What are the guidelines for creating a character?
Characters must be 100% your own, and can come from any time or place on Earth. They will have lived out their full lives already, meaning they’ll have a birth date
and a death date. Your characters will also retain full memory of their lives and, unless they were unconscious for it, their deaths. For the purpose of this game, a character's death may have taken place at as young an age as 21 or as old as 100+. However, it must not have occurred in the OOC future - no death dates beyond the year 2016, please!
How does my character arrive in The After?
Once a charater is officially added to the game, he or she will awaken submerged in the middle of a infinitely deep river. Though the water is slow moving, the swim to the surface requires strength of mind and body. All around the river is a field of tall grass surrounding an impossibly large tree that bears resemblence to an angel oak tree. Other than grass and the river, the tree is the only thing for about a mile around. The mods will set up an awakening thread each add period for new players to introduce their characters and start their journey.
How will my character look compared to how they looked in their previous life?
Characters will wake up in the game’s world at their physical peak, meaning the time in their lives they were most physically fit. For some, this will be at age 25. For others, it will be age 50. They'll also wake up without tattoos, piercings, or any other kind of unnatural body modifications. Any physical abnormalities, disabilities, amputations, scars, etc., accrued throughout their previous lifetime will be healed, even if the character was born that way. Any disease that might have afflicted them will plague them no longer. They will be free of mental illness. This isn't to say that any traumas they experienced in their lives will cease to affect them, only that their brains and bodies will be 100% healthy. Because characters younger than 21 are still developing mentally, no character who is younger than 21 will be accepted into the game.
Will my character grow and change after awakening?
Yes! Though characters start out with a physically fit body that may be much younger than the one they had in their life before death, the moment they wash up on shore they will begin to age. Their hair will grow. If they get cut, they may scar. If they lose a limb, it stays lost. At least until they die again.
If my character is already dead, does that mean that they can't die in the game?
Not at all! Your character is still subject to the pains and misfortunes that flesh is heir to. They can become injured or ill, and the threat of death is very real. If a character does die, they will awaken again in the river, remembering everything, but free of any wounds or illnesses acquired before their death. However, there is a limit to the amount of times a character can die and be resurrected, which is of yet unknown. Further, please note that when a character dies and reawakens, their corpse will remain. It won’t disappear or reanimate.
How do characters from different backgrounds communicate?
All characters hear language in their native tongue regardless of what language is being spoken. If Character A speaks Japanese and Character B speaks English, Character A will hear Japanese coming from Character B’s mouth, and vice-versa. Accents will be maintained (for example, Character A's English would have a Japanese accent), and slang will be directly translated - sometimes at the expense of meaning. Anything in writing, however, will remain visible in the language in which it’s been written. If Character A writes a note in Japanese and Character B cannot read Japanese, Character B will be unable to read the note.
I have a friend who wants to join, can they apply as my character's parent/sibling/bestie/significant other/long lost uncle?
The umbrella answer to this question is no. Considering the number of people who have lived throughout history, the likelihood of your character being awoken with someone they once knew is very slim. However, if you can prove to us that the addition of this character would generate plot affecting more than just your character, we will consider it on a case-by-case basis. Not likely, though.
I'm nervous apping a historical character because I don't know much about the time period I'm interested in playing. How picky are you about historical characters?
Depends on the time period you're interested in! If it's a relatively recent period with a large body of knowledge to draw from, we’d like you to be as accurate about that period as possible, although a little bit of creative embellishment is fine. If you’re writing a character from a widely debated, ancient, and/or uncertain time, just do your best. More fudging when it comes to these time periods is expected; no one really knows 100% what went on with some ancient cultures. All in all, we're not asking you to be an expert. Just do your research and show the culture some respect. If you're unsure about whether or not something you're planning is okay, shoot the mods an e-mail before you apply. We'll do our best to help you out.
How does time flow in-game?
Timeflow is the same IC and OOC - however, since the planet where the game takes place isn't planet Earth, the length of its days isn't the same as ours. Each day in the game will be three Earth days long. That is, characters will experience daylight for around 72 hours, with five hours of darkness taking place on the OOC "fourth" day, meaning that your characters, who will still be on a 24-hour sleep-wake cycle, might experience some difficulties. You can see a calendar of how that works here.
Does this game use journals or other messaging devices?
No. Players are encouraged to explore as many different avenues of RP as they can think of. Whether that's consists of posting a completed log that's mainly dialogue interspersed with clarifying actions, putting up an open thread that relies on icons for expression with its comment text consisting only of dialogue, or writing sprawling third person scenes is up to you. We love comment wars, too, but these characters are likely to be living in each other's pockets; we can think of very few reasons they would ever communicate regularly by any means other than in person.
What amenities will my character have, then?
None :(
Why can't I make my character's bio public?
To keep the game as spontaneous and organic as possible. You don't know everything about a person when you first meet them, and that's how it should be for your characters, too. This allows for all kinds of possibilities that might not arise if players are unknowingly influenced by something they've read in a character's biography. How many times have we uconsciously written something as players that we may - or may not have - otherwise had we not known those details? Having character bios private, accessible only to the player and the mods, takes this possibility out of the equation.
Why isn't there an OOC community?
It’s an experiment. We want the game to be as character-driven and organic as possible, and while we understand there are some instances where OOC plotting is necessary, we would like to keep it to a minimum. Anything that needs to be communicated to the mods can be drop-boxed or e-mailed, and you are encouraged to contact other muns for scenes via the communication post in their respective character journals.
So that's why there's no contact list?
Yup. That also means we'd like to keep who plays who on the DL, as well. Anonymity! It's fun!
So I just send the mods an email and wait?
We'll try our best to respond within 24 hours to any inquiry; if it's a matter that is time sensitive or requires a discussion, we're happy to set up a time to sit down and speak with you via AIM, gchat, or e-mail.
What about a storyline community?
Nope! We suggest looking for your lines in the many other communities on IJ dedicated to such. Ditto as to why there's no 'wanted' list.
What's the level of moderator involvement in this game?
As mods, we're here to provide you with the pieces needed to help make your characters successful - that is, to help them grow. That will include offerings such as random events, rhoulettes, and acts of nature. For example, we may choose to introduce an animal into an active log, or visit some misfortune (such as a sprained ankle) or some luck (such as the discovery of a new source of food) upon your character. A flash flood may wipe away your shelter. You can neither volunteer nor opt out; if you join the game, you agree to participate.
What's my role as a player in this game?
Play. Be creative. Allow things to, and make things happen. Part of the reason for this RP and its novel setup is that we, the mods, missed the old, organic style of playing, where characters drove the plot and mods
let them. So go ahead. Do your thing. No one's stopping you.
What kind of NPCs can I include in my logs?
The only living things on the planet are native flora and fauna, which may be included in your play as you see fit. No other humans reside on the planet besides those currently in play. Please note that whether or not you choose to include an NPC in your log, a mod-controlled one may appear if your log is being posted and played in the community.
