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Characters
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NEWS ALTS 
Edit
Players are allowed six (6) "normal" alternate characters, and up to three (3) Feature Characters (FCs). As a note, players who are found unable to keep their FCs active may be restricted to a smaller number, be it two, one, or zero FCs. This will depend primarily upon the player's idle warning history and whether they have been removed from FCs due to inactivity. Note that this restriction does not count against characters that have been classified Minor FCs. (See 'NEWS ALT TYPES'.)
ALTERNATE VERSIONS OF FCs Edit
We will not allow multiple Charles Xaviers, Supermen, etc. However, there /are/ cases where "alternate versions" can be acceptable, as established by a variety of characters on the game (and often in the comics). There can only be one Superman, who is also Kal-El/Clark Kent. However, Majestic, Hyperion, Supreme, and Superboy may all be apped as separate characters. We will note, OC alternate versions /are/, for the most part, banned. FC alternate versions are /restricted/, but appable, with permission. Please keep this in mind when considering alts.
NEWS ALT CONFLICT Edit
A few words about "alt conflict." It's a tough issue. The following rules are designed to avoid it. Players may not play:
- Two or more characters who are biologically related. (Hopefully, this one is obvious.)
- Two or more characters who operate in the same immediate group. Such as two teammates.
- Two or more characters who work directly together. Such as Perry White and Lois Lane or Tony Stark and Jarvis.
- A villain primarily designed to fight your own character or a group in which one of your characters is a member.
Your characters should not be in the same room without staff approval and with a staff member present, and should never interact. Your alts should not be communicating, sharing knowledge, or sending messages off camera.
NEWS ALT TYPES Edit
Several types of characters exist. The ones we will be primarily concerned with are Feature Characters (FCs), Original Characters (OCs), and Adapted Feature Characters (AFCs). Every character falls into one of these categories. Your &TYPE should be set to match one of the following:
- FC: Any character which has appeared in any published work of any kind is technically a Feature Character. For FCs, a company must be included. We currently accept DC and Marvel, and if your character originates from another company or a medium other than comics, then they are an "Adapted FC." You may only control one unapproved FC at a time.
- OC: If you are apping a character which is your own original creation, then it is considered an OC or "Original Character."
If you aren't sure which type of character you have, please contact staff. We will be happy to help assign your character an appropriate &type.
ALT SUB-TYPES Edit
- Note: You may suggest or request what "sub-type" you believe a character would be, but staff has the final word on what status a character is given. Please check with staff before assuming the "alt type" status of any particular character.
- Minor: This is a sub-set of FCs, but they do not count against the total number of FCs you may play. They may have no powers which exceed 15 points, and should be uncommon characters.
- Support: Support characters may have no metahuman abilities that total more than 10 points, and may have no serious offensive capabilities. These characters exist only to give the game color, and will not take up an alt slot.
- BG: Relatively few characters will be approved for this role. BG Alts are not expected to be out in RP all the time, simply because that is not their role. They should seek RP where they can get it, but should avoid making random public appearances. They do not take up an alt slot. Powered "support" characters and "mastermind" villains are more likely to be approved for this status; Professor X and Magneto are good examples.
NEWS ALIGN Edit
We believe that every character falls into one of the following:
- Hero: You uphold (and usually obey) the law, and are generally honorable and civil to others. The classic good guy, more or less.
- Anti-Hero: Your motivations are basically good, but you have your own brandof justice and willingly ignore the law.
- Neutral: You are your own person, and you live by your own rules and motives. "Good" and "evil" are entirely relative.
- Villain: You take what you can get, and woe to he who steps in your way. Morality is no issue, you just do what you want.
- Reluctant Villain: For whatever reason, you've ended up on the wrong side of the law. You're more misunderstood than evil.
- Civilian: You follow the law most of the time, but mostly mind your own business. (This is mainly for "Support" type characters.)
Character alignment is tracked for mostly statistical purposes, and is not a hard and fast rule of how your character must behave.
NEWS CONNECTIONS Edit
This is not a canon game, and a full canon background /will/ be rejected, In general, FCs may include other FCs in their BG without permission if:
- You are playing the FC child of FCs, you may include the char's parents.
- The FC played an essential role in your character's origin.
- The two FCs are /integrally linked/ in the original source canon to the point where the average fan would find it hard to imagine one without the other. Examples of this would be Batman using Robin, Supergirl using Superman, or The Wasp using Hank Pym.
You /do/ require permission in all other circumstances and for any use of specific FC names by OC applicants, except for purposes of comparative description.
Permission to use an FC may be sought from staff if:
- The character does not currently have a player.
- The player has not responded within a week's time.
NEWS CONTINUITY Edit
This MUX is based on a convergence of major comic book worlds, most directly DC and Marvel. While NEWS THEME must be upheld, our continuity is comprised of what actually occurs on the game. It is not a requirement, but is strongly suggested that you use the history command (See: '+help +hist') to keep notes on what happens to your characters after approval.
When characters are dropped, their continuity is considered still "canon" to the game. This means that, effectively, everything they did has still happened and is not wiped out because they've left. Some things can be tweaked or glossed over a bit to suit the needs of the new player--think of it like the character's comic getting taken over by a new writer--but in general the spirit of the character and their history should remain intact.
There are some particular exceptions, provisos, and other ares of flexibility in this policy, of course. For one, by virtue of Hypertime, character history may be wiped/tweaked, as detailed in that news file. It is also possible to have a retcon without a character reboot, but there are rules and limitations for doing so, as outlined in the next file.
RETCONS Edit
A retcon is when past IC events are determined not to have happened. We as staff feel that retcons should be quite rare, and are more than willing to assist in resolving difficult IC situations that may occur. However, we accept that sometimes erasing a scene may be necessary.
Any individual scene may always be retonned if /all/ players involved agree to it. The only other way a retcon is permissible is by staff ruling, which will only be considered as a last resort, such as if a player strongly believes a scene has written them into a hole with no way out, is negating their ability to enjoy RP, or has involved a serious breach of the rules. This requires that the player submit a log of the incident and fully explain the problem. Retcons cannot be used to escape reasonable IC consequences, but we are more than willing to work with a player who feels they are "stuck."
More extensive retcons, such as alterations to a character +concept, background, or IC history always require staff approval. They may or may not be approved, depending primarily on staff's determination of what impact the changes will have on the game and on other characters, whether the changes are appropriate to the game's theme, and how necessary the changes seem (as presented by the player in question and as determiend by staff ruling).
NEWS DROP Edit
If you decide you want to drop an alt, please submit a Theme +request. In the text of this +request, make sure to actually state your character's name and that you wish to drop them. FCs will be given new passwords and so their stats can be saved and their BGs read by future appers, for the sake of being consistent. All resignations are considered final. If you want to drop, make sure you mean it before you do so. If you are considering dropping a character or leaving the game, staff recommend taking at least 24 hours to think about it before sending in a resignation notice.
Players who voluntarily drop an FC are obligated to wait a minimum of one month before they may apply for that same FC again. The only exception to this rule is if the character was dropped due to some specific reason, and that reason is explained to staff ahead of time. If that reason is resolved or becomes a non-issue, then they may app for the character again immediately. For example, someone thinks they're going to lose Internet access because they can't afford it. So, to be fair and avoid sitting on their FC alt, they inform staff of the situation and drop the alt. Then, they get a new job and so don't lose access -- they may then reapp normally. Otherwise, they are obligated to wait one month.
In the case of an FC character "idling out" (See: 'NEWS IDLE'), then the player may reapp immediately upon their return the first time. If it happens again, then it becomes a matter of staff discretion. If a player is removed from their alt by staff for any reason, then they may not app that alt again unless staff specifically grants permission.
NEWS IDLE Edit
Idle policy is pretty simple. Once a character is approved, they are expected to log somewhat regularly. If an approved character goes 30 days without connecting, they will be considered "idle." If an OC is idle, then staff may choose to @nuke the character without warning. If an FC is idle, then the character will be set unapproved and available for app. Newly approved characters who do not actually go IC within two weeks will also be considered idle unless another arrangement is made with staff ahead of time.
Please note that if you are planning to be away for a specified period of time, then you may discuss that with staff. We are really pretty reasonable about such things. Also, please note that we do have a "vacation" command (+help +vacation) for that purpose.
If a character is on vacation for longer than the time specified in their +vacation setting, they may be subject to idle status. Also, if a character has been logging in often enough to keep from being "idle" but never seems to be available for RP, or only pops on for a few minutes to reset their "last connected" time, then staff may decide to declare them in violation of idle policy anyway.
IDLE POLICY FOR UNAPPROVED CHARACTERS Edit
Unapproved characters have a different set of idle standards. If a character goes a week without logging in before approval, or if they have not done any work on setting up the character by that time, the character will be considered idle and may be nuked or put back up for application. This may also happen if you do not apply within a month, if you go two weeks after receiving a rejection without fixing it or if you do not go IC within a week after approval. OC's may be given more leeway than FCs, because they will not be keeping others from apping them.
This may seem harsh, but we need people playing characters who are enthusiastic enough to at least set up within a reasonable time and take them IC a few times a month. If you have a good RL reason, then we may well be willing to reserve a character until you, say, finish finals, come back from vacation, get that massive project at work done, etc.
If you need more time to work on setting up your character, please contact *STAFF and clear it with us. We're willing to be flexible, but you need to keep up informed of your situation. :)
NEWS RESTRICTIONS Edit
"Overused" concepts may are subject to more scrutiny than other ideas, and will require more extensive apps. "Banned" characters and concepts will never be approved, so please do not apply for them. You must send in a Theme +request for a restricted character before you may app it. This generally means that you must have another approved character on the game before apping a restricted alt.
"Restricted" concepts may be apped normally, but staff reserves the right to full reject the app for no reason other than that it is restricted, and we do not feel that it is appropriate to the game's theme at that time. Players may appeal this, if they feel they can make the concept work, by sending @mail to *THEME to either justify the app or to set up a time to discuss it with at least two theme wizards. If the appeal is granted, you may then concept app again, but approval is not garunteed. If the concept is still seen as unacceptable and still restricted, then you will be final rejected without further appeal.
Please note that some power sets, while not specifically overdone or banned, are considered somewhat problematic. Examples are reality manipulation, genetic manipulation, and power suppressing/stealing. We do not encourage these power sets. They may not be "disallowed," but they are difficult to do properly, and may be harder to get approved due to their potential for abuse.
Although we do do our best to make sure that all restricted/banned FCs are listed, we know we have not thought of every character which we might choose to ban. It may therefore occur that a character may be apped that staff would conclude should be restricted or even banned. If you are considering applying for anything which might be difficult or thematically unusual, it is advisable to contact staff and make sure it won't be a problem. We're willing to help however we can.
Some specific examples of unwise concepts are:
Characters with "sex" powers. Characters who are unusually powerful and normally operate on a "cosmic" scale. (Heralds of Galactus, etc.) Characters that do not really have a "social life," are entirely combat-based, or are "trained killer" types and thus might not be particularly playable long term on a MUX.
NEWS SOURCES Edit
The golden rule is that if you're unsure about something, you can always ask staff. :) You can reference '+chars/ban' for a general list of banned concepts from comic book sources and general guidelines for what cannot be played on the game. The following files, though, specifically detail sources from outside superhero-themed comics that can and cannot be played as Adapted FCs. If you have an idea that does not appear on either list, you are welcome to suggest that source to staff. Staff will consider it, then, and either work to graft that source in as an accepted source or place it on the "banned" list.
Please note that just because staff allows any particular source does not necessarily mean we will allow any other particular source (i.e., you allowed characters from Show X, so you HAVE to allow characters from Show Y). Each source of Adapted FCs will be individually accepted or banned at staff's discretion. We reserve the right to allow or ban any source based on our own judgement. Player input may be sought through polls, but the final decision will always remain with Theme staff. Thank you for your understanding. :)
