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Character Slots and Creating Adopts
Character Slots and Creating Adopts
- All members of Scorched Paws (staff and general members alike) have the right to 5 character slots. This means you can have a maximum of 5 cats at a time, being either OCs, server adopts, player adopts or kits born in-server.
The server will have a shop set up with the help of a discord bot where members have the option to buy extra character slots (with a limit of 10 slots maximum) using server points.
- Members of the server are allowed to make adoptable characters connected to their own for other people to play. Although there is no limit of how many you can create in total, members can only have 2 unclaimed adopts at a time.
For example, if you have a character and make them their two parents, you can then post a littermate after one of the parents gets adopted by a player.
- If your character has an important backstory connection that you wish could be present in roleplay, but you don’t wish to roleplay them yourself or make them an adopt, you’re more than welcome to ask to make them into an NPC! They will be controlled by staff in threads you wish to have with said NPC and other occasions such as background activities, celebrations, events, or plot related instances! This will be expanded upon in the Character Creation Guidelines.
Before you decide to make an NPC, we encourage you to keep in mind you could first look for that connection with another player character that could fit into your backstory to make connections with other players rather than NPCs! Of course, we're always happy to make NPCs if you want something really specific that wouldn't fit in that case.
Likewise, if you have a character you no longer want to play for any reason but don’t want to have them die off or completely removed from the setting, you’re also welcome to give them to staff to become an NPC! See the NPC section for more details!
- Adoptable characters made by server members are ultimately owned by the person who made them. This means that the creator of the adopt decides if the person who adopted the character now owns them in their entirety (design, story and so on) or not.
We ask that folks creating adopts always disclose their feelings on this beforehand to avoid misunderstandings! Remember, communication is key!
If a player adopts a character from someone and proceeds to be inactive with that character (no roleplay threads made at all) for 2 months or more without previous clarification on a reason why, the creator of the adopt may have the right to take that adopt back and adopt them out to someone else. Please reach out to staff beforehand so we can help with this.
- Adoptable characters created by staff for the server (such as server adopts people will be able to apply for when joining the server) are owned by their respective adopters when accepted, provided the adopter uses the character in at least one (complete) thread or is in the server for more than four months.
In the case of leaving the server, the person is free to choose if they wish to keep the character with them (provided more than four months have passed or one thread has been written) or give them back to staff to re-adopt out.
In the case the person keeps the character with them when leaving, the cat will ultimately be removed from the story either by death or retconning and replaced with a different cat.
- When a member of the server decides to leave, it is their right to fully decide what will end up happening to their original characters. They can be retconned out, leave the colonies, die in a way that makes narrative sense or other ways. Please contact staff so we’re able to respect your wishes when leaving the server.
That being said, if a character has been heavily connected to plot, other characters, and the story as a whole, completely removing the character is no longer an option, as countless connections and interactions just being completely nulled would negatively affect other server members and the story. In that case, the character may be replaced by a cat that fills a similar niche in the story and other characters’ narratives without being an exact copy of your character. For example, if the player of “redpaw” decides to leave the server, but has a sibling, “bluepaw” who stays with important family ties, an npc or adopt that is still “bluepaw”’s sibling, but is otherwise completely different from the original “redpaw”, would be made to satisfy that part of “bluepaw”’s story.
If a member leaves the server with no word and staff’s attempt of contact have not been answered within a week of leaving, staff has the full right to decide how the character is removed from the story.
Character Names
Character Names
We ask all characters made to be a part of Scorched Paws have SFW names. Joke/Meme names are allowed within reason, so long as they don’t break any of our rules. Each colony has their style of naming convention, so please keep that in mind when choosing a name for them!
- Two cats are not allowed to have the same name at any given time. This means that there won’t be two cats with the same prefix in the Wayfinders, or Scrapper cats with that noun in their own names. This is to avoid confusion when referring to the character both OOC and IC, as usually cats are called by a shortened version of their names, making it hard to know which cat you’re talking about.
For example, if an existing character is called Flameclaw, then no other cat may have the “Flame” prefix, nor can a scrapper cat have “Flame” as the main part of their name, like Flamethrower or similar.
- That being said, because of how unconventional Metal Scrapper names are, some words may be present in their names when a different cat has the same name, but only if the main name they’re called by is not that same word.
For example, a Scrapper cat may have the name Flaming Hot Cheetos despite an existing character being called Flameclaw, so long as their “main” name is “Cheetos” when not called by their full name.
Wayfinder Naming Convention
Wayfinder Naming Convention
Kits: Usually a single noun, with no suffix. (Fire; Feather; Thorn)
Trainees: Their birth prefix, followed by the “-paw” suffix. (Firepaw; Featherpaw; Thornpaw)
Fully trained: Their birth prefix, followed by a suffix given by the Northern Star that best reflects the cat as a whole. If a cat wishes to change their birth prefix to a new name, they’re also welcome to. (Fireheart; Feathertail; Thornfang)
Leadership: When a cat becomes the group’s leader, they give up their suffix and replace it with the “-star” suffix, signifying their position as the Northern Star to guide the group as they survive. (Firestar; Featherstar; Thornstar)
Metal Scrapper Naming Convention
Metal Scrapper Naming Convention
Scrapper cats don’t follow any particular rule for naming their kits at all, really. Generations of working with human trash, welcoming abandoned kittypets and more all mixed together to what is now their most common way of naming kits: just go bonkers, really!
Be it the name of a human object, some word a kittypet managed to read off of human things, plants, human/kittypet like names - it’s all fair game. Kits don’t change their name when becoming juniors, nor do juniors change name when graduating to fully trained cats. Of course, every cat is free to give themself a new name if they wish. To Scrappers, names are like sticky labels on weird plastic. You can always take it off and slap another one!
Kittens and Litters
Kittens and Litters
If two (or more) cats come together and decide to become a family, Scorched Paws has a couple of rules and systems in place to make sure everyone involved can go about things as stress-free and as much fun as possible!
- In the case of couples using a surrogate or donor to help conceive the litter, it’s up to the players of all the characters involved to decide how much say they’ll have over the litter. Remember, communication is key!
That being said, the players of the surrogate/donor are welcome to make it known if they want to have no OOC influence over the litter.
- The process of finding who will become the members to play the kits of litters born in the server will work under an organized system, where both the players of the parents and the staff team will come together to make sure people have a fair chance at getting a kit.
Together with staff, the parent players will get the basic information of their kits (such as their looks, names and biological sex) and make an application form for folks interested in applying. This form will be ran by the staff team, with parent players having access to all answers with the exception of knowing who replied to the application.
This is to avoid favoritism and cliques. Of course, we will hear all about the parent player’s preferences in folks they’d prefer for their litter regarding server activity and other factors into consideration.
At the end of the day, the players of the parent characters will be the ones with the final say on which application they like the most - Staff simply serves as a middle man to allow for unbiased and anonymous decisions.
- Once a server member has been accepted and is now the player of a kit born in the server, they can only apply for another server litter once their first kit is at least 12 moons or older. This is to prevent the same people from continuously applying for and possibly getting kits multiple times in a row.
- In Scorched Paws, the maximum number of kits a cat can have is 4. It is up to the members playing the parents of the litter how many kits they’ll have! Players are welcome to make that choice themselves or have a dice decide the numbers.
The server shop will have the option to buy vouchers for bigger litters with server points, with the options of 5 kit litters and 6 kit litters.
- Members playing the parents of the litter will be the ones responsible for choosing their kits’ designs, naming them and their biological sex. While being allowed to ask for opinions, suggestions and help deciding these things, the final say is the parent players.
When it comes to designs, folks are welcome to commission a design for the kits, make them themselves and things like that!
- When a cat is pregnant, they must go through the full gestation period of a domestic cat in real life (63-65 days) before the kits can be born. This is so the parents have plenty of time to make all the decisions about the litter before they’re born, along with allowing the period of choosing the kit’s players in that timeframe. Staff is happy to help track that period of time if needed.
In some cases, pregnant cats may give birth to their kits prematurely. This won’t be a common occurrence and we ask folks to discuss with Staff beforehand. Additionally, this will also come with consequences to both the parent and the kits.
Non-Player Characters
Non-Player Characters
- When making an NPC or turning a character into an NPC, a ticket will be made with staff where we will outline the character’s basic personality, relationships, goals, and anything else you want kept in mind when the character is being written.
When you give a character to staff to NPC, please keep in mind that the NPC will also exist outside of their connection to your character. This is in order to make sure our NPCS are not one-note characters that only exist to fill a position in another character’s story, and are well-rounded, interactable characters that can be enjoyed by the whole server.
When making an NPC, the staff team is here to help with whatever you need! We can assist with personality, design, and backstory in order to assist with the narrative you are trying to accomplish with your characters.
Anyone is able to request interaction via thread or background activity with an NPC unless otherwise specified for a specific NPC. In the case of planning a thread with an NPC, the server member will take the lead in the direction of the thread, but the NPC will act within the parameters of the character set out by the person who originally had the NPC created.
NPCS are not to be used by members without the knowledge of staff, in order for us to best keep track of how our NPCS are interacting with the world. If you want NPCpaw to come along in the background of a thread to go hunting, just make sure you ping a staff member first. We don’t want to restrict any fun with NPCS, but this will help make it easier for us to keep track of what our NPCS know and where they’ve been.
Physical Characteristics
Physical Characteristics
Genetic Accuracy
Genetic Accuracy
- Genetic accuracy is not mandatory when creating a character! You’re free to add stylistic choices to your cat’s design that may not align with real life cat tabby patterns or colors for flair and Coolness™ factor.
All designs are still required to have some level of believability to them. This means bright pink/green/blue cats or extremely unrealistic markings are not allowed (basically, no sparkle cats).
Using warm and cold tones to make colors seem more pink/blue/purple in color is allowed, as long as their color can be reasonably identified as the coat of an existing cat color (example: making a warm tinted cream cat look slightly pink or making a cold tinted gray cat look slightly blue).
Stylized fur is allowed to a certain extent, so long as the cat does not resemble real human hair. This means cats can have braids, tufts of hair that cover their eyes and/or look like bangs. They can’t, however, look like a cat wearing a human wig.
Disabilities
Disabilities
- Disabilities (visible or not) will be allowed in characters, so long as their players portray those disabilities with proper respect. We kindly ask players to do their due research before roleplaying disabled characters to make sure they avoid harmful stereotypes or other things of the sort.
The only disabilities not allowed are those which would prevent a kit from surviving past kithood, since they’d likely die without human veterinarian care, like a cleft palate for example.
Accessories
Accessories
- Because of their ability to craft, Scorched Paws characters are allowed to use decoration, accessories and trinkets to elevate their looks! From braids, to necklaces/bracelets/anklets to pouches and bags.
Due to their access to human items, Metal Scrapper cats can have collars, harnesses and other more unconventional accessories!
Feathers behind a cat’s ears are strictly banned in all characters. We do not accept cultural appropriation in any characters, especially those that have been spoken against and shown to be harmful to many people.
Other Physical Characteristics
Other Physical Characteristics
- Physical traits such as heterochromia, polydactyl, curled/folded ears and others are not locked behind a paywall and have no limit as to how many characters can have them.
- Breeds such as sphynx, lykoi and other hairless cats are not allowed due to our desert-like setting. Those breeds are highly likely to have skin conditions even when in the best human care, so making them live in a desert would not be a very nice experience for them.
Cats are allowed to have patches of skin without fur that might’ve happened because of accidents, injuries, scars and other factors, however!
Regarding Backstories
Regarding Backstories
Bigotry
Bigotry
- In the universe of Scorched Paws, things like homophobia/transphobia, ableism, sexism and other bigoted world views simply do not exist. Their society is not like human society, therefore certain world views that are deeply rooted in human society have never been present to them. Backstories with such topics are not allowed.
A character struggling with any disability having a hard time due to the challenges and hardships in the world around them is certainly allowed (such as a blind cat struggling with the nomadic Wayfinder life due to their lack of vision), but at no point would that character be deemed lesser as a member of society and ridiculed for it by other cats.
Murder
Murder
- Murder is not a common occurrence in the Scorchep Paws universe the way it is in canon Warrior Cats. Committing murder is a horrible, grave crime and not something taken lightly. Even in the case of a cat killing another by accident, it’s still something extremely serious. While murder and death through unnatural causes is allowed in backstories, it should not be handled “willy-nilly” as something that happens every other day, because it is not. We ask folks to be mindful of that when writing for their characters.
Having a cat who committed murder for any specific reason will come with heavy consequences, even as a form of self-defense. Please consider how that would affect your character mentally and emotionally before making that a backstory aspect, as unlike canon Warriors, characters in Scorched Paws should not brush it off as a minor thing.
That being said, death through natural causes or from other factors such as predators, illnesses, grave injuries and accidents are indeed a common part of these cat’s lives.
Heavy Content
Heavy Content
It is important to always be mindful of what topics you wish to tackle when creating a character's backstory and how it impacts both characters in the world and the members of the server who are reading and interacting with these backstories.
Topics such as assault, domestic violence, and abuse of any kind are not allowed in character backstories. We feel for the safety and security of the members of Scorched Paws, that these topics are not necessary to create compelling characters.
That is not to say that characters are not allowed to have traumatic events and toxic family or friends in their lives and the conflict that comes with it, and we understand that the line can sometimes be hard to draw, so if you have any questions on whether or not a situation is appropriate for a character's backstory, or if it should be toned down, the staff of Scorched Paws is here to help.
And if you are a member who finds certain aspects of a backstory to be uncomfortable, please let us know so that we can communicate with the other member and come to a solution that everyone is content with.
The "All or Nothing"
The "All or Nothing"
- As a general rule of thumb, we request folks avoid “all or nothing” statements in their character’s backstories as it almost always directly contradicts/clashes with other people’s characters. For example, don’t say that your character Redpaw had “no friends because no one liked them”. You can’t know how other characters would react to Redpaw, and this would be imposing actions on people’s characters that may be untrue. The same would go for things like “Redpaw was the best apprentice in the entire colony”, as truly you can’t really determine that without looking at other people’s characters.
A good way to go about this is speaking of your character introspectively instead of how others would perceive them. For example, saying Redpaw is very shy and doesn't like to participate in many games, or that Redpaw worked super hard in every lesson trying his best. These convey the same idea while allowing other characters to have their own opinions on Redpaw.
Please be mindful of content warnings and sensitive content regarding your backstories. If you have any questions on things or want further clarification, don't be afraid to open a ticket and discuss things with staff! We are here to facilitate a fun, collaborative, and creative world that everyone can enjoy, and we're always happy to help clear up any confusions.
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