Republic Terms of Service

Participating in Republic

Republic is a social space for fictional identities, shared stories, and roleplay. These Terms govern your access to Republic and the people operating the service. They form an agreement when you affirmatively accept them. The Privacy Policy explains our data practices; acknowledging it is separate from accepting this agreement. Community Guidelines form part of the standards for participation. These documents do not turn fictional institutions into real authorities.

Eligibility and responsibility

You must be at least 13 and meet any higher minimum age that applies where you live or to your Discord account. If you are below the age of legal adulthood, a parent or guardian must review and permit your participation where required by law. Do not use another person's age or identity to qualify. We may restrict access when we learn that an account is ineligible. Republic does not offer an under-13 account or parental-consent exception. The person behind an account remains responsible for that account's conduct.

A character is not a credential

You may use a fictional name and present an invented character, organization, or government within a roleplay setting. Make the context clear when a reasonable reader could otherwise mistake your account or statements for a real person, institution, public notice, or authority. Do not falsely claim a real-world affiliation, obtain money or sensitive information through a fictional authority, or use roleplay as a defense for harassment, fraud, threats, or abuse. Republic badges describe platform decisions and fictional affiliations; they are not professional qualifications, government recognition, or endorsements.

Discord and account access

Every participating Republic account must have a verified connection to a personal Discord account. One personal Discord account may connect to up to five Republic accounts. Each fictional identity has its own account, content, preferences, and moderation history. Account switching does not permit evading a restriction. Signing in verifies control of that Discord account; it does not verify a legal name, age, citizenship, or ownership of material. Keep your Discord account secure and comply with Discord's terms. We do not need access to your Discord password. Saved Republic sessions can be revoked or expire, and renewed Discord verification may be required. Do not share access, bypass restrictions, or create replacement accounts to evade enforcement. Report a compromised connection through the Legal & Safety Center. Recovery may require review and reliable evidence of ownership; public knowledge of a handle alone is insufficient.

Your work and our limited permission

You retain the rights you hold in your writing, artwork, media, and other submissions. Posting does not transfer ownership to Republic. You grant the operators a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free permission to store, reproduce, format, display, transmit, and distribute your submitted material to operate Republic, respect your selected audience, provide accessible or technical formats, and carry out moderation. This permission does not authorize selling your ownership or using private messages as public promotional material. It continues only for the period needed to provide the service and complete deletion, backup, legal-preservation, and safety processes described in the Privacy Policy. Others may use the reply, quote, or repost features within the service; these features do not grant them independent ownership or unrestricted commercial reuse.

Permission to submit

Submit material only when you have the rights or another lawful basis to do so. Obtain the permissions needed for another person's images, private information, or creative work. Credit does not replace permission. Fiction, parody, quotation, and fair use are context-dependent legal concepts, not blanket exceptions. Do not upload unlawful material or knowingly make false copyright or safety complaints. We provide copyright notice and counter-notice channels and may restrict repeat infringers when appropriate.

Conduct boundaries

Follow the Community Guidelines across profiles, posts, media, communities, links, and private messages. Pornography, explicit sexual acts, sexualized nudity, erotic roleplay, and promotion of pornographic material are prohibited, including fictional, illustrated, and generated content. Consent, a warning, private delivery, or a roleplay label does not create an exception. Child sexual exploitation, grooming, sexual content involving minors, and nonconsensual intimate material are prohibited. Do not endanger real people, expose private information, target protected characteristics with abuse, encourage self-harm, manipulate participation, or deceive people about real-world elections, emergencies, or safety.

Keeping the service usable

Do not attack the service, bypass permissions or rate limits, obtain another person's private data, introduce malicious code, or use automated accounts to fabricate engagement. Use technical access only as authorized. Do not scrape restricted or private material, interfere with other users, or sell access to accounts. Report a security concern privately through the legal contact form without exploiting it further or publishing personal data.

Moderation and review

We may investigate reports and credible safety concerns, limit features, label or hide content, remove material, suspend access, or close accounts when necessary to enforce these Terms, protect people, comply with law, or address security risks. Decisions should consider the actual content and relevant context. Technical and security measures help identify abuse, enforce rules, and prevent circumvention; a technical association alone is not proof of misconduct. We may preserve relevant evidence and notify appropriate authorities when legally required or necessary to address a serious threat. Where appropriate, account standing and notices explain a restriction and available review. We may withhold details that would expose another person's information, compromise an investigation, or conflict with law.

Notices and appeals

Essential notices appear on Republic and may also be sent through Discord direct messages when permitted. Discord delivery depends on account settings, platform restrictions, and connectivity. A message is not recorded as delivered unless Discord confirms its creation. Check your on-platform notices and account standing; Discord is an additional channel. You may appeal moderation through the existing appeal tools or legal request form. Requests are reviewed by authorized staff; outcomes and available remedies depend on the facts and applicable law. Use emergency services for immediate real-world danger; Republic is not an emergency response service.

Leaving and deletion

You may request an export, correct your profile, adjust privacy controls, or request deletion through account privacy controls. A deletion request promptly removes the account from ordinary participation and schedules erasure of live account data. Limited records may be retained when necessary for safety, rights claims, legal duties, or a documented preservation hold. Deleting an account cannot erase copies another person lawfully saved, a third-party cache, or Discord's own records. The Privacy Policy describes retention and your request channels.

Availability and reliance

Republic is provided as available. We work to operate it reliably but do not promise uninterrupted access, permanent storage, error-free content, or the success of every notification. Fictional statements and user submissions are not legal, financial, medical, or official government advice. External services and links are governed by their own terms. To the extent permitted by applicable law, the operators do not provide implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or noninfringement. Nothing here excludes a warranty or consumer protection that cannot lawfully be excluded.

Responsibility for losses

To the extent permitted by law, the operators are not responsible for indirect or consequential losses caused by user content, fictional events, unavailable third-party services, or interruptions outside reasonable control. Responsibility is determined under applicable law. These Terms do not exclude liability for fraud, deliberate misconduct, death or personal injury where exclusion is prohibited, or other nonwaivable duties. You remain responsible for unlawful material or conduct you contribute, subject to applicable legal protections. No mandatory arbitration, class-action waiver, or invented governing jurisdiction is imposed by this document.

Changes to this agreement

Published versions have an effective date and an archive. Material changes to the Terms are announced in advance and ordinarily provide at least 14 days before taking effect; a longer legally required period takes priority. When a material version takes effect, users must affirmatively accept it before continuing ordinary participation. You may decline and use the privacy, export, deletion, contact, or appeal channels without accepting a new contract. Purely editorial corrections retain the existing acceptance group and do not ordinarily require renewed agreement. Changes to data processing that legally need separate consent cannot be authorized merely by updating these Terms.

Questions and legal rights

Use the Legal & Safety Center to contact the people operating Republic, submit a legal or privacy request, or raise a dispute. We will seek to resolve a concern without limiting your right to complain to a competent authority or use the courts and remedies available under applicable law. Mandatory consumer and privacy laws take priority over conflicting provisions. If a provision is unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue to the extent lawful. No delay in enforcing a rule automatically waives it, and no fictional role or community appointment authorizes someone to bind the operators.