Alathra Roleplay Intro

The World of Alathra is a unique one, separate from our own. It has its own species, politics, peoples, cultures, wars, religions, stories, adventures, towns, nations, and problems. The development of this world depends on how you develop the above topics in your roleplay in game and in your lore. To make lore in the discord you need a character, but you can contribute to the wiki or contribute to worldbuilding in game with or without a character. Everything that happens in Alathra builds on this collective story, our rules and guidelines are intended to ensure the community is aware what is and isn't canon in the world we are building together. The goal is to give everyone a clear framework within which to add to Alathras lore. This way we hope to inspire each of you to participate in worldbuilding by adding your own characters and stories to the world.

When you log into Alathra, think of the lore you'd like to make, how do you play the game? Are you a shopkeeper? A soldier? A king? A farmer? A merchant? Or do you participate in any number of other trades?

You can begin to develop an idea of the character you'd like to play, are they human? How do they appear? How do they act? What is their story?

Some good ideas for coming up with a background are:

• What job do they do?
• Where are they from?
• What do they know?
• How did they do these things?
• Who is their family?

Then you can develop other lore for your town, your nation and your religion and other topics as your character progresses involving you in more and more events on the server.

If you have any questions about your lore, or you want some help coming up with something, feel free to make a lore ticket in the discord.

Lore & Roleplay Rules

Alathra is its own unique realm, not trapped in time on Earth, but instead a unique planet, orbiting a unique star, in its own universe. The theme Medieval Fantasy is used to describe the universe you log into each time you log onto the server, however Medieval Fantasy is just a term used to describe any made up universe within the medieval time period that deviates from historical events.

The goal of these guidelines is to clearly define both what is and isn't possible in the Alathra Medieval Fantasy theme, as well as what does and doesn't exist in the world. The purpose of these guidelines is not to limit your creativity, but instead to set clear boundaries within the canonical Alathran timeline not only in all forms of your lore and roleplay, but also in the things you create in game to ensure we are all on the same page.

View the lore guidelines for more information and elaboration on these rules, as well as gray areas and some specifications on things within the theme.

As stated the server theme is Medieval Fantasy, and the Alathran world is unique. All lore, builds, technology, characters, and other server aspects must fit within the theme outlined below.

1. No mechanical ships, airships, or submarines

2. No pop culture references or parallelism

3. No handheld gunpowder weapons of any kind

4. No cataclysmic events

6. Buildings short list:

1. No buildings that appear modern, or use modern elements
2. No factions bases of any kind

7. No characters with abilities or skills, magic or otherwise that exceed their age by an unreasonable amount. (No child prodigies, or 30 year old grand wizards)

8. Character rules shortlist:

1. No characters Over 1000
2. No characters who have backgrounds that aren't within the Medieval Fantasy theme
3. No characters who were apart of previous lore, without that person's consent
4. No powergaming, sci fi, steampunk, immortals, demigods, or divine creations

9. Character deaths in game are not enforced unless demanded in war, or the player consents.

10. You can only use magic in /RP combat and in your lore.

11. You may only enter into /RP combat with the consent of all players involved. ⚠️Warning⚠️: RP combat is unenforced, by agree to RP combat you put yourself at risk of players who do not properly incorporate cost.

12. You may make your own combat systems for /roll in RP combat, again, all RP combat is unenforced.

13. Tech that does not exist in Alathra(see guidelines for what is):

1. Fully automatic farms
2. Mechanically or magic powered ships of any type (steam, nuclear, levitating, “magic reactor”, oil, coal, etc)
3. No submarines
4. No airships or balloons
5. Powergaming
6. Small arms (handheld gunpowder weapons) of any type or variety
7. Advanced "lost" technology
8. Weapons of mass destruction
9. Anything steam/steampunk
10. Anything scifi

14. Redstone technology rules

1. Your redstone farms must be activated each use by player interaction, you may not have a farm that you turn on and it stays running until you turn it off(see guidelines for details on how permitted systems such as autosmelters, composters and egg throwers should be designed).
2. It must be a player interaction, nothing that can be automatically triggered such as observers, trip wires or pressure plates
3. A player must do 100% of the damage to the mobs in any mob farms

15. Magictech rules

1. You may use magitech(technology that relies on magic for its capabilities) , you may not use it to simulate any modern or advanced technologies, or to make whole builds of any size fly, but you may find creative ways to augment Medieval technology.
2. Any magitech weapon you add to your lore of any size should be written fairly you can do this by:

1. Adding a 'power up' phase
2. Adding a cooldown
3. Adding limitations
4. All magic, including magitech, must have a cost

16. All magic must have a cost, unless it is magic that you witness but do not cast in your lore or character app, the cost may be mysterious in your lore, but must be clear in game.

3. Do not grief terrain when enforcing magic cost, this means do not destroy any terrain with a tool of any kind, only nature blocks that can be broken instantaneously with your fist may be used as cost.
4. If you are unsure about the validity of the magic in your lore or character background please make a ticket.
5. See guidelines for more information on how to incorporate cost

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Should you break any of these rules in your lore the result will depend on where:

• In lore world building your post, or part of it, could be voided

• If the issue is your character background your application will be denied

• If you add lore to the wiki that doesn't fit the lore team will make suggestions and if edits aren't made within a week we reserve the right to remove the content in question

• Be punished according to the rules as required

Alathra Medieval Fantasy Lore Guidelines

What is Medieval Fantasy and what does that mean for me as a player?

Medieval Fantasy describes a subgenre of fantasy that loosely describes a fictitious world in the time period from the fall of Rome (5th century) to the fall of Constantinople (15th century). Put simply the years 400-1500. However, we realize that not all technology from this era is included on the server, and that we allow others, like Colonial Age ship types, that didn’t exist until long after the medieval period. Therefore, beginning with this document, our lore rules will be written not to enforce things before or after the year 1500 but to instead state specifics of what technology from the real life medieval period doesn't exist in the Alathran universe.

This still means that all lore and roleplay on Alathra must fit into the Medieval Fantasy genre, and you should still base your lore on the time period, however you may not include any of the technologies or advancements that are banned on the server. Below we have made some guidelines to keep you informed on how to add the best lore possible to the server timeline. These guidelines are subject to change, and we will post a changelog in the server discord if we make any updates. Please make a ticket in the server discord if you have any questions.

We're excited to read your lore!

General Guidelines

The general guidelines are intended to list important information and rules that do not fall under the other categories.

• No lore from before reset

• Character deaths in game do not have to be final, unless enforced in war.

• You need a character to participate in #lore-worldbuilding but you can participate in worldbuilding in game just like any other player without one

• You must have a valid character who leads a town or nation and a valid roleplay reason to declare war

• Your lore should not directly copy at all from pop fiction. You can't have a swordsman named Luke Skywalker, but you can have a blacksmith named Merlin

• The theme is Medieval Fantasy and you should use themes from the medieval period to inspire your lore

• Your lore and roleplay cannot make other players characters do or say things without their consent

• Remember rule 21: no roleplaying slavery, racism, homophobia, or genocide.

• This rule specifically relates to roleplay channels on the discord, and in game.
• As long as these themes don't make light of real world atrocities and exist in fantastical settings you may use them in your lore.

Lore and roleplay with themes such as speciesism, possession, necromancy, etc fall into a gray area. You can use these themes in your lore and roleplay but they may not relate to or be used in ways in game, in discord, or on the wiki that make light of the real life suffering of peoples who are victims of the themes mentioned in rule 21. The staff team reserves the right to have you make any changes necessary to comply fully with rule 21. If you think there is even a chance your lore could fall under rule 21 please make a ticket with it before posting to avoid repercussions.

Character Guidelines

Your character is the vessel through which you experience the world of Alathra and it is key that it fits within the theme. Our character guidelines are intended to prevent powergaming and keep players within our Medieval Fantasy theme.

What can't my character do?

• Your character can't cause a cataclysm that destroys Alathra

• Your character can't be older than 1000

• Your character can't have skills, abilities, or magic that would take more years to gain than they've been alive

• Your character can't be the best at everything

• Your character can't have a job that isn’t medieval or fantastical

• Your character can't claim to have impacted previous events without the consent of the players involved, saying there are rumors is allowed

• Your character cannot be sci fi or steampunk themed, or based on any other technologically advanced fantastical genre

• No immortal characters or demigods, or characters in anyway descended from any type of divine being

What can I do in my character application?

• You may make a species in your application however all character's species must be fair and balanced. It is also okay to include only an appearance, and add more information to your lore later.

• Your species may not have any immunities, only resistances.

• Your species may not have multiple abilities or resistances and no weaknesses

• Your species may not have any abilities or traits that would make it undefeatable by a human

• You may use magic with a cost, and witness magic with or without a cost (see magic guidelines for more information)

• You may have characters from other lands and dimensions who end up in Alathra

• You may make a character that has any job, role, or standing within the Medieval Fantasy theme

• Your may make any character within your imagination that does not break our rules

Building Guidelines

Our buildings define the world that we RP in as well as the towns and characters that exist around them. Therefore they must be compliant to the server theme of medieval fantasy.

What can I build? 

Any build style based on a real life architectural style from the medieval time period is allowed. Additionally, you can incorporate the fantasy aspect by using the same block types you'd use to represent real architecture in creative ways. You can also use magic to levitate small parts of your build such as stairs, tables, and candles, but not the whole build.

Gray Areas

• Buildings should be attached to the ground, however they do not need to be entirely structurally sound to allow for fantasy building aspects, the foundation must be proportional

• What is included in the theme depends on where in the real world you take your inspiration from. For example, many regions that were colonized adopted colonial styles much sooner than regions who achieved independence before this style was created or were never colonized. These nations may have architecture that was created long after the medieval period but still is simple in construction and uses materials available in the medieval era. These are allowed under the "fantasy" aspect of our theme.

• Floating builds are allowed so long as:

• Your home block is not on them.
• They do not offer a defensive advantage in times of war [cannons on them, archers, etc.].
• The build does not attempt to hide anything on the dynmap.
• The build should make sense [a floating island, obelisk, clouds, etc.][not a 1 block thin platform, etc.].

What isn't allowed

• Large windows from this document forward will be unenforced as long as the
• building doesn't appear modern
•  Do not copy or take inspiration from modern architecture (No Colonial era architecture and later)
• No factions bases of any kind

What happens if I build something illegal?

If you find something that looks like it's against the rules, or are curious about one of your own builds make a ticket. Staff will make a ruling and suggest either modifications to or removal of the build.

If your build is deemed illegal you will have one week to make the changes or destroy the build to recover your resources before staff remove it themselves.

Technology Guidelines

Our technology guidelines define not only the limit of the technology in your lore, but also what tech is and isn't allowed to be created in game using redstone. Technology must fit into the Medieval Fantasy theme.

What is allowed?

• In general technology from the medieval era is permitted, however there is a list of late medieval technologies that do not exist in Alathra in the “What isn’t allowed?” section below.

• You may use any era of ships that operate under sail or oar power, including fully rigged ships.

• You may use magitech(technology that relies on magic for its capabilities) , you may not use it to simulate any modern or advanced technologies, or to make whole builds of any size fly, but you may find creative ways to augment Medieval technology.

• Any magitech weapon you add to your lore of any size should be written fairly you can do this by:

• Adding a 'power up' phase
• Adding a cooldown
• Adding limitations
• All magic, including magitech, must have a cost

• Your redstone farms must be activated each use by player interaction, you may not have a farm that you turn on and it stays running until you turn it off.

• It must be a player interaction, nothing that can be automatically triggered such as observers, trip wires or pressure plates
• You can have on/off switches for lights, beacon colors, and other cosmetic things such as clock towers and lighthouses.
• A player must do 100% of the damage to the mobs in any mob farms
• Auto smelters are allowed, as are other similar systems such as egg dispensers and collectors, composters, etc as long as you manually put the items into the chest to begin the process. Some allowed systems:

• Chicken -> egg -> hopper ->chest

• Manually transfer egg to new chest -> hopper -> dispenser

• Chest -> hopper -> composter -> hopper -> chest

What isn't allowed?

• Fully automatic farms
• Mechanically or magic powered ships of any type (steam, nuclear, levitating, “magic reactor”, oil, coal, etc)
• No submarines
• No airships or balloons
• Powergaming
• Small arms (handheld gunpowder weapons) of any type or variety
• Advanced "lost" technology
• Weapons of mass destruction
• Anything steam/steampunk
• Anything scifi

If you break the guidelines on automatic in game farms the punishment could be harsh and even include a ban depending on the circumstances.

Magic Guidelines

The magic guidelines are intended to give you everything you need to write a fair and enjoyable magic system for your characters. These guidelines are all about the "fantasy" in Medieval Fantasy and the goal is to leave you all with room for the creativity that implies.

How can I use magic in Alathra?

Magic on Alathra takes two forms, magic done in roleplay channels and magic lore that you write on the wiki or discord. Whether it's the magic in your lore or in your roleplay both are bound by one similarity; all magic on Alathra must have a cost.

While we do have /roll for you to create your own RP combat systems all RP combat is unenforced, and requires the consent of all players involved. Consent at your own risk of being exposed to powergaming.

How do I incorporate cost into my RP magic?

Some good ideas for including cost in RP magic in game are:

• Item/block expenditures (burn a resource)
• Apply negative effects to yourself via potions(harming, slowness, blindness, etc)
• Drawing power from the nature around you (breaking grass, flowers, or crops)
• Limiting the physical capabilities of your mages as they progress in your magic system(can't wear armor, hold weapons, etc)
• Create a mana system for your magic

Do not grief terrain when enforcing magic cost, this means do not destroy any terrain with a tool of any kind, only nature blocks that can be broken instantaneously with your fist may be used as cost.

CAUTION: RP COMBAT IS UNENFORCED, CAN ONLY OCCUR WITH THE CONSENT OF ALL INVOLVED, AND YOU MAY BE EXPOSED TO POWERGAMING BY PLAYERS WHO DO NOT PROPERLY INCORPORATE COST.

What about magic cost in my lore/background?

Magic in your lore and background does have enforced cost and must not include any of the following:

• Your character casting spells without a clear cost (except things such as lighting candles, slight hovering, blowing a bubble, etc)

• World ending or cataclysmic events happening to Alathra

• Powergaming

You may:

• Witness magic without a clear cost

• Include only a vague cost for your magic

• Have cataclysmic events happen to other realms that are not part of the lore of other Alathrans (you can destroy your home dimension, not someone else's, or one someone else has based their lore around without their consent)

If you are unsure about the validity of the magic in your lore or character background please make a ticket.

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Should you break any of these rules in your lore the result will depend on where:

• In lore world building your post, or part of it, could be voided

• If the issue is your character background your application will be denied

• If you add lore to the wiki that doesn't fit the lore team will make suggestions and if edits aren't made within a week we reserve the right to remove the content in question