How To Join

If you're here, you're probably thinking about joining COI. Welcome! If you're new to wiki-styled groups, you're probably feeling a little overwhelmed by the amount of information that's posted here on this site. Don't worry! We know there is a *lot* of information, and (hopefully) by the time that you read this, you'll notice that not all of it is even created by members of the COI Staff. This page is meant to help you by giving you the basics to help you find out where the most important pages are located while also giving you the chance to acquaint yourself with COI's member pages.

## Introduction

We don't expect any member or even member-to-be to read the entire wiki in one sitting, but we'll give you a baseline on what we expect you to have read by the time you apply in earnest with your character. It's a relatively short list, mostly involving you figuring out what pages of the wiki you *want* to digest before doing anything further. More like than not, one of the many factions will stick out to you as a good starting option, so we recommend that you first start with just reading the baseline World Overview page and then dive in from there. The page that you are currently reading is meant to be your "quick start" guide, sending you in the right direction as you continue to learn more about the world of this group and what we wish to accomplish with it.

The fastest and easiest way to figure out what you want to do with this group is going to be reading the synopsis of each country and then deciding on a faction from there. The World Overview page is meant to be a diving board into the world of COI. Once you have an idea of what group you want to join, feel free to come back to this page to see what's required for general character creation. Alternatively, you can create your character after reading this overview and then decide which faction they should be in afterwards.

Generally, we want you to do the following before you start drawing and writing the application:

* **Step One:** Choose a race from the Race List
* **Step Two:** Choose a job from the Job List, or create one if what you're looking for isn't listed on the wiki
* **Step Three:** Choose a hobby from the Hobby List, or create one if what you're looking for isn't listed on the wiki
* **Step Four:** Choose a character arc / focus from the Focus List
* **Step Five:** Come up with baseline concept / personality / background
* **Step Six:** *Profit* (aka, start the application process)

Once you have figured out everything, you can then submit a completed character application to our group by filling out this google form. We will then read through the character's information and, once deemed suitable for the world lore, we'll accept it. If you do not have the time to complete a full application, please read the below section, as we do have other options to have characters be accepted in play, as character creation is not the largest hurdle for you to jump in COI.

### Discord Pre-Acceptance

To keep things simple and to allow members to have fun with their characters without worrying about the details of what happened in their lives, members are allowed to fill out a short form instead of completing a full character sheet, as COI does not require its members to complete an application in the same sense as most AARPGs. To see what that form is and what it requires, please join our discord so that you may start playing your character sooner.

It should also be noted that having a deviantart account is not as imperative in this group because of this short form, but being a part of our discord is nearly mandatory if you want to partake in large group aspects (though neither are required in either sense).

## Creating a Character

The most important aspect of any group is the characters you play. Without characters, plots don't move forward and groups don't generally go very far without them. Most groups put a lot of emphasis on character creation, focusing majorly on making sure that each character is crafted gently with care before they join the group. COI, however, is a bit more concerned with seeing where your character will *go*. Backstories that match with the group are necessary, but the requirements aren't nearly as long as most groups.

COI is a world built with bits and pieces of real life history as it's springboard. The biggest influence is Colonial to Victorian age Britain, however we pull from many ancient cultures and ideas across many different timelines. Steampunk and magic exist together in this world, though magic is very new and has yet to fully surface as something characters have grown up with and always known about. Some characters may already be naturally attuned to it while others may not be. If you wish to pursue the concept of your character learning about magic and dealing with it in this world, just make mention of it in your character's concept and the staff will utilize it going forward with the character.

This world is meant to be a sandbox world with many opportunities. You can create your own story separate from the main storyline of the group with prompts given to you by the staff or made up by yourself and a group of your friends if you so wish to keep it fully feeling like a sandbox world, or you can take part in prompts exploring parts of our world that have not been detailed out to contribute to the world lore at large.

Everything you create that has not been done before will become a part of our lore and history and information. The point of this world and roleplay is to experiment in community driven content to see what you guys come up with without having the admins constantly making leaders who push your characters in one direction or another.

### Art and Design Requirements

The art requirements are pretty easy to follow. If you're not an artist, you don't have to use our general art application, but we would encourage you to do so with art of your characters from other people (commissioned or otherwise). If you own the design, have been gifted / commissioned art pieces, or have general permission to use bases, we would like to see them utilized for our artistic members. We merely require the following rules be followed:

#### Art Application Requirements:

* You must have permission to use the artwork in question if it is not your own. No stolen designs please!
* All parts of the application need to be filled out clearly (aka we need to be able to read the character's name as that's the only written requirement)
* Characters should avoid having shading on them if possible so that artists can more easily grab the colors of the character (optional)
* If references were used, please list them and avoid tracing directly from other artists' works

> **Please avoid overlaying extra pictures on the applications or altering the application. This is meant to be a reference for us to use when drawing your character. Your gallery does not need to be shown off in this singular picture. You may place one (1) picture in the extra's section if you feel it is so needed.**
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#### Character Design Requirements:

* The character in question must reference a wild feline species, domestic felines may come into play at a later date, but for now we want to focus on wild cats
	+ Sabertooth and other prehistoric cats are allowed and characters can be "strange" combinations of felines, such as a sand cat + cheetah mix, as these cats are treated like a singular species (known as the Feladric) and can have children with each other no matter the size or gender
* Semi-realistic colors are required for most characters but can have tattoos, war paints, or other "unrealistic" colors added to their designs.
	+ To clarify, we're completely fine with a grey-blue, orange, or pink-ish colored coat as long as it's not a neon variant
		- If you have tattoos, dyed patches of fur, and other odd colorations, make sure to note it and to ensure that the character isn't entirely neon
	+ Eye color is a free for all, if you can choose it you can have it kind of deal
	+ Hair tufts should be treated like natural hair colors similar to humans but, similar to humans, can be dyed random color
		- Cats can have most any kind of hair that you wish to add onto them, though it's not a requirement
* Have fun and make a design you enjoy, if it doesn't work out for you, feel free to try again. We're not going to stop you from redesigning your character 50 times over
* Outfits, weapons, and other aspects of the character do not require you to purchase anything, you can literally plop the character down in full gear and we'll accept it without issue. We're not here to limit your abilities in the character creation departments
* Characters can be drawn both standing up or on all fours, ultimately it's your preference and neither is required.

### Written Requirements

As was mentioned previously, the requirements on most characters are pretty low. We mostly just want to make sure that you follow the baseline lore concepts and that you understand the world that you're playing in. This is a steampunk styled roleplaying community that focuses on big cats as the main species in charge. If you have any questions on what's allowed, you can always ask the staff for help.

The application requires that the following aspects be noted in the artist comments:

* Name
	+ Can include nicknames, full names, previous names etc.
* Age/Birthday
	+ Whichever works best for you in the long run is what we recommend
* Character Focus
	+ The focus is more for the admins, as knowing what drives the character towards any goals they may have will help us tailor storytelling around what works best for you. There is a list, but you don't have to *use* what's on the list. We'll let you know when you're breaking lore.
* Backstory
	+ We generally want a brief summary of key events that have occurred in the character's lifetime. As long as it's more than "He was born", we will generally accept it into the group as long as it doesn't break lore. If the character is a newborn or very young child, stating the parentage, location of their birth, and/or any information that could potentially add into their story would suffice. Basically, as long as we get a gist of your character, we're not really picky on the character's backstory.
* Personality
	+ A character should have about 4-5 personality traits listed on file with a general (though not really required) listing of at least two "good" traits and two "bad" traits. If you want to explain what those traits mean for the character, that's fine, but it's not really required in the grand scheme of things.

And there you have it! If you want to fill out more, you can always do so, but these are our main requirements.