Warriors of the Ruins

Please read all the rules below. Yes, they may seem long, but they are not as long as you think.

Basic Rules

1. Follow the site rules.
2. No godmodding, spotlighting, metagaming, or over-powered characters. It's just not fun.
3. Be kind and be civil. Do not harass or hurt other players in any way, shape or form, and please take any disagreements elsewhere.
4. Try your best to use correct English grammar, and do not use stuff "LiK3 tH!Z."
5. Remember that this is all for fun, and that people have lives outside of WoTR. People can forget, leave the site and ghost you, and while it is frustrating, being rude is not the answer. Calm down and move on.

General Rules

1. Admin's word is law. If a player is found to breaking any rules, the admin is allowed to kick said player.
2. This group is PG13. This means that swearing, romance, death and violence is allowed. However, mating and kit birth are not to be roleplayed in detail, and are expected to be "skipped" over. If one wishes to roleplay such topics, they must do it outside of the forums.
3. Players may have up to three characters maximum. Players can delete/change characters if they no longer wish to play a character, but note that said character will loose any ranks they had unless they speak to an admit first.
4. Players are allowed to have NPC characters. These are characters without a profile/character page who are rarely roleplayed, but are allowed to be used as background characters in roleplay. For example, a player can have a character with NPC parents or NPC kits who can be used in roleplay or in a character's backstory. NPC characters do not require any approval so long as they remain NPC characters and follow character rules (ie. naming, design)
5. A person can have no more than one ranked (ie. medicine cat, deputy, leader, medicine cat apprentice) cat at a time, unless otherwise stated. This is to allow other members to achieve ranks, as well as reduce the responsibility a player has while under said ranks.
6. High ranking characters are expected to be active, and present at most, if not all, events. They must attend all possible gatherings and be active on WoTR at least once a week; if a player cannot attend/are planning to go on hiatus, they must inform an admin. Players who fail to be active or skip multiple events without prior notice to an admin will be removed of their rank.
7. This group is LGBT+ friendly. Thus, relationships and gender identities outside of cisgender and heterosexual are allowed.

Character Rules

1. Players are expected to have some sort of consistency. If a character looses an eye in a battle, they should not suddenly have two eyes the next time they are played-actions should always have consequences. Fatal wounds should result in death, and so on.
2. All characters are expected to be somewhat realistic to reality-a cat cannot, for example, have purple fur, wings, etc. Cats can, however, have 'semi-realistic' designs so long as it makes sense, such as a lion-based cat having large neck fur to resemble a main, or a cat having markings not found on real cat breeds. If you are not sure if a design is acceptable, post a question here.
3. Cat's names must make sense for the world. A cat cannot be named after something it does not understand, such as a car or gemstone. For more info on how to name characters, see the Naming Guide.
4. No cats can have the same name, but cats can share a prefix as long as they are both not kits/apprentices/leaders, (ie. there cannot be two "Blackpaw"s.) Cats who share prefixes cannot be in the same clan. Suffixes are limited only if another cat with the same prefix is using said suffix.
5. Cats with mutations and disabilities are allowed, but please create such characters sparingly. Try to limit yourself to one disabled/mutated character.
6. Major plot points and character development must be discussed and accepted by an admin, as well as any players the decision affects. This includes: death, murder, life altering injuries, forbidden romances, breaking the code, betrayal and kitting. For battles and influential decisions, you must ping an admin to ask for their permission, as well as ask permission from any players it affects.
7. Characters can be related to each other if both players choose as such. This includes having characters be parents/kits/siblings to other characters, where birthing and such are assumed and up to players' imagination, and do not require admin permission.

Other

1. Gatherings will be held every second weekend of every month, unless admins declare otherwise (ie. not enough players, no major events.) In such cases, gatherings will most likely be summarized or postponed.
2. Medicine Cat/halfmoon meetings occur every third weekend of every month, unless admins declare otherwise (ie. not enough players, no major events.) In such cases, halfmoon meetings will most likely be summarized or postponed.
3. Seasons change as follows:
   • Spring/Newleaf -March 1 to May 31
   • Summer/Greenleaf-June 1 to August 31
   • Fall/Leaf-fall- September 1 to November 30
   • Winter/Leaf-bare-December 1 to February 28/29
4. Kitting, ceremonies, character death or injury and anything that must be confirmed with an admin beforehand are considered events. They are announced on-site and at gatherings.
5. Dead/starclan cats cannot interact with living cats, unless they are speaking to medicine cats, in which they can only appear at halfmoon gatherings or in dreams.

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Players can choose to start as either a kit or an apprentice; this is to allow players to become familiar with the world of WoTR and encourage players to continue playing so that they may rise to become a warrior, or higher.

Dedicated players who meet certain criteria can apply for the ranks Medicine Cat Apprentice, Medicine Cat, Deputy and Leader. These roles are limited and require players to be active frequently, as well as participate in most, if not all, events, and come with their own responsibilities, powers and skills, such as being able to make story-changing decisions or save lives. These players have important roles in the main story, thus they are only given to players who display the responsibility necessary for them. Admins will open applications for these positions when needed, and the criteria will be listed then. These roles also have rules associated with them, which you can read above.

Standard Ranks:

• Kit-since they are very young, there is no responsibility or tasks for kits.
• Warrior Apprentice- they train with their mentors, go hunting, patrol the borders with other warriors, look after the elders and other small tasks. Apprentices cannot leave the camp without the permission of their mentor or another warrior, and they cannot eat until the elders and nursing queens eat.
• Warrior- provide defense and security on borders and around camp, go hunting, fight in battles and invasions, eliminate threats to the clan (ie. badgers,) mentor apprentices

High Ranks:

• Medicine Cat Apprentice- they are taught about healing ,herbs and interpreting signs from Starclan by their mentors, look after the elders and other small tasks.
• Medicine Cat - they treat injuries and diseases, help birth kits, interpret signs from Starclan, and mentor medicine cat apprentices. Upon the death of their clan leader, they accompany the deputy to the Moonden to be appointed as the new leader. They also visit the Moonden to seek guidance from Starclan.
• Deputy - they assist the leader in their tasks, organize patrols and training, make reports to the leader, and substitute for the leader when they are unavailable. When a leader dies or retires, deputies take their place.
• Leaders- they oversee the daily operations of the clan and give orders, speak on behalf of their clan at Gatherings, lead the clan in battles, appoint new apprentices, warriors and deputies, assign mentors, discuss prophecies and omens with their medicine cat, solve conflicts between members of the clan, welcome new members, exile clan members who have broken the warrior code, call clan meetings, and possibly mentor an apprentice and do warrior tasks.

Warriors of the Ruins is primarily one massive, over-arching story, with members of the story open to adding their own sub-stories alongside it with little to no affect on the main plotline. Members can influence the story through events-such as gatherings and halfmoon meetings-and "main story" roleplays, which will open up to members for a limited time so that their characters can participate and change the course of the ongoing story. Members of high ranking will generally have more influence on the story than those of lower ranks, but all characters are able to change the world in drastic ways if they so choose, and once the event is over, the consequences and outcomes of these events will effect the roleplay going forward.

Gatherings are held on the second weekend of every month, if enough members are able to participate. Clan leaders, deputies, medicine cats and a group of chosen warriors and apprentices will leave to the Gathering Place, where cats can socialize and speak to cats from other clans until the full moon is at it's peak, where then each leader will announce current affairs and significant events within their respective Clans, including the appointment of new apprentices,warriors, and deputies, deaths and births, retirement and possibly ask for help from other clans. While there is meant to be a truce at the Gathering, as tensions flare and events come up, the clans may experience life-changing events and decisions, both by those of high ranks and those below them. Before a Gathering is announced, an admin will check to see if enough members are available to host one. If there is enough players, the gathering date will be announced and held in the Gathering Place forum.

Halfmoon Gatherings are held on the third weekend of every month, if enough members are able to participate. Medicine cats and their apprentices will leave to the Moonden, where medicine cats can receive prophecies or visions, or simply ask for guidance from Starclan Before a Halfmoon Gathering is announced, an admin will check to see if enough members are available to host one. If there is enough players, the halfmoon gathering date will be announced and held in the Moonden forum.

Perhaps you have ideas for your character. Maybe they're rebellious, or hungry for power? Or they break the code and betray their clan? Your characters are allowed to do all of the above, so long as you message and get confirmation from an admin first. Decisions such as these are bound to influence the main story whether you intend to or not, and thus for consistency and the sake of the story, we may or may not allow you to make such actions..yet.

We would love to have players influence and change the story, and we would love to involve yours as well. Though, understand that sometimes we may reject your idea. We ask that people show their dedication and display they are active and well-behaved members of the community before requesting to have your character become a major influence on the plot, so that we may have a consistent and smooth story.

Characters are allowed, and are expected, to age with time. Because WoTR is a roleplay, however, expecting people to wait actual years or months to become a warrior is unreasonable. Thus, WoTR uses a different aging system: 1 week= 7 moons. This essentially means 1 moon per day.

This means that a person will play a kit for a week, then an apprentice for a week, and if the apprentice is deemed ready, they will be considered an adult and become a warrior/medicine cat. But this also means that, technically, a gathering must happen every day...which is crazy. So, to compromise, a gathering will happen on the second weekend of every month.

At around 8-9 weeks, a cat is considered ready to become an elder, but by no means must retire-if a cat is healthy and in good condition, and especially if they are vital to the clan like medicine cats, a cat can remain a warrior/medicine cat for 25 weeks. Up to and past this point, your cat will become weaker and weaker until they must finally become unable to do their duty at 25 weeks, and will be forced to become an elder and their position as leader/deputy/medicine cat will be given to another character. Whether you wish to roleplay your character past this point is up to you.

45 weeks is the maximum time a cat can live-if a cat is alive at this point, they are probably deaf, cannot walk, and very sickly, too. Cats that reach this point are expected to die, both as a general rule but also because they are almost certainly too weak to fight off any sicknesses or injuries that come their way.

Here's a chart for reference:

• Kit-6 moons or less
• Apprentice- 6 to 12 moons
• Warrior/Med- 12 to 180 and more moons
• Elder- 70 to 204 and more moons

Includes Battling and Death

While roleplaying in main storyline plots and events, you may be asked by an admin to make a dice roll. This is usually done when a player has made a decision that has serious consequences or outcomes to the story or an action that is generally a hard to do, and allows for characters to act in influential ways without being overpowered. You will most often be rolling dice when battling other cats, to see if you are able to attack or dodge other characters. When roleplaying outside of main plots and events, you must always ask the other party if they are open to having their character face outcomes that can include injury, exile, death and such, in any situation, before the action begins.

It is assumed that, by participating in main story events, you agree to risk having your character face outcomes including injury, exile, death and more, and this will be stated at the beginning of every event. This means that another character can attack you and kill your character without asking you for permission beforehand, since by role playing in these threads, you have agreed to these risks. However, people must always ping an admin when entering a battle or making serious character decisions, and should not move forward until an admin has agreement from both sides and decided it is fair, that way players do not act in unfair or unnecessary ways and ruin the story.

It is assumed that, if you are affecting a player's character in a way that can cause serious outcomes, you are automatically agreeing to also have your character be subject to serious outcomes as well. For example, if you attack another character and they manage to dodge, they can attack and possibly kill your character in retaliation-by asking to reap serious consequences on your partner's character, you have allowed yourself to have serious consequences brought onto yourself.

You are not required to roll dice while roleplaying outside of the main story, but you can do so if you choose.

Characters are allowed to have kits and relationships with other characters. This includes being mates, friends, siblings, offspring or parents of other characters, NPC or otherwise. But note that both parties must agree to the relationship, including the owners of NPC characters, and that claiming relationships without both party's confirmation is against the rules.

You are free to create NPC characters for use in roleplay and backstory if you so choose, and this includes creating mates, siblings, parents, kits, etc. for your character. These NPCs do not require confirmation by an admin and can be stored on character profiles, or not at all, so long as they follow the character design rules (no same name, etc.) NPCs can be roleplayed briefly in side-story roleplay, but not in event or story plots.

Kitting
Kitting can occur when two characters (and their players) decide they want to have kits, and can be done with two player characters, two NPCs, or a player character and an NPC. Kits can either be adopted to other players to be used as characters or NPCs, or be kept as NPCs by either/both parents. Players can request to have kits in the Kitting Thread.

When a player's request has been accepted, the mother of the kits will become pregnant for two weeks, where the player will be unable to participate in events or roleplays involving activity (ie. hunting, patrolling)-this is to prevent players from having lots of kits, and to allow players to plan out the kit's usage properly. When two weeks have passed, an admin will post the results in the Kitting Thread, where the parent player(s) can then decide what they wish to do with the kits.

We ask that players only have kits if they want to use them as characters or NPCs, and not to create adoptable kits, as many people prefer making their own character rather than adopting someone else's. If you wish to have kits but do not want to go through with the above process, the easiest way is to ask or make a post asking already players with already existing characters to be your kits in the Looking for, Plotting and more Forum.

Apprentice Ceremony
When a kit reaches 6 moons, the leader of the kit's clan will perform an Apprentice ceremony, where the kit will be assigned a mentor, be given a new name with the suffix "-paw," and leave the nursery to live in the apprentice's den. In translation, this means that once a player's kitten has reached six moons old (1 week,) they are automatically considered an apprentice, and are expected to change their character's name (and possibly profile) to reflect such. A player can have either an NPC or player character be their mentor, although the mentor must first agree to the position. A player must post their new age/rank in the Growth Thread so that it can be recorded and announced at the gathering. If the leader and kit wish, a roleplay can be done for an apprentice ceremony, although it is not required.

Medicine Cat Apprentice Ceremony
When a medicine cat decides to take an apprentice and when a kit reaches 6 moons, the leader of the kit's clan will perform an Apprentice ceremony, where the kit will be assigned the current medicine cat as a mentor, be given a new name with the suffix "-paw," and leave the nursery to live in the medicine den. The medicine cat will then take the apprentice to the Moon In translation, this means that once a player's kitten has reached six moons old (1 week) and have confirmation that they hold the medicine cat apprentice rank by an admin, they are automatically considered an apprentice, and are expected to change their character's name (and possibly profile) to reflect such. The player is then given the current medicine cat as their mentor, although no roleplay is required between the mentor and apprentice. A player must post their new age/rank in the Growth Thread so that it can be recorded and announced at the gathering. If the leader and kit wish, a roleplay can be done for an apprentice ceremony, although it is not required.

Warrior Ceremony
When an apprentice reaches 12 moons, and their mentor is satisfied with their skills and progress, an apprentice will take an assessment to test their abilities as a warrior. If they pass, their mentor will request their leader that they be made a full warrior, and a warrior ceremony will be held where the apprentice will be given a new suffix and moved to the warrrior's den. An apprentice can also be made a warrior without an assessment if a mentor or leader feels the apprentice has made an important contribution to the clan. If an apprentice were to fail the assessment, they would not receive their warrior name, and the mentor and apprentice would train until the mentor believes the apprentice is ready to try again. In translation, this means that once a player's apprentice has reached twelve moons old (2 weeks,) they are eligible to request they be made a warrior in the Growth Thread, along with the character's new name; a player can have their character remain an apprentice as long as they wish, but they will continue to age. A player must post their new age/rank in the Growth Thread so that it can be recorded and announced at the gathering. If the leader and apprentice wish, a roleplay can be done for the warrior ceremony or assessment, although it is not required.

Deputy Ceremony
When a deputy is removed from their position, whether it be by becoming leader, death, overthrowing or retirement, the current leader will name a new deputy under Starclan, who they see fit to rule the clan after them; this is known as the deputy ceremony. In roleplay, however, this works differently: a player can only obtain deputy position through admins, not through a leader. If the leader and deputy wish, however, a roleplay can be done for an deputy ceremony, although it is not required.A player must post their new age/rank in the Growth Thread so that it can be recorded and announced.

Leader Ceremony
When a leader is removed from their position, whether it be by death, overthrowing or retirement, the deputy is taken to the Moonden alongside the resident medicine cat, where Starclan will grant them nine lives and the "-star" suffix; this is known as the leader ceremony. In translation, this means that once a player has been given the role of leader by an admin, they are expected to change their character's name (and possibly profile) to reflect such through the "-star" suffix. A player must post their new age/rank in the Growth Thread so that it can be recorded and announced. If the leader, medicine cat and others wish, a roleplay can be done for an leadership ceremony, although it is not required.

Once you have read the above rules, follow the below instructions:

1. Check the Adoption Area to see if there are any adoptable characters you want to adopt!
2. If you do not want to adopt, create yourself a character and choose yourself a Prefix (ie. "Mouse" in Mousefur) Since you can only start as a kit or apprentice, you will want to make your character end with "-paw" or "-kit." See the Naming Guide for more detals.
3. Add anything relevant to your character's profile, like their appearance or personality, to the point where your character is ready to play. Add as much or little as you see fit.
4. Once you have completed all the above steps, click the button below to submit your character and fill out the form in it's entirety. You should be accepted in a week or so.