Frequently Asked Questions: stedelweissmods

stedelweissmods

Frequently Asked Questions

Jul 03, 2008 01:34

General

Plot

Setting

Applications

Characters

Staff

So, what do I need to know if I want to app as staff? Are staff characters in on all the secrets of the plot?
What are the expectations and requirements for the different staff positions?
Alright, I’m a doctor/nurse/assistant/guard. What do I actually do? What kind of therapies/activities can I run?
So, do staff characters not get to be involved in the cool plot? Are they just there to harass patients?
So, staff can be promoted/demoted. What's the deal with that?
What are the Patient Files? What IC knowledge does staff have about patients?
Where do staff members sleep? What are their rooms like?
Concerning staff-characters - aren't their anachronistic clothes somewhat suspicious?

General

• What should I know about St. Edelweiss before joining?

Reading the whole FAQ is a good idea, but applying players should keep three things in mind, in particular:

First, St. Edelweiss is a game that takes place in a largely fixed setting. Asylum life places restrictions on what characters can do, where they can go, and what their daily lives are like. As such, the complete freedom that many other games offer isn’t available here. Patients and staff are required to operate within these limitations; the fun comes from how they react to and cope with them.

St. Edelweiss also follows an overarching main plot. Player initiative is integral to advancing this: what Edelweiss’ patients learn about the asylum and their captivity, which of the asylum’s residents they encounter, and what progress they make towards escape will all depend on their decisions about where to explore and what to do. You’re free to get your characters as involved in the main plot as you’d like - patients coming up with plans and ideas and player initiative are central to moving the game along.

Finally, St. Edelweiss is a dark game, centered on genres like psychological horror, survival horror, and mystery. The game isn’t a gorefest, but it will touch on disturbing themes very often. That doesn’t meant there can’t be light-hearted moments, but players need to be comfortable with this content and aware of the tone of the game.

• How do the main community and log community work? What goes where?

For stedelweiss:

Two types of posts go in this community - voice posts and action logs.

Most rooms in St. Edelweiss, including all cells, staff offices, recreation rooms, the dining hall, and most hallways, are equipped with a sound transmitter, linking up to an asylum-wide intercom system. Sounds broadcast over the system are sent to all active transmitters, as if anyone speaking over it were talking aloud to everyone. Voice posts in stedelweiss consist of exactly what your character is saying and other characters’ replies.

(Sound transmitters cannot be deactivated in patient cells, recreation rooms, or hallways; staff may turn them off in their offices and therapy rooms. In addition, patients can activate an intercom channel only available in the cells, the patient channel, but the means of doing so must be discovered in-game.)

You may also post action logs to stedelweiss. These are posts written in [action] brackets detailing what a character is doing in any room with intercom access. Because the intercom is permanently active in all areas patients have day-to-day access to, you may feel free to respond to [action] posts with voice replies and vice versa.

For stedelweisslogs:

Prose logs in or out of earshot of the intercom should be posted here. Therapy sessions, exploration posts, and so on will generally go here, as may open or closed logs anywhere in the asylum. In particular, any events which would not be audible over the intercom should be logged out here. Likewise, logs that require more introspection and detail should be posted here.

• When are Activity Checks? What is required to pass them?

During the first week of each month, St. Edelweiss’ mods will post an Activity Check to stedelweissooc. Players are required to respond by listing two pieces of activity in the game for each of their characters.

This activity must be dated after the close of the previous month’s AC and may consist of:
1) A post in stedelweiss or stedelweisslogs
2) A thread of ten of more posts back and forth in stedelweiss
3) A reply to a prose log in stedelweisslogs

Staff players must meet the same AC requirements as patients, with the additional stipulation that at least one of their linked threads must show their character performing official staff duties - a doctor or nurse hosting a therapy session, a guard breaking up questionable behavior, someone having an official discussion with a patient, etc.

Plot

• Plot? What plot?

Your character is, essentially, part of a human sociology experiment. They wake up in a cell with a chart on their bed, their data and diagnoses listed. It's obvious that they're not getting out anytime soon.

Throughout the daytime, things seem to remain fairly non-sinister. That hardly means things stay ethical. Patients are subject to all sorts of treatments - taken from their cells to one of the offices where they are administered medication that probably isn't helping them, or even put through "therapies." These may range anywhere from degrading but humane treatments to strange, medical experimentation to physical or psychological abuse to a simple chat with the doctors.

However, no matter what happens under the pretense of "treatments" during the daytime, at night, everything changes.

The doors within the East Wing unlock. Foolhardiness on account of the guards, it's marked off as. In reality, the doctors and nurses (and those big dogs in charge of the experiment) will be monitoring all that happens. It's up to you whether your character realizes that they can roam the entire East Wing area (staff rooms excepted, although attempts can be made to sneak in there as well as in the few other places still guarded at night), or even whether they will. But know that just because your character doesn't leave doesn't mean that another character can't come in.

What can happen at night is, of course, a lot more sinister. There have been rumors of paranormal sightings and mysterious violence that only occur at night. Know that there are also experimentation offices that will be unlocked upon nightfall, and with characters at varying degrees of insanity... we can't guarantee that there won't be "incidents." Who knows.

One last thing - the mysterious West Wing seems to hold a lot of secrets of its own. Maybe your characters are curious enough to figure out how to get over there, as there is no direct, easy path over to that side. Just be wary. Curiosity has a price.

• So... my character is told that their entire canon was all in their head?

Yep. This is what will happen during "talking treatments" with the doctors, largely. Though rest assured, doctors and nurses will slip side-comments in about this at all times possible.

• How does the plot work? I mean, do I sit back and watch what happens? Do I have to do something? How do I know what to do?

Our plot is the driving force behind the game. We focus a great deal on player initiative and on the players' willingness to follow clues and discover slowly what is going on. The secrets and past of the place and the NPCs, as well as the circumstances of your character's arrival and involvement in the bigger picture will slowly be revealed, but it will not be handled as a story you watch unfold - we need you to actively participate in what is going on.

There will be clues thrown around, but whether you pick them up and do something with them is up to you. Everybody in the game, no matter how old or new a player, can bring their patient characters in for that. Keep your eyes open - go for what you find strange. Discuss the circumstances with your fellow patients, IM the mods to plan an expedition, use your imagination and see what your characters might conclude and might want to do about the strange occurrences all around them. Showing us you want to do something is really what matters - a simple "Hey, I'd like to do this, any idea?" towards the mods is really enough. Then, we'll happily work out something with you.

Setting

• What's the setting?

Think Sherlock Holmes, basically. Late 19th century. In Switzerland! It's pretty hidden away in a secluded village in the alps. Can't have people getting suspicious!

• Why 1890s Switzerland? What effect does that have on the gameplay?

No matter what time period, location, or even dimension your character is from, when they wake up here, they're dumped in turn of the century Switzerland. This means the technology is from the 1890s, so you're not exactly going to be listening to the radio or checking a palm pilot. If you're a doctor, you're not going to be working with the most state-of-the-art equipment, and if your clothes go up in flames... well, you're not going to be in Calvin Klein.

More seriously, however, is that the cultural attitudes of the NPC staff members reflect that of the times. While as an RP, we accept people of all sorts (straight, gay, assertive women and flamboyant men), the NPC staff do not. During the 1890s, blatant homosexuality was frowned upon, as were a lot of other, modern attitudes. Again, this is not to say that you can't have characters that have modern attitudes, or that these attitudes are frowned upon; rather, the staff may have a thing or two to say about it in your character's dossier...

A few other important things are that the measuring system used by staff and in files at least will be metric (don't worry, we will give you the Imperial equivalent where we can), that the climate will be different from home (we'll provide information on the weather on the main community's profile page, changing it weekly), etc. If in doubt about something in regards to the time and setting, just ask the mod team, don't be shy!

• Picture references plz?

Knock yourself out!

• So, what are the patients’ daily lives actually like, here? What happens to them on an average day? How often do they receive therapy?

For a quick overview of St. Edelweiss’ daily schedule, see here.

Patients are woken shortly after sunrise each morning, at which point breakfast is served. They are then given a brief period in which to shower and groom themselves. The bulk of the rest of the day is divided into two “recreational periods,” between which meals are served. During recreational periods, all patients are either given free time or forced into therapy sessions.

Free time simply means that patients are escorted to the recreational area and allowed to amuse themselves and interact with one another as they choose. (Please note that, while patients on both security levels must attend recreational periods, Level 2 patients, security risks that they are, will be constantly supervised by a nurse or guard during their time there.)

During these periods, staff members pick out patients for therapy sessions. Often, these will be specific treatments devised by the PC staff and logged out between players. However, you can (and should!) also assume that NPC staff constantly organizes simpler and more routine treatment sessions which your patients are forced to participate in. (For a list including some of these, see here.) You do not need to ask permission from PC staff or the mods to play out such a session with your fellow patients. Please feel free to handwave NPC staff involvement, as long as nothing extreme or disruptive is taking place.

All patients are required to attend therapy sessions, and the staff makes sure that no one is overlooked. Every patient can be assumed to participate in at least three sessions a week (though you don’t need to play them all out!), and refusal to cooperate with treatment will result in discipline from staff.

• What are the patients’ rooms like? How are they assigned?

Patient cells are divided between two security levels - Level 1 for “safe” patients and Level 2 for those deemed threats to themselves or others. Patients are assigned to one level or the other upon arrival, though their assignment may change based on in-game behavior. The basic room layout for level 1 cells can be found here, for level 2 cells here. (Yes, at present, the patient cells lack beds.)

Despite the cells’ small size, each room is shared between two patients whenever possible. Each patient will be given a roommate upon arrival, if available. But, as their danger level can change from one day to the next, up or down, whether your character has a roommate or not (and who it is!) will likely fluctuate a great deal.

Keep in mind that this is all to help spur interesting interactions: if you have ideas or requests about your character’s danger level or roommate, we’ll happily listen.

• What about hygiene? Bathing? Who cleans the rooms?

St. Edelweiss has community showers, which patients are allowed to utilize each morning (and may be forced to use, if they start getting too filthy). Yes, there is warm water, but it's not TERRIBLY warm. Lukewarm at best. As for soap, your characters will have typical 19th century soap bars available in the showers. Nothing high quality, though, and nope, you get no shampoo.

Aside from that, cleanliness is generally poor. Patients get clean clothes precisely once a week - see information on Laundry Day below - and, if their cells get dirty, that’s their problem.

• What about food?

Meals are handled differently depending on your character's danger level. Level 2 patients will have their meals brought to their cells three times a day. They're honestly crap. For these meals, there are no utensils other than spoons, sadly, and it's checked by the nurses bringing the food and taking the plates back again whether or not those are returned. Both the plates and the spoons are made of wood, for security reasons. This food varies a little every day, texture- and taste-wise, but is exactly what you can expect in a place: A not exactly tasty, sticky mess. It's somewhat hard to determine what exactly it is, but overall, you can assume that not thinking about it would be a better idea.

Level 1 patients, in contrast, have a dining hall where they are supposed to eat their daily meals. They are called to breakfast, lunch, and dinner by the guards, and the nurses check that everybody is there and oversee food service. Level 1 patients get to use wooden plates, cups, pitchers, and bowls, as well as actual cutlery - knives, spoons, and forks. However, these are duly counted after the meals, and no patient let out of the room until it's confirmed that all was given back.

For a detailed overview on the food available in the Dining Hall, see here.

Staff eat apart from the patients, in the staff lounge, or - in case of nurses and security on duty - in their offices.

• So uhm. What is Laundry Day? What are our characters wearing?

Patients are free to come into St. Edelweiss wearing their usual wardrobe (with anything extreme or otherworldly removed) or the plain rags provided by the asylum. (For information on staff uniforms, see the staff section below.)

Laundry Day is, as the name suggests, the day patients’ laundry is done in-game. This event takes place once a week and can be kept track of over the main comm's profile. Laundry Day means that in the early morning, around sunrise, security and nursing staff will go through the cells to collect each patient's clothes and bedding for cleaning. Refusal to surrender either will be dealt with by security. Cleaning takes up the entire day, and for the duration of it, no spare clothes are given; the asylum staff just does not have enough of those rags they call patient uniforms for everybody. That means, whether you intro your character during this day or are already a patient when it first happens, your character will have to spend the day naked. Naturally, this is a humiliating and dehumanizing experience for many. But that couldn't be the real reason that staff is doing this, of course.

• Is there available some sort of map of the institute?

Yep. Here is an entire page devoted to this.

• How does IC time work?

You will find everything about that here.

• What is a dossier?

The dossiers are basically the patient files in summary, located here. A copy of each patient’s dossier is provided in his cell. However, this information is otherwise in-character knowledge for staff only.

• What about medication? What are the side-effects listed on the dossiers?

The food and water given to patients in both security levels are laced with a complex regimen of drugs. Therefore, all patients are constantly being dosed by Edelweiss’ staff. Doctors and nurses will only need to administer pills, injections, etc. in special circumstances.

What each patient’s medication actually does is unclear. Generally, the medication’s results can only be seen through the side-effects each patient experiences, as noted on their dossiers. Please note, however, that these side-effects are listed purely for your benefit, as a kind of prompt. You’re free to play them out as much or as little as you want, to assume that they affect your character constantly or sporadically, etc. Whatever works for you. Likewise, if you’d like your character to experience a more dramatic reaction to their medication, feel free to contact the mods about this.

• How do Edelweiss’ security guards operate? How many are visible, how organized are they, and do they appear to patrol specific places on set times?

The guards’ patrol schedule during the day is seemingly random and, honestly, disorganized. They may prove scarce on any given day, though there always seem to be enough ready at hand, if called for. At night, there are generally patrols in areas away from the patient cells, but even those may vary. ICly, security is a fairly unorganized bunch, more thugs than actual guards. OOCly, the reason is simply that we want to be able to be flexible so as to adjust to players' plots. If you need the information for a specific plot idea, it always works best to contact us with the idea directly, preferably over IM, so that we can see what we can do for you.

Applications

• How many characters can I app?

Three. Until you finish your first activity check, at which point you are allowed a total of six. Edelweiss is a development-intense game, and therefore, the character limit is NOT going to be raised. Focus on the ones you have - six is a lot of work. More information on the activity check is found in the rules.

• What fandoms can I play from? What about AUs, OCs, and multiples? How many characters from a single fandom?

St. Edelweiss is a panfandom game. We accept characters from any fictional, published source - books, games, anime, comics, whatever have you. We do not accept OCs or AU characters, including characters with history from other RPs. We do not accept multiple versions of the same character.

You may app up to two characters from the same fandom, provided that it would be IC for them not to interact in-game.

• I've given my character a diagnosis in their application. Now, do I play them having that condition?

No, not unless they are suffering from the condition in canon. The staff at St. Edelweiss takes some liberties with their diagnoses; personality traits and character patterns are taken by the doctors and claimed to be disorders. You play your character with their exact canon personality, not with the diagnoses you've given them. Somebody who, for their use of an alias for instance, is given the diagnosis of Multiple Personality Disorder will not suddenly develop this disorder in St. Edelweiss.

Characters

• What happens to characters with magical/superhuman abilities?

During the day, patients’ superhuman abilities of all types disappear. It’s unknown whether this is an effect of the medication patients are dosed with or simply a strange property of the asylum itself. (For characters who need a certain power to survive, you may assume either that the power continues to function passively during the day or that the character has a human body that no longer requires the power in Edelweiss.)

At night, however, patients will suddenly find that their abilities return to them, albeit in weakened form. As a general rule, patients’ powers will be lowered to a level such that they could not easily plow through the asylum’s human guards, easily access any part of the asylum, etc. The specifics of this will be handled on a case by case basis.

In addition, patients who lack superhuman abilities in canon may choose to have their character develop some type of power, at the same level as those of already empowered patients. For more information on this, see the Applications page.

Staff characters, in contrast, maintain their powers during both day and night and have them reduced by about 50% or, in extreme cases, to a reasonable level decided by the player and mods.

• What if the character I want to app is not human/has non-human body parts?

All characters are given human form upon entering Edelweiss. However, this will probably be dealt with on a case-by-case basis depending on the character. Generally, though, fairies may be short and graceful, but become wingless, normal-sized humans, vampires may have slightly longish or pointy canines, but no obvious fangs, etc.

• What if my character is actually a few hundred years old / does not look like his actual age?

In that case, you'll have to give us both his actual age AND his physical age. The physical age will be treated as his "real" age by the staff.

• Can characters die? Can they come back?

They can die, certainly. The things lurking in the asylum and done to the patients by staff occasionally aren't child's play, and a slip of the hand can easily mess things up beyond repair.

Characters who die, as a general rule, are dead for good. In the event that you would like to re-app a character who has died in-game, please contact the mod-staff, and we will do our best to work out an explanation with you.

• What happens to characters who are dropped?

They ~disappear~, which will of course cause rumors left and right. It could be that the doctors killed them, it could be that they became so aggressive that they had to be taken away, placed into complete seclusion or perhaps another asylum. Or perhaps they even got away, ran, escaped as quickly as they could. This, of course, leaves the option open of them being caught again and brought back into the game. However, it will be largely at the discretion of those picking up a formerly played character how they want them to come back.

• What if my character doesn't speak English?

They do now! English, and whatever other languages they speak in canon. If the character in question is not a native English speaker but usually does speak English, or just has a certain way to mess up the language (accent, wrong grammar, etc.), then this doesn't change. They also keep the same way of speaking that they use in their own canon, e.g. a character with a rough, direct way of speaking in Japanese will most likely use slang in English, too.

Characters remain capable of speaking any other languages they know. However, please write all such posts in English, with an OOC note as to what language is being used. (Single terms, exclamations, etc. are fine, but please avoid full sentences or comments in non-English.)

Staff

• So, what do I need to know if I want to app as staff? Are staff characters in on all the secrets of the plot?

PC staff characters are NOT at Edelweiss of their own accord. Like any other patient, they were brought here without being told how or why. The difference is, upon their arrival - they were given a choice. Would they rather be under the scalpel, or holding it?

If you're a staff member, you know which option you chose. You were never contacted by the head of Edelweiss for this decision, and only receive his orders via a secretary. You do not know what he looks like or have access to his office, and you operate under the orders of the head doctors (the NPC staff). You have no special knowledge of Edelweiss’ secrets. But, if you follow the rules and perform well for a year, you will be allowed to leave Edelweiss.

Your job is a simple one: you are given a clipboard with the names of the patients and their treatments. Sometimes you will be asked to carry out a specific task; most often, you can choose for yourself what will be in the best interests of St. Edelweiss' treatment and research program, as you perform your duties as a doctor, nurse, guard, or assistant.

What you do in your free time (which is any time you aren't accosting patients) is up to you. You may use the facilities as you choose, as long as you do not destroy equipment or get in the way of official procedures. Likewise, you can conduct your own research projects and experiments. The only rules are (a) do not kill or pointlessly torture patients (and “pointlessly” means “without an excuse”) and (b) do not perform extensive or disruptive experimentation without approval from the head doctors.

• What are the expectations and requirements for the different staff positions?

There are four different positions that PC staff may fill, and the obligations and requirements for each vary. Not every character that fits into staff as a whole also fits into every single position.

For Security Guards:

More a gang of thugs than actual guards, St. Edelweiss’ security force is in charge of patrolling the asylum’s restricted areas, restraining violent patients, breaking up conflicts, and generally doing the doctors’ heavy lifting.

As a general rule, security staff is fairly young - young enough to be in good physical shape, meaning somewhere between their late teens and their late twenties. It's a position that requires a lot of restraining, possibly fighting, and general physical work, so characters with good strength and reflexes (and/or other exceptional physical skills) are recommended. A character who is not a fighter should at least have something exceptional to make up for it, such as superhuman speed to catch and sedate fleeing patients, or superhuman senses or perception to track hiding patients down and/or notice things that are off during patrols.

For Nurses:

Edelweiss’ nurses are primarily in charge of the daily care and direct communication with patients. They may aid doctors in their experiments and treatments, as well as run therapy sessions of their own. In particular, they are the preferred staff for running less “medically” inclined treatments, such as art therapy or group discussions.

For the nurses, there is no age requirement - everything goes, from teens up to old age. They must be equipped, however, with strong willpower, nerves of steel, the ability to handle difficult/dangerous situations calmly, and, especially, willingness to be loyal to the institution. Physical fitness is recommended but not absolutely necessary. Nurses are in charge of communication between the doctors and the patients and see the latter more frequently than anybody else on staff. Therefore, the higher-ups on staff only give this position to those they can consider trustworthy or professional enough not to spill secrets, not to act uncontrolled, and not to let constant exposure to insanity faze them.

For Assistants:

The lowest-ranking and least powerful members on staff, assistants are the personal helpers of the asylum’s doctors. Each assistant is assigned to a doctor, who is in charge of supervising their behavior and reprimanding them for failure and misconduct. Essentially doctors-in-training, they may be called upon to aid any other part of staff in their duties, depending on what their doctor requires.

There are generally few requirements for assistants. Assistants are usually the youngest on average, generally in their late teens, although this is by no means mandatory. Nearly everybody can app as an assistant, as long as they are not completely out of control, are able to do a doctor's dirty work, have some intellectual ability, and are capable enough to have made the higher-ups interested in the first place. We recommend people with a healthy tendency towards sadism, with some intelligence and a lack of scruples.

For Doctors:

The doctors, as the staff in charge of most therapy sessions and experiments and the most authoritative segment of the PC staff, must meet with our highest expectations both for the character and the application in general. Our expectations towards them are generally non-negotiable, and we suggest that players apping be serious about keeping them active and IC.

For doctors, we normally only accept characters a certain age and above - meaning, while we prefer for them to be at least in their 40s, the iron rule is that nobody under 30 would be made a doctor here, unless they fill all the other points brilliantly. Furthermore, any character applying as a doctor is required to have a background in medical science (or something comparable) as well as an interest in research or at least experimentation. We are looking for sinister, authoritative, fear-inspiring, unscrupulous characters who are possibly insane in a controlled way and/or simply obsessed with their work.

N.B. Characters who do not meet the age requirement but otherwise fit will be made Assistant Doctors. Not to be confused with the doctors' assistants, these are simply characters younger and with slightly less authority than the senior doctors.

• Alright, I’m a doctor/nurse/assistant/guard. What do I actually do? What kind of therapies/activities can I run?

Doctors and nurses generally have free rein to run any kind of treatments or therapies that they want. These can be orthodox and legitimate, shady and disreputable, or frankly abusive and immoral. As long as there’s no gratuitous death or torture involved, it is really entirely up to you. For a few suggestions/common treatments done in Edelweiss, see this page.

Guards are in charge of the security of Edelweiss. Above all else, they should be involved in “busting logs” - interrupting patient activities to stop suspicious activity, halting rule-breaking, putting an end to fights and arguments, and generally pushing patients around. They are also the only members of staff active at night, in charge of patrolling the restricted areas outside the patient cells to stop any nocturnal wandering. Again, you really have free rein as to what to get up to, within these general boundaries.

Assistants, as a rule, will be helping out their attendant doctors in whatever tasks they choose. In practice, however, assistants can also aid guards or even strike up their own simple treatment sessions, with (handwaved) staff permission.

• So, do staff characters not get to be involved in the cool plot? Are they just there to harass patients?

Staff characters are expected to fulfill their duties to the asylum, which, yes, does mean they’ll spend most of their time tormenting the patients. And, because only guards are allowed to roam the asylum’s restricted areas after dark, they won’t (in most cases) see the full range of St. Edelweiss’ paranormal phenomena. But this doesn’t mean that they don’t have a role to play in the plot!

First, as staff, it will be their job to ferret out patients’ plans and to thwart them. Interrogate them, break their minds so they can’t resist, have guards intrude on any meet-ups they may have, all of that good stuff. Second, while they may not be in full danger at night, they are no more immune to St. Edelweiss’ strange forces than the patients are. They can investigate - and be harmed by - the dark things lurking in the asylum. Finally, PC staff members are still basically being held hostage by their NPC masters. Conflict in the ranks -- perhaps even collaboration with patients - is possible, though dangerous.

As long as the staff’s jobs are still being done, we allow (and strongly encourage) interaction among and conflict between staff members, PC and NPC. Just keep in mind that stirring things up is an easy way to get demoted…or worse.

• So, staff can be promoted/demoted. What's the deal with that?

Any staff member can be demoted. Doctors, nurses, assistants, and security alike. However, these demotions are not done arbitrarily. Staff may find themselves as patients for plot reasons: if the staff member is found to be too friendly with the patients, or speaks out too often against the institution, they may be completely removed or just demoted. A nervous breakdown is a horrible thing and has to be treated, after all - especially if it goes so far that a staff member actually believes a bunch of madmen! So, essentially, a staff position isn't a free pass to behave any way you want, nor is it a guaranteed position.

At the same time, patients may, in a few very rare cases, be promoted to staff. When this happens, the character CAN reject the promotion. There are a multitude of reasons why a promotion may happen, including good behavior AND to simply play with people's minds. It will, of course, be claimed that the character is healed and their talents are required in assistance of the asylum.

• What are the Patient Files? What IC knowledge does staff have about patients?

St. Edelweiss keeps extensive records about each of its patients - both on their personal information and their time in the asylum. This information can be found here. Staff is required to submit reports to these files after any significant treatment of or interaction with a patient, so as to keep the entire institution informed as to their progress.

Posting updates to the files is not mandatory OOC, but any information about characters not contained in (a) the patients’ dossiers or (b) the patient files is not automatically IC knowledge for staff. Adding a little note whenever your staff character interacts with a patient will therefore help everybody stay up to date.

• Where do staff members sleep? What are their rooms like?

Staff characters are given rooms in a separate section of the building, near the East Wing which, while hardly plush, are much more spacious and comfortable than the patient cells. Guards, assistants, and nurses are roomed in communal dormitories; doctors are each assigned a private room. For more information/picture references, see here.

• Concerning staff-characters - aren't their anachronistic clothes somewhat suspicious?

Actually, no. But that is only because they are forced to wear uniforms to make this whole deal less suspicious. Your fancy clothes and weapons? Gone. It's all replaced with standard equipment. Meaning for:

Security: Uniforms like these. Equipment can also include batons, knives, chains (with shackles, to be attached to the metal rings in the level 2 cells) and straitjackets to restrain patients, as well as sedatives.

Nurses: Uniforms like these, for female nurses. Equipment consists mainly of medicine and medical equipment of all sorts. Sedatives, anti-psychotics, bandages, etc. Whatever you need for your job! (Male nurses may follow the dress code for assistants, below.)

Doctors and Assistants: No particular uniforms - as long as it's professional for medical personnel, it's fine. Wear lab coats when it's required, get support from the other staff when you need, and take advantage of pretty much any equipment you require for your work!

Naturally, there is some freedom about the uniforms permitted - get rid of your hats, wear some jewelry (just make sure it doesn't get in the way during your duties), add glasses if you have to, but make sure you're overall in your uniforms.

COMMENT HERE WITH ANY FURTHER QUESTIONS AND/OR EMAIL THE MODS AT stedelweissmods[at]gmail[dot]com AND WE WILL TRY TO INTEGRATE AS BEST AS POSSIBLE!

:frequently asked questions