Character Development

The characters you create in NBT-Solaris are not meant to be stagnant creatures, never changing or living their lives. There are many events and occurrances that may happen to them during the course of play in NBT-Solaris, some by choice, others just because of plain bad luck. This is true of both Active Characters as well as the various NPC’s you may create.  The following sections lay out the various types of Character Development, and how you may make the most of each.

Automatic Development

There are various times in the league when development will be made to your character automatically, based on actions in the arena, or various role-play choices that you make.  The primary 2 areas that this applies to are your Solaris Rank and your Prominance trait.

Solaris Rank

Your Solaris Rank is a direct representation of your performance within the Solaris Arenas.  It is the single most important factor in determining your winnings for each and every official match that you fight in. Solaris Rank raises and lowers based on survivals, kills and deaths. The following is how each effects your Solaris Rank:

Survivor

• +1 Solaris Rank per 2 Survivor Wins
• -1 Solaris Rank per 3 First Death losses

‘Mech Killer

• +1 Solaris Rank per 30 ‘Mech Kills
• -1 Solaris Rank per 25 Deaths

Destroyer & Cash Cow

• Has no effect on Solaris Rank at this time.

Prominance

The Prominance Trait represents the social standing of the character involved in the Solaris deuling circuit.  A character’s Prominance can vary wildly during the course of his career and willhave an effect on the character’s interactions, challanges, as well as on the winnings of other characters in Solaris OTB.

There are 2 forms of Prominance that we deal with: Current Prominence, that currently recognized on Solaris; and Highest Prominence, the highest level achieved by the character. The distinction between these two statistics can be important in social situations; those that have had fame and lost it are in a more awkward position than those who have never been famous.

The following are how changes are made to Prominance within the Solaris system:

• Pending

Targeted Development

During the course of your Solaris career you may wish to develop your character manually in various ways.  This may involve the learning of new skills, the acquiring a new equipment, a new contact/enemy, or maybe moving from one Solaric City sector to another, changing bases of operations and so forth. The possibilities are pretty much limitless. All of these can be done through role-play written by yourself for your selected character.

Whenever this type of development is intended, it should be well thought out, as well as determining the effects on your character.  You should not just choose a new skill or bonus because it would help you out.  Rather, does the skill fit with your created character? Would he be able to find someone to train him? What are the costs, be they monetary, time, or maybe a negative trait addition?  Very rarely will you be able to improve your character in this way without having some cost entailed.

All Targeted Development is required to be approved by your current Sector Administrator.  This is generally a two-stage process.

• Step 1 - Concept Submission: This is not a requirement, but is generally a good idea, especially for those just getting used to the Solaris enviornment, or those not quite as familar with their current Sector Administrator requirements.  You will submit the desired bonus that you wish added to your character, the cost involved and a brief (single paragraph) overview of the RP that you are intending.  The Sector Admin will then either accept, deny or modify the request, returning it to you.
   
• Step 2 - Development Submission: This is your actual request for Targeted Development to your character. Included in this request is the desired bonus, the cost involved, as well as the full RP that goes along with your Targeted Development.  This RP should not just be a single paragraph or two, but rather a full-fledged detail of your character’s development.  Once you have submitted your request, your Sector Admin will then accept and apply the change to your character, deny or modify the request.

Random Events & Role-Play

You may choose to have the Solaris Automation generate events for your character.  These are broken down into different catagories that you may choose from. A random event is then selected and added to your character’s history. This event may or may not have a direct effect on your character, possibly positive, maybe negative.

If is then your responsibility to write a brief RP submission to go along with this random event.  It does not need to be novel size, but rather just a couple paragraphs, though the more detail the better.

Examples of Random Events and Effects

• Pending

Development by other pilots (to NPC’s)

If it possible for your public NPC’s to be affected by the created role-play of fellow NBT-Solaris members.  This is fine, as this is what they are designed for. All such effects must be run through the Sector Administrator first, similar to making a Targeted Development request. These changes may be minor, nothing more than a footnote in your NPC’s career or life, while at other times, they may change the way the NPC may continue to be used. Be creative in the use of not only your own NPC’s, but those of your other characters.

Pilots found regularly abusing the NPC’s of other characters will not be allowed to use them in their own RP, being limited to solely to their own NPC’s.

Some examples of Valid NPC development:

• Career change - Promotion or demotion, even fired (if the RP is valid enough)
• Contact in passing - Directions, purchasing equipment, rumor mill, even employer
• Change in locale - Job changes, transfers
• Status changes - More or less income, gain or loss in public eye
• Physical changes - Scars, hospital stay, even lost limb if justified

Some examples of Invalid NPC development:

• Killing off another character’s NPC
• Doing anything that will make that character useless for later Solaris RP, like shipping them off to Clan space
• Veering too far away from the RP concepts already on record for the NPC