Morphic Encyclopedia

List of Arbiters

Head Arbiter
K’sariya

Elder Arbiters
VeloJello

Arbiters
Fenris

Inactive Arbiters
–/–


Plot

In the medieval, pre-tech world inhabited by Pokemon and people alike, tales have long been told about a mirage island untouched by either species. People and Pokemon have glimpsed the island, but only for a few moments, never able to reach it. The stories and rumors swirling around it are endless, from tall tales about immortality for landing on its shores to stories that a beast carries it on its back through the sea, evading contact. The thread that runs through all of them, however, is that nobody has ever been able to keep sight of its misty shores for long, and certainly not long enough to make landfall on it.

There’s a half truth in that.

While the island of Mautte once was inaccessible, Pokemon (including Pokemon who were once humans) have begun washing up on its shores, their memories wiped, retaining only their names and only the slightest inclinations of who they once were.

They don’t know it yet, but the longer they stay, the stronger they will grow. The island’s radiant energy will give them powers beyond what they’ve ever known: the ability to shapeshift, at will, into a myriad of different forms.


General Rules of RP

Morphic is like most other free-form RPs. As such, we have several standard RP rules that apply to the entire section, both In-Character and Out-of-Character.

While not rules, there are a few details to keep in mind about the RP, and information that might be helpful for you to know.


Post Milestones

URPG progression in Morphic is based off of post count. Through the number of posts you make, you unlock forms, characters, EMs, etc.

There are three different ways that you’ll need to track your posts, and all of those are tied together:

If you want an easy way to track all of this, consider using our custom Google Sheets tracking template. You by no means have to use it, or even have a solution of your own nearly as complex (tracking your posts in your stats or character applications works just as well!), but it makes it a lot easier!

Below is a list of all of those numbers and milestones in one place. Be sure to read each section where the rules for the below milestones are detailed fully; not all information and restrictions to the below are listed here.

Repeating Milestones:
These are Milestones that happen repeatedly, at a set interval of posts.

Every:

Set Milestones:

Earning a New Pokemon:
Below are the number of posts needed to complete an earned form. Remember that you do not gain EMs while making posts to complete an earned form.


The Island of Mautte

Mautte is a sprawling island, host to a plethora of diverse biomes. The legends and rumors about it can never pinpoint it to one exact location. From outside eyes, it’s always shrouded by mist or storm, or simply invisible altogether.

Up until recently, the island has been uninhabited. Now, however, Pokemon have begun washing up on the black sands of its southern shore—as well as Pokemon who were once human before washing up on the island. All who enter (or leave) lose their memory, keeping only their name and some vague sense of who they are. While some begin to experience confusing flashbacks of their lives before after remaining on the island for some time, they never come close to fully regaining their identities and memories.

Most of the island’s shores are vicious and inhospitable—steep, unforgiving crags and rocks under constant assault by vicious waves. But there are a few places where the oceans and the shores calm, and much more mystery within.

You can explore the Island of Mautte’s boards to read about its many unique terrains and territories.


Characters

The premise of Morphic is that your characters are Pokemon who, after washing up on this island, gain the power to shapeshift into other Pokemon forms. You can choose to RP in the form of a Pokemon you already own in order to earn EMs on it, both in the RP and in URPG. Alternatively, you can choose to RP with a Pokemon you don’t own yet, and once you make a certain number of posts in that form, you can earn the Pokemon in URPG!

The general guidelines and rules for character creation, as well as specific details on lore and powers that applies to characters, is detailed below.

Character Slots

When starting off in Morphic, each player has a maximum of two separate characters that they can freely create. Each character has its own name, personality, and backstory. Each character can also have its own Pokemon forms.

You earn a slot to create a new character when you reach a certain of RP posts across all of your characters. You unlock each slot at a certain number of posts:

While not required, you’re encouraged to stick with characters once you make them, because the relationships that your character forges are important to everyone else’s RP, too.

Species and Forms

Each character has different forms that they can shift freely between within the RP. There are two different types of forms:

When you create a character, you start with only one form. A character’s first initial form is an imported form. You can choose what Pokemon you’re linking that form to when you sign up. Your character’s imported form can have different names, genders, and natures/personalities from its linked Pokemon, but they share the same Level-Up moves and EMs (TMs, HMs, MTs, BMs, and SMs).

Specifications and Rules About Species and Forms

Earning EMs

Each post that you make in an imported form counts toward earning an EM on that Pokemon. You earn new EM on a Pokemon every 5 posts. You can choose and claim that EM in this thread, and may add it to your URPG stats and start using it ICly as soon as the claim is approved by an Arbiter.

This means that you should keep track of how many posts you’ve made in each form in your character’s sign up, with links to those posts or threads.

If you change forms during a post, the post count for that post goes to the form that you ended the post in. There’s no limit on how many times you can change form in a post (except for in Morphic battles).

Fully-EM’d Pokemon

If your linked Pokemon owns every single move that it can possibly obtain in URPG, then every 5 posts, you will instead unlock a Daycare Pass that can be used normally on any Pokemon in your URPG stats. This effect only happens if you have completely maxed out that Pokemon with every available move. Ditto is an example of a common Pokemon where this may happen frequently (and in Ditto’s case, immediately), since its only move is Transform, which is Level Up.

Only Daycare Passes can be earned with this effect, meaning that TMs cannot be earned through this effect.

Earning New Pokemon

When you unlock a new form, you can choose to make it a Pokemon you do not yet own (or a Pokemon you’d like to obtain another of) in order to work toward obtaining in URPG. That Pokemon is role played in its basic form, and can be earned through posting with that form.

The amount of posts required to unlock a Pokemon depends on the rank of its basic:

Once you’ve met the requirement for posts in that form, you can claim the Pokemon you earned here. That Pokemon is claimed into your URPG stats as a basic Pokemon.

While you’re earning a new Pokemon, you don’t earn EMs on that Pokemon while in that form. However, once you have earned that Pokemon and it is in your URPG stats, it becomes a imported form that is linked to that Pokemon, which means that you can earn EMs on it as usual from there.

Appearance and Gender

Each of your character’s forms may have their own individual appearances and genders. You have liberal freedom with the appearance of your forms–you can create them as shiny, or perhaps of a completely different coloration that isn’t shiny or regular.

However, when you choose that initial appearance, you can’t make major changes to it later in the RP without purchasing a major appearance change. Major changes that happen logically and ICly (for example, scarring receiving or losing a limb from an IC event, your character deciding to use natural dyes to change their color, etc.) don’t need to be purchased. A major appearance change in this case would be something like your character’s coat/skin completely changing color, changing from the appearance of a regular Pokemon to a shiny, etc.

This is to keep continuity and consistency for other characters in the RP. While a major appearance change is something that may happen unexpectedly to a character, Morphic characters are ultimately (as far as they know in-character) at the whim of the island’s mysterious forces for what forms they obtain and how those forms look, so they typically shouldn’t be having major appearance changes regularly, which is why it must be purchased.

Each form may have a different gender if you so choose. You also have complete freedom with what you would like your Pokemon to identify as, including with genderless Pokemon.

Accessories

If you’d like your character to have natural accessories from the island (such as, but not limited to: shells, feathers, vines, etc.), you may freely to add those to your character’s appearance!

Man-made items, however, are special. The Island of Mautte is placed somewhere within the oceans of the canonical Pokemon world, but that Pokemon world is medieval, predating Pokemon technology such as Pokeballs, spray Potions, Pokemon Centers and weapon technology (in this more realistic world) such as guns. “Owned” Pokemon in the outside world are tamed through friendship, or forcibly subdued in what ways they can be.

Occasionally, these medieval man-made items may wash up on a specific shore on the island, known as Flotsam Bluff. They don’t show up anywhere else, likely due to the complex currents that run around Mautte.

Flotsam Bluff

Flotsam Bluff is the only place where characters can obtain man-made items, and also one of the only other ways that players can RP with Arbiters. Lore-wise, Flotsam Bluff is a sort of dumping grounds for what would be considered the Pokemon world’s Bermuda Triangle; all sorts of random things wash up here. For this reason, players can find the man-made accessories they’d like to equip their characters with here.

Furthermore, the recent earthquakes have caused some of Mautte’s untrammeled power to begin seeping through the figurative and literal cracks. Those seeking to reap the Bluff’s bounty have found themselves confronted by odd sights – spectral visions and nonsensical arenas have been reported, but when Pokemon revisit the sites of these hallucinations, no sign of them remains. Due to the fact that this seems to universally happen to those seeking Mautte’s most precious items, some Pokemon have dubbed these occurrences “Trials”. A Pokemon undergoing a Trial may have to undergo a fight or some other ordeal against a spectral or otherwise hallucinated Pokemon, and any attacks they endure will feel real. Trials most commonly occur within the caves along Flotsam Bluff’s edge, but they can happen anywhere within the Bluff.

Some examples of Trials are: 

It is recommended that characters looking for Trial-formatted Flotsam Bluff threads discuss these with their Arbiters in advance, to discuss the levels of mysticism the player desires, as well as what story threads they think would be most interesting for their character.

The accessories that wash up on Flotsam Bluff are sorted OOCly into two categories, each requiring a certain number of posts in an Arbiter-guided thread to obtain:

Remember that Mautte is set in the Pokemon world, but in an era where the technology is medieval at best. Because of this, characters will never be able to find things such as guns or potions or Pokeballs, or any similar tech along those lines. Z-crystals, rings, etc. are also not allowed as of now. Mega Stones cannot be found via the Bluff, and instead can be found scattered across the various biomes when they spawn, once per month.

When a player posts a thread in the Bluff, any Arbiter can choose to reply to it with an RP post, and it becomes their thread to guide–no other Arbiter can post in it unless that Arbiter gives them permission or transfers their claim on the thread. These threads are first-come, first-serve, but it’s polite to let someone know you want a thread in the Arbiter chat to prevent others from taking it if you’re so inclined. Otherwise, it’s fair game.

A player will always post which item they’re searching for in the OOC portion of their post. They are also encouraged to post whether or not they want their thread to include a Trial, and if so, what kind of Trial they are interested in. It’s the Arbiter’s job to decide if that accessory is major or minor (according to the categories outlined above), and then to guide them through a small journey to get that item. They can use whatever tools they’d like at their disposal, whether it be Trials, piloting an NPC that helps them find that item, or simply using the powerful forces of nature and the volatility of the bluff to make it a challenge for them to find it. Arbiters, for the most part, have full creative license with these threads.

When the player makes the required number of posts for that level of accessory (5 or 15), the player and Arbiter can close out the thread with them obtaining the item, and it can be considered done!

To begin an adventure to the Bluff to obtain one of these items, start a thread with your character in the Bluff’s RP board. Be sure to specify in the OOC notes of the post what item you’re looking to obtain, as well as any additional story details you would like to see from the thread, and an Arbiter will claim and respond to that thread. All Flotsam Bluff threads are Private, meaning that only your character and the Arbiter may post in it. Each of your characters are limited to one ongoing Flotsam Bluff thread at a time. Once you have made the required number of posts in that thread, you may consider the item earned!

Note that as of now, the outside world does not have the technology that allows Mega/Z-Rings and Mega Stones/Z-Crystals to exist, so they are not permitted as accessories. Mega Stones may be obtained by finding them in the various biomes when they spawn, once per month.

Abilities

Each imported form has the same choice of abilities as its linked Pokemon, and the way they work when characters are switching between forms works similarly to how they work in battles in URPG. When you switch into a form, you declare (whether OOCly or ICly) which ability you will be using for the duration that you’re in that form.

You may re-choose that ability freely every time you switch into a new form. So, for example, if I switch into a Sylveon form with Pixilate, I will only gain the effect of the Pixilate ability while I’m in that form. If I switch to, for example, my Incineroar form, then back to Sylveon again, I could choose Cute Charm instead, and so on.

You may only use forms that your linked Pokemon owns, so Hidden Abilities are locked until you unlock them in URPG. Pokemon in earned forms only have access to their regular abilities of that evolution form, and not their HAs.

Customizing Your Abilities

In Morphic, you have some flexibility in what your abilities do from character to character, form to form. You can (to an extent) customize all of a Pokemon’s abilities in some way.

When you create a character or earn a new form, you must outline how each of that new form’s abilities will work. These abilities will be approved by an Arbiter, who will help ensure that those abilities are fair and plausible for everyone.

Example:
I sign up with my character Inferno, whose first form is a Chandelure from my stats. I import the Chandelure form with all of the abilities it has in URPG, and I decide to make some cool effects for them:

An Arbiter would then look over these abilities and approve them with my character sign up. An Arbiter must approve any new abilities that I gain on any of my forms in order for them to be used in the RP. When earning a new form here, the abilities should be described and approved with the form. If you’ve gained access to an ability outside of earning a new form (for example, evolving a Pokemon or purchasing an HA), you can post the ability and its effects here to have it approved.

Guidelines for Creating and Customizing Abilities

Morphic will typically give you a fair amount of freedom with the effects of the abilities you customize, but there are a few things you need to keep in mind:

Special Abilities and Moves

There are some abilities and moves that need a little clarification in order to build off of, so we’ve taken the time to list the basic effects of how they work in an RP setting here. You can still customize these to an extent, but their basic structure must function as outlined. These are for the major, major outliers, but if you have any suggestions, feel free to send them to a Head or Elder Arbiter.

Imposter and Transform
Transform is a tiring move that requires concentration. As such, a Ditto can only Transform once per post. The Ditto can only transform into player characters within its line of sight. While transformed, it can make use of all of the opponent’s moves and abilities. However, they do not gain any of the other player’s items.

The Imposter ability will, if active, take effect as soon as a character changes into their Ditto form. The character with the Imposter ability will then immediately take the shape of another player character within its line of sight (player’s choice). This counts as a use of Transform.

Illusion
When a Pokemon transforms into a form with Illusion as the active ability, the user adopts the appearance of another chosen player character within its line of sight at the time. This can happen immediately, appearing to others as if they simply transformed into the character that Illusion takes the shape of; or, the Pokemon with the Illusion ability can choose to activate it at a later time, still taking on the appearance of a Pokemon in their line of sight when the ability is activated. They adopt the full appearance of that character, including the appearance of their items, but cannot actually use them or any of that character’s moves or abilities, only their own. The illusion is broken when/if the player is touched or dealt damage.

Wonder Guard
Hits that aren’t super effective pass right through this Pokemon. However, if they take a direct hit from a super effective attack, they are forced completely randomly into another form–an Arbiter must roll the dice for this.

Sketch
If it is valid for them to do so, Smeargle can use Sketch in Morphic just as they would in battles in order to learn a move used in a visible character’s last post. Sketches in Morphic apply as Sketches in URPG, so Sketch may only be used if they have available moves allotted left to do so. Once they hit the cap of moves in URPG, they can no longer Sketch until they have the room to do so.

Moves

Moves work on a similar principle as abilities; they’re flexible and up to interpretation within reason. Unlike with abilities, you don’t have to have your variations on moves set or approved. You can use them in your posts however you wish to interpret them.

A great way to see how moves are interpreted differently is to check the variations of what they do in the anime. Bulbapedia is a great resource for this. Each move has an “in the anime” section at the bottom, that shows with description and images how the move has been used. Air Slash is a good example of some variation in how a move is executed depending on what’s using it.

You can also freely combo and combine moves. For example, I could make a sort of “fake” Blaze Kick by using Mega Kick while cloaking my leg in fire, or combine a Powder Snow and a Fairy Wind to create a pseudo-Icy Wind. Feel free to get creative as long as the effects still relate back to the original move in some way.

Moves in Morphic don’t necessarily have PP, but note that stronger moves, or repetitively using the same moves, is more likely to tire out your character.

If you feel like someone is using or interpreting a move in a way that’s unfair, feel free to reach out to a Head or Elder Arbiter!

Other Considerations

Combining a fantasy world like Pokemon with a more realistic RP setting always has some strange bits. Here are a few details that might be useful for your own world-building:


Mega Evolution, Stones, & Forms

Not long after Mautte’s discovery, each of Mautte’s areas began to birth certain types of elemental stones. Unlike in other Pokemon worlds, where the stones align with certain species, these stones empower the forms that share a type with them. Pokemon on the island have begun to make curious pilgrimages, feeling strange new connections with the different areas of Mautte.

They also found that when they fought or spent a lot of time with a stone that matches any one of their forms types through a process called attunement, they can take on powerful new forms!

About Mega Stones in Morphic

Obtaining Mega Stones

Each area in Mautte (except for Outskirts areas) have two elemental affinities. These correspond with Pokemon types, and spawn stones of that type.

Two random areas will spawn two Mega Stones each (one of each of its affinities) every month on the first of that month.

Characters can only be in one Mega Stone thread in a spawned batch at a time. This means you must ICly depart from the thread before being able to go to another one that spawned at the same time.

To “claim” a Mega Stone, your character must pick up the desired stone ICly in that area’s Mega Stone thread when they spawn. From here, two things may happen:

  1. Another character may choose to contest the claim of the stone. They must do so within 5 days of your post to claim the stone. The two characters may sort out the disagreement in any way–whether through diplomacy or battle. If it is resolved through diplomacy, then the beneficiary of the diplomacy may take the stone and leave the thread, as long as they’re not interrupted from doing so within 24 hours.
    1. If someone else makes a move to contest the claim of the stone, the fight for the stone begins. See the “Judged Fights” section of the Infohub for more information about judged fights, including their posting deadlines.
  2. No other characters contest the claim. If 5 days pass without the stone being contested, you have successfully claimed the stone!

Elemental Affinity Areas

Below is a list of each area and its affinities. Areas with a their affinity named below are considered to be an area whose affinity can public knowledge in some way for your character, if you so choose.

Monthly spawns can still happen in a ??? area. Areas with a ??? affinity must be explored before their affinities become public and a Stone can be claimed there.

To explore an area, you must complete a thread with at least three posts with someone else in that area. Once you have done so, you will be DM’d privately the knowledge of the stones. You may keep this private or you may announce it publicly. If there is a stone currently there on that month, you may post there immediately. Others must somehow also gain IC knowledge to enter a Megastone thread in an area whose affinity has been newly discovered that month (through exploring, or through an IC exchange of information). On the first of the next calendar month, the affinity of that area will become public knowledge.

Shimmering Caverns – Rock/Dark
Seething Peak – Fire/Poison
The Stepping Stones – ???
The Summits – Ice/Steel

Drifting Oasis – Grass/Fire
Parched Crater – Steel/Rock
Onyx Temple – Psychic/Fighting
Sheer Canyon– Ground/Dragon

Cascade Falls – ???
The Menagerie – Poison/Bug
Cloudbreak – Grass/Flying

Lucent Bay – Ground/Fighting
Brilliant Reef – Psychic/Fairy
Lost Depths – ???

Blooming Savannah – Fairy/Electric
Outwash Basin – Ice/Dragon
Damp Delta – ???
Somber Wood – Dark/Ghost

Attuning to a Mega Stone

Your character can attune to a Mega Stone sharing the type of any one of their forms in one of two ways:

  1. Make 15 new posts with that character. Posts made in new threads after you find the Mega Stone may count toward attunement. The Mega Stone should be at least (loosely) on your character’s person or near them in these thread(s).
  2. Participate in a judged fight with another character that is at least three rounds long. This can be a friendly spar or a spiteful rivalry match, or anything else in-between. Battles awaken the power within the stone faster than any other method. The Mega Stone should be at least (loosely) on your character’s person or near them in this thread, and will be awoken when the fight results are posted.

For either of these attunement methods, you do not need to be in the form that shares a type with that stone in order for the attunement or post(s) to “count”. For example, a Cradily character with a Hydreigon form can still attune to a Dark stone with posts or a fight in its Cradily form as long as it has the stone on them.

If you have multiple stones, a post or fight can only count toward attunement of one stone at a time.

You can track attunement progress in any way that is convenient for you specifically. You will need to show proof of these posts or a fight for attunement when you claim your Mega form(s) in the Claiming Hub.

Mega Forms

You can post in the Claiming Hub to obtain your Mega Forms once you have attuned a stone. There are only a few things to note:

Sample Mega Forms

Below are two examples of Mega Forms for your convenience. You can make forms like this, or completely different–they are just examples! Thanks to VeloJello for these examples.

Species: Nidoking.
Types: Poison/Ground.
Ability: Moxie. Mayhue’s sheer force of personality is something to behold. In battle, he is nearly impossible to intimidate, dissuade, or distract.
Appearance: [url=https://www.deviantart.com/rey-menn/art/Mega-Nidoking-524109064]rey-menn’s Mega Nidoking design[/url].

Species: Altaria.
Types: Dragon/Electric.
Ability: Galvanize. Thanks to the electricity now bristling within her feathers, Nimbus can imbue her attacks with electrical energy. This is easiest to do with attacks that don’t have a particularly strong affinity (Normal-type attacks). Once every other post, Nimbus can add a current of electricity to one of her non-Electric-type moves, infusing it with lightning and giving it more raw power.
Appearance: Nimbus’s deep blue feathers have turned a bright, electric cyan with an iridescent shimmer. Where harmless, cottony down once covered, two wings extend, draconic in nature with a covering of long, blue-banded black feathers on the dorsal side.The clouds covering her body have moved back and shifted, turning from pure white into deep black. Her legs, longer now and tipped with razor-sharp electric blue talons, are exposed; instead, the clouds on her body cover her back and extend over her tailfeathers. The two outermost tailfeathers are similar to her wing feathers – black banded with lurid blue – and are jagged in shape, resembling lightning bolts. Her white cheeks and beak have turned black, and her normally-blunted beak has sharpened considerably. The two crest feathers at the top of her head have also moved, forming two shorter, thicker lightning-bolt shapes over her bright brown eyes.


Clans

Clans are the main social structure of Morphic. Clans are character-formed groups that settle in territories, claiming those territories as their own. Your characters can seek to join clans throughout the course of the RP, and their allegiances may shift and change as the clans themselves do.

Current Clans

There are currently two clans in Morphic. Click the name to go to the Clan’s page, which will have full information on the Clan.

Knights of Avalon – led by Gawain (played by VeloJello)

Disciples of the Forgotten – led by Cassandra (played by evanfardreamer)

Joining A Clan

When you first sign up with your character, they begin as a Rogue. A Rogue is a rank that means that you have no allegiance to a clan. In order to join a clan, you must be accepted into that clan through the RP. Some clans will require a leader to accept you, while others may allow any member to accept you into the clan.

While a clan can accept you anywhere, the best way to join a clan that you want your character to be in is to have that character go to that clan’s territory board. Clan territory boards are marked with a color that marks that clan’s territory. Post a thread with your character visiting their borders, and play out asking to join the clan from there.

You do not need to meet any post requirements to join a clan. As long as there is an IC post with a qualified character accepting you, you can then be considered a part of that clan!

Each clan has a pinned thread in their territory that has the clan’s description, ranks, list of members, and rules. You can read up on the clan there! Typically, you don’t have to RP someone telling you these rules; it’s assumed that your character is told them in passing in some way, but you can also RP it out if you’d like.

Leaving A Clan

Each clan will have different rules for leaving. Some may require you to notify them, while others will let you leave without mentioning it to anyone ICly. Check the clan rules on the clan page to be sure! Once you’ve left a clan, you can join another freely.

Obtaining a Clan

Clans can be obtained by characters in three different ways: founding a clan, challenging for a clan, and exchanging clan leadership.

Founding a Clan

Clans can be founded by characters with at least 35 character posts as long as there is an open slot in the game to do so.

As of now, there are 3 total clan slots, with 2 clan slots open for claiming!

Clan slots are opened when another clan disbands. A clan may do this for a variety of reasons, by choice of the leader or if the leader fails their activity requirements. Slots opening will be announced in the #morphic and/or #announcements channel on Discord.

When a slot is open, an eligible character may post a founding thread. To claim a territory and found a clan there, a character must simply post a thread in that territory that has [FOUNDING] at the beginning of the thread title, and post staking out their claim! Note that only sub-boards are claimable territories, so while the Shimmering Caverns can be claimed, The Spine itself cannot. Territories in the Entry Grounds cannot be claimed.

When someone else makes a claim, one other leader-eligible character interested in founding a clan may contest their claim, leading to a fight over the right to found the clan. The winner may found the clan in an unclaimed, claimable territory of their choice.

Note that claiming an open clan slot is first-come, first serve. The first person to post a founding thread will automatically fill that clan slot, and the first person to contest that claim will be the only other person who gets a chance at it. When a new clan is founded, that clan’s leader has immunity to challenges for the first month, in order to give them time to establish the clan.

If their claim goes unchallenged for 72 hours, then that character is allowed to officially found their clan! They may post their clan thread in that board that contains their clan’s name, description, ranks, list of members, and rules, and may begin RPing as that clan’s leader!

Clan Challenges

Characters can choose to challenge the leadership of existing clans to battle in order to take the clan for their own. The player posts in that territory calling the leader to the challenge, and the leader then has 72 hours to respond to the challenge. If they do not respond to the challenge within 72 hours, the clan is automatically won by the challenger, its members become rogues, and the clan may be moved and ruled how the new leader pleases.

When a new clan is founded, that clan’s leader has immunity to challenges for the first month, in order to give them time to establish the clan.

For more information on the fight for the clan itself, see the Fighting Guide.

Exchanging Clan Leadership

There are times when it may be appropriate in the RP for a clan leader to decide to pass the leadership to the clan to someone else. This can only be done once per month, and must be done in an IC thread for the leadership to be officially passed. When a clan is passed to a new leader peacefully, they do not gain the one-month immunity from challenges.

Activity Requirements for Clan Leaders

Because clan slots are limited, and a leader’s inactivity may affect the rest of the characters in the game, Morphic has minimal requirements for a leader’s activity. A leader must post at least twice per month in order to keep their clan. If they fail to meet this requirement, the clan disbands, and a clan slot in the game opens.

This disbandment can be explained through a variety of IC ways, but can typically be reflected in the leader’s absence causing members to decide to leave. However, if you control a leader whose Clan disbanded, and you would like there to be a different IC reason (for example, a flood striking that Clan’s lands, driving them out of the territory and scattering its members), feel free to let a Head or Elder Arbiter know, and they will come up with one for you.

Clan Pages

At the top of each territory board is that clan’s page. It contains all of the information about the clan that people need to know.

Clan Rules

The rules of a clan are entirely up to the leader. You can create anything from a casual clan who doesn’t mind people wandering through the territory, to a cutthroat one that fights anyone who breathes near the border, to anything in-between. When detailing the rules of your clan, here are some things to keep in mind:

Clan Ranks

Each leader can decide the ranks of their clan. The only requirement is that there can not be more than one “official” leader of a clan in order to track activity requirements, but other ranks can be created that have the same powers that you decide, and can be treated as the same ICly.

You can everything from the names and numbers of ranks, how many characters can hold those ranks, and what authority they have in the clan.


Fighting

In Morphic, there are two types of fights between characters:

Judged Fights

Judged fights are fights where the outcome is determined by Arbiters. Judged fights are judged off of a certain set of criteria that add up to a certain number of points. The character who has the highest score wins the fight.

Starting and Completing a Judged Fight

When a fight challenge is issued by a character, the players decide together whether they want to predetermine the winner or not. If they don’t, then Arbiters can determine the outcome of the fight based on set criteria. They also determine how many rounds/posts each player needs to make and complete.

Judged fights are recommended to be at least 3-5 rounds. The fighting players work out the number of rounds they want the fight to last before the fight starts. This number determines when the Arbiter will step in and determine the outcome.

Players then post to play out the fight to that number of posts. Once players reach that number, they can decide if they’d like to extend the fight if they feel like it’s necessary. Otherwise, they will submit the fight for judging here and an Arbiter will determine the outcome. A fight may also continue past that point if the Arbiter reaches a numerical tie in the score and deems that more rounds are necessary to break the tie.

Posting Deadlines

When a judged fight is declared in-character, the character that has been challenged to the fight then has 72 hours to respond with an IC post. This 72 hour deadline will apply to every round–if Character A and Character B are fighting, when A posts to the fight, B will have 72 hours to respond, then A will have 72 hours from B’s post to respond again, and so on.

These deadlines are to keep fights from stagnating, especially when they involve important character events or Clans. If a character does post within the 72 hour deadline, the fight will automatically “default” into the other character’s favor, and they will be considered the winner of that fight automatically.

General Fight Rules

Fight Stats

At the beginning or end of each fight post, you should make sure that you note several things:

While not required/reflected in your score, it may be helpful to you to list your injuries or attacks so that you can keep track of them, too.

Judged Fight Criteria

Each player starts out with the maximum score of 30 points, with mistakes subtracting from that total. Below is the rubric for these categories.

While you start out with 30 points across the above categories, you may earn bonus points that add onto your total through:

Deductions

When mistakes are made, a certain amount of points are deducted from the category that the mistake belongs to:

Winning (or Losing) a Fight

When a winner is determined in a judged fight, that winner achieves victory. If they were fighting over a Clan, they win that Clan. If they were fighting over something else, such as for sparring, fun, or for dominance, it becomes apparent ICly that they have won the fight and achieved that goal, and the fight ends.

When a character loses a fight, the two players can work out how the losing character is defeated if they’d like, but the losing character can no longer participate in Judged fights in that thread.

It’s important to be considerate OOCly when people win or lose fights; rudeness between players over fight results will not be permitted. It’s important to remember, too, that a character being a sore loser or hateful in-character does not mean they feel that way or are saying it to you personally as a player!

Advanced Fighting Tips

If you’re looking to get better at fighting in Morphic, or want more details on what counts as a potential deduction, try to check out the judgments of pre-existing fights, or check out the Arbiter Guide section on judging fights.