Eh, don't think too much about it. XD But yeah, always thought that AU was always the best kind of way to do this kind of thing.  That way it means that people are free to use OCs if they want to fill in some of the spots, but if someone really wants to use the original they're free to do that too.

I dunno, just a little jaded after seeing, for example, all those superhero RPs that start off with some variation of "Darkseid killed off the entire Justice League!" and stuff like that.  Probably just a matter of personal taste, but that kind of thing always puts me off for some reason. XD