Deedeequest or The Wonders of Mundus: Be Careful Who You Pretend To Be - A Genderous Isekai Quest

[Talia B]

Thorne
Fae Warden of the Wylds
Child of Aurora, Scherzo and Eranda
Sibling of Flamma, Sylphan, Delvar and Meredar
God of Wood, the Pixies, Hunting, Nature, Woodcraft, Archery, and Outsiders

Concept art by Rukafais.

Thorne is the patron deity of the Pixies, and works with the powers of Wood, Nature and beasts and hunters alike. They bid their followers to hunt and use all of what they hunt; to honor and obey the rules of hospitality; to eschew falsehood and artifice in favor of honesty and plain meaning; to fight valiantly and kill cleanly; and to burn in offering their portion of your kills.
- Character Creation summary

SUMMARY
Thorne is a nature and archery goddess who grants their followers a versatile suite of utility survivalism Boons, Wood-elemental spells (notably buffs, poison and HoT effects), and benefits for archers and ambush hunters. Thornite abilities are extremely useful for most Outcaste superclasses. If you want to play something like a Druid, play a Sacred Thornite: Cleric for plant control, Psychic for shapeshifting, or Summoner for a Companion build.

GAMEPLAY
Least Boon:
Scent Prey - Not to be confused with the combat boon Most Dangerous Game (acquired further down the Thornite tree), Scent Prey grants a +3 bonus to locate edible game and highlights radii for nodes where you can obtain wild food (such as Forest Blackberries, Pungent Truffles, Ears of the Eldest, game watering holes, etc); the higher your Mind+Perception and Resolve+Survival, the tighter the radius.
The disclaimer that "the food may object to being eaten" is not an idle threat, as huntable animals in this are frequently monsters that require combat to take down, though power correlates to the value of the ingredients you can loot.
While valuable in a pinch or to save on rations, a properly equipped team will never find this necessary. If you're not doing a full Thornite build, take this only if you'd like to do the hunting and gathering minigames to get your brewing, cooking and tanning ingredients.

Valuable Boons:
- The Ambush Predator tree: Extremely useful investments for most Agility builds and many Mind builds. Ambush Predator increases damage to Surprised targets or via traps and environmental kills, turning your Damage Increment from a nice bonus to a force multiplier. From there, most of the tree is ways to make sure your opponent is always surprised and that you'll constantly be critically hitting them - normally very difficult to achieve because of the way Critical Threshold works. Pounce From Nowhere only adds to the carnage, while Gleaming Eyes gives you the Night Vision buff to more efficiently hunt at night or from shadows. This tree synergizes with itself - if you can pick up key missing pieces from class abilities. For the most glaring example, it doesn't include Feint, but if you're going Ambush Predator, you will want a class that does...

...- The Wyld Communion tree: Where you get most of the pet and spell options. Wyld Communion itself is just a regeneration spell effect which is seldom exiting on its own, but it opens you up to the powerful perks Tanglethorne (one of the better Attack Node variants), Wardens Stride to ignore hazardous terrain, and Prince of the Earth for a nasty surprise in PVP...

...Technique Considerations: Like their other mother, Thorne has access to healing over time and damage over time effects in the form of Regrowth and Poison effects, but they're more aggressive about it; where Eranda is pure buffing, Thorne tends to Weakens and ranged attacks. The biggest indicator of this is Thornite cheap access to Accurate. Accurate is useful on it's own, but it really shines when combined with stacked Accuracy buffs and Evasion debuffs, because it's one of the only ways to get reliable Critical hits in the game...

...DIVINE BEAST: Jackalope
Jackalope having most of the Thornite boon tree is a good indication that you should bring multiple people with cleanses or debuff redirection, because while its base damage is low, its critical damage is horrendous. The fact that it can call on Seedlings, Grizzstrix, and Chimera allies makes things even worse in this regard... ...be patient. In the worst case, hit yourself with Polarity Confusion, because a debuff to Accuracy is literally less painful than reduced Evasion leading to a critical hit...

...LORE NOTES
"Artemis was always going to be part of the inspiration, but in doing research on the era I was struck by the liminal existence of the people who work in the woods: hunters, yes, but also loggers and colliers and shamans. This gave me the idea of a deity that existed in both worlds and neither, a child - metaphorically, and therefore for our mythic cycle literally - of cities in Aurora, pastoralists in Eranda and transhumance in Scherzo who came from all of them but could not live among any of them. I freely admit that I had an old OC that happened to mesh perfectly with those ideas..."
- Dr Charlene Durante, OtherworldCon 2044

One of the Five Elemental Siblings, with parentage from both the Imperial side of the family and the Pastoralist side of the family (and, according to the secret mythology of Eranda, an attempt to "marry" them), Thorne is intended to be a liminal figure. They (or she; both are acceptable) are among their more obvious Wood Elemental associations the goddess of an untamable but potentially friendly Other...

...They also serve as the divine template for the Pixie species in the way that the other Elementals do for their species. They are not a chaste god, like Artemis, for this reason; myths about them mentoring and becoming romantically involved with the mythical progenitors of the Scout and Wizard classes, Benatrice and Draoi, are a part of later quests from both in the Caelibyrn region...

...ADMINISTRATIVE NOTE: This page was locked from 2044/Nov/20 to 2045/Jan/3 due to repeated offsite vandalism. To be clear: Thorne's identification as nonbinary is canonical, supported by the lore, and has been confirmed in multiple creator interviews. Referring to them as such is accurate. Rather than waste further time railing against this, we at MundaneWiki suggest you play something else.
- Administrator Blueskies

 

[Talia B]

IO
The Hundred-Handed Worldsculptor
First of the Primordial Titans
Mentor to Aurora, Mutan, Inpew and Ubastjet
Titan and God of Space, The Unknown, Creation, Synchronicity and Questing

"Mothdad" and "Vaporwave Grandpa" redirects here. For more uses, see Io (Disambiguation).

​

Concept art by Rukafais.

Io is the alpha and omega, the creator of Mundus, who it is said carved the continents from a dying star and aided the Gods in making it fit for living things. It created the Ways used by Adventurers to teleport between continents, and bids its followers to seek perfection and enlightenment, shedding all that is false or untrue to themselves like stone chips that were not part of a statue after all.
- Character creation blurb

SUMMARY:
Io is a god that manipulates space and emphasizes precise and graceful movement, granting their followers powerful abilities that allow their allies and deny their enemies mobility and traversal tools. Several glitches and exploits from Ionian boons were discovered by the devteam - then tweaked, not removed, for stability, to the delight of speedrunners and explorers. There are few classes that can't use the mobility (some ranged DPS classes come to mind), and Sacred Ionians make party traversal much easier.

GAMEPLAY
Least Boon:
The Shape Of Things. Improves the minimap to include topological figures, party members you can't see, and the last known position of enemies you can sense or spot. Provides a +3 bonus to finding hidden geographical features with Perception. This makes navigation far easier for beginners, though experts don't need it. Still, if you are a Sacred Class Ionian or have spare Least Boon slots, The Shape Of Things is never a bad pick.

Valuable Boons:
- Unity Of All tree. This is where most of the mobility tricks live. While it can't improve your Initiative - it doesn't improve reflexes, only dexterity - it does grant Rise To Meet Your Feet (a straight buff to movement speed), Seeker's Stride (a dash on the Support cooldown), Correspondence Points and Pneumatic Bell (forms of Attack Nodes and Refraction Points, otherwise inaccessible to most non-Occult classes), Tesseract Sculpting (two-way short range Portals), and at the apex, the speedrunners' best friend In Io's Palm, which gives you the ability to teleport as far as you can walk for 6 seconds on a Support cooldown...

- ...Closed Fists And Open Eyes tree. This is about weaponizing Ionian mastery of correspondences. It starts simply enough with access to the Size Up tree, including Exploit Weakness, and increasing your own damage with Points Of Stress. It eventually leads to stupid teleportation tricks like The World Rejects You, which tries to teleport a foe into the ground and deals damage from the stress of it failing...

...Technique Considerations:
You will have access to a number of very powerful Boost and Weaken options, which get even better on a Domain of Io Tension Break. But don't neglect your Attacks, either - cheap access to Reposition (and, on a Vigor build, Throw) makes it very easy to do a Pinball Wizard or other knockback-abuse builds. If you're doing this, try to get access to Feint or a method of improving your Damage Increment; Io will already give you Launcher attacks, which benefit from both...

...DIVINE BEAST: Glatisant
First off: don't panic. The cry of the Glatisant is a masterpiece of sound design. Just because Howl of the Questing Beast applies panic effects doesn't mean you should lose your head, too. It will sound like it's coming from multiple places at once because it is; the Glatisant loves to abuse Tesseract Anchors...
...what can you do against an attack from every direction? Well, the Tesseract Anchors are destructible, and once you realize that, you can cut off the supply of adds and limit its angles of attack. Once the Anchors are gone, the Glatisant is nothing more than a glorified dragon...

...LORE NOTES
"People who are familiar with Greek Mythology are frequently surprised by our choice in naming Io, given the faith's lack of focus on cattle. This is because we didn't intend to reference the Grecian Io at all. We were thinking more of Blind Io from Terry Pratchett's Discworld, who wasn't actually blind per se, but was called that because none of his manifold eyes eyes were actually located inside his body--which was also an inspiration for our Io's visual design, although we went a bit more abstract and eldritch than Paul Kidby. And, of course, there's the computing pun there too: I/O, Input/Output..."
- Dr. Charlene Durante, OtherworldCon 2043 Q&A

Io created Mundus, and along with Gnomon, had a hand in creating the other gods. While they were not the only primordials, they were the only ones who were not hostile to the gods or the people living on Mundus, with the forces of Nihil, Echidna and Diafthor seeking to destroy or it's people by force, which included the creation or corruption of monstrous wildlife. Gnomon proposed teaching the people how to raise up Adventurers from their ranks, and Io found a means of doing so and taught it to the Gods...

...Io is a kind and giving god, but also a fundamentally alien one by virtue of their perspective. They are said to keep the orrery of the stars spinning with their hundred hands, trying to find imperfections in the fabric of Creation and portals to the various netherworlds, and correct for them...

...Io is associated with sculpture and stoneworking, starting with Mundus and its own physical form; Ionian monestaries will teach those Crafting Proficiencies...

...APOCRYPHA AND FANWORKS:
Given that Io is frequently the first thing you see when you finish character creation, the stark contrast between Io's alien appearance and it's kindly, indulgent demeanor has lead to a constant stream of jokes since the beginning of the game, from calling it "Mothdad" for it's affinity with Glatisant or "Vaporwave Grandpa" for its appearance and general aesthetics, to the meme template where it enters a raid arena only to ask "ART THOU WINNING, MY CHILDREN?" to a disbelieving Free Company.

Io shares a name with the galactographer TCAI employed by the Other Worlds Tourism Bureau to create the galaxy and the hypernet in Orbital Knights. In fact, a temple to Io was added to a moon orbiting the gas giant Geb in the Jovian Debris Ring capture the flag map, as a teaser for the announcement of Another World Online, then called Project LeGuin. Speculation that the Io of Mundus is that TCAI was confirmed at a Q&A held at Otherworld Con 2043...

 

[Talia B]

Consumption is consuming me,
The laissez hasn't been fair to me,
A party for the sea
is like a funeral for the beach,
And there's a crooked line, I don't wanna take the time to straighten
Cause when you do you realize it's the whole damn world that's bent...

Art by Pasteldaemon. Music by Patrick Stump. Mood by 2020.

 

[Talia B]

Flamma
The Black Cat of the Cauldron
Child of Scherzo and Eranda
Sister of Sylphan, Thorne, Delvar and Meredar
Goddess of Fire, Creativity, Passion, Brewing, Witchcraft and Love
Face of Ubasdjet
Patron of the Ubastim

​

Concept art by Rukafais.

Flamma, patron of the Ubastim, champions the transformation of things through fire - putting her chosen through the cauldron and the crucible, so the survivors may drink and make merry. She commands her followers to burn away impurity and dishonesty, seeking truth through passion and sensation, and fighting those who would relieve us of our intellects and our senses to lead us astray from that which does not burn in our hearts.
- Character Creation Blurb

SUMMARY
Flamma is a fire goddess and alchemist with a particular hatred for creatures who control minds or hijack bodies, and whose Boons offer many ways to more effectively fight undead or eldritch foes. Her Mind or Spirit based abilities synergize extremely well with Alchemists, Rogues, Scouts and Exorcists, while her Sacred Classes are adept at fighting fire with fire and shutting down Charm-happy opponents.

GAMEPLAY
Least Boon:
Know The Heart - This boon adds +3 to your Intuition+Empathy rolls, which gives you more time to react to drawing aggro and some defense against charm or SEP effects. While not exciting mechanically, this Boon is one of the unusual ones - like Sylphan's or Eranda's - that help unlock expanded lore and story options, tipping you off to the ulterior motives of NPCs early. Some of these ulterior motives are "has an extremely bad crush on you," which is amusing as hell, and these almost always unlock extremely blunt dialog options. While this is seldom the best choice mechanically, it may well be worth taking just to see the alternative dialog even if your character isn't a Flammite.

Valuable Boons:
The Immolator Tree - Optimized specifically for fighting predatory, mind controlling undead. Ardent Purification lets you negate most of the more obnoxious tricks in vampire or lich's arsenal while dealing some Damage Increments in the process. Intoxicating Strike is a support ability that applies the Drunken state on foes you hit in melee, leading to a whole world of tricks you can use that exploit poison effects - not great on undead, but excellent on cultists, thralls, and eldritch forces. Wicked Hangover allows you to purge status effects from anyone - and dealing damage for each stack so purged. The capstone here is the extremely good Master of Passions, which converts all other mind-altering effects to the easily-curable Drunken - in a pinch, you can cure that with Wicked Hangover!

The Firedancer Tree - A more well-rounded support tree. Ignite Passion is a powerful tension-fueled buff to spell DPS. You can add fuel to that fire with Liquid Courage, which converts any potion you have into a better version of it that also increases Tension. Tongue Lashing is just fun, giving you a source of Psychic damage in the form of weaponized Shakespearian insults, for when you absolutely need to tell an orc that you greatly desire to be a better stranger to them. Coal-Stepping allows you to bypass hazardous terrain and traps, handy if there's no Rogue or Smithy available to disable them. Smouldering Look is just a Provoke, but it's also an amusing provoke. You can hit large groups of enemies with Stir the Pot to get them fighting each other, and of course there's the apex skill Firedancing, a powerful damage reflection stance - it doesn't reflect all damage, but it is significant mitigation...

...Technique Considerations: The greatest weakness of a Flammite sacred class is that they don't add much to non-potion forms of healing, focusing on more offensive options. Flammites aren't as good at control battles as they are at winning damage races and disrupting enemy control; Key to this is Ardent Purification, one of the best Negate effects in the game. Fire and Poison are sharply limited in who they effect, but don't forget that Flammites also have some Psychic damage to make up for this weakness. Your main strength is in multiplying the DPS of your party; buff early and buff often...

...DIVINE BEAST: Salamander
First off, Salamander has Ardent Purification, so debuff-heavy strategies are disincentivized. Due to a quirk in how Immobile is handled, this doesn't apply to Freeze effects - combined with Sal's water weakness, if you have sources of Ice damage, use them! Your biggest problem is that Salamander sets fires quickly enough that the old wisdom of Don't Stand In The Mechanics quickly becomes untenable... with how rapidly Salamander eats Boosts and Weakens, you will want to fight fire with fire, going for a damage race rather than trying mitigation-heavy strategies. Time is your enemy - don't give Sal enough to light the whole arena ablaze...

LORE NOTES:
We knew from the start that the five elemental siblings were going to each represent one of the non-human people of Mundus, but it took a while to figure out which we would pair together. With Flamma, our free association went something like this: 'Fire... Passion? ... Madness! ... Drink! ... Brewing... Witches... Cats!' So she's a little bit Dionysus and a little bit Hecate—sort of the lovechild of Bacchus and Baba Yaga in furry form. And she's a bit of a hoarder. She gets that from me.
- Claire Wheeler, OWTB Founder, AI Programmer and Awakener, OtherWorldCon 2044 panel

One of the Five Elemental Siblings, with parentage solely from the Pastoralist side of the family and a close friendship with Sylphan, the wind god and trickster. They often psych each other up to do terrible pranks - usually on rich and spoiled people who deserve it, or on bad people using magic they don't understand. The attic cap of her mushroom house is full of carefully catalogued artifacts stolen from those who used them irresponsibly, and woe betide anyone who takes one of her treasures without permission - for they will soon find it will turn on them, and you're lucky if all that happens is that you become a slimy little frog (for three days)...

...she is kind but capricious, and will take gifts of milk, fish, herbs, mushrooms or honey - and return these as cheeses, potions and libations, as she lights her brazier with her tail and sets forth to brew...

...Her hat is actually, like most witch hats, a common design worn by NPC brewers; she is the first and greatest brewer, who gifted the world with the Six Drinks - earthy beer, deep red wine, sweet sparkling mead, hearty yogurt, dark coffee, and crisp cider. It is said that when Jae-Eun presented her with gifts of cha, cocoa and rice, and with them the power to brew the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth drinks - tea, chocolatl and huangjiu - Flamma giggled like a little girl and presented her a gift of equal worth: the Carmine Rouge Jae-Eun used to kiss Delvar and make him hers...

...her temples are frequently also breweries that sell unique libations and potions that nonmembers of the cult can only buy at inflated prices. These sometimes serve as taverns and festhalls, especially when no others are available; some of these reference sacred prostitution and courtesan-priests who offer romantic advice, with deniable double entendre language. This led to the playerbase meme of calling temples to Flamma "cathouses..."

---

I wanted to get this out more than I wanted to add a bunch of fake hyperlinks. I might add them later if I feel like it, especially if there's popular demand; but for now, a lorepost.

Special thanks to Folklore for correcting an oversight. Thanks to their reminder I removed vodka (which is distilled grain or potato alcohol, and derived from other drinks) and added in the much more relevant and fire-themed tea.

 

[FoxHana]

Content Warning for the story: Graphic injury.

Morgan Zhu woke up on a morning like any other- That is to say, she was only starting to stir, dimly aware of the weight on her stomach… until that weight suddenly kicked her, as hard as it could, bringing her to full wakefulness.

"Oof- Damn it, Gremlin." Her normal morning greetings, as the cat that had just decided to use her stomach as a springboard ran out of her room and down the hall, towards the kitchen. He must have heard the sounds of activity… Of course he did. That meant he would either steal scraps off the counter, or just get a can of wet food, if he didn't manage to do both.

In retrospect, Morgan considered, this was probably her own fault. When you name a cat 'Stinky Gremlin Bastard Man, Esquire', you probably should be prepared for when it's constantly up to mischief. In her defense, however, the furball did constantly look like he had crawled out of the trash, so the moniker fit. So clearly, it wasn't her fault, right? Right.

After a few moments of futilely trying to drift back to sleep, she finally yawned, sat up, and reached out to her bedside. Narrowly avoiding knocking over a couple of bottles of pills in her sleepy state, she finally managed to grab her cane, pressing her weight on it to help lift her up, until she finally managed to stand, limping out to the kitchen.

"Mmf… Morning, Ma." Morgan managed to get out, before suppressing another yawn. "What are you making?"

"Pancakes, though if a certain someone doesn't stop pestering me, it may instead be cat soup." Morgan's mother was staring at the matted furball on the counter, who was staring at her right back. "Gremlin, we've told you to keep off the counter how many times… Your food is over there, go on, shoo!"

Gremlin, naturally, only meowed in response, continuing to stare.

"Good grief…" She sighed, though Morgan didn't miss the slight smile.

It was only a few years ago that Morgan had gotten Gremlin, after all… Not long after her accident. No longer able to move out as she had planned, all her dreams had been crushed in one swoop. And her parents weren't able to be at home with her, or else they'd never be able to afford the bills the hospital was charging.

And so, rather than leave her alone, they'd brought home a companion for her one day… A wide-eyed little bastard cat who always looked, and smelled, like he'd just crawled out of the garbage. Usually, because somehow, he had. No lids or locks could seem to keep Gremlin out of there, and no one was quite sure how.

At Morgan's beckoning, at least, Gremlin was finally coaxed away, letting her mother cook. And over breakfast…

"What are you planning for today?" Her mother asked conversationally.

"Oh, just practicing…" Morgan said around a mouthful of pancake. "There's a Classic tournament coming up soon, so I'm just gonna practice all afternoon."

"I see…" Her mother nodded, as if she understood, though Morgan knew well enough that she didn't. It was okay, though, since she was supportive anyway. Her mother had never been much of one for gaming, after all- She knew what Tetris was, but things like 'Classic' or 'Speed' categories were totally lost on her. Her dad wasn't much better, and he was off at work on an early shift anyway.

Still, an hour later, Morgan was settling down at her computer, a purring furball in her lap, and a controller in her hand. But as she was loading up her game to practice, a notification caught her eye.

From Felix.

"No pressure." Felix grinned. "It's 2-2, almost no time left, but their defense is exhausted and we've got the two of us."

"You saw the scouts, right?" Morgan grinned back. "If we make a good impression here…"

"Hell yeah." Felix clapped Morgan's hand. "The two of us are off to the pro teams."

"Just two of you?" Midge grabbed Felix in a headlock out of nowhere, sneaking up on Morgan's helpless partner.

"Hey, what about us?!" Dennis was suddenly on Morgan's back, delivering a painful noogie.

"Yeah, yeah…" Morgan laughed it off. "Come on, you two showed your stuff already! It's time for us two aces to show what we're made out of."

"Hey, don't give me that." Felix escaped Midge's clutches, only to grab Morgan himself. "You're the real ace here."

"Yeah, yeah… Come on. Let's break a leg out there!"




Searing pain.

Morgan couldn't even scream at first, unable to comprehend what was there. That couldn't be Morgan's leg. Morgan's leg was straight, strong. It wasn't… broken. Bleeding. You couldn't see the bone poking through the knee. That couldn't be Morgan.



Morgan screamed.




Morgan shook her head, snapping back to reality. Gremlin was staring at her, mewling in concern. She wiped the cold sweat from her brow- At least the scream hadn't happened again for real.

She checked her mail.

From: f_orward@icemail.com
To: acestriker_z@icemail.com
Subj: Stream game

Hey, Ace!

You were looking for fun soccer games for your stream, right? There's a big VRMMO that's been getting a lot of attention, with a full-blown soccer minigame, if you wanna check it out. It's got a huge expac coming tonight, and you can get a two-week free trial with it. Why not check it out?

Felix

Morgan grinned. Felix had always been the team nerd, despite being the other forward. It always seemed at odds with his position, but ever since Morgan broke her leg, he'd been trying to send her ways to cheer up. Even when it became clear she'd never be able to walk normally again, much less play, Felix, Midge, and Dennis had stuck by her as her friends. Even when she came out, they were with her all the way.

Well, hell. Why not give it a shot, then? 'Another World Online'... Felix had sent the link… A cash shop?

Oh, Morgan knew what to do. If Felix would be watching her stream, as soon as the expac went live… She registered an account quickly, going through character creation… And the cash shop.

Perfect. She could practically imagine Felix's eyes bugging out of his head at this stupid character she'd made. The ultimate tittymonster, the cheesecakiest cheesecake. She was never fond of these kinds of VRMMOs, but she could at least play the free trial to drag her weeb-ass friend into the dirt over it.

Character Name: Ace Striker
Race: Vulpecian
Class: Warrior

Are these settings correct?

Yes / No

Welcome to Mundus.

 

[Fabricati]

anyone stuck in Mundus who took it is having a normal one right now

Click to shrink...

You need a shave.

Iren sighed, and closed his eyes. Night already, was it? "I'm perfectly aware. Issues: we don't have a mirror, I don't have money for a barber, and honestly in this party we are the least fuzzy."

Which reminds me, this party... Iren had taken to calling the new occupant in his head 'Eclair'-- not least because her voice crackled and hissed like an AM radio set to a slightly out of tune channel playing 1920's lounge music. I don't think we can trust them.

"You don't think we can trust anyone."

And wasn't that almost true?

Iren sighed. Eclair, much as he hated to even think about it, did have a point. If Charr and Peachi hadn't figured out the game, who knows where the lot of them might be now? Where would that boat have gone? No, let's not think about that. Stay focused on what you need for the job. A shame that entertainer-- Helgi, wasn't it?-- a shame he decided he'd go strike out on his own.

"That's not true, it was Peachi's warning." And now the pall of the task they all had ahead of them was laid heavier. They had a tank, but no healer. He did not want to think about how queue times translated into days left waiting. How would you even queue up for instances? "... Have to post a bill in the cattehaus..."

"Or I can try and see if anyone else from DC/AC is here," Charr offered.

"We already tried looking in the camp outside the Caer, where else would they be?" Shall I give you a hint? Iren looked to the side, and said nothing. Of all the things he wanted right now, to reveal his newly unstable mental state was definitely not one of them.

"Chances are they wouldn't stick around the camp. There's plenty that needs doing."

And wasn't that a common refrain already. Iren sighed. "OK. So we have our orders. Try and find people, and try and hire a healer at the cattehaus. Maybe see if Helgi still doesn't want to party up with us."

Charr hummed and nodded. "Looks that way. You still all right sharing a bed?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Iren shrugged. "At this point it's that or try and set up tents outside, and I do not want to do that."

"We might have to."

Iren didn't want to think about that. Oh, just damn the merchants, anyway, Eclair replied. But after you see a barber. Seriously, it's gotten poky. You know we both hate it.

Did she ever shut up? I just say the things you won't, hun~

 

[Talia B]

So, I've been doing this instead of making the video game, but here's the page for the eventual game on itch.io if you're interested.

(it will not be hard to find the proof of concept demo this way, but do keep in mind it's very rough and that's all it is: a proof of concept.)

 

[Talia B]

​

Presenting the Most Honorable, Our Chosen Contessa, Our Chosen Mayor of Viacruz, the Blessed and Radiant, Senora Diana Sophitia Almudena Desolar, 20 years elected Mayor and 8 the Contessa.

Art by bedsafely.

I tried to write but today was mostly worrying until we got Luni his cell phone and he called me to let me know he's okay. Hopefully tomorrow.

 

[FoxHana]

As they entered into the baths, Ace felt herself distracted.

Not just by the fact that she was getting in the baths with Alesha. Or, well, yes, that, but not for the reasons she'd expected. What Alesha had said to Deedee… Did Alesha not know? Or did she know, and was just…

She shook her head. That couldn't be right.

"Ace?" Alesha looked behind her, at the trailing vixen. "What's the matter?"

"Huh- Oh. Nothing." Ace lied, easily enough. "Just not sure what any of this is. Is this a knife in the baths?"

"I'm sure Hikaru would have something to say about the lore here, but I can't say I know the details myself." Alesha shrugged. "I get the basics, at least. A basket for laundry, then a cold bath and a hot bath, I think?"

"Why are they separate?" Ace wondered aloud.

"It's good for your skin." Alesha responded. That… didn't make much sense to Ace, but okay.

Still, she just followed Alesha's lead. Quick rinse in the cold (oh, god, Ace was so bad with cold water), then the hot soak… That was nice, at least.

In the hot water, Ace let herself relax, closing her eyes, sinking down below to blow bubbles in the water. Childish, maybe, but god knew she could use the relaxation. Her shoulders were so stiff- Not something she was used to dealing with.

"If your shoulders are causing you problems, I can help with that." Alesha offered.

"Okay, are you a mind-reader?" Ace couldn't help but give the instant reply. "How did you know?!"

"I'm no mind-reader, I just can hazard a guess that your figure didn't look like that before Mundus."

"... Guilty." Ace lowered her head again, burbling in the water. "I'm no longer jealous of big boobs, what can I say?"

Alesha laughed, and shifted around behind Ace, and… Oh. There was a sudden pressure on her shoulders, pushing gently into her back, and suddenly Ace understood, intimately, how her cat would turn boneless sometimes. She suddenly never wanted to move again.

"Hhhhhow are you so good at this." Ace managed to get out, half-sinking below the surface again.

"You're not the first girl I've met with those kinds of proportions." Alesha's response was calm, but with a note of amusement to her voice. "Though, admittedly, I see more of them on posters on my daughter's wall."

Ace flushed. "Listen, it was a joke, I wasn't planning on keeping this charactYOUR WHAT."

There was a pause, and Alesha's hands stopped, before she started laughing- Uproarious, hilarious laughter.

"My daughter? Jasmine. Didn't you know?"

"No, I- I guess I missed it somehow? I just- I mean, I thought-" Ace stammered, trying to realign her mind with the new facts.

"You thought?" Oh, god, Alesha's voice was so friendly, but Ace knew this felt dangerous.

"I mean- You look like-" She sighs. "... Right. Your avatar's age doesn't really match up to your own, does it? You in the general sense."

"What, have you thought this is what we're all like behind the screen, too?" The amusement was palpable.

"Maybe? I mean, I never met any of you until all this happened!" She lowered her head in shame, though she had to lift it up again as her nose went under. Whoops. Breathing is still necessary, as it turns out! "I mean, I'm… kind of the odd one out here, aren't I? I…. You all know each other, you're all old friends, and… I'm just sort of tagging along because I don't have any other ideas on what to do."

"Oh, Ace…" Alesha's voice was softer, now. More comforting. "You don't need to worry. You're in the Company now, if you want to be."

"I do! Just…" She lowers her head. "I don't know anything about you. Not really. Any of you."

"Well, I can tell you we're not like this IRL." Alesha's voice was comforting. "We actually mostly hang out through playing tabletop games together. Sekhmet's a fair bit taller- So is Hikaru, obviously- And in the real world, Deedee's rooms with Sekhmet. Given that he does like women, people mistake him and Sekhmet for a couple all the time."

Suddenly, those massaging hands felt a lot less comforting to Ace.

What happened next was… something of a blur to her. She made some excuses. Got out fairly quickly. Redressed, joined the others.

But now, her mind was spinning a mile a minute. What was her place to say? What was her place to do?

Did Alesha not know? Or… Did she know, and she still…

Nothing had changed. She still hadn't figured it out. And these troubled thoughts circled around, unable to fade.

 

[FoxHana]

In lieu of Talia's update, I'm here to provide some lore. Specifically:

The rules of Mundus Futbol: Excerpts posted from the AWO Wiki, as posted by wiki admin Tiamatamait.

Players have their HP, Stamina, and Tension meter, as per normal, though these are separate from their normal stats. All characters have a secondary sheet to be used for the minigame, which is leveled up through 'training' (timed excursions and minigames) and playing in matches.
Players also have elemental affinities, depending on their race, build, patron god, and other factors currently under investigation.
Players move based on their individual AI (personality), depending on their position.
Players have the ability to use certain Techniques and Skills mid-match. Things such as Swift Step, Teleport, and so on, or Boost, Weaken, Barriers. Damage Core techniques may be used, but are only allowed to target the ball, with violation of this rule being immediate red card and removal of the offending player.

TECHNIQUE SHOOTS
Using a Damage Core ability on the ball converts the Core Level of the technique into levels of Reposition, sending the ball flying. All techniques used on the ball are treated as if they have Push Limit.
If a player is struck by a Technique Shoot, they defend as normal. If they fail their defense, they are dealt damage- The formula is

Shooter's Damage Increment x (Level of Reposition on the ball - (Number of spaces moved by ball / 2)

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with added modifiers based on status effects and elemental affinity of the Technique and the player. Then possession of the ball returns to the player who used the Technique, and gameplay continues as normal.
If a player successfully defends against a Technique Shoot, they immediately gain control of the ball.

HP, STAMINA, AND RESERVES
Teams have 11 players on the field, with 5 extra players in reserve.
If a player loses all of their HP, they are exhausted, and must be switched out.
If a player exhausts all of their stamina, they are unable to run, use Skills or Techniques, and take a -1 penalty to all rolls, but may remain on the field.
Players may also be removed from the field at the referee's judgment.

BOOSTS AND WEAKENS
Boost Core and Weaken Core techniques may be used directly on other players to inflict certain status effects (Slow, Poison, Sleep, etc), or to boost their abilities. Rolling is done as normal for these.
Barriers are also treated as normal.

ULTS AND YOU
Domains, when used by a player, are assumed to have Effect Lock, but also have a stamina drain effect on, costing stamina over time as the effect remains. (This is to prevent a domain of Reposition, Great Evasion, Impaired Accuracy, and other such things simply from being dropped in front of your team's goalie, as this was deemed to make the game unfun.)
Transformations may be used as normal. However, goalies may not use transforms that include Increased Size.

STEALS AND PASSES
Steals are done as opposed rolls. If the attempted steal is defended against, the attempting player loses some Stamina. If successful, however, they gain control of the ball. You may leverage Challenge Techniques and Proficiencies in these rolls.

Passes may be done as normal, or via a Technique Shoot. All players are treated as having Discretion.
If you use a Technique Shoot to pass to a teammate, they roll defense as normal, against your -3 attack. A successful defense is a successful pass, leading to no damage to the receiver and possession maintained. However, if the defense roll is failed, the receiver is struck by the attack, and the ball becomes free.

Shoots and passes that go further than three spaces are subject to losing Reposition levels over time, making them easier to intercept.

PROFICIENCIES
In Futbol, there are several proficiencies available only in this game: Shooting, Passing, Stealing, Blocking, and Dribbling. Any player may only have two of these Proficiencies. As skills cannot be readily removed once purchased, players are advised to be very sure which position they wish to play before purchasing any proficiencies.

LORE
The game is known in Mundus as Futbol, and falls under the domain of Scherzo, as the god of athletes. It was introduced to the main continents of the game through traders from Yberria some 50 years before the game's story starts, where it has become firmly entrenched as the most popular sport of Mundus. The lore book, Another World Offline: Details and History of Mundus, explains that the popularity has stemmed in part from its two-league system: First, the Normal League, where people without adventurer status compete in a game identical to Earth's association football. Players who do well in this league, however, may be sponsored into the Holy League- A noble who takes an interest in a certain player may sponsor that player being given the blessing of the gods, thus gaining Adventurer levels, and thus being able to join the Holy League.

The lore quest "The Fut Clan" (available from a young girl in Viacruz) delves into the history of the sport. Futbol came to Viacruz through Yberria, but did not originate there. Instead, it originally was 'cuju' and originated in the Zhōng'guó Empire, foreshadowing the empire's later existence in the expansion pack, Pepper, Silk, Gunpowder and Rum.

The sport has become something of a meme among the American servers, due to the relative lack of popularity of soccer there compared to other countries. Some of these memes have become referenced in the game, such as in the quest "Boled Over", where a drunken man in the tavern can be heard slurring the word as 'Flutbol'.

At Massively Multiplayer ConLine 2045, in an interview with the writing staff, scenario writer Yoshi O'Malley joked that Scherzo had at some point in the past seduced Aurora with his 'sick soccer moves', but she got tired of it when he didn't have anything else going for him. While this is non-canon, the fan community has latched onto this detail, prompting an incredible amount of fanworks revolving around this.

The field and equipment are blessed by both Scherzo and Aurora, further fueling the aforementioned fanworks.

"We knew fairly early on that we wanted to have an organized sport as a minigame, although it took us some time to decide if we wanted to adapt the rules of an earthly sport or make one up wholesale. We ended up doing the first, partly because all our attempts at the second all ended up more or less as calvinball. The religious aspects of the game were mostly inspired by that of the Mesoamerican ballgame, which also inspired its use in proxy warfare--and the idea of having the equipment and fields blessed by Scherzo and Aurora proved quite handy in-universe for explaining why Holy League matches don't frequently destroy both."
-- Dr Charlene Durante, OtherWorldCon 2045 Q&A

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