Greetings and welcome to Shadowlack! If at any point you feel lost or confused about Shadowlack, just remember that we’re here to help you! We realize that there is a lot of information on this site to learn and that it may seem intimidating at first. Feel free to take things slow and ask any questions that you may have so that we may further improve both your experience, and the game for other potential players.
- About Learn about what we are.
- Rules and Regulations Familiarize yourself with what is and is not allowed.
- We roleplay in third-person, past-tense.
- Our game time operates on Liquid Time (aka Fluid Time). One year at Shadowlack is equivalent to one year in real life.
- Humans do not exist. They were exterminated by the Rapine in 81374 (2000). Your character cannot know about humans or the planet Earth.
- Technology on Shadowlack is advanced. It is somewhat equivelant to that which is seen in the Dune (Frank Herbert) and Star Wars (George Lucas) universes.
- The planet Ramath-lehi has three moons: Xabu, Cussla, and Lelres.
- Register a new account. (Optionally join us on Discord.)
- Create or reply to a thread in Hatchling Central to introduce yourself. Now is a great time to ask any questions that you may have.
- Once your introduction post has exited the moderation queue, you will be able to create your first character! Please note that it may take up to 24 hours for your first post to be approved. This is our last line of defence against spam, so please be patient.
- Read the character creation guide, pick your species, and create your first Ramathian character.
- Start world building and/or roleplaying!
You’ve created a character - now what? Well, it’s time for you to start writing as that character. The first thing you should do is make sure that you are familiar with Shadowlack’s roleplaying etiquette. It’ll save you some potential headaches. As for getting started, there are several recommended approaches that you may take:
- Look for an open thread that as marked as “AW” (All Welcome). Anyone may join threads like these (provided that they are not heavily underway). If you're not sure if you're allowed to join, simply PM the thread creator and ask.
- Start your own “AW” thread in a In Character area of your choosing.
- Post in the Game-Related board and see if anyone would like to start off a thread with you and your character.
- Saw someone else’s character that catches your eye? Ask them if they’d like to do a thread with your character via Private Message. They might even have suggestions or ideas to help you get started.
The key to enjoying yourself at Shadowlack is to be proactive. If you get involved in the game, make friends - or even invite your friends to join - you're going to have a much more entertaining experience. We'd love you to not only become a member, but become a part of our strong community.
¶ Liquid time and timestamping
Time at Shadowlack runs parallel to time in real life; one year at Shadowlack is equivalent to one year in real life. This kind of time schedule is often referred to as Liquid Time (or Fluid Time) in the Play-by-Post community. Since Shadowlack operates in Liquid Time, you are allowed to roleplay your characters in multiple threads at once. This way you are not always waiting for one person to reply. Instead, you can build up a queue of threads to participate in and keep yourself active.
To help with worldwide plots, Shadowlack subscribes to a system called Timestamping. This helps us easily "sync up" real world times with game times, and allows us to create roleplay threads that are in the past, and in the future. Feel like roleplaying your character as they were five years ago when something life altering occurred? You can do that! A Timestamp simply consists of a Ramathian year, month, and day which allows it to attach itself to our real life timeline.
Afraid of messing up a Timestamp, or don't know how? Don't worry. Our timestamp system is built right into our roleplaying boards. Whenever you create a new thread, the current Ramathian year and month with be auto-selected. However, you're allowed to change these values to whatever you like. Players only really should make sure that they don't have duplicate Timestamps for their characters (for example: a single character of yours should not participate in two different threads that have the same Timestamp).
Shadowlack is an entirely player-built world. As an active player at Shadowlack, you're invited to help build and expand upon our unique universe setting. Do you see some key piece missing? A gap in an otherwise great write up? Is there something that you think other players would enjoy? A new creature or plant? We want to hear your suggestions. The wiki is a great place to put your initial ideas and suggestions.
- Thread. Used to refer to a roleplay topic on a board.
- Out of Character (OOC). Used to by you, the player, to indicate that you are making a note or comment that may not pertain to the actual roleplaying that is occurring in the thread. OOC notes should be kept to a minimum on Shadowlack since we have many alternate methods of communication.
- Back In Character (BIC/IC). Often used after an Out of Character note to indicate that you are now back in character.
- Private (P). Used to indicate a private thread where only people who have been personally invited may post.
- All Welcome (AW). Used to indicate an “Open” thread in which anyone may join and start posting.
- RaL. A popular abbreviation used to refer to the planet Ramath-lehi.
- Ramathian. An inhabitant of the planet Ramath-lehi.
- Non-Player Character (NPC). All of the characters played by yourself or others are called “Player Characters.” On Shadowlack, NPC is a blanket term to refer to all characters that do not have a registered character profiles in the database.
- 'Dragon. Slang for Pendragon.
- Thill. An adult female Pendragon.
- Arden. An adult male Pendragon.
- Hatchling. A newly hatched Pendragon. Often also used to refer to new players on Shadowlack.