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Rules

This section includes some rules and terms to follow and keep in mind when playing the game. More may be added in the future.

OWNERSHIP

YOUR DATA

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Before you Join

'Welcome to my Aviary' is a Discord-based bird breeding game. If you're familiar with sites such as Wolvden, Lioden, Flight Rising, Pure Felinity or Howrse, you may have an idea of what vibe we're trying to achieve!WtmA can be played at any time as much or as little as you want. While events (e.g. auctions, shows) may be available for a limited amount of time, they'll return eventually. You can freely take a 4 week long vacation and all your birds will be ready for you like you left them. WtmA is not an ARPG ('art roleplaying game') and doesn't require you to draw anything or submit any other creative works to participate.We rely on active staff members rather than an automated system. Game systems are done through submitting forms and alerting specialized staff teams. This means it may take a while for changes to be made (less than 24 hours) but also makes the game a lot more interactive and personal. The staff team are also your fellow players!There's no commitment. You are free to be inactive, go on a hiatus or decide to leave the game completely. We do value communication. If you plan on leaving the game, please just let us know. If you leave the server or delete your account, we may delete your data and/or transfer your birds after a certain amount of time.Sounds good? You're in? Go ahead and read the Startup Guide on how to join!

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Startup Guide: Joining the Game

To join the game, you need to join the Discord server. Once you're in the Discord server, read the rules and click on the checkmark in the channel to recive the @Newbie role; giving you access to more of the server.Once you've gained the @Newbie role, you can head over to the #sign-up channel. Follow the instructions in that channel and fill in the form. It may take up to 24 hours for staff to get back to you, please be patient!When your application is accepted, a staff member will create a thread for you in the #tutorial channel. This staff member will be giving you a 'tutorial' where they inform you of key aspects of the game and get you set up with your very first bird!

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Guide: Aviaries, Cages & Locations

Aviaries, cages and locations will be part of a future update and are not a feature just yet, sorry!

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Guide: Shopping & Currency

Sorry, this part is still under construction, please check back later!

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Guide: Items & Inventory

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Guide: Keeping your Birds

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Guide: Breeding your Birds

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Guide: Raising Young Birds

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Guide: Transfer, Sale & Release

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Guide: WtmA Bird Shows

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Guide: WtmA Auctions

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Black-capped Macaw

Work in progress bird, mainly for formatting the carrd. But this bird will stay for the game for sure!

^{A. atricapilla}

^{Scientific name}

Bird N/A

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^{Scientific name}

^{Scientific name}

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TBN

Second bird! More info will be put here later :3

^{B. scintilla}

^{Scientific name}

Bird N/A

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Bird N/A

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^{Scientific name}

^{Scientific name}

Bird N/A

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Bird N/A

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^{Scientific name}

^{Scientific name}

Bird N/A

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Great Lakes Parrot

This is just a placeholder, nothing to see here...

^{P. magnalacus}

^{Scientific name}

Bird N/A

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Bird N/A

This is just a placeholder, nothing to see here...

^{Scientific name}

^{Scientific name}

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Bird N/A

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^{Scientific name}

^{Scientific name}

Bird N/A

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Description

Sorry, this part is still under construction, please check back later!

Behaviour

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Habitat

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Breeding

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Description

Sorry, this part is still under construction, please check back later!

Behaviour

Sorry, this part is still under construction, please check back later!

Habitat

Sorry, this part is still under construction, please check back later!

Breeding

Sorry, this part is still under construction, please check back later!

Description

Sorry, this part is still under construction, please check back later!

Behaviour

Sorry, this part is still under construction, please check back later!

Habitat

Sorry, this part is still under construction, please check back later!

Breeding

Sorry, this part is still under construction, please check back later!

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Terminology

Here is a list of terms used surrounding genetics and what they mean. To keep this list short, not all meanings include every possible situation.

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Alleles and Loci

As stated in the terminoloy, alleles are "the letters that indicate genes and make up the genetic code of the bird" and a locus is "the place the alleles are expressed or the category in which alleles are grouped," but what does this mean?Every gene has a unique letter or two associated with it, which are the alleles. There are a lot of genes, so when making a list or table it will get very hard to say "female, homozygous lutino, heterozygous wild type and turquoise, etc." and it's easier being able to say "ZW LL Bb^t" instead.Biologically speaking, a locus is a specified section of a chromosome in DNA where a selection of genes are located. To simplify it, you can view a locus as a category for genes. The Lutino locus has two genes; wild type and lutino, for example.

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Offspring

When two birds breed, their offspring will inherit half of each their genes. Each parent passes on one random allele of each pair to their young.

To visualize offspring possibilities, you can put the alleles in a table. In the top row you put the allels of one parent and in the left column the other. Then you combine the two alleles to give 4 possible options for chicks. Sometimes the same allele combination pops up multiple times, this means that combination will be more likely in chicks.In this example we'll show the outcome for the Blue locus. A wild type hen (split to violet) is indicated by yellow. A blue cock (split to turquoise) is indicated by blue.

Here is an example table following the lutino gene. Lutino is sex-linked, attached to the Z chromosome, hence why there are different possibilities depending on the sex of the chicks. Note that these are not two parents, these simply note down all the possible combinations two birds may form and all chicks that may come out of that combination.

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Sex Chromosomes

These aren't genes but should be noted down for reference as they are very important!The last pair of a bird's chromosomes are called the Sex Chromosomes, they determine the sex of the bird. Unlike humans and many other animals (cats, dogs, horses, etc.) who have XY chromosomes, birds have ZW chromosomes.

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Lutino

Lutino is a sex-linked gene that removes black and blue pigments from the bird. This leaves the bird with only yellows and reds.This sex-linked gene is attached to the Z chromosome. Meaning that hens (ZW) have one lutino allele while cocks (ZZ) have two alleles. These two can be homozygous (LL or ll) or heterozygous (Ll).When you've got a heterozygous male carrying both lutino and wild type, it ends up removing some black and blue pigments - but not all, it leaves a bit of blue and gray. This often leaves birds with a greenish-yellow colour. We call this lime.

When talking about only this gene, it can be written together with the sex chromosomes, ZLW or ZlW for hens and ZLZL, ZLZl or ZlZl for cocks. But when writing out the lutino gene for the full genetic code it should be written separately (ZW L, ZW l, ZZ LL, ZZ Ll, ZZ ll) to not get cluttered with other sex-linked genes.

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Blue

Blue is a gene that removes red and yellow pigments from the bird. This leaves the bird with only blues and blacks.Two of the genes within the Blue locus don't remove all the red and yellow. These are turquoise and violet. Turquoise leaves a little yellow while violet leaves a little red. In combination with the most likely blue colour, turquoise turns most birds greenish-blue and violet turns most birds a rich indigo-blue or sometimes even purple.The list below is in order of dominance. B > b > b^t > b^v

A note about the Blue and Lutino loci: These two loci are the main loci to alter a bird's colour. Note that they only remove pigment. This means a bird who's wild type is completely red will never turn blue with the Blue gene. The combination of the lutino gene and the blue gene will leave a bird completely white.

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Pastel

Pastel is a gene that dilutes the pigment throughout the entire bird. This gives the bird a lighter and more 'pastel' appearance. In some cases, black parts of a bird may turn blue-ish when affected by the pastel gene. The list below is in order of dominance. P > p

With the pastel gene certain birds may appear a blue pastel while they're turquoise/violet pastel or even give a near-white appearance to lighter coloured wild types or in the combination with other genes.

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Opaline

Opaline, for some species known as Pearl, is an odd sex-linked gene that has a different effect on each species. The opaline gene relocates certain colours which can take form as spots on feathers, discoloured edges around feathers, enlarged colour patches, disappearance of colour and complete relocation of colour.

When a bird is split to opaline, they will show as an opaline bird until their first molt, after which they will appear like a wild type instead. Because opaline is sex-linked, only cocks can be split to opaline.

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Pied

The pied gene creates randomly placed patches with loss of pigment all over the bird. This often affects the flight feathers, shoulders and back, but otherwise appears all over the body.There are two types of pied; heavy pied and light pied. Heavy pied, sometimes referred to as white-pied, leaves more and bigger patches and removes all pigment. Light pied, sometimes referred to as yellow-pied, leaves less and smaller patches that removes most pigment except yellow.

Note that the percentages shown above are average ranges observed by birds with those genetics. A homozygous heavy pied bird is often called a clear pied and may be completely white.

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Iridescence

Iridescent is a rare gene that adds a teal, cyan, blue and/or purple shiny glow to the bird's wings, especially visible and differing depending on the light. The iridescent gene is recessive.

The iridescent gene has a particularely different effect on each species of bird and each set of genes. Some species may only have iridescent patches around the neck or on the wings, while other species may show iridescent feathers all over the body. Iridescent feathers will be more noticable on dark colours.