#fated:faq

[fatedverse]

i’m so interested in this concept! how do things like divorce and breakups typically look like in this verse?

ooh yes, so for better or for worse, there is no exact science to fatemarks (and resonances, bonds breaking, etc), and fatemarks aren't affected by any official, legal, or technical status a relationship has in real life. couples who have legally separated/divorced could still be actively resonated with each other due to lingering emotional attachments (such as the muse from our preset #2, incidentally).

for this reason, a bonded status on its own has no legal bearing, except for when it's being used as evidence (though even that can get highly contentious). canonically, lawmakers have tried to propose ways to allow bonds to provide legal protections the same way that marriages/civil unions/blood relations/etc do, but fatemarks are still considered so unquantifiable and so beyond human control, that it's hard to get any legislation to stick. the presence or non-presence of a fatemark/bond can influence the court of public opinion, but that's usually as far as it goes, at least within this verse's setting of south korea.

(on this note, it would be interesting if different countries have different legislations, but i didn't specify those for the sake of not writing ten more pages of lore --- but if that is something you would be interested in fleshing out for your muse's background specifically, i'd love to work with you on making it part of the larger canon!)

legal considerations aside, fatemarks have already made breakups messier for many people—since the forming & breaking of bonds is highly influenced by the weight of human emotions involved, the state of a bond and the status of a relationship could often look out of sync, in a myriad of ways. a crumbling relationship might see their resonance fade before they've even officially separated; conversely, a divorced couple might remain bonded to each other even though they legally separate & remarry others. if you break up with someone but your bond doesn't break, that might make you wonder why, is it your ex partner that still cares for you, or do you still actually care for them but just don't know it? which really might be enough to drive someone crazy. but, of course, no one would warn you about this part when they're waxing poetic about fatemarks; in this verse, the focus is nearly always on the beginning of a bond, which is a calculated approach---they don't want you to think about what divorces/breakups/endings look like, because they ultimately want to sell the fantasy that a fatemark will help you find your one true forever bond.

i have to stop myself before i keep rambling, but if it was a specific technical or legal context that you were interested in more, feel free to send another ask!

[fatedverse]

Hi! Just hoping to get a sense of the lore, but is the concept of the rp basically an au slice of life, set in SK and with the fatemark concept?

hey! yes, we're essentially a sandbox set in a world where fatemarks exist. i do hesitate to call it slice of life in case it might give a slightly misleading impression that the plot is "light-hearted," i think i've seen those terms used synonymously sometimes. a majority of our current muses are rooted in the heavier aspects of a premise like this (substance abuse, obsession, generally unhealthy depictions of relationships, etc), and those themes are also purposefully embedded in the surrounding lore — so if we're talking labels, i think it'd be more fitting to call it a mature city rp, in a universe with fatemarks.

with all of that said, slice of life-leaning muses would certainly be welcome; i just want to make sure it's clear that you will likely still encounter some darker/heavier/generally more mature themes when interacting with others & engaging in future plot drops!

[fatedverse]

is this group going to have a discord ooc?

nope, there are currently no plans for an ooc discord!

[fatedverse]

hi, out of curiosity, how many reserves are you planning to accept before the opening

hey there! reserves are always going to be an option, before & after our initial opening, so there's no time limit, if that was a concern!

or, if you were asking about what number of reserves we would open at, i'd been talking to our current applicants about how they felt as well - right now, we're all in agreement that we're just really excited to start writing & plotting for our muses even if we're a smaller group to begin with, so i've actually been considering setting an opening date for either this friday or saturday, likely with rolling acceptances through the rest of that weekend.

right now, i'm waiting to finalize my irl in-office days this week so that i can plan around it. i'll make a separate announcement with the official opening date once i know more, which will either be later today or tomorrow!

[fatedverse]

This rp looks so cool!! For people who are LGBTQIA+ and are in a resonance with someone else, is there a way they can hide it if they are not publicly open about their relationship? Can people use makeup to cover up their fate marks? (Wondering if this would also apply to people like celebrities and other high level people/politicians/etc. no matter the orientation of the relationship)? Thank you!!

yes! it's mentioned in the "fatemark" and "fatemarks in modern culture" sections - there are medicines that help people conceal it in different ways, either by making it look like they don't have a fatemark at all, or masking the color, or (in the case of two bonded people), suppressing the "glow" that would happen when they're near each other (and thus give away the fact that they're bonded). there would also physical/cosmetic ways to hide it, like finger bands that are designed to lay over the fatemark on the finger, special rings you can wear over it, special makeup that can give total coverage for a certain time, etc.

there would have historically been plenty of reasons for people even outside of the lgbtqia+ community to want to temporarily hide their fatemarks, so a lot of these methods are pretty common & accessible.

more permanent methods like surgery, long-term suppressants, etc, are only available through third-parties (aka not endorsed by the inyeon collective). methods that claim to be able to permanently get rid of your fatemark tend to be condemned by the inyeon collective as "black market" operations -- not technically illegal, but if something went wrong and your fatemark is damaged or you face any injury, inyeon would be contractually freed from liability & any obligation to support/compensate you.

with all of this said, mainstream society does tend to be judgmental towards people who they notice going out of their way to hide their fatemark, especially if they don't recognize that person as having a "reason" to. if you weren't recognizable as a celebrity or politician for example, you'd get odd looks from the majority who would claim to not understand why you would ever "want to hide something so beautiful and amazing and miraculous that you should be proud of!" these attitudes do fuel bigotry IC, but honestly, society will tend to make negative assumptions of people who cover up their marks in general --- like, they'd be more likely to assume someone is ashamed of their companion / they're bonded to someone they shouldn't be (ex. cases of infidelity) / some other "scandalous" reason (including homophobic assumptions), before they'd ever just consider that maybe that person likes their privacy.

sorry for how long this got, the societal implications of "soulmate bonding" have been one of my favorite things to think about for this world. this isn't a restrictive list of concealment methods, so if there was another method you were thinking that your muse might use, definitely feel free to headcanon that that method exists IC! let me know if there's anything specific you'd like to see added, i'm open to canonizing specific medicine brands / procedures / etc if you'd want others to be able to use it too.

[fatedverse]

hi! in terms of muse building, i was wondering how you imagine the muses in the roleplay would all sort of be connected/have reasons or ways of knowing each other. for example, there's some that involve celebrities and some that involve people who are addicted to video games/shut ins and some who are business owners; plot wise is there something that is linking all these specific muses together (just in terms of being able to plot w each other)? i'm so sorry if i might've missed it. thank you!!

hello! sorry that this comes at a late time (at least for me), i was out all day!

there isn't a specific plot that connects everyone automatically, per se; i imagined this space as a sandbox, where muses are living through a phenomenon together (the whole affair of fatemarks) rather than through a specific plot arc, if that makes sense. i suppose the most fitting comparison i can think of is the way you'd plot based off chemistry in a city rp, and here the existence of fatemarks/bonds would be an extra layer of context that informs the connections your muses make. the exact nature of those connections would ultimately depend on chemistry.

however, i do know that sometimes that's easier said than done, so there will of course be plot drops & events (like our opening event) which can serve as icebreakers for muses who might otherwise be unlikely to have a pre-established connection. i'm more focused on creating plot drops/events/tasks that can serve as catalysts for muse relationships, rather than build out a specific overarching plot! the world will still evolve through plot drops & will be influenced by what muses do IC, but there's not a single rigid plot we'll necessarily follow!

in terms of something concrete that can link muses directly together: i did envision that the locations are within vicinity of each other, so anyone who's lived in the area for longer would be familiar with other locals & be able to tell who's newer around here - i'll actually add that to the muse application so it can help frame muses either as established locals vs newcomers to the city, and hopefully that can give you a starting basis when plotting with others.

i apologize that this got so long, but please let me know if there's anything else i can clarify for you!

[fatedverse]

to confirm, muses don't have to be tied to a preset correct?

yes, that is correct!

[fatedverse]

i hope this question makes sense but, is there a way you envisioned muses would act in this plot? i get the vibe that fatemarks are normalized by now but would you rather see muses go against it?

i hope i'm interpreting this question right, but there isn't a specific direction i'm "expecting" muses to turn out! if anything, i'm hoping for an organic mixture of attitudes towards fatemarks, especially combined with whether the muse is fated or not, all interacting with each other - like a fated muse who inherited the gene from their parents but absolutely hates the idea of this mark dictating who's supposed to be important in their lives, vs an unfated muse who's always felt alone and wishes that they could get the procedure done because they think a fatemark would finally show them where they belong. or two childhood sweethearts who had agreed to never get fatemarks because they already knew that their "one" was each other, not finding out until they turn 21 and one of them manifests a mark, that their parents never told them about having the gene. or, on the flip side, muses who do very much believe in fatemarks and everything they stand for, but not allowing themselves to truly become close with anyone who they don't resonate with. and there's definitely more that i haven't even thought of.

i'm going to cut off my ramble there, but tldr: i'm more interested in how certain attitudes will mesh than any specific vibe! personally, i'm planning for my first two muses to have opposing views about fatemarks, so there's already going to be initial variety, if that's any useful insight. really, i'm just nosy and excited to watch different types of muses collide on the dash.