New Players' Guide

Welcome to Wandering Star Role Play! This article has the basic steps and info you'll need to participate. Please read it thoroughly.

Earth is just too small and fragile a basket for mankind to keep all its eggs in. — attributed to Robert A. Heinlein - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein

Earth was a long time ago. Perhaps as far from us now as the first recorded history is from now, but we have no way of knowing. Time and time again, humanity has been cast down to the dust to lift itself and begin anew - by war, plagues and occupation. The Earth itself is a legend and now too, the dimension it occupied as we leave it behind. But humanity survives, as distant travelers with new homes and new colonies as familiar to them and as home to them as Earth is to us.

Technology has advanced in strange directions and our fundamental understanding of reality has changed. Gravity, high energy weapons, faster than light travel, the transmutation of the mind into information and a means of taking energy from space itself, but not without consequence.

We have escaped a world not unlike the one we have described to you and venture forth into something strange and new in exodus, exile, abandon and loss. The remains of civilizations which arose in this strange place begin anew at peace.

There are however threats to that peace; lawlessness, civilizations unmet, aliens incomprehensibly strange and most frightening of all, ourselves.

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The Yamatai Star Empire is a technologically-advanced transhuman empire with most of the population using biological android bodies. It's got an 80s anime-inspired flavor and is protected by a massive, politically powerful military called the Star Army, which the site is named after. The Star Army has members of dozens of species serving, but it's best known for its cat-eared warrior women, the Nekovalkyrja (pronounced Nay-ko-wul-ku-ree). Due to mass production of Nekos, there are increasingly more women than men living in Yamatai.

In stark contrast, The Democratic Imperium of Nepleslia is a gritty cyberpunk nation of humans, cyborgs, and mutants that deals with high crime in its megacities. Mixing of genetic material from super-solider programs has resulted in muscular half-breeds and a population that is considerably more male than female. Nepleslia has a space navy and space marines. It was previously part of Yamatai, but it a decade ago, it rebelled and gained its independence.

As you go through character creation, you'll be introduced to several other interesting factions you can create a character for. You can also make your own faction if you like. Around the known factions is an endless sea of strange aliens, bold outlaws and jealous insurgencies.

In Star Army, you and other members create characters who live in the high-tech fictional universe of Star Army and then use your imagination to write your character's actions and dialogue to create collaborative stories. You can create and play characters forged by this unique universe and their actions will affect the setting for future players.

Most RP occurs in ongoing RP plots. After their second RP thread starts, they can get their own subforum. A plot in this case refers to an ongoing role playing story and its group of players. In the Star Army RP, these are often based on starships. Before you make your character, if possible, do a little background reading on the role-play and get an idea of which plot you want to join.

For the full guide to roleplaying on Star Army, see Getting started with Roleplay!!.

Star Army is a play-by-post roleplaying community, which means we operate by posting text on the forum. Unlike tabletop roleplaying games, Star Army is mostly just writing and does not use complex game mechanics (math). Most story plots have a Game Master (GM) assigned whose job is to guide the story, describe the setting, and write the actions of background characters (NPCs). In the Open Roleplay forum, the creator of the RP thread may act as a GM.

In Star Army RPs, we usually write in third-person past tense, the way most novels do. For example: A scowl of disgust appeared on Sayuri's face as she watched the lizard creatures eagerly gnawing on the abandoned corpses.

At a site-wide level, a year in real life is equivalent to a year in the Star Army universe. However, you are not required to stay aligned with the actual dates throughout the year. To help keep track of space and time, please include the location, date, and time at the start of your posts as needed.

Star Army is a shared, living world that is always growing. Your writing can add to the setting, and your RP may be affected by events in the setting. Because you'll roleplay with other people, expect to be surprised sometimes! Have fun and be brave.

You must be 16 or older to join Star Army. There is no cost to join or participate. Before joining, you should probably read the Rules.

Register an account on the forums by clicking “Log in or Sign up” on the upper right corner of the page. You're invited to then introduce yourself in the Introductions Forum.

Optional: Create a wiki account. The wiki login system is separate from the forum one, so you will need to register for both. You'll need a wiki account to create and edit wiki articles (such as if you want to make a page for your character). Register an account for the wiki. If you have trouble registering, contact the admin! See the Questions and Assistance section below. ===== Creating Characters ===== When you're ready, start making characters using the guides found on the Creating A Character** wiki page. Once your character is approved you're free to start Getting started with Roleplay!! by joining a plot group or by joining or creating a roleplay thread.

• Open Roleplaying threads are a great place to start.
• Got an idea for a roleplay thread? Start an interest check thread in the OOC and Plot Planning forum.
• Find other players to RP with in the Introductions and New Players forum.

Star Army is a community, so get the most out of this site by being proactive; get (and stay) involved. Make friends of your fellow roleplayers by showing them you're fun to write with! It doesn't matter how long you've been a site member: what matters is what you're doing.

Getting into Star Army is easiest when you ask someone to mentor you through it, and we're happy to do that! If we haven't volunteered yet, just ask! You've got questions: there are many ways to get answers or help:

• Post on the forums (Ask questions in the Introduction forum or Setting Discussion).
• Talk to people in the chat room
• You can also contact Wes, the admin: Start a Conversation with Wes
  • if you can't log in, email stararmy@gmail.com or text to 1-209-782-7276

The following are some common terms in the Star Army Roleplay Community.

• Damage Rating (DR): A guideline for how much damage weapons do.
• gamemaster (GM): A plot's storyteller/referee
• In Character (IC): Content that is in the story world.
• Joint Post (JP): A chat role-play session between multiple players, later posted on the forums.
• Non-Player Characters (NPC): Characters whose actions are not written role-players, but rather by the gamemaster (GM).
• Open Roleplay: Roleplaying threads that anyone may join.
• Out Of Character (OOC): Content that is not part of the story world (real life).
• Player Characters (PCs): Characters whose actions and dialogue is written by a role-player.
• Role-Players
• SARP: Star Army Roleplay (SARPcake, SARPtalk, SARPiverse)
• Single Post (SP): A role-play post by a single player, posted directly on the forum.

• Computing: A glossary of specific computing & digital warfare terminology
• Iroma Terminology
• glossary
• firearms_terminology
• terminology
• dictionary
• vehicle_roles