XMR is considered a Year One game. This means that we do not follow ANY canon continuity (i.e. events from the comics, movies, cartoons, etc.). The only events that have definitely occurred are those that have happened either IC on-game, or those that are outlined in our newsfiles or posted as official news stories on the wiki or bboard system. Nothing from the comics, movies, cartoons, novels, etc., can be said to have definitely occurred. Rather, we are set in a world roughly equivalent to a futuristic version of our own (see 'news theme' for more information). We may take inspiration from comic book storylines at times in our own plots, but it is never to be assumed they will work out in the same way as they did in canon. Rather, it will always be up to how the characters manage to shape it.
This also has a few effects on what we are expecting from FC and OC applications, detailed below:
Background
As explained in 'news characters fcs', we do not request that your feature character background follow the given history of the character in the comics at all. You may use some or all of it, if you wish, but there are no exceptions made simply because 'that's the way it was in canon'. Certainly feel free to use it for inspiration even as an entire framework for your game character's history, but you should always try to put your own twist on it. If nothing else, changes likely will be necessary to make the character adaptable to our game world and with the theme.
Powers
Because this is a Year One game, we ask that all characters start off at relatively low levels of power. We strive to keep a certain balance between characters as well as give plenty of room for each character to 'grow into' their powers through IC training and RP. When writing up your powers for your application, you should always try to bear in mind in what way those powers can grow through time. We don't allow characters who have powers of such a level that any training would pretty much put them on the level of destroying the world. Even characters with more power-training in the backgrounds than others should still be at a fairly low level in the scale of their absolute capabilities. We grade on a curve.
