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[characters] applications

application post

As of January 2014, formal applications are closed.

APPLICATIONS

Apps are processed roughly once a week (often on Tuesdays or Wednesdays).

Please check the taken list along with the reserves page before applying.
If you are uncomfortable leaving your personal contact information out in the open, please omit the personal journal and/or contact fields. (We still require a name.)

We take no responsibility for the inability to reach you regarding your application if you choose to omit contact information. Please also note that you will still be required to leave some form of contact (whether it be via PMs or a public post where people may reach you via comments) here upon acceptance. The members contact information post is locked.

Sponsorships are an IC choice. They are first come, first serve, but characters are granted the ability to read through the sponsorships and choose one they think best suits their personality. If the one the character would choose (the one the mun lists on the application) is turned down, then they're assigned by NPCs. (In that case, your character is free to have an in-game reaction to not being awarded the sponsorship they asked for as it is considered an IC decision.)

If the mun feels like their character would choose a sponsorship that's ill-fitting, then the NPCs will dutifully place the character in one that's right for them--so please let us know if that is ever the case.

Players must wait one week from their last character's acceptance or drop to be eligible to apply a new character. There is no formal minimum waiting period for resubmission of a rejected application; however, after three rejected applications for a given character, we will not review further applications for that character from the same mun.

Comments to this post are un-screened. Applications to characters previously dropped and/or rejected will be screened.
Applications for characters applied prior to January 2012 are public on Livejournal.
For the 'Entry Position' question, please select whether you wish to have your character enter the game as a cadet, SeeD, instructor or other. If you choose to have your character enter as a SeeD or Instructor, your character will have entered Garden at least a year prior to their game introduction so that their education will not have to be played out and instead will be handwaved; Instructors have an additional trimester after their graduation in which they earn their Instructor's license. In this case, we ask the applicant to include their specialization (including weapon or strand of magic if a weapons or para-magic specialist) and a brief synopsis (a paragraph or so) summarizing the past time in Garden. If 'other' is chosen, please elaborate.
For those who wish to apply an instructor, you are free to choose which classes you wish for them to teach by choosing a course that does not have a designated instructor on the class list. You may also create a new class which is not already covered on the class list and is not limited to people with particular powers; if so, you will have to supply a twelve week syllabus with your application.
Instructors are limited to teaching two different courses, and each course will have two instructors; one who teaches the M/W/F classes, and another who teaches the T/Th classes. This is to ensure that should one instructor be sent out on a mission, another will be available to cover those classes.
In addition to choosing 'instructor' in the entry position question of the application, please include the classes and days you wish for your character to teach as well.
For samples on your application, you're offered a choice out of four options. You are only required to fulfill two of the four.
IC Questionnaire
The questionnaire is considered one of the last steps of IC admittance to the Garden and is part of their "final interview". As such you can assume the questions are being asked face-to-face, and not in a written format.

(As this questionnaire is entirely IC, your character is free to lie.) What do you prefer to be known as? How old are you? Do you have any history in combat? If so, have you ever killed? i) How do you feel when you get involved in some project that calls for immediate and rapid activity? ii) Do you organize and initiate leisure activities? iii) What role do you take when working in a group? iv) How talkative are you around other people? v) What three things would you want to have with you on a desert island? State your reasoning. vi) Is it important to be liked by a wide range of people? vii) When the odds are against you, is it worth taking a chance? viii) Do you consider yourself to be an impulsive person? ix) Would you agree that planning things ahead takes the fun out of life? x) Do you like surprises? xi) Do you sometimes wonder if there is something wrong with you? xii) Do you consider yourself to be smarter than your superiors, and disagree with their decisions? xiii) Lastly, how do you feel about cabbages?

Prose sample
Free choice, or 'Your character really wants (something), but for whatever reason can't get it.', or 'Your character has just had Time Compression and their options explained to them. Show us how they decide whether to enroll at Garden as a Cadet, work for Garden, or go out into the world.'

Bracket/Commentspam RP sample
Free choice, or 'Your character has a secret that is rising to the surface.'

Thread link
A link to a thread you've done in the past with the character you're applying for. The thread has to be at least ten comments long and appropriately display your character's voice and writing style.

witchesreign does not have application cycles, but we do have an application processing schedule.
Any currently pending application will be reviewed starting Tuesday or Wednesday and a response will be given over the course of the week.

Any application submitted on or after 12:00 AM (EST) Saturday will be processed the following week.

Applicants are free to submit their applications at any time, but are urged to take notice of the possible 7-day wait should they submit an application on a Saturday.

Canon character application

<h1>PLAYER</h1>
Name:
Journal:
Contact:

<h1>CHARACTER</h1>
Character Name: (Western order)
Series:
Gender:
Age & Canon Point:
Entry position (Cadet, SeeD, Instructor, other):
Requested Sponsor (if a Cadet):
Specialization (if a SeeD or Instructor):
History: (Wiki link or 400-500 word summary. If they're arriving with memories from another RP, tell us about it here.)
Garden History: (Only applicable to those applying a SeeD or instructor; please include a brief summary as to how they spent their last year in Garden as they took classes and, if applicable, obtained their instructor's license.)
Abilities & Physical Abnormalities: (If your character has anything that would be considered out of the norm - please be succinct.)
Personality: (~300-500 minimum. Generally what we're looking for is things like main personality traits (positive or negative), flaws or expansion on negative personality traits, self-images, motivation/goals, beliefs/values, opinions/attitudes and quirks and mannerisms.)
What are your plans for the character in-game?

Anything else?

<h1>SAMPLES</h1>
Complete TWO out of the FOUR options.
i) IC Questionnaire (can be found on the application page)
ii) Prose sample (can be general or a response to the post's prompt).
iii) Bracket/Commentspam RP sample (can be general or a response to the post's prompt).
iv) Thread link

Original/AU character application

<h1>PLAYER</h1>
Name:
Journal:
Contact:

<h1>CHARACTER</h1>
OC or AU:
Character Name: (Western order)
Series: (if AU)
Gender:
Age:
Entry position (Cadet, SeeD, Instructor, other):
Requested Sponsor (if a Cadet):
Specialization (if a SeeD or Instructor):
Appearance: (N/A for AU if their appearance will remain unchanged)
History: (Wiki link or 400-500 word summary. If they're arriving with memories from another RP, tell us about it here.)
World History: (A brief summary of your character's world, if not from this one.)
Garden History: (Only applicable to those applying a SeeD or instructor; please include a brief summary as to how they spent their last year in Garden as they took classes and, if applicable, obtained their instructors license.)
Abilities & Physical Abnormalities: (If your character has anything that would be considered out of the norm - please be succinct.)
Personality: (~300-500 minimum. Generally what we're looking for is things like main personality traits (positive or negative), flaws or expansion on negative personality traits, self-images, motivation/goals, beliefs/values, opinions/attitudes and quirks and mannerisms.)
What are your plans for the character in-game?
Anything else?

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Name: Caryl
Journal:

camalyng
Contact:

starshone_storm; starshone.storm (AT) gmail.com

Character Name: Nathan "Nate" Drake
Series: Uncharted
Gender: Male
Age & Canon Point: Fifteen & Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, mid-chapter 3, while running away from Marlowe's agents and before being cornered
Entry position: Cadet
Requested Sponsor: Carbuncle
History: Uncharted Wiki! More deets (two separate links) on this particular canon point.

A bit of VIII world history to account for the "made your way to Balamb Garden": Upon finding himself in Balamb instead of Cartagena, Nate was both relieved that there was no longer anyone shooting at him, and a little disgruntled by having to learn to adapt to a new place. He blended in with some success until he was caught stealing food. The Balamb town council, trying to punish him, realized no one in town knew him, and Nate didn't know enough about the world for his story about being a tourist to hold up, so the council deduced that he was an off-worlder. Without a guardian around, Nate was sent to the recently returned Balamb Garden so that someone would take responsibility for him, with the proviso that he still complete his community service for the theft.

So, really, he didn't so much "made his way to Balamb Garden" as he was dragged there by the authorities.

Abilities & Physical Abnormalities:
He's pretty good at parkour, he's fluent in Spanish as well as English, and and he fluently reads Latin, but usually nothing superhuman.

His Limit Break is Nate's Super Moves in PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale (which probably isn't part of his canonical history and if it is, is way past this canon point):

Crisis level 1: Nate summons a propane tank from nowhere, throws it, and shoots it (did he not have a gun before? he has one now). BOOM.

Crisis level 2 and 3 (I'm merging the middle two levels because PSASBR had three levels of Super Moves; also his level 3 Super is overpowered): Nate summons a huge stone pillar from nowhere and pushes it over on top of whoever's in the way.

Crisis level 4: Nate summons the El Dorado sarcophagus from nowhere (are we sensing the theme of PSASBR), which releases a virus that afflicts the enemy party with the Zombie status and does significant physical damage to them. (This is an VIII-verse adaptation of what in PSASBR turns everyone into zombies which can then be one shotted. See what I mean about overpowered?)
All these summoned objects disappear within a few moments.

Personality:
(As Nate is only shown at this age for a two chapter flashback, I'm backing some stuff up here with examples from later in canon, because you can see the seeds of some of his traits at this age.)

At this canon point, Nate is living on the streets and has been for some time. This means that his first reaction to strangers or at least strange adults is A) caution, and B) distrust. He is not used to people showing him kindness, and tends to suspect them of ulterior motives and/or actually call them crazy for it; he also has to test his boundaries with people, as demonstrated when, with a free meal and soda in front of him, he only sarcastically thanks his benefactor and even makes a swipe for his beer.

However, he's gotten from the US to Colombia on his own (note: I assume he's American given his accent when speaking English), which has probably at some point involved trusting and even being friendly to someone. (I really don't think he walked the whole way, especially at the US-Mexico border.) It's likely that these moments of trust have been on instinct, as he later comes to trust them in later life (though his instincts are by no means infallible, as Nate gets backstabbed by friends sadly often throughout the games). As an adult he's easygoing with his friends and willing to chat to strangers even in the face of a huge language barrier, and I headcanon that though his current caution is trained, extroversion comes more naturally to him - the third game's guide book lists his greatest fear as being left alone.

Surviving on the streets is here and now and day to day, and Nate, like many street kids, has a chronic inability to think ahead. He follows whims without any thought for the consequences: Let's follow this random man, let's climb up the side of a building to watch him, let's investigate this thing I just stole while I'm at the scene of my crime. Later in canon, "I didn't think that far ahead" all but becomes one of his catchphrases and he never has a plan B, let alone a plan C. On the upside, he is adaptable and resourceful: His clothing may be dirty but they fit him fairly well, indicating Nate's figured out how to get hold of his basic needs, and he even has two bags, a journal, and a pencil. When he robbed someone and they threatened to call the cops, he was quick to turn the situation around, pointing out that "[the police] might wonder why a middle-aged tourist is following young boys down alleyways". Later in canon he canfight with anything he can get his hands on, be it a grenade launcher, a tank, or a fish.

Investigating things in dangerous positions is also a part of his being curious to a fault. A lot of the whims Nate follows come down to wanting to know more about something, even if this distracts him from what he was trying to find out in the first place. He loves trying to figure out the meanings of the holes in history and learning new things about the past (as an adult he tells someone that "every time we find something that (...) proves there are things about the past [archaeologists] don't understand or never imagined, that makes me happy") and he's willing to ask questions and commit crimes to do so. If he's interested in something, he does his best to learn everything he can about it.

His main historical interest is English explorer Sir Francis Drake. Nate is not actually his descendant as he claims, but he takes refuge in this identity, to the point of using his surname as his own (his real surname is never revealed; we can only assume that Nate is real) and stealing his ring, as a way to escape his own personal history. Even when it's pointed out to him that Sir Francis Drake doesn't have children, Nate is so desperate to hide in his identity that he's quick to handwave it by pointing out the explorer could have had illegitimate children or, later in canon, simply saying "history can be wrong". He dislikes talking about his own real history, closing up at mentions of his family and only hinting at having lived in an orphanage. Nate is so scared of admitting who he really is that even about ten years from this point, asking him about his family only gets posturing at being a ronin, and the only reason we know about his parents at all is because another character volunteers this information rather than Nate himself.

A few things I couldn't fit elsewhere:

Nate tends to comment to himself on the ridiculousness of his situation: "And now they're shooting at me?!"

While his sarcasm at this point is generally him being a brat to someone he doesn't really know, he later shows a dry sense of humor that I'm willing to headcanon came out of this.

He enjoys outsmarting people (or at least thinking he has), grinning when he pulls the "young boys down alleyways" handwave and also when he sleight-of-hands Sir Francis's ring.

Despite living on the streets, Nate has likely avoided violence until this point: He's shocked when an agent chasing him falls off the roof to his death, and hesitates to shoot another who has him at gunpoint. As much as he knows he can get by on his own, he doesn't know if he's capable of violence, let alone deliberately killing someone.

His first response to physical obstacles tends to be climb it. When someone he's following enters a building, he doesn't try to break or sneak in, he climbs up the side of a neighboring building and onto that one. When men with guns start chasing him, he doesn't go to the street, he goes for the rooftops.

What are your plans for the character in-game?
With this ridiculous canon point, I'm keen to see how Nate develops without being basically adopted by Sully and becoming a treasure hunter. How well is this street kid going to adjust into education? Let's find out.

Anything else?
TEENAGE BOYS

Nate folded his arms, staring sullenly out the window as the car left Balamb town. He couldn't believe he'd gotten caught after all these years. Maybe that old man was right - maybe he really did telegraph all his moves.

More than that, he couldn't believe he was being sent to - he focused for a moment on what the councillorwho was driving him was chattering on about - a mercenary school instead of juvie. He certainly didn't mind not going to jail, but that didn't mean he wanted to be sent back to school, either. If he'd been a little more careful and spent some more time in the library figuring out this place out, he would have been fine on his own in Balamb. Besides, a mercenary school sounded messed up. They taught kids to do anything for pay here? He could end up like one of those guys in suits who were chasing him over the rooftops in Cartagena.

He could still hear the scream of the one who'd fallen off the roof, obviously less used to heights than he was. That guy had died for a kid with a ring, on the orders of a crazy lady?

"Yeah, that happens around here," the councillor said. "That's why we're driving you to Garden instead of making you walk."

He flashed her a confused look, and she nodded to the window: Some distance from the road, there were two huge blue bug-things attacking a girl. Alright, maybe his face had reacted to the thought of the dead suit and the councillor'd thought it was about this.

Then the girl held out a hand and one of the bugs suddenly caught fire. Nate jumped, as much as he could in a seatbelt.

"Holy crap!"

"Language," the councillor said mildly. "She must be a cadet or SeeD: Para-magic's a SeeD specialty. You'll learn all about that at Garden if you choose to enroll."

"Magic..." Nate murmured, craning his head to watch the girl and the bugs as they drove away. That could be interesting - and useful, if he ever found himself shot at again.

"And whether you study or work there, they'll give you free meals," the councillor added. "So you won't have to steal food any more."

Huh.

Mercenary school might be worth a try, then, at least for the food and info.

What do you prefer to be known as? Nathan Drake. [Beat.] Nate.
How old are you? What does it matter? ... Okay, fine, fifteen.

Do you have any history in combat? Do you count people shooting at me?
If so, have you ever killed? [a little urgently] No. [Look, that guy falling off the roof was totally an accident, okay?]

i) How do you feel when you get involved in some project that calls for immediate and rapid activity?
[snort] Feels like every day.

ii) Do you organize and initiate leisure activities?
Uh, my 'leisure activities' don't take much 'organization', but sure, let's go with that.

iii) What role do you take when working in a group?
[half-glare] I don't work in groups: I do just fine on my own.

iv) How talkative are you around other people?
Just enough to get by. [Unless you get him started on Sir Francis Drake...]

v) What three things would you want to have with you on a desert island? State your reasoning.
Food. Water. Shelter. I'd say those are three pretty important things wherever you are.

vi) Is it important to be liked by a wide range of people?
Nah. As long as you can stay out of each other's ways, it doesn't really matter how much they like you.

vii) When the odds are against you, is it worth taking a chance?
I wouldn't be here talking to you if I hadn't.

viii) Do you consider yourself to be an impulsive person?
... I never really thought about it that way, but yeah, I guess so.

ix) Would you agree that planning things ahead takes the fun out of life?
No: It's not that it takes the fun out of life; it's that there's no point to planning ahead any further than your next meal. Everything can change on you in a second. Now is more important.

x) Do you like surprises?
Depends on the surprise.

xi) Do you sometimes wonder if there is something wrong with you?
[almost a little too quickly] No. Next. Question.

xii) Do you consider yourself to be smarter than your superiors, and disagree with their decisions?
That depends on who my superiors are and what decisions they're making. Of course I'm gonna disagree with 'loitering' laws.

xiii) Lastly, how do you feel about cabbages?
They're gross, but I'll eat them if there's nothing else around.

Welcome to

witchesreign! After being transported to this world by Time Compression, you have been brought to Balamb Garden by the Balamb town council because they thought it was better for you than the streets, and have enrolled as a cadet in the one place offering shelter to off-worlders. Your SeeD education at Garden is being sponsored by Carbuncle's generosity. Your Student ID is #20715 and your dorm assignment is A101. Upon your arrival, you will find a letter with a course catalog attached:

"Hello Mr. Drake,

Welcome to Balamb Garden! We have no doubts that you may be wondering how you have arrived here. Unfortunately you have been transported to our world via Time Compression by the work of a powerful Sorceress, and at the moment our scientists are working to find a way to reverse the effects. In the meantime, we have decided to open the doors to our academy for these displaced individuals to provide room and board. With the aid of sponsorships, you will be enrolled within our academy as a cadet to train and have a chance to become a part of SeeD, our elite mercenary force.

With this letter we have attached a course catalog to aid with your enrollment. Please select the classes you wish to partake in this trimester and return it to the Dean of Academics in a timely manner.

Also, a note of caution -- while we understand that off-worlders may wield unusual powers foreign to our people, we ask that you please exercise extreme caution with your skills outside of the school walls. The natives are still adjusting to the idea of cross-dimensional foreigners, and may find the addition of unnatural powers to be potentially worrisome. Thank you for understanding.

Good day to you, and if you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact myself or a SeeD.

Sincerely,
Headmaster Cid"

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