Serendipity is a panfandom slice-of-life game with a focus on CR and character development, with plenty of opportunities for things to do. In exchange for the granting of their dearest wish, characters are invited to populate a nearly-empty world run by a kingdom in four Houses and create an infrastructure for an incoming populace. Every second month, characters are invited to vote for initiatives presented by each House that will alter the landscape of the world itself.
Characters will have the opportunity to learn magic, share dreams and memories, and participate in events that will drive and encourage development and exploration of both CR and characters themselves. There will also be missions focused on gathering resources, world building, and safety of the population.
APPLICATIONS & ACTIVITY
☆ ACCEPTED CHARACTER TYPES Serendipity will be accepting applications for both canon characters and original characters. AUs, CRAUs, and doubles are not being accepted.
Tabletop characters will be considered original characters.
Malleable protagonists will be considered canon characters.
Cross-franchise doubles are not accepted. Only one version of any character can be in the game at any given time.
Canon AUs will be accepted, providing the AU is presented in canon. However, the doubles rule still applies.
Non-human characters will not be humanized or have their sizes changed unless the player prefers it.
Dead or badly injured characters will be healed upon entry to the game.
Characters with minimal screen time are able considered appable so long as their applications can be written without headcanon. Extrapolating on what exists in canon is fine!
New canons or new material for existing canons should be waited on for one month after worldwide release to allow other players to experience the canon without spoilers. In cases where new material includes flashbacks or new information on things that previously happened, there is no need to wait before incorporating the new information, but please tag subject lines for spoilers and check in with your threadmates.
☆ APPLICATIONS ARE ALWAYS OPEN Applications will always be open, however,
after the first thirty players are accepted, we will be moving to an invite-only system.☆ GAME INVITATIONS Once the game accepts its first thirty players, it will revert to
invite-only status. Non-invite app periods may happen again if the game is not of sufficient size to comfortably operate on invites alone. If the open period is closed and you want to join but don't know anyone in the game, mod invitations are available. Please PM the mod journal to request an invitation, and be sure to include the reasons you want to join the game, the character you're interested in, and any plans you have for your time in the game.
☆ CHARACTER LIMIT There is no game cap or player cap, but each player will be allowed a maximum of three characters in the game at any given time.
☆ CHARACTER ABILITIES Characters will not have their abilities nerfed, except in the case of game-breaking abilities (for example, reality altering, traveling between dimensions, time travel). Characters can learn to wield magic from the four Houses in game, however, whether or not they have their own superhuman abilities.
☆ ACTIVITY REQUIREMENTS Activity check will always be open via the Activity Check page, and the mod will sweep for incomplete activity on the last day of every month. There will be no AC warning lists, though the mod will post announcements about AC timing on plurk. Activity requirements are check-in with a short description of what the character has been doing for the month.
GAME BASICS
☆ THE FOUR HOUSES & HOUSE INITIATIVES The kingdom of Serentali, where the game is set, is run by a council consisting of the leaders of four Houses: Stone, Sun, River, and Life. Characters aren't necessarily invited to join any of these Houses, as they are considered to be impermanent residents, but they can sign up with two Houses at any given time to learn their unique style of doing magic. At the beginning of every second month, the leader of each House will present an initiative that will affect the world, and characters are invited to vote ICly for the initiative they prefer. Initiatives will affect both events and the types of missions that are available and will be focused on as gamewide projects for the following two months, causing a concrete change to the world the characters live in. More information on the Houses can be found in the Houses & Voting section.
☆ DETAILS OF THE DEAL Characters are offered a deal prior to their entry to the game - they are invited to help set up a home for a population that's still in stasis, too weak to be awakened; in return they will receive their deepest desire, no matter what it is. Obviously, characters may have some questions about this deal. They would be told that the wish can be anything they want, but can only be granted once everything is set up for the true population of the world that is still sleeping under the Ivory Castle. They would also be told that, no matter how long it takes, they will be put right back where they were taken from in their world - no time will pass for the rest of the world at home, and they will be the same age they were when they left even if they might age in Serentali.
☆ CHARACTER WISHES The nature of a character's wish can vary wildly depending on the character - it can be something about themselves or another person, it can be something that would benefit them while they're in the game or something from home they desperately want to be changed. Additionally, characters
do not need to know what their wish is. If they don't know what their fondest wish is, or if what they
think is their fondest wish actually isn't, that's totally fine. Characters may also ask for what they think they want but actually receive something else that is their true fondest wish when the time comes.
☆ CHARACTER PURPOSE Characters are invited to Serentali to set up an infrastructure including housing, farms, businesses, and social systems in advance of the arrival of a population. While the game will initially have elements of survival, there are no horror elements. To start, characters will have safe places to live within the castle and some simple food staples, but will have to set up gardens and farms, raise livestock, and create goods or services either through magic or good old elbow grease. The initiatives suggested by the Houses will be offers of aid in support of one project or the other, which will give a significant boost to the work done on that aspect of creating infrastructure through the mutual backing of all the power of the four Houses.
☆ DREAM AND MEMORY SHARING In the interest of fostering a sense of community, the four Houses have banded together to host a shared memory or shared dreaming event every second event. Every fourth month, a mod-posted dream and/or memory share with a different theme or topic will be posted where characters can intermingle and experience these intimate parts of each others' lives in order to better understand each other. Dream and memory sharing
will be opt out for those who don't want to participate, but the mechanics will also be in play all the time so that an "accidental" dream or memory share can happen in individual threads whenever players wish.
☆ PLAYER PROJECTS AND BUSINESSES Many characters come into the game with special skills or interests that would lend themselves to special projects or businesses geared either toward survival and/or setting up infrastructure or other areas of interest. Both projects and businesses are highly encouraged both ICly and OOCly, with the leaders of Serentali happily supporting character endeavors. Characters are welcome to work on special projects from sharing and using special farming techniques, conducting classes to teach others their skills, starting restaurants or bakeries, or creating goods or tools to sell. Be creative, anything is welcome!
☆ HIATUS AND DROP EXPLANATIONS When characters are on hiatus they're generally assumed to be on autopilot, though you can state anything you'd like your character to be doing on your hiatus note. When characters are dropped and found to be missing, the House leaders will explain it as the character having done everything they could but being needed at home, and will tell other characters that the departed person had a smaller wish fulfilled in exchange for the help they've provided thus far.
☆ CANON UPDATES When players wish to canon update, their characters will be spirited back to their world, to the exact time they left home, then returned at the new canon point to the exact time they left Serentali. The explanation ICly is that the House leaders determined that something in the character's home happened that was so important they had to go back and live it before continuing their help in Serentali. OOCly, there is no special mechanic for canon updates and they can happen at any time.
☆ NETWORK There are several communication networks in Serentali, created and maintained with magic. As characters start to arrive, the heads of the Houses have created a new network specifically for them with interlinked magical devices that they can use to communicate. These devices look almost like panes of glass the size of a small tablet with a silvery frame around them, and are capable of communicating via text, voice, and video, as well as voice-to-text and vice versa for people with sensory impairment or who are illiterate; these messages can be either private or broadcast to everyone's tablets to be responded to. They are activated when a new user presses their palm against the pane, and then 'bond' to that person so they can only be used by them. The interfaces can vary depending on the person, and they adapt to suit the way the user interacts with the tablet.
☆ MONTHLY TIMELINE The game operates on an alternating-month model, with events, voting, test drives, and other events being offset to reduce the mod workload a little and allow players time to finish things before jumping to the next event or mission. Please see below for the schedule for each month.
Month 1
Month 2
1st: Event Log, Missions
1st: Missions
2nd: OOC Intro & Plotting Post
2nd: OOC Intro & Plotting Post
15th: Test Drive Meme
20th: Voting Opens
27th: Voting Closes
HOUSES & VOTING
☆ HOUSE STONE The leader of House Stone is named Chanda, a tall, broad very dark-skinned woman with plenty of visible tattoos and scarification. Somewhat stern and reserved, she only speaks when it's necessary for her to do so, and what she says is always very much worth listening to.
House Stone is dedicated to the protection and security of the people, securing habitation and safe places to live, and the infrastructure of roads. It's also devoted to the social structure of the people, including law and order, and to putting in place social infrastructure to help those in need and protect those who are vulnerable.
☆ HOUSE SUN The leader of House Sun is named Shihala, a small-statured, sprightly man with long blond hair who is very socially outgoing and speaks effusively. Never seen without his pair of magnifying spectacles, he's a veritable fountain of trivia and factoids, as well as deeper knowledge and wisdom.
House Sun is dedicated to knowledge and research, to the gathering and creation of folklore and stories, and to understanding the nature of people. Members of House Sun can often be found maintaining and using the library, and many of them keep commonplace books full of information about the world they live in and the ways that it's being formed in. They are also very interested in the psychology of people and why they do the things they do.
☆ HOUSE RIVER The leader of House River is named Swimming Horse, a tall, lanky person with long black hair braided back from their face and sharp facial features. Despite their stern exterior, they are a very caring person, always ready to offer advice or reassurance to anyone who needs it.
House River is dedicated to exploration and transport of goods, to finding new places and new resources and anything else new. They are also devoted to the well-being of the people, working hard to promote good morale and make sure that everyone is taken care of. Most parties and festivals that are thrown in Serentali are the work of people from House River.
☆ HOUSE LIFE The leader of House Life is known only as Mother, a dark-skinned woman with hair like a soft cloud and an equally soft body, the perfect type to give excellent hugs. She speaks quietly when she does speak, though often she refrains from talking at all and simply shares her thoughts. She is the woman who appears to new arrivals in dreams.
House Life is devoted to growth, whether it's physical, mental, or emotional. This includes plant and animal related magic and farming techniques. Those in House Life enjoy tending to plants and creating new varieties through splicing offshoots; they also enjoy animal husbandry and breeding and caring for animals.
☆ VOTING On every second month, the Houses will each present an initiative that will assist with the purpose of creating infrastructure in Serentali. These initiatives will be posted on the 20th of every second month to open the voting period, and voting will close on the 27th of the month. Once voting is closed, the votes will be tallied and the initiative with the most votes will determine the focus and nature of the events and missions that will be posted on the first of the next two months.
MISSIONS & PLAYER PLOTS
☆ MISSIONS Missions will be posted by the mod on the first of each month, and will generally consist of tasks that can be completed by characters to help with the character purpose. For example, there may be missions to gather seeds from plants that grant strange effects, to hunt animals for food, to clear land for creating garden patches, to build certain types of dwellings, etc. These missions are completely optional and are more writing prompts than anything. Missions will be catered specifically to the initiative that's been most recently voted on, and while they are primarily writing prompts, players may check in with the mod if they have threaded out a mission to add to the projected success of the initiative.
☆ PLAYER PLOTS Your mod is
extremely open to and excited about player plots. If there's something you want to do, please contact the mod by PM to suggest the idea. Generally, your mod aims to say 'yes' and will do anything possible to facilitate player plots. Please bring me your ideas even if you think there's a chance it might be too much, and we'll see what we can work out. The point of an RP game is to have fun, and I want you to be able to have fun and feel like you have an impact on the world of the game, to feel like your character can make their own space in the world of the game. Even if your idea does end up being too much to facilitate as-is, I'll work with you to find an alternative idea that will hopefully be as much fun to play as the original idea.
MAGIC & MEMORY/DREAM SHARING
☆ EVENT BASED Every second event log will be a dream and memory sharing event, where characters may experience each others' dreams and/or memories. Each event will have a different theme, allowing for different types of dreams or memories to be shared. Memory and dream sharing will take place because of a magic spell woven by the four heads of the Houses, a powerful cooperative effort in the interest of fostering closer relationships between characters and opening up those who aren't inclined to share. During these events, characters will be lulled into a deep sleep and will exist within the dream realm, where characters will experience each others' memories and dreams in vivid detail, whether it's a single person or moment in time or a longer scene played out in real time. Characters will know what these events are and when they are happening, and while there is no IC way for characters to opt out, any player who doesn't want to participate can assume there was a glitch with the powerful magic of the spell or some other error that resulted in the character not being part of the event. One or two simple non-dream/memshare prompts will be provided on these months.
☆ INDIVIDUAL THREADS The spell woven by the four heads of House is a permanent spell - usually it is inactive except when they trigger it for the dream and memory sharing events. However, this spell is a very large and complex one that may have a few glitches here and there, and so players may use this mechanic at any time in an individual thread for smaller groups of characters to participate in dream or memory sharing.
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