covenant: FINAL

[Mr. Tenk]

New Babbage is a sooty northern industrial City-Nation of the steampunk imagination, loosely based on the era of 1830 to 1890. Tourists are a common sight and are welcomed. The City has a rich history dating back to an earlier clockwork technological period, hinted at but largely unexplored. What will you uncover?

The City is home to an active roleplay community. RP is 100% optional here, but it is not 100% ignorable by the people who have made this city their home. The stories that are told in our streets have an inevitable impact on the character of the city, which is first and foremost a steampunk city. Characters based in magic and fantasy are strongly advised to consult with the mayor before settling in.

We got rules, read them:

NO PUBLIC NUDITY. What you do inside your own building on your own parcel is your own affair, however, I don't want to hear it when I'm walking by. Fetish clothing that exposes the naughty bits is considered nudity.

VEHICLES will be in kept in theme of the archaic and fantastic. Derezz your vehicles (and horses) when you are finished with them.

LAND RENTAL. Before you settle here, be aware that New Babbage enforces theme. ALL builds are subject to inspection and approval by sim admin. To purchase rental rights from the city, there is an initial purchase price and then a weekly Tier. To purchase rental rights from a resident, seller must notecard the sim owner to transfer the land and tier meter. 5 days grace is given before land is reclaimed by the State. Grace is not extended to boat slips, row houses, or other non-landed rentals from Mosseveno Tenk, and will be cleared upon red meter.

Your purchase gives you the following rights: Setting parcel music, setting a ban list for the parcel, advertising in classified ads, setting a home point, hosting events, the ability to sell the rental rights to your parcel, and other rights as assigned by the sim owner.

Use of ban lines, security orbs, or similar devices is forbidden.

BUILDING CODE
Theme compliance is non-negotiable. New Babbage has a harsh building code and it works.

Architecture and texturing: Exterior textures should reflect a northern industrial look and feel with a nod to mad science. Use textures that could conceivably have been used in the late 1800s. Use of "full bright" textures on exteriors is expressly forbidden except where justified by technology. Winter brings deep snow, seasonal adaptation by residents is expected. Architectural styles that do not work in cold climates probably do not work here either.

Construction phase: Naked or "plywood" prims will not be left out for more than 12 hours. Where builds must be left in progress, construction litter and scaffolding is strongly encouraged.

Greenspace: Refrain from excessive outdoor greenery within the city proper.

Skybuilds: Airships, flying platforms, and other vehicles used as part of permanently displayed builds will not use modern-day technology. Builds must be plausible within the realm of fantastic engineering, not whimsy. Keep your flying rocks and castles above 1000m.

ALTITUDE RESTRICTIONS. Builds from 0m to1000 meters must be within theme. 1000m to 1500m are out of theme and not policed. No builds are permitted above 1500m, to provide free skies for aeronauts. Floating rocks and sky castles are best kept above 1000m.

Sea builds: Underwater builds must have reasonably credible and visible technology. If it does not float, it must have foundations reaching the sea floor.

Vendors and other miscellany: Make reasonable attempts to prevent hovertext from being visible through an exterior wall. Outdoor vendors may be used by written permission of the sim owner only. Common sense exceptions are made for special events such as dances and regattas.

Signage and Handbills: Modern-day and Mainland style signage will be removed on sight. Make a good attempt to use historic fonts and color schemes that fit with the theme of the city. Handbills may be posted around town to advertise events, provided they are well made in an appropriately vintage style. Handbills are policed by sim admin and may be removed on sight.

Further information may be had from the Builder's Permit information card, available at the information kiosks in Palisade train station, Canals train station, Port, Clockhaven, and City Hall.

The sim owner, Mosseveno Tenk, reserves the right to make executive decisions on any topic in order to preserve the integrity of the theme of New Babbage.

[Mr. Tenk]

and before you ask- here is the first draft of Dr O's building guide, intended for notecard distribution in the welcome kit.

So, you want to build in New Babbage?

New Babbage is a set of sims that are Steampunk themed, and have a few strictly enforced rules about the builds that are allowed here. This is not to thwart your imagination or creativity, it's to keep our home a beautiful and characterful place for both it's inhabitants, and our visitors.

This is a guide to building within those rules, but realize all of this applies equally to things purchased that you wish to place in New Babbage. Not everything labeled "Steampunk" will pass muster in New Babbage, so be sure to keep that in mind when both building and shopping. When in doubt, ask

The most important thing to keep in mind is the general theme. New Babbage is a 1830's to 1890's industrial city, cloaked in fog and steam. If you're planning a rustic hunting lodge or a giant mushroom house, it's very unlikely to be approved here.

However, this is not a historical reproduction either, mad science thrives in New Babbage, and giant mechanical men, steam-powered houses on wheels, and all sorts of in-theme fantastic creations are welcome.

So let's get to it. First of all, some exceptions...the following are not subject to the theme restrictions:

1) Builds located higher than 1000m.

2) Any part of your build that is *not* visible from any point on the exterior.

Everything else has to follow the theme. That means buildings, vehicles, signs.... everything.

So, how do you stay in-theme?

First of all, the building materials need to be period. This means your textures need to be of things that could conceivably have been used in the late 1800s. Brick, wood, iron, and brass are good. Steel, plastic, and other modern construction materials aren't.

Secondly, is physics. Your build needs to reach at least a mad-science level of physics. This means that your flying house needs to look as if it has some reasonably-plausible way to achieve flight. Propellers, gasbags, something along those lines. If you build a house that floats, it has to have some sort of floatation visible.

Thirdly, time frame/technology. No jet engines, TV screens, neon lights, etc. Also, no using modern typefaces or signage.

In the end, we want our town to look as if it could really exist in an alternate steampunk dimension somewhere.

On to a few specifics, that seem to catch people up quite often:

Hovertext. It's both a non-period typeface, it glows, and it hovers. Hovertext should not be used where it can be seen from the exterior of your build. Be careful placing it on the inside of exterior walls, as it can often show through to the other side.

Poseballs. Temporary use of poseballs for thing like dances are fine....but if you plan to have poseballs out on a more permanent basis, they need to be without hovertext, and camoflaged with a texture or the like, to make them blend into the environment, rather than stand out.

Full bright: Be careful using full bright...it is a very unrealistic effect, especially for the theme. It's quite common in product vendors. Consider using lamps or the like to provide illumination.

Other considerations:

Nudity is not allowed in public in New Babbage. Build-wise, this means no images of naked people, anatomically-correct sculptures, or the like.

Foul language is frowned upon in public, but not allowed at all in signage, posters, etc.

Prims with the default plywood texture may be out for no more than 12 hours.

Builds that spend time in the construction should have scaffolding, work materials, etc.

[TriloByte Zanzibar]

Doesn't seem any different than the existing covenant. Still has that "scare people off" vibe to it. Have any changes been made, other than adding your name?

[DreddPirateBob]

aye, sounds about right to me. i notice there doesnt seem to be any mention of airships needing tethering (might have missed it mind) or flying platfom needing airbags or props. might be worth throwing in just so folk know they are allowed.

[Mr. Tenk]

I think the way to read a covenant is to look for what is not being said. airships grouped generically with 'skybuilds must be plausible.'

[Ghilayne Andrew]

Might mention on the pose-ball aspect that temp rezzing poseballs work, too. Touch the item, the poseball appears for perhaps 20 seconds or so -- long enough to hop on it -- then they disappear until invoked again.

Hovering text... agreed. I have that on the house's nameplate and will remove it. In the city package, perhaps include the scrubber script, although just setting text to " " seems to work, too.

Being a visual person, what RL city does Babbage imitate climate-wise? Menlo Park? Milwaukee? Detroit? Chicago? NYC? Yes, my Americanism is showing; I've never visited a northern city outside the US to have a mental picture of it. Menlo Park is probably too far south to have the climate desired.

[Mr. Tenk]

hmm, deep snows on the edge of a sea... milwaukee? mirmansk?

[Doctor Obolensky]

You may want to avoid any mention of "ownership", unless you explicitly say that it's "ownership of rental rights". Because, nobody owns land here but you. :P

[Doctor Obolensky]

Liverpool?

[Ghilayne Andrew]

Agreed with Dr. Obolensky on that "ownership" point. In my own covenant, I refer to everyone as a renter.

Of course, my covenant also ends with:

Lastly, people who turn out to be difficult to deal with, obnoxious to their neighbors, inconsiderate of the rules, and all in all are driving the rest of us crazy, we reserve the right to simply tell you that you're a high-maintenance PITA, and will need to find another place to rent (and may find themselves banned, too).

[Artemisia Paine]

It is not uncommon to have a foot or more of snow in Providence or Boston. I don't think I saw the ground in the park near us for well over a month, for all the snow we had this winter.
Most of the fresh water bodies, even ones near the bay, were frozen over til about a week ago, or so.