Your BDE News For Februari

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Hey, Fandom! It's us again.

February's coming up, and more leaks are appearing in the multiverse around Fandom's general location. These leaks and the changes they represent will start to cause ripples throughout February, affecting the lives and universes of anyone who's ever attended Fandom, be it last week or a thousand years ago.

What does that mean? AU weekend week half-semester! Or rather, a chance for everyone to tweak and mess with their characters' backstories, families, identities, even bodies. Note that traditional AU weekend rules do not hold. Changes have to be feasible within the canon-- you won't be playing characters with a similar name or voice-actor, you'll get the chance to play alternate versions of your own character. Effects last until the end of the BDE in March, at which point your character will return to normal but remember everything.

Okay, how does it work? Well, we have a gradation system! Neat.

1. 2nd of February and onwards: External: whoops, those keys are suddenly somewhere completely different than where you thought you put them! These are changes to the character's timeline that are noticeable to them because they're physical rather than memory-related. Gifts disappearing, furniture moving, etcetera.
   
2. 10th of February and onwards: Internal: a change to the timeline has somehow altered part of your character's backstory. Characters can forget something they used to know, or suddenly remember something differently about their past, with all the consequences that entails; they can also change physically, such as turning into a different-sex version of themselves. Their memories will adjust and they will believe it's always been that way. What the consequences of that are for your newly AU'ed character's mental and emotional state, we leave up to you.
   
3. 17th of Febuary and onwards: Background: The rarest form. Like grade 2, but the character remains aware of the change for a time. The character's memories will slowly change to fit the new situation, but they are at first aware of something having changed. This can only happen if the character is near a rift at the time. Rifts are moddable and look like slightly less conspicuous versions of this. They can only appear on Fandom Island. Please note that these are supposed to be rare, and we'd prefer it if players used this on no more than one of their characters.
   

We do ask that you notify us if your changes involve new powers for your character.

Since the effects of the breach can now extend to all Fandomites past and present, alumni staying in their own dimensions are allowed to apply grade 1 and 2 changes to their character. If you want a grade 3, you'll have to come to the island.

Everyone else will remember your character as they were before the change, with all the alarm that involves-- however, unless it's a grade 3, your character might have different memories of the events leading up to that point. For example, a suddenly-female Atton might remember Cade hitting on her, while Cade will remember nothing of the sort. (And then probably will try hitting on her because Cade.)

Please do clear anything that might mod another character's behavior with that player first; in the previous example, I'd have to check with Fry to make sure that's something Cade would do.

Finally, note that these changes are a physically demanding process on the person undergoing them. If your character is affected by a sudden change in background thanks to this event, they'll suffer from nosebleeds and a headache at the time of the change. Later, items that were emotionally charged for their old self can trigger similar nosebleeds and headaches, accompanied with flashbacks.

Questions? I'm sure you've got some. You can indicate power-based changes in the OCD now or whenever you come up with the idea, and we'll mail you to okay or not-okay them. You can also direct any 'Can I do _____?' questions into the appropriate OCD. All comments will be screened. Questions and comments will be unscreened; 'Can I ____?' questions will remain screened if you ask us to do so in the comment.

Comments

Questions!

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General questions go here.

Re: Questions!

[furnaceface]

Oh! I have one of these!

For grade 3 changes that also involve physical changes- would those changes be immediate, while their mind lingers, or would those changes be a gradual process as well? Or would that be up to the discretion of the person making those changes to their character?

Re: Questions!

[endsthegame]

The changes would be immediate, as the character's body is basically 'swapped out' for their AU variant when the change hits - it's only the consciousness of the character that lingers, as their memories take slightly longer to overwrite.

ETA: Damn, I thought this icon looked friendlier! *fixes*

Re: Questions!

[justbeingbay]

Great concept. Quick question - does "changes have to be feasible within the canon" mean that characters from non-supernatural canons can't get powers because their home worlds don't work that way?

Re: Questions!

[endsthegame]

Good question!

The answer is yes and no. When we're talking feasible, we're really talking feasible for the character, which means their canon background plus Fandom.

What does that mean? Bay, for example, wouldn't be able to wake up one day and have electrokinetic powers because of innate, inborn mutations that don't actually exist in her home dimension.

However, say she's friends with Kenzi-- Kenzi's world has magical druid medicine that lets you have low-level Fae powers provided you take enough of it. If all Lost Girl canonmates are cool with it, Bay could one day wake up to find herself an AU Bay who got a stash of Fae-juice while hanging out with her pal Kenzi in the Lost Girl 'verse. Or she could've been bitten by a werewolf, etc.

Likewise, AU Jack, for example, could come from an AU where it wasn't the Loup Garou but George Sands who bit him, and so suddenly his werewolfiness corresponds to Being Human rules.

Consent is a big deal, of course - don't lift powers from canons without getting the permission of everyone in said canon. But if Nick's cool with it and you want to have your character bitten by a radioactive spider while hanging out with Jessica in the Marvelverse, then you can. (Within reason, but that's why we've got the check-with-us-about-your-powers OCD.)

Re: Questions!

[throughaphase]

To clarify, does "and onwards" mean that these changes can begin in March? I have some ideas but I'm not sure I want to commit for too long, especially during my senior's last semester.

Re: Questions!

[holyshitsnacks.livejournal.com]

The grade 2 sort of changes -- do you get just one for the character for the duration, or can you flip through a series of what-ifs?

Example: on Feb 10th, Pam is suddenly (and has always been) a sleeper agent for the KGB. Until Feb 15th, at which point Pam is suddenly instead (and has always been) a highly trained ninja, spying on Isis for the Yakuza. This lasts until Feb 28th, when abruptly Pam is (and has always been) a classically trained ballerina.

(Pretend all of the above are plausible given the source canon.)

Re: Questions!

[justlurkinghere]

So, once you pick a change and have it happen, it will be that way until the BDE is over? Intermittent change wouldn't be possible? Like, say, Derek is a chick in his AU, it wouldn't be on and off before settling decidedly on by the end.

Tiny phone internets, so this might be a silly question.

Re: Questions!

[sharp_as_knives]

Are the existing sorts of things - the sounds of the past leaking through - going to continue as well, or do we only have till February to finish those? Because I forgot the one I was going to do yesterday. :P

Re: Questions!

[dr-manly-voice.livejournal.com]

Oh! Two, please and thanks!

1 - Will the AU peeps think they're supposed to be on Fandom, or not? The weetinies are never fazed by it, but sometimes AU people are all "WTF where am I?"

2 - Will the character's home world also be changing accordingly, or just him/her? Like, if Dr. Girlfriend moves to an AU where she's Dr. Mrs. the Monarch, and she calls home to her spouse, will he think they're still exes, or will he also think she's his misses?

THANKS!

Re: Questions!

[voiceoverdue]

If a student undergoes a change to something other than a student - say, an infant or adult or sentient...something...how is the class requirement handled? (I know I've seen folks being plants or animals, but I'm not clear on the logistics of it, particularly if I'd still be posting.)

Re: Questions!

[justbeingbay]

So we're clear to make Grade 2 changes as of yesterday? Is there a formal way I need to announce it or whatever, or can I just go ahead and make a post in which Bay is a boy?

Sorry for the extreme dorkitude of this question. I just don't want to jump the gun or give you guys headaches.

Re: Questions!

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

Can't believe I didn't ask this before, but- Can we get some ballpark idea of when this effect ends? I'm gonna need it to plot out what sort of changes I'd like to put into effect and when, and how much time we've got to noodle around with our AU tomfoolery. Thanks!

Comments!

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General comments go here.

Re: Comments!

[furnaceface]

... I'm gonna just hyperventilate here at work because OH GOD THE IDEAS I HAVE.

Of course all of them are mean. Of course they are.

Re: Comments!

[wildandbrave]

Oh my god, and here I was just thinking last night about how many different if-one-thing-was-different AU possibilities there are for my girls and how much I'd get the chance to play around with that and MINE IS AN EVIL LAUGH RIGHT NOW, TRULY IT IS.

Re: Comments!

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Oh wait, comments. Sorry, I misread that as commas.

Re: Comments!

[voiceoverdue]

Changes have to be feasible within the canon

...

Oh, lord. What isn't?

I Have A Potential Change That Involves New Powers!

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Let us know here, and we'll get back to you via email! All comments remain screened.

Can I Do ____?

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If you want to do something particular AU-wise but you're not sure it'll fly, let us know here!

We'll unscreen comments in this thread unless asked not to so everyone else can remain clear on our limits; if asked not to unscreen (for example, because you'd like to keep something under wraps for now), we'll contact you via email.

Re: Can I Do ____?

[give-areason.livejournal.com]

Hey! Shannon and I have this totally made up for our own amusement AU for Rosalind. In this AU, seven/eight year old Amelia (who is Rosalind pre-name change) goes to sleep one night and then wakes up in the future where Midgar is destroyed (basically she goes from way pre-canon to very nearly post-canon). She manages to scrape a living out by herself for a few months before being found by the Turks and is then raised by them.

Would it be possible for me to bring over/AU it up with wee!Amelia from this AU? Or is that too AU? Or would it have to be the adult!Amelia from this version?

Re: Can I Do ____?

[pasunereveuse.livejournal.com]

Tiny phone internets, so forgive any typos/stupidity -- can we have our characters have new NPCs due to the change? Like, hypothetically, there was a change in which a year ago, Celia got a puppy and thus now she has a great little dog named Spot. Is that okay?

Similarly, if I decided Celia had a hot, Victorian-style one-night stand with a newspaper boy in another universe and got pregnant, can she then have a wee child as part of the AU?

(Note: that's not happening, but I'm considering an inconvenient infant for another character and I'm too lazy to log out.)

Re: Can I Do ____?

[justlurkinghere]

Can I cook chicken thighs without thawing them first?

Re: Can I Do ____?

[voiceoverdue]

So, there are any number of physical changes possible for folks in Night Vale - from extra eyes to being a buzzing cloud to tentacles to signs growing out of them to having no face.

Could I run through those, giving Cecil different attributes each day or week or however often? Nothing really classed as a power, just extra limbs and such.

OOC

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Arrr.