Character States

Player Decision (PD)
A player can institute his or her character's own death, whether it be a pre-planned mishap, or the result of a combat engagement, or old age, or illness.

Player Kill (PK)
While death can normally only befall a character by PD, there are instances where a Player Kill can override any choice on the part of the player.

Retired
A character's player has the right to end the use of a character, whether to leave the MUSH or to go into another character, without ending the "life" of the character. The character is considered retired, and is no longer a part of ongoing action/interaction/story around that character. Should the former player want to bring the character out of retirement, they may, but if this action creates a "multiple character per player" situation, RPAdmin should be notified.

NLIS
If a character's player has left the MUSH, with no indication of return, and did not install a means of PD or PK, then the character is considered No Longer In Story, and cannot be projected into further RP plans or actions. They can be mentioned in recollections and history, but unless the previous player signed off on a Continuation-As-a-NPC, their character can no longer be used.

This is possibly the most frustrating of the character states, because one never knows if the player is ever returning, and if the character was a well-connected one, or one that had certain responsibilities within the story, what should be done concerning that character in regards to story impact.