Observation post of the Observer.

Tristan Black

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Yeah, I'll admit I like cultures that value more grown-up figures, instead of eternally semi-androgynous teens... or worse, kids.
 

The Observer

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Some preliminary sketches.
unknown.png
 
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Tristan Black

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I'd assume you could find him if you looked. Most likely he'd be in the fields or living on the fringes of Floofhaus, tending to the crops and living the simple life.
 
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Tristan Black

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Oh, I know the fetish is out there, I just have some ethical fetters keeping me from acting out all that fu- er... totally illegal and morally-wrong... stuff.
 

Shura

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Awww, what a cutie! Enjoying a good sunbath with the baby Hitoshi put in her belly.
 

The Observer

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A Very Stable Genius.

artificier.png

Barring one more from DCL and the final piece from an externally contracted artist, that's all the art I need for my pet project for the next... probably at least half-year.

Also, have some orc, who should be shipping with the next update.

unknown.png
 

Tristan Black

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So the arm was lost in a natural accident, as opposed to intentionally cutting it off to graft a golem's control interface directly to his nervous system? Because the latter option's kinda cool, but pretty far from stable.
 
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Shura

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Hi, just want to say, I’ve only hung out with Rags a few times and I love her already.

Unrelated, I’m curious if adult Kinu would have unique interactions similar to Kidnu? Kinu interactions are probably my favorite part of being on the Astral Plane so I hope we can have slightly modified versions of them for adult Kinu. DCL’s sketch of Kitsune Hime getting petted comes to mind right away, but I think stuff like helping Kinu a bit with her chores or in the garden/fields would be wonderful.
 

The Observer

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Unrelated, I’m curious if adult Kinu would have unique interactions similar to Kidnu? Kinu interactions are probably my favorite part of being on the Astral Plane so I hope we can have slightly modified versions of them for adult Kinu.

Adult Kinu will not just have her own interactions, but a unique UrtaQuest-esque storyline where you play as her and ties back into the Taoth narrative. This will be where choices made in raising her come into play; you didn't think the recharge power differences were there for show, eh?

And now for something completely different.

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Komari Kurokawa (黒川 小毬) was born into a shinshoku clan in one of the provinces directly under the Ōtomo clan's control. At the time, it was local custom for the Kurokawa clan to send the second or third daughter of each generation of the head family into service of the Ōtomo clan — for many generations the latter had relied on the former to supply in-house spiritual advice, and the heir apparent, one Kiyoko Ōtomo, was also pursuing her own interests in matters of the divine. As such, it made sense for Komari to be sent into Kiyoko's service as her retainer; the two were less than a year apart in age with the former just slightly younger than the latter. Both houses agreed it would be good for the girls to cement the roles they would be expected to play in each others' lives, and for Komari to assist Kiyoko in her studies.

Two years after this arrangement was made, word came from the capital of ships filled with strange peoples who had made landfall upon the shores of the Old Country. Yet this mattered little to those in the provinces, far removed from the imperial court — after all, heaven is high and the emperor far away, as the saying goes. Komari thought little of it until her liege came in one day and ordered her to pack and make arrangements — the Trickster had descended from the heavens once more, that the people were being mobilised. They were going to support a war effort in a strange, faraway land across the ocean, to hold back a threat that left unchecked, could devour the entire world.

That was, of course, the ostensible reason. Given the events of the last year or so, coupled with the fact that these foreigners had originally intended to subjugate the Old Country and turn it into another vassal state of their empire, isolationism was no longer enough to protect this land and its peoples. Kiyoko Ōtomo would follow these sailors back to their homeland, make a survey of these peoples, and see what could be learned about the world far beyond the ocean. As her personal retainer, Komari was obligated to follow her liege unquestioningly, to the end of the world if need be — and that was exactly where they were going.

Hearing of this momentous task that was to fall upon the shoulders of one of their own, the Kurokawa clan entrusted Komari with their family treasure: the amulet of transference, to be used in the service of the lady Ōtomo in her endeavours to advance the interests of the Cherry Blossom Throne in this far-off land. With this artifact in hand, Komari faithfully followed her liege onto the waiting ships and across the ocean with the accompanying retinue and the Belharan sailors who were to guide them to their homeland.

The months that followed were tense. The Trickster himself welcomed the expedition upon landing on foreign shores, and they soon learned that the inhabitants of this land also worshipped the Seven, although they owed their primary allegiences to others rather than their own. The lady Ōtomo, with all her wisdom of twenty summers, quickly ordered a makeshift den established in the heart of an easily defensible crater within a patch of thick woods some distance inland from their landing spot. As no fox spoke any of the natives' language save what they'd picked up from the sailors, Keros himself served as their liaison with the other Gods, relaying what had to be done to advance the mutual front.

Three seasons after they first made landfall in this foreign land, disaster struck. After a foray behind enemy lines with the harpies — a strange race of flighty people not too unlike the tengu of their homeland — Komari returned with her own to find the den they had carved into the crater wall completely caved in, the bodies of slain kitsune strewn about the entrance. Of the lady Ōtomo and the amulet of transference which had been in her possession that day, there was no sign, and when searches proved futile she was presumed dead.

A retainer who allows her liege to perish on her watch is a terrible enough disgrace. For that liege to be the heir apparent to one of the twelve Divine Clans is a failure of the sort that is only whispered about in polite company, and spat on when spoken of aloud. Suddenly, Komari found herself the highest-ranked of the tatters that was left of the first expeditionary force, and had to pull what few survivors there were together. Penance could come later… that was what the lady Ōtomo would have wanted, was it not?

The war could not last forever, though, and in its aftermath Komari found herself back across the ocean before the Cherry Blossom Throne itself, recounting the events of her failure to the vulpine lords and ladies of the imperial court. Despite her victory, only her clan would be protected from further shame. Propriety demanded that for allowing the lady Ōtomo to perish on her watch and the loss of the Kurokawa clan's treasure from ancient times, ritual suicide was the only way to cleanse the stain of shame from not just her family, but her spirit itself.

Keros, though, had other ideas. Despite her failures and transgressions, Komari was too useful to be allowed to simply perish — she deserved a far more terrible punishment. He would restore Kiyoko's younger sister, the second in line to the Ōtomo clan, to full status as a den mother, but in exchange they would give Kiyoko's retainer to him to punish as he saw fit. And as he related what he had in mind for Komari, perhaps an honourable death would have been preferable, but no one was about to argue with divinity itself about what should be done.

She would be exiled forever from her homeland, to put her talents to the task which her liege had begun. Tasked with carving out a colony from these now-vacated lands, Komari would serve her patron god forever, taken out of the usual power structure and placed directly under the purview of Keros himself. And by forever, he meant forever — transformed into a yasha by the Trickster himself, a lesser divinity in his service, Komari would never be allowed to die and be released from her burden that way. Instead, she was cursed to forever watch her own descendants, everything she ever loved, and her own humanity be consumed by time's fire in the same way she allowed Kiyoko Ōtomo to perish — until the day Keros deems her having performed sufficient penance for her failings and allows her to be one with the land she has carved out for the glory of the Cherry Blossom Throne.
 

Shura

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Adult Kinu will not just have her own interactions, but a unique UrtaQuest-esque storyline where you play as her and ties back into the Taoth narrative. This will be where choices made in raising her come into play; you didn't think the recharge power differences were there for show, eh?

First, HELLS TO THE YES!!!!!!

Second, funny enough, the choices stat effects was what I was going to ask you about next, lol (I snooped your docs already -w-)! I’m actually curious which event is tied to which stat/offers what bonus, if it’s not too spoiler-y to say.

Related to that, will Kinu ever be recruitable (presumably not at the same time as Kiyoko since SOMEONE has to watch the kids of course) or is she only going to be in the party for KinuQuest?

Unrelated at all, will any of Kinu’s younger siblings also be young adults/teens (if we have that many) or are they all going to pop out as kiddos albeit of slightly varying ages?

Anyways, damn, Komari infodump is making me even antsier to see her reunite with Kiyoko. I have a feeling it’s going to be intensely emotional and involve lots of tears of joy and regret all at once.
 

The Observer

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Second, funny enough, the choices stat effects was what I was going to ask you about next, lol (I snooped your docs already -w-)! I’m actually curious which event is tied to which stat/offers what bonus, if it’s not too spoiler-y to say.

Everything relevant is already on the wiki.

Related to that, will Kinu ever be recruitable (presumably not at the same time as Kiyoko since SOMEONE has to watch the kids of course) or is she only going to be in the party for KinuQuest?

She will not be recruitable, and will not be in the PC's party at any time (except for maybe one event). The childhood events are a test run for what will eventually be a full set of vignettes in which the player character takes no part in. We're trying to finagle a system in which your inventory can temporarily be replaced with hers for the duration of the vignettes, of which there'll be at least three, hopefully four or five; it'll be like those FE paralogues where you're given pre-determined units and an inventory instead of being allowed to grind up your main units/convoy.

Unrelated at all, will any of Kinu’s younger siblings also be young adults/teens (if we have that many) or are they all going to pop out as kiddos albeit of slightly varying ages?

The named ones will be, at any rate. There will probably be some discrepancies because I really don't want to work with too many game states, so some oddities may occur, but timey-wimey-wibbly-wobbly things will probably happen.
 
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Shura

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Everything relevant is already on the wiki.

Aw, and here I was hoping when you mentioned our choices playing a part, you meant certain individual ones (besides Lady’s Armaments) instead of just the overall. :p But I guess that’s a lot of save states to keep track of, lol.

I
She will not be recruitable, and will not be in the PC's party at any time (except for maybe one event). The childhood events are a test run for what will eventually be a full set of vignettes in which the player character takes no part in. We're trying to finagle a system in which your inventory can temporarily be replaced with hers for the duration of the vignettes, of which there'll be at least three, hopefully four or five; it'll be like those FE paralogues where you're given pre-determined units and an inventory instead of being allowed to grind up your main units/convoy.

Welp, there goes my dream of making every day Take Your Child To Work Day. X’D I’m glad we get to maybe have her at least once though, lol.
 

The Observer

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Anyways, damn, Komari infodump is making me even antsier to see her reunite with Kiyoko. I have a feeling it’s going to be intensely emotional and involve lots of tears of joy and regret all at once.

As years stretch into decades and decades into centuries with no end in sight, a mind that is equipped to only bear a century and a half at most starts to be placed under considerable strain. 今日も一日 and しょうがない are phrases that are constantly with her in spirit, if not on her lips. The family altar continues to grow with the names of the deceased, thrown into time's fire; she has personally performed the rites more times than she cares to recall any longer.

But I guess that’s a lot of save states to keep track of, lol.

I try to keep everything as neat and simple as possible. Kiyoko has only two variables that need to be kept track of.

Welp, there goes my dream of making every day Take Your Child To Work Day.

It would be upsetting to people to let them see their own child get raped by horrible rapey monsters. Remember that many scenes take in generic companions as valid inputs.
 

Tristan Black

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Ouch. Being sentenced to Live can be pretty cruel, especially when someone can make death impossible as a way of making the penalty stick...
 

The Observer

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Ouch. Being sentenced to Live can be pretty cruel, especially when someone can make death impossible as a way of making the penalty stick...

Seppuku would be more merciful and humane.

Moral of the story: don't let your liege die on your watch, especially if she's supposedly directly descended from divinity. Her ancestor might take umbrage, especially if he's known for doling out cruel and unusual punishments to the deserving.

Doesn’t the chaste companion tag prevent that?

It does -- see Etheryn -- but there can be edge cases which fall through, and I'd rather not open the door to people asking to write scenes just to accommodate her.
 

Shura

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As years stretch into decades and decades into centuries with no end in sight, a mind that is equipped to only bear a century and a half at most starts to be placed under considerable strain. 今日も一日 and しょうがない are phrases that are constantly with her in spirit, if not on her lips. The family altar continues to grow with the names of the deceased, thrown into time's fire; she has personally performed the rites more times than she cares to recall any longer.

Hey, no, how dare you keep punching us in the feels? >;[ pls keep wrecking our feels


It would be upsetting to people to let them see their own child get raped by horrible rapey monsters. Remember that many scenes take in generic companions as valid inputs.

I either never lose or reload if I get careless about party health/resolve (mostly the latter) management. So I’ve never seen a loss scene and for some reason assumed PC was the only one getting loss raped. Or at least, the one time I glanced at a loss scene, it was just PC so I assumed everything was the same. But yeah. I don’t want to see my baby girl getting raped, though I assumed she’d just poof away. Still probably traumatic to have to see her Papa getting raped though, F.
 
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The Observer

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With the end of October in sight, I guess it's time to do the monthly wrap-up post.

This month has been fairly productive, if somewhat unfocused. I've been working with William to round out a pack of scenes for Evergreen in order to pad out her content. While her mechanical function and services still await finalisation and implementation, at least she's not going to be lacking for content anytime soon. I also finished up the gobbo cultist, which gives Tollus' goons some background presence in Harvest Valley at least.

Implementation of several bits of content has been delayed owing to the need of the other members of staff to create and ship Halloween content in time for the season; this is an entirely reasonable thing. Look forward to no fewer than three pieces of seasonal content by the team in the next couple of updates to come. While I had some ideas, I'm not going to be contributing to the seasonal content this time around, owing to other things I'd rather be doing.

I've been working on Komari for most of this week. Fox grandma is mostly a loredump and plot-moving character; going has been mostly slow because of the number of variants I need to make for most of the repeatable and some of the non-repeatable content. Almost every piece of repeatable content needs to accommodate if you are a foxen yourself and/or if you have fox-wife with you (to be frank, this applies to every single foxen character, but Komari more than most); for example, discussing your daughter's engagement to her descendants will change quite considerably if you have fox-wife at your side. Even without sex to pad out the wordcount, I'm expecting things to be fairly beefy in that regard.

With the groundwork laid, I suppose then I can get on to the stuff people have been waiting for:

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I'm going to write this first, but implementation is likely going to be delayed even after completion because even more groundwork needs to be laid for actual implementation: restoration of fox-wife's home, adult fox-daughter and either converting all of fox wife's content to work outside of the astral plane and/or writing new content for her, especially when in camp. If this was simply implemented without rhyme or reason you'd lose access to her until the next chunk of content can be implemented, and that might be a bit of a wait.
 

Shura

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Thanks for the update, man! I'm impatient for Floof Haus and freeing Kiyoko content of course, but I also understand it's a LOT of work and am more than willing to wait an extra while if it means not being stuck not being able to see the Floof Fam for who knows how much longer. Quality over quantity after all. ;)

Unrelated, I'm curious about something else since I recently completed the content behind Sigrune that gives a major lore drop (putting things under spoilers from here on out in for anyone who hasn't done it)

Thanks to the parley/debate with Nareva, we have official in-game content revealing the Living Gods as Wraiths who developed conscience and turned against their kind to save everyone else. Your kitsune guidelines doc has Taoth pointing that out and Keros confirming it, so I'm curious if there's going to be a flag for PCs who've already learned that fact from Nareva and if there will be an option to talk about it with Keros or something.