Reincarnation

On Dark Risings, a character is uniquely defined by one thing more than anything else: its name. In the rules and help RP, when the word "character" is mentioned, that means "the character defined by its name." It is therefore impossible to RP the same character but with a new name, or any variation on this idea. If your new character (with a new name) knows information from your old character, that's char crossing, as discussed in Rule 11. No amount of creative RP can negate this, including but not limited to, reincarnation, recreating as a lich, finding a magic crystal containing your past character's memories, or any other such nonsense. There can be no connection between two of your characters including, but not limited to, blood relation, friendship or enemy ties, "spiritual bond", or anything else that would influence one character's actions based on what happened to another of your characters. The character IS the name. The name IS the character. They cannot be separated.

The reasons for this include the fact that it would get very confusing to have everyone trying to keep track of who was once named what in order to continue RP, pay back past PK vendettas, fulfill Inferno contracts, etc. The detailed roots and past lives of your character may be easy for YOU to keep up with, but not the rest of the MUD. It's also just far too easy to create new characters to get the jump on old enemies. For example, Rex gets PKed by Dec. TPB Rex makes a new char called "Jumbo". Jumbo PKs Dec. Normally, this would be a CLEAR case of char crossing and roleless PK. However, when called on it, Jumbo declares, "Aha, but I am Rex reincarnated!" or Rex's long-lost brother returned for revenge, or Rex renamed to Jumbo by Syrin when he became a lich, or someone who found Rex's "memory crystal" or whatever. Now we have to inform Dec that Jumbo's RP is legit? No. Not happening. And even if your idea wouldn't involve things like that, allowing your new character to have ANY connection to your old character would open the door to things like that, so we cannot allow it based on slippery slope principles.

There are lots of options available for those who wish to RP becoming a lich...as long as that means keeping the same name, and other ways to try out new things while keeping your character's name the same. These options are outlined in help delete.

Also, while we are aware that there are past and present examples of chars played with a "split personality" in terms of two characters, much like Dr. Jeckyll/Mr. Hyde, with separate names, as of now, we are not allowing any more such roles to be created. So if you don't already have an established and well-known role with a split personality, don't make one.

If it is determined that your RP is in violation of the restrictions outlined in his help file, or of the general principle of this policy, your characters will be subject to punishment under Rule 11 "char crossing" and one of the two could very likely be denied permanently. If you are unsure, ASK FIRST.

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