SECTION I: ABOUT THE SITE

- Welcome: Welcome to the site! Solivagant is designed with very few actual rules, but with very few rules comes a demand for players who are able to keep themselves in check. We do require a small writing sample upon registration which must consist of an RP post with an equine character that can be of any amount of words and from any site or setting.

- Alliances: We are a Light versus Dark RPG with lots of room for a possible future Neutral alliance. We also allow characters who do not ally with any side, considered Vagrants. We strive to have a similar feel to old school LvD sites, in which Lights and Darks share the same sorts of personality traits that are primarily what bind them together.

- Conflict: Though we are a LvD site, our plot does not require a future conflict, though one may arise if players and characters create it. Solivagant is a site where characters who love to fight and be in dramatic situations are able to, and where characters who want to live peaceful conflict-free lives are able to, as well.

SECTION II: BASICS

- Be Kind and Inclusive: The most important thing you should take away from these rules is that all members deserve respect and deserve to be included in the game. If you see someone looking for an RP partner, offer to thread with them! All members should help each other to create fun plots between their characters. This is the true basis and fun of the game, beyond pretty posting tables and whose character sits on what throne.

- Powerplaying, God-modding, and Metagaming: Everyone who joins Solivagant should know about these three terms and what they mean. Powerplaying is only permitted in closed threads between characters in which two members have both agreed that for the purpose of the events in the thread that they will allow each other’s characters to powerplay on one another. Any characters that staff find to be god-like, all-powerful, indestructible, etc., will be subject to a forced change on their joining thread or deletion. We want all characters to be played fairly. No character is exempt from injury, emotional trauma, or death. Any events that are discussed OOC should absolutely not magically become IC knowledge. Please keep your personal thoughts and feelings out of the IC feelings and actions of your characters. Metagaming can be detrimental to the game and can easily hurt feelings and cause problems.

- Quantity and Quality of Posts: We do not have a word count here. If two players agree, they can post only in dialogue, or in one-sentence posts. What we do require, however, is that all posts are in 3rd person perspective, in the past-tense, and are spell-checked and grammar checked before posting. If this seems like too much work, this site is probably not the place for you.

- Accounts: We are a one-account-per-member forum. Do not create subsequent accounts for any reason without first consulting a staff member or the subsequent account will be deleted. Due to this, we require that each IC post clearly indicates which of your characters you are playing.

- Member Activity: We don’t do activity checks and we never delete inactive accounts. If you are going to leave the site for a long time, know your activity will be spotty, etc., please try to let us know in the "Absences" board.

- Imagery: Though we do allow posting tables, things like human face-claims for characters are not allowed here. We are role playing equines. If you are going to use an image to represent your character’s physical attributes, it should be an image of an equine, not a hot sexy shirtless man or a hot sexy scantily-clad woman. If you want to role play humans, do that on a human role play site, not here. In addition, do not use copyrighted images. There are a ton of websites that allow for creative commons use of images. Staff will check to make sure you are not using images that have rights reserved to someone who is not you. Any stock providers from deviantART should be credited in some way if they require direct credit when their stock is used “off-site” aka off dA. Please respect this and add credits where necessary.

- The Flow of Time: Solivagant’s seasons change when staff deem it appropriate. Major plot events or several events involving instrumental characters taking place may trigger a season change, but it is ultimately up to staff to decide. All characters are allowed to utilize "liquid time" in order to be in multiple threads at once. Please do not abuse this or staff will have to restrict it.

SECTION III: CHARACTERS

- Semi-Realistic: We are considered a semi-realistic site when it comes to character creation. Below are clear descriptions of what we do not allow as well as what we do allow to appear on characters on Solivagant.

- What We Do Not Allow: We do not allow minis, mules, donkeys, or zebras at this time. We do not allow deformities like horns, wings, prehensile tails, cloven hooves, or any deformity on an equine that would make them not possible to exist in the real world. We do not allow any bioluminescent body parts or translucent body parts. We do not allow any body parts made of metal, wood, fire, water, etc. We do not allow accessories beyond what a horse might be able to stick onto their body in the wild. This means no armor, weapons, clothing, bags, jewelry, etc.

- What We Do Allow: Unnatural colors are allowed as long as there are no glowing body parts or glowing eyes. Eyes can be pupil-less, snake-pupiled, multi-colored, etc. We do allow hair that is tied back, braided, etc. as long as there are no accessories beyond that in the hair like jewelry or fabric. Tied-back hair is technically unrealistic but some characters just have that in their default design so we are prepared to allow it. We do allow markings that resemble tattoos or paint, but these markings cannot have any magical properties, and if they do wash off in water, it should be obvious that an equine would be able to paint them back on somehow if the marking is considered permanent.

- Companion Animals: Each character is allowed one small companion animal. No animal larger than a wolf is currently allowed. Characters cannot have NPC horse characters acting as companion animals. Companion animals cannot speak words. They can only talk in their natural animal sounds. All of the above rules regarding what we allow and do not allow for appearances also applies to companions.

- Character Creation Process: Staff do not accept character applications, but we do have a board that members are required to post in in order for their character to officially enter the lands. Though you don’t have to wait for acceptance, a staff member might post in the joining thread asking you to change some things about your character if they violate the above rules. There are no word count requirements in joining threads, but you should enter the amount of history and personality that helps you play your character the way you want.

SECTION IV: ALLIANCES

- Light Versus Dark: As stated above, Solivagant is a LvD site. These two alliances are part of the primary plot, and if your character is apart of either of these, you should take the time to read the site’s plot in order to know the history of these two alliances and how they came to Terra Sollus. Each of these alliances is made up of 3 territories (currently): 1 Royal land and 2 “Sub” Lands.

- Vagrants: If you don’t want to be apart of the main plot of the site, your character may choose to be a Vagrant. Vagrants are characters who are neither Light nor Dark and they spend their time in the Common lands. Vagrants should be wary of entering the lands controlled by the alliances, however, as some of them have strict rules on trespassers.

- Switching Alliances: Characters can change alliances anytime they want as long as it is not metagame-motivated. To do this, simply edit your original joining thread for that character. Joining threads are not locked by staff, and members can modify them as they wish at any time with any amount of information.

- Room For More: Our plot does not currently indicate a “Neutral” alliance, but there is room for one in the future if members and characters so choose.

- Responsibilities of Royals: Royals of each alliance set the rules and ranks for the alliance and do all of the promotion and demotion of horses under their rule. Royals may choose to delegate any responsibility to any of their subjects if they so wish, but they must at least come up with specific rules for their lands (trespassing, breeding, fighting, initiation, exile, etc.) as well as some sort of rank system (advisors, heirs, warriors, broodmares, elders, etc.). Royals, upon the date they are confirmed IC to ascend to the throne, are given 1 IRL week of time to come up with these rules, or they are removed from power by staff. Kingdoms cannot go for too long without rules and ranks, otherwise they fall into chaos and/or inactivity.

SECTION V: BREEDING

- Graphic Content: Any graphic content whatsoever is not permitted on Solivagant. Because we are hosted on ProBoards, we have to adhere to their rules. This means no graphic breeding, no graphic foaling, etc. If you are going to breed two characters in a thread, fade to black or the post will be deleted immediately by staff and the members involved may be banned depending on the situation.

- Staff Involvement: Staff have no involvement in the creation of foals on the site. There is no wait time for mare pregnancy. Births can be the next IRL day, or months from when the breeding thread happened. It’s up to the players when the foal will come into the world, who they will be played by, etc. There isn’t a limit for how many foals can be born a season, but mares should not be popping out 20 foals within 1 IRL month. Members who abuse the lax rules on breeding will lose their breeding privileges entirely.

- Life of Foals: Foals are joined to the game the same way any other character is. There should be some indication in the joining thread that this is a foal that was born on site from some set of sire and dam. Foals should age at the same rate as any other character. Solivagant does not do any sort of accelerated aging for foals. Foals can choose at any point to live anywhere they want, be in any alliance they want, etc.

SECTION VI: FIGHTING

- Sparring: Sparring is considered fighting for the sake of fighting, to see who is strongest, or for the sake of practice. The outcome of sparring is completely up to members, and there is no set of rules for how sparring takes place or who gets how many attacks/blocks, etc. Ideally in sparring no character leaves the thread with injuries that are in any way serious or life-threatening. Consider these mostly “friendly” fights. Royals might restrict sparring to be within their sight only, or Royals themselves may take it upon themselves to choose spar winners/losers, depending on the kingdom.

- One-On-One Fights: One-On-One fights are considered fighting for the sake of something. This might be for the breeding rights to a mare or for a specific rank or for control of a land. Like Sparring, staff do not have any involvement in these fights. If members cannot choose winners among themselves, they should go to the Royal of their alliance to decide the winner in-character.

- Large-Scale Battles: Large-Scale Battles are fights that involve more than two characters total. These can be anywhere from two-on-two fights to ten-on-ten fights. These, like the other two fighting types, are unrestricted by staff, but these sorts of battles are tricky due to the amount of characters involved. Characters are allowed to attack one character in particular each, or they can attack multiple characters involved in the same post. The unrestricted style of these battles allows for more character co-operation and possible interesting multi-character battling maneuvers that would not be possible otherwise. Outcomes of these battles, however, are either to the death or they are decided upon by staff once the fight is completely over. Royals do not have a say in who wins in these battles, as typically, the Royals would be involved in the fight themselves.