Subject: All characters from the quarantined one are replacements.
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Posted on: 2014-03-18 17:49:00 UTC

Quarantined means you can't get in or out, period. You can look at the continuum--but try to portal there, and it will fail, probably in an amusing and embarrassing fashion, if the Ironic Overpower has anything to say about it.

Crossover between a quarantined and non-quarantined continuum means that the quarantined characters are replacements, automatically, because the badfic writer can't get to the originals. (And I'm assuming badfic here, because anyone who writes fanfic and posts it against the express wishes of the author of the original story is just being bratty.)

Consider the author of the non-quarantined continuum, though. Most authors respect an author's authority over their work, and that respect is infused into the continua they create. When a badfic tries to invade, bringing with it cheap copies of characters from a quarantined continuum, most non-quarantined continua will reject the attempt to cross over, and the badfic author is forced to create replacements for both continua.

When a continuum is opened to fanfic and the PPC gets at it for the first time, then, it's likely to be untouched. But that doesn't mean there's not some clean-up left to do.

The intentions of the author govern a story. When there's a crossover between a quarantined and non-quarantined continuum, there are three authors involved--the author who imposed the quarantine, the author of the other continuum, and the author of the fic. When the quarantine is lifted, a fic that once existed as a replacement copy that couldn't touch the originals may, obeying the badfic author's desires, drift toward one or both continua.

Now that the original authors' wishes no longer completely close the continuum, such floating badfic may--if they are bad enough--attempt to latch on to one or both continua, resulting in a random mix of OOC, replacement characters, and even replacement objects and locations. The PPC may have to step in to clear these badfics out.

It would be a lot like any other mission. Replacements which are close enough to in-character might just merge with their originals, without too much damage. But there's an increased chance of getting "clones" of canon characters, locations, objects, and other bits of canon that didn't quite mesh properly when the badfic latched on to its new host continuum. The more OOC they are from their originals, the more likely that the new continuum can't match the replacements to who they were supposed to be.

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