General Game Questions
How many characters am I allowed to have at one time?
Currently, the cap is at four characters. Additionally, you may only have one character in a position of power at any given time. Applicants who already have, or intend to apply for, a character in 'office" will also be allowed to hold a PJO/HOO character with a canon position.
We also have a waiting period for new players. We ask that you pass the first AC after the new player grace period before considering a second character.
What sort of characters can I app?
Anyone is possible, as long as your character has enough canon information to go by. For example, America/Alfred F. Jones from Axis Powers: Hetalia is appable, but America/Emily Jones from Nyotalia is not appable. For cases of canon genderswapping, like in Adventure Time with Finn and Jake, a genderswapped character is allowed to be apped provided they have appeared significantly in the show/comic. This means that Marshall Lee is in, but Flame Prince is currently out. Players may also not apply as any canonly dead characters from Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Heroes of Olympus or The Kane Chronicles.
Okay, but you guys have MCU!Natasha. Can I still app 616!Natasha or is that not okay?
At the opening of the game, Rachel Elizabeth Dare (the Oracle) issues a new prophecy we like to call the "Mirror Prophecy", which can be found on the Prophecies page. Basically, multiples show up in Camp, and it's all part of Gaea's bid for more half-blood death and a chance to gain more power. If you speak with the mods, we'll talk with you a bit more about the plot implications of this. Note that you do not have to choose the same pantheon as your altverse self.
What sort of things do I post on each comm?
Iris-messages and bracketspam action posts are posted at ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png) halfbloodhill. Planned logs between two or more characters or planned open logs, written in paragraph format, are posted at halfbloodhill_logs.
What if I don't want to play a demigod? What are my other options?
Currently, we are accepting applications for these sorts of characters:
- Hunters of Artemis. These characters can be humans or demigods, but must be female. More about them later.
- Satyrs. Followers of Pan, these creatures have human tops and goat bottoms. They play pan-flutes and act as recruiters for Camp Half-Blood. Most of the time, your character's best friend in the mortal world will be a satyr in disguise, protecting you until it's time for you to go to Camp. All satyrs are male.
- Nymphs. These spirits of nature reside in trees (dryads) and other plants (anthousai and epimelides), rocks (oreads), the air (aurae), and bodies of water (nereids and naiads). They tend to nature and are often chased after by lusty satyrs. Nymphs are always female.
- The Oracle/Mortals with Clear Sight. This mortal is the keeper of the spirit of the Oracle of Delphi, a famous figure in Greek Mythology who could see the future. The current Oracle is Rachel Elizabeth Dare, but girls can also be prepped to become the new Oracle. Oracles are always female. Some mortals can also see through the Mist. Currently, it is unknown why some can and others cannot, but oftentimes these mortals are either related to demigods or have lineage tracing back to an Oracle but cannot host the Oracle.
- Legacies. A legacy is a person who was not directly born from the coupling of a god and a mortal, but has the godly parentage in their family history. Some legacies are the offspring of a demigod and a human, while some legacies run in families - though the power offered by a god dilutes over time as the generations further. Legacies are more common amongst Romans, as the Romans had the option to live in New Rome outside the mortal world safely and raise families - they can exist in Greek demigods, but are very rare, as most Greek demigods don't live very long lives due to their lack of a safety net post-camp. It is possible for a character to be both a demigod and a legacy, such as the canon example of Frank Zhang - son of Mars, legacy of Neptune.
- Magicians. These are Egyptian magicians who channel the gods. Those who are capable of becoming magicians are those who are descendants of the Ancient Egyptian pharaohs. It was only recently that following the Path of the Gods was unbanned and allowed by all. And by recently we mean about a year ago. More on this here.
- Ragnarokked Norse Gods. So, at the end of Norse Mythology, it was prophesized that the gods would die in a cataclysmic event/battle called Ragnarok, in which they would be born again into a new world. Ragnarok happened a little less than a year ago, and most of the gods' eitr (life essence) was transmitted into a group of people. They will gain knowledge from Hera or Juno that in a past life, they were Norse gods and will recieve training with their new powers at Camp Half Blood, the training grounds for Greek demigods. As for the rest of their eitr...
- Soul Pieces. The rest of each Norse god's eitr that wasn't transported into their new human body were split all over the world, and little portions of their power were dropped into random humans - effectively, a piece of their soul now resides in these people. They gain a power of the god and are driven by a guiding force (usually Hera or Juno) towards Camp Half-Blood, where the gods whose soul pieces they hold are convening. Once they meet the god, their soul piece is dedicated back to the reborn Norse god and they gain a blessing from the god, effectively joining that god's army of followers.
- Humanoid Automatons. Hephaestus/Vulcan and his children have the ability to make automatons, Celestial Bronze robot-like creatures with artificial intelligence that varies from automaton to automaton. Some Automatons can be so lifelike that they can pass for human.
Can I play a character with a soul piece even if that god/goddess is not at camp?
Yes! Of course you can!
Is smut allowed?
Yes and no. Any threads that go over an R warning must be locked, put under a cut, and tagged as NSFW - this goes for violent threads over R as well. In addition, please keep it realistic. Most of our campers here are going to be under the age of 18 - if your characters are going to get freaky, please make sure they're at least over 16 to prevent squicking anyone.
How do Activity Checks work?
Activity Checks are conducted on the first of every month. In our Activity Check post, players must check in and respond with a link to either a) a post they made to halfbloodhill with at least 10 comments by the player, a thread on halfbloodhill with at least 10 comments made by the player, or a log on halfbloodhill_logs with at least 10 comments made by the player.
If a character does not get posted on the Activity Check by the due date on the check or does not have enough comments to pass, they will be included in a Reclaim Post. Characters on Reclaim may be 'reclaimed' by players until the due date of the Reclaim Post. Reclaimed characters will then owe Double Activity the next month. If a character is not reclaimed, they will be dropped from the game. If a player whose character has been dropped would like to reapply for that character, they must wait a week before doing so.
What happens if I want to play a character who spent a significant time in game and then was dropped?
A: It's very simple! You as a player have the ability to not only pick up this character but start completely fresh with them. Any actions the old version of this character took will be retconned to having being done by an NPC.
If picking up a canon character that was dropped, please contact the mods first!
In-Universe Questions
You don't need to read Percy Jackson or even be familiar with the series to play at Half Blood Hill! Here are some common questions about the PJO universe that we have answered for you:
What is Camp Half-Blood and where is it located?
Camp Half-Blood is a training camp for Greek demigods - children born of one mortal parent and one divine parent. Most campers attend during summertime and go back to their mortal families for the rest of the year - often going to mortal schools. In special cases, often for the safety of the demigod or because the child has nowhere else to go, demigods may become year-round campers. Recently, though, after the kidnapping of the summer campers in August 2013 by the Red Room, Chiron and Mr. D have decreed that all campers must stay at camp year-round indefinitely for their safety and the safety of their families.
Camp Half-Blood is located on Half-Blood Hill on the banks of Long Island Sound in New York.
Why don't mortals stumble upon Camp Half-Blood?
Camp Half-Blood, as well as many other places frequented by gods and demigods in the mortal realm, is protected by a magical force called The Mist. The Mist is controlled by Hecate, goddess of magic, and can be manipulated by her children. It causes most mortals to see things a bit differently than how they actually are when mythological forces are concerned, and can even replace memories of supernatural activity with false ones - for example, when the great monster Typhon was rampaging across the USA, most mortals saw him as one of many different natural disasters or storms.
Some mortals can see through the Mist. This ability is called having 'clear sight'. Oftentimes, these mortals have the potential to become the host for the Oracle of Delphi.
Who is in charge at Camp Half-Blood?
Camp Half-Blood is looked after by two Activities Directors: Chiron, a centaur and the main overseer (and the one campers are usually more prone to reach out to), and Mr. D, more commonly known as Dionysus, the god of wine. Recently, they have been joined by Lupa, the Roman goddess of wolves and protector of New Rome, who has traveled from Rome with her pack to look after the Romans. Chiron, Mr. D and Lupa are currently NPCs, and their accounts can be found at ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) chiron, gettincrunk, and capitolina, respectively.
The camp has many satyrs and nymphs who often act as liasons between the heads and the campers and assist them. Currently, we have five NPCs in these positions: Juniper, a dryad coniferous, Maria, a dryad nurturingviolet, Rosemary, a nymph wildrosemarygrows, Molly, a naiad outpours and Tai, a satyr trust_the_goatman.
So what does Camp Half-Blood look like to a mortal who can't see through the Mist?
To these people, Camp Half-Blood looks like a simple strawberry farm. It's got a white picket fence with a sign that reads 'Please Pick Your Own Strawberries' on it, as well as a large blue farmhouse behind it.
Why do I want to be here if I'm a demigod, anyway?
First off, it's nice to know that you're not alone.
Secondly, without proper training, the real world? Pretty damn dangerous for a demigod alone. See, demigods have a particular smell attached to them, and monsters can track that smell. Most of them haven't eaten in ages and would be quite happy to get their paws on a tasty son of Aphrodite.
Inside camp, for the most part, monsters can't harm you.
How old are campers when they start going to Camp?
As far as ages go, the youngest age Camp Half-Blood has seen for campers is 8, if their home lives are particularly troubled/if they are in danger living in the mortal world. First year campers are roughly around the age of eleven and according to a new rule Percy made the gods enforce, must be claimed by their godly parent by the age of thirteen, so there are a lot of first-year thirteen year olds, too. On top of that, there was a mass-claiming of older demigods just prior to the start of the game's events, as many demigods were forgotten or unnoticed by their parent, but got claimed later on in life due to the new rule that's being enforced amongst the gods, so that's how you can get an older first year here too - however, this does not have to be the case and you can also have your character claimed in-game. We encourage this! Most of our older campers are either people who were at camp before or during the events of The Last Olympian, which is where HBH canon splits off from PJO canon or they're transfers from Camp Jupiter.
Now, at Camp Jupiter, a good deal of kids were demigods that grew up in New Rome or they were legacies - kids whose parents grew up in New Rome, a city that was built by the Roman Twelfth Legion as a safe haven for Roman demigods to carry out their lives in free of monster-attacks. (Unfortunately, Greeks don't have that luxury.) We're not sure what age those kids are sent to the Wolf House to see if they're strong enough for Camp Jupiter, but in game we'll say that the median age for any New Roman kid is around 11 to keep it a standard. Roman demigods who didn't live in New Rome probably have the same sort of situation as the Greek ones, if their home lives are too dangerous, but since Rome is about proving yourself worthy of being in the legion as opposed to being immediately accepted to camp, it'd be significantly harder for an 8 year old to get through the trials at the Wolf House and make it to Camp Jupiter.
It is both allowed and encouraged to de-age adult characters from outside canons into children/teenagers for this universe.
Where do campers live?
Information can be found at the Cabins page!
What kind of powers does having a different godly parent allow a camper?
The kinds of powers associated with demigods from each god can be found with your cabin information on the Cabins page.
Why do Hera and Artemis have cabins? Doesn't Hera get mad if Zeus sleeps around, and isn't Artemis a virgin goddess?
The Hera cabin is a symbolic cabin. Hera's jealous streak is known far and wide, and if there wasn't a cabin built for her, let's just say the result wouldn't be pretty.
The Artemis cabin is home to the Hunters of Artemis! When the Hunters come to stay at camp, the Artemis cabin is where they call home.
So who are the Hunters of Artemis?
The Hunters of Artemis may be human, demigod, or nymph. Each hunter has sworn loyalty to Artemis, to join her in the hunt and reject men for the rest of their lives. Upon Artemis' acceptance of their pledge, these young women are gifted with excellent ranged capabilities and hunting skills, and become immortal. They hunt monsters, and whatever else they see fit. They are her maidservants, her companions, and her sisters in arms.
They are however, sworn to be a Hunter forever and to be an eternal maiden. Because of this, many of the Hunters have a great hatred for males and dread even traveling with them. If a Hunter falls in love, Artemis will remove their immortality and may turn them into an animal, depending on her discretion. The other possible way to lose immortality is to die in battle.
Artemis appears as a young, twelve year old girl, as this is the average age of her Hunters. The current lead lieutenant (of which there are four total) is Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, eternally aged 15 and 364 days.
Speaking of virgin goddesses, why in the world does Athena have children in this series? Which virgin goddesses we havent mentioned actually stay virgin goddesses, and which goddesses don't bear children at all?
Athena's children are not actually born in the normal way. They are brainchildren in the most literal sense - just like Athena sprung from Zeus' head, children of Athena spring from her head as gifts to the men whose minds she favors.
Minerva, Athena's Roman counterpart, does not bear children at all, and as we've said, neither does Artemis or Diana. On a similar note, neither does Hestia/Vesta, goddess of the hearth. Lupa, Roman goddess of wolves and the leader of Camp Jupiter, also does not bear children with mortals, as she is both a wolf goddes and an actual wolf.
Okay, well, whatever, I really want to be a son/daughter of Zeus/Poseidon/Hades anyway.
Yikes!!!! Sorry, but due to canon reasons, outside of Thalia Grace (daughter of Zeus), Percy Jackson (son of Poseidon), and Nico di Angelo (son of Hades), there are no other demigod children from the "Big Three" that exist in canon, and by extension, our AU. Why? Because of The First Great Prophecy. This was told after World War II, and as a result of it, the Big Three made a pact not to have any more children.
If it's absolutely essential that your character be fathered by Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades, then we suggest you think about making them a child of Jupiter, Neptune, or Pluto, as their Roman aspects did not make the same pact.
What are weapons made out of at Camp?
Most Greek demigod weapons are made of Celestial Bronze, which is fatal to monsters but does not really hurt mortals - this does not include Magicians, who can be hurt with this material. Some campers have weapons of other materials, most notably Hades campers, who can wield weapons of Stygian Iron (dipped in the River Styx). Roman weapons are made of Imperial Gold, but they aren't common at Camp Half-Blood. Egyptian magicians fight with a staff and a wand. The wand is for offensive magic, while the staff is for defensive magic. Some Egyptians also can learn to wield a khopesh, a curved Egyptian sword. Post-Ragnarok Norse gods and the keepers of their eitr can choose a weapon from the Armory once they arrive at camp.
Some Greco-Roman made weapons, such as Percy and Jason's swords and Thalia's shield, take the form of a household item when not in use. It seems that most of these items are small/handheld and unobtrusive (the pen, coin or bracelet) so the character could carry them on their person easily. Oftentimes, these items require a special action to be taken by their wielder to transform them into a weapon - for example, Percy must uncap his pen in order to change it into a sword.
What sort of devices are permitted at Camp?
First off, that iPhone of yours has got to go.
Cell phones are a big no-no for demigods in general. It broadcasts a signal of your location for monsters and makes you way easier to track. This pretty much goes for any electronic device, unfortunately. Special cases are made for automatons made by the Hephaestus cabin or items like Daedalus' laptop, which is currently in the possession of Annabeth Chase. If your character has an idea for a device that doesn't interfere with the electronic signal sent out to broadcast where a demigod is (like video scrolls for watching movies), they may speak to someone in the Hephaestus cabin to see if they can create it.
Weapons are allowed and encouraged to keep on your person at all times.
How does currency work at Camp?
There really isn't much use for currency among campers or campers and the directors, as camp is free for demigods and others who inhabit the area.
However, in order to get anywhere in the Greek mythological world outside of camp, or to send a message to other people in or outside camp, one needs Ancient Greek money. The most common coin demigods have on hand is a golden drachma. This is used in a plethora of ways, most often to communicate with other campers or family back home. See more in the next question.
If demigods aren't allowed to have cell phones, how do they communicate over long distances?
Demigods use IMs (Iris-Messages) to communicate! These are facilitated by the goddess Iris and her helpers. The way it works is:
1) Make a rainbow.
2) Throw some Greek money into it (often a golden drachma) and say 'O Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering'.
3) Tell Iris who you want to speak to or what you'd like to see for general stuff.
4) Talk into the IM!
What does daily life look like at camp?
See a sample activity schedule here!
What kind of mythological animals/monsters can be found in and around camp?
Bestiary is located here!
Are Roman demigods/demigods of other mythology allowed to be apped here?
Yes! Actually, due to the rewrite of the Great Prophecy for Half-Blood Hill, so are characters from the other Rick Riordan series, The Kane Chronicles, but Egyptian kids are not demigods - they are magicians. Ww have also devised a Norse pantheon to put in play for this game. Currently, we are only accepting applicants from these four pantheons.
Okay, so if I can be a Roman demigod, where do I live? You don't list any cabins for Roman gods. And like, what if I'm an Egyptian magician? Is there a "Half-Blood House"? Is Camp Half-Blood one of the Nomes?
First off, kudos to you if you actually know what "Nomes" are. If not, check out our Egyptian pages.
But to answer your question, you will be housed with your nearest god-relative. For example, if you are a daughter of Bellona, the Roman war goddess, you will be housed with Athena campers. (I'm sorry, daughters of Bellona. Athena's children and you will not get along.)
If, for example, you are an Egyptian magician who primarily channels Isis, you will be housed in Hecate cabin. If it gets crowded in there, you might be able to win an argument against Chiron to be moved to Hera's cabin.
Are we allowed to kill other characters?
Plain and simple, the answer is no. Unless you're a child of Hades and he happens to like you very very much, death is permanent.
Why is everything happening in the USA?
This is because Olympus is currently located at the top of the Empire State Building - the 600th floor, to be exact. See, in PJO canon, Olympus moves wherever the center of Western civilization happens to be at the time, and that goes for a lot of other mythological things too - the entrance into Tartarus, the Labyrinth, the location of Scylla and Charybdis, etc.
What is the Red Room?
The Red Room is a construct created for the plot of our game that is not found in the Percy Jackson or Heroes of Olympus series. They are an organization of demigods, magicians, and eitr who wish to raise Gaea, destroy their opponents with their abilities and the help of the Giants, Gaea's children and the Gods' mortal enemies and opposites, and remake the world for their mistress Gaea. The organization was led by the son of Nemesis, Markel, but he is currently presumed dead.
What are the in-character camp rules?
Rules for campers to follow can be found here!
How did Camp Jupiter and New Rome fall?
In-character, most of the Romans aren't even really sure what happened. The event was cataclysmic and many of them might have very different memories of the destruction - perhaps it was a sinkhole, an earthquake, or even falling meteors. What they do remember is the destruction of their homes, and Juno appearing to them instructing them to head east to Camp Half-Blood and take refuge.
In actuality, though, Juno spent a lot of time rearranging everyone's memories for her own purposes, much like she did to Percy and Jason in canon when they were all but dropped into a Greek or Roman lifestyle. The camp was destroyed by a giant who was led there by Red Room infiltrators. Juno, however, knew that the Romans could rebuild their camp and city in days and start over, as they are resilient. She clouded their memories and placed new ones into the heads of the legion so they would have no choice but to cooperate with the Greeks.
I'm applying as a canon character. When filling out the 'abilities' section, do they lose all of their abilities but one?
No. Canon characters may keep all their abilities up to the end of The Last Olympian or The Serpent's Shadow. In HBH canon, the crossover side story The Son of Sobek takes place in between the end of the first Percy Jackson series but before the start of the game. If the character originally appears in one of the Heroes of Olympus novels (such as Leo Valdez), the character may keep the abilities they had in their first appearance. We encourage characters to become stronger and hone their abilities in-game.
How does referencing outside canons/'fourthwalling' other canons work in-game?
It has been confirmed by Rick Riordan that in this universe, both Harry Potter and Twilight exist and are as pervasive in culture as they are in our world. We also are aware that in many fictional works, especially more recent ones, many characters may have taken in other fictional works. For our game, we are taking this to mean that in the universe that Percy Jackson and the Olympians/Heroes of Olympus and The Kane Chronicles take place in, ALL fictional media exists except for these series, even ones that currently exist in game. (At the time of this FAQ writing, we have characters from both Harry Potter and Twilight in game.)
The way your characters can reference other fictional works in-game goes like this:
- If the canon does not have any representatives in-game, characters may reference it by name. For example, at the time of this FAQ writing, we currently do not have any Star Wars player characters; therefore, all player characters may talk about Star Wars and its characters openly.
- If the canon does have representatives in-game, characters may reference it obliquely or by giving the canon a different name. For example, you may speak about Harry Potter as 'that book series about wizard school'. Giving the canon a different title in the HBH-verse (ex: both A Song of Ice and Fire and its TV adaptation Game of Thrones have been renamed 'The Iron Throne' by players in this universe) is encouraged!
- We ask to maintain that your characters have not taken in their canon in HBH-verse. For example, Daenerys Targaryen has never read or watched 'The Iron Throne'.
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For our game, we'd love to have her as a centurion, but we'd rather you de-age her and re-write her history for the game. You don't have to bring her age down quite so low - our current oldest camper is 18 and we've also had a 19 year old before. We have quite a few characters in-game currently who, though adults in their home canons, have been aged down quite a bit and have had AU Histories written that mirror their canon lives in a way that fits the PJO universe. Here is a sample app - the character is Mike Warren from Graceland, who is a brand-new FBI agent in canon but has been brought down to 17 for our game. We'd be happy to help you work on an app for Hawke regarding the history bit, and if you have any other questions, please feel free to shoot us some more comments here! :)