Rules

Mechanics Rules Primacy

The order of primacy for determining what rules are in effect:

1. House Rules
2. Custom Content
3. Official Exalted Third Edition Content

Player Conduct

Roleplay can be prone to all kinds of drama when not approached with caution, and any game has to have rules for it to be a game. We try to keep these simple, and post as much as can be reasonably covered. However, keep in mind that staff's job is to maintain the game. So just because something isn't covered in the rules below doesn't mean it isn't potentially harmful and staff won't respond.

Staff reserves the right to remove or bar problem players from the game when necessary, though exactly how Staff responds to any given problem will vary based on the problem and who's causing it.

We usually follow a three strikes policy coupled with talking with players causing such problems, though severe enough situations (such as hacking the server) will get a very harsh response.

Disciplinary actions, when necessary, are taken to preserve the game. A player may be banned if deemed socially toxic (terrible attitude, multiple accounts of pissing off a group, etc) for instance. They may be denied a controversial character if previous ones have been disasters. These are but a few examples.

Legal Age and Adult Content

Exalted is an incredibly adult game set in a world full of decadence and violence. Players should be ready for adult situations of many calibers. At its most extreme, expect to see violence, foul language, disturbing behaviors, sexual content, and a host of other scenarios are possible. It is, however, not cool to do anything really extreme (sexual content, graphic descriptions of disturbing scenarios, etc) without checking with your audience first.

Players are not forced to engage in behaviors beyond their comfort levels, however, and in any case where something is unavoidable the standard 'fade to black' can be used.

By applying on Exalted MUSH, you assert that you are of the proper legal age to be exposed to adult materials.

A note to parents and legal guardians: Staff has no practical and legal way to verify a player's age. While we will do our best to block underage players from participation, it is ultimately your responsibility to know what your kids are up to.

It deserves special mention that on this game, Rape is not a theme we will be entertaining. It is in all aspects not allowed within play. No staffer will run plots or scenes involving this, and no player-run scenes may feature it. What happens to a character in their background is one thing (though such backgrounds are subject to intense scrutiny), but in the scope of play, rape is not something we will tolerate on this game.

While sexual content is technically allowed, it (along with anything else particularly graphic) is not a mainstay of our game and should not be a focus: there are other MU*s for such things, and you're encouraged to take that sort of stuff elsewhere. Keep anything explicit OUT of the scene logging system and OFF the wiki - Gamepedia doesn't want to see it, we don't want to see it. So no logs of being lovey dovey beyond public displays of affection. Also, if scenes are going to get extreme, do please exercise common sense and move out of public rooms.

We should also note, that we will not accept any attempts to perpetuate, or play individuals involved in sexual slavery. Yes, concubines are a possible purchase in the core rules. Yes, they exist in the setting. No, we don't want them in any kind of spotlight.

ICA equals ICC

AKA: In-character actions leads to In-character consequences. Expect it, because it's IC.

If you, the player, have your character start poking a dormant Lesser Elemental Dragon in the eye, do not be surprised when that Dragon awakens and brutally lashes out and might be more than your character can believably deal with.

IC vs OOC Behavior and Courtesy

Roleplay's an emotionally demanding behavior, and sometimes blurs a player's IC and OOC feelings.

While it is true that IC actions are purely IC actions, thinking that your IC actions don't affect others OOCly is, put quite simply, really silly. We don't do that.

All players should keep their character's actions in regards to the community in mind. 'Don't make waves if you do not need to,' etc. Show some common courtesy to your fellow player's wishes and character goals too. The ideal RP is one in which everyone has fun.

Hacking

Put simply: hack the server, and thou shalt cry. This is a big no-no. Do not try to subvert any security measures in place. Do not sabotage the wiki or try to mess up any of the game's services. If you spot a bug, report it, etc.

Undue Consequences vs Consent

While Exalted showcases the heights of phenomenal cosmic powers and the dangers thereof, there is little that most players despise more than a loss of basic control over their characters fates.

Generally speaking, your character is safe from casual or random demise, horrible dismemberment, long-lasting mental domination, etc. No IC agency ensures these things of course, but all players are to show this consideration to their fellows. These things certainly exist but we want it kept to a minimum where PCs are concerned - at least, when it doesn't make for a good story. To explain a little here: a lethal confrontation after weeks of provocation and incidents, easily avoided by choice (though doing so would probably be cowardly) makes for a good story and possible field for a character death. 'Some random Abyssal guy entered the city and stabbed everyone' is uninteresting - while certainly possible, it ends more stories than it creates and is narratively boring and bland.

Play towards the creation of a good story, and you'll do well here.

This does mean that sometimes mechanics need to be handwaved a little. For instance, when at all possible losing a fight that would mechanically kill you but nobody wants to see that followed through, portray it instead as grievously injured knockout. If you can't figure out a way to wrangle things, ask staff or your fellow players. Maybe a slight retcon might be in order at most?

This is not to say that consequences aren't real, however. IC actions lead to IC consequences - see above in the rules. Basically, all this means is that we consider it lame if your character's taken from you because of a random bit of undramatic misfortune and that this should pretty much never happen. It's also a shield against other players being purposelessly abusive or lulzy.

In any scene that could involve major consequences, players will be warned and, whenever possible, given potential bail points or 'outs.'

Character Guide

Alts

A player may have as many characters as they can keep up with. For a lot of people this is somewhere around three, but the important part is to make sure your characters are meaningfully involved with the plots that depend on their presence and RPing in the world. They may not interact meaningfully with one another - meaning, it is fine for one character to be aware of another as in 'I saw that person's name somewhere' or 'yeah, I heard they blew up a demon' but it ends there.

Currently, Solars, Lunars, Dragon-Blooded, Sidereals, Exigents, and Mortals are allowed via official content with fan versions of Infernals and Abyssals.

Age

Human (and derivative like Airfolk) characters may not be younger than eighteen years old (by RL standards, not Exalted's calendar which is 425 days as opposed to 365). This includes all Exalted and God-Blooded. Significantly underage characters just make too many people uncomfortable.

Note: Terrestrial Exalted usually take their Second Breaths around this age, while Celestial Exalted usually take their Second Breaths in their mid 20s to late 30s, though some do in their teens or much later in life. Raksi the Lunar took her Second Breath at 13, while Yurgen Kaneko (the Bull of the North) was an old, old man, well past his prime.

Mulligan - Rebuilds

Everyone has the opportunity to remake a character once, by requesting a rebuild from admin. This is at their full current XP. Any beyond that will need significant justification to staff.

Rebuilds may also be offered if House Rules relevant to a character change, release of new Errata, or other circumstances.

Death/Retirement

Sooner or later, fascinating ideas or other ideas or events might cause one to desire to retire a character - or extraordinary events such as death might force the issue. At staff discretion, when this is a forced or highly unpleasant issue for a player (such as an unavoidable PC death), up to half of that character's XP over the current baseline standard may be awarded to a replacement.

Reputation and Visibility

Characters who have done something significant - gaining a name for themselves or similar - must be made visible to the rest of the game's players so they may know to have their characters react similarly. See this page for information on such.

Time

In order to fully represent the scope of character activities, XP gain, and to account for expedient travel methods and the like, this MUSH will be on the following timescale: 1 OOC minute = 3 IC minutes.

This means that it takes approximately 8 hours for the day to change.

The current IC time can be seen by typing +time in-game. This is, however, only a guideline - if you want to RP with the assumption that it is day instead of night, or consider a current scene to be taking place a few weeks ago because you were too busy to hold it then, and your fellows are fine with that, then this is fine. The march of the clock is used by staff to keep track of plots, however.