Frequently Asked Questions

Welcome to Staborn-Alignment's all new FAQ. The admins have combed through the #/help-chat on discord, as well as through comments we tend to get on the home-page and have designed a quick resource for all of our commonly asked questions. Because of the new FAQ resource, when a question featured here is asked in the comments or in the #/help-chat we'll likely just direct you to the FAQ, rather than copy-paste answers we've already given multiple times before. This resource will be linked on the front-page as well as in the #/help-channel and the #/information channels on the discord.

**To find specific categories of answers**, please just go ahead and read each header. We'll have frequently asked lore questions in a different place than we will frequently asked AP questions, or shop questions, and we'll also have a miscellaneous section.

## I. Submitting Art + Astral Points and their Usage

* **Can I send a message to a moderator and ask them what AP an image will earn? Either in the discord chat or in the group comments?**
	+ No! Mods will not respond to AP calculation requests. We highly recommend that you simply guess what something is worth to the best of your abilities! A moderator is happy to correct you when you get something wrong, but it's easier for them if they have something to bounce off of first, you know!

* **Can I send a message to a moderator and ask if an image qualifies for the anatomical bonus, or other bonuses?**
	+ As is with normal image and AP calculations, our mods are not going to respond to this type of request. Just make a guess and send it into the group!
* **Can NPCs earn the gift bonus?**
	+ No, NPCs do not earn the gift bonus when drawn! Other things that cannot have the gift bonus applied to them are collabs and memes!
* **Can familiars earn the gift bonus or the anatomy bonuses?**
	+ No they cannot!
* **I'm currently waiting for a character's application to be re-approved due to a design change. Would I still be allowed to draw and submit art of that character using their new design or do I have to wait for its approval?**
	+ You can submit art of that character, but mods will hold off on it until the design change is approved. We don't recommend doing this because if a design is rejected because it doesn't follow our rules, then you have a whole bunch of art you have to edit or redo!
* **I've had a piece sitting in queue for a while, what do I do?**
	+ If your piece of art expires, please resubmit it. If your character expires, please just resubmit the application and in the correspondence comments, make a note that it is a resubmission and had previously expired!
* **I've been waiting for my submission to be accepted, but I see other things going through! Is something wrong with my submission?**
	+ Different staff handle different submissions; references (including NPCs) usually take longer to be accepted than regular art pieces. Different admins also each handle their own herd so Talorians being accepted doesn't mean your Vagabond was missed! Additionally, if you're submitting a kirin to a herd other than Aodh, or any character with multiple herds in their backstory, the admin may have to pause and go check the lore with another admin! Sometimes a regular art or literature piece might require an admin to look at it, too - in which case you'll have to wait a bit longer than usual.
	Admin characters and art goes through queue immediately because of the permissions we have on our accounts—we are not playing favorites, it's just the auto-accept!
* **My rank gives me a talent that no longer exists. What do I do?**
	+ All ranks now award a Tier One Talent in place of whatever they were previously. The wiki is slow to update sometimes, so if you see any remnants of the previous talents as a reward, you should now assume they reward a tier one talent instead.

## II. The Main Group and the Shop Group - What Gets Sent to Where?

### **What goes to the Main Group:**

* Herd Change Petitions
* Breeding Requests
* Lore Questions
* Specific Admin Questions
* Blessing Requests and Petitions
* Rank Change Requests
* Complaints or Concerns about the Group or another Member
* Retirements
* Raffle Claims

### **What goes to the Shop Group**

* Accessory Shop Requests
* Familiar Shop Requests
* Magic Shop Requests (except breedings!)
* Weapons Shop Requests
* Talent claims
* Reward claims for Talents and Ranks

In other words, if your note does **not pertain to any of the shops (which require an exchange of CS and have nothing to do with lore)**, then you are sending your note to the Main Group where admins handle the notes. Moderators are trained to handle CS transactions and AP questions **only** and so sending a note to the shop-group about something outside of their realm is only going to clutter the queue!

The reverse is the same, admins **will not respond to shop requests sent to the main group**, we'll redirect you to the shop group and move on.

## III. How to Contact a Specific Admin and for What? When do I tag a mod?

If you for any reason need to contact a specific admin about lore, gameplay, or for any other reason you can tag that admin personally in the discord chat or your can send in a note to the group with their name in the title. You may **not contact them** via DMs or personal notes unless they have invited you to do so.

**Examples of Admin Specific Questions**

* **Herd-Specific Lore**. You can find what admin runs each herd here.
* **Chapter and Event Questions** go to the Admin that was running those plots! Amongst us, we admins don't know what's going on or being planned for other herds beyond what is immediately coordinated, so if you tag admin for a Serora chapter question, you may as well have just tagged Alek, because the rest of us will not have an answer.
* If you want to contribute to lore in any way, or perhaps have a suggestion for a mini-event, send in a note for the admin of the herd your suggestion pertains to! Please remember that no contribution or idea is guaranteed to be accepted or used by that admin, but we will look at your suggestion! We also have an On-Going Creativity Contest!

**Examples of General Admin Questions/Concerns**

* Design checks (coloration etc)/item checks - questions about breed specific attributes should be directed to the admin who "owns" that breed
* Rule Clarifications
* Animosity between you and another member
* Concerns about Behaviors in Chat

When you **contact an admin** for an inquiry, discussion, complaint, or any other SA related reason, it will be **shared with the other admins**, without exception. This keeps the team transparent and unified in their decisions. Moderators do not see what is sent to the main group, nor do they have the authority to handle any issues/complaints outside of their realm of AP and CS.

**Well then, what do Mods handle? When should I tag them?**

* AP Clarifications
* Any questions regarding correspondence (like what folder something should be submit to)
* Questions about Item Refunds, etc.

## IV. Design Questions/Breed Questions

* **Can my character wear an item that gives them attributes of another breed? For example, wearing antlers as if they are a kirin, or gems as if they are a unicorn?**
	+ Your character cannot wear an item that mimics another breed unless it is obviously false and clearly attached to the character via artificial means. So, wearing a helmet with antlers attached would be okay, since it's obviously fake.

* **For unicorns with the rarity roll of gemstones / crystals forming on their coats—are these growths rock solid to the bone, or are they only surface level and could be removed or lost?**
	+ Only horns are "bone deep", the extra gems could be removed
* **Can a unicorn regrow their horn if it's been shaved down or broken off?**
	+ Filed horns/broken horns will rarely grow back, and if they do begin to grow, it will be slow and they'll likely never return to their former "glory," however, healing regeneration can be used to accelerate horn growth!
* **Biolumiescence is a hippocampus rarity roll trait, but is it only visible on fins or can it be seen on the horse's body as well?**
	+ Only on fins!
* **Can hippocampus have reptile-based scales?**
	+ Nope! Only fish scales!
* **Is there a way to kill/remove the second soul in a dual soul kirin without killing them both?**
	+ It would very likely require a god meeting/god intervention in order to do so!
* **Is it canonically possible for a pegasus to fly with a prosthetic wing?**
	+ Partial prosthetics are okay, but would still hinder the ability to fly as they used to, but if you're replacing a full wing (like if a Talorian cut theirs off at the base) then it cannot be replaced with a flight capable wing.

## V. I've Noticed Strange Things, or Seen items not in Shop. What are those?

* **I saw a character that used to be one breed change to another (or become a hybrid), how do I do the same to my character? Is there a form?**
	+ Starborn is full of secrets you have to unlock for yourself! This is one of them. Once you've unlocked transformations, you'll also unlock the forms and rules associated with them!
* **I've been seeing character literally rise from the dead! Is this something I can do, or is it an unlocked perk?**
	+ Unlocked perk!
* **I recently noticed an item in some character's item bay that I don't recognize, what is it and what does it do?**
	+ If you've ever wondered 'How did that user get x for their character?? How do I unlock all these crazy secrets in SA??' ... it might behoof you to get a character to level 15! Please do not ask a member how they acquired a certain item or what it does, they aren't allowed to tell you!
* **Where can I find information on items won in raffles?**
	+ Right here!

## VI. Miscellaneous

* **What happened to Favor?**
	+ Favor was removed in November 2020. You can read the original announcement here.
* **Hey! How do I claim my birthday rewards?**
	+ Go here for instructions.
* **Can I roleplay/write for the gods in any way?**
	+ No, unless it's an interaction you earned (blessing, god rp, chapter plot etc)! Gods have their own personalities and are characters who belong to the admins, so utilizing them beyond canon happenings is not allowed.
* **Can I revamp my character without having to go through the retirement process?**
	+ If your character is getting revamping in-line with what you already have (say you're just updating how you told their history, cleaning up their personality, adding in-game events and their effects) then you don't have to go through the retirement process. However, if you're making drastic alterations without an in-game explanation, you must retire and resubmit the character!
* **If I retire a character, do I get my items or CS back?**
	+ When permanently retiring a character, you must provide a list of the CS spent on that character, and that CS gets refunded. If the character has a sapphire statue or other magic items applied to it, those get refunded too. If the sapphire statue was received from an event, you simply get to repurpose the statue.
* **Can I refund items or give them to my other characters? How do I do that?**
	+ You can refund items, yes! To do so, simply reply to the original purchase note stating what you'd like to refund! Please note that to refund items, they can no longer be present in for example your character's reference art. If you wish to remove things like rarity rolls, they are retconned out entirely, as in your character never had those traits.
	If you are transferring items, you are essentially refunding the item and re-purchasing it for a different character, and should send a new note to the shop group to do that!
* **Does the group have a discord server I can join?**
	+ Yes! And it can be found here: https://discord.gg/hPDcmGE Non-members have limited access to keep the chat somewhat private. Visitors are held to the same standards as members.

* **I'm a traditional artist/writer, am I still allowed to join SA?**
	+ Yes! Artists of all types are welcome here, so long as you're able to complete the application requirements, you're welcome to join us! As for writers, while you must have a visual reference, after that, you are *not required*to draw! Almost all of our memes and events have writing alternatives available for you!