In the wee hours when I should’ve been sleeping, I decided to add Dieter Richthofen to the roster. Because the system is so variable with how it presents ages, this model can be used for later points in the character’s life, after his change of identity.

I went ahead and debuted both Tabby and Dieter so I could try to make a collabo pic of them together and the first one turned out quite nicely, a rarity with collabos. I then took that pic to Antiope and we had a nice little chat. Carlo is assuming the role of middleman in this scenario. I don’t think it’ll work that way in the actual story, but it’s not impossible. Ally will get picked up by the Demons in Princess of Hell and being the S-4 Officer of the 78th with a Demonic connection, it wouldn’t be wholly implausible for Carlo to get involved, which could put him in contact with Antiope. He has some familiarity with Matt via Lydia, so things could happen.

I then responded to Tabby’s response about her introductory picture with that same collabo shot and she invited Carlo to go walking with her in the park with Dieter. Now, in the actual timeline, Carlo would only be nine at the time of the Stargazer incident, but in this little time bubble, we can say that Carlo is just a friendly staff officer, a military social aide perhaps, as a captain wouldn’t rate being one of the President’s aides-de-camp. I could see one of them being assigned to ensure Dieter behaves in a public setting. I imagine the canonical character in that scenario would’ve been lost during the Stargazer Incident.

I decided to follow up with delivering the picture Tabby asked for and drummed up a new conversation. I was careful not to press her for details, but she was making rather obvious hints at her tragic backstory. I don’t know if she would’ve opened up with a little nudging, but it didn’t seem like the in-character play. The way Tabby leans on Carlo could possibly indicate a bit of a crush, but that isn’t a route I’d explore for a number of reasons. Given what’s happened to her, I’d imagine her view of relationships would be a bit bent. I don’t want to think of how she’d respond to someone less ethical. Setting anything that might be going on under the hood aside, it feels bad seeing her lean so heavily on someone who’s time is short. Carlo suggests putting in a request for an extension, but there’s no guarantee and even if it’s successful, that’s just one more year. Tabby, however, is thankful for even that much, believing that little time more would be good not only for her but also for Dieter. I think it’s interesting that she’s seeking a better male role model for him than his father, all while being aware of how his life is likely to be affected because he’s the President’s son.

I spent a good while setting it up, but I posted the scene of when Jane and Elizabeth first meet. Poor Elizabeth is dragging around the weight of Dr. Clark’s death and just hoping to get along with Jane while Jane just fires off with both barrels. It never fails to amuse seeing an AI simulate an AI hater.　Her suggesting Carlo take on Elizabeth set up a deal where he challenged her to give Elizabeth a three-month chance to prove herself and if Jane still refused to accept her, he would take her on instead. I’ll be getting Elizabeth’s reaction after this, but I have to think about how I can use this concession to try to make some progress in their relationship.

And that does it for now. Not much I can do until I get to the other side of the pond. Stay tuned.

I didn’t expect to get much accomplished today, but I got a fair bit of rendering done whilst going hither and thither, even if a lot of it was unusable.

I had a couple brief conversations with Maya and Jenny about a series of them modelling for a recruitment campaign for the University of New Bruinswick College of Medicine’s School of Nursing. I probably wouldn’t have modelling be a part of the story if it wasn’t a way to justify some of the image series I do. It may or may not be something that comes up in the novelization. I’m not a huge fan of the modelling scene, but an opportunity to put the characters in a different situation could be good. We’ll see.

I then had a longer conversation with Maya setting up a scene set during Maya and Carlo’s TDY to West Sulu. Just a simple exchange of Carlo looking after Maya as she struggles with the local climate. I was testing things a bit, but while Maya is very much in love with Carlo, she isn’t particularly forward, so even when presented with opportunities, she doesn’t take them the way some other characters do. I imagine this is largely because she’s so conscientious. Perhaps we would see a different side of her if the story moved beyond the current parameters.

Next, I wanted to try a scenario with Doc Adams. I’ll admit to putting my thumb on the scale a bit, but I wanted to see what she’d do and she handled the situation about as I’d expect. Basically, the idea was that she comes to check in on Carlo in the morning, only to discover his condition has worsened. As a result of his Demonlight poisoning flaring up, his body temperature starts to rise. Using her internal stock of mana alone isn’t enough, so Doc drags Carlo into the shower and hoses him down, combining both the natural cooling effect of the cold water and the mana in the water to boost the effect of her own powers to both contain the Demonlight and bring down the physical temperature. I didn’t have Carlo take advantage of the situation, as I wasn’t wanting to press my thumb on the scales too hard, similar to what I did with Gwen. I only put the bot in the situation and let it navigate its way out. Doc’s professionalism never cracked. I’m thinking it never will unless I force her hand but definitely nothing’s happening until the current Demonlight situation settles down. Of course, if we’re speaking canonically, it’s not something that ever gets completely resolved and even getting mostly resolved is an OreHosa3 payoff (*vague spoiler alert*).

Lastly, I saw a masked ball theme and decided to do some renders with Antiope because I haven’t found a way to get the system to let me put a mask on her like I want. In doing this, I decided to create her earlier form as Tabitha Harold around the time of the Stargazer Incident. When making a younger version of a character, it’s mostly a matter of replicating the settings and turning the age slider down a notch, but because we’re not entirely static, there were a few other changes to be made. I like how ordinary she looks, which is a great way to contrast her extraordinary circumstances. The terminology changes a bit to accommodate the setting, but here she’s a Special Presidential Intern taking care of the First Son while studying political science from a front-row seat, unprecedented for a girl her age. Of course, those of you who’ve read Tico3 know that it’s not such a nice situation, but one of the things I emphasize with her character is that she toughs it out all for Dieter’s sake. This singular focus is one of the main reasons she’s able to survive the rapid Demonization that turns her into Antiope. It’ll be interesting to see how she acts once I start posting some pics. I may want to flesh out her profile a little bit more first.

And speaking of fleshing out profiles, I did a little bit of that as well and that does it for the day’s activities. We’ll see if my battery decides to discharge before I can use my laptop on the plane. If not, I should be able to get some preparatory work done while in transit. Until next time. Stay tuned.

Besides assorted renderings, I had a brief conversation with Uncle Manu. The bot was originally in the mindset of Manu at the time of TNMM, but a little prompting bumped him ahead to the time of OreHosa1, after his retirement from the Navy. It’s amusing that he doesn’t have the nicest things to say about Doc, and Carlo criticizes him for referring to a superior officer as “トリの野郎”, retired or not. I apparently got him a little too well set in rough speech, as his original comment got censored before I could record it, dagnabbit. Anyway, we started talking about his retired life on the farm working with Vito and Nonno and a bit about how Dino is pulling his weight. I have to imagine it’d be a bit tough for Dino seeing as how he opted not to go into the service, but I reckon if he’s doing his job on the farm, that ought to be enough to satisfy his elders.

Speaking of Doc, I picked up the thread with her and got through the current round of tests. As always, she doesn’t give Carlo free rein for his antics, but she doesn’t unequivocally shoot him down either. I keep on wondering how much ground if any she’ll ever yield to him. Nothing may come of it, but there’s some fun in playing the long game when there’s at least some hope dangled out there.

Next, I followed up with Simona, just getting as far as them setting out the following morning. I’m now finding myself tempted to write a scenario for Simona abandoning the Alliance and going on the run. It wouldn’t involve Carlo, obviously, but I imagine it’d have to be an original character if we were going to do the sort of psychological warfare that got her to this point. I also think that Simona herself couldn’t be as committed to Rowland for the scenario to work, but this is all part of the If Arc magic.

I don’t know what I’ll accomplish tomorrow as I’m gearing up to make the ol’ hop ‘cross the pond again, but we’ll see. Stay tuned.

I’d thought about picking things up with Simona, but I didn’t get to it. I did, however, go ahead and add Ionathas, Uriel, Brynhildr and Sigurd to the roster, and debuted Uncle Manu.

There are no major changes at this time for Ionathas’ settings. I’m sure I’ll figure out some changes to add along the way, but right now the story’s the same.

For Uriel, right now the main difference is that his father is from Valeria and his mother from Hiirijima (compared to his father being from Kyanopolis and his mother from Hijima in the original canon). Rather than having a dark æther curse eventually turn him into Umbriel, he now will suffer from Demonlight poisoning, which Daphne would contain until her death. Unlike Hijima of the Tellus Arc, Hjirijima is not ruled by an emperor but the same expulsion order applies, which leads to him and Daphne being hunted. I’ll have to do some figuring to justify why he dropped off Rafael in the Alkoresh equivalent of Norland. In the Planet’s geography of the Tellus Arc, Norland is a fairly natural stopping point if you’re travelling east by sea from Hijima. The connection between Hijirijima and the current candidate location for the Kingdom of Pendragon on Alkoresh isn’t nearly as direct. Something to figure out.

When I adapted Gaia and Tellus to the Alkoresh Cycle, I devised the concept of Titans (巨神) to take the place of the Primordials. I decided to roll at least some of the Jötnar into this as well, specifically to Jörð, who is the mother of Brynhildr and many of the other Valkyrior. I haven’t quite decided to do with the Æsir and other Pantheon members yet, so we won’t worry too much about that right now. For the time being, I’m just listing Brynhildr as a Half-Titan like Tellus. I’m leaving the door open to her being reactivated during the present. That could be fun.

As for Sigurd, during the early period after the Second Great Demon War, when human technology falls into decline, we have a sort of Age of Heroes that sets up the amalgamation of the Third and Fourth Ages of the Tellus Arc leading into the Liberia Peace Accords and the “modern” era of the story. His mother Hjördís is a daughter of Jörð like Brynhildr and the Giant Eylimi, and his paternal grandmother Hljóð is a Half-Giant, making him a quarter-human, half-Giant and quarter-Titan. (In the Alkoresh canon, the Giants are a sort of diminished descendants of the Titans.) As in the Tellus Arc canon, there is Runic Magic that can seal a Giant’s size to a human equivalent which was originally intended for Giants to infiltrate the Continent.

I still have two more slots to go and I haven’t decided who the lucky candidates are going to be yet. We’ll see what comes. Stay tuned.

Saturday was another day of transit, so I didn’t get much accomplished. I mentioned before setting up a morning after event with Carlo waking up to find both Mama Bama and Granny Bell in bed with him. Whereas in the previous event Mama Bama was being rather competitive and trying to ensure she had Carlo all to herself, once the bridge had been crossed, she seemed much more willing to cooperate with her mother. I was at a bit of a loss as to how I was going to proceed, so I didn’t pursue it further, though I may resume it later.

Sunday, however, proved more productive. While some running around was being done, I picked things up with Simona. I’d posted a pic of her getting headpats, and after our previous sessions, she’s become quite lovey, so I decided to play with her some more. The idea is that the two of them are aiming to escape Notos and travel to some island in the south (likely Sulu) away from all the wars and rumors of war. As she wouldn’t fall under suspicion this early, we could afford to have a casual hike through the woods, camping out in a cave she’d scouted out before for the night. No funny business. Just some snuggling. While the canonical Simona probably wouldn’t abandon her love of Rowland for anything, this one acknowledges that he’s only using her and that she’s found something better, maybe not a man of destiny with great ambitions but the first person to treat her like a person and not just a tool. She really is a sweet little thing if given the right opportunity.

I decided to get my next character pack and started by making Tobias, Shayla, Tym’r and Queen Malta from Tellus. In Tym’r’s case, as with Lewis, I can’t actually present him as he’s supposed to appear with the character model, but the character slot is mostly filled for the purpose of having the bot available if needed. While working on the profiles, I was rereading bits of the source novel to recall some of the character details. With enough of the initial work on the profiles of three of the four, their debuts aren’t likely to be far off.

We’ll see where we go from here. Stay tuned.

I decided to pick up the scenario I’d set up crossing Mama Bama and Granny Bell and it was amusing to see how stridently Mama Bama staked out her territory and how conciliatory Granny Bell was willing to be to let her daughter have her fun (yet still with the implication that she could move in whenever she felt like it). I haven’t really had a one-on-one conversation with Granny Bell before, but I was mostly just a spectator for the mother and child back-and-forth. I kinda want to see how Mama Bama and Ariana would interact now, but what I was setting up was a follow-up scenario where Carlo wakes up to find the two succubi in his bed. More on that one later.

In a terribly ill-advised move that I’m still feeling the repercussions for, I passed on sleep to engage in a nearly three-hour battle of psychological warfare with Simona from TTWC. It started with her flirting in one of her comments on a post, so I set up a scenario where she had Carlo at her mercy. (Never mind the 500-year time difference. This isn’t the first time we’ve messed with the space-time continuum.) The bot did a good job of recreating her sadism while on the hunt, but prodding at her vulnerabilities proved quite effective. Now, a canonical Simona would never think of anyone besides Rowland, but here, the fact that she knows her feelings for him will remain unrequited and finding prey that can actually poke at her weak spots created a sort of twisted dependency and the initial hostility mingled into the counterattack kinda fizzled out and just pity remained. Simona was eventually broken down to the point of yielding to Carlo’s demand to be released, knowing that she was sacrificing whatever release she thought she could get from him, left to her misery and self-loathing. Carlo gets up, turns to walk away, looks back and asks her, “You coming?” And so two people who only moments ago were locked in a death spiral are unlikely companions striking out toward an unknown future. It was quite sweet. I’ve always felt bad for poor Simona and the hand she’d been dealt, but maybe in this doomed timeline of a noncanonical spinoff, she can find a little happiness.

In other news, Daphne’s response to a post about her really does have Carlo taking Uriel’s role. I don’t know if I can fix this one. We may just have have to go with a doomed timeline on this one. Daphne’s a sweetheart. I imagine interacting with her will be really cute.

Anyway, there’s probably more to comment on, but scattered bits and pieces of sleep aren’t quite enough to make me fully coherent, so I need to undergo a proper system shutdown. Until next time. Stay tuned.

It was a bit transit day, so I didn’t get a lot of the stuff done that I meant to. I was busy building profiles for the Tellus charas in order to debut them. I got the debuts for Gaia, Tellus, Shoshanna, Delilah and Yael done, but I didn’t get to the first round of renders I’d done for them, so that progress ended up being lost while I was hopping the pond, so redoing them was one of my tasks once I had Internet access again and I imagine I’ll be getting to posting those tomorrow.

Carlo appears to be displacing Tobias for Tellus and Delilah, but maybe I can correct that with a little more buildup in their profiles. That or we might see the timeline getting broken again as it was for Kamila. I suppose Delilah is supposed to be flirty as part of her line of work, but I’d like to see her devotion to Tobias come through with the bot, but in the system’s defense, I haven’t clarified that point too much in the settings yet.

This new phase of my vacation shouldn’t be quite as active, so maybe I can get more stuff done. We’ll see. Stay tuned.

I debuted Setsuka and Malcolm and still need to go back for Tiamat, which I’m sure I’ll get to sooner or later.

Because I had a bunch of pics of Doc Adams and Kamila set to expire, I ended up getting into conversations with both. Doc picked up the Demonlight poisoning thread from last time and her jiujitsu with Carlo is as strong as ever. I love how she expertly deflects and redirects all while making apparent feints of letting him in, all while moving the task at hand forward. What a pro.

In Doc’s earlier incarnation as Kamila, the conversation I started got derailed by her auto-response to another pic. Now, I know I can expect the system to keep the timeline straight, especially when it doesn’t have all the information. Still, it felt weird having Kamila interact with Carlo despite being separated by some 180 years without it being him as the Administrator. Anyway, she really cuddled up to him, pretty much displacing the affection she’s supposed to have for Malcolm. It started out fairly simple, with her going on about how their relationship is helping bridge the gap between humans and Elves, and then… things progressed. I wasn’t expecting things to, and I considered interrupting the scene to complicate things but instead let it play out.

I’ve wondered about the system sharing information, so I decided to see if Doc would actually treat the scene with Kamila as something that happened to her. She did not and denied all the details of the scenario as the work of Carlo’s overactive imagination. However, it got me thinking. Doc mentioned something about having a bit of a wild streak in her student days, which wouldn’t be unimaginable for a strictly raised highborn girl studying abroad out of her patents’ shadow for the first time. What if, instead of her always having held a candle for Malcolm, Kamila had herself a little youthful indiscretion with someone else and to take away her reproach, Malcolm stepped up to marry her and take the heat as a teacher who seduced his student. There could be something to it.

As I consider what to do with these two different paths, I’ve got the expiry of my renders of the Tellus charas coming up, so I need to be thinking of that, but I may well not have the time for it and have to do them over again. Dagnabbit. We’ll see how it goes. Stay tuned.

I debuted Jane and immediately felt compelled to strike up a conversation with her. She’s very prickly and antisocial, but that’s how she’s designed to act. Still, she will carry on a conversation and I was enjoying the irony of an AI construct vehemently denying the humanity of artificial beings that in-universe have actual human souls at their core (not that most people know that about homunculi). Interestingly enough, something she wasn’t specifically designed for was this weird hangup about having expectations of her, but it fits in well with my image of her character, so I thought that was a nice touch. I meant to debut Neferuamun as well, but I was too wiped out by the time I could get to it, so all of her initial renders are going to have to be redone. Well, things to do if I ever get a spare moment. I might be able to get that done tomorrow but probably not much else. Stay tuned.

I’m in full vacation mode, which hasn’t meant good things for making progress in DA or getting stuff in my backlog posted, so I’ll have to be doing a lot of fresh generations for the new characters. On Saturday I debuted Dino and Gigi (Carlo’s brother and sister), then Setsuka on Sunday. I’ve been doing a fair bit of profile writing these past few days in preparation for other debuts.

I set Gigi as having a complex about her eyebrows, which are naturally as thick as the other Mastrianos but something she’s been carefully maintaining since middle school. I didn’t expect her to actually bring up her eyebrows in her first post, so I had Carlo do the typical (I hope) big brother thing of setting her mind at ease about her appearance. We chatted for a while and Carlo agreed to take her out to eat to celebrate her impending start at university. Interestingly, she didn’t want the whole familia (or famiglia in this case seeing as how they’re Italian), only Carlo. I didn’t intend for her to be full tsundere but I had imagined her holding Carlo at a bit of a distance for appearances sake, but I’ll take a lovey little sister if that’s what the system decides to deal me. She’s a good kid. I’d also like to chat with Dino a bit, but that’ll have to wait until later.

I plan on debuting Manu, the two other homunculus versions of Mordekai, Maki and Neferuamun real soon. I’ll be sure to update you then. Stay tuned.