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fountainpenguin · 2 months ago

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Hi Riddle, I've been following your Pixel Imperfect series for a while now and I am absolutely hooked on it. It's honestly amazing!

I do have one question though, and I realise it's a bit late in the series to ask this, but it has been bothering me: what are the 1s and 0s in the Pixel Imperfect universe?

I understand it is a parallel alcohol, I moreso want to understand how it works and what the differences between drinking the 1s and drinking the 0s are.

Thank you for thanking the time to read this and, again, you are an inspiration as a writer.

Thank you! That's incredibly kind of you to say, and if I've given you or others inspiration, that's very flattering and I'm glad <3 I'm extremely passionate about my Pixels Imperfect works and I'm delighted you find them so engaging.

Here's some background info (and secret bonus lore) about code, and the drink commentary is in the section after.

Minor #ridspoilers for Dog's Life Sessions 1 and 2 - Commentary about how code works using characters and plot points as examples (plus showing the drink scene from Chapter 7).

Background on Code

The Pixels Imperfect characters are made from code strings: in other words, their programming. These strings are tangible sequences of characters that weave through them and give them energy; we've seen anivores (like phantoms) eat these strings to disconnect people from the Between dimension, sending them back to their designated AFK server.

- Data from your code starts out with "Traits your creator envisions you with" (when you're born in your AFK server). This can be personality and early species leaning. These traits don't have to be envisioned consciously and can include things like hoarding items vs. storing them. These traits can adapt across the lifetime of play. - After that first playtime experience, the hybrid and creator are separated, and the hybrid hatches from a dragon egg in the Between dimension. Theoretically, this is determined by early species leanings (and conscious thought), but it may also be random; no one in-universe knows for sure. - The baseline is then layered with default information about mob behavior. In the Pixels Imperfect lore, mob behavior (and mental reasoning) increases as the moon waxes and decreases as it wanes. - A hybrid's code, or programming, is full of default player data (How to walk, run, jump, mine, and craft) alongside mob behavior. Basically, the game fills in their blanks with existing game data (which is WHY hybrids are affected by the full moon like mobs are). -> There's actually a whole thing about Tweenborns - hybrids who are mobs exclusive to Legends or Dungeons as opposed to the base game - having weaker or more flexible data in their systems. Some are based on IRL animals and are extreme stereotypes of their species (Hence Joel having anxiety about his firefly instinct to flirt and opting to mod out of it... and now struggling with being reset back to his firefly body). Others, like illusioners, have very spotty, unstable bits of code. -> We delve into this in the species and culture sections of Herobrine's Guide to the Between Dimension, though it probably won't come up in-story much :) -> In Pixels Imperfect canon, BigB's code is highly unstable, but tamped down by his moth mods, and Joel's firefly instincts can easily get out of control, so he keeps them on a firm leash and stays away from situations that will set him off, like flirting with people under a full moon. Also, Herobrine - who is technically the Cluckshroom Dragon - has extremely unstable code, and lots of it. Probably the most unstable hybrid in the whole dimension, now that I think about it. Yeah, that tracks. Get creepypasta'd, idiot. -> There IS one line in my next Dog's LIfe chapter where Ren mentally describes BigB's nervous code as "frizzy" (because he's mildly glitching out and hasn't cleaned his code or slept in a while) and then instantly remembers "I can't say that; that's a slur for Tweenborns," which is a nod to the lore I wrote for the Guide. Kinda neat that it came up!

In other words, the code strings running through bodies exist in a processed state; they're nice and clean. However, hybrids naturally shed their code as their energy starts to fade, the same way humans shed skin cells and hair.

The data that makes code stick to you is called ecto code. This keeps code stable and inside the body. Hybrids naturally lose ecto code over time, leading to glitches, but they can refresh it with a night of sleep.

- Multiple days of not refreshing your code with sleep is what draws phantoms to you (They can smell and hear the unstable state). Reminder: sleep is the Overworld's blessing alone; you can't sleep in the Between dimension - Secret piece of my lore: Phantoms are fantastic search and rescue teams... but only if someone's been missing long enough to lose their ecto code - Joel and Lizzie, who prefer not to be logged out by anivores, have a special cleaning routine they do with brushes, clippers, and other grooming tools - SnifferMyFeet used to eat ecto code when he was an endermite; I designed my 'mites after cleaner wrasse, who eat mucus when they clean fish. - Ecto code is what "holds up the sky" and separates dimensions, which is why endermites were able to chew through it in my creation story for this world (Herobrine's Guide to the Between Dimension, Chapter 1)… thus connecting The End to the Overworld and uniting the elements that allowed the rise of more advanced lifeforms. - I also designed a Between-specific creature - the mirage - to function like an aquatic phantom. It attacks you if you dive too deep in the darkwater biome without wearing magmamarine armor (i.e. SCUBA equipment), because diving without protection makes your code extremely unstable and they'll just eat you. I think this comes up in our very next Between Dimension Guide chapter, actually- It's the landscape and native creatures one! -> Many of the resources that have lasted through Between's existence to present day are lurking in the depths of the darkwater biome. Very few people are able to get the diamond armor they need AND the magmamarine to upgrade it, so it's a tricky place to explore. -> As a reminder, hybrids can only be canon mobs, so there are no mirage or leviathan hybrids who can dive that far naturally. Lots of fun stuff to play with regarding code and stability lore!

While some characters think anivores are spooky (Because, y'know... they hunt and eat people), I specifically designed the phantoms to be scavengers. Their role in the ecosystem is eating code strings that have lost their energy, preventing them from lying around and making people sick. They eat people's code, though, and not something like stray hairs.

In "Chicken Dinner," I wrote a scene about Secret Life Scar, the bodies of his friends who didn't respawn after losing their final lives, and phantoms playing their scavenger role - No gore, but it's not for everyone. I think it's interesting!

When anivores log people out by eating their code, they're taking that code into themselves and cleaning it before the data is cycled back into the system and the player returns refreshed and anew. Anivores fix things (like chipped fingernails and sore muscles) and soft reset your body.

- This is what we see in the Between scenes of Dog's Life Session 2, where Bdubs has lost his wings, but refuses to be processed by the system because he's proud and stubborn, so he's walking around without them. There's no getting those wings back until he sucks it up and lets someone reset him, but he's dragging his feet about it. - Soft resets let you keep your mods. They differ from dissolve resets, which are hard resets that wipe you off the map and respawn you from scratch (though you keep your memories). -> In Dog's Life, we learn you can use bullet paths - huge rivers of energy - to travel as fast as light from one place to another. New Star Station has a bullet path running beneath it. There's also a moat outside the station that drops you into the Void, which Cleo almost fell into in Chapter 12. -> In Chapter 34, Ren and PiglinMyNose couldn't go any farther when they came across a corrupted bullet path filled with glitchy data. Ren tells the reader that falling into the path would instantly kill them, wipe a ton of their data, and respawn them at their birthplaces (as opposed to their AFK servers). This is because the game would straight-up disconnect them from existence (leaving what's left of their bodies and code to float in the path forever) and it would load a new copy of their minds and bodies from their default data. Pretty creepy. -> Dissolve resets also happen if you fail to reach your server in time when you feel the tingles telling you you're supposed to go online soon (For instance, if you soft-lock yourself or someone imprisons you). In Dog's Life Chapter 35, when Etho finally has time to think about how he didn't get the energy ping to play in Session 2, he has a breakdown wondering if the game already spawned a new Etho and if he's about to die. The game doesn't care about your free time- You WILL be on this server if your player is logging on. -> While it wasn't said by name, One and a Half Birds is a story about a dissolve reset! (A hybrid taking such incredible amounts of damage and corruption that they got wiped out and reset) -> Not to be confused with Scar sometimes glitching out and vaporizing, thus needing new Scars to be downloaded off the system (and we learned in Dog's Life Chapter 8 that Scar really doesn't have issues about this; if Jellie thinks he's Scar, that's good enough for him, even if technically he is a new version). That said, if no one bothered to get a new Scar download, he would get dissolve reset and respawn at the allay hub. Except he can't, because it's gone, but... yeah. -> Unfortunately, pretty much all the aboveground bullet paths are corrupted and no one really knows how to clean them. For better or worse, this has cut their land into pieces and it slows down travel... and pillager patrols. So... balances out?

Fun Dog's Life facts- After Etho returns from SnifferMyFeet cycling him, people keep commenting that he looks like he's cleaner and more refreshed than he's ever been (with Impulse even asking "Who did your strings?")

Usually, Etho is cycled by phantom hybrid Bdubs, who has a high metabolism and processes energy quickly. It's not common for Etho to experience a slow cycle, which is one of the things that draws him towards Sniff as "Huh, this guy is fascinating."

Raw Binary Drinks

We've seen hybrids drink 1s and 0s, also known as raw binary code. This type of code doesn't give you energy in the way that food does. It's a drink, not a meal.

Put simply, 1s are alcoholic and 0s are non-alcoholic (or at least they have very low alcohol levels). 0s (the white-colored drinks) mimic the taste of 1s and give you a light buzz while 1s (blue drinks) affect you much more strongly. They can make your head feel fuzzy.

In other words, 0s mean "off" in binary and don't do anything to your system. 1s mean "on" and flip switches inside you akin to the way alcohol affects humans :)

- In Here's to the Health of Married Men - specifically Chapter 3 - Bdubs became so tipsy that he reached the point he was officially considered drunk. This was symbolized by his wings dissolving into their raw energy state:

Speaking of, Bdubs stands a breath from Jimmy's outstretched hand in the center of the ballroom. He's half hunched over, twisting and untwisting the heel of his hand against his eye. His phantom wings are out - that's par for the course in the Between dimension - but they're no longer midnight blue and leathery in the way Scar's long grown familiar with. They glitter a snappy cyan. Bdubs flaps several times. His wings flex and crack at the air. He mutters so loud, he's half shouting. Bright pixels spark behind him. While Jimmy's mouth twists in sympathy, his own softer wings fluttering, several onlookers playfully jeer at tonight's local lightweight. "Aw, shut up! I'm fine!" (As if his entire form isn't flickering with glitchy patches up and down.) Don't let your soul die on ya, silly…

- Exactly the same principle for his wings is in play here as it was when he lost them in Dog's Life - By drinking too much, he "burned his wings out" (or at least, he's in the precursor stage to the burnout) and can't recover them until he cycles through the system. This is called flaring (or a soul flare).

Important Clarification - Grian, who came from another world, considers flaring a sexual thing [in conversation]; he tends to tell the reader that he wants to flare and he doesn't know how and he's looking forward to it, etc. He forgets that, like... it can just happen if you get too excited, spooked, or drunk. Or just sometimes when the full moon is out. We literally saw him sitting on the Red Velvet Keep roof with his wings flared in "Canadian Idiot," and Scar could sense Grian's wings had flared in "Birdwatcher" (Because they were linked as soulmates and Grian accidentally seized control of Scar's wings by flapping, despite being across the map). Flaring is just a general state of arousal (e.g. alertness). But if you ask Grian, he'll either deny it's ever happened to him or get huffy because "That doesn't count." lol. He IS correct in thinking it can happen if you get turned on, but it can happen for plenty of other reasons, like just getting too wrapped up in your mob mindset. Actually, in my next Dog's Life chapter (41), we talk about flares and learn that Bdubs makes his phantoms take frequent breaks when they're wrestling so they don't tip over the edge. The wrestling isn't sexual, but getting way too into your mob mindset will flare you. Notably, Joel has body dysphoria (Leaning into his "I'm self-conscious of my Minecraft body" line from Double Life). I mentioned above that he's concerned about his firefly instincts getting him into trouble (since his species is known for one thing and it's courtship), but he also just... doesn't like looking at his body. He doesn't like flare-related intimacy and he avoids drinking too much. -> That said, his glowing wings and antennae flared up during his fights with Etho in "Canadian Idiot" [screaming at him to calm down; notably Etho's fox instincts had taken complete control of him in that scene, so his ears and tail were out] -> His second set of arms leaks out in "The Man He Sets His Spawn With" [Fighting to hold back emotions over Etho breaking his trust]. ... Joel does not associate flaring with affection. It's anger, stress, and despair to him :'D

Anyway, I just like talking about this stuff! I think it's interesting.

The short version of what I've said is, drinks let people play with that arousal (alertness) because 1s flip their internal switches into an "on" state. It's hard to flare yourself on purpose because to reach that state, you have to let go and slip into your mob thoughts. If you're overthinking or grounding yourself to the world, you won't be able to disconnect.

It's kind of like a floaty subspace feeling. Not so much if you're angry, though (Then it's your "fight or flight" instinct kicking in).

I think I had an author's note I scrapped instead of posting, but Etho's big secret is that he really likes his mob mindset. Let me see if I have it in my scrap doc....... I don't see it, so I'll recount:

Etho's whole thing is that he struggles with letting go. He desperately wants to take breaks, but we see hints in multiple stories that New Star's official safety protocol is "Get Etho; Etho will fix this" (and we learn in Dog's Life Chapter 38 that Tango - who knows just as much as Etho - resents this). Etho's Dog's Life arc is all about him trying to unravel himself from this persona he's gotten locked up into. He tries to set firmer boundaries (which becomes a struggle due to the sheer amount of drama in this dramedy) and he has some serious internalized issues about thinking people don't respect his time; they "don't allow him" to take breaks. Etho LOVES the full moon because it gives him plausible deniability- He can freely say "Full moon is messing with my head and I can't right now" without feeling guilty (sometimes). He will try not to tell you that, but that's what the moon is to him: an excuse. Freedom. Peace. A break. Of the entire cast, he's the one most likely to give into his instincts by running on all fours or biting people (hence "Canadian Idiot"'s plot about Etho struggling with his fox aggro instincts while linked up with Joel, and biting Joel every time Joel gets hurt). This is WHY Etho is the character whose soul ears prick up when he's nervous and avoiding eye contact... His mob mindset is only one breath below the surface and he doesn't necessarily try to fight it or ground himself in his hybrid body. He tips over the edge VERY easily, and he embraces it. To Etho, SnifferMyFeet - who doesn't know what's going on half the time and hasn't formed solid opinions or expectations about the server hub or its residents - represents the internal peace, confidence, innocence, and freedom that Etho so desperately craves. Ergo, if he hangs out with Sniff, he'll come to understand how Sniff ticks and mimic that in his own life, and finally be happy. So he thinks, anyway. tl;dr - Etho looked at Sniff and said "This is the world's most perfect man; he has never done anything wrong in his life" and he's been weird about that anxious gremlin ever since. He's totally infatuated despite Sniff's many red flags. I mean... I guess he's right- You have technically done nothing wrong if you are newly spawned into this world and the only thing on your resume is "played a death game because I was told to; I have no morals because I am 1 day old." Sniff has zero impulse control and doesn't know stealing and tax fraud are wrong because he's only existed for a few weeks, and Etho thinks it's adorable. I think Etho sees Sniff as like, a baby pillager who just hits you because it has an axe and is learning how to control its body. Fascinating.

Anyway, raw binary can flip your brain into being "on" (bouncy energy, feelings of excitement), which some people find fun, though some hybrids might feel tired when they drink. I like to think the 1s make you more "on" in regards to being a hybrid. You're still doing impulsive things, but you're not going to drift off into your mob state from drinking.

However, after you've already been flared a while, your mind might start to wander and that could lead towards slipping into the mob mindset. But 0s are more likely to lead to a wandering mind while 1s are more about paying attention to things.

- 1s kind of make you go "Ooh, what's this thing?" and then your neighbor who's also been drinking will infodump on you, and then you both might mess around with the thing (Ex: throw it like a ball). You're active! You're playing! - 0s are a low-energy drink for when you want a light buzz, but not to the degree 1s can give you. They're more like "Haha, what? Aaaah... You're crazy, man."

It's worth noting that you can't drink 1s and 0s unless you're on the physical plane, which is why PiglinMyNose (a cam account who's usually in spectator mode) was unfamiliar with them until Dog's Life Chapter 7... hence this scene!

Martyn straightens, poised as though presenting himself before a king, with a glass of sparkling cyan balanced in his hand. "Aww, it's baby's first corporeal night, then? Come get a drink, Pig! It is 'Pig,' right? We've got 1s." "What's 1s?" Pig asks, absently brushing Etho's arm from his shoulder. Etho presses his lips together, but doesn't replace it. He steps to the side, a little closer to Bdubs. "You know! Numbers!" Martyn thrusts his glass in the air. The binary code sloshes around inside. "I guess you don't have this on the spectator plane. It's the blue one. Tastes a bit like sushi and a li'l like chocolate. Give it a sip, if you're up for it. You might like it. Though it's a little flat this time of eve, if I'm honest… It'll perk up once the night gets rolling." Pig reaches for Martyn's glass, which sends Martyn backpedaling and spluttering, telling him to keep his mitts off and go fetch his own. Etho winces. "Pig, you might wanna stick to 0s…" "I want a glass of 1s," he says, pushing forward, and Martyn, beaming, swings an arm around Pig's neck. "Well, you heard the guy! He maxes out experience points tonight. Let's get him his 1s!" Sure. Pig's his own person; he can figure things out for himself. He may be fumbling around, still more familiar with the ethereal world and its pomp and colors than the corporeal one and its gravity, but he's also lived in New Star Station for ages. He's not a baby villager. Etho lifts one brow, but says nothing.

Conclusion - That's what raw binary does to the system, why anivores can't just drink that for energy "instead of people," and why non-anivores can drink it even though they don't have the biology to process "people code." It's just a thing that plays off your internal body code, but it doesn't give you nutrients.

Recently settled on the name cerivores for non-anivores, although that hasn't come up in-story yet (Thanks for bouncing ideas off with me, @bookworm-2692!)

Thanks for asking! I love talking about Pixels Imperfect lore :)

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