Leaving and Returning Members

This page has information on what to expect when leaving the group, or returning to it. Please note that Starborn Alignment does not have general activity requirements, only opt in activity checks, and you will never lose your membership simply by becoming inactive. We will also accommodate account changes as long as we are informed - you will never lose your membership without intending to do so!

## Leaving the Group

If you feel like your time has come to leave Starborn Alignment, and a hiatus won’t cut it, we’re sorry to see you leave! We know that things and interests change, and sometimes it's just time to leave something behind.

To officially leave the group, please simply go to our front page, and choose “leave this group” from the dropdown menu. Once you click this, we will be notified of your departure. We appreciate it if you send us a note telling us that you’re leaving, but you are not required to do so.

Note that just making a journal about leaving will not cause you to be removed from the group. You are only removed if you leave via self-removal. Even if you have no characters left in the game, as long as you are still a member of the group, you may make a new character and continue playing at any time, with all your previous earnings in-tact (as long as you didn’t remove the related artwork).

If you choose to deactivate your account, we will consider you as having left after the 21 day reactivation period instituted by DeviantArt has passed.

When you leave, we ask that you pull all your artwork, including characters and AP trackers, from the group. It saves the staff a lot of work!

### What happens to my characters when I leave?

Officially, they are considered the same as permanently retired characters - they have canonically existed, but will no longer be actively involved in the events. If you want to provide your plotting partners closure on the stories of your characters, you must do so personally.

If you want, you can hand over the character to a friend and have their story carry on as an NPC owned by that friend. They can not reuse your writing, but may reuse your art with permission. Regular NPC rules apply.

The names and ranks of your characters will be freed up immediately upon your official departure.

### Will my characters still be involved in the plotlines of other people?

Unless you hand them over as an NPC, no. We allow people to replace lost relations with self-made NPCs that resemble the original PCs, but these may not be identical to your removed character.

After you leave, there is a 30 day mercy ruling for people to submit artwork and roleplays involving your character for regular AP earnings. After this, your character may no longer be featured unless you have given explicit permission to do so.

### I was a member on a different account and never officially left, and now want to be active again. Do I have to start over?

As long as you can prove ownership of an account that is still a member of SA, you can move your characters over to the new account without losing any progress.

## Returning to the Group

We are always excited to hear that someone who was previously part of our Starborn family is considering a comeback! Note that if you never actually left the group, you can simply submit a character as an existing member, and do not need to undergo this process. If you ever need help with rejoining or becoming active again, please feel free to note the main group! We will do our best to help you out.

Here is what you need to know about the process to rejoin Starborn Alignment after having officially left!

1. **Apply in an opening** As a returning player, you must apply when the group is open, the same as a new player would. All the same rules and limitations apply to your new character as to those of new players - you must start with a “naked” character in one of the herds and ranks that is available, and can not make a kirin or a hybrid, even if you had access to them previously. The character may not have blessings, familiars or any other earned rewards.
2. **Once approved, note the group with the title “Welcoming Gift”** In the note, please include your currency trackers (AP, CS, Favor). An admin will tally up your currencies, and you will receive 25% of everything previously earned back. Note that your trackers must be easy to read, and the artwork should still be available on Deviantart. Favor will be converted directly into AP.
3. **Link the Welcoming Gift note to your new trackers.** Please do not link the whole of your old currencies; only the Welcoming Gift note. This keeps things clearer for future tracking.
4. **Resubmit artwork that’s still viable for AP (if you want).**

In addition to your Welcoming Gift, you may resubmit artwork and roleplays (with their AP as it was) as long as they are still relevant - ie the characters in them are still in game, and have those designs in use.

Please note that while the regained currencies may be distributed in any way desired, regular submission rules apply - you may only have one natural unlock character in queue at a time, even if you have AP to bring in more at a time.

#### Can I bring back my old characters?

Yes! They will however be treated as new characters - you may reuse their information and use their IC storyline, but for the purposes of gameplay, they are treated as new characters.

Please note that all incoming characters must adhere to the current lore. If you are bringing back older characters, they may be subject to updates or changes to match the current lore and situation in SAs world.

#### My character used to have a specific rank/blessing/etc - can I have it back?

If you earn them, yes. You are not however guaranteed to get back any previously held ranks, blessings, familiars etc.

#### My character's name was taken!

When you left, the name of your character was freed up. If someone else took the name, it is theirs. Pressuring or guilting someone over a name is not allowed.