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All those paths seem fairly interesting, and compelling in their own way.

On that note now I want a Monte Cristo sandwich.

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That was clearly my intention.

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On the topic of food, has humanity lost their knowledge of food safety @Moreau?

Are people dieing in large numbers again because of under cooked/raw food and cross contamination?

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To answer your question, I will quote from my own notes:

“The technological progress of those living within the Three Rings is roughly analogous to the 18th Century, technologies such as the Flintlock and the first primitive steam-powered machinery being rediscovered. In medicine many hospitals are even flirting with the notion of washing their hands before surgeries.”

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Regarding what our dear old mother says about men and women not being able to be friends…am I correct in assuming that the only socially acceptable relationships in your world are heterosexual ones?
Also how old is she?

About the 3 different paths: they won’t intertwine at any point further down the road? As in for example: once we’ve been taken in by Lady Calinas we won’t be seing the Yeomen at all?

good, good for a minute there I almost ran away. :relieved:
It would’ve been a shame as I do love a good tragedy.

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You would be entirely incorrect. LGBT relationships are not only tolerated but legally protected, if a young gentleman of sufficiently noble standing should want to marry Prince Etienne, the crown is legally obliged to name him Royal Consort or possibly King depending on several obscure legal treatises built up over hundreds of years.

No Lady Calinas reveals something of herself in that statement, rather than something truly worldly. As to her age, I would place her roughly in her late thirties. Young to be a mother of a grown human, but you are not a human, are you?

Also her words are a direct quote from Oscar Wilde, so I can claim that they are in no way indicative of repressive views towards the LGBT community.

Interesting question, while the focus of the Noble plot will veer sharply away from the Yeomen, you will be able to infer roughly what has happened to them. In essence through the odd little bit of dialogue here and there, you will learn what happens to them when you are not there to ‘lead’ them.

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Intesting society you’ve got there.
Excellent the throne shall be ours!

And then we’ve got a more than 200 year old magician.
What would you say is the average life span?

Now I’m seeing a scene where our noble MC is having breakfast as usual in their lavish surroundings, reading the paper or whatever like always, and reads the news “Local rebels crushed/executed” a lone tear rolls down their cheek but they don’t know why. The drama! :sweat_smile:

Making the 3 parts diverge so much is really exciting, but also incredibly more ambitious than I first thought it would be. I’m looking forward to it.:slight_smile:

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Arinthas is unique even among Technomancers, he is likely the oldest living human, sustained by Pre-Fall medical technologies. Before the end times it was common for a man to live more than a thousand years in perfect health, but that knowledge has been lost. Only Arinthas understands some small measure of it.

The average life is as long as it ever was. Nobles tend to live well into their seventies and eighties, while peasants don’t exactly have to think very hard about their retirement plans.

Another quote from my notes:

The statue is a bronze depiction of a man, standing tall and reaching down with one outstretched hand. The face is smiling and genial, the clothing tattered and threadbare. The statue’s fingers shine in the afternoon sun, and you see several people reach up to hold the hand for good luck. At the base of the statue is a dedication plaque that reads:

In loving memory of Radjack Rostrum

“What light is to the eyes, what air is to the lungs, what love is to the heart, liberty is to the soul of man.”

You look into the statue’s smiling eyes and your fingers run gently over his open palm. You begin to weep.

A holdover from the project’s infancy, the idea came to me in a group project, and I put together a very ambitious three-plot system to accommodate that. Unfortunately the others could no longer commit time to the idea, but I still think it works rather well.

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I do have a question for any and all regarding character gender.

I’d like to be as inclusive as possible regarding the gender of my characters, both player and NPC.

However some strange curse of fate has made me about as hetero-normative as a person can be without carrying a big sign with a picture of the appropriate genitalia on it. This isn’t necessarily the worst fate in the world, but it does hamstring me somewhat. In short, I’d rather avoid talking out of my arse about something I know nothing about.

That’s where you lot come in.

I’d like your opinions on a couple of things, and then I’d like your suggestions vis-a-vis pronouns, character reactions, social acceptance and other such issues.

Firstly, at one point I was toying with the notion of a genetically distinct third gender, a holdover from past dalliances in genetic engineering that produce functional androgynes along a varied spectrum. If this idea appeals to those of non-binary gender (which I accept is in no way a given) what should this gender’s position in society be? Do they exist on the peripheries of the accepted monogamous boy-girl relationship model? Choosing to join with a man or woman or deliberately abstaining from said choice? Or do they carve their own niche into sexual society? Are androgynes an accepted part of a romantic family, a third or fourth wheel with their own social responsibilities vis-a-vis child-rearing and romance?

Or if that idea is repellent, how should one’s true gender identity be chosen? What are the correct terms and how do I write from the perspective without seeming like… well… A big talking arsehole?

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I’m sorry, I nearly forgot to answer you there. The Forge requires both “Materials” and a sufficiently intelligence student of Technomancy to operate it. Nobody in Lady Calinas’ employ would have the faintest idea of how to make the machine work. Enter the ever so helpful and entirely harmless Arinthas offering his services at a surprisingly reasonable rate.

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This is very promising and has me already intrigued. The loss of the mcs past/memories/and self really is a very nice way to guide into the customization of our idea of the mc. It also adds this constant “nagging” in the back of my head about what it was the Mc lost. As it stands we know the Mc had someone they held very dear and friends crazy and committed enough to try and save the mc. I can’t wait to see where this goes.
Also one small question. Will we get to learn who the special someone the Mc thought off is only in the branch where we flee with our friends or will the Mc have memories return to them?

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Now I’m torn: I don’t know whether to hug you or curse you. So to speak. :wink: Delicious, delicious drama! Awesome teaser/spoiler. :yum:

Well you’ve got my vote/I’ll definitely be cheering you on more than ever now. And thanks for replying in detail to my random questions about this fascinating universe you’ve created.

Oh I definitely didn’t mean it as a negative, quite the opposite. It sounds brilliant.

Here’s a list of potential gender neutral terms that I totally did not steal from @Bagelthief, whom you should absolutely not request help from on this subject. :wink::wink:

Well what is your society like? I mean we know they are totally accepting of same sex relationships but regarding gender we do not know much as of yet. Are women treated equally? same rights, opportunities? Access to education and jobs? Or are there different gender roles ascribed to men and women? How your society treats women should help you greatly in deciding how you want them to view non binary people.

The case of Ser Farah makes me think your society is quite progressive and as it is a futuristic and fantasy setting I would think it pretty logical to have NBs, women and men treated equally and with similar roles.

Unless you would like to tackle discrimination issues in you story but that’s not currently the vibe I’m getting from it?
Though it should be noted that the people who are the most concerned by this topic might not want to play a game in which they are discriminated against as they see enough IRL.

You might want to peruse this thread even if it is massive, to read other opinions and suggestions pertinent to your questions.

That last post in particular should ease your worries about sounding like a “big talking arsehole”: you’ve already started researching and are trying to be inclusive and that’s always appreciated. :relaxed:

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Will an MC built with super intelligence be able to learn how to operate it, then?

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I really think if it is a inclusive society they should be included with a positive light. I am so tired of non binary people being treated as underdogs in fictional universes.

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This seems really neat! I love the premise and the environment had me captivated from the start. One coding issue: starting from where my MC stepped out of the Forge everyone switched the gender from “he” to “she”, at first I thought it was just Arinthos (did I spell that right?) referring to the Lady when he said “my girl” but it continued past that.

I chose the power to change ones appearence if that also helps.

EDIT: It switches back to “he” and “my son” instead of “my daughter” and “she” right after the naming page.

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m̶u̶s̶t̶.̶.̶.̶ ̶s̶t̶o̶p̶ ̶s̶e̶l̶f̶.̶.̶.̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶.̶.̶.̶ ̶m̶e̶m̶e̶i̶n̶g̶

…IF THEY SET THAT ANDROID FREE IT WILL BE THE END OF ALL OF US!! NOOOOOOOOO!!

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This was a very interesting opening. I really enjoyed it, it draws you in and leaves you asking for more. So great work! Just one thing, I picked to be female but was referred to as male throughout out the story. Beside that one bug this was amazing. Cant wait to see where you go with this.

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Im waiting for the rebel path

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@Moreau
Hello, very interesting story so far. you should know that the game mix up the combat and atractiveness specialisation when you have to show off in front of an audience in the beginning. Good luck! :smile:

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