - it's called maturity and decency. If you are unable to even do this, then don't talk to the other person at all. (And yes, this includes 'if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.') If you get into an argument, disagreement, or flame war with another member at the site, please don't come running to us complaining & saying how the other member should be punished. We are not babysitters. If you have a problem with a member, sort it out with them, or cut off contact. It isn't our job, and frankly, we don't really want to hear about it. ;) It's more likely that you'll both be reprimanded for disrespect, anyway, as arguments are rarely one-sided.

The only exception to this rule is for discrimination and harassment based on sexuality, religion, gender, race, or anything else thusly related. If a member is discriminated against, the offending member will be asked to leave the site immediately. We will not tolerate discrimination.

3.3 Offending Members

We work on the three-strikes-you're-out system. Upon your first serious offence, you will be sent what we like to term an "Official Warning". (We do send out reprimands and unofficial warnings, and these do not count as an Official Warning, but we may decide to have it count as half of one, or something of the sort, though that isn't done so often.) Directly after your third Warning, you are no longer considered a member. (Your first chance is before any Warning; second after your first Warning letter; and your third after your second Warning.) Some offences warrant more than one Warning, and if any one offence is bad enough, we have no reservations about asking you to leave right away.

Sound mean? Sorry. In the words of Meri, our Reps Officer; "If you want unconditional love, buy a puppy." ;)

3.4 Email

Email is very important for interaction at the site. You must have an email address that is operational and that you check regularly, else you will flounder horribly. There are many free email hosting sites on the internet (such as Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo!) that, for the most part, are reliable and easy to operate. All of the Officers have used these at some point in time (assuming that they aren't currently), so we're happy to lend you a hand.

Having an email address for each one of your characters is not necessary. It's much easier on you (and us) to just have one email address that you check often.

3.5 Email Changes

It happens to everyone, at some point - you'll need to, or want to change your email address during your membership here. Since we list and keep track of everyone's email addresses, it is in your best interest to notify us immediately of any changes. If updating emails and queries are refused from your email address, then we will assume that you are inactive and you may be deleted from the roster.

To notify us of an email change, it is suggested that you email the Creator (Joni) and your other Section Leaders. If you are unclear on which Officers are your Section Leaders, then simply email Joni and she will ensure that your update is passed on accordingly.

You must include the following information in your email:

• Your old email address.

• Your new email address. (Type it out - many of the Section Leaders use a program to check email which hides your email address behind your name.)

• Your characters (don't forget their rank!) that this change will apply to.

3.6 Meetings & AIM

Part of the fun of belonging to a RP site is that you get to interact with other people who like writing, and here we're not much of an exception. The only difference is that we're a little wackier than other sites, so you have to be brave to attend our meetings. We do really, really strange things - those weak in the heart should not attend. ;) You have been warned.

Our meetings are held twice a month. An open forum meeting will be held on the first Saturday of every month at 4:00 PST, the second, normal meeting, will be held on the 15th of every month at 7:00 PST. Please see the Meetings Page for more information on meetings.

Meetings are held in the chat function of AOL Instant Messenger (more commonly called AIM). It's a free instant messaging program, downloadable from the AOL website. You'll need to get an invitation from an Officer or someone else in the chat to get into it, but this can be done by simply IMing an Officer. If you don't want to download the AIM program, a java version of AIM Express is available, but you'll still need a screen name. Screen names are attainable here.

Likewise, regular interaction is held over AIM. The Officers are on and off AIM regularly, but may not always have time to talk because of administrative duties. More often, though, we're happy to chat with anyone who wants a little companionship, or help a newbie out. We don't bite... much... promise!

3.7 Complaints and Proposals

With nearly 200 members, we understand that everyone is going to have a different opinion and ideas on how to make the site a better place to RP. Even so, we can't always use all of these ideas, nor hear everyone's suggestions. We value member input. As such, the Suggestion Form (which yes, can be use for complaints too) was implemented. It's there to be used - don't hesitate to do so!

The open forum on the first Saturday of every month is designed for people to send in their ideas and suggestions about the site. Please see the Meetings Page for more information.

If you have a complaint - and not about people, mind, because complaining that so-and-so was mean is a little childish - please feel free to send it to us. Even so, you should take the effort to make sure that your ideas and suggestions (or complaints, whichever) are written with care and are proactive; we want to solve the problem, not just be ranted at. Give us examples of what you'd like to see happen, give us proof, etc. If you want something done, take the initiative and get it done. The Officers are able to forget about conversations and discussions quite easily, so check in regularly to see if there's any more input. (We need a little help getting things done, sometimes.)

A small idea can be turned into a very big one. We like new ideas, because even we get bored of our systems and our requirements. Something new from someone else's brain other than ours is usually most welcome. Just remember that some things can't be done for the sake of our sanity, and some things might not be realistic for our type of RPing. So long as you're polite in your email & remember to spell check, we'll listen.

We don't mind you asking for other peoples' opinions, but if it's something that deals only with you, our hackles will raise if you try and contact everyone about something that you don't like. If we've refused an idea, it usually doesn't matter how many people you have behind you - we don't like it, and we know how to run the site. It sounds horrible put down in writing, I know, but have a little faith in us. ;)

3.8 Officer Decision Making Process

If you haven't already guessed, we're over-organized freaks. *grin* It just gets worse from here on in, too. This is the process that the Officers go through to make a decision.

- Someone (be it member or Officer) notices something on the boards that disagrees with them, or they come up with a proposal. They send an email to their Section Leader with an explanation. Any Officer is also allowed the right to bring up a problem to the rest of the Officers, whether or not the problem was brought to them by a member.

- Section Leader investigates the problem. If it is a serious one that infringes the rules, they send an email to all of the Officers. If they do not decide that the problem is worth the Officers' attention, they settle it themselves. If it is a proposal of some kind, it is automatically forwarded to all of the Officers as a whole.

- The problem is discussed. Usually we have a round of emails where everyone suggests solutions to the problem. The solutions are narrowed down until everyone agrees, or a vote is held. If it was a proposal and not a problem, it, too, is discussed. The Officers go through the pros and cons of integrating what the proposal suggests in the same manner as listed above.

- A concluding email is sent to the person(s) in answer about their rule-breaking, offensive behavior, or conclusion as to their proposal. The decisions of the Officers are meant to be the final say. If the member has any objections that might sway the argument to their side, they are to say them at this time. However: These objections are to be kept strictly private, as in, never stepping beyond email. Attempts at humiliating us by posting our decision and the member's arguments on any of the site's boards will be ignored. If the member is to be given due consideration, they must follow our guidelines.

3.9 Other RP Sites Advertising

As much as we like other people being independent and starting up their own role-playing sites, we tend to feel a little used when the creators of these sites suddenly decide to advertise to our hard-earned members shamelessly. We feel that it's akin to Adidas posting advertisements in Nike stores.

We do not allow just anyone to post a link to their RP site on our OOC board or use our members' emails to promote their site. You should try and find other methods of finding members first - submit your site to search engines, IM the members that you'd like to join your site, etc. The Wheel of Time RP never posted an advertisement on another site, nor do we want to. We're also one of the largest WoT-based RP's on the internet, so obviously, it isn't always necessary to advertise your site.

We follow three simple guidelines:

- You may not advertise your website using our member databases - that means no mass-mailing lists using our member pages. We consider it spam, and it will not be tolerated in any way, shape, or form. Our members expect their email addresses to be used for contact (& not advertisement) purposes only. Using our members' email addresses for these purposes is quite likely to get you a Warning.

- You may post a link on our OOC board, but you must get permission first. (It will be immediately deleted if you did not get permission.) Permission can be gained from the Creator, Joni. She will look over your site and judge it by decent/quality rules, credibility, effort put into design, legibility, those sorts of things.

- You must link to us on your website in either your Links page or in your Credits page. Not for advertisement purposes - we have all the members we want, thanks - but to show that you understand that you've been using our resources for your own gain. A text link is appropriate, and you may also use the graphics on the Link to Us page. Please remember that the graphic should be hosted on your own server.

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Section Four: Essential Rules for Survival

Two words: remember these!

4.1 Permission

It is possible to get an exception or an alteration on any one of the rules listed on this page, with the exception of a handful. That and you've probably seen (or will, soon) the phrase "Permission can be gained from...". What do we mean by permission? How do you get it? How do you show that you got permission? These are all very important questions.

Permission is getting the approval of your Section Leader (an Officer) to do, or have, something. You might ask for permission for your character to leave the Tower, to possess an angreal, to get an extension on a lesson, etc. If you are not 101% positive that you should be doing something, then chances are that you should have contacted your Section Leader first. We're real sticklers for permission, if you hadn't already guessed. It comes from having people misread the rules repeatedly, or who don't bother to read them at all. (Or from people who haven't read their Welcome Letters, which is just as bad, or maybe worse.)

To get permission, you must email your Section Leader. See the Officers page to find out who this is. State clearly what you want to do, why, with what character, when, and on what board. Why is especially important, because if it was something we let everyone do, then we wouldn't require you to get permission for it. If you have a good history of obeying the rules, writing well, and being polite, you are most likely to get permission for what you asked for.

To indicate that you got permission to do something, you must state in your post who gave it to you. This is to keep other Officers from deleting your post because it breaks the rules more than anything else. ;) For example, if you're doing something for your Novice's MRP that requires you to make a few posts from an anonymous source (see Section Five for more info on anonymous posts) and get permission from an Assistant Mistress of Novices, make sure that you note in your post - preferably at the top - that you got permission from her so that the Mistress of Novices (or Creator, if she happens to be reading it *grins*) doesn't delete it right away.

Basically, the main point of the permission rule is this: ask before you do. Not for every little thing (that really, really bothers us), but for things that don't just affect your character, and regarding such subjects that are detailed later on in the rules. Remember to specify in your post that you got permission, and who from.

4.2 Number of Characters

We are very well aware that some people are capable of having many characters, but we got tired of people joining with five characters and then never posting. There are no exceptions to this rule whatsoever.

- Anyone may join with one character.

- After two to four weeks they may create another character, with permission from their section leaders. The section leaders have a right to refuse permission. Permission is granted only if the member has obeyed our rules, particularly those regarding posting etiquette.

- A third character is allowed after raising to mid rank (Accepted, Sei'Tar, Dedicated).

- A fourth character is available two to four weeks after their raising to mid rank, with permission from their first character's section leaders. The section leaders again have the right to refuse.

- Fifth character upon full rank raising (Aes Sedai, Gaidin/ar, Asha'man).

- All additional characters must be petitioned for and approved by all of the Officers.

4.3 Activity vs. Membership

To remain a member at this site, you must be a consistent and active poster. For Novices, Aethan'Tar, Soldiers, Accepted, Sei'Tar, and Dedicated, this means that you must post at least once a week and attend lessons regularly. For Aes Sedai, Gaidin/ar, and Asha'man, this means that you must post at least once a month and help out with lessons - and other RP's - when you can.

If you aren't posting often enough (we call this Missing in Action - MiA), you will be sent an email asking about your status. If you don't reply within one week, another will be sent, and if you don't reply to that within one week, then you will be removed from the lists. If you ask to return after you were removed, it will be the Section Leader's discretion as to whether or not you have to redo your credits. (They will make this decision based on your previous activity with the character.)

Another option you have, if you're going to be away from your computer for a while, is taking a Leave of Absence (more commonly referred to as a LoA). LoA's can last from a week to three months. Anything shorter than a week won't be noticed by us, anything longer than three months and it wouldn't be very beneficial for you to remain a member. To announce that you're going on a LoA, email your Section Leader and tell them when you're leaving and about when you'll be coming back. So long as you have a definite return date, we're pretty easy with however long you want to be away for. We greatly prefer that you do not post on the OOC board to tell the site that you're going. If you want to tell the people that you're currently RPing with, use your email - all of their addresses are listed in the Member Pages. (And we maintain them for a reason.)

The same goes for your return post - send an email to your Section Leader and your friends to let them know that you're back, and don't post on the OOC board. We'll tolerate a few posts of that sort there, but they're all quite applicable to be deleted... so don't count on it being up for very long.

The second option you have if you're quite busy is putting one (or however many of your characters you wish, just not all) of your characters On Hold (OH). Many people do this while they're concentrating on getting one of their characters raised, or if they lost the inspiration to write for them. The shortest that a character can be put On Hold is three weeks, and the longest is three months. Again: any shorter than three weeks and we won't notice, any longer than three months and you're better off just getting rid of them.

Remember that all transactions regarding your (or your character's) activity are to be held via email, and not on the OOC board. It is very important that you inform your Section Leaders of what you're doing.

4.4 Explicit Material

Explicit material ranges from intercourse to bad language or violence. If you must include these subjects in your post/s, please do so in a tasteful and appropriate manner. We expect your writing to take place under a PG-13 rating, but sometimes writing goes over this. When you joined, you agreed that there may be 'adult material' on this site. If a post is over a PG-13 rating, it must have a disclaimer at the top.

Please note that the WoT RP is very accepting of alternate sexualities, races, and religions. This will be reflected in our membership as well as our writing. If you have strong feelings against other religions and sexualities, we highly suggest that you steer clear of our website. Homosexual writing will - and has - appeared. So long as it is written tastefully, we make no difference between it and heterosexual relations.

If an Officer thinks that a post is far too explicit, it will be removed. Members can be as young as 11, and we'd prefer to remain a place where everyone can join & not be surrounded by posts that they can't read. Don't push - we push back.

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Section Five: Posting

5.1 Expectations

Even though we're a role-playing site, it must be stated very clearly now that we are not a game. We are a society of writers, people who find pleasure in creating stories by using the English language to the best of their abilities. We welcome new people to the fold - but they must be willing to write at our standard, or must be willing to learn how to write better.

We expect every single post you write to be at least three good paragraphs long. A good paragraph consists of at least four sentences. You must write this much whether you're doing a lesson, participating in a festival, writing your MRP, or just having fun and exploring your character. Three paragraphs. Four sentences per paragraph. It's pretty darn simple. We're a writing site, so we want you to write.

To us, there is no maximum length, and nothing can ever be too long. You should try and make every paragraph you write mean something, have it describe something - otherwise, why bother writing it? You can see this post for an example of bare-bones writing versus the kind we'd like to see you doing. On the other side, though, for lessons your teachers probably don't want to read any more than three or four pages, so try to keep those decent. *grins* For MRP's, on the other hand, it's your turn to go wild... write 40, 50, 100 pages if you have to. It's your character, and it's their story - tell it.

On the other hand, you should realize that not everything your character does has to be an epic. Quantity and quality sometimes include each other, and sometimes they don't. For example, a five-line post is much improved by making it into a five-paragraph post, however a five-paragraph post is rarely improved by being turned into a five-page post.

As well as length, the most important rule we have is that with grammar, spelling, and punctuation. It doesn't really matter how long your MRP or post is - if it's full of spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors, we will not accept it. You are expected to know how to end each sentence with a period, start each one with a capital, know how to use quotation marks, commas, etc. (We have the Punctuation page if you aren't sure about something.) We highly recommend that you run your post through a word processor that has a spell & grammar check (such as Microsoft Word, Claris Works, WordPerfect, etc. Notepad and WordPad do not have these) before you post it on the boards. Likewise, check over your title spelling... it's really quite embarrassing to have a post up at the top of the board that has a misspelled title. Take the time to check your post over before hitting submit - even that can greatly reduce mistakes.

There are some on-line spell checkers, such as: http://www.spellcheck.net/. (Remember that the Wheel of Time names & phrases haven't been programmed into this. *wink*)

5.2 Format

We have a few pretty basic rules on posting format. They're all simple, and all of our members are following them, so we assume that you can too. Posts not following this format are just asking for deletion, or an email to you explaining what's wrong with them.

First and foremost, you are to write everything in third person limited. (For example, "She ran down the stairs with an armful of books.") Limited means that your writing should only contain your character's thoughts - you will not be able to know what other people are thinking. (Mostly because they aren't your character.)

Individual paragraphs of writing are to be double spaced (this can be done in the text box by pressing enter twice. It can also be achieved by using the paragraph <p> tag at the beginning of your paragraph, and ending it with </p>, though pressing enter twice is a lot easier!). This includes dialogue. (Start a new paragraph for each speaker.)

Thoughts should be indicated with italics, and emphasis should be done with italics also. To do italics, begin the phrase with <i>, and end it with </i>. If you fail to end the italics, the rest of your post will be italicized... and that's never a good thing.

The <hr> tag will insert a line between paragraphs so that you can indicate a passage of time or a change of scene. Please see the Basic HTML page for more information on the proper use of HTML tags in your post. Keep in mind that you really only need to know how to do italics and horizontal rules. ;)

5.3 Boards

This table is used to indicate who, among all the sections of the site, may post where. We have the boards listed that they may post on; any boards not listed for that rank are unable to be posted on. You might be able to get permission to post on a different board if you email your Section Leader.

Please note that for festivals, all characters are allowed to post on the board where the festival is being held. (So long as they are invited, of course! *grin*)

Rank	Board Status
Everyone	All members of any rank may post on the Out of Character (OOC), Out of Character Lesson Board (OOC LB), and the Critique Board (CB).
Novices	May post on the Novice & Accepted board, Novice Lesson Board, Special RP Board, the Raising Board (if it's their raising), and White Tower Board without permission. May post on the Gaidin in Training Lesson Board if there is a Dance lesson.
Accepted	May post on the Novice & Accepted board, Accepted Lesson Board, Novice Lesson Board, Special RP Board, the Raising Board (if it's their raising) and White Tower Board without permission. Are allowed to post on the Within the Wheel board if they have gained permission for a trip out of Tower. May post on the GiT Lesson Board if attending a lesson (for which you will have to get permission to attend).
Aes Sedai	May post on all boards, excepting the Pattern Societies Board - RP's that would be held there should be conducted on the Within the Wheel board. Posts in the Black Tower and on the GiT boards should be kept to a minimum. (Go Warder hunting on the WT board, not on the GiT.)
Soldiers	May post on the Soldier & Dedicated Board, the Black Tower Lesson Board, the Black Tower Board, and Special RP Board. If they are on an excursion with an Asha'man or BT Officer, they may then post on the Within the Wheel board.
Dedicated	May post on the Soldier & Dedicated Board, the Black Tower Lesson Board, the Black Tower Board, and Special RP board. If they're on an excursion with an Asha'man or BT Officer, they may then post on the Within the Wheel board.
Asha'man	May post on all boards, excepting the Pattern Societies Board - RP's that would be held there should simply be conducted on the Within the Wheel board. Posts in other sections should be kept to a minimum.
Aethan'Tar	May post on the Gaidin in Training Board, the Gaidin in Training Lesson Board, the White Tower Board, the Special RP Board, and the Raising Board. Might be allowed to post on one of the White Tower Lesson Boards if they are assisting in a lesson, but permission must be gained first.
Sei'Tar	May post on the Gaidin in Training Board, the Gaidin in Training Lesson Board, the White Tower Board, the Special RP Board, and the Raising Board. Might be allowed to post on one of the White Tower Lesson Boards if they are assisting in a lesson, but permission must be gained first.
Gaidin	May post on all boards, excepting the Pattern Societies Board - RP's that would be held there should simply be conducted on the Within the Wheel board. Posts in the Black Tower and on the Novice & Accepted boards should be kept to a minimum. (Those RP's should be held on the WT board.)
Pattern Societies	May post on the Pattern Societies Board, Within the Wheel, the White Tower Board, the Black Tower Board, and the Full Rank Board (if that character is full rank). May post other places, but permission must be gained first.

5.4 OOC Board and OOC Lesson Board

OOC stands for Out of Character. As such, the two boards with OOC in their titles are to be specifically out of character. This means that in character (IC) posts are not allowed. They will be deleted and/or moved, so just save yourself (and us) some time and remember that (even if you're trying to spice it up a little - just don't bother).

The OOC board is here for Wheel of Time and role-playing subjects only. (That means Wheel of Time RPing things, not Dungeons & Dragons and whatnot.) Do not post non-WoT related items on it, nor silly and frivolous things... we do not want to know what you had for lunch, for instance, or what you did today; live journals and blogging sites are for that, not our OOC board. Random (or insanity-driven) discussions pop up occasionally, and these are fine... we're silly people, after all. ;) Also, posts that are only aimed at one or two people should be kept to email. (If you're trying to get someone's attention, for example.) Especially when this comes to the Officers; we check our email more regularly than we do the OOC board. Posts asking for Officers to fix something in one of your posts should be conducted through email or not at all - take the time to read through your post before you hit 'submit' so we don't have to spend more time fixing titles and careless HTML errors. We're not shy about telling you when you're misusing the OOC board (or just deleting something with no mention of it).

The OOC LB was made specifically for all things regarding lessons, from the White Tower to the Black Tower to the Training Grounds. If you have any questions about lessons, ask there - but if it's a question about a specific lesson, you should email that teacher or an Officer instead. If you want to post an announcement for a lesson that you're holding (for teachers only), this is also where you do it. We know that you may not always have a lot to say, but try to refrain from posts that only have, "Part Two to Novice Air posted! (nm)" Try to think up something more interesting, hmm? Chances are that an Officer will just delete it.

We welcome the use of these boards, but please be circumspect!

5.5 Posts Not Allowed on Boards

OOC posts on the In Character boards are a no-no. We have a whole board specifically for out of character discussions; please use it. They are allowed to a minimum, but are up for deletion at any time. If you need to catch the attention of the writers in your string, use email. (It's a wonderful thing.)

Anonymous posts (posts in which your character is not specified) are also not allowed. You will have to get permission from your Section Leader to be able to post something anonymous on your character's board. You will also have to specify in your post that you got permission, or else someone will delete it and send it back to you (if you included an email address to do so with).

5.6 Post Deletion

If you haven't already guessed, the Officers are quite specific about what does or does not go on our boards. The list below gives a few samples of why we will delete posts, but is not limited to:

• Posts that are not 3 or more good paragraphs long or are shorter than required.
• Posts including atrocious spelling, grammar, or punctuation.
• Posts containing inappropriate images to our PG-13 rating.
• Posts with content that does not fit that board's subject/purpose.
• Posts containing offensive language, WoT derogatory terms excluded.
• Posts with plagiarized passages.
• Posts including a misuse of another person's character.
• Posts that have questionable material that has not been cleared by a Section Leader.
• Posts that break a rule. (Ambivalent? Of course.)

The list continues with situation specific offences. We are not shy about deleting posts. ;)

There are different manners in which we delete posts. They range from just being deleted with no further notification to being deleted with a copy sent to you with an explanation why. For posts that are too short or are punctuated/spelled/etc. atrociously, it's likely that your Section Leader won't give you a copy of your post. For posts that are longer & that contain something they shouldn't, then you are likely to be sent a copy and will have to re-write it. It's all situation specific, so don't always expect a copy back. OOC posts are rarely saved and returned.

5.7 Frequency

Any member may actively post on up to three strands per board. This does not apply to either of the OOC boards or the Critique Board.

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Section Six: Characters

6.1 Creating

Your character is one of the most important facets of your membership. They are your portal into creativity and the Wheel of Time, so make them as interesting and as unique as possible.

When you're creating a character, you should keep one thing in mind: realism. (This should be present in your writing too, but that's another matter.) Make a person - someone who could be living and breathing and going to the same school as you, or working in the office down the hall. They should have flaws, strengths, likes, and dislikes. Someone who is beautiful and charismatic might be fun to play for the first few lessons, but soon you'll realize that with no flaws and no problems, the character is boring. Even if you find something for them to do, the story will be boring simply because your character isn't realistic and it will just sound as if you're rattling off actions in sequence, sprinkling in a little bit of dialogue here and there. If, on the other hand, your character resents being beautiful, you've got a whole other story.

The flaws that you pick for your character should run on many levels. For example, if your character is absolutely perfect but hates swimming, it still won't make your writing interesting. If they're afraid of spiders, it won't help much either. But, on the other hand, if they have a burning desire to be better than everyone else and are afraid of spiders, then you can have them try to show off to someone and then get thrown down because a spider fell on their shoulder. The whole idea is to start off with a rough idea of a character, and then to let the character build themselves up for you... this is what we call character development. If you're writing a post and find at one point in time that it doesn't actually feel like you writing but your character, then you know you've done something right. The more of a personality your character has in character, the easier it is to write for them.

A second facet of realism is staying true to the Wheel of Time. We understand that being unique might mean having dark hair in Andor, but those aren't the things we're going for. (When we say unique, we mean mentally.) You must stay with the laws that Robert Jordan has set out for us in his books; this means that if you want an Aiel character, they're likely to be taller than most other people, have a fair complexion, and will be in very good physical shape. If you want a Saldaean, you should take into account that they'll have a big nose. If they're from Andor, they will be fair, if from Illian, they'll have an accent, etc. Robert Jordan has given us a world with rich cultures - use that to your advantage, and don't just ignore important points about your character.

This goes for names as well as physical traits. You will notice that on the Join Form there's a link by the Character Name field - if you open it, there are formulas for names that aren't the standard first name-last name. If your character is from Murandy, they must have a Murandian name, if they're from the Sea Folk, then they must have the proper name format, etc. Your character will not be accepted if their name doesn't fit their nationality.

When you're filling out a join form for a channeling character, you should keep in mind to keep their elemental strengths and their Talents congruent. For example, if your character is strongest in Fire and Air, why would they have the Talent Wave Dancing (manipulating water)? Or if Earth is their weakest element, why choose Earth Singing? You should keep things like this in mind. See the section about Talents for more information.

In short, make your character realistic to humanity and the Wheel of Time. We highly suggest that you read some of the writing on the boards before joining - it'll give you an idea of what we expect.

6.2 Number of Characters

(Yes, we know that this rule is being repeated, but you absolutely must remember it.) We are very well aware that some people are capable of having many characters, but we got tired of people joining with five characters and then never posting. There are no exceptions to these rules whatsoever.

- Anyone may join with one character.

- After two to four weeks they may create another character, with permission from their section leaders. The section leaders have a right to refuse permission. Permission is granted only if the member has obeyed our rules, particularly those regarding posting etiquette.

- A third character is allowed after raising to mid rank (Accepted, Sei'Tar, Dedicated).

- A fourth character is available two to four weeks after their raising to mid rank, with permission from their first character's section leaders. The section leaders again have the right to refuse.

- Fifth character upon full rank raising (Aes Sedai, Gaidin/ar, Asha'man).

- All additional characters must be petitioned for and approved by all of the Officers.

6.3 In Character Rules

This is a fairly big section, but we'll sum it up fairly simply here. Essentially, your character is to behave and is to follow all rules laid out in the Wheel of Time books (plus one or two extras). Here they are, in a nice and simple format.

1. Whoever has been there longer has seniority. (LoA time is subtracted from this time.)

2. Everyone who is not full-rank and who is in a formal training situation (this means all Novices, Accepted, Soldiers, Dedicated, Aethan'Tar, and Sei'Tar) are to show respect to those of a higher rank. Usually this is a curtsy, bow, or salute.

3. Novices are not allowed to channel without supervision from an Accepted or Aes Sedai.

If you have any more questions, you should go and re-read the books... or if it's something small, contact one of the Officers.

6.4 Deaths

Dying is a part of living, and a part of role-playing. If you wish to kill off your own character, feel free to do so - but you must email your Section Leaders first to let them know, so that we aren't surprised out of our socks to learn that Mr. Novice jumped off of the Tower. (Yes, it's happened.)

If you wish to kill off someone else's character, you must gain their permission before you do anything. If you kill, injure, maim, or otherwise alter another person's character without their permission, the string will be deleted immediately (after that person has alerted the Officers, nothing will happen if you don't).

6.5 Ranks

All characters start out at the beginning levels: Novice, Aethan'Tar, Soldier, first-rank Pattern Societies. Please see the Ranking Systems page for more information.

You should show deference to everyone of a higher rank than yourself; within the same rank, whoever has the greater time spent as an active member (with that character), wins. For example, Bob joins in March and Fred joins in April. In June, though they're both still Aethan'Tar, Bob is still senior. However, he then goes on a two month LoA, during which Fred stays active. In September, though their characters are still Aethan'Tar, Fred is now senior.

Exceptions to this rule are only made if you have trained a character to at least mid rank in another WoT RPG that follows the same basic principles as we do. In order to do this, you must provide, in your join form, what training the character has finished at the other site, the other site's name and internet address, and the name and email address of one of your section leaders. At this point the Officers will discuss your query and then email you, asking for proof of membership and a sample of your writing. We retain the right to withhold permission.

6.6 Fourth Rank

Fourth rank characters are those who are full rank, but with an extra little kick... so to speak. Full rank characters are Aes Sedai, Asha'man, Gaidin/ar, and Pattern Societies characters who have completed their requirements. (See the Ranking Systems page, the Requirements page, and the PS Requirements page.) Each section has separate requirements for its characters to become fourth rank.

Fourth rank characters are denoted on the member pages with a "4" or with their character's position (Sitter, Callabien, Blademaster, Forsaken, etc.).

6.7 Special Characters

Characters such as Wise Ones, Windfinders, Forsaken, Viewers, etc. are all allowed here, however, they may not be your first character. In order to get one of these characters, you must have a good record of following the rules, being polite, and writing posts that are consistently above average with good punctuation, grammar, and spelling. You must also demonstrate that you have a grasp on the Wheel of Time world and know its boundaries. You must email the Pattern Societies Leader for permission to have one of these characters.

Dreadlords - channeling Darkfriends - must have training from either the White or Black Tower. Dreadlord Wise Ones or Windfinders must be obtained from the Pattern Societies Leader. There are no exceptions to this rule.

6.8 NSWC, MUC, & NPC's

First point of interest: The concept, name, and everything else to do with MUC's and NSWC's are both copyright Joni, the Creator of this website. If you wish to use MUC's or NSWC's on your site, email her first. (Otherwise, you're stealing.)

Secondly! What are NSWC's, MUC's, and NPC's? They were described in Rule 1.1, Commonly Used Terms, but for simplicity's sake, they shall be described again.

Acronym	Stands For	It is...
NPC	Non-Participating Character	A character that is randomly added into a post to give it a little extra depth; this is the Novice that your character passes by on the way to a lesson, or the Aes Sedai that enjoys giving them punishments. Your writing never takes place from this person's point of view.
NSWC	No Specific Writer Character	A character that has been created and used by multiple people for RP's or lessons. Essentially, this is a normal character who can be written for by different people.
MUC	Made Up Character	A character that is used only once or twice, and then discarded. For example, if an Aes Sedai was to teach a lesson in her weakest element, she would make up an MUC and use them instead of their main character.

The next question is, who can create these? Simple. Anyone may make up their own NPC, and that NPC may be of any rank. Anyone is allowed to make up an NSWC, but that NSWC may not surpass the rank of your highest-ranking character (if you are Novice, then you may not create an NSWC Accepted, but you may create an NSWC Aethan'Tar). Only people mid-rank or higher may create an MUC, and the MUC may not surpass the rank of their highest-ranking character. (An Accepted may not create an Aes Sedai MUC, for example, but she may create a Dedicated MUC. Novices, Soldiers, Aethan'Tar, and first-rank Pattern Societies members may not make MUC's at all.) Are there exceptions to this rule? Yes, if you get permission from your Section Leader.

Please remember that for the most part, NSWC's and MUC's are only to be used for lessons. You are welcome to include them in occasional RP's, but they are not your main character and cannot be treated as such.

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Section Seven: Role Playing

7.1 General

What we mean by 'general' is essentially etiquette. No, don't shake your head and grimace, we expect you to remember these pointers. For the most part they're common sense, but review is always a good thing.

First off, respect that other people might have something specific planned for their character and may not want you butting in. If they say that they're waiting for someone else to post, then assume that you aren't welcome. When all else fails, ask before you post. (Use email, don't post on the boards.) If they say that anyone is free to join in, then consider it an invitation. Likewise, if a role-play is already in progress, don't jump in unless it's appropriate. And if you do jump in, make sure that it's in line with what's already happening - split timelines aren't fun and only mess things up. Keep in mind that if you've jumped in and aren't wanted, it's perfectly fine for the other players to ignore your post. (Or ask to have it deleted. If this happens, you will not be sent a copy.)

Secondly, please respect other peoples' characters. They are not yours, and they know their character 100% better than you do. Do not write for another person's character, or write in any major things that they do. In fact, it would be best for you to not 'puppet' them at all, since chances are that you'll play them wrong. Please be careful.

If someone plays your character wrong, it will be your duty to set the situation correct. Please do not drag the Officers into this, as it is your character, your RP, & your problem. ;) Contact the person who wrote your character wrong and tell them politely what they did wrong and ask if they could please not do it again. The easiest way to resolve the issue is to agree that what your character said/did is to simply ignore that part of the post; however, if it is too major to be ignored, you can email one of your Section Leaders and ask them to delete the post and/or remove a part of it.

7.2 Romance

We realize that romance is and will continue to be a very easy topic for writers to portray that directly affects their characters, but we highly discourage it. Frankly, seeing yet another character falling madly in love with one of their peers & living happily ever after is incredibly boring. Like, yawn and delete string boring. *grin* We've read it too many times, and frankly, we don't want to read it again.

If you absolutely have to make your character fall in love for something to do, at least do it realistically. They won't find their soul mate the first time they fall in love, and like in real life, they won't love the same person forever. Humans - and love - are both fickle things; therefore, why should things be perfect? Take a look around your school (or go back in your memories, if you're one of those lucky people who has graduated) and see all of the "oh, she said..." and "but he likes so and so..."? That's what love is like. C'mon, people, portray it realistically!

Now, that said, it should now be stated that Novices are not allowed to fall in love. If you do, you'll be set with a huge punishment that'll take you forever. (I promise. We can come up with some really creative things that may not be fun to write.) Accepted are permitted to be in relationships, though this is not encouraged. Soldiers & Dedicated, we don't care what you do so long as your training isn't affected, though if females bear a child then upon its birth it will be given to a foster family. Gaidin in Training are allowed to have relationships also, but these are to be kept to a minimum and will only be permitted so long as they don't interfere with training.

Aes Sedai, Gaidin/ar, and Asha'man are all allowed to be in relationships of any level (for Asha'man they still may not be too time demanding, as they're soldiers and are expected to serve). Children are allowed but are definitely discouraged and frowned upon. As stated above, if female Asha'man bear children then those offspring will be given to foster families, as they are expected to be serving in an army and not raising a baby/having a family.

7.3 Lessons

If you haven't noticed, lessons here are on about 99.9% of the time. We're quite methodical and persistent with our lessons, which makes us similar to some other RPing sites and very different from others. Your writing ability and the number of lessons you have completed are the two main factors in being raised to the next level - if you want a complete list of what lessons you need to advance, please go to the Raising Requirements page. You don't need to worry about keeping track of what lessons you need - the Officers do that for you, and you can check your status on the LPP (Lesson Progress Pages - you would be wise to not pester anyone if these pages aren't completely up to date, sometimes it takes a few days or a few weeks to process things).

Obviously, each lesson needs a teacher. Teachers are only mid-rank characters or above - it is required for Accepted, Dedicated, and Sei'Tar to teach a lesson before they are raised to full rank. Only full rank characters may teach lessons to mid-rank characters (an Accepted can't teach another Accepted). We greatly appreciate it when people volunteer to teach lessons. (Hint hint! *wink*)

An ideal lesson will last for two weeks - when teaching or participating, please keep this timeframe in mind. Usually, teachers will accept new students until Part Two has started (lessons usually have two or three parts), though this may change according to the teacher and the type of lesson. Each of your posts in a lesson must be at least three paragraphs long, unless your teacher has requested more or has specified that you can write less. It is generally appreciated when you keep your posts under two pages, as teachers usually have many posts to read.

For more information about teaching lessons, please see the Teaching a Lesson FAQ in the Library.

If you have an inquiry about a lesson that you are in - you need an extension, have a question, comment, or concern - email the teacher directly. Posting on the OOC LB might work, but the Officers are likely to view it as clutter, and your teacher may not see it. Furthermore, posts directed at one person are not permitted on the OOC LB. ;) The easiest way to contact your teacher is simply through email.

If you would like to request a specialized lesson that more than three people could teach, then go ahead and post it on the OOC LB - if, however, only two or three people could teach you, then you might be better advised to email them instead, or email one directly.

For section-specific information about lessons, please re-read your welcome letter, or email one of your Section Leaders.

7.4 Bonding

As with many other rules here, we try to stick as close to possible to the details that Robert Jordan has provided us for RPing realistically in his world. With bonding, it is no different. Please try to remember that we are not trying to control every aspect of your RPing here; we're trying to make all of the writing more enjoyable and realistic for everyone. The rules for Bonding are as such:

1. Novices and Accepted may not be allowed in any Bond. There are no exceptions to this rule.
2. Red sisters may Bond, but this is extremely rare. It is expected for the Aes Sedai (of the Red Ajah) to obtain permission from the Keeper, Amyrlin, and Creator before bonding.
3. Soldiers, Dedicated, Aethan'Tar, and Sei'Tar may all participate in Bonds, so long as the other person they are Bonding are allowed to be Bonded. They must obtain permission from their section leader beforehand to do so.
4. Aes Sedai, Gaidin, and Asha'man may all Bond, so long as the character they Bond is also allowed.
5. Aes Sedai whose Ajah does not usually permit more than one Warder are still allowed to Bond as many as they wish, within reason. If we think that you are getting too out of line, we may disallow any further Bonds. 
6. Wolfkin may not be bonded under any circumstances - the connection with the wolves 'fuzzes' the bond, rendering it useless and pointless.

A Bond may only be broken by death; however, it may be passed.

7.5 Dreams as MRP's

Novices, Accepted, Soldiers, and Dedicated are not allowed to leave the Tower (Gaidin in Training only on very special occasions), and as a result your MRP ideas are rather limited. A semi-popular solution to this problem is to have the MRP base itself on a dream, which occurs outside of the Tower.

There are a few points on this. First off, to pose a question: how often has your life been change significantly by a dream? Not a dream that predicted the future amazingly well, either, but an adventurous dream that changed your life in the way a MRP should change your character's life. The answer probably is "never." Well, if you haven't already read it a thousand times, here it is again: keep your RPing realistic, or as realistic as possible as you can in the Wheel of Time world. This means that if it doesn't make sense happening in the real life world, then it won't happen here. Therefore, unless your life has been drastically changed by a single dream, don't use it as the premise of a MRP.

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Section Eight: Strengths & Talents

8.1 Determining Strength / Seniority

Simply put, your character should not (under any circumstances) be any more powerful than they need to be. If one of your characters is too strong, we call that god-moding. Do not god-mode. We hate it, and it's deathly boring to read. If one of the Officers comes across a character that's too perfect or too strong, the post will be deleted (or you'll be asked to change your character/make a new one, submit a new join form, something of the sort - it's easier on you if you make your character have faults to begin with).

Between characters who have already been accepted and role-played for a time, whoever has been an active member longer has more rank, strength, or seniority than the other member. For example, Fred created an Aethan'Tar two months ago and played him actively all that time. Bob made an Aethan'Tar two months ago also, but went on a LoA for a month, therefore, Fred's character has more rank and will be better with weaponry. Strength may not be determined in this way for channelers, as some strength levels are inborn and some will be naturally stronger.

8.2 Weaponry

Upon joining with a character who is not an Aethan'Tar or Soldier, your character may only have two years of experience with one or two weapons / fighting techniques. Exceptions may be made for characters in the Pattern Societies, so long as their story is realistic. Aethan'Tar may have five years of experience with weaponry, exceptions may be made if you email the Head Gaidin or Master of Arms first. No character may have studied under a Gaidin unless they have been in the White Tower and were enrolled as an Aethan'Tar who attended lessons (and you must role-play this, not just mention that your character did it). The same goes for Soldiers in the Black Tower.

After your character has gone through several lessons in weaponry (note that this applies mostly to those in the Towers), their abilities in those weapons and skills will increase. We expect your character to specialize in one or two weapons or a type of weapon (knives and daggers would classify as a 'type,' as would spears and other projectiles, polearms, and different kinds of swords) if they're training to become a Gaidin, but they will not be talented with every kind of weaponry that they come across. It's simply impossible. The only characters who will be at a good level with many weapons will be the Head Gaidin, Master of Arms, and possibly M'Hael or Tsorovan'm'hael. Older Gaidin will become more talented with different kinds of weaponry, but you should still keep it realistic. If someone's getting out of hand, you can be sure that we'll say something about it.

8.3 Blademasters & Training

In order to have your character become a Blademaster, they must have completed Blademaster Training with an active Blademaster at our site. Your character may not join as a Blademaster, nor at a near-Blademaster level. Your Blademaster teacher will take you through several training exercises, and at the end, they will devise some sort of test that your character has to pass. In order to qualify for Blademaster training, your character must have taken a Beginner's Sword lesson, an Advanced Sword lesson, and must have RPed several years of IC training beforehand.

Please see the Blademaster Requirements page for more information.

8.4 Talents

All channeling characters are allowed to have three Talents. Talents are abilities with the One Power that go beyond the average channeler's ability - Healing is a Talent, for example, as is making ter'angreal. Some people are able to Heal, others are not - just as some are able to make ter'angreal successfully and others are not. If your character has three Talents, one of them must be Healing or Illusion, the two most common Talents. You are perfectly welcome to only have two Talents, or one - if you only have one, then you may be asked to take two lessons in it or do some supplementary work equivalent to a lesson.

As with all things, just because your character has a Talent doesn't mean that they can suddenly perform amazing feats. Some people are stronger in some Talents than others; a Healer might be able to Heal deep wounds and cuts, but may not be strong enough to Heal a broken limb. You should try to balance your character's Talents.

When choosing your character's Talents, you must try to stay with what you have already established with their elemental strengths. For example, if your character cannot channel enough Fire to light a candle, then why give them a Talent such as Spinning Earthfire? Or, if they have a hard time with Water, giving them Wave Dancing would be a very strange choice. You get a little more flexibility with Talents than with normal weaves, but try to keep your choices realistic. However, some Talents may require your character have strength with a certain element - for example, to have Cuendillar Making, you must be extremely strong with Earth.

You must have taken a lesson in your Talent before your character can use it. Permission to use it beforehand must be gained from an Officer.

8.5 Talent Ratings

There are three kinds of Talents: common, special, and rare. Common Talents are all over the place & include such things as Healing and Illusion, special Talents are less common (Delving, for example), and rare Talents are the least common (Dreaming or Foretelling). Anyone may choose a common Talent, your Section Leader must be contacted if you have a request for a special Talent, and Joni must be contacted to obtain a rare Talent. Email works well for applying for Talents; remember to specify your character & their section, as well as why you want the Talent and why you deserve it.

The following is a table containing all of the Talents available at our site. We only accept new Talent suggestions if solid proof of their existence can be found in the books.

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Please remember that these rules are subject to change at any time. You would be well-advised to check back often to refresh your memory and to see if any changes have been made. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Joni or any one of the Officers.

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Website maintained by Joni. Last updated on July 13, 2007.