06-26-2025, 07:06 PM
/slyly shoves something under your door. Its half baked and likely inedible but you could eat it if you were determined.
City of Mirrors Redux
City of Mirrors Redux
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City of Mirrors
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06-26-2025, 09:20 PM
HELLO?????????
The way I gasped and clutched my nonexistent pearls when I realized what I was looking at?????? Insane work, I'm in love, I want to hug this link and put it under my pillow. The atmosphere is perfect! I could literally picture every single scene in my mind. I need to properly start reciprocating all this creative effort. ![[Image: abyssw-alker-v0-wx0feo9sd3yod500x100.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/LXBKwXgL/abyssw-alker-v0-wx0feo9sd3yod500x100.jpg) Time goes by but memories rewind
06-26-2025, 10:36 PM
muahah! i was hoping you'd have fun with it!
there's a bunch of stuff in it, where if you do this, then that extra text pops us and its tracking your DEEPSEA_FAVOR and SEAGOD_FAVOR in the background. if you choose to figure out what wakes you up right at the beginning and then opt to throw something, DEEPSEA is unimpressed with you but also, when you get to the temple you obviously don't put much stock into omens so you desecrate some of the grounds. its also tracking your DREAM state (and a bunch of other, smaller stuff). i will at least push this as far as finding Rafayel, which is this weekends project for fun. you have already reciprocated! those Timelines you've posted and all the help with the various systems and pictures and Your Hairstyle Options Are Hiding Under Three Different SubMenus is not chopped liver! I am so thrilled with both of us, honestly.
06-27-2025, 10:29 AM
That's even more insane! WTF??
Incredible. I shall upgrade and level up my contributions to match this fandom treasure. I will also build an altar for this forum, which is very dear and must be protected at all costs Time goes by but memories rewind
06-27-2025, 05:28 PM
like, okay. this is my current little fan project because i am enamored of the whole City of Mirrors myth and i had a billion what if thoughts after i completed it. i haven't done anything like this before but i knew the software was out there that would do this sort of Choose Your Own Adventure style, so I've been teaching myself how to do it this week (and its really enlivened my work day! its been quiet here on the office front, sue me).
like, please be proud of me! lookit this code for THE TEMPLE segment: The temple to the Sea God is all the way on the east side of the city so you take all the short cuts you know. (if: $neardockvisit is 1)[Its awkward to get on the right path from the docks but you've done this so many times before that scrambling over back walls and avoiding dogs is just something you do.] (if: $timeframe is "early") [The streets are empty so you make good time.] The temple rises impressively above everything else, built on a rise of land that culminates at the promotory that overlooks the ocean proper. Your legs always ache by the time you get there, breath heaving with the scramble upwards. Whatever it is built from is bleached near white with age and the sea air, glowing when the sunlight hits it. (if: $timeframe is "early") [Right now though, you catch glimpses only as you wind through the maze, gray and cold.] Its only when you get close that the shabbiness of it becomes apparent; worn carvings in the stone uncleaned and full of dirt, the chipped statuary, gouged where maybe decoration had once existed but was long ago stolen. (if: $neardockvisit is 1) [You might have helped out with that a few times yourself.] (if: $deepsea_favor < 0) [You spit on the smooth stone of the courtyard. The Sea God has done nothing for you, and as little as it means, you want him to know it.] (if: $neardockvisit is 1) [You look around but see nobody in sight yet. You keep your eyes trained on the ground, glancing as you move in case anything has fallen from a higher point, little accent pearls set into the walls when the temple was flush with favour in long ago times.] (set: $neardockvisit to 0) While you're here you might as well see if you can wheedle any food out of the [[temple kitchen]]. It's checking to see what time of day it is and potentially which path you took to get there (have you visited the docks?) and if you've disrespected the Deep Sea already previously, in which case you show His temple no honor. So depending on how you arrived here, it adjusts the story. I am also thinking of adding in a $hunger variable that will track how much you've eaten by the time you get to the temple grounds - did you get the bread? one or two pieces? did you get the fish and eat it? and if you are NOT hungry then it won't give you the KITCHEN option, which means I would have to come up with something else to get you wandering the cool and neglected corridors. Can I talk more about this? I am excited. I am also floundering with options and would love love love to get your input into what more to build into this just so, you know, maybe it will actually be a fully functioning thing.
06-27-2025, 08:19 PM
"Can I talk more about this?"
Are you fucking kidding me? YES YOU CAN I am obsessed Like, do you have other locations in mind? Is there a plot outline you're following or is this more of a world exploration thing? Time goes by but memories rewind
06-27-2025, 09:23 PM
woo! i always worry that i'm about to bowl over people with random projects. I do it anyways like Rafayel does, but since I have permission, I can go faster!
so. like. YES. so many ideas, so much awkward "but how do i get there from here" problems. i have no formal plan, other than some emotional highlights i want to hit, but honestly its been building itself really well just as i make decisions on the fly. -- there is already a list of people i've name dropped that can be contact points. at the very least there will also be the Current Castellan/Hawkern, Former Castellan, At Least One (Maybe Two) Named Priests. I have name dropped in one of the places two people that belong to an "underground gang" of sorts, which implies at least one other gang somewhere that could play into things (not necessary to the story, but could be fun to have a faction_standing and possibly an underground crime shop to buy things from). -- the protagonist (her?)self. Does it need to be a her in this alternate? Unnamed. Currently a hobo beggar. COULD BE: less hobo-beggar. do we have a job somewhere that we do sometimes to earn $money? somebody who can't take us in necessarily, but still tries to make sure we're not completely destitute? WHY are we a hobo beggar is something I haven't completely nailed down yet. I feel like we could be hiding from Hawkern and "the bone boys", assuming the former Castellan got us away from the temple before we could be thrown into the tower. There is the alternate track where nobody knows who the hell we are, and the Tome is glowing forgotten in a corner trying to announce a Bride that the "priesthood" has a vested interest in ignoring. -- mentioned places that need to be fleshed out: Lafta's Roof (implication: Lafta's House), the Market, the ship Anemone, the Beach Below The Cliff, The Temple. Options for other places to explore: Underground Cave System, The Tower, Inland Away From Sea, ??? still to be thought of. -- The Tower will require a strength check, which will probably be tied to your $hunger levels. If you haven't found enough food and eaten it, if you try to escape, you die messily on the rocks below, bad ending world state, oops. Enough strength, you can climb down probably. Almost enough food, you... fall and injure yourself? Interactions in the Tower with the Castellan, the storm petrel birds, anything else I can think of. Convince the Named Priest to get you out. -- missing story element so far: The Sea God Ceremony or Festival. this may be/is likely to be very different than presented in the myth but it would give an immediate deadline for things to occur by. -- people. been making up names, all of which could be fleshed out into those for and against the protagonist, given expanded storylines that run parallel to the main track (this would be the Stretch Goals, I guess. not needed, could be ton of fun). -- i am waffling on how spicy to get in the end game once you've got favor with the SeaGod and/or Rafayel. technically, this could be a smut story. or even just a tasteful fade to black with the sound of ripping cloth. -- Rafayel himself will have a sliding scale of behaviour that somehow links to your favor with him. He may have Siren_Points for getting you to see it his way. You may have Resistance_Points where you don't fall for his honeyed voice and insist you know what's best. Or... something. -- Stretch Goal: tie the current DeepSea_Favor to the background color and maybe images of the webpage itself (if I can figure out how) so it's possible to know how terrible you're doing by how agitated the wave graphics are on the edges. I envision five ending world states - 2 bad, 2 okay, 1 good Deep Rises, SeaGod Not Found, City Dies Deep Rises, SeaGod Kills The Bride, City Dies Deep Held Back, SeaGod Kills The Bride, City Saved Deep Held Back, SeaGod Saves Bride, City Dies Deep Held Back, SeaGod Saves Bride, City Saved I have so many IDEAS, and I want to implement so many of them but mostly I am trying to figure out what the path to each ending would look like, generally speaking. Everything up to the point of finding/rescuing (not rescuing?!) Rafayel is just tutorial. EDIT: July 2 -- updated the story with latest passages, got a small, crude inventory working. JUL 3 
07-04-2025, 08:38 PM
FINALLY I can address this masterpiece.
-I feel like we could be hiding from Hawkern and "the bone boys", assuming the former Castellan got us away from the temple before we could be thrown into the tower. Yeah I think this would make sense the most. - Does Raf's pool depths imply exploring some underwater place? - The Tower will require a strength check, which will probably be tied to your $hunger levels. Oh I love this. Hunger could relate to strength (fight? push/pull objects etc.), stamina (climb? run?), even stealth (stomach grumbles) and healing (how fast you heal based on how much energy you actually have). - this would be the Stretch Goals, I guess. not needed, could be ton of fun I can only talk for myself, if I don't flesh out the main storyline between the two protagonists, I will absolutely get lost in the maze of NPCs and world building and forget about the main characters entirely lol So unless this is a labor of love dedicated to worldbuilding Romirro (I would totally understand and get behind this), you might want to plot line your way to the main endings before you flash out everything else that is decorating them. - i am waffling on how spicy to get in the end game Unhinged and degenerate is my favorite level of spicy, but do what your heart tells you to do. (if the Sea God's ceremony is endgame, ritualistic sex with or without sacred witnesses could be an interesting way to go) (hell, if we wanted to go there, the spice could be a way to gain a few points of favor, you know in that totally wrong "show me how much you're ready to sacrifice for me" kind of way. It could slip into OOC for Raf, but I'll die on the hill that the Sea God is your average god from Greek Mythology and he would fuck an animal or two for the poetry of it) I love the idea of Siren/Resistance Points pushing you more or less into dubious consent territory. This can be very innocent, in a romantic courting way, or go very dark. - The five endings you've pointed out are perfect IMO. What's the balance of points for each? As in: Deep Rises, SeaGod Not Found, City Dies [either MC doesn't find SeaGod or MC dies before finding him] Deep Rises, SeaGod Kills The Bride, City Dies [here we start counting SeaGod's favor points? Below a certain range he kills us? Or we want to add the fact that MC has to be in love with him AND have low SeaGod's favor? Is it implied that MC falls in love with him or is it not relevant to this story?] Deep Held Back, SeaGod Kills The Bride, City Saved [this could be a middle range SeaGod's favor? Or could be tied to a specific series of actions from MC? Low love but low-medium SG's favor? IDK, I'm throwing it out there, there's no love meter here] Deep Held Back, SeaGod Saves Bride, City Dies [high favor, he loves her, she loves him, but certain actions dooms the city anyway. The prophecy in the Tome? They have to find the tome and either change it or destroy it to change their fate?] Deep Held Back, SeaGod Saves Bride, City Saved [same as above?] Time goes by but memories rewind
07-04-2025, 10:02 PM
-- okay, if you prefer the idea of us trying to keep from being noticed by Hawkern because we're a Bride on the lam, i'm down for that. I did put in a mention in the KITCHEN where the MC points out that nobody knows her name for some inexplicable reason but would tie nicely into the hiding/subterfuge thing. Is Former Castellan still alive? I guess I could sent up a HUT INLAND somewhere where we originally were taken, but we have to trek into town every now and again out of desperation for food or supplies, upping the risk of being spotted/recognized/caught.
-- Rafayel's pool depths would link eventually to the sea (potentially through the THE CAVES, but it could go anywhere at all, since it would be "under" Whalefall City. -- I am not sure how far to go with the variable tracking and how much of a 'game' versus a 'story' to take it. $hunger would be a good one to use as a variable for what is or isn't do-able in some scenarios, but then would have to be careful that there is enough food scattered around that a saavy player could find it. I am currently lightly playing with two route options - 1)you spend a bunch of time loading up your $dream points, which will give you some foreknowledge but will also tip your game into more horror elements, or 2) you prioritize gathering $food and its more of a surface level thing where yes, you could run or jump or climb over things that wouldn't be options if you were too hungry. -- unhinged and degenerate. noted! also dubious consent, my beloved . my heart tells me i love me some coercive ritualist sex on an altar while armed guards with spears make sure you can't get out, even if you wanted to. -- hadn't thought as far as $favor being tied to what you are or are not willing to do for Rafayel in a spicy sense, but we are soooo going to go there now! I wouldn't consider it out of character in this alternate thing, because the Sea God is what we're going to wake up, not so much Rafayel himself who would be the one with the aversion to hurting her/general cruelty/you know what i mean. I envision that *reaching* Rafayel through the Sea God is going to be what plays into the GOOD ENDING.
07-08-2025, 08:40 PM
okay, small plinky plinky updates. have reworked the beginning to start you off in a hut with the former Castellan as the pair of you hide in plain sight, ekeing out your living. added some descriptions for the temple and your room in the temple but right now there's no action there.
i haven't tested any of the new stuff, it may be broken in interesting and unsightly ways. 
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