The ice isn't the only thing cracking right now. Spring storms can be violent, and the thunder is strong enough to reverberate in your chest. Outside of the chilly cave, a torrential downpour makes it nearly impossible to leave the cave and get your bearings. However, through the weather, and past the giant things that seem to be moving in the weather, something large looms in the distance.

The rain and the moving things make it hard to be sure, and you can't even see the horizon line, so it's either a very large body of water, some sort of man-made structure off in the distance, or both. Until the storm clears, no one can be sure which it is.

1. Someone, though, their voice just barely echoing off the walls, seems to be coming up with theories. Is it you? Do you think this is a waste of time?

2. Are you trying to go out into the hostile weather, risks be damned? Is it because you don't care? Do you think you can survive it?

3. Being trapped in a cave full of people stuck in pillars of ice is weird, isn't it? Isn't it even weirder that you used to be in one and now you're not? Are you going to help the others trapped in the ice? It should be warned that trying to break someone out when they're not awake to help will shatter the pillar, and the person inside.

4. As the storm clears up, night has fallen. Thunder booms in the distance and the sound of insects and wild animals picks up. Wolves howl in the darkness. Is now the time to make a move, or are you going to stay in this uncomfortable, but untouched, shelter?

Activity Check runs on a monthly cycle.

If you've joined less than two weeks before the end of the month, you are exempt from all but a check-in. If you do not reply to AC and are not on hiatus, it will be assumed that you're dropping the game. If you are dropped from the game under this policy, you must wait one month before reapplying another character.

There is the possibility of having an AC Strike. Once every three months, you can choose to take a strike rather than provide AC proofs. But you must respond to the Activity Check post to say that's what you're doing.

An Activity Check requires two proofs to pass. A single proof is a thread with ten comments from one of your characters or a Network or Logs post. This means that you could make a post, then have a proof-worthy thread in that post and be able to count yourself as having fulfilled AC successfully. In a thread with three or more participants, five posts will count as a single proof. Multiple proofs can come from a single thread.

Any further Proofs supplied will be converted into Production/Resource Points. It will be the player's job to keep track of how many they have.

Applications are CLOSED

If your application has been posted for over five days with no answer, please contact the mod team.

Below, you will find the application to join The Quiet Year. Before you join, please make sure that you have read the rules and Frequently Asked Questions pages.

Please post your applications in the comments below, not as links. You can post them in your character journals as well if you like, but the moderators will want everything gathered in this post. If you ask for it, your applications will be screened after acceptance.

Player Info ››
Name: [What do we call you?]
Age: [If you'd rather give a vague idea (over/under 18, mid-twenties, etc.), feel free.]
Other Characters Played: [Have you played here before? If not, leave this blank. If so, please list their names and journals.]

Character Info ››
Name: [Self explanatory]
Canon: [Where do they come from? If they're an OC or an AU, say so here.]
Age: [Could be important!]
Canon Point: [When are you taking them from? List a chapter or episode, or give us something like "Soon after the defeat of Argon the Anti-King".]

History: [Just link to a wiki or something if you don't want to type it out. If it's not available, just type it out here. Keep this under eight hundred words or so. Don't worry about the minutiae, just cover the important events. If you're playing an OC or an AU, go a bit deeper into it. The mods will work with you, if you like. If you're bringing in a character from a previous game, cover important things that happened to them in that setting.]

Personality: [Please keep this section under a thousand words.]

Powers [Do your characters have some sort of ability that normal humans don't? Are they above and beyond somehow? If so, explain how here, and do so in detail. If character hosts a wide variety of magic that lets them do practically anything, say so and cover the most often used abilities. Or, if it's available and you'd like, link to a wiki. Be thorough.

For truly absurd power levels, the mods might request things to be toned down. However, everyone will be treated as roughly being on the same level, unless it becomes important to the plot.]

Abilities/Skills: [What are your characters good at? Piloting, languages, medicine, diplomacy, mad science? List it here. If there's any outstanding skills they LACK, list that here as well. The mods aren't interested in "Master martial artist, but not good at physics", but "Can pilot anything, but can't swim" is something that could be important.]

Weaknesses: [This section is purely for special weaknesses. 'He may be strong, but can still be killed by bullets' is not a weakness unless bullets are super effective. Emotional/mental weaknesses should be kept in the personality section. What we're looking for here are things like "Poisoned by kryptonite", "Can't see the color red", "must consume blood every three days or instant coma results", etc. Specifically, things that normal people do not suffer from.

If your character is totally normal or has no weaknesses, just put n/a.]

Special Items: [Do your characters have things like PETs, magical suits of armor, mystic staves, or other things coming in? If so, list them here and state their capabilities.]

RP Sample: [Show us how you play! Sample should be a few paragraphs, basically showing how your character thinks and acts. Feel free to use any setting, from our test drives to another game's to a made-up network post. Or even a meme if you think that's representative!]

<font face="Lucida Console" color="#23ba42"><big><big><b>Player Info ››</b></big></big></font> <b>Name:</b> <b>Age:</b> <b>Contact Information:</b> <b>Other Characters Played:</b> <font face="Lucida Console" color="#23ba42"><big><big><b>Character Info ››</b></big></big></font> <b>Name:</b> <b>Canon:</b> <b>Age:</b> <b>Canon Point:</b> <b>History:</b> <b>Personality:</b> <b>Powers:</b> <b>Abilities/Skills:</b> <b>Weaknesses:</b> <b>Special Items:</b> <b>RP Sample:</b>

As the game fills out with features and buildings, a rough map will be placed here.

( MAP )

The characters don't have to do all the work themselves. There are several dozen Blank Men already occupying the area. They're smooth, alabaster figures in a humanoid shape. They don't speak, they don't write, they don't sleep. They simply stand there until directed to do something. At this point, they obey, working nonstop as long as daylight touches them. When night falls, they simply stand in place until the sun rises again.

However, they won't work alone. If a character doesn't work with them, or around them, they'll stand in place as if they haven't been given any orders. But they don't take breaks when the character does.

The Blank Men don't hunt very well, but they will gather food, farm, repair, and construct buildings with the best of them. Every single one of them seems to know how to perform any task given to them (As long as it's within their capabilities). They will not fight or raise a hand to the characters, nor communicate with them in any way beyond obeying orders. They are slightly stronger and more durable than the average human, but not to the point of superhuman abilities. Harming one grants no visible reaction from the others.

If your question is not answered here, ask in the comments.

Player Concerns What kind of game is this? How did my characters get here? What kind of characters are accepted? Can we app more than one character from a single canon? How many characters can we have at once? What if I drop a character? And a hiatus? How are those handled? Where do I go for plotting or talking to the mods? Not about problems, but just for fun. What do we need for activity check? How will we handle canon updates?

Character Concerns So, I'm playing a character that was played earlier, but the other player dropped them. What do I do? Can we have two different versions of the same character in the game at once? My character needs some kind of drug/food/medicine to live! What do? My character isn't human. How do we handle this? What if my character is dead? But what if my character's undead, a god, or a robot? What happens if my character dies in-game? What if my character has pets or summoned monsters? So, how about combat? So, what, no power limits? How do my characters communicate?

( PLAYER CONCERNS )

( CHARACTER CONCERNS )

1. Treat others as you wish to be treated. It's called the Golden Rule in some places, and it's a good one. Remember, we're all here to have fun. Your fun isn't any more valuable than anyone else's, so don't ruin it for them if you don't want it ruined for you.

2. That said, tell someone if you're uncomfortable. It doesn't have to be the person, you could tell the mods and they'll handle the situation. We can't do anything if no one admits that there's a problem.

3. For things like suicide, sex, self-mutilation, torture, abuse, etc. you will need to put up a warning in the post and place the content behind a cut. You should also consider asking beforehand to see if it's going to bother anyone. Be considerate. This flashes back to rule #1.

4. Non-consensual sex plots are strictly banned.

5. The mods reserve the right to ban toxic players for out-of-game actions (Racism, bullying, etc.), provided they have evidence of such.

6. All players must have a Permissions Post for their character, which will be linked on the Taken List alongside the character's journal. You can get one here if you don't already have one, but any style of permissions will do as long as it covers the same essential information. Don't do something to a player that goes against their permissions post (ex. if they say not to break the fourth wall, don't have your character call them out on being fictional; if they so no injuries without permission, don't make assumptions in your replies and say your character injured theirs).

7. If someone does do something against your wishes, see rule #2. It may be a simple misunderstanding, so please try to ask the other player to correct their mistake first before contacting a mod.

8. IC =/= OOC. Just because a character is a massive jerk in the game, it doesn't mean that the player is. Just because a character hates your character, it doesn't mean that the player does. Please keep that in mind.

9. The opposite is also true: if you have issues with a player OOCly, don't use your character as a mouthpiece. OOC problems should be handled OOCly between players, or with a mod, and not through IC interactions.