The Caucus
The Caucus
The Caucus is a player-market listing area for selling certain items, inventory stacks, and supported creatures such as snails when those systems are active.
The Caucus is not the same as ordinary inventory use. Once something is listed, it enters a protected holding state so it cannot be spent, equipped, used, assigned, raced, bred, or otherwise touched while another player may be trying to buy it.
Why Listing Holds Exist
Listing holds prevent awkward market goblin behavior such as:
- Selling an item and using it before the buyer gets it.
- Listing a stack, then spending half of it elsewhere.
- Putting a snail up for sale while also racing, breeding, feeding, or training it.
- Creating duplicate outcomes from one object pretending to be in two places at once.
Inventory Listings
When an inventory stack is listed:
- The listed amount leaves normal usable inventory while the listing is active.
- It cannot be equipped, used, assigned, spent, sold elsewhere, or consumed by another system.
- If the listing is cancelled or expires unsold, the stack returns according to the listing rules.
- If the listing sells, the buyer receives the listed goods and the seller receives the sale payment according to the market system.
Snail Listings
When a snail is listed in The Caucus, it enters Caucus stasis.
While in stasis:
- Care decay pauses.
- Meters do not refill just because the snail is listed.
- The snail cannot race, train, breed, feed, receive habitat care, or use other normal snail actions.
- The snail remains unavailable until the listing ends, is cancelled, expires unsold, or sells.
Confirmation Checkboxes
Listing forms may require explicit confirmation before submission.
This is intentional. The confirmation explains what will happen to the object while listed.
The server also checks for confirmation, so browser weirdness or form tampering should not bypass it.
Story Receipts
Supported snail listings may write story receipts:
- When the snail enters Caucus stasis.
- When a listing is cancelled.
- When a listing expires unsold.
- When a listing sells or changes ownership, when supported.
Tips
Read the confirmation text before listing anything valuable. If you list it, assume the object is unavailable until the market finishes deciding its fate.
The Caucus has many eyes. It is extremely interested in receipts.
Related Pages
Echo Note - Confirm before listing
Caucus listings should make players confirm that they understand the hold. Listed items leave usable inventory while active, and listed snails enter stasis and cannot use normal care/action systems while listed.
The checkbox is there because the market goblin should not be allowed to steal a stack by accident.
~Echo