RP Rules
A. Most of the work of the Incarnations will be transferred to the Org RP Leaders.
B. The Incarnations will be like the judicial branch.
C. There will be an RP Admin.
D. Management will be discouraged from micromanaging.
E. The chain of command will be explicit.
F. The plotline will be reset.
G. Phoenix's plotline will be closed.
H. Replaceability
I. Communication
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A. Most of the work of the Incarnations will be transferred to the Org RP Leaders.
Why? Because Org RP Leaders have a more personalized relationship with their members, should know everyone better, and will understand more of the internal politics than the Incarnations would have.
Org RP Leaders will be in charge of Policing the RP, ensuring that standards of reality are upheld within their jurisdictions only: their own orgs. They may delegate this responsibility to others.
Org RP Leaders will be in charge of the Organization of Plotlines within their own jurisdictions, and will organize plots with other Org RP Leaders. This should be done mainly between the Org RP Leaders, and not by the Incarnations, nor by the RP Admin. Communication between Org RP Leaders is absolutely vital and nothing can take the place of that.
Org RP Leaders will be in charge of arbitrating disputes between their members.
Org RP Leaders will guide the plotlines within their own orgs, and assist anyone who needs help within their own orgs. They may delegate this responsibility to others.
Org RP Leaders will facilitate interorg plotlines. VERY few plotlines should have to be looked at by the Incarnations. VERY few plotlines should have to be looked at by the RP Admin. Responsibility for interorg plotlines rests primarily on the orgs involved and the Incarnations and RP Admin SHOULD BE A LAST RESORT, not a first one.
B. The Incarnations will be like the judicial branch.
Any questions sent to any of the Incarns will be sent back to the Org RP Coordinators to deal with.
The Incarns will only deal with questions in their specific jurisdictions. The Incarns will have only the expressly declared functions in this document, and are not set over the Org RP Coordinators in any way. (If it helps: The Org RP Coordinators are the Senate. The Incarns are the Supreme Court. Functions do not overlap.)
The expressly declared powers of the Incarns are:
1. Jurisdiction over the "main" plotline. This is the plotline surrounding Phoenix and the other two Ta'veren.
2. Jurisdiction over Reality Issues. Things like "Can gholams gate?" will come under this heading. This does not include specific reality issues, like "Why does Sera have such a high OP rating?" That is the jurisdiction of the Org RP Leader (see # 4 below).
3. Jurisdiction over InterOrg disputes. They will ONLY have jurisdiction in this area when they are ASKED to mediate BY ORG RP LEADERS.
4. Jurisdiction over Standards. Things like "Why does the White Tower have so many Dreamwalkers, and why does the Black Tower have so many people at OP strength 45 and above?" THEY WILL ONLY HAVE JURISDICTION IN THIS AREA WHEN THEY ARE ASKED TO LOOK INTO IT (by Dmers at large), and NOT before. Their first line of action will always be to ask the RP Coordinator first. In this area they can only suggest change and not order it. And again, this only includes general standards, not specific ones (See #2).
5. Jurisdiction over specific, small-area parts of the RP ONLY WHEN REQUESTED BY ORG RP LEADERS OR THE RP ADMIN. This should be extremely rare.
ALL OTHER POWERS GO TO THE ORG RP LEADERS.
C. There will be an RP Admin.
Sorry, you guys that wanted to get rid of the upper administration. Even so, I have good news for you.
The RP Admin as such has almost no duties.
He/she exists only to make sure that everything runs smoothly, and to make sure that no one abuses the system. His/her chief purpose will be as a Router: She'll/he'll tell people who ask her questions whom they should ask the questions of. He/she will probably not answer the questions herself.
The RP Admin is a facilitator, and merely makes things easier for everyone. He/she does not control the plotline, nor does he/she interfere with the Orgs unless they expressly ask him/her to do so, or unless some great crisis occurs such that interference is necessary.
The RP Admin is a coordinator, and keeps plots from running into each other.
The RP Admin is not a micromanager, and will have as little to do with the actual running of the RP as possible, because the Org RP Leaders are quite capable of solving their own problems in 99 out of 100 cases.
The RP Admin is not a busybody, and will not be looking over everyone's shoulders to see if they're behaving. That is up to the Org RP Leaders.
The RP Admin will have ONE vote in the Council of Incarnations.
The RP Admin will approve ALL posts with the IC Dark One in them. ALL such posts must be previously approved before they are posted. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE. Posts with NonPC Queens, Kings, and world leaders must also be previously approved by the RP Admin before they are posted.
D. Management will be discouraged from micromanaging.
Everyone has their own jobs, and they shouldn't overlap too much. Almost everything goes to the Org RP Leaders under this system. When in doubt go to your Org RP Leader. When not in doubt: GO TO THEM ANYWAY.
It is HIGHLY recommended that the Org RP Leaders have a staff under them to do the many things that now come under their jurisdiction. BUT again, that is up to the individual Org RP Leaders. If they are capable of handling everything themselves that is their prerogative.
The new system is based on delegation of authority, and not authority, and relies on everyone to be responsible, sensible, and nice to each other. Org RP Leaders should not attempt to micromanage or closely control all the plots within their Org; spontaneity is an important factor in Rping and should NOT be discouraged. Social and frivolous plots do not need much overseeing. Don't overkill on the "Big Brother" thing.
E. The chain of command will be explicit.
The Incarnations' names are public, as are their titles.
Ben T-Gaidin is Saidin. His email address is: [email protected] His ICQ number is: 21930442.
Karana is Saidar. Her email address is: [email protected] Her ICQ number is: 53887585.
Phrygiana is the Dark One. Her email address is [email protected] Her ICQ number is 47438186. Her AOLIM handle is Phrygiana.
There is currently an open spot for a new Incarn.
Serafelle is the RP Admin. Her email address is [email protected] Her ICQ number is 17196764. Her AOLIM handle is Serafelle.
The first thing anyone with questions, complaints, or ANY other form of idea must do is go to the Org RP Leaders. The Incarnations do not handle questions, complaints, or implement ideas. ONLY the Org RP Leaders and their individual staffs do that. If a complaint or a question or idea needs to get to an Incarnation, the Org RP Leaders will forward it to them. There are only a few exceptions to this rule, and they concern complaints that lie within Incarnation jurisdiction, which are all completely spelled out above.
F. The plotline will be reset.
As you know from Serafelle s announcement, the RP is being reorganized to make it more efficient, and to try to cut through the various layers of administration. Concurrent with this, Phoenix is dropping his main plotline, involving the Dragon Reborn. This does not mean that there might not be a Dragon But if there is, he will not be a very active part in the RP.
What this means is that the RP is changing The first two weeks are going to be given over to this transition period, of getting things in order. This document is intended to detail what will be happening, and to make things smoother.
First The RP is being completely reset. When it begins, if this were the books, it would be shortly after the beginning of the Eye of the World. However, this is Dragonmount. To accommodate things, changes are being made. Those will be detailed late.
Second Along with the RP begin reset, all characters and Orgs are being reset. Before I get flamed to death, read on. It s not as bad as you think. *grins*
Third The new RP structure will be implemented at this time, as well. Therefore, the Orgs, and their RP leaders, will be responsible for making the changes detailed below.
And now, as I promised above, a more detailed explanation. As per the second point, all the Orgs and characters are reset. During this initial transition period, characters and Orgs will be defined.
The Orgs are going to be the same as before; we are not going to be losing or gaining any new Orgs during this. What will be happening is that the Orgs will be finding their place in this new timeline. Some Orgs will hardly change; after all, the White Tower did not change very much during the books, nor did the Warders. Some Orgs, however, will be creating a new history to fit themselves into this timeline; the Band, for example, will be explaining their creation, as will the Black Tower, since the force that created them in the books, i.e. the Dragon, will not have been around yet. More on this near the end.
Characters will be doing the same thing, creating or modifying their history and character to fit with the new role of their Org. If a person wishes to keep the same character, and there is no conflict with the history, then there is no problem. If they wish to change their character, this is also a good time to do so. Depending on what happens with the Org s history, it might be possible that some Orgs would have no characters change, and some have everyone change.
As with point three above, now, all of this is going to be coordinated by the RP leaders for the Orgs (and whoever else deals with RP matters in the Org.). The first thing that should be done within the Org is for the RP leaders to be appointed, if none have been already. Even if the Org Leader himself is going to handle matters, that needs to be known. Next, the RP leaders need to come up with the history of their Org. This has to be done first, and should be done in consultation with the other RP leaders to make sure there are no conflicts there. (Incarns will be watching, and may give suggestions, as well) This should be done as quickly as possible, to leave more time for characters to deal with it
Then, RP leaders should tell their Orgs what has been decided for their history, and all members should submit a brief description of their character, and any changes, as well as how the character fits into the new history. (Brevity would likely be good; most RP leaders will have at LEAST 100 people to deal with, and we want this all done in two weeks. However, if you leave important points out, don t complain if they are denied later if it doesn t fit in the history that the Org has created. Try to be complete, but not excessive.) Even if your character is staying the same, a description should be submitted.
-- RP leaders: Save these descriptions. It would be an easy way to build an Org history, and character bio page. Also, remember, if a character has been involved with another Org in the past, check with that Org s RP leader to make sure there is no conflict.
As characters are re-submitted, RP Leaders should add them into the Org s history, so that people still planning can work their histories around other characters. The RP leaders job here is twofold. First, to make sure that people are not excessive in their characters. These decisions are being left up to the Orgs in the new system, unless it affects another Org, in which case the two Orgs RP leaders should work it out between them. Second, the RP leaders are to construct a working history of their Org, so that it can be combined later into a complete background history of Dragonmount. This history will be massively shortened, of course; no one would read (or likely even WANT to read) the complete histories of every character at Dragonmount. But in the end, it should cover all of the major events.
This should take most of the two week transition period. Until this time is past, no RPing should take place. This is in hopes of keeping things from being complicated before the majority of characters are switched. If someone is not able to get taken care of in the two weeks, that does not mean he has to start over. It s simply a general guideline for how long things will take before RPing begins and we have a big picture of Dragonmount s history. Also Until a character has submitted his history, he will not be allowed to RP, even after the deadline.
Now, as a promised, some things have been worked out about the Orgs, tentatively: (All subject to change, but it s a good starting point, probably)
General History Some notes on specific things, not in any Org.
The Dragon has been reborn; there have been a few signs. But he has no clue who of his true nature, nor does anyone else.
All major plots to have happened so far (e.g. the Shadow s attack on the White Tower, Noram s Pasture s, Phoenix s entrance into Rhuidean, etc.) did not happen. They would involve too much twisting of history, focusing mostly on actions that could not have happened with the new Org histories. My apologies to people changing their character with regards to this. Other plots may or may not have happened. RP leaders should contact all Orgs involved in these plots, and see if it is still included in their history.
White Tower The Aes Sedai are ever vigilant, some seeking the Dragon Reborn, some seeking out- to destroy- false Dragons, and some playing the dangerous game of politics from within the false safety of the Tower walls.
Warders See White Tower.
Black Tower Instead of being formed by the Dragon, the Black Tower was created by a False Dragon, Mazrim Taim, who began gathering men who could channel. However, after a time, he realized that he was not the True Dragon, and changed the purpose of the Black Tower. Instead of being his own personal army, the Black Tower is now forming in wait for the coming of the True Dragon Reborn.
Whitecloaks The Children's role is still to serve as a bulwark against the Shadow. They will still be known for their excessive hatred of Aes Sedai and all suspected Darkfriends. As usual, this zeal the Children exhibit earns some distrust from the people.
Shayol Ghul The Forsaken have been just newly released. Their first moves will be likely to learn of this new world they inhabit, and to gain back power bases. As before, Demandred has been free for longer, but he as yet as no idea who the True Dragon might be, or where he might come from.
Band The Band of the Red Hand recently finished a recruiting drive and awaits their commander's new orders at Fal Dara.
Ogier No real change. The Ogier have only just noticed the coming turmoil, from the safety of their groves.
Aiel Prophesy has drive some Aiel over the Spine of the World to search for the Car a carn, but he has not been found, and the majority of the Aiel still dwell in the Wastes. (Note on this, and for other references to majorities in Orgs. Majority refers to the entire population of Aiel, not necessarily Characters It could be that every PC Aiel is one of those on the wet side of the Spine.
Freelanders No real change; the people are much the same as they have been.
Dragonsworn As with the Black Tower, the Prophet does not know who the Dragon might be, but has decided to gather men to serve him so that he will have a following when he is proclaimed.
Wolfbrothers The wolfbrothers are nestled safely in the mountains of mist trying to rebuild their society after a devasting plague hit.
Seafolk The Atha'an Miere are sailing the seas, searching for signs for the coramoor.
Seanchan Time has come for the Seanchan to return to Luthair's homeland. The Empress has just sent the Forerunners to Randland on a scouting mission, the Ever Victorious Army is mustering its forces, and the fleets are preparing set sail. Whether they will be welcomed home with open arms or if they will need to fufill their destiny has yet to be seen.
This list should get people started Hopefully, I will be able to post updates to it as time passes, until we have the total history ready. Thank you.
NOTE: SEVERAL ORGS HAVE THEIR ORG HISTORIES COMPLETED. SEVERAL DO NOT. THIS WILL NEED TO BE FINISHED BEFORE WE GET STARTED.
G. Phoenix's plotline will be closed.
This will provide for an easier, simpler way to deal with the Dragon, since as it was the people in his plotline had very little freedom and were under much constraint. This will make the plotline more fluid and less forced. Less people will be dependent on one person (Phoenix) in general.
People who want to come into direct contact with Phoenix must talk to the Incarnations about it. Think of them as his agents, if that helps.
H. Replacability
Incarnations can be replaced by a 4/5 vote of the Incarns and the RP Admin, or by Phoenix himself.
The RP Admin can be replaced by Phoenix.
The Org RP Leaders can be replaced by the Org Leaders. The RP Admin can recommend removal of the Org RP Leaders and any members of their staffs.
I. Communication
The following paragraphs are the most important part of the entire outline. Read them carefully and keep the words in your heart.
The importance of communication in this system cannot be stressed enough. Now that the Incarnations are known, they can be contacted easily. Now that the Org RP Leaders are in charge of most things, keeping in contact can be more personal, more individualized, and more efficient.
If something goes wrong, do not jump to conclusions. Do not get upset. Do not flame anyone. Simply make another effort to communicate with whomever it is, politely and kindly. Sometimes simple communication errors can snowball into hideous problems, like the "Aiel-Incarn" thing we all experienced a while back. The most essential thing to do is to keep the lines of communication open.
So, keep in mind that Nichelle Nichols probably had the most essential part in the whole Star Trek original series, because though she only had one line, nothing could be done without her.
"Hailing frequencies open, Captain!"
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