A Charter for the Draco Somnus Guild

1. Guild’s Name:Draco Somnus

2. Webpage URL:/ruvir

3. Guild E-mail contact:ruvir@hotmail.com

4. Rah’s Furcadia Name:Ruvir (an alt for Talzhemir)

5. Tahneests’ (Tahneestas’) names:Greyfell, Kurio

6. Ten Founding members and their email addresses:
Founding Members help the Rah and Tahneests with
making up the final Charter. I'll be meeting every
so often and it's too much hassle to call official
meetings. Best thing to do is find us on Furc (most
likely in Furtropolis) and talk.
  • 1. jh'Scrud
  • 2. Ayres
  • 3. Buddy Lee
  • 4. Apple~Kitty
  • 5. Pyro King
  • 6. Arden
  • 7. Keriath
  • 8. ?
  • 9. Kreegar Yin-Sloth
  • 10. Talzhemir

    7. Guild Dream title:Ruvir

    8. Guild dream location:
    Imaginarium (80,181)
    /ruvir/ruvir.gif

    9. How to Join:
    For "ordinary" Furres, it's enough to read the background
    and agree to it. You don't need a character sheet and you
    can participate in combat. Ordinary means just that-- plain, average. If your character is
    one of the following, you need to submit an application to your
    Sphere Wizard:
  • above average in appearance
  • below average in appearance
  • of noble birth
  • has a pet or lackey
  • has followers
  • owns a skyship
  • owns a property such as a keep or farm or cave complex
  • is a Mage, Psion, Vampfurre, or Lycanthian
  • is a Wyrmme or Bugge
  • is a Mythical (Wyrmme, Phoenix, or Gryffe)
  • is a Demifane (half-blooded Vampfurre, Lycanthian, or Faerie furre)

    There cam be medieval fantasy furres from
    neighboring Kasuria the distant magic-free Olde World, but
    we want most characters to be native-born and raised in Drakoria.

    The allowed "special" classes (called "Spheres") that Ruvir
    accomodates can be found listed in #13. below. Other "special"
    character are beyond the scope of the game and not allowed.
    To play one of the following, you need to first submit a
    background of between 2000-2500 words to the Sphere Wizard.
    (Please read their Sphere Notes on our web page first.)

    For special Furres, submit a background to your Sphere Wizard.
    For characters that belong to two of the following groups, you
    must submit the same application to both Sphere Wizards. We
    do not permit characters that belong to 3 or more Spheres.
    We reserve the right to temporarily close a Sphere for the
    good of the overall mix represented in the Continuity.

    10. Your Guild's Continuity:
    Roleplaying takes place in the Ruvir Continuity,
    strongly based on the Dragonlands Continuity that's
    Furcadia's official default. It has three sections,
    each of which has its own "natural laws". The quaint
    Olde World and courtly medieval Kasuria are the two
    other places. This Guild's RP is set in savage
    barbaric and somewhat primitive Drakoria, the
    westernmost lands.
    Names that sound like they obviously came from
    outside Continuities (such as "Boba Fett" or "Gangsta
    Rappa") will not be permitted.

    11. Style of play:
    Strict Roleplay (no character sheets; supernaturals
    and other "specials" need Sphere Wiz approval; conflict
    resolution via Quickie Table.

    Every players is permitted N fights per RL month.
    A brief summary and the results must be sent to
    your Sphere Wizard. If that is not done, the
    fight is assumed to be Retconned.

    12. Continuity's Tech Level:
    Bronze Age (think Ancient Greece or Egypt)
    IMPORTANT: In Drakoria, technology has been
    held back by the way metal turns to dust.
    Slavery is an accepted fact of life. Villages
    do NOT have a "city guard"; furres live
    in tribes.

    13. Types of characters your Continuity supports:
    Humans, human-like elves, etc., are not acceptable. Ferals
    are only acceptable if the character is an approved Lycanthian.
    Just about any anthropomorphic version of a real tetrapod
    land animal is okay (so, fish, squids and snakes won't work).

    NOTE: We can only allow a type after a Sphere Wizard
    has been found for it. Otherwise, please assume they exist
    but only as NPC's (non-player characters). If you would like
    to apply for Sphere Wizard, please see Talzhemir about it. To prevent "conflict of interest", Sphere Wizards do not roleplay an IC member of their Sphere.

  • Kasurian Furre Nobles (Drakorian Furres don't have Nobility.
        Highborn Wyrmmes belong in Psions)-- Sphere Wizard Name
  • Wyrmmes-- Sphere Wizard Name
  • Bugges-- Sphere Wizard Name
  • Lycanthians (werefurres)-- Sphere Wizard Name
  • Faerie Furres-- Sphere Wizard Name
  • Vampfurres-- Sphere Wizard Name
    Information about Vampfurres is here.
  • Demifane-- Sphere Wizard Name
  • Mages and Alchemists-- Sphere Wizard Name
    Information about Mages is here.
  • Psions (includes Raptor Knights, Dragon Riders, Wyrmme Royalty, WatchWyrmme Riders, and Shamans. Shamans *can* also be Mages but they MUST be Psions.)-- Sphere Wizard Name About Psions
  • Mythicals (Dragons, Phoenixes, and Gryffes, who all have specific powers
         here. Please, no other Mythicals such as Unicorns.)
  • Demifane are half-blood or quarter-blooded descendents of
    nbsp;    Faerie-furres, Lycanthians or (very rarely) Vamp-furres.

  • "Vanilla" Furres are under the Furres & Factions

    14. Combat is done by:
    Calling a Timestop; then calling
    for a Ruvir Staffer to witness,
    then using the Quickie Table,
    with minimum OOC "time-outs"
    and die-roll penalties for Injuries.

    Full details are here:
    Using the Quickie Table

    Mage, Alchemist, Lycanthian, Psion, Faerie, and Vampfurre
    abilities will be described, in detail. (This is
    definitely not "Freeform").

    NOTE: Until further notice, assume that Experience is done as a regular monthly award by me personally. These things get you more XP:
  • 1. Furthering the plot by asking or answering good questions.
  • 2. Getting other characters involved in a believable way.
  • 3. Resolving the situation in a believable way.
  • 4. Showing awareness of, and being consistent with, the existing source material.
  • 5. Using timestops appropriately.
  • 6. Using retcons appropriately.
    And these things will cut into your experience award:
  • 1. taking too long between poses because you are multiworlding
  • 2. poses that are purely reactive because you're multiworlding
  • 3. long and well-written and elaborate poses that are a vain attempt to make up for your big pauses due to multiworlding, and
  • 4. the lack of natural curiosity towards the scene and other players (Yes, another symptom of multiworlding).

    Can you guess that this is a bad place for those who like to multiworld? Chronic multiworlders may be removed.

    15. Backstory:
    The Wyrmme Empire has ruled here for well over
    a thousand years. Their royalty have held power via
    strange mind-powers and ritual telepathic alliances
    between the City-States of Drakoria. Those furres
    who entered Wyrmme society did so as slaves in the
    sculleries and arenas, or mucking out the 'coves of
    the Wyrmmes' steeds: the quadruped Dragonmounts.
    By taking their queens hostage, the Wyrmmes
    enslaved the Bugges, although there are a few free
    colonies left in the most inhospitable places.
    In the meantime, many Furres ran wild and free
    in the plains and forests (living very much like RL
    Native Americans). They mastered the breeding and
    riding of Ostrixes, but not the Scarhawks.
    Far away, in Kasuria, they are enjoying a peaceful
    medieval period under King Constantine. The occasional
    flying ship has brought refugees from the subterranean
    settlement of Harshlaw to Kasuria. The excitement of a
    dangerous, savage, and sparsely populated land has
    lured adventurers and explorers (mostly from Dragonclaw.)
    What do they hope to find? For one thing, there are the
    beautiful and fragile Heartstone opals lodged tightly
    in the granite of the Lost Mine of Ruvir- the only place
    Heartstone opals can be found.

    16. Geography and Biome:
    This "chronicle" is set halfway between the
    Wyrmme cities of K'Regmot and Ah Koomaal.
    There are no cities or even towns here...
    The weather is mild, and warm due to the
    winds from the Fire Mountains.

    * The nature of our Guild Dream is yet to be decided.
    It might be a forest, with places for uploading
    sub-Dreams. It might be a mine. Whatever it is,
    it must somehow address what inhabitants eat, and
    why the Wyrmmes have not already obliterated it. *

    Map of Drakoria

    17. Magic Items:
    This Continuity does not have magic items except
    for potions, which come from Alchemists

    18. Roleplay positions:
    * The Sphere Wizards may each create a few of these positions. *

    19. Factions: You may not make up a Faction and roleplay it without
    approval from the Furres & Factions Sphere Wizard,
    whose job it is to see that we don't get too many
    of the same kind. Suggestions for possible Factions:
  • Mercenary Company. Bear in mind that Drakoria is not as heavily populated as Kasuria and the Olde World. A Mercenary "company" tends to have around two dozen.
  • Bandits. Alas, there is very little in the way of law and order, and these gangs survive by raiding. They are often colonies of slavers, cannibals, incestuous refugees, and/or bizarre cults.
  • Native Tribe. These can be farmers, hunting nomads, raiders, etc. Somehow they survive despite the Wyrmme oppression.
  • Flying Ship. Their leader might be one of the heroic Sky Captains, the fierce defenders of the Free City of Harshlaw willing to fight Wyrmmes riding Dragonmounts. On the other paw, these might be predatory pirates.
  • Ostrix Caravan. These cross Drakoria from time to time. They are usually led by a Wyrmme, as Furre- or Bugge-owned would be seized the moment it came near a City-State.
  • Household. Not to be confused with a Kasurian "Greater House" or "Lesser House", the Household is a typical Drakorian social unit, consisting of several allied families.

    • Approved Factions actually add their
    history to the Continuity of Ruvir, as we
    install them with "retroactive Continuity"
    and add them to our official Ruvir web page.
    Note, however, that if you do this, what you
    create is no longer your own, but must become
    public domain. If you stop playing the
    Faction leader, we reserve the right to
    appoint another player the new head for
    the sake of the Continuity, and you might
    not recover leadership. You can also lose
    IC leadership through legitimate IC actions.
    We require this of all Faction leaders in
    order to give this game a bit of IC "edge".

    Example: Dayhadah's player writes up the
    Websingers, a Tribe that reveres spiders
    and lives in burrows. He invents Dayhadah's
    own ancestor, the legendary hero Tuhaan
    Websinger, who could swim through stone.
    Dayhadah writes he would like the Websingers
    to be somewhat famous in Drakoria because
    they can help greatly when making tunnel
    complexes. He explains OOC that Tuhaan was
    actually a Mage with earth-related powers
    and that this is what Websingers do.
    IF the Websingers are approved, this
    bit of Lore becomes a part of the Ruvir mythos.
    Other players may freely mention Websingers in RP.
    They can *be* Websingers with the OOC permission of
    Dayhadah's player.

    20. Character Sheets:
    Character sheets are only required for any character
    with special abilities such as a mage or vampfurre. They
    are kept on a web page character sheet proving
    their abilities, put there by their Sphere Wizard.
    Also, Sphere Wizards keep copies of approved backgrounds,
    and file a spare copy with Talzhemir.
    (Should a Sphere Wizard turn their job over to a new
    Sphere Wizard, they will also need to turn over their
    bookkeeping.)

    To keep characters from having "too many notes",
    they are permitted up to 5 points worth of "Advantages".
    Belonging to a sphere with special abilities costs
    Advantage Points. For each point of Advantage, the
    furre must have that many points of Disadvantage.

    Advantages and Disadvantages Costs for Ruvir

    21. Plot Assumptions:
    (This part of the Charter is not just suggestions. These
    are rules. Your character is expected to "fit in" with
    the game world, and will share the following assumptions
    for the sake of being appropriate to the Continuity.)
  • 1. Ruvir is about barbaric fantasy. Think
    Conan the Barbarian instead of Camelot!
    There is slavery in some places but prostitution (renting slaves
    for purposes of sex) is taboo. The typical Drakorian is afraid of
    disease and it is widely believed that such practices cause
    deadly plagues, so sex-slaves and owner alike are destroyed.
  • 2. Wyrmmes (bipedal Dragons) will tend to be met with distrust.
    The vast majority of them consider Furres the way RL humans
    consider chimpanzees. Although a player-character might treat a
    furre very differently, it is well-established that NPC Wyrmmes
    will hunt Furres for sport, or to enslave them- or even for
    food.
  • 3. Ruvir has no possible contact with outside Continuities.
    So, coming from another world or dimension is not possible here.
    When you create your character, you will choose to be from
    Drakoria, Kasuria, or the Olde World.
  • 4. Stylistically, magic is rarer here than in Kasuria (where
    King Constantine and the Noble Houses sponsor mage schools for
    those who show promise in "the arts"). Drakorian Furres are more
    likely to have Shamans. Shaman powers are psionic things like
    paralysis and mood-reading, with immediate rather than persistent
    effects. This Continuity doesn't happen to have angels or
    spirits such as ghosts, however.
  • 5. Bugges are generally sympathetic to Furres, and vice-
    versa. The Insect Folk are the source of the flying ships,
    which are made with a glue-like stuff produced by Bugge larva.
    Bugge families can crew little flying canoes with big
    feathered paddles. Inhabitants of Dragonclaw were astonished
    when the Bugges shared their pets: the Minidragons.
    Minidragons can be bonded using the same ceremony as used
    on Dragonmounts, making them doubly valuable as detectors
    of children with Dragon-rider potential.
  • 6. Dragonmounts and Scarhawks require their rider to be
    psionic. The connection is accomplished in a ritual performed
    (normally) by a psionic Tribesfurre Shaman. "Psipets" do
    not provide a "telepathic switchboard" service, nor are
    they ever more intelligent than about a 3-year-old RL human.
    About Psions
  • 7. This Guild is not about the doings of the Primes
    or Dark Primes. (Please do not ask to be allowed to play
    one.). Monsters come from the Fire Mountains to the west,
    where the air is poisonous to Furres, but not to Wyrmmes.
    The people of Drakoria know the Primes by different names.
    To the Furres, they are benevolent hero beings. To the
    Wyrmmes, however, they are treacherous "pagan" gods, to
    be shunned, their disciples put to death. There are
    Wyrmme cults devoted to beings suspiciously like the
    Dark Primes (or perhaps their progeny).
  • 8. The abilities of the different Dragonlands "Classes"
    are such that they do not "steal each other's thunder". For
    example, faeries and mages of other fiction can shapeshift
    In Ruvir/Dragonlands it is (mostly) reserved for Lycanthians and, as
    potions, Alchemists. Example #2: breathing fire is the
    traditional "trademark" of dragons, so we don't happen to
    have a spell that enables one to breathe fire.
  • 9. Because this is Strict Roleplaying and you may not
    call "Consent" to avoid the effects of a spell, magic,
    from the OOC perspective, has been SEVERELY limited.
    Information about Mages is here.


    22. OOC Areas:
    The arrival area of this Dream is our OOC Area.
    This is pretty strict: All OOC chatter is to be kept to
    /whispers. You may keep an alt in the OOC area for use as
    a kind of "channel" for OOC communications. If there's a
    dire need for an OOC "channel", the Shout command can be
    pressed into service.

    23. Guild Positions:

    We need Sphere Wizards. (See also Character Types, #13 above.)

  • Storytellers: (Combat referees & Continuity cops) WANTED
  • Webmaster: WANTED
  • Dream master: WANTED
  • Bot Master: WANTED
  • Patch Master: WANTED
  • Dreamholders: (Furres who have the dream and
    load alt to load the dream when it goes down) WANTED
    Recommended Reading
  • "Meet Kaya", and other Kaya books in the American Girl 1764 series.
  • "Dragonflight" by Anne McCaffrey. This is one of my favorite books in the series because it's set in a "dark ages" period on Pern. A grimy and young Lessa plots bloody vengeance to regain her hereditary noble position.
  • "A Princess of Mars", by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first in the John Carter series.
  • "Elric of Melnibone", by Michael Moorcock.
  • "Conan the Barbarian", by Robert E. Howard. There are dozens of Conan novels.
  • "Tarnsman of Gor", by John Norman. (Warning: Some adult content; "fetish" literature.)
  • "Kothar, Barbarian Swordsman", by Gardner F. Fox.
  • "The Gate of Ivrel", by C.J. Cherryh. Although it has elements of science fiction, it also shows aspects of "barbarism": when a rule is to be followed, regardless of the specifics of the situation, all for the sake of honor.
  • "ElfQuest", by Wendy Pini. Relevant here because it's about nomads and survival rather than knights and castles, as well as living symbiotically with a riding creature.