====== Getting started with Roleplay!! ======

The backbone of the setting, roleplaying is quite simple: each player produces a paragraph or two which establish characters or objects performing actions - like writing part of a story. Another player then also writes another part of the story and the two or more take turns and continue the story.

The “author” of the story is not strictly an author in the sense that they decide where the story utterly goes but instead they exist to provide the background and environment for the other writers or players. This special player is called a game-master and serves to guide players.

The story is based on an established world which works democratically, with characters submitted for approval by moderators who help players fit their character into the world for a smoother roleplay experience for both themselves and other players. The same is also true of objects, assets, places, events and ideas which work the same way.



Roleplay can be achieved in a variety of different ways: Making individual posts within a thread in sequence, working together on a pad to form a combined interwoven post or even writing a short story that falls within the established rules of the world.

Those looking to get started in roleplay should create a submit a character and then solicit roleplay on the Roleplay Request board - a place for players to solicit roleplay from other players or game-masters by posting the terms, definition and summary of the roleplay they are interested in as well as the characters that would be involved. In this way, players can meet one another and pair or group up based on common interests of theme, style, tone or goal.


===== List of Terms =====

  * **Game Master (GM)**: a special classification of player who guides other players into a story - acting as an author that glues the posts of other players together into a larger plot.
  * **Plot**: The ongoing story created by characters, which has a beginning and fits into the universe of the setting. Plots often interact or are influenced by events in other plots - meaning the actions of players in the past can influence the setting itself and thus actions of players in the future - such as which nation controls a given resource, worlds being saved or destroyed, families being formed, etc.
  * **Canon**: The notion of what is part of the lexicon or combined story of the setting that can be determined within the setting to be true. Some actions may be disproved if they step outside of the lore of the setting or violate the approval process or Game-Master action for the protection of other players, their freefom and the balance of the game itself.
  * **Player**: a person who posts either within or outside a plot to establish the actions of a character.
  * **Faction Manager**: Larger organizations which may combine many plots are managed and established as factions often with competing interests. In this sense, groups of players in plots may not be interacting in purely friendly ways or may have rivalries.
  * **Post**: The life-blood of the game, posts are story segments made by players which feed the story of the game inside plots.
  * **Plot-ship**: A nickname given to stories built around a crew or group who move large distances aboard a ship which often serves as a mascot or name of the plot itself.
  * **Submission**: Something which is put up for approval to join the canon of the setting, which will be moderated and constructively critiqued. Every effort is made to try and support players in the creation of new content, though power structures and scale of the setting must be maintained to ensure no player becomes some sort of 'super faction' that damages the fairness and enjoyableness of the game by refusing to lose.