Terms of Use, Community Guidelines & Crowdforging Contributor Agreement

Version 1.0
Effective Date: March 12, 2026
Last Revised: March 12, 2026

IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ THIS AGREEMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE PARTICIPATING IN THE HESERATH COMMUNITY, ACCESSING PATRON CONTENT, OR SUBMITTING ANY CONTRIBUTION.

BY JOINING A PATREON OR KO-FI TIER, POSTING IN ANY DESIGNATED COMMUNITY CHANNEL, OR SUBMITTING ANY CROWDFORGING CONTRIBUTION, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTOOD, AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THIS AGREEMENT IN ITS ENTIRETY.

PREAMBLE

Heserath is an original dark fantasy intellectual property — encompassing
graphic novels, lore, character designs, world-building materials, and all
associated creative works — created and owned solely by Nicholas Laszlo Acs
(the “Creator”). The Creator has developed a structured model of community
participation called Crowdforging, which allows members of the Heserath patron
community (“Patrons”) to exert meaningful influence over the world of Heserath
while the Creator retains all authorship, copyright, and creative authority.

Crowdforging is not co-authorship. It is not crowdsourcing. It is not a
collaborative work-for-hire arrangement. It is a structured model in which the
Creator, as the sole author and IP owner of Heserath, invites community
influence over the direction, texture, and development of the world — while
retaining absolute creative and legal authority over every element of the
published work.

This model has precedent in the creative and gaming industries. Wizards of the
Coast operates the Dungeon Masters Guild programme, permitting community creators
to publish content within the Dungeons & Dragons IP under explicit rights
frameworks while Wizards of the Coast retains all underlying IP. Video game
publishers including Valve Corporation (Steam Workshop), Bethesda Softworks, and
others have established structured community contribution programmes with defined
rights assignments. Interactive entertainment platforms have similarly formalised
community creative participation. Crowdforging extends this tradition to the
independent graphic novel medium, with the Creator as the originating authority
of the framework as applied to Heserath.

This Agreement governs your participation in the Heserath community in all its
forms. It is intended to be read and understood. If any provision is unclear,
you are encouraged to seek clarification before participating in any Crowdforging
activity.

SECTION 1 — DEFINITIONS

The following terms have the meanings assigned to them throughout this Agreement:

“Agreement” means these Terms of Use, Community Guidelines, and Crowdforging
Contributor Agreement, as amended from time to time.

“Heserath” means the original dark fantasy intellectual property created and
owned by the Creator, including all graphic novel pages, scripts, lore documents,
character designs, world maps, bestiaries, faction descriptions, historical
records, cosmologies, and all other creative materials, published or unpublished,
in any medium.

“Creator” means Nicholas Laszlo Acs, the sole author and copyright owner of
Heserath.

“Patron” means any person who subscribes to any tier of the Creator’s Patreon or
Ko-fi at any level, or who participates in any designated Heserath community
channel including but not limited to Discord servers, community forums, and
social media groups operated by or affiliated with the Creator.

“Crowdforging” means the Creator’s structured model of community participation
in which Patrons exert meaningful, documented influence over the direction and
development of Heserath while the Creator retains sole authorship and all
intellectual property rights.

“Contribution” means any idea, suggestion, name, concept, proposed narrative
event, character motivation, faction description, bestiary entry, lore element,
world-building proposal, vote, comment, discussion post, or other creative input
submitted or expressed by a Patron in any Designated Contribution Channel or
through any formal Crowdforging mechanism, whether solicited or unsolicited.

“Designated Contribution Channel” means any forum, channel, thread, form,
survey, poll, or submission mechanism explicitly identified by the Creator as a
Crowdforging participation space, including designated Discord channels, Patreon
polls, Ko-fi community posts, and any future platforms so designated by the
Creator.

“Fan Work” means any creative work — including but not limited to fan fiction,
fan art, illustrations, animations, music, or written narratives — produced by
a Patron independently and set in, derived from, or featuring characters or
elements of Heserath.

“Underlying IP” means all characters, names, locations, lore, history,
cosmology, factions, narrative structures, visual designs, and world-building
elements of Heserath, regardless of how or where they appear.

SECTION 2 — ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS

2.1 How Acceptance Occurs

You accept this Agreement by any of the following acts:

Subscribing to any tier of the Creator’s Patreon or Ko-fi;
Joining any designated Heserath community channel, including Discord;
Posting, commenting, or otherwise participating in any Designated
Contribution Channel;
Submitting any Contribution through any formal or informal Crowdforging
mechanism;
Accessing any patron-exclusive content provided by the Creator.

2.2 Age Requirement

You must be at least 18 years of age to participate in Crowdforging activities
or to access patron content designated for mature audiences. By accepting this
Agreement, you represent that you meet this requirement.

2.3 Amendments

The Creator reserves the right to amend this Agreement at any time. Continued
participation in the Heserath community following notice of amendment constitutes
acceptance of the revised terms. Material changes will be communicated through
the Creator’s primary community channels with no less than fourteen (14) days’
notice where practicable.

SECTION 3 — INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OWNERSHIP

3.1 Sole Ownership of Heserath

Heserath and all elements thereof are the exclusive intellectual property of the
Creator. The Creator is the sole author and copyright owner of Heserath under
applicable copyright law, including but not limited to the Copyright Act (Canada),
the United States Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. s. 101 et seq.), and the Berne
Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.

3.2 Scope of Protected Material

The Creator’s intellectual property rights in Heserath encompass:

All graphic novel pages, panels, and artwork in any stage of completion;
All written scripts, prose, and dialogue;
All character designs, names, backstories, and visual representations;
All world-building materials including maps, lore documents, bestiaries,
faction histories, and cosmological frameworks;
The specific creative expression of all narrative events, historical accounts,
and in-world mythology;
All compiled and published editions of Heserath in any medium;
The name “Heserath” as both a creative title and a commercial brand
identifier.

3.3 The Idea/Expression Distinction

Consistent with the foundational principle of copyright law, copyright protects
specific creative expression, not ideas, concepts, themes, genres, or narrative
tropes in the abstract. A patron who proposes the concept of “a war between two
factions” has proposed an idea, not an expression. The Creator’s specific written
and visual rendering of that concept is protectable expression. This distinction
is not merely technical — it reflects the genuine nature of authorship and the
basis upon which the Creator’s sole ownership of Heserath rests.

3.4 No Licence Granted to Patrons

Nothing in this Agreement grants any Patron any licence, right, title, or
interest in or to Heserath or any element thereof, except as expressly set out
in Section 7 (Fan Works Policy). Participation in Crowdforging does not create
any ownership interest in any Heserath work.

3.5 Trademark

“Heserath” and “Crowdforging” are used as brand identifiers by the Creator.
Patrons may not use either term commercially, as part of any business name, or
in any manner that suggests endorsement by or association with the Creator
without the Creator’s prior written consent.

SECTION 4 — THE NATURE OF CROWDFORGING

4.1 What Crowdforging Is

Crowdforging is the Creator’s original model for structured community
participation in the development of Heserath. It is designed to give Patrons
genuine, meaningful influence over the world’s direction while preserving the
Creator’s sole authorship and absolute creative authority. The Creator is the
smith; the community is the forge. The resulting work is the Creator’s alone.

This model has analogues in established creative industries. Wizards of the
Coast has long structured community participation in the Dungeons & Dragons IP
through the Open Game Licence and the Dungeon Masters Guild programme, under
which community creators operate within a defined rights framework while Wizards
of the Coast retains all underlying IP. The modding communities of video game
publishers including Valve (Steam Workshop Terms of Service), Bethesda Softworks
(Creation Kit Licence), and CD Projekt Red similarly operate under structured
agreements that define the scope of community contribution without conferring
authorship or ownership on contributors. Interactive storytelling platforms and
collaborative narrative games have developed comparable frameworks. Crowdforging
adapts the legal architecture of these precedents to the independent graphic
novel medium.

4.2 What Crowdforging Is Not

Crowdforging is expressly not:

Co-authorship or joint authorship of any Heserath work;
A crowdsourcing arrangement in which creative labour is outsourced to
contributors;
A work-for-hire arrangement;
A collaborative creative partnership;
An agreement by which the Creator undertakes to use any particular
Contribution;
An agreement by which the Creator undertakes to acknowledge, credit, or
compensate any Patron for any Contribution beyond existing patron tier
benefits.

4.3 Forms of Crowdforging Participation

Crowdforging participation may include, but is not limited to:

Voting in polls on narrative direction, story outcomes, or world-building
choices;
Suggesting names for characters, locations, factions, creatures, or
historical events;
Participating in designated lore discussion threads;
Submitting proposals for bestiary entries, faction descriptions, or
historical records;
Proposing character motivations or backstory elements;
Contributing to world-building discussions through any Designated
Contribution Channel.

4.4 Creator’s Absolute Discretion

The Creator retains absolute and unreviewable discretion over all creative
decisions relating to Heserath. The Creator may adopt, modify, transform,
decline, or disregard any Contribution at any time, for any reason or no reason,
without obligation to explain, justify, or notify the contributing Patron.
Submission of a Contribution creates no obligation on the Creator’s part and no
right on the Patron’s part.

SECTION 5 — COPYRIGHT ASSIGNMENT

NOTE TO PATRONS: This section is the legal centrepiece of this Agreement. It is
the mechanism by which the Creator ensures that Crowdforging can function without
creating copyright risk. Patrons are encouraged to read it carefully.

5.1 Assignment of All Rights in Contributions

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, and in consideration of the
benefits of Patron membership and access to Heserath community content, you
hereby irrevocably assign, transfer, and convey to the Creator, with full title
guarantee, all right, title, and interest in and to any and all Contributions
you make, including:

All copyright and related rights;
All rights in the nature of copyright;
All neighbouring rights;
All rights to make derivative works;
All rights to reproduce, publish, distribute, publicly display, and transmit;
All rights to incorporate the Contribution into any existing or future
Heserath work in any medium;
All rights to modify, transform, or build upon the Contribution without
restriction;
All registration rights and rights to apply for registration of any of the
above;
All rights of action for past, present, and future infringement of any of
the above.

This assignment is worldwide in scope, perpetual in duration, irrevocable, and
royalty-free. It survives the termination of your Patron membership.

5.2 Rationale and Precedent

Copyright assignment by contributors is the standard legal mechanism used across
the creative and technology industries when a central IP owner accepts
contributions from a community. The Apache Software Foundation Contributor
Licence Agreement, the Eclipse Foundation Contributor Licence Agreement, and
comparable instruments in the open-source software community establish this
model. Wizards of the Coast’s community content programmes require contributors
to represent that they have the right to grant the rights required for
publication within the IP. Game modding licence agreements — including the Steam
Workshop Subscriber Agreement — require contributors to grant the platform and
relevant publishers rights over submitted content. This Agreement applies the
same legal architecture.

5.3 Moral Rights Waiver

In jurisdictions where moral rights (including rights of attribution and rights
of integrity) cannot be assigned but may be waived — including but not limited
to Canada (Copyright Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-42, ss. 14.1-14.2), EU member
states under the Information Society Directive, and the United Kingdom (Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988, ss. 77-89) — you hereby irrevocably waive, to the
fullest extent permitted by applicable law, all moral rights you hold or may hold
in any Contribution. You waive the right to be identified as the author of any
Contribution and the right to object to any modification, adaptation,
transformation, or use of any Contribution.

5.4 Assignment Effective Upon Submission

The assignment and waiver set out in this Section take effect automatically upon
the act of submission of any Contribution — by posting, typing, uploading, or
otherwise communicating a Contribution in any Designated Contribution Channel or
to the Creator through any medium. No further act is required by either party.

5.5 Further Assurances

You agree to execute, upon request by the Creator, any documents and instruments
reasonably necessary to give effect to, perfect, or register the assignment of
rights set out in this Section, including formal written assignments, confirmatory
deeds, and any filings required by intellectual property authorities in any
jurisdiction.

SECTION 6 — REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES

By submitting any Contribution, you represent and warrant that:

The Contribution is your original work and you are its sole author;
You have the full right, power, and authority to make the assignment set
out in Section 5;
The Contribution does not infringe, misappropriate, or violate the
intellectual property rights, privacy rights, publicity rights, or any
other rights of any third party;
The Contribution is not defamatory, obscene, or otherwise unlawful;
The Contribution is not subject to any prior licence, assignment,
encumbrance, or restriction that would conflict with the assignment made
in Section 5;
You have not previously assigned, transferred, or licensed any rights in
the Contribution to any third party;
You are at least 18 years of age, or have the consent of a parent or legal
guardian who has read and accepted this Agreement on your behalf.

================================================================================

SECTION 7 — FAN WORKS POLICY

NOTE: The Creator recognises that fan creativity is an expression of engagement
and affection for Heserath and is, in most circumstances, welcomed. This Section
defines what is permitted, what is not, and who owns what.

7.1 Permitted Fan Works

The Creator grants a limited, non-exclusive, revocable licence to Patrons in
good standing to create Fan Works, subject to the conditions in this Section.
This licence is personal to you and non-transferable. You may:

Create and share non-commercial Fan Works — including fan fiction, fan art,
and fan illustrations — featuring Heserath characters, settings, and lore;
Share Fan Works on personal social media accounts, fan forums, and fan
communities, provided you credit Heserath as the source IP;
Post Fan Works to designated Fan Works channels established by the Creator,
if any.

7.2 Prohibited Fan Works

You may not, without the Creator’s prior written consent:

Create or distribute Fan Works for commercial purposes, including sale,
commercial licensing, or as rewards for your own patron programmes;
Create Fan Works depicting sexual or explicitly violent content involving
Heserath characters;
Create Fan Works that present themselves as official Heserath canon,
authorised sequels, or officially sanctioned extensions;
Create Fan Works that disparage, defame, or misrepresent the Creator or
the Heserath IP;
Use Fan Works as training data for artificial intelligence systems;
Create Fan Works using artificial intelligence image generation or text
generation tools;
Mint, publish, or sell Fan Works as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or in any
blockchain-based format;
Create Fan Works that incorporate third-party intellectual property without
appropriate rights.

7.3 Ownership of Fan Works

You retain copyright in the original expressive elements of your Fan Works —
the specific prose you wrote, the specific artwork you drew. You do not acquire
any right, title, or interest in the Underlying IP by virtue of creating a Fan
Work. Your Fan Work is, without the Creator’s licence, an unauthorised derivative
work. The licence granted in Section 7.1 does not transfer any ownership of the
Underlying IP to you.

7.4 Incorporation of Fan Works into Official Canon

The Creator will not incorporate any Fan Work into official Heserath canon
without your separate written consent and a signed copyright assignment
agreement. General acceptance of this Agreement does not authorise the Creator
to incorporate your Fan Works into official Heserath works. You are not required
to consent to any such incorporation.

7.5 No Endorsement

The existence of this Fan Works Policy and the Creator’s tolerance of Fan Works
does not constitute endorsement of any particular Fan Work, agreement with its
content, or acknowledgement of its quality or accuracy.

7.6 Revocation

The Creator reserves the right to revoke this Fan Works licence at any time, in
respect of specific Fan Works or generally, upon written notice. Fan Works that
violate the terms of this Section must be taken down upon request.

SECTION 8 — VOTING, POLLS, AND NON-EXPRESSIVE PARTICIPATION

8.1 Nature of Voting

Participation in polls, surveys, and votes conducted by the Creator constitutes
the selection of a pre-existing option from a menu defined by the Creator. Voting
is not authorship. A Patron who votes for one story direction over another does
not thereby acquire any copyright interest in the story that results, regardless
of whether the voted outcome is adopted. The options presented in any poll are
themselves the creative work of the Creator.

8.2 Name Suggestions

Names — whether for characters, locations, factions, creatures, or other
in-world elements — are not protectable by copyright. A Patron who suggests a
name that the Creator adopts acquires no copyright interest in that name or in
any element of Heserath associated with that name. The Creator may adopt, modify,
or decline any name suggestion without compensation or obligation.

8.3 Community Discussion

Participation in lore discussions, world-building debates, and community
conversations in designated channels constitutes Contribution as defined in this
Agreement and is subject to Section 5. Ideas expressed in community discussion
are not copyrightable as ideas. Specific, original expressive content submitted
in community discussion may be minimally protectable, but by participating in
Designated Contribution Channels, you assign all rights in such content to the
Creator in accordance with Section 5.

SECTION 9 — NO COMPENSATION, NO OBLIGATION TO USE

9.1 No Additional Compensation

The benefits of Patron membership — access to exclusive content, early pages,
lore drops, community participation, and Crowdforging activities — constitute
the full consideration for your participation and for the assignment of rights
in your Contributions. You will receive no additional compensation, royalty,
credit, or benefit in respect of any Contribution the Creator adopts, uses,
modifies, or incorporates into any Heserath work.

9.2 No Obligation to Use

The Creator is under no obligation to use, acknowledge, credit, or respond to
any Contribution. Submission of a Contribution does not guarantee adoption,
acknowledgement, or any creative outcome. The Creator’s decision to decline or
ignore a Contribution creates no claim against the Creator.

9.3 Acknowledgement

The Creator may, at their sole discretion, choose to acknowledge Patron
contributions through credits, community shout-outs, or acknowledgement pages.
Any such acknowledgement is a goodwill gesture and does not create any legal
obligation, imply co-authorship, or establish a precedent for future
acknowledgements.

SECTION 10 — DISCLAIMER OF CO-AUTHORSHIP

Participation in any Crowdforging activity — including voting, naming, lore
discussion, bestiary contribution, or any other form of community engagement —
does not make you a co-author or joint author of any Heserath work under any
applicable copyright law.

Under Canadian, American, and most international copyright frameworks, joint
authorship requires that each co-author make an independently copyrightable
contribution with the intention that the contributions be merged into a unitary
work as co-authors. No such intention exists on the part of the Creator, and by
accepting this Agreement, you confirm that no such intention exists on your part.
You have not been promised co-authorship, and no conduct by the Creator in
connection with Crowdforging shall be construed as creating such an intention.

Any claim to co-authorship of any Heserath work is expressly disclaimed, waived,
and released by you upon acceptance of this Agreement.

SECTION 11 — COMMUNITY CONDUCT

11.1 General Standards

Participation in Heserath community channels is a privilege, not a right. The
Creator maintains community spaces to support a constructive, engaged, and
respectful environment. You agree to:

Engage respectfully with other community members and with the Creator;
Refrain from harassment, abuse, hate speech, or discriminatory conduct;
Refrain from sharing unsolicited commercial communications or spam;
Refrain from sharing content that infringes third-party intellectual
property;
Disclose any conflict of interest when participating in Crowdforging
activities.

11.2 Removal and Termination

The Creator reserves the right to remove any Patron from community channels,
revoke access to patron content, and terminate any Patron membership for any
violation of this Agreement or for conduct the Creator deems, in their sole
discretion, inconsistent with the spirit of the Heserath community. Termination
of Patron membership does not affect the validity of any assignment of rights
made under Section 5 prior to termination.

SECTION 12 — LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE CREATOR SHALL NOT BE
LIABLE TO ANY PATRON FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR
PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO PARTICIPATION IN THE HESERATH
COMMUNITY, CROWDFORGING ACTIVITIES, OR THE USE OR NON-USE OF ANY CONTRIBUTION.
THE CREATOR’S TOTAL LIABILITY TO ANY PATRON FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING UNDER THIS
AGREEMENT SHALL NOT EXCEED THE TOTAL PATRON SUBSCRIPTION FEES PAID BY THAT
PATRON IN THE THREE (3) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM.

SECTION 13 — INDEMNIFICATION

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Creator from and against
any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses, costs, and expenses (including
reasonable legal fees) arising from: (a) your breach of any representation,
warranty, or obligation under this Agreement; (b) any claim by a third party
that your Contribution infringes any intellectual property or other right of that
third party; or (c) your conduct in any Heserath community channel.

SECTION 14 — GOVERNING LAW AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION

14.1 Governing Law

This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of
Nova Scotia, Canada, without regard to its conflict of laws principles.

14.2 Dispute Resolution

In the event of any dispute arising from or relating to this Agreement, the
parties agree to first attempt resolution through good-faith negotiation. If
negotiation fails within thirty (30) days of written notice of the dispute, the
parties agree to submit the dispute to binding arbitration in accordance with the
rules of ADRIC (ADR Institute of Canada), conducted in the Province of Nova
Scotia. The decision of the arbitrator shall be final and binding and may be
enforced in any court of competent jurisdiction.

14.3 Class Action Waiver

You waive any right to participate in any class action, collective proceeding, or
representative action in connection with any claim arising from or relating to
this Agreement.

SECTION 15 — MISCELLANEOUS

15.1 Entire Agreement

This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between you and the Creator with
respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior or contemporaneous
communications, representations, and agreements, whether written or oral.

15.2 Severability

If any provision of this Agreement is found by a court or arbitrator of competent
jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, that provision shall be
modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it valid, legal, and enforceable,
and the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.

15.3 No Waiver

The Creator’s failure to enforce any provision of this Agreement shall not
constitute a waiver of the right to enforce that provision in the future.

15.4 Assignment by Creator

The Creator may assign this Agreement and any rights hereunder to any successor
to the Heserath IP or to any entity that acquires all or substantially all of the
Creator’s creative assets. You may not assign your rights or obligations under
this Agreement without the Creator’s prior written consent.

15.5 Headings

Section headings are for convenience only and shall not affect the interpretation
of this Agreement.

15.6 Language

This Agreement is written in English. If it is translated into any other language,
the English version shall prevail in the event of any inconsistency.

SECTION 16 — CONTACT

Questions, concerns, or requests relating to this Agreement may be directed to
the Creator at:

Email: legal@heserath.com
Web: heserath.com
Patreon: patreon.com/heserath
Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/heserath

                        -- HESERATH --
    All rights reserved. (c) 2026 Nicholas Laszlo Acs.

Heserath Terms