the rules

out of character...

One account per person, please! In a lot of ways, this is a pretty old-fashioned RPG. Please only create one account for yourself.

Monthly activity checks, conducted during the first week of each month, will be conducted. This is because we will need an accurate headcount of inactive/active characters for certain elements of the game. If you fail to respond to 2 activity checks in a row, your characters will be presumed dead. If you fail to respond to 4 activity checks in a row (one in-game year), your characters will be confirmed dead. 

Don't be a dick. Self-explanatory? You don't have to like everyone else on the site, and you can curse and meme all you like, but don't intentionally try to hurt someone else, please.

Credit where credit is due. Please do include credit to the creator/photographer on any images you use here (this includes photomanipulations and drawings/paintings). Posting unedited, copyrighted photographs as color references is OK, so long as you give credit to the source.

character creation...

For brevity, let's call the original shipwrecked generation the "SG."

All horses on the island must either be SG, or descendants of the SG. To get the site rolling, 40 SG spots will be open to new players. (Though there were 60 horses on the ship, let's say about 20 are unaccounted for as a hat-tip to realism.) Because we're working with a finite number of SG characters, we're observing the following limits to try and make sure everyone who wants to join and play has the opportunity to do so fairly promptly: 

1. The first 10 players to join may create up to 2 SG characters each, but no more than 1 SG stallion.
2. The next 20 players to join may only create 1 SG character.
3. If you are one of the first 30 players to join, please create your SG character within a week of your join date. 
4. If you are one of the first 10 players, your second SG slot will be held for you as long as you remain active on the site (at least 1 in-character post per week). If you ever decide you don't want your second SG slot, you may donate it to any player who was not one of the first 30 to join.
5. If there are no SG spots available, a new player's first character must be adopted from another player. If you are considering joining but you would rather wait for an SG spot to open rather than adopting for your first character, please do make an account and use an email you check frequently! Some of the remaining 20 "lost-at-sea" SG spots may be offered from time to time in special events, and staff will send a mass e-mail among members when this happens.

All SG characters at least know each other's names, even if they are barest acquaintances. Remember, before they ended up on the island, they traveled in a performing act together. Some of them have known each other for years! Sure, maybe the intact males and the mares were kept mostly separated, but they will at least know of each other.

There won't be more than 20 SG stallions. Our plot arises out of the rather unique circumstances of a travelling show run by humans, so mares and geldings were preferred.

Coat colors must be possible on real, purebred Arabian horses. Arabian horses can be black, bay/brown, or chestnut, and can also express grey, flaxen, and some KIT white patterns (rabicano, sabino, and dominant white). No other dilutions/modifiers have been found so far in pure Arabians, but if the science changes, we'll change, too. Chimerism / somatic mutations, Birdcatcher / Ben d'Or spots welcome! Only sabino carriers may have Gulastra plumes or blue in the eyes. (When in doubt, search the interwebs for a real-life purebred Arabian in the color you're looking for. If it exists, you can play it!)

Modern Arabians are bred to be about 14.2hh-15.2hh in general. Adult characters smaller than 13.2h or larger than 16.2h are not allowed.

There is a fair amount of diversity in body type and head shape within the Arabian breed. Your character doesn't have to have a super squishy dished face or sleek racing-type body if you don't want them to! 

the passage of time...

One month in real time equals one season (about three months) in game time. That means that 4 real months roughly equal 1 game year. Also be mindful that on this island, it's fairly warm all year 'round.

Horses age along with the game clock; every four months, they turn another year older!

Horses won't typically live past the age of 20 in this game. Not a terribly strictly-enforced rule, especially where the SG is concerned, but because the horses on this island don't have access to veterinary care, exceptions will need to be staff-approved every in-game year.

Liquid time / flashbacks are allowed, within reason. Liquid time means that any scene can be happening at its own pace and does not hinge on time moving forward in other places. This is helpful because sometimes scenes need to go faster or slower depending on player's availability, or the events happening in the scene. A good rule of thumb is that, in any given thread, time only moves when players post and time freezes when they don't. This way, everyone can keep up. 

Players are encouraged to keep a sense of their own characters' timelines, knowing the order of events. Players are encouraged to not engage in multiple threads if a character is in a situation that could void one or more of them, such as being in a fight or some other high-risk scenario where the character would not make it out unscathed.

breeding/foaling...

Since it's warm, tropical weather all year 'round, there aren't any preferred breeding/foaling seasons on this island.

Mares are of breeding age between 3 and 17 years old; stallions are of breeding age between 3 and 20 years old. If you want a breeding to result in a live foal, be sure to post in the Breeding Log in the Foal Registry board.

In-game pregnancies should last about 1 year in-game. Most horses gestate for around 11 months. Her exact foaling date is up to you, but note that if she gives birth significantly late or significantly early, you risk the chance of harm done to her or to the foal.

Post a New Foal Announcement in the Foal Registry board if you decide a breeding will result in a live foal. Miscarriages, stillborns, etc. shouldn't be posted there. Parents' players decide the foal's color and sex; staff will only get involved if your foal's color/markings aren't possible, if you decide you want a surprise, or if the foal or dam will have complications or health problems.

While twins are possible, they are extremely rare and will typically result in late-term abortion of both foals. If you would like one or both twins and their mother to survive birth, you will need staff permission before the foal(s) will be accepted.

territories and challenges...

The beach upon which the SG horses initially washed up, and the open field just beyond it, is the only truly communal area on the island. Small family bands may occupy other areas of the island either alone, or together with other bands as a larger herd. Diplomatic relationships between bands/herds are important for mobility around the island, resource sharing during tough times, and potential combat.

A group of at least 3 horses may form a band, and may claim a piece of land as their territory. To create a new territory, post in the new board request thread.

Challenges must be made in-character, posted by the challenger in the defender's territory. A challenge could be made for control of a territory, for a leadership position, or for the (temporary) possession of another horse. 

• A defender is only responsible for responding to 1 active challenge at any given time. If you want to challenge someone for something and they're already being challenged, you need to wait until the active challenge is resolved before issuing your own challenge.
• The defender must respond to the challenge within 1 week of its posted date. The challenge must be fully resolved within 3 weeks after that, meaning no challenge will be left undecided longer than roughly 1 real-life month (1 in-game season). The outcome of any challenge which is still unresolved at the 4 week mark will be decided by staff.
  
• If the parties choose to resolve the challenge through physical combat, the following rules govern:
  - One-on-one combat should begin in the challenge thread as soon as the parties have voiced terms and decided to fight.
  - Once combat begins, each player has 48hrs to respond to the previous post.
  - Each combat post should be no longer than 1,000 words, and each character gets 3 turns/posts.
  - Each character can attack once per turn, and each character can fully dodge only 1 of their opponent's attacks.
  - At the conclusion of combat, staff will interrupt and decide the winner based on creativity, quality, and realism in the combat posts.