Welcome to Tales of the Middle Country, a Chinese antique shop. Feel free to look around...and pardon our dust. ^^

1. intro and updates > you are here.
2. Rules
3. Background
4. NPCs
5. species and stages
6. sales type
7. avaliability
8. owner's list/gallery
9. Rping/growth
10. FAQs
11. Staff post
12. link in and outs
13. credits
14-15. reserved

Originally Posted by updates

8/17/08: see pg 364: new shop on Gaia: http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/bree...st/t.42899303/
2/6/08: Happy Chinese New Year guys~ We are serving delicious dumplings on pg 193, go and get your own free share~
12/3/07: The TotMC minis are now avaliable for purchase during the holiday season. Please visit pg 146 for details.
12/1/07: Please note that there are a few new requirements for progression to spirit and the final stage.
11/21/07: There is now a new sig-sized cert. Please post here if you are interested in getting your cert changed.
11/2/07: OMFG WE HAVE A BANNER. O_O
10/31/07: Raffle is drawn! Congrats Angel XIII and meilin! <333 and Happy Halloween eveyone~
10/22/07: Check page 73 for raffle~
10/19/07: Dude...I should totally like, update this place. .___.; But Halloween's coming soon! Very, very soon...
5/18/07: First FS slots are open! All applications are due next Friday. :3
4/17/07: Shop is setting up.

Rules of the shop. Please read know this...or we'll kick you out.

• -Be a nice and reasonable customer (and follow the TOS).
  -Be a dedicated customer/customers, and take care of your artifact.
  -Be smart, and know everything we have to say.
  -Be good with language if you wish to interact with others.
  -Be patient, and do not rush us to perform our magic.
  -Be not forgetful, and pay your dues on time.
  -Be humble, and do not advertize your shop with huge banners (as in, don't stretch the page)
  -Be curious, for knowledge-seeking is a virtue.

A Modern Translation:

• -Follow the TOS and all the other general ruls on Menewsha. Don't spam, flame, be rude to or perform any unsirable acts toward any of the managers or customers.
  -You have worked to get your artifact, so it's up to you to decide whether you want to keep it or not. We will take the artifact from you if you decide to disappear. D< And yes, co-owning is allowed (up to two people)
  -READ EVERYTHING! And understand them.
  -Be literate if you wish to RP your artifact. They are not RP-required, but RPing would certainly help to accelerate its growth.
  -Don't pm Tooaya or rush her in any way to finish your art...she does have a life, and she does have two other shops on Gaia to take care of.
  -Any payments must be made within 24 hours after the sale, and should be completed within 48 hours.
  -Don't strech the page with your link codes!! Pm me if necessary. x_x;
  -If you have any questions, ASK. It's better to ask than make a fool out of yourself by doing things blindly.

The history

• China, the middle country, is known for its ancient history. While you maybe interested in one or two eras, surely you wouldn't waste your effort to discover what happened during that 5000 years. Well, there are people who have dedicated their lives in searching and recording events that happened during this long period of time. Kirin's family was one of them.
  
  Kirin did not know what was wrong with her. Her strange ability to hear spirits talking to her, in her own language. She couldn't hear all of them, but certainly the ones in her grandfather's shop. Everything seemed to be alive in there, and Kirin was scared of it. She was, in fact, shocked that her grandfather, who seemed cold and aloof all the times, wanted her to become the new owner of his antique shop. She couldn't understand why...until one day, an old man, who claimed to be her grandfather's friend, came to her home. He was...dying. But before he died, he told Kirin of the extraordinary works of her family, generations after generations, stretching far back 5000 years ago, when China's civilization first began.
  
  Her ancestor was among the first human that was made by the Goddess. After that kind Goddess died to save the mankind, he kepted her spirit with him, traveling to different places of the land, trying to make her alive again. Human beings, however, were too powerless to such things. So eventually, in midst of his relative's mockings, he died. The spirit of NuWo, however, was deeply touched by this man's determination. The spirit prayed and prayed , until finally her voice broke through heaven's barrier and was heard by other Gods. The spirit of the Goddess returned to heaven. But before she did, she blessed all of the man's children, granting them the power to talk to Gods and other spirits. This power, however, was majorly lost when human civilization relied more and more on science and technology. Eventually, the power only existed in one family line, and Kirin was the only heir to the Goddess' power....
  
  From the dying man Kirin realized who her grandfather was, and, in order to accept the man's dying wish, she agreed to take over her grandfather's shop. Kirin's grandfather had spent his whole life collecting anceint Chinese artifacts that were enchanted with spirits. He had hoped that, by selling these artifacts to others, he would be able to awaken the sleeping power from the Goddess' blessings (which, he believed to still exist). During his lifetime, however, only a few artifacts were sold to the right owners, while the others were lost and returned. Kirin, therefore, became his only hope, to continue his task, and to revive the Goddess' blessings.
  
  Will the girl be able to take up this task...?

The store

• Kirin's store was located in a small suburban area of Menewsha. The outside looked as if the house was going to break down, with outdated designs and peeling paints. On the inside, however, the structure looked fine. The room, although not too small, was crowded with artifacts from China. A brown haired girl can be usually seen within the shop. When she was asked, however, she'd usually point out that Kirin, the owner of the shop, was inside. However, there seemed to be no "inside" of the shop?

NPCs



Kirin Tan

• Owner of the store, Kirin is a demure Chinese girl who appears to be in her teens. Not much is known about her other than the fact that she is very shy and does not like to talk to others. In fact, she is usually hidden in the back room of the shop, taking care of the artifacts that was left over by her relatives. No one really knows why she'd want to open a shop, some say that it wasn't even her idea to start this shop to begin with. Despite her isolated personality, Kirin does have the ability to recall spirits from the artifact. Without her, this shop wouldn't have been so magical.

Rie Frails

• Rie is the helper of the shop, but is often mistaken as the true owner since she is the one that is seen up front. She is a very close friend of Kirin, and is gladly helping her out in taking care of the shop. Rie is very outgoing and is a tomboy. She is not afraid to use physical forces if she has to, so be sure not to enrage her!

Nu Wo

• Nu Wo is the first spirit that is recalled by Kirin. She is born from an ancient artifact left over in the days of creation. A rock, more specifically, that is used by the Goddess, Nu Wo, to patch up the shattering sky to save mankind. Nu Wo is a mystical artifact, and is currently in its spirit stage.

There are two kinds of artifact that is sold in the shop. One is the normal artifact that is preserved through out history, the other one is mystical, where the spirit of the artifact within is not part of China's history, but have been created by myths and folklores. The mystical artifacts are very rare, as there are only a few that is stored in Kirin's shop. The normal artifacts, on the other hand, are stockpiled.

Stages:

1. Artifact

• The magical experience begins by obtaining an artifact from the shop. Some will look very old and outdated, while the others might look more modern. Whichever is the case, the artifacts are dormant at this stage. You have the choice to either sell it to an antique dealer or keep it...

2. Enchanced

• For whatever reason you have kept the artifact with you, and one day you find that smokes are coming out of the artifact! No, no water...it's not on fire, don't worry. But at this point, surely you'd want to take this thing back to Kirin and return it because it creeps you out, right? No??

3. Sprite

• So somehow you managed to not throw this haunted artifact away... Well what about now? Waking up today you find a little creature sitting next to/on top of/around/within your artifact! And WTF it talks! Although really...all it can say is Chinese...you might want a translater for it, or choose to throw the thing away.
  Oh but wait! Why is this thing still here?? You were sure that you had buried it somewhere far away! Looks like this litte thing is stuck on you...Maybe it would be helpful to ask Kirin what to do.

4. Spirit

• at this stage your little artifact creature has grown to the point that it is able to go around without carrying the artifact. Depending on your decision, it might speak a little English...but that's not for sure. Oh well, at least you have a companion in your life? You still can't touch them though....XD;

5. ???

• If you really are attached to your spirit, then perhaps you should consult Kirin to preform a mortalization on your artifact. Who knows what happens afterwards....

Sales:

Flatsale:

Flatsales in this shop is perhaps the most common way to gain a normal artifact. It should be noted, however, that all artifacts are custom. Therefore, a flatsale is much more like a concept contest.

-Whenever there is a flatsale, two FS slots will be open.
-During a period of 7-14 days, we will be accepting concept entries. We will judge them and choose two that is most fit.
-FS payment is 800g. Items are accepted as well.
-If you cannot pay right away, you are welcome to discuss with us about payment plans.
-You are recommended to make a journal for your artifact, however, this is not necessary.

Originally Posted by concept form

Name: your username
Artifact: Artifact has to be from China.
History: How the artifact was made. We are not asking you to make up something, we want you to do a little research on the artifact's orgin, it's invention and backstory. Make sure to include your resources in this section (like a works cited thing)
Spirit: Describe your spirit, its story, personality, and apperance. Make sure that your spirit is related to your artifact! And they must be Chinese.

• Inspired by: if your spirit is not an OC of yours, state here who inspired your spirit (as in, if your spirit is based on any folk tales, historical figures, etc.)
  Apperance: Describe your spirit's apperance in general terms.
  Personality: Describe your spirit's personality.
  Relationship: how is your spirit related to your artifact?

Gender: your spirit's gender
References: reference to your spirit's appearance and the artifact's appearance.

• Artifact:
  Spirit:

How: Explain how your character became interested in this certain artifact. This can be done in a little self-RP.

Concept Form:

• Name:
  Artifact:
  History:
  Spirit:
  • Inspired by:
    Apperance:
    Personality:
    Relationship:
  Gender:
  References:
  • Artifact:
    Spirit:
  How:

Concept Form:
Name:
Artifact:
History:
Spirit:
Inspired by:
Apperance:
Personality:
Relationship:
Gender:
References:
Artifact:
Spirit:
How:
 

A Sample form...Note that a lot of the info here is simplified.

Originally Posted by sample form

Concept Form:

• Name: Tooaya
  Artifact: Nu Wo's stone
  History: Nu Wo is the Goddess who gave life to human beings. In order to protect her creation, she sacrificed herself in making a seven-colored stone that was big enough to block the hole in the sky. She used up all her strength and died afterwards, but a shard of the stone remained.
  Info from <-instert site/book name here->
  Spirit: Nu Wo
  • Inspired by: Nu Wo the Goddess of creation.
    Apperance: Nu Wo wears very little clothing, if anything at all. Normally she has a silk robe that surrounds her. It seems that this robe also has the power to make her float.
    Personality: Nu Wo is caring and gentle. However, she can also be stubborn when it comes to serious affairs.
    Relationship: Nu Wo is the creator of the seven colored sacred stone.
  Gender: Female
  References:
  • Artifact: <-insert reference pic URL here->
    Spirit: <-insert reference pic URL here->
  How: The stone was given to Kirin by the dying old man. With her powers, she was able to recall Nu Wo's spirit.

================================================== ===

Auctions:
Sometimes there will be special slots open for Mystical artifacts. These slots will be normally auctioned off. You must show your interest an hour before the auction ends in oder to bid!

SB: 800g
AB: none

Events:
In the future, there might be RP events/etc that have artifacts for sale. Artifacts in events will most likely be free and will be premade.

Flatsale: N/A

1. closed
2. closed

Results: pg288

Auction: N/A

1. closed

Events: N/A

NOTE: If you are going to request the uncerted version of the enhanced stage, please do it BEFORE I go the growth. Otherwise I won't have the version saved. ._.;

Owner's list:

Nu Wo/Nu Wo's stone/Kirin (Tooaya)/cert
Si Xian/Silk caligraphy scroll/Aihara (Alegretto)/cert
Xiu Yue/Han Fu/Yume(Yumehayla)/cert
Xie Xiang Mi/QiuNiu's Erhu/Natsu (Yiesha)/cert
Lingling/Qilin Box/Jade(jitsumi1221)/cert
Yue Shi/Maiden's Urn/Zanen Lunis(Angel XIII)/cert
Gui Feng/Dead Tree Branch/Ran (meilin)/cert
Qian Feng/Bronze Coin/Akram Mercier(Asahi Kumoru)/cert
Lian Hua/Lotus Seed/Charles (Kaldeagirl)/cert
Jia MingZhu/Bone Folding Fan/Besnik (meilin)/cert
Hu Shuang/Bian Zhong Bell/Sarah Collins (ladyumbra)/cert

Gallery:

Artifacts:





Sprite:



Spirit:



???:



Taken/Reserved Artifacts:

Nu Wo's stone
Caligraphy Scroll
Hanfu
Kirin
Fox Spirit
Kirin Box
Erhu
Maiden's Urn
Dead tree branch
Lotus Seed
Bone Folding Fan

RPing

Public RP thread

The point system:

In order for your artifact to grow, you must save up a certain amount of points. Points are reset everytime your artifact grows.

Artifact => Enhanced : 20 points
Enhanced => Sprite: 50 points
Sprite => Spirit: 200 points*
Spirit => ??? : a lot pf points....**

*= Must include a journal, a journal entry about meeting the sprite, and a PRP appointment with kirin.

**= Must be active in the main thread, must include a journal entry about meeting the spirit, and another PRP appointment with Kirin. Stage progression depends on overall activity.

Attention: If you think your artifact is ready for the spirit stage, you have to 1. set up a PRP thread with Kirin and 2. pm me with the link to the PRP thread! Don't expect me to make one for you.

Points can be gained by...

Posting in the shop (1 pt per post)
Setting up a journal (10 points)
A journal entry (5 points)
an ORP post (2 points per post)
completion of a private RP (10 points)
Participation in an RP event (10 points)

Restrictions:

Any journal entry that is included in the application form cannot count as point-earning entries.
bumping in the shop thread does not count toward points.
multiple postings in the shop thread count only as 1 point.
OOC posts in any RP threads do not count toward points.
Inactive participation in the RP event does not count toward points.
PRPs that are less than 1 page do not count toward points.

FAQs

• Q: does the keeper of the artifact have to be an avi?
  A: not at all! Feel free to create your own OCs for the artifact, as long as they are humanoid.
  
  Q: Can artifacts be any kind?
  A: As long as they are originated from China, then it's fine. :3
  
  Q: Do spirits have to be humanoid?
  A: Most of the times, they are, but mystical artifacts can really be anything, such as kirin, nian (the new years monster), the zodiacs...etc etc.
  
  Q: Are we allowed to make up our concepts before the FS?
  A: Yes! In fact, you are encouraged to do so (just in case you won't be here during the FS to make the concept entries...)
  
  Q: I'm confused...how does the point system work? @.@
  A: It is based on an honors system, which means you are responsible in keeping track of your own points earnd. There should be a post reserved in your journal for counting the points if you choose have a journal (if not, you need to tell me the place you keep track of the points). After this post is made, you may start counting your points. Completion of the journal set up (have all the info updated, not just 14 reserved posts) will automatically earn you 10 points. And as you can see, artifact to enchanced will only need 20 points. The rest 10 points can be either earned by posting in the shop thread (1 point) or participate in the ORP thread (2 points) or finishing a PRP (10 points) or actively participate in an RP event (10 points). If you have reached the points needed for growth, I will grow your artifact. During the time of the growth, however, you won't gain any points as points earned at each stage is independent from each other. After your artifact grows, your point accumulation resets, starting from 0, and from there you can start earning points again. :3
  
  Q: How many artifact can we own?
  A: Right now, you can own as many artifact as you like. However, if you choose to make journals, each artifact should have its own journal regardless of the OC.
  
  Q: Who can see the spirits?
  A: Only your character, Rie and Kirin are able to see the following stages: enchanced, sprite and spirit. Everyone can see the artifact and the final stage.
  
  Q: I have a question!
  A: please ask!

Staff Post

Originally Posted by hiring??

Currently looking for another manager for this shop. pm toa if you are interested. :3

Link in and outs

...please don't strech the page with your codes!!!

OMG WE HAVE A BANNER:

[url=http://www.menewsha.com/viewtopic.php?t=8128] [img: 1]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/tooaya/menewsha/TotMC/ToTMClinkin.jpg[/img]

(in case you can't tell, you'll need to get rid of the :1 after the img tag. XP)

Pm or post here with your shop's link and we'll link back to ya. : D

Credit

Art and concept <c> Tooaya, steal them and die. D<

To-do List:

• -Finish FS artifacts
  -Debate if she should move the shop to Gaia....
  

Is currently: studying for PCAT. -_-;;

Reserved...and open for posting. Help me with suggestions and questions plzthx. :lol:

ahhh this sounds fascinating! is it any type of artifact? like say an old coin or jewelry or a clay pot or statuette, or is it more towards a certain type? *hops around* this would be SOOO neat make everyone do a bit of research on things before they hop on in and try to get one <3 <3

gah, another one I'd like to join xDD

Originally Posted by Jitsumi1221

ahhh this sounds fascinating! is it any type of artifact? like say an old coin or jewelry or a clay pot or statuette, or is it more towards a certain type? *hops around* this would be SOOO neat make everyone do a bit of research on things before they hop on in and try to get one <3 <3

Any artifact, as long as it's origin's from China. :3

Ideas: ink, china (lol), paper, scroll, books, statues, gunpowder...etc etc. :3

ahhh so neat! this means i can prolly go grill my grandmoth on somr chinese lore and such ^o^ though would be kinda odd to explain her the reason why *cackles* hummm lol between thisand Fongmingyun's im having to do a lot of backup delving in history *chortles*

History's fun ^.^

*sucks at history herself though* :oops:

hm...would an old, chineese outfit, or just a part of it, be able to act like an artifact?

Originally Posted by Yumehayla

hm...would an old, chineese outfit, or just a part of it, be able to act like an artifact?

sure? x3 Things like Chinese gowns and such would make great artifacts. But do make sure you know which dynasty it's from.

yeah, I'll do some reaserching^^. I just wanted to make sure if researching them even has a point for this xD xD

XDD that's completely acceptable. ^.^

I begin to think that searching will be very, very complicated xDDD...
*failed at google*

why do I have tons of japaneese historical books, and not even -one- about China?