Applications: Mortal+
The application process is designed to do three things: First, it's designed to make The Supremes' job as easy as possible while still encouraging characters with depth and a richness of flavor; second, it's intended to help guide you (the applicant) to a broad understanding of your own character; third, it's intended to give staff something they can mine for hooks for TPs. You are strongly recommended to read this information before applying.
Contents
First Steps
- Read our news files - everything labeled 'MANDATORY' in particular. The 'setting' section will have good stuff, too.
- Get a rough concept together, figure out what whets your appetite.
- Talk to The Supremes about your concept. This needn't be detailed. "I want to play a Psychic Rock Star." Is enough to start the conversation, though many of you will come in with much more.
- Once The Supremes has given you the okay, then assemble your application.
The Application
A Mortal+-Sphere application is an email that consists of three parts. Each part is important, and the middle part is often confusing so please read the instructions carefully.
The BG Story
For many of you, you will already have this in mind or written out. It needn't be very long. Anything from 3-4 paragraphs to five or so pages is sufficient - whatever you feel is appropriate for your intent. This is your opportunity to tell us the story of your character, how they came to be, how they got where they are. For most sites, this is the meat of your application. For the Mortal+ Sphere, this is just the salad course.
The Questions
All mortal+ applications must include answers to the ten questions listed below. Apps for restricted concepts will have additional questions to answer. Apps with strong ties to the mortal world will need, in addition, to answer questions from those mortal spheres (e.g. Law, Crime, Media, &c.). All questions should be answered in 'short answer' format. An essay is too much (although more information never hurts), but more than a single sentence will often be needed as these are compound questions that dig into a specific part of your character's life, psyche, and relationships to the world around them.
- What role does your character play in mundane society? How does your character pay the bills, where do they live (needn't be specific, but describe it's characteristics)? How do they get around the city?
- How does your character view authority: civil authority (City Hall, Congress, etc), legal authority (The Courts, The Police), social authority (societal norms and mores, religions, any particular cliques or social groups your character interacts with regularly)? What sorts of ID does your character have?
- How did your character come to discover their powers? What was the first thing they used their powers to do? How do they go about developing and strengthening those powers? Finally, how do they view people who don't have those powers?
- What are your character's strengths? Discuss your character's merits, but also their personality and skills/abilities. What do you offer to a group if you're teaming up with them? Would you team up with a group, and if so under what conditions and if not, why not?
- What are your character's weaknesses? Discuss your character's flaws, but also your character's personality. What specific things is your character incapable of that they wish they were better at, and why haven't they become better at them in the past?
- How much of your character's birth family is alive and where do they live? How close is your character to these people? What have your character's past friendships and romantic relationships been like? What is your character's view of romantic love, sex, lust, and related concepts?
- What specific items, equipment, material resources does your character have access to? What level of comfort are they accustomed to? What, if any, material things really matter to them?
- How much education has your character completed? Where did they receive this education? How does the fact that they have powers change how they interact with the mundane world and in particular their education in a world that doesn't acknowledge their powers?
- Give me a (brief) timeline of the most important events in your character's past. Does your character believe in destiny?
- Add to your app anything else, a poem, a youtube link, a picture of a cat, whatever you feel helps convey - in a format other than typed-up words - what your character's essence is about.
Additional Questions for True Faith
TBD
Additional Questions for Sorcerers
TBD
Additional Questions for Hunters
TBD
Starting Stats
Every app should end with the stat sheet for your character. This should be a standard starting-stat set and should conform to your post-chargen +sheet (or very close thereto). Concepts being Elevated to a higher Tier will have XP applied after-the-fact. This is for record keeping purposes.
Restrictions
| Trait | Limit | Rationale |
|---|
Banned Merits
| Merit (Cost) | Rationale |
|---|---|
| Natural Linguist (2) | Obsoleted by 20th Anniversary 'Language (1)' Merit |
| Jack of All Trades (5) | Obsoleted by 20th Anniversary handling of the same merit. |
| Corporate CEO (5) | Living a double life precludes this kind of time. |
| Werewolf/Vampire Companion (3) | Make friends on grid. |
| Guardian Angel (6) | Too much work for staff on a MUSH. |
Banned Flaws
| Flaw (Freebies) | Rationale |
|---|---|
| Absent-Minded (3) | In the age of logs, this flaw is rather meaningless. |
Approval
Once a concept has been received it will be reviewed. The intent is to review apps every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In reality, The Supremes is kind of neurotic about checking his email so don't be surprised if you don't wait that long. Sometimes RL bites him in the ass too. If you haven't heard ANYTHING in a week, feel free to send along a gentle reminder via '+request/req <title>=<body text>'. Sometimes +jobs are easier to get at than email.
Once your concept has been approved, you may go through chargen. You can, of course, go through chargen prior to this but you may be wasting your time if the stats need tweaked so it's worth it to wait if you think any of your requested stats might warrant a raised eyebrow. When your stats are done, contact Supes and he'll finalize you, assign any elevation XP (which may be spent immediately via +jobs) and you're good to go!
