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TECHNOLOGY IN FOGGY HILLS 

Experience has taught us that modern technology more often causes more problems in story telling than opportunities and it is often on par with most magic systems. CCTV, Cell phones, Smartphones, Search Engines often give people the power of Omnipresence and Omniscience and as such can hinder any feet on ground experience. The very notion of the internet means people don't need to go to libraries or museums for research purposes, the ability to instantly record any supernatural or criminal activity with a smartphone and upload it as evidence to the cloud  greatly inhibits and deters  both of these types of activity.

 

Imagine a world where you have to be taken at your word and you can't just conjure evidence out of thin air, imagine a world where you can't just instantly dial 911 from wherever you are or dial back up from that dark deserted alleyway. Imagine having to scream for help, imagine a world where all of your data has to be physically protected and people have to physically break into your home or place of storage rather than remotely hacking it?  Imagine having to go to a library or museum to do research, and imagine encountering other characters in these places .

 

You can see that our philosophy is meant to encourage feet on the street roleplay, where people have to physically move to locations and to engage face to face with other characters rather than a vaporous set of interactions that can exclude other characters because character actions are largely invisible due to the -fix all- of digital technology.

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This is done to include people in roleplay, use message couriers or secret underground tunnels if you want to meet others discreetly. There is a chance you will be caught, but that's the joy of roleplay. We encourage interaction with people you don't normally roleplay with.

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TECHNOLOGY:

Communication Technology.​

• no wifi connection

• no ethernet

• no cell phone/ smart phones

• The internet simply does not exist here

• Telephones are fixed landlines only accessible from homes or telephone booths. 

• Police vehicles are fitted with two way radio communication, where they can hear -all car- calls, and can communicate back. Patrol officers on foot can only receive crime reports by by telephone from a police phone located on the streets or by a pay phone (calls to 911 are free) or a phone in a home or business. Police would usually have a patrol and call the station at key points on their foot patrol route. They of course could shout, or use whistles to call for assistance.

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PHONE  ETIQUETTE 

• In order to be inclusive of others in roleplay, you must publicly emote telephone conversations that are made from public pay phones. You do not have to emote telephone conversations made from private residential homes if there is nobody in the same room of the home. As there is no mobile telecommunications technology you may not make phone calls from places where there are no phones. When using telephones you must stand next to the phone. Emote publicly first, duplicate  the message to the recipient of the phone call in private messages second.

• If you are calling to a public pay phone then you must target those near the phone with an emote, remember not just your desired target can hear a public pay phone ringing, anyone within chat range of that phone can (20 meters)  

• Calls to 911 must be made in group chat.

• Remember all this is done to be inclusive of others in roleplay.

• Witnesses to telephone calls will only hear your side of the conversation. You may use codenames for places or people if you want to maintain ambiguity, but do remember people may follow you if your conversation is too riddled with codes, just to see what you are up to.

• Sabotage to phone lines is reported immediately to the telephone service providers. If you went the whole day emoting to yourself that you sabotage every pay phone and private line you encounter, you will find it is working the next time you or another player passes its location. Don't ask how, we do this in order to prevent abuse of the telephone roleplay system. You can sabotage a line while someone is using it if you are able to access the phones immediate location, by simply yanking the chord out of the wall, however the phone maybe defended by the user so of course this would be a contested action.

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Entertainment Technology ​

• Video and Digital recorders do not exist.

• There is no means to make visual recordings beyond -film- cameras, which use expensive film stock.

• There are no means to make audio recordings except for expensive tape decks, which are the size of a briefcase at least.

• Cameras for photography purpose also use camera film.

• Computers do not exist.

• Most radio broadcasts are not recorded by the studio unless the presenter emotes that the session is being recorded.

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Home Security Technology

• Other than strong locks and barred windows and maybe secret panels there is no real home security. Your home is vulnerable when ever you are in it, providing the intruder has the means to pick or break locks. You will always be asked permission for home invasion, but the only reason to decline such a request is if you are unable to play out any resulting scene or narrate what the intruder finds. Intruders should be aware there is a chance the police will be called to any intrusions in progress and that civilians who witness break-ins may intervene with the property owners permission. The only secure place is the police station which has a 24/7 patrol deployed at the station. Don't ask to break into the police station, the answer is always no!

• Somehow the buildings of the sim are immune from long term damage. Be sensible, we're not going to rebuild OOC because of a destructive rampage IC.

• DO NOTE: Despite the above, your rental is still your rental and you may refuse intruder roleplay for any OOC reason. It is YOUR RENTAL after all. We just don't want people making IC security that goes against the sim setting. Just politely decline requests to invade or rob your rental rather than make up technology to protect it. ABSOLUTELY NO SCRIPTED SECURITY!

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Forensic and Medical Science

• Beyond rudimentary blood typing there is no D.N.A profiling available as such, there are no automatic matches to crimes. Finger printing, poison detection, gun shot and wound analysis still exist for the purpose of determining cause of death and dental records and finger prints are generally the only means of identifying victims, as dentistry exists, so too does -bite- analysis. Semen analysis can only tell the difference between different creatures semen.

• There is no medical cure for cancer, or the common cold.

• Gender Affirming surgery and HRT as practiced today exists as of 1951 as does plastic surgery.

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Transportation Technology

• You will not find any motorized vehicles from beyond the 1950's in the setting. If you do choose to rez a vehicle make sure it is appropriate to the aesthetic and inline with the tech rules.

• The Aqualung was invented in 1943 and became commercially available for civilian use in 1952.

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Weapons Technology

• The most modern firearm you are likely to come across is the Thompson Machine Gun and Colt 1911. Older firearms and melee weapons are perfectly fine.

• Tactical body armor and bullet proof vests do not exist. Kevlar has not been invented.

• California's gun laws require I.D to purchase and often require licences.

• Most supernatural beings lack any form of identification and finding fake I.D's is extremely hard as there is no digital technology and document forging is a very, very, very niche profession requiring access to authentic and genuine documents in the first place.

• For these reasons access to fire arms cost 95% more for supernatural characters to purchase.  

• Coincidentally, I.D  concerns reason that Humans run a bulk of the businesses. Humans may hire supernatural creatures to work at their business, but it is strictly off the books and the supernatural would be treated as an illegal worker if there was a premises raid.

• Supernatural may NOT be police officers, they would never pass the background test, A fake I.D is one thing, a background check is another.

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AVATAR APPEARANCE

San Francisco was always progressive,  You may wear risqué or modern clothing however there are some rules we expect players to follow.

• full on monstrous or clearly supernatural  avatars are forbidden in public areas

• child avatars are forbidden full stop.

• No modern military armor /uniform/weapons, this is a civilian city in the 1950's. Not a post apocalyptic, or military sim.

• Face lights must not illuminate an entire scene, they are meant to just light your face, so please....get good ones.

• Open carry of firearms or melee weapons are forbidden in public spaces, police are exempt from this rule in uniform, as are firefighters when it comes to fire axes. All weapons must be concealed in public areas or you risk arrest! Violin or Guitar cases are a handy option!

• We also draw a line under cybernetic enhancements and prosthesis that give off a science fiction vibe. This is not a cyberpunk setting and such things are more jarring to the over all aesthetic and so disallowed. Also note that "Prints" on clothes depicting post 50's celebs, tech, companies, events, franchises etc also break the immersion, so these are also disallowed.

• Nude avatars in public,  like cyber enhancements are counter to our sim aesthetic., keep clothed in public spaces! 

• There are no magic invisible clothes, your avatar appears to others IC as it does OOC. If your avatar is wearing a medieval suit of armor, then that is what people will see and they may freely comment IC, even in a mean spirited fashion.

• Daemons, Faeryn and Werebeasts  have a HUMAN mode and TRUE FORM mode. TRUE FORM is only permissible in Secluded or Private areas. Wearing true form in public areas will invalidate your characters reasonable right to live, we're sorry to tell you that supernatural are kill on sight to humans, this is not to say every human player will want to kill your char, but it is to say, they would be given the diminished responsibility defence automatically if they attempted to kill your char. I.E they have the right to kill your char for seeing its true nature. Sim Staff also have the right to kill true forms that are in public areas by creating NPC mobs. This is non negotiable, you knowingly forfeit your reasonable right to live by wearing true form in public spaces.

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PUBLIC AREAS

• Are venues where the public are generally expected to be found regularly. This is generally any road or public business that are accessible to the public by and large. Use common sense. A full on werewolf or demon avatar is going to bring police attention if casually walking down the street.

SECLUDED AREAS

• Forests, Sewers, Underwater, Tunnels,  Caves, Alleyways, Restrooms.

PRIVATE AREAS

• Any number of private homes, offices or faction H.Q's

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ENVIRONMENT​

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UNDERWATER AREAS

• Underwater areas are generally only accessible by Mermaids/Tritons. While it is true vampires don't need to breathe, they do need to SEE. Vampire eyes are not made for underwater adventures, vampires are considered blind in mer areas. Diving helmets with an air source allows humans to venture underwater too. Generally humans and non vampires non mer/tritons need to take a breath every 3 turns. Basically if a mer/triton escapes to the water you won't be able to catch them.

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FALL HAZARD

• Use common sense, you can see the size of the cliffs compared to your avatar.

• If you fall more than 4 times your avatar height you are breaking a bone or two.

• If you fall more than 8 times your height you should be dead, however we will accept breaking every bone in your body instead.

• Throwing people off cliffs /tall buildings in foggy hills is a legitimate combat tactic.

• Landing in the water is considered safe (sorta).

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