About the Gryphon’s Guild
1. What is the Gryphon’s Guild?
The Gryphon’s Guild is an online association of people who love gryphons, the associated mythology or who are gryphs at heart. The tagline of the Gryphon’s Guild is “The best place on the net for Gryphs and Gryph-Fans to gather.” It is sometimes called the Gryphon Guild, GryphGuild, GG or just Guild.
The Gryphon’s Guild provides forum discussion of anything gryphon related, including the posting of original poetry or fiction, artwork, discussion of literature, mythology, life-cycles, behavior, and physiology, but not limited to these topics. It is also a social community for Gryphs and Gryph-fans to role-play and there are areas for discussing just about anything. The Guild provides discussion and interaction for members through The GryphBoard online forum, art gallery community, various LiveJournal communities, and IRC chat.
a. History
The Gryphon’s Guild was started around 1994 by Tserisa (known as “velvetdragon” on the GryphBoard), with a manually distributed mailing list and small webpage. Some of the first members were Alexander the Griffen (instrumental in inspiring Tser to start the Guild), Bry, and Lore. The first GryphBoard, hosted on Inside the Web, was formed on September 29, 1997. It was soon averaging 40,000 hit counts a month, and is really what got the community going. The ItW messageboard was admined by Tserisa with help from Sparhawk. Inside the Web closed down March 5, 2001, and the Board was moved by Sai (also known as Stormy) to EZBoard in Feb. 2001. Because of changes in EZBoard’s hosting and policies, the Board was officially moved to our own server, using phpBB2, May 6, 2007.
Upon its move to EZBoard, Sai, Spar and Tserisa shared admin duties. Eventually Illucian was added to the admin roster. When she retired from the Guild in January, 2004, Indigo Sea was promoted to the Admin group in April of 2005 by Sai. Sai stepped down from her admin position in October 2005, marking more than four years leading the Guild. There have been uncountable moderators since the Guild moved to EZBoard, helping keep things on topic, quell flames, and keep things running smoothly.
The original mailing list was called “The Cry”. There have been various incarnations of the Guild ‘Zine, including manually distributed mailing lists and web-based e-zines at the Guild site. For a while, Snow Huntress hosted The Cry on her website. A new version of the ‘Zine is currently under construction.
Sparhawk maintained a Guilder Bio Page for many years. However, since moving to EZBoard, each member gets a profile there, so the function of the Bio Page became obsolete and it is no longer updated. Directories of Guilders by location were also kept by Deph and Snow at different points in time. Other Guild features have come and gone, such as the YahooGroup mailing list, and e-mail and webpage hosting.
Malystryxx, a long time Guild member and moderator (as Maly and Poison) started the Gryphon’s Guild LJ Community May 27th, 2001. On December 23, 2003, Guilders started the Gryphon Art Exchange LJ Community, which is currently maintained by the Guild Founder, Tserisa.
2. How do I join the Guild?
To join the Guild, you can start participating in any of our forums, communities or chats. The main Guild forum is definitely the GryphBoard, and I highly recommend that you register there first, and join in on the many discussions, games and roleplays. The IRC chat is a great place to talk to Guilders in real time. If you have LiveJournal, you may want to join the Guild community there.
You can also register here, at the GryphGuild website, in the column to the left. When the E-Zine, The Cry, is published, you will be able to comment on entries and participate in discussions. You can sign up for RSS feeds of GryphGuild content.
a. Posting at the GryphBoard
To post to the GryphBoard, go to
http://www.gryphguild.org/forum/phpBB2/
Click Register in the upper right section of the page. Registering is easy. Fill out the form with information such as your desired username, a password, and your e-mail address. Starred fields are required. There are a couple of questions in the form that will make sure you are a real person, not a spambot, and make sure that you’ve read this FAQ. You can choose whether or not to fill out the remaining fields. When you’re done, hit submit! You will receive an e-mail soon after. Follow the instructions in the e-mail to complete your registration. If you have any trouble registering, send an e-mail to gryphguild@gmail.com.
Please post your introduction in the Newbie Nook forum before posting elsewhere. That’s the place to be when you’re just starting out. There are some great threads and helpful people that will point you in the right direction.
If you have any questions about posting on the board, fixing your signature, HTML, BBCode, posting images, or similar problems, visit Tech Support. You can also test your newfound skills and see how your posts and signatures look in the Is This Thing On? forum.
Read the sticky threads! These threads are marked with a “!” (exclamation mark) icon and are always at the top in their forums. They are there for your benefit and to keep the Board running smoothly. They contain important information about posting.
This is a loosely moderated Board. You are responsible for your own safety and peace of mind.
NO FLAMES AND NO SPAM. Personal attacks are never welcome. If you have a problem with another member of the Guild take it to them privately and respectfully. The Admin aren’t babysitters and expect everyone to behave in a mature manner. If you have a problem with the Guild at large, leave quietly and respectfully rather than bringing everyone down. This is a community, and not everyone will fit — that’s understood. One can outgrow the Guild and depart with dignity.
Everyone has different ideas. Please respect others’ opinions and state your own in a considerate manner. When it comes to Gryphons (and everything else in life), no one person is right. Also be gentle in your dealing with other species. (No eating other posters!) All creatures are welcome on the Board. This includes humans; human-bashing will not be tolerated at the Guild.
Please keep signatures and posting icons and personal photos to a respectable size. The size limit for pictures in signatures is 600 pixels wide by 300 pixels high. Text posts have no limitation on length — however, try to keep pic posts below five (5) actual pictures under 600w x 600h per post (and link the rest) to make it easy on people who have slow modems, and always post them in the correct section!
Remember the Guild is diverse, from many different age groups and cultures… please keep posts in the G to PG-13 rating.
Take pride in your posts — preview first to check out how they look, especially if you use HTML or BBCode, and take the time to look over your spelling and grammar. Browsers like Firefox even have spell check built in!
Please be kind and generous to newcomers to the Board. It is a scary
experience to finally step into the light in such a large and crazy place. Make them feel welcome and drop by Newbie Nook to say “Hey!” once in a while!If you have a personal or real life problem, the Support section is where to take it. Even if you don’t, drop by once in a while to offer a kind word. Just remember, appearing on the board as a newbie and posting many complaints and spreading intimate details as to your private life across the Guild is not going to enamor others with you.
Picture posts of gryphon and other fantasy related art are very welcome in the appropriate areas, such as the Art Gallery. However, it must be your own art. Art thieving is SEVERELY frowned upon the Guild, which has a high population of artists! Claiming someone else’s art as your own is even grounds for banning. If you find someone else’s picture / stuffed animal / webpage that you want to show off, link to it in the Gryph Sightings Forum.
Admin reserves the right to delete, edit, or move posts, to close threads, and to ban users, both permanently and temporarily, at their discretion.
See also, 2c.) What’s Netiquette? and 3.) Character Posting.
I. Initials and names in the subject
On the first Board, names were not automatically posted with a message. Therefore, to identify themselves, a poster would put their initials or name in parentheses at the end of their subject line. Later, the board host added a field for names, but the Guilders (being traditional and resistant to change) ruled against using the name and e-mail fields, going so far as to start flame wars over newbies who did. A rarely seen tradition since the move away from ITW, you will not see these tags in people’s posts any longer, since usernames are automatically posted along with messages.
II. Pies, newbie greetings, and food fights
You’ll find that many people in the Guild toss pies or various other ammunition at each other, and particularly at newbies. This is a long-standing tradition and meant in good fun. Some Guilders have a particular ’signature’ weapon, and others will throw just about anything. There is a limit in the Common Room to one pie/food fight or other similar thread on the first page of the forum at one time, so before starting a new one, check to make sure there’s not another to join first.
III. Admin and Mods
There are two types of ’staff’ at the Gryphon’s Guild; Admin and Mods.
Admin (Administrators) are the higher ups; the current Admins are Tserisa, Sparhawk and Indigo Sea. They are here to keep things running smoothly, manage technical aspects of the board, mediate disputes, manage membership, and whatever else they need to do to keep the Guild a great place to be. Their decisions are final on matters relating to the Guild. They also have the power to ban people from the Board if such an action is deemed necessary. They attempt to be fair and take into consideration the good of the Guild as a whole at all times.
Mods (Moderators) are assigned by Admin to help out around the Board (as well as in the IRC chat), monitoring discussions, keeping things on track, and guiding other Guilders. Most are assigned to certain forums, and responsible in particular for maintaining that area. Please respect the Mods and give them your gratitude; it’s a hard, demanding job, but someone has to do it! Calls for new mods are posted as needed in Admin Annoucements with details about what Admin are looking for and what it takes to handle the position. If Admin aren’t currently asking for applications, it’s unlikely that new mods are needed at that time. You can find out who the current mods of the Newbie Nook are at the Guild Garrison Group page; moderators of specific fora will be listed under the forum’s description on the Board index.
b. Joining the Chat — #GryphonGuild on Furnet
Server: irc.furnet.org
Channel: #GryphonGuildPlease read the Chat Rules before joining!
There are two ways to join #GryphonGuild, the Guild’s IRC chat channel.
If you are not familiar with IRC, the easiest way to join is to use the Guild’s Java applet interface, hosted by Snow Huntress.
Alternately, use an IRC program to connect. Popular programs include mIRC and IceChat. You will need to add the server that the Guild is on, irc.furnet.org, to the list of servers. Once you have connected, type:
/join #GryphonGuild
For more information, visit the Furnet IRC Network Homepage and the IRC Help site and FAQ.
Discussion in the channel covers a variety of topics and is a great place to socialize and get to know other Guilders. Please keep in mind general netiquette and be polite. Keep in mind that people of many ages visit the channel and the accepted rating is PG-13.
c. What’s Netiquette?
Everyone using any of the Guild forums (message board, channel, etc.) are expected to follow basic Netiquette, or internet etiquette. Failure to do so may get you banned, your posts deleted, or at very least a lot of people mad at you. The first thing to do is to read the FAQ and keep it in mind when posting. Please visit this quick Guide to Netiquette to brush up on your ‘net interpersonal skills.
3. Character posting on the Board or Chat
For some, character posting in the Guild is roleplay, for others it is not. Character posting in the Gryphon’s Guild is not typical roleplay. Many people in the Guild strongly feel that they are gryphons (or dragons or bird-bots or other species) in heart, spirit, or mind. Keep this in mind when posting, or there is potential for strife and hurt feelings.
Respect others’ feelings and beliefs, even if they differ from your own.
On the Board there are areas for IC (in character) and OOC (out of character) postings. However, the roleplay section of the Board is geared more towards structured roleplay with a setting and storyline, rather than limiting self expression on the other areas of the Board. For some “IC” is just who they are. You may type as a gryphon (or dragon, or unicorn, or three-tailed clockwork kinkajou) anywhere on the board. However, please keep plots and settings to the roleplay sections.
The Guild is not an appropriate place for power-gaming. Power-gaming is posting in a superpowered, omnipotent/omniscient, or invincible way (also called being zippy, lamer, or godmoding).
This also includes using other people in your post. Don’t presume to act for them, such as “other gryphon does such-and-such”. If you use another person’s character or persona, get permission through private board messaging, e-mail, AIM, ICQ or through discussion in the OOC section of the board first. It is polite and will save your pelt in the long run.
Please read the GryphGuild Roleplay Rules and Rules Regarding RP Based on Copyrighted Material before participating.
a. Joining in
It’s best to lurk and read a while before you post to get a feel for it.
You need to introduce yourself. Your first post should be to the Newbie Nook. You’ll probably have a nickname or alias. Start by telling everyone your name, species, a little about yourself and describe your arrival. Please do not declare yourself master of all of anything, supreme leader, best-at-whatever, etc. Not only is it impossible, but it usually gets you scoffed at. Try not to arrive mid-crisis, whether it be OOC or IC. It’s hard to sympathize with someone you don’t know, particularly since mid-crisis newbies tend to arrive often.
You may want to describe your character in your Board profile. This makes it easier for people to “look up” who you are. You may also want to develop your GryphCode. If you plan on roleplaying in the roleplay section, you should also post a character description in Facets and Facades.
Be patient waiting for responses. Join in, have fun, and eventually everyone will know who you are.
Don’t complain if you don’t get a bunch of responses to your posts… people will be more irritated by this than anything. The Guild is a large place… it’s easy for a new-being to get lost in the crowd. You may find that making friends with a few of the members much preferable to trying to gain a Guild-wide audience for your every post. Join in popular threads with thoughtful discussion (“me-too” posts don’t give you experience points) and follow the rules of netiquette and you’ll find yourself at home in no time!
I. It sounds like everyone is talking in code or something!
There may be several reasons for this. Many gryphs talk with an “accent”, others seem to have their own lingo, and there is a general slang which has developed in the Guild over time. “Loopy”, an older Guild term, for example, means insane, but in a good way. Gryphons and their friends also make various sounds, such as “meep”, “doot”, “mrr”, “beep”, and so on. You may be confused by references to species or words in other made-up languages (conlangs).
There are various symbols you may see in use.
—— [} is a pie being thrown.
}:> is a gryphon smiley.
}:=8} is a dragon smiley.On the Board, certain codes result in .gif images replacing text smilies. You will find the commands for these to the left of the comment field when posting a new message or reply. You can turn them on or off if you prefer text.
You may also see a long string of letters and symbols looking something like this:
GC2.G S&e%l,l#^m [m] A- C^bl=pur:r Dc- B- Hm $+ EL- W+ M– K E++ P+++ FA+ T+ RP+++ Ar+ Wr- I– Am++[} L+++ V? .[cyb] So+++ PK- Ts GF F—
This is a GryphCode. See also 4. What is the Gryphon Code?
II. Why didn’t anyone reply?
Don’t worry, if you didn’t get a reply to your first post, it doesn’t mean people hate you! If you followed general netiquette and so on, and no one replied, it may be for several reasons. One is that people tend to think “Oh, someone else will answer,” and leave it to others, which doesn’t work if everyone’s doing so! On the Board, it may also be that people are very busy with current threads and may not have time to visit other discussions to see what’s going on. Your post may have gotten lost in the shuffle.
Your best chances for getting a reply are to post to the Newbie Nook at the Board, where it’s sure to be seen as a seperate thread worthy of consideration. Several people keep out an eye for newbie posts, with a variety of fresh-baked pies ready to toss. Above all, don’t panic, and don’t flame if you seem to be being “ignored”. That’s just not the case. Like any large community, online or off, it will take a while for your neighbors to get to know you.
b. Multiple characters
Multiple characters are fine (as are “pets” and “lackeys”). You can have as many as you would like, if you don’t think you’ll have an identity crisis! However, you must not use seperate registrations on the Board for each character — each “player” is limited to one account. People who create multiple characters or accounts for the purpose of deceiving others or spying may be banned. Creating seperate accounts in order to get around a ban will not be tolerated.
c. Characters based on books, movies, etc.
Can your character be one from a book, movie or other published media not of your own creation?
Short answer, please don’t. First, it’s not very creative, and second, you may violate copyright and trademark laws, a big no-no. Also, if you use the name of such a character, you’re bound to run into a dozen others with the same name.
Longer answer, feel free to borrow ideas from books. For example, many of the gryphs in the Guild have feathers at the base of their tails. This mostly originated from the gryphons created by Mercedes Lackey for her Mage Wars books. However, merely copying a character is unoriginal and tacky.
4. What is the Gryphon Code?
The Gryphon Code is a simple and fun way to get a lot of information about
you across in a short line of text and symbols. It is used by Guild members in signatures and on their homepages. You can figure out your Code at the Code site:
It borrows heavily from The Original Dragon Code and various other Codes out there on the net. Using symbols, letters and + and -, one rates themselves in a simplified manner to communicate information. It has both IC (in character) and OOC (out of character) tags.
5. Is this place just for gryphons?
No, it is not. Our members come in many different flavors, such as dragon, phoenix, robot, chimera, unicorn, human and more. The founder, Tserisa, is a Dragon (though she does have a Gryphon character/form). Another of the current Admins is a kirin (Asian unicorn). It is a place for anyone who likes gryphons or has an interest in them. People who only want to tease, torment and heckle gryphons probably won’t be happy here. Gryph slayers and people after gryphon’s gold eyries won’t find themselves very welcome. A thread on the Board asked for a tally of members’ species. The results of this very informal poll can be found here at the Guild homepage translated to a pie chart.
6. What is a gryphon?
grif·fin also grif·fon or gryph·on n. A fabulous beast with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion.
Gryphons are a creature from ancient mythology. There are a variations on the gryphon myth from Middle Eastern and Grecian legends. Tons of information about the gryphon can be found at Eclipse’s Gryphon Pages.
a. Is there a “standard” gryphon?
Traditionally, the gryphon is half eagle (the front) and half lion (the back end). They have one pair of eagle talons, in the front; one pair of lion paws, in the back; a lion tail; and pointed ears (sometimes described as the ears of a mule), which distinguish their heads from those of eagles.
It’s unlikely you’ll find many genuine “traditional” gryphs at the Guild. There are gryphons of all sorts of avian and feline mixes (parrots and ocelots, red-tailed hawks and pumas), as well as other chimeric blends of animals, such as lupo-gryphs (wolf-gryphons) and vulpegryphs. Usually, they are half raptor (bird of prey, such as eagle, owl or hawk) and half big cat (such as lion, puma, or leopard). However, in the Guild you’ll find all sorts of variations, and gryphons which seem to have no relation to any mundane animals at all, with fantastic colors, markings, and crests.
Some gryphs you might meet have a scorpion’s sting or a snake for a tail, which have been mentioned in some gryphon legends, or borrowed from others (such as the chimera). Others may have horns, lizard tails, four lion paws, feathered tails, tufts of feathers or no ears. Others may be crosses between gryphons and another animal, such as a horse, dragon or a phoenix. Gryphons of legend were rather large, so that one of their talons could be used as a drinking cup. Gryphons in the Guild vary greatly in size from tiny to gargantuan.
b. What’s a hippogriff? All those other whatevergryphs and gryphawhats I see around?
A hippogriff is a eagle in the fore, and a horse in the hind. It is a legendary animal the result of a gryphon mating with a horse, which is interesting considering that historically, a gryphon’s favorite food is horses.
The other gryphon mixes are modern creations of Guilders with creative imaginations. Some common variants include:
Vulpegryph: avian fore, fox hind
Lupegryph: avian fore, wolf hind
Dracogryph: some mixture of gryphon and dragon; usually avian fore, dragon hindc. How is “gryphon” supposed to be spelled?
Chances are that however you’ve seen it is a proper spelling. Griffin, griffon, and gryphon are common spellings these days, and all are correct.
Other spellings of gryphon, which may be archaic or from other languages, are: Gryffen, girphinne, greffon, grefyne, grephoun, griffen, griffion, griffoun(e), griffown, griffun, griffyn, grifon, grifyn, griphin, griphon, gryffin, gryffon, gryfon, gryfoun(e), gryphen, and gryphin.
