I’m glad to hear that Konoi!
The thought of using classical conditioning on a demon hellspawn did give be a chuckle when I came up with the idea. But I understand why your MC would be hesitant to treat Irk like that. I’m still going to put in options where you can try and be rational and explain to Irk why setting people on fire is bad. But I don’t think rational thought will get you very far with Irk I’m afraid, lol 
Haha, sad.
But I understand. Still, I don’t think my MC could force himself to do something like that anyway, it would be weird.
I mean, I guess he could try some positive enforcement, as in, giving rewards in some cases, but without it being that harsh, but well if it doesn’t work, eh… nothing to do, I guess 
Positive reinforcement could work, I’ll have to come up with what Irk’s favorite snack is, and have the option for the MC to carry a bag of it around with them for rewards. This is sounding very cute haha 
That is actually quite funny too, as an option!
Again, I would like to see Calder’s reaction to that 
Calder would be utterly disgusted by how cute the situation is, but low-key impressed that you managed to tame Irk, when he couldn’t manage to do so!
Yes. Yes. Berry Berry much yes.
Sorry I didn’t reply right away, we’ve been having storms the past few days and yesterday I had to drag a 800 pound tree out of the driveway where I’m staying. The day before the tree was just 500. All the while I’m dragging this heavy tree I’m thinking, I wish I had increased strength like a vampire, then this wouldn’t be leaving me hacking up a lung. No, it wasn’t the exertion it was because I choose to destroy my lungs via smoking that brought about that turn of events. I was initially thinking about the increased strength as I did it but then, being slightly off, merged that into the whole regenerative abilities thing and how my lungs wouldn’t be so messed up from smoking if I was a vampire.
I know this upsets some people, but I do think it is very adorable. And, honestly, not much different than what humans do to each other anyway. The entire process of growing up you’re going through a similar process, and if you ever have children yourself, you’ll be doing the thing to them. It makes it kind of hypocritical to not want to train a spirit to not be so evil and violent, when you in real life will probably be attempting to train your child not to be evil and violent. And even when you’re an adult you still go through things that ‘train’ you. People with OCD go through therapy to attempt to be ‘less’ OCD, or at the very least make it manageable instead of a disabling neurosis.
All that said, I do like my adorably evil companion. And as I play through with my character, I try to play her like River Tam, vampire style. Or at least, that’s the image I get in my head of how she’d be in the future, not necessarily throughout this game. Or… maybe, a mix of River Tam and Drusilla. Yes… that sounds adorable.
Okay i haven’t checked this thread in a little bit but man, every time i check this game just seems so much better!! I live for the mad clan!! Let me play as a charlatan!! Also I’m sorry whenever i play VtM or similar games i just can’t help myself and be a little, just a tiny bit, evil, :'D I think I’ll romance Julian with a Chaotic Neutral MC (possibly Julian and Andreas poly? I really don’t like Calder and wanna do it just to spite him lmao) and go with the human ending with a true good MC. The managing to get a good life and having a good ending in these games is something i extremely appreciate. I remember there being a visual novel with a similar concept with choices and such but you were locked into a bad ending, destined to be ruined from the start and that’s, so bad imo! It really killed my enthusiasm for the whole thing. So I’m extremely happy with the premise of just saying fuck you i’mma go live my life! XD
Edit: Also Also! I feel like a vampire who doesn’t want to perish and so consumes blood, but feels incredibly guilty about it might feel afraid of regaining their memories, not having the courage to face their loved ones! Or going the other way a non-evil vampire who regains their memories but realises that they’ve had an exceptionally bad life with no one that they particularly care about left around them or similarly have big traumas might be more inclined to do evil things!
Awesome, I’m glad the idea appeals. I might look into initially implementing this mechanic once I have my first draft of chapter three. And then expanding on it with feedback.
Oh no! That sucks, we have been having weird flash storms in Wales this week but nothing like that 
And, your lungs would not be messed up from smoking as a vampire, but if the damage were already done as a human your vampire self would still feel the effects. I really need to pinpoint more about the lore surrounding vampires in my universe, do they even use their lungs, maybe they do not need to breath, but if they do not it pains them?
I kinda wanna lean into more, that vampires still possess some of their bodily functions, but the less human in mentality and morality they become, the less of these functions they possess. Which can be a good thing and a bad thing. This is the one instance where I really wanna diverge from The World Of Darkness laws on the nature of vampirism. I prefer having almost all of the clans (except the Veneficus) be more grounded, as being of the human world. Like half the idea of vampirism being a human disease and half it being a supernatural occurrence.
If that makes sense? I really need to read up on all the different vampire laws in fiction and come up with my own amalgamation of ideas.
And I agree with your assessment regarding the potential training of Irk. Human’s use more complex forms of behavioral therapy in the raising of children and even in the treatment of ailments, such as OCD. I suppose the issue some might have is how they go about it, do they use punishment, or incentives. Do they talk down to Irk and treat them as if a animal, or a ‘person’ with autonomy and feelings. I just need to be mindful in allowing the MC to expressly tailor how they treat Irk and how they may go about trying to change Irk’s behavior.
And that combination is perfection, love me some Firefly Thanks for leaving a comment, hope you like the new update which should be out early next month.
Thank you so much for checking up on the wip again, and leaving your feedback 
I know I’m not the best writer (I’m forever stuck in the mentality of my four years in uni of writing essays, not creative writing. fml) but I hope with every update I can polish up the past chapters bit by bit and eventually get the writing to a decent level.
And don’t you worry, you can totally push Calder to breaking point if you split him up with Andreas, and especially if you manage to get Andreas into a poly romance with Julian/a.
I totally understand what your saying about having the opportunity to say fuck it and leave, but still get a good ending. You will have the option to leave, unharmed, with your RO choice/s, and proceed to have a happy life. I would never want to force anyone into having a ‘bad’ ending just because they decided that their personal happiness and that of their RO/s was more important than politics or some grand idea surrounding dictating the future of vampire kind. Sometimes the endings that are smaller in scale and ‘epicness’ can be just as sweet.
What your saying about scenarios surrounding memory regaining is interesting, and something I will take into account.
For example, in your second scenario. If your MC was generally moral, then regained their memories, which were painful and traumatic. They could then shift their morality and actions, which reflect this regaining of memories. I don’t want to punish anyone for wanting to dramatically change their MC’s personalities after the memory regain, you can go on being a totally different person in terms of morality, and you will not be punished for character ‘inconsistency’. It will be noted by other characters of course, but not punished in terms of mechanics.
Some spoilerinos. In fact, if your character regains their memories, you will be doing so at the same time as Jack, so you can both work through that whole process together, if your MC is so inclined. You can also accompany Jack in visiting her surviving family members, or encourage her not to do so.
The pain could be more from a psychological thing than a bodily necessity, kind of like how Neo in The Matrix is breathing heavily during the “I know Kung-fu” scene, until Morpheus explains that he doesn’t NEED to breathe. And it would tie in to what you say here:
In essense, the more they believe in the matrix, the less human they become and the less they feel the limitations of humanity. So… they stop peeing. Because they didn’t actually need to pee, they just felt like they had to because it is something they’re biologically hardwired to do, and not doing it feels unnatural, so they do it even though they don’t have to.
I definitely like this idea, its why I think I was so intrigued by this. It is like other vampire lore/stories, but it is also not like any of the other ones. It always bugged me that nobody ever pees. Yeah, I don’t know why that is an issue, but it just is. Not peeing is almost as bad as sparkling in the sunlight. Almost.
I think in terms of vampire lore there are maybe 4 or 5 total MAIN styles, with each having various subsets. You have the classic Nosferatu where they’re all evil, vile creatures that just prey on people (in black and white!) the more humanizing but still kind of Evil in Dracula, and the every-day humanized, loss of humanity/innocence, struggle to remain something resembling human Anne Rice style vampires. WoD vampires are the 4th, and I kind of place the fifth to be something like… fetishistic vampirism. The oh so popular, I want my vampires to sparkle so they can go to high school and prey on an underage girl would be classified as this under my classification, so… take that with a grain of salt. It ignores most other lore out there so that it can have that ‘feature’. Though there are plenty of stories out there where vampires are able to be in the sunlight, they… umm… don’t sparkle in those ones. This particular WIP I just assumed vampires were able to go about in sunlight, since…a certain thing happens and I don’t feel like spoilerizing this thing, but that isn’t exactly something you’d do in the night. People just don’t go about talking to strangers no matter how adorable they are that come knocking at their door at night. shrugs
I think your WIP so far falls under WoD mixed with Anne Rice, with your own added style and twist to it. And I think adding bodily functions…such as peeing, will set it on a level on its own in my eyes. As long as you don’t make them sparkle. (but if you do, make it be something that only an adorable little lunae would be seeing/hallucinating/asking about) because… you know, crazy talk. Imagine if you will…
Calder: …
Crazy MC: The place we’re going is baaaaaddddddd.
Calder: Oh great, I thought I smelled the scent of lunacy on you. Too bad.
Crazy MC: Does this mean I sparkle?
Calder: … what?
Crazy MC: In the sun! Do I sparkle like glittery rainbows? [Eyes widen] DO I GET TO HAVE A LOVE TRIANGLE WITH A WOLF AND A HUMAN!?
Calder: Oh god… one of those. Just… shut up.
MC meets Jack
[Eyes widen]
Jack: Uhh…
Crazy MC: ARE YOU MY LOVE TRIANGLE PERSON!?
Jack: Hey there, we just met and I’m not sur…
Crazy MC: Wait! Do you glitter too? Do we glitter? That mean man never told me!
Jack sighs
And before I finally hit reply…
Browncoats for life! And I miss Buffy… Dru and Spike were fun crazy.
I love this…so much and need it to be a thing with my insane lunae
Oooohh, I genuinely love that idea, I might once more steal some of your genius suggestions. And in honor of this, I will include a brief peeing scene, just for you!
This is a great summation of different vampire styles, and I agree I think I lean more into WoD with a little bit on Anne Rice. Although I also have a fondness of vampire lore which characterizes Vampires as being the result of a virus/pathogen or some such, like in the tv show The Strain. I want to add a human, disgusting, unseemly side to the ‘supernatural’ and ‘ethereal’ vampires. Mix some of the romanticism with horrible gross human parts. Rest assured, there will be no sparkling in my world building or lore.
And actually you can not go out in the sunlight in this wip, the reason why you have an encounter with a certain neighbor at three in the morning… is explained if you disregard Calder’s command and talk with the woman you are tracking. But there is a reason as to why you end up casually chatting with neighbors at such an ungodly hour.
And I agree with @Jeremy_Stumbaugh2 , that interaction is golden, I really do need to add in more insane dialogue options, they’re so fun to write!
Oh please do, I honestly live for them
OMG! I’m being honored! With… pee. shrugs It’s still an honor!
Steal away! Or borrow. Or… blend, or some other less illegal plagiarizing thingamajig way to say use random thoughts/ideas that were given freely and in no way constitute IP theft. giggles If only because of the pee honoring. And the lack of sparkling.
You sure do! Writing that little interaction made my happy level rise to 9000. Imagine how stress relieving it could be to have insane dialogue options to write throughout this entire WIP. Most people get some sort of burn-out, you’d just be plodding away at it, getting very happy as you craft each delicious insane dialogue option. And the best part is, it doesn’t always have to make sense! Interspersed with some of their dialogue, yes, there may be something that fits in at a later moment, but for the most part it’s just insane talk for the sake of insane talk, which makes it that much more fun!
And now knowing we don’t sparkle AND can’t go out in the light… I can imagine Calder saying something like, “Yes you crazy thing, we sparkle. Go try it and come report back to me what color your glitter is.” Offf course, I also imagine my crazy MC saying something in return like “Gold flecks with teal shimmers!” Then mentioning that Calders is “dull black flecks with matte black shimmers”, in case he was too afraid to go see his sparkles himeself.
HA! That is hilarious, you are better at writing crazy dialogue than I am, I think.
I shall endeavor to live up to such high expectations and write the weirdest nonsensical insane dialogue I can think of.
curious to see how this will develop!
Hey, thanks for taking the time to read. There should be a update in the next week, I have an extra 35k words done since last update, just going back and fixing issues in past chapters now 
Quite enjoyed the demo! Also excited to try to keep my morality while diving head first into the world of vampire politics. Also Julian/ia is kinda my fav? Love them! Can’t wait to see my attempt to balance morality, politics, and romancing a not entirely stable and power hungry vampire all come crashing down! Or maybe I will fall in love with the customizable human and have a sweet and wholesome relationship with them…
Thanks for taking the time to read the WIP and leave a comment
I love Julian/a too, the more time I spend writing them the more I keep adding to their backstory, character quirks, different interactions depending on opinion of the PC etc and the more I fall in love with how bizarre, homicidal and unstable, and yet how ridiculously sweet he/she can be.
In terms of the human character, I have actually made a set in stone character for them, that can be gender flipped. I migrated from the idea of full customization because I want them to be more of a concrete character, instead of a add on character who isn’t as important as the other four, if you get me. I hope you guys like the human character, and that I made the right decision in giving them a set backstory and personality.
And in terms of getting a sweet wholesome relationship, kinda spoilers. If your intentions are pure, and you really love Julian/a, and don’t participate in any skulduggery. It’s actually easier to get a wholesome romance ending with Julian/a than the human character 
Update Chapter Three
What’s New
Word Count now 94k ~
Chapter Three, concludes the search for the scholar. This chapter can either be very short or rather long depending on choices made in the last chapter and in this one. Here is a mind map to help with the branching paths: http://go.bubbl.us/a88642/a323?/Task-1
The introduction for the human, which is just under 5k. I am issuing a trigger warning here for icky sexual interaction, which only happens if you explicitly chose it to happen, and even then it’s all fade to black.
Added a derangement mechanic, which lets you pick weird and wacky social options even if you are not an Omnituens.
Added an infection status tag. In chapter three there is a ten percent chance for you to get infected with a blood born pathogen if you frenzy and drink from the police officers. Which will stick with you for the rest of the game.
Added more options based on past feedback, for letting you deny blood at every step and allowing you to specify if you want to do something in a manipulative or diplomatic fashion.
More typo and grammar fixes.
Music playlists for each character added to description, cause custom playlists are dope.
What’s Changed
The human character has changed, they now have a very set personality and appearance, although still gender switchable.
The poly options have changed, I have removed the option for Jack and Andreas to be in an exclusive poly romance with the PC. Although they can still be together in the large option with Calder. It just felt wrong to have them be romantic with each other, as the more I wrote them, the more of a sibling dynamic they have.
There is now a romance which can be triggered separate of the PC between Jack and the human character. I know this isn’t a very popular option to have in choice games, but the PC can influence if it happens on not through dialogue. And I felt that this was very in line with both of their characters, and lets the reader explore some interesting situations because of it.
What’s Next
Right now I’m writing the first Julian/Juliana solo scene, so that should be out in a week or so.
I need to add more derangement social options in the older chapters.
A Question I Have
How does the format feel to you guys?
Right now I have the game structured so you have big set pieces where you have a task to accomplish (for example the first one: find the scholar) and then there will be interim scenes where all the character/friendship/romance based and often dialogue based interactions will occur, along with a time skip.
It’s kind of a lazy way for me to add in a bunch of variable dependent interactions, but it kind of works, I think? Let me know
Conclusion
Anyways…Thanks for taking the time to read, and I really look forward to feedback. Negative ones too!
BTW I went away travelling during writing a scene with loads of variables and then I forgot them after coming back, so I hope nothing is jankie. From my read over, its fine. But we all know I miss glaringly obvious issues
