SOME RATHER RANDOM AND ARBITRARY RULES


FINAGLE'S RULE
The perversity of the universe always tends toward a maximum.
Sometimes called "Finagle's Law of Dynamic Negatives".
Generalization of Murphy's Law which, as we all know, is at the core of the universe. As applied to fiction: the odds of something happening as the plot unfolds depend not on its actual likelihood, but on its potential for disaster.
One is generally left with the impression that the universe is controlled by a malevolent (or at least mischievous) deity who is obsessed with making your life as difficult and humiliating as possible. Here at the Victorious, we tend to think this Finagle had a rather clever idea!

GENERAL RULES
· The Monarch will change the rules as We need to and you will be expected to abide by them. Players will (usually) be notified of any major change in rules.
· The understanding is that the rules are flexible, but that flexibility is SOLELY at the Monarch’s discretion.
· It’s perfectly acceptable to like anime. Please remember that The Victorious is NOT anime. Not even Hellsing.
· Staff members are to be listened to and respected. If you think one is abusing their power or doesn’t have the best interests of the game at heart, take it to the Monarch. If you just don’t like what they said, deal.
· Members aren’t allowed to put either resources or Lectures in the Resources area. If you find or (bless you!) write something up for the game, just pm it to a staff member to post. You will be credited and linked to.
· Everyone is absolutely required to have fun playing. Anyone not having fun will be reported to the Monarch, and quite likely will have heavy things dropped on them from the sky. HAPPY SHINEY, PEOPLE!
· Don’t take the Monarch too seriously. Dear Lord, people.

GETTING ALONG
· Keep a healthy respect for Hanlon’s razor in your dealings with other players. Best summed up: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
· Courtesy and Intelligence are very highly valued here. Be polite and don't be a dumbass, you should be fine.
· You will on occasion be told ‘no’ by those in charge. Deal in a mature fashion.
· You will probably get offended at some point or feel like someone is ‘being mean’ to you. It happens easily when diverse people communicate in text. Try not to flip a shit.
· If you do get VERY offended, contact a staff member or the Monarch to mediate. Do NOT begin OOC problems or bring them into play. Such an action would not only lose you any sympathy, but also quite possibly get you kicked off the board.
· For goodness' sake, don’t take yourself or anyone else too seriously. It’s only the Intarweb.


CHARACTER CREATION RULES
· Not every character will be accepted. That’s just life. They may not be of the quality we want here, you may not be a decent writer, or they may simply just not fit in with the world. Try not to take this personally.
· If a character has potential but needs work, a staff member or the Monarch will help you fix any issues and improve your character. Cooperation will speed acceptance into the game.
· Characters may not be brought from other games. You may not play fandom characters or character already existing in fiction. Yes, there are a few adapted characters. These were hand-picked and it must be understood that they are an entirely new version of the character - which among other things, allows Us some freedom to alter backstory if need be. The Victorious should NOT be viewed as a direct sequel to any other game, nor should play in other games be dictated by trying to produce results consistent with The Victorious. That would be utterly boring.
· Once you make a character for this world, they belong to this world. They do not disappear when you do, and staff will make decisions if you cannot.
· Be sure to create a signature that links to your character sheet
· Icons – use good judgement. Try not to make them anachronistic. Classical art is fantastic. Your own art, providing it fits, works. Old portraits are great, modern not terribly great, unless they’re made to fit the theme of the game. We’re not trying to stifle your icon-choosing creativity, only keep things period. Text is not allowed, unless it is very unobtrusive, and only the character’s name.
· The same applies to signatures. They can be two lines long. Mayyyybe three. Sig graphics are not allowed at this time. Use your good judgement, and don’t murder the mood of the game with irrelevant or off-putting signatures. Don’t forget, somewhere they *must* link to your character sheet!

POSTING RULES

Posts are to be made in story form. That is, actions are not denoted by *, but with prose. Dialogue is in “quotation marks“, and internal dialogue italicised. OOC notes are in ((double parentheses)).

· Otaku-speak is not permitted.
· L33+ or any variance of extreme net-speak is not permitted. A little “omg” on the OOC boards is fine, but We had better not see any in play.
· This is a game with a focus on honing one’s writing skills. Please keep your spelling and grammar bearable and your writing good enough to not be painful to read. That’s all We ask.
· Try to keep scenes shortish, and make use of ‘time-skips’ as needed.
· You can away with a lot, as far as ‘Rated R’ type stuff. And beyond that, you can imply pretty much anything. But try to be responsible. If you’re describing something really gruesome or very, very taboo, put some sort of warning. Don’t get us into trouble, please.
· If you write a solo post, please put “Solo” in the subtitle and a note for the thread to be closed at the end of the post.
· Check the calendar.
· A note on location-hopping. Not only necessary but very occasionally encouraged. As we favour shorter scenes, this sort of thing is nice to see. However, if you hop locations, you MUST link the two threads to one another – the end of the first to the beginning of the seconds, an vice versa. A parenthetical ((Continued *here*))/((Continued from *here*)) will do.
· Please begin every thread with the time, date, and location inside ((double parentheses)).
· Just because you think it would be cool to have your character do/be/say a certain thing doesn’t mean it’s necessarily within the character’s natural motivations. Please put a little thought into character psychology and take care their decisions are made abiding by their internal compass, not for your own amusement.


· LASTLY: Please remember that the Monarch controls the weather in London. That means the Monarch controls the lightning. People can and do get struck by lightning all the time, even in a city with so many tall buildings.