Greetings, Hermertians!

I am Snoutmol – my snout is the snoutiest of any snout – and I hope to become one with you all. Let me tell my story.

A long time ago, I was an ambitious youngster. I built large mob towers and automatic farms. I cared a lot about material wealth. Nothing thrilled me more than seeing my inventory fill with goodies. My mob towers were never very successful, however. I must have built them wrong. I daydreamed, however, of never-ending streams of gunpowder, arrows, and bones flowing into my inventory. Such was my lust for this ideal that I made do with automatic cactus farms, which I could build well. My massive cactus farms could fill a player’s inventory in 20 seconds. The cactus was useless but somehow fulfilled my desires, at least then. I could pretend, sort of, that I owned a massive mob tower in a bustling trade center (except, really, I was alone with a bunch of useless cactus).


My lust for material wealth drove me to create ugly, gray, corporate towers. I was never much of a builder either.

My house looked nice, but I always built the same one. Every world I traveled to, I built the same exact house, like some kind of medieval Levittown. The house varied, of course, but the main design remained the same.

(Remember though! This was all far in the past, when I was callow.) I grew bored of my repetitions, my failures, and I went to sleep. I slept for centuries. During that time, horses and rabbits evolved, and new types of stone, such as diorite, formed underground.

I awoke, confused and a little scared. At first I was cautious: too much had changed. But I learned quickly, and I found that I understood all the new things.

I looked for a community to settle down in. I teamed up with someone named Mellover. We found a nice spot in a pine forest in front of a lake, and I let Mellover build our house while I mined. I grew bored again, just mining. Why must all my actions be so repetitive? Mellover soon abandoned me, because of my lack of enthusiasm. "I got pissed that you left," he said, "So this house is now a traveler's house." Also, he took all that I had mined.

I was left destitute, and my old instincts kicked in again: I had to acquire wealth. I turned Mellover's wooden shack into a modernized home: it had a nether portal, enchantment table, and plenty of diamonds, gold, and iron. But then I was left destitute again: someone raided my house and lit it on fire. My farmland was torn apart. The robber hadn't even left me one piece of sugar cane.

As I sat, staring into the lake, I had an epiphany: I wasn't destitute. I still had myself. Notably, I still had my journal in my personal inventory, something I had started as an experiment. I loved writing, and I realized that my destiny was to become a famous author and poet. I stood up from the lake - a Walden's pond, if you will - and, riding on a pack mule, I looked for a new, secret place to live and write, where I wouldn't be griefed.

I built a book publishing facility. Underground, deep in the wilderness, I built a sugar cane farm, a cow farm, a chicken farm, and a squid farm - all that I needed to make books. I wrote my first novel. The novel was called "A Romance," and, when I published it, it was controversial, because it contained erotica, and I was subsequently banished from the lands where I was living. You can read about that little debacle here.

So who am I, exactly? you may ask. I am a persecuted poet and author. My controversial books have been both banned and burned. Governments offer rewards to individuals who can hand over copies of my books, and they destroy them.

I am a homeless wanderer. I am filled with inspiration but I have no outlet, no home to express it in. Material wealth no longer interests me. Now I am a sage, and I hunger to distribute knowledge. The only items I carry are food and books - and also a shovel for whenever I fall in a damn pothole!

Banished and alone, I was wandering down a beach, when a miracle happened. I found a home. A bottle washed up on the beach, and inside was a written message. The paper was wrinkled, wet, and the ink was bleeding, but the message was legible. It contained directions to a land called Hermertia.

When I arrived at Hermertia's public forum, I was immediately impressed. I liked the rolling hills it was built upon, and I liked the simple, minimalistic board for posting news. I was enthralled by the news. I read a number of messages from Nicholas, who appeared to be the leader of Hermertia, and I read messages from Avalon, a new inductee, and his friendly correspondents, thereby learning how I, myself, could apply, and be admitted to, the Mercurian Empire.

I am seeking haven in Hermertia. Small children are rare in this realm, so I assume that my controversial books are allowed. I plan on republishing "A Romance" in Hermertia. In case it concerns you, most future books that I will write will not be erotica: I enjoy writing in many genres, including historical fiction, history, poetry, parodies and satire, nonfiction science, news articles, and science fiction.

If I am admitted to this realm, expect to find books randomly hidden inside chests. You may find, in your chest, a poem about your construction project, a haiku deep in the wilderness, a nonfiction account of a recent sporting event, or a random novel that I'm just trying to distribute. Also, I may publish others' work, like I discussed here, and I may build a book-producing farm.

I also intend on building a book store, in a busy trade center, so that, if you find and read "The Amazing Novel Part 1" hidden in a chest, and you're wondering what happens in Part 2 (my cliffhangers can hook people pretty well) you know where you can buy it. All my novels, poems, etc., will be available in my book store, where I will keep and archive all my originals. And, as I've said, I may accept and publish others' work as well.

So, I will be a publisher, an author, a poet, a librarian. Following that same, scholarly vein, I had another idea: I might try to build a museum showcasing all the blocks of Minecraft.

But my speculation, my thoughts for the future, sometimes grow wild, and I must wrangle them. Stated as simply as possible, this is me: I'm a lone traveler, looking for a community who will accept me, and I bring with me an inappropriate, blasphemous book. I heard that y'all already have historians and libraries, so maybe I can nicely and quietly fit into those already-established institutions.

I joyfully anticipate your reply!

-Snout, the snoutiest of snouters

P.S. I added a poll for kings to vote for me. Feel free to not use it if it's stupid or something; I just thought I might as well . . .

Ave, friend you have an interesting minecraft history! Books are a big part of Hermertia, most were lost a few years ago but literary contributions are always more than welcome.

I'm interested in snoutmol's specific history in Hermertia, you've blended your minecraft history with your proposed lore which I find quite interesting however can you provide more details about your lore within hermertia, for instance age, origin, parentage etc as presumably your history on other servers will be more of an irl history and needed to be massaged into Hermertia's

Welcome to Hermertia! I really like what you've here by integrating your real life minecraft fun and your lore! As Caesar said I would love more information but what you've done so far is amazing. I hope to see more soon!

_________________
Gimpy/The Italian Stallion

It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door, You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to." -Bilbo Baggins

Duke of Kaine

Greetings! I'm glad you've found your way to our applications section; I'm Duke Nicholas, your Minister for Applications and Settlement and /u/Captain_Mayday.

As a matter of course, to start out I'll point you in the direction of our FAQ: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=192. If you haven't seen it already, it offers a good introduction to the basic principles and traditions of the Mercurian Empire. You may also want to check out our Applicant Introduction, where I go in-depth on the application process: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=58.

Now, on to your application:

I'll start off by saying that, while the poll was a nice thought, it's not actually how new applicants receive royal votes; if you take a peek at other applications or the FAQ, you'll see that Kings dispense these after having a look at the application over a period where the applicant receives and answers questions from the community. In addition, while I'm flattered, a look at the FAQ will tell you I'm not the leader of Hermertia: The Mercurian Empire is governed by a legislative system comprised of two houses, the uppermost being the Kings in the Council of the Crowned.

I always appreciate love when an applicant integrates either past experiences and/or their learning of Hermertia into their lore as a character! However, part of our application process is traditionally a 'massaging' of an applicant's lore into our own, and ensuring it be compatible; preliminarily, I can let you know that some of our traditions and values as a server and community, as well as our laws, don't fully mesh with your lore here so far:

- In regards to your literature, we do have a well-established tradition of freedom of expression in Hermertia; nevertheless, much like the real world, this value can conflict with our laws against unsavory or unwelcome behavior that may put the greater community ill at ease. This is represented in our Don't Be A Dink Act, which criminalizes behavior that is not generally accepted by the community. While any books an author writes for their own pleasure are of course their own prerogative, this does not extend to the secret distribution of erotic (or perhaps stronger) fiction in personal chests.

So I can let you know that the goal of any application is to become familiarized with the community and court royal approval, and that your stated desire to engage in actions that may offend some sensibilities and may possibly be in active contravention of our law could result in slower votes trickling in.

This is not to discourage you though sir, not is it to express any personal feelings towards your application. Again, I do urge you to check out our FAQ and Applicant Introduction, which provide a great outline for an application.

Finally, I would appreciate it if you could provide some answers to a few questions I typically ask of new applicants:

-Do you have any special skills he could bring to Hermertia? (Redstone engineering, architecture, farming, you name it.)
-Are you particular to building in certain biomes?
-If you ran into conflict where you and another player wanted to build in the same location, how would you resolve the issue?
-Any other builds you can show us?

I'll leave these thoughts with you good sir! Over the next bit you should see some more of the community respond to your application; many will no doubt have questions of their own. Again, I'll refer you to our discussion of the application process (viewtopic.php?f=13&t=58) for the run-down of what you can expect next. While you're waiting, I absolutely encourage you to take a look around the forums at the many different aspects of life in Hermertia, and to shoot me a pm or reply here with any questions you might have.

Until then, I'll leave off with an introduction to the Imperial motto since time immemorial:

For Glory!

_________________
Wysterian Labourer's Council
Currently Holding Stewardship of Wysteria
Minister for Applications and Settlement
Forums Administrator

Hey there. I had written a big reply but my laptop crashed.

Basically, we have a medieval style world and lore, could you re-do your application and separate your character's lore and your IRL actions and such from other servers.

We look for mature players, not in terms of age but in terms of actions and what they like, theres a line between having some fun, and being immature.
Please read the FAQ as Nicholas says, and see how the other applicants have done their applications.

Looking forward to seeing your updated application.

_________________
Petra Ravnikaar of The Veil

Thank you all for the responses so far. I will try to address each of your questions, concerns, etc.

First, thank you, Gimpy III, for liking how I blended my Minecraft history into lore. I had a lot of fun converting a very broken experience - many different worlds, many different servers, and many different times in my life - into one, continuous narrative. But, as Caesar and Samaia Almandine pointed out, this method is unconventional, it obviously expresses IRL history, and it needs lore more fitting to Hermertia.

Samaia, I will not re-do my history, unless there are somehow any aspects of it that contradict with Hermertia's. If you don't like how I've mentioned other servers, or how I've mentioned other parts of my gameplay, you can ignore those parts - all you really need to know, from here on forward, is that I'm a lone, wandering author, and that I'm looking for a place to settle down.

- Samaia Almandine

That sounded almost hostile, Samaia. I think I will have to talk about my book, "A Romance," again. Nicholas expressed concern about it too. After reading what Nicholas wrote, I made this decision: I will not distribute "A Romance" in the manner that I discussed earlier, by throwing it into random peoples' chests. "A Romance" will not be something littered about the world; you will have to willfully pursue it, probably into my bookstore, if you want to read it. That said, I was wondering how appropriate it would be for me to litter my other, non-erotic books, in peoples' chests, as a sort of advertisement. In my opinion, it could enrich the world, but I want to know how you all feel and I will respect those feelings. Someone might be annoyed if I put something in their chest, but I would try to mitigate that annoyance by always leaving books with positive, encouraging words.

Most of "A Romance" is clean, by the way. Only a few pages, near the end, are erotica (but those few pages are very graphic). I'm proud of the work, and I believe that it's artful, and, at least up until the erotic scene, in good taste. I'll try not to be a Dink, Nicholas.

Now, due to popular request, I will improve my lore and turn it into something that we can all massage into Hermertia. (This is where you can start reading the thread again, Samaia.)

- Caesar

- Gimpy III

I haven't had much experience with RPG/lore, and the task of pretending to be a different person, from a different century, looks daunting and - no offense to anyone, because to each their own - not worth the effort. (I hope I have not completely alienated myself there, because I know that RPG/lore is a huge part of Hermertia.) I would prefer my character simply to be close to the IRL me. I will find it easier and more natural to act as myself. I am aware that my character will age faster than IRL me, but that's fine (I think aging will be fun, actually, at least until I get too old); I'm fine with anything y'all want, really. I'm malleable and completely at your mercy. Anyway, after that long preamble, here is my answer (for now) to Caesar's question:
Age: 17. Guess how old I am IRL.
Origin: Doree City. This is a conglomeration of the first few Minecraft servers I seriously played on. Max's World 1 would also work - it was my first single-player world - but it sounds less compatible with lore.
Parentage: Kepler B. and Mica F., both of whom are miraculously male. The reason is that these two people are the ones who introduced me to the world of Minecraft: Mica showed me the game, and I played on Kepler's account until I bought my own account. Before I stray to far from lore and too far into real life, however, let me posit two facts that I imagine will set me firmly in the foundation of all past and future lores: according to the pioneering comparative mythologist, Joseph Campbell, a male birth is a mark of a true hero. Someone born from the phallus and not the womb, or someone born from the womb and then rebirthed from the phallus, is a manly man. (Look at the pantheon of Greek gods somehow being birthed out of Zeus.) The second fact I have is that one of my fathers, Kepler, is homosexual, making my strange parentage more plausible.
(Bonus) Occupation: Auto-farm builder, writer, miner, terraformer, and occasional builder. Right now, my main interest seems to be writing, but I have had other jobs, and I know how to perform all of them at acceptable standards. I will probably pursue all my career paths in Hermertia, with varying degrees of devotion.
-------
Now I shall address Nicholas and answer his questions. I probably thought you were the leader, Nicholas, because you're the Minister for Applications and Settlement, and I'm a settler. Sorry! Of course I should have known that a server of RPG/lore nature, simulating medieval times, would have a more complicated government system ("a legislative system comprised of two houses") than just a totalitarian leader. Still, there has to be one, main person hosting the server, and, if I had to guess, I would guess that it was you. If it's not, then I am very impressed, even more than I already am, about the scope of this server.

Also, I'd like you to know that I did my homework, reading most of the literature in the FAQ, Applicant Introduction, and Avalon's Application. As I've said, I'm sorry I mistook you as the leader. And, I know how kings vote: I just thought they could post their vote and use the poll. But, of course, everyone can just ignore the poll. My point is that I did my homework! I like reading, and that's a big part of this server of lore.

- Nicholas

-As I've said, my skills include farming and writing. Also, I know a lot about Minecraft in general, mostly from reading the Minecraft Wiki. I know most crafting recipes. Also, I understand the game as a whole; in artist terminology, I understand the game's gestalt. I enjoy thinking about Minecraft, thinking about what parts of it are essential, and about what parts of it I would add or remove. I've never really been interested in modding it, however, even though I know Java and coding video games is a hobby of mine. I'm just a lazy theorist . . . so how will this benefit the server? I'm not sure, but probably through my writing. Although in my OP I didn't promote my building abilities, I'm not a terrible builder, and I can have an eye for aesthetics if I care enough. I could probably build a nice looking, little village. As I said, I like computer programming (I've coded numerous little games, and, if you like, I could share them), so I have the prerequisites in logic for redstone engineering. I've used redstone repeaters before, but I'd need a refresher. To this date I've only built small circuits, but I have confidence in my ability to get better at it, if Hermertia ever enters a redstone engineering cycle or something.
-I like deserts, savannas, forests, and mountains. I like neither jungles nor swamps, and I like neither the nether nor the end, at least for most of my constructions.
-This seems like an unlikely scenario, but if it happened, I would most likely say that whoever was there first should take the land. If, somehow, in an even more unlikely situation, that didn't settle the dispute, I would just settle somewhere else - location shouldn't matter much in a game of blocks where you can transform the environment so easily (I mentioned I was a terraformer).
-I was going to upload screenshots from single-player worlds I had in the past, but I couldn't load them in Minecraft - it appears they're all corrupted. The only world that would load is the one that I've already uploaded screenshots of. Still, I have some screenshots worth seeing. Look at them here, here, and here. These are all screenshots that I uploaded to the internet a while ago. Here is a new one from that world:

Also, I discovered, to my own, real surprise, an example of my redstone engineering. Here it is:

This was the corner of my basement.

This was the corner of the first floor of my house, on the opposite side of the house.

When the button is pressed, the corner of the basement reveals a secret passageway. After the button is pressed, a piston reveals the passageway in the exact amount of time it takes to walk from the first floor down to the basement. (The secret passageway, in case you're curious, leads to my neighbor's intricate, abandoned, underground base.)

I'm not completely convinced that you are the type of player we are looking for here in Hermertia, as proven by the quote, "I haven't had much experience with RPG/lore, and the task of pretending to be a different person, from a different century, looks daunting and - no offense to anyone, because to each their own - not worth the effort."

That is a rather large part of this server's experience.

_________________
Joren

of River's End

With respect good sir, you aren't entirely convincing us that you are the kind of player we are looking for. If the people who will be voting on your application ask for specifics like congruent lore separate from your IRL stuff and you refuse, and then claim that it isn't worth the effort to make a character, then one might consider doing that in order to get their votes so they can get online.
I dont see why one would refuse to do that if one wishes to succeed in their application. It boggles the mind.
Yes you did some looking around the forums little bit, but you seem to be holding little regard for your own lore as well as ours.

As Arjen says, you will be hard pressed to get any votes if you continue your application as you have.

_________________
Petra Ravnikaar of The Veil

Stop being hostile, Sam.
( ಥـْـِـِـِـْಥ)

_________________
The Ash
Right hand of the King of Valtoros, Kyn
Crest Designer Extraordinaire

Again, I did enjoy what you've done but I have to agree with both Arjen and Sam, your writing seems to flow well but your avid disregard for our "rules" (in quotation because we don't have a rule set in stone) seems to me to be an almost strange rebellious quality you have. While we are normally accepting of almost anyone's lore we always make sure it melds with ours. And yours at this point doesn't. I should explain that when we create our characters we don't normally play as them in game. For certain events yes we role play but when on the server and just building and stuff it's more just friends hanging out. Hopefully that makes it easier and allows your to rethink your latest response.

_________________
Gimpy/The Italian Stallion

It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door, You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to." -Bilbo Baggins

Duke of Kaine