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 an Idealistic Environmental Law Attorney." 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. When you finish all three parts, send your application to ftashifter@gmail.com with a subject of '[MORTAL] <Character Name> - <3-4 word description of concept>.'
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 - whatever you feel is appropriate for your intent. For most sites, this is the meat of your application. For the mortal sphere, this is just the salad course. We mean it when we say this can be very short. If you want to wax verbose here that's okay - we'll read it - but the meat of what makes our determination is the stuff below. At a minimum this component should contextualize everything that follows. I want to know what kind of character I'm reading a questionnaire for.
The Questions
All mortal applications must include answers to the ten questions listed below. Apps with formal ties to society will need, in addition, to answer questions from those subspheres (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 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?
- Does your character believe in ghosts, faeries, spirits, God (or any equivalent object of religious worship), fate, heaven, hell, or anything else beyond the rational, emperical world? How do those beliefs inform and color their behavior?
- What are your character's strengths? Discuss your character's merits, but also their personality and skills/abilities. What do you offer to an employer?
- What are your character's weaknesses? Discuss your 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 has 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? What did they hope to do with it when they got out?
- Give me a (brief) timeline of the most important events in your character's past.
- 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 Law Folks
- A. In your character's words, what do the terms 'stare decisis,' 'pretext stop,' and 'enhanced interrogation techniques' mean?
- B. In your character's words, what is the Miranda Warning? When must it be given? What is its function?
- C. Name your character's favorite Supreme Court case. This list may help Provide it's citation. What is it about that case that your character particularly likes? In your character's words summarize the decision and its impacts.
Yes, these questions are open-book, open-note, open-google. This isn't a pop quiz, it's just an exercise to get you thinking about the law sphere like we do. Anyone should be able to answer each of these questions with five minutes on google. Remember to answer them in your character's voice however.
Additional Questions for Civic Folks
- A. What drew your character to a life of service? Do they have political aspirations? What keeps them coming back for more, given how hard it is to be a service provider, or public servant, in Detroit, Michigan?
- B. What is your character's political status? Are they registered to vote? Are they registered with a party? How often do they vote? How do they make decisions about how to vote?
Additional Questions for Media Folks
- A. In your character's words, what is the SPJ and what is their opinion of it?
- B. What is your character's opinion on the Citizen's United and McCutcheon decisions (hint: campaign finance limits)? Explain your character's position on and understanding of Net Neutrality as an issue.
- C. What is your character's favorite source of news and how often do they consume it?
Feel free to google anything you, yourself, do not fully understand. The media sphere in particular will be expected to rely upon OOC research to perform their IC jobs. Again, remember to answer these questions in your character's voice.
Additional Questions for Crime Folks
- A. Detroit is full of gangs. Which gangs, if any, does your character get along with or have regular contact with? Which gangs does your character avoid and why? Is your character a member of a gang? Were they in the past?
- B. What are your character's priors? Has your character served time? Are there any outstanding warrants for your character's arrest?
- C. What would you character bring to a crew that would make them an attractive potential member of that crew? How are they connected to the criminal world, socially? How do they keep appraised of news on the street, as it were?
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. |
| 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!
