With the New Year comes the biannual Index Clearing. This is where we remove members from Index for the reason of "inactivity" if they have not posted on site in at least the last 6 months. Users are welcome to reapply to Index when they return.

This is relevant to lurkers: if you have not posted on site, please do so.

We do look at last log in as a kindness, however with the changes to privacy settings, if you are invisible then the staff will not see your last log in. If your settings are set to private even if you're logging if daily, if you have not posted you will be removed from Index on the New Year.

Updates to Drug Dependence in our Site Rating

We have made updates to the site rating to provide additional details regarding Drug Dependence: [LINK]

Addiction: is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, such as the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences.

Drugs, such as cocaine, opiates, heroin, etc. that are illegal for recreational use in most countries (so this does include marijuana) are against the site rating to depict. Potion addiction, unlike drug addiction does not go against the site rating, however there are several important points that need to be made regarding the use (or misuse) of potions.

Selling potions for their intended misuse would go against the in character setting rules. If caught it is very likely that the seller would be punished harshly and repeated incidents would likely result in expulsion.

Misusing potions purposefully will likely result in detention. However misuse is a vague term that also involves using potions in unintended ways such as playing pranks or consuming them to feed an addictive habit that may result in dependence. It is possible that the staff might find detention to be "not enough" to deal with this medical and psychological condition, you might also end up temporarily (not permanently) expelled if the situation is extreme enough.

Drug dependence: is a chronic, progressive disease characterized by significant impairment that is directly associated with persistent and excessive use of a psychoactive substance. Impairment may involve physiological, psychological, or social dysfunction.

There are certain terms that do remain outside of the site rating. Referring to oneself as a "drug dealer" if they are supplying an underclassman potions would be an example. If we see someone bragging about how they are a drug dealer, we will be asking for post edits but if it persists they will quickly lose their privileges to be a part of this community.

There is a difference between head canon and what is done. While we have a potion system that does allow potion use outside of moderated situations to be theoretically unlimited uses, the roleplay needs to make sense. So if you are claiming to frequently use a potion inappropriately in narration, it needs to be reflected in actual threads consistently. By stating something solely in narration, it prohibits other users and staff from interfacing with the scenario, intervening and yes, punishing or stopping someone. It would suggest without any power by the users to say or do otherwise that they are wholly incompetent and that you are 'so much more clever' solely on the virtue that they have no means to intercede.

Bubba MGarry has been named Co-Lead in the Mentorship Program, he will be working alongside Orion Lécuyer. Bubba has been making headlines a lot lately, in his short tenure he has engaged the staff and community at every level and we are excited to have him. A graduate himself from the Mentor Program, he will be able to give us unique perspective as he engages this team with his shared leadership.

Small Updates

Small updates have been made to the deactivations application. I added a reminder to tell sports or teams you are a part of that you are deactivating so the roster is updated.

I have also placed in several posts additional information and reminders regarding the difference between "on hand" funds and "total wealth."

Clarification as to Werewolves
When not in their bestial form, werewolves are human beings. They appear as no different to any other human and are not discernable by sight alone. They have no distinguishing wolf-like features, such as fangs, claws or amber eyes. These features appear only during the transformation brought on by the advent of the full moon. As werewolves age, their more lupine features develop, including more honed instincts and more canine behavioural traits. The glint in the eye of an adult werewolf in their human form may appear predatory, their presence may awaken a primal fear in other humans, and they gain the ability to more readily call upon their more wild nature. However, any outright physical changes in human form are limited to thicker, coarser hair, and they cannot be told apart from other humans. Likewise, other werewolves cannot identify werewolves by scent when in human form. They are physically human.

For the most part, they also have human sensibilities and abilities. Whilst as the curse develops with age, more lupine traits will bleed into the character of the werewolf, these are limited. Their senses develop and increase to the point that adolescents have the ability to discern and recall scents to such a degree that they can track others, and the way they hold themselves and act becomes more outwardly predatory and bestial. However, they remain distinctly human. They may develop a taste for rarer meat, but they do not consume the flesh of small animals raw. Likewise, they may develop territorial and violent tendencies, but they are not driven by the curse to attack others whilst in their human form. They are cursed humans, not animals in human form.

The most famous exception to this rule is Fenrir Greyback, a murderous, cannibalistic psychopath. However, given that he was a murderous, cannibalistic psychopath, he remains the exception. Even then, he did not possess overtly lupine traits as a human, instead sharpening his own teeth and claws to better assist him with his attacks.

The list of restricted spells (with descriptions and limitations) have been finalized and published in the Restricted Section of the library, which is accessible to 6th year students and above. There are 10 spells for Transfiguration, 10 spells for Charms, and 10 spells for Defense Against the Dark Arts (there are also 10 potions for Potions that have already been available in the Restricted Section since the Potion System release). These spells will not be taught in classes and can only be gained through the relevant Restricted or Prodigal abilities.

A lot of these spells are roleplay spells (not intended/useful for moderated events). Please exercise caution when using them - your usage of them must make sense, and any abuse of these spells can be shut down by staff if they are being used to break site lore or otherwise. Use of some of these spells can result in the expulsion or incarceration of your character as per our Expulsion/Prison System.

Some reminders on how the Restricted and Prodigal abilities work:

The Restricted abilities have a prerequisite of being a 6th year and having a passing OWL grade in the relevant subject. This means you must have an A, E, or O in the Charms/DADA/Transfiguration/Potions OWL in your report card before you can apply for the restricted ability (the eventual adult system will likely provide a way to earn a passing exam grade post-Hogwarts if you don't do the report card OWLs, however earning the grade is currently the only way to get this ability). IC this means you are being granted access to study books in the Restricted section related to your specific subject (this does not necessarily mean the relevant professors are condoning the spells you may learn from your studies). Once you have the restricted ability in your trunk, you can learn up to 5 of the subject's restricted spells/potions through RPs in the Restricted Section. After posting the RP in the Restricted Section, you would apply for a trunk update with a link to your RP which will be approved/added by an index member.

A student who has the Prodigal ability in a specific subject can use their ability to learn 1 restricted spell in their 7th year.

If you have both abilities in the same subject, you can learn a total of 6 restricted spells/potions in that subject. If you are a Metamorphmagus and take the Restricted Transfiguration ability, you can learn all 10 Transfiguration Restricted spells.

You can find a list of the spells and descriptions in the Restricted Section (and the Projects Announcements thread so that lower-year students can plan ahead if they want to take one of these abilities).

New Staff Members

We would like to welcome @Meenauh Silmataurea back onto staff as a Gryffindor Prefect. This is a role they held in the past where they were an effective and engaged staff member that scared me a little bit. Yes, they are probably smarter than me you. They are also a Duelling Captain and they were heavily involved in the development and release of the original duelling system.

We are also welcoming back @Caradoc Browne (student @Hugh Lowe) as Professor of History of Magic. Hugh was a former Gryffindor Prefect where he served dutifully. He also served as Head of House for Hufflepuff from 2019 to 2022, where he was loved by his house and community. He was heavily engaged with site Lore during his tenure on staff and we are excited to see him return to the staff team and once again contribute the the community and its growth.

@Maggie Hawkins, a Slytherin Prefect has been named our next Professor of Care of Magical Creatures as @Sabine Blumenthal. Maggie has held other roles on site and is also a quidditch player. She is engaged with users and staff and has shown herself to be a wonderous asset to the community. We look forward to seeing what she will do in this role. This does mean that we will be seeking a new Slytherin Prefect (announcement pending).

Finally, @Avery McCall has been named our Professor of Runes under the account @Amalia Rolfö. Avery is someone that shown themselves to have a good, level head on their shoulders, they are hard-working, fastidious and engaged. We are looking forward to seeing what they will bring to this class.

New Ability: Legilimency

We have added the new ability: Legilimency. It is a roleplay heavy ability, just like its "partner" ability Occlumency. Please check out the abilities page for the details on how it works.

Professor Characters and Restricted Abilities

With the recent release of the restricted spell list (and thus the full realization of the restricted abilities), staff have discussed how to handle professor characters and restricted abilities. As it stands, professors/adult characters automatically have knowledge of all spells taught/planned to be taught at Hogwarts. Previous to now we did not have a list of restricted spells and potions. Now that we do, staff have decided that professor characters will not automatically have access to restricted spells/potions (meaning a Charms professor will not automatically have access to use all of the Restricted Charms). Current and former professor/adult characters would need to apply for these abilities to use the relevant spells/potions going forward.

There will be a detailed owl sent to those that this impacts.

Spell Masterlist

viewtopic.php?t=24860

A new spell masterlist has been published in the Context area to replace the previous outdated one. It contains all of the spells currently available on the site, and spells that have been claimed and will be taught in future lessons. This list showcases a simple RP description of the spells, they do not include their mechanical effects in duelling or broom racing (those effects can be found in the Rules area regarding the Duelling System and Broom Racing system).

There are still a handful of spells that will be added in the upcoming weeks to existing or future lessons, meaning this new spell masterlist will be updated as they become available and a relevant announcement may be made when the spell list is completed.

This list is not meant to be used for claiming spells in trunk updates since it includes spells not yet claimable. Please remember to use the reducio'd list in the Encyclopedia Update Form when adding spells.