Welcome to Gaia! ::

dunno if this has been said before or not and please forgive my nudeness but maybe try getting 9 back? she seems nice from what ive read also as previously stated try a tourny ... maybe have a tourny with a actual prize? instead of just rp goodness as most gaians seem to be money hungry whores :/ dunno really if there is anything

GODS:
The following rules are for Gods relating to the BC. God's are of varying power and resources at the discretion of 9-Lives.This is to ensure that a new character cannot have a god that outweighs a god followed by many other characters. The more characters following a god IC (In character.) the more powerful the god,in most cases.This is also to ensure that characters may not RP freely against gods without reprecussions to their actions.If you're willing to accept the god existing,you'd better be willing to accept the consequences of your actions towards it.Once again,as there are many different God's and many beliefs for each one, the power of each God will be at the discretion of 9-Lives.

A) NO ONE MAY ROLE PLAY A GOD OR A GOD'S FORCES. Only Lady 9-Lives or a Moderator chosen by 9 may role play a god or it's forces numbering more then 5. As such mass battles of Gods,or their forces (Angels,servants,heros) may only be RP'ed by 9 or a Moderator of her choice.The power of such forces will remain in their discretion. With the 3-1 rule in effect,only 3 things may attack a villain at once,unless it is a mass-battle. Passive meetings (Such as two angels stopping to talk,a demon delivering a message,or a plant spirit offering information) are acceptable,but no violent interactions without good cause.

B) A god may not directly interfere with the mortal realm unless it has very good reason.It may send warriors or forces,but the number and strength of which will remain to the discretion of 9 or a Mod. Good reasons may include if the God's child was stolen,or if the event directly threatens the god's life.Without those met however,the god may not make a PERSONAL APPEARANCE aside from visions and inspiration. Nor can it send a large force unless it has very good reason.With the new rules in effect.rarely will a God feel the need to smite a villain,or anyone else for that matter.

C) Characters may not have an extensive background that directly effects the interpretation of a God. For example, your character cannot have it in their backstory that they killed any of the famous gods. Nor can they have it that they had maimed or disfigured a God. If you go about killing Gods, then your character is obviously overpowered.This is to make sure there is no confusion amongst backstories of what Gods are alive and which are injured.This also makes sure we don't trip over each others backstories.

D) You may play a servant or creation of a God,but you must make it clear whether or not you are in the God's service. This means that,if you are an angel,you are either a fallen, a free, or one working for the God. If you are a demon type, you're either run from your cause, a free demon, or one that serves dark gods. With all the gods and creations of gods this needs to be cleared up.It allows for more plots and IC interaction with people working together and against each other.

NOTE: Do not expect the Moderators or 9 to be at your every beck and call.This system is designed to handle severe cases only.The appearance of God's and their forces will be rare.Aside from that you may RP your prayers,inspirations,orders,and visions as you wish,as long as they don't stray too far from the God's actual ways.The christian god won't have you slaughtering innocents,and lucifer won't have you building a happy bible-teaching orphanage.Nor will any other gods be telling you to do anything that strays from their alignment and usual act.Since there are many variations of the god and how they act/appear,use your head.Refer to the posting guidlines. THINK BEFORE YOU POST!

No one should be getting the Gods mad enough to come after them unless they have a lack of common sense.You may hold off the gods the first few times,but no one in the BC should be playing a God. Therefore anyone who challenges a God directly will fail eventually.RP amongst yourselves,Form plots and stories,use races,but don't be drawing gods directly into things unless you're well-prepared to face the consequences.

I think this system fills in a lot of gaps.It seems kinda strict but it allows everyone to do something and have the angels and demons fight here without drawing in the gods.Also it keeps villains from having godly power or claiming to be able to take out gods.Furthermore,atheists have nothing to fear for the god's wont intervene unless it's serious.

MAGES AND SPELLCASTING TIME:

I think a cool element to add to the gameplay of the BC would be casting time.All too often mages or other things in the BC merely wave their hand,think a thought,or speak a word.All while a fighter comes in for his double-slash?I think not.

Almost every gamerule book,or even novels,suggest that working magic requires time. Since the Black Company uses a turn-based fighting system this could work out smoothly.A mage,or someone who uses magic,casts their spell.Say for example,this spell takes 2 posts to cast.During which time the enemy can obviously attack.However,Mages will obviously have fighter-types to protect them.To hold off the enemy that extra post until the spell is completed.With that,more IC groups and relationships would be formed,and much less instant energy flinging crazy people.

The Black Company has seemed to have lost it's sense of good old fashioned battle.People rarely actually fight each other without the wielding of teleportation,or misting,or insane speed,or anything else magical.The BC has lost the touch of blade to blade action.This can easilly be brought back however.When casters are FORCED to actually take time,and NEED competant fighters.These fighters will train and rise up to support the casters.

The Mods and 9 can form the spells and their time at their discretion.An easy example would be a 1-8 level system.A lot of characters would need to be changed or reformed,or brought down.In the end though,it could be well worth it. For every two levels of a spell,the spell could take 1 post.If it is a minor enough spell to be less then that,then they can cast it in the same post they started it.

FOR EXAMPLE: Say a caster wanted to cast a fireball.Let's assume this fireball was a level 4 spell.That would require 2 posts.The caster posts that they start to form it.Then,The enemy posts moving to attack,or their own caster starts to cast.In most cases the fighters would probably be in front to protect,but could assume any tactic.This would ensure protecting the mage.However,there could easilly be a lone mage or lone fighters,or groups of mages and groups of fighters.

Many of the Black Company's chracters would need to be brought down a lot.Many of them would have to lose abilities. Some would actually have to refine their RP skill to hold sword techniques or other weapons.The BC seems to already want to change it's way though.Many of the BC's characters chosen races would also have to lose some of their abilities.It wouldn't be fair to have a vampire just hop through a shadow and hop out on an unsuspecting mage who has his fighters in front.However,vampires could still feed to recover for example.Winged creatures could still fly,untilt heir wings were hit.Regeneration would have to be slowed to a crawl.

I bet a lot of you are thinking this is a waste of time idea and bad,but if we ALL followed it this wouldn't be a guild of God's,it'd be a guild of RP-ers.The dojo would be a training area.The training room would be there for more then just show.The rules may seem hard to follow or trace.However,with a lot of work we can make it a good reality and a good new fair way of running things.Errr....that's about all for now....Thanks.

Here's a suggestion that may help. Organize your members and keep tabs
on their activity. There are few ways to keep tabs on their activity but you
could organize them helping to ease them into the RP's and such. Such as
make a few elite fighting groups, a few spellcaster groups and things of that
nature. From what i've seen these distinctions help when trying to place
someone in an RP. People tend to know their role better and understand
what it is they need to do. Such as an assassin would do his/her job and a
medic would do his/her job as needed. Another thing that may help with the
RP is leak out a bit of OOC information to a specific person that is willing to
participate in the RP. Kind of like a Dungeon Master would do while playing
D&D. I've also already suggested one idea, that was the thread rating system
for rating RP's making it easier for someone new to choose an RP. There's
just a few suggestions, and I hope you take them into consideration. I'm
going to stay a member in the guild so I can try and give you a few
suggestions to the problems in the guild, but I probably won't be very active
as I have my own guild to worry about. I would just like to see The BC get
back to it's former glory.