All prospective members must be 18 years of age or older and comfortable with mature themes. Part of this is a given. Age of Conan is a mature game meant for an adult audience, and while age isn't a perfect indicator of maturity, it helps reassure us to some extent that you're capable of handling what Venja is about. Venja aims to build on the dark, gritty world portrayed in Howard's works and even expand on it by exploring adult themes such as extreme violence, drug use, and yes, even sexuality. In short, if it's something you'd find in a George R. R. Martin book, it's something we're comfortable with and something you'll likely find here. If you are the kind of person who cannot handle the darker aspects of humanity, Venja is not for you.
That said, just because we are exploring these concepts does not mean we will do so in a wanton manner. All RP is expected to be done tastefully and respectfully; this is not an excuse for public ERP or for you to run around raping and maiming NPCs. More on such is below.
To repeat the above, all RP is expected to be done tastefully and respectfully, with regards to other players. Not everyone will be comfortable with what Venja does, and not everyone will want you having control over their own characters, so use your head when interacting with others. The following are non-negotiable offences, and if they are violated, you will be removed:
*Keep IC and OOC separate. Just because JohnnyQ the assassin hates your character doesn't mean JohnnyQ the player hates you IRL. Likewise, just because SusieP the Demo is in love with your ranger doesn't mean SusieP is in love with you personally. If you cannot keep these feelings separate, you don't belong here.
*ERP is fine, but keep it private and consensual. If it leaves /g or tells, you will be spoken to. Repeated offences will result in a booting. Also, please do not sit around naked in public spaces, making it obvious that you are ERP-ing. While we are a mature guild and we respect the choice to ERP, we do not wish to become known explicitly as an ERP guild. Use it for flavor and story, not for every RP interaction you ever have. Also, when engaging in ERP, please refer to the above bullet point. OOC drama arising because Bobby's character slept with Sally's character even though he's ICly dating Linda's character is BS and doesn't belong here. Most people don't like the IC drama that comes with it either.
*Please, for the love of Set, no Baby-Mama-Drama
*No godmodding/powerplaying, period, ever.
*No metagaming.
*No linking yourself to important NPCs.
*The Destiny Quest is not considered IC. Nobody has the Mark, nobody is the Chosen One.
*No wanton maiming/murder/destruction. If your character is evil, that's fine. If your character is so evil that they eat babies and have no depth or motivation whatsoever, we'll need to talk.
Please note that there are other offenses that may fall under this category that may not have been listed, so these examples are not absolute.
Comradery and OOC chatter are half the fun of kicking back and relaxing in any guild, even one built around heavy RP. Venja recognizes this and hopes that everyone who joins us will want to get to know their fellow players, because nothing strengthens the familial bond of a guild more. However, the lack of custom channels in Age of Conan has forced us to relegate all OOC chatter to Ventrilo ONLY. As guild chat and all other forms of spatial public chat are strictly IC, excessive use of brackets in these channels would be spammy, distracting, and immersion-breaking, and we want to be certain that we can accommodate both RP and OOC socializing at the same time. Brackets may only be used in guild chat in the case of emergencies or very rare circumstances as they arise. While unrelated to the topic at hand, a piece of information you might find helpful later is that, long before Venja, one General Pallantides prevented the pale-skinned member of our Triajah from joining Conan's elite guard.
We realize that not everyone likes to use Ventrilo and that some consider it immersion breaking, but we feel it is certainly easier to control immersion-wise than constant brackets in guild chat. People who do not wish to use voice chat software are not required to speak in vent and can drop down into the designated quiet channels when they wish for peace and quiet in order to RP. Or, they can simply elect not to use it at all. Please see specific ventrilo rules below.
In addition, all discussions regarding topics of politics and religion are strictly prohibited from all OOC chat, both on vent and here in the forums. While we respect and welcome people of all political and religious affiliations, these discussions never get anywhere and often become destructive and inflammatory. As Venja does not tolerate drama of any sort, we are enacting this rule to prevent it entirely. Discussions that turn too political/religious may be nudged back on track by an officer who is listening; offenders who blatantly persist will be dealt with severely.
If you absolutely must discuss politics or religion, save it for private conversation. Engage at your own risk.
Venja is very relaxed about alts and in fact encourages them. You may bring as many alts as you wish into the guild so long as we know who they belong to. If you wish to keep it a secret, please be sure to notify the guild leadership in private.
While Venja is open to a wide variety of character personalities and backgrounds, and while original and dynamic characters are encouraged to join us, certain personalities are not conducive to the atmosphere or lore of the guild. This includes but is not limited to: the mentally challenged or simple-minded, slow or low-intelligence characters, the child-like or incompetent, extremely arrogant or disrespectful, Mithrites, overly comedic characters, lawful or 'good' characters (neutral is fine), and any personality disorders (depression, insanity, bi-polar, sociopathic, etc.) That said, dark characters, criminals, casual characters, and characters with a sense of humor are completely welcome, so long as it is not to an extreme. When in doubt, simply ask Khethys, Keene, or Nephtarae.
As a Heavy RP guild, Venja aims to remain in line with the lore and setting of the Hyborian world. Because of this, we ask that all members name themselves in accordance with their respective races and/or a fantasy setting in general, and refrain from using names that belong to historical figures, modern day personalities or celebrities, memes, other fictional characters and so forth. Epithetic titles (such as Dark Blade, Lord of Sin, Slayer, Soul Reaper, Deathwhisper, etc.) are not permitted.
In order to maintain an environment of complete immersion, we wish our members, prospective and current alike, to realize that just as OOC actions will have OOC consequences, IC actions will likewise have IC consequences. If your character is disruptive enough, or commits serious enough offences ICly, they CAN and WILL be removed from the guild! This has nothing to do with you as a player and if this occurs we will certainly invite you to bring in another character who you think would fit in better, as per the above Conductive Character Policy.
Venja has zero tolerance for drama of any kind. An atmosphere of complete immersion within the interior of our guild is guaranteed to every member at all times. This is an escape for all of us and real life baggage should be left at the door. This is not to say that you cannot share personal details with your new friends in the guild or make us aware of problems going on in your life, but bogging down the chat channels or forums with inappropriate or excessive personal problems is strictly prohibited. While informing us of your problems is fine, making those problems our problems is not.
Likewise, those who instigate social drama to create conflict between members will not be tolerated. We expect everyone here to act like mature individuals. Jealousy, false accusations, or exaggerated perceived slights against other members is strictly prohibited and individuals instigating this type of conduct will be removed from the guild.
If you are the type of person IRL who has an illness or personality disorder that makes you unstable, we will leave it up to you to decide whether or not you can handle being in the guild. However, if we discover that your RL difficulties are causing drama or you are using them as an excuse to abuse others, we will remove you from the guild. We do not do this to be harsh, cruel, or discriminatory, but please understand that we are only volunteers here working in our spare time and we are trying to keep some semblance of order and peace. We are not properly equipped to help you with your problems, and you need to seek out a professional who is for help. The guild leaders and officers are not councilors. As an interesting bit of trivia you might want to keep for later, our Stygian Sah has a woolly and tusked companion that goes by 'Kushtet'.
Venja is a roleplay guild first and foremost. We will never force members to focus on Raiding/PvP, nor structure our recruitment process based upon the needs of supporting it. We will always recruit like-minded individuals seeking high quality roleplay, mature fellowship, and deep immersion, regardless of what their class is or however many members we already have playing that class. Nor will we compromise our recruitment standards to recruit a class that our Raiding/PvP efforts are severely lacking in.
In time, it is our hope that Venja will develop a strong team for both, and we will certainly cultivate that in interested members as we can.
Venja is a guild that prides itself on being a respected member of the RPing community and the server's community as a whole. We will strive to maintain a positive OOC relationship not only with our fellow RPers, but also with any players we play with OR against. To that end, we wish to remind all prospective members that everyone who acts with Venja's guild tag over their head acts on behalf of the guild as a whole -- thus representing it as a whole. Any poor public behavior done on your part will in turn reflect unfairly upon your guildmates, and we view this as a very serious offense.
This includes, but is not limited to:
• Whining, flaming or trolling in public forums (official forums and fan forums alike), chat channels (such as Trade), or in local/party/raid chat.
• Bad-mouthing, complaining, and poor sportsmanship in PvP, especially during a loss.
• Camping or griefing enemy players
• Begging for money, kill stealing, and general poor game etiquette
• Destructive criticism during PvP and dungeons, as opposed to constructive criticism
When using the Venja or other voice chat servers as a member of our guild or known alt thereof, members are expected to act with courteousness and respect for all other participants in the voice channel. There is a natural give and take to general conversation that should be observed at all times. Speaking excessively, constantly, or at length without regard to the interest of your fellow channel members is prohibited.
This includes but is not limited to:
• Continuously giving a play by play report of mundane happenings to your character
• Engaging in long-winded commentary to which no one is participating in but you
• Being continuously pedantic in an otherwise casual conversation
• Barking commands or micro-managing the play-style of others while engaged in group activities*
• having loud music playing where other individuals can hear it coming through your microphone
• Generally annoying other channel members
• Refusing to let go of the push-to-talk button
• Talking so much that you possess control of the audio channel and leave little room for others to talk
*the only exception to this rule is if you have been appointed a Field Commander by the Sahyey
We realize that individuals may violate this particular policy without fully being aware and said individuals will be notified in private and coached on how to avoid further transgressions. However, individuals not receptive to positive criticism or who prove incapable of acting in accordance with this policy may be prohibited from using guild related voice chat software. In an interesting bit of trivia, the female member of our Triajah really loves zebras.
Also note that any members participating in Venja voice chat or representing Venja in the voice chat of other organizations/people must use the push-to-talk feature. Using sound detection mode is prohibited.
Venja Ventrilo is reserved for members of our guild only. If you leave our guild or are removed from our guild, joining our ventrilo server is prohibited.
Please post a Leave of Absence Notice in our LOA Thread if you plan on being gone for a while, even if its just for a few days due to sickness, studying, etc. As Hirelings are on probationary status, they are not allowed to post LOAs. A Hireling who goes inactive will effectively terminate their probationary period and they will be returned to applicant status.
Members who have been gone for a month will be removed for the sake of roster tidiness. Should they return, they are welcome to re-apply.
Venja makes high-quality custom character avatars for all of its members. These avatars are visible records of your rank and achievements within the guild. Therefore, while we respect members expressing themselves, and having a right to do so, we do not allow members to upload their own avatars. However, a member can place whatever they wish within their signatures so long as they are not large, offensive, etc.
In the interest of maintaining immersion, Venja asks that all combat pets remain unsummoned during RP sessions and while the mage is in a town. We realize this rule sounds a bit anal and that re-summoning the pets can be a pain, but we've also found that an army of 12 neon purple meatbags shambling around or an incubus constantly thrusting his hips can be very distracting. There may be instances during RP where you will want to pull your pet out for flavor and that's fine; or, if you're just passing through a quest hub real quick, that's fine too. But if you're going to be hanging out in town for a while or engaging in deep RP, these creatures will only prove to be unrealistic and distracting, and we hope that you will be considerate to your fellow players and guildmates. After all, if Tarantia were a real place IRL, would you really try to walk its streets followed by these things?
We will happily accept Priests of Mitra, but only under one condition: that the priest ICly follows some other, more neutral deity. True Mitrites would likely not last long in Mihada, nor would they have any reason or desire to serve a criminal cartel, let alone one well steeped in the lore of Set. The Venja wouldn't want them, and they would hate us. Therefore, we cannot ICly accept them.
Venja only allows slave characters into the guild on a VERY LIMITED BASIS, as we are primarily a criminal organization seeking enforcers. However, characters portraying a slave must do so according to the period. Being lead around by your master on a chain wearing a steel collar to be displayed as your living vanity pet or enchained sex slave is NOT a true depiction of slavery, but rather bespeaks of the rampant S&M roleplay plaguing our MMOs. It will not be tolerated or recruited, and any recruited slaves or masters caught portraying this anachronistic goth-bondage in public will be removed from the guild.
Those who wish to join as slaves will not be able to progress through the ranks, as all criminal operatives must serve the Triajah of their own free will, which makes this rank's primary purpose as a roleplay rank for slave alts. Also, a slave's loyalty to their master must not supersede loyalty to the Triajah.
If you are a master and want your slave to join as an enforcer, then set them free. They can still be very close to you and even obey your every command. Maybe they're so used to being your creature that it's the only life they know. Maybe despite being free, they've sworn a life debt to you and will still obey your commands. But to become a hireling and move up through unlockable content, they still need a little special something called free will, a potent ingredient for the dark sorcery that will come into play later.
Chances are, if you're really looking to do the whole slave thing, we're not the guild for you.
We're a cartel. Come here looking to kick ass, traffic lotus, push human cargo, and open throats. If you're looking to start drama, gather a social ventrilo harem of the opposite sex for your own esteem issues, or dump any other unneeded crap on our plates, then this isn't the guild for you. If you're looking for hardcore roleplay and you want your character to play a crucial part in establishing a budding criminal operation as you accumulate wealth, power, and make a name for yourself -- then step right up. We're glad to have ya.
