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| Character of the Season |
 What do you get when two ruthless assassins raise their daughter travelling through the wildest reaches of Caido? Take one look at Theea and you'll get a pretty good idea. Cheerful and tenacious in equal measure, and curious beyond all else, she began her journey on a mission to find those her mother once called family. And find them she did, soon rubbing elbows with demigods, leaders and even ghosts from the past. Her determination is resolute, her thirst for knowledge unmatched. We can't wait to see where her next adventure takes her! Congratulations, Theea! |
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The guidebook is a comprehensive directory of all the information available on CotF.
Last updated 2025/07/16
Welcome to Court of the Fallen! Though there are quite a few guides and resources to read, it is helpful first to read through our rules and our races. CotF is set on the continent of Caido on a planet unlike the Earth. Home to a variety of mythical and mundane flora and fauna, characters and players alike have the chance to explore and make their mark on this new world in a variety of fun and interesting ways.
Certain types of threads completed within a region (in any board) may positively or negatively affect its regional score.
| Completed PQ | +1 |
| Completed PQ+ | +5 |
| Unsuccessful PQ+ | -5 |
| Successful KQ | +8 |
| Failed KQ | -10 |
| Completed RQ | +13 |
| Invasion | -15 |
| War | ? |
| Admin fuckery | ? |
11-20 | Untamed. This area has a few trails that can reliably be used as a means of transportation, but danger is always close at hand. Vigilance is recommended when spending the night here.
21-30 | Comfortable. Roads and rudimentary housing have been established, and wagons and other delivery services are regular thoroughfare. Crime and some dangerous fauna may still cause problems.
31-50 | A “nice” place to live. Some advancements and upgrades may have been made, and society is thriving. Fairly safe with a well established culture and widely available amenities.
51-80 | A region with plenty of advancements and conveniences, along with well-defined architecture and aesthetics. There is a low rate of crime and widespread access to medicine and/or magic if needed. Gain +1 luck as part of your regional feat.
81-100 | 10/10 would live. A region riding on the coat-tails of success, there are many notable advancements and citizens can enjoy an easy life free of poverty, crime and disease. People want to move to this region. Gain +3 luck as part of your regional feat.
101-120 | Practically paradise. The epitome of civilized life, people consider it a privilege to be able to live in this region. Technology may be extremely advanced, or there may be numerous magical benefits. Peace reigns and citizens enjoy a life of abundance and success. Gain +5 luck as part of your regional feat. Residents cannot be cursed at shrines within this region.
121-140 | Gain +7 luck as part of your regional feat. Residents cannot be cursed at shrines within this region.
141-160 | Gain +9 luck as part of your regional feat. Residents cannot be cursed at shrines within this region.
161-180 | Gain +11 luck as part of your regional feat. Residents cannot be cursed at shrines within this region.
181-200 | Gain +13 luck as part of your regional feat. Residents cannot be cursed at shrines within this region.
201-220 | Gain +15 luck as part of your regional feat. Residents cannot be cursed at shrines within this region.
221-240 | Gain +17 luck as part of your regional feat. Residents cannot be cursed at shrines within this region.
241-260 | Gain +19 luck as part of your regional feat. Residents cannot be cursed at shrines within this region.
Note: The Draig Cordillera that bisects Caido is incredibly treacherous to cross. When trying to walk/fly through the mountains, triple the amount of time it would normally take. Wagons never cross through here.
Training is one of the main ways your character can improve their stats over time. This system rewards characters who actively participate in skill-building, sparring, and other intentional combat practice.
Each season, your character may complete up to two training threads to gain +1 stat point per thread. These points can be applied to the following stats:
Luck can never be trained.
You may write more than two training threads in a season for narrative or character-building purposes, but you may only submit two for stat gain.
To qualify as a training thread, your thread must:
[training] thread prefixTraining threads must be focused on intentional skill-building using the tools and abilities your character would use in a fight. Acceptable examples include:
Activities that do not qualify include:
Assisting another character does not count as training unless you are actively attacking or defending yourself
You can use your seasonal training threads to increase Arcana, but the thread must involve arcana-based attacks or defenses (i.e., magic or mythical shifts). Simply casting spells without a combat goal or showing off magical effects does not qualify.
If you're ever unsure whether your idea qualifies, feel free to DM your Admin Chat!
In the beginning, there was... Well. There was more than light, of course.
First came Caido - allfather of the gods and namesake of the very planet it created - and Dygra, goddess of chaos and entropy, a natural shadow cast by Caido’s great form.
Next came Mort, Vi, and Rae; fledgling deities in their own right, holding dominion over death, life, and nature.
With Caido’s blessing, this trio created a race they would come to name the Accepted - blessed by the gods, the title was fitting. Rae, though, could not resist tweaking things a little - it was Rae, specifically, who coaxed the first Attuned into being. That ought to have been enough, but - perhaps due to some residual magic hurtling around the planet, or even mutations in the atmosphere itself - the race that we now think of as the Abandoned came to be. Born with innate magical potential, their powers would spontaneously appear (in those days, this earned them the moniker of Acquired).
Other races sprang up in time, of course, for gods are always wont to play. From the small, winged Fae of the woodlands to the aquatic Merfolk of the deep oceans and the demonic, chaotic inhabitants of the volcanic reaches (known now as Ancients, beloved by Dygra), there was room on Caido for all. But it was common knowledge that the Accepted, the Attuned and the Acquired were most beloved by the trio.
And so it was.
Empires rose, kingdoms dotted the land and the wheel turned and turned again upon itself. The trio of gods gave themselves heralds to share their good work: for Mort came Ludo, trickster, spirit guide, keeper of memories and dreams; for Vi there was Safrin, lady of the cosmos and mother of the stars; for Rae, Frey appeared as dual aspects of sensuality and the natural world.
Caido, though, was not pleased with its creation. Disputes between provinces often became wars, ravaging the land and soaking it in blood. Plague followed, as did poverty, corruption and violence. Then peace, for a time, before another petty rivalry cost the souls of thousands.
Seeing this, Caido grew solemn and sad and, as centuries passed and nothing changed, it eventually withdrew its physical presence from the world. Not one to lose a playmate, Dygra soon followed, plunging herself and her children into a deep and stony slumber. Having held dominion over things during this time, Mort, Vi and Rae felt more than capable of keeping the world going. (And perhaps they even made a few changes of their own, out from beneath Caido’s watchful gaze). But not all was well.
Without ample supervision, the Acquired grew more and more powerful, but also more clever. They began to unlock secrets previously known only to the gods: how to improve their physical forms, how to break and test the laws of physics, even how to live forever. Naive of the brewing dissent, Mort, Vi and Rae never once considered that their creations would turn against them, until they did.
The Acquired rose up in challenge, battling the trio for control of the world. And with decades of magical advancement at their backs, they very nearly claimed it. Indeed, an intrepid young Acquired, powerful even for her kind, fashioned herself as a New God, naming herself The Voice - voice of her people, voice of the future - and staked her claim against all that had come before.
The conflict raged far across Caido, leaving no corner of the world untouched by its travesties. Alliances formed and disintegrated; racial tensions bubbled over. Champions of the trio and their heralds - known now as the Old Gods, particularly by the Acquired - appeared as demigods in their own right, armed with powerful relics and abilities beyond the scope of any of the other races. But despite all efforts, The Voice and her ilk could not be toppled.
She could be trapped, however.
It was a monumental effort, costing the lives of demigods and thousands of mortals alike, but the Old Gods succeeded in encasing The Voice within a region that would become known to all as the Hollowed Grounds, sealing the area with a divine barrier. No one in, no one out. To maintain the barrier, the heralds Ludo, Safrin and Frey remained within as well, cut off from their parent deities in an act of great sacrifice.
And so the era of Post-Cataclysm began.
Time passed. Centuries, in fact, allowing the world to heal and recover. Any Acquired became branded as Abandoned, scorned by the gods, and the world forgot the Hollowed Grounds and all that lay trapped within.
The Voice, though, did not forget. Within her barrier, among those left behind (for not all could be evacuated, and no small number of citizens were caught in the trap as collateral) she continued to work, to experiment. Magic became technology, imperfect became perfect, what was mortal became Ascended, and while she remained unable to reach Caido from her prison, other worlds… well, they were not so difficult to contact.
Unbeknown to those outside, new arrivals began to populate the Hollowed Grounds. Named as Outlanders by those still native to the region, these people brought new ideas, new opinions, new knowledge with them. And although they did not know it (for often their appearance was random, strange and unknown even to the arrivals), their purpose was one and the same: find a way to lower the barrier and, by proxy, free The Voice.
Let it never be said that the power of mortal curiosity is a small thing. It took time and no shortage of tenacity, but in the end the barrier did fall, granting liberty to all within, The Voice and her new race of Ascended included. And thus all the ingredients for another war were thrown together, unintentionally or otherwise.
Over a span of three years and amid growing unrest, the Old Gods united with their heralds and history seemed, at first, doomed to repeat itself. New demigods followed in the footsteps of their predecessors from the first war; ancient relics reappeared, arming those determined to fight for their cause, be it for the Old Gods or the New, and with The Voice too advanced now to be trapped a second time, all out conflict was inevitable.
The stage, this time, was set at the top of the world in Caido’s great Cordillera, and whilst the outcome would ultimately see The Voice fall at last, in her place rose Caido anew, alongside its shadow goddess Dygra and her Ancient children.
In the time that followed, an uneasy peace trembled throughout the world like a fledgling bird, treated with care and caution in equal measure. And for good reason - no sooner than hope began to kindle in earnest in the hearts of the citizens of Caido, something appeared in the skies overhead. That something grew, hurtling closer, only to finally make impact deep within the Arclight Ocean, leaving in its wake an ominous, violet wreathed island. Starfall had arrived, and with it a host of void-touched, otherworldly creatures, led by a force known only as The Family.
Alien, certainly, but veiling themselves in the trappings of any child of Caido, The Family walked unnoticed for some time through the world, while scores of void flora and fauna ravaged the surrounding areas. Their goal? Conquest, whether through the assimilation of Caido's people or, failing that, their complete annihilation. As the void infection buried its claws deeper into the regions, affecting not only the environment but, in rare cases, the citizens as well, the first members of The Family began to make themselves known.
Dahlia revealed herself first, pretty as her name but possessed by a mania that made her deadly and unpredictable, her ambition came second only to her violent shifts in mood. Pierce came next; a powerhouse of muscle and void energy, he ensured that no threat to The Family or its goals went unchallenged, his punishing nature hidden behind a veneer of cool indifference. Vox - the voice of their group - was heard more than he was seen, broacasting updates, invitations to join the cause and the increasingly violent consequences of resistance to such efforts. Finally, pulling endless marionette strings in the backround, the leader of The Family stepped forward in the form of a soft-spoken and unassuming man calling himself Dorian. Saying little and giving away even less, his presence alone was enough to unsettle all those he encountered. With fresh conflict arriving on the heels of short-lived peace, the response from Caido's regions and its gods was both immediate and explosive. Demigods banded together to organise expeditions to the eerie purple isle, eager to learn its purpose; Vi and Rae encouraged the growth of purifying blooms that would cleanse areas of infection in the form of sacred roses and lilies. Continued effort revealed that, at the heart of Starfall, a void-born god lay sleeping, incubating, awaiting the day when the world was ripe for takeover. Ultimately, unless the island itself was cleansed, Caido was only buying itself time with its efforts.
Across a span of three long years, a vicious tug of war ensued between The Family and those desperate to secure Caido's future. Blackmail, hostility and murder kept tension on a knife's edge, but despite diminishing odds, inroads continued to be made into the depths of Starfall to reach its void-tainted core. The stage seemed set for a confrontation the likes of which would rival that between the old gods and The Voice.
In the end, though, The Family proved to be its own undoing. Having become increasingly reckless, Dahlia was baited into engaging with a group of demigods in battle, the result of which saw her cleansed of every whisper of the void after being pricked with one of Vi's Roses. Weak, mortal and utterly at the mercy of those she would subdue, the ripple effect among the remaining members of The Family was immediate. Desperate to reunite with their sister and to restore her to what she had once been, a period of tense negotiations followed until, at last, they agreed to vacate Caido in exchange for her safe return.
And while the void infection still lingered in places, leaving its scars until it could be healed of the corruption, The Family were as good as their word. Vanishing back into the cold expanse of the cosmos and carving out the core of Starfall to take with them, now all that remains of their presence is the island itself; a hollow reminder of a calamity that very nearly came to pass.
We initially started Court of the Fallen in the season of Leafchange, 308PC (Post-Cataclysm). At this stage the only boards visible to members were the Hollowed Grounds and its sub-boards, and all characters, whether native to the Grounds or Outlanders, were trapped behind the barrier with The Voice and the heralds. As a race, the Ascended were not initially set up as the villains in this, but rather a fun ‘other’ race to play that acted as a species of robo-vampires tied to The Voice.
Outlanders were included as a way for members to bring in characters from pre-existing sites in order to get COTF off the ground and running, but we managed to tie this nicely into the IC history.
Eventually, through exploration and uncovering established lore, the combined efforts of the site succeeded in bringing down the Hollowed Grounds barrier by entering the Spire sub-board and reaching its peak. Within, they find the desiccated physical body of The Voice, maintained by a strange mechanism within her chest (which we named The Core). The removal of The Core caused the barrier to drop, but The Core mysteriously vanished in the process. This would prove critical later in the plot.
With the removal of the barrier, this allowed us to “unlock” the next area of our map: The Greatwood! As we had already decided we wanted to reveal the world piece by piece to avoid overwhelm, we set up magical storms in each direction to avoid characters exploring too far. This was explained IC by the Old Gods trying to prevent The Voice and her Ascended from being able to roam away from the Grounds following her immediate release.
With the GW, we also introduced the Fae as a playable race, however they never really took off, so they were downgraded back to natural fauna that populated the forest.
During this time, organic conflict was already beginning to develop between characters who supported The Voice and others who were on the side of the Old Gods. Part of this conflict involved the discovery of “Portals”, Voice-created gateways allowing characters to instantly travel to different areas.
Having discovered a Portal in the Greatwood and also beneath the Spire in the Hollowed Grounds, after much debate and conflict about their use, a group of characters eventually succeeded in stepping through one. This allowed us to unlock the next area of the map: Halo.
With Halo, we opted to have a few playable characters already present within the region to help drive the plot and to perpetuate the idea that Caido as a world always existed outside the Hollowed Grounds, and the characters were only just now joining this expansive new landscape.
Among these playable characters were a small handful of other Outlanders, explained IC as imperfections or glitches in the Voice’s method for bringing through characters from other worlds. At this point in time, new Outlander characters could still be created, but would always arrive at one of the discovered Portals.
As part of Halo’s discovery, we also introduced the first of our seasonal deities - the Deepfrost goddess, Eirachi. A combination of plot information from this goddess and our Ascended characters’ drive to find new Portal locations quickly resulted in us being able to unlock the next part of our map.
The tropical paradise of Torchline coincided with the release of our next new race - the Merfolk! These are still playable to this day, although their numbers are quite small in comparison to our other races.
At this stage we allowed things to grow at a more organic pace, given the number of regions available for our characters to explore and call home, and many personal plots developing alongside the larger, worldwide plot. Ascended characters began to carve a place for themselves and create new shrines to The Voice; characters supporting the Old Gods attempted to thwart these efforts and try to figure out the overall “Why” in The Voice’s return.
The Climb and the rest of the Wilds were introduced by way of our characters discovering the other seasonal deities - the Longheat god Tanau, the Leafchange goddess Mathair and the Flowerbirth god Ghilio - and making an effort to battle through the magical storms that had been barring the way around the Hollowed Grounds. These areas did not contain Portals and were not habitable regions, but gave our members more freedom to explore and “connect the dots” around the map.
With the Wilds we also unveiled the last of our inhabited regions, Stormbreak, hailed as the capital of Caido and with some very strict and xenophobic rules. (Any Abandoned who set foot in the region would turn to stone, and the region was strictly against The Voice and the Ascended). With Stormbreak we also established a group named The Order as a driving force for the Old Gods and their fight against The Voice.
As the plot progressed, we had always intended for war to break out one way or another as things came to a head with the Old Gods vs The Voice. We had initially planned this as an IC event, with two outcomes set and ready to go depending on who came out on top, and introduced “relics” (very powerful items beyond the scope of what would usually be earned or created via levelling) for characters to find and assist them in the fight to come.
However, despite wanting to keep neutrality in the “right” and “wrong” of it all, as the world unlocked, our Ascended characters and Voice supporters became the unintentional villains of the story, and it became increasingly difficult for members who had played these characters for three years to consistently be on the bad/losing side.
Realising this, we gave our site a choice and allowed them to decide OOC whether to go ahead with the IC fight, which would naturally have consequences, or to opt for the Old Gods to win automatically (as this is the way things were leaning) and have us as admins write it out narratively but with the caveat that no characters would die in this main effort (unless members wanted them to, in which case we wrote it into said narrative).
Our members opted for the latter, and so this is what we did!
Whilst releasing “chapters” of our main narrative fight, we allowed members to throw their other characters into lower risk war efforts, and they could meanwhile read about what was happening to the main group. The main fight would eventually see characters into battle against the allfather Caido, infected by The Core (after vanishing from the Hollowed Grounds, it embedded itself into Caido and would have eventually taken over completely).
Removing The Core from Caido ended the war, and we created Dygra and her Ancients retroactively as a way for our Ascended characters to change to this race. (Hence why no Ancients were around prior to this point!)
This was an intentional admin choice - the war’s end eradicated The Voice and eliminated any bad feeling and ties the Ascended might have to villainy, and it would allow these characters to continue their stories while starting fresh. Because of how things were decided OOC, there is really no stigma against anyone who used to be an Ascended, even though there probably should be.
After giving our members - and ourselves! - a period of time to decompress, to enjoy not having war on their doorstep, and to work on their personal goals and plots, we have begun our new site-wide plot with Starfall, a meteor which has crashed into the Arclight Ocean and formed a mysterious, void-infested island.
King’s End (formerly part of the Wilds) has been promoted to a habitable region, the Greatwood has been abandoned and has been overtaken by the void creatures, and a strange band of characters called The Family are beginning to stir things up for Caido and its residents.
The Family succeeded in toppling Stormbreak and taking control of the region, released periodic broadcasts directly into the minds of citizens inviting them to become part of The Family and began to double down on their efforts to introduce the void to as many parts of Caido as possible. Thus began the tug of war between our members and the void, fighting to infect areas or to cleanse them and stop the spread. Some characters did choose to become infected during this time, introducing another layer of IC tension as relationships became strained and the waters muddied between a straightforward fight between 'good' and 'bad'.
To introduce the next element of the plot, we selected a random group of characters to experience an IC collective 'dream' about Starfall, suggesting that additional members of The Family were present on the island, as well as a god-like creature slumbering at its heart. The goal was clear: spread this information IC, get to the centre of Starfall and stop The Family before this god could awaken.
Members - particularly those with high-level demigods - banded together IC to plan trips to Starfall, which we organised as a main board with several sub-boards, each needing to be cleansed separately by way of a KQ and a rare IC item that could only be found randomly within threads. Whilst the stronger characters focused on the fighting, lower levelled characters put monumental effort into finding as many of these rare items as possible.
In the meantime, The Family continued to up the ante, causing character deaths in some cases and increasing their chokehold on the regions.
All of this took place over a period of nearly two OOC years and three IC years (wow!), and whilst real inroads were being made into Starfall, this level of high-stakes intensity over a long time was beginning to - understandably - stress everyone out, admins included!
Based on our site's input, we opted to end the plot early via a deal made between The Family and the rest of Caido, after one of their number had been cured of the void and rendered entirely mortal. In exchange for the return of their kin, they agreed to leave Caido and find another speck of space to infect.
There are four different types of activities your citizens can perform:
It takes 2 seasons to train 1 level 5 NPC. Further training can either be used to train more soldiers to level 5, or to increase the level of the soldiers you already have. 4 seasons of training yeilds a level 7 character, and 6 seasons of training yeilds a level 10.
Common scenarios for when death is and isn’t possible are outlined below.
The table disable will remove the tables from posts for users that prefer to not have tables while threading. It only works if the other characters have their tables as a plugin! You can turn off tables by going to UserCP > Edit Options. On the righthand side under Thread View Options, you can check a box that says ‘Disable posting tables on the forums for me.’ Once that’s saved, all tables that are being used in the plugin’s will be disabled!
You can also collapse sections of boards, such as all of Halo, by clicking the little white rectangle on the top right part of each board category.
*** please note that if you do it this way, copy your post so it’s not lost, as the page has to refresh and you might lose it! ***
Some names with punctuation can be weird, however, and in order to tag these characters you just need to add quotes around the name. @"ProfileName" Which will work on characters like @"Ru'in" for instance.
Likewise, if you want to link to a profile but don’t want to tagsaid profile, the code for this is: [ProfileName] This way it won't tag the profile, but will link it. The difference between them looks like this: To tag: @Skylark. To link: [Skylark]. Both will link to the profile, but only one will tag and send an alert to the profile!
Thread shortcodes are pretty simple, and all you need is the thread number that you can get from the page URL. An example would be looking at this URL: https://cotf-rpg.com/showthread.php?tid=99 The thread number would be after tid=99. So to tag, all you have to do is type [thread=99] and it will automatically change to link the thread and add the thread name. [thread=99]
Supporting Characters can be made by anyone. You do not receive MP for making a Supporting Character, and they cannot level, win drops, or have MP prizes used on them. That being said, Supporting Characters can be almost any level, have companions, be any race (other than demigod or god), so long as their abilities/advantages are only ever used in a way which doesn't border on PP or being OP.
Members who write Supporting Characters for a certain number of threads receive MP for their efforts (and the love and appreciation of the Admin/Mod team).
Occasionally characters can bond with wild animals! These bonds are often forged out of a need on behalf of the character or the companion. For example, a pack-less wolf might want to bond with a character for companionship. Companions can be gained by using your Merit Points to buy one, can be earned IC during a Random Event encounter, can be quested for, or can be gifted to you by a god!
You may be bonded to three companions at any one time.
All characters are capable of bonding to regular companions (any 'regular' species that is not mythical or magical): Dogs, cats, wolves, birds, etc. The bond comes with a number of benefits but also drawbacks. The companion and the 'bonded' share a very weak telepathy. They cannot communicate via words but can instead sense each other's feelings and project vague images into the other's mind. Due to the magic of the bond however, companions are always stunted. Regardless of species, they will be no more than the size of a medium-sized dog (any species that are naturally smaller than this will remain their regular size). Because of the bond existing between your character and its companion, the sense of loss if a companion dies is deeply wounding, and both companion/bonded can feel each other's pain to an extent. The mental bond between character and companion extends about 30m.
Throughout the world, you may encounter a number of shrines. Some are dedicated to a specific god, while others appear to be general altars. Your characters are free to pray at these shrines. Whether or not a god will reply is based on your luck stat, your racial modifier, and any other character-related modifiers you might have (such as items, previous relationships with the gods, etc.). Keep in mind that your racial modifier plays a significant role in whether or not you will be answered!
Reminder: Shrines are not included for exploration. If your character wants to 'pray but not actually call for a god', please have their post be in the 'parent' board of whatever shrine you're intending to pray at. Posts in an actual shrine board will always be rolled for.
Keep in mind that the gods are not the only ones who might answer a prayer, so pray at your own risk! Fickle spirits have been known to answer shrine prayers as well. Based on your roll, you also might receive a curse or a visit from one of the Big Three gods (Mort, Vi, or Rae)
Using a god-quest pass or god-talk pass always guarantees a response from your intended god. If you are using a pass, post this at the bottom of your thread.
You may only pray at a shrine twice a season (this is subject to admin discretion). Keep in mind that communing with the gods should be looked upon reverently, and is not something which should be abused. Your original prayer thread must be completed before praying again. Failure to do so or repeated abuse of shrines will result in IC consequences for your characters!
Prayers at a shrine should be for a specific purpose. Prayers should not be to 'chat' with a god, ask if you can help them with something, or otherwise be undirected. Good reasons to pray might be: to ask for an item/new attuned-shift/companion, asking how to prepare for upcoming plot events (LongNight, for example), or asking for specific information. Remember that the gods cannot give out magic, so all requests for abilities should be in the form of items.
At higher levels, once your character has organically developed a relationship with a god there will be opportunities for character-development and 'chat-time' with a god. While we appreciate that most players want meaningful and unique god interactions, please be aware that there are many of you, and only two of us. Characters who approach the god with good/organic reasons will almost always develop meaningful (and advantageous) relationships with the gods over those who choose quantity over quality.
Hollowed Grounds
Halo
Greatwood
Torchline
Our recommendation is to post in one of the boards of wherever your character has decided to live in order to get your feet wet.
If you are going to engage in combat where you would like objective management of your rolls/damage, please contact an admin. Note: This is very time consuming for us. If you can work things out IC (i.e., relying on creativity) that would be our preference. However we realize that there are instances where an outcome needs to be decided apart from the characters involved. In these cases, dice rolls will be made by the admin and outcomes will be posted.
KQ combat and admin-rolled combat In dice-roll settings your stats are taken into account when using magic, weapons, abilities and feats. We will not reveal the exact formula used (no min-maxing!); I can tell you damage is not based on level, but on the strength of your item/magic/feat/upgrade and the corresponding stat.
Mini Event – Usually used for big gatherings of people. Things like weddings, grand openings, get togethers that are player made. These don’t require post orders or anything of the like; they are usually a starting point before players can split off for private threads during said event.
Training – Exactly as it sounds! When characters are training with one another, put this as the prefix. This should be the main focus of the thread. In order to fulfill training levelling requirements or receive MP, there must be 4 attack/defence posts per character.
PQ – Personal Quests are self-directed, goal-oriented quests that are led ICly by players. Things like putting together a space, hunting in a group, something that has some sort of ‘important goal’ that can be accomplished with your characters.
PQ+ – Plot Advancing Personal Quests are usually admin led. These can come in varying difficulty levels and require sign ups to embark on them. Essentially, they’re made to help advance the plot by gaining information or helping the story as a whole in one way or another which is why they’re admin run.
SWE – Site Wide Events are typically held once per season that have a variety of different smaller things for your characters to do. Examples would be: Fiat Lux, Festival of Lights, etc.
God Quest – God Quests are quests given to characters by a god. This prefix is added by a member of the admin-team.
Drop – Drops are random threads that have the option of granting your character something should you ‘win’ it. These can be anything from companions to magic/shifts/upgrades/items etc.
KQ – Key Quests are staff-run and pose a danger for those that aren’t levelled enough yet. These do have the potential of killing characters (and have in the past) but usually provide some sort of addition to the plot and world around your characters.
RE – Random Events are essentially like they sound. These can occur from random sightings of rare creatures, the world shifting to reveal something new that wasn’t there before, some kind of blessing or curse upon the characters that come into contact with it.
SE – The Seasonal Event prefix is used to denote threads which fulfill a Seasonal Event requirement.
Icons:
Blue Icon – Mature warning
Red Icon – Trigger warning
The NPC account can be utilized for NPC interactions that are not appropriate to write from your own account. Passing by a merchant and bantering for one post in a thread is acceptable, but having a multi-post fight with someone is not. You can also use the NPC account for write out random animal attacks, to add background setting/flavour, or otherwise help set the stage for your thread.
The NPC account can be accessed by anyone (please do not send PMs from this account for this reason)
Your character begins with five basic stats that you can add points to: Endurance, Strength, Luck, Dexterity, and Arcana. You will notice that common stats such as wisdom, intelligence, and charisma are missing from this list. This is where your writing comes into play!
When you join with a new character, you have 35 points to distribute however you see fit. Keep in mind the ranges below! While it might be tempting for one of the Abandoned to put all their points into Arcana for maximum spell-casting, that would mean your character is so physically weak they can hardly move! Similarly, if all your points go into END for maximum health, you'll never hit anything!
Your stats determine your character’s HP, damage output, and success or failure in PQ+s and KQs. When distributing stats, consider how your character might function in dice-based situations. For example:
Training: Twice a season, characters may train to increase their stats. Click on the training tab to learn more about training threads.
Your character's strength score measures raw physical power.
Dexterity is a measure of your character's agility, coordination, and reflexes.
Endurance measures stamina, durability, and resilience.
Arcana gauges how long and how powerfully your character can wield magic.
Your character's luck stat is taken into account during god interactions, during Key Quests and during Random Event encounters. The higher your luck stat, the more likely you will find yourself in favourable situations!
Intuition, or INT, is a stat that can only be attained through levelling or via a prize. During a PQ+/KQ, you can use your turn to 'consider' the situation. Based on your INT level, your character will be given information about your surroundings, the creature you're fighting, what offence/defence is best, etc.
Personal quests are player-driven, goal-oriented adventures designed to encourage collaboration and storytelling. These quests are relatively low-risk, with only minor injuries (e.g., small bumps or scrapes) occurring without prior approval. Participation in a PQ implies consent to such outcomes. If a quest involves significant danger or potential character death, it must be clearly stated upfront.
The former Captain of Training was positioned at the ruinous walls of the Sanctuary with those who had decided to come and help, scouting out what would need to be done. Eventually, he nodded and turned to address them.
"The parameter needs to be scouted, and these walls need to be built up and reinforced. There's a gate but that needs to be repaired desperately, and we'd benefit from some rudimentary defences. Any ideas would be welcome."
1. Celosia Ayelet
2.
3.
As you can see, there are three free spaces in this PQ - it's on a first come, first serve basis! Please post below to claim your space. In your first post, please also mention whether you will be scouting the parameters, reinforcing the walls, repairing the gate or searching for defensive weaponry. Ronin will take whatever is left.
The next posts made by the host should guide characters through their tasks. If you are leading a PQ you should have already determine what actions would count as a success/failure, or have some mechanism for deciding this (dice rolling, question/answer, etc). PQs should not be treated like regular threads were characters simply act on their own: as the leader of the PQ you are expected to shape the encounter and provide IC direction for each character involved. 'Shaping' can be anything from placing obstacles in the way of the characters involved in the PQ, giving characters new tasks to perform, or anything else that helps guide them through the quest that you have constructed.
This should also be character specific. So you should have a seperate sentence/paragraph for each member of your PQ outlining what is happening to that character.
PQ+s follow the same structure as regular personal quests but with added requirements and opportunities to make them more challenging and rewarding. These quests are ideal for players looking to take on focused tasks with a bit more pressure.
The tight timeline and focused participation make PQ+s uniquely demanding. They require efficient coordination and active posting from all participants to meet the one-month completion goal.
PQ+s offer players a dynamic way to shape their environment and take on meaningful challenges, blending the collaborative fun of personal quests with the urgency of a time-sensitive mission.
KQs are one of the more difficult aspects of the levelling system as they occur sporadically and are usually quite dangerous. For this reason, characters below level 3 are not encouraged to join because of their lower HP and subsequently higher chance of death. Think of KQs like boss fights in video games - some bosses are simply not meant to be fought by lower level characters. Of course there may be instances that your low-level character might feel driven to participate in one ("oh no! my best friend has been taken by that monster! Of course I will help fight it off!") but keep in mind the dangers. Further, because KQs are normally plot-advancing, having an unsuccessful KQ (i.e., failing the quest) might result in delays that halt the site's plot-progression forward! The general rule of thumb is that characters in KQs should be there because 1. they need it (immediately) for levelling, and 2. because it makes sense for them to do so.
KQs are run like mini D&D encounters. If you’ve played D&D (or any other similar game), you’ll pick up on things rather quickly. The mechanics we utilize on CoTF to keep in mind are:
Realistically, KQ posts shouldn’t be any longer than 400 words.
God quests vary depending on the god issuing the quest and what is being sought. Some gods offer benevolent character-building quests, while others demand sacrifices. The completion of a quest usually results in some sort of boon (a custom item, a magical slot/upgrade, an animal shift, increased stats, etc).
God quests pop up randomly! I wonder if praying at a shrine or trying to appease one of the gods might trigger one? Who knows!
Every regional quest should be approved by the admins beforehand, given how unique they are.
Rules for invasions and leadership acquisition are a constant work in process. If you have a scenario you'd like to run by the admin team or want to suggest something not listed here, please chat with us!
Each region may be ruled by a leader or leaders and their associated cabinet, however not all regions can be ruled. Some are too hostile or do not have enough resources to sustain a population (such as the Wilds).
Ruling parties are made up of a maximum of 3 leaders, a cabinet of no more than 5 and appointed positions of no more than 5. Leadership positions can be titled whatever you like (King, President, Prime Minister, etc), and cabinet designations can be titled and cover whatever best fits your system of government! Examples might be an Overseer who manages 4 branches/positions (minister of agriculture, minister of defence, minister of education, and minister of politics), with a Captain of the Guard being the cabinet designation that falls under the Minister of Defence. Ultimately however how you chose to rule and what positions you create is up to you!
To become a leader in an unclaimed region of the map you must
There are three ways of taking over an already claimed region: either as an invading army from another established region, as an unaffiliated group, or trial by combat.
If you are an unaffiliated group, to try and take over an already-ruled region you must create a mini-governing system within that region. In order to begin there should be one person in charge of your invading force. This person must:
With that done, you can either invade as an army, or try to capture the current leadership to dissolve the current governing structure.
If you are an invading army from an established region, these same two options are available to you to take leadership.
The defending region's forces has 48 hours to reply. It is recommended that the cabinet and leaders post, but it is not required, and citizens of the region may post as well. Any additional information that is relevant to the defence should be given (previous fortifications, additional fortifications made to weaponry, etc). The admin team will then intervene using the information provided, your army's stats, and our dice-rolling system.
If successful, the region will have been taken over and all members of the leadership, their cabinet, and their appointed positions will be removed.
If completed successfully the leader will have been captured. If there is not another leader in place, the invading party will have gained control. If there are other leaders their hold over the government will have been weakened and will make it easier to seize control.
In order to issue a Trial by Combat characters who intend to replace the current leadership must
If the challenge by combat is successful, all current leaders and their party will immediately be removed and replaced by those who have issued the challenge.
During these challenges, a leader must assign a champion (or fight themselves). Challenges will be admin run, will include dice rolls based on character-stats, and will be arbitrated by the admin team who will declare a winner. The challenge continues until the current leader defeats (read: kills, forces their opponent to concede defeat), or the opposite happens. Your character may die in these situations.
Because of the timely nature of these challenges, each writer must respond to their opponent within 24 hours, or they will forfeit the challenge.
CotF uses a number of prefixes to help categorize threads and assign MP, so it's important that you use the correct ones when making your threads! In order to add multiple prefixes to your threads hold down the CTRL button when clicking on different options. Some options are only available for admins to add.
A list of prefixes and their explanations are listed below:
