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RULES AND REGULATIONS | |
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RULES AND REGULATIONS | |
Rules Reorganization:
We are reorganizing the DragonRiders Club Rules and Regulations and this page is no longer being updated as it will eventually become obsolete. The first rules section - Persona Rules - has been completed and will supersede rules on this page in the case of a conflict between the two documents. Work on the remaining rules sections is in progress. Please pardon our mess and sorry for any confusions during the reorganization period! (18-Jan-06)
PLEASE NOTE: rules marked with a
are those which were specified by Anne McCaffrey herself and are non-negotiable under any circumstances.
-- SECTION ONE: personas
--
-- SECTION TWO: posting
--
-- SECTION THREE: infractions
--
-- SECTION FOUR: discipline
--
-- SECTION FIVE: ideas requiring Council approval
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-- SECTION SIX: miscellaneous
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-- SECTION SEVEN: weyrlings
--
1.0.1 -- Playing Characters (PCs)
This section has been replaced with the new Persona Rules - Playing Characters.
1.0.2 -- Non Playing Characters (NPCs/ONPCs)
This section has been replaced with the new Persona Rules - Non-Playing Characters and Owned Non-Playing Characters.
1.0.3 -- NPC/Free personas
This section has been replaced with the new Persona Rules - Free Non-Playing Characters.
1.04 -- Mentor Only Personas (MPC)
This section has been replaced with the new Persona Rules - Mentor-Only Playing Characters.
1.0.5 -- Gifting Personas
If you choose to leave the Club, you have the right to say what happens to your non-ranking or non-premium personas, or who (if anyone) you'd like to "gift" them to, although Council retains the right to make final decisions. If it's something questionable according to club rules or something that might cause people to be upset, Council will, at worst, deny your plan with reasoning, but you can still have them disappear or transfer out.
When handling ranking or premium personas, you may still have them transfer out of the club locations. However, if you leave these personas in the Club, Council will decide if and by whom they will be adopted. See Section 1.2.1: Premium and Ranking Personas for more information.
In the case of a persona being gifted from one member to another, the member has the right to refuse the "gift." However, if accepted, the persona shall be received as PC unless the receiving member can show evidence to Council of having coposted 20 times with that persona, in which case the persona may become/stay ONPC if the member so desires. All such transfers require Council approval, and all rules pertaining to adding personas and to ranking or premium personas apply.
1.1.1 -- Valid Names
This section has been replaced with the new Persona Rules - Names.
1.1.2 -- Reserved Names List
This section has been replaced with the new Persona Rules - Reserved Names List.
1.2.1 -- Premium and Ranking Positions
This section has been replaced with the new Persona Rules - Rank - Premium Positions - Ranking Positions - Application Guidelines.
1.2.2 -- Craft Ranks
This section has been replaced with the new Persona Rules - Craft Ranks.
This section has been replaced with the new Persona Rules - Companions.
This section has been replaced with the new Persona Rules - Regarding Dragonriders and Dragons.
The Club would stress that any speech by a dragon to other than its own rider should be done sparingly and only with good reason. However, according to THE SKIES OF PERN, in a weyrmated dragon-pair, a dragon can speak to the other rider as well as his/her own, and the rider can speak to his/her dragon's mate. This communication is limited to situations where a serious bond exists and not just a single, post flight occurrence. A Council ruling indicating that the weyrmated pair has established this serious bond must be obtained and approval granted before personas demonstrate this level of communication.
Also in THE SKIES OF PERN, it was said that, in an emergency situation, dragons could go between without their riders, even between times.Timing - Remember that timing causes great strain on both dragon and rider. Timing to the future never happens. Time it only when there's an emergency; being late does not qualify. If you time it, you will almost always be severely reprimanded by your wingleader and possibly the Weyrleader. A well-trained dragonrider will never accidentally time it unless s/he is very stressed or distracted. S/he will never risk timing it for a negative or a frivolous purpose (getting even with someone, visiting relatives, et cetera).
This section has been replaced with the new Persona Rules - Locations.
A "post" is a fictional story sent to the mailing list. No posts or parts of posts may be "published" to a web page or sent via email to anyone not on the Dragonriders mailing list. The length of the post should be about one to two typewritten pages. Less than this, you'll be called lazy; longer, you'll probably get a scorching for being long-winded.
The subject line in your mail message should have the following format:
location: title of post Our (mostly) clever list server (the thing that runs the mailing list) automatically puts "DRML: " at the beginning of each subject line, so you don't need to do it. Also, this helps you filter your DRML (DragonRiders Mailing List) mail to a separate mail folder for later reading, if this is what you want to do (most people do - it's easier! ~~grin~~).
"Location" is where your post takes place. Most posts occur in one of the following major areas, and we have developed abbreviations for these:
LOCATION ABBREVIATION DolphinCraft Hall DH Green Ridge Hold GRH Ierne Island Weyr IIW North Tip Fishing Hold NTFH Peninsula Runner Station 642 (TEH) PRS-T Sonnette's Dawn Hold SDH Thread's End HarperCraft Hall TEHH Thread's End Hold TEH Thread's End Weyr TEW WoodCraft Hall SWH When continuing from another post, do not quote the complete post. It is necessary only to quote the relevant portion, generally the last few lines. Also, please do not use the "Reply" feature of your mailer, since this usually quotes the entire post. If you are continuing along the same storyline, use the same subject/title followed by "--(cont'd)--", or if you had planned on doing a series, use the title, followed by a number.
If it is necessary to bring a specific point to the attention of the Council concerning a particular post, the subject line should read: "COUNCIL: the title of the post". This will make it easier for the Council to respond.
Please set your line width to 80 characters. This is standard over the net, so let's use it. The body of the post should be in one of two formats:
- Block Form - no indents; flush left; double-spacing between paragraphs
- Standard Form - five-space indent; flush left after indent; double-spacing between paragraphs.
Please use a new paragraph for each speaker, including dragon thoughts or firelizard emotions.
From top to bottom in your post, follow this format:TITLE: {the title of your story}
AUTHOR(S): {include all writers involved if it's a copost}
SUBJECT: {a short sentence about what happens (optional)}
DATE: {the Pernese date on which your story happens}
LOCATION: {where your post takes place}
ATTN: {anybody who ought to pay special attention}
WEATHER: {see the Weather/Thread page}
THREADFALL: {the closest future date of Threadfall}
NPC'S: {non-playing characters used in the post}
MENTIONED: {other members' PC's mentioned in the post}
NOTES: {anything else you want to add}WRITE YOUR STORY!
Signature block:
Persona's name and dragon/dolphin name
Persona's rank and location
Your email address.Please don't make your signature block longer than six lines maximum.
Sig block location will be where your persona is located on the web pages (i.e. in "Pern life") and will be one of the following:
THREAD'S END WEYR TEW Residents, Craftspeople TEW:QW Queens' Wing TEW:UFHW Upper Flight, Head Wing TEW:UFLF Upper Flight, Left Fore Wing TEW:UFRF Upper Flight, Right Fore Wing TEW:CFMW Centre Flight, Mid Wing TEW:CFLF Centre Flight, Left Flank Wing TEW:CFRF Centre Flight, Right Flank Wing TEW:LFTW Lower Flight, Tail Wing TEW:LFLH Lower Flight, Left Hind Wing TEW:LFRH Lower Flight, Right Hind Wing TEWtt-n Weyrling Class TEWtt-n (e.g., TEW35-3) IERNE ISLAND WEYR IIW Residents, Craftspeople IIW:GW Gold Wing IIW:UFCR Upper Flight, Centre Ridge Wing IIW:UFLT Upper Flight, Left Tip Wing IIW:UFRT Upper Flight, Right Tip Wing IIW:CFMW Centre Flight Mid Wing IIW:CFLF Center Flight Left Flank Wing IIW:CFRF Center Flight Right Flank Wing IIWtt-n Weyrling Class IIWtt-n (e.g., IIW35-3) THE HOLDS SDH Sonnette's Dawn Hold TEH Thread's End Hold GRH Green Ridge Hold NTFH North Tip Fishing Hold THE HALLS DH DolphinCraft Hall TEHH Thread's End HarperCraft Hall SWH WoodCraft Hall PRS-T Peninsula Runner Station 642 (TEH)
All posts must be written in full sentence form, third person, objective tense (e.g.: "He opened the shutters and said..."). They must be checked for spelling and grammar. We highly recommend using a spell checker when writing your posts. A very good one that works in all Windows text edit boxes (e.g.: any email program, Notepad, WordPad, Write, any word processing program) is Brian Quinion's. If you don't have a spell checker, download it please! Please use it or else write in your word processor, spell check, then import the text into your email message. A good and classic reference for checking grammar in writing is Strunk's The Elements of Style; the full text is available online at http://orwell.ru/library/others/style/. Believe us, people will notice spelling and grammar mistakes, particularly spelling! Many people find badly-spelled posts too hard to read (always noticing the mistakes), so they just don't bother.
Dragonriders of Pern is a club that caters to ages 13 and above. Because of this, the language and content of posts must be kept suitable for readers of all ages.
The following things are off-limits for DR posts:
- Regarding Nudity and Sex:
- No extended, explicit descriptions of nudity
- No graphic descriptions of sexual anatomy (genitalia, female breasts)
- No erotica, e.g. explicit descriptions of passionate kissing, rubbing, arousal
- No explicit descriptions of sexual intercourse. Absolutely no graphic details
- Regarding Violence and Gore:
- No explicit descriptions of sexual violence or child abuse
- No extended, explicit descriptions of the infliction of pain, e.g. by torture
- No graphic descriptions of people or animals being maimed or mutilated
- No graphic descriptions of people or animals being killed in a gruesome way, e.g. by decapitation, burning to death, etc
- No extended, graphic descriptions of dead bodies being dissected or dismembered
- No extended, graphic descriptions of decomposing human remains
- No instructive or imitable details of armed combat, slaughter, murder or suicide
- Regarding Drugs and Weapons:
- No instructive or imitable details of procedures that could seriously harm someone if applied or could be deemed illegal, e.g.:
- Synthesis and/or purification of drugs and poisons
- Medical or illegal use of drugs available on Earth
- Manufacturing and use of explosives or weaponry- Regarding Language:
- No insinuation or "advertisement" of post material beyond the guidelines above
- No Earth swear words; only Pernese terms are allowed, e.g. shards, fardles, etc.
- No profanity. There is no religion on Pern, therefore no use of religious terms
Note: "Explicit description" means the description of the act itself, rather than a "fade to black" or "aftermath" scene where the act is implied but not described. "Graphic" in this case applies to all senses and includes descriptions of visual as well as sound, smell, taste and touch. "Instructive and imitable" is defined as writing step by step How to posts on the subject in question. Any post that could be taken and recreated in a step by step fashion to create a drug, weapon, explosive, or give instruction how to hurt themselves or another person is prohibited by the PG-13 guidelines of this club.
If you are still unsure of whether your storyline or one particular post is suitable, check with the Council.
For goodness' sake, when posting - set your emailer to send plain text! Many emailers nowadays default to "rich text" or "HTML mail" formats. This can be really difficult for some people to read - we know not everyone uses the same email program, so let's operate on the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Silly! ~~grin~~) and stick to plain text. That's why we use the following styles.
When dragons travel between, it is noted as: /between/.
Here are the appropriate "symbols" for thought and speech. We realize that other systems are in use, but these are preferred:
" " Human speech ** ** Human thoughts or telepathy }: :{ Dragon thoughts or telepathy ~~ ~~ Fire lizard thoughts or telepathy (only to describe pictures or emotions. Fire lizards don't actually 'talk' in words) ^^ ^^ Dolphin speech == == Sign language _words_ Underscore on both sides for emphasis CAPITALS Use only for shouting or screaming ...lower...case... (three periods between words) for whispers or extremely low speech (Selected notation courtesy of Robert Morris at thepride@interpath.com.)
Co-posting is defined as working with another member to write a story. Please note that the sig blocks of ALL authors must be included at the bottom of the post. Each co-poster is responsible for the content of the post, so if a retraction is required, all authors will be held accountable.
Occasionally, your co-poster may suddenly disappear. Your emails bounce, or maybe you just never get a reply. When you begin a coposting relationship with someone where there'll be a commitment of time and/or storyline, you have the option to "log permission" with Council so you can take over writing for your absent coposter's personas in that copost. The limits (such as how long this permission would be in effect, etc.) of that permission will be your responsibility to state. Also, it's your responsibility to ask your coposters for them to log their permission. So... if the unfortunate happens and your coposters vanish... you'll still be able to finish that storyline.
Any disputes about writers' interpretations of Pern fact must be taken to Council and resolved by the Council members.
The real life weeks that correspond to each sevenday within a Pern month are listed on that month's weather sheet. Members are encouraged to keep to this guide with no more lag than two (2) Pern months behind or ahead no more than one (1) Pern sevenday to keep the club in the same general Pern timeframe (GPT).
Each persona must author or co-author a post at least once every calendar month, regardless of how many personas the member has. A member's PC personas can co-author with each other; however, this should be a true contribution by that persona and not simply a mention in order to receive posting credit. NPC personas are exempt from this posting requirement rule.
Members with Premium or standard PCs that are exempt from this rule include:
- Mailing List Keeper - i.e. Listmum
- Current Council Members
- Previous Council for one month after their term expires
- Webbies
- Join Form Reviewers
- Posting Log Keeper
- Charterholder
No Club members with Ranking Personae are exempt from this rule.
Members who are unable to meet their deadline may go "on leave" for a minimum of one month, and a maximum of three months by notifying Council. If they do not return to active (posting) status after that time, they are assumed to have quit, dropped from the list, and their personas removed from the web pages.
Members with ranking PCs or who are coordinating a major storyline who request a LOA must supply an active member as a contact person. Anyone who does not supply a contact acknowledges Council's right to approve mentions of their ranking PCs or release control posts for the major storyline while they are on leave.
If a member is still under mentoring at the time they make a leave request, it is considered an implicit quit and their persona will be removed from the website. The mentor can request an exception from Council for the new member at their discretion.
A member who is not able to meet posting requirements and has received a notice from Council regarding their posting history can request a leave of absence, as defined by the club rules. Upon their return from leave, they must maintain their posting requirements for all of their PCs for a minimum of three months before they can request another leave. If they request a leave before that three month period, or fail to meet their posting requirements, they will be considered to have implicitly quit the club. Council will consider extenuating circumstances on a case by case basis.
A member who is not able to meet posting requirements for one of several PCs and has received a notice from Council regarding their posting history can request to change the status of that PC to ONPC, under the conditions that the minimum posting requirements for ONPCs (20 posts) have been met for that persona and that the member still retains an active PC persona. Members must maintain their posting requirements for all of their PCs for a minimum of three months before changing such an ONPC back to PC status or creating a new PC persona.
Control posts for a major club-wide storyline including any entry on the Storyboard, Hatchings, etc., need to be ready for release according to the current Pern posting time frame. Council requires that at least 50% of the control posts should be written and ready to send by the correct Real Life/Pern Date before announcing/releasing a major storyline.
When establishing a club-wide storyline, the member takes on the responsibility of ensuring the Control posts will be sent to DRML in a timely manner since a delay would affect members planning to post off the Controls. To help prevent this domino affect from occurring, the member organizing the storyline should have a Backup who can take over writing the Controls should he/she become unable to send the posts out on time. If there is no Backup listed with Council or the Backup becomes unable to send the post on time, a Council member will either release a Control Post so that the general club membership will not be held up or, if there hasn't been any interest, remove the item from the Storyboard. In the event that the main storyline coordinator for a major storyline drops out of contact the Backup coordinator should wait for a period of no less than 7 days, then check with council first before taking over.
For more details on storyline coordination, please also see: Storyline Coordinator's Reference Page
Once a member decides to leave the club, they have 30 days to finish up their storylines and to write their exit posts. During this time (30 days), the member can change their mind about leaving or can petition council for more time with which to leave. If council has not heard otherwise, after the 30 days has passed, the member will be dropped without further notice, and may rejoin with one non-ranking, non-premium persona.
A copyright notice is to appear at the bottom of all posts (this is automatically inserted as the post goes through the mailing list server).
Every persona mentioned in a post must appear in the Intro block somewhere (Author, Attention, Mentioned, NPCs), and if a nickname is used within the post for a persona, it should be noted in the intro block, along with that persona's full name; e.g., Author: Aykalara ("Lara").
Signature blocks must contain full names (no nicknames).
Dragon nicknames may only be used by the dragon's rider. If used within the post, the dragon's name and nickname must be defined somewhere in the intro block along with its rider's name.
The writer must use common sense as to when to have a rider refer to his/her dragon by a nickname. It might be acceptable to refer to his/her dragon by a nickname in front of a spouse or other family member, but it would not be appropriate when speaking with, say, a holder from whom he/she as a sweep rider has just accepted a message for delivery.
The following guidelines apply to those Returning Members who were dropped from the DragonRiders lists due to non-posting and/or no response to roll calls (i.e. implicit quits). These "extra" restrictions do not apply to Members who were courteous enough to notify Council/Webbies/club that they wished to quit, whatever their reason.
- Member may rejoin with one (1) of their former non-ranking, non-premium persona, or they may create a new non-ranking, non-premium persona if they prefer. Council may, at its discretion, allow a member to rejoin with a premium persona. These exceptions, however, will be very rare.
- The rejoining member will be treated as any other member in good standing and may then create additional PCs after maintaining a current posting history for three (3) months after rejoining or after twelve (12) months from the drop date have passed -- whichever period is over first. (E.g. If a member returned 10 months after being dropped for non-posting, that member would have to meet posting requirements for 2 consecutive months before creating additional PCs.)
- After 12 months from the drop date, the "implicit quit" would not be counted when determining a "repeat quitter."
A member is allowed to quit once within a 12-consecutive month period. If the member rejoins and quits, either implicitly or explicitly, a second time within 12 months of the first quit, he or she is banned from rejoining Dragonriders for one year. (Examples of an implicit quit are taking a third leave of absence within a 12-month period or being dropped for non-posting.) The banned member may petition Council for reinstatement, but the banning may only be overturned by a unanimous vote of Council.
The rule concerning these is very simple. Do not ever, ever send such things to the mailing list - any of them (we have a Pern-related chat list and a Real Life chat list as well).
3.3.1 -- Council Involvement
Council will get involved only if/when someone brings up the alleged flame to Council. That person may be the recipient of the flame, or an innocent bystander who strongly feels that that post was inappropriate, insulting, or hurtful. The Council will then discuss and decide if the alleged post counts as a flame. A Statue of Limitations will exist in that protests over emails more than a month old will no longer be entertained by Council. Private emails and IM conversations are none of the Council's business; only emails that go to DRML, DRCC, and RLCC will be deliberated upon.
First Offense: The member will receive a warning from Council regarding the offending email, and his/her email will be moderated by the list mum for one (1) month before being released to DRML, DRCC or RLCC.
Second Offense: The member will receive a stronger warning and lose one (1) ranking/premium persona. If the member does not have a ranking/premium persona, he/she will be ineligible to receive such a persona for six (6) months after the incident. Emails will be moderated for two (2) months.
Third Offense: The member will lose the remainder of his/her ranking/premium personas. If the member does not have any remaining ranking/premium personas, he/she cannot have a ranking/premium persona for six (6) months after the incident. If the member is currently on restriction from obtaining ranking/premium personas for six (6) months, he/she cannot have a ranking/premium persona for twelve (12) months after the incident. Emails will be moderated for two (2) months.
Fourth Offense: The member will be removed from club membership and banned for one year.
3.3.2 -- Good Behavior Clause
A first offense can be wiped out by three (3) months of good behavior. A second offense can be wiped out by six (6) months of good behavior. A third offense can be wiped out by twelve (12) months of good behavior. Leaving and rejoining the club before this time period is over cannot nullify offenses. The rejoining member will be subject to the Good Behavior Clause according to the restrictions that were placed on the member before leaving the club for a maximum of twelve (12) months from the quit date. However, absence from the club for more than twelve (12) months can nullify offenses. (E.g., If a member returned two years after leaving the club with an offense on their record, that returning member should be treated as any other member in good standing.)
** Council reserves the right to nullify the Good Behavior Clause for a member if it perceives that there is a deliberate pattern on the part of the club member concerning offenses/good behavior.
3.3.3 -- Points to Consider
What counts as a flame? It's almost impossible to give an objective definition, but most have similar opinions as to when an email is a flame.
- Disagreements do not count as a flame; personal attacks do.
"Nope, check the books. Dragonsdawn, page 154 -- Faranth was NOT the first gold to be hatched." (This is clearly not a flame.)
"Dragonsdawn CLEARLY says that Faranth was not the first gold to hatch. Geez. How hard can it possibly be to the check the books first before you start talking about things you obviously know nothing about?" (This would count as a flame.)
- Writing critiques. If a member asks the club to honestly critique their work, then basically, they should be able to take the bad with the good. Of course, there are exceptions.
"Your writing sucks!" would be a flame.
"I think you need to make your characters more three-dimensional because *list of reasons and suggestions follows*" would not be a flame.
A possible option would be to send the comments to DRCC if the comments are good; if the comment are negative, send to them privately.
- The last word. Some people just have to have the last word in everything which simply prolongs the flaming on the list(s) and tension in the club. Therefore, if two or more members become involved in the flame war, all involved will be disciplined regardless of which member started it.
- Apologies. If, after sending an antagonistic email to the list(s), the member spontaneously decides to apologize by the next day, then that apology will counterbalance any protests lodged against that email if that was his/her first offense.
However, if the member consistently sends out a flame and then apologizes, the apologies can no longer be believed to be sincere and will be dismissed accordingly when Council evaluates the email.
- If a member files repeated protests which are interpreted by Council as an attempt to cause trouble, especially against fairly innocuous emails, this will be viewed as an offense and count toward their total.
A lifetime ban may be issued with a majority vote for the below infractions. A Council may issue a lifetime ban for other reasons with a unanimous vote. A lifetime ban may be lifted only by a unanimous vote.
Infractions Warranting a Lifetime Ban (Council's majority vote required to ban for life):
- Two one-year bans for repeat quitting within four years or four implicit quits with little or no posting done each time over any period of time. (See Section 3.1 -- Repeat Quitters.)
- Two one-year bans for flaming/snappy emails to any of the club lists. (See Section 3.3 -- Flaming/Snippy Emails to Any of the Club Lists.)
- Three one-year bans for major infractions. (See Section 4.1 -- Major Infractions.)
- Illegal Activities. (See Section 4.3 -- Illegal Activities .) Per Charter Holder, in this instance member may not be reinstated even by a unanimous vote.
- A ban for trouble making while on a probationary status.
For posting infractions of incorrect content, the author is required to submit a retraction and/or apology to the mailing list. After the fourth apology, they return to Mentored status and must have all posts or co-posts approved by their assigned mentor for a two-month time period. After the fifth apology, they are banned from DragonRiders for three months.
For major infractions (ignoring Council rulings, slandering another member through the mailing list, etc.), the author is given a warning and a week to comply. For repeat offences, the author is given two more chances before their membership is terminated and they are banned for one year.
For infractions which endanger the Club's charter (breaking copyright laws, publishing posts outside the closed mailing list, etc.), the member is given a warning and a week to comply or correct the offence. If the situation arises three times, they are to be notified of their termination from the mailing list.
In cases whereby evidence becomes known to Council that a member is engaging in activities commonly held to be illegal and/or which would result in loss of charter, the Council is required to terminate/bar that member's association with the Club. Terminated/barred members MAY NOT be reinstated by a new Council; the Charter Holder remains constant and will NOT allow reinstatement.
Members who have been issued a limited ban and who wish to return may do so at the expiration of the period of the ban with the following limitations:
Members who have been banned for any sort of trouble making will be allowed to rejoin under a one year period of probation. If there is continued trouble during this period, including, but not limited to, flaming, disregarding Council decisions or causing problems with a mentor, a permanent lifetime ban will be issued.
The following ideas require a request to Council for permission, and a majority of Council members must vote to approve your storyline.
5.0.1 -- Firelizard Clutches
5.0.2 -- Hold-wide, Hall-wide, or Weyr-wide Storylines
5.0.3 -- Fights Involving Dragonriders
Fights involving dragonriders or candidates also endangers their (future) dragon and so require approval.
5.0.4 -- Gold Dragon/Firelizard Mating Flights
5.0.5 -- Advancement in Rank to Premium or Ranking Personas
A persona advancing his/her rank to a Ranking or Premium Persona (such as a Brownrider to Wingsecond, or a Journeyman to Master) needs Council permission, as described in Section 1.2: Rank. For other rank advancements, please see Section 5.1: Ideas Requiring Council Notification below.
5.0.6 -- Transfers of Ranking or Premium Personas
For other persona transfers, please see Section 5.1: Ideas Requiring Council Notification below.
5.0.7 -- Implicitly Involving Personas Outside the Post
You can not implicitly involve personas outside of you or your co-posters in your storylines. In other words, if your drudge inadvertently burns the Hold to the ground, you'll need Council approval for the storyline, since you'll implicitly impact an entire Hold's worth of personas, even though you may be the only writer involved.
5.0.8 -- Storylines That Take Place in Anne McCaffrey Locations
For the most part, our stories should take place in areas developed by our Club, and storylines that take place in an actual Hold/Weyr/Hall mentioned by Anne McCaffrey or in the surrounding territories requires Council approval. A brief mention of these locations or one or two posts set in the territories surrounding Anne McCaffrey locations is permissible and does not require Council approval.
5.0.9 -- Dragons Speaking to People Other than Their Rider
Dragons may occasionally speak directly to another person. However, Council permission is required for any consistent bond that would go beyond the rare occurrence. See the Pern Knowledge Archive and Section 1.4: Dragonriders of the Club Rules for more information.
5.0.10 -- Ideas Which May Have Questionable Violent Content
Posts should be kept suitable for readers of all ages; if something seems questionable, Council approval should be sought.
The following ideas require members simply to notify Council. No approval vote is necessary, unless Council deems the request to require a special vote for permission. Otherwise, notification that Council has received and processed the information should be listed in your intro block, as per Section 5.2: Guidelines for Posting Council Approved Storylines below.
5.1.1 -- All PC or ONPC Deaths
5.1.2 -- Advancement in Rank for Non-Ranking, Non-Premium Personas
5.1.3 -- Transfers for Non-Ranking, Non-Premium Personas
5.1.4 -- Additions of Non-metallic (Brown, Blue, Green) Firelizards
A member may post a Council approved storyline provided they seek and are granted permission for the story before posting. Also, when posting the story, the member must state in the "Notes" section of the header block that the storyline is Council approved and must give the date of Council approval. Storylines simply requiring Council notification should have the date that Council replied that they received your notification.
For any Hold/Weyr/Crafthall mentioned by Anne McCaffrey: If the post usage is more than one or two posts, Council must be petitioned for approval.
Though Anne McCaffrey does give names to some of the Oldtimers, she does write about them all, and so the use of Oldtimers is allowed for all types of personas as long as they are not one of her named characters.
Use of teaching ballads that are an established part of Pernese pre-AIVAS history is allowed provided proper credit is given to Ms. Anne McCaffrey in the Notes section of the post.
It is common courtesy when mentioning a new book to wait at least one month after the book has been released before mentioning anything without using SPOILER in the subject field. This courtesy will be observed on all club lists (DRML, DRCC, RLCC) until one month after release in the last one of the three major markets for books published in English, i.e. US, Europe (England), Australia.
In accord with this courtesy, adopting newly revealed canon or canon that has been revised in the new book will be delayed until after the SPOILER is lifted.
Storylines approved by Council are subject to VETO by the Charter Holder.
Mating flights are not acts of aggression or violence, either between the dragons involved or between the humans involved. The tendency to exhibit a possessiveness over the males in the Weyr and a willingness to fight for them when rising is demonstrated to a much stronger degree in the Queens as compared to the Greens, and this will only occur in certain situations:
"Except in certain mating situations, dragons are never aggressive with one another. When they are ready to rise, the Queens become primitive, gorging on kills. The males turn competitive, their only goal to outmaneuver each other in mating flight to get to the Queen."
from the Dragon Lover's Guide to Pern, Second Edition
Nye, Jody Lynn, with McCaffrey, Anne
1997, Ballantine Books, page 40As mentioned above, Queens will blood kills; however, for the purposes of this club, Green dragons may or may not blood a kill before a mating flight as the writer prefers.
Gold dragons normally rise two to three times a Turn, evenly spaced. Green dragons normally rise three to four times a turn, evenly spaced.
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Personas that have been Searched and are now Candidates for Eggs on the Hatching Sands will be restricted to the Weyr grounds beginning one month prior to the estimated Hatching date (or approximately 5 sevenday after Clutching). This curfew exists to prevent the possibility that the Eggs might hatch while the Candidate is away and, possibly, lead to a dragonet not Impressing and subsequently dying since his/her lifemate wasn't present.
Once a persona has Impressed, the Weyrling is restricted to the Weyr until one month after their first outing as a Weyrling class according to the Weyrling training.
Requests for an exception from the curfews due to extenuating circumstances in a post series may be submitted to Council. These will be evaluated on a case by case basis.
This section has been replaced with the new Persona Rules - Regarding Weyrlings.
Council, with the approval of the Weyrlingmaster, has put together the following set of guidelines regarding relationships, mating flights and how weyrlings may or may not interact with them.
Impression to six months: No serious kissing/hugging allowed; no sexual relationships allowed. Six months to one turn: Sexual relationships allowed but discouraged; no mating flight participation, either as chaser or chasee, allowed. After one turn/graduation: Sexual relationships allowed. Young greens have their first mating flight within fourteen to eighteen months after hatching, and bronzes, browns and blues participate in mating flights.
Queens do not rise for their first mating flight until at least two turns post-hatching. Queen flights require prior Council Approval (see Section 5.0.4: Gold Dragon/Firelizard Mating Flights).These changes to the Weyrlings Relationships rules are based on discussions with Anne McCaffrey in an attempt to better reflect how Ms. McCaffrey views the relationships Weyrlings may indulge in during training. Weyrling Masters, aware that greens often are sexually mature before their human counterparts would be considered emotionally mature, begin preparing Weyrling greenriders early on, for their green's first mating flight.
--The Council
This section has been replaced with the new Persona Rules - Regarding Candidates.
Last updated on 10-Sep-06.
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