Frequently Asked Questions
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Living in Rivelata (Characters)
• The World of Rivelata
• The Journal System
• The Garnet of Journeys and Magic Training
Playing in Rivelata (Players)
• Allowable Characters & the Application Process
• Character Drop and Death
Living in Rivelata (Characters)
›› The World of Rivelata
Can you summarize the plot?
Your character wakes up on a ship and is ushered off into the antique-like city of Rivelata, which is on the coast of a land only referred to as the "New World", a beautiful and deadly place rife with adventure, just waiting to be explored.
Shortly after Rivelata had been founded (100 years ago), a young girl named Immaculada discovered a strange, large crystal. It was apparently magical, as when she touched it, it "activated" and made her ageless. More importantly, for a year after that, droves of confused individuals poured in to the city, lost and looking for direction. However, despite their disorientation, they eventually decided to make Immaculada the Queen of the city, much to the original settlers' dismay - but alas, they were outnumbered.
Rivelata has since been populated with a mix of the descendants of the original settlers and the people from other worlds... But now, the century is up, and once again, new individuals are coming. These individuals, however, are perhaps not so agreeable - they are your characters. They will want to go home, revolt, try to oust Immaculada, etc. But a queen who has held the throne for 100 years will not give it up so easily...
What is the setting like?
Extremely reminiscent of the Caribbean, Rivelata is set in a tropical climate, and all the inhabitants dress in distinctly period clothing (a big mesh of the 15th-19th century fashions together). The architecture is a lot like that of European countries preceding the 20th century, and is especially Mediterranean-influenced. Currency is gold, silver, copper pieces.
For a full description on the city, the environment and even the technology and magic within Rivelata, please see the Story & Setting page!
How does time pass here in comparison to real time?
24 hours to a day as it is with us, and for reference it follows about EST (GMT -5) time. Logs, obviously, do not coincide with this time frame and you're welcome to write those as you wish.
How do characters understand one another's languages?
The magic of the Garnet makes it so every language is translated to universal "Rivelatan". If you wish for your character to use his/her native language at times, feel free, but you should add a note on the English translation so that other characters can reply.
How do characters make a living/pay for their food/get a place to live?
You begin in the city with 5 silver ladies, which is the equivalent of $500 USD. They will probably need to get some kind of job or offer a service in order to continue to make money.
For your convenience, please refer to this table:
Coin
Earth Worth
# to a Golden Eagle
Worth in Rivelata
brass bit (BB)
0.10 USD
10,000 BB = 1 GE
worth an ale at most taverns, a cigarette/cigar, or an individual piece of food (fruit, fish, bread, etc.) in the marketplace
copper pence (CP)
1.00 USD
1,000 CP = 1 GE
worth a pound of salt, a "pack" of cigarettes, or a meal at a tavern
pewter knight (PK)
10 USD
100 PK = 1 GE
an uncommon coin among the lower class, most often in the hands of merchants; worth a pound of cotton, a set of basic clothing (shirt & pants), an expensive dinner at a restaurant, or a night at a tavern
silver lady (SL)
100 USD
10 SL = 1 GE
largest denomination of coin any civilian sees in their life; worth a pound of uncommon spice, a week's worth of new clothing (shirts, pants, and socks), a small chest, a solid lock, a pair of leather boots, an axe / sword / other one-handed weapon, or a rowboat in ill repair
golden eagle (GE)
1,000 USD
1 GE
rarely seen outside of the hands of lords and the wealthiest of merchants; worth a masterwork one-handed weapon, a half-suit of armor, a sturdy row-boat with oars and rudder, or a month's worth of rent at a tavern (2 meals a day + evening stay)
›› The Journal System
How does the journal system work?
When your character arrives, they will be given a small, leather journal and a feather pen that never runs out of ink to go with it. Inside this journal, your character will find their name and a small picture of them and with it. Amazingly, if one writes in this thing, it actually writes back! It won't tell characters the name of the person with whom they are speaking, but there will be a small picture (i.e. an icon) by whatever that person says. And, if you experiment with the book enough, you're sure to figure out how to do other things with it; such as making recorded entries.
This is how characters communicate with each other in Rivelata. The main rivelata community represents this. It should also be noted that characters can not write in someone else's journal and that private/locking capabilities are disabled.
My character is illiterate/blind/etc, how will they be able to communicate?
All entries, comments, and speech in Rivelata is defaulted to a universal "Rivelatian". If they cannot write for some reason, they can speak to the journal instead and it will record them talking; this includes "animals" that normally would only be able to speak with beings of their same species (which is true for the sake of logging only). If they are blind, everything will be in braille, however anything resembling images and scratched out words will not be translated for blind characters.
How do images/blood/presses/page to page transfers work in the journals?
Anything drawn, blotted out, or "pressed" into a character's journal can be transferred between all of the journals. The pages can also be ripped, burned, and otherwise mangled and all of that will transfer between the pages so long as the pages are not ripped out entirely. Please also note that while pre-existing entries can be ripped out of individual journals, they cannot be erased from the "group" journal as represented by the rivelata community.
When a character dies, what happens to their body and journal?
The body and journal remain wherever they are left. However, if the deceased character is picked up/re-apped, their body and journal will be gone without a trace, and their entries from before will not be accessible.
›› The Garnet of Journeys & Magic Training
What is the Garnet of Journeys?
It's a very large, glowing red crystal in a cave on an island around Rivelata. It was activated 100 years ago by the Child-Queen Immaculada, and is what is pulling everyone into the New World. But why? How? Is it possible to deactivate it, or use it to bring everyone home...? That remains to be seen, but it is very clearly tied to Zikhadhara and his powers.
My character has a magical ability/weapon/pet/etc. in their canon - will it be here?
Anything that requires "magic" (that is, any sort of power at ALL that is "not normal" in the context of our world) will be severely watered down, especially if they have to call on a source of energy in their home as it doesn't exist here. Physical objects and creatures may come along, but they won't be guaranteed to be fully functional, or at all. For example, if you've got a magical sword, it'd probably become a lot like an ordinary sword, save just a tad more powerful. If that sword happens to draw its power from a source local to your canon, it's not going to be magical at all.
If my character continually trains to regain their magical abilities, will they be able to get some power back?
Definitely! It takes a few weeks, however, for any signs to show, and after that, even then, they will never reach their full power that they had possessed before. The maximum is 75% and should take about 6 months to regain.
It should also be noted that items also lose much of their original power, and that unlike characters, items cannot improve beyond their suppressed power level.
Can characters learn magic from other fandoms?
Yes, however, not all magic styles can be taught. For the styles that can be taught, however, there aren't many limits as to who can learn them -- even characters who have no magical background may learn if the style will allow it. It should be noted, however, that a student can never surpass their teacher when it comes to crossfandom magic.
For more information on this, please contact the moderators.
Table of Contents • Living in Rivelata (Characters) • Playing in Rivelata (Players)
Playing in Rivelata (Players)
›› Allowable Characters & The Application Process
What fandoms can one apply for?
Anime, manga, video games, books, TV shows, etc. However, if it's particularly obscure (such as a webcomic character), you may be asked to provide sources. If you can't, and there is no sufficient proof of this character's existence, you probably won't be able to apply for them.
When applying for an Obscure Fandom character, at least two summary sources of the fandom's canon must be linked in the Notes section of the application. At least one of the sources must include a reference to the character you are applying for, their place in the fandom's canon, their personality, etc. Pretty much anything that's an officially published work available in English is allowed. If it's only available in a different language (and doesn't have subtitles or any translations at all), you can't apply for it.
Can one play more than one character from the same fandom?
You may only play 2 characters in the same fandom. Additionally, interaction between these characters needs to be kept to an absolute minimum and thus the two characters cannot be too closely related (blood/adoptive relation, friendship, alliance, etc).
How many characters can one player have?
You can begin with as many as three (3). The maximum amount of characters you can play without additional restrictions on activity is eight (8). We reserve the right to reject an application if we feel that a player is not active enough to handle additional characters.
There is a special option for veteran players of Rivelata, raising the true maximum number of characters to twelve (12). If a veteran player is interested in these additional slots, please contact one of the moderators for the requirements.
Can there be doubles of the same character that appears in two different fandoms (ex. Squall from FFVIII and Leon from KH)?
No. Only one version. You can only apply as a different version if that character happens to be dropped.
My character isn't human or has funky body parts, such as wings or horns - will they be changed at all?
Nope. Their physical appearance and genetic makeup and all that stays pretty much the same. Same goes for clothes - they will come here wearing whatever they happened to have on at the time they were taken away, albeit tattered and dirty.
Can I apply for an animal or animal-like/part-animal character?
Yes. They must be of a significant intelligence to be player independently instead of as a 'pet', however. A guiding factor here would be whether or not the character was assigned a specific voice actor for the role. Thus, characters like Simba, Pumbaa, Timon, etc. from The Lion King would be acceptable.
How about machine-like characters?
Also yes. However it must be implied that the character has both something akin to a 'soul' and a physical body to be pulled into Rivelata. Thus, characters like Bob, Dot Matrix, and AndrAIa from Reboot would be acceptable. The characters cannot simply be "AIs" / Artificial Intelligences or Robots in the traditional sense.
›› Character Death & Dropping
How do we handle a character being dropped or dying?
The character is assumed to be taken back to their home world by the crystal. Or, they can simply be killed, or had gotten lost in the jungles... even if they happen to die, however, this actually leaves room for another version of the character to be pulled in by the crystal. Perhaps it didn't like the first version of that character well enough.
I dropped a character and they didn't die - can they keep their memories if I re-apply for them?
Yes, but only if they have not suffered "death by re-application", which is when the character was applied for by a different player after you dropped them. But if they haven't, you are free to bring them back with their memories as long as you give an explanation of where they were/what they were doing somewhere in your application.
My character is dead - can they come back?
If they've died then they aren't going to come back, but you can take them up again from any time period in their canon before they died.
I wish to restart my character - can I do this and how?
You can, but please do not, however, treat this as an easy "restart button" if you are unhappy with the way your character is turning out. This should not be done on a whim.
But if you decide this is the only way, please follow these steps:
1. Post to the OOC community that you will be restarting your character and, preferably, the reasons why.
2. Wait one week (7 days) before re-introducing the character to the game. Note that there is no need to submit a new application.
3. Remember to treat the restarted character as if they had been re-applied for by someone else. This includes, among other things, no memories whatsoever of Rivelata and erasure of any entries they made in the journals. The new version of your character should also be taken from a different point in their canon, and please be sure to use the same tag as before in both communities.
Table of Contents • Living in Rivelata (Characters) • Playing in Rivelata (Players)
If you have a question yourself, feel free to ask it here via comment, or email the mods at: rivelata[AT]gmail[DOT]com.
ROLEPLAY • STORY & SETTING • RULES • F.A.Q. • ADVERTISEMENT • CALENDAR
CHARACTERS • APPLICATIONS • OC APPLICATIONS • RESERVED • TAKEN • WANTED • CANON UPDATING
PLAYERS • HIATUS & DROP • PLAYER CONTACT (locked) • MOD CONTACT • NAVIGATION
Living in Rivelata (Characters)
• The World of Rivelata
• The Journal System
• The Garnet of Journeys and Magic Training
Playing in Rivelata (Players)
• Allowable Characters & the Application Process
• Character Drop and Death
Living in Rivelata (Characters)
›› The World of Rivelata
Can you summarize the plot?
Your character wakes up on a ship and is ushered off into the antique-like city of Rivelata, which is on the coast of a land only referred to as the "New World", a beautiful and deadly place rife with adventure, just waiting to be explored.
Shortly after Rivelata had been founded (100 years ago), a young girl named Immaculada discovered a strange, large crystal. It was apparently magical, as when she touched it, it "activated" and made her ageless. More importantly, for a year after that, droves of confused individuals poured in to the city, lost and looking for direction. However, despite their disorientation, they eventually decided to make Immaculada the Queen of the city, much to the original settlers' dismay - but alas, they were outnumbered.
Rivelata has since been populated with a mix of the descendants of the original settlers and the people from other worlds... But now, the century is up, and once again, new individuals are coming. These individuals, however, are perhaps not so agreeable - they are your characters. They will want to go home, revolt, try to oust Immaculada, etc. But a queen who has held the throne for 100 years will not give it up so easily...
What is the setting like?
Extremely reminiscent of the Caribbean, Rivelata is set in a tropical climate, and all the inhabitants dress in distinctly period clothing (a big mesh of the 15th-19th century fashions together). The architecture is a lot like that of European countries preceding the 20th century, and is especially Mediterranean-influenced. Currency is gold, silver, copper pieces.
For a full description on the city, the environment and even the technology and magic within Rivelata, please see the Story & Setting page!
How does time pass here in comparison to real time?
24 hours to a day as it is with us, and for reference it follows about EST (GMT -5) time. Logs, obviously, do not coincide with this time frame and you're welcome to write those as you wish.
How do characters understand one another's languages?
The magic of the Garnet makes it so every language is translated to universal "Rivelatan". If you wish for your character to use his/her native language at times, feel free, but you should add a note on the English translation so that other characters can reply.
How do characters make a living/pay for their food/get a place to live?
You begin in the city with 5 silver ladies, which is the equivalent of $500 USD. They will probably need to get some kind of job or offer a service in order to continue to make money.
For your convenience, please refer to this table:
Coin
Earth Worth
# to a Golden Eagle
Worth in Rivelata
brass bit (BB)
0.10 USD
10,000 BB = 1 GE
worth an ale at most taverns, a cigarette/cigar, or an individual piece of food (fruit, fish, bread, etc.) in the marketplace
copper pence (CP)
1.00 USD
1,000 CP = 1 GE
worth a pound of salt, a "pack" of cigarettes, or a meal at a tavern
pewter knight (PK)
10 USD
100 PK = 1 GE
an uncommon coin among the lower class, most often in the hands of merchants; worth a pound of cotton, a set of basic clothing (shirt & pants), an expensive dinner at a restaurant, or a night at a tavern
silver lady (SL)
100 USD
10 SL = 1 GE
largest denomination of coin any civilian sees in their life; worth a pound of uncommon spice, a week's worth of new clothing (shirts, pants, and socks), a small chest, a solid lock, a pair of leather boots, an axe / sword / other one-handed weapon, or a rowboat in ill repair
golden eagle (GE)
1,000 USD
1 GE
rarely seen outside of the hands of lords and the wealthiest of merchants; worth a masterwork one-handed weapon, a half-suit of armor, a sturdy row-boat with oars and rudder, or a month's worth of rent at a tavern (2 meals a day + evening stay)
›› The Journal System
How does the journal system work?
When your character arrives, they will be given a small, leather journal and a feather pen that never runs out of ink to go with it. Inside this journal, your character will find their name and a small picture of them and with it. Amazingly, if one writes in this thing, it actually writes back! It won't tell characters the name of the person with whom they are speaking, but there will be a small picture (i.e. an icon) by whatever that person says. And, if you experiment with the book enough, you're sure to figure out how to do other things with it; such as making recorded entries.
This is how characters communicate with each other in Rivelata. The main rivelata community represents this. It should also be noted that characters can not write in someone else's journal and that private/locking capabilities are disabled.
My character is illiterate/blind/etc, how will they be able to communicate?
All entries, comments, and speech in Rivelata is defaulted to a universal "Rivelatian". If they cannot write for some reason, they can speak to the journal instead and it will record them talking; this includes "animals" that normally would only be able to speak with beings of their same species (which is true for the sake of logging only). If they are blind, everything will be in braille, however anything resembling images and scratched out words will not be translated for blind characters.
How do images/blood/presses/page to page transfers work in the journals?
Anything drawn, blotted out, or "pressed" into a character's journal can be transferred between all of the journals. The pages can also be ripped, burned, and otherwise mangled and all of that will transfer between the pages so long as the pages are not ripped out entirely. Please also note that while pre-existing entries can be ripped out of individual journals, they cannot be erased from the "group" journal as represented by the rivelata community.
When a character dies, what happens to their body and journal?
The body and journal remain wherever they are left. However, if the deceased character is picked up/re-apped, their body and journal will be gone without a trace, and their entries from before will not be accessible.
›› The Garnet of Journeys & Magic Training
What is the Garnet of Journeys?
It's a very large, glowing red crystal in a cave on an island around Rivelata. It was activated 100 years ago by the Child-Queen Immaculada, and is what is pulling everyone into the New World. But why? How? Is it possible to deactivate it, or use it to bring everyone home...? That remains to be seen, but it is very clearly tied to Zikhadhara and his powers.
My character has a magical ability/weapon/pet/etc. in their canon - will it be here?
Anything that requires "magic" (that is, any sort of power at ALL that is "not normal" in the context of our world) will be severely watered down, especially if they have to call on a source of energy in their home as it doesn't exist here. Physical objects and creatures may come along, but they won't be guaranteed to be fully functional, or at all. For example, if you've got a magical sword, it'd probably become a lot like an ordinary sword, save just a tad more powerful. If that sword happens to draw its power from a source local to your canon, it's not going to be magical at all.
If my character continually trains to regain their magical abilities, will they be able to get some power back?
Definitely! It takes a few weeks, however, for any signs to show, and after that, even then, they will never reach their full power that they had possessed before. The maximum is 75% and should take about 6 months to regain.
It should also be noted that items also lose much of their original power, and that unlike characters, items cannot improve beyond their suppressed power level.
Can characters learn magic from other fandoms?
Yes, however, not all magic styles can be taught. For the styles that can be taught, however, there aren't many limits as to who can learn them -- even characters who have no magical background may learn if the style will allow it. It should be noted, however, that a student can never surpass their teacher when it comes to crossfandom magic.
For more information on this, please contact the moderators.
Table of Contents • Living in Rivelata (Characters) • Playing in Rivelata (Players)
Playing in Rivelata (Players)
›› Allowable Characters & The Application Process
What fandoms can one apply for?
Anime, manga, video games, books, TV shows, etc. However, if it's particularly obscure (such as a webcomic character), you may be asked to provide sources. If you can't, and there is no sufficient proof of this character's existence, you probably won't be able to apply for them.
When applying for an Obscure Fandom character, at least two summary sources of the fandom's canon must be linked in the Notes section of the application. At least one of the sources must include a reference to the character you are applying for, their place in the fandom's canon, their personality, etc. Pretty much anything that's an officially published work available in English is allowed. If it's only available in a different language (and doesn't have subtitles or any translations at all), you can't apply for it.
Can one play more than one character from the same fandom?
You may only play 2 characters in the same fandom. Additionally, interaction between these characters needs to be kept to an absolute minimum and thus the two characters cannot be too closely related (blood/adoptive relation, friendship, alliance, etc).
How many characters can one player have?
You can begin with as many as three (3). The maximum amount of characters you can play without additional restrictions on activity is eight (8). We reserve the right to reject an application if we feel that a player is not active enough to handle additional characters.
There is a special option for veteran players of Rivelata, raising the true maximum number of characters to twelve (12). If a veteran player is interested in these additional slots, please contact one of the moderators for the requirements.
Can there be doubles of the same character that appears in two different fandoms (ex. Squall from FFVIII and Leon from KH)?
No. Only one version. You can only apply as a different version if that character happens to be dropped.
My character isn't human or has funky body parts, such as wings or horns - will they be changed at all?
Nope. Their physical appearance and genetic makeup and all that stays pretty much the same. Same goes for clothes - they will come here wearing whatever they happened to have on at the time they were taken away, albeit tattered and dirty.
Can I apply for an animal or animal-like/part-animal character?
Yes. They must be of a significant intelligence to be player independently instead of as a 'pet', however. A guiding factor here would be whether or not the character was assigned a specific voice actor for the role. Thus, characters like Simba, Pumbaa, Timon, etc. from The Lion King would be acceptable.
How about machine-like characters?
Also yes. However it must be implied that the character has both something akin to a 'soul' and a physical body to be pulled into Rivelata. Thus, characters like Bob, Dot Matrix, and AndrAIa from Reboot would be acceptable. The characters cannot simply be "AIs" / Artificial Intelligences or Robots in the traditional sense.
›› Character Death & Dropping
How do we handle a character being dropped or dying?
The character is assumed to be taken back to their home world by the crystal. Or, they can simply be killed, or had gotten lost in the jungles... even if they happen to die, however, this actually leaves room for another version of the character to be pulled in by the crystal. Perhaps it didn't like the first version of that character well enough.
I dropped a character and they didn't die - can they keep their memories if I re-apply for them?
Yes, but only if they have not suffered "death by re-application", which is when the character was applied for by a different player after you dropped them. But if they haven't, you are free to bring them back with their memories as long as you give an explanation of where they were/what they were doing somewhere in your application.
My character is dead - can they come back?
If they've died then they aren't going to come back, but you can take them up again from any time period in their canon before they died.
I wish to restart my character - can I do this and how?
You can, but please do not, however, treat this as an easy "restart button" if you are unhappy with the way your character is turning out. This should not be done on a whim.
But if you decide this is the only way, please follow these steps:
1. Post to the OOC community that you will be restarting your character and, preferably, the reasons why.
2. Wait one week (7 days) before re-introducing the character to the game. Note that there is no need to submit a new application.
3. Remember to treat the restarted character as if they had been re-applied for by someone else. This includes, among other things, no memories whatsoever of Rivelata and erasure of any entries they made in the journals. The new version of your character should also be taken from a different point in their canon, and please be sure to use the same tag as before in both communities.
Table of Contents • Living in Rivelata (Characters) • Playing in Rivelata (Players)
If you have a question yourself, feel free to ask it here via comment, or email the mods at: rivelata[AT]gmail[DOT]com.
ROLEPLAY • STORY & SETTING • RULES • F.A.Q. • ADVERTISEMENT • CALENDAR
CHARACTERS • APPLICATIONS • OC APPLICATIONS • RESERVED • TAKEN • WANTED • CANON UPDATING
PLAYERS • HIATUS & DROP • PLAYER CONTACT (locked) • MOD CONTACT • NAVIGATION