Character Licensing

How licensing works

• You stay in control. Licensing is entirely opt-in and always per artist. An artist asks for permission to use one of your characters from the Collab menu on your story page; nothing is created or listed unless you approve that specific artist.
• Two ways to sell. Your character’s cosmetics can be sold in two formats: as part of a Scroll (a themed collection of 15–16 items, unlocked with Quills, individual items then claimed with free Embers), or as a standalone Character Pack ($7.99 — a full cosmetic set for one character, purchased directly).
• Revenue split — collab (novelist + artist). DawnScribe takes 25%. The novelist receives 30%. The artist receives 45%. This applies to both Scrolls and Character Packs. All earnings are tracked in Quill-equivalent value and paid out via Stripe when payouts are enabled, converted to dollars at the rate in effect at the time of purchase. That rate tracks what readers actually pay for Quills, so it moves a little as bundles and regional prices change — your percentage share never does, and a conversion already applied to past earnings is never recalculated.
• Solo creator split. If you wrote the story and created the artwork yourself, there's no second creator to split with — DawnScribe takes 25% and you keep 75%.
• DawnScribe-produced Scroll. If DawnScribe offers to build a Scroll from your existing work and pays for the artwork itself, you receive 20% of every sale and DawnScribe retains 80%, because DawnScribe carries the production cost and the risk. You do no production work. The licence is non-exclusive — you keep publishing your story wherever you like — and you are always free to decline and commission your own artwork under the 75/25 split instead.
• You can withdraw a licence at any time. Withdrawing stops that artist making anything new and returns their unsold listings to draft. Items readers have already bought stay with those readers, and earnings already made are unaffected — so withdrawing never claws back someone's purchase.
• One licence per artist, per character, per type. Approving one artist does not open the character to anyone else; a second artist has to ask separately.
• Every grant and withdrawal is recorded with its own date and agreement version, so you always have a clear record of what you agreed to and when.

Character Licence Agreement (version v1)

This is the agreement recorded against every licence you grant. Approving a request means you accept these terms for that artist and that character. Your approval is stored with this version number and the date.

1. What you are granting. You grant the named artist a non-exclusive, revocable, non-transferable licence to depict the named character in cosmetic artwork created for sale on DawnScribe. The licence covers only that artist, that character, and the licence type shown on the request.
2. What you keep. You retain all ownership of your character and your story. Nothing here transfers copyright, trademark, or any other right in your work. The artist gains no right to use the character outside DawnScribe, to sub-license it, or to claim authorship of it.
3. What the artist owns. The artist retains ownership of the artwork they create. You gain no ownership of that artwork by granting this licence, and you may not reuse or redistribute it outside DawnScribe without the artist's permission.
4. Revenue. On each sale, you receive 30%, the artist receives 45%, and DawnScribe retains 25% — the same split as a Scroll collaboration. Earnings accrue in Quill-equivalent value and are converted to dollars at the rate in effect at the moment of purchase. That rate tracks what readers actually pay for Quills, so it moves a little over time; your percentage never does. Splits are calculated at the moment of sale and are not changed retroactively.
5. Approval of individual items. This licence permits the artist to create and submit items. DawnScribe reviews every submission before it is listed. A licence does not guarantee that any particular item will be approved for sale.
6. Withdrawal. You may withdraw this licence at any time and for any reason. Withdrawal takes effect immediately: the artist may not create new items, and their unsold listings return to draft. Items already purchased remain with the readers who bought them, and earnings already accrued to either party are unaffected. Withdrawal does not reverse completed sales.
7. Conduct. Artwork made under this licence remains subject to the Community Guidelines and Terms of Service. You may report artwork that misrepresents your character or breaches those rules, and DawnScribe may remove it independently of this licence.
8. Changes to these terms. Existing licences stay governed by the version recorded when you approved them. A new version applies only to licences granted after it takes effect.