An NPC is a "non-player character", NPCs are often faceless, the people that we reference passing in the halls. They are used to reinforce the setting and support the story of PCs (player characters).

There are 3 types of NPCs:

1. Faceless NPCs - these are people you reference passing in the hall, sitting in the library, sharing your common room that are not played by other players. Their intervention and presence is more environmental, they are as relevant as the walls and the statues in a room and really serve as setting pieces for roleplay. They don't interface with a player beyond perhaps hushing them in the library when they speak loudly, looking/glaring at a character as they pass in the halls to suggest perhaps some sort of wide-spread reputation or to reinforce the feel of the thread. They also do not serve as sources of information that your player does not already have general access to. For example, you cannot claim you had an NPC in the library where other players were discussing a secret and this faceless NPC happened to overhear the whole thing and then went to your character with this information - that is a form of metagaming and goes against the spirit of the game. Using a faceless NPC to share something that you would have been able to passively know anyways because it is considered to be common knowledge (for example knowing that Harry Potter was accused of murder) and choose to have a NPC tell you because you wanted to roleplay this out, this is fine. If you have any questions on what metagaming information is, please ask.

2. Dependent NPCs (dNPC) - These are NPCs that only have to do with your character and your story. They have more relevance than a faceless NPC because they have a "face", a name and a history. They are necessary for your character's development and logical existence, such as having[/color] parents, a sibling, a best friend.

These dNPCs would not be going around the community on their own independently, as they are dependent on your character, so they would only be in threads with your character. This means that you would not write a solo roleplay from your father's perspective about a deal he made in the Ministry. The only media that comes wholly from the perspective of your dNPC where your player is not physically present with them would be them sending letters to you or perhaps another user. Ultimately dNPCs are not a primary part of your story and should be nothing more than a footnote used to facilitate your character.

For example: your dNPC mother smiled at Edward and his new best friend James. She was likely surprised that Edward had taken someone home with him, he was quite the homebody but she never said anything to Ed's relief. He was concerned that his mother would embarrass him and chase away his only friend.

In this example the roleplay comes from the perspective of Edward, the player rather than the mother. James, a PC friend was brought to the home so there is player interaction also but James can be another dNPC friend and this entire experience can be written as a solo used to explain or further solidify Edward's personality. Inferences are made regarding the dNPCs from the perspective of the player character, the dNPCs' actions are controlled by the player writer but it comes from the perspective of the writer.

These dNPCs have names, faces and identities. There is more to them than simply a smiling face or a friendly wave in the hall, they effect your story and are more than a means to reinforce the setting. There are some restrictions on these dNPCs as well.

1. • They can only be in threads that you are in unless specifically stated otherwise by the staff (such as in events). There are no clear rules for this, it is discretionary per the moderation staff. The other exception being that a parent can write an owl, this is one of the only times something is written from a dNPC's perspective in a thread without the PC being physically present with them.
2. • They cannot possess any special abilities or talents that you are deriving a benefit from (such as being a Seer and them sharing their visions with you). This does not mean that dNPCs cannot have abilities. If you are a Parselmouth, it is logical and expected that at least one of your parents is also a Parselmouth for instance. However, if you are not a part Veela you cannot claim that your mother was one and try to get past on the technicality that they were only a small fraction and that is why you are not considered one. If you game the system in this sort of way we won't trust you to make fun things on your own.
3. • They cannot share any information that you do not already have access to. They might be how you IC learned of something the general public is aware of, such as a wizarding war for instance because it was mentioned at the dinner table while you were home on holiday. You cannot learn information that would be otherwise generally unavailable to you via dNPCs. However, in the case of special events it is possible that the staff will provide you with some special information that your dNPC might be able to share with you.
4. • dNPCs would have reasonable access to the means by which they are created. Meaning: a muggle-born would have access to average muggle amenities. A muggle would not have access to a secret room filled with rare wizarding stuff. A wizard would have access to basic wizarding amenities, much like the Weasley household. There might be self-knitting needles or a false façade to hide from muggles for instance. These items stay home. You cannot claim your parents have a Flying Motorbike that you took on an adventure, this would be using your NPC's abilities and means for your character's advantage. We have a number of magical items in the shop that you can claim your parents have sent you as a gift or you have bought with your hard-earned coin however.
5. • dNPCs would have reasonable access to skillsets. Meaning if a parent is a doctor, they would have the skills of a physician. If a parent is a wizard, or a potion-master, they would have access to the skills that a wizard or a potion-make would have. Again, dNPCs are footnotes in stories, this would only be used to mention that a wizard mother is using magic to wash dishes or a physician father comments on the healing their child has experienced through magic perhaps as a tool to exemplify healing magic. This is not done to give a player an advantage that they otherwise do not have. For instance, a potion-master parent making their son a dozen Love Potions to take with them to school. This would go beyond the boundaries of dNPC use. In addition, saying your parent cast a spell (like wiping your whole memory, reading another player's mind, attempting to murder your friends with an unforgivable) that you derive a direct roleplay benefit from goes against the dNPC terms of use.
   To clarify this even further: your dNPCs are window dressings, they are background drama. The story we are following is you. Having your parent come home and tell you and your friends about a story where they used skills you do not have access to (example casting crucio on a villain) is something we can begrudgingly accept. Using your parent to cast crucio on other players, yourself, or someone's iNPC is you accessing and using a spell that is placed behind an ability and using it for your roleplay benefit. You do not have that spell. You should not be using a spell someone has to spend a whole ability slot to access indirectly through an NPC you made.
6. • dNPCs such as these do not need to be specifically approved by the staff but they are still beholden to site rules. If they break content or setting rules, we will request an edit or a removal of the interaction.
7. • They cannot be cannon characters from the Harry Potter universe or other fictional works, these dNPCs must be your creation (no plagiarism allowed).
8. • You are not to roleplay as them. To clarify, they are in threads -with- you. This is not a license to have a second player character. This serves as that best friend you might have 'always' nearby or your mother that sends you an owl to see how you are doing. This is describing your family when you go home for the holidays or when you are in a solo roleplay. You would still be rolplaying from your character's perspective (not theirs) [Refer to the example provided above]. If you need assistance or examples, we will link you some examples of dNPC use.
9. • dNPCs cannot be used to circumvent word count by having you interface with yourself through an entire post. If you are in a group thread, it is our expectation that the interaction(s) with your dNPCs does not overshadow your interactions with other players. This is considered to be "rude" in our roleplay culture and also makes interacting with you difficult. Please keep your dNPC use to less than half of your post. If you want an example of how to not use a dNPC in this way, we can point out a few threads.
10. • You need to be clear in your post what is being done by you and what is being done by your dNPC (looking at you twins).
11. • dNPCs need to make sense. The Index Team (while they do not actively monitor these because it is not humanly possible to do so) may notice discrepancies and may request additional information and clarification as it effects as mentioned above your story.

3. Independent NPCs (iNPCs) - These are non-player characters that you create to have an alternative experience on the site. These are non-player characters that are roleplayed on your account that are not your player character but you are roleplaying from their perspective and they can roleplay in threads that your character is not in. These characters are not from Hogwarts (usually) and they offer you a unique experience. They can roleplay in threads separate from your character and have experiences (as well as information) that your player character does not have or logically have access to. However, there are some restrictions with these characters.

1. • These NPCs must be approved by the staff. Applications for iNPCs are open for only a short period of time a couple times a year. These creation and edit opportunities are often created in association with events and adventures.
2. • You can only have one iNPC that will be attached to your account.
3. • These characters cannot be used as a means to metagame information (such as with dNPCs), however on a case-by-case basis the staff might state that certain NPCs have additional information that they can share or use as they will. They also might naturally acquire additional information through independent roleplay, this information is theirs to use and disseminate.
4. • These characters are often only available during certain event times. It would make little sense for instance that an Ilvermorny student was spending months or years on Hogwarts. However, during non-event times, your iNPC can still send your player character or other player characters owls and communicate that way. In addition, there are other forum areas outside of Hogwarts that you might logically see your iNPC such as Diagon Alley, London, Other Places. If you have a question about where it might be logical to roleplay your iNPC, please ask. We want them used but like everything else, they need to make sense.
5. • You are intended to roleplay as them.
6. • We do not offer special races to iNPCs, they will always be fully human.

When posting with an approved iNPC please make sure you follow these guidelines:

1. Only approved iNPCs can be roleplayed. Don't RP things that aren't approved... (If you have unapproved/pending abilities or stats etc, don't RP them).

2. You MUST post a picture of your iNPC in every post with them. This picture or avatar is what you use when you are posting as them to clearly indicate that you are posting as your iNPC and not your PC. (This can be a fancy banner or just an image but something must accompany it).

3. Ideally, please link to your iNPC's encyclopedia in every post with them.

For instance:

Roleplaying as [Name of iNPC] from [School] - Link to Encyclopedia
[IMAGE OF THEM]

4. Honestly make it clear that they are different. If your posts aren't clear at first glance (i.e. without reading the post itself) then it's not clear enough.

5. If you decide to post your PC and your iNPC in one post, there needs to be two separate 200+ word sections written individually of each other. Frankly, it is easier for you and us if you keep their posts separate.

Remember:

• Make sure that you create a character that you are happy with.
• You only get 1 iNPC attached to your player account 
• In the future there will be other events with iNPCs from other places with different restrictions.
• You will not be able to switch to a new iNPC because you changed your mind, got bored with them or did not think them through. 
• The only way that it is possible to get a new iNPC is by getting a new character through the DEACTIVATION process where your character is deactivated and you then decide to attached a new iNPC to your new account.

Restrictions to Creating an iNPC:

1. Ilvermony has very few half-bloods, but they have many purebloods, wizard borns and muggle borns. You cannot create an Ilvermorny iNPC that is a halfblood.
2. Durmstrang has very few muggleborns, but they have many pure-bloods, wizard-borns and to a lesser extend half-bloods. You cannot create a Durmstrang iNPC that is a muggleborn.
3. Beauxbatons students start school the same year they turn 11 (they don't need to be 11 at the start of September, just by December of the year they start).
4. Koldovstoretz is a young school, while your parents might have come from this school or even your grandparents, please remember that this school is only a century old. It is a very young school.
5. Mahoutokoro only accepts students from Japan.
6. Castelobruxo accepts all students from South America and Central America, and students from North America and the Caribbean per application. You cannot create a Caribbean or North American student who is muggleborn.
7. Uagadou accepts students from all over Africa. Despite the lore, users making iNPCs from this school will get no additional benefits on wandless magic / animagi. These students must meet the same requirements as all other users to gain these abilities. Note: Animagus is presently not an option for iNPCs.
8. Tenūsa accepts students from Oceania and Maritime South-East Asia. The term clan in the Tenusa lore refers to the group of students you get educated with before being placed in a one-on-one mentorship with your dukun. There are no clans once you officially become a first year.
9. Any iNPC that you create needs to be the same year as you are presently.
10. Any iNPC that you create must be fully human.

Name: Nothing from the sacred 28, no plagiarizing names from other fandoms.
School: Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, Ilvermorny, Koldovstoretz, Mahoutokoro, Castelobruxo, Uagadou or Tenūsa
Year: Must be the same year as you are presently.
Status: Muggleborn, Halfblood, Wizardborn, Pureblood
Appearance: Please give a short description (at least 2 sentences) about what they look like and provide an avatar or a banner that shows their physical appearance. This picture or avatar is what you would be using in your posts where you are posting as your iNPC to clearly indicate that you are posting as your NPC not your PC.
Personality: Please give a brief description (at least 2 sentences) about their personality. If their personality is that they are a 'crazy person' or some sort of psychopath with a long list of disorders... please make a new personality because it will not be accepted. We do expect the personality to be something that can interface with other players and if they do have a mental or a physical handicap that it is done by a well-informed writer that will do so respectfully.
History: We are looking for at least 200 words describing their history. This is their life, their family. Their upbringing. This is separate from their personality and their appearance. This is not their ambitions or aspirations, this is the story of their life and the story of their life being reduced to a mere few hundred words should not be able to give their life justice. We want a well-thought out character. Please remember, they do not have awesome special powers that nobody else has. We do need a few sentences on their first magic as well.
Is your character a Broom Racer? This applies if you are any of the four schools. Players with an already created NPC from can state that their iNPC is a broom racer. Your sport choice (broom racing, quidditch, dueling) for your NPC can be the same as your PC. This is a binary YES/NO.
Is your character a Quidditch Player? This applies if you are any of the four schools. Players with an already created NPC from can state that their iNPC is a quidditch player. Your sport choice (broom racing, quidditch, dueling) for your NPC can be the same as your PC. This is a binary YES/NO.
Is your character a Duelist? This applies if you are any of the four schools. Players with an already created NPC from can state that their iNPC is a duellist. Your sport choice (broom racing, quidditch, dueling) for your NPC can be the same as your PC. This is a binary YES/NO.
Stats: They should add up to what you can have for your year if you were human. So if you have a Veela player character, your NPC does get the full stats you would have had if you were human. Wins from games (quidditch, broom racing, dueling) by your player character or NPC are also applied to your other account.
Abilities: To be accepted they must be written out fully and approved. This is a full application.

There is a thread for each school. Make your applications there.



Once you are approved, a copy of your application will be posted in a separate thread under your account name. You will be able to edit everything in this one post, The second post will be your trunk which you will not have access to edit.

To reiterate, staff will create your iNPC encyclopedia for you when your application is approved. Once approved, your iNPC encyclopedia should only have two posts. The first will be your full your iNPC application, with your appearance, history, personality, any aesthetics you want. [You can edit this post for aesthetic purposes. Do not edit any content (i.e. changing/adding words in the backstory or personality etc) without approval.] The second post will be your "trunk". This will be the stats and abilities, essentially. This cannot be edited by yourself, you will need to post an update for this. There should be no other posts in your encyclopedia threads.

You are not able to make new threads in this forum.

You are expected to submit updates to your bio/history and trunk in the same thread you applied for your character in. Due to the papertrails we have on creation and with your updates, we will know if something conflicting is snuck in, so please do not do it. People that sneak things in will be asked to edit or possibly lose their iNPC privileges.

Can I move my iNPC to my new account if I deactivate?

Yes, you can attach your iNPC to your new account if you wish. It would then be tied to both accounts. There are some limitations to this of course, we have restrictions regarding what year the iNPC can be next to your player character. So if you have a year three player character and make an iNPC, it would also be a year three character. When you deactivate and make a new character, your iNPC is too old/high in years for you to take onto your new account as a first year. You would have to wait until you are the same year (player character and iNPC as they will stay frozen in that year but still age, think of it as being 'held back.') to use that iNPC in events. You may state your intent when iNPCs applications open so at the passage of the year the transition is official. This can be very sticky and tricky, it is vastly preferred that you stick with your characters and develop them but we do make some efforts to accommodate players but there are limitations to our setting and systems.

Can I move my iNPC to a new account, then return to my old account and get a new iNPC?

No.

I want to be an exchange student/make my iNPC my PC.

That is not presently possible, however it is a foreseeable option once a system is developed. The likely system would involve deactivating your previous player character (after playing that character for 6 months or more) and then rebirthing into your already approved and pre-established iNPC that has already interfaced with the community, setting and staff as being from another school. That said, they would need to be at the very least equivalent to your character in terms of age and years, this cannot be used as a means to skip a few years of the play experience. Such a system does not presently exist, been approved or is being actively developed as we have bigger systems to contend with but is mentioned here because it is again important to empathize that you need to think about what you are making and be certain that you are happy with your creation.

Can I place my iNPC into a sport like racing, quidditch or dueling?

Yes you can. You can only be in one sport and it can be the same as the one your player character plays. So if your player character plays quidditch, then your iNPC can broom race, duel or play quiditch. You are also able to swap out the sport that you play through the year during NPC updates.

When will I be able to make an iNPC or update my iNPC?

This only happens a couple times a year -- this being usually the summer time (July) to update their stats. An announcement will always be made. Again at the start of the school year (September) to pick their sport (Broom Racing, Quidditch and Dueling) and prepare for the October Ball. Finally, in the spring (April) there will be another opportunity in time for the Blossom Ball. These are not strict dates but they are rough approximations of when and what to expect.

What Spells Can be Found in my Trunk?

Any spell your player character has, your iNPC also has access to. This does mean that prodigal players (abilities such as Prodigal Charms Learner) and restricted players (abilities such as Restricted Transfiguration Section) on the main player character account confer additional spells to the iNPC. This does not work the other way around, NPCs are not allowed to have a prodigal or restricted ability.

Will Other Schools be Available?

Yes, there will be other schools made available as Lore is prepared to release information regarding them, they endeavor to have a school available near the dances but there is no strict timeline for this.

Are there any additional considerations?

Yes, it is important to know that your NPC be it a faceless, dependent or independent NPC is still subject to site rules. Index has restrictions regarding aspects such as homelessness and abuse for example, these rules apply to the NPC as well. In addition, NPCs cannot be used as a vehicle to do things with your player character that are restricted. The staff reserves the right to request edits if site rules or setting is in conflict with roleplays.

Can I roleplay at the iNPC schools?

Yes, there is one forum per school located under the Wizarding World -- > London --> Other Schools area.

Does my iNPC have to have a separate broom from my PC?

Whatever broom you have bought and resides in your trunk can be used by both your PC and/or your iNPC (assume they each own the same model).

Does my iNPC have to have separate potions from my PC?

Whatever potions you have brewed with your PC and reside in your trunk can be used by both your PC and/or your iNPC (assume your iNPC has brewed or received these separately). Note: as potions will be associated with your PC and therefore form a part of your main trunk, you must submit the brewing application as your PC.

Can my iNPC have a pet?

Presently, we do not have a pet system for iNPCs.

What about my iNPC's wand?

Presently, we do not have a wand system for iNPCs so we ask that you avoid detailing anything about your iNPC's wand including length/wood/core. The exception is iNPCs that have taken the wandmaker ability, meaning they get their wand listed in their trunk and can freely discuss its details in RP.

Can my iNPC have a patronus?

Presently, we do not have a patronus system for iNPCs and as such iNPCs cannot have listed patronus forms. The exception is iNPCs that have taken the Corporeal Patronus Messenger ability. When applying for the ability, please include your proposed corporeal patronus form and we will list it in your trunk. You will then be able to freely discuss the details in RP.

Do iNPCs have classes during their time at Hogwarts? Do they attend classes with Hogwarts students?

Before leaving their schools, iNPC students are given x weeks' worth of school assignments and homework/curriculum to follow while they are at Hogwarts. During the Hogwarts classtimes, the iNPC students are at their lodgings or in spare classrooms doing their schoolwork and receiving instruction/help from whichever teacher is chaperoning their visit (often the Headmaster of the school). This means they do not attend classes with the Hogwarts students, to avoid problems with translation, distraction and different curriculum.

Do you have to be in the index to create an iNPC?

You must be indexed in order to create an iNPC.

Are we allowed to have multiple posts in their encyclopedia such as threads, relationships etc. or are we only allowed one post and their trunk?

Only the first post and the trunk should be in the iNPC ency. You can add threads and relationships to that first post though, if you want to.

Edits
May 6, 2022 - added about needing to be in Index and multiple posts for an encyclopedia. - Lear
January 24, 2023 - clarified that you cannot take restricted abilities and requirement of Corporeal Patronus Messenger for a patronus form - Magdalena
March 18 2023 - added further detail to the sports question
7 June 2023 - Added further clarification around iNPCs and potions.
24 August 2023 - Made a change to sports and NPCs