[ Guide ] Colony to Kingdom - How to start a culture

[The Grand Weaver]

Realm of the B'alam Colony Guidelines

The world of Embala is the planet upon where the creatures that we know of as B'alam have awakened. Much of this world is unexplored as the founding generation has awakened upon a single continent. This continent is currently unnamed.This will change when, for the first time in the history of the realm, the Arch Magi* of the realm gather to establish the borders of their Magedoms*.

In the meantime there are B'alam awakening across the face of this continent with their own goals, ambitions, and world views. These B'alam may wish to start their own colonies, some within the domain of one of the Arch Magi and some outside of them. As history of the shop develops through player interactions, metaplots, and individual plotting this continent will take its own life.

Borders will be drawn, borders will be crossed. Magedomes and colonies will rise, magedoms and colonies will crumble. Great leaders and fearful tyrants will begin to hang on the lips of those that will observe the awakening of the world's history.

As is the theme of Realm of the B'alam, we encourage world building. The staff will always have the final word in affairs but you, our patrons, are free to let your imagination run wild. Together, we will shape the face of this realm and build a world with its own living history unlike anything the realms here and beyond have ever seen.

Arch Magi

Plural for "Arch Magus". This is a position held by the founding Magus of the realm and their descendants as they pass along. These are characters played by staff members to maintain sections of the shop's setting and ensure that order is kept. Arch Magus can only ever be owned by staff members for the sake of keeping the peace and directing shop-wide metaplots.

 

[The Grand Weaver]

Founding a Colony •••

First Steps •••
Before making a colony, you need to be familiar with the shop, the setting, and the constraints imposed on characters as a whole. This is very important!

→ Read The front page.
→ Read The Beginner`s Guide
→ Be aware of Existing Colonies.

There are some things we do differently from other shops. Important things to remember are:

• There IS no history here. Your culture must be founded off of your own interactions, rp's, or future plots. Be careful with your wording! If you assume an event has happened that has not, you will be rejected for approval! If you want to build a plot, use future-tense, not past-tense.

• NPC's do not exist! Every B'alam mentioned must exist and have rp to back up their actions or have approval from the owner to be mentioned.

• Colonies that pop up within a Magedom are subject to the Arch Magus or Magi of the area. If you want a point of conflict, it's best to talk to the owner of that territory first. Don't worry, we love plotting and we don't bite!

Colony Requirements •••
We know that there will be a variety of colonies with a variety of governments, lifestyles, and points of view that will pop up. However, we do have to keep some rules in place so it's fair for everyone and things don't get too complicated or hairy between players. If you have concerns, feel free to contact us.

◄Colony Location►

Building a colony means claiming a territory for your B'alam to claim as their own! We do have a shop map of the current territories here! We'll have one with a more clear outline of the borders of the Magedoms (Currently marked as element tribe lands) once the in-character Arch Magi meet.

Your colony needs to make sense to the setting. Because of physical limitations, there are some things to consider when picking a location:

→ Only winged B'alam can get to the Walking Islands above the lands. Dark and Wind B'alam are the only ones gifted with flight. It may be possible for non-winged B'alam to get into these land masses but it will require the help of winged B'alam and a darn good explanation as to how they were lifted up there. Remember- Wind B'alam are smaller and have hollow bones and Dark B'alam need a launching point to fly, they can't just scoop someone up and fly them to the islands!

→ Ice B'alam cannot live too far south of their homeland! They'd get very, very sick very quickly and possibly die!

→ Fire B'alam cannot live too far north. They have very thin fur and will get ill and chilled very quickly. If they go too far north, they could die. Imagine walking through the snow in a swimsuit!

→ Dark B'alam cannot stand daylight. They're literally blind! So a Dark B'alam in the desert may not be a very smart idea. There's not a lot of places to hide from the sun.

→ In general, use common sense! If you have a question, ask away! We are eager to help.

When you have decided on a prospect location, mark it on the map (You can save it into photoshop or even paint, mark it with a dot or something we can see!). We'll decide as a staff if this is a legitimate place!

Special Situation → Nomadic Colonies

We love this idea! In fact, the Water Tribe is a nomadic culture. Nomadic cultures do tend to run into some interesting situations in regards to claiming a territory. There will be some colonies who wish to travel endlessly, which is fine!

In regards to nomadic cultures, we have the following standards:

→ If your culture does not have a "homeland", they do not need to be on the map to be official. However, if they do decide to settle, you will need to gain approval from the staff! There can be a culture that wanders endlessly, never stopping to live in any one place. However, you can expect some hostility if their travel path cuts through an occupied area.

→ Nomad cultures can have a maximum of 2 places on a map, and these places will be half the size of the average territory given to standard colonies. We don't want to have any one colony claim a mess of territory here and there. It'll make things confusing.

→ If a culture has multiple territories, these territories must be within the same region or they must be a simple hop and skip over a border. For example, a summer camp can be near the water tribe's territory while winter is closer to earth's. We cannot have a culture where one territory is near the volcano of the fire tribe and another is in the peaks of the ice territory.

→ If a culture owns multiple territories, they will need to have not only markers on this territory IC, but characters left behind from the migration to guard these locations. That will, however, leave them open for IC invasions and trouble if a plot moves that way.

◄Colony Government►
Governments come in all shapes and sizes. We encourage our government systems to be as diverse as the B'alam themselves are! however, again, we need to put some limits just to keep things organized.

→ Government via Monarchy (Kings, queens, chiefs, lords, ladies, elder, etc.)
Monarchy means that there is an absolute ruler who is the final say in all political affairs. In some cases, there can be a duel monarchy, like an equal king and queen in power. To keep this system from getting to hairy, we're setting the monarchy cap at two b'alam max, one b'alam minimum.
**We're using the term "monarchy" loosely as an umbrella term for a rule of one or two rather than as a collective.**

→ Government via Council (Collection of elders, fraction leaders, trade leaders, etc.)
A council government is the umbrella term for a colony's government that is led by more than 2 B'alam. We're setting the council cap at 6 B'alam. This means that up to six B'alam can hold leadership positions within the colony. These B'alam could be faction leaders, trade leaders, elders, or simply the founders. We don't want more than six because things could get messy!

While anarchy could come to exist, every formal colony (ie- colonies approved by the staff) will need leaders. This is so we have an in-character and out of character person to go to in the event of concerns, plots, or alliances.

◄Colony Population►
What's a king with no kingdom? What's a colony without a population? A crazy B'alam, that's what! In order to have a colony, you need a following. Before your colony can be considered for an official place in the realm you need to gather enough interest and recruit on a few b'alam and their owners to help you.

For standard colonies we're requiring at least 6 B'alam apart from the leader(s) between 3 different owners.

→ Leader B'alam do not count towards the 6 required B'alam.
→ Leaders OOC do count towards the owner count. So if your colony is founded by 3 users, that can meet the quota.
→ Founding users can use their own B'alam to meet the number requirements! If you have 6 B'alam between three people, that's more than enough! (Minus, of course, the leaders.)

For nomadic colonies with more than one territory we are requiring at least 12 B'alam apart from the leader(s) between 3 different owners. This is because they are allowed the special permission of two territories and MUST have some B'alam remaining behind to guard the unoccupied territory during the migration.

→ Leader B'alam do not count towards the 12 required B'alam.
→ Leaders OOC do count towards the owner count. So if your colony is founded by 3 users, that can meet the quota.
→ Founding users can use their own B'alam to meet the number requirements! If you have 12 B'alam between three people, that's more than enough! (Minus, of course, the leaders.)


◄Colony Activity►
We do not want to eat up space on the map or in the colony guild if those eventually go to waste! Colonies must remain fairly active if they are to hold their position in the guild and on the map.

Before applying for official status, a colony must meet the following requirements:

→ 10 completed rp's (1,000 words if ongoing) by the colony members within the span of 6 months' time.
→ Continued activity by the leaders! Leaders will need to at least post an rp every 4 months. Members should have at least 1 new rp starting every 4 months.

This ensures that the colony is a serious concept and not just something that earns a spot on a map and its private place in a guild. We want these cultures to grow from colonies to magedoms! So get out there and show some spirit!

◄Colony Ownership Agreements►
A colony can have more than one OOC (Out of character) owner. We won't put a cap on how many owners a colony can have officially, for now, but the number of owners should reflect the colony itself. A small colony would be more suited to one or two OOC owners while a larger one may require more, especially if said colonies involve factions of sorts.

Owners are responsible for the colony's maintenance. This means up to date colony information, a colony member list, traditions, rules, lineages, and dynasties. This information will help further develop the world of the shop and provide players with the information they need in order to join or maintain their colony citizens.

We will not have a set system of activity until it becomes necessary but we do ask that colony owners remain active, fair, and represent not only their colony well but the shop as a whole. Owners should not be crude, aggressive, or show bad form within the main form or anywhere within the shop's borders. Owners should not set up a colony and leave it to rot. Owners should be active, welcoming, and civil.

Owners need to agree to each other as co-owners of their colony and the role(s) of each owner of the colony.

When submitting your application, you must include every owner and co-owner of the colony so that players and staff know who to contact in regards to the colony. There must be a primary founder.

In the event of an ownership conflict the founder will remain the owner of the colony. The Co-owner(s) of the colony involved in the conflict will be excused to avoid further conflict within the colony and the shop. Upon submitting your application you are consenting to this provision in the unlikely event of strife between owners.

◄Colony Maintenance►
Every colony needs to be given attention by the colony owners. Owners need to put just as much effort into maintaining their colony as they did promoting, recruiting, and establishing it. This means, essentially, that you should only bite off as much as you can chew. If you can handle only one colony, then only begin one colony. If you can handle multiple- then by all means you may start multiple.

Every Colony needs to have the following information provided ||
→ An information page.
Here you give a description of the colony. You explain the culture, the religion, the beliefs, the territory, and the government. This will allow newcomers to understand your colony, your members to work within the colony, and the staff to place the colony within the world. Remember- we will offer perks to colonies that are maintained well, active, and add depth to the realm. It's easier to do if we know how to make a pet fit just right where they need to be going!

→ A member list.
This is essentially a list of members, their ranks, and their owners. We want to know how many characters are within each colony. This also allows us to take things into consideration during breedings. This also helps us get a glance at what roles need supplementing during colony perks, it lets us see how active the colony is, etc. It's also great help for your colony members and those interested in joining.

→ An update/announcement board.
This allows you to communicate to not only the staff, but the members of your colony. Announce high-profile breedings, openings for new members, metaplots, and hiatuses so that your colony (and the staff!) is in the know.

Remember: as a colony owner you are planting the ground work for what may develop into a kingdom within the world of the shop. We will reward activity, effort, creativity, and devotion in every way we can!