Welcome to Luminaries, a faux celeb community. Our aim is to foster an active and inclusive game for both new and established characters. Anyone with an interest in joining is welcome to apply, and we encourage members to be friendly and welcoming. We run frequent activities, plot posts and opportunities to participate in collaborative updates, but as a community is only as good as its members, we hope you'll contribute to making Luminaries a fun and rewarding RP experience for everyone involved!
Our mods are happy to help with any questions or issues you may have. We pride ourselves on our concern for members' welfare and do not tolerate OOC harassment or antisocial behaviour of any kind, so if you experience this please report it to us directly.
Suggestions on how to improve the community via our dropbox are always appreciated.
Before filling out the application form, please check the taken list and credits.
In order to apply you will need an IC username, screened post for contact purposes, and a directory. The directory should have credits clearly listed and a biography that provides some insight into your character. We recommend disabling anonymous comments on any public posts.
We also require two update examples.
We operate on a first come, first served basis and do not accept holds or challenges.
New members will have two weeks to post their first update after joining in order to avoid removal. For those struggling to put an update together in such a short span of time, we've put together a list of prompts that you can use for character development.
In order to meet activity requirements for the month, you will need to post a minimum of one substantial update per calendar month, though we encourage you to be creative and post as often as you like, and to avoid making a habit of last minute posts. Ideally we would like to see updates on the friends page steadily throughout the month rather than a single week in which everyone posts to fulfill their requirements. What we deem a substantial update is something with either 200+ words of text OR a significant amount of effort made on coding.
We also require each month that you submit either one subcomm post (ic or ooc, not including intros) OR one thread from a FFA/group activity.
Since we are a small community, interaction with your fellow members is key to keeping things active, so please make an effort to make everyone feel included.
If you're not able to participate for an extended period of time then you are more than welcome to apply for an update extension or hiatus. Real life always comes first and we're happy to work with you to accommodate your needs.
If you are removed due to a failure to comply with update requirements, you will need to post an update before reapplying.
First and foremost, we encourage creativity and trust in writers to pick the credits that best fit their characters. Don't be afraid to go for something a little unconventional or to mix and match credits! A musician could have a perfume campaign, an actress could direct a music video, or a writer could have a bit part in a sitcom. However, we do have some guidelines in place to encourage realism and fairness.
While we will not be strictly enforcing the traditional 5-year rule for the age of credits vs. the age of your character, we encourage you to use it as a guideline for what credits your character could realistically have based on their age compared to those whose credits you wish to use. We understand that sometimes the 5-year rule doesn't accommodate more ambiguous credits (such as voiceover work) and often falls short of enforcing realism on the younger end of the spectrum (an 18-year-old wouldn't be playing roles given to a 13-year-old). If you have any concerns specific to your credits, please feel free to ask the mods.
As this is faux-celeb, we will not accept applications where the character shares primary creative credits (acting roles for an actor, etc.) with the pb you are using. However, smaller credits (such as music video appearances, brand endorsements and campaigns, etc.) will be considered on a case-by-case basis so long as they would still be relevant to the career you give your character. Please be sure to list these in your directories if you want them (or request them if they crop up after you are accepted), as they are not inherently tied to your character by nature of your pb and could be claimed like any other credit. Additionally, any appearance by your pb that is tied to a credit (i.e. an actor hosting SNL because of a specific film release, being on a specific month's magazine cover because of an album/film release, etc.) would belong to the character with that credit, not to your pb; we understand this a gray area, so please ask if you are unsure and we are happy to help you puzzle it out. We also discourage giving your character a leading role in a project or franchise in which your pb also has a leading role (i.e. Chris Evans playing Thor), though supporting or minor roles are more flexible, and everything will be considered case-by-case; again, please ask if you are unsure.
We have a zero tolerance policy on whitewashing. There are no situations in which this will be deemed acceptable. If your character is white, you cannot claim the credits of a person of colour. Using a person of colour for a white role or credit is allowed within reason and will be considered case-by-case; we will look for the appropriate research and understanding of how having a person of colour with that credit would affect dialogue about that character's industry. Accordingly, we generally discourage race-bending of roles and credits between different communities of colour (i.e. having a Latinx face with a role/credit belonging to an East Asian performer in real life) because it is an ambiguous and highly-charged subject; however, if you have any questions or need clarification in this regard please don't hesitate to ask the mods, as there can be exceptions to every rule, within reason, but please be prepared with an alternative pb or credit. As a general rule, be aware of how a credit's background may influence their work; this does not mean it's rigid, but it's something to consider.
Gender-swapped credits will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Please be mindful of what credits you choose and the role they have in their respective industry. We will outright not accept the following if they apply to the credit: their gender is outnumbered in their industry, their gender is paramount to their career, or if their career is in a field where they are likely to be nominated for gender-specific award categories.
If you are claiming a credit with a distinct body of work (musician, director, screenwriter, etc.), we strongly encourage you to claim that entire body of work as it is part of that claim's trajectory (Justin Timberlake credits should include *NSYNC, David Fincher should have "Alien 3", etc.). We will consider some changes, add-ons and multiple credits (i.e. using the credits of two film directors) on a case-by-case basis, but please be mindful of those credits' distinct styles and whether or not they work together stylistically and scheduling-wise.
Please stick with the release dates, filming periods, and tour dates that exist in real life to avoid unnecessary confusion. Also please consider filming schedules, pre- and post-production on films and albums, and promotional time when creating your character's résumé, as we will reject those that reflect obvious over-scheduling. As a general rule, please be cognizant of how your credits play into their respective industries and the larger forces at work there, such as the politics of record labels and film studios; we encourage you to get creative, but look for research to be done if you are going out on a limb.
With regard to celebrity associations with charities, organizations and events, you will only be required to claim these if there is a specific person's involvement to be claimed (i.e. Emma Watson's work with HeForShe, a specific actor's position on a film festival jury, hosting an event, etc.). If you have any questions or want clarification on a specific credit, please ask!
As always, please do not hesitate to contact the mods with any questions about credits. No questions are bad questions! We are here to help, and often credit questions bring up topics we ourselves may not have considered, so you are being as helpful to us as we hopefully will be to you. These rules exist to keep things fair for everyone, not to squash your creativity, and we hope you will run with them and continue to bring exciting new character ideas into our community!
A credit may only be formally claimed if there is a specific person attached to it in real life (confirmation via IMDb or reputable trade sources, such as Deadline or Variety). If that actor then departs the project, so does your character; we will be happy to help if you have questions or concerns should this happen to your character in the course of writing here, and are definitely willing to discuss options as this is a fairly ambiguous subject by nature. You also may claim a specific actor's association with a rumored role if it is substantial (i.e. Idris Elba or Tom Hiddleston for James Bond). The same above-mentioned credit rules will all still apply to a rumor claim as if it were a full credit, and in claiming a specific rumor you are agreeing to abide by whatever shakes out IRL (i.e. if you claimed Elba's Bond rumors and he turns out to be Bond, you must take the role, but if he doesn't then you cannot say he did). We want to be fair to all people potentially interested in certain roles, and reflect the real-life cycle of casting rumors. If you are concerned about any of this, please let the mods know – it's a bit of a credits gray area, and we're happy to offer guidance.