FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS.
What is Sea of Hearts?
Sea of Hearts is a small panfandom game based in the World of Alice Mare. It is played in rounds with a set number of people. It features elements of psychological and physical horror, adventure and psychological exploration. Every two weeks of the round features a journey into another character's heart to see and learn their innermost secrets and their deepest traumas and fears with the threat of permanent death lingering over the characters' heads. For better or for worse, they'll need to explore.
Who can I apply for here?
Anyone you want, pretty much, as long as you think they'd fit into the game well! OU, AU, OC, CRAU, anybody you please, so long as you can explain them adequately. The only characters off the table are Alice Mare characters. Characters that are robots and the like, who may not have a human soul, will be presumed to have at least a consciousness that can be pulled into the World instead. Gotta keep things interesting!
How do the rounds work?
As previously mentioned, the game runs in rounds. As of the Beta Round, we've decided there will be two weeks to each storybook/Alice World. When the game first opens, it will be with a Hub Log on a Monday, and the first World already unlocked. After that, once two weeks have passed, the OOC information on the next World and the returning to the Hub log will go up that Friday, allowing characters three days to talk amongst one another, and their players to plot and finish up any remaining puzzles or tie up loose ends. (Of course, we're lax about backtagging here.)
The World will then have a Mingle Log posted by the character whose heart they're entering the following Monday (usually around 12AM, or whenever they're available to post it) for exploration. And this system will continue and repeat until things are finished.
When all the Worlds and Keys have been gathered, there will be a final Hub log for everyone to gather their thoughts and the NPCs to address them.
There, at the end of each round, the remaining characters get to go home after making a difficult decision.
Since interests seem to have been higher than we anticipated, the character cap has also been increased. The Beta round had eight slots available. And if all goes well, in subsequent rounds, depending on the amount of interest, we'll raise the cap by one at a time allowing for a maximum of twelve, eventually. In subsequent rounds, it will remain this until further notice.
What do you mean by "stories"?
Put simply, each character will have their own Door, or World, that represents their own heart, their innermost desires. The World knows everything about them, after all, and is happy to provide! ... But if they want to leave this place, everyone is going to have to go into each other's 'hearts', so to speak. Opening each door will lead to a small room with a cupboard, which will then thrust the characters inside the Storybooks. These are also known as the "Alice Worlds". ... But it's dangerous. Once your character goes in? There's no leaving to the hub until they get the key to leave. Still, at the end of each World, there is a single key to be found. Collect them all, and the characters should be able to return home, if the White Rabbit's words are the truth, anyway.
It's worth noting, each World tends to have a mythological or children's storybook theme, depending. This may not always be the case, but think things such as Mother Goose, the Brother's Grimm, and so on. So even if your character didn't have a relation to this things, the World may indeed implant them into it. It will plant a lot of odd things into the Alice Worlds.
Where is the information for the Alice Worlds?
Every two weeks, we'll be putting up a post in the OOC community that's updated as characters solve puzzles and unlock doors. The post describes the World so that players may freely make logs and tag one another to explore things. The mods will intervene when they are needed, as will the NPCs. These posts will also contain a thread for questions and a list of all puzzles and riddles in each world for easy access.
After it's been revealed, each Alice World is added to the Settings page with a short blurb and link to the OOC post. Once this gets sizeable, and after the round is complete, there will be a separate post exclusively for past Alice Worlds--the Alice Archives.
What about the language barrier?
Don't worry, Alice! This is a dream, of course. Anything you need to work out generally will. And this includes automatically understanding those around you, though it won't parse out their silly accents into your native tongue. Conversely, if you want someone to NOT understand you and it's your World they're in, it's probably possible to speak in your native tongue or total backwards gobbledegook. The same goes for writing. If a character already knows a language and can read it, obviously, they don't need to translate it anyway, so they'd hear or read it as that language.
The only exception to this are puzzles and specific Alice World places. If an Alice World is, say, filled with Japanese signs or writing, it's going to stay in Japanese, and you might not be able to read that, so you might want to ask someone who can.
How dangerous will this be?
Honestly? Incredibly. Most of the characters "die" at the end of their journey into their own hearts in each world. In other words, they'll be corrupted. Driven to absolute despair. Changed. Harmed. Unless you're incredibly resilient and lucky, it's unlikely this won't happen. The World will prey on all your character's deepest fears, insecurities, pains, and secrets. If it can find a way to hurt you, it will. The thing is? It's not just the World you have to look out for. It's everyone else in YOUR character's individual World that will hurt them, more than anything. Think about it. Putting sticky fingers all over a person's deepest desires and secrets, opening their heart and prying a Key out of it... unpleasant, yes? Bad things can result. Despair, generally, is the aim of the World. It wants to drive your character to absolute agony.
This is not a nice game for fun times. It will test your character. It will hurt them. Bonds will be forged or broken. People will get hurt, in each storybook. People will die (largely the one whose heart is being put under the microscope), but it's all right. The World will bring them back... mostly unharmed. Probably.
What does "mostly unharmed" mean?
After each person's story has been wrapped up, they'll return with the rest, but, well... Rabbit will be taking care of them initially. How "okay" they'll be is up for debate. If that romp actually broke them, they're likely to turn inky. Dark. Hollow. Despair-filled. They won't be good company, but you're free to keep attempting to play your character this way, and see if the others can snap them back to reality. (This is doable, but incredibly difficult.) They could go back into more worlds like this, but they will be permanently altered into this state until noted otherwise by the mods. If you think your character might recover, run it by the mods first--in most cases it will be difficult to do so, so we would like to make sure it would make sense for them to, first.
For an idea of what they might turn out to look like, here and here are some good examples. Alternatively, entire appearances could change, they could go mute, and even refuse to move at all. If this happens, and they break THAT badly, the White Rabbit will tuck them into bed in the Hub and leave them in their respective Door's room.
You mentioned a difficult decision. What is it?
Throughout their journey into one another's hearts and minds collecting the Keys, the characters will be faced with many riddles and puzzles to solve, likely placed there by the World or the guides (Cheshire and Rabbit) themselves. The character(s) who solve the most of these, at the end, will be given a final Key, their way back home, and a choice: one person cannot return home alive.
... It will be this character's choice of who is the "most evil", out of all they have witnessed. The person they decide to stab with the final, knife-like key they're given will then turn into a door for all the others to return home through.
The one stabbed will be gone forever. This death, unlike the ones in the storybook doors, is permanent. There is no revival system. These characters are gone for good, and their door/storybook will go with them when they become an exit. And you can forget stabbing Cheshire or Rabbit; it won't work on them. The ending that results after this may likely be played out by the mods and will be very gruesome. If you would like us to play this out with you, feel free to tell us.
... One more thing. It's possible that while the others are leaving... they may catch a glimpse... of what happens to the one who ended up left behind... but, can they do anything about it?
... Of course not. You agreed to this, didn't you all?
What if my character tries to steal/convince the one who won the final key to give it to them?
This is totally doable and we say go for it. Look, the guides don't care in the end. This makes the game more interesting. Either way, one person has to die. That's all that matters!
But my character is dead/has been dead for a long time!
This is fine! As long as your character has some kind of soul, deceased or not, they can be brought to the World. If you're uncertain about this, however, feel free to ask the mods. We'll be happy to work something out.
My character doesn't want to go home/had no home/is dead and likes the World better, what if they don't want to leave?
Well, in that case... don't worry about it. Trust me, by the end of this, they'd rather be anywhere but here. Even if their home sucked. If they were dead, they can be returned to the reincarnation cycle after this, or go back to wherever they were haunting, so on. It doesn't really matter! An exception can be found for most cases. And if they truly convince themselves not to leave... well.
They might just end up addressed by Cheshire and the Rabbit, hmmm? It could be interesting.
My character has a bunch of superpowers and will try to leave/beat up people to fix things.
Well, that's... kind of too bad for them. Any powers your character had aren't going to work in the World, sorry! That's just how it is. Yeah, sure, the World is a dream, but... it has self-preservation instincts, y'know. Can't have you destroying it. Sorry, Alice.
Certain powers, while inside the doors, however, may be allowable. It really just depends. In most cases, incredibly world-breaking ones won't be allowed, and anything that would let you cheat and read the minds of the World's denizens would also fail. Future sight and possession will also not work. Sorry! For anything else, feel free to ask us.
My character might try to murder the other Alices, though, in the Worlds.
This is certainly a possibility! It is very possible to die in the Worlds. You can kill people in the Worlds. But be warned it will have serious consequences if you do it. If you think killing everyone else is going to end well for you, random murderer, you have another thing coming. They will come back out into the hub. Your victims, that is. The victim will be healed and completely unharmed. They will wake up in front of the White Rabbit, on the ground, who will be rather morose about the situation, and likely ask you to get back in that cupboard.
If you, Alice, killed another Alice, though? Well... let's just say you'll find yourself in a very unpleasant room with a very unpleasant person. ... You see, Cheshire likes to play with people. If you purposefully kill someone, he will take your character to a room that is sealed off, just the two of them, and take a body part from them. It won't be pretty, or gentle. It could be an eye, or an ear, or an arm... whatever he's feeling that day, but he'll send you on your way. What he takes, and how much, will depend on the severity of your actions.
And, well, if you kill an awful lot... let's just say... maybe you shouldn't. You like existing, don't you? ... Of course you do. (This can be handwaved, or played out. We'll leave it up to the player's discretion.)
What if they want to kill someone with a normal thing in the Hub?
Uh... yeah, no one will be happy with that, either, Alice. Don't do that. Especially don't do that. Let the mods know first if you intend to do this. The consequences are a little bit more severe and would have to be threaded out. Suffice to say, their God would also be very unhappy with the mess you'd cause, and so would the White Rabbit! The murdered party would wake back up after a fair few hours have passed (about a day OOC) with the sensation of falling back into their body from the darkness in a bed, in one of the unlocked bedrooms containing the cupboards that lead to the various Alice Worlds. They will be healed and good as new, but they might briefly recall a strange memory of something cold and the feeling of tossing and turning as if they were asleep in their own bed.
My character carries a weapon/requires a thing to exist/coexists with someone else. Can they bring it?
This is a case-by-case basis. Initially, the answer is "no". While inside the doors, however, the World will be willing to give them a copy of such an item, but only if they absolutely need it to survive, and only if it's their storybook. Otherwise, most weapons will be mysteriously vanished! Sorry, folks.
As for symbiotic relationships, it'll be like the thing you need for that is no longer necessary while in the World. If it's another consciousness, they'll find themselves strangely alone. After all, Cheshire could've stolen THAT, for all we know. In the case of split personalities, though, those are just fine. Objects or items that contain another personality (think the Millennium Items from Yugioh) will also not be brought over. The owner would find themselves alone, without the one inside.
What is arriving to the World like?
As described pretty much in the profile, really. Your character woke up in a bedroom they didn't recognize, saw a cat, opened a cupboard, crawled through some darkness, met the Cheshire Cat, a strange boy indeed, and then met the White Rabbit. Here, you will be in the hub world, where most characters will start out in the introductory log at the beginning of each round/story. A door will also be unlocked to start with by the Rabbit (he's so helpful!), so don't worry. The hub itself isn't much to look at, but you start meeting the Rabbit, and then see the rows of doors. When you are done with each World, your character will return to this hub along with the others.
How do the communities work?
It's pretty simple, really. Here is an overview of how it works:
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png) seaofhearts: This is the main log comm. You may post either in prose or brackets/action/first person (whatever is your preference!) to the open mingle logs here, or make a log exploring the worlds that are laid out in the OOC post ever two weeks with your character.
seaofsouls: This is the main OOC community. Updates on the Alice Worlds, puzzles, plot information, the Round Test Drives, generalized Mod Updates, OOC Player Introductions and so forth all go here. This is where you can expect to get a detailed picture of things and ask questions to the mods about each World or hit the Test Drive(s).
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) worldkeys: This is the Mod account. All the information on the game is held in here, and this is where you post your apps to, of course.
If you wish to have a uniform log format when posting to the main community, here's a handy guide:
Who: What character(s) will be in the log?
What: What will be happening?
Where: Where is this? In a small cottage within a portion of a large forest?
Warnings: If violence, or anything out of hand happens, or you expect it to and want to warn people, feel free to put those here. As this game can get inherently violent, it is perfectly fine to NOT warn people, but you may still want to warn for excessive gore/death/sex if that happens. (Hey, if you're that desperate in your dreams, Alice, we won't judge you. Just be sure to warn in the post.) Some NSFW is fine, but if it's going to get really heavy, all we ask is that you be considerate of other players and take it to your journals in privacy.
<cut text="Your text for a cut if you want one would go here! This will shorten your post."> This is where you would be putting your post info.</cut>
Here is the log format so you can copypaste it for yourself:
How do applications work?
They're really closer to sign-ups, more than apps. We're just asking for extra information because we need it to better build a World for each character. See the applications page for more in-depth information on them. Apps are a first-come first-serve basis, and for now, we won't be doing reserves.
If the slots fill up and you don't get your app in before then, we're sorry! That's just the nature of the game.
There are more pending apps than slots, but I submitted my app, too!
You're free to leave your application in; someone may pull their character out of the game before the next round starts, or their application may get rejected. It's unlikely this is the case, as our apps are slightly laxer as we're a lower energy game, but we DO have standards (using decent grammar and spelling, giving us a decent overview of your character so we know what to work with, etc.), so it's possible!
What about dropping?
Dropping is fine. HOWEVER, we do not have a dropping or hiatus page. This game is something of a commitment. If you apply here, you're expect to be at least semi-active due to the nature of it, so we ask you to consider that before applying. If something does come up (it's fine, life happens!), feel free to contact the mods in private and we will work a scenario out. Most likely, your character will have to be killed off. Them's just the breaks. That's the nature of the game.
Is there an Activity Check?
Yes and no. Really, it's just a simple check-in in the out of character community, once a month. We just keep an eye on your activity, and if you're not being active, we'll be talking to you/pulling you aside and asking why. If you fail to check in, we won't accost you for it, unlike most places, unless we see you not participating in anything. This will result in your character potentially getting the IC and OOC boot, since we need to keep things running smoothly.
As for when it takes place, depending on how long each round is, AC will usually run from the last day of the month to the fifth of the next month. For example, in January 2016, it would run from January 31st to February 5th. AC goes up at 12AM CST.
What is the IC to OOC time ratio?
The short answer is there isn't one, because there is no "time" in the World. The longer answer is that, in the OOC space, we'll be trying to do things in a timely manner every two weeks. Backtagging is fine, of course--you're free to do that to infinity if you want, and just work out or handwave what happened as long as you intend to thread it eventually within the coming days/week(s). We'll be laying out new things once every other day or so, or pointing things out as-needed and bringing updates/edits to info posts whenever applicable. Don't worry too much about "time"; this is a casual game. Just have fun with it!
What happens to the characters who are killed at the end of the Round?
... Nothing good. If you know Alice Mare, you probably already know. If you don't, and you really wanna know, well, Alice... this happens.
Can I bring a character from an old round back?
You most certainly can traumatize them some more! The World will always recall their door, once they've been in it, their Door never leaves if they escape alive. For characters that die, or aren't brought back, there is the option of notebook scraps being written and picked up in succeeding rounds and found in varying Worlds. The mods will let people know when these are found, and approach players before the end of each round asking if they'd like to write some notebook scraps up. Essentially, these will contain the character's thoughts/experiences/some personal things going on in their life at the time, or what they thought while wandering their own Door. You can have fun with it! It's a cool way to "pay it forward", so to speak.
We will always prioritize "new" characters, but in the off chance we get returning ones, or do a round of those who survived returning, here is how that will work:
- If you apped before and were accepted, you don't have to reapp! Just leave a comment under the thread and mention you'd like to return. Be sure to link to your previous app and note if any of your contact info or character journal(s) have changed.
- Again, we prioritize new "Alices", but if a round doesn't fill up, you're free to have someone return. In this case, what will be taken will be a huge chunk of their memories, including all of them containing the round they were involved in. Their new world would be somewhat different from the last, a combination of the things they saw in the round they participated in and their canon, with new puzzles and hazards. It would also be more violent; returning characters are in more danger, and the ante will always be upped for them and anyone in their World, so this is something to bear in mind. It is likelier they will die permanently this time.
- You also have the option of leaving the aforementioned notebook scraps instead for new players to find, in which case you may write those up and send them to us. There will be an unlocked page eventually for that after the first or second round. Comments on it will be screened, and as the scraps are found by the new Alices amongst the Worlds, they will be posted by the mods.
I can't solve a riddle or puzzle, but my character could.
The mods will drop hints on the riddles we give and give some time to solve them. If the players can't solve them, eventually, we'll drop more hints. Don't worry! If, ICly, nobody is solving them while the weeks drag on, it's perfectly fine to handwave things as long as it's eventually threaded out, but many puzzles will also be some form of "allowing brute force". In other words, it'll be a "you have to hurt yourselves a lot to find the right answer" in most cases. We would vastly prefer characters guessing wrongly and threading it out than players not replying to things because they feel the answers might not be correct, so there is some leniency and usually a "several strikes" system. Each puzzle has details on it about how dangerous it might be (or is obvious in the case of, say, a branding puzzle burning you if you get it wrong), so read it carefully.
There WILL be one or two puzzles where someone, if they answer incorrectly several times, may die, however. The mods will always note this when it comes up in the puzzle itself. If you have any problems, always feel free to ask us. We don't bite, Alice, we promise!
What if there's a tie for a key?
Then the mods will probably use a dice roll or coin flip to decide.
What can be in each storybook/Door?
Almost anything you can think of pertaining to each character's heart. It could be a futuristic apocalypse. It could be a simple cabin in the woods. But, bear in mind, each place is self-contained. If there's no food or drink there... you're going to have to deal with that, too. And, yes, your character will get hungry and thirsty while dealing with the World. ... But it's a dream, right? So don't worry too much about the details. Have fun with it. Make the exploration interesting. Or horrifying. Or worse.
What's the deal with Cheshire and the White Rabbit?
They're guides. ... Sort of. Cheshire's modus operandi? He's a cat. He steals things. From each character. In fact, he stole something from every single character who entered the World. What? Well... that depends on each person. It could be memories. It could be a power. It could be an emotion. It could be an important physical object. But, whatever he stole will be an important catalyst to help make them emotionally unstable while they are here, and continually leave them vaguely uneasy. It's your character's job to try and find whatever it is he's stolen, and he'll have hid it somewhere in each World, probably behind a puzzle or riddle of some form. Good luck!
... As for the White Rabbit... well. He handles the doors and the world keys. His name and face is always changing. His one ear was torn off a long time ago. ... And he likes children, he supposes. Trying to strike up conversation with him can be kind of... difficult. He's always in the same spot, unlike Cheshire, who's always disappearing and reappearing, but... he's pretty lazy, and he can anger easily.
... Oh, and by the way? They can both read your minds, even if you have some preventative for that. Sorry. That's just how the World functions. They're guides, after all. They need to know your thoughts!
Do I need any knowledge of Alice Mare or Alice in Wonderland to play here?
Not at all. Not a single bit, on either front. It doesn't hurt to brush up on either, but, really, neither is needed. If you know both, it'll probably make your experience more amusing (and more horrifying), but that's all.
Hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!
I have a question that isn't covered here!
Then feel free to ask below! We'll try to answer in a timely manner. You are also free to ask on the mod plurk, ![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico) seaofhearts. Concerns, feedback, and anything else is also fine.
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