There is an application section of the discord. Note: Limited Characters are released in waves, so while you may be accepted you may still have to wait some time before a wave of characters is released and you enter into the raffle. Plan at least one alternate character to play.

Yes, as long as your character was never in the line of succession or has been legally disinherited from any fief outside the sim, they’re valid to play. When doing so, players will not get story team consideration for their familial ties, and those ties should be distant, weak, non-legal, or otherwise separated from the actual title holder by at least two total degrees down or across (ex. A non-inheriting grandchild or niece/nephew). Whether they’re a direct heir ousted by a rich uncle or a bastard forging their own path, the key is: "No NPC help from off-sim." If too many characters take this route, we may revise it later. If your character ever ends up in a position of leadership, you can always put in the request to make them a noble later, though Limited Availability Character rules apply.

There are two answers here. The first is an answer for why the races are limited in the first place, and that is to allow the fantastic without diluting the world from "regular" characters. If everyone is special, no one is, after all! If the more fantastical races start to feel mundane, it removes their entire purpose. The second answer is to why a raffle specifically, and that is to allow everyone (with a character concept that's good enough) the chance at getting to play those roles. A raffle also prevents both favoritism and the appearance of favoritism, neither of which are good. Having the selection be random instead of the staff choosing the subjective to us best fit means players can relax and RP without worry that the limited slots are only going to be handed out to friends of staff. 

The intention of Orcrest's races is to allow each space to breathe, and to have each feel like a credible part of a living world. That is why each of the allowed anthro-races are not named after their stereotypical anthro counterparts, and why each has a wealth of lore associated with it. However, we are open to the possibility (with no guarantee) of expanding the list of races in the future. If you have an idea with a creative name and a lore rooted in the world of Orcrest, the staff team would be more than happy to hear you out!

Largely, we wanted a system that encouraged people to go outside their rentals or other safe spaces, to go bump into people in areas they wouldn't otherwise frequent. The system is designed to be casual-friendly, while still having enough depth to sink your teeth into. Success comes from collaboration, letting players engage with what interests them while relying on their friends or faction members for the rest. At its core, the system facilitates IC drama and conflict, while balancing PvE, PvP, progression, and inter-player economy. This means there's a role for everyone, even those who have no interest in ever joining a faction or fighting.

Approximately every hour spent on sim in an IC area will give you a coin drop. There are a maximum of five coin drops a day, and the first two also give you XP alongside them. In addition, you can go out in the world to find nodes to harvest. Nodes come in various flavours, with dedicated resource nodes being faction controllable and giving guaranteed drops, while random nodes out in the wilderness require skill checks, and treasure nodes in dungeons require progression through that dungeon. Once a day, if you successfully harvest a node (other than the resource nodes), your coin drop will trigger regardless of how long you've been on sim. Wherever you get your progression from, it is time gated, so players won't be able to streak ahead.​

Time gating is effectively setting a maximum rate of system progression characters can achieve. In this case, we're time gating things on both a daily and weekly basis. Every day, characters can earn up to 2 XP and up to 25 silver, but weekly progression is capped at 6 XP and 75 silver. In addition, each character can get up to 3 node harvests per week, which represent a large bulk of the loot a character can get. This means if you can play over the course of three calendar days per week, you can get the maximum progression for your character and not fall behind. With this, a character who plays at least an hour a day for three days every week can expect to hit maximum level in about six weeks. 

Well, for one, we want to respect everyone's time. Roleplay isn't anyone's job, and having to treat it like that or fall behind isn't conductive to anything but burnout. On the flip side, we still want to encourage players to leave their rentals and go out into the world, and this system also accomplishes that. You won't hit your maximum progression without going out and exploring, giving plenty of opportunity to interact with others.

No. These NPCs were purchased and modified for exclusive usage on the sim. You can buy and modify your own from various 3d marketplaces, if you like.

Broadly speaking, Soulshift's transformation effect does not change anything mechanically, other than potentially letting you flee from a situation you otherwise would not be able to flee from. Your skills, attributes, talents, and equipped gear do not change and still provide the same value while you are shifted.

Though resembling humans, elves originate from the Lands Beyond, beings who came to aid mortals against abominations and dragon god-kings that ruled before recorded history, and in turn embraced mortality to stay in the world they helped liberate. Harvest elves are the most common of their scions, whether common-born, of a noble line, or even the offspring of high elven parents. A vast majority of elvenkind are harvest elves, and even a majority of Aer Arnad's nobility are as well.

High elves are harvest elves (typically noble-born) who have completed the pilgrimage to the Lands Beyond. Through secret rites, they journey to the ancestral homeland of the elves, learning via the twisting chaos of the dreams held within and the beings that yet reside there. They return changed, their very physiology altered by the sheer weight of magic that passed through them. These beings are strange, oddly proportioned, and alien in both thought and nature, regaining some of the ethereal power that their ancestors relinquished to settle amongst mortals. Seldom are any but the most devoted offspring of high elves sent on this pilgrimage, but even still, many are lost to the tide of dreams. Those who return keep the details of their pilgrimage secret, even from close kin.

There yet exist high elves who were children before the schism that birthed the Drow nearly a thousand years ago, though few believe Ulkarith or her original zealots still survive. Altered by blood magic, the drow who reach Orcrest today are generations removed from the banished, and are often renegades fleeing violence, slavery, or ritual sacrifice, or else raiders cut off from their route home. Shunned by surfacers, they trust no one and often live as violent, traumatised outcasts. Some seek refuge through trade or favour with Vhaunlur, the Felmire’s most cosmopolitan city, hoping to buy safety within it's walls as something more than a thrall.

The timescale runs 1:1 with the region's environment, completing a full 12-hour rotation. This results in two IC days per real-world day. To maintain narrative alignment with real-world (Northern Hemisphere) seasons, Orben’s seasonal cycle is doubled in length.

Note: any time the website refers to a period of time in the rules (a week, a month, etc) it is referring to the real world time frame and not the IC one.

While we encourage anyone who wants to make visual representations of the items they are making, we do not want content creators to have an unfair leg up. With this in mind, you can hand out mesh items as part of a trade (for silver or in barter for another system item) only if they are accompanied by a non-curio crafted system item representative of the mesh (ex. a crafted sword if you want to give out a mesh sword).