Community Charter
and Roleplay Policies

Rookery operates as one Federation roleplay community under a single framework.

Groups joining the sim may retain their own names, histories, traditions, uniforms, internal organization, characters, and crew culture. A group does not need to erase what it was before coming here.

However, Federation vessels and commands operating from Rookery are part of the Rookery Federation community.

There are not several competing Federation governments sharing the same sim. There is one Federation framework. There is one shared community. There is one sim administration.

The Admirals' Table defines and protects that framework.

Groups that want complete organizational independence are welcome to visit, participate in public events, and roleplay with us as guests.

Groups that want a permanent ship, station, facility, or place within Rookery are joining the community under that framework.

That distinction matters.

Rookery is a community for its members.

Visitors are welcome in areas designated for public access. They may explore the sim, visit public shops and welcome facilities, meet the community, and attend public events when those events are open to visitors.

Use of Rookery roleplay facilities and resources requires membership.

This includes ships, stations, mission areas, scene rezzers, reservation systems, Academy facilities, command facilities, assigned spaces, and other resources provided for Rookery roleplay.

Membership may be held individually or through a recognized Rookery command or group, as appropriate.

A nonmember does not gain access to Rookery resources simply because they are physically present on the sim or belong to another Star Trek organization.

Members may invite guests to participate in specific roleplay, missions, events, or activities when appropriate. In those circumstances, the guest is participating under the invitation and responsibility of the hosting Rookery member or command. An invitation to participate in one activity does not create general access to Rookery resources.

Groups wishing to regularly operate from Rookery, use its ships or facilities, reserve its resources, or establish a permanent presence must join the Rookery community.

Membership has value because membership carries responsibility. Rookery provides the environment and resources. Its members provide the activity, stories, participation, and community that make those resources worth having.

The principle is simple:

You are welcome to visit Rookery. To use Rookery, you become part of Rookery.

The Admirals' Table is the final administrative and command authority of the Rookery sim.

It currently consists of Ashley Starlight, MagiKesh Tumim, and Sailor Vasiliev.

The Admirals are responsible for the things that ultimately belong to the sim itself: land, infrastructure, funding, major shared assets, membership standards, technical administration, build placement and land impact decisions, and the overall Federation framework on this sim.

The Admirals have final authority when a decision must be made. That authority exists to protect the sim and the community, not to run every captain's bridge.

The Admirals should not be deciding how a captain conducts an away mission, who becomes Chief Engineer, what time a crew meets, or how a ship tells its stories. Those decisions belong to the command.

The Admirals step in when something affects the sim, the Federation community, its assets, its standards, or its continued operation.

Every active ship or station command has representation on the Captains' Council.

The Council is the primary place where captains coordinate with one another and have a real voice in the life of the community. It is not a second governing body that shares ownership of the sim.

Captains help shape the shared stories, major events, new groups, collaborative projects, disputes between commands, and the development of the larger setting.

Every captain has a voice. Every captain also has a responsibility.

The Council should solve problems whenever reasonably possible without requiring the Admirals to intervene. When the Council cannot reach a workable resolution, or when a matter concerns the sim itself, the decision rests with the Admirals' Table.

A captain runs their command.

Within their assigned ship or station, captains control their own crew structure, recruiting, promotions, training expectations, duty assignments, schedules, internal policies, and normal roleplay. Captains determine what kind of stories their crews tell and how those stories are run.

The Council does not micromanage individual commands. The Admirals do not micromanage individual commands.

Command autonomy ends where decisions begin materially affecting another command, shared sim resources, the larger Federation setting, or the operation of the sim itself. At that point, coordination becomes necessary.

The principle is simple:

Run your ship. Respect your neighbors. Coordinate what we share.

Rookery is privately funded and maintained.

Ships, stations, mission facilities, scene areas, infrastructure, and other shared resources represent real time, work, and expense.

Permanent access to those resources is a privilege, not an open ended entitlement. It comes with a simple expectation: contribute to the community that provides them.

Contribution does not mean paying for the privilege of roleplaying here. It means participating.

A command might contribute by running roleplay, creating missions, participating in shared stories, hosting events, helping new players, assisting with the Academy, developing shared lore, building useful resources, supporting sim projects, or simply maintaining an active crew that regularly creates opportunities for others to roleplay.

Different groups have different strengths. We want those differences.

There is no required quota of events or mandatory number of hours. What matters is that there is a genuine relationship between the command and the community.

Rookery should be better because your group is here. Your group should be better because Rookery is here.

That is the bargain.

Rookery will regularly create larger stories that involve more than one command. These stories belong to the community.

Captains should help create them rather than simply waiting for stories to be handed down. Participation does not require every ship to respond in exactly the same way.

One command might conduct a rescue operation. Another might investigate the cause. Another might handle diplomacy. Another might provide medical support. Another might discover something that launches an entirely separate story.

The purpose is not to force every crew into the same mission. The purpose is to make the universe feel connected.

Individual command stories remain the property and responsibility of those commands. Shared stories add to them. They do not replace them.

Established Star Trek groups are welcome. A group may bring its existing crew and identity into Rookery.

When accepted as a permanent command, the group receives an appropriate place within the sim and its captain becomes part of the Captains' Council. Depending upon availability and circumstances, that may include assignment of a Rookery vessel or station, approval of a group's existing build, or another arrangement agreed upon with the Admirals.

Joining means accepting the Rookery Federation framework and becoming part of the larger community. It does not mean surrendering control of your crew.

Before a permanent assignment is made, both sides should understand what the group wants from Rookery and what it intends to bring to Rookery.

The goal is not to fill every available ship. The goal is to fill the sim with groups that actually want to be here.

Assignment is not ownership.

A ship, station, facility, or other asset provided by Rookery remains a Rookery asset. The captain or group assigned to it becomes its steward.

While assigned, that command has primary authority over normal roleplay aboard that asset. Other groups should respect that command's home and coordinate its use with the assigned captain.

Unassigned ships and shared mission resources remain available through the sim reservation system.

If a command becomes inactive, leaves the community, or is removed, stewardship of Rookery supplied assets returns to Rookery.

Assets brought into the sim by another group remain the property of their respective owners unless another arrangement has been explicitly made.

Groups are welcome to bring their own ship, station, or other established build to Rookery. When practical, we would rather let a crew continue aboard the ship they already consider home than require them to abandon it simply because they have joined this community.

However, Rookery has finite land impact, script capacity, physical space, and technical resources. All decisions about whether a privately owned build may be placed, where it may be placed, and how much land impact is allowed are made exclusively by the Admirals' Table.

Any request to place a privately owned ship, station, or major build must be formally submitted to the Admiralty for review. The review covers placement, land impact, scripts, size, and effect on the rest of the sim.

The question is not whether we like your ship. The question is whether the sim can reasonably support it.

If the build fits within available resources, the Admiralty will work with the group to find an appropriate location. If the build is too large or resource intensive, that does not automatically mean the group or the ship is rejected. The group and the Admiralty will first try to find a reasonable solution. That may include reducing land impact, removing unnecessary components, using a lighter version of the build, changing how or when portions of the ship are rezzed, relocating the build, sharing facilities that do not need to be duplicated, or using an appropriate Rookery supplied vessel while preserving the group's original ship for special occasions.

The exact solution will depend upon the build and the resources available at the time. Rookery will make a reasonable effort to accommodate privately owned builds. Rookery cannot guarantee permanent placement of any privately owned build when doing so would consume an unreasonable share of the resources needed by the rest of the community.

The sim exists for everyone using it. No single ship, station, or group should consume so much of the available capacity that it prevents the larger community from growing or functioning properly. If no reasonable solution can be found, permanent placement may be declined. That decision concerns the build, not the group's membership in the community.

Approval of a privately owned build is based upon the resources and conditions available when it is approved. Those conditions can change. New groups may join. The sim may expand. Technical problems may develop. Second Life may change. A build may also become substantially heavier after it was originally approved.

If an existing build later creates a significant resource problem, the Admiralty will work with its owner before requiring changes. The goal should always be cooperation first. Whenever reasonably possible, the owner will be given the opportunity to reduce the impact or work with the Admiralty on another solution. Permanent placement should only be withdrawn when the build can no longer be reasonably supported and another workable solution cannot be reached.

Privately owned builds remain the property of their owners at all times. Approval to place a build on Rookery grants permission to use sim resources for that build. It does not transfer ownership of the build to Rookery, nor does it create a permanent entitlement to a particular amount of sim resources.

The Academy exists to help people play. It does not exist to prevent them from playing.

Self paced courses, information, lecture facilities, and other training resources are available to anyone who wants them. There is no universal requirement that someone graduate from the Academy before participating in roleplay.

Captains determine the training expectations for their own crews.

The Academy may also serve as a community resource for players who are new to Star Trek roleplay, new to a particular department, or simply interested in learning more.

Rookery is a shared environment. All decisions regarding build placement, altitude, size, lighting, land impact, and resource usage are made by the Admirals' Table.

No group may place, move, resize, or substantially alter major builds without formal approval from the Admiralty. This applies to both Rookery supplied assets and privately owned builds brought by groups.

This is not about controlling creativity. It is about protecting the technical and physical integrity of the sim for everyone who uses it.

Shared mission areas and scene rezzers should be treated as community resources. Use them. Enjoy them. Clean up when you are finished.

Recognized Rookery commands may request a presence within the main Rookery Welcome Center.

This may include a group information board, command description, recruiting status, command insignia or imagery, and appropriate links or contacts for players interested in learning more or joining the crew.

The purpose is to give every recognized command an opportunity to introduce itself, recruit, and maintain a visible presence within the larger Rookery community.

Placement, size, and appearance are coordinated with the Admiralty so the Welcome Center remains organized, attractive, and useful for everyone.

Welcome Center command space is a benefit of being a recognized Rookery command. It is not available as a paid advertising space for outside organizations.

Commands are responsible for keeping their information reasonably current. If a command is no longer recruiting, changes leadership, becomes inactive, or leaves Rookery, its Welcome Center information should be updated or removed accordingly.

Certain vessels or facilities may include in character rentals. Rookery is a roleplay sim, not a residential rental sim.

Renting a room means establishing an in character presence within the Star Trek universe and becoming part of the community surrounding it.

Any dedicated vacation, destination, or residential style experience will be clearly designated separately.

Treat other crews, captains, players, and administrators with respect.

Intentional metagaming and godmodding are not acceptable. Neither is turning an in character disagreement into an out of character war.

Disagreements between commands should first be handled by the people involved whenever practical. If that fails, the Captains' Council may help resolve the matter. If the Council cannot resolve it, the matter goes to the Admirals' Table. The decision of the Admirals' Table is final.

The Admirals reserve the right to decline, suspend, or remove any group or individual whose conduct is damaging to the community or incompatible with the continued operation of the sim.

Rookery does not expect people to treat Second Life like a job. Real life happens. Crews take breaks. People disappear for a few weeks and come back. That is normal.

At the same time, permanent ships, stations, and major facilities exist to support active roleplay.

If a command becomes substantially inactive for an extended period, the Council should contact its captain before anything is changed. The first question should always be whether the group intends to return.

If the command is no longer active or no longer intends to participate in Rookery, a Rookery supplied assignment may be returned to the available pool. This is stewardship, not punishment. An empty ship should eventually become somebody else's opportunity to create roleplay.

Rookery is not a rental lot for Star Trek groups.

It is not a collection of unrelated ships that happen to occupy the same region.

It is not an Admiralty bureaucracy attempting to control every captain.

It is not a mandatory Academy where players must earn permission to have fun.

It is not a place where one group's politics become everybody else's problem.

Rookery is a shared Star Trek roleplay community under one Federation framework.

The Admirals protect the sim and the framework. The Captains' Council coordinates and gives captains a real voice. Captains run their commands. Crews create the stories. Everyone contributes something.

And together, we make the place feel alive.

Players interested in Rookery can join through the sim's OOC welcome area, group, or Discord.

Captains interested in bringing an established crew should contact the Council.

Come talk to us. Tell us about your crew. Tell us what you want to do. More importantly, tell us what you want to build with everyone already here.

Welcome aboard.