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A Guide for Novices and Accepted

What follows is a guide for Novices and Accepted in the White Tower. The purpose of this guide is to attempt to provide some direction for them as to what life is like for a typical Nov/Acc in the Tower. People have had a lot of questions about what sorts of activities would usually be appropriate for the typical Nov/Acc, so we've compiled a list that's sort of a dos/don'ts type of thing. Please keep in mind that for the most part, nobody can really tell you how to play your character. We aren't in the business of telling people every little detail of what they can and can't do, part of growing as a player is figuring out the right balance between how to add your personal touch to the character and what sorts of things are simply out of touch with how the character should be played.

1. First off we want to really impress upon you the idea of realism in your role plays. This includes, but is not limited to, your background, your character, your code statistics/abilities, other player’s characters and backgrounds, and your situation.

a. Novices: This status is the lowest in the White Tower. A careful read of the books will reveal that for the most part Novices have very few privileges, and their life is very structured. As an example of what life is like for the standard Novice: They are not allowed off the Tower Grounds alone, nor are they allowed to converse with men. They are not allowed to be late, rude, disrespectful, channel with out permission, speak without being spoken to first, talk while eating, talk when lights are out, etc. In essence, they work from sun up to sun down with chores, punishments and lessons. They certainly aren't supposed to have time to worry about oogling at warders, planning trips to sneak out of the Tower and what not.

i. Examples of Inadvisable RP:

1. RPing with men: In the books, none of the girls are exposed to men that do not work or live inside the Tower except for a few rare cases. It was not the everyday life of a Novice or Accepted to run around talking freely and openly with men. Accepted have a little bit more leeway with regards to this topic, but not much. It is also said in the books that Novices aren’t even suppose to read love stories until they are raised to Accepted.
2. Sneaking off grounds: Not only is this depicted as extremely rare in the books, it is also mentioned that all the girls know that if they even take one step on any of the bridges of Tar Valon, they are considered a run-away. It also says that it is impressed upon them gravely that if they do leave the Tower with out permission, or the city, that their punishment is the most extreme they will ever face. All the girls fear this punishment as much as being sent out of the Tower. Therefore, it is very unlikely that any girl will just chose to up and go into Tar Valon the city for basically any reason. They do mention pranks in the books, but the pranks are usually between Accepted, since they are not watched near as closely and they have much more leeway when it comes to rules.
3. Smuggling Items: This is completely ridiculous. Novices are kept on an extremely tight leash at the Tower. They are monitored very closely by not only Aes Sedai, but other people in the Tower like, maids, cooks, servants of any type, clerks, Librarians, grounds keepers, stable boys, Gaiden, Warder Trainees, Accepted and other Novices. Especially when they are being punished. So slipping something in and out of the Tower is not a particularly reasonable portrayal of any sort of Tower life when concerning strange men or women who no one has ever met.
4. Horrible Behavior Towards Aes Sedai: No one says you can’t have a willful character, a stubborn character, or even one that has horrible manners. However, realism should be taken into account. Even Nynaeve, who is stubborn, willful, prideful and is used to being the boss, submits to Aes Sedai. A great many times it is just by a stare, a glance, or at most a spoken word. Also Nynaeve is a rare case, Aes Sedai do not normally bring women as old as Nynaeve to the tower to train since they are already set in their ways and hard to teach. So acting like you are high and mighty, withstanding every punishment no matter how bad it is, standing up and being completely unruly in the Tower to Aes Sedai...especially anyone in power like the Mistress of Novices, Amrylin, Sitters, or the Keeper...is rather ridiculous. Most people coming in to the Tower would ICly only really know that crossing the will of a Sedai is a pretty quick way to certain doom, so keep that in mind lest you stray into taking OOC knowledge as IC, which will be dealt with rather harshly.
5. Presupposing Knowledge of the Tower's Inner Workings: Most characters will not have the slightest clue about how the Tower works. Most girls come from farms, and common birth, and as such they know only to fear Aes Sedai, that the women can control the One Power, and little more. Coming into the Tower, your character will (much) more than likely not have much of a clue as to what the three oaths are, what bonding is, what every (or any, really) weave does, what the hierarchy of the Tower is, the history of the world, and so on. If your character was nobility and schooled by an Aes Sedai teacher then it is not only acceptable, but (obviously) much more likely. Just because you know it OOCly from the books, does not mean your character would have any knowledge of it IC.

b. Accepted: You are one step above Novices, and as such, you have a few more privileges and aren’t watched as closely. That doesn’t mean you should take it to extremes. Yes, pranks are acceptable, it is even stated that they are in abundance in some girls. Running away...foolishness. Smuggling items in? Still ridiculous. Accepted are still watched and they are still not Aes Sedai. In character, you should know this. At this stage you should be afraid of being sent out of the Tower, or even to the farm to do penance. You've already gone through quite a long time as a Novice, and you went through the ordeal of the Novice test, so you are pretty heavily invested in the program and definitely don't want to get the boot. So don’t go wild with the fact that you have been raised. Keep it realistic people.

i. Examples of Inadvisable RPs:

1. Running Away From the Tower: By now your character’s main goal should be to get the shawl. Girls are not raised to Accepted who are believed to still have these thoughts or inclinations. It is rare for a Novice, it is almost unheard of for an Accepted.
2. Bonding anyone: Of course, you almost certainly won't not have the bonding weave. Since you don't have it in code, that means you don't know how to do it ICly, it's pretty simple. You can discuss bonding with someone, but you can't actually go through the steps of doing so until you have the actual weave.
4. Blatantly Lying/Breaking Rules: By this time again, your character should be past a lot of the childish things girls do as Novices. Yes, they will break rules and yes they will lie. But, not every single RP you have should they be breaking major rules. Nor should every word out of their mouth be a blatant lie. Girls who are Accepted are held to higher standards.

c. Now, while there are things you shouldn’t be doing, there are lots of things that you should be doing or role playing as a Novice or Accepted.

i. Here are some examples of perfectly acceptable RPs and situations which you should be keeping in mind and taking advantage of.

1. RPing with Novices and Accepted: Your characters should be interacting with one another. You should be building relationships, for better or worse, that will carry over into your becoming Aes Sedai and interacting with one another as Aes Sedai. It is always acceptable to RP with other Novices or Accepted.
2. RPing Punishments: Remember if you are being punished. When you are, you should be setting your RPs during that time to the appropriate punishment. They should also reflect that you are being punished, and as such you probably won't be merry and happy-go-lucky, frolicking about in your work. Mainly because the work is hard, laborious and unpleasant. The cook or who ever is in charge of you, will be keeping a close eye on you and reprimanding you for not doing things properly. So making moon eyes at some man in the kitchen, or even speaking to them probably wouldn’t happen. Sneaking out to get out of doing punishments isn't a very good idea either. Just remember, the Mistress of Novices has eyes and ears in every corner of the Tower and usually finds out everything you do not want her to know.
3. Lessons: These of course need to be taught by an Aes Sedai or Accepted (with permission by an AS to teach), but they are always acceptable. In reference to Lessons however, you should be aware that those giving the lessons are doing so on their time. So, if they do not have the time, you might not get the lesson. The more you nag, gripe, or are rude about not getting lessons, the less people want to teach you. It would be quite tough to make Accepted in a month, much less Aes Sedai. It should not be a realistic goal in the game to do so, especially if you are fleshing out your character by RPing with other Novices and Accepted.
5. Accepted: When you are raised you have more leeway and more opportunity for RP that you might not have as a Novice. You are more open to RP with Gaidin or Trainees. You also have more exciting RPs with Aes Sedai and you should also be looking for what Ajah you want to go into. You should also help out by giving lessons when given permission to do so, this eases the stress of Aes Sedai and also gives you more RP opportunities. However, keep in mind that you do have more freedom to do small pranks and keep RP lively. =-)

So get out there and have some fun RPs, keep it reasonable and have fun!