Getting Started

So! If you're here, you must be thinking of joining the SA family. Our staff is always excited to welcome new members into the group! Whether you're a writer, a drawing artist, or a photomanipulator, there is ample opportunity for you to add life, creativity, and your own unique narrative to the Starborn Alignment story.
Due to mature themes, Starborn Alignment has a recommended age of 16+ for its members.
To join Starborn Alignment, your account must be four months old. The only exception is when an applicant can prove ownership of an older account that is or was active, or if an existing member can vouch for you. 
By now you've probably noticed that there's a lot of information on this site. SA is a lore-dense group, and new members might feel a little overwhelmed. Don't worry! We're going to do our best to help you get your bearings. You don't have to read the entire wiki before you can become a member, just be sure to read the following pages, preferably in order:
* Basics - You're here!
* Gameplay - Rules
* Gameplay - Points
* World Lore - Hireath
* World Lore - your starter character's faction!
* Rank - read the information of your chosen rank carefully
* Application Guidelines - getting to work on your app!
If you need help, or just want to get to know the community, please join us on Discord! As a visitor, your access is limited, but you can ask questions and chat in the front-room channels.
== What is SA? ==
Starborn Alignment is an ARPG (art and roleplay group) with a focus on personal and collaborative content creation. SA is not a breeding game, nor a full sandbox game experience. 
The world is populated by sapient equines capable of telekinesis, which allows them to manipulate objects like humans do. Starborn Alignment’s world is a fantasy one - magic (called blessings) is abundant, fantasy creatures roam the land and gods directly influence and interact with the inhabitants of the world. 
SA’s world does not have humans, and instead has equines as its main sapient species. SA’s equines are extremely humanized - think humans in horse bodies, rather than media like Spirit. This means equines of SA create art, go to school, live in houses, cook their food and may wear clothing, much like a human would. SA equines age like humans, and have human lifespans.
The lore of the world provides players with a number of factions, each with their own cultures and beliefs, to explore. SA’s plot revolves both around internal faction affairs, and the global machinations of these different cultures interacting with each other. SA’s main plot is forwarded by the yearly chapters, as well as various mini events.
=== Content Advisory Warning ===
Starborn Alignment aims to be a safe space for all its members. No explicit sexual content is to be posted in any of SA’s spaces (think PG-13), and things like ableism, transphobia, homophobia etc are not tolerated from members in chats. SA does however deal with topics that may make certain people uncomfortable, regardless of their age. Our recommended age, 16, reflects this - please consider if you personally are okay with interacting with and exploring these mature topics.
SA’s lore contains examples of sexism, ableism, misogyny, slavery, drugs, alcohol, homophobia, transphobia, queerphobia, xenophobia, genocide, racism and many other topics. 
Member characters may also reflect these or other potentially triggering themes, such as various types of abuse, grooming, internalized transphobia etc. While we ask our members to use content warnings when delving deeper into these topics, we can not guarantee 100% proper tagging, especially for brief mentions. These CWs are often also absent for older characters that have not been updated/used in the modern iteration of the game.
Please note that the beliefs of various factions do not reflect the beliefs of their admins, just as the beliefs of various characters do not reflect the beliefs of their players.
Many of the mature themes are integral to the lore of their faction, and as such, are not tagged. Most if not all characters within a faction will interact with these topics in some way. Here is a more specific list of potentially troubling themes in each faction.
Aodh: 	Slavery (including gladiatorial and sexual), drug and alcohol use, classism, xenophobia (think of other herds as their lessers), arranged marriage (nobility)
Heralds of Ash: 	Extreme xenophobia, racism (against all non-kirins), genocide (Heralds desire to eradicate the existing Aodh faction)
War Forged: 	Sexism, misogyny, transphobia, ableism, slavery (selling people into slavery in another country)
Bloody Flanks: 	Poverty, Prejudice (against kirins, the Aodhian nation), depredation
Umare Breim: 	Prejudice (reactionary, against Kirins, the Aodhian nation, and the Kawaru), genocide ( Past, were almost entirely wiped out by the ancient kirins)
Kawaru Breim: 	Acts of terror (committed by the characters), prejudice (reactionary, against kirins and the Umare) genocide ( Past, were almost entirely wiped out by the ancient kirins) classism
Talori: 	Racism (against pegasi), strict gender roles, transphobia, queer erasure, extreme religious practices (past, equine sacrifice), slavery (sells criminals into slavery in another country)
Rogues: 	Drug and alcohol use, participation in the slave trade
Serora: 	Deprioritizing mental health, starvation, drought, harsh living conditions, infant mortality
Water Bandits: 	Crime (committed by the characters), harsh living conditions
Vagabonds, unaligned:	No general lore warning; individual characters vary highly
Vindicators: 	Acts of terror (committed by the characters)
Cult of Digend: 	Mindwashing, child abuse (neglect/physical), religious zealotry and intolerance, murder and violence as integral parts of culture
Freedom’s Flight: 	Acts of terror (committed by the characters), racism (reactionary, against hippocampi)
Asylon: 	No general lore warning; individual characters vary highly
== List of Available Factions and Ranks ==
Not all ranks and factions are available for first characters. The list of available ranks/factions rotates depending on what ranks need filling, and which admins are available to review applications. Some ranks (such as most limited ranks and all activity check ranks) will never be available for first characters.
We recommend you look at the list of availabilities, and navigate from there to read up about your chosen rank and faction.
To view the list of what is available right now, please click here.
== Character Creation ==
Once you’ve read up on World Lore, selected your faction and picked the rank you want to play, it's time to move on to the fun part: creating your character! This is an exciting project, but before you get started, let’s go over some information:
=== Basics ===
* Your application's artwork doesn't have to be your work, as long as you have permission to use it. This means commissioned artwork, free-to-use bases etc are all welcome. We even have our own Character Creator to assist you in making your character.
* The written portion must be 100% your own writing. Acquiring help and feedback is totally fine, but you must write it and come up with the majority of ideas yourself!
* Your starter character can be a Common Horse, Unicorn, Pegasus or Hippocampus. It can not have Rarity Roll traits. Note that some breeds may limit your options of rank or even faction (for example, Freedom's Flight does not currently accept hippocampus recruits). 
** As you play the game, you will gain the ability to unlock the two remaining breeds, and purchase Rarity rolls.
* Your character must be well-rounded, with a nice balance of good and bad traits. Give them room to grow within the story!
* Your first character must be 12 or older. Characters younger than this require an purchasable item to bring in, and as such are not available to newbies.
* If your character's backstory includes graphic or disturbing content, please include a warning about it!
* Please be tasteful and do your research if you choose to portray your character with an illness of some kind - this goes both for mental and physical ailments.
=== Design Guidelines ===
* Your characters can be any species of the Equus genus. Zebras, quaggas, mules, donkeys, and hybrids of equine species are all welcome. You are welcome to mix and match traits to your hearts content - if you want an arab with draft floof, zebra stripes and the size of a miniature horse, you’re most welcome to do so!
* Equines in SA don’t have a concept of “breed” like we do - to them, breeds mean horses, pegasi, unicorns etc, rather than Arabian or Zebra. If your character resembles a specific IRL breed, this would be referred to as their build, rather than their breed.
* All characters in Starborn must be naturally colored, meaning their coats can be found on real, breathing equids. We allow minimal unnatural markings, but please, no leopard-spotted ponies!
* Any eye color is permitted, including bi-colored and gradiented. Pupils must be round (stylized) or oblong (realistic). Kirin characters can have slitted pupils.
* All equines are born with the ability to use telekinesis. Telekinesis auras can be any color or gradient of colors.
=== Restrictions ===
* Characters can not be based off published characters found in media. We won't accept a horse version of Loki Laufeyson or Wolverine.
* Unless the admins have stated otherwise, your starter must be born into their faction. We will not accept starters who originate from another faction and it will result into an automatic rejection.
* Your starter character should enter the game completely naked, meaning they can not have any accessories (including tattoos, hair dye etc) portrayed on their reference. This includes free herd items.
**The only exception is mobility gear - so wheelchairs, prosthetics etc. These should remain basic/functional.
* Characters must be no shorter than 5hh and no taller than 20hh.
You can read further on character creation in our Application Guidelines.
== Submitting An Application ==
To join SA, you need to send us a character application when the group is open. We are generally open all year around, except during summer, when we host our yearly Chapter. Availability of specific herds and ranks may change, so keep your eyes open for the availabilities list on this page! If you’re applying for a rank/herd that isn’t open to newbies, your application will be declined automatically.
Use the Application Guidelines to create your app. Please upload your completed application (including filled in reference template and written information) to DeviantART or sta.sh.
Not everyone who applies will be admitted, but the good news is that you can always try again.
All we require to join is a good grasp of character creation and an understanding of SA's lore. While we would like everyone to do their best with writing, we don't discriminate against users whose native language isn't English - some of our own staff members are ESL (English as Second Language).
Instructions for Submitting Applications:
* Navigate to Starborn Alignment's front page
* Click the JOIN button at the top (only accessible during openings!)
* In the pop-up window, submit with the following information:
*# Your Username:
*# Character Name:
*# Character Faction:
*# Character Rank:
*# A link to your application
Once you've submitted, you'll need to wait for the admins to review the applications. An admin can take a few weeks getting to your application, so please be patient! We will try our best to be prompt.
If your application needs only minor corrections, you have one month from the admin response to respond back to them with edits. If you fail to do so, you must start the review process all over again.
If your application needs major corrections or is incomplete, you will be given corrections, and have to wait 30 days before resubmitting your application. Please make sure your application is finished before submitting!
== Hey, I got in... What now? ==
Category:Gameplay
Category:Guides