Extended FAQ

==THE CITY==
You know what they say: location, location, location.
=== 〉 Locations and Landmarks ===
The city of Taxon is unique for more than just the alien abduction mystique. It sits inside a cave inside a moon, surrounded by barriers to prevent escape. Buildings that look centuries old sit next to those that appear to be from the far-flung future. Inside those buildings one can expect a number of technological marvels, and the 'natives' that populate it are far from normal.
==== → The Lay of the Land ====
From barrier to barrier, Taxon is roughly 750 square miles (1,943 km²). For a real-life example of the size, see Karnes County, Texas. That area is divided into five districts: Central, Speares, Osten, Shelley, and Wilde. There are also four bodies of natural water: Lake Whitman, Kahlo River (Northern), Waterhouse River (Southern), and Bronte Beach. Throughout these areas are all of Taxon's locations, both native and brought in by characters as programmed possessions, and The Taxonlink serves as the city's public transportation system.
We have a map of the city for all your referential needs. In-game, this map will show up as a 3-D holographic projection from the character's tablets, and the characters' current whereabouts will show up as tiny named dots within that projection.
The city itself, despite careful planning and its division into districts, is not otherwise 'themed.' This means that, from one district to another, there isn't anything to differentiate them from one another. Wilde isn't where all the old west stuff goes, Shelley isn't where all the gothic horror stuff goes, etc. Everything goes everywhere, within reason. Buildings that look like historic landmarks will be next to something sleek and futuristic, cobbled streets will lead into more modern paved roadways, etc. Just by looking around, characters will find it very apparent that whoever put this together either didn't know what they were doing or were just unable to pick an era and stick with it.
However, as shown on the map, some areas are not the same as others. The parts of the city that are shown with more buildings and streets will have a higher concentration of them, a denser population, and be more modern in a very general sense. Areas of the city without such things are more prone to being wilderness like wooded areas (such as the Taxon Forest) and fields.
==== → The Barriers ====
As most citizens have noticed, the entire city is encased in a very unique and (kind of) invisible barrier.
Outside and around the city (including airspace and seemingly continued underground) characters will find they can only go so far before being pushed back, like two opposing poles of a magnet trying to touch each other. Some characters, usually those with super powers, will be able to overcome this force and touch the barrier itself, but they will still be unable to get past it.
Currently, there is no way for characters to damage or change the barriers. They can be punched or hit, which results in a hollow 'thud' noise; application of fire results in a hovering smudge where the heat, smoke, and soot came in contact with it; etc., but no damage is permanent and nothing will get through to the other side.
The barrier itself also acts as an illusion. The fake sun and sky are projected through it, and when one approaches it they'll see the land or ocean continue indefinitely even though it logically cannot. (For characters with super-vision, they might notice this effect when trying to see further into the projection, so feel free to have them react to it in whatever way you see fit.)
It is, however, possible for these barriers to fail. This has only happened once since the game began, but further barrier failures are planned for the future. Beyond them, characters have found tunnels in the rock walls. One such tunnel lead a group to a dead end with another city just like Taxon where all its residents had died long before its discovery.
==== → Weather ====
Nature in Taxon is a bit of controlled chaos. Grass grows in parks and the forest, water is on the beaches, the sun shines and sometimes the clouds rain. There are, however, certain noticeable irregularities.
The sun itself is fake, which has been discovered (and re-discovered) when the barriers malfunction and the cave walls become visible. It does shine brightly and makes spectacular sunsets on a very rigid schedule, but it will not cause any lasting tissue damage or effect vampires in any capacity.
Weather patterns, while occasionally erratic because of glitches, are plotted out based on the current weather of a location on Earth. (This was not always the case. In the past, the weather was on a particular monotonous but pleasant schedule.) The location will change, usually with the onset of a new season, but the patterns themselves will 'feel' relatively natural.
Citizens will, however, notice other peculiarities: the rain will always smell exactly like the rain before it, the wind never blows too hard, water sources will never dry up during a drought, and the ground is never muddy after a storm.
==== → The Sanctuary ====
Every character that comes to Taxon goes through The Sanctuary's arrival room, whether it's their first time in the city, their second, or they've just come back from the dead.
The room itself is clean and well lit with metallic walls. The only visible objects inside are the pedestal with the tablet on it, the platform the characters will find themselves standing on, and the mysterious materialization device above them. All of the contents of the room are made of the same alloy as the bracelets and are thus indestructible and incapable of any penetration (such as x-ray vision) from either within or without. Once a character picks up their tablet and exits the room, the doors will close behind them and the aliens will do a little fiddling to prevent them from ever being able to find the room again or re-enter it from the outside.
Outside that room the characters will be free to explore the rest of the building. There are sixteen floors, each with a different general purpose and group of compact apartment-like rooms. Characters can live there as long as they like. For more information, including lots of pictures, see The Sanctuary's wiki page.
Remember, the Sanctuary is an entirely public space. Feel free to use it as a home or meeting place for your characters at any time.
==== → Creating New Locations ====
In an effort to make sure the citizen's needs are always provided for, the aliens have implemented a code that will create a necessary, generic location without the need for an item petition.
This includes establishments like grocery stores, clothing boutiques, restaurants, tanning salons, libraries, etc. Characters can also take over and re-purpose a generic building to suit their own needs. Other locations that would provide items or otherwise count as programmed possessions on their own merit (a building specifically from a character's canon, a car or boat dealership, a pet store, etc.) will not be generated.
Creating most generic locations won't require mod permission, but please let us know if you're not sure or would like to make a wiki page for it and have the location added to the map. This way other players can make use of an established location, too.
=== 〉 Technology ===
Like most cities, Taxon is oh-so-very modern when it comes to all sorts of things.
The level of the city's technological advancement will be readily apparent to most characters, especially those from time periods or canons without such amenities. Every building, regardless of the time period it came from, is equipped with functioning, never-backed-up plumbing and an unending electrical power supply. (Possessions such as spaceships with independent power supplies will find that such supplies never diminish.) Televisions of all types are available, though the only accessible channels show nothing but game shows and reality TV (and occasional airings of Floop's Fooglies), and radios pick up radio stations (as well as other signals) that play assorted types of music.
There's also a very convenient solution to the problem of trash. When something is thrown away and a bin gets about halfway full (either in a public area or in a home) the trash will get completely deprogrammed from the city and disappear. Deprogramming also happens to a character's acquired possessions after they've been dropped and have left the city, though there is a two-day delay should anyone else like to lay claim to them.
==== → Hatches ====
The hatches in Taxon are very much like the replicators seen in Star Trek combined with common vending machines. Characters can use them to 'hatch' items quickly and conveniently should they ever have a need. They can also provide certain items that would otherwise be unavailable in a shop or store. Using them deducts credits from a character's balance equal to the assumed cost of the item.
Characters will find hatches throughout the city, and even in their homes. You can assume that hatches on the street will be as frequent as soda machines or ATMs, conveniently placed every few yards.
Hatches are also inside buildings. There will be at least one hatch in each building in Taxon, even a medieval castle, and one hatch on every floor of larger buildings. One can usually find them near kitchens or elevators, but you are welcome to put the hatches in your characters homes and buildings wherever you feel one is best suited.
===== » How They Work =====
Hatches work by taking what a character thinks about (for example: a cheeseburger) while their hand is placed on the hatch's handpad, communicating that mental image to the silver bracelet, and then programming it directly into the hatch for a character to retrieve. All the items that get hatched are the product of that same process: brain image, bracelet, handpad, programmed into the hatch. Every single time, without any variation.
All characters have to do is think of the product they want to pick up from the hatch while their hand is on the hatch's little hand pad, and pick it up.
There are, however, complications. Hatched items will seem bland or slightly unnatural in taste, texture, or construction in comparison to food that has been actively cooked or items found elsewhere in the city. The more complex and unfamiliar item is, the harder it will be for a character to hatch it correctly. For example, a character from the 50's attempting to hatch an iPhone based on a second-hand understanding of how it works and limited experience with one will end up with a plastic rectangle that looks like an iPhone and has a screen that lights up, but is unable to perform any actual functions an iPhone would.
===== » Restrictions =====
For as lovely as they are, there are some restrictions.
BASIC LIMITS, apply at all times at all hatches
* nothing wider/taller than 3 feet
* nothing heavier than 40lbs
* no living organism more complex than a plant
* no item with mechanisms or functions beyond the character's basic understanding
* no items that may qualify as programmed possessions
SPECIFIC RESTRICTIONS, apply at all hatches but subject to change
* radioactive materials
* explosive items (C4, dynamite, etc.)
=== 〉 The Natives ===
There's more to Taxon than just the characters that have been programmed in. From empty-headed background people to a few special nuisances, the citizens aren't alone.
==== → The Extras ====
In any work of fiction there is the background noise. The nameless crowd, the briefly seen waiter, the people one assumes are there to make sure everything else in the story makes sense. To make sure the citizens benefit from a full experience of Earth life, the aliens have provided them Extras to help them out in the day-to-day and keep the city from looking too empty.
All Extras can be differentiated from the characters by their lack of silver bracelet. Further investigation into their physiology will find that even their brains are different, and have a limited capacity for thought. They also don't have a functioning digestive system (you're welcome): they can eat, but the food is deprogrammed directly out of their bodies once it's been consumed.
The Extras weren't always a part of Taxon, appearing for the first time in July 2009 after characters spent their first few months in eerie empty silence. Now they populate the city, taking up space and making sure it looks occupied, acting as the city's caretakers, for better or worse.
:Adult Extras fill various tasks. They operate and work in businesses of all types (from grocery stores and restaurants to the various shops at the mall), wander around the city from location to location looking important, carry on conversations with one another and behave as guardians and parents to the child Extras. All adult Extras can engage in limited conversation, generally of the small talk type or simple discussion of the work they do.
:Child Extras will do children things, generally in the company of an adult Extra or in small groups. They tend to laugh loudly, run about and play with one another, and throw an occasional tantrum. There are currently no schools for them to attend, and they are never seen about the city after dark. Should your character try to speak with them, they'll either mouth off and run away or stare sheepishly until the question is directed to their adult guardian.
Remember: they're part of the environment your characters will interact with, so don't be afraid to use them to your advantage when the opportunity arises. You can even injure and kill them off with mod permission. Injured Extras, once left alone by regular characters, will be restored to their normal health a few hours after the injury occurred. If they aren't left alone and are instead tended to by a character, their injury will heal at a normal rate. Once an Extra is dead, however, they will remain dead and their body will be deprogrammed from the city after three days. Two days after being removed, the Extra will be reprogrammed into the city without any sign of their fatal injury or memory of the incident.
Extras do have limits, though. Characters cannot form relationships with an Extra, and any attempts at flirtation or conversation with them beyond their capacity will end with the Extra simply getting up and leaving, or starting the conversation over. While you can kill Extras, using them for a plot (needing henchmen for a character glitch, or effecting them in another capacity) has a number limit: 40. Any more than that requires mod permission.
==== → The Sheriff ====
As mentioned above, players needing to have their characters kill or abuse Extras may go ahead and do that, OOCly. From an in-game perspective, however, the aliens have put a safeguard in place to keep all their hard work from being slaughtered by vengeful captives. While the aliens prefer it if the prisoners citizens self-police, in some cases they've been known to send the Sheriff (or his inept assistant) to the scene.
The Sheriff doesn't appear to be an Extra, but not a lot is known about him so far other than that he takes exception to violence against Extras, theft from the city's shops, and property damage. He doesn't seem to care if citizens hurt each other, though.
In short, if you want your character to knock around (or do worse to) an Extra, drop Dien a note to collaborate on what level of Sheriff involvement is needed or desired.
[Dien will create a page for the Sheriff sometime this week, and link accordingly.]
==== → The Aliens ====
Occasionally, the aliens in charge of Taxon will make an appearance inside the city. Usually this is to take a survey with the citizens, handle an item petition, or be otherwise terribly bothersome. They have yet to appear in their natural form, instead taking the shape of animals (giant hamsters and a shark), creepy toys (a furby), or commercial characters (the Old Spice Guy and Mayhem).
For more information on the aliens that have made themselves known, see their wiki page.
=== 〉 Property Damage ===
Since Taxon has been put together with programming, the way the city deals with damages to buildings and other locations is unique.
Any superficial damage (broken windows and doors, knocked over streetlamps, etc.) will appear to repair itself and bounce back to working order after about two days. Larger structural damage (demolition of a building, tearing up a city block, etc.) will take a week before reverting to its previous, whole, state.
While superficial damage of native Taxon locations can happen at all times, anything that would result in larger structural damage requires mod permission. If the building in question is owned by another character/player, then it requires: mod permission (if structural damage); permission of the player in charge of said building (structural and superficial damage); and that all other players with characters residing or working in said building are informed the damage will take place ahead of time.
As with harming Extras, the Sheriff may become involved if the city is being damaged enough to annoy the aliens. If you're unsure about what would qualify, drop Dien a note.
=== 〉 System & Character Glitches ===
Occasionally the city and the people within it will undergo a sudden, drastic change. This may be an accidental result of a bug in the programming the city runs on, or it can be purposefully implemented by the aliens. Despite the cause, the characters in the city have taken to calling them 'glitches.'
For the sake of scheduling, large city-wide glitches with big impact will happen every other month with smaller, situational glitches happening in the months between. (This schedule is subject to change, however, depending on mod availability, player interest, and any other OOC factors.) Most of them will tie into the larger metaplot involving the aliens in charge of Taxon, the other aliens in the universe, and the slow discovery by the characters of what goes on outside the city they now live in.
There are also smaller glitches that will effect only individual characters' programming, usually changing one aspect of them either physically or mentally (a human is suddenly a vampire; an adult regresses physically to being a five year old; etc.) temporarily.
To see a list of potential glitches and a summary of glitches that have already been done, go to our Glitch List.
=== 〉 Economics & Currency ===
In order to create an even more authentic experience, the aliens have implemented an economic system in Taxon. Money exists as electronic referred to as 'credits' (denoted as ¤ (type the character with &curren;)) characters can earn and spend at their leisure.
Each character will receive a subsistence level of credits (350¤) on the first of every month whether they work consistently or not. Their credit balance appears on a small screen on their silver bracelet (just below where their tablet can integrate into it). To earn more credits, characters can get jobs. They'll earn an extra 700¤ for customer service jobs (retail, waiting tables, etc.), and 1400¤ for vocational jobs (offering medical care, mechanical engineering, scientific research, etc.). Characters can also start their own businesses and earn an extra 300¤ for employing other characters or Extras, or perform multiple jobs and earn money from each one. All credits earned through work will be added to their subsistence balance at the first of every month, but they cannot be saved or transferred between characters.
To get your character a job and see more information about how jobs work, see our job request page in the mod journal.
Characters will spend money through hatching items or in stores in the city. When they shop, the number of credits spent is subtracted from their balance via the handpad (on the side of the hatch that allows characters to create items, or as an individual pad at the sales counter in stores). If a character goes into debt they will still be able to purchase items, but will receive an electric shock through their bracelet during every purchase that puts their credit balance into the negative. To avoid this, characters can always steal items from stores without any consequences, while the Extras in charge will politely ask that they pay and have a nice day.
A character's subsistence credits will cover things like food and basic clothing, and no character will ever pay for things like rent. You do not have to keep track of your characters credits, and all purchases can be handwaved. We do ask that things are kept reasonable and characters without extra income are not played as purchasing expensive items without debt consequences. The economic system is here to be used as a tool for enriching gameplay, help players find motivations for characters that may otherwise fall behind, and be a fun addition to characters' CR, not a burden.
== YOUR CHARACTERS ==
Because they're, you know. Why we're all playing. Without the characters we'd be kind of screwed.
=== 〉 What to Know When Applying ===
Taxon is unlike most other multi-fandom jamjar games. Characters here are not teleported into the city from their own dimension or a parallel universe. They are fictional characters that have been given life by alien intelligence through a process involving advanced technology and programming. Said alien intelligence has done this in order to study humanity since they found Earth at a time when there were no humans there to explain themselves.
==== → Other Application Concerns ====
Language Barriers: If you plan to app a character that doesn't speak English, there are a number of ways to handle the issue of communication with other characters.
You can have them materialize in Taxon with a sudden knowledge of English and fluency, courtesy of the aliens. You can have them use the tablets as a translation device, and play through the process of them learning English from another character. You can
One, you can play through it without any alien-based translation help. This can involve them finding a character in the city that knows their native tongue and having them translate for them or teach them English. OR just a lot of flailing and meaningful hand gestures. Every day is charades day!
Two, you can have alien-based translation help in the form of the tablets. The character will have all their communication over the tablets subtitled in English so that the other characters can read and understand what your character is saying. There can still be meaningful hand gestures, and they'll have to have their tablet around at all times to help them translate when talking to other characters in person.
Third, you can have alien-based translation help in the form of meddling. In this case, the Aliens will figure it'll be easier/more fun/interesting to simply program your character into the city with the additional knowledge of how to speak English stuck in their brains as a gift from their fuzzy overlords. They'll be able to understand, speak, read, and write in English in addition to their own native language without ever having to learn it.
You can pick whichever option appeals most to you and how you'd like to play in the game. Just make a note of your character's native language and which option of the above (or any other solution you'd prefer) in your application.
Ill, Divine, Alien, and Other Characters: Because of the far reaching imaginations contributing to fictional works, not all characters will be regular humans, or even humans at all.
Characters that are ill upon their arrival in Taxon can stay ill, if you so choose. For those that have a chronic, terminal, or progressive condition will find that condition 'paused.' They will still have that illness and some of its symptoms, but it will not progress any further than what it was when they arrived, and they will not die from it.
Divine and god-like characters are treated on a case-by-case basis. Characters based on mythology, like those of the Greek Pantheon, are appable and will retain some of their powers in the city with the same limits as all other powered characters (nothing that would break the setting/get them out of the city, for example). Histories for such characters are expected to be both cohesive and sensitive to the faith that the character originated from. If they are not based on an established canon (angels in Supernatural, Norse or Greek gods in comics, etc.), then it will be considered an OC application and judged accordingly.
For alien characters, our only rule is that they be able to communicate with the rest of the characters in the city somehow and be relatively humanoid. This means no sentient roaches or 50 foot tall purple people eaters. The size limit is mostly because the arrival room itself is only so big, and does apply to all other types of characters that could be applied to Taxon.
Everything else is, again, treated on a case-by-case basis. Humanoid robots will usually be alright as long as one can justify a personality for them in the application, but Optimus Prime is not, if only because of the size limit all characters are working under, etc.
Concerning the age limit, this is specifically to address the issue of the alien's ability to program living creatures in the middle of puberty. Characters that have been cloned/revived/made in a test tube and are only chronologically four years old while being physically and mentally adult are appable. The same goes for characters that are mentally and chronologically hundreds of years old but are physically frozen under the age limit of sixteen. We do plan on addressing this issue with plots in-game as time goes on, with the prospect of changing our age limit, and we will update this space when we do.
If you have a question about whether the character you're thinking of is appable or not, don't be afraid to contact one of the mods about it.
Minor Characters and Headcanon: Minor characters are definitely, always appable! Give us your barely seen, your background friends, your quirky sidekicks.
When judging apps for minor characters with little canon bases, we take them much in the same stride as we do original fandom based characters. All canon facts should be in order (meaning no contradictory backstory/abilities/etc.), and the character should be presented as round and plausible as a character outside their specific role in the story.
And, with minor characters comes major headcanon. We love headcanon and do not discourage its use in applications. All that we ask is that you clearly identify where canon information ends and your own personal headcanon and extrapolation begins.
=== 〉 The Bracelets ===
The bracelets mentioned above are silver-looking bands that characters will find fused to their wrists upon arrival in Taxon.
While finding a bracelet fused to one's wrist can be considered an adverse effect in and of itself, there won't be any others. No allergic reactions, no cutting off circulation, no limitation to a character's ability to move their wrist, nothing negative at all. It is made out of an alien alloy similar to what tablets are made out of. It cannot be broken, destroyed, or taken off. It will stretch if a character is glitched to change shape, or is naturally a shape-shifter. Characters can also shrink tablets down and have it 'absorbed' by the bracelet so that it can function as a comm-watch.
It's the alloy itself that acts as a character's connection to the city's programming, relaying information between them and the aliens in charge of monitoring them. A character's credit balance, location on the map, their ability to hatch items at hatches, and their holo image through the tablets are all based on the bracelet.
These bracelets are also how a character is removed from the city during a drop or pause glitch, and are responsible for connecting the characters to the alien meddling during glitches.
=== 〉 Programmed Possessions ===
Every character programmed into Taxon will bring something with them from their canon. These things are called programmed possessions.
A general rule of thumb while choosing a programmed possession for your character is that it is something irreplaceable; something that cannot be bought, hatched, or made. We encourage taking it a step further and choosing something that is closely associated with your character, or would be a unique addition to the city.
Often, these possessions will be a location, a building or large area, that is significant to them in canon. Think places like homes, offices, secret hideouts, or general places where they spend large amounts of time or are closely associated with them. Characters can also bring vehicles, like a beloved car, motorcycle, or spaceship. Even a beloved pet or pets. You can also choose an item of importance. These are generally non-hatchable or complex items, like a wizard's wand or a device made by or for the character, or items of great sentiment like a journal, box of mementos, or special piece of jewelry.
All programmed possessions are removed from the city when a character is dropped unless players arrange a transfer or trade. In a possession transfer during a drop, a character that is still in the city will lose their original programmed possession and instead become the owner of the possession of the dropped character.
NOTE: If you're unsure if what you've chosen counts as a programmed possession, or just need help figuring one out for your character, please don't hesitate to contact a mod.
==== → Item Petitions ====
Not everyone will get exactly what they want at first from the aliens, or they may develop a need for something specific but unobtainable later on. When you feel your character could use a new pet, a car, a building or location from home, or any other non-hatchable and otherwise unavailable item, your character does an item petition.
This involves a character speaking with an alien (in a phone-booth) and making a deal to do something for them in exchange for receiving a specific possession they want or need. Petitioned items count as programmed possessions, and a character can have as many as they can reasonably obtain.
For more information on how item petitions work and to request one for your character, see this post in the mod journal.
=== 〉 Claiming a Home ===
Once your character has acclimated themselves to the city they'll probably want to find a place to stay and call their own, if they don't have a home as their programmed possession already. There are plenty of empty homes and apartments in Taxon that a character can move into. All they need to do is find a vacant house that appeals to them.
Characters can choose between any architectural style one can imagine, and all homes will come fully furnished. No rent or mortgage will have to be paid at any point in time, so feel free to have a character living in as much or as little homey luxury as you like. All we ask is that the homes your character finds are not giant castles or buildings that would count as a programmed possession.
All homes will also be secure, with doors that lock with a handpad to avoid the problem of needing or obtaining keys. When a character finds a home they like and want to have as their own, all they need to do is put their hand on the handpad, and the security system will update itself to recognize them as the owner. Doors lock with the press of a red button and open with the press of a green button. Updating the security system to recognize multiple owners is intuitive: as long as the real owner is present, the other character only needs to put their hand on the handpad to unlock the doors.
This ownership applies on all fronts. The home (or apartment or hotel room) will now be listed on the map as belonging to all characters with handpad access, vampires will require invitations, etc. Changing and removing ownership is more difficult: characters that are dropped automatically lose ownership rights, and transferring main ownership from one character to another requires an item petition.
=== 〉 Death in Taxon ===
Unfortunately, characters in Taxon are still capable of dying, whether at the hands of each other, accidental circumstances, or in the middle of a glitch gone horribly wrong.
When a character dies in Taxon, their body will be completely dead and remain in the city for two days before it is deprogrammed by the aliens to prepare them for reentry. Characters re-entering the city after they've died will find themselves back in the arrival room, completely healthy like any other new character. There will, however, be consequences for dying in the city.
:OPTION ONE: They lose their memories of their previous time in the city.
:OPTION TWO: They retain all their memories, up to and including their death, but their programmed possession disappears. Characters will be able to regain them later with a regular item petition.
All character deaths, regardless of circumstance, require mod approval.
=== 〉 Pause Glitches ===
There are times in every game when a player will be unable to actively play their character(s) for an extended period of time, which can have a negative impact on those they have close CR with in-game as well as their own ability to have fun when they get back. In order to mitigate the negative impact of a prolonged absence, both what effects the player in being unable to have their character to react to things it would be IC for them to be involved in and what effects other players ability to have their characters work around the absence of their friend or loved one, Taxon has what we call pause glitches.
When a player needs to prioritize their time in a way that takes them out of commission in Taxon, they have the option to take a hiatus and put their characters on a pause glitch. All one has to do to pause their character is reply to the hiatus post with a note that their character(s) will be paused for the duration of their time away.
In game, a paused character is essentially 'abducted' by the aliens for however long the player will be gone. They won't remember the time they're away from the city, with their memory 'cutting off' at the point of their removal and picking up right where it left off when they're put back.
Characters that know the missing person will also be glitched. Those left behind will be completely unable to think about the missing character, a kind of mental blind spot, in order for them to continue on without worry or concern.
When a paused character returns to the city, they can either wake up in bed as if they've slept the weeks or months away, or find themselves in the exact spot they were in before.
=== 〉 Dropped Characters ===
It's always a very sad thing in a game to have to drop a character. While we all have our reasons and no one should ever feel guilty for doing what needs to be done, the characters left behind will still have to deal with the loss.
When a character is dropped from Taxon, that character and their possession are completely deprogrammed from the city, leaving no trace of them behind. As mentioned in the programmed possessions section of the FAQ, sometimes they can be transferred from the leaving character to one who is still in the city with mod permission.
Players and their characters who are left behind have two options for dealing with a dropped character:
* they notice and react accordingly
* the aliens nix all memory of the dropped character from their minds so they will be undeterred by the coming and going of the character in question
Most characters in-game assume dropped characters have gone home, and while this isn't the case the aliens are not going to correct them.
When bringing in a character that was previously dropped, they will not have any memories of their previous time in the city unless you were their player before and choose to have them remember.
To drop a character, please visit our drop post and contact the mods about any programmed possession trade offs. When a character is dropped, we delete their wiki pages while removing them from the taken list, but if there is information on the wiki you need we will always delay or undo this step in the process until you've had a chance to save it.
== LIST OF THINGS THAT ARE KNOWN ICLY ==
*We're in a cave, don't you ever forget. | A system glitch involving a code failure with the sky meant that all the Taxon residents were treated to several minutes without a sky, in which the inside of a cavern was visible. After that everyone got jetlag, because the sky reset to 'day' mode for an extra bunch of hours [link?]
*When people leave, they go home. (or do they?) | Since the first instance of a dropped character being re-picked up without their memories of Taxon, and no apparent disruption of timelines ("but if YOU got kidnapped to Taxon in 2003, how come you never mentioned it?") characters have been assuming that when people disappear from Taxon, they're sent home. [link?]
*We've been kidnapped by aliens. | Residents have tended to suspect this from the off, thanks to the sci-fi environment. It's been confirmed since, however, by the aliens' notorious appearance as GIANT HAMSTERS, when they showed up to chastise the Doctor for blowing everything the hell up. [link?]
*You can't get out. No, really. | People have tried. Digging, bombs, guns, superspeed flying head-on collisions. Those barriers don't break.
*Dude, why are you acting so weird? It's a glitch! | Since Taxon began, it has been plagued by various awesome and horrifying glitches. Now, whenever anything weird happens, the automatic assumption is that it's a glitch.
*The tablets don't break. Seriously. Oh, and they turn themselves on. | People have thrown them at walls, kicked them, tried to pry them open, but all to no avail. (Faith Lehane at last count tried blowing it up, setting it on fire, stabbing it, running it over with a car, and dropping it in the ocean.) They simply do not break, but they DO turn themselves on at the most inconvenient moments, generally whilst their owners are unawares. All hail the accidental visual!
*The hatches also don't break. And the bracelets don't come off. | Again, it has been tried and tested by various people on various occasions.
*You break it, you... watch as it miraculously fixes itself. | Buildings in Taxon, if damaged, all regenerate after a certain amount of time. This was proved when the Doctor blew up the Sanctuary, and it fixed itself a day or two later. It was also proved subsequently when the Doctor blew the place half to hell, with bombs placed all around the city, and the aliens ensured that everything got repaired double-quick. [links?]
*But where have all the characters gone? | Into Taxon's Kidnapping and Cream, of course! The characters in Taxon now have knowledge of what we oocly call a Pause Glitch. Sometimes, without explanation, folks just disappear in Taxon. No one really notices they're gone; the aliens would hate to start a panic, doncha know. (Well, start a panic on purpose.) Once the pause glitch is over the character will be returned to the city proper, confused as to how time passed without their knowledge and why no one noticed their absence.
*The Strangest Sense of Deja Vu | A system glitch revealed the ruins of an older city, beneath the current one; a city filled with very familiar faces. You, your canonmates... all dead, some in violent ways. "Mistakes were made", said the aliens after removing the current citizens from Old Taxon. What mistakes aren't known exactly, but it's clear they were deadly.
== THE PEOPLE AND MECHANICS ==
Sometimes, since we're all in a game together, we'll have to talk to each other. Whether we like it (and the smell) or not.
=== 〉 Common Abbreviations and Slang ===
When talking to players, and even reading material like this very FAQ, there are a few terms that are unique to the LiveJournal roleplaying community. The following are some of the more basic components of this very specific lexicon.
* IC: "in character," refers to everything that happens to characters in the game or responses made by the characters/from a character's point of view instead of that of the player
* OOC: "out of character," refers to all communication between players and things that do not occur in the game itself
* CR: "character relations/relationships," shorthand reference to the kind of interactions and relationships a character has with other characters in the game
* AC: "activity check," shorthand reference to the times a mod checks to make sure the characters are still being played in the game
* ICA=ICC: "in character actions equal in character consequences," the concept that everything a character does will bring about proportional consequences for those actions in the game
* meme: an optional OOC event, usually involving a type of survey or playing characters reacting to a specific situation
* tag: slang for the IC comments made in the game, either for the comment itself or the act of commenting; also, the organizational links provided by Livejournal (see below)
* thread, log: IC interaction in the game through posts and comments
* handwave: slang for the process of working out IC actions with another player OOC without playing those actions out
* backtag: continuing to tag a thread set in the game's past while the game is on a different day in its timeline
* LJRP: shorthand for Livejournal roleplay
* HMD: "how's my driving," a meme where players give and receive constructive criticisms about their playing, from characterization to writing style; some players will have an HMD post in their individual character journals
* anon: "anonymous," comments or communication where at least one person is unidentified
* glitter: "herpes of the art department," that stuff we roll you in so you can sparkle with love and twinkles, much like a unicorn
=== 〉 Getting to Know the Community ===
At Taxon we highly value OOC communication, both between players and mods.
Your first stop should always be the contact list. (If you can't see it, that's okay! It's a locked post in the OOC community to protect players' privacy, so you'll need to look at it with a journal that's a member.)
To contact a mod, just look up our player information above or come to us through the suggestion and complaints posts if you're not comfortable contacting us directly, or if you have something to say at a time when none of us are around to talk to you.
There's also have a chatroom if you want to get everyone together: taxontaxoff.
We always, ALWAYS, encourage our players to talk to one another. If there's an issue you need resolved or a plot you want to do with another player, please don't be afraid of getting in touch with them and letting them know. We don't bite and would love to hear from you.
=== 〉 Permissions ===
We're also very big on the concept of permission: asking, giving, and even withholding.
After a character's application is accepted, players are prompted to fill out our game wide permissions meme. You are encouraged to fill that out with as much information as you can so that other players can consult it while threading with you and know your do's and don't's. You're also encouraged to peruse the permissions of other characters you're playing with, whether your character has any powers or not.
Even with the permissions meme there with enthusiastic "okay"s for something, always let a player know before springing something (whether it's a bout of mind-reading or a fistfight) on them in the middle of a thread.
If at any point the content of a thread you're playing in makes you uncomfortable, please let the other player know, and if that is not an option (or the player in question will not let you remove yourself from the situation), contact a moderator and we will help you sort out the situation. Playing your character should be fun and enjoyable, and no one should ever feel bad about making sure they're able to continue having fun.
=== 〉 The State of the Taxon ===
At the beginning of every month, the mods put up a kind of newsletter and meme in the OOC community called the State of the Taxon. This is where we'll let you know what's in store for the month ahead and let you plan accordingly.
Each month's SOTT can be expected to have the following sections, though there can be more or less depending on the month:
* Weather or atmosphere, where we let you know what it will be like outside and about the city.
* Reminders, where we let you know about anything we want to make sure you know.
* Freebies, the items that will be free in stores and from hatches for the entire month.
* The month's glitch or event, where we let you know about what kind of shenanigans your characters will have to deal with.
* CR meme, where you fill out a short survey of what your character has been up to and what you'd like to do later.
After you fill out the short survey, go ahead and see what other characters have been up to and make plans with your fellow players about what you'd like to play in the coming month.
You can see all of our past SOTT's by vising the State of the Taxon tag in the OOC community.
=== 〉 Community Tags ===
In order to keep everything as organized and easy to find as possible, we use LiveJournal's entry tagging system in the IC and OOC communities.
To add a tag to your post, all you have to do is click the little tag button on the top (it should be the one that looks like a little store tag), scroll down to the list of tags in a box at the bottom of the page, and then click on your character's name and any additional tags (not other characters, unless it's a joint post or you're adding it for someone that has tagged into the post) you want to add to the post. It's that easy!
==== → IC Tags & Activity Check ====
In the main community, every character has their own tag. When it comes time for activity check at the end of every month, we'll look at each character's tag to make sure they've made one post and tagged out to three different players in the last month. If you don't use your tag, then we can't count it for you activity. This is why we threaten you with bodily harm when it comes to tagging your posts appropriately.
As a bonus, for your own organization and ease of finding things, we have other tags you can use that are totally optional.
* # event - for all posts during an event, either player run or mod run
* # intro post - for all the arrivals first posts to the comm
* (anytime) - for posts that can be considered taking place at any time of day
* (day) - for posts taking place during the day
* (night) - for posts taking place at night
* + aliens - for all posts involving the hamsters
* /character glitch - for all posts having to do with a glitched character
* /system glitch - for all posts involving a game-wide system glitch
* @ central - for posts taking place somewhere in the Central district
* @ osten - for posts taking place somewhere in the Osten (south) district
* @ shelley - for posts taking place somewhere in the Shelley (east) district
* @ speares - for posts taking place somewhere in the Speares (north) district
* @ wilde - for posts taking place somewhere in the Wilde (west) district
* @ wtax - for posts taking place over Taxon's radiowaves
==== → OOC Tags ====
The OOC community also has tags, so please use them when you can.
* activity check - for all mod posts concerning monthly activity checks
* activity sweep - for all mod posts about characters officially swept in the activity checks
* aim chat room - for any and all updates about our chatroom taxontaxoff
* aim contacts - for posts about your AIM sign-names and Ace's comprehensive list of us
* alien shenanigans - for post related to the NPC aliens involvment in plots and glitches
* arrivals - for posts about new characters and players
* canon bump - for posts about characters doing a canon bump
* character glitch - for posts from players about individual character glitches
* drop - for those who need to let go of a character and/or drop completely from the game
* firefox resources - for posts about all the lovely things Firefox let's us do with LiveJournal
* friend add - for all mod posts about the friend add/remove lists
* hiatus - for all posts where someone goes on hiatus or puts a character on hiatus
* how's my driving - for the bi-monthly HMD meme
* how's taxon's driving? - for the HMD specifical for mod and game crit
* meme - for any and all other memes posted (now primarily placed in the crack community)
* memory glitch - for posts about characters forgetting dropped characters
* modly post - for all mod posts ever
* pause glitch - for players who are pause glitching their characters
* permissions - for our very large and comprehensive permissions meme
* player plot - for players to organize and detail any and all player-run plots
* poll - for polls to the game, whether IC or OOC related
* reminders - for posts by the mods with quick reminders about OOC issues or IC events
* semi-hiatus - for those who are announcing they are only partly on hiatus
* slowatus - for those who are not quite on hiatus, but will be slow in tagging back
* state of the taxon - for our monthly State of the Taxon game update and meme
* system glitch - for all mod posts about glitches that encompass the entire game
* triumphant retrun - for players announcing their returns from hiatuses
* wiki - for all posts about our wiki, from updates to questions about coding
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Category:OOC Information