Mistborn: The Inquisition

Welcome to Mistborn: the Inquisition, the Luthadel-based interactive storytelling project hosted by 17th Shard! This is a group writing effort where you can create your own characters set in the world of Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series and tell their stories, or join up with the rest of the members to share in a collective narrative.

Note: If you don't like telling stories, and would rather just see who would win or lose against your character in a fight, you'll probably prefer The Arena.

Anyways, if you're here, that means you're probably interested in joining our small but passionate community, and we love that! To make sure everyone is on the same page, we've created a list of rules. Please read them over and keep them in mind when participating here, and as always, if you have any questions about any of them, ask a member of the staff and we'll be happy to help you.



The Rules

• Respect Policy and the Role of the Staff
  
• Registration and General Posting
  
• Character Creation
  
• In-Character Posting
  
• Non-Player Characters
  
• Noble House Creation

Respect Policy

Here on MBI, we find it very important to maintain an environment of mutual respect. Therefore, all forms of harrassment, discrimination, and bullying are expressly forbidden. If you feel that you or another member has been subjected to this sort of behavior, please report it to the staff immediately. All reports will remain confidential, and only be discussed between staff members as we deliberate on the best course of action to resolve the issue.


The Role of Staff Members

In addition to acting as out-of-character moderators for the site, the staff members are, perhaps most importantly, the GMs. We guide the overarcing story of the site and make sure that all players - and their characters - have a consistent game world to interact with and enjoy. Does that mean that you can’t contribute your own story to the collective? Absolutely not! We welcome active participation from all members. It just means that we’re here to protect and ensure the progression of the story, much as a dungeon master would for a tabletop role-playing game.

If you want to involve your character(s) in the greater events happening in the world, or need a little GM help to tell the story you want, please reach out to us. We love plotting with our members!

Registration and General Posting

• Make sure that register with the name you want to be known as on the forum - in other words, your out-of-character nickname. Do not register as a character name. We have an awesome forum mod that lets us post as all our characters from one account, so we don’t need individual character accounts. If you already registered as a character name and are having trouble changing your username, ask a staff member and we’ll change it for you.
  
  
• There is no minimum word count for any posts on the forum, anywhere. Period.
  
  
• This community maintains a PG-13 content level. While you can touch on more extreme things, be careful how much you show on screen, and the sort of language you use around the forum.
  
  
• The maximum size for avatars on the site is 200x200 pixels, and for signatures, the maximum width is 530 pixels. There’s no explicit height limit for signatures yet, but if your sig gets too long the staff may ask you to shorten it.
  
  
• When using a face claim for your character profiles, please keep pictures as world-appropriate as possible. Since MBI is set in the Final Empire, explicitly modern dress, 21st century technology, and other anachronisms really don’t fit. While we can be flexible as long as the pictures you choose are reasonably believable, try to avoid things like jeans, T-shirts, short dresses, and so on. If you want help photoshopping out green plants or blue sky, reach out to the community - we have lots of photoshop artists willing to help!
  
  
• Advertising anywhere on the site, including via PM, is strictly forbidden. Please, just don’t do it.
  
  
• Double-posting in most cases is forbidden. However, you may double-post in the Workshop, and in certain in-character contexts (see below).

Character Creation

• To submit a character, fill out a character application and post it as a new topic, with your character’s name as the subject, in the Player Characters forum. Don’t post it in any of the subforums; those are for sorting already processed applications.
  
  
• Once a character is submitted, the staff will read your application and give you any feedback we feel is necessary. Once two staff members have approved your app, your character is officially accepted and may begin posting.
  
  
• Want to make a character from an existing house? Great! Just ask the player responsible for that house for permission first. They may also have specific restrictions or criteria they wish you to abide by, so be sure to communicate openly about your plans and how your character might fit into their house.
  
  
• No copyrighted character names. From any work. No Kelsiers, no Kaladins, no Rands. ObiWaan is not an acceptable Kandra name. More common names that happen to be shared across other works, however, are permissible as long as they’re world appropriate. You can name your character Lucas, but not Lucas Skywalker. Basically, please try to be sensible with names.
  
  
• You may have as many characters as you want.
  
  
• No player characters under the age of 15.
  
  
• We also ask that you refrain from creating a Mistborn, Allomantic Savant, or Steel Inquisitor for your first character. Once you’ve been a part of the community for a little while and shown us what you can do, feel free to wow us with that awesome Mistborn app! Regular Mistings, however, are perfectly acceptable as first characters. Copper and bronze savants are also permissible as long as you back it up with a great app.
  
  
• Do not use Hemalurgy in any character other than Inquisitors or Kandra. Hemalurgy is cool, but if we let anyone do what they wanted with it, at least half the cast would be walking around spiked.
  
  
• If you want to create a character from the Outer Dominances, check in with the staff first so we can go over the additional worldbuilding we’ve done there. This will prevent unnecessary rewrites for your character.
  
  
• Players may choose to incorporate third-person limited prose in their character’s history in lieu of an RP sample. However, you must show us enough of your character’s narrative for us to get a good feel for them. If you only give us a paragraph, we may ask you to add more or to just submit a sample instead.
  
  
• Players with three or more approved characters may elect to postpone their character’s RP sample and still move forward with approval. These characters are sorted into the Pending Characters category until they edit in an RP sample. RP posts are acceptable for this, as long as they are significant enough to your character.

In-Character Posting

• The standard format for in-character posts is third-person limited prose. See the Style Guide for more examples if you need them. Refrain from using screenplay or IM-style roleplaying unless you’re using one of the in-character channels on the discord.
  
  
• Please refrain from using colored text to flavor your post. This makes the thread more difficult to read.
  
  
• There is no minimum word count for in-character posts. Make your posts as long (or as short) as they need to be to get your point across and give your partner(s) something to respond to.
  
  
• Double-posting is permitted in character if you are posting in a solo thread, or if you are writing multiple characters in the same thread. If you’re unsure, ask your thread partner(s) if they’re okay with you posting multiple viewpoints in a row.
  
  
• Don’t forget to tag your threads appropriately! Check out the tagging guide if you’re unsure how tags work or which ones to use.
  
  
• Do not control other people’s characters without express permission. If the player of that character does give you permission, make sure one of you makes an out-of-character note of it in the thread, or lets the staff know. If someone is controlling your character without your permission, please report it right away.
  
  
• Nobody is undefeatable, not even the Lord Ruler. Please keep your combat posts realistic and written in full cooperation with your thread partner(s). If you feel as if someone is being unfair in combat, please feel welcome to ask the staff to step in and moderate.
  
  
• Even though we have a PG-13 rating on the site, the Final Empire is a dark place. You are free to mention more mature events, so long as any description of or reference to them remains PG-13 appropriate. Use the fade to black method when you need to.
  
  
• Players with at least three approved characters may post with a character they are currently working on, provided they list that character as an NPC until they are properly submitted and approved.

Non-Player Characters

• Players are encouraged to make use of NPCs to fulfill niche roles in their scenes and stories. You may make them free for anyone to use (unattached) or reserve them for your own personal use (attached).
  
  
• For attached NPCs, make your own topic in the NPC forum. In that topic, paste a copy of the Attached NPC Template for each of your NPCs and fill it out accordingly.
  
  
• All of your NPCs are to be recorded in one topic, but you may double post in your own thread if you wish.
  
  
• Make sure to create character mod profiles for the NPCs as well. You may request that a staff member set their character icon to the NPC group in the Staff Request Thread.
  
  
• Do not post in other people’s NPC threads.
  
  
• NPCs do not need to be approved by the staff before you use them, but they must follow the same rules as player characters.

House Creation

• Players are encouraged to create their own noble houses. Be sure to read the House Creation Guide before diving in.
  
  
• If you are writing a Great House or one that is or is seriously aiming to achieve Great House status in the near future, use the Extended House Application template. Everyone else must make their initial submission using the Basic House Application. Once your house is accepted, you may edit in the extended template if you wish.
  
  
• Two staff approvals are required to accept a noble house, the same as with player characters.