Jerzy:
Hey, it's been a lot of fun playing even if it was for just a short period of time.
I honestly wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors and it has been a good scratch of a few itches.
Only regret is that I didn't have a chance to play from day 0!
It was a blast to host you :)
I'll definitely look forward to it if we end up gaming together again!
Emily:
And with that said, I've enjoyed it a great deal. Good luck and joy in your future endeavours.
Thank you very much, and I'm very pleased that you had a good time!
Best of luck in future roleplaying and creative work :)
Okay, QnA:
First, okay so 'naming'... This is a bit of a weird idea I came up with, and it was not something I originally intended to exist. Though, I didn't have to do much backstage work to get it to fit in very nicely, so it's actually a fairly good addition.
Without getting into the background at all, it's a bit of a short explanation, but basically 'naming' allows you to use one type of power from the Observers (they have multiple, yes) in order to make huge alterations to the world itself. Specifically, you edit the rules of how the world functions. Note that this doesn't let you change {SYSTEM} as that is a fairly separate concept from the World you all are in.
Second, short answer: I made them the hell up for funsies. long answer: since I needed a monster to be placed into the big stone sphere I decided obviously on dwarves... However, given how your environment was progressing and my plans for dwarves being not a monster race but a sort of NPC-race, I decided to mix in a bunch of other things and give you something completely new.
The 'big idea' behind these creatures was that they have different -mental structures- from humans. This is a really interesting concept to me, since you don't really see it in fantasy settings... I mean, you will get creatures that are either 'more dumb' (ie goblins) or 'more smart' (ie elves sometimes) than humans.... and you will sometimes get really awesome stuff like 'humans but they cannot be creative' (kenku from dnd) or 'humans but they cannot be emotional' (an interpretation of undead that i really wish i could find somewhere)
But, you really never EVER get creatures who have all of intelligence (sapience), brains (or some similar physical structure), and psionic energy (or whatever analogue the setting has if any) but they are unrecognizable from humans and do not interface with them!
One huge mistkae I made with pygnoms was that I had them speak in language you could understand... To be perfectly honest, I just forgot that I wasn't supposed to do that and then when I realized it I was considering between giving you Alien Language Interpretation or just not doing anything and quietly thinking up a justification...
Anyway, these creatures have sapience, but they do not 'think like' humans, which I know is a fairly hard thing to pin down given our complexity and variance as a species.
As for 'Bondahom' it is basically a mythological entity of theirs that I came up with because things were not already complicated enough for me -_- ughh
lol.
Thirdly, the sniffers being beasts. I had not thought of it, but when you brought it up in your monologue I decided that they probably should be since I felt like I owed you one sooner of later, and the other hidden monsters I had planned were not beastlike at all.
I'd call them beasts, but honestly they probably have some strange internal organs since I just cannot help myself with making everything around you cursed or uncanny <3
Fourthly, it's being created directly by the System Administration utilizing their own power as well as a type of power from the Observers.
This doesn't break the laws of physics so much as it is a separate series of rules.
Fifthly, okay I really hoped sometone would ask this question.
I can basically just reveal most of the setting here.
Starting at the top, {SYSTEM}. Oh man, where to start with this... Actually, let's go a little higher. That's right, Cosmology.
This setting is based off the main thing I've been working on for the last couple years. Some of you nerds (haha) may recognize terms like 'universe', 'multiverse', 'megaverse', 'hyperverse', 'metaverse', 'omniverse', 'superverse', 'foobarverse' and so on so forth
This setting basically has universes and/or multiverses composing things called "Reality Eggs" which exist within an 'Omniverse' that I call the Tenth Dimension (based on string theory, sort of)
Anyway, the Earth you came from exists within an universe (or maybe a multiverse) but I have no more details on it because this isn't actually in my setting and I just used it as a backdrop.
{SYSTEM} is a sort of omniversal concept, that exists beyond the bounds of any one set of universal principles (or the absolute acts of omnipotent monotheistic capital-G Gods). I have dozens of such concepts, but this game would probably only ever use a handful of them at most.
With that said, what is {SYSTEM}? Well, that's actually a harder question to answer, since there's no perfect answer (which is a very appropriate theme for a place beyond places and concepts beyond concepts)
To do my best, I'd describe it as "A system of rules and functions imposed upon stuff". It's not actually a faux pas to define {SYSTEM} with 'system' within it because counterintuitively those two words are not synonyms and in fact {SYSTEM} isn't really a word as much as a title for something that exists namelessly.
One fun fact is I originally planned to stylize these higher-order concepts with kakko (japanese brackets) because I find the aesthetic to be unfamiliar and thus interesting but RPOL doesn't support those characters so I settled for the least used kind of bracket on my keyboard lol.
Anyway, {SYSTEM} in practice is basically a game-like GUI that alters reality to fit it's own preconceptions. Why is that in universe? I don't have an answer for that. Why did I choose to do that as an author? Because it's fun :)
Also, the Observers are actually separate from {SYSTEM} but are sort of mutualistically engaged with it. Without going on a huge tangent, they are Astral Divinities that I call 'True Constellations' (readers of KR WNs will probably recognize this use of the word). Both Astral Energy and {DIVINITY} are two totally separate concepts from SYSTEM.
Moving on, the reason I tell you all this is because of where you find yourselves. You are no longer in your 'home universe', and are in fact in a special location within the omniverse (for reference it's not another Reality Egg, but the distinction doesn't really matter at this point) created by {SYSTEM} itself. Oh yeah, {SYSTEM} may or may not have a will of it's own by the way. Most of these high level concepts are also partially entities as well \o/
This {SYSTEM} basically grabbed a bunch of individuals from many universes (whether they be humans from modern Earth, humans from Fantasy Planet #19827387, dwarves/elves from Fantasy Planet #9435098, unimaginable aliens from Alien Planet #857839, or cosmic entities (like angels, demons, 'superior humans', fairies, etc etc) from separate dimensions , planes , realms , etc.) and place them into {SYSTEM} Worlds.
Normally these {SYSTEM} Worlds have anywhere from one to two dozen Administrators, and hundreds or thousands of Observers. Also, they normally come with an express goal (ripped straight from popular WNs/LNs) like "climb the interdimensional tower", or "you now live in a fantasy world and are fighting against an existential threat" and so on so forth.
That is where you all differ. Basically, the leftover power from {SYSTEM} after creating dozens or even hundreds of such Worlds was used to create your World, "Untitled {SYSTEM} World". However, you didn't really end up with the short end of the stick, but rather got a completely different stick all together.
The main ways you differ is that there are a handful of "PLAYERS"... normally, there would be anywhere from tens of thousands to billions. The second way is that you have no express goal.... there is no 'tower' to climb and no 'existential threat' to fight...
If you want to know the out of character reason I did this is because simply I cannot get dozens or hundreds of players to partake in such a large endeavor. So, I modified the specific setting to fit a smaller group... I could also have used the regular setting and played literally hundred sof NPCs over the course of these months (not to mention the other "PLAYERS", the Guilds that would form over time, the constant news you here from around the world, and everything that would be happening in the background... which is more than I could write if I had all day)... but... well, it's not even close to worth the time and effort that would take, which I hope you can understand. Also, I would have to be running my brain constantly for inconsistencies... which is bad.
And before you say, "why not just include the relevant details for us?" than my answer is "everything within hundreds of kilometers of you may be relevant, given the absolute interpersonal chaos and strange abilities that are manifesting for the next couple years before things settle down (after a HUGE loss of life, too)"
If I had started you later, there would have been a lot of backstory to explain as you would all basically be living in a fantasy setting that has only existed for like five or ten years, and also you would all necessarily have to be superpowered or living in slums to begin with.
Sixthly, the intended path. Okay, so the intended path is what you would be expected to do if you lived in a normal SYSTEM World... you don't, so it was deviated from obviously. How this was done? Literally everything from the first minute. You guys gained powers too quickly and easily, and everything in your world was not 'generic fantasy' but rather completely unrecognizable and sometimes half-gibberish. This is because you guys once again got the dregs of the SYSTEM, and so your world is basically a hodgepodge of this and that.
Why are the observers (or their real identity as True Constellations) trying to get you to go along with a path that doesn't fit anyway? Because they are creatures of habit, far more so than humans or any mortal species actually.
If any of them ever were humans to begin with, they've long forgotten what it is like.
Seventhly, here's the roadmap I had planned for you all. I would have adjusted this as needs and interest changed.
Phase One: You live in a sandbox world (day 1)
Phase Two: A big event probably occurs. Either a dungeon opens up (basically a sort of fragment of these 'Towers' that other Worlds have), or maybe you guys get sucked into the orbit of a tournamnet between players from better-developed Worlds... In the latter case I would have used this chance to give you all loads of setting informations, and either had you get your asses kicked to the curb because these guys have far superior abilities due to living in a culture of thousands of likeminded individuals and also have had far more intense experiences than you all ltierally fighting for their liveseverday, or made it so that none of them could even touch you at all because the fact that the total system energy for your world was split among about five people means you each have 20% of the total enery in that world, as opposed to them who have it split among millions (day 10??? 100??? 1000???)
Phase Three: I would give you a chance to escape. If you stayed, the game would either end or go into 'Endless Mode' lolol
Phase Four: If you choose to leave, you would findyourselves in the Omniverse. Depending on your choices, desires and motivations you could either try to find your way home... and probably fail, or you could beat the crap out of the Observers that you don't like... and probably lose, or you could just wander the endlessness of tenth dimensional space and encounter strange beings or make inner peace or something.
Phase Five???: The only thing I can think of for phase five is you becoming True Constellations yourselves, or returning to Earth and becoming the god-rulers or something
Eighthly, I was actually hoping you would speak to the Pygnoms about naming their home before you did, but let's say you just went ahead and named it garden of pygnoms... you would probably transform the place into a large garden, with less grass and more moss as the base is still stone not soil. The pygnoms would lose their identity and become a race of basically House Elves from harry potter, but they wouldn't even know to resent you. Though, given their previous idaels they may not care that much?.
If you had talked to them about this ability of yours, they probably would have begged you to name the place into Bondahom's Golden Furnace. I would have made it sound extremely sketchy with statements like "We MUST become the supreme people!! And place our dominating essence across all that there is!!!" and "LET US SHED OUR DISGUSTING FORMS AND BURN FOREVER IN THE FURNACE!!!" but of course without you knowing these would actually mean "We want to better ourselves, make bigger families, and watch over other species to help them grow too" and "We want to abandon our physical bodies and hang out in a warm place"
If you had gone ahead to name it as they suggest, you would have gotten incredibly powerful allies that would basically be the equivalent of those dwarves from Nidavellir in marvel comics (and maybe actual norse lore but IDK) who always are there to help you out with weapons, supplies, firepower, or manual labor
Ninthly, yes. However, it was extremely low. The main reason for this is because you guys live in a weird world... though that lowers the barrier for your escape it also means you will almost never obtai nthe power needed to do so...
Your best chances were to either get help from those from other worlds who are also planning to escape, or to somehow gain access to an Omniversal concept separate from {SYSTEM} (because you would not be able to effectively use those powers against system entities, and would lose them quickly if you entered the omniverse to fight the true constellations). There are several of such abilities which would be extremely appropriate, but I won't get into that.
Tenth, if you had tried that I would have judged it based on my feelings. If you tried to just rename it ''healed vine disc'' i would deny that outright since it's lazy. If you had tried calling it "The Ruined Crescent" or "The Overgrown Slice" or something, I would have given you somethign different from what you had before but equally or more useful.
Eleventh, hurray! I can finally tell you this :) Here ya go:
1. Ebony Disc had a race of wraithlike creatures that were made of shadow and invisible during the ''daytime''. They were expressly evil and hard to fight given their ethereal nature.
2. inside the pink ball there were cutsie fairy proxies that were good-leaning but really quite strange and probably could cause you harm incidentally. They likely had psychic powers
3. The green ball has toxic, acidic, and/or radioactive Slimes/oozes. I hadn't chosen yet. They were actually part of the environment and visible to you, but they were basically camoflauged. Since you had not deeply inspected the place yet, with or wiuthout skills you hadn't noticed that...
4. Lastly and my favorite of all is the red ball which was basically a big fruit that got sweeter and sweet as you chewed down, until you hit a strange textuer like honeycomb...
Inside of the ball was a literal nest of bees. Except these bees were very intelligent, humanoid in bodyshape, and probably had various powers and a variety of troops.
Im pretty sure im not forgetting any, as that should add up to the correct number of monsters.
Thanks for all the great questions!
