We’re hoping to use our Tumblr to showcase some of the talent we have here on Reluctant Heroes!  So this is a reminder of some of the things you can do:

➤  Ask for us to promote an existing wanted ad, or to advertise for canon characters you would particularly like to see in play.  Even better if you have a character that can be connected to them or offer up plots!

➤  Nominate any in-character posts or passages you are particularly proud of and would like to share.  They can be from canon or original characters, as long as it’s your own writing.  The post will be linked to, and credit given to the author using their alias.

➤  Request GIFs of canon characters, episodes or by suggesting a theme.

➤  Request icons of canon characters.  You can be as specific as requesting from particular chapters or episodes.

➤  We are happy to reblog original content, or post original content on your behalf - with credit, of course!

➤  We also accept submissions.

Feel free to post below, or contact staff via PM or on Discord.

When Laurel and Ianthe exchanged vows, two ambitious minds forged an alliance that transcended mere marriage.  An immensely wealthy couple, they have sought to produce as many heirs as possible, orchestrating their brood's rise into positions of prominence and power.  Laurel inherited much of his fortune from his own father, and has further bolstered it by expanding his mining company, offering loans, and investing in his children's projects.  Not one of them has had what could be considered a normal or healthy childhood and they are bound primarily by blood and ambition.  They have dirty hands, fire in their hearts, and intelligence to burn.  Individually they are formidable, together they are an empire. 

Face claims are flexible, as long as they generally fit the Valdeze image.  All of these characters will have been expected to take up suitably noble pastimes and to attend university - their degrees and interests can be tweaked.  Names can also be changed if required.  Their outlines are vague, you are welcome to expand on them or suggest your own!

► Firstborn. 39 years old. Married with children. Studied Law. Intense, serious, weary, overburdened, committed. Set to inherit the lion's share of the Valdeze mines.

► Secondborn. 37 years old. Studied Mathematics. Lurks in his elder brother's shadow. Owns and operates a number of munitions factories, and has contracts with the military.

► Thirdborn. 36 years old. Studied Civil Engineering. Manages numerous construction companies and has some renown as a town planner.  If Utopia is saved, he will be vying for the contract to rebuild the district.

► Fourthborn. 35 years old. Studied Biology. Works as a taxidermist and is an avid hunter. Breeds hounds. Focuses on acquiring as much land as possible, particularly farmland and areas with natural resources such as forests, quarries and reservoirs. Supplies raw materials to Elys. - Taken!

► Fifthborn. 34 years old. Studied Art. A talented sculptress and portrait painter. Widowed several times. Inheritances from her previous husbands make her the wealthiest of the Valdeze siblings. Runs a number of brothels across Paradis through proxies.  Deals in secrets and rumours.

► Sixthborn. 33 years old. Studied Architecture. The gregarious wild card of the Valdeze family. Owns a number of racehorses. His parties are famous amongst the nobility. Gatsby has nothing on Galeran.

► Eighthborn. 29 years old. Studied Chemistry. Intensely focused, obsessive, highly intelligent, literal to the point of being almost humourless. Outwardly contributes to medicinal advancements, but behind closed doors develops illicit drugs. There is potential for her to have connections to Anzai Engelbrecht.

► Ninthborn. 26 years old. Studied Textiles and Materials. Talented dancer. Finds employ as a tailor to the very wealthy; this work is scorned somewhat by his father, but it allows him to make numerous useful connections. Interested in swordsmanship. - Reserved!

► Tenthborn. 24 years old. Studied Music but dropped out of university. Excels in swordsmanship, equestrian tournaments and archery, his dramatic performances earning him something of a fan base. Currently under pressure from his father to return to university and complete his studies.

► Eleventhborn. 21 years old. Studied Medicine. Charitable and seemingly sweet, her charm and apparent innocence makes her the most widely beloved of the Valdeze. This contrived, pristine image and reputation means Meera is capable of damage control should her siblings ever allow their masks to slip. There is a possibility of an arranged marriage plot/engagement in future. - Taken!

Need a thread archived or moved?  Found a bug that needs squished?  Got a quick suggestion you want to make?  You’re in the right place!  This is where you post should you need something taken care of or clarified by staff, assuming it’s not a private or critical matter.  Basically, use this thread to help us with board maintenance or to ask quick questions.

A section in the sidebar allows you lovely members to promote your requests!  This not only includes wanted characters, but also any open threads or plots you may be keen to have others join in with.  There are currently six slots available and each slot can only link to one wanted ad, plot or open thread.  The ad will remain in place for at least calendar month (after which point it may be replaced by a new advert) or until it is fulfilled.

CURRENT ADS

• Slot 1 – Webs - Silke Falkenrath
• Slot 2 - Badtz-Milk - Hadley Family
• Slot 3 - Lemon - Anzai Engelbrecht
• Slot 4 - the dear hunter. - Robin Roth
• Slot 5 - Puffin - Mitabi Jarnach
• Slot 6 - Puffin - Oluo Bozado

THE WAITING LIST

• Alias

To request an advertising space, please use the following code:

[b]Alias:[/b] 
[b]Advertisement:[/b]  URL of your wanted ad, open thread, etc. here
[b]Image(s):[/b]  Any non-gif animanga images you would like to see used in your ad
Be aware images may be cropped, resized or otherwise edited so as to fit with the Reluctant Heroes’ theme.  Similarly, if the images you provide are of poor quality, they may be substituted for others.

If you reserve a instructor position, you must post the relevant character application (WIPs are acceptable) within ten days, otherwise the reservation will expire.  In future, there may be scope to open assistant roles to each of the instructors, which will be available both to particularly enthusiastic cadets and fully-fledged soldiers.


Code for making a reservation:

[color=#BF8040]INSTRUCTOR ROLE[/color]
Position reserved by Alias
Code for making a claim, once the relevant character has been approved:

[color=#BF8040]INSTRUCTOR ROLE[/color]
Position claimed by [url=LINK TO CHARACTER ACCOUNT]Character Name[/url]

COMMON COURTESY

• Always be considerate and inclusive of others.
• Harassing or bullying behaviour is not acceptable.  If there is ever any issue, please message a staff member (either via the private messaging system here on the forum, or over Discord) so that it can be addressed quickly.
• Respectful behaviour should extend from the forum itself into the chatbox (no spamming or advertising in there, by the way).  Please avoid mentioning any potential spoilers from the manga, some people are only aware of the developments revealed in the anime so far.  The tagbox is optional and purely for notifying partners of replies and/or promoting open threads. All you need do is paste the link in, the box will automatically format it to show as [link].

CHARACTERS AND ACCOUNTS

• Avatars measure 100 x 100.
• You will need an OOC account, registered under your alias.  This should be the first account you register (due to issues with spam, this will be approved by staff) after which you need to post in our OOC sign up thread to have the category changed.  Once your OOC account is in place, you can make your first character's subaccount (check our subaccount guide if you need assistance with this) and post an application (a WIP counts) within one week, otherwise your OOC account will be returned to the New Recruit category and eventually deleted.
• There is no limit on how many characters you can have (it is up to you to judge how many you can manage).  In the interests of fairness, we naturally ask that members please refrain from choosing more than 1 main or pivotal canon. We currently classify the following as being pivotal: Annie Leonhardt, Armin Arlert, Bertholdt Hoover, Eren Jaeger, Mikasa Ackerman, Reiner Braun. This list is subject to change but amendments will never affect characters already in play.
• Each character must be registered under their own separate subaccounts (please see the subaccount guide).  Register the subaccount in your character's name, using Title Case and including any necessary accents. First name should precede the surname.
• If you reserve a canon character you must post their character application (WIPs are acceptable) within two weeks, otherwise the reservation will expire and the character will be made available to others once more.
• You have two weeks from the day you initially post a work in progress (WIP) character application to complete it, otherwise it will be archived.  Similarly, if you are asked to make edits to an application, you will have one week to do so. This is to keep the applications board tidy and up-to-date.  If you require longer, you need only notify a member of staff (via PM, the chatbox or Discord) or post in your application. To unarchive an application, notify staff and let them know which application(s) you wish to have reactivated/moved.
• If you initially post your character application as a WIP, please post a reply in the thread to make it clear to staff that it is complete and ready for review.
• The structure of application templates should not be changed.  Additional headers or lyrics may be added, but no sections or images can be removed.
• It is possible to reserve play-bys/face claims by posting in the face claim thread (you should do this before posting a WIP application as only reservations made in this thread can be honoured).  Face claims can be from anime, manga, video games or other media, as long as they are of a suitably animanga-like style. Each player may reserve up to a maximum of three faces at a time and each reservation will last for two weeks. During this time an application must be posted for the proposed character (even a WIP application will suffice).  Should the application be archived the face reservation will expire but if an extension is applied the face reservation will last as long as the application is in progress (WIP applications will be archived if they have been sitting unfinished for one full activity check).
• Titan-shifter characters are required to have two accounts, one registered under their character’s human name, the other registered under their Titan name.  Each account must post an application; there are separate templates for human characters, and a character’s Titan form.  Both applications need to be approved before the character can be considered in play.  Given their powerful nature, OC Titan-shifters are permanently on our cap list (see the end of this post) and staff must be consulted before the application process.  A character’s Titan form may use pictures from the anime/manga, suitable art from other media, or commissioned artwork (or artwork where the artist consents to its usage, and credit is given).
• Canon characters are expected to make at least one post per activity check (two calendar months); this does not apply to original characters. In the event that you are going to be inactive for a time, please let us know via the absences board.  Your post should include an estimated return date. Where a return date isn't supplied, a hiatus will be considered lapsed after two activity checks (four calendar months). At this time, character claims will expire.
• Please do not make perfect, all-powerful or Mary Sue characters.  Everyone has flaws or weaknesses, it's what makes us interesting - and the same goes for your characters!  Similarly, please make sure that they fit in with the canon world. Although we are AU in nature, we still wish to preserve the gritty, realistic atmosphere of the Attack on Titan universe.
• Please contact a staff member if you wish to shelve or drop a character.  Shelving is for characters that you wish to take a break from (whether due to low muse, time constraints, etc.) but sincerely intend to pick up again in future.  Dropping is for a character you have no longer have any desire to play. Canon characters can only be dropped, not shelved, as there may be others wishing to play them.  Shelved characters will still appear in character directories, marked with their shelved status, but not on the face claims list. This is because shelved character play-bys are available to be claimed by others.  Also be aware that if you are inactive for a period of many weeks, and fail to respond to the activity-related PM(s) sent, your characters will be counted as dropped and removed from the lists - though they can still be easily retrieved if you decide to return. If someone else takes your character's face claim while they are shelved/dropped, you must find a new one.
• If using Discord, we ask that your nickname in the server be the same as your OOC name on site, or similar enough to make you easily identifiable.

REGARDING ROLEPLAYING

• Reluctant Heroes uses liquid time, which means you can thread any events from the past, either before the fall of Wall Maria or from previous seasons and arcs.  However, threads set in the future, beyond the current season, are not permitted.
• Please make an effort to use grammar and punctuation properly and avoid chat speak entirely!
• We have no word count, instead stressing quality over quantity.
• No god-modding.  That means you cannot play or kill another person's character without their permission.
• Reluctant Heroes is rated 15+ and members are required to use the tagging system to ensure others can safely and happily navigate the threads.
• Any posts 18+ in nature must be posted in the mature board. The mature board is visible only to members aged 18 and over whose access has been approved by a member of the staff team. In order to view and post in the mature board you must first add your date of birth to your OOC account profile, so that we can verify your age, and then request mature group membership (this needs to be done with each character you wish to have access to the board).  For more details on how to go about this, see our mature board guide.

CURRENT CHARACTER TYPE CAPS

• OC Titan-shifters; characters will be able to inherit powers in the future

If you reserve a canon character, you must post their character application (WIPs are acceptable) within two weeks, otherwise the reservation will expire.  If there’s a canon you would like to play that doesn’t appear on the list, please don’t hesitate to post below – we realise this list isn’t exhaustive!  As there are generally different spellings for each character’s name, you are welcome to choose which you prefer, as well as create surnames for those canon characters who are currently without.  Also bear in mind that, in the Reluctant Heroes retelling, all cadets are trained together in one large unit, rather than in separate divisions.

• Characters in bold are available.
• Characters in italics are reserved.
• Characters that are struck have been taken.

CURRENT RESERVATIONS

Dot Pixis | Daydream | 16 February
Rico Brzenska | hangesglasses | 23 February

To reserve a canon character, please complete and post the following code:

[color=#000000]Canon Name[/color] | Your Alias
Colour key:

• Cadet (#DE9C9C)
• Civilian (#40BF40)
• Deceased (#393A3C)
• Garrison (#CF6E6E)
• Government Official (#9CBDDE)
• Marleyan (#DEDE9C)
• Military Police (#80BF40)
• Noble (#BFBF40)
• Royal (#4040BF)
• Survey Corps (#4080BF)
• Titan (#E0E0E0)
• Training Corps (#BF8040)

To create or link a subaccount, first navigate to the profile of your OOC account.  OOC accounts act as the parent and it’s through them alone that subaccounts are managed.  From here, hover over ‘Modify Profile’ and then click on ‘Manage Subaccounts’.

On the page this takes you to, scroll to the bottom and click ‘Create/Link’.

If linking an existing account, put the name of the character in the first box, followed by the password in each of the boxes below.  Click ‘Create/Link’ – et voilà, your accounts should now be connected!  Alternatively, if you are creating a new account, simply enter the name you wish your account to have in the first box, then enter your chosen password into the two following boxes.  Finally, click ‘Create/Link’.

When you have multiple accounts, a drop-down box will appear at the top right of the forum, entitled ‘Switch Account’.  This will allow you to change quickly between your accounts.  You can also do this when replying to a thread, as you are given the option of choosing which account to post from.  By default, it will post as your parent account, which should be your OOC alias.