Character Creation

Now that you've decided to make a cat for City of Sundown, it's time to take a look at the rules for creating a character!  We will only accept cats who follow our guidelines, so please read them carefully.


FIRST
Check to see whether our group currently has available spots!  We may be closed right now, or the position you are trying for could already be taken, in which case you can either wait until more slots for that spot are open again or you can simply have your character apply for another spot instead.


SECOND
Make sure to use the blank Reference Sheets found in the "Important" folder.  We will only accept characters whose images are on the sheet corresponding to the gang that they are trying out for.


THIRD
If you are a new member, please include the link to your reference sheet in your Joining request.  If you are a current member applying for another character, send us the link to your application through a note to the group.


Naming Your Character
Character names don't work the same way here as they do in Warrior Cat rp's.  This means that 'warrior' sounding names aren't allowed in this group (Tigerclaw, Fireheart, etc.)  That being said, you can still use simple 'feral' names for your character such as "Misty" and "Feather", but try and think creatively.  With no naming system to rely on, you have a wide variety of names from many different places and cultures to choose from.  Try to avoid using nicknames as a solid name for your character (names like Pipsqueak, Nameless, Buddy, etc.)


Infected Characters
Unless you are a staff member you CANNOT create Infected characters!  Not even the staff's Infected characters are real 'characters'; they are simply NPC's whose only use is to enrich the roleplay.


Linearts and Templates
NO linearts are allowed on these applications, not even templates that are for 'free use'!  We won't judge you on your artistic skills, but if you really don't want to draw your cat, you can always commission someone or ask a friend to draw the cat for you.  That being said, if you have no friends who can do this for you, The-Skykian-Archives has provided a sketch dump of different cat bodies that you are allowed to trace/use for your character as long as you give credit:  fav.me/d60w69d


Species
Your character can be any breed of domestic cat, from small munchkins to big and burly maine coons.  Cats with wild blood in them (Savannah cats, sandcats, ocelots, African Wildcats etc.) are not allowed in this roleplay. The only living sandcat left is an NPC loner who lives on the outskirts of the city and whose existence is only known by leaders and deputies.


Accessories
Your cat can have up to five accessories.  Please keep these accessories at least semi-realistic; we don't need cats running around with capes and baseball hats.


Coloring And Albinos
Eye and pelt colors for your cat must be realistic.  We strongly encourage at least semi-realistic fur patterns for your cat, as well.

Due to the setting of this universe, you cannot use whites or extremely light* colors on your cat either (see the F.A.Q. for more information as to why this rule exists.)

*"Albinos" can exist in this universe but special rules apply:

-An albino cat's pelt is a solid color with no markings.
-The color needs to be a light brown, gray, or tan, but cannot be so light that it can be mistaken for white.
-The albino cat's eyes must be pink or red.
-You must ask permission from staff to create an albino character; these type of cats are generally uncommon.

An albino cat still has biological downsides; they easily get sunburns, bright light can still hurt their eyes, and at night, the Infected can spot them more easily than other cats.  If you are going to play an albino, be prepared to roleplay the daily complications of your cat's life accurately.


Originality
Please do not make your cat a carbon-copy of another character who's in the group.  If we feel as though your character's appearance/bio was too heavily referenced from someone else's, we will ask you to make changes.


Character Relations
Do not make characters who are relatives or "long-lost-siblings" of other people's cats in the group if you did not have their players' permission!  It causes needless complications for everyone when you're too lazy to make a unique story for your character.  Also please remember that the gang founders, Luke and the Nighthunter, never had children.  It is impossible for your cat to be a descendant of either one.


Character NPCs
If there are cats from your character's family/history that are still alive, and you would like to show that without going through the trouble of making them characters, you can always just make them NPCs (Non-Playable Characters).  If you want to make NPCs to interact with your character, please remember the guidelines:

-These NPC's MUST be either related or be involved with your cat in some way or another.
-NPC's cannot take other people's characters as their friends or mates.
-When roleplaying NPC's, it can never be from their point of view, but from the POV of your real character.

If you rather, you could put up your cat's family members/friends up for adoption instead of making them NPCs.  The people who adopt these cats, however, must fill out all necessary information and try out for a spot in the group just like everyone else.


Humans
Your cat's past cannot involve humans.  Humans abandoned the city decades ago.


Sexuality
When it comes to sexuality, your cat can be bisexual, but that's as far as we'll allow.  We want to keep this as a roleplay about cats in a dead city. Because of what normally happens when people rp homosexual characters (unneeded drama, etc.), we have decided to just make it easier on ourselves. We are not against homosexual people in any way.

*As an added note, we don't allow incest either for the same reason.  Please respect our decision on this matter.


Hermaphrodites
When it comes to gender, we won't allow hermaphrodites.  Again, we are not against them in real life, we just don't want unneeded drama.


Backstories
It's not uncommon for a cat to be an orphan in this roleplay universe, but if you want to make a character with this type of backstory, keep it realistic.  For example, if your cat was orphaned at 1-2 months old but found a gang to join soon after, that's acceptable.  But if your cat was orphaned at 1-2 months old and somehow managed to survive for moons/years without parental protection before joining the gang, that's impossible.  Kittens orphaned at this age would be WAY to young to fend for themselves.  Cats who were orphaned at around student age, however (6-8 months old), would be able to take care of themselves.  If your cat was born within the gang, then it doesn't matter what age they were orphaned as they likely had den mothers to care for them in their childhood.


Character Quality
We don't want any mary-sue/gary-stu characters in the group; this means no extremely beautiful/strong/perfectly flawless cats, OR cats with ridiculously sorrowful backstories that you'll expect everyone else to feel sorry for.


Nature
On your character's reference sheet is an area titled "Nature".  Its purpose is not to hold your character's entire personality there, but ONE word that describes your character's basic 'nature' much like the mechanics used in Pokemon games.  You can use words like Bashful, Rash, Timid, Reserved, Hardy, Bold, etc.


The Bio
After creating your character's reference sheet, please include this information in the Artist's Comments:

Name:
Gender:
Age:
Breed Of Reference:
Rank:
Accesories: (remember that you can't have more than five sensible accessories on your cat)
Personality: (must have five personality traits or a very detailed paragraph explaining your cat's personality)

Relationships:(Relationships that your cat may have with other characters or your OWN NPC's)

Roleplay Example:(MUST be well detailed and grammatically correct.  Please make your roleplay example at LEAST a paragraph long.)

Courtesy
Do not rage and flame the admins if we end up rejecting your character.  If we did, it was with good reason and throwing a temper tantrum won't make your case any better for the next time you try out.  This also goes for any changes we ask you to make to your character; if we're going through the trouble of asking you to do this, it means we're trying to help you get in.


Killing Off Characters
If you grow bored of your character,  you can't just kill them off for the sake of making a "more interesting" character.  If you do so you'll have to wait along with everyone else for the next group opening.


Switching Gangs
If you ever want your character to switch gangs, it MUST be for a good reason and must be roleplayed out; this also means your character explaining to their current leader the reasons for this change of loyalty.  "Good reasons" also include switching gangs to be with a mate (please see 'Mates and Kits' below.)

On Mates and Kits

When it comes to mates, we encourage you to play your characters sensibly.  People don't get married in a day, and characters shouldn't be "getting together" after one rp with each other.  To prevent this, we have laid down some rules to ensure that the relationships and families made in City of Sundown are developed in a realistic time frame, and that the outcomes of cross-gang mating/kitting are conducted in a way that's fair to all parties involved.


OOC Courtesy
Your character can have 'crushes', but if the person who roleplays your cat's love interest does not want to consent to building a relationship between the characters, act maturely.  Verbally harassing and flaming people for not wanting to pair up their cat with yours is extremely rude and immature, and so is "self-inserting" by having your character suddenly act mean to their's.  Staff will not tolerate such behavior.


Appropriate Age
Students can have crushes, but they cannot be mates.  The characters MUST be of an adult ranks to be mates and to have kits.


Relationship Development
To become mates, two cats must have had at least 3-4 encounters/conversations together.  These encounters can either be submitted as roleplays or illustrated as detailed pictures.


Prolonged Development
If the person who roleplay's your character's love interest wants to give the relationship a little more time to develop than required, either respect their decision or call off the relationship if you're going to pressure and harass them about it (be that IC or OOC).


Predetermined Mates
It's okay for you and a friend to agree to bring two characters in who are already mates with one another, but we would like to keep 'predetermined mates' like these to a minimum so please contact the group to receive permission from staff before you go through with such a plan.


Cross-Gang Relationships
Your character can flirt with/have crushes on cats from another gang, but to be official mates, both characters must speak with their respective leaders and receive permission from them.


Cross-Gang Kittens
Should a litter of kittens result from a cross-gang relationship, the kittens will be allowed to stay with their mother until they reach student-age.  At that point the leaders of both gangs will decide which kittens will go to which gang.  Neither the parents nor the players of the kittens have any say on the matter.


Living With Your Mate
To avoid the complications of a cross-gang relationship, your cat can always leave to join the gang their mate is in.  However, they must inform their leader that they are changing loyalties, and they must also be formally accepted by the leader of their new gang.


Having Kittens
If you plan to have kittens, your mate's player must also consent to the idea and you must inform the staff.  Once you do, we will decide how many kittens will be in your litter as well as their genders by using an online dice-rolling program (this is to keep an element of realism for the roleplay).  After that, designing the kittens will be up to you.


Predetermined Kits
There have been a few cases where members played a single parent with surviving kits they wanted to put up for adoption instead of making them NPC's, and it is allowed.  However you must ask for permission from staff before you do anything like this.  The design of these kittens must at least slightly resemble the single parent you play, and adopting the kittens out is essentially the same process that kittens bred between members have to go through (see the "Kitten Adoptions" section below)


Kitten Designing
Kitten designs must resemble that of the parents', and must be approved by staff.  If we ask you to change something about your kittens' designs, please comply.


Pregnancy
The kittens can be born after a reasonable time-period has been allowed for the pregnancy (at least a week real-time), and once all the kittens have been adopted.  (There are rules and regulations for adopting kittens, however; please see the "Kitten Adoptions" section below)

Kitten Adoptions

Claiming
Roleplayers of the parents are allowed to roleplay one of your kittens, each.  Otherwise, please leave kittens available for other people to adopt.


Who Can Adopt?
Members of the group can apply for the kittens, but non-members can also 'adopt' into the group by choosing to take on an available kitten for their new character (they will, however, need permission from the staff; see 'Adopting A Kitten' below)


Setting Up Adoptions
To put your kitten designs up for adoption, upload a picture of the designs to deviantART.  People will apply for the kittens in the comments section of that deviation.  This is so that the players of the kittens' parents can choose the people who get to roleplay their children.


Adopting A Kitten
When adopting a kitten, you must go to the kitten's picture and post a comment with:

Name:
Personality:

The parents will then decide who gets to roleplay the kittens; however, if it's a non-member then they must notify CoS staff to make sure that we also approve of the choice.


Getting Started
Once the new owners for the kittens are decided, the kittens must be given full bios along with a filled out Reference sheet just like all the other members in our group (The pictures for the Reference Sheets can be done by the parents if they want to).  Once Staff has approved of the Ref sheets and bios given to the kittens, they will accepted into the group and the kittens will be officially 'born'.