If anyone would like to come up with more friendly way of writing the AGM motions, go right ahead.
This signals to the refs that a character is still extant but will not be appearing in the game for a while. When a character is suspended their player must submit a current character sheet and flange as if doing so over a summer holiday. You will then be treated as having submitted that character sheet every summer holiday.
The refs may make reasonable adjustments to a suspended character such as having them vacate IC positions of direct uptime relevance, ideally with full consultation with the involved player if possible.
To resume playing a suspended character you must provide the refs with two weeks' notice, which may be waived.
A retired character has entirely left the game and may not appear in uptime or downtime (unless permanently given over to the refs to become an NPC, on specific ref request/potentially subject to restatting etc and which the player may refuse), they may not communicate information to the game, they may not take any actions, and they may not ever return - mechanically, they cease to exist. This provides a "Happy Ending" mechanic in which a PC can leave the game without dying and can be defined to grow old/bring up their children/go off to seek their fortune elsewhere/wise up to how dangerous the WA really is and fall in with a better crowd etc instead. It puts the character out of reach of other players in order to end their story, but in return that character can no longer ever affect the pcs, who are out of their reach. The exact circumstances of the character's 'offscreen' future can be defined by the player, but people may find it easier to define the character as no longer being in the city if that would help them to overcome future OOC desire to return due to city events.
Ref characters should automatically enter the state of "Retired" during the time that the player is reffing, but are a specific exception in that they may return to being PCs after that point, unless they were converted to NPCs during the period. If they were converted to NPCs they remain NPCs forever, even under other subsequent refteams, who may do as they wish with them (although the default would be to leave them in the not-existing 'Retired' form, and it is polite to ask the original player to physrep the NPC).
If a character sheet is not submitted for a character, the refs may assume that character will not be played in that academic year. The refs may also make reasonable adjustments such as having them vacate IC positions of direct uptime relevance, ideally with full consultation with the involved player if possible.
If a character sheet is not submitted and a player wishes to resume playing a character, the refs may:
The refs must take account of special circumstances preventing character sheet submission on time, including but not limited to illness and lack of computer/internet access. Players returning to Treasure Trap in the middle of the year after a long absence from the society should by default return to play on the most up-to-date stats for that character on the refwiki, though they must discuss any "flange" they have with the refs and may not be allowed to return with some or all of it.
Failing to submit a character sheet and then returning to play under any of the above conditions will not cause detrimental "flange" to be removed!