General
Appearance and Aging
Stallions
Mares
Breeding
Foals
Ghost Horses
Elements and Experience
Traits Challenging
Stealing
Secret Societies
General
1) Be courteous and respect all other player’s, staff and admin. Everyone is treated equally on this game.
2) Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, a disagreement is not considered to be drama, but deliberate and meaningless fighting amongst players will not be tolerated (Keep it in character and not out of character) and the admin will always have the final word about everything. The admin will not get involved with disputes between players that happen off site.
3) Please wait to be accepted before you start posting.
4) Please be original with your characters; do not steal characters from other sites, though you are allowed to use the same name as long as the characters are distinctively different. Do not rip, steal or otherwise use HTML or pictures without expressed permission from the artist. I, as admin, can not be held responsible for any copyright infringement made by my players, but theft of any kind will not be tolerated.
5) Please do not join characters you can’t maintain activity with, though I understand that life can be a bit hectic and unpredictable at times and so can the muse.
6) Do not power play, or kill, another player’s character(s) without written consent.
7) This game is considered intermediate/ advanced though beginners are warmly welcome. The average post seems to be about 400-500 words for intermediate players, the minimum word requirement here is 200.
8) We encourage dark/ emotional plot lines within this game, so I have rated it as 15. If you write a post which contains adult themes please put a warning in the title. I will allow swearing, violence and moderate sexual references as long as these themes are not excessively used.
9) Do not force a player to participate in a plot which they feel uncomfortable with playing.
10) If you are “away” your characters land/ rank will be reserved for 2 weeks. If you have not returned the reservation will be lifted unless you provide a good reason for being “away” longer.
11) “Post Coming” posts are not allowed, it slows the game up and reduces activity, if you want to reply to someone but can’t do so immediately then ask them politely in the OOC board if they would not mind waiting for you to reply. However you can’t expect someone to wait for an infinite amount of time, be reasonable.
12) If you are the player of an Alpha Stallion (or Alpha Mare in the case of all mare herds) you can request the password to the board of your claimed territory so that you can edit and update it yourself, please only apply for this if you can code the board yourself or get someone to code it for you. You can customize the board however you like except for the following conditions; do not change the name of the territory, do not change the board background colour and do not remove the copyrights in the footer. Under no circumstance change the password to the board or give it out to another player, if your character losses the territory the password will be changed before it is handed over to the new resident.
13) Bare in mind the difference between player and character knowledge, do not make your character do or say things they have no knowledge about. This is often an unwritten rule of Role Play but due to the nature of this game such mistakes can tip the scales either way.
14) Rule breaking will result with punishment; however the severity of the case will be taken into consideration.
We consider ourselves to be friendly and fair people, if you have any suggestions, inquires, plot ideas or are unhappy about the site, please do not hesitate to email us at;
equine.exercist@gmail.com
Appearance and Aging
1) Any standard horse breed is acceptable, though we ask you to keep within the color and standard height restrictions for your chosen breed.
2) Horses are measured in hands, and there are 4 inches within a hand, so (for example) a horse will be measured like 14.0, 14.1, 14.2, 14.3 and 15.0.
3) Horses joined as ghosts can be extinct horse breeds.
4) Special markings and colors can be earned as a trait.
5) A season lasts for 1 month, so 4 months real time is 1 year of game time.
Stallions
1) A stallion must be at least 3 years of age to own a herd, except in the case of bachelor herds where the minimum age is 2.
2) You must own a territory before you can claim mares.
3) There will always be at least one bachelor herd in the game at all times. These herds can not claim mares but are allowed 1 female, at any given time, as a slave.
4) A male horse must be at least 3 years old to breed.
5) Each territory has a limit to how many individuals it can sustain; this occupancy limit can be increased depending on activity within that territory.
6) A stallion can challenge for a mare, a territory, or for an entire herd. All fights must be role played.
7) The stallion decides the original alpha mare for the herd then she determines the ranks of the other mares. The alpha mare doesn’t have to be the first mare the stallion claims. If the alpha mare goes inactive the stallion can chose another or allow the position to be fought for.
Mares
1) There will always be at least one female only herd in the game. These herds can not be claimed by stallions, but individuals can be fought for and can be stolen.
2) A mare does not have to go with the first stallion that approaches her.
3) Once you are in a herd you stay with them unless you challenge for your freedom or are stolen by another herd. If your alpha stallion goes inactive you may leave the herd.
4) A mare must be older then 3 to breed.
5) The alpha mare determines the ranks of the other mares. If the alpha mare changes then the new alpha can reorder the ranks.
6) A mare can challenge for one rank above her own; although any mare may challenge for the alpha mare position. All fights must be role played.
7) The alpha mare position may only be challenged for by one mare at a time and once every two weeks. If you loose the challenge you have to wait 4 real weeks before you can challenge again.
8) The alpha mare can challenge the alpha stallion for control of the herd if she feels his leadership is inadequate.
9) If a rival stallion challenges for a single mare she may fight for herself or depend on her alphas to fight for her. These matters can be discussed out of character, however an alpha stallion has priority over the alpha mare and the alpha mare has priority over a subordinate mare.
10) If a stallion wins or steals a mare they must go with him and live in his territory for 4 real weeks until they can challenge for their freedom, be stolen or challenged by another stallion.
11) A mare can not adopt an orphan foal unless she already has a foal, recently given birth to a still born or is pregnant and can produce milk.
Breeding
1) Both parents must be over the age of 3 to breed.
2) Long breeding is permitted but there must be a warning in the first title of the thread and can not be overly explicit.
3) A mare can only be force bred if her stallion is inactive or she has wandered into a territory alone. In all force breeding circumstances an escape option must be provided.
4) To receive a foal both parents must post their stats in Dancing Waters.
5) All foal stats are generated by dice roll. Twins will be granted at random and rarely.
6) Once the foal stats are posted the players of the breeding couple must reply with the following information; who is playing the foal, the foals name and their chosen element.
7) Foals can be born immediately after the stats have been published by a staff member. If you want to make the gestation time more realistic the foal can be born one game year later since a mare’s gestation period is 11 months.
8) A mare can only have one living foal per game year, which is once every four months in real time.
9) Breeding can occur in any season though the odds of a foal’s survival vary with each season.
Foals
1) Their stats are determined according to the stats of their parents and are randomly generated by roll of the dice.
2) Stillborn foals may be played as ghost foals. The couple may then attempt to breed again for a living foal.
3) A foal is usually weaned at around 6 months but is dependant on its mother for the first year of its life.
4) Yearling colts can leave the herd or be kicked out by the alpha stallion. Since they can’t own a herd of their own until the age of 3 (exempt from the bachelor herd which they can lead at the age of 2) they must join a bachelor herd.
5) Fillies usually leave the herd at the age of two unless the alpha stallion has something else in mind.
6) You may join an orphan foal, which is under a year old, if a surrogate mother can be found.
7) Foals, fillies and clots under 3 years old can spar each other but are not permitted to challenge for territories, herds or mares. The only exception is the bachelor and mare only herds which can be led by a 2 year old colt or filly respectably.
Ghost Horses
1) Dead characters may be joined as ghost horses.
2) Characters who die in the game due to battle, old age, sickness ect; May have the option of playing their character as a ghost horse. Players who receive still born foals may continue to the play the foal as a ghost foal, the couple may breed again to try for a living foal as perusal.
3) Ghost characters can earn traits like the living can.
4) To be seen and heard by living characters, ghost horses must be a part of The Kingdom of the dead.
5) Ghost horses are free to haunt other territories and characters.
6) The dead do not breed.
7) Ghost horses may spar against each other.
8) The living can not fight the dead and the dead can not fight the living unless they posses a body.
9) For a ghost horse to posses a living horse the players must agree to this in OOC. If the players agree to the possession they must both publicly announce it in the Chat board to prove the possession to be legitimate. POWER PLAYING WILL NOT BE TOLERATED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.
10) Once the spar or fight is over the player must relinquish the control over the other player’s character. If they wish to use that character’s body again they must ask again and prove it legitimate again.
11) A ghost horse has access to the power and abilities of its host.
12) Ghost horses can’t be stolen but they can steal using the regular rules for stealing.
13) If a ghost horses steal is successful the horse being stolen will fall unconsciousness and have an out of body experience for three real weeks. The unconscious body will remain safe while their soul is absent. Unconscious souls can not possess bodies because they already have one.
14) After three weeks the soul will return back to the body.
15) An unconscious soul may be stolen back after one real week has passed.
18) A character who has been stolen for three weeks is immune from being stolen by the dead for one game year.
Elements and Experience
1) Upon joining a new character the player may select an element from the list provided on the joining board.
2) Every character starts at level 1 with 0exp. The maximum level a character can reach in one element is 6, to gain levels the character must gain the amount of experience required to reach that level.
3) There will be a regularly updated tally on the joining board of how many horses of each element are currently in play. While we advise our players to keep the numbers of each element relatively even we do acknowledge that some elements may or may not be more popular then others.
4) If we find that the numbers of followers per element are drastically different we may have to restrict new characters obtaining certain elements from time to time; however we don’t wish to take the opportunity of choice away from our players so we will try to reframe from implementing this measure of control.
5) There are many ways for a player to gain experience for their characters; in character and out of character. For more information look to the tables below.
Level | Minimum Experience |
1 | Automatic, gained upon joining/ birth |
2 | 50 exp |
3 | 150 exp |
4 | 300 exp |
5 | 500 exp |
6 | 800 exp |
Action | Experience Earned |
Fighting | Dependent on performance |
Breeding | 5 Exp per foal |
Advertising | 1 Exp per ad |
Word Count | 50 Exp every 5,000 words |
Referrals | 10 Exp after first post |
Successful Steals | 10 Exp |
Blocking Steals | 15 Exp |
Traits
1) Characters can spend the experience they earn on traits. The amount of experience required will be determined by how powerful the trait is.
2) To request a trait/power/ability; go to the rewards board where traits/powers/abilities will be discussed with the staff, then the admin will determine how much experience your new trait/power/ability will cost you. You will also need to provide a link to your library count as evidence that you can afford it.
Below is a rough guide on traits and how much it might cost to obtain them;
| Level | Examples | Experience Needed |
Minor Trait | Minor physical changes like eye color | 10 exp |
Uncommon Trait | Noticeable physical changes like Horns | 25 exp |
Rare Trait | Functional additional body parts like wings | 50 exp |
Epic Trait | An extraordinary ability like stopping time | 100 exp |
Foal Stats | Choice of gender, coat color and element | 50 exp |
Twin Foal Stats | Choice of gender, coat color and elements | 100 exp |
3) Once your chosen trait has been approved you can receive it by writing an in character post to the appropriate god at the Sacred Sycamore; Ghost horses appeal to the god of death and the living ask the god of life for their rewards. Exceptions can be made to this rule for plot reasons.
4) At the moment there is a maximum of three traits/powers/abilities per character.
5) Complete control of foal stats may be claimed instead of a trait/power.
6) Players can also request at the rewards board for their character to gain a second element. Although restrictions will be implemented, for example a horse with the fire element can not request to have the water element because these elements would clash and simply not work in conjunction with one another.
7) Since experience is spent to acquire a new trait/power/ability there is a chance that a character who has initially gained enough experience to level up may find that they no longer posses the minimum amount of experience for that level. For example your character has 150EXP which makes them level 3 in an element, but they then spend 10 exp to gain a minor trait, this takes the characters exp down to 140EXP which is below the minimum needed for level 3. In this case the character's level will drop back to being a level 2 and they will no longer have access to their level 3 abilities until they increase their experience points back up to the minimum amount required for that level.
8) Experience can not be transferred between characters, the only exceptions to this rule is the experience earned from advertising and personal rewards awarded to the player (not the character).
Challenging
1) Stallions can challenge for one mare, for a territory and/or for the territory and all mares residing there. If the territory has both an alpha stallion and alpha mare either one may accept the challenge. If a single mare is being challenged for she may fight for herself or depend on her alphas to fight for her. These matters can be discussed out of character, however an alpha stallion has priority over the alpha mare and the alpha mare has priority over a subordinate mare.
2) A mare can challenge for one rank above her own; although any mare may challenge for the alpha mare position.
3) The alpha mare can challenge the alpha stallion for control of the herd if she feels his leadership is inadequate.
4) All battles must be role played and all participants must agree to the terms of the fight. Fights can be over almost any thing as long as both sides agree. If terms are deemed unfair the admin will reset them.
5) Only the admin or staff can judge the outcome of a fight. Although players are entitled to a remark by a different judge. However when asking for a remark please be specific about what it was in the marking scheme that you where unhappy about.
6) You may use your powers and abilities as many times as desired in a fight as long as it does not exceed the number of attacks allowed. However excessive use of an ability or power without consequences to the character will be considered god-moding and the perpetrator will be disqualified.
7) If you are being challenged and are active, you have 3 days to reply to the challenger. If you do not reply within that time you will lose the fight. However extensions will be granted for valid reasons.
8) To make a challenge you must first alert the player/ character you are battling. You must then post the challenge in Cold Blood Cavern to make it official.
9) All battles, including spars, are posted and take place at Cold Blood Cavern. However the setting doesn’t necessarily need to be set in the cavern itself.
10) If you make a challenge to someone, you are the attacker, and they are the defender. This means the challenger makes the first attack after the terms have been finalized. Terms can not be reset once the battle has begun.
11) The challenger is responsible for setting the scene, in the first post. The number of attacks allocated is negotiated between players before the battle starts. A standard format is two attacks each per battle with one attack made per post.
12) There are no word limits and battle posts do not count towards your word counts, instead characters will be rewarded experience depending on how well they preformed.
13) When a mare is won in a battle they must remain in the new territory for 1 game season, 4 real life weeks. After the time limit has expired the horse can then be challenged for or stolen by another herd or the original herd they came from.
14) If a territory is won in battle, with or without mares, it can not be challenged for again until 1 game season, 4 real life weeks, has passed.
15) Counterattacks may be used for defenses but they count towards your attack limit.
16) Combo attacks are physical attacks, which can be preformed by a standard horse, combined with an element or ability, and are allowed.
17) Spars are optional in all circumstances. You can post a spar which anyone can accept or challenge a specific character.
Stealing
1) Either an alpha stallion or alpha mare of a herd can steal.
2) If your steal does not get blocked in three days you are successful.
3) You must reveal your method of stealing once the time limit is over or the defender has used their 2 guesses.
4) An alpha stallion and mare may only steal one mare at a time between them.
5) You may only steal maximum once a week, once every seven days, regardless of whether the steal is successful or not.
6) Steals must be written in English. Your riddles can incorporate; Poetry, symbols, colours, the odd foreign word etc.
7) The riddle must include a clue about the stallion you are stealing from (or alpha mare in the case of all female herds), their territory, and the name of the mare you are stealing. Your character's name must be posted in the "name" field, the use of false names is prohibited.
9) You must “own” a territory before you can steal; beta stallions and subordinate members of the herd can not steal.
10) You cannot steal foals that are dependent on their mother. This means that horses under the age of 1 year can not be stolen.
11) If a mare with a dependant foal is stolen she can decide to find a surrogate mother if she does not want to bring the foal with her. If a surrogate mother can not be found the foal must come with its mother or die.
12) Only the characters that can post steals can block them. If an unauthorized character blocks a steal it will be considered invalid.
13) Each herd can make 2 guesses per steal. However if both guesses are incorrect the steal will be valid.
14) When a horse is stolen they must remain in the new territory for 1 game season, 4 real life weeks. After the time limit has expired the horse can then be stolen/ challenged for by another herd or the original herd they where stolen for.
15) If a valid guess is made the thief must post whether or not the steal is blocked or not as soon as possible so the defender can attempt their second guess. Waiting for the deadline is considered cheating.
Secret Societies
1) There are two secret societies in the field of Aaru, "The Brethren of the Reapers" and "The Angels of the Illuminati".
2) One side is loyal to Nex the God of death and darkness and the other are loyal to Vita.
3) "The Brethren of the Reapers" is a dictatorship, with the Tyrant making all the decisions. On the other hand "The Angels of the Illuminati" is governed by democracy.
4) Once a game year "The Angels of the Illuminati" can vote for a new Guardian. Similarly the position of the Tyrant can be challenged and fought for once per game year.
5) The Sociaties meet on another plane of existence and the entrance to these realms are disguised as trees in Wanderer's Woods.
6) Unless another character tells you about it, your character knows NOTHING about the societies.