FAQ

What is the Boons/Banes section on the application for?
While your character does not have any of their weapons or special abilities, there are certain things that even higher powers could not take from them. These are intrinsic strengths and weaknesses your character was born with or has honed over the years. These are differentiated from special abilities that are taken upon arrival. Here are two better ways to understand it:

METHOD A: For you Dungeons and Dragons fans out there it’s fairly easy to explain. You can take a character’s spells away from them, or their pike, or their bow. But you can’t take away that 15 in Charisma, and you can’t take away that 8 in Wisdom. Think of those as your boons and banes. Characters with naturally high charisma are charming, and being low in wisdom means they tend to lack common sense. These would be a boon and a bane, respectively.

METHOD B: Is it something your character could do in our world? Then they can probably keep that ability. Your character has some sweet hacking skills? They get to keep those! Your character shoots light from their hands that allows them to hack things from far away? No, sorry, that gets taken. Your character is good with words and charming as hell? Go forth good friend, and charm to your heart’s content. Your character is able to lace their words with magic to give others a little nudge nudge in the direction of their choosing? Mmm… Not yet they don’t.

So basically -- a non-supernatural talent that can be trained and that is not granted by magic or some form of physical augmentation can remain. Anything else will not. Mods are happy to answer any questions regarding specific abilities!

My application was accepted… now what?
First of all, welcome to Ataraxia! May Time always be on your side. Once your application has been processed, you will receive a friend request, followed by a server invitation from PANDOR. Accept the friend request and then that invitation and you’ll be good to go!

Can I invite myself to the server once my application is processed if I already have a character in the server?
For the sake of tracking who all is in the server, no, you cannot. Sadly, you will just have to wait for PANDOR to get online and invite you.

Alright, I’m in the server. Now what? Where am I? What can I do? What are all these channels?
Heck yeah! You made it! Let’s answer a couple of these questions real quick:

Now what? Well, now you get to start playing around in Ataraxia! Introduce yourself to your fellow groupmates in one of the ooc chats, then feel free to jump right in to interacting once a mod has assigned you your roles. If it seems a bit overwhelming to go right into the citywide chats, head over to your vocatum chat for a slower, smaller, easier chat.

Where am I? Well, you may be in the server, but your character is in the city of Epoche! More specifically, they will find themselves suddenly standing in the middle of a temple in their vocatum’s district. You can check out the VOCATA DOC for more information on what each temple looks like.

What can I do? Out of character, you can start looking around the discord, interacting, all that jazz. In character, that’s up to you! This group is made to change, evolve, develop, and adapt in response to how the characters within it act. That said… your character will not have any of their powers, abilities, or weapons. Those will be returned to them upon ranking up. Not to worry though, Epoche is a safe place! It’s unlikely that harm will befall you. Sounds nice, right?

What are all these channels? I believe THIS DOCUMENT can answer your questions!

If I don’t have weapons or abilities, what DO I have?
You are given your communication device (the Tempo) and a Cog that comes pre-loaded with a bit of currency. For more information on your arrival, read the PREMISE DOC.

I’m new here and I want to know what’s happened in the story so far. Is there a way I can easily do that?
Of course! Lucky for you, PANDOR records all explorations that occur and logs all events that take place in the Amphistream. Those records that are available to the public can be accessed at any time right HERE! Note that since explorations and the discoveries that come from them are private and subject to release at the character’s discretion, only information that has been made public will be uploaded to P:PANDOR\PUBLIC.

How do explorations work?
From time to time, PANDOR will come online and open requests for explorations. Once it has accepted as many as it can, it will begin a DM with those people whose requests were accepted. From here, this essentially works like a Dungeons and Dragons session, where you tell PANDOR what you would like to do and PANDOR will tell you what results of your action. This will continue until you have found something or there is simply nothing else to do for one reason or another. At this point, PANDOR will declare the exploration over, assess your performance and the value of the contribution your discovery has made, and award AP accordingly.

Similarly to DnD, you are more likely to succeed at endeavors that involve your boons, and more likely to fail at endeavors that involve your banes. So just don’t count on charming your way into some hidden lore secrets if your idea of a pick-up line is “Girl, you got more legs than a bucket of chicken!”.

For more detailed information, check out the EXPLORATIONS + AP DOC.

What if my exploration request was rejected?
First of all, don’t be discouraged! The mod that is currently controlling PANDOR will give you a reason why your exploration was rejected -- usually because they already took on as many as they could handle, your idea is more involved than they currently have time for, or perhaps you’ve been out there exploring a lot and they would like to give someone else a chance. Requests will never be rejected because they are “bad”!! (There is no bad exploration in Ataraxia -- everything could turn up being something!)

Be ready next time PANDOR goes online and feel free to resubmit your request. Move quickly and pay attention to how much PANDOR says it can take on at that time. Remember, PANDOR may be an automaton, but your mods are only human.

Do other people get to know what I found on my exploration?
Obviously if you set off some massive event with your exploration, you’re going to raise some eyebrows, but outside of that, if you have quietly discovered something cool, telling others what you found is at your discretion. Maybe your character is a little more secretive. Maybe they think it will be to their benefit to keep their discovery to themselves. Or maybe they want to tell, to work together with others to learn as much as they can and watch the cogs click into place.

As far as OOC knowledge goes, a brief summary of all explorations is posted to P:PANDOR\PUBLIC. While characters are not privy to this information IC, you are more than welcome to read up and find out what has been discovered to help fuel future investigations.

A solution is in the works to make the full text of all explorations available, so keep an eye out! More on that soon!

What are advancement points? Can I use them to rank up?
Advancement points are what are awarded following successful explorations. These are not used to rank your character up, as that is a separate system entirely. Rather, advancement points mark contributions to the improvement of society and the city of Epoche. One can only assume they are measuring some variable that mere citizens cannot detect, based on some algorithm that only PANDOR seems to understand. Either way, as the city advances and develops and AP are accrued, something is bound to happen. The city is changing and improving! Who knows what kind of amazing things your discoveries will lead to?

Can I put in multiple exploration requests in one run?
We have a limit of one exploration per character for each exploration run. Should you put in for multiple, the mod running explorations will decide which is accepted.

Can I team up with someone on an exploration?
You absolutely can! If you would like to go on an exploration with another person (or a group of people), designate someone to put the initial request into the channel, and have all other members confirm their participation by having them just post the word CONFIRM. You can decide this among yourselves ahead of time, or if you have an idea and want some help, feel free to post an ad in #public-forum.

In addition, if PANDOR notices two people requesting very similar explorations, it may just partner you two up automatically -- efficiency and all that good stuff.

In the future, some events may require large group explorations, where interested participants sign up and PANDOR will randomly assign you groups, but more information on that when we get there!

What can my Tempo do?
Your Tempo has many of the features of a modern smartphone -- messaging, voice, camera, apps that may tell you when cable cars will be departing or arriving, maps, and many other features. (If you want to know if your Tempo can do something, feel free to ask!

In addition, the Tempo has a feature known as the Amphistream. In the event of larger happenings in the city, all other features on your Tempo will be locked down, and the device will begin projecting a sort of holographic livestream of what is currently taking place.

It can also track and transfer currency through your Cog. Your Cog interacts with the Cog app on your Tempo and allows you to transfer and request money, then finalize the transaction by placing your Cog on a reader and giving it a spin (literally).

Can I break it?
Yes, you can, if you try hard enough. Not sure why you would want to do that, however -- your Tempo is quite literally a gift from the Gods. Luckily for you, if it does manage to get a little beat up, there’s a repair shop somewhere in Precinct Arshan that specializes in just that. The woman who runs it is a little quirky, but she’ll fix things right up in no time.

That said, core functionality will continue to carry on -- even if the hardware is broken, the machinery that runs it does not break, and if the screen cracks it will just shift to projection mode.

...If you break the projector, you’ll just have to deal with the Tempo switching to text-to-speech and loudly reading every single message that comes through until you get it fixed. So… maybe go get it fixed.

What is the difference between the Vocata?
Honestly, not much. The citizens of Epoche respect all the deities, and will harbor no ill-will against you for being favored by one over the other. A Boryana devotee wouldn’t treat a Fenix devotee with any disdain or malice… though they may treat a fellow Boryana devotee more like family.

The Vocata are simply collections of those under different patron deities. They are not at war, nor any sort of competition with each other. Simply collections of like-minded people; perhaps not necessarily in personality, but with regards to what they value and hold dear.

Can I change Vocata?
No, you cannot, so make sure your quiz answers are accurate before you send in the result. But come on now, why would you want to? A deity has chosen you as one of their favored!

What does Epoche look like?
The best way to describe it is warm. It looks like time is frozen in the middle of a beautiful sunset, with the sky ablaze with pinks and golds and purples and oranges. Overall, the aesthetic can best be described as a sort of Ancient Greece meets Steampunk vibe. Columns and pillars and buildings cut from marble all adorned with clockwork and cogs. Don’t be fooled though, they are quite technologically advanced. Their technology fits the general aesthetic of the city however -- with brass and warm tones, wood and marble. It almost seems like magic, how some of their devices work, between the sheer simplicity, the wondrous things they can do, and their penchant for giving everything a soft, warm glow. But any citizen of the city will laugh off that notion -- magic is reserved for the gods after all.

For more information, check out the VOCATA DOC.

How does currency work?
The currency in Epoche is the Chrono. Currency is loaded onto your Cog. The Cog is just a small gear-shaped bit of technology linked to your Tempo that can send and receive money. To pay, the other person needs a reader -- all you have to do is punch the information into your Cog app on your Tempo, place your Cog on the reader and give it a spin. Technology will do the rest!

How does housing work?
Upon entering, you are assigned to first-tier housing in your Vocatum and assigned roommates as well. Upon reaching rank 3, you have access to second-tier housing. At second-tier, you may bring in roommates from the same Vocatum, regardless of their rank. Upon reaching rank 5, you have access to third-tier housing. At third-tier, you may bring in roommates regardless of Vocatum, regardless of their rank. Roommates must be requested by the head tenant through the inbox (the one in bold on the housing spreadsheet). Housing descriptions are located on the VOCATA DOC.

Can I work for a member-run business?
Yes, provided you have the permission of the character who owns it! If applying for a job at a member-run business, include a screenshot indicating you have permission with your application.

Something that I think is important happened outside of Amphistream -- can I get it logged in P:PANDOR\PUBLIC?
Amphistream interactions will always be logged, as will summaries of all explorations.

If it’s something (i.e. an NPC interaction that raised an eyebrow or two) that occurred in one of the citywide chats, place a request for it to be logged in the #questions channel by posting a screenshot of the interaction you want logged along with your request for it to be logged. PANDOR is not in the chatrooms, so it will not respond to any requests that are made there.

Why are there two PANDORs in the server?
One of them is a sub-program meant to keep track of all newcomers to the city of Epoche and the abilities they have been granted by the Gods. The other main program is the one that logs your exploration results and dishes out AP. They’re the same automaton, just different aspects of it!

...To answer your question in a non-lore way: admin mods are responsible for inviting people to the server, but admin mods do not know the lore or what happens in explorations -- that’s just the lore mods! As a way to keep these two functions of “PANDOR” separate and so the admin mods aren’t spoiled on anything, we have two separate PANDOR accounts. We ask that you do not DM or interact with the sub-program PANDOR-- its only purpose is to invite people to the server and handle rankups, and will not respond otherwise! Wait for the main program PANDOR to message you to initiate explorations to avoid accidentally messaging the wrong one.

What happens if I die?
Huh! Good question! And not a question I think many in Epoche have had to think about. After all, time doesn’t move and Epoche is a safe haven…

...But it seems that over time, some of the newcomers have tempted fate and shook things up, meaning we now have a better idea of what happens. Essentially, your Vocatum’s deity will step in, stopping you from permanently dying. You will awaken in your deity’s temple, and for the next few days, you will have a form of protection on you specific to the kind of magic your deity wields. They do not want members of their Vocatum to fall, after all.

What happens if I leave the city?
You’ll find yourself in the Steppe, a sprawling area of wilderness just begging to be explored.

...And if I try to leave the Steppe?
Wow! Another good question!

What happens if I--
More good questions! Look at you go! Gold star for you. I like your curiosity.

(But in all seriousness, part of Ataraxia’s charm is that it is also a mystery-based MFRP. You will not have all the answers at first, and for a lot of your questions, the answer will be “get out there and find out!”. Don’t be afraid to send your character out into the world to satisfy their curiosity!)

Any hints?
Pay attention! The mods plan everything out fairly meticulously. If something even SLIGHTLY raises an eyebrow, it’s probably worth looking into. We’re always trying to drop hints that might nudge you in the right direction. Everything from word choice to stylization of text to things that are just sort of “they could have said it this way but they said it this way instead”... anything could be a hint! Heck, there are several “hints” in this FAQ doc and even more in some of the other ones. So don’t get too distracted by everything happening on your Tempo -- keep looking up!