THE ENVIRONMENT
Moderators and the Game World
The entire game world of Age of Prophesies is divided into domains - managable environments that are overseen by moderators. Moderators are responsible for developing and maintaining domains, and for ensuring that the environment and its constituent locations convey an atmosphere that reflects the happenings through player interaction. Players are encouraged to create and maintain locations within a domain with approval from the supervising moderator as a way to contribute to the development of that environment, as well as to use these locations to assist in telling a story.

Environment
Administrators are the ones who partition the game world and decide what gets to be an environment; they work with community members to define the parameters of each environment in a "Kingdom Profile", including such statistics as background history, benefits and dangers, and notables. Then, a moderator is assigned to oversee the environment and develop it by creating locations.

Setting and Atmosphere
Each location within an environment is its own thread, and is regularly reposted using an updated description to reflect changes in the setting as a consequence of player contributions and interactions in the environment. For example, a deadly war that ravages a kingdom would require that once prosperous cities and villages be converted into ruins and desolate wastelands. Though threads are never deleted or edited, new threads are posted periodically to reflect significant changes in a region. Moderators will routinely have non player characters react to players in certain surprise circumstances, but for the most part, players can have just as much control over the locations and their non player characters as moderators do.

PLAYER LOCATIONS
When players create a new location, it is done with the approval of the supervising moderator. Locations that players create become community property - other players can use it, as can the moderator, to continue developing the environment. Only structures that are built to benefit a certain player character can become the property of that character, and used in monopolized ways like a house, castle or fortress. The larger and more complex the location, the greater the investment required to build and sustain it.

Organic Law
Administrators are responsible for ensuring that the environments created and maintained, as well as their subordinate locations, are appropriate for the general atmosphere of Age of Prophesies. They can routinely require Moderators to alter their work, and can rule some work "inorganic", or inappropriate to the world of Age of Prophesies. For example, a factory has no place in a medieval game world, but perhaps a lumber mill or blackforge would. Similarly, moderators can rule the creations of players as "inorganic", and remove them from the game world if they make no sense. It is highly recommended that prospective location creators collaborate with moderators in creating a highly immersive, contiguous and coherent environment.

Limited Mandate of Moderators
Moderators have a very specific, limited mandate. In smaller role playing games, moderators are responsible for everything - from how the world reacts to players, to the stories and adventures that player characters face. In AoP, they are responsible for one thing only: the environment (domain) and its evolution over time through player interaction. Players freely interact with the environment, making it react in accordance with their desires and storylines. There is no inherent advantage to be gained in doing this, because all players have the equal role and responsibility of assisting the moderator in keeping the environment coherent, cohesive and realistic. In addition, moderators also oversee the awarding of rewards in proportion to the risks faced.

Collaborative Creation
Part of the collaborative storytelling process of AoP is the ability to cooperate with other players and community members to create more detailed, immersive, realistic and fantastic environments.

What We Giveth, We Taketh Away
Inevitably, the game world will change and evolve over time. What was once a significant location within an environment may no longer have enough plot significance to be given its own thread, much less mentioned in the periodic updates of moderators. This is a normal consequence of an ever-evolving game world. Contributions that players and moderators make will be memorialized over time, but the greatest gift that players give is the impact on developing an environment, for every contribution directly influences the course that the region takes in its growth, whether it be through creation and maintenance of locations, or interaction with them and their inhabitants.