Soon the first character assignments will be e-mailed. Please do not share these assignments with anyone else that is playing CF presently or in the near future, even if they are not challenge participants - it will potentially ruin a lot of fun. If someone tries to talk about it, please stick your fingers in your ears and sing.

The earliest releases will be sent early for a few reasons:

* To give you the opportunity to ask questions about your assignment.

* To give you the opportunity to opt-out if you absolutely must, or if you think you will absolutely flub your assignment, so I can assign your character to someone else. I've tried very hard to match your assignment with your abilities and desires. Keep in mind this is a roleplaying *challenge* and may be something different than what you expected, but if you *know* you're just not going to do it, let know now so I can make alternate arrangements. (I reserve the right to eliminate you from the character challenge if you choose to opt-out of the assigned character.)

* Certain characters have backgrounds that are so closely-linked to other characters, that you may want to coordinate IC information with associated players prior to beginning play. During this early release period, you can communicate any 'prologue information' about your character to his/her associates, using me as your go-between to remain anonymous.

- Characters may be rolled the week of May 27th and brought up to level 2 to assure names are secured and that characters requiring imm-set modifications can have those modifications set prior to active play. Characters are not to leave the Academy or engage in any roleplay prior to June 1st.

- Some assignments will still not be e-mailed for another week or two. These are assignments that either have no need for early release, or are linked to current or soon-to-be introduced quest events that require the resolution of in-game outcomes before those assignments can be released.

If you receive an assignment, please respond ASAP even if you have no questions or comments, just to verify that you received your assignment and that you are committed to playing it.

I'm going to just go ahead and state here in order to link characters together with shared backgrounds, I had to essentially write the roles for you. Some roles are dramatically more fun and interesting than others. Some roles are clearly supporting actors. The most interesting roles went to those who rated themselves quality roleplayers, and sometimes (unfairly, perhaps) the more vanilla roles ended up going to those who were so flexible that I put them into niches that others refused to play.

Please don't get discouraged if you received a role that isn't as inspired as you hoped for. In general, those that have more vanilla roles are given more liberty in choosing their build details, and are linked in some way to a more colorful character, even if that link is not immediately apparent in your character sheet. For the July contest, I will be judging how players *developed* their role from the starting point; it's not going to be an exercise of me patting myself on the back for my own character concepts. Development and goal progress, not backstory, is the name of the game for July. Those that were flexible, open-minded, and started off with supporting-actor roles, and then took them to new places, will be judged more favorably than a player who has a star role but never takes it anywhere past its starting point.

If you do not receive your assignment by May 29th, please contact me.