Memos

[Illyasviel von Einzbern]

This is the Memo Thread. What is a Memo? A Memo is a post where we, the administration, elaborate on, and address issues we find, or issues that the members bring to our attention, that have not been discussed in the past.

It is our official response to issues, and is separate from the New Updates Thread, so that we may stay more on topic and address the issue directly. Rules may or may not be altered, but this memos primarily serve to clarify our stand on the issues that are brought up here.

If a new memo comes up, it will be PMed to everybody.

What Merits an Extro?

Dear Members,

It has come to our attention that the Extro thread is not being used to its full capacity. This has caused us to take action in the form of the Activity Check, for example.

However, in order to prevent such recurrent confusion, we only wish to clarify to you that the Extro Thread not only serves as an indicator of a member's absence of 48 hours or more, but to state a drop in activity as well.

Hence, I am taking some time out from my time out to update the Extro Thread's first post, as well as Rule 7. But put simply, if you are to expect an activity drop for any reason, be it classes, or whatever... So long as it's not something severe like your house burned down or you were caught in an accident that leaves you incapable of using a computer (Arturia gives an example of great conduct by posting one EVEN with a highly debilitating injury), you must post an extro. Even if you won't necessarily be absent.

It is a courtesy to the community to say that you will be leaving or inactive, to at least give us an idea of what's happened to you, instead of leaving us in the dark, groping around in frustration that Bobby fell off the face of the earth without telling us.

I will say this now. Should you fail to post an extro prior to an absence of a month or more, we will assume that your house burned down. Now, if you do sporadically appear on the 'members online' list during a long absence while lacking an Extro, then we will assume that you are being rude to us.

While we try to be understanding, the Team and Community can only tolerate so much.

Now, I know that we all have lives beyond the forum here. But that is exactly why the Extro Thread exists. If life is taking you away from the community, please, please let the community know. We won't take it against you so long as you tell us that you cannot be active. It does not even matter why, so long as you say so. Even if it's that you don't like somebody, and that that somebody is driving you away. We just need to know that you are leaving us. It takes less than three minutes to post an Extro, so just let us know!

By this point, I'm hoping that I've gotten my point across. So what now? It's pretty simple.

If your activity is low, or if you're leaving for a bit, then tell us. Post an Extro.

A friendly reminder from your resident Loliboss.

~Ilya

Addendum:
The Mod Team now has clearance to police the box. If someone causes a disturbance, and does not stand down after you give them a clear warning, you are now authorised to tell them to "enjoy the Zalgo Box", and then ban them for the next ten minutes from the other two Boxes. The Ban function hits the IP, so they can't just make a new identity and get back on.

Also, Pogo will be covering my time zone for policing until I return. As such he will be getting a mod account on the Boxes.

Lastly: Randomness is defined by a lack of relevance to the present discussion (even if the discussion is not necessarily about the RP), and a lack of a point, a statement with no reason other than to... well... be random. There's a difference to making an injoke i.e. people are discussing old NP's and somebody says "Caveman invented NP's! His is the oldest!" and making a completely random statement like, "F***YEAH I'M AWESOME!" with no context whatsoever.

Failing that definition, use your own discretion.

[Illyasviel von Einzbern]

What's in a Face?

We have recently received a request from someone if he could make an Araya Souren. Once again, I am of the belief that this has stemmed from a misunderstanding of some of the rules, some of the face claims used, and their examples presented as argument have not been helpful at all. As such, it is important to explain this on behalf of the staff.

First of all, to clarify. We are NOT prohibiting canon face claims. However, because canon characters could be pulled from every single nook and cranny of the Nasuverse, not necessarily just the Fate setting, it is important to remember these key pointers.

1) This is a fictional universe. While in the real world, it's probably likely to have some people who look alike, such as that George Bush impersonator, it doesn't necessarily work that way here. Here, and in just about every other fiction I've encountered so far, if two characters share appearances, there's some significance in that. They're twins, clones, related somehow, have similar powers, they're counterparts of each other from parallel universes, etc.

Sure, coincidental twins exist in other works, but that is more of the exception than the norm. Yes, fiction is unrealistic. But if it weren't, then we can't enjoy reading about things that just don't happen IRL. Nevertheless, it carries some baggage of its own: the tradition of fiction, which has been passed down through all generations of storytelling since the first caveauthors scribbled doodles on his wall about a stick man throwing his stick spear at a stick boar in a stick jungle full of stick trees.

2) The Nasuverse is a bizarre kind of multiverse where the events probably happened next door to each other. (with the exception of KnK, as that is an outright Alternate Universe). Barring that, it is at the very least, a multiverse where the universes in question share characters, organisations, histories, and metaphysical laws. Because regardless of where you are in there, you all get rooted to Akasha. In short, one source.

3) The same thing applies to other RP's. Not all, but the point here is that we are not the only ones subject to this. Using Ichigo's face for someone who isn't Ichigo in a Bleach RP would surely come with an explanation. Even if he was basically Ichigo with a bad recolour so that his hair was white, chances are, there would still be an explanation packaged into it.

If there was somebody on a Haruhi RP who looked like Haruhi, it would definitely have an explanation, as well. In fact, Haruhi herself knows these conventions, traditions, norms and tropes, and would suspect that this person was one of the above-mentioned possible explanations. She is grounded in fiction, and because of that, her world has become subject to fiction's rules.

Now then... to directly address the issue.

We are NOT prohibiting canon face claims. In fact, we have several of them. As such, this is how it's going to work out. There are only three ways to get one.

1) Your Character is a canon Servant who has not been banned. It's that simple. Go see Cu Culhain(sp?), EMIYA, and... whoever else is there.

2) Your Character is a canon character. Is it that simple? Well, the Holy Grail War is a specific event, requiring specific participants. You will need to justify why the character is participating in the War, or coming to Lucca to screw around with it. In the case of Touko, she wants to dismantle the Grail and see what makes it tick. Now in the case of Araya, I don't know KnK. However, from what I understand of the others in the Team, he has no reason to be here.

Church characters are about the second easiest people to claim, next to Servants. Obviously, the Church would call on its best and most lethal to defend the Holy Land. Now, you will need to edit their stories to fit, but we can help you adjust that.

3) Your Character is somehow related to a canon character. Now unlike some other RP's, we're a bit stricter on this. "Twin brother from out of town" is not going to cut it here. This isn't one of those Copycat Sue fanfics where everybody's twin from out of town shows up just like that. The Nasuverse has rules, and it is using these rules, however full of Bullenscheisse they may be, that we justify their appearance.

Case 1: Kosviel von Einzbern. Now her face claim is not canon, as Archerko is from Sword Dancers, a doujin. However, she is clearly some kind of grown up Ilya. Which means she is by that technicality, some kind of quasi-canon face claim. The easiest way to explain it is to make her a Justica Type Einzbern Homunculus. Because every Justica Type Einzbern Homunculus looks exactly the same. She might wear her hair differently, but that's how it is.

Case 2: Lumi and Lempi Edelfelt. This is about as complicated as it gets. You have the Crests of their respective face claims, collected by one mother. The father comes from a family that specialises in bringing out the best genetic combination in the mother's genes in recent generations. Since Luvia and Rin were very gifted, and since the crests of both, having their soul DNA or whatever, were in the mother, then the results are pretty obvious.

Now this idea was not perfect at the start. Much thinking and rethinking had to be done, and then it had to be submitted to the staff for approval.

Case 3: Alexandra Ritter von Ehre. I make the same disclaimer as above. However, if you wish to know the details of her justification, I am not privy to disclosing it. I would, however, suggest you PM her, as she can give you the details.

It's not impossible to explain this in the third situation. All you need is a solid grasp of Nasuverse rules, and use them to explain it away. It's no different from explaining your spells, or your Noble Phantasm. Just that it explains the face.

I understand that this is a different case from other things here like what elements are banned, or what Servants are banned, or "your profile templates are too complicated". Indeed, this is not so much an issue of magic and spells, as it is an issue of norms, conventions, traditions, and tropes that are used in fiction. However, such things do happen, and as a responsible administration, it is our duty to address them.

~Ilya

[Tohsaka Rin]

The important parts are covered, but I think I will give a little addon to not just make it appear like a set of rules to the 'player'.

Nasu has certainly (or I should maybe just say Typemoon by now) has made a couple of different series, and they all play in another setting. Yet, because several are closely resembling each other because they follow a very similar (yet not identical) ruleset, that most by now came to see as Nasuverse Rules, they are still not playing in the same setting.

Nonetheless, the series might not be interlinked, but most fans tried to get crossovers done, and it works to some extent. Because the series also play at different times this seemed like an interesting idea, but sometimes it can get confusing to combine the systems together, which is why we prefer to stick to one element (Fate).

This does not mean that all characters are completely limited to their own universe, as we see no greater harm done to bring a character from KnK over, if they have abilities that are used in Fate as well. (There are not too many though.)

Now, we stated that the stories did not happen, because that would obviously remove some characters from the roster or change the people into something unusable, but this does not mean that the characters don't exist.

I think Touko is the best character for this. She is a magus and so can also appear in Fate, and although the people might not appear here or be slightly (only slightly) different, they still exist and Touko knows them. How odd would it be to suddenly have a Ryougi Shiki look alike that acts like a jumpy flower girl, giggling all the time?

We have in fact also set the timelines of KnK and TH to match the current timeline of our forum to allow those canons (if they can be allowed) rather than their children and grandchildren. We simply don't want to see Canon Faces (even if they are not Fate) used for OOC characters, if there is not a very good reason for it, as they exist in their original form (just an altered story).

Maybe they will see a cameo during some event/plot, maybe not, but they won't serve as a face claim for OOCs. Ilya stated everything already, so I won't go into detail anymore. There are more than enough characters out there. Please make good use of them. Thanks.

[Illyasviel von Einzbern]

Taiga is Dead

This memo comes not from the staff in general, but from myself. Please think of it as an apology for the most bizarre and rather staggering change in what's the word... yes, change in policy.

Once upon a time, a little chatbox was born into the ether. It was a small chatbox, unpaid, lacked auto-refresh, and was created on the whim of a person on the web, who had a humble idea for a roleplaying forum. A few people were invited to meet in this chatbox at the start, and of those, who attended the very first few meetings, one remains.

Before the people were totally sure whether or not there was going to be an actual roleplay in the first place, a friend of the maker of the chatbox created a little forum. Like all fora, it started out empty. It was both unpopulated, and devoid of posts. The people who gathered at the chatbox soon called other people to gather at the forum, where eventually, they too discovered the chatbox.

And so a dual existence commenced. The roleplay would be the actual prospect of the forum, and the chatbox would serve to bring together the people who wanted to roleplay. Eventually, the owner of the chatbox decided it would be more convenient to upgrade to premium, so that better features could become available.

They did. And for that time, all seemed right, even though the forum didn't look like it was getting off the ground soon. Months passed with no progress, and finally, one member was called to help fix the last issues that was keeping the forum from launching.

The issues were dealt with quickly, and behold, the forum was launched. The members of the forum immediately set out on an aggressive ad campaign, to spread the news of this new birth. It was slow, at first. One, then two, then three people joined up after the campaign began. All this time, that box kept on running, protecting everybody from the prospect of just giving up on what seemed to be a stillborn baby.

Time passed, and more members joined. Active ones, not those guys who'd send you a PM asking if so-and-so was available, and leave when you told them he was dead; or worse, people who would leave/forget even before you could reply to their PM. Eventually, the community centred on the box became so large, that it was decided to split the in-character and out-of-character aspects. It was more of serendipity than an actual calculated maneuver, but that's another story.

Eventually, things started to get a little rough in the original box, which was left behind to serve the original purpose of forum discussion hub, while the chat roleplaying moved on to the new box. Complications started to appear, though at the time, it was mostly overseen give or take a few issues that seemed minor. And that, therein, was the error of those who cared for the community. Minor. Negligible. Not worth keeping in check.

Finally, like sediments depositing at the bottom of a lake, all the minor, negligible rubbish piled up into a monumental catastrophe. People left. A little fairy realised then, at a very steep cost, that being soft was not going to keep the situation from escalating. She learned, at an exploiting price, that sprinkling fairy dust on everything wouldn't make things better. In fact, it was like pouring salt in the wounds that were there. She realised that taking advice from that tiger she knew was no longer the correct thing to do.

But the tiger said, "It's going to be fine! Just add more fairy dust!"

That, was when the fairy decided that the tiger was deluded, and killed her. What had she done? Killed the tiger, that tiger who seemed to have been raised at the zoo, and knew nothing about hunting, only parading around for spectators to see and sucking up to zookeepers for food. The tiger was defanged. It could only tell itself that things were getting better if they proceeded through the same course and held out for long.

It hurt that fairy, because the tiger was her closest friend. It still hurts her now. But the fairy knew that sprinkling fairy dust on the tiger wasn't going to bring it back either. So the fairy took the tiger's blood, and painted her face with it. She took the tiger's fur, and made a coat out of it. It was a sickening feeling. But the fairy knew she had to go through it, and keep moving forward, to get over it.

She took those claws, she sharpened them, and decided that instead of sprinkling fairy dust on the chatbox, to create the illusion of a solid community, she would swipe at those who would threaten the solidarity of that community. She would pounce on them, and bite into them, and tear them limb from limb, if it meant protecting the community. She would stop being a silly fairy, who only went with the flow and sprinkled fairy dust to make everything seem better. She would become a tiger, a real tiger, stalking her prey in the night, and keeping watch over those she valued.

Some things can be solved with gentle nudges in the right direction. Some things must be mauled and maimed horribly before they can be fixed.

The fairy hardened her heart.

The fairy knew that it was too late. Taking up this tiger skin in atonement wasn't going to bring back the ones who gave up on their little forum. She was through listening to the tiger, and sprinkling fairy dust over her eyes, and thinking that putting a little kiddy bandage over a cancer tumour was going to make it better. She was hoping that it might, in some way, appease those who left, but she knew deep down inside that if she clung to that fantasy, she was just deluding herself again, sprinkling fairy dust and asking for wishes that weren't possible.

She would hope. How far that hope would take her would depend not on what she did to repent, but on what those people decided on their own terms. That was their call, and she must accept that, if she was to do her job properly. It was impossible to control anything except herself, and the fairy had to let go of that illusion of control. She would go crazy otherwise.

So if you see that fairy prowling the chatbox, dressed like a tiger, don't think it strange. She just killed her favourite tiger, and wears it to remind herself that fairy dust doesn't work. It never works.