Character Update Guide

Original Post: Ember, February 8, 2015

Hey guys! I’ve noticed that recently there have been a lot of members posting incorrectly on the Character Updates page. Here are some explanations of what is expected for each type of update.

General Notes:

• All updates should be posted in the exact format provided.

• Forgetting to include a character’s clan is the most common mistake made, remember that with any changethat needs to be made to the pages, a cat’s clan should be included.

• New characters and other updates do not need to be approved, however I will contact you if an update or new character has been posted incorrectly or something is against the rules.

• Keeping an up to date character list on your profile page is required and helps me correct mistakes when they are made.

New Characters:

Name:

• A previously used warrior or medicine cat name cannot be reused until one year after the previous owner has died, left the clans, or otherwise been removed from the pages.

• Warrior names of major characters from the books cannot be used.

• Traditional (ex. Birchfur) and nontraditional (ex. Sweetwater) clan names or kittypet names are acceptable, as long as the name is appropriate and hasn’t been used before.

• Post the character’s name that you would like them under the pages as, if they are joining the clan as a kittypet but will immediately receive a clan name, post them under the clan name.

Gender: Male, female, nonbinary, genderqueer, etc., not she-cat or tom, boy or girl, etc.  Essentially, just use the more technical term when possible.  If you feel your character's gender requires more explanation, put the explanation in the main biographical paragraph.

Description and History:

• This is description and history, they should be included together in one paragraph.

• 100-300 words is an ideal length.

• The character’s history should fit into the history of the roleplay.

• Characters must have realistic appearances. Impossible colors (ex. purple fur) are not allowed, however, impossible combinations of colors (ex. a pure black cat with blue eyes) are tolerated but should be avoided.

• Only include things in the description that you wish to be put on the page, do not include notes like “Will be redone soon”.

Birth date:

• This is the character's post date, adjusted for the character's age.

• Should be formated as Month date, Year (ex. October 2, 2017)

• In order to calculate your characters’ post dates based on when they were posted, subtract their age upon posting from the post date. That is, the post date and the character’s birthdate are only the same date when the character is posed as a kit. If they’re posted as an apprentice, their birthdate is a month before their post date. If they’re posted as a warrior/deputy/leader/medicine cat, their birthdate is three months before their post date. If they’re posted as an elder, their birth date is 11 months before their post date. For instance, a warrior posted on April 18, 2018 has a birth date of January 18, 2018.

Rank:

• Anyone can create kits, apprentices, warriors, queens, and elders.

• Members may have one leader, deputy, medicine cat, or medicine cat apprentice at a time.

• Any member who has not broken any major rules and has been active on the site for over two weeks can have one Medicine Cat or Medicine Cat Apprentice at a time, if the position is open.

• Deputy and leader positions are given by the site owner.

Clan:

• All characters must belong to one of the four clans: MoonClan, SunClan, EarthClan, and EclipseClan. Descriptions of each can be found on the The Clans Page.

• Loners, rouges and kitty-pets must be “throw-away” characters; they can be played for brief periods but cannot be claimed as an official character and therefore aren’t posted on the Character Updates page.

Character Redos: When updating a character description you must put "redo" at the top of the description. Please limit how often you redo character descriptions.

• Character redos only refer to updating the description and history portion of a character. Name, rank, or clan changes should be posted following the “Character Update” format.

• Character redos should be done sparingly and only when a description no longer fits a character, not for simple rewordings.

Character Update: ____ of ____Clan has died/become pregnant/left the clans/moved to ____Clan/is now (new name)/is now (new rank)

• These updates can have a character change from being a warrior to a queen, move clans, or be removed from the pages either through leaving the clan or through death.

• Any miscellaneous updates can also be put under this category, but the basic format must be followed.

Ceremonies:

• Ceremonies are done and posted by the members owning the leaders of each clan. Deputies may be asked step in to do ceremonies if a leader is unable.

• The characters in apprentice, warrior, and elder ceremonies should be posted in the order that they appear in on the Monthly Meows, clan pages, and the The Clans Page.

• Changes in rank are determined by when the character is posted following the aging system on the home page.

• The ceremonies due to take place each month are included in every Monthly Meow.

Ceremony scheduling:

• Early-month ceremonies: The 1st to the 10th

• Mid-month ceremonies: The 11th to the 20th

• Late-month ceremonies: The 21st to the end of the month.

(Apprentice) - (Mentor)

• Requests for apprentice-mentor pairs can be sent to leaders.

• Apprentices are posted under the character’s new apprentice name, with the –paw suffix rather than their old kit name.

(Apprentice name) has become (warrior name)

• Warrior names are chosen by the owner of the character. Before the ceremony takes place, the leader will message the owner asking for the warrior name if it cannot be found on the owner’s character list or in the character’s description.

• If a character is up for adoption when their warrior ceremony takes place, the leader will choose the character’s warrior name.

____ of ____Clan is now an elder

• Members can request, either in character or out of character, for their character to become an elder at any point within the month

• Any cats due to become an elder without having asked earlier are included in the last ceremonies of the month.

Adoptions: ____ of ____Clan is now up for adoption/I am adopting ____ of ____Clan.

• Characters cannot be claimed after the date listed beside them on the The Help Page has passed. This date is the Friday following two weeks after they have been posted as up for adoption, and is they day that they are removed from the pages.

• Members may reclaim characters they have put up for adoption granted that the character has not already been adopted by someone else, the format must still be used the exact same way it would be if they were adopting a character that did not previously belong to them.