Thread Invasions and Character Death

It's funny, but we sometimes run into problems because of how great our community is. By and large, we all respect each other and show consideration for the stories others are trying to create. We rarely, if ever, refer to the rules that come into play when this respect and consideration breaks down, because it almost never does. In fact, the rules we have on the books about open and closed threads completely contradict how we behave as a community. They're bad rules, and we just don't notice because we never look at them.
 
Why is a thread forced open when a Shinigami and a mortal are calmly talking in a remote area of Earth, but able to be closed when two mortals are beating the shit out of themselves and causing damage to the surrounding city?
 
Why can a thread between two Shinigami be closed in the Seireitei, even if they're doing something that should allow another Shinigami a chance to stop them?
 
There are so many extenuating circumstances that explicit rules just can't make sense of them, so we're removing that section of the rules entirely—where threads are forced open or closed—and keeping tags only as an indication of player desire rather than hard-and-fast rules enforced by the site. In many cases, this is how they function now.
 
Instead, there are new rules for Thread Invasions, outlined below. They're located in Advanced Mechanics and Combat, too

Thread Invasions

Any character can enter any thread at any time.
 
As always, contact with the players involved should be the first step. If you talk to them and can work out something where everyone's happy, great! This is what happens in our community nine times out of ten. If not, maybe you can accomplish your goals without that particular thread, making a separate thread with one or more of the people involved set before or after the thread you're trying to invade.
 
If that doesn't work, though? If you feel you have a strong reason to be there, that it makes sense for your character to intervene or interrupt? Enter the thread anyway. If they don't like it, they can file an Invasion Appeal Request.
 
Name of Invader: Who is invading your thread?
Name(s) of Other Character(s): Who is in the thread already?
Thread Link: Where is it happening?
Summary: Why should this thread remain closed? Why do you feel this character shouldn't be able to interrupt it?
 
If you have anything to add, you can reply to it with the following:
 
Name of Invader: Who are you?
Thread Link: What thread are you invading?
Justification: How is your character aware of what's going on in this thread? Is it in a public place or a remote location? Is your character in a position to crash it, or off in another realm?
Motive: Why is your character invading? Is something going on that directly affects you, or are you just wandering past?
 
As staff, our main concerns are the motivation and logistics behind invasions like this. Things that make sense will be allowed, regardless of how uncomfortable it may be for some of the characters involved. Things with barely any justification, especially when motivated by out-of-character grudges, won't be permitted. In these cases, the invader's post will be removed.
 
Remember that on Bleach Gotei we each play one character in a shared world. Sometimes our characters will do things that other characters want to stop us from doing, and we won't always be collaborating to write a shared story when this happens. In a shared world, goals conflict, and mechanics is the language we use to decide an outcome when collaboration breaks down.

We'll always err toward creating a positive playing experience for everyone involved, but the price of existing in a shared world is that you don't always get to do everything you want. Unless, that is, you have the power to back it up.

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Additionally, we've had the concept of a death request for ages, but recent events brought it to our attention that we didn't have an actual form or write-up for it. It got lost in one past rule shuffle or another. Here's the new one. It can be found in Advanced Mechanics and Combat from now on.

Character Death
The most obvious end to a character is death.

On Bleach Gotei the actual, unwilling death of a character at the hands of another is a very rare occurrence. In addition to inflicting a Fatal wound, the attacker must submit a Death Request to the Approvals department. Death Requests mean that a character can die, even if unwilling. This prevents characters from escaping the consequences of dangerous actions, such as picking a fight with someone who has every reason to kill them, just by saying “I don’t want my character to die.” As a community, we sacrifice some of our freedoms by playing together in a single cohesive world; none of us are an island. This includes the risk of death.
 
Death, though, should be something that adds to stories instead than taking away from them. In approving or denying a Death Request, the Approvals department is mainly concerned with whether the killing is justified. Does the attacker have a good enough motive for it to make sense? Are there any out-of-character factors in play? Could the victim have acted differently earlier in the thread to avoid death? If anything seems unfair or unwarranted, the request will be denied and the victim will be allowed to escape with their life intact.

Keep in mind, though, that just as out-of-character factors shouldn't be used to justify death, they shouldn't be used to avoid it. If you stop posting in a thread where your character's life is at risk because you don't want your character to die, your opponent will be well within their rights to submit a death request, and staff would be well within their rights to approve it.

Remember that the world of Bleach is one marked by millennia-old conflict. Death is something that makes the entire world run and we do not try to pretend otherwise.

The death request form is below.

Name of Victim: Who is in danger of dying?

Name of Attacker: Who is causing that danger?

Thread Link: Where is it happening?

Summary: Why is this character being killed? Does the other player want their character to die? Explanations go here.