To look at this page alone, you might think the Grey Tower was a place swamped with litigation and rules. Unfortunately, the "double character" issue has been with us from the very start, and has caused all sorts of problems in the past. This is the only way the Hall can find to solve it. Remember that unless you're planning on playing more than one character at a time here, none of this applies to you at all, so you don't even need to read or worry about it. The Grey Tower is not a restrictive society, and these are in fact the only rules of this type which we have. Most people never even need look at this page.

Having a Secondary Character:

 Most players find that controlling one character is enough at the Grey Tower, allowing space and time for character development, Raising and meeting other members. However, after playing a character for a very long time, and having no Raising left to do, some players feel their character has hit a dead end. They are still fond of him/her, and still regard him/her as their online persona, but need something new to try in terms of roleplaying.

 The directions set out here were discussed and approved by the Hall of Sitters on the 2nd September, 2001, tested, and made official on the 17th November. They allow a player who has become confined by their original character choice to create a secondary character to roleplay. This secondary character does not replace the first, but provides an alternative body in which to roleplay, when they don't want to be their primary character.

On May 23rd, 2003, the Hall of Sitters approved the creation of Tertiary characters under certain circumstances (detailed below). On March 20th, 2005, the Hall of Sitters decided to allow members to have an unlimited number of characters, given that they follow the guidlines as stated below. These rules apply to all secondary characters. Secondary Character Rules:

   Overview

• Everyone at the Grey Tower begins with one character (their Primary Character).
• There are three situations in which an extra character may be created:
  • All previous characters must have been fully raised for at least one month.
  • All characters minus the most recent must be fully raised; this character must have been a member for at least six months, and the player must write two fanfics of at least 1000 words from that character's point of view.
  • All characters minus the most recent must be fully raised; this character must be of the middle rank, and a member of at least six months. The player must write one fanfic of at least 1000 words from that character's point of view.
• The Hall of Sitters decided on November 1st, 2006 that with special permission members are allowed to hold multiple 'voting' positions within the Tower. However, each member still recieves only one vote in the Hall.
• Secondary and Tertiary characters do not take the Introductory Class. They have other Raising Requirements instead. (Details below.)

   Details

 An player who fits one of the three situations may submit one further joining form. On this, they must declare in the appropriate box, the name of their existing character. This application will be processed as usual, and their new secondary character added to the Member Listing in the appropriate section, along with a note that they are played by the same person as their primary character. The player may choose to have separate email addresses for the two characters, or use the same one.

 They may roleplay as either of these two characters, but should not neglect one in favour of the other. Both characters will be treated equally by the Tower IC, and the second character will be assigned a mentor as usual. The raising requirements will be as usual, except that the secondary character will not complete the Grey Tower Introductory class. Instead, they will complete alternative Raising Requirements, as follows:

• A fanfic of at least 800 words, to be submitted to the Library.

AND

• A roleplay thread containing at least 6 reasonable-length (200 words) posts by the player, with at least one other Tower member contributing. The URL of this thread shall be given in the application request for Raising to the Ring/Sword Pin.

 These can also be found on the Secondary Character Raising Requirements page.

 If a player is found and proved to have sent any joining form in contravention of these conditions, particularly if they try to take advantage of the system by failing to declare the fact that they already have a character, then the Tower will remove all characters known to be controlled by the person, except for the latest one they have submitted. This latest character will be their character at the Tower from that point forward, as it is assumed that by submitting further applications, they are retiring all previous characters in favour of this newest arrival. The player will be contacted prior to any action being taken, to make sure there is no misunderstanding of two people using the same computer. The Hall hopes it can rely on the integrity and honesty of members not to abuse the right to a second character, and so this section should hopefully never have to be applied.

 Application forms where the applicant does not meet the criteria for obtaining an additional character will be put on hold until those criteria are met, at which time they will be processed, unless the applicant directs otherwise.

 Players submitting a second or third character may be asked to take on an extra mentee with their primary character in order to compensate, and because they will have lots of roleplaying experience to pass on to other members. Their secondary character will be assigned a mentor as usual, to promote roleplay and contact between Tower members.

 NB: In times of admin stress (in the 'unlikely' event that our host might decide randomly to delete the Tower or something), application forms/raising tests from players submitting a second character may be treated with lower priority by the Master of Soldiers/Mistress of Novices/Master of Training, than application forms from those entirely new to the Tower, as we feel the wellbeing of our newest members is always a priority, and that those of more experience will be more understaning of the difficulties.