Clarification on custom ship request

[Capt. Henry Morgan]

I'm planning to submit a request for a custom ship model, but I want to clarify a couple points first. A billion credits represents a very significant investment of my time, and I'd like to minimize my chances of spending all that for the privilege of being told 'no'.

First up:

Unique Ship Request Regulations & Form

0. Requests for unique ships require approval of both administrator and development teams. The initial request can be relayed through an official faction to be posted in the following subforum for development team approval using the first template provided below and requires the roleplay to be already in the construction stage, but can be posted before the roleplay is concluded. Once the roleplay is finished, the final request can be posted in this subforum for admin approval using the second template provided below. Once a request receives an initial approval it will be added to the game with the next mod update, and upon admin approval the individual will be provided access to the ship.

It says here that the initial request can be relayed through an official faction. Is that a requirement or an option? It seems odd to mention it if it's the latter, but the wording is odd for the former.

Next question:

3. The character (not the player) owning the ship must have at least one year of backstory both ingame and on forums. Additionally, the construction of the ship should be roleplayed and documented on forums and needs to involve at least one official faction. Furthermore, background of the ship must fit within the Discovery canon and most not in any way contradict with the established lore.

Concerning the one year of backstory. The character I'm wanting to do this with is my NO military pilot. He hasn't been with NO for a year, but he was my Bowex combat pilot about ten years ago, when I ran the faction. Altogether, he has more than a year of in-game and forum time, but I want to make sure that the time being split up by such a long downtime isn't going to be a problem.

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