Rules of Equinox

Entrance Requirements:
1. Equinox is a world created for Role-playing. Any who wish to become a part of this world must create a character that fits into the shard's lore and fill out an application. It is recommended to read through the website as all information, such as application formats, can be found there.

2. Equinox has its good and evil and is not meant for players under the age of 16. Players age 16 -18 will be monitored by the community. Players 18+ must maintain maturity to remain a part of the shard.

General Rules:
1. Respect all members of the community, player and staff alike. Respect the role-play and creations of others. Tomfoolery (actions that cause disruptions in the role-play of others such as killing yourself multiple times in town) is considered disrespectful. Out of character speech interrupts role-play and is not acceptable; please keep it to a minimum. Harassment is not tolerated here either through role-play or through out of character means. Equinox is a community of players who grow and develop their characters through interaction. Anything that could damage or hinder this will not be tolerated.

2. Please be considerate of the community. Each character is a person's creation, should you have an idea that could leave a lasting impact on another character it is recommended you speak with them out of character first before proceeding. Loot stealing or player looting is not permissible as it is a dishonest and inconsiderate act against another community member.

3. Sharing your forum account or player account is not acceptable behavior. The accounts have been made and approved for your use only. Allowing another to use your account will result in loss of game privileges here. Keep your information private as only you are responsible for it. Should your account be used without your knowledge, you will still be held liable.

4. The purpose of Equinox is role-play. When your character is awake in Equinox you are not to leave them unattended. Idling for the sake of gains is not permitted. Power gaming does not have a home on Equinox. If you are concerned with stats, abilities, or non role-play possessions it is time you moved on. Language is meant to be set in medieval times. Cursing for its own sake will not be tolerated and must be within the confines of speech in the days of yore. Slang and more common terms such as “cool” or “dude” are not acceptable. Babies do not have a place within Equinox. Family members must be of appropriate role-playable age.

5. Relationships are a natural progression of role-play and accepted. How you role-play your relationships may not be due to content, explicit nature, or intensity of description. At anytime you may be under watch by staff or rogue without knowledge. As a general rule of thumb, if your role-play would cause embarrassment or discomfort to yourself if another was watching or to the person watching, take it elsewhere.

6. Should problems arise between players over you are encouraged to attempt to reach a common ground before involving a staff member. Should further help be required, staff will be here to help. Do not post on the forums about a problem with another player or their role-play as it can lead to flaming; instead please send a private message to staff. We want for all players to receive the fair treatment and respect that is deserved.

Housing & Items:
1. Players may only have one residence per character and only one merchant stand per character. Temporary housing located in the University or Oakenloch Island are not considered homes and are for temporary use in the advancement of your character’s role-play. Should staff deem that your stay in these places is unwarranted or unnecessarily extended, you will be asked that your character vacates the area. Repeat abuse of this role-play opportunity will result in the loss of this privilege.

2. Haverstoke, Scarlet Port, and Shadegard are the only cities open to the general public for residency. All other cities and villages have role-play requirements to become a citizen. Should you wish to gain citizenship in a race aligned town, this must be decided through role-play with the city’s ruling body and an invitation given to your character. All city shopping areas are open to the public with the exception of Auvryund and Silver Shadow Caverns.

3. Requests for items to serve as visual aids for role-play may be made but are of the lowest priority. Requests may be denied if they are seen as unnecessary. Decoration and item requests will be handled on a case by case basis after staff discussion and the player will be charged 5k per tile. Fireplace and oven pushes will be charged 2k from the player.

4. Muling is strictly prohibited. Muling is the act of transferring items, homes, gold, or any other possessions from one of your characters to another of the same account. This is a role-play shard not a power gaming shard. If your character gains any of the above without the proper role-play or without earning it, this is considered cheating and can fall under muling.

Characters:
1. Characters are meant to become a part of the world of Equinox and leave an impact. Making your character is a very important decision and should not to be taken lightly. From the approval date of your character application, you will be given a two month grace period. A player must be active for the request to be considered. During this grace period, you will be allowed one chance to change anything about your character without a scroll being necessary.

2. To remain a part of the world you must be an active member. To be an active member of the community you must interact with other players and their characters. Logging in for the sole purpose of refreshing your account or hunting is not interaction and it will not keep your account from being deleted. . Should you post your goodbyes, your account will be wiped and items auctioned off. Players who remain inactive for 90 days without speaking to staff will have their accounts wiped and items auctioned off.

3. In the life of your character, role-play may lead you away from your original dream after the grace period. A request can be made for changes to your character and scrolls will be necessary to show how your character has grown and changed. Name changes will not be allowed except in the joining a house, family, or marriage and this will only warrant the last name of your character to be changed.

4. Players who wish to apply for a second character must be active for four months time with their current character before being considered. The second character will also be given a grace period of 2 months. Should you decide on having a second character, your two characters are not to know each other or live together. Interaction between them is not possible and role-play is meant to take place within the world.

5. When deleting your character it impacts the whole world around you. The deletion of your character that is older than two months should be role-played out in game. We will expect a scroll to be written and a valid reason why that character was written out, whether they left the world to travel or died. We know that there may be times after the two month grace period when you realize that the character you've chosen is just not what you have envisioned and we will do our best to work with you on finding an alternate solution to make you happy.

Please note: Multiple changes and deletions of characters will be monitored. We want your time here to be as fun as possible, but as stated above your characters will have an impact in our world and will affect others. Multiple or frequent requests for deletions or changes will most likely be discussed among staff and handled on a case per case basis.

PvP (player versus player fighting)
The world is intended to be one of role-play with PvM or PvE (player versus monster or player versus environment) though there comes times of conflict when the only next logical step would be for a battle to ensue. During these times please keep these rules in mind.

1. PvP must be with consent. Please use .msg and .duel to prevent misunderstandings. Goading a player into PvP is not respecting another's role-play and will be addressed. Please bear in mind, all players have the right to refrain from PvP, but the player may not use this rule as a smokescreen. Provoking another character to the point where an attack is the only logical step, then citing this rule will not be acknowledged. If you wish to avoid a fight then diffuse the situation.

2. PvP must make sense to the role-play of the characters. Should the PvP take place within a city, it is up to the city's officials to act as mandated in their law. Terms should be discussed before the battle begins and if an understanding cannot be reached, then the fight should be diffused. Do not force terms on your opponent.

3. Wars may take place between races and guilds. At the time of announcement players may decide to become involved or to remain neutral as they see fit. For the duration of the war they are bound by their decision and must keep away from the battlefields providing aid only through trade or craft, should they choose neutrality. The duration of a war may be for as short as one week and extend to but not exceeding one month. Wars may only take place at sanctioned locations and predetermined times as dictated by staff.

4. Excessive PvP for its own sake will be addressed. This is first and foremost a role-playing shard not a player killing or power gaming shard.

Guilds:
1. All guilds started by players must be applied for and approved by the admins in the appropriate section.

2. Guilds require 4 committed players to join the guild. Players may not have multiple characters of the same account in the same guild.

Forums & Chat:
1. Your forum name must reflect your current character's name. Your login to the forums will automatically become your chat name.

2. Vulgarity, flaming, rampant cursing is not acceptable. If your conversation may cause discomfort to others, take it privately. Chat will not be a closed room. People may wander in that have interest in the shard. Those who cause disruptions will be banned from the chat room. Please treat every new comer with consideration and respect. They may be our newest community member.

3. When posting in the forums, please be advised that untactful avatars or signatures will be removed and a warning sent to the user. Signatures must be kept a decent size so as not to interfere with postings. Repeated offenses will result in loss of forum privileges.

4. Periodically the forums will be checked for inactive members. This includes people who have never posted or who have not posted in a long time and are not a part of the Equinox world (have an active character.) You must remain active to remain a part of this community.

Staff:
We will not accept requests to become staff. If we are in need of staff, a notice will be posted on the forum or a player may be asked directly.