They're family and they love each other. Yes, even the Black family has the capacity to love. Sort of. Point is, they all get together on holidays to lay around and remind each other how much better they are than everyone else. Strength in numbers and all that. But, as everyone knows, the Blacks and their associates are very far from perfect, so obviously all kinds of sordid drama can be expected to go down within the Manor. Family secrets in the making.

For all intents and purposes, it's 1971. This puts Bellatrix Black at 20 years old, Andromeda at 18, and Narcissa at 16, etc. An excellent point of reference is the Black family tree at the Harry Potter Lexicon. The only catch comes in for a few of the younger members, specifically Barty Crouch Jr., Regulus Black, and Evan Rosier. For the sake of the game, let's just pretend they're all roughly 15 or 16. If you have any more questions about timeline, ask the mod.

That's simple: one day in real life equals one day in the game.

Easy! Incidental characters are characters that any previously accepted player can pick up for a one to two week period. You can use them to cause some drama, fill a role in a storyline, change up your style, or even just because. Incidental characters, however, must be from one of the family friends listed. You can't just have anyone show up at the Black manor without a good reason. Some game-wide events will, of course, require a few incidental characters in attendance, but they can be applied and played at any time. Incidental characters may, on rare occasions, be invited to stay longer than their allotted time frame, if the player wishes and mod approves.

Why yes, yes it is. You are, of course, more than free to bend the rules a little bit, considering we don't know absolutely everything about most of these characters, but do keep in mind what ultimately happens in canon.

Lineage was designed to have room in it for darker storylines. It is the Black family after all, macabre is pretty par for the course. If darker storylines aren't your cup of tea, or you are unsure you'd be comfortable with them, we kindly refer you to the 'don't like, don't read' rule. This isn't to say that everything at Lineage is demented and creepy, but the expectation of it is always there. As far as specifics, as long as you put up your warnings, keep the mod informed, act maturely, and follow all the rules, there's not much that is expressly not allowed.

The usuals: no scene queens, no obvious celebrities, no one who won't fit in with the time period. Please keep in mind that it's 1971, and elder witches and wizards do tend to get caught in their ways, not to mention the wizarding world as a whole seems to love their regency fashions.

The mod likes scribbld! Twenty icons is more than LJ and scribbld is prettier than IJ. It's all about the aesthetics. If it wasn't such a hassle for people to find invite codes, inksome would be my first choice.

Since the game is primarily based around the holidays, and runs in real time, it may be difficult to play during the school year. Right now, the game is opening up for Christmas holidays (December 1970 - January 1971) as sort of a trial run. If everyone is still interested at the end of this trial period, the game will go into a sort of hibernation/psl state for the spring half of the school year. You will, of course, be MORE than welcome to play scenes that happen over Easter break, or on weekends, for the students, and any characters out of school can stay at the Manor and continue about their happy Black family lives. All characters will come back into play for the grand opening this summer, and if you played a student-aged one during the cold open, you will be given top priority and first chance at them again in the summer, no application required. Questions? Consult the mod for more info.

The mod's name is Amanda and, as a struggling college student, is never too far away from her computer. You can email her at explosion9@gmail.com or hit her up on AIM at afterwards3.