The Application Process

Unsure of how to apply? Here's what you do, and here's what happens afterwards!

(If you have any questions that the following does not cover or describe in great enough detail, you can PM me on the forums or whisper me in-game on the alt Edwarde.)


1: Write up your application form.

The form can be found right here. Descriptions of all of the fields are provided--I recommend reading what Heimdall has written as you go through the form in addition to reading this!

(OPTIONAL) Fill in your email.

You don't have to do this, but if you do, it gives mediators an alternate method to contact you if you are unavailable on Furcadia. If you'd like to give us your email but are nervous about posting it in public, you can PM it to one of the mediators.

Fill in the alt name on Furcadia that you use to roleplay the character, a short description (not physical, but rather a summary) of the character, and a reason for why they are in Skuldhellir.

This is all information we'll need to better get to know your character!

(OPTIONAL) Are you a magic user?

If so, you'll probably need to fill out the Magic section of the form! Since our system is a little different, you can read more about it here. Read on for the rest of the application process, though.

Fill in your character's strengths.

Strengths are basically the various skills, talents, and pluses that benefit your character in some way. Just jot 'em all down, no matter how insignificant you might think some of them to be. (Mundane talents like intelligence and charisma count as strengths, too!) Make sure you sort them out in the right fields once you've written them all down!

If it's a complicated ability, give a little summary of its effects and the way it's activated; if it's an ability that's particularly powerful, takes a while to use or requires a gathering of energy of some sort, please give it what you think is a suitable number of preps. On average, a single prep takes 5 seconds.

For example, if you play a shapeshifter, and it takes him a little while to change from a human form to that of a cat, you could make the ability a 3-prep 'spell'--meaning it takes 15 seconds for him to do it IC.

Fill in your character's weaknesses.

Any flaw your character has is a weakness. Like strengths, just write them all down. Weaknesses can be anything, from your character having an unpleasant personality trait to being fatally allergic to magic. On average, if your character has a lot of major strengths, you'll want to balance them out with some major weaknesses, too, or a great multitude of small ones. If you're bringing an old character to Skuldhellir and you don't want to change them too much, say so, and the mediators may be able to give you a tiny bit of leeway when grading your character's balance for strengths vs weaknesses. It won't be much, though!

If you'd like some ideas for weaknesses, I have a page of them up right here. Feel free to use, tweak and modify any of them for your needs.

Read it all over again.

Spelled everything right? Forgot a strength or a weakness? Make sure you double-check your form after you're done writing it.

If you want an idea of how finished forms should look, you can check out some of these applications:

Zazeal Smokestep (Our Arena Master! A clean, simple application form with no complicated abilities or magics.)
Draconus Forest (Good example of the magic system in action here!)
Kàra Fuxfellson (Another simple, to-the-point form.)
Lauren Williams (An example of putting down preps for abilities.)
Edward Mercier (Another example of the magic system.)

2. Post your application up on the forum.

Just make a new topic in this forum. Put the subject as something appropriate, like 'Joe's Application' or 'Joe Furrypaws', or even the character's title if they have one--something that's easy for members and mediators to connect to the character within so they can find it easily for reference later on. If you don't do this, a mediator will change the name of your application anyway.

3. Sit back and wait!

A mediator will come by to your application and post up what is known as a number sheet. This is basically all of your strengths and weaknesses listed again, but with a number next to each, and occasionally a reason for why the strength or weakness was rated so.

What is there to make of this, and how does it work? Every strength or weakness is rated anywhere from 0 to 5. Something rated 0 is considered so inconsequential that the mediator excludes it from your character's final score, while a strength or weakness rated 5 is extremely pertinent and/or very powerful/highly disadvantageous. Mediators will judge each strength or weakness individually depending on the following things:
a) How greatly it affects the continuity/How big of a disadvantage it is within the continuity,
b) How greatly it can affect other characters/How easy it is to be manipulated by other characters,
c) How greatly it benefits your character/How greatly it disadvantages your character.

These numbers are NOT 'stats' like in an RPG; they are simply numerical values applied to each attribute of a character to see how well they would fare in Skuldhellir. These numbers are not used after the application process. They are only there to provide a solid, visual review of the balance of the character and each of their abilities/weaknesses.

That said, you might have what you think is a really basic ability--perhaps your character can conjure food. Would this aid them in combat? No, but with an ability like that, you could very easily erase any and all famine in the continuity, which would promptly terminate and ruin any dreamwide roleplays underway that may be using starvation as a major plot point! Abilities like these may be either scored with a 5, or you might be asked to remove the ability altogether, even if your character is balanced.

So, how do you know when your character is balanced? After giving each of your strengths/weaknesses a number, a mediator will tally up the total of each. If your strengths and weaknesses are within 5 points of eachother, your character is numerically balanced and most likely will be accepted into the continuity! If your strengths go over that limit, you will be asked to revise.

Okay, so a mediator posted a number sheet. What now? Why aren't I accepted? My numbers are balanced!

It's not quite over yet. Oh, don't sigh at me! As long as this seems, this whole process only takes a day or two at the most.

After the first mediator has come by with a number sheet, other mediators and members will openly discuss your character for maybe a day. They may ask questions, comment on how well they think the character would do in Skuldhellir, or mention guilds or jobs they think the character would be good at. It's a good idea to pay attention to this stuff--it'll be VERY helpful once you start roleplaying with us, and you definitely want to be around to answer questions!

Once your character's been looked over and you've got a handful of suggestions for what to do with them and who to have them meet once you start going IC, a mediator will come by and post another number sheet based on the discussion and the numbers of the mediator before.

If this sheet is balanced, even if the first one was not, you are officially ACCEPTED into the continuity and are free to join up in plots, alter the setting and other characters, and integrate yourself into Skuldhellir; perhaps your character will rise up to become a hero, or maybe they'll descend into wicked, terrifying infamy. Skuldhellir's story is now yours as well to mould and shape as you please.

Thanks for reading!