01. Joining.
Yama's joining process is actually pretty easy. Just create your character and head over to the OOC Joining Thread and post your mini application there after you've obviously registered at the board and looked at all the rules. Usually one of the admins are pretty quick on looking at your application, and we'll tell you if you're accepted or not. After that, you are free to post a full bio if you please in the bio area and on the forums as your wolf is already a subordinate. We don't want any of those 'accept me please!' threads because they are lame.

02. Basics.
These are all pretty common sense, but be respectful to your fellow players, and have fun, in and out of character. If your character is an omega, act like one unless you want trouble. And for out of character, be respectful to fellow members, and keep IC fights / grudges separate from OOC life. Don't be a completely hateful hag. If you don't like something or if someone made a mistake, kindly tell them and don't cause a major uproar. Don't go hunting for trouble. You must be at least 13 years of age to join here, to keep us from violating the Terms Of Service agreement of InvisionFree. We do allow cussing here, both in and out of character, so if you are terribly offended by that, you may not belong here. Try to be active here too, and keep up with your threads. We periodically delete members who have been inactive for long allowances of time, so don't let that happen to you. If you know you're going to be away, post a little notice in the away board. :)

03. Characters.
It's nice to be original with your creations. Don't make them to suit others, make them to your liking. Give them odd little quirks that make them stand out or something nifty like that. Again, keep in mind that we are no longer allowing white wolves here since we have an overpopulation. We also do not accept pregnant females, unless you are given special permission that was given prior to joining. You are allowed to have multiple characters here under one username if you so wish. Most of us here are examples of that. Just play as many characters as you can handle. If you start getting out of control, we'll tell you or something.

04. Realism.
We are a realistic site, period. Absolutely no wings, pink fur, or anything ridiculous. Pelt colors should be natural, as should eye coloration. We may be a little lenient when it comes to eye colors, but nothing drastic. No outlandish marking either, like "white spot that's shaped like a heart". Maybe scarring patterns or brandings by humans, but nothing stupid. Also, your wolf needs to act kind of like a real wolf would. No puppies capable of killing an alpha or anything. Maybe check out this site if you'd like some more facts as it is very informative. You can have as many threads as you want, but keep them in chronological order. You are allowed to imply things that have happened but have not been roleplayed in your posts, but you must seek permission from any other players involved. Otherwise it's considered powerplaying.

05. Setting.
Yamamori is set out in the wild of Canada near some mountains. It's a fictional place itself, but we're pretending that it really is out in Canada to get an idea of the climate. It is cold here, and there are no deserts, tornadoes, hurricanes, or other things like that. We also have a weather update thing on the front page, so check that out. Since we're set in Canada, that influences the species of animals living here. We're going to mostly be comprised of gray, timber, and maybe arctic wolves. No Ethiopian wolves, or anything that would never set paw in Canada. We also allow a small number of other creatures here, but you should chat with an admin before you get your heart set on playing a bear, coyote, fox, cougar, or what have you. If you chose to play an animal besides a wolf, make sure you actually know something about that animals living, feeding habits, etc, but that's common sense. If you're going to make an animal other than a wolf, check out this thread for information on language.

06. Literacy.
We're not huge nazis about massive posts here, but try to post at the very least a decent paragraph. I understand that everyone has their off days, but try to not make it a habit of posting little punies. Most of us post a lot more than just a paragraph on a basis, so it wouldn't be too hard to write more than a couple sentences. For those of you that are looking for an incredibly advanced site that posts eight paragraphs at a time, every time..wrong place. Our posts vary from one to seven paragraphs on average. Try not to abuse the wolfspeak or "'neath 'er mitts" stuff too. Sure it may make you sound smart but it is annoying in large amounts. Speaking of that, we have a group of banned words, which are listed here. There is more info about that there, so go read that if you think words you use are questionable.

07. Graphics.
We allow all those cool avatars and tables here, since they look pretty when used properly. Tables are nice to have because they make posts pretty and offer a nice amount of muse for the roleplayer. They're not required, but are neat to have. Go look in the RP School for information on making tables and a table tutorial. You can also request one in the artsie category. Please, make tables at least 300 pixels or more. The really thin ones do not look pretty, and are just tricks to make posts appear larger, so no. Also, if it is too big, we'll either make you take it down or resize it, since board stretching is ugly. Please, when you put up an avatar, make sure to input the width and height in the proper boxes. Otherwise it will automatically stretch itself to something big and ugly and we don't want that.

08. In-Character Fighting.
No godmoding. All attacks should be 'attempts', give the other wolf a chance to fight back. No powerplaying either. Pups cannot kill the alpha of a pack and bring down a full grown buck, realism is the key. Don't kill the other wolf without their owner's permission. Use your best judgment and be realistic as possible. One thing here: don't dodge every other move. It's extremely annoying and very unlikely. And another very important note: Wolves don't scratch like felines do. They will occasionally swipe at things close to their paws while angered or frustrated as a mere release of anger, but it's not something they do commonly. Claws can't penetrate beneath the thick fur and skin on a wolf.

09. Mates, Breeding, Birthing.
Your wolf can choose to be mates with whomever, as long as both agree. The only 'married' ranks are the Alpha pair. That means that the Beta male can be mates with a warrioress or so on. And, when there two of a said rank, like the Beta female and male, they do not have to be mates. It is kind of hard to explain but you get it. Force-breeding is allowed, just agree on it out of character. A wolf must be 2 years of age to breed. Breeding can occur anywhere (as long as it is reasonable) on the board, and birthing is to happen in / near dens. All wolves of any ranking can have pups, just ask the leaders because unexpected pups may not be taken to very kindly. Be realistic with the number of pups, usually around two to five or so but of course it varies. If a lot of females are having puppies in the same season, I might put a limit on how many pups everyone can have so we don't have a pup overdose.

10. Other.
So, that's the majority of it all. I recommend looking through the other threads in the forum along with this one, some of which are linked throughout this rambly list of rules. They're not extremely important, but good things to look at. On the whole, just be a shiny member for Yamamori since we love those the most and follow the rules, even though most of them are common sense. If you have any questions, feel free to post on the cbox or message an admin, since we're usually nice.