Beginner's Guide

Posted 1 year, 1 month ago (Edited 1 year, 1 month ago) by Celest

Welcome to Enchiron!

Enchiron is a large and expansive world, and we know it can be overwhelming to know where to start. The goal of this guide is to get you your first character, introduce you to the lore, and give you some tools to connect with others and further develop your new character. However, before we get started, it's important to review our Terms of Service. These rules are fairly lax, but they offer some guidance on how the group is ran and general expectations.

Getting a Character

Enchiron is a Closed Species ARPG, which means we have a process you must follow if you wish to make your character design official within the group. We offer Make-Your-Own Slots (also known as MYOs, or just slots). When you acquire an MYO, it will be recorded in the Bank as an item. Going forward, your Bank account will serve as a record of useful items and in-group currency you earn in your time playing with us.  

MYOs can be acquired many ways! For all new members, we have Starter Slots you can claim. These starter slots will allow you to create up to three characters of any currently-released species with uncommon traits. Starter slots must be claimed one at a time, with the previous one used before you can claim another. After you've gotten your MYO slot and designed your character, post it here for approval. You don't have to have drawn your character: so long as you've decided the traits and can verbally describe the overall appearance, you can get a character approved. If you make or get art of them later, then you are welcome to update the masterlist with that information then. After approval, the slot will be removed from your inventory, and the design will be added to our masterlist, which certifies it as an official design, welcome to be used in any of our activities.

You're also welcome to create an unlimited number of human OCs. Humanity  is just as important to Enchiron as any of the other species, and you can submit human characters for approval here. Registering a human OC allows you to use them within the ARPG and earn rewards with them!

That said, MYOs are only necessary if you want to introduce a new design to the group (or create an Enchiron AU for a character you already have). If you'd rather adopt a design that's already been approved, we have all available adopts listed here. This includes both designs put up by the community and those from our official artist team, so feel free to contact the user if you decide you want to to take one home. We also have a shelter system. This system allows any spare designs the opportunity to find a new home completely for free: all you have to do to adopt them is write or draw something featuring them.

Designing a Character

Each species has a list of traits that makes it identifiable, and each trait has a different level of rarity in the populace. Each of the key traits must be included in a design at or below the rarity of your slot. You can find the caelian trait guide here, and the ianthina guide here. (The rest of the species will be released in time!) We have both visual and written versions of the guides; I recommend viewing both, since the written version elaborates on a few things there wasn't room for in the visual. If you want to explore more possibilities with your design, you can acquire an item from the shop for mutations.

If you prefer working with a base, we do have a caelian base and a chibi ianthina base. Both contain all traits on their respective layers.

Lore is always optional, but if you would like to dress your character according to where they live, we have a pinterest showing the fashion trends in each country. 

Learn About the Setting:

If you've viewed our trait guides, you already got a taste for the lore of each species, but you can see a general overview of all of Enchiron's inhabitants here, with links to further reading. Though all species can be found in every part of Enchiron--there's always at least a few who decide to live in unusual places--each species has a homeland where they make up the majority, and you can find a general overview of the setting and all its countries here, again with links to further reading. To participate in the species, what's contained in these two pages is all you need to know: they give you the vocabulary and the vibes to throw yourself into this world whole-heartedly. 

That being said, if you are someone who enjoys a deep-dive into all the little details that make up this world, I encourage you to peruse our wiki. This is a massive, living document that contains information ranging from our magic system, to the architectural styles of Dolsia, to the cuisine of Olitskur, and to an entire wealth of information on the cultures of every area. This information is meant to be inspirational, not prescriptive. We will never come down on you for "breaking lore", and what's described in these documents just describes general trends. There will always, always be those who fall outside the norms, and if you see a detail that inspires you, you are welcome to embrace and build upon it. The wiki is collaborative: while I may put down the foundations, it changes and grows based on where the community's interests lie and the ideas you all have.

You may also enjoy checking out our event archive, to see lore bits that have been released through events.

Developing a Character:

Once your character's approved and you've decided some things about them, we strongly encourage you to make a journal. They are a way to help record the journeys your characters undergo, share it with the community, earn rewards, and keep up to date with the activities and relationships between other characters. Making one earns you our group currency, Memories, and journals and their updates get featured in bulletins. It's also an excellent place to display achievements and other trinkets.

Anything you make with your character can be shared for a small currency bonus, if you post it here. We also welcome any expansions, additions, and decor to our wiki, which you can share here. Most months, we have a prompt centered on some aspect of the world and a question about your character that relates to it. You are always welcome to participate in a prompt even if the month has passed; you will still get rewards for it, and we always accept both writing and art. Currency can be spent in the shop to make new characters and purchase things for any existing ones!

Interactivity is an important element of our group! For anyone 16 and up, you are encouraged to join the discord! On the discord, we have conversation channels, of course; inspiration channels full of pictures of the world and ideas; Question of the Week to help with character development; and, of course, roleplay channels so you can meet and develop relationships amongst all your characters. If you're too young to join or otherwise prefer forums, we have open forums for you to participate in as well.

Between all this, you can expect regular games, and every few months or so, a major event with all kinda of activities. Our bulletins are jam-packed with updates, so keep an eye out for them!

More Questions?

You can check out our FAQ to see answers to a few other, commonly asked questions. If there's more, feel free to ask in our discord or the forum thread here. You never have to apologize for asking questions: I am always, always happy to answer!

Thank you so much for joining our group!