HOL Ravenclaw

Unlike the Hogwarts we know from the books or the setting of a favorite television show, where most details are already established, HOL doesn't have a concrete setting - given that it's a website, it's dynamic and very much up to the interpretation of its users, with everyone's impression of HOL being shaped by their own experiences.

Obviously, HOL is at least somewhat modeled after Hogwarts, given that we have Houses, Quidditch, things like that.

One of the most glaring differences between HOL and the Hogwarts from the books is that, following the books, there's an already established timeline of when major events have taken place. As such, it's fairly easy to see what age everyone is in relation to one another, and what some common experiences might be, among other things.

For the HOL section, such things aren't as obvious.

We've decided to follow a by-year timeline, in that HOL characters will “graduate” and move from one year to the next at around the same time we do on the main HOL site (we're setting this as July 1). Therefore, characters that are HOL students will remain in the same year from July 1 of one year to June 30 of the next year.

The goal of this progression is to have all characters grow at the same rate, so everyone is aware of the age differences between characters at all times. We hope that this will help avoid any confusion over which characters should be able to participate in which conversations/situations.

As such, before starting or joining a RP, please check to make see if it's a scenario in which your character could reasonably be involved. (Ex. if your character is a second year, they probably don't need to be sorted again, but they could watch the ceremony and welcome new first years to their table)

However, to allow for as much flexibility as is possible, within a single school year, you may create topics taking place during any time of year - so you can make a summer RP in the wintertime, and so on.