Guide:Avalon Fleet Yards

Characters and Positions

Avalon serves a very different function from Starbase Bravo. While Starbase Bravo is intended to allow people to write together in a Lower Decks-style experience for slice-of-life and character development of junior officers, Avalon is intended to allow for members to write their own small fiefdoms within the Fleet Yards itself.

Types of Positions — There are two types of positions available, Playable and Staff
1. Playable positions are the standard positions available for play by any member meeting the rank requirements for that position. They can be used for joint or solo writing.
2. Staff positions are certain senior roles at AFY that are held by staff members, and which they must give up when leaving their staff position. They are used primarily for story updates that impact the entire sandbox, but staff members may also use them for joint-writing.
Available Positions — There are both finite and non-finite positions at AFY. Finite positions are in various leadership roles at the system and station level, ranging from the admiral in charge of AFY itself to the commanders and captains leading the smaller stations within the system, and by definition only one member can hold these at a time. Non-finite positions are custom roles that are created on a member-by-member basis.
1. Finite Positions are listed and may only be held by one member at a time. Members meeting the rank requirements may apply to hold a finite position with a completed character biography and short writing sample.
  1. Finite positions are divided into tiers, earned through both joint and solo writing on AFY. The tier system is laid out below. Members who take finite positions are expected to generally be willing to write with others, in particular if they choose a very important role. Consistent non-responsiveness to joint post requests may result in a member's character being taken out of that finite position.
  2. Non-finite positions are described in this guide and members meeting the rank requirements may apply to hold a non-finite position with a completed character biography, a short writing sample, and a description of the unit/office/team that they are proposing.
    1. Midshipmen and above may write as a Science, Engineering, or Medical specialist, or as fighter or runabout pilots.
    2. Lieutenants and above may lead Science, Engineering, or Medical teams, or direct minor facilities.
    3. Commanders and above may lead Science, Engineering, or Medical projects, or command minor outposts
    4. Fleet Captains and above may direct Science, Engineering, or Medical initiatives
    5. Midshipmen through Captains may write as generic “Staff Officers” assigned to AFY command or to an AFY station department.
    6. Fleet Captains and above may write as “Yard Board Members” assigned to AFY command.
Character Ranks — Members may write characters up to their own fleet rank on AFY or to the cap of their position, whichever is lower. A character’s rank may not have a higher rank than their supervisor’s rank. (For example, if a member with the rank of commander has a character serving as Brahms Station Executive Officer, a member with the rank of rear admiral could only make a character with the rank of commander or lower for the Brahms Station Chief Medical Officer role, even though the cap of that position is captain.)
1. Staff positions are exempt from this restriction, as a staff member with a lower rank may be granted position to write with a higher rank required for their position by the Intelligence Officer. (For example, a member with the rank of lieutenant commander serving as Deputy Operations Officer may be granted the ability to write as a Fleet Captain for one of the puppet positions.) This exemption is at the discretion of the Intelligence Officer.
Number of Characters per Member — Members may only have one character at a time on AFY per tier. In total, a member with the rank of fleet captain or higher and a staff role could have all three tiers of finite characters and all four tiers of non-finite characters, for a total of seven characters. Members can still create additional supporting characters within their team/office/unit/station, but these should be cameo characters on the BFMS (if they get entries at all) and won’t be added to the AFY roster.

Non-Finite Character Tiers & Positions

Because members can only earn finite positions through joint writing on Avalon itself, all members start on AFY with one more more non-finite positions. This is how we're referring to user-defined roles at Avalon Fleet Yards, in the Avalon Group, and around the Avalon System, which range from staff officers and team members to the leaders of small outposts, laboratory teams, and larger research institutes. Access to these tiers is driven purely by your fleet rank.

The difference between a finite position and a non-finite position is that a non-finite position doesn't have an impact on the rest of the sandbox or cause other members to depend on that member's participation in joint posts.

Avalon Fleet Yards Non-Finite Position Tiers
Tier	Position Type	Requirements
I-NF	Science, Engineering, or Medical Specialist/Team Member AFY Staff Officer Station Department Staff Officer AFY Yard Board Member (Fleet Captain and above)	Fleet Rank of Midshipman or higher
II-NF	Science, Engineering, or Medical Team Leader Minor Facility Commander (Sensor Station, Deuterium Facility, Small Drydock, etc.)	Fleet Rank of Lieutenant or higher
III-NF	Science, Engineering, or Medical Project Leader Minor Outpost Commander (Multi-lab facility, larger drydock, system defense platform, etc.)	Fleet Rank of Commander or higher
IV-NF	Science, Engineering, or Medical Institute Leader	Fleet Rank of Fleet Captain or higher

For examples of position titles currently in use, consult the Avalon Fleet Yards BFMS page as well as the Avalon Group article. The following table has other examples as well.

Avalon Group Non-Finite Positions
Department	Title	Tier	Examples
Science Engineering Medical	Specialist	I-NF	Deep Space Scanning Specialist Impulse Systems Specialist Inorganic Virology Specialist
Science Engineering Medical	Team Leader	II-NF	Team Leader, Deep Space Scanning Team Leader, Impulse Systems Design Team Leader, Inorganic Virology
Science Engineering Medical	Project Director	III-NF	Director, Big Bang Project Director, Phase 7 Impulse Manifold Project Director, Polywater Intoxication Project
Science Engineering Medical	Institute Director	IV-NF	Director, Fourth Fleet Cosmology Institute Director, Fourth Fleet Advanced Impulse Design Institute Director, Fourth Fleet Inorganic Virology Institute

Note: As per the Avalon Group article, teams and projects can either be part of institutes or not. It's up to you. If another member has an institute that you'd like to write as a part of, you can create a team or project under theirs with their permission and if you have an available character slot.

Avalon Fleet Yards Non-Finite Positions
Department	Title	Tier	Examples	Notes
Yard Command	Staff Officer	I-NF	Staff Officer, AFY	Any officer not assigned to a specific role (Captain or lower)
Station Departments	Staff Officer		Staff Officer, Brahms Station Security Staff Officer, Phlox Station Nursing
Yard Command	Yard Board Member	I-NF	Yard Board Member, AFY	Any flag officer or fleet captain not otherwise assigned to a specific role is a member of AFY's Yard Board, a group that advises the CO and performs admin tasks
Facility	Minor Facility Commander	II-NF	Construction Supervisor, AFY-29C CO, Deuterium Refining Facility AFY-002A	Planet-side deuterium refinery Sensor or subspace relay post Class 8 or Class 7 Drydock
Facility	Major Facility Commander	III-NF	Construction Supervisor, Drydock AFY-21A	Class 10 or Class 9 Drydock

Finite Character Tiers & Positions

Tier	Positions	Requirements
I-F	CO/XO of Presidium, Jupiter, or Anchorage Stations Department Heads on Brahms Station	5 Duty Ribbons earned on AFY 20 Service Ribbons earned on AFY
II-F	CO/XO of Brahms Station, Avalon Prime Station, or Sato City Station	10 Duty Ribbons earned on AFY 40 Service Ribbons earned on AFY
III-F (Staff)	Yard Command Roles	Hold a BFSS role or Academy, Intel, or Operations Deputy role. Must surrender on leaving staff role.

The following table is a list of finite positions, which may or may not be available. The Avalon BFMS entry should be considered the most up-to-date list of which positions are taken and which are not. At the present time, finite roles have intentionally been limited to just fixed assets in the Avalon System, but this may expand in the future.

Avalon Fleet Yards Finite Positions
Department	Title	Rank	Tier	Notes
Yard Command	Commander, Avalon Fleet Yards & Commander, Grazer Sector	ADM - FADM	III-F (Staff)	Also CO of Brahms Station if Vacant
Yard Command	Deputy Commanding Officer, Avalon Fleet Yards& Chief Engineering Officer	VADM -ADM	III-F (Staff)
Yard Command	Commander, AFY Orbital Assets Commander, AFY Planetary Assets Commander, AFY Mobile Assets	FCAPT - RADM	III-F (Staff)
Orbital Command	Commander Officer, Brahms Station Commander Officer, Sato City Station Commanding Officer, Avalon Prime Station	CAPT - RADM	II-F
Orbital Command	Executive Officer, Brahms Station Executive Officer, Sato City Station Executive Officer, Avalon Prime Station	CMDR - CAPT	II-F	Only available if corresponding CO role is already taken
Brahms Station	Brahms Station Department Heads	LTCMDR - CAPT	II-F	See Brahms Station article for available roles.
Orbital Command	Commanding Officer, Scott Station Commanding Officer, Tucker Station Commanding Officer, Hemmer Station Commanding Officer, Phlox Medical Station Commanding Officer, Archer Station	LTCMDR - CAPT	I-F
Orbital Command	Executive Officer, Scott Station Executive Officer, Tucker Station Executive Officer, Hemmer Station Executive Officer, Phlox Medical Station Executive Officer, Archer Station	LT - CMDR	I-F	Only available if corresponding CO role is already taken

Joining Avalon Fleet Yards

Every member's first character on AFY should hold a non-finite role from the ones listed above. To join, members need to submit an application through the BFMS which should have at least three things:

A complete character biography, with at least some detail in all of the sections of the character biography (summary, personality, physical description, and history). This does not have to be a full, detailed account of everything the character has experienced in their life, but it should be a thoughtful presentation of where they are at the present moment. It should follow the Canon Policy. Members are encouraged to complete the Character Creation Program through the Academy first.
A short sample post of at least 250 words—this could be the character's first post on AFY, if you like.
An appropriate rank for the position you have selected—you may write up to your own fleet rank, but not higher. If you do not have the ability to set your rank because it is higher than captain, note this in the application so that a member of staff can correct it.

If you are proposing a non-finite position that runs a team, project, institute, or facility, in the writing sample box you should also include a paragraph describing your team/institute/facility, with details such as where it is located and what its mission is. Examples can be found in the Avalon Group article.

Each character you wish to add to Avalon must have its own application.

Advancing Character Tiers

It is your responsibility to notify staff once you have reached a new tier, by keeping a list of the posts you have made on AFY. When you are ready to either propose a new character with a higher tier or promote a character to a new tier, follow the above steps to complete another application.