This is a weird question, but since you offer genital customization can you add the small penis (or “cocklet”, to be vulgar) option for people who just have a penis? Not everyone wants one that is in some way impressive, especially potentially bepenised femme presenting characters.
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Honestly, Apple, I was thinking a “forbidden fourth option” would be perfect for players who don’t need/want exaggerated descriptors for their characters’ features. Especially where that is concerned. I never imagine my m!MCs as taller than average, either, so wanting them to be as average, or “dainty” as I can feasibly make them is a large part of the enjoyment for me. I know well that tall f!MCs who have actual muscle to them are also popular in their own way, too. 
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So how would romance with the emperor/empress work exactly, like do we have to compete for their attention against the other people in the imperial harem? Do we get a special place in the emperor/empress heart, and what are the bonuses of going after there route especially with a male MC and a female empress, because you can expect what would happen for a female MC and a male emperor but not the other way around
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THIS IS NOT A WEIRD QUESTION. I’ll absolutely implement that. I apologize that you even had to ask.
Little confused, so could you please elaborate?
This is a great question that leans VERY heavily into spoiler territory. ^.^
To answer your questions in order:
- Yes, you are going to have to compete with the other harem members and outward displays of jealousy will be a gamble, as societally wives were supposed to be demure and jealousy was seen as uncouth and disgraceful.
- You can secure a special place in the Emperor’s heart. However, doing so could end disastrously for you and for the nation. Depends on how you manage said heart after you have it.
- I’m not sure what you mean by bonuses? The option of having a child or not having a child will eventually be open. That said, if you’re sneaky or lucky enough, you could possibly end up in the Phoenix Throne. Is that a bonus enough?
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ty lmao 
I’ve never had to write “bepenised” on the forums before, glad it was received in the intended spirit. On the topic, what are things like for trans people in the setting? As is you can have what is basically a trans character, but without it being acknowledged per se by the narrative. Curious if you have any plans in that dimension.
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Okay, so, as a person who has multiple trans friends, and also someone who is absolutely sure as a ciswoman she cannot write the trans experience properly (way too many trap manga during formative years!) I’m honestly not sure what the situation is? Here’s the way I imagine the gender situation in this setting.
You’re assigned a gender at birth based on your genitals.
At some point during your childhood, you either agree with that assignment or you dont and bring it up with your parents.
If you choose feminine presentation, you are automatically assigned to the feminine career track (Aka, chattel and baby factory, only good for marriage and not really given education opportunities)
If you choose masculine presentation, you are automatically assigned the masculine career track (aka, raised as a bigot, required to withhold all emotional expression, expected to fight and die for your family/country with out your consent, expected to marry whomever your parents pick for you for the good of the family, and also expected to bring honor to the family through war, ministry appointments, or money brought into the household and considered a horrible failure if you don’t.)
If you choose neither, you’re pretty much ASSIGNED a career track based upon what your parents perceive your presentation as, and what you’d be more useful to the family as. (aka, if you’re bi- or a-gender, but you’d make more money for your family married off to a man with prospects, you’re gonna end up on the feminine career track unless you can REALLY work your ass off and bring money/honor to the household QUICK.)
As in Real life, there are EXCEPTIONS to these ‘career tracks’ (Wu Zetian as emperor, Ru Pual as a HELLA AMAZING feminine icon, etc.) so of course a female empress would be on the masculine career track no matter what.
I hope this answers your questions and doesn’t offend anyone, but… this is what I’ve got. I’m trying to work within the cultural bounds of the original setting while also adding in the representation I want to see, while ALSO understanding that even with that representation most of the good shit from this setting REQUIRES the sort of gender binary that the representation doesn’t fit well into.
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Yea being able to sit on the throne or getting a higher position in government is what I was thinking about
I suppose my question is more… mechanical? Like, say a trans woman is married off to some rich guy, thats great but she can’t have kids, which would make her an inherently undesirable match. I suppose I’m curious if there’s any sort of way to properly transition medically, considering this is a setting with magic.
I think broad representation is good in a genre that has historically lacked it somewhat, and I’d like it to be considered with the implications it has. A trans person in a harem drama is great, I love to see it, but I’d like it to carry the, well, drama that it should. If you want to be in the harem, but you can’t bear the Emperor’s children, that’s gonna cause issues.
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See, that’s what I think too!
I had considered the idea of magic-transitioning, but honestly, I worry that that’ll be… I dunno… minimizing, of the issue? I dunno. I just know I’ve seen trans individuals complain about stories where the trans MC MAGICALLY is given their correct gender… Perhaps offering an option to seek out such a transformation would be doable… But at the same time, that would require a lot more focus on the GENDER aspect of the story and a lot less focus on the ROMANCE aspect.
The only example I can think of is the Affairs of Court game, where the MC and the Ruler are the same MAGIC type, and they couldn’t give birth to the right type of child. The game offered the MC the option to seek out a (very dangerous) magical solution, and if caught, they would end up executed for it.
But I don’t… really wanna think about the implications if I copy-paste that scenario and have it represent GENDER AFFIRMING CARE instead. yknow? It just seems to have some… bad connotations doing that.
Okay, so right off the bat, this particular game is NOT going to have the ability to enter the court as a Minister or with very much political power that isn’t granted to you. This is, quite completely, a Harem story, and although your character can find love OUTSIDE the harem, it won’t lead to your character being able to take up a political station or even really interact with the court at all.
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I think magic transition is fine so long as it’s not presented as a completely perfect and instantaneous process. Like, I don’t think anyone will take issue with some kind of magic HRT/SRS analogue that parallels real-world medicines. The problem lies when you have like instant “poof you’re a girl/boy now” spells.
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Sorry! I was making a funny about a m!MC’s genitals potentially being ‘unexceptional’ description-wise a “forbidden” quality because (presumably) no sane person (male or not) would usually make that request. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t sitting on the idea of how to ask it this whole time, thus the silliness of it being a so called “forbidden fourth option” 
See, this I can do. I can absolutely design a questline that incorporates magic into some uncomfortable-yet-fulfilling quest to right what nature hath done wrong. I’m all about that life. I just didn’t want to fall into the “Magic-Fixit” trap, yknow?
Oh honey. You can ask me anything. I won’t promise not to be confused and squicked, but I’ll generally answer anything that’s asked with seriousness. Like, I’m not up for randos flirting with me? But asking me seriously if I would add a specific type of genitalia to my already ridiculously specific genitalia chart? Not a problem. ^.^
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Hiii love ur demo I just had some (dumb?) questions about the stats and one other thing(not sure how to classify it) 
1.) was wondering how important they would be to the story, like for example, if they’re just there to show your MC’s personality or if they would affect the RO’s image of you and if they would be mentioned in game by the other NPC’s idk if that make sense?
(hopefully)
2.) My second question was about the MC’s looks…if they have a set attractiveness or if there is going to be an option to have a not-so conventionally attractive MC (basically just an option to choose how good looking they are) I would just find it fun if my average looking MC would be able to compete against the beauties of the harem D:
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Actually, the stats are going to be vitaly important to whether or not you’ll be able to complete certain actions. The Stats determine your abilities, where the Virtues are how your character acts/is perceived by others. If you have a bloodthirsty, scheming character with low Reasoning/Charisma, others will have a harder time trusting you and your schemes will lead to bad reputation. Whereas if your Schemy, bloodthirsty PC has HIGH charisma and reasoning, your reputation is going to be spotless, and no one can pin things on you.
The MC’s looks are almost entirely contained within the Charisma stat. So the higher it is, the prettier you are. But I leave the PC’s looks very vague, simply due to the fact I want them to be easily projectable for the player, AKA, you can imagine yourself as the character. The only mentions to specific character types are for Hair and Eye types, and that’s more for an aesthetic purpose, as eyeshape has a very interesting connotation (at least as far as I’ve found) in Chinese novels. (the hair thing is just for myself. I like pretending my characters I play have curlier hair than I do.)
But since there are some aspects of a person’s appearance that they can’t change in that time period (such as the fact that everyone had long hair, as to cut it was considered an insult and disgrace to one’s parents and ancestors) my lack of specificity in the customization of a PC’s appearance goes a long way to helping the setting fit better.
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Sorry but I just reached this game AND I want to play demo but there is two so I need to ask what is the difference between them? Is for example mody a more completed version / main version or dashingdon?
If memory serves they are the same just on different places
the demo in mody is the current version
here is the version, she has sent the link quite a few times.
(https://moody.ink/play/otaku_lady89/phoenix-rising/mygame/index.php)
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Thanks to everyone who answered already! But just in case, I’ll go over it here, too.
As far as I remember, the two games (dashingdon and Moody) are the same. The only difference is that Moody has a saving system and requires a login, while Dashingdon doesn’t. I originally only posted on Dashingdon, but then someone requested a save feature, so I also posted it on Moody for that.
I’ve tried to keep them the same version, so that people can choose which they’re comfortable using.
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