The Dark Jedi Brotherhood Policy on Character Races
- second revised version, June 2, 2005 -
The policy of the Brotherhood is to preserve as much of a Star Wars feeling in our dealings as possible without inhibiting member flexibility or destroying established workings. However, the Brotherhood will strongly encourage members to accept and use canon Star Wars races before trying to make any new race.
Policy
In this context, races allowed in the DJB are as follows:
- All Star Wars races found in any approved Star Wars material, after quotation and verification of the appropriate source,
- Any Race from a different genre of fiction *renamed* to match the Star Wars universe after a custom approval process
- Any custom race after a custom approval process.
- Regardless of which class the race belongs to, every character is subject to the following restrictions:
- All race and character names must have a name that is consistent with the Star Wars Universe
- All races must have a thorough background that is documented in the Rebirth Database. Until the launch of Rebirth, the information will be kept in the Combat Master’s office.
- All races must have RPG statistics consistent and in balance with those being developed for rebirth. This will be fully implemented when the RPG rules are finalized, but statistics will be created as we go.
- All races subject to the approval process must be vetted by a committee of DC members before use. The committee, CRAPS (Committee Responsible for Approval of Particular Species) consists of members chosen by the GM.
- Any race that is approved by the committee is open to the public for use without restriction.
In detail, it is thus decreed that:
First
The CRAPS racial approval process as started in November be applied only to existing races that are documented by at least one of:
- the race being used in the character history / ACC sheet on darkjedibrotherhood.com
- the user having used the character including the race in ten or more pages of fiction
- the race being one of those already submitted to the CRAPS before the implementation of this policy revision.
For the first item, only races registered in the database by January 1, 2005 will be counted. For the second item, one of the two criteria must be met:
EITHER the fiction in question was to at least half created before January 1, 2005
OR the fiction in question was to at least half created prior to the member joining the Brotherhood.
Races meeting one of the eligibility criteria will be handled through the CRAPS for the following aspects:
- Compatibility with the power aspects of the DB roleplaying structure
- Viability in the Star Wars universe, especially concerning names. This essentially means modifying races from other universes enough to make them not immediately recognizable as such.
- Sufficient documentation and depth of culture to merit being a part of official Brotherhood lore.
- Races treated under this process should be changed away from the member's visions as little as possible to make them compatible with the above three criteria. The more documentation is included with an application, the better a fit the member can expect with his ideals of the race.
Second
Members wishing to join with or change to new variant races only be allowed to do so if they can produce the above mentioned ten pages of reasonable quality fiction (comparable quality to a placing KMT entry being the minimum standard) before creating their character, five thereof before finishing the Shadow Academy Test of Lore. This fiction must clearly exhibit racial abilities and concerns and be original. All members not meeting this degree of effort required of a variant race will be relegated to Star Wars races taken from an appropriate sourcebook.
Third
That the Lord Hegemon be charged solely or with his staff to advise new members who do not wish to undergo the second procedure above on fitting canon or fully CRAPS-approved races for any vision they may have for their character until such time that a full racial compendium with an online guide is available on darkjedibrotherhood.com for members to pick from.
Fourth
CRAPS will be composed of:
An "accuser" who has proven to be strong at pointing out flaws in any races and has a strong purist view of the Star Wars universe.
A "defender" who has proven to keep the best interests of the submitting member in mind and has a more liberal view of the Star Wars universe as pertaining to the Brotherhood.
A neutral "arbiter" whose role it is to mediate and make a final decision out of the presented pro and contra whenever the other two members cannot reach an unanimous solution.
These members are appointed by the Grand Master upon suggestion by the LH.
Fifth
The CRAPS approval procedure shall be as follows to avoid off-topic discussion or clashes of interest from holding up the process:
1.
Any required documentation is distributed to and read by committee members, including all fiction submitted for review.
2.
The LH scrutinizes the entry for sufficient documentation, allowability of names and obvious non-SW ripoffs. Entries invalid at this stage are sent back without hitting the committee.
3.
Initial comments are solicited for changes required and abilities to be gleaned from the entry
4.
A RPG stat block and a 500-word summary are created for the race. Both accuser and defender should independently develop a stat block. The summary can be created by any member, but it is preferred that this be performed by the arbiter if the submitter has not provided his/her own
5.
A discussion phase on the proposals follows with the aim to arrive at a unified proposal. It is desirable that the accuser and defender arrive at a mutually acceptable version.
6.
If agreement cannot be reached in an acceptable time, both accuser and defender prepare final versions of each block in the stats (including blocks proposed only by the other side) and justify their choices in writing. These are then passed to the arbiter who either chooses one of the versions or prepares a compromise that must be clearly in between the two originals. The arbiter's decision is final.
7.
Accuser and Defender propose edits to the racial summary and full description in the light of the stats block so decided. The discussion/approval process on these is the same as in 5/6.
8.
The preapproved race is sent to the member for crosschecking and approval. If the member declines, he is allowed to make edits as per the edit phase, after which a final single-majority vote between the three CRAPS members on the edited version decides the allowability. This vote is final.
9.
The finished race is presented to the GM for ratification. If the GM requires changes for the race to be approved, return to step 8. Otherwise, the race becomes part of DJB canon.
Races currently in processing should be assigned a stage per their current status and processed further from there.
It is strongly desired that racial approval not take beyond two weeks. After three weeks, a decision must be forced at the fastest possible speed.
Sixth
The minimum required documentation for a race to be processed by the CRAPS is:
- A race name and the name of the racial homeworld
- A physical description, preferably with an image
- A description of the culture and environment. The descriptive text should altogether be between 500 and 800 words. If it is longer, please include a summary of this length for addition into the racial database.
- A listing of strengths and weaknesses. This may be as free-form or as close to an RPG stat block as desired.
- The dossier number of the submitting member if claiming eligibility based on prior dossier use. The dossier must contain a history or an ACC character sheet unedited since Jan 1, 2005
If the member has edited his history or ACC sheet since 1/1/05, confirmation by the CON or PCON that the race had been used essentially unchanged before
The requisite ten pages of fiction if claiming eligibility based on this criterion.
If the race is in use by several members, permission by ALL active members using the race to represent the racial submission in the CRAPS. That means, if several members use the same race, they pick one to do the CRAPS process for all of them who will make binding decisions for the group. Such a group may combine fiction from several members to meet the requirements.
It is strongly suggested that members informally consult the LH or his staff with their ideas and documentation before submitting. It may significantly save time and effort.
Made and sealed this 27th of January. 2005
Amended this 2nd of June, 2005
The Grand Master