Terms of Service

By using or accessing SWORDSWORN.com or its related social media profiles, you agree that you have read and understood the following terms and conditions, and will be bound by them when accessing said website; participating in SWORDSWORN community spaces; obtaining, trading, and selling SWORDSWORN virtual goods; and creating characters.
SWORDSWORN reserves the right to update and change these terms at any time.

Failure to abide by the Swordsworn Terms and Services may result in a warning, suspension, or ban from accessing SWORDSWORN.
If you do not agree to adhere to all of these terms, you are prohibited from using or accessing this site as well as other SWORDSWORN official spaces such as the Discord server and Toyhou.se world.
The materials contained in this website are protected by applicable copyright and trademark law.

TERMINOLOGY

• "The user", "users", and "you" refer to each individual who accesses SWORDSWORN.com and other related sites.
• "Terms", "Terms of Service", "ToS", and "Site Rules" refer to the guidelines established here in this document.
• "The website", "SWORDSWORN", "Swordsworn", "SWORDSWORN.com", and "site" refer to SWORDSWORN.com, and "adjacent web spaces", "other related sites", etcetera refer to all social media or community hubs run in an official capacity by SWORDSWORN staff.
• "SWORDSWORN", "staff", "us", "we", and "the mod team" refer to the individuals who operate and maintain SWORDSWORN.com.
• "Services" refer to any and all services, functions, features, minigames, and more that can be accessed through SWORDSWORN.com or its adjacent web spaces.
• "Content" refers to any media present here on SWORDSWORN.com and its adjacent spaces, such as artwork, photos, videos, writing, games, and more.
• "Lorekeeper" and "LK" refer to the public, open-source framework that this site is built upon. Credits for individual extensions and added content are listed in the Credits page.
• "Closed Species", "Semi-Closed Species", "ARPG", and "Art and Roleplaying Game" are terms that refer to the type of gamified community hosted on this site.

MEMBERSHIP

This service is available only to those who are at least 18 years of age. By creating an account, using this service, or attempting to use this service, you verify that you are 18 years or older. Any users found to have circumvented this rule will be banned from SWORDSWORN.com and its related spaces, and may have their digital goods such as currency, Ritual Cards, etcetera revoked.

• Accounts with usernames judged to be hateful, or inappropriate may be modified or terminated.
• Accounts attempting to impersonate a staff member or other person will be terminated.
• You are responsible for the security of your account, such as using a secure email and password and verifying it. You must contact staff immediately if someone has breached the security of your account. We are not liable for any of your personal or private information.
• Users may only have one account, and may not ban or block evade by creating another in the event that a moderator has terminated their use of the services.
• We reserve the right to terminate or take other disciplinary action against any user for any reason without notice, especially in the event that the SWORDSWORN Terms of Service have been breached.
• If a user is terminated or banned, the virtual goods present within their account's inventory will be revoked with no compensation. Items may be re-distributed to other users.
• Engaging in hate speech and harmful rhetoric is grounds for disciplinary action or user account termination if such behavior continues. We reserve the right to ban users who express hateful beliefs or create a hateful environment for other players. Any form of bigotry or discrimination, including but not limited to racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, ableism, et cetera is strictly against the rules. Political and / or religious beliefs do not excuse you from spreading hateful rhetoric!
  
• Users may not harass, abuse, or otherwise threaten staff or other members of the community.
• Please be kind and respectful to others. Bullying, harassment, guilt-tripping, callouts, and other behavior designed to create a hostile environment is not allowed.

SITE RULES + CONDUCT

In addition to the above terms of membership, users must also follow these site rules:

Prohibited Themes

• Any content promoting / containing incestuous or pedophilic themes, whether real or fictional is strictly prohibited, and any users sharing such content will face termination. Users found to be contributing to, spreading, or participating in illegal and obscene content will immediately face termination and have their virtual goods revoked. Users terminated under this clause will have their purchased character designs revoked with no compensation, and they will either be returned to the original designer or voided entirely.
• Content promoting / containing rape or sexual assault, bestiality / zoophilia, fetish + paraphilia content, etc. is also strictly prohibited.
• Users found to be contributing to, spreading, or participating in illegal and obscene content will immediately face termination and have their virtual goods revoked.

If a user is attempting to coerce you into engaging in the above types of themes, please immediately report such conduct to a staff member. If you come across any user-submitted content that breaks these rules, please report them to staff immediately.

• While the SWORDSWORN community is 18+, sexually explicit content is not allowed on the public site.
• SWORDSWORN's media does, however, contain mature themes such as blood, mild gore and violence, death or peril, alcohol, drug use, gambling, mental illness and discussions of suicide, non-sexual nudity, etcetera. Users are expected to curate their own experience to avoid content they feel may be distressing. Users are expected to appropriately warn and tag for any content they have created that features these types of mature themes.

content

Stance on Artificial Intelligence

• The use of ai-generated artwork, writing, etc is strictly prohibited throughout SWORDSWORN and its associated webpages.
• If a user is discovered to make use of generative ai for creating content, this is grounds for immediate termination with no chance of ban appeal, especially in the case that a user is spreading falsehoods and attempting to pass off ai-generated content as legitimate.
• You may not use any content on SWORDSWORN.com, the discord server, or the toyhou.se world for any manner of ai scraping or feeding.

Creative Content

• You must have permission to post any content you submit on the SWORDSWORN website or its associated spaces. If you are uploading artwork or writing that is not your own, it must be credited fully and appropriately. This includes the use of bases and templates. You may not add onto pre-existing artwork that is not your own without permission from the original artist explicitly stated.
• Plagiarizing or tracing artwork, designs, et cetera is subject to disciplinary action and deletion. When submitting content, users agree that they have permission to use that content, and that use or display of said content will not infringe upon the rights of a third party. SWORDSWORN.com may not be held liable for independent users submitting stolen or plagiarized content -- If a SWORDSWORN.com user has plagiarized or stolen from you, please contact staff immediately for a takedown.
• User-submitted content must be SWORDSWORN-focused and contain aspects of the world, characters, npcs, etc. aside from in specialized spaces within the Discord servers, which are clearly marked. Prompt entries to earn virtual currency or items must include an approved Swordsworn character or non-player character unless otherwise stated in the individual event's rules and regulations.
• If a user closes their account or is banned from SWORDSWORN.com, we maintain the rights to display or use any content submitted during their use of our service.
• By submitting content to SWORDSWORN.com or adjacent web spaces, users give SWORDSWORN the right to host, modify, and digitally redistribute their work. SWORDSWORN does not, and will never profit off of user-submitted content with the exemption of content created specifically for that purpose under a commission or event agreement, with its own specialized terms of service. Users retain ownership over any content they submit and will always be fully credited in any promotional posts. If user-submitted content becomes part of the site's layout and pages, it will be credited within our Credits page.

Characters and Ownership

Owning a Swordsworn character does not grant a user any right of ownership towards the Swordsworn species, site, or related materials. However, said user does own majority rights to the character's design in itself.

Filing a chargeback against an artist in order to receive a character via scamming will result in the character being revoked and returned to the original artist. Other rules that may result in revocation of a character include utilizing the character under the prohibited themes clause, as such use of a character for illegal sexual material is considered inappropriate conduct and defamatory to the community; as well as having purchased or received a character while being under the minimum age requirement to use the site. Keep in mind that you must also adhere to the terms of the original artist for any designs not made by yourself.

Users may request to void characters that they originally created and that they currently own. You may not void a design you did not create or do not currently own. Void requests will be determined on a case-by-case basis, and we heavily encourage you to first ask the original designer if they would like the character returned to them. In addition, you are welcome to rehome any characters or request that they become a raffle or gift if you no longer wish to own them.

Voided designs can no longer be used on SWORDSWORN.com and may no longer exist within the context of the world and lore, but you will retain full personal use rights to the design to use in unrelated works. References to SWORDSWORN's world and lore must be removed, as this character is no longer associated with SWORDSWORN. "Unvoiding" a design, or reinstating it within the world of SWORDSWORN, such as if you were to purchase a character that had initially been designed as an adopt and voided for personal use, will also be heard on a case-by-case basis.

If a user is banned while in the possession of SWORDSWORN characters, depending on the reason for the ban, they may be given the option to choose between rehoming their characters or having them voided.

Banned users may no longer obtain any SWORDSWORN characters or items.

Owning an official, unvoided SWORDSWORN character allows the following permissions:

• Trade, sell, or gift the character freely as long as said exchanges follow the ToS ( recipient must be a SWORDSWORN.com member ) as well as any original artist or designer's stated terms.
• Use or display any artwork featuring the character as long as the original artist is credited.
• Use the character within the SWORDSWORN community, its associated spaces, etcetera. This character will be eligible for prompts, games, events, roleplaying, headcanons, and more. You are welcome to create or commission as much media as you wish for this character, creating lore, and whatever else you wish provided that content follows our terms of service.
• Edit the character's design and lore at any time, though you must submit a design update request to make any design changes official.
• You may freely use the character for personal use, as well as create alternative versions or universes of the design. You may make alternative or derivative versions of your character for other closed species and ARPG's, as long as said alternative versions are clearly defined. Note that SWORDSWORN is not responsible for any terms you may have to follow when using a design within other games or communities. All derivative designs are considered a part of the original and may not be transferred separately. 

To own a SWORDSWORN character, you are agreeing to the following:

• You must abide to all SWORDSWORN rules and terms of service.
• You may not trade, sell, gift, or transfer a character to anyone below the age of 18.
• You may not create derivatives or copies to transfer separately from the original.
• You may not use your character to create content within the "Prohibited Themes" as outlined above, or use them to promote hateful, offensive, or unlawful rhetoric.
• You may not utilize the world of SWORDSWORN or any characters / designs within it for commercial use, such as creating merchandise or attempting to profit off the brand name.
• You will not feed any SWORDSWORN content, characters, or designs into any form of generative artificial intelligence or machine learning program, and you may not use them for NFT's or cryptocurrencies.

SALES

Users are freely allowed to trade and sell approved characters and items as long as the original character designers' terms of service are respected. You may sell virtual goods for any currency other than NFT's or cryptocurrency. You may not sell virtual goods such as Ritual Cards for more than their original price, at an exchange rate of 10 ING = $1 USD, and you may not sell characters for a higher price than their initial / base value unless additional art or media has been added. We reserve the right to restrict the trades / sales / transfers / etc of virtual goods for any reason, though there will always be an announcement either on-site or in the Discord server about these restrictions.

• SWORDSWORN.com is not responsible for any third party trades or sales done between users -- please be responsible and mindful when initiating an exchange with another user. Please inform staff immediately if you have experienced inappropriate conduct from another user, such as the attempt to scam or coerce an exchange. While staff may help to handle disputes, they are not required to get involved and are not responsible for any losses or damages accrued. SWORDSWORN does not handle or facilitate any exchange of money.
• All trades, gifts and sales of SWORDSWORN characters and goods must be officiated on-site by transferring the items and / or characters to another user. As such, in order to trade or sell SWORDSWORN goods, all parties must have an account on the site.
• SWORDSWORN.com takes no profit or portion from any sales -- guest artists are welcome to sell their event adopts however they see fit.
• Anything sold under the SWORDSWORN brand name or with the intention of being used in SWORDSWORN must be officially registered to the website via a Ritual Card ( MYO ), adopt, or similar. SWORDSWORN does not allow users to sell unofficial Swordsworn characters, and said unofficial Swordsworn may not be submitted to the website. While you may sell or advertise non-SWORDSWORN original art and designs in the Discord server, you may not sell or promote non-affiliated Closed Species / ARPG adopts without permission from staff.
• Placing a bid or claim on a character means you have entered an agreement to purchase. You may not delete bids and claims or edit them to be a lower offer. Do not claim or bid on a character if you cannot pay for it, as backing out or failing to pay an invoice will result in disciplinary action, or even a ban if offenses are repeated.
• We, as well as the artist or seller, reserve the right to refuse a sale for any reason.
• Once you have been informed that you've won a bid or the seller has confirmed a sale, you are expected to respond to any staff or GA's messages on the subject within 48 hours of this confirmation. Failure to respond to messages or pay invoices in a timely manner may result in the design being sold to another user. OTA's with a non-monetary confirmation are subjected to the terms of the offer agreed upon by the seller, such as a time limit in which trade art must be finished.
• We heavily encourage the use of PayPal Goods and Services for any monetary transactions.
• All transactions made with real or virtual currency on SWORDSWORN.com are final and non refundable, though appeals may be heard on a case-by-case basis. In the event that an item or good is to be refunded, it will be revoked from the user's account.

COPYRIGHT

Other than content you own, which you may have opted to include on this Website, under these Terms, SWORDSWORN.com owns all rights to the intellectual property, media, images, and material contained on the site and its adjacent web spaces, and all such rights are reserved. You are granted a limited license only, subject to the restrictions provided in these Terms, for purposes of viewing and participating in the material contained on this site.

SWORDSWORN holds the copyright to all content on SWORDSWORN.com unless stated otherwise.

SWORDSWORN holds copyright over the species Swordsworn and the world therein, and users creating content involving our IPs are bound by our ToS.

Users are not permitted to distribute, modify, copy, exploit, use, or make derivative works from any content displayed on or created for SWORDSWORN.com except as explicitly permitted.

SWORDSWORN.com does not claim copyright over user-submitted content, or for any part of the Lorekeeper framework.

Users may not use third-party copyrighted symbols, such as logos for other media or companies, within their character designs and content.

You may not use any SWORDSWORN content for generative AI, and claiming any content here as your own outside of the community will be subject to DMCA takedowns.

DISCLAIMERS

SWORDSWORN is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

In no event shall SWORDSWORN, nor any of its staff, be liable to you for anything arising out of or in any way connected with your use of the site. You are responsible for your own activity on the site and your own interactions with other users in the community. You hereby indemnify to the fullest extent SWORDSWORN from and against any and all liabilities, costs, demands, causes of action, damages and expenses (including reasonable attorney’s fees) arising out of or in any way related to your breach of any of the provisions of these Terms. If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable or invalid under any applicable law, such unenforceability or invalidity shall not render these Terms unenforceable or invalid as a whole, and such provisions shall be deleted without affecting the remaining provisions herein.

SWORDSWORN is permitted to revise these Terms at any time as it sees fit, and by using this Website, you are expected to review such Terms on a regular basis to ensure you understand all terms and conditions governing use of this Website. These Terms, including any legal notices and disclaimers contained on this Website, constitute the entire agreement between SWORDSWORN and you in relation to your use of this Website, and supersede all prior agreements and understandings with respect to the same. By continuing to access or use our services after those revisions become effective, you agree to be bound by the revised terms. If you do not agree to the new terms, please stop using our site.

Certain areas of this Website are restricted from access by you, and we may further restrict access by you to any areas of this Website, at any time, in its sole and absolute discretion. Any user ID and password you may have for this Website are confidential, and you must maintain the confidentiality of such information.

Our site may contain links to third-party web sites or services that are not owned or controlled by us. SWORDSWORN does not assume responsibility for, the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third party web sites or services. By agreeing to these terms, you agree that SWORDSWORN.com and its staff will not be held liable in any way for any damages or problems experienced through the use of other sites and services.

You are expressly and emphatically restricted from all the following:

• Selling, sublicensing, and/or otherwise commercializing any SWORDSWORN material digitally and physically.
• Claiming ownership of any material that isn't yours.
• Using this Website in any way that is, or may be, damaging to this Website.
• Using this Website in any way that impacts users access to this Website.
• Using this Website contrary to applicable laws and regulations, or
  in a way that causes, or may cause, harm to the Website, or to any
  person or business entity.
• Engaging in any data mining, data harvesting, data extracting or any other similar activity in relation to this Website, or while using this Website.
• Using this Website to engaging in any advertising or marketing unless permission granted by the admins.
• Using and finding glitches / bugs to help you advance or gain items
  that isn't normal or fair. If found, you must alert the glitch / bug to
  us immediately.

SWORDSWORN reserves the right to discontinue services or close SWORDSWORN.com at any time without prior notice. We are not liable for any losses incurred by the closure of services or the website.

Never hesitate to contact a mod if you need clarification, help, or have questions regarding the world of SWORDSWORN or SWORDSWORN.com.