Runes

Runes are the in-game currency. 

What do runes look like?

They are flat stones of irregular shapes. A runic symbol has been carved in the middle of the stone, and somehow painted in a luminescent yellow. The Runes emit a faint blue glow.

Gaining Runes

Events, Patrols and Adventures

Events, Patrols and Adventures often have Runes as a possible prize. Events are the perfect opportunity to gain large sums of runes, as often-times there is a 'double runes' effect, and prizes from random rolls are always generous!

Actively Chatting

Mimu, our currency bot, keeps track of members who are actively chatting in various channels and assigns runes passively. Ocasionally, Mimu might drop some runes in the middle of conversations. These can be picked up and added to your balance. 

Art & Literature

All art drawn or written featuring characters in the group can be counted for runes! Runes will always go to the original artist, therefor art done by users outside the group cannot count for runes. 

Submission Rules

All artwork must be completed with either your own artwork, artwork commissioned/made for you specifically for the group, or a base specifically for the group. Linearts found to be used in another group or outside of ToE are not allowed and continued use of these will result in a warning, or ban. 

Stock Images and AI generated artwork:

• The use of AI generated artwork is strictly limited to Backgrounds. They will not grant any runes, counting as transparent backgrounds. 

• Using a Stock Image as a background, much like an AI generated background, will count as a transparent background and won't grant any runes. 

• Poses, builds, etc. may be tranced or referenced from Stock Images. 

• Stock Images should always be credited. 

If there is gore, there must be a spoiler filter on it. [ A little blood is okay though! ] 

NSFW content is not allowed.

♦ Submissions do NOT need to be posted to DeviantArt.

While we do prefer they are, so they can be added to the group and can be seen by everyone, we do understand that dA is not a platform many are keen on supporting. Given the transfer of the group to Discord, images may be submitted directly to Discord. 

However, the character limit is still a pain in the butt for lit artists, so alternative platforms like Google Docs or submitting a .txt file are accepted as well. 

Art Rules

• Characters should always be identifiable. They should resemble their official design in color (when applicable) and marking placements. 

• At least 80% of the head must be included. This generally translates to hiding only a small portion of the face OR one eye/ear. 

• Reusing lineart for another cat and attempting to gain runes from reused lines is prohibited. 

HALF-BODY VS FULLBODY

The minimum for a fullbody must include the cat's complete body and at least four limbs. 

Cats may be partially hidden by themselves (a cat curled up on itself) or by objects (a cat walking behind a tree). 

SHADING

We consider simple shading that which is uni-dimensional, taking only basic shapes into consideration. A quick touch of the multiply layer, if you will. 

Complex shading, on the other hand, pays attention to light sources and deeper shadows. It often has layers of both lights and shadows, or pays greater attention to shapes and dimensions. 

BACKGROUNDS

A complex background is defined as a natural setting (forest, building, cave, etc.) that includes at least 3 distinct elements additional to the ground and sky background layer. 

Example of accepted additional elements: 

• Bushes

• Trees

• Buildings

• Clouds

• Mountains

• Cacti

A simple background is defined as anything depicting a natural setting, but does not meet the criteria for a complex background. 

ANIMATIONS

A simple animation includes one basic movement, such as blinking, tail flicking, ear twitch, etc. 

When multiple small animations are featured together, this bonus stacks with itself. 

UNFINISHED SKETCHES AND DOODLES

Art that has an unfinished, raw look, such like uncolored sketches part of an art dump, messy doodles and the like, will only receive the 'base' value of the piece. 

Literature Rules

Literature should be at least 100 words to count for runes. 

We strongly submissions to be complete; this means that all lit should have a clear beginning, middle and end. Splitting submissions is discouraged. 

Cats failing to meet mention requirements will not count for Runes. 

!! Cats who meet mention requirements, but aren't actively participating in the lit through some form of action will not count as a cat included in the lit. 

For example: having two cats talking about their leader might make the leader meet mention requirements, but will not be able to gain runes since they aren't actually involved in the events on the lit. 

What makes a keyword?

Keywords are unique identifiers for a particular cat during a literature submission. Some examples include: leader, deputy, apprentice, kitten, hunter, warrior, etc.

The effectiveness of a keyword is that it's only used to describe one (1) cat throughout the lit. 

For example, if you only have one cat with leader rank, and only they are addressed as leader, then leader is an effective keyword. 

However, if you have a patrol of multiple hunters and apprentices, neither hunter or apprentice functions as an effective keyword. 

MENTION REQUIREMENTS

In order for a cat to be recognized as involved within the literature piece, cats must meet the minimum mentions requirement. 

4 mentions for works under 1k words

7 mentions for works over 1k words

10 mentions for works over 3k words

13 mentions for works over 6k words

16 mentions for works over 9k words

20 mentions for works over 12k words

DIALOGUE BONUS

The dialogue bonus is given once to the entire piece, not counted by character. 

In order for a piece to receive the dialogue bonus, the dialogue must be clearly identified through some formatting. This could be though bold, highlighting, a break in the text, etc. 

Dialogues should include at least two characters conversing, whether verbally or physically (in the case of cats using sign language). 

SOLO BONUS

Solo bonus will only be given to pieces that feature only one cat throughout the entire piece. Companion animals are fine!