Rules
Theta Fleet Rules
Members of the USS Ark Royal must obey the rules and guidelines of Theta Fleet, found here.
In addition to fleet rules, players are also expected to adhere to the following:
Age Policy:
The USS Ark Royal has a rating of 222:
At present we are not accepting players under the age of 18.
Canon Policy:
The events of USS Ark Royal begin midway through the year 2290. Posts set prior to that must be marked as flashbacks.
The stories of all Star Trek television shows and movies set prior to this year are considered canon. This includes:
-Star Trek: Enterprise
-Star Trek: Discovery (seasons 1-2)*
-Star Trek: Strange New Worlds*
-Star Trek: The Original Series
-Star Trek: The Animated Series
-Star Trek: The Motion Picture
-Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
-Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
-Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
-Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
-Select episodes of Star Trek: Short Treks*
* NOTE: The events of the newest Star Trek shows are included for ease of reference purpose only and will essentially never factor into our stories. It is sufficient for our purposes to say that a war took place between the Federation and the Klingons in 2256-2257. Player characters should generally be young enough to not have been involved in those events, or may have missed them altogether.
Material from "Beta Canon", including novels, comics, and video games, may be drawn upon on a case-by-case.
Chain of Command:
The CO and XO are the highest-ranking officers on the ship. Together, they decide the running of the ship. They are the final word of authority on the ship.
Below the command team are where Department Heads fall on the food chain. They have relative freedom to run their departments however they wish, so long as it doesn't come into conflict with another department or the command team.
Department members are on the bottom of the food chain: They have relatively little (if any) influence outside their departments.
The chain of command is rigid: Any member at any level of the chain of command who acts out of line shall be subject to review by those on the next step up. The sole exception to this is the command team: Their actions may be subject to external review by fleet staff.
Code of Conduct policy:
All players on the USS Ark Royal have a right to privacy.
Stalking or Cyber-bullying of any kind will not be tolerated: Any player discovered to be engaged in such acts will be removed from the sim.
Under no circumstances will a player hack into or use another player's account without that player's consent and permission from the Commanding and Executive Officers.
No player, under any circumstances, should write for another player's character, playing or non-playing.
Any behavior that is deemed unacceptable or inappropriate will be dealt with by the proper chain of command and punishments will be issued, up to and including removal of the offender from the sim.
Discord Policy:
The USS Ark Royal's Discord server is the recommended medium for communication. Though membership in discord is not required, players risk missing key information. Players and the command staff may use NOVA's built-in messaging system at their discretion.
LOA and ELOA Policy:
We understand that life happens. If for any reason you are unable to fulfill your duties, please request either an LOA or an ELOA.
A Leave of Absence can last anywhere between 1 day and 30 days.
An Extended Leave of Absence can last anywhere between 31 days and 60 days.
By taking an LOA or ELOA, you understand and accept that the sim must go on without you. As such, we will not wait for players on LOA or ELOA.
When you return from your LOA or ELOA, please make sure you submit a request to be returned to active duty. Any player who is on LOA or ELOA past the time requested will be considered AWOL, at which time attempts to reach out will be made. Any AWOL player who does not respond to attempts to reach out will be removed from the sim.
PC Policy:
Each player is allowed only one (1) player character (PC), but is encouraged to explore other avenues with non-player characters (NPCs) if they wish to expand creatively while on the USS Ark Royal.
Minimum character age should be 21 for a freshly graduated Ensign or 19 for a newly trained enlisted sailor.
In accordance with Theta Fleet guidelines, your characters should have no relation to any established Trek character. Professional connections to more obscure canon characters must be extremely well justified and serve the plot in a compelling and nuanced manner.
While the USS Ark Royal recognizes and welcomes a wide variety of races aboard, fleet regulations discourage superheroes and Mary Sue characters, possible so-called "god mod" characters shall be subject to review on a case-by-case basis.
Original species may be considered on a case by case basis. They must be very well described, with sufficient strengths and weaknesses to demonstrate to the command team that the character will not become a Mary Sue.
NPC Policy:
In order to make the USS Ark Royal feel more alive, any player wishing to create an NPC and have that NPC linked to their account MUST fill out some biographical information for that character. A bare minimum should include some information about their appearance, personality, interests, and history. This need not be as detailed as their main character (at least to start) but we will insist on some amount of information.
Posting Policy:
Mission Posts are to be written in the third person ("He said/She said/It said" not "I said")
Personal Logs are to be written in the first person, as they are something akin to a diary or internal monologue.
Posts and Logs are to be written in clear English. If your character speaks other languages (i.e, Japanese, Klingon) and tends to speak them without a universal translator, that is okay as long as translations are provided when appropriate.
Solo posts should be between 150 and 400 words for minimum length. Joint posts should be between 300 and 800 words for minimum length. Any solo post shorter than 150 words or joint post shorter than 300 words will be put back to saved and you will be asked to improve upon them.
If a solo or joint post should exceed 2,000 words, the post should be split into multiple parts of roughly 1,000 words each (We understand that it is difficult to split a post at a point compelling enough to entice readers to keep reading, so it's alright if the segments are a few hundred words off to provide compelling reading)
We all have to work together to keep the USS Ark Royal going, and as such, we ask that, in order to maintain activity, you upload either a mission post or personal log every 14 days. That is 1 post or log every 2 weeks.
In addition, we ask that you log onto the site at least once a week. This shows the Command staff that you are still interested in the sim. In relation to this, please DO NOT rely on your emails to see if you have tags. When in doubt if you have tags, log onto the site.
All active users should endeavour to respond to tags within 5 days of receiving them. If after one week no response was received, their tag may be written over to keep the story going and prevent the sim from stalling.
Users on LOA or ELOA are not expected to abide by this requirement.
We also understand that real life can happen: If an emergency happens, take care of it before contacting us when able. If you are aware of something coming up that will prohibit you from posting regularly, please submit an LOA or ELOA request so that we know and can accommodate your absence.
Any player who does not submit an LOA or ELOA and disappears for 30 days will be considered AWOL, and if attempts to reach out fail, by 60 days, the AWOL player will be removed from the sim.
Respect Policy:
Every crewmember aboard the USS USS Ark Royal shall be treated with dignity and respect, both in-character and out-of-character.
Discrimination or harassment of any kind will not be tolerated. Any form of discrimination or harassment should be reported to the game staff and will lead to the immediate removal of the offender from the game without question.
The Command staff urging a player to participate in the sim does NOT count as harassment. Nor does the Command staff pulling a post because it is unacceptable in some way, or insisting that a character play out the consequences of their actions.
In-character and out-of-character disputes should be resolved in their separate mediums. There is to be no bleed over between in-character and out-of-character.