Rules

Here you will find all of the rules and regulations pertaining to this site.

## General Rules

Maintaining civility and integrity in role-playing is essential to ensure that everyone involved has an enjoyable and respectful experience. Whether you're engaging in tabletop role-playing games (RPGs), online text-based role-playing, or in our case, collaborative storytelling, it is critical that role-players follow these general rules. The Administrators of this Wiki hold the right to block and/or ban users who continually violate the rules set forth herein.

* **Consistency and Immersion:** When participants in a role-playing scenario maintain integrity, it ensures consistency in the narrative and character behavior. This consistency contributes to the overall immersion of the participants, allowing them to become more engaged in the story and the world they are collectively creating.
* **Respect for the Story and Setting:** Role-playing often involves a shared fictional world with its own rules, history, and atmosphere. Maintaining integrity means respecting the established setting and storyline. This respect is essential for the enjoyment and satisfaction of all participants, as it prevents disruptions and maintains the coherence of the narrative.
* **Trust Among Participants:** When everyone adheres to the agreed-upon rules and conventions, it creates a sense of trust that others will also do the same. This trust is vital for the collaborative nature of role-playing, fostering a positive and enjoyable experience for everyone involved.
* **Character Development and Growth:** When players stay true to their characters' personalities, motivations, and backstories, it creates a more authentic and rich narrative. Characters can undergo realistic transformations and face challenges that align with their established traits.
* **Fairness and Equity:** In role-playing scenarios, there are rules, systems, or mechanics in place to govern the outcome of actions. Integrity ensures that these rules are followed consistently and fairly. This helps prevent favoritism, disputes, or feelings of unfairness among participants.
* **Personal Investment:** Participants invest time, creativity, and emotional energy into their characters and the overall storyline. Upholding integrity demonstrates a commitment to the shared experience and an acknowledgment of the effort put into creating and developing the fictional world.

## Character Power

There are three aspects of character power: Reiryoku Level, Powers & Abilities, and you guessed it, player skill in role-play.

**Reiryoku Level:** Reiryoku is the spiritual energy in the Bleach universe. It is the power that fuels various supernatural abilities and techniques. The Reiryoku Level of a character is a measure of their spiritual energy, and characters with higher levels generally have an advantage over those with lower levels.

* **Role-playing Implications:**
	+ Characters with higher Reiryoku Levels have more potent spiritual pressure (Reiatsu), which can be overwhelming to characters with lower levels.
	+ Higher Reiryoku Levels may grant access to more advanced and powerful techniques, providing an edge in combat or other challenges.
	+ Role-players should be consistent in portraying the effects of their character's Reiryoku Level on interactions with others, as this can influence the overall dynamics of the role-playing scenario.

**Powers & Abilities:** This aspect encompasses a character's unique powers and abilities, often tied to their race or specific traits. In Bleach, examples include Zanpakuto (Soul Reaper's weapon), Resurrección (Arrancar's release of their Hollow powers), and race-specific skills (e.g., Shinigami Arts, Cero).

* **Role-playing Implications:**
	+ The effectiveness of these powers may vary, and certain abilities may be more advantageous in specific situations or against certain opponents.
	+ Role-players should consider the limitations and drawbacks of their character's powers, as these factors can add depth to the role-playing experience and create opportunities for character development.
	+ Masteries matter. Meaning that a character with higher mastery in a skill will have an advantage over those less skilled.

**Role-playing Skill:** This refers to the player's skill in role-playing, encompassing their ability to effectively convey their character's thoughts, emotions, and actions through writing. It also involves collaborative role-playing (CRP) skills, such as working well with others to create engaging and coherent narratives.

* **Role-playing Implications:**
	+ A more skilled role-player may be able to portray their character in a more compelling and immersive manner, enhancing the overall quality of the role-playing experience.
	+ Communication and collaboration with other players are crucial. Skilled role-players may excel in creating engaging interactions and contributing positively to the collaborative storytelling process.

**Character Power Progression:** Character's grow stronger through the Soul Point System.

## Combat

The combat ruleset for this role-play is turn-based. In turn-based combat, participants take turns to make decisions and perform actions during a battle. Each turn typically represents a specific time frame, and actions are resolved in a sequential order. This means that each player, or character, typically get to take an action to which an opponent(s) can react to, and then take an action of their own. This is the base concept and in reality, when characters with different abilities and skills clash, the ebb and flow of combat may be more complex.

**Combat Judgment:** If two players cannot come to a mutual agreement on a combat dispute, you can request a member of Admin to render ultimate judgment. Be advised that when an Admin gets involved, their judgment is absolute.

**Character Death:** Character death is real and can happen at any moment. Players who lose a character to death can refund 50% of that character's Soul Points to use towards another character.

## Role-Play Article Types

There are two types of Role-Play Articles: World Event and Focused.

**World Event:** In these role-plays, participants engage in scenarios that have significant global or widespread consequences, impacting various factions and organizations within the fictional world.

* **Scope and Complexity:** World event role-plays differ from focused role-plays by having a much broader scope. They involve intricate plots that encompass multiple factions and organizations, making them more complex and challenging.
* **Climactic Events:** These role-plays are typically reserved for climactic events in the narrative. Examples include captain meetings, invasions, wars, and other pivotal moments that can significantly shape the direction of the story.
* **Arc Impact:** World events have the potential to both initiate and conclude story arcs. They serve as major turning points in the overarching narrative, influencing the trajectory of the role-playing experience.
* **Inclusive Participation:** Unlike Focused role-plays, participation in world events is not restricted if participants have a valid reason to be involved. This inclusivity allows for a diverse range of characters to play a role in these significant events.
* **Admin Approval:** Due to the magnitude of these events, they require consideration and approval from administrators. This ensures that the events align with the overall storyline and maintain a balanced and enjoyable experience for all participants.

**Focused:** Focused role-plays are characterized by their smaller scope and more limited scale compared to broader world events. Instead of involving multiple factions or realms, these role-plays hone in on specific storylines within a single faction, group, or realm.

* **Less Dangerous (In Theory):** Focused role-plays are considered less dangerous in the sense that there's more control over who is shaping the narrative. Participants typically have a better understanding of each other's characters and writing styles, which can lead to a more cohesive and controlled storytelling experience. Focused Articles cannot affect the world beyond their established location.
* **Emphasis on Specific Story Elements:** Focused role-plays often revolve around specific story arcs, themes, or character relationships. Participants can concentrate on developing these elements in detail, leading to more in-depth character interactions and plot exploration. The limited scope of participants can create a more intimate and focused atmosphere, allowing for a deeper exploration of specific story elements without external disruptions.

**Chronology Rule:** Since characters can be in multiple Role-Play Articles, there is a Chronology Rule that establishes the chronological order in which these Role-Plays occur. This rule exists so that a character who is engaged in combat that may lead to death does not participate in Role-Plays that he or she may not be able to if they were to die. Since Role-Plays only occur in the past or the immediate present, the Role-Play Article with the highest precedent is considered the most recent or current/present timeline. The rules are as follows in descending order of precedence:

1. World Event Articles hold ultimate precedence and as such, a character can only be in one World Event Article at any given time. In order to participate in a World Event, your character cannot be actively engaging in combat that may lead to death in another role-play.
2. Any Role-Play Article within which there is combat that may lead to death.
3. Focused Role-Play Articles hold the lowest precedence.

## Image Policy

* Images from DeviantArt and other related websites require references to be used.
* Do not pollute an article with images. Be reasonable about how many images go on a page.
* Real-life images are not allowed.
* All images should relate to the theme of anime/manga at all times.

## Editing Policy

* Consult the Manual of Style page when creating articles.
* This wiki upholds specific standards for each article, and it is your responsibility to ensure the clarity of your work for publication. Stick to the formats and templates provided by the Wiki. Articles that are found to be out of the standards will be warned and flagged for correction. If no corrections are made within 7 days, the article in question will be deleted. Stay vigilant for grammatical errors and continuously strive to enhance your writing skills.
* For efficient organization, make use of the available website tools. This involves categorizing articles, employing appropriate infoboxes, and attaching any relevant tags.
* When naming an article, exercise caution to avoid terms absent in the Bleach universe. Explicitly refrain from referencing real-world countries, nations, religions, organizations, movements, or conflicts of interest unless established within the story's canon by Tite Kubo.
* Avoid editing articles without permission unless for simple grammar corrections.

## Story Policy

The narrative structure of ***Bleach: Souls Are Forever*** unfolds through Arcs, each representing a defined period of time within the story's setting. These Arcs serve as the overarching framework for the storyline, providing a structured playground for players to engage in creative storytelling. Think of them as expansive realms where players can shape and develop their own narratives.

Due to their broad scope, Arcs often feature abstract story elements, allowing players the freedom to craft the stories they desire within this thematic playground. However, it's essential to note that Arcs are self-contained to a certain extent. Players are required to operate within the established parameters of the overall story elements. This constraint ensures a cohesive and consistent narrative throughout the role-play.

The exciting aspect is that player actions wield significant influence and can potentially alter the course of Arcs, even instigating the emergence of entirely new Arcs. This dynamic interaction between player choices and the unfolding narrative adds an element of unpredictability and player-driven storytelling to the overall experience.

## Character Creation Policy

Before you create a character, we ask that you complete the following first:

* Get your character concept approved on the dedicated Wiki Discord server. This is done to avoid redundancy in characters.
* Get your character powers approved on the dedicated Wiki discord server. This is done to ensure powers remain fair.
* Edits made to a character article after a fight has begun are invalid to prevent cheating. For this reason, it is advised that you flesh out your characters' articles thoroughly.

## Inactivity & Challenges

We want the Role-Play to remain active and consistent and in order to maintain this, there's an inactivity rule. If a role-play partner goes inactive for more than 7 days without notice, you may finish the role-play solo, or close it down. If in a non-training battle, you win by default and the opposing character's fate is at your discretion. If a role-play partner goes inactive for more than 14 days even with notice, this same rule applies.

**Position Challenges:** A character can challenge for a position of rank, such as Captaincy, at any time. This is done out-of-character on the role-play's Discord Server in the designated channel. The challenged has 48 hours to respond out-of-character. The Role-Play depicting the challenge must be created within 10 days. If either of these two conditions are not met, then the challenger wins by default and takes the rank they challenged for.

* This rule only applies to serious challenges. If a challenging character is significantly weaker (Spiritual Power) than the challenged character then this rule does not apply and the challenge can be ignored.
* If a challenged character is active in a World Event or non-training combat role-play, the challenge must wait until said role-play is completed.

**Story Challenges:** Character(s) can challenge other character(s) based on the outcomes of story decisions, so long as it is appropriate for the challenger to do so. Most common challenges of this type occur when character(s) break the law of the organization they belong to, or whose decisions adversely affect other character(s).

* This rule only applies to serious challenges. If a challenging character is significantly weaker (Spiritual Power) than the challenged character then this rule does not apply and the challenge can be ignored.
* If a challenged character is active in a World Event or non-training combat role-play, the challenge must wait until said role-play is completed.