InsaneJournal

To be frank: it's rare. The battles are not staged, per se - they don't determine the winners beforehand, and they don't really REHEARSE. But they do practice. There are rules. Also limitations on their weapons. It depends on the job, but there's also the fact that they generally look out for one another. It's entertainment, not murder! And they train really hard and have to pass tests before they can perform in the field, so it's like... they kind of have to know how to aim for the limbs and not the vitals.

Yes, it's a full-time job and lifestyle. It's not uncommon for them to have a job as part of a cover, though, or for personal enjoyment. Like, Shay's cowgirl, Lily, for instance, is a hostess at a restaurant part-time for a myriad of reasons (her cowboy father wanted her to learn responsibility; she doesn't get as big of a cut because she's a younger cowgirl, not every cowboy is going to be a part of every job--they might have one show a week if they're very good and one a month if starting out).

One unified organization! They are the only ones who do it. They are quite cliquish though within the group itself and tend to schedule jobs within whatever circles they run in, though.

Whatever their cover job is, normally. If they don't have a cover job, they probably don't pay taxes.

The only rules that exist are combat rules. You can play this one by ear. It's probably a mix. I'm sure some people are bratty about it and some people aren't. It just depends on the character. Pranks and scheming are not forbidden by any means, but serious revenge-taking is. Also keep in mind that some will take it very seriously, etc, and some are in it for the showbiz element--entertaining people is probably more important than winning the fight in a lot of cases. The pissy ones, though, might be bad sports.

The latter--trained to be showy and keep injuries to a minimum. Medicine is advanced in some areas but not others. Terminal illnesses, diseases that require medication - all that is better. Trauma wounds, not so much. There are some advancements being made but that will come up later so don't worry about it too much at this point. As for replacement robotic organs, I would say in development, so available either in hush-hush testing or, if you want a working one, for the very very very wealthy. We're going to keep that to a minimum and if you want a character with a replacement organ, we'd like you to let us know first!

No, they're just fast and know whose pockets to fill. Plus after so long it just became moot for law enforcement to actively pursue them. Usually they only get involved if there's harm done to civilians, which is very rare.

Essentially, Earth is trapped in what is basically a giant forcefield, which preserves the atmosphere and other protective elements that make it harder for space to fuck with the planet. Because Earth isn't in orbit around a single star, day/night and seasons are sort of off--the planet is close enough to a cluster of stars that there is light (although not as much--in general daylight is kind of dim and comes from multiple stars). And because nebulae change so rapidly, Earth kind of bobs around. Seasons still occur in that the weather changes in patterns, but not spring/summer/fall/winter, it's kind of on a weekly basis (and we'll post weather as well as light forecasts for each week). So one week it might be freezing and really bright and clear, and the next it'll be crisp but with less light and perhaps a deluge of space dust. Time still runs in the same manner, but is calculated and kept by humans, and has no basis in actual revolutions. Also the sky shifts between different shades of the rainbow because, well, why not.

Sorry, but this is a strict "no." Obviously we are implementing many components of science fiction in the game, but we want to steer very far from anything legitimately supernatural. People don't have superpowers, and technological advancements are still limited. So time travel is unfortunately not going to be something we explore. :(

Yes, there is still a UN, and it's headquartered in Dakar, Senegal.

INRAT controls all travel between nebulae. They issue inter-nebular visas and passports, regulate security between nebulae, control and protect the different gaps, etc. Some INRAT employees are stationed at gaps to perform security checks and essentially make sure no one goes through who shouldn't. Then there are employees who are on the administrative side of things--managers, office workers, etc. Then there are task forces, or gappers, who respond to reports of new gaps and then either blockade the area or set up a transportation site.