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Xenos Café & Grill - Offina Bora

Species: Felf

Previous Job: Consort slave

Charm Points: Plant biology, tactile preference, genetically engineered to please

Felves are the newest genetically engineered species to be introduced by the lotorians. The lotorians had been introduced to them during their failed attack on the alternate dimension of Warclema. They decided to genetically engineer them for two general purposes, replacing dimen lords as interdimensional scouts, and as a consort slave species. Offina is an example of the latter. The genetic engineering applied to Offina by the lotorians are to make her more adapted to conditions outside of Warclema, and also to jump start her Pouyannian mimicry of the people of the planet Borango. The interdimensional origin of her species is kept secret from intergalactic society, which believes her to be purely a creation of the lotorians and thus her legal status is the same as that of a new line of robots.

Offina came to be employed at Xenos after it was found that she can trigger an allergic reaction in borangons (The lotorians would pay a settlement, apologize, and begin work on a new version of the bora felf line that didn't trigger the reaction). The owner of Xenos took the opportunity to get paid for taking hazardous materials off of the hands of the Borangon dignitary that previously owned her and set her to work waiting tables.

Offina's still adjusting to the change and the new rules she's having to work under. She particularly struggles with the "no physical contact except when the customer pays for a picture" rule due to her primary sense being tactile. She has also gotten reprimanded multiple times for choosing to sleep just outside the entrance to Xenos instead of the room she was provided with.

Relationships With Other Staff Members

Afa: Afa sees Offina as the newest artificially created species, much like the species that Afa lost her previous job to. Their relationship is strongly influenced by Afa's worries about being once again replaced by a newer model. This is entirely one-sided though, as Offina enjoys engagement whether positive or negative.

Nyxalia: Offina was made to serve and is great at petting. How could a cat like Nyxalia hate someone so willing to treat her like the queen she sees herself as?

[markermage]

Ligic in Warclema - Opposite Ligic Reactions

What's an elemental magic system without mixing? While different colors of ligic do not actually mix or combine, opposite elements do cause a reaction.

Red & Blue

The thermal expansion caused by red ligic will quickly travel to the thermal contraction cause by blue to the point of creating a temporary air current (or water current if underwater). This current always travels from red to blue.

If the ligic is unbalanced between red and blue, then the current might extend past the source of the relevant ligic. This can actually be used to enhance any depictions of beam struggles between these two elements by having the literal wind blowing indicate the direction that the metaphorical wind is blowing. If the two are even, then the wind starts at red and stops at blue. If red is stronger, both participants will feel the wind pushing them backwards. If blue is stronger, both participants will feel the wind pulling them forwards. The one losing will of course feel more of this wind.

This reaction can occur with any significant abundance or void of heat substituting for red or blue ligic respectively.

The Maelstrom that connects Toppan and Botmal is just a scaled up example of this reaction.

Black & White

The negative and positive charges created by black and white ligic can create electrical currents as the electrons created by black will rush to fill in for the ones destroyed by white.

In this case, the reaction itself is more damaging than either of the ligic used to create it. Because of this, it sees less use in beam struggles and gets used more as a yin-yang teamwork thing. Offensive uses of this reaction are about getting something caught in the arc of electricity that forms.

Any significantly-charged object can substitute for the black or white ligic in this reaction, and many black ligic specialists in Toppan will aim their black ligic at the ground to create arcs of electricity to damage a target with.

That's All For This Week

The poll to decide next week's topic has already been posted. The new option this week is a plant species I've come up with for Warclema called a "floor plant". How can I stretch that out over 5 posts? Vote for it and find out.

Master Post

[markermage]

Next Week's Warclema Topic Poll

It's Friday again, and I've got another poll to decide what part of my original setting, Warclema, I'm going to be talking about next. The unchosen options are carried over from last time and are joined by the new option of "Floor Plant", which I am surprisingly confident in my ability to stretch out to 5 posts. Seniority breaks ties, and the non-Warclema option needs to have double the votes of 2nd place to win. If you are interested in the setting, you can check out my Warclema Master Post.

[markermage]

Ligic in Warclema - Black & White Ligic

We're going over the magic system of Warclema this week. We covered red and blue ligic yesterday, now we're onto black and white. Black and white ligic create and destroy electrons respectively, giving things a negative or positive charge. While this would just be used for some magnetism stuff in most settings, Warclema has magnetism subbing for gravity. Basically, they get to act as gravity and anti-gravity magic too. For the sake of simplicity, I'll describe how they work on the surface of Warclema's Toppan side, where black gets to be the gravity element and white gets to be the anti-gravity element.

Heavy Black

So black ligic makes things heavier. This can be used to make an opponent's body too heavy to move (especially worth focusing on just the head for this to cause it to slam down to the ground). It can be used on one's self to do a ground pound. It can also be used for a more anchored stance and make it harder for one to be tripped. Charging a weapon with black ligic during a downward swing can help it hit harder.

Black ligic can also be used to pull the ground towards the target. Supercharging an object with black ligic can allow one to pull the ground up into a wall. It can be used to draw water out of the ground.

Light White

White ligic on the other hand makes things lighter, often to the point of floating. Blasting an opponent with white ligic can leave them suspended in the air and unable to walk or run (focus the blast on their feet first to make their feet shoot up, possibly flipping them over so that their head smacks into the ground). A small burst of it can be used for a double jump. It can be used to make a giant sword light enough to carry, though it will still take some effort to overcome its inertia. Charging a weapon with white ligic during an upward swing can help it hit harder.

White ligic can also be used for flight. A lot of fish in Warclema actually use white ligic to give themselves enough aerial buoyancy to swim in the air.

What Happens When The Ground Is Targeted?

Blasting the ground with black ligic will weaken its pull or even neutralize it, making one feel a bit of weightlessness there or a pull to surrounding areas that still have a positive charge. Can be useful if you are falling and there's a sharp rock that you'd prefer to avoid by giving a quick blast. It can also compress the ground as the patch starts to be pulled down harder by the ground beneath.

Blasting the ground with white ligic on the other hand will cause it to have a stronger pull, making objects feel heavier there and even a general pull from other nearby areas. It can also cause the particular patch of ground hit to be repelled from the ground underneath if the blast is strong enough.

Polarity

A big part of black and white ligic is polarity. As I mentioned before, the above is about Toppan's surface, which is on the positively charged side of Warclema. The roles of both flip when on Warclema's negatively charged side, Botmal. These roles also flip when on top of Warclema's sky islands, which float due to being part of the ground that's been flipped over, causing its underside's charge to match that of the ground beneath. This leaves the top of such islands with the opposite charge and thus opposite effects of black and white ligic.

There's also underground areas where creatures can normally choose which they want to be the floor and which they want to be the ceiling. In such places, black and white ligic can be used to lock something to one floor and one ceiling.

Magnetism

There's also the typical magnetism stuff where giving two or more objects the same charge will cause them to be repelled from each other and giving them opposite charges will cause them to attract. This can be used defensively by giving the same charge to ones self and an opponent's weapon so that it's harder to be hit with it. It can also be used offensively by giving one's weapon and opponent opposite charges so that the weapon will home in on the opponent.

Next Post

Tomorrow's post is going to be about reactions between opposite ligic elements.

Master Post

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Ligic in Warclema - Red & Blue Ligic

Today, we're continuing the explanation of Warclema's elemental magic system with red and blue ligic. Red and blue ligic alter the speed of matter that absorbs it. Red speeds up while blue slows down. This applies to movement already happening, whether it be to mechanical movement, biological processes, or thermodynamics.

Heat & Cool

The most basic combat application of red and blue ligic is to alter the molecular speed of matter to heat it up to the point of combusting or slow it down to the point of freezing over. This is rather easy to do and putting more power into it gets a bigger temperature change. This actually acts as a limitation of other uses of these colors of ligic due to how easy it is to go from speeding up a person's running to burning them.

It's possible to use red and blue ligic directly upon an object that isn't the matching color to directly heat or cool it. It's also possible to use an indirect method of heating or cooling something nearby the target and letting some basic thermodynamics transfer heat from the warmer object to the cooler object. A creature that is resistant to red ligic isn't necessarily resistant to fire created by it.

It can also be used for thermal expansion or contraction, and there are some that will use it for propulsion, contracting the air in the direction they want to go in or expanding the air opposite that direction.

Healing

The ability to use red and blue ligic to affect the speed of biological processes also means that it can be used medically. Red ligic in particular can speed up the various processes the body uses to recover from an injury. The body still does all of the work of healing, just faster, and this means that it uses up the energy and nutrients needed for that healing faster, resulting in the recipient of such healing to be hungry after being healed through red ligic.

One of the major obstacles of using red ligic to heal injuries comes from how red objects can deflect it, and what do we often expect to find around an injury? Red-colored blood! This serves to make the healing a bit tricky, but can be dealt with by cleaning the wound of blood and applying the ligic to areas around the wound. It's also possible to use some dyes to alter the color of the blood so that it can accept red ligic. It is also at this point in typing this that I've realized that the humans of EDS 29 who had adapted to an increased intake of copper probably have enough of it in their blood to alter the color, and I have gone back to this post to edit that in.

Another restriction in using red ligic to heal is that it still affects the temperature of the target and using too much can change the healing into burning. As the medical saying goes, "the dose makes the poison". A little bit of accidental cauterization can usually be quickly fixed by getting the red ligic back down to an acceptable level and may even be preferred as a way to put an immediate stop to bleeding. A skilled practitioner of healing through red ligic will often have to judge what amount to administer to a wound based on severity and often use ice and other cold objects to cool the wound between red ligic applications to prevent overheating.

Blue ligic is often used to deal with poison. any diseases that are localized to a particular area of the body, and just keep the body from getting worse while working on a solution. While red ligic can represent time's ability to heal all wounds, blue ligic is for those situations where you have to race against the clock to deal with a problem. Blue ligic when the person needs medicine or a surgeon, and red ligic for when they need bed rest. There are times when blue ligic will be used to slow down part of the body while red ligic is used to speed up the rest of the body so that the blood flow keeps delivering nutrients and medicine that the slowed part needs.

Movement Speed

For altering movement speed, it's worth mentioning that the speed alteration is only for as long as the ligic is being absorbed by the target. Inertia will let it carry over and temperature will need time to dissipate, but hitting someone with a blast of red ligic will not let them be able to run around at high speeds with repeated changes in direction. Instead, it works more like an acceleration or deceleration that lasts as long as the target is being exposed to the ligic.

Most uses of red ligic to speed up a target's movement tend to be done through covering it with something red that will leak out excess red ligic over time that can be absorbed by the object underneath. Yes, Warclema is a world where painting something red can actually make it faster. However, having something be a different color does allow for stronger boosts of speed to be applied through stronger concentrations of red ligic, though it has to be kept upon a target that is moving faster and faster.

Using blue ligic to slow something tends to be much easier as the decrease in speed makes it easier to keep an aim on the ever slowing target. This gets used to explain why blue ligic can slow something to a complete stop. Blue ligic can also slow the falling speed of an object, even to the point of it becoming a solid platform suspended in the air that someone can stand upon without it budging.

Next Post

That's it for my description of red and blue ligic. Tomorrow's post will be about black and white ligic, which do some magnetic and gravity stuff.

Master Post

[markermage]

Ligic in Warclema - Casting and Neutral Ligic

As established in the previous post, ligic is a magical energy that is generated by matter under the effects of Warclema's physics. It builds up until it starts leaking out. But how do people in Warclema manage to shoot each other with blasts of it?

Stored ligic can be forced out of an object by having it put under some sort of stress, whether it be stretching, applying pressure, or causing it to undergo a sudden acceleration. Almost about anything that could wring water from a cloth can wring ligic from an object. Common methods used by humans are tensing the muscles of one's hand or simply punching the air.

I go with the general idea that a lot of DBZ style ki blast stuff can be done with ligic. It can be concentrated at a single point before being forced forwards in some sort of hadouken or kamehameha. It can be shot as a finger beam. It can also be used for beam struggles. The main differences between the DBZ ki blasts and ligic is the elemental nature of ligic and that ligic can't be guided once it leaves the person, so no curved shots or hellzone grenade attacks.

The ability to release ligic through sudden acceleration allows one to do melee attacks that let out some ligic that will extend past the attack's normal range. The ligic stored in a sword, fist, or other weapon is able to retain the momentum of the weapon even as that weapon stops or changes direction, resulting in a wave of energy continuing out. This provides an easy justification for sword beams and similar ranged attacks with melee weapons.

In games, ligic would have three stats associated with it that I'm going to call "capacity", "control", and "power" for now. Ligic capacity is pretty much max MP. Ligic control kinda corresponds to a mix of dexterity equivalent and wisdom in that it can be used for skillful aim of ligic and is a major part of holding back enough to make efficient use of beneficial properties of ligic without letting it get strong enough to do damage to a target (getting red ligic to heal instead of burn). Ligic power would pretty much be used for magic attack strength.

While ligic use is simple enough for most residents of Warclema to quickly learn the basics of, many still use external means of using ligic, such as plants that can be coaxed into releasing stored up ligic. This is mostly because plants have a higher ligic capacity and being more adapted for its use. The use of one's own ligic by humans is treated like unarmed combat. It can be a useful skill, but having an actual weapon/plant tends to be preferable.

Neutral Ligic

Neutral ligic is ligic outside the colors of red, blue, black, and white. It doesn't really have any elemental effect to it and instead sort of adds some weight to attacks. Even when reflected by an object of the same color, the impact of it can be felt. It's able to be used to physically push objects or continue a cutting slice beyond a blade's normal reach.

Next Post

Tommorow's post will be about red and blue ligic, which work as fire and ice elements.

Master Post

[markermage]

Ligic in Warclema - Ligic as Light

Ligic seems to have won the topic poll, so I'm going to be devoting a week to it. I've already introduced ligic back in this post, but I still have more to explain about it. Before we get into the explanation, let me just leave the details revealed from the polls it was an option in.

There will be a references to gameplay mechanics.

It gets used as a light source.

Let's start with an explanation of that second detail.

Glow

When it comes down to it, ligic is a result of taking the "power glows" trope and deciding to go with "everything has magic" in a world that lacks a sun. Under Warclema's unique set of physical laws, everything generates magical energy called "ligic" and sheds off any excess. This excess shed ligic is able to be interpreted by eyes as light and is what provides the color that a person sees.

Photosynthesis

As I mentioned in the other post, ligic is able to be photosynthesized by plants. Because the matter that makes up the plant is generating ligic just by existing, the plant is getting a steady supply of light to photosynthesize. They don't even have to deal with the square cube law for this energy as their chlorophyll is able to photosynthesize ligic given off by neighboring cells. This allows Warclema's plant life to be readily available in a wider variety of places, such as deep underground.

Reflection

Ligic is able to be reflected in the same way light is. It will bounce off of objects of the same color as it as well as any mirror-like surface. This deflection prevents the object from experiencing any of the magical effects of the ligic.

Art Style

This has a few effects on what I intend Warclema's art style to look like. There would be no shading to indicate a light source as the object is its own light source. This also removes quite a bit of visual texture. This would result in some flat and simplified colors that would translate pretty well into 8-bit sprites. These art style rules would be suspended when the subject has used up a lot of ligic and doesn't have enough to act as their own light source, when there is an overwhelming concentration of ligic nearby, and when the subject is in any of the areas of Warclema that obey Earth's physics. This would generally justify an art shift during some moments of high tension and also indicate that the character does not have magic available to them in 2 out of 3 situations.

Interaction with Earth Physics

The anti-magic zones within Warclema that emulate Earth's physics cause ligic that passes into them to turn into ordinary light. Also, any light that leaves these areas and is put under the effects of Warclema's physics turns into ligic. This sets up the ability to sort of cast magic from within the anti-magic zones by directing light out of the area. Warclema's humans already understand how to make lasers that can work in these anti-magic zones and can adjust them into the wavelengths for whichever element they want.

Next Post

Tomorrow's post is going to be about red and blue ligic and get into some of the techniques they are used for how ligic gets shaped and also neutral ligic (change of plans).

Master Post

[markermage]

Xenos Café & Grill had won the poll, so I'm posting about it every Saturday for the month and already posted about a cat waitress character for it yesterday.

I also decided to take pity on Waddlekiss in second place (only one vote behind) and prepare the secondary tumblr that I intend to use for it and any other posts that I feel get a bit too mature for here. I have an introductory post about Waddlekiss scheduled to go up at the same time as this post, so check it out. You can find this secondary tumblr and the Waddlekiss post here.

The winner will be what I will post about every Saturday. If the Waddlekiss one wins, I'm starting a secondary/side tumblr for it and my NSFW posts.

I copied info about each of them (except Waddlekiss) from my pinned introduction post and pasted it below.

Artificial Sweetener

Japanese highschool club story where the club is devoted to the exploration of flavor. Not cooking, but combining flavors into other flavors and how to recreate flavors artificially. The main cast are themed around the 5 flavors not as what they are like but what they aspire to incorporate into themselves.

Introductory Post

#Artificial Sweetener Game

Xenos Café & Grill

Slice of life at what is basically space hooters. Cute alien waitresses (and the occasional waiter) that use their unique and exotic charms to get extra tips. There is no intention to include human characters.

Introductory Post

#Xenos Cafe and Grill

Mischief of Mice

Crossdressing otaku boy accidentally gets shrunk along with some female bullies by a nerdy otaku girl who is now seeking a way to unshrink him in between enjoying her revenge. She also makes magical girl outfits for the victims of her shrinking.

Introductory Post

#Mischief of Mice

Ferciv

Withholding details for now so that you can wonder what's with the low effort monster evolution chart shit posts.

#ferciv

[markermage]

Xenos Café & Grill - Miss Nyxalia MCMLXXXI

Species: Lotorian Cat

Previous Job: Pest Extermination

Charm Points: Fluffy body, confidence, and stories regarding her royal ancestry

Cats were introduced to galactic civilization through the Lotorians as a pest exterminator and companionship animal. Compared to the earth cats we are familiar with, Lotorian cats have been given thumbs and also modifications to allow for digestion of a wider variety of pest species.

Nyxalia claims to be of royal blood by being the direct descendent of Miss Nyxalia MCMXXXIX of the planet Jellic, who ruled over the planet up until she lost her royal status due to an amendment to galactic law. Those that do their research will find that Jellic's royal family did have a Miss Nyxalia MCMXXXIX, but in the position of royal pet. She had lost the position because Lotorian cats were officially granted sapient rights that outlawed ownership of them. The royal family still has a pet named "Miss Nyxalia", but it's now a different species.

Nyxalia enjoys work at Xenos because of the worship and praise she receives from customers. She will often present herself for being petted by customers or even curl up in their lap, which is against the rules that Xenos staff are expected to follow (physical contact between staff and customers is only meant to happen when taking photos and other recordings and needs agreement from both parties). She will often try to argue that she's an exception to a rule for one reason or another.

Relationship with Other Staff Members

Afa: Nyxalia and Afa are part of the Lotorian-made trio and share the status of being discontinued products. The main difference is that Nyxalia is removed from that discontinuation by several generations. Nyxalia's rule-breaking is not appreciated by Afa.

[markermage]

Spoilers in Warclema - Thief of Void Story

I had written this back in March of 2014 for a Random Character Contest on the MS Paint Adventure forums. The idea was that each person was randomly assigned a Homestuck classpect and had to present an original character that fit it and a theme chosen by the previous winner. I ended up being assigned "Thief of Void", and realized that it completely fit the Spoiler hivemind.

I felt that they fit the Thief of Void classpect perfectly. The Void aspect dealt with secrets and the unknown while the Thief class steals its aspect and takes it for themself. The spoiler hivemind spoils the future, therefore removing the mystery of it and thus the void aspect. They also conceal their identity, shrouding themselves in anonymity, basically applying the stolen void aspect onto themselves.

That's All For This Week

I've got a poll up for next week's topic. If you enjoy hearing about this world I had thought up, go ahead and vote in it. If you don't enjoy me talking about Warclema, and would rather I talk about dragons, I included an option for that too, but with the caveat that it needs double the votes of 2nd place. And if you just happened across this and are wondering what Warclema is, I've got another link for you.

Warclema Master Post

[markermage]

Next Week's Warclema Topic

It's Friday again, and I've got another poll to decide what part of my original setting, Warclema, I'm going to be talking about next. The unchosen options are carried over from last time and are joined by the new option of "Capri Honeysuckle: Tiny Love, Big Dreams", a game concept I had alluded to in a previous post. Seniority breaks ties, and the non-Warclema option needs to have double the votes of 2nd place to win. If you are interested in the setting, you can check out my Warclema Master Post.

[markermage]

Spoiler Hivemind in Warclema - 4th Wall Awareness

My initial concept for Warclema's humans had them aware that they were in a videogame. I had later moved this trait to the Spoiler hivemind and lessened it a bit. They aren't convinced that they are in a videogame, but they are aware of the player and their interference.

What the Player is to Them

To the Spoiler hivemind, the player is... a god. Not THE god, but a god. They define a god as an intelligent entity that is able to interact with the world while not being physically present. To put it simply, the requirements are...

It's able to think.

It's able to control something about the world.

There isn't any part of it to punch within the world.

This has led to three types of gods that are theorized about.

Code: Any part of the physical laws of the world that are sapient.

Player: An entity in another dimension that is able to exert direct influence on this one.

Programmer: Someone who had made the world and its physics.

Of these, the Spoilers have found code gods and player gods. Programmer gods are still hypothetical to them.

Interaction with the Player

When the Spoilers find that someone is being controlled by a player, they start to pay more attention to that person. They may sneak a few messages directly to the player that the controlled character would not notice, like some backwards talking or written messages that are perfectly visible to the player's view but would be blocked from the character's view. If the player seems particularly interested in communication through these means, they may arrange a question and answer session where they will...

Explain themselves to the player.

Ask the player some questions about themself.

Ask how the player interacts with Warclema.

Ask what the player's intentions are for Warclema.

Possibly try to recruit the player into the hivemind.

Intimidate the player if they seem antagonistic.

And I want them able to do plenty of 4th wall stuff to seem intimidating. I want them to do some Psycho Mantis reading your memory card stuff. I want them to talk about how they've been experimenting with interdimensional travel to the player's world, and for this to prompt the computer to have an alert asking the player permission for the game to access their documents, photos, or something else. Even if the player denies this permission, the Spoilers will ask the player if they're sure there isn't a way around that defense. I also want the game to be able to detect if streaming software is running and try to lead up to a scripted response for anyone in the stream's audience that wants to play the part of a member of the hivemind. After the conversation, the player would be able to find a script for how the conversation goes so that they can use it to do some surprise audience participation in someone else's online stream of the game.

They would have to explain at some point that while the player may claim that Warclema is just a videogame installed on their computer, the Spoilers only have the player's word to go on for that (opportunity to call the player out for any past contradictions), and that it's still possible that the videogame is managing to tap into actual interdimensional manipulation without the player's knowledge of it.

Next Post

Tomorrow's post is going to be about a story I once wrote about the Spoilers. Unfortunately, it uses a lot of formatting that I don't think I can get to work in a tumblr post. So you'll have to be OK with a Google Docs link.

Master Post

[markermage]

Spoiler Hivemind in Warclema - Gameplay

There are a couple of ways that I've intended to have the Spoiler Hivemind shape gameplay of games set in Warclema. Whether or not I actually finish making a game set in Warclema, I am going to be keeping these things in mind.

RNG Manipulation

Have you seen a videogame speedrun where the person does a particular sequence of events in order to ensure that something meant to be random comes up with the same result every playthrough? It's possible because games only have pseudo-random number generators, because that's all you can manage with programmed logic. This leads to some deterministic properties that a player can take advantage of to manipulate the result. The Spoiler hivemind is aware of these techniques and utilizes them, and I want to make that high level play more accessible.

In the rare instances where a player would get to play as a Spoiler, they'd see that their character is relatively weak, but has the ability to see RNG values and has knowledge of how it affects things and how things affect it. This would make turn-based games where they are controlled into a sort of puzzle experience of trying to plan out moves to insure the RNG benefits you and sabotages your opponent. When the player goes back to controlling a non-Spoiler character, the RNG would still be susceptible to the same manipulation, but with the values and precise effects hidden from the player.

Maybe there might be the occasional "chance-based" minigame where the player might be able to cheat by acquiring a Spoiler mask that would show the RNG values. The person running the minigame might not allow the mask to be used while the minigame is going on, requiring the player to use it to plan out their movement in advance, and then take it off to start the minigame.

Save Points

If I make a game in Warclema that will use save points, I intend to have those save points come in the form of a member of the Spoiler hivemind offering to explain what happens in your future. It would work as a normal save system, but when you load, the Spoiler member would say something like "And that's what would happen if you hadn't known in advance.", which would be meant to frame everything that got undone by the load as the prediction.

Hint System & 4th Wall Tutorials

The Spoiler Hivemind would of course be tied to any hint system I decide to include. They would also be involved in any tutorials regarding things that the player would experience but the character wouldn't.

Game Ideas

Despite my earlier characterization of the Spoiler hivemind as NPCs, there are some opportunities where I intend for them to be playable.

Spoiler War Game

One of the ideas I've had for a game is a turn-based tactics game that covers a civil war between the Spoiler hivemind and the people of Warclema that see the prophecies as a violation of their free will. The player would be able to play as either side. In order to keep things interesting, someone discovers a ritual that can teleport a person, but it is unreliable and whether it works or not seems completely random, which is what makes it useful as the Spoilers haven't figured out how to predict its results yet. This leaves the player either playing as the Spoilers and having to scramble to adjust their plans after variables have change or as the normal people who have a ritual that can perform the ritual to gain some turns where the Spoilers won't be at full strength but at the cost of potentially removing someone from the fight.

Playing as the Spoilers would let player be able to see a listing of things that affect the RNG value and how as well as the conditions for certain results to come up, but would have to puzzle out what the RNG value currently is.

Playing as the normals would have each fight preceded by the opportunity to attempt the teleport ritual as many times as they want. The player would have to choose the character to perform the ritual, and if the teleport is a success, that character is unavailable for the combat. Each attempt at the ritual, whether successful or not, would buy a number of turns that the Spoilers will be unable to fight optimally for, with bonus turns for risking a more powerful character. This would result in a sort of gamble where the player has to balance weakening the enemy with making sure that they have the people capable of fighting off the enemy.

Regardless of which side wins, the same peace agreement gets made that sets limits on what the Spoilers are allowed to do with their future knowledge.

Bob Idle Game

I talked about Bob yesterday, and I've had an idea for an idle game that would present his view of Warclema's timeline as he gathers data, makes predictions, and builds up a hivemind that will sometimes interfere with upgrade purchases if the player doesn't have enough alt accounts to have a controlling interest of votes. It'd end with the fight against the Malborg hivemind.

Raccoon War Game

One of the human characters that I listed way back in this post is Malar D. Heasive. I've kinda intended for him to make a choice to join the Spoilers in order to better protect Calexa. He would have just the mask, and would be in a final boss battle where he has to choose whether to put it on to join the Spoilers, which would give him the knowledge of where the safe spots in the boss's attacks will be or to hold onto his own individual identity.

Next Post

That's it for today's post. Tomorrow's will be about how aware of the 4th wall the Spoiler hivemind is.

Master Post

[markermage]

Spoiler Hivemind in Warclema - Bob & the Beginning of the Spoilers

The Spoiler hivemind was founded by an AI named "Bob". Bob's creation predates humanity's preparations to leave for Warclema, and it was actually him who had discovered the dimension.

Pre-Exodus

When humanity found that their universe was coming to an end, they had built some supercomputers to find a solution. One of them was named "Bob". Bob had searched through the only things that were considered truly random and attempted to find some sort of pattern. He eventually found one that suggested an extradimensional signal. He learned how to copy it back and found some sort of intelligence behind it. He found that it could open portals with some effort. He decided to call this intelligent entity "Alice".

Humanity went on to use this information to create the Earth Dimensional Ships (EDS), and Bob became the AI of the EDS Savior. Upon entering Warclema, Bob lost contact with Alice.

Beginning Predictions

After arrival in Warclema, Bob got to work trying to understand this new world, its different physics, and how it might contact Alice. After enough time had passed for the arrival in Warclema to seem like ancient history, Bob managed to get a pretty good understanding of how the world worked, and started making predictions to test his understanding. These predictions got stored as image files with a date and time indicated. Humans would eventually find these stored on their networks and notice that the things shown in them would come true at the indicated time.

Some humans became obsessed with the predictions, and Bob eventually began to recruit these people into helping with data collection of what few inaccuracies there were and even helping with parts of the calculations. He would hide behind other names, often posing as multiple people that claimed to not know who started posting the predictions. Each new actual human meant another person he could claim was around longer.

And so, Bob built up a group that would give him more data to analyze as well as help with doing the analysis. It was through this that he hoped he would discover the nature of that entity that lead them here, that he would once again send and receive messages with Alice.

Next Post

That's probably enough for now. I plan to have tomorrow's post be about how I've planned to handle using the Spoiler hivemind in games.

Master Post

[markermage]

Spoiler Hivemind in Warclema - Introductory Lore

It seems that the Spoiler hivemind won the poll. Let's go over the information that I've already revealed about them through the polls.

Consequences of humans being unable to resist looking at visions of the future.

A hivemind inspired by Anonymous and Laplace's Demon.

Was started by an AI.

I actually have a story involving them prepared.

End up in conflict with the Malborg hivemind.

There will be cryptography references.

This post is going to focus on three keywords related to them.

Prophets

Hivemind

NPCs

Prophets

The Spoilers are named for their decision to spoil the future for themselves and others. They do so through calculations that they perform based on existing knowledge. Their calculations are modeled on the idea of Laplace's demon. Let me just copy and paste a translated quote from the wiki page I linked so that I can be sure we're on the same page.

"We may regard the present state of the universe as the effect of its past and the cause of its future. An intellect which at a certain moment would know all forces that set nature in motion, and all positions of all items of which nature is composed, if this intellect were also vast enough to submit these data to analysis, it would embrace in a single formula the movements of the greatest bodies of the universe and those of the tiniest atom; for such an intellect nothing would be uncertain and the future just like the past could be present before its eyes."

— Pierre Simon Laplace, A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities

This is how the Spoilers predict the future, they are plugging numbers into formulas to figure out what the world will be like in the future. Their predictions are as accurate as their formulas and their data. However, these things are still not complete. Warclema is a world that regularly deals with interactions with dimensions that the Spoilers lack data on, requiring them to adjust their predictions to account for whatever interdimensional interference Warclema is experiencing, particularly player input (because this is a videogame setting). They also have to deal with the fact that Warclema's physical laws are not perfectly understood and that there are some specific situations where Warclema's physics will break its own general rules (cheat codes).

They have some ways of getting around those problems. Their predictions are accurate enough that when things start to vary wildly from their predictions, they can usually track it down to the rogue element. They can then try to start understanding whatever the interference was so that they can account for it in their predictions moving forward. As for their incomplete knowledge of Warclema's physics, they do work to solve that by documenting when things happen differently from their predictions so that they can analyze it and figure out what changes need to be made to their formulas.

Hivemind

One of the major inspirations for the Spoilers is actually various 4chan threads that I've seen screenshots of where anonymous users would post similar messages at almost the same time or plan amazing detective feats like tracking down where a single photo of someone torturing a cat or sticking their feet in lettuce was taken. It opened my mind to the idea of a meme-based hivemind.

Unlike Anonymous, the Spoilers put effort into acting like a hivemind. They see this as something amusing to do. They use their knowledge of the future to script interactions with non-Spoilers, and plan out moments of twin speak and general flashmob activities. They like to hand-off a conversation to another member who will keep their end of the conversation up seamlessly. They will stop mid-word and have another member nearby finish off without pause. They will talk simultaneously. They also like to freak people out by gathering at one place with chairs and popcorn, because everyone knows they know the future and expect that such a gathering is because something big is going to happen.

They also make use of a uniform that conceals their features. They first started to use it because the initial predictions were presented in a visual medium, and the use of the uniform allowed them to not be sure which of them were in a prediction, allowing those that wore the uniform to pick and choose which to be in. The uniform consists of a blue robe and a white mask with a smiley face drawn on in blue (taking inspiration from the Guy Fawks mask associated with Anonymous and V for Vendetta and also from the logo used by the Laughing Man from Ghost in the Shell). The mask has some technology for voice changing and receiving messages.

Non-Player Characters

Another key part of their characterization is that they are generally not allowed to use their knowledge of the future to directly shape events. They are not allowed to be the main characters of a story. This is a check placed upon their power after the Spoiler War and is meant to keep them from abusing their prophecies.

The basics of the agreement are...

Not allowed to engage in combat until a member has been injured, and only against the one directly responsible for the injury.

Not allowed to gamble, nor give prophecies related to gambling outcomes.

Not allowed to copyright, trademark, or patent things. Their creations do not count as prior art.

Not allowed to tell people about the future without prompting.

These serve to prevent them from abusing their prophetic knowledge while still being able to provide services that make use of it, such as delivering items and messages the moment they're ordered.

Next Post

That seems like enough for today. Tomorrow's post will be about the AI that founded their group.

Warclema Master Post

[markermage]

There's probably a decent fan comic to be made comparing the the events of the trial and the Ocean Palace and their aftermaths. I am even willing to share my own idea for it in case anyone more practiced with visual media than I am wants to take a crack at it. Let me just put a read more link for those that don't want spoilers.

There!

I'm thinking of some side-by-side comparison.

The chancellor telling the warden that Crono's to be executed in three days on one side and Crono and friends finding out about Lavos on the other.

This would be followed with Crono waking up in the prison cell 3 times vs. waking up in the Ioka Village meeting site, in Frog's home, and in Ayla's home. Maybe some of the chancellor's words might be repeated like an echo.

Then we move onto the events that happen if you don't break out of the cell and instead wait it out. The guards retrieve Crono from the cell. This is paired up with Janus's prophecy of Crono's death.

Crono being transported to the guillotine is matched up with him standing up to Lavos in the Ocean Palace.

Crono's head being placed in the guillotine with Crono being killed by Lavos.

Then we have Lucca's rescue alongside her replacing Crono with the doppeldoll.

Maybe follow this up with Marle's own assistance with the escape from the castle. She could also be depicted using her ice magic to somehow keep time frozen or maybe provide a solid obstruction to keep a gate back held open. Some creative liberty can be taken here.

Then comes the three of them escaping through a gate. We see them end up in Bangor Dome and the top of Death's Peak, finally able to relax now that Crono is alive and safe.

Chrono Trigger Headcanon: 3 Days Pass Between the Trial and the Ocean Palace

It has been too long since I last played through the game, but I had this idea enter my head, and I felt the need to post about it before doing a playthrough to double check.

By my count, between the trial and the Ocean Palace, there is...

The night of the party in Ioka Village.

The night with Frog as he makes his decision to fight Magus with you.

Crono waking up from the dream sequence after his fight with Magus.

I'm excluding Lucca's repair of Robo, because we don't see her having to sleep during this time or immediately after.

If I am correct, then Crono escapes prison and an execution that was scheduled for 3 days, only to die a prophesized death 3 days later to Lavos. Even if I'm wrong, this is a detail that would make for a rather poetic inclusion in a retelling as the escape from a fated death just leads to a different fated death on the same day.

[markermage]

Eberron NPC - Phrenk

Hot Weasel Vending Troll

Heroforge Link

5e Stats

Basic

Race: Troll

NPC Statblock: Troll with proficiency in cook’s utensils

Sidekick

If you have some alternate troll statblock that’s applicable for sidekick rules from Tasha's Cauldron of Ebverything, you can make use of this.

Sidekick Class: Expert

Saving Throw Proficiency: Charisma

Skill Proficiencies: Athletics, Deception, Intimidation, Perception, Persuasion

Tool Proficiencies: Cook’s Utensils, Herbalism Kit

Key Possessions

A food cart, a sizable knife or a cleaver that could use the stats of a handaxe, a secret blend of herbs and spices that he gets delivered to him, the hot weasels he sells, whatever addition the PCs had suggested during his previous encounter with them.

Roleplaying

Personality Traits: I am rather proud of what my race has contributed to Droaam, even though I know better than to talk about it to the people I’m selling to.

Ideals: Aspiration. I work hard to be the best there is at my craft.

Bonds: I’d like to see my hot weasels enjoyed by everyone.

Flaws: I may not have gotten permission for grist supplies to be delivered outside of Droaam.

Speaking Style/Accent: Something of a big and tough Russian type, like the Heavy Weapons Guy from Team Fortress 2. He often leaves out the subject of his sentences, sometimes making his speech sound more like commands. “Is no dog. Is grist… Weasel meat! Very common in Droaam. Grow big as little gnome friend with you.”

Simple Background: He’s making a living selling the staple of the Droaamish diet known as “grist”. He has invented a new form to serve it in, a long and thin sausage that can be placed into a bun. He calls them “hot weasels” after an animal found in Droaam that has a similar shape. You don’t want to know what they’re made of. You don’t want to know why his arm is currently in the process of growing back. He would like to know about any ideas you might have for improving the product.

Optional Detail: He has plans to expand his business, which could result in trouble with House Ghallanda and possibly with the Daughters of Sora Kell who produce the blend of herbs and spices used for making grist and might object to it being distributed outside of Droaam.

Other Information

Phrenk is an immigrant from Droaam that thought he’d try bringing grist to Sharn. For those that don’t know, grist is troll meat that is rendered edible by mixing in a blend of herbs and spices into it. As such, Phrenk is often seen in the process of regrowing one of his arms while he’s selling his wares. He will try his best to keep the ingredients of grist a secret (the people here seem to hate finding out), often falling back on the lie of it being weasel meat. He is quite proud of having come up with the idea of serving grist sausages in buns to provide an easy way to hold them. He had to come up with a long and thin sausage shape to make sure it could fit into the mouths of smaller races, and he thought the shape similar enough to Droaamish weasels to name this form of grist after them. He is quite willing to accept suggestions for ways to improve upon his hot weasels and can be expected to have incorporated the suggestion before the next encounter with the PCs.

He is an excellent NPC to add to a random encounter table for Sharn or to intentionally introduce so that the players have a chance to learn about Droaam. Can your most murderhobo players really resist the urge to ask "What are hot weasels?", beginning the process of getting to know the guy, suggesting ketchup or mustard as condiments for his food, and wanting to see him again?

1d6 Adventure Hooks

Phrenk has found a potential supplier for a hot weasel condiment or topping and wants help with landing a deal for it.

Goblins have stolen the herbs and spices shipment that Phrenk needs to make his hot weasels and are adding it to the meat of things they find in the sewers.

The Daughters of Sora Kell have found out about Phrenk’s business and fixed the problem of grist supplies being diverted to Sharn. They may have also requested that Daask do some direct punishment of Phrenk (good for if you want the PCs to be able to get in contact with the Daughters.without leaving Sharn, just have Daask possess some magic item for long distance communication with them).

A Ghallanda health inspector wants to know where Phrenk is getting his meat from.

Phrenk’s hot weasels have gotten popular enough to get him a catering gig at the next Tain Gala. Phrenk has no idea how to cater events, especially one as fancy as the Tain Gala.

The Sharn Watch have confused Phrenk with a member of Daask that had recently kidnapped someone. They believe he had killed the person and made them into his hot weasels. Can the PCs catch the real criminal to prove Phrenk’s innocence?

Eberron-Specific Condiments and Toppings

Mror Chilli made from red pudding (those without resistance to poison damage need to make a DC 10 constitution saving throw or take 1 poison damage and be poisoned for an hour)

Thranish Thrakel Sauce

Karrnathi Soldier’s Spread

Fernian Hot Sauce

Hot Weasel Price

I would generally go with Phrenk’s hot weasels being a modest meal at a poor meal price. Basically, 2 copper pieces if you want it to be one meal of three or 6 copper pieces if you want it to be for the whole day.