Preseason is a ~3 day special event that kicks off the start of every season. In preseason, the storytelling team works to create structured events for players that introduce aspects of the world. It’s a great way to be introduced to the setting and to the other characters. For more info on preseason, see the preseason FAQ below.
➡️ The Branches
➡️ Roles
➡️ How to Create a Preseason Character
The preseason takes place in the Knox Quarantine Zone (KQZ), one of the many QZs that was initially set up by the government in the early years of the pandemic (but one of relatively few still standing).
Like most QZs, people in areas surrounding the KQZ were forcefully evicted from their homes and made to join the KQZ when infected numbers in the US surged. As life in the KQZ settled, some people left again, but found that their old haunts and homes had long since been overrun. Others joined the KQZ later, desperate for a safe haven in the chaos of the outside world.
Life in the KQZ was safer. Even if medicine was scarce and you had to stand in line for your food, you knew you were secure. Residents had all manner of jobs in the KQZ to help keep it afloat: Workers, farmers, guards, doctors, tailors, mechanics, cooks, animal minders, even criminals and smugglers-- you name it, and you can find it there. Life could be hard, but it was certainly harder outside those walls, and there was a lot of joy to be found in little everyday moments. Maybe living on scraps is worth it.
It has been 10 long years in the KQZ. You get visitors sometimes, traveling traders or hardened survivors, but today there is something new on the horizon: An entire caravan of refugees. Many had come from a nearby settlement named Liore that had just fallen to infected; many are people who joined them on their pilgrimage from regions unknown. But all are seeking shelter in the KQZ, and what happens from here is anyone’s guess.
Like the Islanders and Cruise Shippers of S5, there are two preseason branches to choose from: QZ Citizens, and Outsiders.
QZ Citizens have lived in the KQZ for a while. Maybe the entire 10 years, or maybe they came from somewhere outside more recently. Still, they have been here long enough to be “established.”
Outsiders are those from the caravan. Maybe they came from Liore, a small settlement that had fallen only a year after it sprung up. Maybe they came from somewhere else, and joined the caravan on the road, seeking company and safety.
When you go to submit an app for the preseason, you will be given the option to select one of those origins. There are 50 slots for QZ citizens, and 40 for Outsiders.
But wait! There’s more!
After you select a branch, you can OPTIONALLY select a “Role” to play within the preseason. Roles are special bonus option tied to the nature of your character that can give you fun extra quests and objectives to complete during the preseason that can influence the outcome. You may even be able to recruit people to your cause.
Roles are limited, roughly 5-10 slots for each. If you select a Role and that Role is full, you will be rejected with the option to either select another role (depending on availability), or go without a role for the time being.
People without roles will still get plenty of preseason action, so don't stress if you don't get to choose one (or you just don't want to). There will be lots of other hooks for you to snag.
When picking a role, consider how it fits into your character's backstory. Feel free to tailor your backstory towards it; if you aren't selected for the role, you will be rejected with the option to change up your backstory without losing your place in preseason. So don't worry if you write your backstory to be a guard and then we're like "oops no guards left." You'll have the ability to change things.
Workers are the backbone of society. They are your farmers, your fishermen, your mechanics, your carpenters, and yes, your general laborers. It's hard work, but someone has to do it. You've worked in the QZ a good long while, and you do what needs to be done to be paid in food slips and other supplies. It's not glamorous, but it keeps you and anyone you support afloat. More than that, you have your ear to the ground and your hands in a lot of places others can't go. Sometimes it's good to go unnoticed.
Smugglers get goods where the people need them. QZs and some settlements can be real uptight about what they let through, and KQZ is no exception: When so many things are rationed or restricted, you can help your neighbors get what they want. It's a dangerous job; if you're caught, you could be in deep shit. But the rest of the time, it's a pretty damn lucrative gig.
Guards (violent approval required) keep the peace inside the QZ and protect it from outside threats... and it's a damn thankless job. The world outside only seems to get worse, and the people in the QZ don't always understand what you're doing for them. You've seen some of the city officials hoard food, and a lot of your fellow guards have followed their examples. You just want an easy life-- how much of your morality are you willing to give up?
Workers are the backbone of society. They are your farmers, your fishermen, your mechanics, your carpenters, and yes, your general laborers. It's hard work, but someone has to do it. As an outsider to the QZ, you were either a worker in the settlement that fell, a different settlement, or just on your own time, in your own place. Here in the QZ, the workers work hard to eat, and their days are much more structured. It's hard to give up that sense of freedom you had before.
Smugglers get goods where the people need them. QZs and some settlements can be real uptight about what they let through, and people can be willing to pay good money to get what they want. You're just an agent of commerce. And hey, this QZ seems like it could use some stuff.
Trouble-makers (violent approval required) are the rabble-rousers. You play by your own rules, and you don't take kindly to people trying to tell you what to do. Maybe you can help the people here see that they don't need to live like this.
Step One: Decide who your character was before the outbreak. Remember, the outbreak started in 1999, and it has been 10 years since then. If you want your character to be 18 at the start of the season, they would have been 8 when the outbreak occurred, so you will have to plan accordingly. Just like normal, tell us about where they were born/raised, what their family and upbringing was like, and what their job (if any) was before shit went down.
Step Two: Decide if the character spent the last 10 years in the KQZ, or somewhere else.
Step Three: Tell us who they have become in the decade since the outbreak. Remember, there are many life paths available to your characters. They could be budding scientists or doctors, religious figures, devoted family members, specialists, scrappers, farmers, brawlers-- the list goes on. Don't let the idea of a grungy survivor be the only thing that dominates your mind when considering who they might be.
Who can join preseason?
Anyone who submits a bio in time. The apps open up two days early for donors, and then for everyone else. We have ~70 slots that open in those first two days, and if they fill up all the way, then ~20 additional slots are reserved for non-donors so that the donors don’t have all the fun. Donor apps will open at a TBD date, with plenty of warning ahead of time. DO NOT GO OUT AND BUY DONOR JUST FOR THIS. Being a donor does not guarantee you will get in.
So preseason applications are first-come-first-served?
Kind of. Being first is definitely weighted in your favor-- however, a number of factors are considered, including how well-written the app is, how much the character fits with the lore, whether you the player are in good standing with the server (if you’re regularly disruptive at events, I can’t say that will help your cause), and how many times you have to be rejected to fix things.
So if I get rejected, it’s over?
Not if you resubmit promptly, no. Don’t freak. Rejections are normal, but make sure you’re reading the lore carefully so there’s less of a chance you get rejected.
Me and my three friends have shared backstories, can we all get in to preseason?
No, there’s no guarantee that you will all get in. It’s very common that only one or two people from a group are picked for preseason. When this happens, the people who didn’t get in can re-write their backstories to indicate that they will be meeting up with the people who got in a little later.
If I get in but my friends don’t, can I pull out of preseason?
Absolutely. Open a ticket to request to be removed from the preseason list.
Can I use AI to write my preseason app?
No. Nor can you use it to “clean up” what you have written. Nor can you use Grammarly’s function to re-structure things for you. Nor can you have a friend write your preseason app. Your writing should be 100% your own, with no more help than you would receive from a 2015 copy of Word (I.E. spelling and being prompted to swap ‘there’ for ‘their’).
When will I know if I have been accepted?
After preseason apps close, there will be a day or two for the Helpers to process everything and for the admins to make any final veto calls, and then everyone will be accepted or rejected all at once.
What do I even do if I don’t make it into preseason?
Just chill. Don’t worry. After the preseason apps are processed, regular apps open up, and you can remove any preseason details from your bio and re-write it for the regular season. Preseason is only ~3 days, you won’t miss a ton (and preseason players don’t get the full run of the map during preseason, so the map won’t be looted). On regular opening day, you should be all ready to go.
Can you give me any tips for how to get in?
Take your time. Think out your character. Make them feel like a real person. Make sure they can play nice with other people-- they can be evil, or surly, or introverted, but you have to give them reasons to behave and reach out to people, or they won’t be very fun to share the preseason with.
This is the only time that Helpers judge for writing quality, meaning half-assing the bio because you hate writing them ain’t the way. Make sure your lore is correct, make sure it’s not just a huge wall of text with no paragraphs, and make sure your character is not a catgirl.