SETTING AND FAQ
Setting
The place you are dropped into after your first conversation with the mysterious man is reminiscent of a city inside a half-bubble -- a space colony, perhaps. The city limits are blocked off by the sides of the bubble, used to maintain the atmosphere in such a small object (celestially speaking, that is) and the material is clear, sturdy, and difficult -- but not impossible -- to break. Though, it's fairly certain no one will want to do that, because then everyone would go flying out into the vacuum of space. Therefore, common sense would tell one to leave it alone.
There's one nearby star, one that acts as a sun to the colony, which has been (purposely?) placed in the tiny strip surrounding stars called the "life zone", in which the temperature is stable enough to support life. As is the law in space, the smaller city orbits said star, and therefore emulates day and night properly as it rotates. There is no weather to speak of, although there is more than enough water and soil for plants and trees here and there.
The city itself is perhaps four or five miles long and wide, bisected down the middle by one large road; a wide, paved road like one would drive cars on (although cars are nowhere to be found in the city, both due to the lack of need of them and the effects that the emissions would have on the atmosphere). Many smaller roads branch off of the main one, mostly towards points of interest within the colony. Buildings hardly ever go higher than perhaps four stories, with one notable exception, and are usually spread apart a fair distance.
Though mostly deserted, the city has various apartment-like buildings with free living spaces, as well as basic necessary services (food, medical, etc.) run by the scarce NPCs, who seem to have little personality but retain at least some semblance of free will to better do their assigned jobs. Not exactly people anyone would want to hang around or hold a conversation with, really.
Locations
Apartments: A medium-sized chunk of area near the center of the colony (though technically located a little to the east of the center road) that has been reserved for living space. For each new character, a new room appears, ten apartments per floor. Characters select the room they want to live in from what's available, and changes to the layout happen overnight. They're moderately-sized and modestly furnished, with a living room, a bedroom, a bathroom, and one computer terminal at the very minimum, but notably no kitchen -- it would seem characters have to travel outside of their rooms in order to feed themselves. Each apartment layout is slightly different than the one next to it.
Clinic: While not nearly as big or modernized as a hospital, there's a standard-issue clinic to the far left of the center road, equipped well enough to treat standard illnesses and injuries. There's various machines for doing scans, but nothing specialized. For example, while you might find a typical x-ray machine, you won't find anything for examining specific body parts. There are several NPCs of the aforementioned mechanical functions and lack of personality, but they get the job done. If someone were to be heavily or fatally wounded, however, it's completely unknown how they'd fare...
Canteen: A bar-style building, run by yet more NPCs, in which the characters are given food and drinks of their request. It seems there are resources in the back, but the NPCs are extremely strict about not allowing any of the residents back there under any circumstances. It more or less works like a restaurant with barstools and a single long counter, though the characters have the option of taking it home with them if they so desire.
Arcade: It seems whoever built the place has a sense of humor, or at least of what humans do with their free time. You don't need money to play around in the arcade, luckily; all the games are free. You've got the classics, and it seems the powers that be also know about DDR for one reason or another. Maybe it's better not to ask questions and just enjoy it, right?
Library: Surprisingly, there's also a library present. It has books on pretty much everything, and it seems nothing was withheld from the stock: history, science, technology, the arts, fiction, it's all there. Also, there are a few computer terminals scattered about, used mainly for searching books but that also have access to the network used to communicate with other residents. It seems to be unmonitored, though, so feel free to take whatever resources you desire from here.
Observatory: The highest point in the colony extends to the very top of the dome, cutting it so close that residents can actually reach out and touch the material keeping them inside. There's a powerful telescope and a nice view. Perhaps it's possible to find Earth -- maybe not your Earth, but someone's Earth -- among all those other chunks of rock and gas? It's a long shot, but it's still a chance...
Supplies Store: There's a small warehouse a little to the southeast, and like everything else, it's managed by NPCs. They have more practical supplies, and while they may or may not grant you anything potentially dangerous, stuff like household items or things for entertainment will probably be given to you within the span of a day if you should put in a request for them. Like the bar, there's a back area in which everything seems to be kept, however, in the same way, residents are strictly prohibited from entering it.
Meadow: A small field of about half a mile of open space in the northwest corner of the colony. Very grassy and lush, surprisingly, where plants and a few trees thrive. The only thing off about it, it would seem, is the fact that the sky is the black void of space speckled with the millions of stars that populate it instead of blue and possibly cloudy.
Pond: Considering there's nowhere for water to flow to in such a setting, all excess liquid collects into one particular depression on the northeastern part. Don't expect to go catching frogs, though; the only life to be found is microscopic bacteria, as luck would have it. The water is warm and still, constantly being heated by the "sun". Funny how it never evaporates, though...
Events
Events will be very whimsical and random as the game starts out, whenever activity seems to be slipping or whenever the players and mods feel it's time to put a new plot into motion.
Mod plots will range from small, just-for-fun events designed to facilitate activity and interactions with others, to events run by the big guy himself. In the case of the latter, it's what will happen when the nameless man who seems to be holding everyone here presents himself to the characters via a clearly labeled post on the computer terminals. Usually, it will be very short and to the point, asking the characters for a decision to be made. It may be relevant to them, or it may seem completely unrelated to their existence in the RP, but believe us when we say every decision will have a consequence of some kind, either immediately or sometime in the future. You may not realize what it is right away, but it will come in due time, depending on what happens.
The boss man will ask for one character to be a representative of all the residents of the colony -- he will give them time to choose amongst themselves; this isn't a democracy, after all. But if they cannot come to a consensus after a certain amount of time, then he will choose someone himself, regardless of their reputation as either trustworthy or troublesome. Once the representative is selected (this character selection process will be repeated each event, but using the same character twice in a row is certainly allowed), he will pose the residents a question of two or more options and give them a set amount of time to deliberate on their answer. It may be a question that is perhaps morally obvious (save a bunch of children in a school bus from driving off a cliff or let them die?), or one that is more debatable from person to person (allow karma to take the life of a serial killer by sheer accident?), but no matter what is decided, it will affect the characters in some way, as stated.
Once the decision is made, the representative will be asked to respond to the post made by the big guy with the collective answer of the community, and it will be made so. Once this decision is made, it cannot be taken back, so all characters are advised to choose wisely and weigh all options before making a final decision. Through this system of constant decision-making, various changes will be made to the RP environment from time to time.
Player plots, as well, are certainly welcomed and encouraged. We do ask that you run them by the mods first of all if you think they're questionable or would need approval -- we ask for the players to use their own discretion on what is fine without approval and what isn't -- but once you have clearance on things that may require mod or player consent, you are free to organize the participants and timeline of your plot in an OOC post (or, if the circumstances call for it, an IC post). Things that may be rejected automatically are events that kill undropped characters, godmode characters without player consent, destroy a large chunk of the colony itself, etc.
FAQ
Q) So you say you accept AU characters. How AU is AU?
A) So long as the character is still recognizable after the changes to the universe have been made, almost anything goes for this, and a combination of logic and creativity are encouraged. You can change histories, events, or roles in canon as you need to. Genderbending is also allowed as long as it's not a case of "swap the chromosomes and be done with it". The canon should also reflect the events that would have changed if a male character were female and vice versa.
Q) What about OCs?
A) OCs from original, unpublished mediums are not allowed within this game. Fan characters, created to exist within existing universes, are also disallowed.
Q) Do the characters have to be human? Can spirits/ghosts/etc. be applied for?
A) No, the characters can be any race or manifestation they need to be. However, spirit characters will be drawn into the same dimension as humans (or whatever separates humans from spirits in the canon will be bypassed) and made tangible. This doesn't, however, mean their powers will be taken away, just possibly changed a bit.
Q) Where in the canon/AU timeline should I take my character from?
A) Anywhere where a critical decision must be made by the apped character. Whether it is a conscious decision, something done over a few days or weeks, or something made instinctively in a matter of moments, as long as it could have more than one outcome to it, it will be allowed to fly.
Q) How does my character get here?
A) They have a (fairly one-sided) conversation with the man (or angel, or alien, or god) running the show and are then deposited onto the little unidentified "space colony", seemingly for safekeeping until their decision is made.
Q) And how do the characters and the boss man communicate?
Characters contact each other through a tiny little space colony version of wireless email, accessed at a kind of "lite" version of your standard home PC. It's not portable, but there's multiple stations (at least two or three) in virtually every building, and one in each apartment. There are no PDA devices, and devices that characters come with, such as cell phones, will no longer work (at least, they won't have anywhere to connect to). This is to encourage the use of third-person logging.
As for contacting the boss man... well, you don't, it seems. He comes to you, if you're lucky.
Q) How do the computers work? Is it just like LJ?
A) They basically only include a communication system (no internet on the side) with standard LJ features, excluding icons. Screening and privating posts is acceptable, and those with hacking skills can certainly figure out how to hack them if stated by the other player that it's acceptable.
Q) So, this place is entirely unmoderated? Can my character kill or be killed?
No and no, to put it simply. There are fairly stealthy NPCs that strictly police the colony at all times, breaking up fights and protecting those who are unable to protect themselves. They function like spirits, making them intangible and therefore unable to be attacked or harmed by the characters. They also do not speak, and their presence is nearly undetectable. Because death is permanent, and nothing is perfect, it's possible to die -- if you'd like to arrange such a thing, please, please, please contact the mods ahead of time -- but it is a much more difficult task to accomplish with such NPCs around.
Q) Are there power limitations?
A) The only limitations to powers will be those that can alter time and space itself, or that may be able to be used to escape the colony. Otherwise, no, all powers are retained.
Q) So will there be plots and events or something to keep people interested?
A) Absolutely! There's always room for player plotting, and mods will do various events at random (hopefully not very long) intervals, both ones that connect to the main, overarching plot, and ones that are just for fun as well.
Q) Activity checks. How frequently are they and what are the requirements?
A) Activity checks are conducted monthly. To pass, you need either one substantial journal post (a one-liner won't work, try for at least five) OR a log of at least ten comments, five of which were made by the starting character. Players will check in themselves at the beginning of each month with one or the other, or a hiatus note or reason why no activity was seen the previous month. Two failed checks in a row will mean the failing character is automatically dropped from the game and removed from the comms. Don't be ashamed to comment if you know you won't pass, though; it's better to comment and let the mods know you're still here than to have everyone think you're idling out. Failing to respond to the activity check will still result in a fail, while at least responding to let mods know the situation may keep you in the game for long enough to sort things out.
Also, if you appear on the activity check three times total without them being consecutive occurrences, a mod will contact you. If a mod cannot get in touch with you at this point, the violating character will be dropped from the game.
Q) How long can I hiatus for without being dropped from the game?
A) One month tops. If you have to hiatus for longer than this at a time, we ask that you please be courteous and drop your character(s) rather than character-squat. Semi-hiatuses (in which your replies are scarcer) do not apply to this rule. We'll keep them in mind for the activity checks, but you're still expected to at least make the checks.
If you have a question about something not covered in here, do feel free to ask and we'll add in the answer for future reference.