Alumni and Expatriates (formerly "Townlumni")
So your character is leaving the island, but you're not leaving the game, and you'd still like them to keep in touch? Fear not! As long as they've graduated from Fandom High or been in the game for at least a year, there's a system in place for you.
Alumni characters are students who have been played out through their senior year and have graduated from Fandom High. As of 2009, no new* seniors will be accepted in the Fandom High spring term, so every new alumnus will have completed at least two semesters at the school.
* An exception may be made for expatriate students returning to the island to finish out their education, since those characters have already put in the same amount of time required of an alumnus. If a case like that arises, please submit a full student application during an open app period, and it will be reviewed under the same standards as all other student apps.
Expatriate characters are any denizens of Fandom (teacher, townie, or non-graduated student) who have been in the game for at least one full year, and are now leaving the island.
fh_alumni is a comm that exists as a central communications point for these characters, both in-character and OOC. All alumni and expatriate characters may join and post in this community; players may also join the comm with on-island journals for the purpose of reading locked planning and info posts.
How Do I Transfer My Character to Alumni or Expatriate Status?
Senior student characters who participate in graduation will automatically become alumni; we'll keep track of that. After graduation, just request membership in the fh_alumni community by attempting to join it, and you'll be added by the maintainers.
If your non-graduate character is leaving the island, just let us know by sending an e-mail to fandomhighadmins at iambicnut dot com, and indicate that they're eligible for Expatriate status, and we'll make the necessary changes to the friending list! As with alumni, at the time your expat character leaves the island, just request membership in fh_alumni via joining though LJ, and the maintainers will add you.
So What Can I Do With My Alumni or Expatriate Characters?
You can continue to make posts in their journals, describing what's happening to them wherever they've ended up. They can send letters/e-mail and make phone calls back to Fandom, or to other alums and expats, using the Fandom High Alumni Network.
They can visit other alumni and expatriates using Portalocity, and receive visits from characters who still live on the island. These interactions can be played out in the alum/expat's journal, in the journals of whoever they're interacting with, or in fh_alumni.
They can also return to Fandom Island to visit. Previously, alumni and expats were limited to five days each month to be spent on-island, but as of October 2015, they can return as often as you'd like. (If you'd like them to return to the island to live, however, you'll need to transfer them to a townie or teacher position as described here.)
Through the sneaky magic of Fandom, alumni and expatriates located elsewhere can also participate in random weirdness like AU Weekend and Everybody Wakes Up As Grover Cleveland Day. (When the happenings are announced, we'll let you know if they're the type that would spread to former residents, or not. If they're localized to the island, you can always have your off-island character choose to visit that day.)
As long as you let us know that you consider the characters to be active alumni or expatriates, they will remain on the FH friending list, and be considered reserved, just like on-island characters. No one else can apply with another version of that character during that time.
What Are The Requirements To Be Considered Active?
As of October 2015, there is no longer a specific activity requirement for alumni and expatriates, as long as they're living off-island. (Though if you truly don't feel like playing them anymore, please let us know so that we can mark the character as open for others to apply a new version.)
There will be an annual OOC check-in post to let the admins know whether you still consider the character active. If you don't check in there, your character may be removed from the game. (If this happens, you can still request to return the character to active status later, as covered in the rules for Dropped Characters, as long as no one has applied for a new version of the character yet.)
What Can't Alumni and Expatriates Do?
Not much! If a plot or event is restricted to or from a specific type of character, whoever is running that plot will say so, but most things open to on-island residents are also open, in one way or another, to our far-flung grads and expats.
What If I Want My Alumni or Expatriate to come back and live on the island again? (Or Stay after Graduating.)
Not a problem! Check out the rules/process over here for transferring them to Townie or Teacher status. (Just be aware that once you do, the activity requirement for on-island characters is back in play.)
What's this Portalocity Thing?
Through Portalocity, the multiverse's travel agency, you can gain access to universes other than your own. If you wish to visit a universe inhabited by a Fandom High alum or expat from a departure point other than Fandom Island, you need to use Portalocity, unless your character's canon has access to dimensional travel. If you wish to visit a universe that's not yours, but doesn't have someone from FH living there, Portalocity will do that too, but ICly, it's going to be more expensive and a bumpier ride, and OOCly, it will have to be part of an approved plot proposal.
Approved travel to and from Fandom - walking across the causeway, flying/boating in and out, wandering in through the Preserve, appearing randomly, etc. doesn't require Portalocity, though it's one of the options. Fandom Island has its own inexplicable travel system. Portalocity is only required for going places you're not from, without involving the island.
Using Portalocity does not come cheap. The average price for a one-way trip is $75 USD or equivalent in various currencies. Occasionally, there will be sales made available through the Portalocity website, phone hotline or in the Portalocity store in your universe (if you can find one). Additionally, Portalocity is not as simple as stepping through a portal. Think of it more like a multiversal airport. To get to the portal, you will have to meet at a designated place, travel isn't quick or completely painless (figuratively speaking) and it's entirely possible that your luggage could end up in Australia, a million years ago. Basically, it's available (and handwavy) but it should generally be a bit of a pain in the butt.
Keeping Things Separate
Alumni and expats may visit each other through Portalocity, and even make permanent moves to somebody else's universe (with their permission, of course), but different canons should remain in separate dimensions. This is both for the sake of continuity, and to be fair to future players from those canons. There are, of course, shades of gray. If you'd like us to consider the possibility of establishing two canons as being in the same universe, make sure you have the permission of all current players from those canons, then bring it to the admins as a plot proposal for discussion, with a good argument as to why they could exist together, and why you would need them to.
But No Really, What Do I Do With Them Now?
Some characters are gifted with a canon that they can follow and tweak based on how Fandom has changed their character over the years. Some aren't. Your best bet with maintaining off-island characters in the long term is to have a plan. Figure out where you want your character to eventually end up. This doesn't have to be their normal canonical place once they're adults. They don't even have to end up in the same universe as they originally came from! However, you will need to find some way to sustain their activities over a long period of time if you want to keep them near-indefinitely and you should not rely only on characters back in Fandom in order to do it.
Talk to your fellow alumni and expats. Set something up. Collaborate. Create an on-going storyline. Give them something to do. Some examples include following canon, or setting up a base of operations from which you can do short-term plots and invite people to join you, or even tweak your character's timeline so that you can make leaps ahead and get to where you need to be faster than Fandom time is passing.
If you find yourself struggling to find a direction for your character, talk to someone. The admins are happy to help you brainstorm and patch something together, but you should also consider putting a discussion post up in fh_alumni to see if you can figure things out with fellow players.
*[Last edited in October 2015 with updates to activity and island visitation policies.]
Alumni characters are students who have been played out through their senior year and have graduated from Fandom High. As of 2009, no new* seniors will be accepted in the Fandom High spring term, so every new alumnus will have completed at least two semesters at the school.
* An exception may be made for expatriate students returning to the island to finish out their education, since those characters have already put in the same amount of time required of an alumnus. If a case like that arises, please submit a full student application during an open app period, and it will be reviewed under the same standards as all other student apps.
Expatriate characters are any denizens of Fandom (teacher, townie, or non-graduated student) who have been in the game for at least one full year, and are now leaving the island.
fh_alumni is a comm that exists as a central communications point for these characters, both in-character and OOC. All alumni and expatriate characters may join and post in this community; players may also join the comm with on-island journals for the purpose of reading locked planning and info posts.
How Do I Transfer My Character to Alumni or Expatriate Status?
Senior student characters who participate in graduation will automatically become alumni; we'll keep track of that. After graduation, just request membership in the fh_alumni community by attempting to join it, and you'll be added by the maintainers.
If your non-graduate character is leaving the island, just let us know by sending an e-mail to fandomhighadmins at iambicnut dot com, and indicate that they're eligible for Expatriate status, and we'll make the necessary changes to the friending list! As with alumni, at the time your expat character leaves the island, just request membership in fh_alumni via joining though LJ, and the maintainers will add you.
So What Can I Do With My Alumni or Expatriate Characters?
You can continue to make posts in their journals, describing what's happening to them wherever they've ended up. They can send letters/e-mail and make phone calls back to Fandom, or to other alums and expats, using the Fandom High Alumni Network.
They can visit other alumni and expatriates using Portalocity, and receive visits from characters who still live on the island. These interactions can be played out in the alum/expat's journal, in the journals of whoever they're interacting with, or in fh_alumni.
They can also return to Fandom Island to visit. Previously, alumni and expats were limited to five days each month to be spent on-island, but as of October 2015, they can return as often as you'd like. (If you'd like them to return to the island to live, however, you'll need to transfer them to a townie or teacher position as described here.)
Through the sneaky magic of Fandom, alumni and expatriates located elsewhere can also participate in random weirdness like AU Weekend and Everybody Wakes Up As Grover Cleveland Day. (When the happenings are announced, we'll let you know if they're the type that would spread to former residents, or not. If they're localized to the island, you can always have your off-island character choose to visit that day.)
As long as you let us know that you consider the characters to be active alumni or expatriates, they will remain on the FH friending list, and be considered reserved, just like on-island characters. No one else can apply with another version of that character during that time.
What Are The Requirements To Be Considered Active?
As of October 2015, there is no longer a specific activity requirement for alumni and expatriates, as long as they're living off-island. (Though if you truly don't feel like playing them anymore, please let us know so that we can mark the character as open for others to apply a new version.)
There will be an annual OOC check-in post to let the admins know whether you still consider the character active. If you don't check in there, your character may be removed from the game. (If this happens, you can still request to return the character to active status later, as covered in the rules for Dropped Characters, as long as no one has applied for a new version of the character yet.)
What Can't Alumni and Expatriates Do?
Not much! If a plot or event is restricted to or from a specific type of character, whoever is running that plot will say so, but most things open to on-island residents are also open, in one way or another, to our far-flung grads and expats.
What If I Want My Alumni or Expatriate to come back and live on the island again? (Or Stay after Graduating.)
Not a problem! Check out the rules/process over here for transferring them to Townie or Teacher status. (Just be aware that once you do, the activity requirement for on-island characters is back in play.)
What's this Portalocity Thing?
Through Portalocity, the multiverse's travel agency, you can gain access to universes other than your own. If you wish to visit a universe inhabited by a Fandom High alum or expat from a departure point other than Fandom Island, you need to use Portalocity, unless your character's canon has access to dimensional travel. If you wish to visit a universe that's not yours, but doesn't have someone from FH living there, Portalocity will do that too, but ICly, it's going to be more expensive and a bumpier ride, and OOCly, it will have to be part of an approved plot proposal.
Approved travel to and from Fandom - walking across the causeway, flying/boating in and out, wandering in through the Preserve, appearing randomly, etc. doesn't require Portalocity, though it's one of the options. Fandom Island has its own inexplicable travel system. Portalocity is only required for going places you're not from, without involving the island.
Using Portalocity does not come cheap. The average price for a one-way trip is $75 USD or equivalent in various currencies. Occasionally, there will be sales made available through the Portalocity website, phone hotline or in the Portalocity store in your universe (if you can find one). Additionally, Portalocity is not as simple as stepping through a portal. Think of it more like a multiversal airport. To get to the portal, you will have to meet at a designated place, travel isn't quick or completely painless (figuratively speaking) and it's entirely possible that your luggage could end up in Australia, a million years ago. Basically, it's available (and handwavy) but it should generally be a bit of a pain in the butt.
Keeping Things Separate
Alumni and expats may visit each other through Portalocity, and even make permanent moves to somebody else's universe (with their permission, of course), but different canons should remain in separate dimensions. This is both for the sake of continuity, and to be fair to future players from those canons. There are, of course, shades of gray. If you'd like us to consider the possibility of establishing two canons as being in the same universe, make sure you have the permission of all current players from those canons, then bring it to the admins as a plot proposal for discussion, with a good argument as to why they could exist together, and why you would need them to.
But No Really, What Do I Do With Them Now?
Some characters are gifted with a canon that they can follow and tweak based on how Fandom has changed their character over the years. Some aren't. Your best bet with maintaining off-island characters in the long term is to have a plan. Figure out where you want your character to eventually end up. This doesn't have to be their normal canonical place once they're adults. They don't even have to end up in the same universe as they originally came from! However, you will need to find some way to sustain their activities over a long period of time if you want to keep them near-indefinitely and you should not rely only on characters back in Fandom in order to do it.
Talk to your fellow alumni and expats. Set something up. Collaborate. Create an on-going storyline. Give them something to do. Some examples include following canon, or setting up a base of operations from which you can do short-term plots and invite people to join you, or even tweak your character's timeline so that you can make leaps ahead and get to where you need to be faster than Fandom time is passing.
If you find yourself struggling to find a direction for your character, talk to someone. The admins are happy to help you brainstorm and patch something together, but you should also consider putting a discussion post up in fh_alumni to see if you can figure things out with fellow players.
*[Last edited in October 2015 with updates to activity and island visitation policies.]