InsaneJournal

If you have a question that isn't already answered here, please leave a comment, and your query will be answered and then added to the post.


So my werewolf character can chat to a vampire 'enemy' over the internet journal system and not even know about it?
Essentially, yes. Unless the characters have met face to face before and talked all about their 'net habits, then there's no way of knowing who's who just from a username or what have you. Vampires, werecreatures and humans can all talk through the system without even knowing what's what unless they've found out who goes with what online name somehow.

Can I play an Alpha and a Beta in the same pack?
I'd really rather you didn't. If you do want to play more leadership characters and trust yourself with that level of responsibility, talk to another group leader player, and see what they can hook you up with. Playing two leadership figures in the same group always comes across as a little arrogant, and can also be viewed as a tad selfish. This doesn't just apply to the pack: you may not play both dominant lions in the pride, or both leader vampires in the coven.

But can I play more than one werewolf in the same pack?
Yes, you can, just don't tip the balance. It's best to have variety, but if you want more than one and it doesn't make it look like you want all the wolves in that pack, go for it. The same can be said for all the groups.

Can I play a hybrid?
No, sorry. No vampire/werewolf Underworld rip-offs, no wolf/leopard mix-breeds. Werecreatures of different branches never successfully mate with one another; the only way to make a therianthrope offspring is to breed with your own kind.

So this is set in present time? Can I reference new media etc as it's released?
Absolutely. There's a new movie out and your character would be into that genre? Go for it. They can go to see the midnight showing on the first night, if you want. Just make sure to stick with real movies etc, it's less confusing that way.

If I'm not playing an Alpha or Beta, can my werewolf character still have that dominant influence over others in the pack?
Simply put, not really. It doesn't work that way. The influence is a specific and very complicated (as in not even an Alpha wolf would be able to explain it to you; they just have it) strain of magic in their blood, and it affects all members of their pack; everyone can sense it, even those not in their pack. It's a gift and a curse at the same time.

A gift and a curse? I don't get it.
You're an Alpha Male with a cosy territory and a nice-sized pack. It's all good. You've got an 'aura' about you. Another Alpha Male picks up on it. You've got yourself a potential challenge, pal, and a dangerous one at that. Lose the fight and you lose it all.

So if I'm playing an Alpha I can challenge another Alpha character?
Only with the other player's permission, and you must sort out between yourselves who would win that fight, realistically. Base it on experience, physical strength, cunning, strategy and hell, even just how downright dirty your Alpha is willing to be. I won't stand in the way of that kind of side-plot, so long as I get a little head's up first.

If dominant werewolves are called Alphas and Betas, what about other strains of therianthrope? Like lions; they band together, what are their leaders called?
Bob? Jennifer? Lions don't have the same titles that wolves do. Somewhere along the line they started going by the titles First and Second. The two are always opposite sexes; if it's two males, they'll war against one another, unless they're brothers.

Do other therianthropes who live in those groups have that magic/'aura' too?
Yes they do. It's something they inherit when they achieve their dominance, like something activates in their blood. It feels a little different for each strain of therianthrope, and the creatures themselves respond more powerfully to their own 'breed' and that 'aura'.

Do the vampires have this too?
Something like it. They have a sort of charm, instead. Sort of like the big bad Dracula had over women, except in a coven situation, the leader (whether they be male or female, or a compromising pair) can channel their power and dominance through eye contact, not too unlike therianthropes, especially the wolves. The vampires' charm is a little more sinister though, and generally leaves you with a little bit of a chill down your spine.

Can I apply for a Gifted human with a power you don't have listed on the page?
Quite simply, no, I'm afraid not. The Gifted are in the minority, and there are only those specified strains and branches; in other words, powers like electrokinesis or intangibility etc don't exist in this universe, nor will they ever. There's a list of six to pick from, psychic or elemental, and they should be enough to give you some range to toy with.

Why is necromancy/mediumship so limited/rare?
Look at it this way: one day, you're fine, the next? You're hearing things that just aren't there, and you're seeing things that you know, logically, cannot exist. To put it bluntly, most of them just don't last long; the power is enough to drive even the most stable of minds towards insanity, and a lot of the people who inherit it just can't cope.

How can therianthropes and vampires have scars if they have such superb healing factors?
Vampires can be scarred by holy items, anything from a cross to a splash of holy water, if the damage is bad enough; surface damage is easy enough for their healing abilities to repair, but if it goes deep enough, then they're just as susceptible to scarring as humans are. The same can be said for therianthropes with silver, and the claws/talons/fangs of another therianthrope; if the wounds are deep and serious enough, the flesh scars.

How powerful can I make my Gifted?
It depends entirely on how experienced and powerful you would like to make your character. If you’d like, they can have very little knowledge of how things work (either because of their age or just because they haven't practised at all) and can have frequent accidents, or they can have a very good grip on their abilities. Bear in mind, however, that if you tell me your Gifted is very powerful, I will be watching your use of the powers to make sure you don’t go overboard. I’ll be giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, of course, but very powerful characters can be cause for concern.

If a therianthrope is born to a human and a therianthrope, and develops their change during puberty, how do they age?
Since the child inherits the therianthropy from the respective parent, then they age as any other therianthrope does, since there’s no such thing as a half-were. They would reach physical maturity (the point at which strength etc is peak) and then cease to age; their healing factors continuously repair any and all damage, which makes them stop aging, at least physically. This is how a werewolf of 300 can still appear in their 30s.

So do the therianthropes who were bitten rather than born age differently? Do they age like the vampires?
Nope. If they're not born, but bitten, it's essentially the same. If they're bitten at age seven, they'll continue to age until they reach their peak. However, if they're bitten at age fifty, they don't change at all; they remain at that stage, physically, even if it isn't what would have been their prime.

Do vampires get some sort of immunity to sunlight with age?
Nope, they don’t. Every vampire you’ll ever meet in the game has the same level of weakness to the sun, in that it will burn them badly and ultimately destroy them. As in kill them. It doesn’t matter how old they are, the vampires will never overcome any of their weaknesses, just as the therianthropes will never overcome theirs.

Can I play a strain of therianthrope that isn’t listed on the race’s page?
I’m sorry, but no. Obviously, a lot of work went into the strains that are listed, but not only that, in the interest of keeping things balanced and easier to follow, we’re only having those specific strains because they are the more accessible therianthropes that you’d get; players will be able to enjoy them more, and bringing in all kinds of other critters will only sort of render the page and the research that went into it pointless. But there’s a nice big list with plenty of forms to choose from, so it’s not like you should get bored.

Can characters read struck-out text on the journals?
No, they can't, because we all treat it as something the character has typed and then had second thoughts about, and therefore deleted. We just enjoy seeing those reconsidered bits and pieces, because they're not only entertaining for everyone to see, but they're fun little insights into the different characters, and what they class as inappropriate, embarrassing etc. So the other characters can't read it, but we as players can. It simply represents deleted text.

What happens/does anything happen to a human who consumes vampire blood? Like, if they haven't been drained and they drink vampire blood.
They probably throw up. It doesn't give them any special abilities, not even temporarily, and vampire blood, what there is of it, isn't exactly nice stuff, so expect some not-so-pleasant results.

What do vampires do during the day? Do they 'sleep' and wake at sunset or do they move about in areas protected from sunlight?
Vampires do what they please! They can sleep (or, technically, stop being 'animated'), read a book, play a video game or if they have company, have a nice chat about one thing or another. So long as they're protected from sunlight, it's entirely up to the vampire in question.

If a human who has problems with their senses (deafness/hearing loss, blindness/nearsightedness/astigmatism) is bitten or scratched by a therianthrope, is the deficiency corrected with their first shift or will it remain?
It depends on the severity of the problem itself. Hearing loss, nearsightedness and astigmatism, those sorts of things, would be repaired; if the character needed a hearing aid or glasses before their first shift, then the therianthropy would render those manmade supports unnecessary. Your sight would correct, and you'd hear better etc. If the character had an accident at some point and their sight/hearing was damaged, then it would take time, but the nerves etc would repair. It would just be slow. But hey, they're basically immortal, they're patient and all. However, if the character was born blind or deaf, then that's it. That never repairs. They were born that way, and no amount of supernatural healing is going to undo that.

How do the therianthropes change? What does it look/sound like, etc?
It's actually quite swift, that change. When therianthropes experience their first change, it's a bit of a shock to the system and it's kind of slow-going and awkward, a bit clumsy even, but after that, with practise, it's quick and clean and even quite beautiful, in terms of how it happens. There's a glow of light, and the human form simply changes. No horrible sounds of crunching bone and shifting cartilage, no screams of pain or pants of exertion. It's all very natural and smooth; when the glow fades, there stands the animal. And vice versa; when the animal changes back to human form, the light is there again, and everything's back where it was to begin with. For a visual reference, think Blood & Chocolate without the leaping and spinning through the air business.

I want to play a hyena therianthrope. Can I use an aardwolf as the animal form?
No, sorry, you can't. Why? If you look and read carefully, the aardwolf is dropped into the same classification as the hyenas, but it's not actually a hyena. It's in its own little group (of one) and since it's not a hyena, it works differently, and they're not taken into account in the game so that basically means aardwolf therianthropes don't actually exist.

I'd like to drop one of my characters. How do I go about doing that?
Well, in a perfect world, nobody would drop characters! But we all know how it goes; either you finish telling their story or something doesn't mesh anymore, and they have to go. It happens. Basically, there's two options. Well, technically, one for each 'type' of character.

If you play a character who is a loner and has no big/major ties to others, then you can just let them go. Let us (especially me as the mod) know they're gone, or whatever, but you don't have to do anything special. Characters who have lived in a group, on the other hand, are different. A wolf/lion/hyena/vampire who has lived in a pack/pride/clan/coven has connections to the other characters in that group, whether they're obvious or subtle, and that needs to be handled. So what I ask for is an exit narrative, something that says goodbye IC. In it, what we'd like to see is why they left, and what happened on their exit. Maybe they went back to where they came from, had a fight with someone and called it quits, or (so long as you have the go-ahead from me, of course) maybe they died. We just need something to work with, so the groups aren't suddenly without this presence they've been living with for however long.

So there's a Pack, Pride, Clan and Coven on the game. Are these 'groups' exclusive or invite-only?
Of course not! All four of those established groups are always open for expansion, as it were. More people can join. Of course, it can be a little tough to put a brand new character into an established group, but that doesn't mean you can't do it. They're not special clubs or elitist in any way. All you need to do is have a talk with someone who plays a group member (leader, preferably), and see what you can come up with. Or there's the "brand new" route to play with; they've just arrived in the city, or they've just been turned even, and they need those of their own kind to cling to. Naturally, there are exceptions to every rule, and this one is no different: The Segher Pride actually has a very complicated backstory built up from six intertwined characters, so that group may only grow with new additions, as any Segher player will tell you. But no, you don't need an invite or special permission, just creativity like with anything else in the game.

Is there a list of restricted concepts etc?
Yes there is, and you can find it on the taken page, towards the bottom. The list is subject to change at any time, due to the ever-changing numbers in the game, so I advise all applicants and long-term players check it frequently; it makes the addition of new characters run much smoother.

Who decides what becomes a restricted concept and when? Why do things get restricted?
Well, obviously as the mod, that falls to me. I usually allow a few of the same things before they end up on the restricted list to encourage the players to be more creative. As for why, this stops the game from leaning too much in one direction, and this way, no one thing runs the risk of being overdone or getting boring. For example, say you have a Russian musician. That's unique and you can have fun with it. But if we get a lot more Russians and/or musicians, your character suddenly doesn't seem so unique anymore, and that's no fun, least of all for you as players who try to concoct these individual traits and stories. The restrictions keep things from getting dull, basically, and are subject to change at any time depending on the balance and variety in the game. The only exceptions I make are when a player has been in the process of making a character and something about that character is then listed as restricted before the bio has been completed, but these must be brought to my attention before the bio is submitted, or I won't know.

How old can I make my vampire/therianthrope?
As a general rule, I don't want many old-old characters. What do I class as too old? As it stands right now, Elias Reiter is the oldest vampire and Vespa Valentine is the oldest therianthrope with the Locard Alphas taking second place. I'd like for things to stay this way so things don't get complicated and we don't have challenges (IC or OOC) flying all over the place. Those can be fun in certain settings, but it's not a contest. Those characters are old because it makes sense with who they are and because they wouldn't work any other way. I've never liked it when people make their characters old just for the sake of having old, powerful characters. Like I said, it's not a contest. Of course, as with any rule or restriction, exceptions can be made, but only by discussing them with me as a mod before you submit their bio.

Hyenas and lions are usually from Africa. So does my werehyena/lion have to be from Africa?
Of course not. Therianthropes do not have to come from the country their animal form originates from, nor does the person who transfers the therianthropy to them. Your werehyena can be Irish, or Chinese, your werewolf can be African. It really does not matter. Don't get bogged down by being too literal with nationalities and origins based on the animal form. Trust me, it really does not matter.

You know the Maned Wolf is technically a fox, right?
Yes, I do know that, but it is referred to as a wolf, and though it does have several characteristics that make it a fox, it also has several that make it a wolf, and though it doesn't live in packs, here at Breed, it is a type of wolf you can play.

How many groups can there be? Is there a limit?
In a way, there is, because I don't want everybody having their own group just so everyone can play a leader only to realise later on that there aren't enough characters to fill those groups and make it work. You can't have packs/prides/clans/covens of three or four members, after all, and unfortunately, not everyone can have a leader or a group of their own no matter how much fun they are. It just doesn't make sense for a crapload of power groups to cram into one city. As for how many are allowed, well, Breed won't actually have more than one of each kind unless the existing ones reach maximum capacity, and that varies for each faction. Of course, as with most other 'rules', special exceptions can be (and are) made, but if I'm being honest, they'll be rare.

I want to bring in a group character, but there are a few things in the bio that might cause problems. Who do I talk to about them? Should I just talk to you?
No, ideally you would talk to me and the players of the leaders of whatever group your character is intended for, and I do mean every leader, which seems like a lot of work, but it sucks to be left out of stuff like that. So if you're applying for the Pack, talk to both Alpha players and the Beta player; for the Pride, the First and Second; the Clan, the Matriarch; and the Coven, the Leader and Second In Command. It's common courtesy to bring everyone into the loop, and that way, it cuts out any potential problems before they arise in game and we get frayed tempers and confusion on all sides. And if you're not sure who plays who when it comes to the groups, as mod, it's my job to know that stuff, so just ask for names and contact details.

I really need to ask you something, but I can't find you online. Do you have a co-mod I can ask, or something?
I actually don't have a co-mod; I run this ship solo, as it were, but yeah, there are other people who have been on board since the beginning and they know a lot of stuff, but for their sake, it's best to just email or PM me through here. If you send a Private Message to this journal, "clez" or "speakofthewolf", you should get hold of me, and since IJ alerts you to new PMs right away, it's perfect. And email, of course, which can be found on the OOC Chart, obviously.

So I checked the Therianthropy page and I'm still not sure; how exactly does the full moon cycle work on this game?
We just have the one night here at Breed. Look at any calendar worth its salt and it'll show you which night the full moon falls on each month, or, you can use this site, which I use myself and it's very helpful (and will continue to be helpful for several years to come). We don't operate on the "three nights a month" system that some other games do, so your characters, if they're young enough, only have to put up with being out of control for one night each month.

Does Gifted blood taste any different from normal human blood?
Nope, not in any way. The only reason it would taste different is if they weren't human, which they are, so their blood tastes just the same as any other mortal being's, with no special kind of twists or effects, regardless of their abilities.

Can I change one of my PBs?
I'm afraid I don't allow that. I never have, in any game I've been in; unless there's some logical in-game explanation for it, I've never actually liked it; the character is suddenly different, other people have to adjust how their characters have been seeing the person, and I just think it can be messy and awkward, so I don't allow it, sorry.

If I play a Striped Hyena and someone else plays a Spotted Hyena, can those two characters, in theory, have a baby?
They can! How does that work, you might ask? Well, there's nothing really special behind it, but different sub-species in the strains can interbreed; a Grey Wolf can successfully breed with a Mexican Wolf, a Grizzly Bear can breed with a Black Bear and so on and so forth. The lines can't cross (a bear can't breed with a wolf), but they can intermingle in that way. As for what the baby will be, basically, it's survival of the fittest: do some research and find out what the strongest of the two parent animals are, and that's what your baby is. If you're not sure, you can contact me and I'll do the legwork for you and get back to you with an answer. For two parent types that are evenly matched (like with the hyenas, the Brown and the Striped are equal in size and strength, more or less), then it's pretty much a fifty-fifty chance of what the baby will be in the end. And just like with humans, the baby has the same odds of being a boy or a girl; that is in no way influenced by dominance or the gender of the parent who passes down the animal type.

What about if my therianthrope character has a child with a human? What happens then?
The baby will be a therianthrope like the parent. There are no exceptions; the therianthropy is always going to be more powerful and therefore influential than the mortal genes, and so, whatever your immortal parent is, that's what the child will be.

Can vampires safely ingest animal blood? Like pigs' blood, for example?
Animal blood, like pigs' blood from butchers or even stray cats and dogs, is perfectly safe for vampires. It doesn't taste anywhere near as good as human blood, but they can feed on it and survive. Some vampires might prefer it that way, if only because it means they don't have to run the risk of taking a human life in order to survive, but they do have to settle for poorer quality.

So what about therianthrope blood? Can vampires drink that without ill effect?
They can, but for most vampires, it's just too rich, it's too powerful a flavour and it puts most of them off, honestly. Some vampires prefer it because it's richer, but it depends on the individual vampire and their tastes, just like humans with their diets and preferences, really.

So vampires can't tolerate crosses and crucifixes, but what about other religious symbols? What if my character wears a St. Christopher? Will that repel a vampire?
They make vampires uneasy because of the association, but they don't actually harm them. Vampires can touch things like St. Christophers etc, without being burned, because they aren't strictly 'holy'. Crosses and crucifixes are different because of their powerful significance, but most other symbols just tend to disgust or unnerve them, simply for being what they are.

On the Therianthrope page, you say that all werewolf packs are lead by an Alpha pair. Is that always the case, or are there exceptions?
It’s not always the case, no. There are exceptions, as there are for most things, but they are rare (and when I say rare, I do mean rare). In general, a pack is more balanced with an Alpha pair as opposed to a single wolf taking the lead solo, but just as is the case in the wild, it’s possible for one to be in command without a mate or equal.