hello mods! apologies if this has come up already, but i couldn't find a reference to it if so - a while ago (the end of march, i think) you had a poll up on event frequency. did that end up going anywhere?
Hey Bigby-mun!
We apologize for not mentioning it, but while there was a close race between three and four weeks, the cutoff we used to decide was before the last event and three weeks was ultimately the victor so that's what we'll be going with for the foreseeable future (as the last two events have been three weeks apart as opposed to the two weeks it was before)!
Sorry for the lack of communication on the matter!
what kind of social media is there in Spirale? for example, are they still called Twitter and Instagram, or are there different names for things like those here?
Hey anon!
All of the social media services you could find in our modern society could be found in the group's setting! They're just parody versions, essentially, usually named after the city or everyone's favourite mascot, Ofiuco! So OfiuTok, Spiralegram, that sort of thing! You can just kind of call them what you want or vaguely reference them, whichever is easier for you!
after seeing that answer about the moon i have a following question: can we glitch through the skybox? is there a specific spot you have to hit that will launch you outside the spirale's boundaries?
Hey anon!
Unfortunately no, and as for why? I’ll leave you with a cryptic answer.
As things are now, there is no way for anyone in Spirale to exist outside of it aside from the Stars and Ofiuco.
hey i wanna blow up the moon or at least shoot a cool laser beam at it to do, something? at it. can i do that? ward affected: sky, branch affected: sky
The short answer? No.
The long answer? There’s a ceiling on the sky itself, something no character in the group would be able to penetrate with a vehicle or an attack. Spirale and the areas the characters can access have special properties and those properties only extend so far which is why things like the mist exist, and so after a certain altitude there would be a physical rejection of a character or attack regardless of how strong it is.
For people who have houses in Cotes already are there any new limitations?
Given the rather drastic change to Cotes and its aesthetic, we understand that people who have already chosen housing in the ward may want to know how it affects them and what they can do about it, if they’d rather live somewhere else now!
As for limitations, there are certain areas that housing is limited to, whether it is a standard home or one purchased with a Mysterious Key. Housing in Cotes may only exist in the standard residential area (the area that muses are assigned to upon acceptance), Opalarian Market Town, the Underside, or the Yela Alora Swamp.
If you already have a home in Cotes, one that isn’t an assigned housing slot (i.e. a Townhouse listed on the housing page), then you are free to choose which of those areas you would like your home to be located in. This goes for both standard housing and Mysterious Key housing.
If you used a Mysterious Key to claim a home in Cotes ward, and you no longer want to live there due to the changes to it, then no fret! We are allowing all Mysterious Key homeowners in Cotes ward the opportunity to move their home once, for free and without the need to purchase another Mysterious Key.
There are a couple caveats though:
Your home must have come from a Mysterious Key that you purchased. You do not get a free move if you live in someone elses Mysterious Key home.
If you choose to move, you may only move to an area that was available at the time you purchased your Mysterious Key. For example, if you used your Mysterious Key before any branches were released, you would only be allowed to move to Fibonacci, Golden, or Archimedes. However, if you used your key after the original branches were released, you could move to the Swirling Gulf or the Mistwood as well.
As such, you may not choose to use your free move to move into The City of Glass or Sunset Circuit.
As well, we will only be offering this free move until the end of the month, at 11:59:59pm EST on July 31st. If you do not move your house before then, it will be assumed that you’re happy to stay in the new Cotes ward!
We hope this answers your question thoroughly enough, but if more clarification is needed on the Cotes redesign and its housing, please feel free to send a message to the masterlist!
So you saw the city hall blog closed and now you’re thinking “my muse needs work”! For some of you you’ll have your characters work at businesses and organizations run by other characters or Spirale locals but “what if I want my character to open their own business”? Well this is the guide for you! Within you’ll find the requirements necessary to run a business or group, as well as guidelines you need to follow once you’ve established your group. As an aside, this guide likewise applies to things like crime syndicates, gangs, cults, religious groups and hero organizations.
Is your character already running an organization in Spirale? Great! But going forward you’ll likewise need to keep these things in mind, since not following them can result in mod intervention or a straight up warning.
Going forward the terms group, business, and organization will be used interchangeably.
WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS FOR STARTING A BUSINESS / ORGANIZATION?
Good question! For a character to open a business or organization you first need the following:
A character that’s at least dwarf rank (be in the group for a whole month). The longer your character is in the group, the more income they should have and the easier it should be.
A means to fund their organization.
A building to use as a headquarters.
A sideblog or blog page to run the organization on. It’s here you’ll be listing important information and recruiting
Now startup businesses often don’t generally require a lot of resources, and so at dwarf rank you’ll likely not be renting out a skyscraper and running a company of 100+ employees. We know what you criminally inclined character muns are thinking!
IS THERE ANY EASY WAY TO GET WHAT I NEED TO START THINGS UP?
Sure is! You can purchase this goodest kit with Stars on the Galaxy Marketplace:
It not only provides you with the money necessary to start a small business, but likewise gives you the space needed to run it! A very handy tool if you don’t want to map out a workaround!
CAN WE STEAL MONEY TO FUND OUR ORGANIZATION?
Short answer: yes! Long answer: within reason. Something you need to keep in mind is that criminal actions will not go unpunished and there is never a way to completely erase proof from the scene of a crime. If you choose to have your character steal or kill to take things for themselves you waive the right to prevent other characters from finding out provided they have a means to do so. This is so there’s a healthy sense of fairness and villains don’t have a free money card other characters don’t. Every action has a price.
Likewise the authorities shouldn’t be able to just snap their fingers and find out the culprit of a crime, but more on this in the guidelines later.
HOW DO I OBTAIN A PLACE TO RUN MY ORGANIZATION FROM?
There are several ways this is possible! The first is the Entrepreneur Kit two sections up that gives you a small retain place on a budget. You can likewise ICly map up an alternative solution, such as repurposing an abandoned building or shelling out Dust to rent something otherwise. You could also do it the criminal way and occupy an existing locale by force, but don’t expect that to go unnoticed.
Naturally if you’re running a small crafts business from your housing or something like that, it’s absolutely fine to not need your own space first.
MY BUSINESS / ORGANIZATION HAS BEEN GROWING A WHILE, CAN I MAKE USE OF NPCS?
Again yes, but it isn’t as simple as yes and no. These NPCs should be treated like actual, independent people and as such prove to be liability risks. For example, if you put an NPC in a position where they can learn company secrets it’s possible they may leak them; if you run a criminal organization NPC members may give away information to investigators or law enforcement; if they’re part of a vigilante group, they may get injured in a scuffle or be followed back to base; etc.
Going forward if you would like NPCs for your organization you’ll need to send a message to the galaxy blog requesting approval to make use of them. Please tell us how many you’d like and what they’ll be used for. This is so members don’t bolster their ranks with vague or outlandish numbers.
EDIT: This is no longer applicable! But please use NPCs within reason!
WHAT’S THIS ABOUT A SIDEBLOG OR BLOG PAGE FOR MY GROUP?
You 100% need one! You can choose whether or not it’s available IC for characters to view, but it needs to be used for the following:
Providing information about your organization including the history of the organization and a link to the blog of the character running it (if a sideblog).
Making recruiting information available, be it an IC application or speaking with the owner to plan things.
A list of characters that are employed or otherwise working with.
Where the group’s home base is located.
The number of NPCs approved for employment if needed.
Any other additional information you think might be helpful!
AS YOUR ORGANIZATION GETS BIGGER...
Word of it may spread! Of course you can plug it on the dash, but that’s not what we mean. This is largely regarding the general NPC populace of the city, and as your organization becomes larger their renown will rise. Now whether that renown is good or bad may depend on the type of organization you run and won’t always be cut and dry, so here’s a few examples:
Your character runs a local business! NPCs will generally start giving them more business the longer they’re open provided there’s a positive customer experience (like any store). If you have rude staff however, people may be more evasive.
Your character runs a law enforcement agency! Have they been doing good work? Are they proactive in what they do? Then people will probably have a favorable view of them! But reputations for the many can be tarnished by the actions of a few!
Your character runs a crime organization! There’s no such thing as a crime group that can remain hidden once it gets too big. NPCs will begin to murmur about your group and make the general populace more aware of their presence. That said, it may be easier for your group to extort others if people are afraid.
Your character opened a church! Spreading the word of their home religion? If they’re good at explaining, have a welcoming environment, and show good faith then NPCs might start coming to check it out or even becoming regulars. The beliefs could slowly start taking off.
This is just to give you a general idea however and you’re free to play around with things provided it’s realistic. Keep in mind the city is, to the characters, a living, breathing environment with many elements that cannot be controlled.
HOW MUCH CONTROL DO I HAVE OVER WHAT HAPPENS TO MY ORGANIZATION?
Unfortunately a common misconception seems to be that “nothing can happen to my group without my explicit permission”. While this is true to a point, and no one should generally be doing anything to another character’s organization without talking to the mun of the owner first, there are a few things to keep in mind:
How big is my organization? The bigger it gets, the harder it becomes to exert privilege over what transpires surrounding it. If you run a police force with fifty NPC cops for example, you can’t exactly go “there’s no way some criminals would gang up on and kill one of the cops on patrol”. Of course you’d have full authority to now investigate it, otherwise implicating the criminals that did it. Likewise if you run a criminal group with similar numbers you can’t really bar NPC gang members from being caught or investigated within reason.
What might the player characters involved with my group do? This probably won’t be a concern for people running small businesses, but for larger organizations you only have so much say over what the other characters in your group do. They should at least run their plans by you, of course, if it affects the organization directly, but you can’t tie the hands of other muns for having their characters respond naturally to current events and feelings.
Is what I’m doing realistic? Is it fair? This is something you really need to weigh whenever you plan on doing something with your group that may affect the city proper. You shouldn’t be using your organization to do things that can’t be reacted to or investigated if asked. Basically, you can’t close your group off from the city and live in your own little bubble where you’re untouchable because it isn’t realistic nor fair. You need to leave avenues for other characters to interact.
So what control do I have? Plenty! As previously stated, no one should be touching parts of your organization without first talking to you so you aren’t blindsided. If it isn’t realistic you can likewise give feedback and maybe explore other avenues. However if you’re consistently telling people no, avoiding giving permission, or otherwise rejecting plausible pitches you may get spoken to by the mods and then receive a warning if it continues. You also still have 100% control over your character and their direct assets, so no one should be harming your character or destroying their home, you organization’s base, or your belongings without explicit permission.
NOW... THOSE GUIDELINES?
Who doesn’t like rules? (everyone vc) US! Okay, fair. But these are things that need to be said to create a fair environment for everyone. Don’t be too worried though, you’re not going to get punished for slipping up especially when this information is new. If anything you might get a warning if you continue to not follow them after being talked to! Ideally you read everything above before you read this section, because this is largely paraphrasing things explained better higher up.
If you already have an organization in the group, please make sure they’re following these guidelines ASAP.
To start an organization your character must be in the group for a whole month, have the funds to run it, and a place to run it from.
You must have a sideblog or visible page on your blog dedicated to your organization, including group info, a link to the owner’s blog, members, application info, and approved NPC numbers.
If you would like to use NPCs in your organization, you must send the Galaxy blog an ask including how many you’d like and what they’ll be used for. EDIT: No longer applicable!
Please keep in mind that only so much control can be exerted over NPCs and you cannot use privilege as an organization creator to gag or shield them from the actions of other characters. Likewise, NPCs run the risk of talking about your organization in public.
Please think realistically about how your organization will interact with the city. Law enforcement may come under public scrutiny, underground organizations can be sniffed out, if you’re exclusively selling Twilight DVDs your store might not survive, etc.
If you’d like to interfere with an organization you must approach the owner first. They’ll likely want to talk out what you’re doing first, and that’s okay! But if you are the owner of an organization remember to keep in mind...
You only have complete control over elements of your business directly tied to your character. You need to keep an open mind when others approach with interest in mingling with your group. While you can tell people that their ideas might not work you cannot bar people if they have a plausible means and you may open yourself up to mod intervention if members believe you aren’t being fair.
Likewise, you cannot bar members of your own group from acting as they please. If, for example, something turns a character against your organization you can’t bar them from interfering, leaving, or otherwise talking about the organization publicly within reason.
Just generally always be fair. No character can act with total immunity in the group and that applies to organizations as well. Every action has a consequence and trying to sidestep those consequences is effectively godmodding.
If you have any questions or concerns feel free to shoot the masterlist an ask! However we will not be addressing any specific examples off of anon.
Ahshf I might just be blind and missing this, but will muses be able to move to the new locations, like the city of glass, in future?
Good question! The answer is yes, muses will be able to move to the new locations in the future!
They can also do so in the present if they so choose, too! The housing form has been updated to include both The City of Glass and Sunset Circuit as housing options, so muses are free to submit a housing request form to move to the new locations as early as today, if they wanted to!
If you already have a home in Cotes, this FAQ answer may be of interest to you!
How often do you guys do inbox runs? Is there a schedule?
Hey there!
We do have something of a schedule, yes! The mods and assistants who work on inbox runs have a turn order we try to stick to, and we do our best to make sure that the masterlist inbox is cleared within 3-5 days of the last run. Occasionally two people may swap their turns or someone might wait three days while another waits five, but it’s rare that we let it go longer than that!
We all still do have real life responsibilities that we need to attend to, though, and sometimes that means an inbox run takes longer to happen or that it happens at an odd time of day. Unfortunately, there’s nothing to really be done about that as our real life responsibilities will always come first before a roleplaying hobby.
So generally, “every 3 to 5 days” is about as strict as our schedule gets!
