Rules for Character Name Selection

As you might have figured out by now, from reading the "Sign up & Character Creation Info" thread, your forum registration name will be your characters name at the same time. The selected forum handle must therefore include a first name and a last name that both sound like a real name. All of these rules are non negotiable and following the rules to the letter are a condition of being admitted as new member.

The following is very important:

While the game portrays the Civil War period and tries to generate an authentic environment it does not follow the wars historic course (after all that would be quite boring). It uses an alternative timeline, with the secession being only the starting point. The reason for this is to make things more interesting and allow the players to develop their own history, their own politics, their own version of the civil war - separate from the continuity of what happened in RL during that time (but still linked to it in certain ways - f.e. the uniforms, the level of technology that is available,...). An Official Time Line has been set up not only recounting the events up to the starting point of the game, but also showing exactly where and how we diverge from RL events and what is going on within the game.

Due to what has been said above all historical characters that where important during that time and that we know so well from our history books never existed for the purpose of our game. This is why we have issued the following rule:


"You may not use the name of an existing historical character, famous real life person or of an organization."

So the bottom line is that there is no Abraham Lincoln, no Robert E. Lee, no Ulysses S. Grant - because it's up to our players and their characters to rise to those positions that where once filled by these men and to be confronted with all those decisions these men had to deal with - maybe you'll do better, maybe you do worse only time will tell.
This time it's up to YOU to become one of the famous persons, it's up to YOU to forge the fate of two countries in one way or the other, it's up to YOU to decide about politics, make economical decisions, research new technology, build up a business or whatever you like to do - the fate is in YOUR hands and in the hands of our other members. Your character does start with a "clean slate" so to speak and it will depend on you, on your aspirations and your decisions and actions of what will become of your character.

In addition to what has been said above you MUST respect the following name selection criteria:

• You must use a full first and last name:
  ..Example
  ....Forbidden: Jakob, Dalton, Maria, Von Gruen,...
  ....Allowed: Jakob McDonald, Maria Miller, Heinrich von Gruen,...
  
  
• You may have a middle name (either an abbreviated style with just one letter or the full one) :
  ..Example
  ....Forbidden: Jakob XXX. McDonald, Sarah Jan. Hazeltown,...
  ....Allowed: Jakob D. McDonald, Sarah Jane Hazeltown,...
  
  
• You must capitalize the first letter of all names:
  ..Example
  ....Forbidden: david mcdonald, mary smith, jakob g. rosenberg,...
  ....Allowed: David McDonald, Mary Smith, Jakob G. Rosenberg,...
  
  
• You may not include any title or rank in your forum handle:
  ..Example
  ....Forbidden: " Sir"," Dr", "Admiral", "General", "Mr", "Mrs",...
  
  
• You may not include any nickname in your forum handle (the place for them is your characters biography):
  ..Example
  ....Forbidden: Jack "Double Gun" Smith, Steven "Hawk Eye" Davis, Robert "Stonewall" Henderson,...
  
  
• You may not use the name of an existing historical character, famous real life person or of an organization:
  ..Example
  ......Forbidden: Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, Ulysses S. Grant, Thomas J. Jackson, James Longstreet, Walt Disney, Micro Soft, Goo Gle ...
  ....BUT of course you may use an existing first or last name:
  ......Allowed: Jefferson Smith, Abraham Jones, Robert S. Dalton,...
  
  
• You may not use the name of an existing character from a different universe:
  ..Example
  ....Forbidden: Luke Skywalker, Earl Dumarest, Frodo Baggins, James T. Kirk, Richard Sharpe...
  
  
• You may not include any special character or any number in your forum handle:
  ..Example
  ....Forbidden: " $ % = / * _ + .0 1 2 ... 9 or any other special character
  ....Allowed: the blank space, ' and - are allowed: Benjamin Asquith, Michél Descoutures, Hans-Peter Wagner
  
  
• You may not have a handle that does not sound like a name or is a profanity:
  ..Example
  ....Forbidden: "Imthebest", "AttAcK", "hhhhhh","Killer X", "Blood Sucker", "Shit Head"...
  
  
• You may not have a handle that closely resembles that of another player BUT you may use the surname of another player if that player (or family head) gives their consent
  ..Example
  ....Forbidden: Alyssa D. Hazelwood, Alvin Sharper
  ....Allowed (with consent) : James Hazelwood, Sarah Sharper,...
  

Be advised that the "19th Century - War between the States" Administration reserves the right to decline handles that they deem inappropriate for the game. Needless to say that all and any proposed handles not following the above criteria will be automatically declined and the account deleted!

If you need some inspiration for selecting a name for your character here is the link to a good random name generator (when you follow the link just select "name generator" in the left hand menu).

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Good luck with the creation of your character!

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