Fan Content Policy

The Vazdimet Studios Fan Content Policy was Last Updated: October 23, 2023
We (Vazdimet Studios) are eternally grateful to our Community's support, engagement, and creativity. We love that our works help inspire you to create and share Fan Content and we want to encourage you to continue creating and sharing your works.
This Fan Content Policy and FAQ is intended to help explain what you can and can't do with Vazdimet Studios' intellectual property (IP), so we can all continue to enjoy our time in Vazdimet and its affiliated IPs. The restrictions included within are intended to protect Vazdimet Studios and our creatives, so we can continue to build these IPs we have all come to love.

The Rules

By creating and distributing Fan Content you agree to abide by these rules:

1. You agree to distribute your Fan Content for free.

   You may use Vazdimet Studios' IP (except for the restrictions in Rule #3) to make fan content that you share with the community for free.
   Free means FREE, with no strings attached. This means:
   • You cannot require payments, downloads, subscriptions, surveys, or email registration to access your Fan Content,
   • You cannot sell or license your Fan Content to any third parties for for any type of compensation, and
   • Your Fan Content must be free for others (including Vazdimet Studios) to view, access, share, and use without paying you anything, obtaining your approval, or giving you credit. (In short, by creating Fan Content you waive any rights to Copyright should the official IP of Vazdimet Studios resemble anything included within your Fan Content. Most of our storylines are planned out so far in the future, we likely had the idea first anyway).
     
   You are welcome to subsidize your Fan Content with ad revenue, donations, or sponsorships provided this does not interfere with the Community's access to your Fan Content.
   Artists - Requests to commission non-commercial Fan Content would fall under sponsorship for the purposes of this Policy. The resultant artwork must follow this Policy and cannot be resold, either by itself or as prints, products, or NFTs.



2. You agree to denote your Fan Content as unofficial.

   • Make it clear your Fan Content is not endorsed by Vazdimet Studios. Include a note with your Fan Content stating some portions of your work includes IP which is ©Vazdimet Studios.
   • If the Fan Content includes official Vazdimet Studios art, include the artist's name in the note, and a link to their site when possible. Art on our WorldAnvil sites are to be credited as noted on our site. Art on https://vazdimet.com is by:
     • Official Book Covers: TJ Trewin
     • Character, Scenery, and other detailed custom art: Astron
     • Website background images: Garrett Grace Lewis
     • Unless noted otherwise



3. You agree not to include others' IP without their consent.

   If you don't have rights to use someone else's IP in your Fan Content, don't include it. If we learn your Fan Content includes other people's work without permission, we reserve the right to ask you to take it down.



4. You agree not use or distribute Vazdimet Studios' IP and materials in a way that would hurt us or our ability to continue to produce it.

   • Do not use Vazdimet Studios' logos or trademarks.
   • If the IP in question already includes our logos or trademarks, or those of an artist commissioned for the work, do not remove them. Please don't directly alter our official artwork in any way.



5. You agree to uphold the reputation of Vazdimet Studios.

   We retain the right to revoke or restrict your use of Vazdimet Studios' IP at any time, at our sole discretion. This includes cases where we believe your use is damaging or offensive. If this happens you must immediately take down your Fan Content.



6. You agree to use care when accepting sponsorships.

   Don't accept sponsorships from those who would damage the reputation of Vazdimet Studios or our IP. Don't endorse inappropriate or offensive sponsors, and make clear they are sponsors and not affiliated in any way with Vazdimet Studios.



7. You agree to follow the law.

   It is your sole responsibility to ensure your Fan Content does not violate any applicable laws, including those of your country and region.



8. You agree not to pull us into any legal battles.

   We are a small, creative-focused company. Time and money spent fighting legal battles will severely impact our abilities to create and grow the Vazdimet universe we love. If we are impacted by legal claims, fees, or expenses related to your Fan Content, you are responsible for paying all our costs (including attorney's fees) and any resulting judgements or settlements.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is Fan Content?

  Fan Content is anything you create based on Vazdimet Studios' IP. This applies to all forms of media, including but not limited to fanfics, fan art, videos, tattoos, websites, blogs, podcasts, streaming content, posts in the Vazdimet Discussion Boards, funny Tumblr posts, etc.
  It does not include copying and reposting Vazdimet Studios' works, not even those that are publicly available on Vazdimet Studios' own websites or otherwise distributed for free.



• What is Vazdimet Studios' IP?

  Vazdimet Studios' IP includes the worldbuilding, stories, and artwork from both Vazdimet and Fillimet, as well as anything published by Vazdimet Studios.



• Can I use all of Vazdimet Studios' IP properties?

  Currently, yes. This is subject to change in the future, particularly if Vazdimet Studios expands our publishing to include other IPs, so it's always good to check back here periodically.



• What about the Vazdimet Discussion Boards?

  Posts in the roleplay section of the Vazdimet Discussion Boards are a collaborative effort between Vazdimet Studios and our Community. As a result the Boards contain both Fan Content and Vazdimet Studios IP.
  Vazdimet Studios retains the rights to reference events and posts from the discussion boards in all our IP, including novels and worldbuilding, with or without content changes. By posting in the Vazdimet Discussion Boards you agree to grant Vazdimet Studios full, unlimited, non-exclusive rights to said character and their posts.
  • Please note: Discussion Board posts in the roleplay section of the Boards may be copied verbatim into the first draft of novels branching from the the events in the thread, dependent upon that post's impact to the resultant story. The wording in the final draft depends upon the editing process.
  • We can't allow our community to influence the actions and events of our setting without this clause - we'd be opening ourselves to legal battles for plagiarizing others' ideas.
  • This is not intended for use to copy individuals' roleplay to resell as our own stories. We have so many of our own we'd rather write!
    We will sometimes do Vazdimet-oriented collaborations with other authors as a cross-promotional event. If you are an author already familiar with the Vazdimet universe and this is of interest to you, watch for an announcement in Reader Opportunities. Our wait list is currently closed in favor of in-work and pending stories.
  
  Vazdimet Studios and our Moderation Team also reserve the right to delete posts for any reason, or no reason at all. Please refer to Discussion Board Rules and Guest Characters for more information.



• Does Fan Content include web videos, live streams, or fan websites?

  Absolutely! Just follow the policies outlined on this page.



• My Fan Content is free to access, but may I take donations or accept ad revenue?

  Yes, donations and ad revenue are allowed – including the use of sites such as YouTube, Twitch, Patreon, and Ko-fi – provided the distribution of your Fan Content to the Community still follows this Policy.
  

• May I include my Fan Content in my artistic portfolio?

  Yes, provided you are not selling it, and make it clear your work is not affiliated with or used by Vazdimet Studios.



• May I sell my Fan Content?

  No. You can create it for your own enjoyment, as gifts, or to post freely online, but you may not sell your Fan Content.
  Artists - Requests to commission custom non-commercial fan art count as sponsorship for the intents of this Policy, and are permitted under Rule #1. The resultant artwork cannot be sold further, either by itself or as prints, products, or NFTs.



• May I put your logos on an article of clothing or other item?

  No. If you are looking for Vazdimet Studios merchandise, check our our Redbubble Shop!



• Does this mean Vazdimet Studios can use and display my Fan Content?

  Yes. By creating Fan Content you agree to let everyone (including Vazdimet Studios) share and use your Fan Content without permission. We want to make sure we are covered in case of sharing someone's amazing Fan Content (including on our Fan Content page) or in fun references in-universe (such as The Adventures of Jack Laurens - although this one is ours), or in making something ourselves which may resemble someone else's Fan Content.
  We also reserve the right to reference roleplayed events from the Vazdimet Studios Discussion Boards in our worldbuilding, novels, and other works. By creating a character in Vazdimet and/or posting in the roleplay portion of the Discussion Board you agree to grant Vazdimet Studios full, unlimited, non-exclusive rights to the content of said roleplay posts, and any created characters.
  These clauses and permissions are intended to:
  • Protect us in the event our official worldbuilding, storylines, and other materials bear resemblance to fan content.
    (We wish to allow our characters to shape their own actions without worrying about what others may have written about them. Humans are skilled at finding patterns, even when there are none, and cases of fanfiction authors filing suit against original IP creators are unfortunately a common occurrence. See here for one example).
  • Allow us to interact with our community in fun and immersive ways. (How fun would it be to mention a character reading someone else's fanfic about them?)
  • Run live roleplay events on the Discussion Boards which can help shape future events in the Vazdimet universe. (Which we can't do without this!)



• Can I tag or share my Fan Content with Vazdimet Studios?

  Please do! We'd love to see them!
  But do not send us your ideas for future worldbuilding or stories, which will be deleted without review. We have so many ideas already and limited time to write them.



• What constitutes "inappropriate, offensive, damaging, or disparaging" Fan Content that you'll take down?

  Anything that will hurt our fans or reflect poorly on Vazdimet Studios. And absolutely no racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, ageist or any other offensive content. This is not an all-inclusive list.



• How can I contact Vazdimet Studios about my Fan Content?

  You are welcome to post your question here so others can benefit from the answer. If your question involves personal information please direct it to info [at] vazdimet.com.
  If you do not hear from us it does not mean we approve of your request.

We're so excited about your love of Vazdimet! If you have further questions or requests for clarification, please don't hesitate to ask them below in the comments.

Further Reading