@Keys: if you mean that the bond is not really a bond in the same way in-game happiness is not actually happiness, yeah, that could work. It would make things feel kinda forced though...  I don't see how a Shadow mon would have a desire that matches a certain Cipher staff, even more in consideration that the Ciphers we'd want to have have access to this feature would be very high-ranking and very definitively tightly aligned with Cipher's intended goal.

Anyway all this depends on whether we are using the concept of Shadow Megas IRP. Like Tangent, I'm leaning (rather heavily) towards no. Being Shadow is already a power bonus enough.

@re Mega Accesories: I'm against a mass distribution kind of thing for a variety of reasons, mostly that we don't know if these artifacts are going to be generation-unique features (apparently Megas as a concept exist only in Kalos; we don't know if eg.: Pokéathlon or Dream World are making it into G6 or later yet). I'm personally leaning towards a concept closer to what the Armbands should have been originally - actual relics that have to be distributed across the team upon opportunity/necessity, like any one-or-two-instances relic in Final Fantasy games. After all

I wouldn't support the idea that characters who already have armbands or other special items would not be candidates to Mega Accessories because it breaks the necessity half of the factor. Ideally the means to distribute the hopefully three, four tops Mega Accessories is not going to be tied to our characters themselves at all.

Silent: I said not first canidates, as in the ones who don't have more leverage to acquire them, not that by having something like that they're no longer allowed to have one.

Dune: As I said in the chat, I STRONGLY favor option one.

I personally don't mind a big distribution and don't get why so many people would. If these stones can be naturally occurring, can't the J-Team just find a big deposit of them or something?

Otherwise, I'd be fine with a more gradual distribution somehow occuring, provided everyone gets one. Because I am very very very very VERY opposed to only a few "chosen" people being able to use Megas.

But if only a few people get them that just plain wouldn't be fair. I mean, it would be like saying only a few people get to use new mons or Fairy-Types. It's a basic game mechanic change, everyone should have access to it, even if they have to find Key Stones gradually.

I think secondary PCs should have access to them too, but only if they have a mon that can Mega Evolve. Though I am somewhat willing to compromise and say main PCs have to share with secondary if the first option gets enough opposition.

As for Fairy types, in regards to Cosmic Retcon vs. "recently discovered" I say: Why not both? Have them be Cosmically Retconned into existence but only recently formally classified by the scientific community.

Umbra: I'm alright with that idea. Also I love that idea for Fairy Type explanation.

Beri: The problem is they're so game breaking there have to be SOME limitations otherwise it makes it less fun for everyone.

And as well I think it's fair to point out that Mega Evolution should be unavailable until AT LEAST where it's unlocked in the game.

@Umbra and @Verax: The idea would be to avoid that only a few select people could have them. There should  be no selected characters, no unselected characters, ideally. Instead of on the characters we should focus on the opportunity. They should be rare enough that we should always be ready to share, or something similar. Or, it could work like what was described before with an important cooldown period.

Honestly I think that the idea of limiting the access to Megas to primary PCs, while annoying to implement because of lack of an in-universe justification, would be probably the most fair way -in as much as what we have available- to do this in-RP if we go with full freedom to Mega. There's some people with several characters, giving them access to several teams to play, and that completely unbalances the chances for other players to do senseful things with Mega evolutions, or in the worst case to have any shot at fairness in an interplayer battle.

That said, I'd rather we implemented something else that needed only an in-universe setup than to wrange both the playerbase and the characters into it. And most importantly I think we should wait more time before discussing these matters - I see the discussion was linked to in Discussion, but since it is a discussion about spoilers some people are being essentially forced to be left out and without a choice.

Also, remember that this is an RP, our characters can't get a perfect window of opportunity every single time, and they can't be prepared to deal with absolutely everything. Sometimes the villain reveals he has your mom and the cat hostage, sometimes you lose a naked poker bet to your rival, sometimes the enemy takes the southern gate and you have to make do with only three squads of archers and a couple of battering rams. We don't need to have access to all the big guns all the time. That would make things boring and unfair.

It's just, I have soooo many misgivings. I find these ideas good in theory, but I feel like it may end up like how Communism did - failing when implemented in reality. I just, urgh, I don't have logic to back this up, but my gut feeling is:

THIS IS A BAD IDEA TO LIMIT THIS.

(beyond, say, what Verax just said about point of time to acquire it.)

I do like the idea of one per PLAYER (ie Main PC) with sharing capabilites as a good compromise.

Straw: [spoiler]Lysandre didn't have one. He replicated the effects of one through that thing he was wearing, he was able to recreate the effect by using technology, but I assume that it wouldn't have lasted very long and that natural mega rings worked better. Unless I completely misread that scene.