The year is 2645 AD. The world is going backwards.

The earth began to experience a slow downward spiral beginning in the 21st century, where the powers of the world grew hungrier and hungrier. Their greed drove them to take and take and take, and so the planet's resources began to dwindle. The abuse of the world, contributed to by pollution, war, and hate, caused it to begin to slowly fall apart. Yet they pushed for advancement, in attempts to make life as simple and complete as possible; ultimately, they failed, and only made things worse. The government could not see, but the citizens did.

The Power and the People began to split. The two took on these personas, aptly fitting their titles, and thus began the silent war of regression. A worldwide rebellion began to slowly take shape, and those that valued the earth realized what they must do to survive: reverse history. While the governments encouraged the planet to continue along a path that would ensure destruction, many of those who knew the truth forced a change on their lives; they began to remove more and more of the modern-day technology and innovations from their lives, little by little, adjusting.

Existence moved into a checkmate. Time, for now, was frozen. The People would not change, and there was nothing the Power could do to force their ways upon them. Try as they might, they only pushed them farther. The world, by now, hand become like something out of a science fiction novel, a historical steampunk of existence, and it was as if the 17th century was happening all over again. While the lands controlled by the Powers "thrived" with metal and smoke and oil, the People looked to the earth and sea, neglected the "new ways" and progressed through their backwards renaissance.

With the birth of the 27th century, soon followed the mythology and legend of the day. Out of the sepia-stained papers that recorded the tales of yore came a fantastical cast of characters from the past: namely, the age of the pirate began again. Not only its people, but its ways and beliefs, even the legends of fantastical creatures such as the mermaid and kraken were breathed life into once again.

This is where our story begins. It is an echo of the stories told long ago, so brilliant and fascinating they bore repeating. And so we shall.

These are the lives of the gentlemen of fortune. This is the sweet trade.


The Sweet Trade is an alternative universe, multi-fandom roleplaying game. The setting, obviously, is a Pirates of the Caribbean-esque theme (in the sense it's pirates with mythological figures present), but set in the future, so it has a modern spin.

We mostly focus on Square-Enix games and anime/manga, but there's many more options than that. Here is the list of TAKEN CHARACTERS, as well as accepted and no-no fandoms. Please refer to this before applying!

The world is basically original and we don't focus on any specific canon, but we encourage applicants to work their characters histories around the setting; for examples, take a gander at other characters userinfos!


The life of pirates in the 27th century was not much different from those in the 17th. The only differences that exist between them is that the "modern" gentlemen of fortune have endless technology at their fingertips—and while their morals have sworn them off from anything elaborate, and their ships are just the same as the age old pirate ships used to be, they do make use of electricity and plumbing, as well as a crude form of the internet.

They don't usually speak the "typical" pirate slang, but it does slip in every once in a while. Their dress is a bit unique; it's a hybrid of the 17th century fashions with a modern twist: zippers, leather, tennis shoes, jeans in combination with tri-corner hats, frock coats and striped leggings. Most of the time they are aesthetically "trashy;" Milan would be jealous. They are indeed the rockstar pirates of the modern age, the stuff of Hollywood's dreams.

Pirates of the new age come in all shapes, sizes, and color. They hail from just about every area and specialize in any profession imaginable, from ordinary cooks, artists, and gunmen to exorcists, summoners, and slayers. It isn't uncommon for them to put a heavy belief in superstition and the supernatural; many of them claim to have had a run in with the legends of the deep.

In addition to what you've read here, here is an awesome pirate information site to help you get a feel for what things are like. Don't stress too much about detail, though; remember, this world is a comibination of the 17th and 27th century!


The majority of the people no longer placed their beliefs with the more popular religions that were known years ago: Islam, Judaism, Bahá'í Faith—just to name a few—were dying then. Generally, the only monotheistic religion that was held in high regard was Christianity, and only by the Americans and some European countries, or whoever still supported the Power. They followed the ways much like the Puritans, holding firm to the texts. As a result there were many missionaries, those who had volunteered to venture into the “uneducated lands” of other countries, and try to convert.

But the rest of the world would not have it. They had, for the most part, reverted back to the “paganish” ways of their ancestors—Greco-Roman, Egyptian, Mayan, Norwegian, and other pantheons of “mythology” started to become more than legends. Witchcraft and Voudun (“voodoo”) was very popular. To the people, they became real—and not only in their minds.

The Gods, apparently in distaste for the state of the earth they spent so much time creating, began to appear to them—first, through simple signs, like raining roses or fantastic visions—during the 21st century, mainly—but the world did not change. So they sought a more effective means to warn them of the abuse of their planet: they began to take on physical form, in the shapes of animals and humans alike, sometimes hybrids of both, and they placed the creatures of yore such as the werewolf, mermaid, and dragon—to name a few—on the planet again. As about 90% of the world was covered in water at that point, sea-faring monsters were especially common, and it was also normal to have more hybrid or humanoid monsters as a part of one’s crew—the pirates were the most accepting people of the time.


The life of those in the 27th century was quite different from what we know now. The application of their current science, engineering, and knowledge to technology, once abundant and seemingly helpful in the times before, showed its true face and the abuse of the planet finally began to take its toll. More than just a few fatal flaws were overlooked, and the earth had paid for it dearly.

In attempts to salvage the world, the use of their modern technology began to slowly fade away, at least among the People—this was practiced especially by the parts of the world that opposed the Powers, as they continued to support "the betterment of mankind through the powerful dream," and thus they continued their usage of abusive materials. The modern technology was referred to as "Power's technology" then, regardless many of the inventions they used were invented by people who lived in other countries because they had done it so many years ago it became irrelevant now that the only ones who supported its modern versions were Americans.

It was very difficult to change their entire lives around, especially when the simplicity that came from the use of Power's technology made life so easy. To make matters worse, Powers had spent years gathering the planet's resources, jobs, and companies into their own lands, encouraging others to come live there and abide by their rules. Many saw that this was only feeding sloth and greed, however, so the general populace agreed: their ways of life needed change, badly. Simple things such as electricity—light bulbs, stoves, and refrigerators—and a very crude version of the internet were present, telephones obsolete in favor of it, as it could double as a cellphone. People ran other machines only if they could find a non-polluting, alternative means to do so—the ships of the pirates relied on wind again to move them, and what electricity was used on the boat was powered by solar energy, and oceanic thermal energy conversion.

Examples of the Power's technology:
mp3 players, television, cell phones, complex machines, robots of any sort, anything that pollutes the air when manufactured...

Examples of simple technology:
refrigerators, radios, stoves, washers, dryers, electricity powered by alternative means such as human, solar, chemical, and heat energy...


Certain inventions are so useful they are hard to ignore. One of the only things that the pirates allow themselves usage of that could be considered "Power's technology" is the internet and phones. They do not, however, possess cellphones or computers or laptops—rather, they stick to small handheld PDAs, occasionally with small keyboards or pens for handwriting, to make usage easier. It is also possible to take pictures with it and post them.

The network that these run on is protected, private amongst the pirates, so the Power wouldn't be able to catch onto their doings most of the time. The network is limited to their own "journals," some vital informative websites, and a communal "journal" which is much like an unmoderated forum—usually, jobs, messages, and lost and founds are posted here (thecrowsnest).

The system is not entirely foolproof, to hackings but it is the best they have. In addition to it's crude "internet, it may be used as a "phone" to make voice posts or communicate back and forth in live time. They also have an instant messenger sort of program.

Typically, these small objects are called "logbooks." They're found on the person of most pirates, especially captains and quartermasters, and are about 4"x6", coming in generic colors like black, brown, or tan. While the insides are made of metal and plastic, the covers are made of leather, are fastened closed by a strap, in attempt to simulate an actual book.


The game is played in third and first person format via LiveJournal. The third person part will take place in the main community (thesweettrade), and the first person will take place in the message board (thecrowsnest) and within the AIM conversations, as well as the logbooks and their comments. These two types of writing are never to mix, unless you're posting an conversation log (made over AIM or Yahoo, or whatever you wish). When making a third person post in thesweettrade, please make sure you check up on the current weather and days available to post on so you can plan your thread accordingly.

The format of your first person entries and posts are entirely up to your character and you, but we ask, for the sake of organization, you follow one for the third person entries. Begin all threads with the following:

The title of the post goes in the subject line, and can be anything you want (as long as it's relative, poetic or not).

[active/complete] specifies if the thread is still running or not. Be sure to update this when you finish your thread. It will either be "active" when people are playing in it, or "complete" when everything is finished. Do NOT forget to close your thread!

Character(s) tells who is interacting in the thread; it should state whether it is closed to specific ones or is open to all, and should be updated accordingly with who is in the thread. "Content" is simply a summary of the main idea of the thread. Setting is obviously where it takes place. Time is when it takes place. Warnings can be nothing at all or are used as a heads up in case there is questionable content within the thread, such as sex or death.

The LJ-cut is used to hide the first post so it does not take up too much room on people's friends lists, and the "first line of post" is just as it says. Your post is the main content of the entry, and the LJ-cut is then closed.

Tags should include the FULL name of any characters in the thread, the location (no nicknames!), the ship it's taking place on if applicable, and the status of the thread (no tag for active as people who are not moderators tend to have tag-deleting issues, but when you're done label it "complete"), and of course go in the "tag" field. This is so someone can find all posts involving a specific character... and takes less time than adding everything in memories. If the thing you're posting is a first person AIM log, tag it "logbook."

Guidelines for posting.
When participating in a two person thread, a good idea is to have the person who did not start the thread simply keep replying to the main post, while the person who did make the first post simply reply to the most recent post from their partner. That way, your comments will never go off the page! Here is how it is posted, if you're confused.

Group threads should all reply to the first main post for the same reason, as well as because it will save you a LOT of confusion. In order to keep track of threads, you can simply pick the pin icon at the top of the comment posting page and subscribe to it; that way, every time someone replies you'll get an email! Here is how it is posted, if you're confused.

Sometimes, your thread may require an NPC, or a non-playable character. An NPC is most likely not an extremely prominent character that it needs its own journal (an extra, if you will - such a generic crew member, a cat, or whatever), or it is too powerful of a character to be entirely out of the game master’s hands (like a monster such as the kraken). In this case, you may request an NPC to be played in your thread in davyslocker, and anyone who has applied to be an NPC-player can help you out. You can also apply to play NPCs in addition to your character(s), if you wish - pretty much everyone wants to get in on the fun of it, usually! (This entry is friendslocked until you friend the journal friends your IC journal.) Currently, the only NPCs are Oriana Hunter, Kai Wokou, and their crews. You can find more info on them later on.

When you finish a thread, put in the tag "complete". After you've edited the thread accordingly, make a post in the current Weekly Weather and Happenings with a thread summary. There are instructions on how to properly do this in a WW&H post. There is a form there to help you with this. This is necessary - it helps us keep track of who is doing what, especially when we do not have time to read EVERY thread completely.

For the sake of continuity, a character can only be in one thread at a time, unless they do a separate log (in private, with their designated partner(s)) and post it on its according date if they wish to jump ahead. Letting people skip around so easily, I find, tends to make them get bored of their older scene and stuff just doesn't get finished... no one can move onto another thread or post another thread until they finish whatever they're doing. If your thread is not finished by the time the game is moving onto a next week, then you will have to contact all participants in the thread and agree on an ending to the post. Then, one of you will post a resolution/ending to the thread and it will be considered one. You CANNOT move onto another thread unless your character is actually exiting. If everyone happens to be exiting the scene, then the original poster is responsible for putting together the summary. Remember, however, you all must agree on this and be on the same page!

The logbooks are handled much more loosely. They can have any subject or none at all, as well as a mood or music. If it is true to the character, they can type with bad spelling, grammar, or in complete gibberish—or not have a journal at all. You can also post handwritten entries, drawings, pictures, etc., whatever your character chooses to do. The only thing I ask is that you make sure all of your icons are of your character. Don't use celebrities or anything like that, it makes things confusing, unless you absolutely need to.

Characters can have logbook conversations, that you can do over AIM, Yahoo, MSN, or whatever. They can have their own screen name (please make sure it is relevant), and can use the service as often as they'd like, obviously. The same rules apply to this as the logbook entries themselves; you've got a lot of artistic license with their font and typing skills and the like. Keep in mind, this is optional. You must post logs of the completed conversation, tagged with "logbook conversation".


Because of the nature of the game, with the ships and all, we require a lot of organization. We also expect there to be a lot of players. This means that things can get a little hectic if they aren't kept in an orderly fashion.

The game will be run on a timeline, or continuity. We will also collect summaries of all completed posts so people who don't have time to read every single thread yet still wish to know what is going on can keep up with stuff. This has been done in other games of mine before and works really well. :) This is to keep track of in-game events and make sure everyone is generally on the same page most of the time.

Days and Weather...
So. One week in game = three weeks in real life. You can do as many threads as you want within one TST-week, though, but they all must happen consecutively (you can't do something on Thursday and then join a Tuesday thread, or do something Wednesday night and then something Wednesday morning) and you cannot play with someone who is not able to enter a thread on a day ahead.

This means we will also be keeping track of the individual days, as well as the weather that occurs on them, and this will affect how your ship fairs on the sea, and where you have to dock! This means it's a good idea to post at least once every few days, so you don't get left behind. Also, each thread must be tagged with the week it is occurring in (week1, week2, week3, etc.), as well as the day (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday...), to make it easier for people to find what threads they have available to them to hop into.

However, if you are having a bad week or something along those lines, don't worry! If you're still in the middle of a thread and the week has ended, then you must get together with whoever is participating in your thread and figure out the outcome of that particular thread. Someone can post the summary in the thread and then you can mark it complete, and move on. You can also do this if you need to move onto another thread really badly, for whatever reason.

Additionally, if you're stuck with someone who is not available for an extended period of time, we can work with that as well. Generally, if someone has not posted within five days or goes on an unexpected hiatus, you will be allowed to move on. When/if the person comes back, please post a summary on the incomplete thread and mark it complete once it is done.

Thread Summaries...
When you complete a thread, you must head over to the Weather and Continuity post and comment with a very short summary about the goings on and result of the thread. This is, as I said, so other players can keep track of what is happening in the game without reading every single thread.

You can find both the weather and summaries here!


1. This game is NOT for the light-hearted. I actually recommend you be at least 15, but I am not responsible for checking the ages of players; when someone applies I will take their word for it. There will be some questionable themes popping up in the game, such as sex, homosexuality, death, drugs, etc. If you can't handle that, I'm not responsible. The only thing that needs to happen is that all questionable content be CLEARLY marked so those who do not want to see it can avoid it.

2. No god-moding or Mary-Sueing. Please do not play your character as an entity of perfection that always has to have the last word. When you describe what kind of person your character is, you need to stick with it instead of changing their strengths to fit every situation as it comes up. Everyone has weaknesses. Characters can be very tough in this game, but they are not invincible—so please keep that in mind as well.

You are barred from doing anything that would restrict the play of another character, including but not limited to playing them, injuring them, or killing them, without permission from the character's player. Sometimes, however, you will develop a rapport with another player in which you trust them to play your characters, and if they have that permission, it is fine.

I am not going to warn people more than once about these issues; if I notice it becoming a problem you are gone. Past experiences suggest that people who do this do not even know they are doing it, and therefore are incapable of stopping themselves. I am not a babysitter.

3. Think ahead. When you are about to have your character perform an action, think about the consequences before you hit the “submit” button. If what you do is going to endanger the welfare of your party, do not be surprised if the other members bitch you out. You do not have a right to keep playing just because your name is on a list—you have a right to keep playing if your character can contribute something to the game.

I encourage chatting with other players via IMs or something similar while playing so you can straighten out issues like what so-and-so might do if your character bites their tail, and "who posts next?" If you do not have a chat program, feel free to make OOC comments/posts as long as they are marked with OOC in some way. Communication is important for good roleplay, and these can be used to ask questions or add clarification.

4. NO drama or harassment will be tolerated whatsoever. We're going on a three-strikes-you're-out system; so you'll receive a warning if you've been caught doing something not-so-nice or inappropriate (IC god-modding, or harassing someone OOCly regarding something they did in Ce Monde, or in the chatroom, and will be dealt with accordingly. Of course, if the offense is great, we may just flat-out ban you for your lack of conduct (for example, bad-mouthing a moderator). If you run into any trouble at all, remember, just visit the contact info to find our how you can get a hold of one of the moderators.

5. Please put effort into your RP. While there is no real minimum of words to type, please make note that this game is heavily, heavily third-person based, with first-person being second. That means you have to have a good feel for your character, in order to write true for them. Play your heart out, please! Don't give me a fabulous, bazillion-paragraph sample in your application when you really don't want to remain even remotely consistent. While I recommend doing a little extra on the sample so I can get a well-rounded feel of you, totally slacking off afterwards is not cool.

6. Speak in correct English. Please use proper punctuation, grammar, and capitalization. I am not going to be a Nazi about this because one of the best role-players I know is also the worst speller/punctuator/grammarian, but if you are going to type retardedly and force me to read it, you better have some major talent to back it up. Saying things like "u" instead of you, "2nite" instead of tonight and Japlish asstalk like "kawaii!!!1" will get you a fierce warning unless it was in an OOC post and obviously ironic.

7. Sometimes bad is good. No story is entertaining without at least an equal amount of good and bad. We are not playing here to make a world to escape to from our own miserable lives. We are playing here to have adventures, interesting character interaction, and probably a lot of (in character) drama. You need to be able to separate yourself from your character, and appreciate the tension it causes if they break their ankle or get in an argument with another character.

8. Post on time. The recommended amount of time to go without a post is one week, less days depending on how important your character is, so please respect that; also realize it's just plain rude to keep someone hanging in a thread that should be relatively short and you're dragging it out so much it takes a week to play drinking a glass of water and saying hi. Don't join if you're extremely pressed for time, that requires you to disappear for weeks at a time.

9. The maximum amount of time for being on hiatus is two months. Please make all hiatus notices on the OOC community. Leaving a note on your character(s) journals will not be valid. Depending on your reason for being on hiatus, the moderators might be willing to give you a couple of extra days. But for the most part, 2 months is it.

10. I believe that is all for now. You're about ready to join the game now, so go ahead and fill out an application, savvy?


Applications at TST are done a bit differently than what you're used to. Because the ships require a lot of organization, you'll be applying for your character to become a part of a boat of your choice. Each will be a different captain with different criteria, and a different set of players, obviously.

Currently, there are three crews: the Cheap Prayer, Artemis' Bow and the Hajimaru. Each boat is very different and will offer a different experience, obviously, so choose wisely and sensibly (you'll get descriptions of the boats and such in the application area). However, you will not be limited to simply interacting with those part of your crew; a lot of play will occur while ships are docked on land. Additionally, it is possible to stow away on different ships, or be kidnapped. Lastly, you'll be able to apply as another character for a different crew if you wish, once you get used to the game.

The first boat you see, the Cheap Prayer, is captained by the head moderator's character, Cross Marian. He's probably familiar to you, but don't be confused by his presence: this isn't a game specifically for his series. He is mainly there to be an example as to what the role of a captain entails; there are two other captains as well, but they are NPCs. These two captains, with the moderator's position, can be killed or overthrown by someone who possesses a character who would want to take over the ship. Obviously, this requires moderator approval, and I'd like for any interested candidate to be in the game for a bit before deciding to captain a ship—as this game is new, even I'm not sure what being a captain entails yet, besides organizing a group of people you might not know out of character. Cross is sort of like a test run of this; he could also be thrown from his role a little later on as well.

The application process begins here, however I recommend you read the words of wisdom I have provided below regarding each field. No, actually, I require it (especially for the list of crew positions). So please, keep that in mind~

First, I'm going to need your name, along with your age, and where I can contact you (in the order listed in the application, just separate the info by the commas). No, I don't need you to create a character journal and AIM screen name just yet—don't do that until after I've accepted you.

Okay! The easy part is done. Now, I need you to list your character's canon (original) name and series. After that I ask for the character's name again, just in case you might decide to tack on a different last name or change it somehow—I need the full, complete name.

Now. Sexuality is very important—a lot of times, games tend to be overrun with yaoi characters, and they start to lose slight of the plot in exchange for omghotmansex0rs, and I've seen it happen before. Even as a fan of slash myself, that isn’t something I'm going to happen here. I want to know what your character’s sexuality is, as well as why you play them that way. The last thing we need is a bunch of uke-sluts running about, right? I'm pretty sure this also applies to guys who want to play lesbians just to get off.

For appearance you must tell us how your character looks. No, you cannot give me a picture! I probably already know what your character looks like. This is to tell whether or not you’re good at physical description, as well as if you're modifying it at all to fit your version of them. Additionally, you're going to need to change their clothing and give them an ethnicity and all that, so we need to know what you're doing with the character to make them fit into the pirate world.

Personality tells me you know how your character acts, their general outlook on life, etcetera. It's important you remain true to canon as much as possible. Without their personality, they very well aren't much themselves, are they?

Abilities/Weaponry examines what your character is capable of; this doesn't have to be restricted to battle situations, it can be intellectual or talents or anything else. If your character is very powerful, please tone them down.

The weaknesses are a very important part of the application. If your character has no weaknesses or faults, they can't be a very interesting person, can they? This can apply to things that are physical, mental, etc. Make sure they have them to counter all of their abilities!

The hardest part is probably the character's history. You're going to have to translate the character's entire being into the setting rather than their original one. This is also the fun part, though: there's so many things you can do with this, so I encourage you to let loose! Look at some of the other players' userinfos to get more ideas.

Next is the character's crew position you're going to chose. I'm providing this really important link about pirate crews here. This is a good list of roles your character could possibly take on while applying to be a member of the ship; if you think of anything else, feel free to run it by me as well. You can also apply as a stow away if you reeeally want to, but be prepared for some sort of rebuttle for that. Crossdressing your way onto a boat could also be interesting, hm?

Lastly, we have the samples. They are different for every captain, and each of them is kind of hilarious. :) For the third person samples, I want you to write out about two or three paragraphs of your character doing something, in accordance with the question. No, it can't be a sample from another RP, and it can't be of another character. The journal entry is supposed to be your characters speaking voice, them explaining what had happened within the sample, again, in accordance with the question asked of them.

The last question is just for fun. And hey, impress me. If you’ve read this all, include something about coconuts in your last answer. ;)