The Far Shore Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
godsoffortune) wrote2016-01-13 07:25 pm
godsoffortune) wrote2016-01-13 07:25 pm
FAQ
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Apps | Cracked Shinki | Activity | Regains Basics | In-Character Mechanics | Drops/Reapps | Powers | Items | Living | Admin General: Basics Do I have to have read/watched Noragami to really enjoy this game? No way! Our goal is to make this game fun for everyone who joins, no matter if you know Noragami or not. We'll try our best to explain everything that you'll need to know in order to enjoy this game to the fullest. How many OOC days pass in an IC day? Until April 1, 2018, the Far Shore worked on a 3:1 day ratio. In other words, each IC day lasted three OOC days. From April 1, 2018 forward, the Far Shore works on a 2:1 ratio, or, in other words, each IC day lasts two OOC days. For a visual representation of how this works, see our calendar. General: In-Character Mechanics Does my character ICly know how many followers/how much exp they have? Is there any IC effect from having more followers/exp? Gods and shinki innately sense how much more powerful they are getting in relation to the OOC follower/exp counts. They don't ICly know the exact number of followers/exp they have. The exp/followers is a general measure of how powerful a god or shinki is. If, for example, a shinki with low exp were to attack a shinki with high exp, the lower-exp shinki would very likely be overpowered. However, there is a chance that even a high-exp shinki can still lose, for example by being taken by surprise or by having their confidence shaken. The same thing could likewise happen with gods. Blight affects all shinki and gods equally, no matter how powerful they are. What causes blight? Can my character protect against blight by wearing extra clothing/armor/etc? Gods and shinki get blighted when they touch ayakashi or blighted skin on another god/shinki with their bare skin. Secretions from an ayakashi, such as spittle, venom, blood, etc., also cause blight. Normal clothing or armor can protect against blight for a short time, but not forever; it will eventually "soak through" to affect the skin underneath. So, for example, a god wearing gloves might punch an ayakashi once without being blighted, but if they kept punching, eventually their hands would be blighted by contact. In the case of a shinki that becomes clothing, they will protect their god against being blighted perfectly, with no "soak through" blight. However, they can only protect the part of their god's skin that they cover. What hurts an ayakashi? Can my character's canon powers work against ayakashi? Ayakashi are resistant to any attacks except for those that are inflicted by a shinki in vessel form wielded by a god. Although denizens of the Far Shore (i.e. gods, shinki and spirits) can attack ayakashi using magical powers or mundane weapons, to destroy an ayakashi they must use the vessel form of their shinki to attack. The attack itself has to come from the shinki, in the hands of a god. Essentially, the god combines their power with their shinki's in order to 'rend' the ayakashi, which is a specific spell used when the ayakashi is caught off-guard or is sufficiently weakened. For non-weapon shinki, creative attacks (such as the god choking an ayakashi while wearing a clothing shinki, or smacking an ayakashi away with a shinki whose form is a book), or attacks by the god using the shinki's vessel power, can be used to destroy an ayakashi. Only a god-shinki pair using Rend can destroy an ayakashi. A character's canon abilities or powers are not enough, although they can be used to weaken or injure the ayakashi, making it susceptible to rend. Gods see a shinki's death and sometimes other memories, and can feel their shinki's strong emotions. Do shinki know about that? Shinki do not know that their gods know anything specific about their life and death. Anything a shinki knows about what their god knows would have to have been told to them, but gods feel compelled not to say anything about what they know regarding a shinki's life and death, and shinki feel compelled not to ask. Likewise, shinki do not know that gods can sense their emotions unless it is explained to them. Gods can sense strong emotions from their shinki, both negative and positive, but there is no compulsion not to talk about or ask about feeling a shinki's emotions, since it doesn't have to do with the shinki's past. How does teleportation work? Can shinki teleport? Gods can teleport around the Near Shore and Far Shore, as well as teleporting between the two through a shrine or temple. The only exception is that they cannot teleport into a residence/temple without permission. Gods can take another shinki or god with them when they teleport, but cannot take living human beings. Shinki can only teleport between the two Shores by using a shrine, and have to walk from there. Can my character tell the difference between humans and gods/shinki? Residents of the Far Shore can, for the most part, recognize others from the Far Shore on sight, through a sort of sixth sense. There is room to make mistakes, however. General: Drops/Reapps What happens ICly when a character drops? When a character is dropped, it means that that soul has been lost to the Heavens. Apparently, the magic that is creating new gods and shinki isn't very stable. IC-ly characters can assume whatever makes sense surrounding the situation. Most of the time the character just 'disappears', and while their fate is uncertain, currently the characters are mostly assuming the optimistic view that they 'go home'. When a god is dropped, in all cases except for Japanese deities, their temple disappears, leaving freshly turned earth behind. Belongings and pets in the temple can either disappear or remain with CR at the player's discretion. All shinki names given by the dropped god will immediately disappear. (Shinki do not innately feel the name disappearing, but may notice its absence.) When a shinki is dropped, their god(s) will feel their name disappear, and know that they are gone. As with gods, personal belongings may disappear or remain with CR at the player's discretion. What happens to my character's followers or exp when they're dropped? Followers and exp are lost when a character drops. If you wish to submit regain requests for other characters to use up your remaining points, you may do so. However, you cannot reapp at a later time and get your exp/followers back. What happens ICly when a character dies? When a character dies, they either disappear, or their soul stays in the heavens, reappearing as either god or shinki. It is up to the player. (More information is on the deaths page) The body of a dead god or shinki does not stick around or decompose like a "real" body. Instead, after a period of time lasting between a few hours and a day, it will disappear. What happens if my shinki character's god drops? When a shinki loses their god to a drop, the shinki player can choose a new god for their shinki to be bound to, or can wait for the mods to shuffle them to a new god. Automatic shuffles occur at the end of the app period each month. IC-ly, the shinki will have to find someplace to stay in the interim, as the god's temple will disappear when they do. If you do not want your godless shinki to be automatically assigned to a new god, please make sure to opt out of the shuffle! When a god drops, the name associated with that god disappears from the shinki's body. The player does not necessarily need to pick a new name, vessel form, and power to go with their newly-assigned god -- they can re-use the old ones if they oocly prefer to do so. If they reuse a name, they'd have the same name, but it would be associated with their new god, not their old one. I apped as a shinki, but I want my character to be a god now (or vice versa.) Can I switch? Yes. A switch from shinki to god (or vice-versa) can be done by canon update, dying, or dropping and re-apping at a later time. In the case of dying, the character loses all their memories of their time in the game so far, except for one specific memory. See the death page for details. Unless the character is switching from god to shinki, this loss of in-game memories can be reversed via the "Reverse Death" regain. In the case of canon updating or reapplying the same character to the same status as god or shinki, the player can choose what memories from the game the character keeps. When updating/reapping in as a different status, shinki becoming gods can remember their time in the game if the player so chooses. They can also now remember their canon past. Gods becoming shinki will have to choose a canon death point. They would forget their time as a god, and would only be able to find out about what happened with them in their time as a god through others ICly telling them. However, characters telling them about their time as a god are not harmful memories to them. (The memories that cause a shinki to corrupt into an ayakashi are those from their pre-death past, which is to say their life in their canon.) In the case of a god becoming a shinki, memories from the character's time in the game cannot be regained through the 'regain' mechanic. A shinki changing to god needs to choose a god and power and submit that with the application. A god changing to shinki needs to choose a vessel and power. Please be sure to read the respective forms on each page carefully. What if I want my god character to die in game, and that death to be their "death" when they come back as a shinki? This is possible, but if you are using an in-game death as your character's "death" for the purposes of their becoming a shinki, then learning anything about their previous time in game as a god has the potential to turn them into an ayakashi. However, they would be able to use the memory regain mechanic to get back memories of their time in game. How can I change my god's or shinki's power? You can gain an additional power for a god or shinki by using the Extra Power regain. In the case of a shinki, this would mean that their additional power could be used for any god who names them. Shinki can choose a new vessel form and new power with each god that names them. If you happen to drop a character and later re-app the same character, you may choose a different power if you wish. General: Powers Can psychic powers or deductive abilities be used to uncover information about a shinki's past? Psychic powers that let a character uncover information another character knows cannot reveal any more information about a shinki than the shinki consciously remembers. For example, a telepathic character couldn't "discover" memories about a shinki's past by reading their mind. Abilities that can uncover information about another character regardless of whether the character knows it themselves or not might discover information about a shinki's past. For example, a character who can see the past of anything they touch might be able to see information about a shinki's past when shaking their hand. Sherlock Holmes might be able to guess a shinki's former occupation through observation and deduction. If your character has an ability of this sort, they would feel a strong aversion to telling the shinki anything about their past that they might learn using their ability. My character can see spirits or analyze energy. What would they see in an ayakashi? Characters with the ability to see the nature of spirits or souls will find nothing but malice in an ayakashi. Any semblance of a human soul that once existed is gone, replaced with negative feelings and an evil energy. My character has healing abilities. Does this let them heal from blight or heal other characters' blight? If a character has healing/holy/purification/status ailment clearing abilities, they can use those abilities to help clear blight. They can still be blighted, and blight takes a significantly longer time to heal than simple physical injuries (as a rule of thumb, assume about half a day for minor blight.) Of course, if they use blessed water then they will be cured much more effectively. Can my character's canon abilities affect their shinki or god powers? Your character's canon powers can be used to amplify the Noragami canon powers. For example, adding a character's fire ability to a borderline might make a flaming borderline. Can normal weapons hurt ayakashi? Any conventional (non-shinki) weapon can distract, annoy, and slightly wound an ayakashi, but cannot kill it. Should a character devise a way to add purifying water to the weapon, such as putting it in a bullet, the attack would be more effective and any inflicted wounds would be more severe. However, no attack except a rend performed by a god with a shinki's vessel form can destroy an ayakashi. My character has a canon singing-related magic ability. How does that affect song spells? Gods who have a canon singing-related ability can still use it with no changes, but, because they aren't shinki, cannot learn song spells. Shinki who have a canon singing-related ability may find it a little easier, or at least more familiar, to learn song spells. At least they have the advantage of being able to stay in tune! General: Items Can my character make something from home? Or would it have to be regained? Characters are welcome to try and re-create items from their own world or experience. Success will vary based on whether the technology and materials required are available in the game's modern Earth setting. For instance, magical or alchemical potions that rely on magical ingredients couldn't be replicated in a modern Earth setting. Similarly, technology that's advanced far beyond modern levels would be hard or impossible to replicate in-game. For shinki characters, they won't know if they have the skill to create an item they might know of until they try. Can characters brew special medicines or potions? For instance, a canon Noragami character makes a medicine to stop blight from hurting. If characters ICly research the techniques necessary to make medicines or potions, they could learn how to create simple ones themselves. Comment on the Book Request thread if your character wants to research these techniques. Can characters make ofuda ICly? Can they cast magic using ofuda? It is possible for gods or shinki to make an ofuda (made by inscribing certain words, including the name of a god or shrine, on a strip of wood, metal or paper). However, they do have to learn how to make a ritually effective ofuda from someone who's familiar with the process, or by researching and practicing the process. In other words, they can do it, but it isn't as simple as just writing their god's name down on a piece of paper -- it's a special skill that would need to be learned. The ofuda that characters would be able to learn how to make in game could call blessings and good fortune down, or repel ayakashi. Advanced ofuda magic would take much longer to learn. General: Living How does water from a shrine affect ayakashi, exactly? Blessed water from a temple or shrine can purify blight. It can also be used to deter ayakashi. Tiny and small ayakashi will be weaker against it to the point of being badly wounded and will actively run away from it. A medium ayakashi will be quite put off by it. In canon, one threw up the water it ingested. Larger ayakashi will be less affected on the surface, but will still avoid being splashed by it as it hurts them. They will also be reluctant to enter a pond or stream of purified water, but can if pressed. Are the old gods and shinki around? How often do characters ICly encounter them? The old gods mostly keep to their own business and do not cross paths with the new gods regularly. They find this all rather unusual and disturbing- particularly the part about some of the new shinki remembering things from their life before. They are watching the situation and forming their own opinions as the game progresses. Many old gods and shinki prefer to reside in their shrines on the Near Shore rather than in the Heavens, so characters who investigate shrines around the Near Shore may encounter older gods there. How can my character research information about the Heavens, magic, or other subjects? There is a group of volunteers trying to organize the library now. Their efforts are having an impact in that the chances of finding what you're looking for are slightly better! And the place is less of a mess. However, despite their best efforts, the library remains disorganized due to some mysterious magical attributes of the place. If a character wants to find a specific book from the heaven's library, the player should comment on the book request thread at the Locations page. Due to the situation at the library, it is not guaranteed that the character will be able to get the book they requested. For details about spell books, refer to the Shinki 101. Can a god date their shinki? What about someone else's shinki? There is a taboo regarding romantic relationships between a god and their shinki. That isn't to say it doesn't happen (Bishamon and Kazuma, for example), and there are no official consequences if a god and shinki enter into a relationship, but the Heavens tend to frown on it. General: Admin I'm not sure if I want to app as a god or a shinki. Do I have to pick one for the Test Drive? Do I have to app the same one I pick? The Test Drive is for you to figure out the dynamics of the game, so you are welcome to pretend anything you'd like with it. You can write a thread with your character as a shinki on the Test Drive and then app as a god, or vice versa, or even try out your character as both a god and a shinki. Your threads can be used as samples for your app regardless. Can I use more than one journal for the purposes of extra icons/an IC alter ego or alternate identity/a pet/etc? Players may have an alternate account for their character for icon purposes. Please make a note of the other journal name on your character's information page to avoid confusion. We recommend using your primary journal as often as possible, as our comment tracking method may miss comments made using an alternate journal. Is it a problem if I ever write a one-line reply? Even on the BBS? Regarding the rule that "one-line replies … on a consistent basis will not be tolerated", what this means is that players should not be consistently giving responses that are too short to be responded to appropriately. In other words, occasional one-line replies are fine; it's a pattern of overly short or unresponsive tags that would be a problem. In-Character Mechanics | Arriving in the The Far Shore | Past Event Information The World: In-Character Mechanics There are so many weird words here! What do these things mean?
How does the network function here? Simply put, the network is just the Internet! Gods and shinki are welcome to use Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, or any social media you can think of. There is also a special BBS that is set up strictly for use by Far Shore residents, so you are welcome to note that any general network post you make is going up on the BBS. See below for more info about the Far Shore-specific BBS. Can I talk with mortals on the Near Shore? You can, but it is traditionally frowned upon . On top of that, you will have to work pretty hard to get their attention. The residents of the Near Shore naturally do not realize that people of the Far Shore are even around, looking over them like they are just part of the scenery. People of the Far Shore are not 'invisible' to people of the Near Shore. Rather, they occupy a person's "blind spot". In the same way that you don't remember the face of every person you pass by on the street, or might miss seeing a couple of the waiters in a restaurant, the people of the Far Shore are naturally easy to overlook and forget. Gods and shinki can be interacted with normally if they bring enough attention to themselves. Ayakashi, although they are also beings of the Far Shore, live further back in people's blind spots, and therefore are extremely difficult for mortals to notice, no matter how noisy or destructive they become. Certain mortals can more easily notice residents of the Near Shore. For instance, gods and shinki are more easily visible to those close to death, those with a genetic predisposition to 'see' the supernatural (such as Hiyori's family), babies, and animals. My character doesn't speak Japanese. How will they communicate with people in Japan? Characters will be able to speak and understand Japanese as a by-product of being a resident of Takamagahara. Both god and shinki characters will still remember any other languages they knew previously. (Languages are knowledge, and shinki retain them.) Literate characters entering this game will be automatically able to read hiragana and katakana, but will need to study kanji. Illiterate characters will need to study from square one. A blind character would come into this world with a knowledge of Japanese braille, in the same way that sighted characters find themselves able to understand kana. A mute character would be able to understand Japanese sign language. If characters consciously try to write or speak in another language they know, they will be able to do so. Otherwise, Japanese comes most naturally to them now. How can my character travel between the Near and Far Shores? To travel from the world of the living to Takamagahara, the world of the gods, a character simply needs to stand on the grounds of a shrine and will themselves to travel to Takamagahara. It is best to use the shrine belonging to your character or your character's god, but shrines belonging to other gods can be used with the permission of that god or one of their shinki. Every god has at least one shrine in the world of the living. The character will appear in Takamagahara on the grounds of the residence belonging to the god whose shrine they used. To travel from Takamagahara to the world of the living, a character simply needs to will themselves to travel to the world of the living while standing on the grounds of their residence. They will appear at their shrine in the world of the living. What is Takamagahara like? Takamagahara consists mostly of temples and shrines, with some wooded areas and small parks. See the Locations page for a map and details. Takamagahara is the home of the gods, from Amaterasu all the way down to the lowliest enshrined spirit. It has natural seasons, but the weather is always perfect (unless otherwise noted) -- it's heaven, after all! Characters with environmental sensitivities, from hayfever to humidity, will find that they are not an issue in Takamagahara. While the moon does appear in the sky in Takamagahara, the moon cycle only has an effect on the Near Shore. It does not affect the Far Shore. Should a werewolf character want to transform on the full moon, they would probably want to check a lunar calendar, then make sure they were on the Near Shore on that night to be able to transform. Can my character travel around the world? Can my character's shrine be anywhere in the world? Takamagahara is the home of gods who are worshipped in Japan. In other words, every god character in game has one shrine somewhere in Japan when they arrive in game. However, they are free to travel around the world as they wish. The main office in Takamagahara has records of "officially" registered Japanese shrines and temples. Heaven is registering new gods automatically with the office when they arrive, seeing as they're taking up residence in Takamagahara, but only shrines and temples in Japan will be listed. Overseas shrines and temples for foreign gods would be registered with their respective foreign office. The record of a god's temples is available by request from the office. My character is a historical figure. Will they find themselves in history textbooks? The history for the Noragami world is the same as modern Earth. Historical characters from other canons/stories in the game are not the exact people that were in this Earth's history, but they are welcome to draw parallels between themselves and the historical figure. (Shinki characters would, of course, not recognize or remember anything about their own lives as a result of seeing historical information about "someone with the same name.") My character is from a popular Japanese series. Will they find themselves on movie posters? While movies, TV shows, video games and such do exist in the world, none of the exact franchises associated with any of the characters exist. (The Heavens can't allow them to exist for copyright reasons. ;) ) Likewise, characters from other canons/stories who happen to live in modern Earth Japan would not be in the modern Japan of this world. If, for example, a character from a card game franchise wanted to make a deck for the card game they know, they'd have to make it themselves with cardboard and markers or their own card creating powers if they had them. They would not find the exact cards that they know in stores. How will my character get food? Money? Clothes? Housing and food are provided for by gods' temples. The housing includes amenities, such as video game consoles, but anything new, for instance a new video game that comes out, would have to be bought by the characters. The temple provides food by intermittently filling the fridge with various things. Players are welcome to have this vary from being perfectly reasonable groceries in a timely manner to completely unfortunate, such as the fridge only supplying bags of grapefruits once a week and nothing else. If characters want anything mundane from the Near Shore, gods and shinki alike will have to land jobs in order to earn money to buy things. It may be hard for them to get people to pay attention to them, but residents of the Far Shore can hold down jobs if they make an effort. Players can decide on a job for themselves, and are welcome to even have their characters work their way up the corporate ladder if they wish. Gods also receive some income in the form of offerings at their temples on the Near Shore. Players can decide a reasonable income for themselves based on how popular their god is. As a rule of thumb, you can estimate a god's income from offerings by assuming that a follower will donate on average 5 yen per week. (Some may be more likely to get large donations, others less; this is only a general guideline.) Any man-made devices that aren't present in your character's temple will need to be purchased from the Near Shore. However, if it is a common, general amenity that your character would usually have around, like hair dryers or video game consoles, your character may find it in the temple. My character needs a specific medicine from their home world. How can they get it in game? Since characters are now physically gods or spirits, they will not necessarily still have the illnesses or medical conditions that they had in life. When apping, you can choose for your character to be affected by those conditions or to not be affected by them, whichever you prefer. If you choose for your character to have a medical condition that requires ongoing treatment in game, the temple will provide essential equipment for the character to treat themselves, such as oxygen tanks, IV drips, or world-specific medication. Note that a shinki with such a condition would be in trouble if they come to have no god, and therefore no temple to provide their medicines. Can my god character talk to their shinki about their life together before The Far Shore? No. All gods will have an innate feeling of dread at the idea of talking to a shinki about their past, which discourages them from doing so either deliberately or accidentally. Likewise, shinki have the innate sense that thinking or asking about their past will only harm them. Gods are informed upon their arrival that giving their shinki any information about the shinki's past will cause them to become an ayakashi. What exactly is blight? Blight can occur in a few different ways. The easiest way for blight to happen is if a character comes into direct contact with an ayakashi - which is an impure soul. This blight would manifest as a dark purplish coloring of the skin, like a disgusting bruise, that aches and spreads and eventually corrupts a person if left unattended. Another way to be blighted is to come into contact with someone else who is already blighted, resulting in the same sort of symptoms. This kind of blighting can be washed away with holy water and is very easy to treat. The other kind of blighting is when a shinki stings their god. Stinging occurs when a shinki does something that they feel guilt about, no matter how minor. The worse the guilt, the more painful the sting. As guilt grows more severe, the painful sensation of a sting turns into outright blighting on the god and manifests as ayakashi-like symptoms on the shinki (ie eyeballs popping up on their body, sprouting wings, etc.). The only way to cure this kind of blight is for the shinki to apologize for their misbehavior. However, if the blighting goes as far as manifesting ayakashi-like on the shinki, an ablution might be necessary in order to force the shinki to apologize properly. And even that does not always work. The World: Arriving in the The Far Shore What happens when my character arrives in game? When a god character wakes up, they are greeted by a shinki in white robes with a gold chrysanthemum emblazoned on the chest. The white-robed shinki will explain everything about the situation they can. Whichever god was chosen for the character will be described to them - so if a player chose, say, Zeus, the messenger would explain that Zeus is a god of lightning and what sorts of things people pray to Zeus for. The powers of killing ayakashi and naming shinki will be explained to the god, as will the special power that you chose for your character in their app. The god will be told who their shinki is. Some gods will already share a bond with that shinki, and would have had a vision of that person's death as soon as they woke up, thereby being able to recognize that person from the memories they experienced. Other gods will not have that bond yet, and will have to go by name and description to find their shinki. (It is OOC-ly up to the players which situation they prefer to play out.) Lastly, Amaterasu's shinki will hand the god a sealed envelope. It is a note from Amaterasu herself with the simple message "Please do not talk to your shinki about their life or death. It will result in their soul being lost to despair and impurity." The shinki who passed you the message will insist that they must leave you before you read it. The new god will be guided to the location of the intro log, where the new shinki will be gathered to meet them. There they will receive further information and training for the battles to come. Gods who have not named their shinki yet can find them at this gathering and name them. At that time they will receive the vision of their shinki's death. You can assume that any generic question your character might have asked about the setting will be explained in the way that it is detailed in the FAQ or God 101/Shinki 101 pages. When a shinki character arrives in heaven, they wake up outside the Meeting Hall. They have no recollections beyond their name, and that they are now dead. They are greeted by a shinki in white robes with a gold chrysanthemum emblazoned on the chest. The white-robed shinki will explain everything about the situation they can, telling the new shinki character that they are now the divine instrument for a god, and that they now have the task of working together with their god to help humans. The white-robed shinki will do their very best to make sure every single shinki who arrives goes to the location of the intro log. (Characters would be free to attempt to evade being sent to the meeting, if they wish, however the shinki are difficult to evade.) There they can meet their god, be named if they did not wake up already bearing a name, learn more about being a shinki, and train for the battles ahead. Thanks to the efforts of some of the new gods and shinki, a pamphlet has been prepared and will be provided to new shinki. It describes shinki abilities and how to live as a shinki. Details will be found in each month's introduction log. When does my character show up ICly? All the new gods and shinki show up at the same time -- the day that the intro log is posted. It isn't possible to ICly backdate a character's appearance to a time before the intro log. The World: Past Event Information During the Valentines Day event, ayakashi were trapped in chocolate. Any character that happens to still have those chocolates, the ayakashi are still within. They will not escape, as being in the chocolate is part of what they are made to do. They will not die, as of course only 'rend' kills ayakashi. They have the same effects as before. The chocolates do not have an expiration date printed. If the chocolates were destroyed in a manner besides eating them, like crushing them into pieces, melting them down, etc., the ayakashi inside would be released. However they will not have the specific target of the person eating the chocolate, and therefore be more likely to just run away. During the spring cleaning event, gods were asked to clean out temples that were abandoned. They were mostly the temples of long-since-forgotten gods – gods that no longer have a purpose on the Near Shore, and so they no longer actually exist. The temples were most definitely abandoned. (Except for the odd creature, oops.) Currently there are no 'wild' masked ayakashi around. They would only appear with a specific prompt in a prayer or future plot. Should a (devious) character wish, they are allowed to make replica, non-magical masks themselves, as it is simply a white mask with an eye inked onto it. In regards to what can be sensed from a genuine mask, there would be some spell energy there to be sensed as the mask itself is, at the least, a defining part of the curse spell to name ayakashi. A character able to sense that kind of aura or energy would be able to sense that 'negative' curse energy. He can't discern what kind of purpose the spell might have just from its energy. He'll find that he can't sense the mask from any distance further than about a handspan away. Please read through the God 101 for a thorough description of How Gods Work. Basics | Gods and Shinki Gods: Basics My character is now a god. How does that work? Congratulations, your character can now do no wrong, because a god is always just. Or so they say… but your character will likely undergo a lot of scrutiny from the Heavens, so they might want to stay on the down-low for a while. Your god character will wake up in a room of their home in Takamagahara - the Far Shore - and meet with a messenger of the Heavens who will explain that they are now a god. (See World: Arriving for full details.) How do I choose what god my character is? First, you will pick out three (3) gods that you think fit your character and that are not currently represented by characters in game or appearing in the Noragami canon. Wikipedia has a pretty solid list of both major and minor gods, and you can see which gods currently have incarnations in game on the gods page. Here is a list of the gods seen in the Noragami series as of right now. Potential god choices could include: Cthulhu and other fictional gods, gods from Abrahamic religions (Jesus, YHWH, etc.), deified beings (part-gods, humans or animals, such as Hercules, Abe no Seimei, or Station Master Tama), or figures from monotheistic religions that are considered to be "heavenly," such as archangels. Second, the mods will choose which god your character will be the reincarnation of and let you know in your approval message. It's as simple as that! Upon entering the game, all gods will have the same number of followers, and no god will inherit any pre-existing shinki from previous incarnations, so it doesn't matter whether the god you choose is major or obscure. Everyone will start on an even footing. What counts as a god? Which gods are appable? The concept of "god" is often different in different religions' theologies, but in general, a being that is worshipped independently and is seen as being a figure of power in their own right (as opposed to a particularly devout human, like saints or prophets in Christian theology) would count. To count as a god, they have to have been worshipped in their own right. For example, Hercules was worshipped as a protector of mankind in ancient Greece, with his main temple in Thebes, and was a favorite god of athletes, so, as a deified hero, he would be considered appable as a god. Fictional gods from a character's canon or from other works of fiction (such as Lovecraftian deities) are also appable. What powers can I have as a god? Your character can keep whatever powers they have in canon, but may need to power them down ('nerf' them) so that they are not game-breaking. Aside from whatever powers your character already has, they will gain basic god powers. For example, gods can teleport from place to place at will, taking other members of the Far Shore along with them if they wish to (and sometimes even when they don't wish to). They will not gain the ability to name wandering souls, but they can name already-named shinki to make them nora, and can name 'soulless' shinki. They will have the power to revoke their shinki's vessel names, in a situation where they feel a shinki should not be in their service anymore. In Noragami canon, a god can possess a devoted follower. This is something that new gods can potentially do, with mod approval. If there is a case where the player wants to possess a follower for the purpose of answering a prayer or responding to a summoning ritual, simply send us the ideas you have planned out. In addition to that, you will gain a power that is unique to you as a god. The god page lists some examples and the powers that are currently in use by other gods. We encourage players to be as unique, creative and diverse as possible when choosing their god's power, but gods with the same or similar powers to another are permissible. The god I picked has traditional animal companions. Can my character have animal companions now? A god's familiars (for example, Odin's ravens) would have been shinki in the Noragami setting, so characters do not get the animal familiars of the god they are taking over from. However, a temple may come with some animals included if the player wants it to. Temple animals will largely remain on the grounds of the temple, and are normal animals (that is, they won't grant the god any special advantages or extra powers.) What does my god's temple look like? God's homes/temples are designed by the players of those gods. General descriptions of each home can be found on the Locations page. There are no creative restrictions on designing a god's temple. Be as ridiculous as you want! New gods' temples will appear in the "Western District," among the dwellings of minor and obscure deities. As gods gain more followers, they have the chance to move their temple to districts where more successful and well-known deities reside. What happens to a god's temple if that god is dropped? When a 'new' god (a player character) disappears (is dropped from the game), their temple also vanishes. What is left behind is an empty lot, like it was just recently bulldozed flat. If another player apps that same god, they get to design a new temple for the god. The previous temple for that god does not reappear, even though the god is the same. Characters may initially assume that they are "moving into" a temple vacated by the god who previously held their title, but are free to realize that temples are disappearing and changing by observing or hearing about disappearances. The exception to a new god's temple disappearing is for Japanese/shinto gods, because the old temple (from before the game's opening) remains intact at all times. When an 'old' god (one original to the Noragami world or a Japanese/shinto god) disappears, their temple does not disappear, but all their shinki do. The temple is not necessarily abandoned, however, as the god may have friends willing to maintain the temple until they (hopefully) return. In this case, the player who first played the Japanese god gets to design the temple, and if they drop and another player takes up that god, they will inherit that same temple. However, they are welcome to make additions or minor changes to the existing structure. The only time a previously seen temple would reappear after disappearing is if the same player apps into the game again with the same character and same god. Does my god have to lose their memories? Nope! If you would like for some memories to become hazy or strange for your god character, that is perfectly alright, but they are not required to lose their memory in any way. Gods: And Shinki Do I get to choose my shinki? From an in-character perspective, no, your god will not get to choose what shinki they have. The shinki are being assigned by the Heavens directly. However, if you have an out-of-character preference for a type of weapon, castmates, or certain characters, you are more than welcome to detail that in your application or speak directly to the mods. We will accommodate you as much as we can. My friend wants to app in as a shinki. Can that shinki belong to my god? Of course! You and your friend simply both need to list in your application that you would like to be paired with each other. Can I name my shinki? The shinki given to the current incarnations of the gods will already have their own names from their own worlds, but you are more than welcome to work with your shinki to come up with their vessel name if you would like to. How friendly do I have to be with my shinki? You don't have to treat your shinki in any way that you don't feel comfortable with. However, keep in mind that all gods feel what their shinki feel and that a shinki that does something they consider morally wrong will sting their master and end up blighting them. Also, gods know more about their shinki than the shinki know about themselves. So what exactly do I know about my shinki? Every god sees the death that their shinki had to suffer through upon naming them. (Gods entering the game can choose which way the initial meeting plays out. See World: Arriving for full details.) All shinki are required to write out an explanation of their death and post it on their character's journal, so it will be easy to find the information that you need to know about your shinki. Besides that, you are welcome to discuss with the player of your shinki what other memories the god saw. Gods are also constantly aware of their shinki's state of mind, particularly of negative emotions. Can I talk to my shinki about their past? Absolutely not. (See also World: In-Character Mechanics) Gods have an innate, gut-wrenching sense that they should not talk to their shinki about their past, even if they knew them in life. They instinctively know that something awful will happen if they bring up their shinki's life or death and their body will physically react to any thoughts or attempts to go against this instinct. Gods are also specifically told on arrival that giving their shinki any information about their past will result in the irreversible corruption of the shinki into an ayakashi. Can I talk to other characters about my shinki's past? Gods are allowed to speak with other gods about the death and previous life of shinki (referred to as 'the god's greatest secret'). Canon gods will be uncomfortable with the topic, however. Can I talk to my shinki about my past? Gods are free to talk about their own past with their shinki. However, any part of their past that touches on a shinki's past will raise the warning flags in their mind. They might feel more comfortable avoiding the subject or talking around parts of their past that were shared with their shinki. For a more detailed explanation, refer to the God 101. How many shinki will I get to start out with? Normally, gods start the game with only one shinki. However if at the time of apping two shinki wish to belong to the same god, we will do our best to accommodate that. The request must be mentioned in the application. A newly apped god can request to not have a shinki to start, or to have a preference for a soulless (NPC) shinki. This should be mentioned under the "Anything Else?" header in your application. Note that being without a shinki is a large disadvantage in this world, so we encourage god characters to have a shinki as much as possible. If there is an imbalance in the number of gods who need shinki and the number of shinki willing to be assigned to gods, we will assign a soulless shinki to the gods who don't have a PC shinki. What happens if my god's shinki drops? When a god's player shinki drops from the game, the god player has the option of either remaining without a shinki, waiting a little bit for heaven to assign a shinki to them (usually at the time of a new app round, but feel free to contact the mods), or to take on a soulless shinki. Gods can also ICly name other player shinki, with the shinki player's permission. If you want your character to take on a soulless shinki, please update the god info page with that information. If you do not want a new shinki randomly assigned to your character, please let us know that, too! But note that a god without a shinki will be living at a disadvantage. Current god players in the game who have no player shinki will have priority to receive any available shinki at the next app round. Can a god name more shinki? Is there a limit on the number they're allowed to have? Gods have the potential to name as many shinki as they wish, but need to keep in mind that supporting them is a mental strain as the god can sense the emotions of all their shinki. Obviously, ICly naming new shinki should only be done with the OOC permission of the shinki's player, although gods do not have to have the shinki's permission ICly. While there is no rule limiting the number of shinki a god can have, we do ask as a courtesy that players prioritize pairing shinki with gods who have no player character shinki. What happens to soulless shinki if their god drops? What if their god gets a PC shinki? Gods can name abandoned soulless shinki. If a god knows about another character's soulless shinki that got left behind when that character disappeared, they can go looking for the shinki. There is a small, previously abandoned temple on the Far Shore that houses unclaimed soulless shinki. The population fluctuates, but somewhere around a couple dozen residents would be the normal amount at any point. If a god with a soulless shinki gets assigned a player shinki, the god is welcome to choose to either have their character release the soulless shinki or keep them. Whichever the player chooses, please update the information on the god info page. Can a soulless shinki be a nora (named by more than one god)? Soulless shinki can become nora. If your character gives an additional name to a soulless shinki, please be sure to update your information on the god page. Please read through the Shinki 101 for a thorough description of How Shinki Work. Basics | Memory | Bodies | Names | Vessel Form | Powers | Shinki and Gods Shinki: Basics My character is now a shinki. How does that work? Depending on your luck, congratulations may be in order! Working for some gods means living the high life. Unfortunately, working for others is like living with the scum of the earth. Let's hope you're with the former rather than the latter. As a newly-awakened shinki, you will have no idea where you are, why you are here, or how you even came to this point in your life. The only thing you will remember is your name and that you are no longer in the world of the living, because you have died. Upon arriving in heaven you will find yourself just outside the Meeting Hall. There are many of Amaterasu's white uniformed shinki directing you towards the location of the entry log, where you will be able to meet your god (they'll know you when they see you somehow), gather more information, and gain training for the battles ahead. Occasionally there may be an event that will cut short the welcome meeting, and characters will find themselves moved to another location. How can my shinki ICly find out what they can do and how being a shinki works? It is possible for shinki characters to find NPC shinki and ask them questions about being a shinki. An NPC shinki can give general answers about most topics covered in the FAQ. If in doubt about what information your shinki can find out, players are welcome to contact the mods with their questions. Alternatively, shinki can IC-ly ask other characters who have been around a while, or to ask a canon character. Additionally, there would be many resources available to the shinki at the training log that happens every 15 IC days, including a brochure compiled by a character in-game to help new shinki understand their position. Do I get to choose my god? How are shinki matched up with gods? ICly, no, your shinki doesn't get to choose. OOCly, if you have a god in mind that you'd like to work with, you are more than welcome to request them in your application. Otherwise, shinki are randomly shuffled to a god by the mod team. My friend wants to app in as a god. Can my shinki belong to that god? Of course! You and your friend simply both need to list in your application that you would like to be paired with each other. Is my character dead now? Technically, yes, they are! But they don't remember anything about their death, or about their life before now. All that they know is that they are now dead. The character I want to app is already undead or immortal. How would this work? You can app a character who is undead or immortal, like a vampire, lich, zombie, spirit or so on, as a shinki. The "death" you choose for your shinki will be their canon point, but as with characters who don't die in canon, you can make up any death that's appropriate for your character's situation at the canon point you want, such as an exorcism, being staked, or so on. If a shinki character had multiple canon deaths (for example, because of immortality, time-travel or canon resurrection), their god would see flashes of all those deaths and likely be very confused by it all. CRAU deaths (for example, from a murder game) would be treated the same way. The god would see all those deaths. Regardless of whether a character was alive or undead before the "death" chosen in their app, no shinki can remember anything that happened to them before their appearance in game (outside of memory regains). Shinki who were previously undead would respond to any hint about their past in the same way that shinki who were previously normal, living humans would. Does my shinki have to lose their memories? Unfortunately, yes, they do. They will still remain the person they are, but they won't remember how they came to be that person. Memories can be regained slowly throughout the game: see the regains page for details. What is a 'soulless' shinki? These are shinki specific to the game. OOC-ly they are given to god characters when we don't have enough shinki players for each god to have a shinki assigned to them. The god player controls them as their own NPC (non-player character) and gives them a basic personality, name and vessel form. Soulless shinki obey their god's orders without question and, when they are in vessel form, do not speak at all. IC-ly, they appeared at the same time as the new gods and shinki, have extremely bland personalities, and remain rather mysterious. But they function like regular shinki, so it's fine, right? Shinki: Memory How much does a shinki forget? Will my character be a total blank slate? Shinki retain skills and knowledge, such as the history of their world, supernatural characteristics of their race, how to read and do math, the tunes and lyrics to songs, and things like that. They forget all of their personal memories, any detail of their past, or anything about how their skills and knowledge relate to themselves as a person. A shinki's personality does not change as a result of their memory loss. They are still the person they were when they died, but they don't remember how they became this person. Shinki do not have any innate sense of "familiarity" or "nostalgia" upon encountering things that are similar to their past lives. What skills can my character remember? Anything that a character was trained in, such as spells or a sword style, would be retained as knowledge. Anything the character would innately know, such as powers or abilities, they would also retain. They can remember how to use it, and find themselves able to do it, without remembering when or how they learned it. They wouldn't actively remember what attacks are called, for example, but if there is something they would naturally yell out when using an attack, they'd find themselves saying it anyway. A character who was trained in magic or in swordsmanship would still be able to cast spells or use a sword, but they wouldn't know why they could do this or who taught them. If they have special attack names or battle catchphrases, while they wouldn't consciously remember those, they might find themselves yelling them out naturally in combat. A character who has innate (as opposed to trained) supernatural powers or abilities in life would also instinctively how to use those abilities. What facts can my character remember? Characters can remember basic facts they knew about their world, but they would not have any sense of how those things related to them. From the example of the fate/ series, a Heroic Spirit might know what a Heroic Spirit was, and know about the Grail War or be able to describe the Summon System, but only in the same way that you might know what a human being is, about World War I, or how a light bulb works. It would be academic knowledge that doesn't seem important or immediately relevant, and they might not even know that they know it unless the topic came up in conversation. They definitely wouldn't have any sense of how or why they came by this information, and thinking about it too hard would give them a strong sense of fear and dread. They could recognize the god/shinki system as similar to the master/servant system upon hearing about the god/shinki system, but it would still be in an impersonal way: in other words, they wouldn't think "I was part of a system like this before," but rather "Oh, I've heard of systems like this." Would my character still like and dislike the same things? A character's tastes and habits would not necessarily change, but they would not know what those tastes and habits are until having a chance to experience them. For instance, a character who loves apple pie wouldn't be able to answer the question "what kind of pie do you like," but when they tasted apple pie they'd know they love it. A character who is good at math could, when asked to do a math problem, complete it and then recognize that they're good at it. A character with a smoking habit might have cravings but not realize what they're craving until they smell cigarette smoke. Shinki characters retain a 'gut feeling' of situations that make them uncomfortable or afraid, even though they don't remember the reasons why that situation is bad for them. Fears, phobias and unconscious responses remain. For instance, a character who is afraid of the dark would still be afraid of the dark, but would not understand why. How would regaining a memory or item affect what my character knows about themselves? When a shinki regains a memory, they only recall that memory. They might be able to extrapolate from that memory to guess things about their past: for example, a shinki who gets a regained memory about fighting a battle might think, "I was a soldier." A shinki who regains a memory of telling someone else about a separate event would know what they said, but would not have any memory of the other event. Thinking too hard about what the memory means or what other things it might imply about their past would trigger the same sense of aversion that thinking about their past generally would. In the case of a shinki regaining an item that may be of personal significance to them, they will simply find themselves with a new item and not sure where it's from. They will have no idea of any personal attachment to it. If it is a device that can be used and the character knew how to use it, the shinki will still innately know how to use it, without knowing how they know that. Trying to think about whether the item has any significance to them is the same as trying to think about their past, which will raise their internal warning flags that it's best to not think about it. What happens if my character hears about their past? What if they guess? Characters who are shinki and who have god castmates in game, or shinki castmates who have had regained memories, may find themselves in a situation where their character can guess "something strange" is happening or that the other character knows more about them than they should. This would not necessarily cause a shinki to fall into corruption, whether the guesses are correct or not (for example, two unrelated shinki who look alike could safely wonder if they are brothers, and two shinki who are brothers and look alike might wonder the same thing.) It's safe for shinki to hear statements and think about subjects that relate to their current life and situation. For example, a god could say to a shinki, "I love you," because that's a statement about current feelings, even if the reason for that love is based in their past relationship. However, it is never safe for a shinki to hear a direct statement about their past. If a god who was married to a shinki in life said, "We were married before," that would cause the shinki to fall into corruption and become an ayakashi. Whenever gods or shinki think about asking questions or making statements about a shinki's past, they would naturally feel that those statements would be very dangerous, and that continuing to think about or talk about that subject would lead to disaster. It is almost impossible to resist the urge to avoid those subjects, and gods are ICly told on arrival that letting shinki know any information about their lives will cause the shinki to become an ayakashi. How do memories work for shinki who were previously in the game and have been reapped? In the case of a shinki character who left the game and then returns as a shinki, whether the player chooses to keep their character's memories of their time in game or not, telling that shinki about things that happened in the game will not blight them. Their past real life is treated differently from their life as a shinki. Talking about their past as a shinki does not cause them to fall into corruption. Any reference to anything from the shinki's canon/real life will cause them to fall into corruption. For example, saying to a returned shinki "we fought that ayakashi and had ice cream afterwards." would not cause corruption. Saying, "Over ice cream you told me that you remembered learning a certain technique from your master back home, and training with him to grow strong," would cause the shinki to fall into corruption (unless they had regained that memory again). If a god is reapped as a shinki, or a player chooses to change their god character into a shinki, the character will not be able to keep their in-game memories or get those memories back via the regain mechanic. However, they can safely hear about their previous time in game from other characters. Because their personal timeline now ends with the canon death they chose, their time in game is not considered part of their past anymore. For more details about what past memories are and are not acceptable for gods and shinki to talk about, please refer to the God 101 and Shinki 101 pages. Shinki: Bodies Will my character's body change when they become a shinki? Shinki's bodies are not normal, living human bodies. They are ghosts with a physical dimension. They can get sick, tired or hungry, they can be injured, and they bleed and breathe because that's part of their normal experience. But purely autonomic internal functions like heartbeat, digestion, etc don't happen. Shinki have a blood type, but they do not have DNA that can be captured and tested by human methods. What happens if a shinki is killed? Can shinki die again? Yes, shinki can be killed. Any injuries that would kill a living person could also be fatal to a shinki. If a player chooses to drop their character via death, the body of a killed (and dropped) shinki would disappear after about 24 hours, and the shinki's god(s) would feel their death and the breaking of their bond at the moment it happened. If a shinki dies and their player does not want to drop them, they can come back - see the death page for details. In this case, the body would still disappear before the character came back, but the bond would not be broken, and the shinki would still have any names that they had been given when they returned from the dead. Shinki: Names As a shinki, do I have to change my character's name? Your character's name will stay the same, but they will also have to be given a vessel name. This is something that you can come up with yourself or ask your god to come up with for you. My shinki character goes by a nickname in canon... A shinki will recall the name or names they regularly went by in life, in the case of characters with several aliases. If it was a nickname with inherent meaning, they would recall the name, but not the story behind it or who gave it to them. If they had one consistent name earlier in life that they no longer use, and a different but still consistent name in the canon point they are being drawn from, the name from their current canon point takes precedence. For example, from Kingdom Hearts the name 'Saix' would take precedence over 'Isa', and the character would only remember his name is Saix. If a character has no canon name, such as if they are only referred to by a nickname, title or description in canon, the character would remember the "name" (nickname/title/job/etc) that people usually call them, or the name that they would give as an answer to the question, "What should I call you?" Characters in this situation are free to accept new personal names from their gods to go with their vessel names. How do I come up with a vessel name for my shinki character? All you need to do is choose one kanji character that you like. There are some helpful resources with this list, this list, this dictionary, this dictionary, and this guide. The kun-reading (or the Japanese word) of that kanji becomes your 'true name', and the on-reading (based in the Chinese pronunciation) plus 'ki' ("Vessel") becomes your 'vessel name'. For example, the kanji for 'rain' would make the true name 'Ame' ("Rain") and the vessel name 'Uki'. ("U" for the alternate pronunciation, plus "ki" - "rain vessel.") Further examples and details are in the Shinki 101. Shinki names are, in canon, only one kanji character. While we haven't been too strict in the game, we prefer to see players choose one-kanji names. All shinki will have the kanji from their vessel name 'tattooed' somewhere on their body. It is up to you where that is. Wait, my shinki has a tattoo? While not really a tattoo, the character corresponding to their name will be written in red somewhere on their body. It is a symbol of the fact that they are named by a god and it helps shinki to recognize each other by sight, if their name is visible. "Nora," or shinki named by more than one god, will have more than one name on their bodies. Since there is significant prejudice against nora among the older gods and shinki, those who accept names from more than one god will just have to hope that they're in places that are easy to hide! A shinki's name 'tattoo' can be hidden or altered by illusion magic, but the name itself cannot be truly erased or changed. Using illusions to make more names appear as a misdirection is also possible. If a character shapeshifts, no matter what form they take they will still have the mark on their body. Shinki: Vessel Form What kinds of things can my shinki turn into for a vessel form? Anything you can think of! Shinki can transform into any sort of weapon, household object, book, animal or even human. It doesn't have to be related to your character's personality or skills, although it can be. The sky's the limit. Can a shinki see in vessel form? Hear? Talk? Feel? Shinki in vessel form can see clearly all around them. They can watch their god's back, or look in front, as they please. Should the vessel form be put in a pocket or bag, they can still see and feel what is around them despite being covered. While in vessel form the shinki can only speak to their god and any other shinki that their god has equipped. They can hear everything going on around them. The god speaks aloud to their equipped shinki to communicate with them. Shinki do have a sense of touch in vessel form. In canon, Yukine frequently complains of Yato's sweaty hands. We leave it up to the players how sensitive their shinki are in vessel form, for example if they get a bit motion sick being swung around as a sword or if a computer shinki is ticklish when the keyboard is used. If a shinki is blind, can they still see in vessel form? In the case of a blind shinki character, while in vessel form all their other senses would be enhanced so they have an acute awareness of what is going on around them and their god. Similarly, shinki who lack other senses would find their remaining senses amplified while in vessel form. Shinki who have impaired senses, for example who need glasses or are hard of hearing, will find that their senses are clear and unimpaired while in vessel form. Can a shinki use magic in vessel form? Shinki can cast borderlines and songs while in vessel form. They cannot cast spells while in vessel form, as a spell requires a name said out loud to be heard. Shinki can use their vessel power in vessel form, and if they have canon magic or abilities that don't require physical gestures or words spoken out loud, they can still use those in vessel form as well. What happens if a shinki's vessel form is damaged? Shinki can still feel pain and react to blows in vessel form, and if the vessel is damaged, the shinki's person is wounded as well. Wounds taken in vessel form carry over to when they return to human form. The destruction of a vessel form would kill a shinki. Can a shinki resist being transformed into their vessel form? Shinki can resist being changed into their vessel form when called. However it is an uncomfortable feeling. It also leaves their god defenseless, and should the shinki realize they're doing something wrong by resisting they can potentially sting their god. Shinki cannot transform into or out of their vessel form on their own. It is something the god who named them is completely in charge of. Shinki: Powers What powers can I have as a shinki? Your character can keep whatever powers they have in canon, but may need to power them down ('nerf' them) so that they are not game-breaking. The main power that all shinki have is the ability to draw a boundary - a line that protects them and whoever they choose from the ayakashi. The stronger the will of the shinki, the stronger the border will be. Shinki also have the ability to learn how to use spells. By knowing the name of a person or shinki, they are able to bind them, put them to sleep, or other such things simply by invoking it. The catch is that they have to be the superior one in the battle for it to work. For further details, check the Spells page. On top of the basic shinki powers, each shinki will also have a special 'vessel power' that fits their weapon choice or personality. You can see the shinki page for ideas and to see what other shinki have chosen for their power. Feel free to get creative or just stick to basic things like power buffing or automatic shielding! A shinki's 'vessel power' will only be able to be used when the shinki is in vessel form. A shinki's vessel power is linked to the experience they gain, so over time the character will find themselves being able to use this new power better and more effectively. What can a boundary or "borderline" do? Shinki borderlines cannot be used to kill an ayakashi, but they can be used to shield from them, weaken them, or drive them away. Drawing a borderline through an item or a creature can cut that item or creature, for example cutting an ayakashi apart or cutting a hole in a wall. Shinki boundary lines can be altered to let certain things through, for example to keep ayakashi out but allow a shinki to pass through. The shinki who drew the line is the one who can will the line to change like that. Shinki boundary lines do not normally keep out 'environmental' factors such as dust, air or rain. However, a shinki could be capable of making an unusual line that could keep out environmental factors, if their will were firm enough and their capabilities as a shinki very high. Can my character notice when their borderline is getting weaker? Shinki can sense when their line is being worn down or broken. It does take energy for them to cast and maintain a line, and they have to keep paying attention to the line in order to keep it from collapsing. A shinki would not be able to cast a borderline and then keep it up while the shinki left the area or did something else. For full details refer to the Shinki 101. If a borderline can't kill an ayakashi, what can? The only thing that can kill an ayakashi is 'rending' it, which is a spell that the god and shinki use together. To rend an ayakashi, while the shinki is in vessel form, the god must use the shinki to attack the ayakashi directly. Shinki do not need to have a weapon as their vessel form in order to rend. All shinki are capable of rending ayakashi. However, attacking ayakashi with unusual vessel forms may require more creativity on the part of the god. For example, a shinki who takes the form of a glove might require the god to punch the ayakashi. A shinki who takes the form of a pocket calculator might need to use their vessel power or just have the god hit the ayakashi with their calculator form. Powerful ayakashi may need to be weakened before they are susceptible to rending. How can my shinki use their vessel power? Shinki can only use their shinki 'vessel power' (the one chosen in your app) while in shinki vessel form. Unless otherwise detailed in your app, the shinki is the one who has control of this power, and not the god, so the shinki can make the choice to use it and will need to learn to control it. The vessel power is an extra power. Any innate abilities your character already has (as outlined in the ability section of your app) are still available to them, provided that they are not reliant on anything that would not be present in the game's modern Earth environment. How fast can my shinki learn new spells? All shinki are to learn spells and techniques in the timeframe as outlined in the Shinki 101 and Spells page. Characters who have 'genius' abilities and are usually able to pick things up faster, or characters who are otherwise talented at spell-casting or singing, will still take the same amount of time to learn the spell. After all, all characters are equally new to being shinki. The only exception would be rewards from prayers or special IC interactions provided by the mods that would allow a shinki to learn a technique a little more quickly. Who can my shinki cast spells on once they've learned to cast them? Spells can be used on shinki and humans. They cannot be used on gods. Only certain effects are usable against ayakashi. For details refer to the Shinki 101. What is an ablution? An ablution is a special spell cast by three shinki together in order to confine and force a blighted shinki to apologize and confess their misdeeds, thus purifying them of blight. It's a dangerous spell, and requires the three shinki casting it to be able to hold borderlines for up to several hours while the shinki inside is fully purified. If an ablution fails to force the target to confess and apologize, or if one of the shinki casting it fails to hold their borderline until the target is fully purified, the target may transform completely into an ayakashi, and the lives of the shinki casting the spell will be in danger. Can an ablution spell be cast on more than one shinki at a time? While it's theoretically possible to cast an ablution spell around more than one blighted shinki, it vastly raises the odds of the ablution failing -- because the shinki inside the ablution would be stronger in fighting the power of the shinki casting it, because both shinki would have to repent and recover at the same time or the still-blighted shinki might attack and injure or kill the repenting shinki, and because the ablution would fail if only one out of the two somehow failed to repent or recover before the shinki casting the ablution lost the ability to continue. Any shinki casting an ablution spell around more than one target should be prepared for a tough fight! Further mechanics for shinki blight purification, ablution, spell casting and possible blight side-effects of spell casting are outlined in the Shinki 101. Shinki: And Gods How friendly do I have to be with my god? As friendly as you want to be! However, keep in mind that shinki walk the fine line between human and ayakashi. If a shinki does something morally wrong, they will sting and blight their god. If they continue to sting their god, they will slowly become an ayakashi themselves unless they are purified and confess all of their sins, at which point their god might just cast them out. Maintaining a good relationship with their god can literally be a matter of life and death. What if my character has high/low moral standards? What counts as "morally wrong" enough to cause stinging? The stinging of a god by their shinki depends entirely on what the shinki thinks is right and wrong. Shinki were created as a baseline for what is good and bad so that gods know how humans view different actions. If your shinki character would feel guilty about telling a small white lie, that will sting their god. However, if your shinki thinks killing a person who threatens others is completely in the right and for the betterment of all, their god will not be stung. It depends entirely on your character and how they view the world. Basically, if a shinki feels guilt about an action that they took, that feeling of guilt would be enough to cause blight. A shinki's god will be able to feel other negative emotions, too, and will find them painful, but will not be blighted by anything but guilt. Would my character sting their god if they got too close to someone else? What if they got romantically involved with someone? If a shinki becomes close to someone, feelings of protectiveness/loss/anger/love/etc towards that person would not necessarily push them into falling into becoming ayakashi. Strong emotions are not inherently dangerous to shinki. However, negative emotions are dangerous. If they are the sort of person to become overly possessive, jealous, or other things of that nature, and if they felt guilty because of those reactions, they could begin to blight their god. Lust isn't necessarily negative, although, like other strong emotions, a god might be able to sense when their shinki is feeling it. It would only be negative if the shinki feels bad about it or believes that it's wrong to feel it. What if my character has a problem with their god and wants a new one? Shinki can directly ask their god to release their names, thereby freeing them to go find a new god at their leisure. The "shinki labor standards office" is an institution in heaven that has the intent of helping shinki find jobs and have a reasonable working life. In-game, they are responsible for assigning new gods and new shinki to one another, and sending out periodic surveys about working conditions. Shinki who wish to find a new god but whose god refuses to release them can apply to that office for assignment to a new god. Were a shinki to try and find help from that office, they wouldn't find it as easy as they could have hoped. There's a lot of red tape! But they just might be able to get something done if a shinki is persistent enough. If you want to play out something about a shinki being pulled from a god's service by the office, you would just have to come to us about it. What if I want my shinki character to be assigned to a different god for OOC reasons? If there are OOC reasons for you to want a different assignment for your character, please contact the mod team. Can my character become a Nora? Sure, why the heck not! That is, if you can convince another god to give you a vessel name and you're okay with being seen as the scum of the earth by the other gods and shinki. Have fun with that. When should I notify the mods of changes to my shinki's god (through switching gods or becoming a Nora)? You are welcome to post updates about your god/shinki assignments at any time. If you have plans for your shinki character to get a new name set with another player but haven't been able to play it out yet, you can still preemptively post the updates on the information pages. A note that it is in advance would be helpful as to not confuse other players, and to help the mods when checking pairings. What exactly are "prayers"? To put it simply, prayers are missions that gods can go on with the aid of their shinki. A prayer can range from help with a crush in school all the way to defeating giant ayakashi that are terrorizing hundreds of people. Answering prayers allows a god’s favor with the people of the Near Shore to increase, earning them more worshippers and subsequently more power, and allows a shinki to gain experience points that can allow them to learn different spells or even go towards becoming a Hafuri Vessel. How do I go about answering prayers? Each month, new prayers will be added to the prayers post to be answered. Different prayers will have different requirements to be met in order to qualify for them and complete them. Some will require threading out, others can be considered automatically done if you desire. Signing up to answer prayers will also happen on the prayers post. Prayer logs can be played out in one of three ways: 1) A god and shinki pair/group (or multiple god/shinki pairs/groups) going back and forth or posting an open log to detail what happens as they perform the required task. 2) A god with a soulless shinki threading with a mod playing the NPC shinki. 3) A god with a soulless shinki writing out a 500 word report of how their mission went and emailing it to the mods. Can I use a prayer as a prompt for an open post? Yes, you can. However, points for answering the prayer would only go to characters who had officially signed up to complete it, so people who tagged in to an open post but had not signed up to do that prayer with your character wouldn't get the reward. Does a prayer have to be taken on by a god and one (or more) of that god's shinki? Combinations of shinki-shinki or god-god are allowed to take on prayers, or a god with a shinki who has not been named by that god. The exceptions are prayers that require destroying an ayakashi, because in order to destroy an ayakashi, a god must use a shinki that they have named to Rend it. If two gods team up on a prayer requiring destroying an ayakashi, they might still be able to destroy it if one of them has a soulless or cracked shinki NPC that can be used for the final blow. What if our characters finish the task for the prayer in fewer than the minimum number of tags? In the case of prayers that are simple to answer, it doesn’t matter how many tags are dedicated to answering the prayer itself. So long as the prayer is answered in the course of the thread, anything else can happen during the rest of it. Alternatively, a reminiscence of answering the prayer (for example, having the characters talk about it over coffee after the fact) would be acceptable for completing the requirement, so long as the fact that the prayer was answered is addressed during the log. How many prayers can I take on at once? Each character can take on up to two prayers at a time. Once you have completed one of those prayers, you may take on another one. Can my character do the same prayer more than once? Shinki and gods are both more than welcome to complete the same prayer multiple times, as long as they don’t exceed their limit of two prayers at a time. My character is doing a chain of several related prayers. Do I have to make a new log for each one? For a connected series of prayers it is acceptable to play it out all in one log. Keep in mind that the conditions of any prerequisites must be met before moving on to playing out the next prayer. Why should a god want to gain more followers? And why does a shinki want more experience? For a god, more followers means that they grow more powerful. They will become stronger than other gods with fewer followers. Additionally, once they have enough followers they can become a 'god of Fortune', which will allow them certain other perks. As for shinki, gaining more experience will also make them more powerful, allow them to learn spells, and make it easier for them to overpower ayakashi and other shinki if the need arises. Also, building up enough 'points' from answering prayers will allow you to put in to have a plotline where your shinki can become a Hafuri Vessel - essentially elevating them to the highest standing and allowing their weapon form to evolve, granting them an extra power. Additionally, followers and exp can be used in the process of obtaining regains. How can I find out how many followers/how many points I have? All that information will be kept on the gods and shinki pages for you to check whenever you would like! What exactly is the BBS? It is a bulletin board system put into place by the Heavens. It is a fairly new feature, but it is well maintained by a handful of computer-savvy shinki and their gods. It features the ability to make top level posts on the network and respond to your own and others' posts. What special features does the BBS have? Posts can be text, audio, or video. Images are able to be embedded and font styles and colors can be altered to your liking. Additionally, anonymous responses are enabled on all BBS posts, so if you don't want to reveal who you are, you don't have to! How do I access the BBS? Brand new, state of the art smartphones are issued to every god and shinki in the Far Shore. You can access the BBS by that device, or by a mundane computer on the Far Shore that connects to heaven-sourced internet. You can also access regular internet sites, so that you may talk, text, and video all you want to. Heaven's BBS must be accessed via heaven's internet. Therefore, the BBS can be accessed by the heaven-given device while on the Near Shore, the heaven-given device while on the Far Shore, and any conventional computers on the Far Shore that connect to heaven-sourced internet. It cannot be accessed via mundane computers or smartphones on the Near Shore using mundane internet connections. Can my character use regular social media sites too? Far Shore residents are welcome to post on traditional, real-world internet media sites, such as twitter or facebook. They can access those sites from their heaven-provided phone, as well as any other conventional computer or device they have or come across. To make an IC "Instagram post," for example, you could post to ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small} thefarshore and indicate in the subject line that the post is ICly being made on your character's Instagram account.
If my character has a regular social media account, will regular (NPC) humans see it? What if a human posts pictures of my character online? People of the Near Shore tend to glance over video, pictures or text posted by beings of the Far Shore, unless there's something particularly attention-getting about them, just as they look over beings of the Far Shore when they meet in person. In other words, your character's social media posts will be in the "blind spot" of normal people, and will tend not to be noticed or replied to. People from the Far Shore will tend to not get any followers or likes. (If they do, it'd be a wonder!) If a god or shinki were caught on someone else's, from the Near Shore's, video, people would tend to not notice them in the video, again, unless there was something particularly outstanding happening. While it is much harder for social media posts made by people from the Far Shore to become popular or noticed, it is possible! If living humans were to pass a link around, for example, it could become popular through word of mouth. What is my character's username on the BBS? Gods are listed by the name of the god that they are representing, and shinki by their full regular name. Shinki characters' common, canon names are used as their username on the BBS, even if they usually go by an alias/codename. If a shinki character has no name in canon, for the purposes of the BBS, their name will be listed as whatever answer they usually give to the question "What is your name?" even if the answer is just "Call me 'X'". Can my character change their username? The names are automatically associated with the phones and the people who use those phones. The names cannot be changed, as names are considered an extremely important part of one's identity by the Heavens. Not being able to change the name is the result of magic rather than coding, so names can't be changed via mundane hacking. Can I post under someone else's name? Heaven's BBS uses identity magic as part of the login process. While it would be possible to log in to the BBS on another character's device, a character can only log in as themselves. Should a character leave themselves logged in and give another character their device, then the other character would be able to make a post using the first character's login. As a security feature, logins time-out after 10 minutes of non-activity, so swiping someone's phone while they were logged in would not allow a character to masquerade as them indefinitely. (In other words, while it might be possible to grab someone else's phone and post to the BBS under their name, for instance to make joint posts or post surreptitious video of that person, a character would have to switch back to their own login before too long.) Can I hack the BBS? Yes, a hacker could conceivably hack into the heaven's BBS. The BBS is all based on the same coding that humans use, so anyone who has the ability to hack and bypass a normal system would be able to do the same for this BBS. For example, they could easily revamp the layout, make some posts 'sticky' so they are always at the top, or even shut down the whole BBS. If your character plans to do anything involving another character's post or comment, please get permission from the other player, and if your character would do anything affecting the entire BBS, please contact the mods to work out the details. Players are of course welcome to try and fail hacking attempts as well. The BBS login and user identification are supplemented by magic. Hacking into accounts (for example, to take over someone else's account or change one's own account information) would prove impossible for mundane hacking abilities, no matter how genius. However, if a character has magical hacking abilities, those could be used to try cracking the login and identity system. An example of a magical hacking ability would be Satsuki from X/1999, who can communicate with and control a computer as if it's a living being. If your character might attempt something like this, let us know! It is possible for a hacker character to block another character from using the BBS. Mundanely, it could be by putting up a false login page or other such misdirection. Anything that affects the login directly would have to be an attempt of magical hacking, and would be much more difficult. If hackers keep messing with the BBS, they will find security heightened against them. Therefore, the mods would appreciate a notice when a character attempts to hack the BBS, just so we can keep track of what's happening to it. Can I post privately to another user on the BBS? Yes, it would just have to be marked as private. Your character would have to actively select the other person to privately message them, so there may be situations where it doesn't work (for example, if your character is trying to message someone who's posting anonymously.) Can I filter comments or posts so that some characters can't see them on the BBS? Yes, filtering would work in the same way that private messaging would. Careful -- characters who a post is filtered to exclude might still be able to see it if they're borrowing someone else's phone or looking over someone else's shoulder! Can my character's comments be deleted? You bet! If your character looks back and realizes they need to get rid of the evidence, they can delete their own posts. What happens to a post on the BBS if the character who made the post drops from the game? If a character is dropped from the game, their BBS status would be like a purged journal. Their comments still show up, but the username is deactivated. How can my character get another character's contact information? When new gods and shinki show up, they are automatically added to everyone's contact list on their heaven-given phones. What happens if my character loses their phone? The phones do have tracking software and can be located, but if they are lost (or damaged) beyond repair, it will be replaced. The new phone will show up in the character's bedroom overnight. Basics | Appable Characters | Gods & Shinki | Character Appearance | Items & Powers Reapplication Applications: Basics How many characters can I app in per round? Only one! The setting is small enough that apping in more than one character at a time would make things awkward. How old do I have to be as a player before I can app into the game? You must be at least 16 years old. If you're almost 16, please wait until after your birthday before you app! How soon can I app from a new canon? For anime/TV shows, a full season must be out. For anything else, the material must have been publicly available for at least a month. If you can read the original language source material, then we would go by that date, otherwise it would be by the English release date. Can I use headcanon in my app? Players are welcome to use a reasonable amount of headcanon in their app, especially if the source material is very vague about certain things regarding the character. Please note in your application what you are extrapolating your headcanons from so that we can be sure to understand where you're coming from and what base it has in canon. Can I reuse personality sections or samples from other games? Even if they're old? You may reuse a personality section from another app. Please make sure that it coordinates with the canon point you choose for this game, and fulfils our app criteria. There is no limit on how old app writing samples can be. If it is written by you and shows your character's personality, it is good with us! However if in doubt, you are welcome to write a new sample as well as submitting an old thread. Can I pick a canon point after the end of my canon? What about at the beginning? When choosing or updating to a canon point, there should be enough canon information to support your characterization at the point you are pulling from. For instance, choosing a canon point during an epilogue would be fine, so long as you can describe (and support using canon evidence) any changes your character might have experienced between the end of canon and the epilogue. How long should a "buzzword" be? Can it be a phrase? In the app, "buzzwords" are single words (or short statements) that actively describe your character's strengths and weaknesses. So for example for strengths, "intelligent, charismatic, friendly" and for weaknesses, "stubborn, annoying, clingy". These traits should be adequately reflected in the personality section. Ideally, one "buzzword" shouldn't be more than a few words long ("good with technology" or "hates changing plans" would be OK, but anything longer needs to be condensed.) Can I backdate my character's arrival before the intro log (to tag into earlier logs, for example)? Backdating a character's appearance to before the intro log is not possible. All the new gods and shinki appear at the same time, at the time of the intro log. If I have plans for my shinki to be named but it hasn't ICly happened yet, should I comment to the shinki page now or wait until the thread is done? You are welcome to post updates about your god/shinki assignments at any time. If you have plans set with another player but just haven't been able to play it out yet, you can still preemptively post the updates on the information pages. A note that it is in advance would be helpful as to not confuse other players, and to help the mods when checking pairings. Applications: Appable Characters What if I want to app in a character that is dead in their canon? That's totally acceptable! Seeing as shinki and gods are residents of the world of the dead anyway, it's perfectly normal for them to have been dead to begin with. Characters that are dead in canon are welcome to come in as either a god or shinki. Your character will have still died in their canon and will just find that they are suddenly 'alive' again and existing in a completely different way than they remember. Can I app any canon characters from Noragami? Noragami characters get a special sort of treatment here at The Far Shore. They are appable characters and you are more than welcome to apply for them! But even when they do not have someone playing them, they will be seen as still existing and functioning behind the scenes. Essentially, the Noragami characters are appable NPCs, so if you want to app a Noragami character, you should get in touch with the mods to find out what has happened with that character during the course of the game. Are AU characters allowed? What about CRAUs? Any canon AU character is allowed. For example, vampire Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer would be considered an appable character, but a zombie AU that you created yourself would not be. CRAUs are allowed, though! You simply need to add an account of what happened in their previous game to the history section of your application. However, only one version of each character is allowed in the game. Two of the same character, one canon and one CRAU, would not be allowed. If duplicates aren't allowed, what about reincarnations? Reincarnations of characters are appable, so long as the reincarnation is a distinct character. For example, if someone wanted to app Priest Set and someone else already played Seto Kaiba in this game, that would be acceptable since, while Seto is a reincarnation of Set, they are two entirely different characters. But if someone wanted to app the same character from two different points on their personal timeline, for instance as a child and as an adult, that would not be acceptable. Can I app my MMO character? Player-characters you make yourself in MMO games such as Elder Scrolls (Skyrim, Dragonborn), FFXIV or WoW would be considered fandom OCs, and are not considered appable, because any personality they have would be made up by the player. The exception would be for player characters who are written with a strong personality in the game canon. For example, if the game narrative closely follows their personal development and struggle, both with moral decisions and the path they ultimately take. The character canonically makes certain choices in story progression, and their responses to NPC quests likewise give indications of how they feel about certain events. Essentially, if the game writing gives the player character a strong canonical characterization, they may be appable. Can I app silent protags? What about characters whose personality/characterization shifts based on players' choices? "Silent protags" or heroes that make choices based on the player's choices are acceptable to app, so long as there is sufficient information in their canon to clearly show their own personality. For instance through their actions, what other characters say about them, item descriptions, etc. (ie, Shepard from Mass Effect or the Protagonist from Persona 5). Can I app a character from a canon that hasn't been released in English or fan translated? If a character comes from a canon which has no English translation, and barely any information about it available in English, you can still app that character. However, we will be expecting a detailed history section in the app. Can I app my original character? Yes. We welcome original characters based in players' original work, although we do not accept canon OCs. Since original characters are your own creation, you do have to write up a full history section for them. The history section does not have to be in paragraph format -- bulleted lists or timelines of the character's life would be acceptable. If it is in paragraph format, though, we would need at least four paragraphs. The personality section remains the most important part of the app, so please concentrate your efforts on that, using the history section to support points of your character's personality. Applications: Gods & Shinki How should I pick whether my character is a god or shinki? For the question in the app about why you want your character to be a god/shinki, we simply want to know what made you decide that was the best fit for your character. It can be as simple as "I like this dynamic better" or as complicated as "his personality makes him fit this role for this reason." The same character can be apped as either a god or a shinki, or even switched from one role to another while in game. Which you feel suits best is up to you! Do I have to app my character as a god if I play them as a god on the Test Drive, or a shinki if I test drive them as a shinki? The Test Drive is for you to figure out the dynamics of the game, so you are welcome to pretend anything you'd like with it. Test Drive threads are not considered game canon, so it's fine to play your character as either (or both!) a god or shinki regardless of what you eventually decide to app as. Can I app someone in as a human, not as a god or shinki? No, human or non-shinki spirit characters are not currently being accepted into the game. All characters must be either a god or a shinki. The only exception to this would be Noragami canon characters who are human or part-spirit, such as Hiyori. I want to pick a goddess for my male character or a god for my female character. Is this OK? Yes. Your character does not have to be the same gender as the deity that you select for them. I'm familiar with the Noragami canon. A person who has committed suicide can't become a shinki, right? Wrong! Any and all types of death are acceptable for shinki characters. The shinki coming into game are brought in through a mechanism distinct from the canon method of gods finding and naming wandering souls, so canon restrictions do not apply. The shinki character I want to app has died more than one time in their canon (or in CRAU, for instance from a canon death plus a murdergame). Which death should I pick? In the case of a shinki who has died more than one time due to timeline shenanigans, CRAU or canon powers, their god will see all of the shinki's deaths when naming them. In other words, you don't have to choose! Briefly describing them in your application is fine. My character doesn't die in canon, but I want to app them as a shinki. What should I do? You can make your shinki's death anything you like. Even if your character has a canon death, you are welcome to take your character from an earlier point and give them a different death. If you want to add some non-canon detail after the character's canon point to make a death plausible, that is acceptable. Please let us know that it is your headcanon, though. You can make the description of the character's death as detailed or as simple as you like in the app, as long as it's clear how the character died. Just keep in mind that your god's player might ask more details of you, as god characters see the shinki's memory of their death when they name a shinki. For an incident in canon to count as a "death," the soul of the character has to leave the body to be brought into the game. For example, a canon instance where the character's soul is asleep inside another person would not be acceptable, and the player would have to think of a way to have the soul leave that person. My character doesn't die in canon, but I want to app them as a god. Should I make up a death for them? Gods do not need to enter the game by death the way shinki do. Characters chosen to be a god simply disappear from their own world, and wake up in this one. You should not make up a non-canon death for a god character. How fast will my character be able to use their new god or shinki powers? How strong are they? Regarding the god and shinki vessel powers given in this game (the one chosen when you apped), we will leave it up to the players to give their characters a reasonable curve of learning their new power over time in line with their follower/experience gains. Gods and shinki do not automatically know what their power is or have it mastered, and some powers may be easier to figure out than others. In general, a god with more followers is more powerful than a god with fewer, and a shinki with more experience is more powerful than a shinki with less. I want to pick different powers for each god option on my app. Can I? When applying for a god character, you can pick different powers for each potential god you choose. For example: Thor, storm powers. Loki, illusion powers. Sif, berserker. (If you do this, please remember to clearly describe what each power will be able to do, with any conditions, limitations or requirements, in your application.) Can my character's god power change their appearance or physical abilities? Yes. When apping a god, you are allowed to change the physiology of your character as a power, as well as gain some ability due to the change in physiology. For example, a character getting an Egyptian God as their selection could choose to add 'Egyptian deity physiology' as their power. As a result of having that physiology, the character could have, for example, a slightly stronger body and the power of a hawk's sense of vision. The number of enhancements based on a power like this should be limited. More than a couple of unrelated enhancements would be too much for one person to have. Can I pick a fictional god? Should a character be a god in their own canon, they can apply to be that god in the game as well. Fictional gods, including gods in the character's canon, are acceptable. We still require that three gods are filled in on the application, but you can order them by preference. What if there isn't a lot of information on the god I want to choose? No matter how little information about the god there is, even if it's just a couple sentences on a wiki, it is still appable. However, if there isn't much information available on the god, you should include more detail in the app section about what kind of god the character intends to be. In the case of applying for a god that has no particular dominion, players are free to make up a fictional association, or to make their best guess based on the mythology. The god I want to choose has a lot of different names and aspects. How should I pick? Does my character get all of them? In the case of a god that has a lot of different aspects/names, for example, Parvati of Hinduism, each one of those other aspects would be separate, because they are represented separately in much of the mythology. A player apping a character as Parvati can choose as much of the lore to draw from as they wish in deciding what particular areas of interest are covered by the god. However, other names/aspects would be considered separate deities, and could be apped by other players. This also holds true for gods who are identified with one another but are worshipped under different names and with slightly different traditions in multiple countries. For example, the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara is worshipped in China as Guanyin and in Japan as Kannon. For the purposes of the game, all three could be applied for by different characters, as they have different names and different traditions associated with each name. What if I want to app a fictional version of a god that another character has already picked? For instance, Thor or Loki? In a case like that, as long as the character you want to play isn't already in game, you're free to app them. However, they would have to take the role of a different god, or a shinki. For example, the god Amaterasu is a mod NPC in the game. However, "Amaterasu" characters from other platforms, such as the game Okami, are still appable. They just cannot apply to be the god Amaterasu in this game. What kinds of things can I pick for my shinki's vessel? Does it have to be a weapon? The sky is the limit! Shinki vessels can be household goods, weapons, armor, clothing, even animals or people. You may want to consider the practicality of your choice -- gag transformations might be difficult to play in game -- but there are no restrictions on what shinki can become. Shinki vessels that are based on items from the character's home world are acceptable. OK, I don't want to pick a weapon. Will my character still be able to fight ayakashi? If a shinki takes the form of a non-traditional weapon, creative liberties can be taken with it! For example, an umbrella could snap closed to "chew up" ayakashi, or a scarf could tangle around them and squeeze. A shinki that takes the form of clothing or armor could allow the god to wrestle or punch ayakashi. If your shinki is going to have a specific ayakashi-fighting ability in their vessel form (beyond "my character's god can use their vessel form to hit/stab/crush/choke/etc ayakashi"), that would count as their power and should be mentioned on your app. Can my character talk in shinki form? If you want your shinki to be able to speak aloud in vessel form, you should mention this in your app, as it is a very unusual ability. Normally, shinki in vessel form can only communicate telepathically with their god. As long as their vessel form is something reasonably capable of producing sound/speech, such as an animal or something with speakers, this would not count as their shinki power. My character doesn't have a canon name. If they're a shinki, what name would they remember? In the case of characters who have no given name in canon, players are welcome to use whatever they are mostly called by as their name. For example a profession (Medicine Seller) or a nickname (Ii-chan) is acceptable. For all intents and purposes, the nickname is the character's name because they have no proper name stated in canon. Their god can later give them a proper name as well as their vessel name, if the players agree. Applications: Character Appearance My character has more than one canon appearance (because of VR/shape-changing/etc.) What will they look like in game? For characters that are from series that primarily take place in video games or a virtual world (.hack, Sword Art Online, Log Horizon, etc.) where the character's real life body isn't really shown, we leave it up to the player what appearance they would like to use-either the real life look, or the character in the video game. As many video game canons don't always show the real-life bodies, it is perfectly acceptable to just use what is actually shown in the canon. If a character was forced into a form different from the one they were born with/naturally have (by being cursed, experimented on, etc), and die in that changed form, they can come into the game with either that form, or their original/natural form. We leave it up to the player to decide which they want to use. In the app, you can tell us why you chose that form in particular, if it relates to their personality. Shapeshifters would have their shapeshifting considered a power, and like other powers, they are welcome to include it on their application and keep it in game (subject to mod approval.) Does my nonhuman character have to be humanized? No. Nonhuman characters can come into game in their natural forms: it's the player's choice whether to make any changes to help them play the character. For example, if a character is naturally three stories tall, a player could choose to retain their natural form, but make them only 8 feet tall, in order to make it easier for them to interact with the setting and other characters in game. Does my character still have any scars or marks they had in life? Even if they're a shinki? Scars and other permanent marks, such as tattoos or birthmarks, would remain on both gods and shinki when they arrive in the game. Shinki would have no recollection of why they have such marks. My character had a weak constitution or chronic illness in canon. Will they be healed? What if I'm taking them from a canon point where they were injured? You're allowed to keep whatever illnesses or injuries you would like to. If your character was physically weak or unwell in life you can choose to have that remain the same. Any deadly illness would no longer be deadly because they're already dead in the case of shinki, and resistant to death from illness in the case of gods. If you prefer to have your character returned to health (this is the afterlife, after all!) then that's fine as well. Shinki would have no traces on them to show how they died (wounds, bruises, etc.) Applications: Items & Powers Can my character keep their powers? Absolutely. The Far Shore is more than happy to have your character keep their powers, aside from world-breaking ones that would have to be toned down to fit the setting. If you would prefer for your character to lose their powers, that is perfectly acceptable too. You will just have to detail that in your application. However, any powers that are dependent on aspects intrinsic to the character's original world will not be available in Noragami's modern Earth environment. For instance, a character who can use magic because of a link to a magical being in their home world would not still have that link in The Far Shore. What does my character have with them when they show up here? The items that a character brings with them into this world are limited to what they have on their person at the time. (At the time of death for shinki, and the time of disappearance for gods.) This includes items that are worn, in hand, or in a pocket. Items nearby, no matter how important, would be left behind. For example, a character who wears a sword all the time will likely have it on their person, and it would then be brought with them. A character who only wears a sword when in battle may or may not have had it on their person at the time of being brought into the game. The player should think about the circumstances the character was in at the time. Any items that were on the character's person before dying can be brought over. If the character, for example, died in an explosion and everything was incinerated, they would still get to bring anything they had on them before dying in the explosion. Technology brought into the game will continue to work so long as whatever it needs to work still functions. For example, a holographic emitter that makes costumes or a duel disk from the Yu-Gi-Oh series. Magical items will work as well, provided that they are not reliant on something that can only be found in the character's home world. If the item breaks or runs out of power, the character will need to find someone with the know-how to fix it, or it will remain broken. Certain features of items may need to be powered down for the setting, for example a duel disk's illusions not having real mass, but rather remaining only illusions. My character has a pet. Can I bring them along? Unfortunately, no. Your poor pet is being left behind back at home. You are more than welcome to adopt new pets in the game, though! Animals, and particularly cats, have an easier time sensing things of the Far Shore. Therefore, they are able to be taken to heaven to be pets for the gods and shinki there. Pokemon or other magical creatures would count as pets, unless they have enough personality to be considered an appable character. Although they cannot be brought in initially, both magical and non-magical pets can be regained using a character's experience points. I want to app a Fate/ servant character. How can they make a contract in game? In regards to servant characters from the fate/ series: Noragami is a world lacking in the servant/master mechanism seen in fate/. The spirits are not being summoned as 'servants', but are taking the roles of 'shinki' or 'gods'. Therefore, while there is a contract of sorts between shinki and god, it is not the same as in the fate/ universe. There are no 'masters' and no command spells, and (as opposed to being 'sustained' in fate/ canon) none of them need a supply of mana to maintain their form, as the magic that brought them here gave them form. In fate/ canon, a servant's power was linked to their master. While that specific mechanic doesn't apply in this game, players can choose for a servant character in this game to find that they can use their more powerful canon abilities as they gain followers/experience. Should the player choose, they can have the character retain the ability to 'leech' energy from characters that they form meaningful IC bonds with, and that energy can give them a small boost to their abilities/spells. Is there any way for my character to get belongings they didn't have on them when they died? Yes. Your followers or exp can be used in order to obtain regains. Small items (small enough to fit in a room) or large items (too big to fit in a room -- like buildings or ships) can both be regained. Pets could also be regained. My character summons a weapon or spirit to fight for them. Will they still be able to summon it in game? A character who summons a weapon in their canon may or may not be able to summon it in the game. If they summon or pull out a weapon/spirit from a storage point in their original world, they would not be able to access it in this world. For example, the Magic Knights would not be able to summon Rayearth or the other gods, because they reside in their temples in Cephiro until called. However if the weapon is a part of the character's body or held magically within themselves, it would be accessible because it is with them and on their person now. The weapon is personally bonded to the character themselves, even if it only sometimes manifests. This includes keyblades from the Kingdom Hearts series, weapons that have been bonded to the character like Gojyo's polearm in the Saiyuki series, or a weapon that manifests from their personal magical power, like Sailor Moon's Moon Rod. My character has a magical transformation. Can it still work in game? Characters from magical girl type shows (Sailor Moon, Nanoha, Devil Hunter Yohko, etc) will still have access to their transformation and abilities, provided they had any needed magical item on their person when they came to the game. My character's magic comes from a god in their world. Will it still work in game? Powers that come from a third party in the character's canon world would not work in this setting, as it is not a power within the character themselves. For example, if a character is possessed by another sentient being that gives them their power, that being would be left behind when the character came to this world. If the character uses magic in their home world by beseeching a god to act on their behalf, the god would not be able to hear them and thus their magic would not work in this world. However, powers that are internal to the character or a part of the character, even if they were originally granted by a third party, could still be used in game. For example, in the case of zanpakutou swords from Bleach, both the sword and its personality are a part of the shinigami. Therefore, shinigami can bring the sword into the game and the character can have access to its powers. (In the case of a sword like Zangetsu, who is an appable character in his own right, as well as being Ichigo's zanpakutou, we will take the application on a case-by-case basis.) In the example of Marry from Mekakucity Actors, she is possessed by a snake god. That snake god would be left behind should Marry enter the game, and any powers it granted would be lost to her. My character has a power that affects demons in their world. Will it work on ayakashi? If a character has a natural ability that allows them to eat/absorb demons, this can also be used on ayakashi. A player wishing to use such an ability should detail it in their application. Keep in mind that the only way to destroy an ayakashi is by rending it, which is a spell used by god and shinki together. Therefore it is up to the player what kind of consequence the character would have by having eaten an undestroyable being. For characters who can absorb a demon's power, an ayakashi's power can be likewise absorbed. Typically speaking, ayakashi powers will relate to what they're doing. So a pickpocket ayakashi is good at being unobserved, an ayakashi causing fires will have firestarting abilities, things like that. All ayakashi have enhanced strength as a base power. My character has a power that can be used on souls. Can my character 'send on' souls that they find in game? Characters that are shinigami, soul reapers or the like will not be able to affect souls the same way they can in their own canons. The underworld and system of souls in the Noragami world is not the same, and therefore those powers, such as a Bleach shinigami's soul burial, will not work. The character is welcome to try, but nothing will happen to the soul. My character is CRAU and learned powers in their previous game. Can they keep those powers? Players can choose to keep, or lose, any skills or abilities that the character learned while in another game/CRAU. Please outline them in your app. My character can see the future. Will this work in game? Characters with a precognitive ability are appable, but be aware that that power might need to be limited, and should be run by the mods first. Please communicate with the mod team if you have any questions about using that power in this game. Applications: Reapplication If I'm reapping a character I previously had in game, can they keep their memories? In the case of reapplying the same character to the same status as god or shinki, the player can choose what memories from the game the character keeps. If a character left the game via death, the death mechanic will apply. In other words, they can keep only one important memory of their previous time in game. However, in this case, they could use the "reverse death" regain to get those in-game memories back. When reapping in as a different status, shinki becoming gods can remember their time in the game. They can also now remember their canon past. Gods becoming shinki would forget their time as a god, and would only be able to find out about what happened with them in their time as a god through others ICly telling them. However, characters telling them about their time as a god are not harmful memories to them. (The memories that cause a shinki to corrupt into an ayakashi are those from their pre-death past, which is to say their life in their canon.) Memories from the character's time in the game as a god cannot be regained through the 'regain' mechanic. A reapp is treated like a canon update in that the character disappears for a while, then returns. Gods remember going home, while shinki don't. New gods can't name average wandering spirits, but as they gain more followers they may gain access to the opportunity to rescue and name spirits. Cracked shinki are different from the soulless shinki. Cracked shinki have the personality of a normal person, and can form relationships with their god as well as act independently. The player that earns the cracked shinki uses them as their own NPC. A spirit that was attacked by ayakashi and is being corrupted by ayakashi blight can be saved only by cutting out the infected areas. This leaves them severely wounded and if left alone, they will die from their wounds. A spirit that is badly injured will become a cracked vessel upon being named. A cracked vessel is, as the name implies, physically fragile. While the shinki can still rend, gods will have to be careful how they use their shinki, or risk hurting or even breaking them. Another symptom of their damage is that while in vessel form, they lose a sense. Most commonly the shinki cannot speak. (We will allow players to choose which sense the shinki will lose, such as speech, sight or hearing.) The shinki can still draw a borderline, in both human and vessel form. It does not have a 'vessel power' or any other abilities except for borderline and rend. The injured shinki heals physically over time, however a cracked vessel, because it was damaged at the time of naming, can never fully recover or be complete as a shinki. In vessel form it remains cracked. As stated in canon, "A spirit can't be a decent shinki once it's been disfigured." Should the shinki be later released and named by another god, because the spirit is now healed and clean at the time of naming, it would be able to become a normal shinki to that new god. Should the shinki be released and then later renamed by the same god, the vessel will remain cracked for them, because of their previous bond. Once a shinki has taken a certain form for a god, they will always take that form for them, even if they are given a different name. How does AC work here? AC happens on a monthly basis. You can check out the guidelines for more details about how AC will work every month. What comments count for AC? Any comments posted during the AC month can be used for AC, even if the thread or post was started in an earlier month. For example, if a post was made in May, but the thread continued through June, you could link to the first comment on the thread posted in June and count all of your character's comments after that point for the June AC. Comments must be posted in the log community (thenearshore), the network community (thefarshore) or character journals/inboxes. Can I use two threads from the same post? No, unless the post is an intro or event mingle log. If your character makes a post and more than one thread on that post gets to AC length, you can still only link one of them to meet your AC. What comments count when you're tallying comments for exp/followers? We tally comments that are posted on thenearshore and thefarshore. Unfortunately, for logistical reasons, we can't count comments on characters' journals (so inbox threads, for example, would not count.) Inbox threads can still be used for AC, though. If a character drops and later returns to the game, can they get their accumulated followers/exp back? If a character is dropped and then later returns to the game, their exp/follower count would be reset. Unfortunately, we don't keep a record of dropped characters' point counts. Do I really have to participate in the bi-monthly HMDs? You do. Any refusal to participate will end with your character being swept from the game. Sorry, but that's the deal here. Is the HMD anon-enabled? What if I get bullied? It is anon-enabled, but we the moderators keep a close eye on the activity that goes on there, and IP logging is on for the HMD as well. Bullying will not be tolerated. Can my character regain pets? Yes, they can! Any pet small enough to fit inside a room would count as a small regain, and larger pets would count as a large regain. "Pets" that are independent, sapient beings with enough personality to count as their own character cannot be regained. The rule of thumb: if someone could app this "pet," you cannot treat it as a regain! So, for example, a Pokemon trainer could regain one of their Pokemon, but Sailor Moon would not be able to regain Luna, because Luna is a potentially appable character. Pets that grant the character additional powers or abilities are also OK -- just remember to update your info page to reflect the new abilities! Can I add together points from more than one character to buy a regain? Can I give my character's points to another character? No, experience points and followers can't be traded or combined across characters. However, one character's points can be used to buy regains for another character with the permission of the other character's player. For instance, if your god character has 5,000 followers, you could use those followers to buy two small item regains for your character's shinki. What can my character regain? Does it have to be something that they owned in canon? A regain can be literally anything from the character's home canon, whether or not the character personally owned it. For example, a small item regain could be a necklace that the character's mother always wore before she disappeared, a Pokemon that the character doesn't have in their canon team, or a generic motorcycle. If an item that usually is full of other items is regained, such as a backpack, a purse, a refrigerator, a house, etc., it will show up empty. In other words, if your character requests a large item regain of their childhood home, the house would appear, but it would be unfurnished and empty. Regaining the backpack that usually contains all of their worldly possessions would just give them the backpack, not the worldly possessions, and so on. Wait... my character can regain buildings? A building would count as a large item regain, yes. In the case of something like a storefront, where the regain is only a portion of a larger building, it would appear as part of an existing building, most likely on the Near Shore. You can detail where the item would appear in your regain request. Do regains have to happen at the same time they're requested? No. If you want the regain to happen at a future date, you can add that to the regain request. For example, if a character was dropping and wanted to use their points up by buying regains for other characters, they could request that a regain take place at any time, including after their character left the game. Do regained memories have to be of scenes that happen in canon? No, memory regains that include headcanon are acceptable. We do ask that if your character is regaining a headcanon memory that involves other characters in game, please double-check this with the other characters' players, as headcanon may differ between players. For example, if a character will be remembering a childhood tragedy alluded to but not shown in canon, and that character's sibling is also in game, we would ask that there be communication between the players to ensure that all are comfortable with the proposed headcanon about that shared childhood tragedy. |
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