Welcome

**Welcome to Echoes of Thunder!**

This is a cooperative non-consent Legend of the Five Rings game that focuses on dynamic political interactions, an exploration of the world's mysteries, and a struggle against various external antagonists. These themes are described in detail on The Theme page. In broad strokes, the world itself is described on The World page.

To be explicit about the expectations we have of our players, we have outlined said expectations below. We assume all players have agreed to these expectations upon creating a character, so please read it.

## Disclaimer

**Echoes of Thunder MUX** makes no claim to copyrighted materials, themes, and characters, and is not affiliated with any corporate entity. This MUX is intended to be a source of entertainment and education, not profit, and it does not challenge any copyrights. In other words, we made this MUX because we love MU\*s and thematic role-play, not because we wanted to steal people's characters or make a quick buck.

Further, **Echoes of Thunder MUX** as a game caters to mature material we feel is only appropriate for those of the age of 18 and older. We assume all applicants are of this age. Because of the legal issues associated with underage players, if you lie to us about your age and we find out about it, your IP will be immediately banned. We have no tolerance for problems that place the MUX in jeopardy. There are plenty of games out there that cater to younger audiences; we encourage underage players to seek out these games and enjoy themselves elsewhere.

That said, we do not consider **Echoes of Thunder MUX** to be an X-rated game. Not only do we expect mutual respect and integrity from all of our players, but we further expect them to follow the rules and guidelines outlined below. We try to be lenient and understanding, but the rules are designed to help the MUX run smoothly. Please obey them.

## On Consent

As mentioned above, **Echoes of Thunder MUX** is a Cooperative Non-Consent game.

What this Means
Actions taken in-character can and often will result in severe consequences. We encourage players to own their actions and enjoy this factor of game-play, as the most dynamic of stories often emerge from contentious or unpopular choices. In short, we do not allow recons as a rule, and we expect players to follow through with the consequences of their actions, however dismal (even death).
That being said, we encourage players to work with each other to reach suitable compromises as much as possible. Game Masters (GMs) can (and should) be called into a scene if a compromise seems unlikely.
What this Does Not Mean
Any player should not dictate the actions of another player's characters. In-character manipulation and cajoling is one thing, but attempting to control the meta-game with heavy-handed actions or narration is strictly forbidden. We're all here to have fun, and nobody should have to feel like they're being bullied out-of-character into doing something for which they are not prepared.
Furthermore, as has been mentioned above, we do not consider this a Rated X game, so explicit sex and violence should be kept out of public spaces except when it is narratively appropriate. Incidences of rape and other morally objectionable actions are allowed for the purposes of interesting story, but only in cases where **all** participants consent to such a story.
*This game is intended to be a safe space. Respect people's triggers.*
## Conduct

We at **Echoes of Thunder MUX** generally like to maintain a soft touch so the game can run without our constant supervision, so we expect you, the players, to put in a fair effort to minimize roadblocks. In short, there are a few things we expect from you during your stay here.

* Firstly, for further discussion on consent and GMs, see Running Plots for more details.
* In that vein, all players should know that their in-character actions have in-character consequences; in short, in-character actions (ICA) equals in-character consequences (ICC). While cooperative RP is the backbone of the MUX, abusing cooperation and consent to avoid these consequences is frowned upon. If you think that one of your plots might have big consequences, talk with the people who're likely to get/be involved. For your rights as a GM and general GMing guidelines, see Running Plots.
* IC =/= OOC. It's a fact of life that characters don't always get along with each other--that doesn't mean that players have to do the same. You can play a depraved, psychotic murderer, and still be a perfectly reasonable person OOCly; the character isn't the player, and the player isn't the character. Grudges, rivalries, and vendettas are all integral parts of RP, but they run much more smoothly--and are more fun--if you don't take it personally and communicate with the other party. It's just a game, and while things can get emotional at times, carrying IC issues into OOC relationships (or vice-versa) introduces OOC tension and decreases the quality of RP.
* At some point, you may OOCly acquire knowledge about IC events on the MUX, such as a faction's secret plot or a character's shady past or secret identity. We ask that you keep OOC knowledge OOC. We realize that some characters might know more about the world than others, but this should never be an excuse to spoil other players' fun by giving things away ICly. If another player asks you to keep a plot-related secret, please do so.
* Do not spoof another player without permission. Spoofing is best understood as using any command that makes a character/player-body seem in one place or perform a certain action (usually using the @emit command) that was not initiated by that player. Don't do this. Not only can it be confusing, it's disrespectful and leads to a host of hearsay issues.
* This is not a game you can "win." A twink, in a role-playing context, is someone who treats the MUX as though it were any other play-to-win game. As a result, they end up stepping on other players' toes, abusing their characters' powers, and generally making the MUX an unpleasant environment. Don't be a twink, and please take a pass on the dick-waving. We realize some players enjoy manipulating statistics, and that's perfectly fine provided it does not become a character's primary focus. We likewise realize that some characters **will** be more powerful than others. However, this does not give players free license to overwhelm other characters; if you are playing such a character, please try and scale the resources you use to provide a level of challenge appropriate to your opposition.
	+ As for the Daimyo-Kashin dynamic, this is somewhat waived, as Daimyos will most certainly be more powerful than Kashin. In this case, see On Consent above, and don't be an OOC dick.
* No-selling is also frowned upon. Simply put, this is the act of shrugging off bad things that happen to your character. This doesn't have to be physical damage--players can also no-sell by ignoring things that might cause their character to feel fear, or anger, or other forms of emotional distress. While many characters have ICly faced great and terrible threats, this does not mean that they're so inured to said threat that they can reasonably act in a "ho-hum" manner when confronted with them and not appear like a ridiculous caricature. For more information, see Appearance, as we do actually have a mechanic for this.
* If you have a problem with another player, please make an effort to work it out with them on your own. If this fails to resolve the problem, please come to an administrator and inform them of it. The staff will try and deal with the issue as best as we can. If you have an issue with one of our administrators, please speak to the Headwiz.
* Finally, all players are expected to make an effort to use proper spelling and grammar. We're not fascist or ultra elitist about this; we do recognize that some players are not native English speakers, or may have a disability such as dyslexia, but poor typing can be difficult for other players to parse, and quite frankly, it's obnoxious. Excessive typos, misspellings, and illegible grammar without sufficient explanation (such as RPing from a smartphone) are suitable grounds for a gripe. We don't expect you to be perfect, of course (typos happen to everybody, after all, and our Headwiz is a notoriously messy typer) but do your best, and don't be afraid to spellcheck if you think you need to. It only takes a little bit of extra time.

### Tinysex

Tinysex (often abbreviated as TS) is defined as roleplaying sexual situations on a MU\*, either ICly or OOCly. On this game, we have a simple policy about Tinysex: We largely don't care, but please **keep it private**. Nobody wants to know the hot and sweaty details, or if they do, they'll ask you. What you get up to in your personal time is your problem, provided it does not impact the experience of other players. People caught TSing in public, or ignoring requests to keep discussion of such topics to themselves, will have a ferocious wizard turned loose upon them.

### General Things To Avoid

Because they will tick us off. This is not an exhaustive list, so please just be reasonable; otherwise this list would need to grow larger, and that would be a Sad Thing. An infraction against any of the below will result in disciplinary action.

* Lying to a Wizard.
* Ignoring a Wizard's request or ruling.
* OOC harassment in general. Teasing in good humor is fine. Just be respectful.
* Not following the MUX Rules.
* Not following the guidelines of the Conduct section, above.
* Subverting any coded system. If you'd like to tinker with something, we're totally cool with that; just talk to the coding wizard.
* Intentionally trying to damage the game database, server, or site (including the Wikia). This will result in immediate banning.
* Making the game not fun.

That said, we hope everyone has a great time!