- She/They
Man, been ages. Empty clout, was a finalist for TISA back in the day.
Neither Glitch Nor GhostI didn’t know them. Not in the same sense most would think. We never sat at the table to eat together. Never introduced them to my dog. Not properly, anyway. Shared pictures. So many pictures. We considered one another close friends. I don’t know if I was the youngest or the oldest. I do know that I was the only one who remembered what needed trading to whom. They depended on me for that, a lot. They’d hold up a rock, or a core, or a tooth, and go ‘Hey Mirage, do we need this?’ I wish I knew what city they were from. Would help to know if they were dead or just disconnected. There are two ways it could go. Either they disconnected whole, or they died. Some folks who have managed to come back have confirmed it. A lot of folks were hurt, and neurology is more important than ever, but at least in this server, many folks were booted out. It was a ghost town here, for a long while. Some were reported dead. There is a registry at the town center of people who were confirmed dead, so that people who never met them in life could mourn them. Funerals weren’t a thing this place was built for. We had to invent a way ourselves, and once a tradition caught on, an update rolled out to support it. Those who ejected more-or-less safely had more harrowing news to bring back to their loved ones. There have been reports from the others that many accounts have been corrupted, so people cannot log in again. Worse, there are accounts of those confirmed dead, but the account refuses to close, even after the death is reported. The Devs released an announcement, along with the Mourning update. I don’t know which one I am. I do not know if I am a glitch, or a ghost. I’m not sure I want to know. Kinda wish I was on a server based at home, instead of a distant nation. There may have been a chance of local news getting back to me if I had. As it is, I have to wait until one team or another sorts out all the dots that connect back to me. The generous estimation is several months, for each server. I know for a fact that no one has enough staff to do every server at the same time. I wish I knew what happened to my friends. I want closure. I can only check the list so many times, not sure what to hope for. I don’t know the names they wore when they went to work, but I have made their server-names part of myself. To look at me and learn my name is to also see theirs. That wasn’t my idea, either. Picked up the tradition from someone else, and they from someone else, and so on. Some profiles have the new Mourned markers next to some names. There are few people who carry any of the same names as I, but I have them saved in my contacts, now. If anyone learns of one, they’ll tell me. I don’t have to stay in this city of Mourners. Others have geared up and left, looking to see if people can be stuck in an a certain area. The plot of the game doesn’t matter, really, except that some people might be in places that had to be beaten to return to the safe zones. They might be in a boss battle, unable to defeat it without their party. Some may be stuck in a cutscene, and need other players to help force it to end. I can’t imagine, being stuck like that. I’m glad others are going to help folks. They’re good people. I don’t know what I’m going to do, exactly. I don’t have a plan. I only know that if anyone is gonna mourn me, on the outside I mean, they’re already doing it or don’t have to. If I come across someone who’s stuck, I'll probably help. No reason not to. I just. I might be stuck like this. There’s already talk of the servers shutting down, once the cleanup and paperwork is done. I don’t blame them. I have time, but not an entire life’s worth. I have to show people that we can live like this- I refuse to be a glitch or a ghost that needs to be put to rest. If I can do enough things that the game is not designed to do, perhaps I can prove I am still alive.A Case for Contradicting AlignmentsThe Dungeons and Dragons alingments are well known, the table of nine fields ranging from Lawful to Chaotic on one axis, and Good to Evil on the other. Netural sits in between all of these, often interpreted as an apathy or disinterest in full commitment to one side or the other. These have been widely interpreted as needed by the players, ranging from strict adherence to a loose guide- and so I present another option to entirely destroy the neat system that it has become. I propose Contradictive Alignments. Contradictive Alignments would be Lawful Chaotic or Evil Good, with Chaotic Lawful or Good Evil equally correct, but sound wrong somehow. These alignments are currently reduandant within the Alignment Square, however as they become common place, it will hopefully free up the dual-nature of the currently established options. It is entirely possible that the reverse phrasing of the alignments can change the meaning. I will cover that possibility, to present it to the players to distinguish. Evil Good represents the concepts of doing things of innate nature, for opposing reasons. Someone who saves a child’s life from a blazing fire is performing a naturally Good act, but their motives to kidnap the child and condition them is an Evil motive. This would fit neatly under Evil Good. Someone who infultrates and commits Evil acts under a malificent orginization, but does it to minimize the damage and eventually destroy the orginization would also fall under this category. Up until this point, Lawful Evil and Chaotic Good have sheltered these ideas respectively. However, to rescue the child and raise them is by no means against the law. To infultrate the orginization and adhere to their policies is not chaotic. It is entirely possible that Evil Good would be a mirror of Chaotic Good, and Good Evil would be a mirror of Lawful Evil, although this might make it more confusing as to why a new alignment at all is necessary. Evil Good highlights the moral discrepency between one’s actions and one’s intentions. Lawful Chaotic is less available in the current arrangement. For the majority of characters in which Lawful Chaotic would apply have used True Netural, suggesting that Chaos and Law are in balance enough to cancel one another out, or that neither are in full control. This new alignment instead recognizes the two in a constant juxtaposition and contest. It is expected that the chaotic actions the character takes are in line with an internal law (perhaps by the order of someone above). Alternatively, one who uses the laws to disrupt a target community would fall under Lawful Chaotic. Note that morality of their actions are not necessarily one or the other- Chaos can be used to disrupt Good foundations and Evil, and Law can enforce Benevolent or Malevolent regime. Characters who use Legal Loopholes, Civil Disobedience, or Immoral Law are all excellent examples of this alignment. **Lawful Chaotic highlights the societal discrepency between one’s methods and one’s community.** Allowing these expanded terms into the field of understanding, it allows alignments like Chaotic Good, Lawful Evil and True Netural to take on meaning that better reflects their placement. Chaotic Good can retail it’s nature of someone who commits acts for the benefit of their community, for benevolent reasons, especially in cases where Law is immoral or ineffective. Lawful Evil may retain it’s place as someone who uses immoral laws or order of authority to inflict harm to a targeted group. True Netural has always been a loose environment for character development, usually characterized by the pursuit of money, family or other ambitions- morality and method taking a back seat to that goal. These suggestions are not designed to be worked into the alignment chart, or to replace formal alignments. Instead, like much of Homebrew, these are designed to be useful adaptations to create more creative, enjoyable characters through clarification. It is intended that these may be tools for players and game masters alike can use to expand their experience.TISA :: CARRIE ACCEPT“Carrie Jarrings?” The secretary looked over the counter-top at the girl sitting in the waiting room. “Your specimen has been processed. Please enter the room to the right.” “My right or your right?” Carrie stood up and glanced at the two doors. They were the same model and make. They did not have windows. They did not have a nice coat of paint- but they could have used one. One Carrie imagined to be the inner building, the other a long hall to the back door. This wasn’t exactly the nature of the doors, but it was the same concept. “Your right.” The secretary looked down into other papers. Carrie slid past her before the secretary changed her mind. She wanted to hesitate in front of the door; reconsider her choices. However, when she came to the door she opened it freely and shut it behind her with a defining click. This side of the door was so different from the quiet waiting room. It was buzzing with people who had so little time and so much to do. At least, that’s what they made it look like. Whether or not this was true, Carrie decided not to judge. To her left was a cork board of Reported Persons and just beside it was a similar board of Reported Bugs. Up ahead was a door with a frosted window. The cleared letters read “PRISMIND”. Carrie stared at it for a moment. Her train of thought was lost when she realized someone was speaking to her. “-Won’t be able to see him.” One of the mods said. He didn’t look like a guy who was up on the front lines. Matter of fact, she realized that he wasn’t a Sheezian at all. He was a bug-checker, a humanoid of the coding to help things along. That’s when she noticed that most of the people in the office were the same. They had little trails of binary following them as their footprints faded, and they followed rigid paths. Carrie’s only thought was [i]Cool[/i]. “Prismind is busy preparing to lead the trek for the CT.” Carrie grinned from ear to ear. She would be following him all the way. The Coding Persona opened up a slot, much like the ones Libraries have for Book Returns, and pulled out a stack of official and officially boring papers. The CP started speaking again. “And according to your specimen, you should be getting ready, too.” He immediately led her down a side hall past a water cooler and a snack machine. He used his coding to enter a locked room which glowed their trademark Blue. The room reminded her of a Lazer Tag prep-room. All sorts of gadgets were hung on the walls with numbers above and below. The CP reread the number above her ‘specimen’ and found her matching equipment. “Here you are. These are your boots, rudders, gloves and shock sticks.” The CP had to help her with her rudders, which were actually worn like wings. She shock sticks fit perfectly into small belt-loop canisters that hung at her sides. They felt like holsters, and were modified with springs to push up the shock sticks when opened. The boots and gloves, which she took as the simplest things, he spent the most time explaining. “Your coding is based on placement.” The CP informed her. “Meaning, where things are on the browser, and how close they are to other things. Hence, you have been given codings that alter where you are in any given space in relations to the things around you.” The CP put his hands firmly on her shoulders and then stepped on her toes. Carrie was not pleased with this at all, but she quickly forgot about it. Her boots started to hover- and herself with them. They did not have jets as she imagined hoverboots to have- they simply hovered. The CP was holding her steady by her shoulders while she became accustomed to her new shoes. “Use the rudders and how you angle your feet to stabilize and propel yourself against footers and other grounds. And as you just saw, step on your toes to turn it on.” He kicked the side of her foot so that the inside of her heels clicked together. The hover ceased and Carrie was dropped to the floor in a small shock. She stabled herself against the floor and then breathed. “And that’s how you turn it off.” “Must it be so rough?” She looked at the inside of her heels- she didn’t see a button, but apparently it reacted with something beneath the stitching. “Hovering is cool, but it’s jerky.” “Smooth or fast?” The CP shrugged. “Apparently we can’t have both, and since we’re going into a fight we’re equipping you with fast. Now for your gloves.” “They’re leather.” Carrie stated. That’s all there was to them. There were no lights, no special stitches or bumps, just simple leather gloves. They were new, and therefore stiff. Carrie couldn’t wait to break them in. “So that the Shock Sticks don’t electrocute me.” “Swift.” The CP smirked. “But short-sighted. You’re going to have to grow out of that if you want to make it to the tower with Prismind.” She looked them over again, this time much closer to her face. Still she didn’t see anything. Puzzled, she looked back to the CP. “What you do not see is a coding that allows you to extend it beyond your reach through air like water.” The CP smiled with great pride, but Carrie did not understand him. After a moment of silence his smile faded. he nodded to acknowledge her lack of comprehension. “Have you ever snapped your fingers under water?” “Yes!” She smiled. “It’s incredible. It’s as if I snapped them right by my friend’s ear.” “This allows you to influence objects with the same sort of distortion of conceived space.” He explained. “This makes it so that objects that are father away can be handled as if they are right beside you just by acting on them as if they are that close.” “So it’s like telekinesis.” Carrie locked her eyes on the door’s handle a foot or so away. She lifted her glove and waved her fingers over the handle. Nothing happened. “No, Telekinesis is a mental add-on that controls inanimate objects.” The CP corrected. “What this code does is this: it temporarily ‘rewrites’ space between you and your object so that you can directly interact with them. Your coding is based on location, remember?” So with this new instruction in mind, she reached out to the knob and turned it. The knob turned that foot or so away, and she pulled the door open. Carrie lit up. “This is so cool!” “I’m glad you like your equipment. Please wait until you have distance between people before you try out your shock sticks, however.” The CP laughed. Carrie stared at him, and then her glove. In the same way that she had opened the door, she pushed him away. She noticed that the CP didn’t actually move. She took out her shock sticks all the same and squeezed them. The shock spread over a small radius around the pressure point on the stick. Just as Carrie had hoped, the radius didn’t reach the CP she had ‘pushed’, though it would have otherwise. Carrie grinned. She was itching to hit the field. “When do we leave?” She piped. The CP sighed and shook his head. “I’m glad you’re getting the hang of things, but we’re not leaving until Sunday. You have the rest of the night and tomorrow to be more familiar with your gear.” Carrie nodded. Of course- she wasn’t ready to fight with her gear. She was still wonky on her hoverboots. It would take more than the time she was given to get things right. She thanked the CP and he escorted her to the training quadrant. It was filled with people who would be going on the trek to the CT. Carrie felt very small here, and very foolish with her lack of skill. Sunday. She thought to herself, using the wall to hold her upright off the ground. I only have until Sunday to get this right... To prep before restoring this place!Pahano's ChristmasThe air was not complete without it's sparkling flurries. The soft wet flakes settled between the others; an eternal snow that coated the antarctic tundra. The only bumps on the perfectly smooth stretch of white were the igloos of the humans that dwelled there. Thin ribbons of smoke rose from the ice-bumps, keeping the people warm in this beautiful, unforgiving world. They were not the only ones who lived here. Nearby lived a large colony of penguins, raising their young. They didn't mind the people, though they worried that their little ones would grow lazy eating from the hands of the humans. Their hatchlings had a bad habit of visiting the igloos to enjoy the warmth, food and comfort of the people who lived in them. And this time the snow picked up into a terrible storm, and Pahano got lost on the way home. As he walked farther, he realized that he could have been walking in circles, and by now he couldn't even see the smoke rising from the igloos. Pahano sat in the snow as it piled up around him, and he had the hardest time trying not to cry. And then, with a great thump, a large red blur lodged itself into the snow. The storm was too thick to see what it was from where Pahano stood. It was better than blubbering, so the little penguin picked himself up out of the snow and fought the raging winds. Step by step the winds got stronger but Pahano did not give up. And soon enough, he was face to face with the wooden bottom of a great red sled. Around the sled were boxes, great and small, wrapped up tight with tender care. Pahano scooped one up. Something inside the box rattled. He shook it, gently of course, and again it rattled. What was the point of a rattling box? He picked up another one, and this too rattled! This was all very amusing, with all the bright colours and ribbons, but why so many? Especially when they all do the same thing! "Wha, haven't seen presents before, kid?" The monster stood in the snow, a giant with four, long thin legs, and branches on his head. He looked like what the humans described as horses, but there was no way this monster and those horses could be one and the same. "Blitzen, who are you talking to?" "There's some penguin kid over here." The monster called over his shoulder. Pahano froze. There were more of them! "I think I spooked 'im." "Well stop daudling and help me out." Another voice called over the sleigh. The Monster didn't seem all too pleased, but he turned around and vanished into the storm. "I think boss hit his head or something. Hey Comet. I know those guys aren't far. Let them know we're coming." "Sure thing." Pahano heard one of the company sprint for a bit in the snow, and then his footsteps vanished. He looked up to see over the sled, when suddenly he saw one of the monsters, floating in the sky! "Dancer, Donder, Vixen." The voice rang again. "Stay here and watch the cart. Prancer, Cupid, Blitzen and I are gonna carry Santa down to an Igloo, and we'll send Rudolph back with the word when we get a real grasp of how bad off he is." "Why do I have to go back and forth, Dasher?" A younger voice protested. "Because you're the bright-faced runt, that's why." The first monster groaned. "Now move it." "Hey, you heard the boss." Dasher snapped. "Be nice to the runt. Now you can stay here with the cart. Donder, take his corner." "What?" Blitzen snapped, but there was no more arguing. Pahano looked around the sled just in time to see the monsters hoist a giant red human onto their backs. With a great strain, they carried him off. A tiny monster, with a bright red nose lead the way through the storm's ferocious snow. Pahano couldn't help but stare at the three monsters. They picked up the boxes, fixed the sled to stand upright, and put all the stray boxes in a giant bag. Finally, the first monster looked to him. "That present's gotta go in the bag." The little penguin nodded. He climbed onto the sled, and carefully placed the box into the bag. He wanted to run away, but he didn't know which way was home. Wherever he ran, he was sure that he would only be getting further from home. This surely put him into a bit of a panic. "Hey, brawny doofus over here is Blitzen, I'm Vixen, that slow guy over there is Dancer, and you must be very confused." Pahano nodded. That's all he could think of to do. "What's your name, kid?" Blitzen groaned into the snow. Already he was coated with a heavy blanket of snow. "That's what clever-foot here tried to ask you." "P-P-Pahano." The penguin stammered. "I'm not slow." Dancer had his face in the snow, too. The three monsters let out a chuckle. They reminded Pahano of the older hatchlings, how they joked and made fun of each other. Pahano wasn't sure if this made the three more scary or less. "You're pretty lost, aren't you?" Vixen sighed. "I went to the igloos, and then the storm kicked in." Pahano whimpered. "Now I can't find my way home." "Yeah, Vixen?" Blitzen picked up his head and the snow broke off like ice on a great wave. "This kid's too young to know what Christmas is." "Pft, shut your mouth, Blitzen." Vixen leaned his face closer to Pahano, who fell back on his rump. "What 'chu know about penguins?" Blitzen stood up, and now Pahano could really see how big he was. He stood over Vixen, more muscular too. Vixen trotted off a few paces and laid down in the snow by Dancer, far enough not to get their antlers all tangled up. Blitzen nudged the penguin back to his feet. "Aw," Dancer sneered. "Blitzen grew a soft spot!" "No." He snorted. He shook off the snow from his antlers, as if that ended the matter. "I guess we can't walk this kid home. Dasher would rat on us or something." "Wait until Rudolf comes back." Vixen laughed. "Make him do it." "Make me do what?" Rudolf groaned. The three stared at him with a touch of confusion. "What? The igloo was literally right there. If it wasn't for the storm we could see it from here. Santa's in bad shape. There's no way he's getting up before morning." The three faces fell. They snorted, hoofed through the snow. Blitzen walked in a tight circle, then stood back by the sleigh. When the silence was too much, Pahano finally worked up the courage to speak. "Who's Santa?" Rudolf stared in wonder. "You don't know who Santa is?" "It's his first Christmas." Blitzen explained. "Doesn't know a thing." "Well." Rudolf dipped his head. "We're not going anywhere. Might as well fill the kid in. Help pass the night." "That's a bright idea, Rudolf." Blitzen smirked. He pushed the little monster into the snow. Rudolf groaned. At least this time it was a groan to a bad joke. Pahano smiled a little at Rudolf's shining muzzle. He sat down in the sleigh, ready to hear what everyone seemed to think was the greatest thing. "Yeah, when Blitzen gets off me, I'll tell you all about this Christmas."