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What, exactly, is third person para roleplay? Third person para roleplay is, for all intents and purposes, a form of interactive fanfiction. You pick a character. You write bi-weekly chapters on that character. And in between chapters, you comment back and forth with other characters. You write a few paragraphs of what your character is doing; the other character responds. There will also be group functions where you will interact with more than just one other character at a time.
What year is it, and what is my character doing now? This roleplay begins in August of 1978, directly after the Marauders graduate. If your character is recently graduated, and it is not otherwise specified in the books, you are probably not yet a fully initiated Death Eater or an Order Member, though you may be a recruit. If you intend to be part of those organizations, think hard about how your character ended up there. Who approached you and asked you to join? What are your reasonings for wanting to be involved? What are your character's qualms about getting into the middle of a war? What can you bring to the table of the group? Will your involvement be in Ministry espionage, rehabilitation for muggleborns, caretaking of the orphans? Is your character's specialty interrogation, information, combat, or otherwise?
What's going on with the war? Voldemort was a political movement in the beginning, but in the past few years he's begun killing people and terrorizing the wizarding community. Muggle baiting and raids have become common. The Ministry denied it was a problem for too long, and by the time they tried to address it, they were already infiltrated. No one knows who to trust. The streets are dangerous. The Order of the Phoenix has just banded together in the last year. Dumbledore and other members recruit personally. The Order is helping protect people by creating safe houses. The Aurors are chasing down the few known members. The problem is, they all wear masks. In the Second War, most of the Death Eaters or sympathizers had all been identified, even if some of them wiggled out of imprisonment. But at this point, they only have suspects, and no hard evidence. Vandalism is common in Diagon Alley. The only truly safe place is Hogwarts. Minerva's home is currently Headquarters.
What's all this about pureblood tradition and the old ways? I'm glad you asked. Why do purebloods hate muggleborns? For a lot of reasons. One, because they threaten the Statute of Secrecy. Two, they bring cultural change. Three, they don't understand the etiquette. In this roleplay, purebloods are very old fashioned. Arranged marriages are common, they're misogynistic, they have archaic mannerisms. Bowing and dowries and whatnot. Think 19th century etiquette and play around with it. As for the old ways, if you know anything about paganism, you know that Rowling makes several references to it in the books. Yule is a pre-Christian holiday, where they decorated trees for the spirits and had special Yule logs they placed in the hearth. Easter is based off of Eostara, a fertility celebration. The summer solstice is all about bonfires and primal desire. In the books, they teach purebloods about muggles, but they don't teach muggleborns about wizarding customs. It's never explained what, precisely, the Dark Arts are. So we're going to go ahead and say that they're ritualistic pagan practices. Dancing naked under the full moon, casting circles, making sacrifices (fruit and bread and wine are actually the most common offerings in paganism).
Here at Wizarding War, we allow all levels of roleplay. Whether you are an experienced veteran, or you're a paracentric virgin, we consider you a contributing member and will respect your efforts. Below, you will find a list of basic roleplaying etiquette. Unfamiliar terms will be explained, and if anything is unclear please comment any further questions.
Rule #01: No God Modding: God modding is being immune to all influence or injury. It means your character is almighty, nothing can hurt you, etc. God Modding is also when you control someone else's character. You cannot make another character speak, or look sympathetic, or stomp off. You do not control any character other than your own.
Rule #02: How To Para. In this roleplay, we only use third person para form. This is an example of third person: "Hello," said Lily, smoothing down her plaited skirt. "How are you?" This is an example of first person: "Hello," I say, smoothing down my plaited skirt. "How are you?" First person is not allowed. It is also not acceptable to use asteriks or dashes to show what your character is doing. */-Smooths down plaited skirt.*/- Also, try to make your paragraph at least a few sentences long. When you just say Lily sat down on the bench next to James that doesn't give James much to work with, does it? Keep it interesting. The more detail, the better.
Rule #03: IC vs OOC. IC stands for 'in character' and OOC stands for 'out of character'. When you're in character, you write a para. Remus glanced wearily up at the moon. When you're out of character, it's just you, the roleplayer. If you want to talk to someone OOC, you need to use indicators. Acceptable indicators are as follows: OOC: Hey, I'm Megan. I saw you're playing Bellatrix. I'm playing Narcissa. What kind of relationship do you think our characters should have? Another acceptable way is: ((Hey, I'm Megan. I saw you're playing Bellatrix. I'm playing Narcissa. What kind of relationship do you think our characters should have?)) You can use any kind of bracket to show OOC. { or [ or ( or / is fine. The only place you can comment OOC without using an indicator is on the main site. Anytime you're commenting on another character's page, make sure you use the proper etiquette.
Rule #04: No Metagaming. Metagaming is taking knowledge that you gained OOCly and using it during IC. For example, if you read a comment of Sirius Black talking trash on Severus Snape, and then your character goes and tells Snape about it, you're metagaming. Your character has no way of knowing that Sirius had that discussion.
Rule #05: Updating. You are expected to post at least one chapter every 14 days. It does not have to be especially long, but it should be a minimum of four paragraphs. The more often you're online, the more involved you'll be with plots. If you reach out to other characters and comment frequently, you're going to see a lot more action here.
Rule #06: Be Realistic. Yes, we know this is a magical roleplay. But your character is not perfect. Perfect is boring. Your character needs flaws to be multi-dimensional. Give your character strengths and weaknesses, an irritating habit, a pet peeve, a physical imperfection. Perfect characters are called Mary Sue characters, and most people just don't like them. They're not relatable.
Rule #07: Be Kind. I know for a fact that we have a lot of first time para roleplayers here. Be patient with them. Help them along. Interact with them. I know it can be tedious for veterans, but remember, you were new once, too. There are going to be typos, and improper grammar, and all kinds of other things. Just be nice. Don't call them out on it. Instead, teach by example. They'll get the hang of it.
Rule #08: No OOC Fighting. If you want your character to be a bitch, that's fine. But no fighting out of character. If you have a problem with someone, report it to me, and I'll take care of it. OOC fighting will result in disciplinary action, ranging from a warning to a ban depending on the severity.
Rule #09: Keep it PG-13. Feel free to swear and whatnot, but if your character is doing the dirty with another character, do it somewhere private. We may have underaged roleplayers here, so mature content should be in private messaging or yahoo chat or facebook messaging. Not out in the open for everyone to see.
Rule #10: Profiles. You will be expected to create a username and profile for this roleplay. If you already have an account, you may have to get a new email address. Yahoo!mail is free and easy to set up, and only takes a few seconds. Your username here will be expected to be your characters first name, last initial, underscore, 'WWar'. For example, Bellatrix would be BellatrixL_WWar. If your character's name is too long, you may shorten it, such as BellaL_WWar. You will also be expected to get a layout and profile picture with your character portrayal. If you need help with this, I'm available to make layouts, and I can personally put them on your profile if you don't know how to apply them. You are also required to contact me privately with the password to your username. This is a security measure, in case you become inactive, so we can reuse the username. If you have a problem with that, we can discuss it.
Rule #11: Special Characteristics. We will be accepting only a limited number of werewolves, metamorphmagus, etc. You cannot have a special characteristic unless you read the requirements for that ability. There are limitations, and we want to keep each species consistent. We don't want Twilight vampires and Anne Rice vampires and House of Night vampires running around at the same time.
Rule #12: Research Your Character. If you are playing a canon character, you are expected to research them before applying. Look them up on Harry Potter Wikia, or the HP Lexicon, or Wikipedia. We'll be staying as close to canon as possible here. If you're applying for an Original Character, don't make them too close to main canon characters. Voldemort does not have a son, and Snape does not have a sister.
Rule #13: Have Fun. Writing is an outlet. These characters are a way for you to lose yourself. Live vicariously through them. Enjoy yourselves.
Rule #14: Agree to the Terms. You will not be accepted unless you prove to me that you have read through all of these rules. Just so I know you've read these, make sure to put the title of your favorite book in the About the Roleplayer: Other category of your application.
