Code of Conduct

As a role-playing guild, there are a few rules and guidelines that we expect our members to follow.

General Role-Playing Rules:

In-Character (IC) and Out-Of-Character (OOC):

In-Character: When you are role-playing, thus being in-character.
Out-Of-Character: When you are not role-playing, thus being out-of-character.

- Please keep to the distinction between IC and OOC. When we are RPing, we expect our members to play well and not ruin the immersion of others by OOC shenanigans. This applies to when meeting other RPers as well; respect other players. You may naturally be OOC at times, but going out of your way to disrupt other people is something we will not tolerate.

- As for chat channels, our guild chat is OOC but /says and /yell are always IC.
When you wish to speak OOCly either use whisper or a chat channel such as our guild chat. Any IC chat channels will otherwise be specified.

- And lastly, please use proper language when you are RPing.

A correct example:
Greetings my friend, how are you today?

A wrong example:
Yo waz up?

If you wish to describe an emotion, do not use smileys [   ,  , , etc.] as that belongs in an OOC chat, instead use the /e command (you can of course use the in-game emotions).

Meta-Gaming:

- Meta-gaming is forbidden and means that you use things you know OOCly for IC purposes. For example, your character does not see portraits or names above other people's heads; if you want to know the name of someone, you have to obtain that information ICly.

God-Emoting/Power-Emoting:

- God-emoting/power-emoting is forbidden, and it means you use emotes to strangle the RP; an act of forcing your actions on another character without the other player's consent, while not giving his/her character a chance to react. An example is:

This is what you should NOT do:
Ilithiss smashed a stone on Jennah's head so she dies.

This is what you should do:
Ilithiss attempts to throw a rock against Jennah's head.

Thus by including an "attempt" in your emote, you cause the RP to be fair and allow the other player to react rather than enforce an action on him/her.

- God-emoting/power-emoting also includes your character unrealistically avoiding the consequences of his/her actions - such as never receiving any hits in a battle by being unrealistically strong/defensive.
Other examples of god-emoting/power-emoting are to walk through locked doors, escape a circle of twenty people and so on.

Being balanced, humble and reasonable is important in role-playing, and expected within "The Frozen Covenant".

Consequences:

You will be joining an antagonistic guild, thus branding you a villain. This will have consequences that you must accept and adapt to accordingly. And this, in my opinion, is what makes antagonistic role-play fun – the risk!
Your misdeeds will make you a target for many characters, and if caught by a righteous man, they will likely want your head. You’re no lowly thief; you serve a cult that contributed to the mass genocide of several civilizations.
Now, your character’s fate is in your own hands, but this does NOT excuse you to exploit this fact; to do something that you know will get you caught and killed, only to force the opposing party to somehow allow your release so you can avoid consequences. This is not entertaining; it breaks immersion, and paints you and our guild in a bad image.
We are here to tell a realistic, immersive story, which promotes cooperation with other players in these tough situations. To do this, we accept the consequences of our actions, and act accordingly. Some of us even accepting character death if we are caught. This compels us into playing smart villains, and the Cult of the Damned is nothing if not smart.
To be a part of our guild, you must accept consequences. You do not have to accept character death unless you wish to, but you MUST be mindful of its risk and act accordingly. Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.

Knowing your lore:

- As you would be part of a serious RP guild, you are expected to have a decent knowledge regarding what you would be RPing about: which is basically the lore associated with your own character, along with the lore associated with our guild concept.
You can take your time, and we are always willing to help.


General Guild Rules:

OOC Conduct:

- Please be respectful to other guild members; harassment of any kind will not be tolerated. If you encounter any issue with another member, please inform one of the officers and we will have it sorted peacefully.
We would like to maintain a friendly and comfortable atmosphere within our guild, thus the last thing we want is bad blood between our members.

- As a member, you will be representing our guild. When dealing with other players across the server, please be respectful, reasonable and fair. If you face an OOC issue with someone, avoid furthering it and settle it peacefully. Most players are reasonable, and if you come across someone who blatantly isn't, just avoid the person in question. Don't extend the issue.

- IC =/= OOC. Meaning that in-character actions are not influenced by out-of-character intentions, nor should they be. What happens in role-play is aimed at the - character - and not the player. So if a character is looked down upon, it doesn't mean the player is.

If you are unable to distinguish this difference, or use role-play as a means to get at a certain player, you will be removed from the guild.

- Prolonged, uninformed inactivity will result in a guild kick. We are not strict with our activity requirements, and we know people can have other priorities or simply play the game at their own pace, but if you are not here to role-play with us, then you don’t belong in the guild.

One month of inactivity will result in a guild kick, and logging on once just to reset the timer will still result in a guild kick.

Informing us of a definite hiatus beforehand is an exception to this rule, and if you have been kicked due to prolonged inactivity or loss of interest, we can re-invite you if you wish to join us again, given due interest.

- Erotic Role-Play is forbidden within our guild. Having attachments/relationships is fine, but we will not tolerate this kind of role-play within the confines of the guild, and will kick you if you engage in it on a character under our guild tag.

Besides, it is likely that any attachments/relationships, in addition to your character, will be warped and changed once you fully integrate into a dehumanized death cult.

- Only the guild leader and the officers may represent the guild in an official capacity. If you are found to be intentionally misrepresenting the guild, from anything regarding its goals to its identity, or just found acting against our rules, we will not hesitate to remove you from the guild.


IC Conduct:

- You have complete freedom over how you wish to role-play your character, but you have to expect that we will promote a certain atmosphere within our guild and have certain IC expectations from our members. If your character is unable to adapt and develop, our guild is not for you.

- To tie into the last point, is hierarchy. Our guild is an autonomous, self-serving sub-sect of the Cult of the Damned. If you cannot follow and respect the authority we have established in our role-play, then you do not belong with us.
We are not asking to be worshipped. You don’t even have to like the chain of command, but we will not have our role-play hindered by unnecessary ego-driven conflicts. You want to hold an IC authoritative position within our guild? You have to earn it through role-play.
We encourage conflict, but if you are stupidly and blatantly rebellious, going against our every word and every code, then we will expel you from our ranks without giving it a second thought.

- To tie into the last 2 points, you have to note that we are an amoral, fanatical death cult that aims to cultivate a new generation of necromancers. Our characters may appear friendly to sway you over, but it’s a façade to hide our zealous and selfish nature.
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows. There will be consequences for refusing the order of things, and many times this is what makes it fun for our members: how their characters develop and integrate into such an organization.
We are lenient enough to keep things entertaining for everyone, but we will not break an immersive atmosphere by excusing decisions that garner consequences. If you are unable to act accordingly in such a setting, then our guild is not for you.

- Keeping it classy. We take a grounded approach in the way we role-play. Meaning we try not to be over-extravagant. As an example, the defiling and reanimation of one corpse can be just as impactful as raising a large host of the dead.
Your character may be powerful through experience/talent, and that’s completely fine, but remember to always approach things tactfully. Power, titles and whatnot should not serve as gimmicks; they should serve a purpose in your character’s personality and story. If you can not conform to our approach, then our guild is not for you.

- Last but not least, appearances. We expect a decent representation of a cultist. We don't want half-naked necromancers, or pink blightweavers.
Please use a suitable outfit; if you’re a necromancer, for example, dark robes with a staff/wand will do.

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Finally, have fun. That is why you are here, and it is quite an important rule!
And do remember that you can always approach us for any help.