Rules

Rules are not so fun but unfortunately we need them as annoying as they may be, but fret not here at Crescent Cavern there are just some general rules to comply, its common sense really, so here goes.

General rules

• First and foremost be civil to one another we want everyone to be friends here.
• Swearing is allowed, however using it as an insult to another member is not. For example using it as part of a pokemon's personality is fine just please don't make it every other word. Using swears in comments is also acceptable, as long as it is not excessive. For example if you find something that you particularly like on the trail and you comment with 'fuck yeah' this is okay.
• Tracing of any kind, including bases and very heavy referencing, are not tolerated. This is to ensure that the artwork is 100% yours, and helps you to grow as an artist. General referencing from images is acceptable. A good way to know whether or not it's too close? If we can recognize it as the original art's pose, you're probably too close.We also recommend this very useful guide if you're note sure about the differences of tracing, heavy referencing and regular referencing:Tracing and referencing
• Please be considerate of other members. No discrimination or bullying of any kind is acceptable in this group. If a situation like this arises, please contact a mod and we will take the appropriate actions.If any disagreements happen, please keep it civil. If it escalates, please contact a mod and they will take the appropriate actions.(Contact may be made through the Discord Ticket System, Discord Channels like questions and inventory-issues or DA notes. The latter might however need longer to be processed. Please do not DM Mods directly for inquiries, unless you were specifically told to!More on this further down under "Mod Contact Rules")
• If there are any changes in your account e.g. username, changing account, please open a ticket on Discord with your old account name and new account name so that we can make the appropriate changes.
• This group operates in the GMT time zone currently. This might differ for events, depending on the Mod, so make sure to always closely read the deadlines! If you have trouble understanding the time difference, sites like timezone calculators are very helpful!
• This group operates on a three strike system if your conduct within the group is unacceptable (i.e. breaking rules or social misbehavior like discrimination or down right offensiveness of any kind) then you will be given a strike, the second time this happens you will be given a formal warning, and if this happens a third time then unfortunately this could result in an expulsion from the group. We hope that this situation never comes to pass but it has to be stated clearly just in case.
• If we think that you aren't able to behave properly in our Discord social channels, we might also revoke the social channels privileges from you, depending on what the strike was about.

Pokémon design and art rules

• Violence and gore is allowed, but stories and art to the very extreme are currently not allowed in the group. If you make violent/gore-y piece, please be respectful of other members and add the mature content feature to DA submissions and spoiler them in the Discord Server.
• Do not submit sexually explicit art and stories. Suggestive material may be allowed depending on the content, just use the appropriate warnings on your deviation.
• Please do not sexualize your pokemon by adding breasts or genitalia. Pokemon do not have them, and there is no purpose in adding them. Pokemon with breast coverings like Jinx, Nidoqueen, Swanna, etc are the exception, but again, do not sexualize or draw their anatomy in greater detail than they need to be.
• Pokémon can talk to each other without issue, but only Psychic types are able to communicate with humans clearly, via telepathy. Pokémon like Chatot and Murkrow can learn some human speak, but would only be able to mimic specific words or phrases rather than speak sentences.
• Giving your pokémon scars is allowed.
• You are allowed to make pokémon with disabilities. Just please be respectful, considerate and do some research to properly represent the disability you give them.
• For breedings, events and trail roleplay comments all pokémon need full accepted reference sheets to be usable. We allow some leeway when it comes to events, that you can use pending Pokemon, however if anything needs to be changed in their design, your event piece owuld have to be changed, too, in order to be eligible for Caps and Levels.

Trainer rules

• Your trainer must be a human being, and nothing else. Small mutations due to radiation exposure however are allowed, and encouraged.
• Your trainer can be a minimum of 10 years old, any younger and they will not be considered a trainer.
• Try not to break the lore of the group. No magic, no advanced technologies.
• For more information, please read the following files:
  FAQ /Trainers: docs.google.com/document/d/1HI… The World, Setting of Crescent Caverns: docs.google.com/document/d/1IH… Notable Factions of CC: docs.google.com/document/d/1Gd…

Clutch rules

• Don't assume that you will automatically own an entire clutch when breeding with another member's Pokemon, unless they explicitly stated so! Common procedure and courtesy is to discuss the splitting of a clutch with your breeding partner so you both can get something out of it.
• Once you have sold a baby from a clutch to another member, it no longer belongs to you. All rights belong to the new owner. Please keep this in mind, and do not tell them what to do with the pokemon they received from you. This includes things like how they are drawn, what story they are used in, what personality they have, etc.
• "Design Your Own" (DYO), "Color Your Own" (CYO) and "Draw On Demand" (DOD) are allowed in clutches, but can only be half or less of the clutch total. This also applies to individual clutches in a Clutch Dumps (a collection of clutches put into one submission), so you can't for example make one clutch entirely DYO and one clutch full of designs.
• Clutch prices are not restricted in any way, you may sell for as much or as little as you want. We also allow the use of currency besides in-game (Points, PayPal, etc.)
• Be kind and understanding when interacting with buyers/designers; we don't usually intercept this process as the terms and conditions are a designer's right, but will if we think it's going against group rules, might include scamming, or other issues.

Inventory Rules

• Not something to "follow" but more of an important FYI, as it's coming up every now and then:
• You start out with 10 spaces in your inventory for your Pokemon. To get more spaces, you'll have to buy "Cresselia's Blessing"s from the Trading Outpost, or can sometimes win it from Events or the Wishing Pool. Each blessing will add 10 more spots.
• Once there's no more space left, you will not be able to gain any more Pokemon unless you get more. (Note that Mods will try to let you know beforehand, but we can't always do so among our other work; this is something you will have to have an eye on by yourself.)
• If your inventory is full, Transfers to you will not be able to go through and will have to be done again once you have more space.
• If your inventory is full while you are on Trail, the Pokemon will flee immediately. Honey will be wasted if used!
• Any Daycare comments will immediately be void if your inventory is full by the time we process your comment.

Contacting mod rules

• Do not talk/pressure mods about private matters, such as reference submissions, in public areas such as the front page or Discord chat.
  • Do not contact mods personally, via their front page, note, skype, discord or any other instant messaging service unless you were told so specifically by that Mod. If you need any kind of help with a problem, a question or other things that need to be resolved, open a ticket on Discord for private matters, comment in the questions or inventory-issue channel for more open questions or send us a group note if you have problems with any of the above; note that this will usually take a little longer to respond to, though.
  • In extremely important cases, where you need Mod support ASAP, we will make an exception to this rule. Examples for these are:
    • You need to talk to a mod about a member giving you grief and you need it sorted out asap, and you know that a specific mod is online right at that movement that can help you. For example extreme harassment that that is ongoing at the moment, something that is going on that is time-sensitive, or similar situations.
    • You have an issue regarding one of the other mods and you don't want them to see it in a public group note and you want another mod to help you resolve it.
  • Examples where it is NOT acceptable to contact a mod privately
  • To complain that something has not gone your way, like not winning an exclusive or a reference sheet not being accepted or you missed the deadline for an event.
  • To ask us to do mod work. Yes, we have our own sections each month. Yes sometimes things fall behind, but we will get round to them, we have our own lives to deal with, please respect that.If you haven't gotten a result/reply to something for 7 days, you are allowed to bring this up in the Discord inventory-issue channel or via Ticket.
  • If you have sent a private message to a mod, be aware that it may be sent to the rest of the mods in our private discord server.This simply means that the mod you were speaking to wanted advice on how to respond, wanted feedback on how they responded or just simply wanted to show the other mods how they effectively resolved your situation. There are some exceptions to this, however:
  • Very personal things that are not relating to the group or mod work at all.
  • Issues brought up that include another Mod or a member that is friends with a specific mod.In these cases we will try to keep it as confidential as possible, but would still have to discuss with Mods that aren't involved in how to handle this situation.
  • For very urgent or difficult situations, it is usually recommended to ask a Senior Mod for help, otherwise all Mods are welcome to help out and will usually offer themselves up when you request a one on one.

Activity rules

• Activity is measured by art posted (including literature!), a single sketch or 100 words in a literature piece every 6 months is still considered the bare minimum to be considered active. Please note that submitting old art will not count towards activity (eg. reference art from another group).
• Activity will be monitored every 3 months and inactive members will be removed.We will give every member who falls under the inactivity rule a one month head's up to prepare. You can then do the following:- Submit new art/literature to the group to reset your activity status.   Make sure to send a reply with the link to the submission back to the  activity notice you got!- Go on hiatus if you think you won't be able to be active in the foreseeable future. Simply reply to the activity notice with the wish to go  on hiatus and we'll take care of it.  While on hiatus, you are allowed to use all social channels on Discord, but can't take part in any other of the group features like Trail,   Daycare, Battles, Events, etc.  You can be on hiatus for as long as you need (but we might check in on you if it's been a reeeeally long time.) Once you're ready to come  back, you just have to send us another Ticket (or note if you need to), to request being put off hiatus.- If you don't do either of the above and we don't hear from you, you will be marked as inactive and your inventory will be removed.
• Items, Caps and Stardust will be redistributed into the group through various means. (Raffles, Auctions, Events, etc.)
• Any Pokemon you had will be wiped clean, so no designs will be redistributed. On occasion we might give some Pokemon that had a clear connection to a previous owner back to them under the condition they might not fully own it, but we've been doing this less and less to avoid future problems.We WILL NOT take designs from you, however and that is a firm promise. The Pokemon will be put into Daycare, Mystery Gift or user for Wonder Trading later, with no design attached and the connection to anything coming before severed, including Clutch origin.

May Arceus bless you on your travels.