♢ FAQ: Frequently Answered Questions

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FAQ

I'm twelve years old and what is this? A roleplay game, silly. What is the game about, smart guy? Sky of Diamonds is a prose-inclined, post-apocalypse mystery game. Your characters are woken up from a cryogenic sleep, then told that their memories are actually part of an elaborate dream. Their only clue of where to go from there is the instruction to help rebuild the world to its former glory by picking up the mantle of their "former" lives. "Prose-inclined"? So is there even a network? Yes and no! All prose logs (and action-spam logs, if you feel like it) should go in caveofsapphires. Network posts should always be in skyofdiamonds. The Cave is littered with terminals on the street and in living quarters and businesses for connecting to a bulletin board-like network (meaning they may only reply with text from these). Inside the living quarters, there are also landline phones. Conveniently enough, they are programmed with the number of any other Sleeper in the Cave, sorted by their City name. When a Sleeper awakes, they are also provided with a device very similar to an Android phone with a touchscreen and hard keyboard underneath. This device is extremely user-friendly and allows characters to access both the Cave bulletin and a separate network with audio, photo and video capabilities. From this network, Sleepers can contact anyone within the Cave, City or Overworld, although the signal out in the wasteland is spotty at best. There is an option to filter to individuals or a group via the already-programmed phonebook. Caller ID will always identify whose device is connecting unless worked around. Great. What do we do, then? Whatever you want. Your characters can try figuring out if the Caretaker is lying or not, try rebuilding the City, stay in the Cave to help newly awoken Sleepers, or even explore the dangerous Overworld where monsters roam. What is it like in the Cave/City/Overworld? Check out the Setting post for a general description of all the explorable areas. The Locations post has more in-depth descriptions of specific businesses and buildings within the Cave and City. What kinds of characters are allowed? Both fandom and original characters are allowed, as well as alternate universe, fandom OCs, and characters with previous game memories. Multiples of a character are allowed, with three of one character being the limit. No multiples of the same character from the same 'verse; if there is already a canon version of a character in the game, you will have to app an AU of some sort. We also allow characters from any medium to join. Except Chromium Blue because it sucks. How many characters can I have at once? You're allowed up to five characters. Is fourth-walling allowed? Only as much as is reasonable. Just because someone is likely to know Superman doesn't mean they would recognize Smallville's Clark Kent right off, or think someone claiming his name is Bruce Wayne automatically makes him Batman. Really, he's probably just a poor sod with some nerdy parents, right? Everyone is human? Yes. All Sleepers are human and will remain as such. If your character is canonically nonhuman, they will become human upon entrance to the game. PBs are allowed if your character's appearance would drastically change due to the species shift. What about my super special awesome powers? At first, they will be inaccessible. Once they start their pilgrimage to the Diamond City, characters' powers will slowly start to return. This includes nonhumans such as vampires, werewolves or aliens. Teleportation will be powered down within the Cave and the City no matter what, and temporary limits will be placed upon range in the Overworld even after a character regains the power. Certain powers might be weakened if deemed gamebreaking by the mods. Additionally, characters without any canonical powers may find themselves developing unusual abilities regardless. These will either need to be pitched in the app itself or to the mods later down the road. Making up abilities for powerless characters is only an option and not required. Powers must relate to the character in one way or another: they should work to enhance an aspect the character already possesses and not the Rule of Cool. (i.e., a gardener is more likely to gain control of plants than laser eyes, unless he is known for being a hothead.) Oh, so my character's magic—? Actually, I'm going to stop you right there. Magic itself doesn't exist here. If a character is proficient at certain types of spells (say, fire or transformation or what-have-you), we suggest narrowing them down into specific powers. This also goes for characters with numerous powers that have no interconnecting link between them. If you can't pick just one, we ask that you find some that can be considered part of a single specialization to group together. After all, characters are only human and there is only so much power a single human can possess. So how do you explain multiples or bodydoubles? Multiples and bodydoubles are explained away as either twins or clones of the same person according to City records. Out of character, this will have to be discussed between players of the multiples/bodydoubles. If there ends up being a problem with a large number of people with bodydoubles, the number will have a limit placed upon them. (Bodydoubles are characters who share the same actor, but no other related media. e.g., Han Solo and Indiana Jones, who are both played by Harrison Ford.) Tell me about the laws. What happens if a character breaks any of them? If there is an infraction of the law, characters can punished in different ways from rationed food to solitary confinement to memory rehabilitation, depending on the severity of the crime. The infractions page has more details. Memory rehabilitation? Will my character start losing canon memories? The short answer for this is no. Whatever memories characters gain in memory rehabilitation, they will not permanently overwhelm canon memories and will instead move to become a second set after the initial onset of confusion. As before, Infractions page explains more. What happens if my character dies? If death occurs in either the Cave or the City, their body is taken away and, after a day, the character wakes up from cryogenic sleep as if they hadn't died. If they die in the Overworld, we should hope nobody tries sticking around to rescue a dead body. Slight memory loss and disorientation occurs after waking up. What happens if a character is dropped? They disappear without a trace. If they are reapplied for by someone else, they will wake up from their cryopod without their game memories. If the same player who dropped reapps and wishes to keep them, they will be allowed to do so. These characters will simply wake up as normal with game memories in tact. Can we canon update our characters? Sure can! When you want to do this, just let us know it's happening and then assume your character fell into a deep sleep one night. When they awake, they'll remember having been home and progressing in canon. Did it actually happen? Eh, who cares, they're canonbumped. What language is spoken here? Is there a language barrier? For simplicity's sake, everyone defaults to a common language: English. It is possible for a character to speak or write their native language if they concentrate hard enough on it, but doing so is illegal in both the Cave and City. How do the keycards work? They aren't printed to your unique genetic signature or anything, if that's what you mean. The keycards are simple, plastic things with details of the Sleeper it is identifying printed onto it, along with a small photo to prevent identity theft. (This obviously does not work so well in the case of bodydoubles.) Loss of a keycard should be reported to the hospital, one of the few places you can enter without identification. These keycards are necessary to get into most establishments. More than that, they also act as a Sleeper's "credit card", where any sort of superfluous use of facilities in the Cave is charged against how much time they have complied with their working schedule. The more you work, the more credit you get. Basic rations are not charged for, but if you want to get something to go to a restaurant, bar or what-have-you, you'll have to pay. When do characters get to go to the City? Do I have to wait so many days after they're applied? If you applied right after the last pilgrimage: yes. Otherwise, no, pilgrimages are placed on set periods three weeks. If you're lucky, you might apply just in time to shove your Sleeper out there just as soon as you please! What is a pilgrimage, anyway? Pilgrimages are periods of time where characters will be sent to the Overworld to travel to the Diamond City. This will come in the form of a "party log" where pilgrims can interact and get to know each other better over their days of travel. Incidents such as attacks from local animals or being forced off the beaten path may happen, depending on modly dice rolls. These journeys are the first chance for a character's power to reappear; they will not manifest during their time in the Cave. What's all this "City" stuff in the application? The City section refers to anything relating to who the Caretaker says your character was before the Disaster. This is the life that your character does not remember, but has the option (and strong encouragement) of resuming back in the Diamond City. How should I pick a City name? City names are to be like a character's canon name, but should not directly allude to it. Don't go naming a painfully pasty white American character Reiji Akihiko or something silly like that. That said, it should be a name you might hear on Earth; this world shares many of the same conventions. Names that sound strange to us would sound just as strange and out of place in the game. How are we supposed to come up with a City history? There's a worldbuilding post for that! Remember: this is the perfect opportunity to establish some CR with non-canonmates. Get creative with it and don't be afraid to suggest things. My character will remember their City life, then? Nope! Not a lick. The City history is to give you an idea of what your character is told upon awakening in the Cave: their name, their occupation, possibly a relation or two to other Sleepers. If a character breaks the law, they may end up undergoing memory rehabilitation to help speed up the process of getting back on their feet and recall things that way. Do you have a game chat? Sure do! It's at skyofdiamonds. Feel free to poke your head in to meet potential players, get a feel for the game or ask questions. More questions! All the answers! That is a lie. We're answering nothing. (No, but really, any questions, comments or concerns can go here, too.) ♢ navigation ♢

Comments

[topology]

hi guys! not too sure if this is the right place to ask (and if it isn't, apologies!) i have a friend in mind who's interested in the game and was wondering if setting up and running like a CRIME SYNDICATE is allowed? nothing too expansive i'd imagine, but definitely resourceful in their way of (presumably) acquiring and distributing contraband?

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Hey there! As far as running a crime syndicate goes, there are two options: your friend's character can either build a repertoire with Neal and begin working with him to spread out the distribution of contraband throughout the Cave; or the character can work on trying to break into the supply depots to acquire the items for themselves and begin running the contraband. The second one would require a lot more coordination, since getting other characters involved would probably need an IC campaign.

tl;dr: Yes, this would be allowed, just be warned that it would take time to either gain Neal's trust, or to find a way into the supply depots. Those are heavily guarded and secured, after all.

(Also, this was the perfect place to ask that question!)

[topology]

ooh mr neal ooh~

okay, perfect! thank you for the quick response! o/

[resetbutton]

Oh bb~~

No problem! Glad to help.

[signatures]

O H MISTER NEAL

/gazes

/is the friend in question obv

I think it might end up as a mixture of both, if that's okay?

[inequal]

HOW DID I KNOW IT WOULD BE AN EAMES?

... I mean, hello, this is still your regularly scheduled modly.

However Eames wants to work it out in-character should be perfectly fine! As long as you work with us, we are more than willing to work with you in return. :3

(watch me smash the random icon button like a boss)

[signatures]

WERE YOUR EAMESY SENSES TINGLING /BATS LASHES

Okay, great to know! I suspect such development will be excellent to play out for a dude who's used to having what he wants u//u Me and the person who's going to run alongside him (an inception oc) are going to draft a few things concerning everything and as we get closer we'll send you another note to see what's workable and what's not? :3

(its okay random icon button is my best friend)

[inequal]

JUST A BIT. LIKE AN ANNOYING FLY AT YOUR EAR. :I

Absolutely! Nothing is set in stone because a lot of it could depend on in-character approach and other factors (like different characters and their own plots), but a general idea of how to work this out would definitely not go amiss.

(forever random iconage)

[signatures]

seems accurate tbh

Okay fantastic 8D EXCELLENT THANK YOU

[transmigrates]

hi! i have a question about character histories and the like. the character i want to app is a minor character and there hasn't been anything said about her background (where she came from, her childhood, etc). all that's known about her is basically the events where/when she showed up: her occupation and position in the company she's working for, her relationships with people, her personality, etc.

how will you judge or compare this in terms of her city history?

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Same as we would any other history! We totally understand minor characters with not enough background, so don't worry about that too much. (If you have speculation on her background that you would like to include in her canon history section, that's also allowed, by the way.) Such as it is, the same rules apply: what you do have for canonical history should influence her City history as much as anyone else's — which is to say, not much.

More than anything, we would probably say that this is where a strong personality section would help us immensely in the absence of more concrete history, just to make sure we're all on the same page. Does that seem fair?

[transmigrates]

yes, that works for me very much. thank you!

[humanparagon]

Policies about spoilers in apps and in-game, if you guys have any?

I've reserved this lady here -- female Shepard from Mass Effect -- and the third game in her series just came out two weeks ago. I've played it, but I know not everyone has yet. So I'm curious if you guys have a minimum time limit for posting spoilery material. (It may not matter by the time the game opens, but just for future reference!)

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We would probably ask that you use your discretion in a matter like this. If you don't intend to unscreen your app, then don't worry about including spoilers in it — we mods don't mind it. If you'd planned to put spoilery material in a post or a thread, we would as you to put it behind cut text (in a post) or warn for/ask the player's opinion on spoilers in the subject line (in a thread). If you're accepted, we would also recommend you put up an OOC permissions post for including spoilers, to forego the asking-in-a-thread part. It's up to you when spoiler-material is no longer a spoiler, as we cannot really judge something like that.

If you wanted to post your app to your own journal, you may want to change both the text and background to white so that people can highlight it to read if they want to, like so: {Like so!} If you like that idea, you can do that with this:

{<span style="color:white; background-color:white;">Spoilers go right in here!</span>}

[humanparagon]

Got it. Thanks!

[waltzhagen]

This might be a dumb question but I didn't see any information on it on the Locations page, so I just wanted to double check and see.

Is it possible to create a location without the character being the owner of the building? I'd just make my character the owner, but it doesn't really make sense for someone really underage to own and operate their own business/building.

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If they work and/or have business being there, then that is also fine! The idea is generally that the locations are to be made by people who will use them, not necessarily the people who own them.

If you can't think of an owner, or would like to leave that open for another PC sometime in the future, then you're free to leave that section blank or N/A or as "open" or something.

[waltzhagen]

I understand. Thank you for the quick reply!

[affective]

Hey there, just a quick question. Do you have any rules and specifications when it comes to AUs? Like exactly what kinds of AUs are allowed to exist in conjunction with each other, and if there are any limits on how out there an AU can be, for example a variant on canon events vs. an all out crazy the-characters-are-actually-alien wizards!! type thing.

Also, given the particular nature of the Mass Effect games, would apping in another Shepard count as an AU character?

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As far as AUs go, our largest and broadest baseline is that one version needs to actually differ from the other in some way. This could be from a completely different background (ALIEN WIZARDS from Jupiter), or events in canon having changed and altered some form of their development or the direction their life took. As long as the characters are recognizably themselves within the parameters set by the AU, then we don't mind how out there they get, either.

It's kind of the same thing for Mass Effect. We're not as up on the games as we probably should be, but for a game like that (such as Mass Effect, Dragon Age or even KotOR), it really depends on which "branch" of the story our current version has taken. In Mass Effect's case, I believe a Renegade Shepard versus a Paragon one would be more than sufficient enough to count as an AU.

[affective]

Excellent, thanks for the quick reply. One further clarification though, what if it was a male versus a female Shepard? If they were both Paragon their characters might be pretty similar except maybe relationships with their crew, so would that be enough to qualify as an AU?

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It's a really strange case considering most canons don't have exceptions to rules like this, but let's put it this way: if the male Shepard is still understandably different from the female Shepard (which we would ask of any genderswap in general), then the answer is yes. It would still count as an acceptable AU.

[affective]

Alright, got it. Thanks for the quick replies! o/

[humanparagon]

oh my god another Shep yes plz

I MEAN

hi 8)

[tartanisstylish]

hellooooo I have another question and am bothering you again

I see that there is a scientific university in the City; is there also a school of social sciences? (specifically library science and religious studies)

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That's up to you! The scientific university was actually submitted and put in by our First Doctor player. The Diamond City is a large one; there's room for all sorts of institutions scattered about.

[tartanisstylish]

cool cool cool. and one more: the description of the Library in the Cave on the Locations page mentions a lack of non-scientific/historical works; is this the case in the City as well, or unique to the Cave?

I swear that's the last question.

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In the City, there were indeed other types of writings during the era of the Disaster so don't worry about it for a history section.

[tartanisstylish]

thanks!

[hisprecious]

Two questions!

1. Does the library hold any data, or books, or any information about the actual Incident itself, both pre and post- incident?

2. Are they allowed to check out books from the library?

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1. Nope! A few days ago, we added some information on the date to the worldbuilding post, however. It's not much, but uh it was kind of a "oh crap we forgot to say that didn't we" addition.

2. Not the paperback ones (those are for reading inside the Library only), but the e-book versions are free to be rented out.

[hisprecious]

Awesome, thanks!

[trickntreats]

If fourth-walling is allowed to some degree, where's the line? If, say, someone from a well-known sci-fi TV show happens to mention some alien races from that TV show to a canonically TV-loving archangel ... how should I handle it? :P

[resetbutton]

We would advise you to use your discretion on the matter. Just keep in mind that "TV-loving" doesn't necessarily mean "sci-fi loving", even for an archangel, and decide whether it would still be plausible from there.

[trickntreats]

Stargate's pretty well-known for a sci-fi show, I'd say--enough for him to at least recognise the major races and concepts even if he's not a specific fan of sci-fi. I'll ping Silvered to ask if she minds, though.