EnableMePlz (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
enablemeplz) wrote2022-05-15 05:05 pm
enablemeplz) wrote2022-05-15 05:05 pm
May EMP Meme
FOR GAME ADS: ➤ Put an ad up with the characters / crew / pairings / fetish you want for your game under the correct game header. This meme is primarily going to be focused on DWRP games but IJ and LJ games are allowed. ➤ PLEASE NOTE A RULE CHANGE HERE. ABSOLUTELY NO obnoxious coding (no font size > size 4 or 3 "big" tags, no oversized banners (they must be 250px in height or less), no blinking text, no obnoxious table html that doesn't collapse easily, no sparklies, no large pictures). Use all the colors you like, but please remember 3 "big" tags is the limit and that's only for headers or title text rather than for all the text in an ad. FOR GAME QUESTIONS: ➤ RPers interested in a game can create a header for the game and ask questions about that game that aren't easy to find on faqs, such as the actual pace vs. what's listed/what kind of plots are run/if the game leans more towards plotty or slice of life/if a game leans more towards network or logs, etc. Both anon questions and anon answers are welcome in this section just like in the rest of the meme. ➤ This thread is not for speaking about wank or drama in a game. There are anoncomms that exist for that. This thread is specifically for general questions about a game that rpers want to get perspective on from players already in the game. Answers can be slightly negative (such as saying app response is slow or that the plots are repetitive or similar things) but this should at least be worded politely. Unnecessary vitriol, any mention of personal drama or wank, or mod teams/individual mods/players being singled out, will be either frozen or screened (based on what seems right based on the content). FOR CHARACTER ADS: ➤ Put up an ad about the characters you are offering. For PSL ads, there is a separate subthread but for character ads for games, post directly to the meme post. Others will comment to you with the games/casts they want you to join. ➤ There is a "Find a Castmate" section, where you can talk about a cast you play in at a game, and try to lure people to join it. Not all games post to the meme or have a "wanted" section, so players that want to tempt people to their cast on their own can use this section for it. Please format this the same as the PSL section, where you post your character's canons in your subject. For the actual text of the ad you must use the "Find a Castmate" form provided at the bottom of this post so that these ads don't get huge. When listing who's currently in a cast, please do this in sentence form (with commas) rather than in list form. ➤ There is a "Find Crosscanon" section, where you can talk about a character you play and and desired crosscanon for that character. Please make sure this is not too generalized a search, because just wanting general crosscanon can be accomplished with the other sections of the meme. This is for specific characters or character types you're looking for. In the subject, please list the "Looking for [canon you're looking for]" rather than your character's canon. If looking for a character type, list the character type in as few words as possible. Do not make the subject huge or I'll screen your comment. For the actual text of the ad you must use the "Find Crosscanon" form provided at the bottom of this post so that these ads don't get huge. This section is only for game crosscanon as in the psl section people can list their preferences. ➤ Examples of crosscanon you can search for: You play The Flash from DC Comics and your dream CR is fellow speedster Quicksilver from Marvel. Or you might play a witch and want cr with other witches in general. Or maybe you play a good character messed up by evil parents and want to play against a villain character you know has evil parents, because you know it'd lead to some interesting negative CR. ➤ ABSOLUTELY NO obnoxious coding, with the same rules as the Game Ads Section above. ➤ If you're recommending a game to someone, try to match your suggestion to their needs. It's okay if part of your game rec is copy-pasted (such as what the game's about), but at least some part of the rec must be personalized to their ad. Try not to recommend the same game to every single ad, either. Ad spam that isn't individualized in some way will also be frozen or screened. Keep in mind this needs to be more specific than "this game has easy AC like you're asking for but meets none of your other requirements." Make sure you're advertising games that might click with that specific character, where a few elements fit what they're looking for. You should be thinking about the story reasons of how the character might click with the game. IN GENERAL: ➤ Don't be a dick. This isn't one of the anoncomms, so any snide comments or unnecessary commentary on the RP plans of others will be frozen or screened. MOD CONTACT: If there's trouble, tell me HERE, please! RESOURCES: DWRP Masterlist - A regularly updated basic list of public DWRP games. ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small} dedoralive - A more detailed listing of DWRP Games.GAME/AD LINKS: General Game/Dressing Room Ads Link - New Games - Small Games - Medium/Large Games - Museboxes/Memes/Dressing Rooms/Misc. - Game Questions - Game Start Discussions/Questions PSL Offerings Find a Castmate Find Crosscanon Latest Page Textbox for Character Ads (Optional): Textbox for "Find a Castmate" Ads (Required): For "Find Crosscanon" Ads (Required): ➤ Important note: IP logging has turned on due to multiple instances past and present of problem players trying to return to the dwrp community via emp after being banned other places, so I'll be IP logging from now on, and will compare notes with the rpa and wg mods (as well as game mods) where appropriate if it seems like someone that has been mass banned. I will not pay attention to IPs otherwise. I don't care what people like playing or who's who. So please feel comfortable to keep doing your thing, anon or otherwise. The knowledge will only be used for really egregious problem cases. |
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or whatever they call themselves if I'm forgetting about another name you'd mentioned, so if we get around to a thread for that ceremony as well, there'll be a little more meat than just Alric being conscientiously polite. XDDo you want to start things off on a meme somewhere? I haven't checked what's up right now, but there's usually something relevant floating around.
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So, we can have them do a big wedding ceremony in Kaitheny and hang out there getting to know each other for a few weeks before they go to the Empire for a second big ceremony. Awkward and exhausting for both of them, I love it!
It looks like there's an arranged marriage meme up on Bakerstreet. I just replied to it here: https://bakerstreet.dreamwidth.org/7828655.html?thread=3407044015#cmt3407044015
If you want to start us off, feel free to reply there! If you'd rather have me write the starter, I can write it under that comment and lock it to you, if that works.
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To give you some prompts as to what I’m looking for: what is the weather like, hot and humid, or chilly and dry? Is the city on the ocean or inland? Do people usually get around in the city by magically teleporting or flying, or do people walk or use carriages of some kind? Is the city super crowded together or does it have broad avenues and parks like some cities in the US? Is the architecture mostly stone, or wood, or some other material, and are the buildings mostly short or are there lots of towers? Is it a multicultural/multi-species place or do people tend to look the same? And finally, what kind of building are they getting married in? A religious temple or a government building like the palace itself?
I’d also like to know a few things about the ceremony that they are going to be involved in, if you’ve already got ideas about it. It sounds like Kaitheny has a dominant religion, so will the ceremony be religious, or basically secular? Do you have specific parts of the ceremony that you think might occur, like processions to or around the building, special songs, rituals or blessings, or exchanges of tokens like rings or circlets? Is everyone who can fit in the building allowed in, or are only civic dignitaries and other very powerful people allowed into the building itself, leaving everyone else to line the streets? What does Alric wear to his wedding, is it armor or some kind or ceremonial robes? Are there special colors or ornaments involved? And who is overseeing or officiating the ceremony - clerics or the king himself, or some kind of other government official?
Lastly, just a quick logistical question: I know writing big ceremonies like this can sometimes be trying, because our characters aren’t playing a very active role in most of the proceedings. So would you prefer if I just write out the whole ceremony and end the tag with the moment when the ceremony is over, the reception is beginning, and Alric and Zhenya can finally move about on their own? Or would you like to describe part of the ceremony and Alric’s feelings on it as it happens? If that’s the case, I can stop at a certain point during the ceremony and your tag can pick up to finish the ceremony off. Whatever you prefer!
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Some of this stuff I could point you to my wiki for, except that apparently the wiki site got hit by Russian hackers yesterday and it's down for repairs and cleanup, so I'll just have to go from memory for now. Because that's how things are these days, I guess.
Anyway, I'd say the ceremony would take place in the Imperial Capital (the City of Kaitheny, or just "Kaitheny," like how "Rome" was the capital city as well as the name of the Empire). It's mainly stone in construction, especially in the more central, historical districts, although in the outer districts and docks and so forth there's a lot more wood construction. The major streets (i.e. from the main gates through the historical city) are quite broad, well-engineered, and conscientiously maintained, with fountains and monuments at any intersections. The climate is tropical, so there are mainly hot-and-dry and hot-and-wet seasons, rather than hot-vs-cold; relatedly, the city doesn't really have a lot of expansive parks, but rather a lot of gardens with shade trees. Kaitheny is a pretty significant port city as well as the foremost administrative and cultural center of the Empire, the central part of the city built in a recess into the hills of a peninsula on the north coast of the Carolinian Sea (roughly analogous to the Mediterranean, but more equator-centered). The traditional upper-class Kaithenian aesthetic is grandiose yet austere, so the historical districts tend toward fairly large cathedralesque structures, whether temples or the mansions of the upper nobility. Towers aren't super practical, so while there are definitely some turrets as parts of large buildings, free-standing large towers like skyscrapers aren't so much of a thing. The outer districts are much more crowded together with narrower streets of less fussy construction and maintenance.
Magic is common but not super cheap, so while it's used to enhance major fountains and to light the broad, major avenues, it would be pretty expensive and very ostentatious to teleport or fly around the city. Basically all the gentry and nobility travel by carriage (although the size and decoration vary by station of course) under normal circumstances; someone teleporting around unnecessarily would probably be regarded as a crass showoff or a nut. XD There's a quite significant human majority, but given the extent of the Empire and its trade relations (and historical conquests) the capital is actually fairly ethnically mixed. There's a rough tendency for the nobility to be lighter-skinned due a series of influxes of fair-skinned Southerners into the royal families over the last ~800 years or so, but it really varies a lot by family, and there are plenty of Southern commoners in the capital as well, and there's no really significant ethnic segregation within a social class.
As for the ceremony, it would be in a temple, although Kaithenian religion is based much more around the veneration of ancestors and heroes than any sort of Higher Power, so the priests are in some respects more like shamans guiding and assisting the community. The Imperial Temple's a big cathedral-y place, but being a major state event, the witnesses in attendance inside would be nobility, courtiers, and maybe some influential gentry, but there'd be a lot of commoners gathered in the square outside, like in a British Royal Wedding. The ceremony definitely involves some blessings and rituals including a binding-together a joined hands. ...I'm actually indecisive about rings, my feeling is that it's more of a custom originating among the gentry and lower nobility (where its symbolism of the dowry is more significant than the symbolism of political union) but I'll have to contemplate whether there's something better-suited for royalty.
Alric I figure would be wearing robes of state (what he's expected to wear to Court in an official capacity), since the ceremony's first and foremost a state function; since there's a lot of patriarchal traditionalism in Kaitheny there's an expectation for the bride to be in white (partly to symbolize purity and partly to symbolize readiness to adopt the groom's colors, particularly in the hand-binding). ...traditional bridal gowns are pretty conservative, as well, but Alric's mother is an iconoclastic, glamorous sort of queen who's introduced and popularized a lot of more provocative fashion, so a bride entering their family might have a good bit more latitude in that respect. Besides that, the main colors would be those of Alric's coat of arms, but there'd definitely be room to negotiate the inclusion of hers/her family's in some form. Alric's family would be involved since they're symbolically
and legally, and officiallyapproving of the union, but with a relatively brief part of the ceremony analogous to a knighting or ennoblement, with all the blessing and ritual stuff performed by the head priest of the Imperial Temple.As for the actual writing of tags, don't feel obligated to dive into any more detail than you want to! I'm honestly fine with either stepping through the ceremony with a few tags, or just skimming over the broad strokes in summary in a tag or two each. I'd be fine starting the real interaction anywhere from their procession out of the temple to be greeted by the people gathered in the square onward.
And don't hesitate to let me know if you'd rather I start off! I didn't want to keep you waiting while I'm wrapped up in travel stuff, but I definitely understand the whole Unfamiliar Setting Anxiety thing, too. <3
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Do let me know if I should change anything! The tag really isn't from Zhenya's point of view - I figured that I should set the scene from a more omniscient third person point of view so that I could encompass all the big-picture stuff going on, and that I could zoom in and go into Zhenya's head as she reacts to the whole ceremony in the next tag. But please feel free to write your tag however you want! I've stopped right where they're about to do the hand-binding ritual, since it sounds like you have a nice idea about how that goes.
Also, thank you so much for all this information on Kaitheny! I'm so sorry your wiki page got hacked, but you did a really nice and thorough job of summarizing things for me. It was super helpful in starting us out and I hope I've managed to paint the same kind of picture you created by describing the city and culture. I used a whole lot of the details you gave, and added things here and there within the general guidelines of how you described the broader culture. Again, if anything doesn't work, please do let me know and I can change it. Otherwise, I'll expect your tag at some point soon, but do take your time if you need to settle down after travelling!
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Not to bother you if you are still traveling, but I just realized I forgot to ask you something before I started our thread. Are we assuming that our characters speak a common language? I know you gave Alric’s country its own language as described in your journal, so I don’t want to step on your toes by assuming that Alric speaks another language as well, or by saying that Zhenya necessarily speaks Alric’s language. It might be simpler to give them a lingua franca to speak together, a language apart from their native tongues - but I’d be happy to play out a marriage in which they start out literally unable to understand each other, instead! Which do you prefer?
I did describe some prayers being said by the priests that are to be repeated by Zhenya and Alric in our starter, but I can change that so that Zhenya doesn’t know the language well enough to repeat the prayers, if you’d like.
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Kaitheny is pretty darn influential in international trade and scholarship in its own setting, so it often does serve as something of a Lingua Franca, partly because Kaitheny has way more shared borders than most nations and several smaller nations are former Kaithenian territories that broke away during periods of declining Imperial power. Kaitheny is deliberately evocative of both Rome and England during periods of ascendancy, including in terms of cultural influence. That said, there’s a good chance Alric would know at least some Infernal (or whatever her people call their language) as well, since he’s got a Classical Serious Nobleman Education, in case there are any gaps in her Kaithenian.
Hopefully I’ll get a tag out in a day or two, and sorry about the delay!
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Okay, so we'll just assume Zhenya is speaking to Alric in Kaithenian unless otherwise specified. She might sound a little stilted or overly-formal in Kaithenian because she learned it in a classroom as a child, rather than picking it up from people who actually speak it, but she'll generally be very proficient in the language. (As an analogue, I think hearing Zhenya speak Kaithenian would be similar to listening to the English of someone from a non-English speaking country who has nonetheless had a very expensive and high-class education. Like when you hear diplomats or other people from mainland Europe or the Middle East who speak English very fluently, but very formally.)
For Alric's part, he probably would call Zhenya's native language "Infernal," since that's the common term for it outside of the Empire, and of course you're welcome to have Alric know as much or as little of it as you want. The Fiendborn Empire has historically been something of a pariah state to those around it, but only in the same way Russia is a pariah state in a lot of the West right now - so there's a lot of enmity between the government of the Fiendborn Empire and those of its neighbors, but commerce and politics still link the Fiendborn Empire inextricably to countries around it. As much as the people who live in Kaitheny and other nearby countries might distrust the Fiendborn, some of them still have to know the Fiendborn language well enough to communicate!
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I figured it made the most sense for him to name her as daughter of her mother since that's presumably the better-known connection... and besides that, the fact her father's name is probably not exactly a flattering association either in Kaitheny or in the Fiendborn Empire at this point.
LMK if I ought to change anything up, of course, or if anything's unclear, etc! <3