General Rules
Joining
You must be at least 18 years old to join Havensake.
"Almost 18" is not close enough. This is on an honor system, and those found lying about their age will be banned from the group.
A Discord account is required to join.
Havensake is primarily Discord-based, with all of our main announcements and plots being handled on Discord. You cannot join the group if you do not have a Discord account.
You must have a deviantART account that has activity and is at least 2 months old to join Havensake.
While Havensake is moving what it can away from the dA sphere, an account is still required to verify your account on this website, as well as to request Discord access and to join the group. This account will be used to verify your identity, activity, literacy level, etc. If you are on a new dA account, please provide us with proof of an old one. We may request proof of other social medias if account activity is not sufficient.
ACTIVITY
Member activity checks take place every 2 months.
Activity in Havensake is submission-based. You must submit or be included in a submission that earns you at least 1 EXP per season. This is the equivalent of 10 words in a literature piece, 15 words in a roleplay/script/headcanon, 43 words in a rumor, or 1 sketched headshot. You will not be checked for activity the season you join, but will begin the season after. Activity checks are conducted on the last day of the following months (unless stated otherwise): January, March, May, July, September, November. Any EXP that goes towards the 'Earned' category (from bundles, events, etc) will not count for activity for the season.
Members who are consistently inactive and 'slide by' on activity checks may be contacted.
If a member submits exp at the last minute more often than not, staff may approach them to ask about concerns regarding them missing rollover. Likewise, if a member is virtually inactive for an extended period of time, staff may reach out to ask about activity and offer help and solutions. If all options have been exhausted and the inactivity continues, the member may receive a more in-depth activity check. Failing that activity check will result in being removed.
Members may ask to take a hiatus for up to 2 months.
If you need to take a hiatus, please send in a note to the group. You may request up to 2 months max, and you will not be checked for activity while on an official hiatus. Members who are on hiatus can still submit EXP, RP, participate in rumors, do quests, make skill purchases, etc. Participating in Tribe or plot events and dungeons, rolling for litters, and submitting new characters cannot be done while on hiatus.
There are not exceptions to the activity rules.
We understand that things happen to everyone- however, Havensake's activity rules are very easy to pass, and members are reminded at least three times every season to get EXP in, as well as having unlimited access to their own EXP counts. If EXP does not get in on time, the member will be removed from the group, regardless of their rank or seniority in the group.
Members who leave the group of their own accord or who are kicked for inactivity must wait 2 months before applying to rejoin.
This rule does not apply to those who are kicked for poor behavior, breaking rules, or those who have been banned from the group. Members who are repeatedly removed for inactivity may incur a longer cooldown.
MEMBER CONDUCT
Members should be respectful to one another.
Be nice to others. We do not condone callouts, witch hunts, bullying, or members taking punishments into their own hands. If an issue arises, please take it to staff to be handled correctly. Public fights and callouts may be punished.
Additionally, any cases of racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, etc. will not be tolerated.
Do not mini-mod.
While we appreciate those who feel like helping, please leave all moderation to staff.
HR complaints and concerns should be taken to members of HR.
HR concerns (complaints about members or staff) should only be taken to members of staff who are marked as being in HR. Taking HR complaints to non-HR members of staff is punishable.
Complaints from members are taken seriously.
Even if a member does not directly break a rule, they may be subject to punishment if enough members complain about them with adequate proof. This happens rarely, but needs to be mentioned.
Members may ask for contact bans against other members.
If a member is uncomfortable with another for personal reasons, feels unsafe, or has had their boundaries crossed too often with another member, we do permit contact bans. We ask that all members try their best to work together to find other solutions to problems before resorting to contact bans. Staff may ask for screenshot proof you attempted to resolve issues or set a boundary with the individual before instating a contact ban.
Behaviors that can warrant a contact ban include but are not limited to: Block evasion, breaches of privacy, harassment, aggression, stalking, crossing boundaries that have been expressed already, etc. Please note that if behaviors stated are concerning or break the rules, escalation of punishment may happen, including kicking and banning from the group, though this is just an example.
When placing a contact ban against a member, you will both be informed of the following:
• Neither of you can speak directly to one another in any HS servers or HS-adjacent rp/event/etc. servers, or respond to one another's advertisements, polls, rp searches, rumors, etc. We cannot monitor DMs, but any proof of violating a contact ban via DMs/notes/etc. will be punishable.
• You will not be given mentor/apprentice pairs, or anything similar.
• Neither of you may occupy the same call/stream in the Discord server. This is handled on a first come first served basis.
• Neither of you may comment on one another's dA submissions/pages/etc.
• A misconception is that you cannot both be in the same chat or posting rumors/messages at the same time- this is not true at all! As long as you don't speak to or react to one another, you may choose to be in the same vicinity as each other at any time, with the exception of voice calls.
In the event that the person who requested the contact ban wishes to drop it, please come to staff BEFORE reaching out to the person you've implemented a ban on. Speaking to them first is a violation of the ban you put in place, and they could be within their rights to report it to staff. We will be happy to mediate and make sure you're both on the same page before removing the ban.
Discussions with staff (including contact bans and punishments) are private unless stated otherwise.
Members may choose to discuss the nature of these discussions with other members if they wish, but staff will not disclose any contact bans, punishments, or personal matters with other members unless it is something that directly affects the community (ie. if a member is banned for very concerning behavior).
Ask your fellow roleplayer for permission before adding a scar given by their character and respect them if you're told no.
Characters can get hurt in events, roleplay, and rumors by other players' characters at any point. However, if you wish to add a scar from another player character's attack, you must have their permission first before adding it. If the player has requested to not have your character gain a scar, do not add the scar. Further adding onto this, if a player uses a skill in roleplay and has requested for the skill to not hurt your character, do not make the skill hit the character, as this falls under godmodding and is disrespectful to your roleplay partner. Remember: it may be fun for you, but not for those around you!
PUNISHMENTS
Members will be spoken with before punishments are decided.
Staff will not jump to conclusions or listen to one-sided stories without substantial proof. Members are not likely to be punished without us hearing them out or getting an explanation, unless the rules broken are severe and proven to have been done with malintent, or from a pattern of repeat behavior.
Havensake works on a warnings and strikes system. Warnings and strikes can be worked off, unless a member is told otherwise.
Typically, rule-breaking and undesirable behavior will progress in a certain pattern: Unofficial Warning > Soft Warning > Hard Warning > Strike 1 > Strike 2 > Strike 3 (kick).
Staff may feel the need to offer less or more severe punishments depending on circumstances. Members may receive unofficial warnings for less intense rule breaks; likewise, those found breaking severe rules may jump right to a strike, kick, or ban, depending.
Soft warnings fall off after 2 months, while hard warnings and strikes are worked off at 6 months. Some strikes may be indefinite or last longer, but staff will let a member know if this is the case.+
Punishments may be modified to fit the specific offense.
Alternative punishments may be provided instead of or in addition to warnings/strikes. An example would be someone receiving an enforced character cooldown for breaking a character slot-related rule.
Those kicked for unfavorable behavior cannot reapply until at least 6 months have passed.
This rule does not apply to those who have been banned from the group or told to wait longer. Some members may be asked to "appeal" to the group to prove they understand why they were removed from the group, and plan on fixing their behavior. Havensake's ban list is not public, but a member may ask if they are on it.
Members may be banned after leaving.
If someone was unfriendly or broke rules while in the group, posing a community hazard, but was not forcibly removed from the group and left on their own accord, they may still be banned from returning. Staff does not make these decisions lightly. If someone wishes to rejoin and worries they may not be allowed back in, they should note the group.
CONTENT & CHARACTER RULES
SUBMISSIONS
The following topics are completely banned from Havensake, and cannot be mentioned in histories or roleplay: Incest, necrophilia, pedophilia, slavery, and sexual assault.
These topics should not be found in any group content. Failure to follow this rule will result in punishment.
Homophobia, transphobia, etc. are only permitted in backstories.
LGBTQIA+ characters have existed in the Tribes for decades, and have been met with nothing but acceptance and understanding, with some of the Spirits themselves being queer, too. Because of this, maltreatment of someone based on their sexuality, gender identity, or otherwise simply makes no sense in a Tribe setting. A character may have experienced this in their history if they come from outside of the Tribes, but wouldn't be able to be openly queerphobic in the Tribes without being punished. This is lightened only for those characters experiencing internalized queerphobia, so long as it is not taken out on others, and is handled carefully.
Incest is defined by specific criteria.
If two cats are biologically related as far as being second cousins, they are too close to be romantically involved. Beyond second cousins is up to the member's preferences, but the characters cannot be aware of the relation. In terms of adopted family, this is generally up to member discretion, as long as it does not come off as blatantly incestuous (ie. if your characters were raised as siblings and call each other brother/sister/etc, they cannot be together romantically).
A guide to what is and isn't permissible can be seen here (red not permissible, yellow questionable/ask, green typically fine).
Havensake permits some sensitive topics, as long as they are tagged appropriately, spoilered where needed, and handled tastefully. These topics include: murder, cannibalism, infanticide, abuse (verbal/physical/domestic), self-harm, and suicidal ideation.
This is touched on more in the Personal Plots Guide*. Please refer to the guide before creating or participating in any plot, rp, or rumor that might involve one of these topics.
We do not allow any sexual discussions, roleplays, or submissions in the group.
These things are fine if done safely and consensually behind closed doors, but should not make their way into the dA gallery or anywhere in the group Discord. If a member is making you uncomfortable with explicit material and ignoring your boundaries, or pressuring you into participating in and/or discussing explicit roleplays, art, and/or topics, please notify staff immediately.
Art theft is forbidden in Havensake.
Members may not claim someone else's art as their own or use heavily traced work in their submissions. Application art must be created for the specific character (either made by the member, or commissioned/requested from someone else) and cannot be pulled from bases or character-making games. AI art is also completely banned in the group.
Art and designs that do not belong to you should have proper credit given.
Credit should be visible on the character and image profiles, and is required for any art or designs that were not created by you. Simply putting it in a separate doc or sheet will not suffice.
CHARACTER SLOTS
You need to purchase a character slot to submit a new character.
Havensake does not have a character limit, meaning you can have as many slots as you'd like, provided you are active with the existing ones. Character slots are purchased using EXP. If you do not have enough EXP for a character slot, you must earn more before you can bring in another character.
Members are expected to be active with their existing characters before bringing in more.
Members who have not publicly used a character in 4+ months may be asked for proof of activity. Admins may be stricter in the event that several of a member's characters have not been used in a long period of time. These rules only apply when a member is trying to bring in a new character or roll for a litter.
Examples of completed activity for a character would be:
- Completed, Ongoing, or Abandoned rps that have 3 or more posts
- Headcanons (3+ posts) and activity within the group interacting with the community, showing effort
- Collabs with other members
- Solo quests (art and literature, provided it is for a quest, event or prompt)
- Rumors (3+, must show clear interaction)
Furthermore, if a character has stats that are out of date for more than 1 season or app art that is also out of date for more than 1 season when the activity check occurs, that character may be considered inactive.
Failing a character activity check will result in a mandatory cooldown.
If an activity check is failed when trying to bring in a new character or roll for a litter, the member will either need to remove the inactive character(s) to proceed, or accept a cooldown (at least 1 month in length, but may be extended depending on severity of inactivity or other factors), during which they cannot bring in new characters or roll any litters. After that cooldown, the member will need to pass the activity check with the same character(s) before being allowed their new character/litter. If they fail again, another cooldown will be added, etc.
Character submission cooldown for new members is 2 months. Once they've been in the group for 2 months, character submission cooldowns are 1 month.
There are items in the EXP shop that can be used to negate or decrease this cooldown.
A member cannot have all of their characters in one Tribe.
Members with more than 3 characters should not have all of their characters in one Tribe. This is to prevent one member from self-populating an entire Tribe. This restriction is loosely moderated, but should still be followed closely.
Character references should not be more than 2 months (1 season) out of date.
If a character's ref needs to be updated (be it for age-ups, Tribe switches, rank switches, etc), the member must complete and upload the updated reference within a season of the change. For example, if my character ages up from 9 moons (apprentice) to 12 moons (adolescent), I will need to update their visual reference with their updated age and tattoo color before they turn 15 moons old. If the member is not an artist or otherwise wants/need someone else to do the ref update for them, they must provide staff proof of request/purchase to another individual requesting the update. Failure to keep the references of your current characters up to date will result in denial of future characters or litter rolls until all references are corrected; Failure to keep one or more references up to date for several seasons in a row may result in denial of a new character/litter roll plus a cooldown, per normal activity rules.
Members who have been commissioned specifically for ref art for out-of-date characters may be denied additional characters of their own if they are found to be taking too much time for the updates for other members (typically a period of 6+ months).
No member may have more than 3 head ranks, 1 head rank per tribe.
Leaders and deputies count towards an admin's slots, so they may only have 2 additional head ranks alongside their leader/deputy character. Head ranks are appointed by Tribe admins.
TIME PASSAGE & AGING
Every 2 real-life months is equivalent to 3 in-character months, or one season.
We keep track of character ages on the Character Cards, and tell members when to rank-up their characters based on their ages. Because of this, ages are recorded in 3s (3/6/9/12/15/etc).
Some age brackets belong to a certain "stage" of your character's life.
Characters are sorted by age: Kitten (0-6 months); Apprentice (6-12 months); Adolescent (12-18 months); Adult (18+ months); and Elders (12+ years).
Character ages are considered loosely equivalent to real life until they reach adulthood.
Moons 1-18 are mostly equivalent to IRL human years- ie. a 3-month-old kitten is similar to a 3-year-old child. Once a character reaches 18 months, they are considered similar to an 18-year-old human, and are thus the equivalent of a young adult. At this point, they begin aging more "slowly" as compared to real human adults.
Elders may choose to retire at 12 years of age.
This is not enforced on anyone, but is generally the earliest retirement-to-elder age. Please let staff know if your character would like to retire to the life of an elder.
Characters are not required to die of old age.
In theory, Havensake characters can live as long as they'd like. However, to maintain some sense of realism, characters may not be brought in past 16 years of age.
Adolescents may request an early graduation assignment to graduate at 15 moons.
Apprentices can graduate at 15 moons at the earliest. Users can request their early graduation assignment starting at 12 moons and complete it anytime before the character turns 18. Members can request graduation assignments by noting the group, asking in the discord through a ticket or help and support, or contacting an admin or mod.
LEAVING, REJOINING, & REBIRTH
A new member's first character cannot be a loner, wanderer, or exile.
Members must introduce their first character as a Tribe cat of any age (kitten, adult, etc). This will give them the best understanding of the group. This applies to former members rejoining the group.
Characters may not join the group as wanderers or exiles.
A character must obtain a tattoo to become a wanderer (either being in a Tribe for 2 months and leaving, or being in the group for 2 months and obtaining a tattoo). A character will need to be exiled by their Tribe leader or Spirit to become an exile.
Characters who left the group that end up returning may regain any upgrades/inventory they once had.
As long as the user did not give away a character's inventory/got refunded exp for the characters upgrades, they may regain them back. Visual logs of proof are needed for this, which should be provided to you when you leave the group, as long as admins are notified of you leaving. Former members rejoining the group will not regain any exp lost when they left.
Refunds may be issued for a character who leaves, either for the slot, purchased/upgraded skills, etc.
If a character dies, they are automatically refunded. However, if a character leaves, please tell an admin if you would like their skills etc. refunded. Characters who switch Tribes will also be refunded for skills and masteries that surpass what is necessary for their age (ie. 3 skills for adolescent, 4 for adult), as the skills will reset when they switch.
Characters who are removed for activity check purposes may not return for 2 months.
If you remove a character because they failed an activity check while you were trying to bring in another character or roll a litter, that specific character cannot rejoin the group until at least 2 real-life months have passed.
Deaths of TGB characters may be retconned on a case-by-case basis.
Death retcons must be from TGB, must have originated from headcanon, leaving journals, or personal announcements. Not viable if RPed or submitted to the group or done through an announcement or event.
Characters from TGB may be reincarnated.
The cat in question must not have any existing familial ties. The character must slightly differ from the original counterpart, becoming, in essence, a doppelganger rather than a return. The character will not retain memories of their past life (though they may experience vague inclinations towards certain things from their past life, such as being partial to a specific Tribe if they were in it in their past life). They will also not be able to be together romantically or physically with someone who is a blood relative of their past incarnation.
If you are unsure if your character is eligible for a rebirth, contact us for individual judgment over group notes.
JOINING
Interested in joining Havensake? Great! The most important thing is to read all of the information you'll find under the "INFO" tab- everything outside of that is best read in moderation, as there is a lot of information to read to get the hang of our group. The only ways to join at the moment are through kitten tryouts and member vouchers- Havensake does not conduct public openings at this time, nor do we have any planned! However, please feel free to note the dA group for a Discord invite, and you're sure to find someone in there who will help you get into the group!
To get started, please check out the How to Join section!
