22.1 Mortal Builders in Achaea

What is a Mortal Builder?
-------------------------
A mortal builder is a player who contributes to Achaea from behind-the-scenes as 
a writer. Many areas in the game, from Azdun to Enverren to much of Meropis, to the highest reaches of Yggdrasil, would never have been completed without the assistance of mortal builders! 

Some items you see at the Itinerant Bazaar and other denizen-run shops have been 
created by mortal builders. Some of the special caves that open during the Great 
Hunt are designed by mortal builders. Mortal builders have even, on occasion, 
prepared events for players to participate in. Last but not least, hundreds of 
rooms have been rewritten by mortal builders since the early days of Achaea, 
bringing them up to a high standard of writing.


What It's Like
--------------
If you are considering applying to become a mortal builder for Achaea, keep the 
below in mind:

Being a builder in Achaea is not like being a builder on many text games (muds). 
You do not become an immortal. Instead, you initially work with the Building Lead to complete projects, after which we may grant you limited powers for creating and editing rooms, denizens, and items yourself.

Building is not easy. It has great rewards and can be very satisfying, 
creatively. Our standards for building are quite rigorous, and we insist on 
excellence in writing quality. Every mortal builder begins as a trainee, with 
more responsibility being given as they demonstrate the ability to 
complete projects in a satisfactory and timely manner.

In return for their hard work, mortal builders are compensated with credit 
rewards. These are given on a case-by-case basis for completion of various 
building assignments, depending on scope, speed, quality, and other factors.

Mortal building is a completely OOC position. It has nothing to do with your, or 
anyone else's, character in the game.

Currently, the mortal building program is focused on a mix between developing new areas for Achaea, refreshing older areas and bringing them up to modern standards, and on occasion, writing contributions to various ongoing development projects. This can include anything from room descriptions, quest items, denizens, dialogue, attacks, atmospheric messages, and anything in between! 

As a builder, you are always given the opportunity to pass on an assignment. We 
don't hold it against you. We understand that you have school, work, vacations, 
dates, family obligations, parties to attend, etc.! You're not expected to be 
constantly writing room descriptions every day. We do think it's a fair 
expectation that you stay active in the program, though. 

Most projects will be posted with deadlines, and once committed, we expect builders to stick to these deadlines as closely as possible.

Becoming a Mortal Builder
-------------------------
An announcement will be made when we are accepting mortal builder applications, 
with instructions on how to do so. You must be at least 18 years old in real 
life to apply.

What are we looking for? Players who are:
 - experienced and knowledgeable about the game world
 - excellent and creative writers
 - self-starters
 - reliable, disciplined, and able to meet deadlines
 - passionate about making Achaea the BEST immersive experience possible!

If you've decided to submit an application, read HELP STYLE. Read it again. Then 
read this file again, thoroughly.

Check your grammar and spelling extensively. We cannot stress this too much! 
More than a couple of mistakes will disqualify you automatically as a potential 
builder. Your grammar needs to be not only adequate, but exquisite. It is 
equally as important as your descriptive writing skills, if not more.

Once you have applied, please be patient. You'll hear back from us one way or 
another.