Characters

Getting a Character
To get a character, just connect to the game, create a character as instructed by the login screen, and enter the "Character Generation" area. If you are having any trouble, once you get in game use the +beginner command to see how you can contact someone for assistance. You can use +staff to see which members of the game's staff are currently available to assist you.

Alternate Characters
Once upon a time, it was assumed that players would have a single, primary (or "main") character and then a variety of alternate characters, often called simply "alts." These days, the term "alts" is used to refer simply to the characters any player controls. So, an "alt" is just one of your characters, who are collectively called your "alts."

Players are allowed four alts, which may be of any sort the player might wish. The only caveat is that these characters may not engage in "alt conflict," meaning that they should not interact with each other. As detailed below, you may not play:


 * Two or more characters who are biologically related.


 * Two or more characters who operate in the same immediate group, such as a teacher and student at the same school or two field members of the same organization.


 * Two or more characters who work directly together at the same place of business.


 * An antagonist primarily designed to fight your own character or a group of 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."

Character Death
First of all, despite the presence of a combat system on the game, no character ever has to die except by the consent of the player. Normally, you must send a Plots +request to staff to kill off your character (even if you have already done role-play that leads to the character's death). The only other time a character might be killed off is during a staff-run TinyPlot -- if the staffer running the scene tells you that taking a particular action will result in the death of your character and you do it anyway, you have consented to the character's death. However, you will always be first given a warning and an alternative. Staff will never try to "trap" anyone into killing off their character.

Even if you end up killing off your character, there may be ways to bring him or her back -- staff is willing to consider it. However, there are limits to this. It is acceptable to have a character who always seems to escape the jaws of death when it looked like she was doomed, but it's a lot harder to accept if we have seen the body, buried her, and confirmed her demise.

Now, one can come back from this state, but it should be truly rare, and if it becomes a pattern or the "return from death" clause is abused, the staff of the game reserves the right to decline a character the right to be resurrected. (Though, we are more likely to say "you will have to wait for six months before you can have another "get out of death free card" than we are to say "your character is dead forever.")

Dropping a Character
If you decide you want to drop an alt, please send in a Theme +request to staff. Plase make sure to include your character's name and specifically state that you wish to drop the character, as well as whether you need the character object destroyed or just wiped for re-use. Note that 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 a notice. The character will then be destroyed or wiped at staff's discretion.

Inactive Character Policy

 * Characters who do not connect to the game for extended periods of time are considered "idle" and may be purged (deleted) from the game.


 * Approved characters may not be idle for more than 30 days.


 * Unapproved characters may not be idle for more than two weeks.


 * If you need to be away for longer than this, make sure to inform staff and set your +vacation (see: +help +vacation in game).


 * If a character is on vacation significantly longer than expected, they may also be subject to idle purge.


 * If a character holds an important status on the game (such as in a faction) or has a vital holding and they are unavailable for role-play over an extended period or seem only to be logging in often enough not to "idle out," then staff may elect to remove that status or holding. (However, warnings will generally be issued before this happens.)

Restrictions

 * For a list of Banned character concepts, see: +chars/ban in game
 * For a list of Restricted character concepts, see: +chars/res in game
 * For a list of Plot-only character concepts, see: +chars/tp in game

Restricted character concepts may be applied for normally, but staff will scrutinize them heavily and reserves the right to refuse apps for these character types completely without further justification. Of course, Banned character concepts and TP-only character concepts may not ever be applied for as player characters. Characters that do not fall into any of these categories are much more likely to be approved, and even if staff sees problems with them, we will work with you and try to find a way to make the character concept work within the theme if at all possible.