Rules | Completed March 6, 2015

[shokran!]

Welcome to Fragmentation v1!
The staff at Fragmentation whole-heartedly welcome you to our forum! Whether you are a guest or a member, we appreciate your time and involvement with the site. We hope that your experience with us is everything you hoped to find in a semi-fantasy equine rpg. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about the site, you are always welcome to give us a shout in our chat-box or to send a staff member a PM. Again, we are beyond thrilled that you are here and hope to see you on the site for a long time to come!

Please read all of the rules that we provide as well as the other useful information that is provided in this board. All of it is written to ensure that your experience here is enjoyable and fun for everyone!

Notable Information
Fragmentation runs on the EST time zone. That means that if you live in a GMT time zone and let's say it is 8pm in GMT. In EST, it is 3pm. Click for Time Zone Converter.

Out of Character Rules
Our goal for Fragmentation is to provide a fun, friendly, and engaging environment for you to role play your characters with other members. In order to make sure that happens for everyone, there are some rules that are in place for all members and staff to follow.

1. Please be respectful and polite to everyone on the site whether they are a guest, member, or staff. If you have an issue with someone on the site, please keep the issue within PMs. If needed, please ask for a staff member to be involved and we will help you to sort through the issue. If the issue is with a staff member, please contact me (shokran!) directly. If you have an issue with someone that is currently on Fragmentation and the issue occurs off-site (texts, email, or on social media), you have to present photo evidence of the incidents for us to be able to do anything about it.

2. Being respectful to everyone means that you will not and do not participate in bashing a member whether that is in character or out of character. That means that you do not harass them for posts, images, plots, etc. That means that you do not speak to them in a foul manner with expletives and unnecessary negativity and rudeness. Proboards’ rules require that all members are to at least be 13. That is plenty old enough for all of us to act responsibly and appropriately.

3. Keep in mind that Fragmentation is a game. Characters are a figment of the members’ imaginations and are not held to the expectation that they reflect the members’ opinions, thoughts, feelings, or lifestyles. If a character is rude to yours, it is because that character is rude and that is a natural response for that character. You may choose who you do or do not role play with for most occasions in the game but there may be some instances where you will have to role play with them such as challenges and/or steals.

4. We have a two strike warning system with a trial period here at Fragmentation. Upon your first substantial offense in regards to these rules, a staff member will cite the issue and you will be given a warning. If you repeat the offense in six months after the warning is issued, then you will be banned for a month. You may return after the month ends and if you repeat the same offense in the next six months after you return, then you will be permanently banned. If you do not repeat the offense in the six month period, then your warning will be waived. We do not like the need for such a system just as much as you do and we do not enjoy giving out warnings and letting people know that they are going to be banned. Please do not make us do this part of our job.

5. All of the human resources information aside please be sure that all of your in character posts are at least 300 words. You are free to make your posts as long as you like however we do prefer quality over quantity. We would much rather see a member write 400 word posts with superb quality and phenomenal grammar than a member that writes 1,000+ word posts with run on sentences, fragments, poor spelling and grammar, etc. All posts should be size 1 font with all out of character information clearly marked as such. It makes the boards look neater and keeps everyone from being confused.

Chat-Box Rules
It is convenient to have instant access to talk to whoever is online however, the chat-box IS a privilege. It can be as easily taken away as it is put up. We do have some rules about what can go on in the chat-box so please take a look at these.

1. Keep swearing to a minimum. The filter is off but do not abuse this power to the point that we have to reinstate the filter.

2. Proboards is for individuals ages 13 and older. There are some things that are not appropriate to discuss in an open setting such as the chat box for these ages. If it's questionable, it probably should not be discussed in public views.

3. Do not make racist, homophobic, or any other slanderous comments towards anyone or anything in the chat-box.

4. Respect everyone in the chat-box!

5. Rude comments in the chat-box count towards the same as being rude on the boards.

6. If someone asks you to change the subject, change the subject immediately.

7. On the note of #6, please avoid any and all discussion of sensitive topics in the chat-box. That means religion, politics, sexuality, topics on sex and sexual matters (do not bring these up at all), or otherwise sensitive or potentially offensive topics. If you want to talk about them, post a thread in the General board and you are free to carry on with that as you wish or you can discuss it in PMs.

8. Do not spam or advertise in our chat-box as it is rude.

9. If you are having a bad day and feel like being rude to everyone or even be short with someone (as in consistently only writing 'k' or one letter/one word responses), please do not come back into the chat-box until you are feeling better or if you can, talk with that person elsewhere. It makes the chat-box feel uncomfortable and makes everyone involved and around the situation feel uncomfortable.

10. Last but not least, if there is a rude guest in the chat-box or if someone comes from another site to hate on ours, do not respond to them and do not go to their site to bash them. Just leave the message alone, let a staff member know, and it will be removed when an administrator is next online.

Creating Characters

Here’s one of the most fun parts about Fragmentation! Creating characters to play can be a tedious process but we have done our best to make it as simple and as pain-free as possible for you to create a character and be accepted as soon as possible!

1. We have a form provided in the application board and you must use that form. You can include additional information if you wish but the form must remain intact.

2. You may use any breed that you wish for your character except for mythical breeds such as unicorns, Pegasus, centaur, etc. At this time, you cannot create your own Original character as they must be auditioned and/or bid for in order to receive one.

3. We don’t really care how tall your character is as long as their height is within the range of all breeds listed in their lineage and that the character does not exceed 19hh. You can buy the store item that allows your character to be up to 22hh though if you’d like them to be larger than 19hh.

4. We accept all natural coat colors for horses, except for albinos, if their breed(s) genetically allow for it. That means that you cannot have a semi-leopard appaloosa pure Fell Pony as pure Fell Ponies can only be black. The Originals do not count for this as they are separate and cannot be created.

5. Your character can have any eye color you want although please try to limit the insanity of colors for this. If you want them to change colors or something like that, there’s an item in the store for it.

6. We only accept the traditional hoof colors like black, tan, striped, and gray.

7. Your character can be a stallion, colt, mare, filly, or a hermaphrodite. If you want them to be a hermaphrodite, you must provide adequate information in their history as to how it affects them and there must be at least two complications for them to be a hermaphrodite.

8. All natural markings within the character’s lineages are allowed. All unusual markings (and the trait that makes the unusual markings inheritable) must first be purchased in the store.

9. Your character’s personality must be at least 250 words. This is your chance to give us a written snapshot of what your character is like! Tell us what they like and dislike, how they feel about the Royals, what do they think of authority, what do they think of others of their own sex or members of the opposite sex? You can do essentially whatever you like with their personality as long as they are not a Mary-Sue or Gary-Stu.

10. Your character’s history must also be at least 250 words. Please share with us where your character is from, their family members, what kind of environment they were raised in, any experiences that they have had, and include how they found Fragmentation.

11. Last but not least, we have a couple rules about images. All images that are used here must be stock photos or Creative Commons (CC) licensed! You can find pictures that fit this criteria on deviantart.com and flickr.com. When you post your character’s application, please provide a link to where you found the image so we can double-check that it is stock and all of the stock providers’ rules have been followed.

12. Most importantly, have fun when you create your characters!

[shokran!]

In Character Rules
Great! So now your character is accepted! These are the rules that will help you with anything and everything that’s related with in-character interactions.

Claiming Lands

1. Each alliance has six main lands. Generally, these lands are ruled by one king and one queen but you all are free to create the hierarchy of these lands however you like. A member can have one main land from each alliance and four sub-lands in each alliance. The maximum amount of sub-lands that a main land can have is six. That means for every one main land, they can have six sub-lands beneath it.

2. If you would like to claim a main land, then you must post a 300 word ‘claiming post’ in that board. Then you must wait three days for a staff member to ask for the new land name and description OR for a challenger to oppose your claim. If no one posts in three days after the initial post, the land is yours.

3. Your character must be at least two years old and no older than 18 years old to claim a land. It is not feasible that a horse could defend the land in a battle at those ages.

4. If you would like to have a sub-land, then you must ask the main land owner for one. If they require your character to do x, y, and z tasks then you must do those tasks. You may not be automatically given a sub-land just because you ask for one. Sub-lands have their own name and their own description apart from the main land information. While sub-lands are essentially another land, the residents in that sub-land are not above the main land rulers and must answer to the main land for everything. It is expected that sub-lands remain active. It is at the discretion of the main land owner as to what happens to a sub-land should it fall beneath their sub-land activity requirements. Staff will remove a sub-land if it is inactive for six months by default.

5. As for who can claim a land or challenge for a land, if they are claiming a dark land, that character must be dark or unallianced. Same applies for the other alliances. A dark cannot have a land in the light alliance boards. Unallianced characters are the exception as we do not require members to exclusively choose an alliance for them.

General Herd Rules

1. Main lands hold all levels of power over their sub-lands. If the main land rulers want to place a tax on their sub-lands, they are allowed to reasonably do so. They are also free to bar any character they choose from entering their lands and their sub-lands.

2. There is no maximum capacity for any herd.

3. There is no age that a foal has to be kicked out of the herd. Each land can make their own rules about this.

4. There can only be a maximum of three heirs and three heiresses for a main land. Inheriting a land will be done by the next oldest in the lineage.

5. You are required to post ‘herd statistics’. These stats list the ranks, who is in the land, who the rulers are, who the heirs/heiresses are, etc. These MUST be kept up to date. We will hold sporadic herd stats checks and if you consistently fail these, then you are subject to losing your land(s).

6. You are free to make up the rules for your herd outside of what is listed here. Please be fair and be respectful. In order to have these rules posted in your herd, they must be first submitted to a staff member for approval. This seems tedious but in the long run it helps us stay on top of IC issues and it helps us prevent OOC problems if we can see everything before it is posted. You do not HAVE to make rules for your herds though.

7. All-male and all-female herds are allowed.

8. Keeping slaves and having slave cells are allowed. Please remember that Fragmentation is PG-13.

9. Herds can ally with any herd of any alliance.

10. Herds can entitle any herd to being an enemy.

[shokran!]

Challenges

Challenges happen when a character wants something that your character has and this can range from your character’s soul (Afterlife only), your character’s land, mate, etc. Challenges must be proposed in character in a normal post. The challenger must state their name and what or who they are challenging for. They do not have to state why they want it but you may include that if you wish. A challenge does not always have to be solved with a battle. It can also be resolved in plots and out-of-battle agreements. The concept of challenges can be a little daunting to think about so we have created some guidelines to make them a little simpler.

1. If a character or land is challenged, it cannot be challenged for again for 30 days.

2. If a character challenges someone, that character cannot challenge for anything again for 30 days.

3. After the initial challenge post is up, there is a maximum time of 3 days that the other person has time to reply. If anyone from the involved parties posts away in those 3 days, the challenge is placed on hold and they are granted the remaining time left upon their return. For example if I challenge someone and they post away the next day after I post my challenge, when they return from their absence, they have the final day to post their response. If anyone from the involved parties post away in those 3 days, it is also an option for the challenge to be placed upon the other ruler or the next character in the ranks.

4. If your land or character is challenged, there must be a response. You cannot ignore a challenge or you will lose whatever they are challenging for by default. This applies to everyone.

5. If the parties cannot come to an agreement on the terms, then the challenge will be dropped and the 30 day rest period will begin immediately. This is NOT a chance for you to slip out of a challenge though! It must be discussed with staff and you must have a valid reason before it is granted.

6. Allies cannot accept land challenges. Land challenges can only be accepted by the king, queen, or next in command of the land being challenged.

Steals

On Fragmentation, we allow non-Afterlife characters to steal other characters and Afterlife characters can steal the souls of characters. A steal consists of a riddle made of clues or hints that elude to a particular character. They can be physical or non-physical hints but at least six of those hints must pertain the character.

1. Each member is permitted to post four steals a week.

2. A steal includes six hints towards the character or the character’s soul they are trying to steal.

3. Mandatory information in the steal that does not count toward your six relevant hints is the gender and age category of the character you are trying to steal. This means you must state whether they are a female, male, or hermaphrodite and if they are a colt/filly (if they are under 2 and 3 years old respectively) or stallion/mare (if they are at or over the age of 3 and 4 years old). If they are a hermaphrodite, you can state it as filly/colt or stallion/mare or state that they are both genders.

4. When you are posting a steal, you must include at the top of your steal the following information: your character’s name and what land they are from (herd stats will be checked for up to date information and accuracy). If there is a conflict between the herd stats and the information in the steal, the steal will be put on hold until the information is correct.

5. All steals will take place in the ‘Riddles in the Dark’ board.

6. There is a minimum of three days in between the time the steal is posted and the time the steals is considered finished. You may extend this amount of time if you wish.

7. Only the rulers of the herd, the character’s parent (if the character is under the age of 3), or the appointed figure that may take care of the land if the ruler(s) are away may block.

8. When blocks are posted, you must include the blocking character’s relationship to the character they are blocking and you must list a minimum of six hints that you think are related to that character and why. If you can only find four hints that are plausible for a character in your herd, you cannot block them. You must find six total hints that related to the character and be able to adequately explain the connections to the character and those six hints.

9. After a steal is deemed successful, the affected herd and the affected character are immune to steals for 15 days. If there are multiple steals for the same character, the one that finishes first and has the results posted first will be the one that gets the character.

10. If you are stealing a character, that character must have a home. It is unfair to steal a character that has no one to block them.

11. Each herd can block up to four members of their herd. If you have an automatic steal block for your herd that is the only situation where all members of that herd can be blocked.

[shokran!]

Battles

1. Battles can be over lands, herd members, rites to a character’s soul, etc. Not all situations have to be resolved with a battle though. It is possible to plot things out and resolve them in threads if all parties can agree to it.

2. Any gender can fight. Stallions do not have a higher chance to win over a mare.

3. Any character above the age of 3 can fight.

4. Battle terms must be agreed upon by all members involved. If the parties are unable to come to an agreement, the battle will not take place.
This is not a loophole though. You must have a valid reason as to why you cannot come to an agreement.

5. The standard for battle terms is each character gets 2 strikes and 1 dodge. That means they can have two attempts at harming the other character and they have one chance to dodge an attack. This can be changed to any amount above the standard as long as all parties agree to it.

6. Minimum word requirement for battle posts is 300 words. There is no maximum word count but the terms may grant a word count capacity if you wish.

7. There is a minimum of four days to post between battle posts. That means after one post, the other poster has four days to reply.

8. There is a form that must be filled out in each post for all characters involved in a battle. All of the information on that form must be included.

9. A battle is judged based on a 1 out of 10 point system on several factors. These factors include: grammar, spelling, quality of post versus the quantity of words, clarity of attacks, realism of attacks – this means are your attacks plausible for your character to make, intensity of attacks – if they are fighting for a land or a character, it is reasonable to believe that they may use attacks that could seriously injure or perhaps have fatal consequences, completion of the form, adherence to the battle terms that are listed, and realism of physical statistics* in relation to their attacks. Total possible points are 90 per judge, 270 points total possible combined without the Afterlife’s intervention. See this thread for Afterlife involvement for battles.

10. We do not base battle judging solely off physical statistics however they do play a role in judging. This is an extreme example but in the event you have a Shetland Pony fighting a Clydesdale. It is not logical or feasible to think that if the Shetland reared, they could bite the Clydesdale’s ear. A Clydesdale also cannot make quick attacks quite like a healthy Thoroughbred or an Arabian can.

11. Judging is done by three members on the site. Three judges and one judge doubles as a points keeper. Each judge tallies up the points for each role player and submits them to the points keeper. The points keeper then totals the points up for each role player, each total score being out of a base score of 270. Whoever has the largest amount of total points, wins. Judging is not anonymously conducted.

12. If for whatever reason a member feels that the judging was biased or done incorrectly, they can ask for a repeal of the judging. They must provide three valid reasons to request a repeal. If they are granted the repeal, then the second round of judging will be held with three other members and that judging will be final.

[shokran!]

Breeding
As part of compliance with Proboards’ terms of service, Fragmentation is rated PG-13. That means that you cannot graphically breed in character. You may role play the birth if you wish but you do not have to and it cannot be graphic either.

As of right now, we do not have a yearly cap on how many times your characters may breed. Do not abuse this power. We will be monitoring the birthing board and if we see this becoming an issue, we will limit how many foals you can have per member a year. Just a few things to keep in mind about breeding characters; try to have a plot in mind when you breed characters, try to have something in mind for the foal to do when it is born, we cannot limit you from extending a lineage but we do not condone breeding for the sake of breeding.

1. We do limit stallions to breeding three times a week and mares are limited to being bred once a week.

2. Donors (characters that have not been threaded with) are permitted but do not abuse this privilege.

3. Stallions must be 3 years old to be guaranteed to produce a foal. Colts may breed at 2 years old but it is not guaranteed that the breeding will result in a foal.

4. Mares must be 4 years old to be guaranteed to produce a foal. Fillies may breed at 3 years old but it is not guaranteed that the breeding will result in a foal.

5. All members that play the parents must use the form and it must be completely filled out.

6. We do not require genetics however we do require you to list the parental colors of your character. The colors must make sense, a black stallion and a palomino mare will not make a semi-leopard red dun. If you need help with this, staff will help you.

7. Keep in mind that all character breedings do not mean that you will receive a foal or a healthy foal. Especially if there are twins/triplets involved, if the mother is ill or injured at the time of birth, and other variables.

8. Only staff members can make foal statistics unless otherwise approved by the staff.

9. Please review this thread to see the guidelines about Original breeding.

Birthing

Remember, there is a 5% chance with all breedings that you will get a still born. This is already factored in when you request a breeding but this is a very small chance so the likelihood that you will get one is slim! If you would like to have a guaranteed stillborn or plan on the foal dying as soon as it is born, you may role play this out in a thread without requesting foal stats.

1. You cannot ask for a foal to be born a certain way with things like height, gender, markings, etc. You must purchase those items in the store first.

2. Your foal may or may not be born with a minor defect. There is a 10% chance that this may happen. This keeps things interesting.

3. Twins , triplets, and quadruplets must be purchased in the store if you definitely want them. Otherwise twins will be given out at random a few times in one real life year and triplets will be given out at random twice in one real life year. Quadruplets will never be given out at random.

4. If you purchase twins/triplets/quadruplets or have twins/triplets randomly born, expect health defects and complications. We do our best to make birthing as realistic as possible.

5. If the foal is born with a health problem, defect, etc, you may purchase the Miracle item in the store or you can appeal to the Afterlife in IC threads to have the defect or illness relieved.