What is the Nexus?
The Nexus is a gateway to just about any world you can imagine and put into words. If you ever came up with an idea that didn't fit into the setting of Althanas, if you ever wanted to write a story and share it with the rest of Althanas but didn't because it didn't seem to belong, if you ever had characters that never came to existence because the restrictions of Althanas, the Nexus is the place where you can finally do so and share your creativity with the rest of Althanas.
So how does the Nexus work?
Very simple. There is no canon setting in the Nexus. In fact, there is no set background whatsoever. You are free to write any story you can imagine in any possible setting you imagine with any characters that come to mind. There are no regions, no timelines, none other than those you set yourself for your stories. Your only limit is your own creativity. In the Nexus, everything goes, from steampunk high elves wielding gatling guns to dwarves landing on the moon. Or moons. Or exploring the universe. Or just taking over the Althanas as we know it.
The Nexus is a place of many doors, and they open to any alternative dimension you desire. Just keep in mind that like with any story, even those in the Nexus have to make sense on some level, because like stories on Althanas, they will be judged. To help you with organization of your info, there is a subforum called The Codex.
What is the Codex?
The Codex is a place where you can put any info you want for future reference, whether as a reminder for yourself or as a help for the judges. For those familiar with Althanas, it's basically the Realm of Greeting of the Nexus, though there are some differences. For one, the characters you register in the Codex are not limited by the classic Althanas rules. You can virtually post any character you want with any powers that you have in mind. But the Codex isn't just for character sheets. If you want to post some background information about the world you write about, timelines regarding your characters and their stories, you can post all of those in your Home Thread in the Codex. You can have one Home Thread per account and only you can post in it (unless you give permission to other writers to do so).
There is but one rule to the Codex, and it applies to the rest of the Nexus as well, and its name is originality. Plagiarism will not be tolerated and neither will fan fiction. The Nexus isn't a place where you can write your own Star Wars or Pokemon or whatever fiction; there are numerous sites that can cater to that. The Nexus is your place, so why fill it with someone else's ideas?
How does the judging work in the Nexus?
There are two options. The first is the classical Althanas judging, where you can choose between full commentary, light commentary, no commentary or condensed rubric.
The second is Peer Review, or Workshop if you prefer the term, but with one difference. It is the peers that determine the final score. Every reviewer assigns a score for the thread after his review. After two weeks, a judge closes the thread and averages the score. Judges can post their own review as well, but their score holds no more weight than any other. The judges will also intervene if some reviews turn out to be unfair or invalid or if someone just posts a score without a viable review.
Reviewers will be granted a set amount of Nexus Points as a reward for their effort. Highest contributors will be granted a bonus on top of that on a tri-monthly basis.
Nexus Points? What are those?
They are the equivalent of Experience Points and are calculated in the same manner. Unlike EXP, they can be used to buy custom titles, glowing usernames, and even your own subforum in the Nexus. On top of that, you can use the Nexus Points to jump start a character on Althanas or help out an existing character. The exchange rate between the EXP and NP is 1:2. Meaning, if you spend 10,000 Nexus Points, you can start with a level 2 character on Althanas with 5,000 EXP. Also, you will be able to purchase one-time tokens of sorts which allow you to increase the amount of EXP or GP your character receives on Althanas in a thread of your choosing.
Does all of this clash with player-organized movements such as the ALF (A Leap Forward)?
Absolutely not. If anything, the Nexus is our attempt to give people a place where they can write their stories without worrying about clashing with the canon of Althanas.
Anything else?
That pretty much sums it up. The Nexus is a world where the only limits are your own creativity, so go and explore it. It is still a fresh feature, however, one which we desire to develop as time passes, and we value any input you might have. So feel free to post your questions and suggestions here and we'll do our best to address them.
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