[Question] Character for WoE

[Mute]

I have an OC that I've already fleshed out for the most part, but I didn't originally design her to fit into the show. I strongly prefer to roleplay with lore and a distinct theme that everyone follows so free form roleplay doesn't appeal to me. With that said, there are a few things that may need tweaking...

First of all her name is Mute, just like my username. Her name is based off of her appearance which is mostly muted/dull colors much like Pinkie Pie's relatives, however she has a few physical traits you wouldn't normally see in the show. Her mane and tail are gradients, her chest has a heart shape which is slightly lighter than the rest of her coat, her eyelids and the backs of her ears are darkened, her eyes are narrow, and her horn is smaller than average. (In fact, her entire body is smaller than average. The lame leg, small horn and small body were the result of Mute being born prematurely.)

I'm not sure what limitations you have in place for appearance. I know a lot of these things wouldn't be in the show simply because gradients and coat details would be obnoxious to animate, so what are your feelings?

 

My other questions would be about her as a character...

Mute's older sister Ash passed away and Mute adopted her sister's foal as a result. I don't plan on emphasizing the death too much, but is it still too dark? I think it adds a wonderful dynamic to her character, especially regarding the relationship between her and her adopted foal, but I suppose I could work around it if I reallyyyy had to.

 

She's suppose to be a midwife which is a person who cares for pregnant women. Her special talent is an ability that allows her to connect to people on both physical and mental levels, allowing her to use her magic like an x-ray machine or to share feelings so she understands exactly what it is that might be bothering her patient (whether it be pain, emotions, or some other weird feeling.) I don't think her cutiemark is a good example of this, originally I thought the stars could represent her ability to connect, like a constellation, but that can easily be misunderstood. Someone might think she's an astronomer instead (Which would be kind of a funny gimmick to constantly have her cutiemark misunderstood.) Is it too out of place? I would go into more detail about her magic but I wanted to keep this short.

 

Oh yeah, and is there a chat to roleplay on or is this all forum roleplay?

[Lyipheoryia]

We have the Out-of-Character discussion sections, and you can always just pm the people you're rp-ing with. 

There aren't many limitations to appearances-I have at least one character with irregularly shaped bodies, and gradients are one of my favorites to put for my OC's.

Cutie marks have no limitations (other than keeping it pg-13).  I mean, the message can be as cryptic as it needs.  I'm currently working on a character that's a high-ranking member of the Equestria Guard, and his cutie mark is a yellow dot.

[DerpRavener]

There's a skype group and a discord...thing, which I think can be used to at least coordinate RP via instant messaging.  Most of the roleplaying on the site takes place within the forum itself though.

In my admittedly unprofessional opinion the cutie mark is fine.  The sense I get is that it's not specific to her job, rather she picked a job which relates to her special talent.  I would call this good, and personally I find this a little more interesting than a character's talent and job being exactly the same thing.

There aren't really specific rules about appearance, none that I can recall at any rate.  I think her appearance is fine as long as it's not a focal part of the character in this case, given that concern over her appearance doesn't seem to be a part of her character.

I don't see any issues with her at the moment, but the only way to be sure would be to app her.  If you haven't looked it over yet, I would recommend starting with this.

[Zeig]

*Disclaimer: I'm not a staff member. Everything here should be taken with a grain of salt, and then a spoon of sugar to get the salty taste out of your mouth*

Oh man...if appearances were enforced to strictly mimic show ponies, I'm pretty sure most of my characters would have never passed the first step of application evaluations. Luckily it's not though, my own characters have gradients, patterns, and markings galore. I think the only real limitation is having natural markings that are really unnatural. IE, if your character has a helix-shaped pattern on their coat and you claim it's a natural coat pattern rather than a tattoo or a dye job. Something like that probably wouldn't work, but I don't really see a problem with everything you've described. 

As for the issue of death, I know for a fact that some apps mention the death of family members or loved ones, and are accepted, so it's not something that's strictly forbidden. It just shouldn't be a focal point, and should be kind of glossed over. On the off chance your OC's sister's death isn't allowed, though, you could always rewrite it to still remove the sister from the picture without explicitly stating her death. Maybe her sister was an adventurer of some sort, and went missing on one of her adventures, causing Mute to step up to take care of the foal. If she's dead or not isn't really stated, and it might make good fodder for your OC in role-play, sometimes stopping to wonder whatever became of her sister. 

And like DerpRavener mentioned, an abstract cutie mark will work, cutie marks don't have to have an obvious connotation to a pony's talent or name. So long as you can explain it in some way in the application, it'll probably work out - the explanation you already gave, with her cutie mark looking like a constellation and representing her ability to connect to others, would probably work just fine. 

Though, I will say that of everything you've mentioned, the only thing I think might bring up a problem is her premature birth. I remember reading over one app whose character was also a premature birth, and the staff asked him to change it. Granted that was a while ago, but any sort of physical or mental disabilities are a tricky thing to play in a setting like WoE. And honestly, I don't think you need that detail. Characters aren't expected to have the exact same proportions that ponies have in the show (and even on the show some ponies have different body types. Snips and Snails, Shining Armor, Fluer de Lis, Big Mac, etc). So you don't need an explanation as to why she's smaller than average, or why her horn is a bit smaller. As for her lame leg, an accident when she was younger could it explain it, or something along those lines. 

Again, I'm not a staff member, so I can't say for sure what problems, if any, Mute will run into if/when you decide to app her. But in my humble opinion I don't think you'll have much trouble getting her accepted into role-play. Best thing to do is just write up her application so staff members can give definitive yay or nay answers on your questions.

(Also, that reference art is very pretty. Did you draw it yourself, or have it commissioned? I'm seriously jealous of the hair work).

[Mute]

15 minutes ago, Zeig said:

(Also, that reference art is very pretty. Did you draw it yourself, or have it commissioned? I'm seriously jealous of the hair work).

I drew her myself, thank you! :3 I'm considering doing small requests since ponies are rather simple. Oh, and I appreciate everyone's advice so far. I'll give the application process a shot once I finish making adjustments.

[RainbowFoxxy]

Zeig has accurately answered this question  and I am a fan of your art style!

[tacobob]

Wow. Another artist on Canterlot.com that I must stalk follow.  Looking forward to seeing more art from you.