Hello Snoutmol,



I must say this confuses me as you say you like writing, among other things, fiction. This usually requires the writer to make up characters, give them a background, a personality, and make them evolve and act in consequence.

With roleplay, it's the same with some variations: you only have to focus on one character, you usually need to speak in first person although that's not a requirement, and there's the added challenge that is improvisation, as roleplay is in fact collective story telling.

This brings me to the other point I'd like to address, which is fitting into Hermertia. As a writer, you are probably used to control the story line as well as the environment the story evolves into. You're the only one in control of what goes on, nobody else can introduce any element. With collective storytelling, everybody contributes to make the story (or stories) and shape the world, and this is why the community is insistent on this particular point.

Imagine you are writing, say a drama fiction based on historical events, and someone edits in a love story between Mickey Mouse and a bogey man. While one might argue that it's an odd idea that could offer potential, it doesn't fit in the original story.

Hermertia is a 4 (5?) years old world of it's own, its members poured countless hours of work and passion into it. Dozens of people contributed to make it a fictional world that is complex, yet cohesive, coherent and frankly, wonderful, and still open to plenty of possibilities for newcomers who would just take the time to look into it and let it speak to them.

You say you are a writer. You seem to assume that people will be interested in your books and seek them, yet you don't seem interested in Hermertia's own stories. Your first post referenced the rolling hills in the background of the forum. I hardly call this reseach worthy of a writer.

So my question for you is the following:

Are you genuinely interested in Hermertia, or are you simply seeking to enter a server that will not ban you?

And if you are indeed interested in Hermertia, why?

_________________
Lady Liserett of the House O'Kleefe
Countess of Chester-le-Ford, Wysteria
Deputy Minister of Hermertian History
Appointed Minister of Wysterian Architecture

I'm honestly a hard time taking this seriously. Everything he's saying seems to be argumentative, even in response to people who are trying to get a feel of him.

_________________
The Ash
Right hand of the King of Valtoros, Kyn
Crest Designer Extraordinaire

Well my dear Sevrys, I can't say I didn't have a rather loud chuckle at your previous reply, but I still think we should treat all applications with diplomacy.

Should he be a troll, it's the cleanest way to quickly shake him off.

In doubt, defer to Nicholas, that guy should get in politics.

_________________
Lady Liserett of the House O'Kleefe
Countess of Chester-le-Ford, Wysteria
Deputy Minister of Hermertian History
Appointed Minister of Wysterian Architecture

Alrighty, as king of the forums i suppose its time I chime in on this.

First, something you may want to consider.
The point of this minecraft server is NOT building. Yes, it is an important part of our world and arguably the point of the game we build, but you can succeed and be a great member of this server without building very much at all, or possibly by building nothing. Becuase at the end of the day:
THE POINT OF THIS SERVER IS THE LORE. We are all here becuase of the world we have created with each other. becuase of the stories we tell through the forums, through our actions and through the world we've created. This is a server for people who WANT to have somewhere to act different from their IRL personality. how my character acts is almost never what I would do if the situation happened to me. Because he is a character. He has influences on him that I dont. which brings me to my second point.

2. If you consider creating, maintaining a character who fits into our world, then you are not going to fit in on this server. Like I said, thats kinda the point.

3. We aren't just going to ignore parts of your lore=application (if we can even call it that here) that don't fit with our world. Because the way our server works, if we leave it like that and vote you in, everything in it becomes canon lore, and quite frankly, most of it is irrelevant. If you look at pretty much everyone else's applications, they separate their character lore from their irl information and previous gaming history on minecraft. Yes we would like to know what you have been previously involved with, it gives us an idea of the level of experience you have coming into the world. But that stuff is not part of the character we require you to make.

Moral of the story, if you actually want to join this amazing community, you are going to have to re-write your application, create an actual character, and put down some real lore. And also, why would you come to a community of ROLE PLAYERS and say that your problem is that you just want to act like yourself. this is a ROLE PLAYING community. IF you want help figuring out how to role play someone who is different then you, thats fine, a bunch of us would be more then happy to help with that.

I cant speak for the other kings, but i am not about to vote for this application until my above requirements have been met. And i believe that most of them, as well as the House of Dukes, will agree with me

_________________
By the will of Azarn
-Erastil
-King of Pyrencia
-The Hydra
For a full list of titles, please see enclosed document.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=741

Also kinda unrelated to the lore bit but something that bothers people is the rape fantasy. That is EXTREMELY untasteful and not something we would like to be a part of our server to be COMPLETELY honest. I don't know why you would think that's OK but its not. "A romance" is not a good description of a fucking rape book.

Before anyone jumps on my ass about being rude: just don't. It needed to be said. It was not ok and I don't think that it was explained that the idea itself is not ok in the comments that he linked.

_________________
Duchess Celestine of Reinen
-Marshall of the Scrubby Scrubby task force.


"Music in the soul can be heard by the universe" ~Lao Tzu

Hello Hermertions! Don’t worry about me – your criticisms are welcome, needed, and I am unperturbed.

- Gimpy III

That was my first thought as well. The controversy about my application so far exemplifies one element of my character: that I’m a persecuted author. Often communities don’t like me. I ask questions like, “Hypothetically could I blow up the protected spawn with a TNT cannon?” My intentions are always good, however. I am misunderstood, though, because I don’t try to conform, and I have an unrestrained individuality.

I have actually been diagnosed with Oppositional Defiance Disorder, although in my opinion that was a mistake. To tell you more about that story, however, I would need to tell about my two-week, involuntary commitment to a psych ward. (Kind of dark!)

- Sevrys

Sam was being hostile, Sevrys. He essentially rejected my whole application, telling me to rewrite it. I can imagine and hope, however, that his longer response, which he lost due to a computer crash, was less terse and thus gentler.

- Sam
- King Arjen III

Maybe I’m not a perfect applicant, Sam and King Arjen III. What I am looking for in a server, mainly, is a mature, friendly, and collaborative community. The RPG/lore of Hermertia goes beyond that. But I am willing, even excited, to embrace RPG/lore, even though I’ve never done it before.

- Gimpy III

That is nice to know, Gimpy. That makes me more eager to produce my lore, and less overwhelmed.

All that said, however, there are some things that I need to apologize for. Sam, I did not mean to “refuse” your request for more lore. I’m sorry that it came across like that. I will, in fact, give you the lore that I think you are looking for, in a moment. I just didn’t want to delete what I had already written and worked on. My back-story, about being an ambitious but failing youngster, and then about being a wandering sage, I believe will be easy to incorporate into Hermertian history, and, like I mentioned, I will only modify it if it somehow contradicts already-existent Hermertian lore. (I highly doubt it would, because it’s so simple.) My desire to preserve my work shouldn’t be too mind boggling, Sam.

Also, I must admit that I was a bit overexcited about my own job as a bookkeeper, and, for that reason, I may have neglected Hermertian lore. I am sorry that I put my agenda before yours.

Now, here is my lore. (Look, Sam and Arjen!) I expect that there will be many historical inaccuracies that will need to be fixed, but, together, we can massage it into real, Hermertian lore, like y’all are accustomed to doing with other, normal applicants.

I’m interested in the pale race that lives in caves (I can’t remember what they’re called), and I have an idea for weaving them into my already-existent history, expressed in the OP.

I am a pale creature. Us pale creatures have been persecuted for generations. We were believed to be humans with leprosy, in the past, and we were often quarantined in harsh ghettos. There have been several genocides, in which many pale creatures have been murdered. Our race retreated and hid in its birthplace, the underground caves. That’s where most of us are now. We are happy there. We like the caves, and they keep us safe.

But modern scholars and historians have pointed out that our current condition is unjust, and that we deserve to enjoy the land and the sunshine, like all other creatures. Personally, I like the caves – I’m like a bat, and I’m used to them - and I avoid the sun because I easily get terribly sunburned.

Despite my love for caves, however, I am a pale creature who spends a lot of time on land. I love the land. As long as I’m wearing a full suit of armor, I can exit the caves and bear the sun. I am a social justice worker, writing muckraking novels about the ill treatment of pale creatures. My books are controversial, and governments who don’t tolerate my species have banned them. Recently, the government of my homeland persecuted me with hatred for one of my books, and I was torn from my family and made to relocate, and now I am seeking haven in Hermertia. My life’s work is to move more of my brethren onto land, erase the bigotry toward them, and, in general, make the world a safer place for them. Also, I want to move the rest of my family – two dads, a stepsister, and a pet slime – to Hermertia, if that ever becomes safe and possible. I’m a role model for other pale creatures, being brave enough to build many of my buildings aboveground, and brave enough to write whatever I think. Apart from my life’s work – doing social justice, being a pale creature role model, and writing muckrakers - in my free time I also enjoy writing in many other genres, from the perspectives of many races and often uni-race (no race mentioned). This is possible because all of us races are really the same, at our core and in our hearts. Also, I am adept at many other Minecraft jobs besides writing.

I have a dream that one day, little pale boys and little pale girls will run hand-in-hand with little human boys and little human girls . . .

You may have noticed that I was born from two, pale creature fathers. Our reproductive systems are known for sometimes doing strange things like that. I’ve known a man with two heads and two personalities! Unfortunately, these reproductive anomalies, although really existing to promote diversity, are used by many to support the belief that pale creatures are mutants. Not much is known, scientifically, about our reproductive system, although many inhumane experiments were conducted on my brethren during genocides. I’m 17, and I was born in Doree City, a large, pale creature city mostly underground in a massive cave (Doree Cave).

I hope that this post alleviates any ill feelings toward me. I’m sorry that it took so long for me to reach this point. I retract my earlier statement that RPG/lore is not worth the effort: I’ve found that it’s fun.

I may change my Minecraft skin, so that I’m paler.

Also, because I want it to be known, I will repeat this: The history I expressed in my OP and the lore I expressed in this post are both true (at least after y’all have massaged them into Hermertian lore). But, if you don’t like my first history – which implies IRL details and other Minecraft servers - you can safely ignore it. As a matter of fact, I think that, to make this application go quicker, everyone can just ignore it. After all, I would actually need to edit it a little, for it to completely fit my new lore. So, how is this post? and how’s my pale creature lore?

-Snout, applicant

P.S. I wrote this response while offline, before I had seen the new posts by Biakko, Sevrys, King Varahein, and Celestine. I’m just going to post what I’ve written, as is, without the new input, because I think it will still answer their concerns. Biakko and King Varahein, your explanation of lore on Hermertia was very helpful and very true. I feel selfish and stupid, coming to Hermertia and expecting to add my own work, but without fitting in. I think you both will be happy, however, after you read my lore about the pale creatures. Celestine, please don’t review a book you haven’t read, just because you saw the word ‘rape.’ First of all, it is, actually, a romance . . . but I’m not in the mood to explain that to someone that flies off the handle with assumptions, criticizing my taste. Fifty Shades of Grey is more disturbing than my book, IMO. Also, I was amused at the speculation that I might be a troll (although I was also somewhat offended); I promise that I am not a troll and that I really do want to join this server. TBH though I did not know what I was getting into when I started applying!

Well firstly, these "pale creatures" are the Kairatites. My people, we have our own history which doesn't really correlate with yours because my people are a singular group who are already accepted here. We are very rarely disregarded as people. You'll need to do some more research on certain races before just using them, as my people are rare genetically mutated humans and therefore really only seen in Kaine.

_________________
Gimpy/The Italian Stallion

It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door, You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to." -Bilbo Baggins

Duke of Kaine

"Your graphic description of a rape scene not only used much more profanity that you have alluded to in your appeal; it would have been totally unacceptable with the profanity removed!"

I find rape to be completely appalling and living in fear of it DAILY makes it not ok to bring something so disgusting into a fucking game. A game children play. What if someone who survived rape read it and got thrown into a fucking panic attack. Its just not something you write about in a game. Go write it on a forum somewhere that its welcome.

" I never intended "A Romance" to turn into erotica. Much of the story is clean. Most of it, I would say. But then there's the allusion to drugs and, of course, the couple of pages of very explicit erotica. I was compelled to write it, I guess, because it was a fantasy that I had been storing in my head."

This throws up red flags everywhere for me I hope you know.

The reason I got attacky is because this is a safe community for me. I trust everyone here and I refuse to let someone in who immediately makes me feel uncomfortable to this level.

This of course is not the only concern I have but everyone else has covered all those pretty well.

_________________
Duchess Celestine of Reinen
-Marshall of the Scrubby Scrubby task force.


"Music in the soul can be heard by the universe" ~Lao Tzu

I'll probably stay out discussion for the most part, as I'm happy to let as many other members of the community as possible share their thoughts. I shall just say this:

With our application process, we have two unofficial guidelines that my Ministry uses to form its own opinions on applications and occasionally steer applicants in a different direction. The first is simple: that we should not discriminate against an application for any reasons unfounded in our lore, our legal system, our basic morality, or the like. For example, if an applicant wanted to focus their application on their plan to strip-mine in the search for vast amounts of precious gems, they should feel free to do so; while some members of the community may not feel like that attitude or goal is the best fit for Hermertia, the applicant has not laid out anything that violates our collective lore, laws, or ethics, and should not be discriminated against for their values or ideas. In your case sir, I've already mentioned that we, as a community, have nothing explicitly against the writing of books for personal consumption with any content whatsoever.

However, this comes with a caveat the forms the second of my guidelines: the purpose of an application is to court the good impressions of the community, and to convince us that you would be a good fit for our world. In this sense, then, individual members of the community are absolutely entitled to their own opinions of an application, and those opinions are important. This is why community feedback is so vital: it lets the applicant know the general community's reception to the application, and is the path to acquiring votes. Obviously, members may have differing opinions, but seeing how the majority reacts is a good induction of how well-suited your application is at the present time.

As of now, sir, you do seem to be attracting a response that is almost fully somewhat negative; this is a good indication that, for one or several reasons, your application is just not resonating with a good amount of the community. The beauty of community feedback is that it allows the community to offer suggestions and advice; I suggest pursuing some of those offered so far.

_________________
Wysterian Labourer's Council
Currently Holding Stewardship of Wysteria
Minister for Applications and Settlement
Forums Administrator

Ave, Snoutmol this is a very unusual application. Hermertia is a fantastic community and is a very good place to enjoy minecraft, I can sympathize with how you initially went about the application and how you've tried to include some lore with it now. Having been around for a while and seen how applications progress, for me, I find the best applications are those which don't make controversial/unusual claims about the origin of their character (as a side note, I haven't read your previous novel and I'm always open to additions to Hermertia's history but opening with some weird ass erotica novel idk what you're trying geezer. Celestine has raised concerns and as Hermertia is a hierarchical system, pissing off a respected duke isn't a good idea and you'll soon find (me included) upwards support of the nobility. That's why the community is so strong, it's not about turning up to antagonize people with some niche shit and declaring censorship when you find someone who isn't prepared to let your work fly. The players who will vote for your application (kings) are those who have delt with disagreements but have stuck around because of the community, this is actually the source of so much intrigue into what we have as a server, may I appeal to Arjen and Ignis with how their own rise in Hermertia was marked by conflicts - but it was how they delt with them that marked them out as valuable players. It's easy to dismiss this application but I hope that you, Snoutmol can hear the communities comments and rethink your position on hermertia).

Tbh lad, I understand the appeal of being persecuted but if I were you I'd very much dilute what you're trying to include into our world. We, as a community, in general don't really like arguments - we're here for a good time and to contribute in different ways. Admittedly with the wiki down it's kinda hard to try to make any concrete statements about your past so the solution is simply don't! Look at other applications and their epistolary style, it's not necessary to be almost a refugee in need of saviour in hermertia, be an adventurer from X wanting to publish your work and write some letters for your appeal.

The application process isn't about posturing and jumping through hoops to complete a checklist, we're trying to find the right players for our world. The appeal of controversy is a tantalizing one although one that is not well received here - you're wasting your time if you try to present something that is/potentially is upsetting to members of the community. Is it worth including it?

Look at what we all prize in hermertia (lore/friends/adventures etc) and see if you want to join. If you do then provide evidence of it! Don't make historical claims about races/religions etc just be mercurian! (Our humans aha)