1. THE ECOSYSTEM BLANKET & DIGITAL ARCHIPELAGO

• IGP SHIP (The Horizon of Activities): Encompassing all interactive modules, the Wild Boat of various adventures, and I.D.O.B.W.Y. Opportunities.
• The Prism Forum (at IGP SHIP): Our dedicated digital workspace and community forum for collaborative creative execution.
• Our Earthians Community Group (OECG): The book community housing our deep-dive sociological and psychological series, including the Psychological Trilogies and Things That Matter.
• Translations Of Hope (TOH): Our mental health hope-dealing, cause-oriented initiative and publication line designed to spread resilience and unwrap the stigma surrounding psychological well-being.
• Warrior, You Are Loved (WYAL): Our inclusive coterie community focused on individual well-being by blending reality with immersive fantasy storytelling.
• The Derecho News Channel: Our independent media and reporting apparatus, encompassing the Ink Compass Newsroom (reporting on the Cafe Buzz), Verified Lore, interviews at Porcupine Quillings, the IGP Museum, and all media updates concerning A Hand To Hold Publishing.
• The IGP Library: Our active, growing repository of over 70 published books arranged across 24 distinct curated shelves, including all volumes currently active or yet to be filled.

2. CONTRIBUTOR RIGHTS & THE ANTHOLOGY EXCEPTION

3. MULTI-TIERED SUBMISSION & SERVICES POLICY

• • Framework Variances: We accept pitches via open web forms for A Hand To Hold Publishing, and open direct submissions on rare occasions for The Prism Forum at igp ship. Additionally, we host invite-only structures via The Premium Patron Invitation, The Literary Partner Program, and The Bridge Licences.
  • The Conflict of Interest & Anti-Bias Provision (Effective August 23rd, 2026 Onwards): To preserve complete editorial objectivity, eliminate professional nepotism, and ensure equitable treatment across our ecosystem, effective from August 23rd, 2026, onwards, IGP will not accept standalone manuscripts or individual book project applications from biological family members, relatives, or close personal friends. All historical publications, collaborations, and projects executed with personal connections from 2019 through August 22nd, 2026 remain fully recognized, valid, and protected as foundational pieces of our catalog. This forward-looking restriction shall remain active and strictly enforced until such time as IGP hires independent, non-affiliated third-party editorial staff and freelancers to evaluate standalone submissions impartially.
  • The Global Anthology Exception: Notwithstanding the anti-bias restriction, family members, friends, and the general public are openly invited to submit creative pitches or textual entries toward our multi-author anthologies, community collections, or group collaborations, provided all such submissions strictly adhere to the originality and human-authorship criteria detailed under Section 4.
  • No Automatic Contract: The act of submitting a pitch, filling out an application form, or engaging in initial dialogue does not guarantee acceptance, publication, or create an automatic binding contract. IGP reserves absolute editorial discretion to decline any pitch or application at any stage.
  • Voluntary, Subsidized, & Cost-To-Self Services: To support the creative community, the founder provides book production, editorial assessment, and publishing consultations—frequently at full cost to herself or at heavily subsidized rates. Any such voluntary assistance, subsidized support, or unpaid freelance help is provided strictly on an “As-Is” and “As-Available” baseline. IGP disclaims all lifetime liabilities, delivery guarantees, or ongoing structural consulting obligations for voluntary or subsidized service tracks. All voluntary help provided to others by our team will be credited transparently as voluntary acts of community service.

4. CONTENT INTEGRITY, ABSOLUTE AI PROHIBITION, & FALSE REPRESENTATION LIABILITY

• Originality & Plagiarism: All submissions must be completely original and created entirely by you. Plagiarized or misappropriated content will be rejected instantly. If a violation is discovered post-publication, IGP reserves the right to retract, delete, and permanently unpublish the work without prior notice.
• Absolute Prohibition of AI Text Content: Ink Gladiators Press does not accept any text-based content, manuscripts, prose, captions, articles, or poetry that has been generated, written, or substantially constructed by artificial intelligence tools, Large Language Models (LLMs), or text-generation software for final publishing. Text content must feature 100% human authorship.
• AI-Assisted Art, Proofing, & Verification Burden: If artificial intelligence or machine learning applications were utilized strictly as supportive tools for image generation, formatting, or basic technical text-proofing, the contributor bears the absolute burden of proof. You must explicitly disclose this tool usage upon submission and be prepared to provide definitive, verifiable evidence tracking your creative human oversight, traceable iterative editing, and structural human control. Unverifiable, opaque, or fully automated AI assets will be summarily rejected.
• Legal Liability for Misrepresentation: Submitting creative work to any sector of our digital archipelago constitutes a binding legal warranty that you are the sole creator and human author of the asset. If you falsely represent, hide, or mischaracterize the use of AI tools in your work, and evidence of plagiarism, complete automation, or bad-faith misrepresentation is uncovered post-publication, you shall be held exclusively liable for structural fraud and contract breach.
• The Evidentiary Takedown Standard: In direct alignment with our IP Manifesto, any confirmed or highly suspect misrepresentation or attempt to use our platforms to host plagiarized materials will result in immediate content retraction, permanent platform bans, and the archiving of your submission files and communication records within our Evidentiary Ledger for subsequent legal enforcement and use by our legal teams under Section 8.

5. THIRD-PARTY MERCHANDISE & PRINT-ON-DEMAND FULFILLMENT

• IGP Design Restrictions: Contributor work will never be featured on merchandise or external commercial offerings unless explicit, written licensing terms are executed by both parties. Any products, journals, bookmarks, or digital downloads created under the IGP banner are built solely on IGP’s proprietary designs or the founder’s personal portfolio.
• Print-On-Demand Fulfillment Disclaimer: Ink Gladiators Press does not store inventory or sell/ship physical copies of books directly from our corporate offices. All physical book distributions, printing, manufacturing, and global shipping operations are fulfilled via independent, third-party print-on-demand services, including but not limited to Amazon, Lulu, IngramSpark, or localized printers with distribution facilities.
• Limitation of Fulfillment Liability: Because shipping, printing quality, and delivery timelines are managed entirely by external platforms, IGP and its founder disclaim all legal and financial liability for shipping delays, customs hold-ups, misprinted interior pages, damaged covers, or logistics errors caused by third-party fulfillment networks. All issues regarding physical copy damage must be resolved directly with the corresponding retailer (e.g., Amazon Customer Service).
• Financial Terms: Any direct creative offerings or downloads made available directly via our sites are optional and non-refundable. Donations may be accepted in the future via clear, transparent links. Donations serve solely to maintain platform sustainability; they do not purchase creative influence, grant editorial leverage, or alter project timelines within the library.

6. AGE RESTRICTIONS & MULTI-GENRE ADVISORY COMPLIANCE

• General Age Threshold: Users must be 18 years or older to independently interact, open user profiles, post inside The Prism Forum, or submit manuscripts to Ink Gladiators Press. We rely on self-certification; any profile or content discovered to be managed by an unverified minor under false pretenses will be permanently deleted without notice.
• The Teen Contributor Pathway (Ages 12-17): Teen creators who wish to submit poetry, short stories, or art to specialized anthology blocks must have the verifiable, explicit written consent of a parent or legal guardian before submitting any data or text. Submissions lacking clear parental validation will be immediately discarded.
• Children’s Literature & Guided Opportunities: For children’s literature, picture books, or specific youth creative opportunities, participation is strictly contingent upon direct, ongoing parental supervision. All youth-authored publications will be managed under rigorous privacy conditions to safeguard the real-world identity, digital safety, and legal rights of the minor involved.

7. FOUNDER’S CREATIVE WORK & TRUST BOUNDARIES

• The Circle of Trust: The founder’s original creative work, portfolio assets, and proprietary concepts may be reused, shared, adapted, or interpreted exclusively by her beloved, including under pseudonyms or anonymously, as an intentional, private act of absolute trust.
• Public Prohibition: This deeply personal openness does not extend to the general public, clients, authors, or external entities. Any unauthorized reproduction, reframing, commercial exploitation, or public distribution of the founder’s personal creative work by others is strictly prohibited and protected under our active IP Manifesto.

8. SAFEKEEPING OF FIRST AUTHORS & SPECIAL RECOGNITION

• Absolute Protection: To preserve the integrity of our origin story, our First Authors will be acknowledged, celebrated, and protected with utmost care.
• Zero-Tolerance Policy: Any acts of exploitation, digital targeted harassment, defamation, unauthorized text scraping, or coordinated misrepresentation of their work or real-world identities across our communities or external platforms is explicitly prohibited. Violations will result in immediate termination of platform access and referral to civil justice systems.

9. COMMUNITY CONDUCT, ANTI-MARKET MANIPULATION, & SABOTAGE

• Prohibited Behavioral Conduct: Harassment, hate speech, creative bullying, spamming, toxic trolling, or any behavior that disrupts the emotional or structural safety of our digital spaces will result in immediate removal, content deletion, and a permanent platform ban.
• Digital Sabotage & Competitive Malice: In alignment with our IP Manifesto, any deployment of automated bots, coordinated shadowbanning efforts against our domains, algorithmic manipulation to suppress our visibility, intentional orchestration of digital smear campaigns, or weaponized social media cancellation attempts targeting IGP, its sub-brands, or its authors is strictly illegal. Such malicious acts constitute tortious interference and corporate defamation, rendering the offending entities fully liable under global electronic protection and civil anti-harassment laws.

• Voice Preservation: We may correct formatting errors, typos, or grammatical inconsistencies for production uniformity, but we will never alter a contributor’s core creative voice or thematic intent without direct permission.
• The Curated Catalog Framework: Creative assets are assigned to intentionally structured categories across our 70+ book and 24-shelf library, including Translations of Hope (TOH), Our Earthians Community Group (OECG), Leaflets, Solo Works, Trailer Features, and independent Book Reviews. Contributors are always informed of their assigned category block before final publication approval.
• Independent Review Standard: Book Reviews published via our platforms are honest, non-sponsored, and editorial in nature. Unless an author is directly involved in compiling the analysis, reviews are published at our sole discretion and may appear without advance notice.

• The Derecho Journalistic Media Shield: All news reporting, interviews, literary analysis, and updates distributed via The Derecho, The Ink Compass Newsroom, Porcupine Quillings, or the IGP Museum are for informational, cultural, and entertainment purposes. While we strive for ethical reporting, we disclaim strict liability for unintentional factual errors, opinion pieces, speculative “Cafe Buzz,” or interpretive lore.
• Translations of Hope (TOH) No-Medical Advice Disclaimer: The cause-oriented publications, ebooks, and collaborative anthologies created under the Translations of Hope initiative explore psychological trials, healing, resilience, and emotional well-being. These creative materials and narratives are intended solely for storytelling, awareness, and peer solidarity. They do not constitute, and must never be used as a substitute for, professional medical advice, clinical psychiatric diagnosis, psychological counseling, or formal therapy. Users experiencing severe psychological distress are urged to consult licensed healthcare practitioners. IGP and its founder assume no clinical or legal liability for actions taken based on our therapeutic storytelling spaces.

• Limitation of Software Liability: IGP and its founder are not legally or financially liable for temporary website blackouts, server crashes, payment gateway errors (e.g., Stripe, PayPal), automated backup failures, or the loss of user-submitted drafts caused by third-party hosting companies, malware, or external technological forces.
• Feedback, Ideas, & Unsolicited Concepts: Any feedback, strategic operational comments, or creative suggestions sent to IGP are entirely non-proprietary. By transmitting an idea, you grant us an unrestricted right to use it without economic obligation or compensation. You acknowledge that our team may already be independently developing identical or similar publishing concepts within our 24 shelves.

We respect intellectual property rights and act decisively against creative theft. If you believe your copyrighted material has been hosted on our site without valid authorization, you must submit a formal takedown request to contact [at] inkgladiatorspress.com.

• Required Takedown Details: Your alert must include your full contact information, a clear identification of the copyrighted asset being infringed, and the specific URL location of the offending material on our domain.
• Resolution Protocol: We will evaluate the report promptly. Legitimate disputes will be handled privately, amicaly, and with professional care. Confirmed violations will be permanently removed and archived within our Evidentiary Ledger in accordance with international digital copyright acts.

• Official Enterprise Status: Ink Gladiators Press is officially registered as a Micro Enterprise under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Government of India, with Udyog Aadhaar / Udyam Registration Number KR03D0121558.
• Headquarters & Jurisdiction: Our operational headquarters are physically located in Bangalore, Karnataka, India, and our ecosystems operate globally online.
• Governing Law: These Master Terms, along with all platform transactions, submission disputes, or legal questions, shall be governed by, interpreted, and enforced in accordance with the laws of the Republic of India, without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of law.
• Exclusive Forum: Any formal legal action or proceeding arising under this framework shall be brought exclusively before the competent courts of Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
• Relocation Contingency: If the enterprise ever formally shifts its registration or legal headquarters to a new domestic or international jurisdiction, contributors and users will be notified transparently via our main menus, and these Terms will be updated. All past publication agreements, intellectual property protections, and contributor safety guards will remain fully valid, retroactive, and enforceable under the newly designated authority system.

• Amendments: IGP reserves the right to update or restructure these Terms at any time to reflect changing international data standards or new library expansions. Revised terms become legally effective immediately upon being posted to this page. Continued usage of our platforms signifies your binding acceptance of the updated terms.
• Enforcement: Any violation of these Terms may result in immediate content removal, permanent platform ban, revocation of forum access, or direct civil legal actions if deemed necessary to shield our affiliated creators from commercial or emotional harm.
• Official Correspondence Channel: For all general questions, operational clarifications, submission pitches, or legal notices, please communicate directly via email: contact [at] inkgladiatorspress.com
  All incoming correspondence is handled with absolute confidentiality, human dignity, respect, and deep professional care.