FAQ

[specialcollections]

FAQ

What is this?

This is a sandbox that was made mostly to wrap up CRAU stories and give people a setting to either continue their stories, such as interpersonal relationships or finding a new home, or play out the end as they want it. This is pretty much a closure sandbox. The world itself was a world gifted by the Admiral in the Last Voyages, so it was even created as a game consequence.

What is Alexandria?

Alexandria, named for the library of Alexandria, was a world created as an Admiral reward for graduating an inmate in the Last Voyages. Technically it's set in the Andromeda universe but it's not really on any known Slipstream routes (the primary form of FTL travel in that universe). It's existed shrouded in secrecy and acted as a Collector planet throughout a period of time called "The Long Night" in which civilization was destroyed and decayed. It was meant to salvage what it could from affected worlds until the Long Night had passed. The Long Night lasted for 300 years and now that the New Systems Commonwealth has been resolved and established, the world of Alexandria seeks to branch out.

Most importantly, you don't have to know anything about that canon. The world is secluded and already has rescued species and technology from other universes. This is mostly to say that there's not some nefarious order against its existence. Not to mention it was built by settlers from various other canons.

How does my character arrive?

There's no set rule or method. Your character can arrive by surprise or the whole event can be a joint, orchestrated effort. But here are some mechanics to use if you're unsure:

• Search and Rescue: For the chance for other characters to wage rescue missions or to pick up other characters as refugees and get them out of bad canon situations.
• Recovered prior to death: For all your 'I have nowhere to go back to,' needs.
• Magically appearing: If someone has an unstable place in the universe, they might appear in the presence of artifacts from their world in the library. When they lose some sort of timeline cohesion temporal polarity reversing excuse issue, the stability of Alexandria is there to catch their fall. Example: A character from a fantasy world arrives near a particular model of sword popularly used in that world just sitting in a display case.
• Research and Development: To specifically arrive in a place where someone can have their situation explained to them and/or have their powers tempered until they can behave themselves, R&D in Rhakotis's branch of the library has a time stabilizer meant specifically to save people from being erased or lost to timelines. R&D also has devices capable of dampening destructive abilities or shielding devices from destructive actions.
  
  Many people who have left games or have difficult canons with few exit options might need a little assistance to get them to another spot in the universe. Methods can be adjusted and you can decide whether or not you want a PC or an NPC to tell you what's going on.

A lot of people who have left games or have difficult canons with few exit options might need a little assistance to get them to another spot in the universe. Methods can be adjusted.

How will I make my character stay?

That's up to you. If they couldn't generated the desire to stay on their own, some ideas can include someone talking them into staying, being given the chance to earn money, or finding out them returning to their timeline will cause a massive instability.

What if my character wouldn't willingly work for the Library? What else can they do?

As said before, the character doesn't have to be on the world willingly, but becoming a mission agent is consensual. The Library wouldn't strongarm someone into service. More info about that can be found here.

But that doesn't mean there's nothing to do. The city of Rhakotis still has its different districts, its different small-time feuding gangs, its small-time politics and mild culture wars. There's still plenty of material to play with outside of missions. Again, standard arrivals stand. If you need help coming up with excuses as to why they can't go home? We'd be happy to provide. There's still communities within the city with differing moral inclinations that they can reside in, either comfortably or uncomfortably as is your choice, and some freedom to get into trouble (within reason).

So there's room to engage, build, have a good time or just have a bad day without leaving Rhakotis or Alexandria at all.

What is the governing body?

The Council of Rhakotis is the ruling overseers of the world. They're either appointed or elected, and each library city has three representatives that attend it. These include the Mayor is elected and oversees infrastructure and maintenance. The Chaperone is an elected role for someone who focuses on the social, mental, and physical health of the citizenry. There's also a Chaplain, appointed by a consensus by the majority of the Council after being recommended by the Mayor, that keeps track of information acquisition and care. A Councilor can only ever server two terms before a new one must take their place. Only people who have been on Alexandria for 25 years can become Councilors, so PCs couldn't. They could, however, work in a Counciler's department.

Some districts have your usual police (you can become a cop, but your authority will only extend to the district where you were hired, NOT the whole city), some do not because their society's sense of justice is based on competition. Some actively rely on vigilante justice because that's been more effective for them than law enforcement, but another may be a social anarchy. Many of the initial settlers of the world were rebellious and defiant types that would have been wiped out for resisting broader, destructive authority and colonization so many of them have been allowed to maintain their little pockets of culture and government.

How does the time-traveling work?

It can either be by time-ship (they work a lot like TARDISs as one of the founders was familiar with the technology, bigger on the inside), by worn device such as an armband or necklace, or by inconspicuous vehicle. "Inconspicuous vehicle" meaning something like a car or a boat embued with the means of time travel but only by the hands of a particular operator. One of the founders, for example, used a bicycle.

What if a universe theoretically only has one timeline?

The Research and Development departments of Andromeda have finally perfected a process called "grafting", a way to create a stable alternate universe from a chosen deviation point. Scouts can find the right moment where "grafting" should occur, and with minimal interference to what's seen as the "trunk" of the timeline create a healthy branch. Having healthy branches often works out for a universe's benefit if the trunk is eventually broken by some cataclysmic event because it means the universe has a healthy path to keep growing from.

Are there huge restrictions on what can be 'fixed'?

General information for this is here. No genocide, no taking over a world, no extinction level events. IC consequences would not be good. Otherwise you can graft a lot of AUs to suit your story.

Can salvagers keep things for themselves?

Yes, but if it becomes known and if it's especially important, vulnerable, and dangerous the Council of Rhakotis will pressure that it be given to them for protection. Special Collections has ways to protect objects until they're needed even in the event of planetary destruction.

What is the AC?

Check in once every two months. If people don't check in they just have to fill out the entry form again.

Can our characters leave?

Yes, with Alexandrian technology they can be sent home as they please to any point after their first disappearance. This does include AUs. If they decide they want to help and get paid for it, perhaps by running missions (even in the currency of their choosing). So if you want an excuse for them to do story things while they save up before they return home, that can work and build up some cash.

Can our characters die?

Yes. You want permadeath? You can make it happen. You want someone to be resurrected? You're free to MacGuffin it into existence.

How do missions work?

Once every two months there will be a mission post, usually set on worlds that exist on other canons (and mission world recommendations will be happily taken on recommendation) mostly for the ease of people that might want a prompt to build off of and just want to do some casual stuff. But also characters can run personal missions if they want to make their own adventures. Consequences will only really happen if there is a lot of blatantly flaunted disregard for in-game consequences. Rule of thumb for personal missions and activities is Don't Break The Setting.

There are several options for missions.

Grafting: Creating a new timeline out of the one with the most destruction to see less terrible results.

Pruning: For a world that can't be saved, pruning is where a team goes in to save important details of a doomed civilization, whether it's before or after whatever tragedy befalls it.

Sometimes people come in and do both things, just in case. Pruning can be duplicating and salvaging materials, scanning them in detail, or replicating relics that are religiously or culturally bound to an area, while the new timeline is being grafted. Just in case something doesn't go to plan.

Are there any established threats to be concerned about?

There are a number of time organizations from different worlds that don't appreciate what Alexandria is doing, even if the methods are fully confident and safe. You're welcome to play secretive parties that might want to subvert them, but don't count on them being entirely successful (for those Don't Break The Setting purposes). Though their efforts could be used for future plots if something can be worked out.

Also if someone wants to get away from some sort of time agency restrictions as a refugee, Alexandria will welcome and protect them.

Power restrictions?

None. Just the same as the previous note, Don't Break The Setting. Go find another setting and break it. That's fine. Deal with the consequences of that. More powerful people might be all the more valuable to defend the planet against external attack.

Can a character "leave" but return later?

Sure. Someone can drop a character and bring them back later. Someone can retire them and just check-in if they're not sure what to do with them now, but later they can come back in "let's get the team back together for One More Job" or something to that effect. This is by no means strict.

If you need it, take the time off, just let us know you're still around, come back later.

Are character duplicates allowed?

Are they really duplicates if they're all from AUs? Especially the ones from CRAUs? Yes, they're allowed. But if people don't want them to interact they don't have to. If someone wants their character treated a certain way it can be included on the info card on the cast list.

Can I play two characters from the same canon?

Yep. This is primarily story driven so if it helps tell a good story, then it shouldn't be a problem.

How many can I play?

I don't really care to by honest so go ham with whoever you think you can manage. If you decide you don't want to bother checking in with them we'll sweep.

Can we play an NPC?

I'd love plotting and NPC help. Anyone familiar with canons that involve time shenanigans, whether magical or otherwise, would absolutely be loved. Also people with an interest in post-apocalyptic media and wouldn't mind having their characters already be established on the giant library planet.

Do you care about muncest / having your own characters interact with each other?

I know it's usually frowned upon in RP, but considering I doubt this sandbox will get very big and it'll be important to personal storylines if people are on the same team? I say go ahead and do it. Besides, if you're playing someone as an NPC in a plot you may want to use them as an actual character later. Just remember to reach out to other people, too.

Why all of or any of this?

Because sometimes we just didn't have time to play out the game ending we wanted, or a player had to go for whatever reason, or you want to try a character but you have maybe one hour a week to churn out a tag. DWRP has been around so long that most established players are at the very least in their mid-thirties and have incredibly busy time-devouring schedules. But we love our friends and don't want to lose them and the hard stories we've worked on.

And sometimes it helps to have the option setting or prompt and choice ideas already lined up than having to work out the entire situation all on your own.

How do I join?

Be invited. Admittedly there's not going to be a full app screening policy because I'm too tired to live. Just go to the cast list once you've been invited and just fill out an info card and you'll be added.

You'll recieve invitations from librarycarded and librarycardedooc. So when you've filled out the info card with your character journal, it'll be invited.

★ NAVIGATION ★

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