[RESOURCE] Management Q&A

[Daekie]

Would characters that were not played in the dystopian future meta retain 'memories', or have dreamed of it?

For example: say I have Civilian Y. During the Dystopian Future, they were not involved in it. However, now they power up into Sailor W, although the meta is over. Could I make mention that they dreamed about being Corrupt Sailor W in the future because they were not played in the meta?

Your characters can gain memories from the meta if they were not played/if you received or powered them after the meta ended, however you will still need to post their profile in the 'Where We Are Now' thread. In addition, they cannot gain just a wave of memories from the meta; for them to remember something in present day you will need to complete a solo or roleplay. Once that is finished and posted, they can recover the memory in present day. If at least one solo or roleplay is finished, they may also recover memories of major events that they did not participate in while the meta was going but which they might have participated in had you had the character powered at the time.

If you have additional questions about this, please feel free to either post here or PM the mule for more information!  

[shibrogane]

Wait a second, re: staff only crits, the staff doesn't have experience with a lot of minorities. What if someone's quest is offensive to a minority group, but they've requested staff only crit? There've been several quests that were offensive towards gender-nonconforming people, none of which were called out by staff. This isn't a decision that's going to make a comfortable RP environment for people who deal with the reality of living those experiences every day.

A player can request only staff crit if they like; it is their choice if they would like feedback from other players, and we want to ensure that everyone can feel comfortable posting their quests. If a player wants to avoid discussion about the character beyond what is absolutely necessary to have the character stamped, they have every right to. Some people request crit to improve a profile, and some just want a stamp so they can play it.

One player cannot decide what is offensive for an entire minority group, however if it is offensive to them as an individual they can contact the mule to discuss it and we will review the profile in question. If a character seems to be written as a deliberate attempt to insult or belittle anyone, staff will intervene, however if a player has simply written a profile for a character they are interested in playing then they should be permitted, within reason, to do so.

There are many players in our shop who are nonbinary, and who identifies as what cannot always be determined through what characters they play or how they interact with other members of the shop. Some people are more comfortable with discussing their gender identity than others, so it isn't fair to say that an entire minority group is offended by a profile when it may be a member of that group writing the profile.  

[Ivynian]

Most Awakenings end up being handwaved. It leaves out awareness of how a character comes to know their name, and if applicable their sphere. Can we get a clarification for each of the factions/subfactions of how they come to know their name? For example, a knight supposedly just knows inside that they are Lilliput of Chronos, but WMC need a Mauvian present to tell them that they are Westphal (lost comet), Senshi of Lap Blankets.

So who is named externally, who chooses their own, and who knows instictually out of -

( I may have missed some, please feel free to fill in!)

Mauvians (Chaos) - The name just comes to them! If no name comes to them/if they are unable to recall their name, they may have the cat choose a new one!
Mauvians (Order) - The name just comes to them! If no name comes to them/if they are unable to recall their name, they may have the cat choose a new one!
Negaverse Agents (straight corrupted) - Typically named by the officer who corrupts them or has a name assigned by a GK; the GK has final decision in the name, however theycan accept nominations or suggestions from anyone involved.
Negaverse Agents (corrupted from knight) - In some instances, the Agent may retain their corrupted wonder name, however this is very uncommon; more often then not, the GK involved in corruption will assign a new name (though may accept nominations from any other Negaverse involved in the corruption
Corrupted Senshi (straight Corrupt with/without Mauvian) - Typically named by the General King involved in the corruption if a Mauvian isn't present; because names are chosen and not inherited in the Negaverse, a name could be submitted by someone else for the GK to consider
Mirror Senshi (straight corrupted) - They need a Mauvian to tell them their name; even if awakened through the Mirror in Mirrorspace, they will still need a Mauvian to identify them!
Knights (straight to order) - Usually the name of the Wonder will come to them, like an inner calling! Mauvians cannot tell them their name.
Knights (purified from chaos) - The Knight's name could either pop into their head some time after purification, or a Royal Knight could tell them their name!
WMC Senshi (straight to order) - A Mauvian must provide their name! Since cats are involved in awakenings, this is relatively easy!
WMC Senshi (purified from chaos) - A Mauvian must provide their name! Any time after purification, a Mauvian will be able to sense their name and provide it to the senshi  

[Daekie]

If a Senshi is not chibi in the present, could their past life have been a chibi senshi? Is there any limit on the age of past lives -- how young/old they can be in any memories?

This is up to you! A senshi could have been a chibi in a past life but be an adult now! There is a vast freedom on the age your character was in the past life, and present day senshi can any have memories from their past life from birth until just before death! If you have questions or something specific in mind, please feel free to either post here or PM the mule!

The only rule on past lives is that you cannot play your past life character at any rank you have not achieved in present day! (So if you have a super senshi in present day, you could play them up to super senshi in a past life, or chibi super senshi! But if you wanted to play them at eternal rank in the past, you would have to reach that stage in present day first!)  

[EvilSilverDragon]

I have two three questions as of current, if I may.

First being with battle rps. I know it has to have two power characters. Most I have seen is two powers against each other. Could it count if it is two powers against a disposable? ie Senshi+Knight vs disposable youma?

A powered character may only count one battle with a disposable/NPC youma towards requirements, regardless of however many powered characters are involved, sorry! The powered characters must be engaged in combat with eachother at some point in time for it to count!

In that scenario, would a cat count towards the powered even if they don't have the human form yet?

A cat may also count only one youma battle for requirements, however a cat does not need to have a human form to obtain battles! The cat needs only be involved in the battle in some way for it to count! Not all battles need to have characters physically fighting; if a character attempts to break up a fight it might also count as a battle for them, or if the character is attempting to serve as a distraction while other character fight it could also be used as a battle for them. We are happy to elaborate on this if you have further questions, but in general, only one youma can be prominently featured in a battle and have it still count. If a Negaverse Agents summons a youma and a Senshi were to battle both of them, it could count as a battle outside of the 'one youma battle', since it is a Player character fighting a player character. If you were to use one of the Player Controlled youma, this would count as a battle, outside of the 'one NPC youma' battle! We understand this can be confusing, so if you would like us to go over it, please feel free to ask more questions here or shoot the mule a PM!

Lastly, I was gifted a character and was told if I made any changes to the profile it would have to be re-approved. I was curious if I could get approval for just one change and if that would need to go into the quest thread for approval? The character was a high school student when she started but is now in her early twenties, I'd like to give her a full time job in place of the part time one she has right now.

That would not need approval! If you are changing any of her hobbies, virtues, flaws or anything on her powered side you would need to post for approval, but almost everything else is fine for you to change on your own! Graduating or getting a new job is something you can just update in your journal!  

[Eos Galvus]

First of all I apologize for a multipart logistics question, so I deploy internets to staff for taking time to answer.

Question is:

A. While Senshi commonly speak attacks, is a mute character (Be it due genetic defect or some form of injury) capable of becoming a senshi and utilizing their magic provided the player selects a sphere that a person whom is incapable of speaking with their voice (speaks fine with writing or sign language, but voice is not possible) would be appropriate for be accepted? E.G.

Sailor Pinkiepie the Senshi of Pogs would not be appropriate, because pogs do not deal in a sphere that quiet would really be a blessing in disguise in, where Sailor SparkleFlies whom is the senshi of Silence (Provided that Saturn doesn't qualify for silence) or Sailor NinjaPen Senshi of Stealth Flight MIGHT be appropriate.

If a character is mute, their sphere would not necessarily have to have anything to do with silence; if a player wanted a character who was unable to speak, we would attempt to work with them. There are some things we cannot approve, such as blindness, because realistically in the game environment they would be targeted as easy prey; a character who is unable to speak could still function in a way that would allow them to defend themselves, even if they are not able to communicate with others in the typical manner. If the civilian side of the quest is mute, the sphere would not need to reflect; you could quest for Sailor Whatever, Senshi of Logs or Whispers or any quiet/silent related sphere!

- If so would those senshi use a foci as part of their fuku? E.G. a brooch of their tiara?
Are you asking if they would use a part of their fuku to cast the magic? Sorry! We need a little extra clarification!

B. If a character is mute and capable of sign (ASL or ESL), but not capable or oral speech, be able to be a senshi?
Yes; while there are some physical traits that we cannot approve a character to have, a character who cannot speak would be capable to be a senshi. There are still players in the shop who study ASL and ESL, so they would still be able to communicate!

C. Would a mute character be permissible as a senshi or knight at all and if so would the magic employed by either serve to give them some form of magic 'voice' that would only be employed for henshining and attacks, or would a personal item of that nature be part of a basic stage that served the same function be available?

If a character is physically unable to speak, they would not gain a voice while powered; instead, the character would just have to focus on the words. Visually, they might sign the words, or just say them in their head, but if they are focusing on the meaning of the words then they would still be able to power up or cast their magic.

E.G.

Sailor PurplePolkadots is the senshi of Purple Dinosaurs with green spots but has no capacity for oral speech (Such as due an illness), would they have some magic that allows them to verbalize, in some manner, their henshin and attacks? (Such as Revenge of Barney or similar)

Or Sailor Batman, whom is Senshi of Vacuum (As soundwaves cannot travel in a vacuum), would /they/ have this same capability?

Regardless of sphere, the character would not be magically granted the ability to speak just from powering up. If you wanted to quest for a personal item for this character to use while powered, however, that might work! (Usually personal items have something to do either with the sphere or something that was important to the character in a past life, so if you are going that route than it might be best to choose a sphere that would make the item make sense—but if you have any ideas, we are more than happy to work with you to try and make sure everything makes sense and works out!)

SORRY FOR THE WEIRD QUESTION but thank you in advance for patience with my wondering and answering!  

[Daekie]

What time do all the schools in Destiny City start at and get out at? I've been drawing on my high school experience of 7:20 - 2:15, but it occurred to me this isn't everyone's timing.

The individual schools may run on a slightly different schedule from each other, but the earliest one would start at 7:00 and the latest one would get out by 3:00!  

[Sakura Faerie x]

If say you own both a negaverse agent (Character A) and a senshi (character B), would one be allowed to roleplay Char. A vs Char B and have it count as a battle? In other words, you role plays both characters.

Unfortunately, no! This would only count as a solo, though if each character had at least 450 words then they could both count it for a solo!  

[Das Tor]

Is it possible for someone to play the same disposable youma multiple times? No real intelligence beyond what a basic youma has, but still the same creature after it's had a chance to reform in the Rift, if disposable youma would be capable of that?

Absolutely! Unless the youma is dusted by a fourth stage's tiara, it can regenerate and return to Destiny City as often as you like!  

[Daekie]

How different can the uniform / fuku of a past life or ancestor be?

The fuku has to be identifiably related to the current senshi, so same colors, but it can vary (sometimes vastly) to reflect the fashion or customs of your character's past life homeworld/wonder. The limitations are a little looser for past life characters; for example, senshi may have more off colored bodices (they shouldn't be dark!), or have some armor, but there is a lot of freedom in designing the fuku of a senshi; Knights must still represent their wonder but may have individual flares relevant to the wonder they were protecting, or in reference to their original homeworld (in the case of Knights that were born on another planet than the one they serve under). As long as your character's uniform still resembles the present day uniform enough to be identifiable, you are good!  

[Noir Songbird]

What is the official stance on whether energy taken in draining is recoverable or not? My officers were ICly told (and I OOCly believed) that it was eventually recoverable basically by the drained person resting (barring the rare exception where someone was drained fully of all their energy at once and, you know, died) but I've seen a few people state that is not the case, and that it is irrecoverable "years off your life."

What is the official stance? Does it differ between energy taken by Negas and energy taken by the DMC? If it is permanent, how widely is that known?

In almost all situations, energy is recoverable. The energy draining from the Negaverse and DMC is dangerous becuase it causes an immediate, short term drop of energy, and characters can be killed because their body does not have the energy to sustain itself, but this in itself will not drain years off of a character's life. If the same character is drained repeatedly over a significant course of time, it will cause irrecoverable damage to the body. Draining a moderate to large amount of energy over an extended period of time simulates the aging process; when the body has too little energy to support itself, it wears down on the organs and the body has to work extra hard to maintain itself. Eventually, the organs will be so worn down that they begin to fail, thus "taking years off your life", however this is not advertised by the Negaverse nor observed often enough for most officers to be aware of it. If an officer were doing very practiced research on the effects of energy draining then they might become aware of it, however the general population is told to drain energy from many people rather than to continue draining from the same specific people so as to avoid attention.

The Negaverse is capable of draining energy in far larger quantities than the Dark Mirror Court; the Negaverse is capable of draining energy discretely however the DMC requires the Mirrorwraiths, who are far less proficient at gathering energy than Negaverse Agents; while a single agent could drain enough energy from one individual over a significant course of time, it would take multiple wraiths to accomplish this task. When the wraith becomes corporeal, they can be destroyed and the energy lost, so it is best to drain from unsuspecting individuals versus an individual who is familiar with wraiths. If they realize the wraith gets corporeal when full of energy, they could attack and destroy it! If a Dark Mirror Senshi abducted an individual into Mirrorspace to drain them, they could trap them in a mirror, however at that point Mirrorspace would simply drain the individual of as much energy as it could. When there is little to no energy left, it ejects the individual from Mirrorspace; while some may die from complications of energy loss, the majority of them can recover with appropriate care. If a Dark Mirror Senshi targeted the same individual over and over again, it is possible, however in using a wraith it would be more dangerous for the wraith after multiple attempts at draining and, since the DMC have an inferior ability to drain, would likely take years to take any noticable effect on an individual; if a Dark Mirror Senshi kept taking the same person to Mirrorspace repeatedly over a short period of time then it is likely that they would simply wind up dead after complications from energy draining.  

[Ivynian]

Back on May 25, 2013, I asked about whether there would ever be an info thread answering the inquiries from the older 25 page Q&A archive that would detail and answer the ins-and-outs of magic effects/advantages for team members and their mauvians (such as sensing the team members whereabouts) and captaincy items, let alone if there's any effects for Chaos teams (DMC or Negas). The answer then was that it was being worked on. Since its been well over a year, is this information backburnered? Still in progress? There are still fledging team plots in the plot forum that could benefit from having this information.

Quote:

Looking through the old archive Q&A, will there ever be an info write up on the ins-and-outs of teams/courts in the [Information] subforum?

Stuff like LizzyMoo's questions about Captain's Items, which I didn't realize there even were captains items ( and the last update about uniform standards specifically stated no items on senshi art unless GM approved...which I guess would be the caveat that refers to captain's items?)

And the information Nessy and Mouse clarified for AstaraeI about Teams and Courts.

For active players who may be interested in forming new teams, which there seems to be a resurgence of in the Plot forum, the clarifications would be really helpful to have available ( and not everyone has been around since 2011 to know the information even exists or how accurate it is now)

Teams and captaincy items are two thing that staff has been working on revamping. Basically there are big changes coming to both, so while I cannot answer this question right now without causing a heck of a lot more confusion, you can expect an update/announcement within the next couple of months regarding teams.


Awesome, thanks~ Don't mind the wait, just wondering and glad to hear.

We are still planning on releasing these things! They got put on the backburner so we could roll out some immediate changes and we are hoping to have updates released both to clear up the information available for those things as well as expand the RP environment and open new doors!
 

[Ruriska]

Hello! Just a question about Aludra's homeworld. Would it be feasible to have a sizable forest with mega trees if it was explained that during whatever befell her world, they put all their energy into protecting that forest and so it's still standing while everything else around it is a wasteland?

Or would it be better just to scale it back to a dead forest and some light vegetation?

Thanks! <3

That sounds fine!