General Issues, Please Read

[Lacey]

Just a note about some recurring issues I've noticed recently. Although this is a fantasy based rp, for the most part, things still react like normal things, time and distance are constant (at least in the realm of the Inn).

The Doors :There are three doors located on the bottom floor of the Inn.

• The Front Door is the door between realms. If your character uses it, you're going back home unless you've worked out somehow that your character is stuck in DDI. If someone else opens the door for you, you will go wherever -their- home is. Your character can go back home at anytime if they came through teh front door. The only exceptions to the front door rules is Lacey and Dimitri who can go to anybody's home realm.
  
• The Kitchen Door opens onto the front of the property that the Inn sits on. A path leads from there down to the road, which in turn leads off either into town (left) or into the countryside (right)
  
• The Back Door opens onto the back of the property from which a path leads to the stables and the lake and then into the forest.
  
• Revolving Doors. There are several doors scattered throughout the area that move. Characters that arrive in a forest or field come through those doors and as such have a much harder time of finding the door again. They can get back home if they think to talk to Lacey or Dimitri.
  
• The doors open like normal doors! They are not automatic, they will not simply open for a character because they want them to unless they have magic that can make them. If you're playing a shifter, you must first open the door in order to go through it, or mention that they used their mouth to turn the handle to get it open.

Distances. The front door may bridge time and space but in the world that the Inn inhabits, distance is finite. Unless you can use magic to transport, you must keep in mind travel time when posting. If you have to add in a post about dodging around villagers or trees or whatever for it to realistically work, do it, none of us will mind. For example, if you're playing with other chars who are having a conversation that in rp time lasts 5 minutes, you would not be able to travel anywhere except the stables or the lake and back before they finished.

• First off, the Inn is not "in" town. It is down the road from it. That means several minutes walk, shorter at a run, shorter still for a shifter in animal form at a run. However, you are still talking at least a couple minutes travel to the outskirts of the village, a couple more to the center, a couple more to the other end. For simplicity's sake, all of the main village buildings are set on the main road running through town, the houses and farmsteads would be on side roads that branch off of it. Also, the Inn is a decent sized building both width and lengthwise and is two stories tall.
  
• The Prideland Territory is on the far side of the village, and realistically would not be butted up next to the town as the villagers had no real knowledge of the feline shifters before recent activities, so once more, take travel time into consideration. The main road would run along part of it before veering off.
  
• The Lake is several meters away from the Inn, very close. It is a large lake, walking around it would take a while, swimming across it would still take several minutes. The path from the Inn only runs near it about half it's length before it veers off into the forest.
  
• The Hot Springs are well into the forest and off the main path that runs through it, though by now that path is getting pretty worn too. As such, you're talking a long walk.
  
• The Pack Territory is in the forest located to the right of the Inn. The main road would run along it at one side for a while before veering off. Though the forest immediately bordering the Inn is neutral, the wolves do help watch over it. The actual clearing where the pack has settled is a long walk away from the Inn.

Animals and Animal Forms.

• Horses don't like predators. That means shifters that have been in any form other than a domesticated animal are going to still smell like a predator and the horses will react negatively, usually just shying away.
  
• People are afraid of wild animals. In general, unless you are talking about the humans that live day to day with one of the shifter groups or have lived at the Inn for a long period of time, people are going to freak out when they see a wild animal (i.e. lion, tiger, wolf, etc.) wandering around on their own. That being said, if a shifter is in animal form and decides to go through town, it should have a human with it and keep in mind the villagers are still going to be skittish and giving them a wide berth. If a shifter is in animal form by itself in town, villagers will probably be scared and aggressive as there is no real way to tell if the animal is a shifter or a wild animal come to kill their children and livestock.

Shifters.

• Boys are not girls and vice versa. Unless your character's specific ability is that they shift from one gender to another, no cross gender shifting. If you're a panwere (meaning you can shift into multiple animal forms) that is fine, however, your basic DNA says you are still a male or a female unless your character is actually transexual, so if you go from human to cat to monkey to dog you are going to be the same gender regardless of what form you are wearing, it's genetics. The only way around that is if you have the power of illusion to disguise yourself as the opposite gender, in which case you don't need to be a shifter.
  
• Clothing is optional. Unless your character has some ability to retain clothing after shifting forms, and it better be explained, you will be naked after shifting. It just works that way. You'd either shrink inside them or tear out of them. Prepare to walk around naked or have a hidden stash when neccessary.
  
• Anthro form is optional. If you want to do the "wolfman" thing, that's fine, but keep in mind the clothing thing again. If you're wearing clothes, they're probably going to tear. Also, humans are gonna freak a little, those at the inn, probably not so much, but the villagers deffinately would.

Senses. The wonders of the body, sight, sound, taste, touch.

• There are no windows on the bottom floor of the Inn, we get vampires here, it could be bad. Therefor, no "seeing into" the Inn, unless your character has x-ray vision.
  
• Shifters will have increased senses, however, keep in mind that if you're inside, you're probably only going to smell what's inside unless someone opens the door or a window upstairs. Hearing would also be diminished through walls and distance, not to mention the noise of anybody else moving and talking in the building.
  
• Feelings, we all get them, however not everyone else can feel yours. Be realistic folks. Unless your character is an empath, you're not going to be able to sense someone's feelings, and if you can, you're probably picking up those of everybody that's around as well. Same with "sensing something's wrong". Think about the situation, you could hear/smell something, read their body language, feel something through the pack connection, whatever, but if your character is in town and "senses" something going on back at the Inn, I'm not buying it. You're talking a mile at least, come up with some other reason to get them where you want them to be.
  
• Thoughts, keep 'em to yourself, well sort of. Unless you're a telepath, you can't read other people's thoughts. If your character has the ability to project their thoughts, specify that they have the ability to be heard by whoever they focus on whether the "receiver" is a telepath or not, or be prepared to not have what they said "heard".

**Please proof read before you post. We overlook a lot, but double check that it would make sense to the rest of us before you hit send.

**If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me at anytime.