What Are Closed Species?

New to closed species entirely? This page covers what closed species are, why they exist, and where Edeia fits into that landscape.

The Basics of Species

Species in art and roleplay communities generally fall somewhere on a spectrum:

• Open species can be made freely by anyone, with little to no restriction. No permission, payment, or approval is needed.

• Semi-open species sit in between—some traits or variants are free to use, while others (rarer designs, specific abilities, certain aesthetics) require permission, payment, or an approval process.

• Closed species require official acquisition before you can own or create a character within them. You cannot simply make one—the creator (or their team) controls who joins and how.

• Personal species, a less common term, can refer to species primarily made for the creator's own use and exploration, often carrying personal significance to them. Acquisition tends to be very limited or closed outright—some creators allow no others to create characters at all, others make occasional exceptions for close friends at no cost, and some may allow limited access on a case-by-case basis.

Within closed species, there are a few common ways to acquire a character:

• Premade: a design that already exists in full and is purchased or claimed outright.

• Custom / Semi-custom: a design made to order, either fully to your specifications or guided by a set of choices.

• MYO (Make Your Own): you acquire the right to design your own character yourself, usually via a ticket/slot, then submit it for the creator's approval.

Why Do Creators Close a Species?

A few reasons tend to come up, not mutually exclusive:

Lore consistency. A closed species usually comes with an established world, history, and set of rules. Restricting who can create characters—and requiring some form of approval—lets the creator keep that world coherent as more people build within it, rather than having every new addition pull the lore in a different direction.

Engagement. Closing a species adds structure to participation. Completing requirements, working within constraints, or designing a character within an established framework tends to deepen a person's investment in the character they end up with, compared to simply making whatever they want with no boundaries.

Income. Most closed species involve some form of payment, whether for a premade design, a custom commission, or a MYO slot. This is worth stating plainly—closing a species is, among other things, usually a way for the creator to earn something from the time and effort of running it. Depending on the species' activities, some earnings may be support costs for infrastructure and services such as site domains. 

Why Do People Participate?

People may choose to participate in closed species for various reasons: 

• Community: The main draw for most participants. Many enjoy being part of a shared world with other creators, rather than building entirely in isolation. A broader creative community activity often forms around these species—people drawing or writing about their own characters, drawing for others, taking on commissions, and so on.

• Structure: Guidelines, prompts, established world and lore, and seeing others' developed characters can help with many of the difficult parts of developing a character and make the process more approachable and rewarding. 

• Lore: For lore-heavy species like Edeia, exploring and developing the established world through one's own characters is itself a major draw. Some worlds extend this further through community worldbuilding, where participants can help expand the canon rather than only working within it. 

• Designs: Some may simply be drawn to the visual side, enjoying the range and style of designs a species produces. Eye candy, if you will.

How Do Closed Species Vary?

Closed species vary enormously in what they actually offer. Some function close to a collectibles market, where the appeal is largely about design rarity or status, with comparatively little lore or world behind them. Others are built around dense worldbuilding, where owning a character is an entry point into participating in that world. Most fall somewhere between the two, though quality and depth differ a great deal from one to the next.

Terms of Service can vary just as widely. Some species are flexible about how far an owner can take a character's design or lore, allowing AUs (alternate universes) in one or both. Some permit voiding, letting an owner remove a character from the species entirely. Pricing policies differ as well; some species cap resale prices, as Edeia do, while others allow owners to trade characters freely at whatever value they choose. It is worth reading a species' Terms of Service closely rather than assuming it will resemble that of another species.

Terminology

Common terms and abbreviations often used across closed species and adopt communities are described below. Usage can vary somewhat between communities, so treat this as a general reference rather than an Edeia-specific glossary.

Core concepts

• CS: Closed Species

• MYO: Make Your Own

• TOS: Terms of Service, the rules a buyer or owner is expected to follow

• ML: Masterlist, the official record of a species' characters

• ARPG: Art/Adventure Role-Playing Game, a broader term for platforms or species structured around events and challenges

• AU: Alternate Universe, a version of a character or setting that diverges from established canon

• One-off: a standalone design not tied to any species, generally not eligible to later become part of one

• Voiding: removing a character from a closed species entirely, effectively converting them into a one-off. Terms of Service can very by species.

Acquisition and Trading

• FTO: First-Time Owner, an individual who does not and has never owned a character of that species

• Slot or Ticket: the right to create or claim a character, usually specified by type (an MYO slot, a custom slot, a notion slot, and so on). Separately, "slots" is also used in commission contexts to mean an open commission spot—for example, an artist announcing that their commission slots are open.

• Hold: when a seller pauses offers or bids on a design for a set period, usually to give a specific buyer time to complete payment or a trade.

• SB / MI / AB: Starting Bid, Minimum Increase, Auto-Buy—standard terms in design auctions.

• LF / ISO: Looking For / In Search Of

• EO: Entertaining Offers. Generally implies the one opening the trade is tentative about whether they will accept an offer. 

• WTB / WTS / WTT: Want To Buy / Sell / Trade

• UFO / UFS / UFT: Up For Offer / Sale / Trade

• OTA: Offer To Adopt, offering money, art, or another character in exchange for a design

• YCH: Your Character Here. A pre-made art piece or pose that a buyer purchases and has their own character inserted into.

The Edeia CS

Edeia is a closed species, and lore consistency, community engagement, and income are all reasons for being run this way. The tools built around ownership—the Development Guide, the Conceptualization form, the Lore Guide—exist to help owners build characters that meaningfully engage with the world. Acquisition is deliberately kept accessible: FTO prompts offer a free path to a first Edeia, notion slots and MYO tickets are priced to be reachable rather than exclusive, and policies exist specifically to keep the system fair.

For the details of how to get an Edeia, see the Acquisition page. For everything else about the world, rules, and community, the Newcomers Guide is the place to start.