F.A.Q and Rules
So is it really invite only?
For the moment, yes. We don't approve any unsolicited applications. This may change in the future, but for the moment, especially while we work the bugs out, this is a semi-private RP.
Open app season is open.
What is a Niven Ring?
A Niven ring is a construct invented by Larry Niven in his book Ringworld. It is based on the concept of a Dyson Sphere, which is a complete sphere built around a star in order to collect most or all of its energy. The inhabitants would live on the inside surface of the sphere, which of course would have many hundreds of millions of square miles more surface area than a planet. The Niven Ring takes this concept and pares it down to a mere ring circling a star at a distance roughly equivalent to the Earth’s distance from the sun, about 93 million miles. It would be six hundred million miles long, and up to a million miles wide, giving it three million times more surface area than Earth, with walls on each edge a thousand miles high to keep in the oxygen, and an inner ring of massive panels that move between the star and the ring, allowing a day/night cycle. It rotates to allow for an artificial gravity.
Is that even possible?
No. But just go with it, okay? It’s cool.
Fine. So what is it like to be on this "Ring"?
It is very different from being on a planet. There is no horizon, the sun is always at high noon, and at "night" one can see the ring arching directly overhead. For more descriptions from Niven himself, you can check out this post.
Okay, so who built it?
That is not known to your character when they first arrive. The implication is that someone did it a long time ago, and built a machine that would phase in pieces of alternate worlds to fill in the massive surface area of the ring. Unfortunately, it looks like something went wrong and destroyed those in control, leaving the machine stuck in the on position, continually pulling in pieces of worlds--and the people who live on them--onto the surface of the ring.
Where do we start?
All of the fully phased persons (the players’ characters) begin in a neutral zone, the city-sized Complex where the original builders lived and worked. You step out of a small Phase-room and into a courtyard when you can look up and see the always-noonday star above you, and a horizon that is just not quite right. There, you will be debriefed by the computer and fellow phased persons about the ring and your missions.
What are these missions?
When a new world is phased in, the computer (ancient, literal, and possibly space-mad) asks--nay, demands--that the new area be registered and mapped. Though there is no punishment for disobedience, going means staving off boredom, plus the opportunity to gather some cool technologies and fun stuff from the worlds, and gets the computer to shut up about it.
What are the PPP/NPCs?
With the phased worlds come Partially Phased Persons; people who are merely shadows of the residents of the phased world. They phase in and out of existence periodically, and while they are there, they are solid and appear to be whole in mind and body, except they cannot seem to understand that they are not where they were, and for some reason often end up becoming hostile to the FPPs, though they may or may not remember allies or enemies. They normally cannot move out of their region, and can be phased in for an indeterminate amount of time, appearing and disappearing without warning. No one can explain why the phenomenon exists, and the computer isn’t talking.
So, what worlds have been phased in, and what worlds are there to explore?
Well, the mods will have a few pre-set worlds ready to go. But that’s just the beginning.
Here we come to the fun part. You as the player gets to choose. When you phase in a character from whatever fandom, along with that character you get to phase in a chunk of their world, and that gets added to the already massive and jumbled landscape of the ring.
What restrictions are on what worlds we can phase in?
Right now, approval is simply the mods’ discretion. If it isn’t completely unreasonable, not too insane, and it will be fun to play in, we will probably go along with it. Large chunks are welcome but don’t go overboard: the entire Death Star is out, but several levels of it are fine. Still, if you can convince us that you need the surface of an entire planet, the ring can certainly handle the capacity. Try, and if we don’t like your idea, we won’t dismiss it outright, but will work with you until we’ve struck just the right balance.
Do I get to choose what NPCs come too?
Sure! Where else are we going to get our villains from? Yes, you get to help work out the villains and conflict in your part of the ring, too. But remember, because your character is a FPP, he or she will phase in at the starting point, which may mean that their world is millions of miles away.
So, is there transportation?
Absolutely! We have the final say on what is in, but if it flies or drives its probably in, plus the computer will provide and there’s stuff around the complex.
Also, the ring has a number of transporting systems, to get from place to place almost instantaneously, rather than, you know, years.
Where do our characters live in the meantime?
In the Central Complex, which houses the computer and technology which runs the Ring. It is the size of a city, mostly housing machinery and computers. There are apartments there, for locations around the complex, see this link.
Where do they get stuff?
The computer provides everything through Star Trek style replicators throughout the complex. There are small ones in the apartments, large enough for a plate of food or cup of tea, and large stations in the living area for clothing, tools and other supplies. However, the computer is old and a bit ticky, so from time to time it delivers something either of poor quality, and very rarely, something completely unrelated.
Can we have doubles?
Yes, there can be two of each character: one Original Universe and one Alternate Universe, or maybe two Alternate universes if you can convince us how a second AU would be cooler than the OU.
How many characters can I play?
Five PCs, and you may be called on to help us with a few NPCs for missions. The only thing we discourage is one person playing two very closely related characters. It’s unfair for those of us who find the fun in playing out best buds or an OTP.
What about Original Characters?
At the moment, no. But you can suggest original NPC/PPPs to go in your piece of world.
What is the policy on the Fourth Wall?
When the computer brings in a new universe, anything that points to another, say, Batman comics in Sunnydale, are somehow blocked, as if the laws of time and space don't allow the overlap. We are not banning one character recognizing another from a medium, but we do ask that your character exercise restraint and that you consult other players before anything gets blurted.
Are my character powers limited in any way?
It will depend on the powers and the characters. Bring it up with the mods to be sure. Anything that could destroy the ring is probably too much. However, keep in mind that the computer brought your character in to be a part of a team and it won't like someone using their powers to harm other people.
Do we use the character journals for anything?
Just posting in the com. All communications of that sort will be posted on the grid. There is no friend add, which frees your character journal up for whatever you want to use it for: journaling, private logs, or other games of the same sort, if you so desire.
What’s the grid com for?
Blog entries, communication, announcements, and the like. Note that most communication in Phase will be face to face. There are is nothing that can turn on to make an “accidental voice post”. Though you can mark an entry “To so-and-so,” and call it private, nothing is unhackable, and the only way to ensure privacy is to physically go and talk in private.
What’s the rp com for?
Logs and threads only.
They will be titled: [Mission-“name of mission”] or [Complex]
Note the characters, specific location, time frame, and any warnings, and then put the body of the log or the beginning of the thread beneath an lj cut.
Tag it with your character names.
What’s the OOC com for?
You can’t be in our game.
What is the format for the actual RPing?
Most of the game will be played out in threads and AIM logs.
What are the rules?
1: All the standard role-playing “Don’t be a douche” rules apply, of course. Godmoding, metagaming, OOC fighting, all that stuff will not be tolerated.
2: Stay relatively active. This is meant to be a very laid back environment, and because we are invite-only at the moment; we aren’t going to worry about formal activity checks. Just let us know if you’ll be on hiatus for a while. No one phases away, with so many million miles to explore, your character can just go off on their own a bit. That’s fine.
THAT BEING SAID: If your character says they are going to be somewhere, do something, or get into a close-knit relationship with another player’s character, you are expected to honor those commitments.
3: Stay in character. This is NOT a crack RP. Even the AU characters should resemble the characters they’re based upon. And remember that IC =/= OOC.
4: Mod decisions over characters, worlds, and PPPs are the law. We will negotiate but once the final decision is made, we expect no wailing and gnashing of teeth over it.
5: Try to keep your logs and posts properly labeled, tagged and formatted to keep things neat. Also, try your hardest to finish one log before starting another.
6: No unhackable or private posts or "dear diary" posts on the Grid. Remember everyone can read it, so post like it's a public forum. Also, no backdating more than a few days in the Grid without a valid excuse once the action has moved forward. You snooze you lose.
7: Chill out. We are here to play a game. We aren't going to freak out you forget to tag a thread, if you write one sentence or fifty in your posts, if you need to take a break for any reason, or if you need to think a while before posting your next response. Just play to the best of your ability and have fun.
8: Do not abuse rule #7.
For the moment, yes. We don't approve any unsolicited applications. This may change in the future, but for the moment, especially while we work the bugs out, this is a semi-private RP.
Open app season is open.
What is a Niven Ring?
A Niven ring is a construct invented by Larry Niven in his book Ringworld. It is based on the concept of a Dyson Sphere, which is a complete sphere built around a star in order to collect most or all of its energy. The inhabitants would live on the inside surface of the sphere, which of course would have many hundreds of millions of square miles more surface area than a planet. The Niven Ring takes this concept and pares it down to a mere ring circling a star at a distance roughly equivalent to the Earth’s distance from the sun, about 93 million miles. It would be six hundred million miles long, and up to a million miles wide, giving it three million times more surface area than Earth, with walls on each edge a thousand miles high to keep in the oxygen, and an inner ring of massive panels that move between the star and the ring, allowing a day/night cycle. It rotates to allow for an artificial gravity.
Is that even possible?
No. But just go with it, okay? It’s cool.
Fine. So what is it like to be on this "Ring"?
It is very different from being on a planet. There is no horizon, the sun is always at high noon, and at "night" one can see the ring arching directly overhead. For more descriptions from Niven himself, you can check out this post.
Okay, so who built it?
That is not known to your character when they first arrive. The implication is that someone did it a long time ago, and built a machine that would phase in pieces of alternate worlds to fill in the massive surface area of the ring. Unfortunately, it looks like something went wrong and destroyed those in control, leaving the machine stuck in the on position, continually pulling in pieces of worlds--and the people who live on them--onto the surface of the ring.
Where do we start?
All of the fully phased persons (the players’ characters) begin in a neutral zone, the city-sized Complex where the original builders lived and worked. You step out of a small Phase-room and into a courtyard when you can look up and see the always-noonday star above you, and a horizon that is just not quite right. There, you will be debriefed by the computer and fellow phased persons about the ring and your missions.
What are these missions?
When a new world is phased in, the computer (ancient, literal, and possibly space-mad) asks--nay, demands--that the new area be registered and mapped. Though there is no punishment for disobedience, going means staving off boredom, plus the opportunity to gather some cool technologies and fun stuff from the worlds, and gets the computer to shut up about it.
What are the PPP/NPCs?
With the phased worlds come Partially Phased Persons; people who are merely shadows of the residents of the phased world. They phase in and out of existence periodically, and while they are there, they are solid and appear to be whole in mind and body, except they cannot seem to understand that they are not where they were, and for some reason often end up becoming hostile to the FPPs, though they may or may not remember allies or enemies. They normally cannot move out of their region, and can be phased in for an indeterminate amount of time, appearing and disappearing without warning. No one can explain why the phenomenon exists, and the computer isn’t talking.
So, what worlds have been phased in, and what worlds are there to explore?
Well, the mods will have a few pre-set worlds ready to go. But that’s just the beginning.
Here we come to the fun part. You as the player gets to choose. When you phase in a character from whatever fandom, along with that character you get to phase in a chunk of their world, and that gets added to the already massive and jumbled landscape of the ring.
What restrictions are on what worlds we can phase in?
Right now, approval is simply the mods’ discretion. If it isn’t completely unreasonable, not too insane, and it will be fun to play in, we will probably go along with it. Large chunks are welcome but don’t go overboard: the entire Death Star is out, but several levels of it are fine. Still, if you can convince us that you need the surface of an entire planet, the ring can certainly handle the capacity. Try, and if we don’t like your idea, we won’t dismiss it outright, but will work with you until we’ve struck just the right balance.
Do I get to choose what NPCs come too?
Sure! Where else are we going to get our villains from? Yes, you get to help work out the villains and conflict in your part of the ring, too. But remember, because your character is a FPP, he or she will phase in at the starting point, which may mean that their world is millions of miles away.
So, is there transportation?
Absolutely! We have the final say on what is in, but if it flies or drives its probably in, plus the computer will provide and there’s stuff around the complex.
Also, the ring has a number of transporting systems, to get from place to place almost instantaneously, rather than, you know, years.
Where do our characters live in the meantime?
In the Central Complex, which houses the computer and technology which runs the Ring. It is the size of a city, mostly housing machinery and computers. There are apartments there, for locations around the complex, see this link.
Where do they get stuff?
The computer provides everything through Star Trek style replicators throughout the complex. There are small ones in the apartments, large enough for a plate of food or cup of tea, and large stations in the living area for clothing, tools and other supplies. However, the computer is old and a bit ticky, so from time to time it delivers something either of poor quality, and very rarely, something completely unrelated.
Can we have doubles?
Yes, there can be two of each character: one Original Universe and one Alternate Universe, or maybe two Alternate universes if you can convince us how a second AU would be cooler than the OU.
How many characters can I play?
Five PCs, and you may be called on to help us with a few NPCs for missions. The only thing we discourage is one person playing two very closely related characters. It’s unfair for those of us who find the fun in playing out best buds or an OTP.
What about Original Characters?
At the moment, no. But you can suggest original NPC/PPPs to go in your piece of world.
What is the policy on the Fourth Wall?
When the computer brings in a new universe, anything that points to another, say, Batman comics in Sunnydale, are somehow blocked, as if the laws of time and space don't allow the overlap. We are not banning one character recognizing another from a medium, but we do ask that your character exercise restraint and that you consult other players before anything gets blurted.
Are my character powers limited in any way?
It will depend on the powers and the characters. Bring it up with the mods to be sure. Anything that could destroy the ring is probably too much. However, keep in mind that the computer brought your character in to be a part of a team and it won't like someone using their powers to harm other people.
Do we use the character journals for anything?
Just posting in the com. All communications of that sort will be posted on the grid. There is no friend add, which frees your character journal up for whatever you want to use it for: journaling, private logs, or other games of the same sort, if you so desire.
What’s the grid com for?
Blog entries, communication, announcements, and the like. Note that most communication in Phase will be face to face. There are is nothing that can turn on to make an “accidental voice post”. Though you can mark an entry “To so-and-so,” and call it private, nothing is unhackable, and the only way to ensure privacy is to physically go and talk in private.
What’s the rp com for?
Logs and threads only.
They will be titled: [Mission-“name of mission”] or [Complex]
Note the characters, specific location, time frame, and any warnings, and then put the body of the log or the beginning of the thread beneath an lj cut.
Tag it with your character names.
What’s the OOC com for?
You can’t be in our game.
What is the format for the actual RPing?
Most of the game will be played out in threads and AIM logs.
What are the rules?
1: All the standard role-playing “Don’t be a douche” rules apply, of course. Godmoding, metagaming, OOC fighting, all that stuff will not be tolerated.
2: Stay relatively active. This is meant to be a very laid back environment, and because we are invite-only at the moment; we aren’t going to worry about formal activity checks. Just let us know if you’ll be on hiatus for a while. No one phases away, with so many million miles to explore, your character can just go off on their own a bit. That’s fine.
THAT BEING SAID: If your character says they are going to be somewhere, do something, or get into a close-knit relationship with another player’s character, you are expected to honor those commitments.
3: Stay in character. This is NOT a crack RP. Even the AU characters should resemble the characters they’re based upon. And remember that IC =/= OOC.
4: Mod decisions over characters, worlds, and PPPs are the law. We will negotiate but once the final decision is made, we expect no wailing and gnashing of teeth over it.
5: Try to keep your logs and posts properly labeled, tagged and formatted to keep things neat. Also, try your hardest to finish one log before starting another.
6: No unhackable or private posts or "dear diary" posts on the Grid. Remember everyone can read it, so post like it's a public forum. Also, no backdating more than a few days in the Grid without a valid excuse once the action has moved forward. You snooze you lose.
7: Chill out. We are here to play a game. We aren't going to freak out you forget to tag a thread, if you write one sentence or fifty in your posts, if you need to take a break for any reason, or if you need to think a while before posting your next response. Just play to the best of your ability and have fun.
8: Do not abuse rule #7.