Hederik

Ah, cool. It doesn't even process as such when a post is quoted and turned to BBCode. It's useful to know the appropriate code too, though, that is @[member='Nickname'] (no closing tag) since there isn't always a post to use as a source for clicking the right person.

I'm not sure I did the "tagging" right, but the only way that I was able to figure out for myself was making it a link to the user profile page. I somehow doubt how that's done, though, even if the final effect is probably the same. Is there some "tag" tag to be used? Also... yeah. Shunning withheld, post posted. Back to work.

@@Golbez Sitting still and silent is the single most effective method of avoiding detection, given the right circumstances. Sadly, the lush dining hall was not a Marezonian Jungle and it didn't take long even for a social outcast such as Initial to realize his awkward attempts at omitting what he viewed as unnecessary, false display of camaraderie actually made him stand out from among the pitiful pastiche of ponies. One classy looking mare in particular he believed to have caught eyeing him suspiciously - not entirely unexpected, given that she, too, seemed to at least try and sieve the din for the juicier tidbits. Therefore, the first appearance was misleading, as usual: there actually were some players among the assembly immersed in table talk. Time was of the essence however, as with every word falling around him, the mute stallion felt he was drawing ever more despised attention. Glancing around himself in order to find a suitable target for the mandatory small talk, he had to wonder just how carefully the group had been composed. Apparel aside - formal expectations distorted any truth that might convey - there appeared to be a wide array of personae, ranging from the more eloquent, engaging their oh-so-noble hosts, through your average pony, discussing everyday topics with their not-always-adjacent neighbor... down to the underaged, unexpected yet probably unavoidable at a gathering of this proportion. One appeared to sport a taste for wine (not that her uppity mother minded) and another was actively preaching fairy tales, despite not sounding drunk himself. Perhaps the only thing missing was a humorously hyperactive harlequin for some reason focused on himself. The look around also allowed him to single out the best potential partner for a non-consequential conversation: a smartly dressed mare, letting her red accessories neatly complement her complexion while the calm, black dress served to balance the whole of her appearance in that shaky point between lively and formal that was the aim of a quasi-official get-together such as this one. Her acquaintance did strike a little unexpected image, what with wearing a mask at a time such as this, but both mares were rather silent and collected, which allowed Cursive to hope that the talk would be scarce as desired, yet apparent enough to let him go further unnoticed. Culling from memory all that he had learned about etiquette as a colt, he began with a mild compliment of "What a lovely dress you're wearing this evening, miss," thinking belatedly that perhaps he should have lost the voiceless labio-velar approximant* if avoiding attention was his goal. Alas, it was already out - at least that was one thing less to remember. Leaving the speech at that would make it sound improper, however, so he promptly attached an empty observation to neutralize it. "I trust that you and your companion are enjoying this extravagant surprise as much as I do." There, proper. * - pronouncing "wh" as "hw", more here.

Any interaction at that point would most likely be forced, so I second your decision. There'll come time to make the grump socialize. Lo! Shunned shall the shunning be, lest the shunning should stun what swiftly should run.

*shudder* Can't a pony simply eat an orange without there being things done to him by a vengeful DM? What a world! JK of course.

The Dark Database Now with spoilers to decrease scrolling necessary Player Characters Non-player Characters The youngest unit [including Colenso, Carto and Silver] Azure's unit (senior to the above) Steel Resolve's unit (the oldest of the three) Other officers in training Ardent Rush, a pegasus alumna of the academy. A sight to behold, her coat a shade of blue so dark it borders on black, with a mane of interwoven gray, gold and azure hair and piercing magenta eyes. So far has been seen using no weapon. Fights mercilessly and shows little respect for either authority or other Cadets. Alto Cord, an earth pony, a low performer in combat training. Carto Sketch's friend. A great mathematician and a skilled musician. Supervising officers Major Flowing Tide, a pegasus mare. Experienced tutor, widely known and respected among the Cadets. Colonel Twine, a quarterstaff-wielding unicorn. Notorious among the PC's group for having once been beaten by Midnight in single combat. Fair Lock, an artisan, master smith and quartermaster of the academy, living on its lower level near the forges. Ashen gray coat and constantly greasy red-and-orange hair. Muscular front legs and chest, emaciated flanks and missing both hind legs. Very well-read, jovial and gregarious, delights in gossip and seems to know of everything that happens in the school. Avidity, a low-ranking yet scholarly earth pony mare, known first and foremost for teaching the classes in history and literature. Gentle and prone to laughter, she nonetheless has a sharp mind and knows an impressive amount of facts and theories regarding the history of Equestria. General Hardy, a pegasus mare and the highest ranking official in the entire military organization of the academy. Rarely to be seen. Sky-blue coat and an unkempt mane in a variety of blue and violet hues (traits that might be confusing to some, as accounts differ quite widely on what the organization's highest ranking officer looks). What really sets her apart, aside from a lordly posture and a sharp look of her magenta eyes, clearly used to commanding others, is her armor. On her breast, a plate of some almost black metal alloy rests, cut through the middle with a red, zigzagging streak, seeming to be composed of several gemstones fit so tightly together that they appear to create one whole. Her front legs up to the knees are covered almost entirely by similarly dark bracers, fitted with some custom features along the sides. Star, a mysterious unicorn mare whom nopony knows absolutely anything about. Nor has tried to guess her identity. Total unknown. More serious entry coming soon. Other important information Rather than copy-paste these things here out of context, I'll instead link a few posts with relevant information about the setting: Regarding weaponry - what exists and how it is held The above continued How magic works on other ponies, and how to describe casting spells About the connection between casting spells and physical fatigue A word about cosmology and general physics Index Day one begins Training session between Carto Sketch and Colenso Void Ardent Beatdown Meet the Bullies The Artisans legs Evening Readers' Club Day two begins A Stellar Lesson A song to speed you on your way & camping out Memorable quotes Midnight Rover, quite tall and leaning towards being massive, a sapphire blue unicorn, his hair a little more toned hue of blue. Wears full heavy plate armor and is able to fight using a wide array of weapons. His magic seems limited to force pulses and telekinesis, especially for wielding weaponry. A little more solemn, but loyal and protective of his friends.

They may be. But from my position neither your sex nor your age can be discerned, so I cannot really answer them for you. Had fun though, the time spent in work sped by. Thanks Edit: Also, stop watching me. And I'm a fir, thank you.

I believe that should have been "dszg", unless the spelling "waht" was intentional. Ok, taking this one over tonight (even though it's only 10 AM where I'm at) was a little tougher.

Mesmerize is an an awesome guy... Was that supposed to be a challenge, even?

Apparently enough to see their race advance through what feels like two to three hundred years in human development. It's an acceptable supposition, however, that their science skyrocketed for one reason on another, wilder propositions have been accepted. Perfect. You answered it. The last question was this one exactly, only phrased better and more detailed. That sounds reasonable. You got my vote there. For several reasons, I'm highly opposed to widespread use of stats, feats, dice rolls and so on in roleplay, particularly one that's forum-based. In "real-time" RPG it might make more sense as most players (from my experience) won't commit to lengthy descriptions of their actions and behaviors, rather wanting a hack&slash with elements of sandbox-y interaction with the world. Not that I immediately object to taking part in an RP implementing such, just my two cents of an opinion. Yeah. Mhm. Okay. Sounds good. AHHH SPOILERS! Serves me right for postponing the watching of season 5 for so long. As I joined this forum, I understood this has to end, so I'm already halfway done, so. Yeah. Moving on... Oh, right. Totally looked over that planning tag. Well, this changes nothing anyway. Yeah, quite. Are you sure you're ready for it? Not to say I doubt in you or anything - if you have experience with this type of thing, good for you. This many players will mean a lot of simultaneous action, several plotlines needing to be coordinated between themselves... probably way more than a single forum thread, too. Again, just saying. Well, I continue being intrigued. I might lean towards "interested", even. I don't think I'm gonna commit to anything so early on, but I'll follow this thread with a keen eye. Should you manage to piece all this together nicely, I suppose I wouldn't mind taking a character, canon most likely, for a spin. For now, good luck.

One, two, three... seventeen. You're 983 words short Unless we count the emoticon too, then it's a mere 982, no biggie. However, I kind of believe that was supposed to be a 1000 characters... 1000 words is more than three standard-issue essays oO

I'm intrigued. The advanced tag certainly is what draws the eye at first, but the premise is, if not overly original, at least true to itself, having Equestria advanced by itself, not just mashing it together with some popular sci-fi series with nary an explanation. You're (quite understandably) expecting a lot from someone to even apply, so before I decide whether it's in my interest to commit myself further to this enterprise, I'd like to pose you with a few questions. 1. The initial description seems to point towards the technological advancement having happened over a considerable period of time. Contrary to what might be expected from that, however, there is talk of Lyra, Ponyville, the Princesses and whatnot. Thus forms question one: what is the extent to which canon is translatable into this fanon? In other words, how much of the Equestria we know from the show, including politics, culture and personal stories, is still true in this setting? Certainly, the lives of those involved cannot have gone the same way in such a vastly different world. Do you expect the potential canon-playing RPers to cover the characters' back stories, or do you have some idea thereof, sketchy or otherwise? 2. "Anything goes" is a pretty generous offer, and one that saves a lot of laying down the basic rules, opting instead for a case-driven system of allowance. That is understandable, but leads to some concerns: will there be an index of what is approved and what not, updated as certain ideas are accepted or revoked? How about the extent to which the different technologies should be unified? Will the same technology be available across Equestria (so that I can for example expect to find parts and materials to repair my gear once in a different part of the world), or is there a supposition that every region develops independently and no guarantee is given that what is known in one place won't be seen as black magic/alien technology entirely? 3. Expanding on the above question a little, the story linked of Bass Clef's adventure strikes as more of a samurai story than sci-fi. No mention is made whatsoever of any advancement, cultural or otherwise. Is it therefore an even wilder mix of high-tech and not? Are some regions of Equestria on space-travel level, while another are stuck in middle ages? Or is it more of a tendency to preserve tradition, as indicated by the globally unchanged architecture? 4. You mention a system to be in place for PVP encounters. Please expand a little on this topic. Are dice involved? Will we know the stats of whatever equipment will be in the characters' possession? Or is just to say "basically, all is still riding on the posts describing your actions, but the results will also be chewed on by some arbitrary secret number-based system"? 5. There is a hint of an overlapping story in the mention of an abducting alien race which will ultimately have to be bested, but could you elaborate a little more on what is to be expected while the action takes place? All I see is a minimalistic mention of pre-arranged abduction (an entry point for the RP? An event to anticipate during the course of play?) and a jumble of mentions pointing towards "missions", which will be "given out on approval". So maybe the starting point of everypony's adventure will be this mission -- whatever might be hidden behind that word -- and the creation of one's spaceship is mandatory, along with a "photo" of it (?) and a crew to populate it? That seems rather steep. 6. You listed an astounding amount of 12 slots. My view is based on a very short stay so far, but I'm not even sure there are this many active roleplayers. How many entrants do you expect to wait for before launching the whole shindig? Since the forementioned missions are said to require the minimum of two PCs, I'm guessing that's the bottom limit of anything beginning to happen? Well, that would be it for what came immediately to mind. Let's see if you manage to net me with the insight

I thought about going ahead and setting up a thread like that myself, but... well, I'm not entirely certain it would be found appropriate in the OOC category and I haven't really found a more proper position for it, so maybe running it through the vox popular might be a correct way to approach this. Now, I admire the effort set in place to help those feeling unsure of themselves in one aspect or another when it comes to roleplaying, but is the PM-driven system really for the best? While I understand some people might benefit from the privacy (although having to post about one's problem in the thread kind of defeats that purpose), wouldn't a more open repository of Q&A prove to be even more helpful in the long run? The mentors could save time by just pointing potential help-seekers to the previous cases and only get really involved if there was further need for clarifications. Or maybe not. Maybe a fat thread would scare away users not wanting to have to go through an elongated search and afraid of being shouted at for "not using the search button" or something. What about those who would like to work to improve their skills without precisely needing to build from the ground level up? Wanting to share ideas or exchange opinions? I know I've had a few interesting thoughts pass through my noggin over the last few days as I'm drilling ever deeper into the details of an RP I hope to launch and wouldn't mind an occasion to start a conversation on some of the roleplaying's meta aspects, among other things. What do you think? Would there be a place (and a following) for such a thread? Or maybe I'm just missing the existence of a similar venue in some other category -- which would be kinda embarrassing after I've typed this wall of text about it, but still an improvement of my current situation...

Thanks, much as I feel the bitterness was ungrounded on my part, I appreciate the gesture and hold no grudge all the same. The colors are pretty cool until someone start posting in yellow or pale pink and do indeed make scanning the posts for dialogue way easier. Surely, there is some method to this approach. I'll take you on that offer as soon as I find a loose end to tie a question to, rest assured

I was going to write something bitter here about me being a gamble, but having had a while to think about it, I decided to thank you for the trust instead. I'll certainly try to bring my OC page up to snuff in a while, as it seems I have underestimated the set standards 'round here. I'm actually glad I did rush it though, because it seems I'm jumping into the last wagons of a rolling train... ...and *huff* catching up with *huff* 15 pages of posts wasn't *wheeze* exactly a stroll in the park. But I made it, and don't regret it. I joined based on the theme, post length and their at-a-glance quality. I intend to stay for the obvious effort made into establishing the environment and factual affection already in place for many of this session's established players' characters. One quick question: I understand why it would be beneficial to state a character's perspective if there are several mentioned in a single post, but some seem to have adapted it even if they only describe a single character. Also, is coloring the dialogue bon ton, an effort at making it stand out more or a whimsy of post authors? Wouldn't want to break social norms there

Sitting at the table reeking of purposeful flaunting of the host's wealth, Cursive Initial prayed that he would awake any second back in the familiar comfort of his hard-earned squalor. Empty wish; the waking up part had taken place several minutes ago aboard the carriage that belatedly delivered himself and the, shall we say, colorful band of other ponies aboard, to this ostentatious center of self-adulation repurposed to force that same feeling onto anyone arriving. Good thing the bell was so unnaturally loud, too. Having spent the previous night awake, Initial quickly decided dozing off was a preferable choice to unrequested attempts at premature socializing with whom he would most likely be forced to acquaint himself sooner or later anyway. Therefore, had it not been for the audible reminder of their destination drawing near, he would have missed even this scarcest occasion at making himself looking at least somewhat presentable. He had had some concerns as to how awkward his visibly-worn blackish jacket and bolo tie would make him look in such scenery -- even if he had had half a mind to show up looking as disheveled as possible to spite whomever deemed referring to him as a 'peasant' to be an appropriate incentive to do anything but. Looking around himself now, he discarded all that as bogus. The crowd gathered at the banquet table was as diverse as it was out-of-place in this setting. Particularly pleased that he wasn't being paid excessive attention to, Cursive reached for a glass of water, an orange and a small hoof-knife. Keeping his eyes on the fruit allowed him to scan the hum of table-talk around for particularly interesting bits without appearing to be inviting conversation himself. The fruit's skin was nearly completely peeled before he caught something more than petty small talk. The wrinkles under his eyes stretched as a sour grin adorned his face upon eavesdropping a verily 'noble' remark from the top of the table, reaffirming his conviction that all those invited were seen as little more than cheap, mindless resource to be squeezed in every way that would be perceived as fit by oh-so-mighty royalty until further usefulness was disproven. The stallion's graying beard worked visibly as one corner of his mouth quirked further up before he bit into the fruit he had been preparing for the last while. That favor with the editor of Manehatten Daily might finally get called upon, and for a pretty penny too, if this relax-or-else excursion should prove to be even half of what it already started to crack up to be.

So.. I've come around to launch my own RP. Since gathering a group is going to take a while and I'd fain start practicing some major writing towards its debut, I figured the time spent waiing might as well be spent pleasantly, at least getting to know the community somewhat. And, having brushed through what's laying on top of the pile as open, inviting, and eloquent enough to sate my tastes. I just hope acquainting myself with the entire thread so far isn't a requirement. I just might do this anyway, but it's better to be safe. That being said, here we go... Name: Cursive Initial (Profile link) Previous RP experience: None that can be linked to, and expressly none on these forums. Pocket contents: other than clothes, a blocky notebook, a set of fine quills - the plumage may be torn and besmudged, but the quills are sharp as ever, two compact bottles of ink: black and red, a flat flask of strong spirits, a cherrywood pipe, a bag of tobacco and some change. Hobbies/interests: a fine taste in literary arts, poetry, and various mythologies. For goodness sakes though, don't expect me to quote actual English literature or poetry Also, skills listed in his profile: artful handwriting, composition of various texts, a working knowdlege of illustrating. There, chirograph signed. Awaiting judgement.

2018 UPDATE - MOST IMPORTANT TO ANYONE NEW TO DARK MILLENNIUM As of 2018, this session is being continued via Discord. This leaves me with nary a reason to continue to peruse the forums, so any contact through it will be ineffective or at least prone to be highly delayed. For reasons that should be obvious, I will not share the direct link to the Discord server the RP is using - instead, please join this one to contact me and request the possibility of entering the real thing: https://discord.gg/JXbthSm New players are certainly welcome to join, presuming they meet my requirements and (well duh) are interested in this kind of roleplay. If you're just reading this topic for the first time, do read it carefully. Some of the information concerning recruitment may be outdated, but other than that it all stands. If afterwards you feel this is something for you, please do contact me through the above means. Have a nice day everybody! Source: background from pixabay.com, put together by @@Once In A Blue Moon. Concerning further applications I'm pretty happy with the number of players currently participating in the RP. However, I'm always looking forward to meeting other outstanding roleplayers and won't begrudge them the little extra time if they decide to apply for the Dark Millennium. As I'm in no immediate need of more participants, I no longer hesitate to put clear demands towards those wanting to join, and those are mostly concerned with reading: knowledge of this introductory post and of the RP events so far are a must. Looking through the OOC may prove beneficial too (there is a list of points of interest in the post below this one), but is not mandatory. As to the roles that those joining at this point would find available to fill, there are four possibilities: a) following the original guidelines and joining into the RP in a way vaguely resembling that which was the fate of the first players, b] adopting one of the OCs that have already been established in the story. Again, knowing what was (t)heretofore their life is obligatory, and I'd expect their new owner to follow the bits of their characters that have already been described, c) related to the above: there are also a few yet undescribed characters in the two older units, so I could be persuaded to allow someone to claim a spot there. See race/sex restrictions in the second post; standard expectations still in effect, d) something else entirely. Requires having a good idea of what role the player would expect to play in the story, what their background would be etc., as well as willingness to cope with my demands to change anything that wouldn't fit the story or my vision of the world the Dark Millennium plays out in. In cases of extreme disagreement with the player vision, I may even deny their ideas entirely, but I will strive to avoid this if at all possible. For the practical reasons (ease of scrolling), every part of this post has been made expandable. What this RP will be, in a few words Important technical note about gameplay Semi-optional reading: Introductory post A more detailed summary of the plot What you as a player can expect to experience Concerning character creation How much of the show remains true in this RP? Further reading: a snippet of one of the stories to be heard For archive purposes only: the original version of this post