"I'm the exception, just like everybody else!"
In Brian Jacques' books, vermin are evil, and woodlanders are good. Birds tend to be more neutral, though there are some on either side of that. Some species are neutral merely because they don't care.
Redwall MUCK doesn't mirror this at all. Everywhere are vermin species that are neutral, if not entirely good. Everyone wants to be the exception to the rule, and that's on both ends of the spectrum.
Truthfully, BJ does break his own rules left and right. There is about one character in each of his books who doesn't conform. So we can't say this his rules are universal. But still, this is about 13 characters out of the many that come in and out of the Redwall books.
To accurately display this in our MUCK, more players should try to follow these generalizations. Obviously neither I nor anyone else has any business telling you how to play your character, but for example, it's very hard to make rules regarding species.
Redwall Abbey has thrown around ideas regarding a no-vermin policy (both for and against), but if a vermin character doesn't follow general rules, there will be OOC conflict over an "unjust" rule. Rules aren't made to be broken every which way, and that's what will happen since the essential rules are already being broken.
Maybe over a long period of time, or under special circumstances, there will be exceptions to rules. But it seems like every single player has created circumstances so they can be the exception. What happened to normal characters?
Admittedly, it's not as much fun to play a mediocre character, but consider developing the character's personality rather than changing what could be called a character's essential qualities. It's not like there is a lack of RP opportuity on either side, good, bad, or even neutral.
If possible, the exceptions to the rules should be cut down to a more normal level. It's more interesting to be within more normal limits and be well-rounded, than to have characters that seem totally out of place.
