Introduction and Questionnaire

[BladeintheDark]

These questions must be answered to start your application

1.    Tell us how you found us, please? A link from another site, another member, a search engine phrase, etcetera.

Another member on this site, Valerian, told me about it. 

2.    Confirmation that you understand our rules. You are responsible for bringing up any questions if you do not understand our rules, so please note any on which you need clarification here.

Yes, I understand your rules. 

3.    A confirmation that you are over eighteen (18) years of age. You don't need to give your birth date, however we do need a clear statement that you are of age.

I am over 18 years of age. 

4.    Your native language(s) and what region you are from. List your primary language first and include all others in order of fluency. Elliquiy is an English speaking community but it is also a global one.  We welcome members from all over the world, and we love to know where our members hail from.

My first language is English. I am from the UK.

5.    What are your reasons for joining Elliquiy, and what aspects of our community are you interested in? What do you look for in an on-line community in general, and a role-playing community specifically? Please be descriptive. Elliquiy isn’t just an adult roleplaying site: we have forums for storytelling, poetry, and art; places to socialize with other members; areas to discuss politics and religion; and so much more! You can check out our Preview of Elliquiy to get an idea of what you’ll see as an approved member.

I am looking for a place to write shared creative stories, and to roleplay cool stories with mature writers across a variety of genres. 

6.    Are you new to roleplaying? If so, would you like someone to help you get more involved? If not, please tell us a little about your past experiences. Regardless of your experience what are your expectations from a roleplay partner?

No, I'm not new. I am an experienced roleplayer, I guess. I started roleplaying in the 80s, with Red Box D&D, and have played ever since. Recently, I have played on other sites online. From people I roleplay with, I expect creativity, reasonableness, tolerance, and commitment. We are none of us perfect, but I endeavor to bring the same qualities to my play.

7.    Elliquiy consists of a wide array of sexualities, personalities and enthusiasts of various kinks. How comfortable are you interacting in such a community?

Entirely comfortable.

8.    How do you feel about males writing as female characters or females writing as male characters? Please elaborate: do you do this yourself? Would you write with someone who is doing this? If you are transgender or intersex, feel free to adapt this question appropriately.

I don't do it myself except when writing prose fiction (as in creative writing), but I have no problem with players doing so and have played with many people who have played characters of genders not their own. Yes, I would write with people doing this.

9.    Let us know about your pet peeves or other things that bother you. Fetishes you do not like, styles you cannot appreciate and attitudes that annoy you are all valid answers here.

I am pretty easygoing about most things, and can't think of a fetish that particularly bothers me. Intolerant, short-tempered players are a pet peeve, and I won't tolerate rudeness from people I play with. Oh, and bullying. I cannot abide bullies. I don't suppose many people would feel differently, though, so that's probably quite bland. 


As our application process is a chance for us to get to know you better, we've left a few optional questions to get you started.  A member of our Welcoming team will be along soon to continue the process. If you do choose to answer these at a later date, you will need to reply to your introduction thread with a new post, as unapproved applicants cannot edit posts.

A.    Would you like to disclose your gender identity? We do not require our members to reveal their real gender. However, doing so determines your User Group, Badge, and some OOC Boards on Elliquiy. General membership will be processed as Legate - approved members who do not wish to disclose their gender identity, or feel gender is irrelevant. Approved members who have chosen to reveal their gender as a response to this question will be assigned: Lady (for those who identify as female), Liege (A supportive group for individuals who are intersex, do not identify with one singular gender, or who are transitioning), or Lord (for those who identify as male). A full explanation of Elliquiy’s User Group and Badge system can be found here.

I am a cisgendered male.

B.    What are some hobbies or activities you particularly enjoy? This can be anything you enjoy in your free time. For example: videogames, sports, cooking, crafts, traveling, reading, etcetera. As a large and diverse community, we often have social areas where our members can talk about their favorite things. Let us know what you like so we can better help you find boards, threads, or discussions that might interest you!

I enjoy baking, writing (mostly post-apocalyptic, some fantasy, genre erotica), reading (science fiction and fantasy, esp. post-apocalyptic), and cycling.

C.    What would you do if a writing partner suddenly, and without prior discussion, included one of your major offs in your roleplay?

Let them know, explain that I found it an off, and ask them to revise the post (if that was appropriate to the cirumstances). What happened after that would depend on their response, but we are all human and can err. 

D.    Please describe your writing style and preferences. Information such as preferred genre, writing perspective (first, second, or third person perspective), setting, and post length are great answers.

I write first and third-person genre fiction mostly in the post-apocalyptic genre, but have been known to stray into fantasy. I write both past and present tense in each. Most of my writing includes sexually explicit material but I have been told (by readers) that I write stories with sex in, not sex stories. With regard to roleplay, I write posts adapted to the game, but tend to write long: normally, between 800 and 1200 words depending on how much material I'm working with and what fits the story/game.

E.    Please describe your ideal roleplaying partner and their character.

I guess this is harder to answer, because it depends on the game or story so much and it feels difficult to couple player with character so explicitly. I tend to enjoy writing male characters interacting with independent female characters with strong backgrounds. I guess my ideal player would be someone of like background to me but perhaps female in gender.

F.    As part of the application process, our members like asking fun questions of applicants. We want to get to know you and entertain you during your approval process!

F1. Please let us know if you would you prefer: fun/silly questions, writing prompts, both, or neither. If you opt out, Staff will ask you more serious questions about writing and roleplaying instead.

Probably not. I may come across as po-faced, but I don't write comedy or silly. I never got on with Terry Pratchet's books either. I always figured fantasy struggled to be taken seriously as a genre. See, now I do sound po-faced. 

F2. If you would like fun questions or a writing prompt, please start by treating the following as either a question, writing prompt, or character building exercise, and remember to keep it PG13: People start waking up with superpowers, but they are mostly useless. For example, the power to be immune to every third bullet, or the power to force people to do the chicken dance whenever the song is played. What would your ‘mostly useless’ power be, and how would you use it?


F3. If you prefer no crazy questions or prompts, you can still include a sample of your writing, if you would like; we would love to see your writing style and creativity! As with all areas of Elliquiy you can see right now, please keep your writing sample PG13.

This is a piece from some unedited fiction. Now I feel I should kind of edit it, but:

"The Donaldsons lived in an apartment overlooking Elephant Park. A third-floor expanse with views onto the green space below. Mr. Donaldson was something to do with insurance, or so Kim said. An assessor or something like that. He had money, anyway. The neighborhood was a low traffic zone, thick with street trees grown for shade in the summer sun and shelter in the winter. 

 What it meant, Cody found, was that he couldn’t just drive up to the front entrance. The roads were narrow, designed to increase the number of people walking. Restricted with barriers and planters, trees and artworks. It was beautiful; he admitted. It was also blocked solid. When the chaos hit, people had abandoned cars in the carriageway, closing what limited vehicle access there was. He was left parking a block away from the tower, the closest he could get in the car.

 He noted the location and locked it up, wondering if that was wise in the event they had to make a quick escape. It was better, on balance, he concluded, than coming back to find someone had stolen it. 

 Either the blissers were more active here, or there were just more of them, because he saw several herky-jerky figures wandering about the parks and enjoying the pleasant sidewalk environment. One was standing in the enclosed area of a pavement cafe, bouncing off tables and stumbling over chairs. It clearly could not get out and Cody wondered again about the different cognition they showed even as he crept past on the other side.

 He’d been right about there being more chaos further in. Once he headed away from the HQ, he saw signs almost immediately. There was hardly a shop that wasn’t smashed. Roller shutters forced, doors torn from hinges, window displays gutted. Every road, it seemed, played host to abandoned saw horses marked with police warnings. Brass cartridges littered intersections. Abandoned riot shields, burned out patrol cars, overturned vans. The only things moving in many streets were drifts of litter. 

 There were, he noted, almost no bodies. The only ones he saw were those shot in the head. He thought back to the attack on the club, how the blissers had barely reacted to being injured, even run over. He remembered the one limping after him with the bone sticking from his torn leg. But it wasn’t until he approached the Donaldsons’ building that his fears took shape. 

 There, on the sidewalk in front of the steps to the main entrance, he saw a torso pulling itself along. Just a torso. The man’s legs were missing, as was most of his abdomen, entrails dragging behind him like a human jellyfish. Cody stared. Nobody could be alive with damage like that. He wasn’t watching someone infected with a disease, no matter how novel or mysterious. He was watching a corpse drag itself in search of prey. The realization left him shaken. That was why there were no bodies.

The freshly killed dead weren’t staying down." 

G.    Do you have any questions of us? If you have any questions or desires of us in a more direct fashion, please feel free to let us know.

No, I have no questions right now. 

[Britwitch]

Greetings and welcome to Elliquiy, BladeintheDark!
 
Thank you for taking the time to complete the questionnaire, we can’t wait to get to know you better!
 
During the approval process we have a whole bunch of things to participate in and occupy you, should you choose to explore a little and you can find those as well as other helpful information over here. Just make sure you come back to this thread regularly to see what our lovely staff and approved members leave for you by way of greetings, questions and so on. Just to let you know, the approval process usually takes a minimum of 24 hours and can run anywhere from a couple of days to a week depending on various factors faced by the approvals team. Your understanding and patience is appreciated.
 
Please remember that before approval all posts and interactions must be kept PG-13.
 
So, with that taken care of, it’s very nice to meet you and I’d like to leave you with a question to get things going...
 
What do you particularly enjoy about RP/writing collaboratively?
 
Looking forward to your answer and best of luck with your approval!
 
Brit

[BladeintheDark]

What do you particularly enjoy about RP/writing collaboratively?

I guess I like being surprised. The freshness of perspective that comes from working with others (as opposed to writing alone) is immensely exciting. It also makes you accountable. It's easier, I find, to procrastinate when writing alone, but working with others adds that pressure not to let people down. 

It works for me, and procrastination is my superpower. 

[Valerian]

Welcome! So glad you’ve decided to join the fun here. 

Since you’ve already mentioned liking PA writing in particular, perhaps you could talk a bit about what draws you to it?

[BladeintheDark]

Thank you, Valerian

Since you’ve already mentioned liking PA writing in particular, perhaps you could talk a bit about what draws you to it? 

OMG, where do I start, or, rather, where do I stop? PA is a huge genre, ranging from Walking Dead right over to Shannara Chronicles and into the distant future. I suppose, though, at its simplest, PA writing is a playground. You get to indulge that urge we all have to know about other places and other people, in this case by breaking into their houses and taking their stuff. (Ok, not always, but this is me trying to be simple). Cities, or suburban homes, are there to be explored (in certain subgenres, anyway), closets, so to speak, to be opened. 

But, more than this, PA allows us to discover what kind of person we are (or could be) when all the rules are taken away. Absent enforced societal norms, who are you? When survival is the only motivation, what will you do, how far will you go, where will you draw the line? 

Or, perhaps more importantly, what won't you do?

I suppose that's what draws me. It allows the writers to get to the core of a person, really dig into what they value most and what they will sacrifice to defend it. 

[Valerian]

Agreed, the opportunities for character development in PA are amazing. Speaking of which, any authors you’d recommend for that genre? :)

[BladeintheDark]

Both yes and no, I guess. It's always struck me that PA is a neglected genre, not in terms of volume, but merit, maybe. There are canon works, of course: The Stand, The Road, A Canticle for Leibowitz, Earth Abides, Planet of the Apes, The Passage: and, alongside those, loads of really good genre works: Metro 2033, The Walking Dead novels; and more zombie novels than I can count: but it's always felt as though PA straddled an unhappy medium between fantasy (which was previously, if not now, highly regarded) and Science Fiction (which has always been the more respected genre, perhaps). 

That doesn't answer your question, though, but it does make me sound like I'm both pretentious and know more than I do. I have one favorite author for PA and some book recommendations, then. My fave author is Adam Baker (who wrote Juggernaut, Terminus, Outpost, Impact and Killchain). If you haven't read those, I recommend them for those who like high octane zombie action with quality prose. The order I've listed them in isn't the reading order, though. 

Book recommendations, because the authors don't write PA as a rule, and so they may only have a single book (these are just books I have found more interesting than most, I don't argue for their merit or lack of it, just that I liked them): 

Zone One, Colson Whitehead (if only because it's beautifully written and just different from what most PA is like);
The Road, Cormac McCarthy (the book that took PA mainstream more than any other. Worth reading multiple times there is so much going on in it; nuff said);
All the Fiends of Hell, Adam Nevill (nicely creepy horror/PA crossover);
Wolf in Shadow, David Gemmell (PA/Fantasy mix that deserved more love from a great author);
The Return Man, V.M.Zito (a novel take on the zombie genre that has a fantastic premise);
Market Forces and The Steel Remains, both by Richard Morgan (Market Forces is, I think, his first book and, while it has its flaws, is inspirational for a more modern take on PA, and The Steel Remains is a PA fantasy with a queer protagonist that, like Wolf in Shadow, also deserves more love).

There are, of course, so many more and as soon as I post this, I'll start remembering names of books or authors or series I should have mentioned. A lot of PA is co-opted by fantasy or SF (The Shannara series, by Terry Brooks, for example, goes right the way from Urban Fantasy to Apocalyptic to Post-Apocalyptic to Fantasy across the different books and series), so crossover books are probably more common than straight PA.   

That's way more answer than you were looking for, I'm sure, and now I sound po-faced and pretentious and nobody will ever want to write with me. 

[BladeintheDark]

And as soon as a I posted, I realized I should have included The Pulse Trilogy (actually just book one, since I have only read book one) by Shoshanna Evers. 

This is an erotic romance trilogy with a lot of sex (don't worry, I'll stay PG-13). So much so that the story just kind of happens in he background. I will admit that by the halfway point I'd dismissed the story as just a cookie cutter romance (sorry Shoshanna) (Shoshanna, unfortunately, died far too young in 2021). But somewhere in the latter half of the book, I realized I was actually worried about the fate of the characters, something that almost never happens in contemporary romance. As Sol Stein said, the purpose of fiction is to make the reader have an emotional experience (he said it better than me), so this book stands out to me as not only bringing erotica and PA together, but also connecting with its reader effectively. 

Anyway, to be fair, I felt I had to include it for that reason.