About the Gryphon's Guild

1. What is the Gryphon's Guild?
    1.a How old is the Guild?
2. How does one join?
    a. Posting to the GryphBoard
        I. Initials and names in the subject
    b. Joining #gryphonguild on Dalnet
    c. Subscribing to the GryphList
    d. What's Netiquette?
3. Character posting on the List, Board, or Channel (IC and OOC)
    a. Joining in
        I. Why are they throwing pies at me?
        II. It sounds like everyone is talking in code or something!
        III. Why did no one reply?
    b. Multiple characters
    c. Characters based on books, movies, etc.
4. What is the Gryphon Code?
5. Is this place just for gryphons?

General Gryphon Questions

6. What is a gryphon?
    a. Is there a "standard" gryphon?
    b. What's a hippogriff?
    c. How is "gryphon" supposed to be spelled?

Other

7. I have a question not answered by this FAQ!

1. What is the Gryphon's Guild?

The Gryphon's Guild is an online association of people who love gryphons, the associated mythology or who are gryphs at heart. It is sometimes called the GryphGuild or just Guild. It was founded by Lady Zadeen and Tserisa, and some of the first members were Alexander the Griffen, Bry, and Lore. The Gryphon's Guild provides forum discussion of anything gryphon related, including the posting of original poetry or fiction, artwork, discussion of literature, mythology, life-cycles, behavior, and physiology, but not limited to these topics. It provides forum through The Gryphon's Guild Message Board, newsgroup, mailing list, and a channel on Dalnet.

gryph·on n. Variant of griffin. grif·fin also grif·fon or gryph·on n. A fabulous beast with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion.

guild also gild n. 1.a. An association of persons of the same trade or pursuits, formed to protect mutual interests and maintain standards.

a. How old is the Guild?

The Gryphon's Guild was started around 1994, with a manually distributed mailing list and small webpage. The first GryphBoard, hosted on Inside the Web, was formed on September 29, 1997. It was soon averaging 40,000 hit counts a month, and is really what got the community going. Inside the Web closed down March 5, 2001, and the Board was officially moved to it's new EZBoard location Feb. 2001.

2. How does one join?

One doesn't really join the Guild... one is a member through participation. To join the Gryphon's Guild, one joins in the discussion. You can join in on the Board, List or IRC Chatroom. Please read the related section of the FAQ for each before joining in. Please join us! We try not to devour any newbies. They are, however, subject to pastries-in-the-face.

a. Posting to the GryphBoard

To post to the GryphBoard, go to

http://pub29.ezboard.com/bgryphonguild

Though the Guild is open to all ages, you must be 13 to join the GryphBoard. Unfortunately this is an EZBoard rule; when you sign up for an EZBoard account, you check a box verifying you are 13 years of age or older. The Admin must enforce this rule, because the GryphBoard could be taken away from us if we're found to be harboring underage posters or violating EZBoard rules. If you are under 13, please do not post or use an EZBoard account. We hope to see you back with us when you are old enough!! Not posting to the Board does not mean you can't participate in the Guild. There are other modes of discussion; you could IM/e-mail individual Guilders, draw Guild art, and so on. We're sorry, but we must enforce this rule. Violators may be reported to EZBoard in addition to being banned, at the Admin's discretion.

Registration is easy, and EZboard has a detailed help section. There are also technical help sections (Tech Center and Is This Thing On?) on the GryphBoard for questions related to EZboard and internet mumbo-jumbo.

Please post your introduction in the Newbie Nook forum before posting elsewhere. That's the place to be when you're just starting out. There are some great threads and helpful people that will point you in the right direction.

Read the sticky threads! These threads are marked with a "thumbtack" icon and are always at the top in their forums. They are there for your benefit and to keep the Board running smoothly. They contain important information about posting.

This is a loosely moderated Board. You are responsible for your own safety and peace of mind.

NO FLAMES AND NO SPAM. Personal attacks are never welcome. If you have a problem with another member of the Guild take it to them privately. The Admin aren't babysitters and expect everyone to behave in a mature manner. If you have a problem with the Guild at large, leave quietly and respectfully rather than bringing everyone down. This is a community, and not everyone will fit -- that's understood. Check out the topic "The Guild has changed" for discussion on outgrowing the Guild and departing with dignity.

Everyone has different ideas. Please respect anothers opinions and state your own in a considerate manner. When it comes to Gryphons, no one person is right. Also be gentle in your dealing with other species. (No eating other posters!) All creatures are welcome on the Board.

Please try to post to the appropriate area of the Board. The Site Forum Map sticky thread can help you determine where your post goes.

Please keep signatures and posting icons and personal photos to a respectable size, so the Admin doesn't have to impose a limitation to them. Check out the Attack of the Big Sigs thread for information on how to design a Board-friendly signature. (NOTE: EZBoard now requires sigs use EZCode, not HTML. Check out the sticky thread on conversion from HTML to EZCode for help.) Text posts have no limitation on length -- however, try to keep pic posts below 20 actual pictures per post so as to allow for folks who have slow modems or pay by the minute for net time, and always post them in the correct section! Links to pictures are preferred.

Remember the Guild is diverse, from many different age groups and cultures... please keep posts in the G to PG rating area.

Take pride in your posts -- preview first to check out how they look, especially if you use HTML or EZCode, and take the time to look over your spelling and grammar. There is even a spellcheck on EZBoard!

Please be kind and generous to newcomers to the Board. It is a scary experience to finally step into the light in such a loopy place. Make them feel welcome and drop by Newbie Nook to say "Hey!" once in a while!

If you have a personal or real life problem, the Support section is where to take it. Even if you don't, drop by once in a while to offer a kind word. Just remember, appearing on the board as a newbie and posting many complaints and spreading intimate details as to your private life across the Guild is not going to enamor others with you.

Picture posts of gryphon and other fantasy related art are very welcome in the appropriate areas.

Admin reserves the right to delete, edit, or move posts, to close threads, and to ban users, both permanently and temporarily, at their discretion.

See also, 2d.) What's Netiquette? and 3.) Character Posting.

I. Initials and names in the subject

On the first Board, names were not automatically posted with a message. Therefore, to identify themselves, a poster would put their initials or name in parentheses at the end of their subject line. Later, the board host added a field for names, but the Guilders, being ones for tradition and disliking change, ruled against using the name and e-mail fields, going so far as to start flame wars over newbies who did. Although it's completely unnecessary to do so on the new Board, some do so to preserve tradition.

b. Joining #gryphonguild on Dalnet

To join #gryphonguild on IRC, you will need an IRC program such as mIRC. Connect to a Dalnet server and type

/join #gryphonguild

For more information, visit DalNet. You may need to set up ident in your IRC program.

Discussion in the channel covers a variety of topics and is a great place to socialize and get to know other Guilders. Please keep in mind general netiquette and be polite. Keep in mind that people of many ages visit the channel.

c. The GryphList

Subscribe to the GryphList discussion list by clicking here. To post, send email to gryph@yahoogroups.com. To unsubscribe go to Yahoo! Groups and select the My Groups link from the top menu bar. This menu will also let you change your subscription between digest and normal mode.

What can you post on the GryphList? Discussions between GryphGuild members, Gryph related fiction, poetry, and topics, and anything else pertaining to the GryphGuild, Gryphons, or member activities. Anything, really, within the realm of taste and kept mature. There is also the ability to upload files, conduct polls, and set up calenders and chats.

Please follow basic netiquette. Don't include the whole post in your replies... trim off headers and irrelevant parts of the previous post. Please don't use huge signatures. Some people pay for the internet by the minute or hour or by bandwidth. Also, please turn off MIME encoding and don't use HTML to post... some people's e-mail programs don't translate this stuff and it ends up looking like a mess.

d. What's Netiquette?

Everyone using any of the Guild forums (message board, list, channel, etc.) are expected to follow basic Netiquette, or internet etiquette. Failure to do so may get you banned, your posts deleted, or at very least a lot of people mad at you. The first thing to do is to read the FAQ and keep it in mind when posting. Please visit this Guide to Netiquette to brush up on your 'net interpersonal skills.

3. Character posting on the List, Board or Chat

For some, character posting in the Guild is roleplay, for others it is not. Character posting in the Gryphon's Guild is not typical roleplay. Many people in the Guild strongly feel that they are gryphons (or dragons or bird-bots or other species) in heart, spirit, mind or body. Keep this in mind when posting, or there is potential for strife and hurt feelings. Respect others' feelings.

On the Board there are areas for IC (in character) and OOC (out of character) postings. However, the IC section is geared more towards structured roleplay with a setting rather than limiting self expression on the other areas of the Board. For some "IC" is just who they are. Sometimes a person will refer to their "persona" as themselves, and the human behind them as their typist.

The Guild is not an appropriate place for power-gaming. Power-gaming is posting in a superpowered, omnipotent/omniscient, or invincible way (also called being zippy, lamer, or godmoding).

This also includes using other people in your post. Don't presume to act for them, such as "other gryphon does such-and-such". If you use another person's character or persona, get permission through e-mail, AIM, ICQ or through discussion on another section of the board first. It is polite and will save your pelt in the long run.

a. Joining in

It's best to lurk and read a while before you post to get a feel for it (it feels a lot like insanity -- give in to it!).

You need to introduce yourself. You'll probably have a nickname or alias. Start by telling everyone your name, species, a little about yourself and describe your arrival. Please do not declare yourself master of all of anything, supreme leader, best-at-whatever, etc. Not only is it impossible, but it usually gets you scoffed at. Try not to arrive mid-crisis, whether it be OOC or IC. It's hard to sympathize with someone you don't know, particularly since mid-crisis newbies tend to arrive often.

You may want to submit your member bio to the GryphGuild Bio Page (may not be kept current). This makes it easier for people to "look up" who you are. You may also want to develop your GryphCode.

Be patient waiting for responses. One doesn't start out with a high level of Fruitiness. Join in, have fun, and eventually everyone will know who you are.

Don't complain if you don't get a bunch of responses to your posts... people will be more irritated by this than anything. The Guild is a large place... it's easy for a new-being to get lost in the crowd. You may find that making friends with a few of the members much preferable to trying to gain a Guild-wide audience for your every post.

I. Why are they throwing pies at me?

It is really a labor of love, honest! Pie-throwing, particularly at newbies as a welcome, is a long-standing tradition in the Guild. Some Guilders have specific pies they like to throw, others throw whatever pastry seems appropriate at the time. It's all meant in good fun, and not in a mean way at all.

II. It sounds like everyone is talking in code or something!

There may be several reasons for this. Many gryphs talk with an "accent", others seem to have their own lingo, and there is a general slang which has developed in the Guild over time. "Loopy", for example, means insane, but in a good way. Gryphons and their friends also make various sounds, such as "meep", "doot", "mrr", "beep", and so on.

There are various symbols you may see in use.

------ [} is what a pie looks like when it's being thrown.

}:> is a gryphon smiley.

}:=8} is a dragon smiley.

There are many variations on the above. A good page to check out to translate those Guilder words is Crystal Shekeira's Guild Dictionary.

You may also see a long string of letters and symbols looking something like this: GC.D [f] d--- pk+++ gf++++ e- Obl:Dbr a g-- (m) p? b++ i fa+++ c[Sc/S/A] s Fr+++ .[cyb] l++++ This is a GryphCode.

III. Why did no one reply?

Don't worry, if you didn't get a reply, it doesn't mean people hate you! If you followed general netiquette and so on, and no one replied, it may be for several reasons. One is that people tend to think "Oh, someone else will answer" and leave it to others, which doesn't work if everyone's doing so! On the Board, it may also be that people are very busy with current threads and may not have time to visit other discussions to see what's going on. Your post may have gotten lost in the shuffle.

Your best chances for getting a reply are to post to the Newbie Nook at the Board, where it's sure to be seen as a seperate thread worthy of consideration. Several people keep out an eye for newbie posts, with a variety of fresh-baked pies ready to toss. Above all, don't panic, and don't flame if you seem to be being "ignored". That's just not the case. Like any large community, it will take a while for your neighbors to get to know you.

b. Multiple characters

Multiple characters are fine (as are "pets" and "lackeys"). You can have as many as you would like, if you don't think you'll have an identity crisis! It would be preferred that you didn't get seperate e-mails and registrations on EZBoard for each character, if only to help things from getting too overcrowded and confusing. Please don't create characters for the sole purpose of fighting between yourself or killing them off. People who create multiple characters for the purpose of decieving others, spying, getting around a ban, or who deny relation to other characters may be banned and at very least will not be held in esteem.

c. Characters based on books, movies, etc.

Can your character be one from a book, movie or other published media not of your own creation?

Short answer, please don't. First, it's not very creative, and second, you may violate copyright and trademark laws, a big no-no. Also, if you use the name of such a character, you're bound to run into a dozen others with the same name.

Longer answer, feel free to borrow ideas from books. For example, many of the gryphs in the Guild have feathers at the base of their tails. This is mostly based on the gryphons created by Mercedes Lackey for her Mage Wars book. However, merely copying a character is unoriginal and tacky.

4. What is the Gryphon Code?

The Gryphon Code is a simple and fun way to get a lot of information about you across in a short line of text and symbols. It is used by Guild members in signatures and on their homepages. You can figure out your Code at the Code site:

http://gryphonguild.org/code/

It borrows heavily from The Original Dragon Code (http://www.ecis.com/~ddragon/dragoncode.html) and various other Codes out there on the net. Using symbols, letters and + and -, one rates themselves in a simplified manner to communicate information. It has both IC and OOC tags.

5. Is this place just for gryphons?

No, it is not. We often have visits from other creatures, such as dragons, phoenixes, robots, chimera, and more. One of the founders, Tserisa, is a Dragon. Official policy is that we accept humans and unicorns here as well. It is a place for anyone who likes gryphons or has an interest in them. People who only want to tease, torment and heckle gryphons probably wouldn't be happy here. Gryph slayers and people after gryphon's gold eyries won't find themselves very welcome.

6. What is a gryphon?

gryph·on n. Variant of griffin. grif·fin also grif·fon or gryph·on n. A fabulous beast with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion.

a. Is there a "standard" gryphon?

Traditionally, the gryphon is half eagle (the front) and half lion (the back end). They have one pair of eagle talons, in the front; one pair of lion paws, in the back; a lion tail; and feathered, pointed ears, which distinguish their heads from those of eagles.

It's unlikely you'll find many genuine "traditional" gryphs at the Guild. There are gryphons of all sorts of avian and feline mixes (parrots and ocelots, red-tailed hawks and pumas), as well as other chimeric blends of animals, such as lupo-gryphs (wolf-gryphons). Usually, they are half raptor (bird of prey, such as eagle, owl or hawk) and half big cat (such as lion, puma, or leopard). However, in the Guild you'll find all sorts of variations, and gryphons which seem to have no relation to any mundane animals at all, with fantastic colors, markings, and crests.

Some gryphs you might meet have a scorpion's sting or a snake for a tail. Others may have horns, lizard tails, four lion paws, feathered tails, tufts of feathers or no ears. Others may be crosses between gryphons and another animal, such as a dragon or a phoenix.

Gryphons of legend were rather large, so that one of their talons could be used as a drinking cup. Gryphons in the Guild vary greatly in size.

The point being, gryphons of the Guild vary a lot. Being a gryphon comes from within.

b. What's a hippogriff?

A hippogriff is a eagle in the fore, and a horse in the hind. It is the result of a gryphon mating with a horse, which is interesting considering that historically, a gryphon's favorite food is horses....

c. How is "gryphon" supposed to be spelled?

Chances are that however you've seen it is a proper spelling. Griffin, griffon, and gryphon are common spellings these days, and all are correct. Other spellings of gryphon are: Gryffen, girphinne, greffon, grefyne, grephoun, griffen, griffion, griffoun(e), griffown, griffun, griffyn, grifon, grifyn, griphin, griphon, gryffin, gryffon, gryfon, gryfoun(e), gryphen, and gryphin.

7. I have a question not answered by this FAQ!

If you've read the FAQ and other information and still have question, you can contact Guild admin with your question.