OOC for The Fortress

'kay, just wanted to give you guys a heads up that we've updated the overview page to clarify a few things; that can be found here: http://fortress-mods.insanejournal.com/2221.html

For conveniences sake, this is what has been added. Hopefully this will help enlighten everyone. :)

Please note

Canon house stereotypes do not apply here. There were no character values set on each house. Students are not sorted into Gryffindor because they are brave, they are sorted there because they are good with weapons. Students are not sorted into Slytherin because they're cunning and ambitious, they're put there if they are patient and strong-minded.

Aptitude Test

Think 'career aptitude test'. The test is a combination written and physical exam that gauges the student's interests, physical prowess, and areas in which they excel.

They are asked to answer several questions in regard to their personality, their goals, desires, and aspirations. It is not an 'intelligence' test in any base sense. They aren't working figures or writing essays. They're telling the instructors, through the questions, what they want to do with the rest of their career at school.

While a student's personality is taken into account, it is not a determining factor in house placement. If they are good with weapons and want to fight, they're Gryffindors. If they're patient and strong-minded, or training to use elemental magic in combat, they're Slytherins. If they're bright and have a knack for academics or a mind for strategy, or are training in animal magic, they're Ravenclaws. If they're more hands-on in a general sense, or lack a desire to be front-lines combat, they will be a Hufflepuff. Bravery, cunning, determination, and wit, have nothing to do with what house they land in.

There're a couple of posts missing titles - if you guys could fix that, we'd appreciate it. Also, please remember to put your tags up when you join a post.

Mary's title

Narcissa's title

Druella's title

Narcissa's title

Meant to do this last night. Clearly did not.

So, Cross-training was meant to be assigned in January. However, I fail at um ... sticking to my guns when I can't remember the logic behind certain aspects of things? And I was dually enabled last night? So we'll be handing out cross-training assignments ... well, Nate said middle of this month but ... we'll see if we can wait the week. ;)

The assignments we have so far:

Lily will be cross-training with Severus for poisons and battle potions. There will be lulz.

Remus will be cross-training with Randy for scouting. We may possibly be pitching Emme into this as well if we decide it's likely for a student to have two apprentices. I think we got distracted from that discussion. Something shiny might've rolled by or I might've tangented. I'm bad for that.

Gideon will be cross-training with Mary in light cavalry/archery.

Amos is training Mary in Scouting.

On the apps, there were a few that were borderline but none that specifically stated if they were cross-training, so if your pup was borderline and wants to cross-train, comment here and we'll work something out. It might end up being with an NPC and something you just reference if we don't have anyone cast who can fill the bill. Or if any non-student sorts who trained want to take on an apprentice (if there was a fire elemental, Bella could train them, that sort of thing), comment here and let us know you're available.

Also, we do have a tiny plot bit coming up as soon as Nate finishes that post. It'll be something that might encourage one of the Slytherin instructors to encourage his students to brew lots and lots of fire potions. I'm just sayin'. We also have plans to have a winter carnival visiting Hogwarts, to bring news of the Outside World. OoooOOOoooooOOOoooh. But that's still being worked about. Because it was one of my random ideas.

Okay. That's it for right now 'cause I have a plot-post to write for full_circle ::lure, lure:: (Hey. Fair is fair. I pimped this game over there. XD )

Because we were clever and thought of it today ...

we now have a wanted list

If you want any characters - canon or OC - to fill a line, post a comment there and we'll add it to our requests when we make them in request comms.

Good Morning!

Except for the part where it isn't because it's morning.

That said, just wanted to remind you guys of a couple things:

1) RP posts need titles; the preferred format is "RP: Title Goes Here" There are three that need to be fixed, so if you two could do that, we'd appreciate it.

2) Posts need tags. This includes the OOC posts. We're big on tags.

And since I think it didn't make it past verbal discussion ... ::pause:: No, it totally didn't, because it started with "are you awake?" last night. AND I ALMOST WASN'T.

::cough::

Anyway, the Harvest Festival thread will go up on November 1st, and there will be two parts to it. The first part will be the first couple of peaceful hours of the festival, and the second post will be the one that goes up after the thing happens. That's going to be a TOTAL SURPRISE so we're not telling you. BUT THE GRYFFS PROBABLY SHOULDN'T DITCH EARLY. ::eyes Lily::

As always, suggestions and questions and other things are welcome, 'cause we like to hear what you have to say so we can adjust our funky AU world to fit everyone.

Okay. it's almost time for me to go to work ::sulks::

So, one more thing before we get started. yay oversight.

For tags in the IC posts, all we're going to want is:

the date (format is year double-digit month, so: 1976 10, 1976 11, 1977 01, etc)
the character name (lily evans, severus snape, sirius black, etc)

since everything is (likely for now) within hogwarts/hogsmeade, we're not concerned with location tags at this point. If there is something happening not within the walls, we'll discuss tags at that point.

For now, we're letting you create & add your own tags, and if you have trouble keeping track of posts, you are welcome to use a tag for yourself to mark all your active threads with (this should be in the format of "!yourname" or some variant thereof).

We do have a header format, though we're not going to be adamant you stick to ours exactly, just as long as all the relevant information is in the header.

As always, if you have questions, hit us up. :)

( V. Large Image behind cut )

Okay. Halo got artistic. Don't laugh at it; it will feel sad.

First thing to note, it is not to scale. This is just to give everyone a rough idea of where everything is in regard to the grounds. The top of the map where the road is is the "upper class" section, with the "lower class" being closer to the castle, on the middle of the map.

Nate may or may not be writing a text-version of the grounds and specific uses of areas, what sort of shops there are, etc, but I don't honestly know. I'm supposed to be working on my bios 'cause I need to get my kids in. But I had inspiration, so now you have a sketch.

and if it won't all show up, the direct link is here: http://i38.tinypic.com/25pl6vq.jpg

ETA It should be noted the entire village/castle area is surrounded by a large stone wall with intermittent gates, though the wall is spotty through the forest areas (for plot reasons. You know. So people can sneak in and junk. XD )

We're reworking the structure of magic (shocker, right?) so those who apped in as magical characters and would like to shift their character slightly will be able to do so, once the magic stuff is written up. Basically, we're adding in a branch of elemental magic, which cannot be learned but is, like animal magic, an inherited/birth trait. Like Muggleborns in canon, there will occasionally be an elemental child born of non-elemental parents. While normally a child will have ability to master one element, occasionally there will be some who can work multiple elements but will not be able to master them.

... Bella is adamant she can work fire magic. M'tired of arguing with her. ::cough::

So right. I'm sure this isn't the last change, either, but we'll keep you posted. ;)