What is the premise of this role-playing group?
The Grey Tower is based on Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. If you have not heard of these books yet, we suggest you go here.
In this timeline, Aes Sedai and Asha'man have joined forces under one roof -- the Grey Tower. The Last Battle draws near, and once again male and female channelers work together to fight the Shadow as it moves across the land. The idea of the Grey Tower is that we, as a group of people, take on identities as characters in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time books. We don’t use the characters he writes about, but we create our own characters, based in his world, with their own identities and history.
All our characters come together in one theoretical place: the Grey Tower. Naturally, this is not in Robert Jordan’s books: we made it up! It’s a Tower which was constructed when a delegation of Asha’man from the Black Tower, and a delegation of Aes Sedai, from Salidar, met up and decided to create a new Tower, where men and women work together, for the first time since the Age of Legends.
In relation to the books, the Grey Tower roleplay takes place after the end of Winter’s Heart, after the Cleansing of the Taint, but before Tarmon Gaidon. We don’t worry too much about time: the Grey Tower has its own history stretching back over 50 years, even though this would be impossible in the context of the books. Essentially, we are making up stories with our own characters, stretching over many years, but all set in the time between the cleansing of the Taint, and Tarmon Gaidon. This position may change as new books are released: the Grey Tower is running parallel to the books.
In any case, the conceptual difficulties of time and the books are easy to get over, or ignore! The important thing is that we roleplay our own characters, and interact with each other via message boards.
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Where are you in relation to the series?
The Grey Tower was the result of an agreement forged
by contingents from the Black Tower and the Salidar
Aes Sedai, shortly before the Taint was Cleansed
and we now roleplay in the time just after the Cleansing.
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What happened to the Red Ajah?
Since the Tower trains both male and female channelers, we do not have a Red Ajah. The Salidar Aes Sedai had no Red representatives. Instead, we have an Indigo Ajah which seeks to uncover lost Talents from the Age of Legends. They have already discovered the secret of making sa'angreal, angreal, and ter'angreal and are responsible for the Tower's collection of these objects of the Power.
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Has saidin been cleansed of the Taint?
Yes! Saidin has now just been cleansed of the Taint, and male channelers are free to RP accordingly.
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Where is the Grey Tower located?
The Grey Tower is located in the Mountains of Mist, near a town called Elman's Creek. Your character, who may be from anywhere in the world of the Wheel, has made his/her way, somehow, to the Grey Tower, to begin training as a Warder, Aes Sedai or Asha'man. The exact details of this will be in your biography, which you write when you join.
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Is there a Black Ajah in the Grey Tower?
Of course, the Dark One's influence reaches far and wide, even into well-established organizations. There is an official Black Ajah in the Grey Tower, and its structure is described below.
Dual Ajahs:
Those in the Black Ajah have membership in both one "color" Ajah and in the Black Ajah. The "color" Ajah acts as a cover for the Sister or Brother of the Dark.
Leadership and Representation:
The Black Ajah has a Head IC who organizes participation and tests potential initiates through role-play; unless she or he designates another Sister or Brother of the Black Ajah to test initiates. The Black Ajah Head is chosen by the Black Ajah and is listed on the Black Ajah member listings and is available for contact OOC, just like Heads of "color" Ajahs. Preferably, the Head is a fully raised Black Ajah PC.
Unlike "color" Ajahs, however, the Black Ajah has no representation or voting capacity in and of itself in the Hall of Sitters. Influence in Tower politics is gained through a character's "color" Ajah. Thus, any representation in the Hall of Sitters is through being Sitters or the Head of one's "color" Ajah. Secretly, these Sitters may defend the Black Ajah while pretending to act in the interest of their "color" Ajah. The same is true of the Head of the Black Ajah. He or she has direct influence in the Hall of Sitters only if he or she is also a Head or Sitter of a "color" Ajah. The structure of the Black Ajah is currently being formalized on the Black Ajah pages as the Head of the Black Ajah consults with others.
Joining the Black Ajah:
Characters interested in joining the Black Ajah may apply after being accepted as Novices and Soldiers (or raised higher). This gives players time to role-play their new character and decide whether this is the direction they want to take their character into. Applicants of the dark Ajah complete a form and the Head of the Black Ajah (or a designate) and then are expected to complete certain requirements. Requirements may include role-playing with a member of the Black Ajah and duties to prove one's devotion. Applicants are then tested by the Head or designee for acceptance. Those initiates are organized by the Head into hearts.
When the Tower has more members to support such a system, a new additional element for recruitment may be considered by the Hall of Sitters.
Organization:
The Black Ajah is organized by the Head within "hearts", wherein each member knows the identity of two other Black Ajah members and "one other" from another heart. A heart consists of one senior member who mentors two initiates, who support each other in role-play. Thus, no member of the Black Ajah knows the IC identity of everyone in the Ajah.
NPCs:
NPCs may be created by existing players to officially join the Black Ajah. NPCs in may be listed alongside PCs, SCs, TCs etc. on the Black Ajah member list with profiles, biographies, skill points, Talents, etc. If the player of an NPC leaves the Tower, then so does the NPC. Note, this is a exception to normal Tower policies concerning NPCs.
The reasons for including NPCs officially are as follows:
1) NPCs are considered more "disposable" than main characters, and can be treated by others more realistically. It would be exceedingly difficult for all members of the Black Ajah to remain in secret and still carry out evil acts with impunity.
2) It is often necessary not only to have structure but a 'culture' to the Ajah in order to attract new initiates (as was seen with NPC Trainers in the Warder Yards). This creates the presumption that people are already there IC to facilitate the Ajah when it is born OOC. Sometimes it is helpful if members from other Ajahs "stand in" as NPCs to help fill in the support system, as full raising requirements would slow down the progress of bringing an Ajah to life. NPCs may be taken as seriously as other more "main" characters because, unlike players, characters do not know the difference between NPCs and PCs and would take any Black Ajah character as a serious threat to their lives.
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What is Godmoding, and is it really that bad?
Godmoding is the term used to describe actually multiple distinct situations
1. The first instance of Godmoding occurs when a player writes his or her character as extremely and unrealistically powerful. It can happen by means of the character knowing things that they realistically wouldn't have knowledge of (an example could be when a Novice is aware of a secret plot that an Aes Sedai has been planning without any obvious IC explanation for how she came by the information).
2. Another instance of Godmoding involves characters that are written as overly perfect or unrealistically talented at everything they do (no one perfects every weave on their first attempt, and Warriors can't best a Blademaster after having just picked up a sword!).
3. The last kind of Godmoding, and perhaps the most offensive of all, are those instances where one player writes the actions, thoughts, or dialogue, of another player's character. This instance is so dangerous in fact that it is one of the few ways that a player may be removed and permanently banned from the Grey Tower!
These instances are simply a few examples, the important thing to remember is that if your writing takes away or infringes upon another player's right to play their character the way that they choose (within the rules of the world of the Wheel of Time of course), then it is most likely Godmoding. If you ever have a doubt as to whether your writing may be suspect, please ask the admin BEFORE you write it out! We are all here because we want to make the Grey Tower as enjoyable and fun as possible for all of our members.
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So what makes the Grey Tower so great anyway?
The Grey Tower has a very simple structure to follow. Our one cardinal rule is that no member should purposefully or knowingly lessen the experience for any and all of the rest of our members. This comradery is one thing that truly separates us from most online sites. Likewise we have a number of sytems in place to oversee, regulate, and reference each other's characters to add richness and fun to our everyday roleplay threads. Here are the current systems that we have employed to combat Godmoding and to try and enrich each other's time here at the GT:
Biographies ( Overseen by the Tower's Master of Soldiers and Mistress of Novices. )
Fanfics ( Overseen by the Keeper of the Chronicles and the Keeper of the Archives. )
One Power Strengths (Overseen by the Tower's Admin Team. )
Weapons Skills ( Overseen by the Tower's Master or Mistress of Training. )
Advantages ( Overseen by the Tower's Gaidin or Gaidar Captain. )
Talents and Abilities ( Overseen by the Indigo Ajah's First Seeker. )
Ajah Benefits ( Overseen by the Tower's Keeper of the Archives and Keeper of the Chronicles. )
Objects of the Power ( Overseen by the Indigo Ajah's First Seeker. )
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