By creating and playing a character on the Sojourner's Crossing, players consent to take full legal responsibility for their own actions, absolving both the MUX, its owners and Admin legally from anything they may do while connected to the game. Players also, by creating and playing a character on the MUX, are consenting to abide by all laws while connected to the game, including but not limited to MUSH policy, local law, state law, federal law, internet law, or any other type of law governing where they live, where the machine is located, or where other players or administrators may live in real life. The MUX Admin do not condone the behavior of any player breaking said laws.

   Violation of any of the terms and conditions of service may result in any or all of the following:

• Suspension of access to the MUX and its computing resources for a time to be determined by the administrators
• Removal or Confiscation of your character and termination of access to the MUX and its computing resources without prior notice.
• Notification of your site and/or system administrators
• Notification of civil and/or law enforcement authorities.

        If you do not agree to abide by the Sojourner's Crossing, please discontinue play immediately, and email your concerns to Aphrael@ameritech.net

        Once you have read this type '+accept' to acknowledge you have read the AUP.

        Bulletin boards are a major form of OOC communication and spreading news and notices. There are a variety of both public and private boards, we encourage proper posting to boards and reading of the boards. If you belong to a faction and think your group deserves a board, contact Kei.

        There are some policies dealing with boards that need to be observed to make this a much more pleasant environment. These are non-negotiable policies, additionally the admin reserve the right to modify the rules at their discretion and will monitor all boards frequently.

   The following is not accepted:

• Bad mouthing players, admin, other games, or this game.
• 'Reviews', good or bad, of players, admin, other games, or this game.
• Sharing alts.
• Complaining about admin, non-bitted staff, other players, broken code, or other mushes anywhere OTHER than the appropriate board.
      # For complaints about admin, staff, and broken code, please see the Complaints board.
      # For complaints about a fellow player, please seek a mediator from staff.
      # For other games, please chat in pages only with interested players,
        Please address your problems to an admin on that game in the appropriate manner.
• Advertising for other games on any board other than that intended for this purpose. This is not mud connector or OGR. We are an RP environment not your 7-11 for players and staff.
• Adult situations, move it to pages, @mail or the appropriate channel.
• Profanity. A board should give you the time you need to come up with non-vulgar words to express yourself.
• Nothing containing revelations of RL names or information, no revealing of ages or anything of the sort. This is not Procure-a-date or one of those tell all sites.

        As a general rule you should be polite and curteous. Admins frown upon deliberate provocation, no instigators. This should apply especially concerning RL event discussions. Speak thoughtfully, and remember that no matter what side you may be on there's likely someone on the other side who also has an oppinion, and no one can tell anyone they are wrong. Fortunately this is not the place for flame wars.

   There are some basic rules in building that must be followed to have your rooms linked to the IC global realms.

• Rooms must be described in theme, and have %t at the start of the description.
• All exits must have @desc, @succ, @osucc and @odrop if unlocked, if locked all of the above as well as @fail and @ofail.
• No colors used in room name or descriptions. The exception to this being rooms which include the zone name.
      Example: Moe's Fruit Stand - The Market
• Exit color only used in those exits leading to roads and only for the alias. Color must match the zone color of the room it leads to.
      Example: Backroom <BR>    The Market <TM>
• No OOC rooms linked to IC areas.
• Player owned public/semi public rooms can not be set unfindable.
• One player owned, private, room can be set unfindable. If you have a bedroom then we suggest it be that on. If you have only one room then it's likely a combination use room and may be set unfindable.
         This requires a Wizard be contacted
• Public areas such as shops will be credited to the player who built them however adding them to the grid grants Sojourner's Crossing and the wizards limited license to those rooms for the life of the game.
• Shops and other public areas will be owned by a global builder with access given to the player via a zone object for maintainence purposes. You may not significantly alter or delete a builder owned room without permission from the wizard staff.

        Channels are a major form of OOC communication and are for both planning purposes as well as simply chatting outside of RP. There are both public and private channels available as well as channels appropriate for the more 'adult' content. If you feel your group deserves a channel contact Kei.

        There are some policies dealing with channels that need to be observed to make this a much more pleasant environment. These are non-negotiable policies, additionally the admin reserve the right to modify the rules at their discretion and to monitor channels at whim.

   The following is not accepted:

• bad mouthing players, admin, other games, or this game.
• reviews', good or bad, of players, admin, other games, or this game.
• sharing IC knowledge over channels about characters other than your own.
• sharing alts.
• discussion of IC events not widely known, tp's which are closed, or not yet finished and of which the details are not yet IC public knowledge.
• channel spamming, as every other kind of spamming, is expressly forbidden.
• complaining about admin, non-bitted staff, other players, broken code, or other mushes.
      # Please see the complaints board to post complaints about admin, staff, and broken code.
      # Please speak to the offending player with a staff member present to moderate.
      # For other games, chat in pages,
         Also please address your problems to an admin on that game in the appropriate manner.
• advertising for other games on the channels. This is not mud connector or OGR. We are an RP environment not your 7-11 for players and staff.
• adult situations on the public channels, move it to pages or the appropriate channel.

   The rest of the rules are:

• profanity on public channels should be very limited, minor words only! We will let you know when you've overstepped the bounds and the policy will be standard across the board.
• if an individual player is offended by channel chatter please turn off the channel for the duration of the conversation.
• if many people are offended/uninterested please move chatter to another channel or pages.
• keep things that aren't for public consumption off the public channel.

        As a general rule you should be polite and curteous. Admins frown upon deliberate provocation, no instigators. This should apply especially concerning RL event discussions. Speak thoughtfully, and remember that no matter what side you may be on there's likely someone on the other side who also has an oppinion, and no one can tell anyone they are wrong. Fortunately this is not the place for flame wars.

        All channel descriptions are final, use the right channel for the topic the first time please.

   Last but not least Kei's word is final.

   Channel users who violate these rules may have channel priveledges revoked, may be booted, and repeat or onerous offensenses may result in sitelocking.

        Roleplaying is lots of fun. You may or may not have role-played in Real Life, but when you do it is normally with a group of friends. One person in the group is the person who guides the game, be s/he the Dungeon Master, Game Master, Keeper, or what-have-you. This person controls the story line, presenting players with plot lines and dictating the results of characters actions.

        On MUX's, there are no Game Masters, you are in charge of what your character does. To some extent, Admin or faction leaders take the part of a Game Master by running and coordinating larger plot lines and events. But for the most part your stories are your own, you cannot, however, just do whatever you wish. Role-play is consensual, which means you can't force people to act a certain way, and cannot describe their reactions to you or actions toward you. That is their job. The same goes for your character. You can't be forced to do anything you don't want to do. Watch how other people role-play and see the give and take in describing what the characters do -- it doesn't take long to pick up the pace and join in the fun!

        The admin of Sojourner's Crossing have this to say on homosexual characters:
The predominance of gay characters in many other games of similar basic theme as this game have often proved to provide an environment where many heterosexual players have been left feeling like they have little or no place in the game. With this in mind, Sojourner's Crossing strongly discourages homosexual characters, and strictly forbids them from being played in any nobility roles. The reasoning behind this policy is that in the middle ages, bloodlines and the propogation of young was very important to the nobility in society. With this in mind, a homosexual nobleman or woman would be in essence shooting themselves in the foot by being openly homosexual or even strongly homosexual in the closet. Any character in nobility found to be homosexual is at risk of having the character removed from their control, as it violates that ideal and the theme of the game. In conjunction with this we are limiting the number of other types of application only characters who are homosexual. These characters are special features and as such are held to higher standards and different rules. Those characters which do not require an application are not faced with such a strict line, still because of laws in the middle ages being homosexual is still a very unwelcome and frequently unaccepted orientation to display openly.

        This news article covers the 'Idle Destruction' policy. The practice of removing characters who have been inactive for a time of 30 days or more. The current policy is that for any character idle 3 weeks a request for the character can be made before the end of the 30 days is reached. If, on the day the character is to be dest'd there is one or more requests for aquisition the character will be spared in order to pass it on to a new player.

        Nobility and all feature characters will be passworded instead of dest'd. The only way to delay destruction or password changes is to have the vacation flag set and a message telling us when you will return. Reguardless of this all vacationed characters idle more than 5 months will be subject to the standard idle policy.

        This is a game where persons below the legal age of consent can and likely will be present. While we are not opposed to this, and even encourage young people to explore the realms of the imagination, we hope they do so responsibly. Please be aware that we do not monitor interactions between adults and minors. We, the admin, are not responsible for what can and may occur between two persons during RP. It is the responibility of the minor to admit their minority in situations they should, perhaps, not be participating in. It is the responsibility of the parties directly involved to be certain the other(s) is(are) old enough to be participating in questionable situations. We are not anyone's keeper, anyone's parent, or anyone's conscience; Please think before you play.

        It is the policy of the MUX that you can have as many characters as you can handle. However you are restricted to 1 Noble/Royal, 1 Elf and 1 Halfling. Which means that the base of your characters are going to be human and for the most part of the common populace.

        It is also the policy of the MUX that you may have no more than two Human mages. These mages must practice different magics.

        The final policy on multiple characters is that no player may have one character directly in command/superior position over another of their characters. No player may use the power of one their characters to gain undue or unfair advantage for another of their characters over other players characters.

        I strongly recommend against using deliberately incorrect spellings just to get close to the name you want -- eg Alikzander for Alexander or Elezibeth for Elizabeth. This is visually jarring and also causes confusion for your fellow players. Again, the wizards will not set your position or your factions if this is the type of name that you wish to retain. What does this mean? No Elf characters, No halfling characters, No Nobility, Royalty or character of standing.

   To this end we are providing the following list of websites to help you with your naming choices.

        OOC behaviour reflects the way you are as a person. Say what you mean and mean what you say. =)

        What does this mean? --- It means that if you're speaking to someone on MUX matters that you are expected to be dealing truthfully. You should never lie OOCly to aquire what you want ICly.

        Why can't you lie OOCly? --- The whole point of OOC talk about an IC situtation is to work out something both people will be OK with. BOTH people. If you're lying OOCly then you are cheating the other person out of the OOC negotiation rights. You are manipulating someone against their OOC wishes to get something that you don't OOCly or ICly deserve.

        What's to stop me from lying anyway? --- Well.. while there isn't a whole lot we can do to stop you we can swat you upside the head and give some sort of punishment to be determined based on the situation.

        All this in mind I can continue to say 'Do not do it!' it's just bad etiquette to lie and manipulate those with whom you deal.

        TinySex is named after its two parts; 'Tiny' which refers to the location: TinyMUSH, TinyTIM, or TinyMU* and 'Sex' refers to the acts which occur. The act of TinySex involves two or more participants and is the process of writing detailed desciption of sexual acts. This term and the acts involved only descibe those acts which occur online.

        We require that acts of Tinysex are restricted to personal rooms, private rooms owned by one of the participants. Any players found participating in this act in a public (Builder Owned) Room will be removed from the MUX for a length of time not less than two weeks. A second offense will result in removal for a length of time not less than one month, any further offenses may result in permenant removal from the MUX.

        In addition, consent must be received from all parties if TinySex is to occur. If a player does not consent to TS or does not consent to any act portrayed therein, then the players who continue without consent of the other will commit the equivalent of rape. One of the most important things to keep in mind about tinysex is that you don't have to do it! It is your right to say "No, I don't want this" and the party propositioning you has to stop. If they don't, they are committing the net-equivalent of rape. If said person continues to harass you in such a manner, alert a wizard, if none are online at the time, @mail the wizards and log off.

        Those caught participating in this act will be dealt with very harshly. Sojourner's Crossing takes sexual harassment VERY seriously. No player will ICly or OOCly push another into TS. This equates to RL sexual harassment and WILL NOT be tolerated. If you, or someone you know is being harassed you should alert a staffer, if one is not online @mail or e-mail and it will be dealt with ASAP. Whenever possible, log the event.

        The same goes for 'twink' players that are not playing according to MUX canon, by the rules, or are just generally being an overbearing nuisance. This is not a negotiable rule. If you are here just looking for TS, then you need to seriously consider another game. Consenting adults may do as they choose, but there will be no TS in public areas. Characters are given the ability to create private rooms for a reason. Remember that not everyone logging in here is of legal age, be considerate of others and respectful. If you don't want to make your own room, get a room at an inn or other place where your privacy is ensured.

        Twins are not unheard of among humans, though they are infrequent they do happen. Halfling twins are even rarer and Elf twins nearly unheard of. Humans having twins should understand that this isn't something to be done lightly or overly abused. For Elves please have the courtesy to contact the wizard staff. For Halflings, Elf/Human pairings will never produce multiple births, only if both parents are halfling will twins be possible. Contact wizards to clear this plot.

        Elves age slightly slower than humans until adulthood at which point they reach a plateau, holding at a seemingly unchanging point until their death. Elven children age at approximately 2/3 the rate of human children reaching adolescence (puberty) at around 18 to 20 years of age and most are considered to be adult by the age of 25.

        Halflings age the somewhere inbetween however they do not experience the same immortality and do age throughout their life but at a much slower rate. A typical halfling could live to see 400 years where a typical human might live to see only 60. However a 40 year old human and a 240 year old halfling would appear to be the same age.

        The Middle Ages were a turbulent time. Neighbor often fought neighbor, as feudal lords battled for wealth and honor. Clan fought clan, and peasant fought robbers and roving bandits. Although Sojourner's Crossing is by no means as violent as the RL Middle Ages, combat will nevertheless be a fairly regular occurrence. In order to ensure that scenes are roleplayed out to the satisfaction of all parties involved, the administration has imposed certain rules on the conduct of combat RP.

        The first of these is implied consent, or ICA=ICC (IC actions result in IC consequences). Should you, the player, cause your character to enter into a situation with another player's character in which you could reasonably conclude that blows would be exchanged, you are implying your consent to a reasonable outcome of this scene. This does not necessarily give the other player(s) carte blanche to kill, maim, disable, or otherwise disfigure your character; it merely means that they DO have a right to TRY to kill, maim, disable, or otherwise disfigure your PC. It is expected that if the parties to the conflict are unable to agree upon what should happen in that scene, they will request judge mediation.

        The second of these is judge mediation. Although SojCross does not maintain hard-and-fast rules or game mechanics for combat resolution, the judges will be expected to make reasonable decisions as to the probability of a blow landing or a move being successfully executed. If any parties to a conflict desire judge mediation, all parties involved should be prepared to accept the judge's decision.

        When a judge is called, RP is halted. The judge will then gather all the relevant data on the situation. Once the judge is confident that a decision can be made, he or she will offer several proposals as to the outcome of the scene. All players must indicate their preference(s). Should any player fail to choose one of these outcomes, the judge will determine what the likely outcome for that PC will be, short of death (unless death is the sole probable outcome for that scene).

        The third of these is so-called "power-playing" or "power-posing." This is where a player attempts to determine what the effect of their character's action will be on another PC. All combat RP is cooperative; you describe what your character does, and the other player will describe what their character feels. Players who consistently power-play/power-pose will be warned, and if they do not stop, removed from the game.

        Fourth, as noted in NEWS WEAPONS, the admins frown upon walking arsenals. Your character, as a rule, will not have more than one primary weapon (e.g., sword, polearm, arrow weapon) and one secondary weapon (e.g., knife, shortsword, dagger). In many cases, a character may only have one weapon of any kind. All weapons should be appropriate to the character's social class (peasants will have crude farm implements; knights, sergeants or guards will have swords, lances, polearms, or missile weapons of decent quality; nobles will have swords or missile weapons of high quality). All armor should also be appropriate to class (peasants, again, having up to boiled leather; knights, sergeants, and guards having access to anything ranging from boiled leather to full plate; nobles having very fancy, decorative suits of armor that would rarely be used in combat).

        Fifth, as a corollary to the implied consent policy, is "Fade-to-Black." Should you, the player, find your character in a situation that makes you uncomfortable, you may request a fade-to-black, or FTB. The only difference between this and normal judge intervention is that there is no actual roleplay; the judge is still responsible for ensuring that all parties are agreed to the consequences of the characters' actions. As with normal combat RP, it is not strictly necessary to summon a judge, but highly recommended if the players involved are not all long-time acquaintances and RP partners who trust each other implicitly.

        Sojourner's Crossing is based on a concept designed by Kei, Reinyth, and Tyr. All locations, names and the coat of arms for the royal family are property of the game creators/founders.

        The game is property of the God(s) and run by the staff for the enjoyment and entertainment of all.

        The Elves are borrowed partially from ElfQuest and for that we give credit to Richard and Wendi Pini for their rich and full universe. The rest is Tolkien-esque and for that he is also thanked.

        Some of the major ideas of the formation of the church came from the Deryni series by Katherine Kurtz and we give credit for the enchanting world she created as well.

        Credit for the majority of news files goes to Kei and to some small degree to Reinyth. For the rest of the news files we would like to thank the following people:

        For clothing we're going with Medeival and Renaissance periods of fashion. We've taken the time of looking up some webpages with examples of these styles and are offering them as a base of clothing knowledge for you to base your character's clothing on.

   You may belong to more than one faction, but they should be compatible. Factions should not contradict or clash.

        Factions appear abbreviated in the +finger, abbreviations are matched with the full faction name here.

        Firelizards are somewhat like small dragons, and they are impressable by almost anyone. Here obtaining a firelizard is a matter of aquiring one from one of the clutches approved by the admin for running by those with firelizards, or by aquiring one from a clutch run by the wizards (a wild firelizard egg).

        Firelizards are not extremely intelligent, cannot 'speak'. They are are in fact rather high strung and somewhat hyper, communicating in images and sensations. Of course elves who have the ability to communicate with animals in this manner would have an easier time with an impressed firelizard, however there would still be no speach. Firelizards function primarily as pets, but can be taught simple tricks and tasks such as carrying messages to people or places they are familiar with.

        Gold, rose, and green Firelizards are female and can reproduce. Gold will have larger clutches and can produce all the available colors of firelizards. Rose are the mid-range size and cannot produce gold, but all the other colors are possible given the right pairings. Lastly, green, the smallest of the females they generally only produce the smaller firelizards which also tend to be the colors occuring more frequently.

        Information for firelizard sizes is available here, and the creatures MUST stay within a centimeter or two of the size range given with smaller being more frequent than larger. Keep in mind that fully half or slightly more of a firelizards total length is tail.

        Firelizard clutches are roleplayed events that are under the direction of the owner of the female firelizard. Flights may be run at a player's whim, but to clutch the admin must be contacted with specific information in order to provide the appropriate clutch object or loose eggs.

        A female will not rise to mate before one year of age, and will produce, at the most, one clutch every 6 RL months until the age of 4 years and then once every 3RL months after that. Hatchings run this frequently are strongly discouraged. Green clutches may not have more than 6 eggs, rose clutches no more than 10 and gold clutches may not have more than 14. There will be a maximum of one gold hatchling, and no more than two bronzes in a clutch of 14.

        In clutches where a specific color is limited that color would not appear every time. A gold-bronze pairing will not always have gold or bronze, just as a rose-brown pairing would not always have a brown. In some clutches it is possible to have a max of one color or another, example: green-bronze. You could get one brown or one black, but never a brown and a black, it is also reasonable that you would get clutches without brown or black.

        The frequency of birth for a particular color is inversely proportional to the adult size of the firelizard. Golds will be rare and whites will be very frequent. The color of firelizards is not solid, and it is rare to have two with the same coloring and patterns. Golds will have varying shades of golds and bronzes may have golden highlights. Browns too will vary in hue and blacks may have silver/grey on them. Roses will range from pale almost pink shades to deep almost burgundy in color, blues will be light, dark, or even greenish-blue in color. Greens can have just as wide a range from light to dark and and can be tinged with blue, but white will have the widest range of possiblities. The white can be touched with any of the other colors, frequently having blue, green, or even rose blushes across flanks and wing bone edges, they can even feature two shades, a greyish silvery being one of those seen prominately around the face and neck.

        Your character's gender does not need to be the same as your real one. You should, however, be sure to set your gender as appropriate to your character. Characters, Elf, Human and Halfling should ONLY be Male or Female.

        There are three lists available for players on Sojourner's Crossing.

        About 1000 years ago Glathnor was invaded by their southern neighbors and were not able to defend themselves. The Machaire family was removed from the throne and killed. All save one. The child, a boy, was sent away to live at the court of his great uncle King John of Gunnera, an island kingdom.

        Support for the Machaire family was strong and after only two generations the exiled family was, in part, back in Glathnor working to regain the throne. It took several more generations but finally it happened just over 800 years after they lost the throne. The current timeline started when King Kylan reclaimed the throne of Glathnor.

        King Kylan ruled through very trying and changing times, the populace was once more important and yet still they distrusted. For 800 years the native people of Glathnor had been ground under the bootheel of the invaders and they were uncertain of the changes.

        Havant's rule faired not much better though many of the old noble lines were traced, tracked and raised to their rightful place. Peace did not begin to settle in for true until late in his reign and there were still numerous attempts on his life.

        King Colain died late in the summer of 204 leaving his son, only 19, to be king. Aidan Owain Bryse Cathal Machaire, Great grandson of Kylan, was crowned king in the fall of that year. Two weeks later, still the earliest part of fall, the newly crowned king was married to Aliana Kelyn Esina Rivanon, daughter of the Duke of Kentigern. The pair barely knew each other, the marriage arranged by the new King's mother. Fiona had once been friends with the Duke's sister who had died with no female children, so she chose the niece of her dearest friend.

        The newly married couple had very little private time, the new queen spent a lot of time with the seamstresses who were creating gowns fitting her new station. The young king spending most of his time with ministers and advisors, traveling and learning the ways of the ceremonies.

        Roleplay can be defined as a form of interactive theater. The goal of any roleplay is to escape to a world that exists in your imagination. Your character is much like that of any other actor, your medium is the MUX instead of movies or theater and text the way in which you express all the many facets of your character.

        You should take some time in creating your character to fit into the existing theme as smoothly as possible.

        Games require that the players suspend their disbelief to a certain degree while playing, in order to enjoy the experience; if you are playing a game, you want to feel as if you are really there, in your avatar's body, doing and feeling what he/she is doing or feeling. This is even more critical to role-playing games, as they purposely attempt to put you there. Accordingly, the administrators of Sojourner's Crossing have found it necessary to regulate certain aspects of roleplay to ensure that they do not disrupt other players' suspension of disbelief. Among these is the nature and types of weaponry, magic and races available to characters.

        Sojourner's Crossing is a medieval themed game set in a land, Glathnor, much like the north of England. The main city, Alithir, is a coastal city with a large variety of peoples. The native peoples are celtic and briton type peoples. The year is 204 and the land is filled with strife of many kinds. Pirates, smugglers, mercenaries, clashing religions, political intrigue and discourse concerning the validity of the ruling families right to hold the throne.

        Time on the game runs at a two IC day to one RL day ratio. For those who don't understand this mean that for every real life month two months will pass on the game. For every real year two IC years. This means you get a birthday every 6 months!

        This generally means that you're only playing every other day. This gives you a chance to post all sorts of things to the IC mailing list. It also allows you to smoosh down ic travel times to other IC locals. While the starting grid doesn't have any places other than Alithir, we will be allowing and even encouraging the off grid building of such places which may get added to the grid.

        A frequently asked questions of admin, wizards and veteran players in general is, "What's a tinyplot and how can I get involved in one?"

        A tinyplot is a roleplaying situation planned in advance, that provides an opportunity for roleplay of character development or conflicts or whatever strikes the creators' fancy, and which provides fuel for the amusement/interest of spectators.

        Tinyplots should not be confused with day to day roleplay, or casual exchanges of dialogue between characters who just happen to encounter one another in the same place. The main thing that characterizes a tinyplot is advance planning.

    How do you get into a tinyplot?

        Well, to some extent this will depend on where you are. If your character is a member of a member of a specific subgroup of people on the game you might try interacting with other members of that group, or other groups that would have normal contact with your group.

        If you just happen to walk into roleplay that does indeed have a planned feel to it don't despair; you may still have an opportunity to get involved.

        Simply page someone who looks like they have a clue, and ask if there's a way to get your character in on the action. A well-planned tinyplot should have room for spontaneous intervention by characters not originally accounted for. If you do join someone else's tinyplot, certain etiquette guidelines apply:

• Don't ever take over other people's tinyplots. Most people will be glad to have you acting alongside them, or else they'd be roleplaying in private space. But the surest way to get your fellow players angry is to try to take over the situation; don't jump in with your character and try to solve everything, defeat the bad guy, etc. You may well be inadvertantly stepping on the creator(s)' toes, and depriving him, her, or them of the original intended goal -- and that's no fun!
• In general, be sure to try to get an OOC idea of what is going on first before you jump in on the plot IC.
• Don't criticize the plot in public. If you see a problem with it, take it to page or @mail.

        In the meantime, keep in mind that sometimes there simply will not be tinyplots around that you can join in, and always remember that if you want plots to happen for your character, your best bet will be to generate them yourself. This can be intimidating to players especially new ones. So we've set up some guidelines on how to set up a tinyplot.

• A tinyplot is different from spontaneous roleplay. Going shopping in the market is an RP idea.. but going to the market and being attacked by a robber and then helping the guard catch him is a TP idea. Plan that one. The operative part of 'tinyplot' is 'plot'; an issue that needs to be triumphed over, resolved, or in general dealt with. Tinyplots can be as big or as small as you want them to be, from an argument with parents or friends meeting strange newcomers to the city to being commended or rewarded for something you've done.
• Never involve other characters without the consent of their players. This goes for every character great and small, if you do not log into them or do not own their NPC body then you need permission. If you want someone involved who can't be connected when you are, get someone that can be there who they will give permission to spoof them, or have them mail you what their character can be expected to be doing during the plot. If someone refuses to participate in the plot, don't force them to participate, look for someone who wants to play.
• Don't upstage other people's tinyplots with your own. Everyone deserves their time in the spotlight and if you interrupt someone else's plot with your own the other person is bound to feel slighted.
• Make sure your tinyplot is appropriate for the theme: no giant robots, dwarves, gnomes, etc. More specifically, make sure it is appropriate for Sojourner's Crossing MUX; talk to the wizards if you're not sure whether your plot idea will fit in with the world of the game. Plots involving unusual magics or events that could conceivably affect the MUX as a whole should always be cleared with the wizards.
• Have a way to end your tinyplot even if no one else participates. An example would be if you planned on getting attacked and the guards don't show up. You don't have to follow the plot point by point, simply don't get attacked quite so viciously, or have strangers come to your rescue.
• Try to keep some kind of control over your tinyplot. If people behave themselves, this shouldn't be too hard, but sometimes people leap into a plot and can make something a lot bigger than it was planned. It's perfectly all right to whisper to someone, "Great job, but she's not dying, just a little drunk" and it's a lot simpler than trying to recover from an unknown disease. However, remember that by staging a tinyplot in a public place, you're inviting participation, and isn't that why you created the plot?.
• More about location: the local tavern other public gathering spots in various places around the city are great places for people to hang out and talk, but they are not the only places. These will also frequently be used by people who are not prepared to deal with a tinyplot descending on them for whatever reason; just because it is a widely-used public place does not necessarily mean it's the best place to stage part of a tinyplot. Look around you, there are bound to be some truely interesting or even inspired places other than the local hotspot.
  
  Consider using other places -- especially if you want better control over who participates -- and then if you want people to know about the tinyplot. Well there's almost always some gossip off telling people about it while it is happening. We all know how people love to watch things happen to other people.
• Lastly, be considerate of minimizing spam for characters in public places, especially during major RP events such as Festivals or brawls, court or whatnot. Always ask around before spamming a public location with something long and meant to be watched.

        Since Sojourner's Crossing is a medieval fantasy MUX, the weaponry available to players will be restricted to those commonly found in Europe from c. AD 800-c. AD 1300. This means, above all, no guns The Kingdom of Glathnor does have knowledge of gunpowder, but the knowledge (and desire) needed to fashion weapons small enough to be carried a man is absent. Instead, firearms are large, unwieldy bronze tubes used solely to batter down the walls of fortifications.

        Instead, traditional "cold steel" and arrows are available for use. Anything ranging from a peasant's wood-cutting axe to a Knight's lance, from a humble hunting bow to a formidable crossbow, will be allowed. These include but are not limited to: Longbows, crossbows, and, in some cases, composite bows for skilled archers.

        However, merely because these weapons are potentitally available for use, it does not follow that they can be carried at all times. First, iron and wood are heavy; the larger the weapon, the heavier it will be. Second, the City Guard frowns heavily upon breaches of the peace, and a heavily-armed person walking the streets will be looked upon as an open invitiation to trouble. Third, the admins will be very upset if you try to play a walking arsenal.

        We encourage you to play with your toys responsibly.

    The Sojourner's Crossing webpage resides at:
        http://SojCross.ifgd.net

    Contributions are welcomed, and encouraged. Logs, Character page links and even hosting of character pages at the secondary address.

        There are several character types, the type being a particular use of the character. Some characters are IC characters meaning those used for Roleplay, and others are OOC characters meaning those who are not capable of participating in Roleplay in the storyline of the MUX. OOC character types include, but are not limited to, Builder Characters, Judges, Arbitrators, Game Staff, and those who live in the Apartment Complex off the Mist Wheel Nexus. More on the Builder characters and some of the types of IC Characters will be covered below.

    The builder characters on the MUX are as follows:

        Any person not a member of the Nobility is a commoner. They are the largest section of the society and preform the day to day basic functions of the society. They are adventurers, craftsmen, farmers, fishermen, merchants, soldiers, and any person who works in some way for or to support the Nobility.

        Anyone could become a criminal, but the vast majority of them began as commoners or foreigners. Criminals are the darker inhabitants of the city living off the suffering they inflict upon those who earn an honest living. Pirates, thieves, murderers, pickpockets, robbers, mercenaries and many other criminal or outlaw types.

        Medieval society worked through a class system, the upper class is the Nobility. They are the ruling class, responsible for leadership, order and government. Nobility is a very small portion of society being far outnumbered by the commoners.

    All 5 Duchy's and the March will be named. 1 Count, 2 Barons, 4 Lords are of the March.

    The following application should be submitted to the wizards.

1. Full Name:
2. Birthdate:
3. Liege:
4. Name of Holding:
5. Choose Location: (http://SojCross.ifgd.net/openlands.html)
6. Names of Previous two title holders, and relation to each:
7. How you came to inherit title:
8. How long you have held title:
9. House Colors:
10. Coat of Arms/Family Crest:
11. Describe lands:
12. Major exports:
13. Known family members (names not required):
14. Places most likely to be found:
15. Best time for interview:
16. Normal RP times:

    Submit via @mail or email.

        There are two main religions. One a christian religion with four parts or orders. Each order is devoted to a specific area of life teachings and preform certain duties in the society. The other religion is pagan, a druid/wiccan like religion and is very nature based. The two exist side by side and yet the two are at odds, always trying to convert the other's believers.

        Elven magic is of a telepathic/telekinetic variety, manifesting as inborn abilities NOT spells. Humans have spells and potions and Halflings have a different magic entirely, those created by the mixing of both the Elven genetic magics and the human genetic potential. Halflings may have, in some instances, Elven magics at lesser levels. They can choose to study human magics, however they may not have the inate abilities their human parent possessed. Both Elven and Human factors are diluted, weakened in a way by the mixing, and yet the result is strong in its own way.

        There are three races, Elf, Halfling, and Human. Each is different and each has abilities, positions or options available to them that the others do not. Other races are currently unavailable so do not ask, we will, from time to time implement new races and those, like Elves and Halflings will be application only.

        The first new race to be implimented will be Deryni, a human race which will be seperate from standard human and thus will be application only. Their magics will be different and they will be small of number. News files on this group will be added at a later date.

        Special Application characters include Nobiliby, Knights, Squires, Pages, Elves, Half-Elves, and all Magics. Each different application role has it's own form to fill out to apply. If you are seeking a character with multiple special roles then you need to fill out all the special applications.

   Examples:
       Noblility who is Knighted -- Noble App and Knight App
       Elf with non-standard magic -- Race App and Magic App
       Knighted Nobility with magic -- Noble, Knight, and Magic Apps
       Nobility with magic -- Noble App and Magic App
       Knighted Non-noble with magic -- Knight App and Magic App