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Welcome to Dark Prince Rising!
Home to our favorite Dark Wizard and his followers. Newly initiated into the Dark Prince’s circle? Take a look at our general information and rules below. If you have any questions that are not answered here, you can contact us at:
darkprincesnape at yahoo dot com (preferred)
moviemaedchen at gmail dot com (00sevvie)
murduck at gmail dot com (janus) 
About Us:
This asylum is intended to be a place for those fans of Severus Snape who are interested in exploring his darker side a little more deeply than often happens on more general Snape fansites. Here you can gather to debate and discuss the Potions Master; rec your favorite works of fanfiction (hereafter known as ‘fic’), fanart (‘art’), and meta; and post your own fic, art, meta, thoughts, jokes, rants about canon…. If it’s centered on Snape, and explores his darker side in some way, it is welcome here (with few exceptions – see below). We’re also interested in other DEs, Voldemort, Gellert Grindelwald, Dark Magic in the Potterverse and definitions thereof, etc., but mainly as they relate to Severus Snape. If you can tie it to Snape, it’s welcome on the asylum, but otherwise please post it on your personal journal.
We write Severus-centric fic and meta, we make Severus-centric art and do Severus-related crafts (and post photos!), we rant and rave about DH and Nagini and what on earth Dark Magic really *is* and so on. We may have monthly fic, art, and meta challenges that you may enter (if you wish!) Participants all get banners. We make jokes about Snape and post funny things about him we find elsewhere. And we rec fic, art and meta – one of the main purposes of this asylum is to serve as a place to gather all of the Dark!Sev fic (and art) that we can find together in one place; it can be hard to find now that DH has given us Dumbledore’s Man!Sev.
This community is mostly unmoderated – if it descends to name-calling we reserve the right to delete after two warnings, so please keep it civil, don’t get personal, and absolutely do not start shipping wars. We want Snapefen of all kinds to feel welcome here, as long as they are interested in exploring the darker side of Severus’ character in some way. This is also a community run by and for adults, and works posted here may contain adult themes. Please note this. (We are hosted in the US, where the age of consent is 18, but please obey your own country’s laws as well.) And please note that, while we’re sure you know the difference between fiction and reality, we do not encourage you to emulate Death Eaters in your personal lives! We’re interested in exploring the moral complexities of a fictional character; we do not support or promote racism/prejudice, genocide, murder, necromancy, hate crimes, or other such things in real life. Do not promote them here!
We love Severus, and we love to discuss him and the world/s he inhabits in detail. It’s our hobby. Please don’t come here and tell us that we’re silly to do so, or that we shouldn’t be interested in him, etc. We don’t go out of our way to rain on your parade, so please have the same courtesy for us. If you’re passionate about Sev, come on in. If not, go do your thing somewhere else, please, and we’ll leave you alone. That way we’re all happy.
Feel free to post requests for betas! However, please tag such requests and your responses to such requests with the “beta” tag, so people can find you!
And finally, please feel free to visit our affiliate Snapedom, run by the gracious Sylvanawood. You can find the link in our link list.

The Rules:
1. By “darker side” we mean any and all of the following:
Severus the loyal Death Eater, either as a young man or in AU scenarios in which he never switched sides
Severus the repentant Death Eater, who rejoins Voldemort for whatever reason
Severus the shady spy of deeply ambiguous loyalties – is he really DD’s man, or is he still the Dark Lord’s creature? Or is he an independent, and ruthless, agent with his own agenda?
Dark Lord Severus – ‘nuff said. The Dark Prince reigns!
Severus the Dark Wizard – regardless of loyalties, the Dark Arts (whether you define them as evil magic, chaotic magic, or whatever) are his passion, and your fic/art focuses on this aspect of him
Dumbledore’s Man Severus who nevertheless still loves the Dark Lord or who is still drawn by the dark side…or Severus the true double agent, sincerely serving two masters…
You get the idea. Basically, we’re not interested in your usual “Dumbledore’s Man” Snape fic, art and meta – we focus on those aspects of Severus’ personality that, for whatever reason, initially drew him to Voldemort’s service and/or Dark Magic (whatever that actually *is* - give us your definition!) and on scenarios in fic/art that show him as something a little more complex and darker than the unsung, saintly hero of the Light. “Dumbledore’s Man” is ok, if it’s clearly in the background of a work focused on Dark Magic, or is a notion seriously in question in the work.
If you have doubts about whether your work meets this criterion, please contact the mods to let them have a first look before you post. Posts that both janus and 00sevvie deem to be completely outside the scope of this requirement (which is pretty flexible) will be treated as follows: you get two warnings to rewrite/redraw or take down yourself, after which we will delete. Posts that one of us thinks do not fit the requirement will be discussed between us (mods) and you (author), and we will do our best to help you bring it in line with the rules. If you can’t or won’t rework the piece, please post it elsewhere. But if you are unsure, please do contact us – we don’t want to scare you away!
We’re not interested in work where “dark” is merely synonymous with “mean to Harry.” Yes, Snape can be a right arse to Harry and others. Understood. But he is a complex human being, with complex motives. THIS is what we are interested in exploring here. We also aren’t trying to be our affiliate Snapedom; if you want to discuss Severus more generally, please go there (they have Every Flavor Beans!)
By “Severus-centered” and the like we mean:
Anything in which Severus Snape is a or the main character, regardless of who the viewpoint character is
Anything in which Severus Snape does not personally appear, but which focuses on the author/artist’s or another character’s thoughts about Severus (a eulogy scene, for example)
Meta/essays discussing Severus’ possible backstory, motives, relationships to other characters, to magic, etc. – If you can tie it to Severus convincingly, it’s welcome
Jokes and humorous things about Severus (we laugh with him, not at him, that is)
Rants on Severus-related themes and questions about Severus
Discussions relating to writing Severus fic, making Severus art, etc.
Writers’ and artists’ resources relating to Severus (the Snape in Canon site, for example)
2. Fic and art posting:
We welcome your fic, art and meta, as well as links to works hosted elsewhere that you rec. However, there are a couple of rules regarding the posting of your work. In short they are: template, warn, and tag.
First: please use the template below when posting your work. This ensures people can find things they want and avoid things that might be negative triggers to them. To keep things easy on the eyes for other readers, please put just the template, and a short summary if you wish, in your post, and put your work (fic, art, or meta) behind an IJ cut. Ask us if you don’t know how to do this. The single exception is art that is the size of an artpad drawing or smaller, and that requires no warnings (is worksafe). This can be posted directly under the template, and needs no IJ cut.
***
Here is the template with HTML tags, and under it how it should look in your post (using one of 00sevvie’s fics as an example. The strikethroughs indicate things that can be deleted in the actual post we recommend providing the warning and pairing labels to avoid confusion):
In Subject Line of post: Challenge (if applicable): Title
(ex. "Meta0709 Why Severus became a Death-Eater: Recruitment")
<b>Title:</b>
<b>Character(s):</b> (use commas to separate)
<b>Pairing(s):</b> (If applicable; use slashes)
<b>Rating:</b>
<b>Warning(s):</b> (If applicable)
<b>Challenge(s)/Prompt(s):</> (If applicable)
<b>Word count:</b>
<b>Author's notes:</b> (If applicable)
<b>Disclaimer:</b> (can be short)
Subject Line: Lost
Title: Lost
Characters: Severus, Voldemort
Pairings: n/a
Rating: PG or PG-13
Warnings: n/a
Challenge/Prompt: n/a
Word Count: 300
Author’s notes: AU triple-drabble: what might have happened had Voldemort learned a few important facts about Severus and Harry a bit earlier than in canon...and decided he wasn't ready to let go of a certain Potions Master just yet. Thanks to my fantastic beta Janus!
Disclaimer: What you recognize, is JKR's. All in fun, not for profit.
***
Second: please provide 1) a general rating (even if it’s just “NC-17” or “PG-13/below NC-17”) and in light of the battle over warnings 2) minimal warnings. This helps people who don’t want to read graphic material to avoid it, and to avoid common triggers for negative reactions. Note that here NC-17 can refer to sexually explicit, but also to extremely violent/dark themes.
Minimal warnings would be needed for: any non-con/dub-con; torture; abuse; death; BDSM; bestiality/necrophilia/etc.; pregnancy or mpreg; disturbing ideas (that are a significant portion of the work – for example: in a fic Voldemort argues in detail in defense of Muggleborn-killing). General not-worksafe, violence or explicit sex warnings should be given, if these things are present and a more specific warning is not applicable.
Please note: As per Section 1466A of the Protect Act (in the comment below) we don’t want to attract legal action, against you or against ourselves. Please, please keep all visual depiction between characters who are over 18 - the age of majority in the US where we are hosted. Please, no sexual contact in art between characters younger than this, and nothing that could be mistaken for it. It will be deleted immediately if posted. Please respect the rules of your own countries too, of course. And please, keep anything graphic, whether visual or written behind a cut, an appropriate rating and with a specific age warning. edited July 8, 2009
Third: please tag things properly! This helps other users find your work. The links on the sidebar for fic, art, challenges, etc. go to the pages with everything with those specific tags. If your work is improperly tagged, it won’t show up. The mods can help you if you’re unsure what tags to use, and will point out improperly-tagged posts to you so you can fix them. Here are the big ones to know:
We also recommend tagging posts with your username so all your work can be found easily (just type it into the ‘tags’ section of your post and the tag will be created). And please use the appropriate challenge tags (look in the list or the bottom of the challenge topic post for the correct one. It will have the challenge name and date in it.)
3. Recc’ing and Other
Recc’ing someone else’s work: please provide a link to the work – do not copy it here! Just use your common sense, essentially. Please also provide the author’s/artist’s name, any crossover fandoms (if applicable), and rating and warning info. Tagging rules regarding length and genre (fic/art/meta) like those for your work apply; please also include the “recs” tag.
Crossovers are OK, as long as Severus is a main character. However, if an author has specifically requested that you not create fan works based on their work, please try to avoid knowingly posting a crossover featuring it here. JKR has publically stated that she is OK with fan works, but other authors are not so generous, and we do wish to respect their requests. We do not at this time have a complete list of all authors who specifically discourage fan works, but if you know of one, it might be polite to post that info with a “reference” tag, for fellow members’ information.
We are not an archive for all your work; please keep it to fic and art centered on Severus in his darker aspect, and please back up your work for safety’s sake.
We have no spoiler policy. DH came out long ago enough for you to have read it. If you haven’t, that’s your choice; please don’t complain about spoilers. We are AU- and AR-friendly; be canon-compliant or not as you choose, and please respect others’ preferences in this regard when commenting.
Please, do not start shipping wars. This is a site for all Snapefen; start your own page if you want a center to discuss your ship and only yours! The one exception: bitching about Snape/Lily is permitted, since it is canon. However, please be respectful if a Snily shipper takes offense, and Snily shippers, please try not to be offended.
And finally: if things get heated, please behave like adults and be respectful of each other. Make it about the post, not about the poster!

General Disclaimer: fan works (of fiction and art) posted or linked to here are intended solely for fun and in tribute to JKR and any other authors whose work is featured as the basis for these fan works. We are not Severus Snape. We are not Alan Rickman. We do not own Severus, nor Alan, nor any thing nor person from the 'Harry Potter' universe. We make no money from this journal, which is written by and for adults and may contain adult concepts and situations.
darkprincesnape at yahoo dot com (preferred)
moviemaedchen at gmail dot com (00sevvie)
murduck at gmail dot com (janus) 
About Us:
This asylum is intended to be a place for those fans of Severus Snape who are interested in exploring his darker side a little more deeply than often happens on more general Snape fansites. Here you can gather to debate and discuss the Potions Master; rec your favorite works of fanfiction (hereafter known as ‘fic’), fanart (‘art’), and meta; and post your own fic, art, meta, thoughts, jokes, rants about canon…. If it’s centered on Snape, and explores his darker side in some way, it is welcome here (with few exceptions – see below). We’re also interested in other DEs, Voldemort, Gellert Grindelwald, Dark Magic in the Potterverse and definitions thereof, etc., but mainly as they relate to Severus Snape. If you can tie it to Snape, it’s welcome on the asylum, but otherwise please post it on your personal journal.
We write Severus-centric fic and meta, we make Severus-centric art and do Severus-related crafts (and post photos!), we rant and rave about DH and Nagini and what on earth Dark Magic really *is* and so on. We may have monthly fic, art, and meta challenges that you may enter (if you wish!) Participants all get banners. We make jokes about Snape and post funny things about him we find elsewhere. And we rec fic, art and meta – one of the main purposes of this asylum is to serve as a place to gather all of the Dark!Sev fic (and art) that we can find together in one place; it can be hard to find now that DH has given us Dumbledore’s Man!Sev.
This community is mostly unmoderated – if it descends to name-calling we reserve the right to delete after two warnings, so please keep it civil, don’t get personal, and absolutely do not start shipping wars. We want Snapefen of all kinds to feel welcome here, as long as they are interested in exploring the darker side of Severus’ character in some way. This is also a community run by and for adults, and works posted here may contain adult themes. Please note this. (We are hosted in the US, where the age of consent is 18, but please obey your own country’s laws as well.) And please note that, while we’re sure you know the difference between fiction and reality, we do not encourage you to emulate Death Eaters in your personal lives! We’re interested in exploring the moral complexities of a fictional character; we do not support or promote racism/prejudice, genocide, murder, necromancy, hate crimes, or other such things in real life. Do not promote them here!
We love Severus, and we love to discuss him and the world/s he inhabits in detail. It’s our hobby. Please don’t come here and tell us that we’re silly to do so, or that we shouldn’t be interested in him, etc. We don’t go out of our way to rain on your parade, so please have the same courtesy for us. If you’re passionate about Sev, come on in. If not, go do your thing somewhere else, please, and we’ll leave you alone. That way we’re all happy.
Feel free to post requests for betas! However, please tag such requests and your responses to such requests with the “beta” tag, so people can find you!
And finally, please feel free to visit our affiliate Snapedom, run by the gracious Sylvanawood. You can find the link in our link list.

The Rules:
1. By “darker side” we mean any and all of the following:
Severus the loyal Death Eater, either as a young man or in AU scenarios in which he never switched sides
Severus the repentant Death Eater, who rejoins Voldemort for whatever reason
Severus the shady spy of deeply ambiguous loyalties – is he really DD’s man, or is he still the Dark Lord’s creature? Or is he an independent, and ruthless, agent with his own agenda?
Dark Lord Severus – ‘nuff said. The Dark Prince reigns!
Severus the Dark Wizard – regardless of loyalties, the Dark Arts (whether you define them as evil magic, chaotic magic, or whatever) are his passion, and your fic/art focuses on this aspect of him
Dumbledore’s Man Severus who nevertheless still loves the Dark Lord or who is still drawn by the dark side…or Severus the true double agent, sincerely serving two masters…
You get the idea. Basically, we’re not interested in your usual “Dumbledore’s Man” Snape fic, art and meta – we focus on those aspects of Severus’ personality that, for whatever reason, initially drew him to Voldemort’s service and/or Dark Magic (whatever that actually *is* - give us your definition!) and on scenarios in fic/art that show him as something a little more complex and darker than the unsung, saintly hero of the Light. “Dumbledore’s Man” is ok, if it’s clearly in the background of a work focused on Dark Magic, or is a notion seriously in question in the work.
If you have doubts about whether your work meets this criterion, please contact the mods to let them have a first look before you post. Posts that both janus and 00sevvie deem to be completely outside the scope of this requirement (which is pretty flexible) will be treated as follows: you get two warnings to rewrite/redraw or take down yourself, after which we will delete. Posts that one of us thinks do not fit the requirement will be discussed between us (mods) and you (author), and we will do our best to help you bring it in line with the rules. If you can’t or won’t rework the piece, please post it elsewhere. But if you are unsure, please do contact us – we don’t want to scare you away!
We’re not interested in work where “dark” is merely synonymous with “mean to Harry.” Yes, Snape can be a right arse to Harry and others. Understood. But he is a complex human being, with complex motives. THIS is what we are interested in exploring here. We also aren’t trying to be our affiliate Snapedom; if you want to discuss Severus more generally, please go there (they have Every Flavor Beans!)
By “Severus-centered” and the like we mean:
Anything in which Severus Snape is a or the main character, regardless of who the viewpoint character is
Anything in which Severus Snape does not personally appear, but which focuses on the author/artist’s or another character’s thoughts about Severus (a eulogy scene, for example)
Meta/essays discussing Severus’ possible backstory, motives, relationships to other characters, to magic, etc. – If you can tie it to Severus convincingly, it’s welcome
Jokes and humorous things about Severus (we laugh with him, not at him, that is)
Rants on Severus-related themes and questions about Severus
Discussions relating to writing Severus fic, making Severus art, etc.
Writers’ and artists’ resources relating to Severus (the Snape in Canon site, for example)
2. Fic and art posting:
We welcome your fic, art and meta, as well as links to works hosted elsewhere that you rec. However, there are a couple of rules regarding the posting of your work. In short they are: template, warn, and tag.
First: please use the template below when posting your work. This ensures people can find things they want and avoid things that might be negative triggers to them. To keep things easy on the eyes for other readers, please put just the template, and a short summary if you wish, in your post, and put your work (fic, art, or meta) behind an IJ cut. Ask us if you don’t know how to do this. The single exception is art that is the size of an artpad drawing or smaller, and that requires no warnings (is worksafe). This can be posted directly under the template, and needs no IJ cut.
***
Here is the template with HTML tags, and under it how it should look in your post (using one of 00sevvie’s fics as an example. The strikethroughs indicate things that can be deleted in the actual post we recommend providing the warning and pairing labels to avoid confusion):
In Subject Line of post: Challenge (if applicable): Title
(ex. "Meta0709 Why Severus became a Death-Eater: Recruitment")
<b>Title:</b>
<b>Character(s):</b> (use commas to separate)
<b>Pairing(s):</b> (If applicable; use slashes)
<b>Rating:</b>
<b>Warning(s):</b> (If applicable)
<b>Challenge(s)/Prompt(s):</> (If applicable)
<b>Word count:</b>
<b>Author's notes:</b> (If applicable)
<b>Disclaimer:</b> (can be short)
Subject Line: Lost
Title: Lost
Characters: Severus, Voldemort
Pairings: n/a
Rating: PG or PG-13
Warnings: n/a
Word Count: 300
Author’s notes: AU triple-drabble: what might have happened had Voldemort learned a few important facts about Severus and Harry a bit earlier than in canon...and decided he wasn't ready to let go of a certain Potions Master just yet. Thanks to my fantastic beta Janus!
Disclaimer: What you recognize, is JKR's. All in fun, not for profit.
***
Second: please provide 1) a general rating (even if it’s just “NC-17” or “PG-13/below NC-17”) and in light of the battle over warnings 2) minimal warnings. This helps people who don’t want to read graphic material to avoid it, and to avoid common triggers for negative reactions. Note that here NC-17 can refer to sexually explicit, but also to extremely violent/dark themes.
Minimal warnings would be needed for: any non-con/dub-con; torture; abuse; death; BDSM; bestiality/necrophilia/etc.; pregnancy or mpreg; disturbing ideas (that are a significant portion of the work – for example: in a fic Voldemort argues in detail in defense of Muggleborn-killing). General not-worksafe, violence or explicit sex warnings should be given, if these things are present and a more specific warning is not applicable.
Please note: As per Section 1466A of the Protect Act (in the comment below) we don’t want to attract legal action, against you or against ourselves. Please, please keep all visual depiction between characters who are over 18 - the age of majority in the US where we are hosted. Please, no sexual contact in art between characters younger than this, and nothing that could be mistaken for it. It will be deleted immediately if posted. Please respect the rules of your own countries too, of course. And please, keep anything graphic, whether visual or written behind a cut, an appropriate rating and with a specific age warning. edited July 8, 2009
Third: please tag things properly! This helps other users find your work. The links on the sidebar for fic, art, challenges, etc. go to the pages with everything with those specific tags. If your work is improperly tagged, it won’t show up. The mods can help you if you’re unsure what tags to use, and will point out improperly-tagged posts to you so you can fix them. Here are the big ones to know:
- art – for all art and crafts posts
- short – this is for fic under 3,000 words, including drabbles and drabble series totaling less than 3,000 words
- beta – for all beta requests and responses to beta requests
- fic – for all fiction (in addition to ‘short’/’long’ tags)
- fic challenge or meta challenge – for posts that set fic/meta challenge topics and for replies to challenge topics
- long – this is for fic that is 3,000 words or longer, including long drabbles series
- meta/essay – for all meta posts and anything non-fiction that’s essay-length
- question/rant – self-explanatory
- recs – for all recs, whether of fic, art, or meta
- references – for writing/art resources you want included in the “Resources” section
We also recommend tagging posts with your username so all your work can be found easily (just type it into the ‘tags’ section of your post and the tag will be created). And please use the appropriate challenge tags (look in the list or the bottom of the challenge topic post for the correct one. It will have the challenge name and date in it.)
3. Recc’ing and Other
Recc’ing someone else’s work: please provide a link to the work – do not copy it here! Just use your common sense, essentially. Please also provide the author’s/artist’s name, any crossover fandoms (if applicable), and rating and warning info. Tagging rules regarding length and genre (fic/art/meta) like those for your work apply; please also include the “recs” tag.
Crossovers are OK, as long as Severus is a main character. However, if an author has specifically requested that you not create fan works based on their work, please try to avoid knowingly posting a crossover featuring it here. JKR has publically stated that she is OK with fan works, but other authors are not so generous, and we do wish to respect their requests. We do not at this time have a complete list of all authors who specifically discourage fan works, but if you know of one, it might be polite to post that info with a “reference” tag, for fellow members’ information.
We are not an archive for all your work; please keep it to fic and art centered on Severus in his darker aspect, and please back up your work for safety’s sake.
We have no spoiler policy. DH came out long ago enough for you to have read it. If you haven’t, that’s your choice; please don’t complain about spoilers. We are AU- and AR-friendly; be canon-compliant or not as you choose, and please respect others’ preferences in this regard when commenting.
Please, do not start shipping wars. This is a site for all Snapefen; start your own page if you want a center to discuss your ship and only yours! The one exception: bitching about Snape/Lily is permitted, since it is canon. However, please be respectful if a Snily shipper takes offense, and Snily shippers, please try not to be offended.
And finally: if things get heated, please behave like adults and be respectful of each other. Make it about the post, not about the poster!

General Disclaimer: fan works (of fiction and art) posted or linked to here are intended solely for fun and in tribute to JKR and any other authors whose work is featured as the basis for these fan works. We are not Severus Snape. We are not Alan Rickman. We do not own Severus, nor Alan, nor any thing nor person from the 'Harry Potter' universe. We make no money from this journal, which is written by and for adults and may contain adult concepts and situations.