[ ARCHIVED | complete crystals ]
In general, it takes at minimum four months for a crystal to become full of emotions and completed. Once this happen, the crystal will solidify and change its color depending on the character's Alignment. In addition, how "positive" or "negative" a crystal is will affect its color. If a crystal mostly has positive emotions, it will take on a brighter shade and even shimmer a bit. If a crystal mostly has negative emotions, it will take on a darker shade and appear more dull. If a crystal has an even mix of positive and negative emotions, it will retain the base color with no other effect.
❖ Guidelines
For the most part, determining whether a character's crystal is complete is determined by the player. After all, characters develop differently and some will faster or slower than others. However, we do have at least one rule and some factors you should consider.
» Four Months. Four months is the absolute minimum that would take a character's crystal to complete. No sooner, but it can of course take longer.
» Emotion Tracker. Commenting to the tracker is not mandatory in general, however we do require proof. For a crystal to be considered complete, you must comment to the tracker two times and they must be from separate months. For example, from a time period between January and April, you could use one link from February and one from March. You could not use two links from February. These can come from the main Emotion Tracker or they can come from the designated trackers made for events (example).
» Automatic Crystal. At six months, a player can comment for an "automatic" crystal. This means that the crystal is completed and no comments to the Emotion Tracker is required. This option is to help those who are less likely to comment to the Tracker for whatever reason and not be "punished" or feel like they are being punished.
» Events and Alignments. Emotion drops created toward an alignment will produce much larger drops than non-aligned emotions. This is going to hasten a crystal's progress. There are many events that are thrown once every month or so that cater to one emotion or all emotions, and these events are perfect opportunities to develop a crystal.
» Apathy and Emotion Drop Depletion. Emotion drops can be destroyed and lost. The main ways are through apathy and death. If a character goes through either, it could set them back by weeks or even months depending how much is depleted. The only thing that happens is the amount of liquid visibly decreasing. In addition, the crystal is not harmed in any way and still protects the character as it should.
» Keep or donate. It is up to the character whether they wish to keep their crystal or donate it to the Arehtei. As crystals can be beneficial in either scenario, there's no actual "better" option. If uncertain, "keep" is considered the default, and it can be donated at a later time.
» Player Discretion. As mentioned, this is still up to the player. As there is no mandatory tracker to be maintained, you will have to be aware of your character is developing and be reasonable about it.
❖ What Happens?
As mentioned, completed crystals are part of how characters will return to their world. However, the specifics of such have yet to be revealed in-game so this is only an OOC notice. We will update this section once it happens, but you can at least have that in mind.
So far, those who have given their crystals to the Arehtei have experienced visions of their home with each one becoming more vivid with subsequent donations. After the 4th or 5th crystal, we'd like the player to contact us for the next step.
❖ Replacement
Characters do have to replace their crystals, and that can easily be done by visiting the original temple ruins and excavating one from the underground lake.
❖ The Form
In order to actually consider your character's crystal complete, you must fill out this form and have it approved. This form will help both you and us see how the character has developed, and it also serves a stop gap to prevent players who might just rush the process.
Player:
Character: Character |![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
journal
Month/Year Joined: What month and year did this character join the game?
Month of Completion: The month the crystal is considered completed. This can be backdated in case you are filling this later.
Emotion Tracker Proofs: You must have two links from two separate months OR use the "6 MONTHS AUTO" option.
Alignment:
State: This is asking if the crystal is mostly positive, negative, or neutral. Indicate with one of the following symbols: +, -, |.
Development Report: We really only want a general summary (no more than 250 words) of how the character has developed.
Donated or Keep? Indicate whether the character is giving their crystal to the Arehtei or keeping it. Choose "keep" if uncertain. You can change this at any time.
Questions: Any questions you might have.
If a character has already completed one crystal and is ready for the second, use the following form. The "four months" rule is still at play, only instead of starting from the time joined, it's starting from the time the second crystal is acquired/first crystal completed.
All submissions will be automatically added to the spreadsheet. Characters can already assume their crystals are completed ICly.
For the most part, determining whether a character's crystal is complete is determined by the player. After all, characters develop differently and some will faster or slower than others. However, we do have at least one rule and some factors you should consider.
» Four Months. Four months is the absolute minimum that would take a character's crystal to complete. No sooner, but it can of course take longer.
» Emotion Tracker. Commenting to the tracker is not mandatory in general, however we do require proof. For a crystal to be considered complete, you must comment to the tracker two times and they must be from separate months. For example, from a time period between January and April, you could use one link from February and one from March. You could not use two links from February. These can come from the main Emotion Tracker or they can come from the designated trackers made for events (example).
» Automatic Crystal. At six months, a player can comment for an "automatic" crystal. This means that the crystal is completed and no comments to the Emotion Tracker is required. This option is to help those who are less likely to comment to the Tracker for whatever reason and not be "punished" or feel like they are being punished.
» Events and Alignments. Emotion drops created toward an alignment will produce much larger drops than non-aligned emotions. This is going to hasten a crystal's progress. There are many events that are thrown once every month or so that cater to one emotion or all emotions, and these events are perfect opportunities to develop a crystal.
» Apathy and Emotion Drop Depletion. Emotion drops can be destroyed and lost. The main ways are through apathy and death. If a character goes through either, it could set them back by weeks or even months depending how much is depleted. The only thing that happens is the amount of liquid visibly decreasing. In addition, the crystal is not harmed in any way and still protects the character as it should.
» Keep or donate. It is up to the character whether they wish to keep their crystal or donate it to the Arehtei. As crystals can be beneficial in either scenario, there's no actual "better" option. If uncertain, "keep" is considered the default, and it can be donated at a later time.
» Player Discretion. As mentioned, this is still up to the player. As there is no mandatory tracker to be maintained, you will have to be aware of your character is developing and be reasonable about it.
❖ What Happens?
As mentioned, completed crystals are part of how characters will return to their world. However, the specifics of such have yet to be revealed in-game so this is only an OOC notice. We will update this section once it happens, but you can at least have that in mind.
So far, those who have given their crystals to the Arehtei have experienced visions of their home with each one becoming more vivid with subsequent donations. After the 4th or 5th crystal, we'd like the player to contact us for the next step.
❖ Replacement
Characters do have to replace their crystals, and that can easily be done by visiting the original temple ruins and excavating one from the underground lake.
❖ The Form
In order to actually consider your character's crystal complete, you must fill out this form and have it approved. This form will help both you and us see how the character has developed, and it also serves a stop gap to prevent players who might just rush the process.
Player:
Character: Character |
journalMonth/Year Joined: What month and year did this character join the game?
Month of Completion: The month the crystal is considered completed. This can be backdated in case you are filling this later.
Emotion Tracker Proofs: You must have two links from two separate months OR use the "6 MONTHS AUTO" option.
Alignment:
State: This is asking if the crystal is mostly positive, negative, or neutral. Indicate with one of the following symbols: +, -, |.
Development Report: We really only want a general summary (no more than 250 words) of how the character has developed.
Donated or Keep? Indicate whether the character is giving their crystal to the Arehtei or keeping it. Choose "keep" if uncertain. You can change this at any time.
Questions: Any questions you might have.
If a character has already completed one crystal and is ready for the second, use the following form. The "four months" rule is still at play, only instead of starting from the time joined, it's starting from the time the second crystal is acquired/first crystal completed.
All submissions will be automatically added to the spreadsheet. Characters can already assume their crystals are completed ICly.
no subject
Character: Kevin Regnard |
Month/Year of Previous Crystal: April 2016
Month of Completion: December 2016, but he won't turn it in until January
Emotion Tracker Proofs:
July 2016
October 2016
Alignment: Peromei
State: +
Development Report: Kevin's last crystal filled itself when Bulat confessed to him at last, and the months since that time have been a wild emotional ride. The Aiada incident, where he came within a hair of murdering Bulat with his own hands; discovering just who Mrs. Bradley was and dealing with more Hibiki fallout; meeting the man from home who will be his best friend in the future and discovering they really had no reason to be friends in Verens...dancing with Hibiki at Helisium and making her laugh again, visiting Theasthai, at last building a proper friendship with Gilbert. By rights, his crystal really ought to be neutral at best, given all the heavy stuff that's been weighing on his mind along with the good.
Instead, Kevin has been moving forward aggressively. In a way, his determination is one of his most dangerous traits; it's that quality that led him to [long-winded tragic backstory]. But in this case, that forceful part of his nature has been pushing him in positive directions. He indulged in some despair after Aiada, and then set himself to working actively to mend his relationship with Bulat. He's been investigating ways to help Hibiki overcome her trauma in ways that he never, ever was willing to reach out for his own sake. His old sword broke, and instead of dwelling on it, he's thrown himself into rehabilitating the new one. He's become a teacher, and finds more satisfaction than he expected in passing his skills down and seeing other people succeed.
He even has a new emotional manifestation -- in contrast to the occasions where he sucks all the color out of the room, from time to time, the colors around him grow more vibrant and saturated instead. He certainly has his low days still, but they're no longer holding him back at all, and he is now making a conscious decision to try to be present instead of worrying about everything.
Donated or Keep? He will give it to Peromei in January, after it occurs to him that it's been a year since he's seen her in person.