Marks System

[Bane]

Ok. By now someone has to have wondered why some people have more Marks than others. Others are wondering how they can get Marks of their own. Well... this is going to explain it... er... most of it.

First, the Marks can be used to buy things in the Marketplace. There is not a set list of what can be bought because the items are going to be spontaneous and useful.

As of right now, the only way to get firelizards for your characters is through the Marketplace. This is mainly because there are no contests running with eggs as a prize. The prices of the firelizards really depend on who is selling them in the Marketplace. But you're still going to need Marks to get them, with the exception of the freebies being given right now.

Now, on to the rest of it.

When you register and activate your account, post your introduction in the Intros and Good Byes board. Why? Just for introducing yourself you will receive 10 Marks.

After that, create characters. Fill the sheets to the best of your imaginative abilities. Even if they are Candidates, fill in the craft information. This will be explained further down the way...

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All the ways to gain Marks.

On the 1st of every month, you will notice an addition in your Marks balance. This is because every character you have gains you 5 Marks a month. This does not mean go out and make as many characters as you can, and then not play them. That's liable to get you a short ban and your characters and any rank taken away.

Note: Characters pending approval do not count. If they have been approved and have not yet been moved to the Active Characters board, POKE US! Inactive charcters also do not count. If you are on LOA over the 1st of the month, you will not get the Marks for your characters. If you are banned for whatever reason(s), you will not get the Marks.

Additionally, and the reason I say to fill in the craft information, the rank of your character gains you extra Marks. I'm not going to post the amount each rank gets. This is to stop people from trying to get the rankers just to get the Marks. Again, it's liable to get you in trouble.

The dragonriders gain an additional amount of Marks depending on what color they ride, and what rank they hold in the Wing. (Yes, we will get the Wing Lists up soon, I promise.) Wing assignments and ranks are decided by the BoD.

You also gain 1 Mark for every post you make. As admin, I will not gain Marks for anything other than the character Marks given at the beginning of the month.

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Other ways to gain Marks is to give us ideas for the board. If you think something should be changed or added to, post it. If we like it or use your idea, don't be surprised to find a few extra Marks in your balance.

Plotlines. I can't stress it enough. If you have an idea for a plot - ANY PLOT - don't hesitate to tell us in the Plotline Submission board. We won't bite your head off even if we don't like the idea, or just can't use it right then. If we do like it, and we use it, we will reward you for it.

Contests - enter the contests. You can win Marks and more in the contests. Seriously.

Post! The number one way you are going to gain Marks is to post. Yes, you get 1 Mark per individual post, but there's more to it than that. If you post an entertaining plotline, or a sad plotline, or a gorey plotline (though you'll be competing with me on this one and I'm notorious among the people I've written with for being cruel to my vic...er... characters) or any plotline that we like, you will be awarded Marks for it. We may or may not announce the Marks we have given you for it.

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Yes, it's a bit much to take in all at once, and I bounced all over the place on how to get Marks. Being on the BoD does not gain you a whole lot more Marks than everyone else. So don't worry about the mods getting everything because they have so many more Marks than you. It won't happen.

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What happens to the Marks I spend?

Good question, and I know everyone had to have thought about it at some point. You traipse into the Marketplace and lay down 40M for a firelizard egg. Where does it go?

Well, if the egg is being sold by the BoD, it goes into a pot for contest winnings and such. Or it just goes into limbo because I have unlimited numbers of Marks to fund these things.

If the egg is being sold by a member, the Marks given for the firelizard go to the member doing the selling. Yep, if you happen to have a clutch of firelizard eggs (it has to be an approved plot and then played out IC) you can very well sell them to the general membership if you so choose. However, there are some limitations and I'll get to those in another post.

So, basically if it's being sold by the BoD, the Marks go into limbo. If it's being sold by a member, the Marks go to the member.

Any questions, feel free to ask. No, I will not divulge the amounts for each rank or anything of that sort. Sorry. I have to have some secrets.

[Bane]

Ok. The things the members can sell and how it works.

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Pretty much, the members can sell almost anything. Maybe you gained a firelizard egg or other pet and you don't want to use it. You can (a) hold onto it until you do use it, or (b) you can sell it to someone else. You set the price on this kind of sell. Once the transaction is complete, notify the BoD (if we don't already know) that it's complete and direct them to the thread in question. We will then take care of the Marks transfer.

Now, if you have been approved to find a firelizard clutch of a certain size, or a litter of felines or canines, it gets a bit more complicated.

For firelizards, the BoD has complete control over (a) the size of the clutch and (b) the colors of the hatchlings. This is so we don't have a lot of gold and bronze flitters flying around and no green, blue, or brown ones. Everything else, like the price of the eggs, is up to you. You can price them individually and have a set price for a random egg, or do one price for the whole clutch and give out random eggs. It's totally up to you. The same limitations go for if your gold lays the clutch.

For felines and canines, the description and size limits are in the Pet Information thread. The BoD controls the litter size only. If you have been approved to either find a litter (this will only be maybe two or three pups or kits) or have a litter (up to six pups or kits) then you're pretty much good to go. Just play it out if your character finds the litter. Then, jump over to the Member part of the selling board and get to it. In the litters, you get to decide the colors and patterns of the pets.

For runners, it's a bit different. If the runner mare is owned by your character, the birthing of the foal must be played out. No, it doesn't have to be in all it's gorey detail unless you're going for the goriest post award. On that note, believe me, you better know the gestation and anatomy of a horse fairly well to post it all out. But, once you have the foal, you either keep it and have the added burden of another pet, or you sell it and give someone else the burden. After you are approved for the foal (or, on VERY rare ocassions, the twin foals) the color and patterns are up to you. The price is also up to you.

Whers are not included in any of this. If and when we have a wherhandler for either of the Holds, they will be approved by the BoD and any clutches will Hatched and Impressed, never sold. It will be run like a draconic Hatching.

Got questions? Feel free to post them here. I will explain anything else to a fuller extent, even if it means I have to repeat myself.