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Mikka's Modding Project!

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So, Mikka’s Modding Project! (the exclamation mark is required)


If you somehow missed my babbling about it all over the forums, I’ll summarize: I am working on a project to add four new students to in to the game. This project was started due to discussion and multiple people expressing desire there be same-sex relationship options in the game, and thus, the characters are all either bi or homosexual. I’m noting that directly in this almost prefix as to not make anyone uncomfortable, however, I hope you’ll enjoy all four characters (or at least enjoy hating them, as the case may be) whatever your or your characters preferences in such things are. It's certainly not the focus of their personalities, but it is there.


(Not that such things matter or are brought up at all in year one anyway (Miya has I believe two events where she'll lightly flirt with a PC of either gender, and Antonio while ranting mentions not liking girls but will very quickly backtrack if you point out what he just said- and that's it), but I just want to get that out of the way to avoid being accused of bait and switch or setting anything off, and again to avoid making anyone uncomfortable.)


I wanted to make students with a sort of theme, so it made sense on why they were packaged together. In hindsight, that was pretty dumb (they really don’t need a reason to be packaged together). Still, the first two made, Miya and Aaran, together have in common that they were based on a fairly common used character archetype only gender-reversed (the ‘Gentlemen Thief’ and the ‘Ill Girl’). A bit more thoroughly, all four of them have done quite a bit of traveling so far in their lives which has affected each of them in different ways. A bit more amusingly, none of them are currently using the exact name they were born with, but as that just banged itself obviously in to my head as I started writing this thread, so that's not really a theme. I’m going to pretend it is, though. So! For these four, travel and duplicity both have deep influence in how each acts and presents themselves. Or so I say.


My goal for this project was DLC 14, but that isn’t going to be feasible (I really hope that they'll be done before DLC 15, though, because having the new mod-base out and still developing using the old one would be embarrassing). The two things mainly slowing it down, though, are PORTRAITS (!!!!HALP!!!! (see: this thread, or send me a PM)) and the fact that as long as no one is pushing me and I don’t have deadlines, I can be a bit lazy about things.


Thus, part of the reason I’m making this thread is to encourage you, dear reader, to nag me. Ask me questions about the characters, ask me what progress I'm up to, ask for samples of writing, or just post 'MIKKA WHY ARE YOU GOOFING OFF IN EUIII RATHER THEN WORKING ON THIS'. Oddly, it gives me encouragement... and reminds me that I should be doing this rather then whatever goofy sidetrack I'm currently on. I'm also hoping to use a few of you kind folk as betas, chiefly in asking you to gain information on the characters in game and tell me what their end of the year stats and scores look like so I can be sure that I'm satisfied with their AI.


The other reason I’m making this thread as it was requested I talk a bit about the characters that will hopefully soon be in your game. So, I’m going to start doing that now... but not in this post. Each character’s information will be put in a post after this. This is so I can up my post count by four wee, allow people who want to avoid any sort of spoilers what so ever to more easily do so (just don’t read below this post!) and thus simply use this post as a progress update.




Progress Goals:

  • Four Working Characters (Complete! ...Save for occasional pokes.)
  • Four Working Familiars (Complete, save for...)
  • Twelve Character and Familiar Abilities (five complete, then six more plotted- Aaran's self ability still being goofed with idea-wise)
  • Four Portraits (one complete...ish, one sort of worked on, the two boys not even started)
  • Five Adventures (One complete, one complete but being changed/revised, two outlined, one not started)
  • Four Duel Adventures (three plotted, one outlined)
  • Approximately Forty-Two Events involving the characters if occasionally vaguely (Sixteen done with around ten more in various outlined/plotted states... the rest sort of, um, going through writers block)


(Plotted means the text is basically written, but hasn't been re-typed in to the modtools and mechanic-ized. Outlined means the idea is there (or even outlined) but I haven't gone any further. I fully imagine that a few other complete things will end up not being that complete- I'll obviously do a quality pass with re-reading everything before release, which may mean some re-writes.)


Okay, reserving the next four posts... full descriptions will be added through today and tomorrow. Technically, I'm working right now. Technically.

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Miya Hikari (...her last name is her mother's first, not her true last name, as using that one might lead to her being targeted due to their smuggling, or so she believes) is a female Godina student who claims to be from a land so far East not even the Imperial Map Room charts it- but Miya claims a lot a things. She’s attractive, genuinely friendly, and quick in both action and thought… and unfortunately, something of a compulsive liar. She has thousands upon thousands of stories, of encounters with dragons and her adventures as a princess and the harrowing rituals the so-called ninjas of her home demand of recruits (...those are all lies. probably.) and life as a (preteen) sky pirate smuggler… so on, and so forth. Some of her tales might even be true, and some of those that are true may even be actually about her. With Miya, though, it’s safest to assume that everything comes out of her mouth is a lie. Less troublesome, too.


Once you go beyond the stories (which is admittedly hard: telling stories is both her defense and something that she just simply likes to do), Miya is not all that different from any other girl at the Academagia despite her parents illegal occupation and her exotic heritage. To Miya, though, being average is worse then being hated. Thus she plays up both the illegal occupation and the exotic heritage things constantly, ignoring that she’d probably be just as liked (if not more so) if she simply just presented herself as athletic and chipper girl who’s heard a lot of neat stories and mythologies and would be glad to share them. As it is, she’s popular, but not particularly well liked. She tends to be the recipient of all sorts of half-hearted compliments among the lines of, “She’s annoying, but at least she’s less defensive then Mhadi and doesn't act as snobby as Catherine, I guess. And geez, that story about the tigers was great!”


(She does have a bit of Mhadi and Catherine in her, having a mix of both their backgrounds, though I do hope her personality shines through as being quite different.)


Miya takes Incantation (because it’s the picture of Real Magic!! in her head, so it was the thing she wanted to do the most), Calligraphy (because she usually has very neat handwriting and it irks her that her Elumian script doesn’t look all that neat), Grammar (to brush up on the few mistakes she makes in Elumian, though she speaks it much better then she writes it), Athletics (because it’s Fun!!), Rhetoric (because she has a good CHA and it’s a shame to waste it it can hopefully be turned to be of later help with both storytelling and acting), and then Music (because they didn’t really give her all that much of a choice… though her mother said that it’s usually traditional for girls her age back at home to learn the Lyre, so she’s going to give it all). She’d like to add Enchant to her class list next year, as magical artifacts are truly her greatest weakness.


Her familiar is a small fox named Aki, who is in quite the competition with Bira over who is the cutest familiar on campus. Aki’s not nearly as physical attractive, but has a slight advantage in being very talkative. Unlike Miya, Aki’s Elumian is almost intelligible, but that doesn’t stop around half the school from stopping what they’re doing to try to figure out what the adorable talking fox wants. It’s usually a request for something interesting (almost anything will do) or food (anything will do), but Aki’s been known to try and talk other young wizards in to taking him on adventures or to go adventuring with him. Miya just giggles and lets it go. Her and Aki actually are very similar, which tends to mean they don’t spend as much time with each other as most wizard’s do with their familiars: they know what each other’s goals are, so they don’t need to be in each others presence to be working towards them.


(And Aki, like Miya, has very defined goals- that come up on more then one occasion as he tries to recruit the PC to go along with them.)


Miya sees herself as an actress, and can usually be found in the Dimmae Theater when she has spare time. If she’s not there, she’s usually wherever magical items (be it at the registry or at the markets) can be found- she has a very good eye for identifying them, having seen quite a few in her life (…if not usually legally). She’s trying to learn how to play Rimbal, so she can be on the team next year, though acting will take priority. She has an almost supernatural talent for dramatic entrances and exits, and studies stealth in order to make sure she can time those dramatic entrances and exits even better. She is most very much not a thief, thank you, and it is only vicious, horrible rumors that would label her as such. She develops crushes at the drop of a hat, though she loses them just as easily. Her favorite color is yellow, her favorite foods are never served in Mineta, and she was born in some of the hottest days of summer (though during what could only be described as a horrifying Typhoon, if you care).


Of the four, she is the closest to being fully complete, though personally I’ve come to find her the least interesting of the four. Then again, I’ve been working on her the longest…


In game, Miya's interactions mostly revolve around her passion for acting, her lust (...non-sexually, of course) for magical items, her fox familiars own quest (a hint might be the word 'kitsune'), and then her more unsavory habits getting her in to trouble and her lies to cover them getting her even more. She also has a goal of investigating the pirates operating out of Mineta, but she tries to keep that a secret. She responds best to displays of Passion, which is probably the most common skill used when it comes to her adventure and events. Straightening her out often resolves around Character, but picking up some Slight-of-Hand and Storytelling and going along with the ride works just as well.


In one of those random tibits, despite her very Japanese name and the hints of NINJAS! (though they won't appear till next years adventures, I believe), the unnamed place that she was born in from takes a lot of its inspiration from very, very, very early Qing Dynasty China. I imagine perhaps it sees itself as an Empire (...if one that is if not ruled directly by dragons, very influenced by them), with an area that takes influences from real-world Japan acting as a tributary (in which some parts are very tied to the Empire, and some are in basic open defiance). All of that might change if the Legate and crew ever develop that area more, though, which is why Miya being a storyteller came up: so she can talk and talk about this mysterious homeland, but if it turns out wrong, she's just being her usual storytelling self.


(That's also why she was born there, but not raised there.)

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Aaran, Aaran. Not anywhere close to the Mary-Sue of the bunch (…er, though I hope none of them are), and yet he gets the longest introduction (I think his will almost double Louise's). How does that work?



Aaran Ledale is one of those rare, borderline-mystical male students of Collage Avila, though he doesn’t seem all that happy there. Not that anyone notices. Aaran stands out whenever he’s around, but he’s not all that often around and he’s not often missed. He’s near impossible to talk to, summing up his history as coming from “somewhere up a-ways”, suffering illness due to “something I(/he) was born with” (and of course the obvious albinism), being orphaned and losing his home in “the incident”, and ending up in Mineta due to “some circumstances”. There’s very likely some sort of tragic story there, but Aaran doesn’t talk about it. Not that he talks much. Instead, he asks.


Aaran’s interests are rather heavy for his age, being philosophy and law. He ties them to his love for moral dilemmas, which makes him a surprisingly good debater. He knows Mineta extremely well (including the seedier parts), and makes a good guide if he’s properly asked (he also knows the few crazy places willing to serve alcohol to first year magic students, which is probably the only reason he hasn’t been bullied to death yet). He is good at seeing both sides of a situation clearly, and as long as he isn’t emotionally involved, he’s generally able to with careful questions help one arrive at a good conclusion or compromise. If one can get past his absolute obsession with the concept of fate, he’s not really so that horrible that would make people he’s glad he’s not around, but….


But, of course, that’s not the worst problem.


It’s hard to put in to words, but Aaran’s something of a weirdness magnet. It’s just one of those quietly accepted facts that if Aaran is around, things just… don’t go the way they are planned. Perfectly routine conversations turn in to arguments, something that sat calmly on a shelf all year will suddenly fall, and occasionally something great happens, but people tend to remember the horrible over the good. If the sun ever decides not to rise, it’s going to be because Aaran was sneaking around on the eastern section of the campus at some ungodly hour of the morning, or so the (fairly bad) joke goes. There are rumors that he’s cursed, like Ana, and rumors that his very good luck just distorts things, sort of like Cirillo, and even rumors that he’s not exactly fully-human, like a certain other student… but in general, there are a lot of rumors about Aaran. When people remember he exists, anyway. They would prefer not to.


(Aaran has his own theory, but it’s about fate, and while he may be really good at some other forms of communication, once he starts on fate it’s best to roll ones eyes back and fake unconsciousness, because he will Never Stop Talking About It otherwise. He also gets borderline manic, too, which is actually frightening the first time it's seen.)


Aaran takes Astrology (because of that Fate obsession thing- which is what got him in Avila in the first place), Glamour (because he really wanted to study it for somewhat ill-defined reasons (it was his first question when brought to the Academagia)), History (because he has theories on cycles and repetitions he wants fully tested and it’s interesting), Negation (because he was assigned to Professor Briardi during course selection and she felt with his poor overall health he was better off attempting to negate health issues before they came rather then attempting to remain conscious and revise them after), Dialect (because his social skills are… not the best, and it was suggested he take a class to work on that, and he chose Dialect because Rhetoric involved too much talking, Grammar seems inane to him, and Calligraphy hurts his hand- besides, Dialect has debate!), and Geometry (…because they put him in house Avila and there wasn’t a choice). He does horribly in both Glamour and Negation, which makes it even stranger that the Academagia is supposedly paying his full tuition, but strange and Aaran are rather usual partners.


His familiar is a pureblood Doomhound (…which again, raises questions) that he calls Tepte. No answers from him if the name Tepte actually means something, or if he was trying to go for Timid, Tempt(ation), or Tepid. Tepte is one of the sweetest dogs you could meet, but pure black, yellow eyes, and being over three-feet tall and full muscle means people don’t usually believe that (on seeing her and Aaran together at light, people have been known to say they look more like messengers of the dead then the living). She’s a smart creature, well aware that part of Aaran’s strangeness is an attempt to keep people distant so he doesn’t have to go through getting attached and losing them again, and thus she sticks to her owner with the loyalty of… well, the loyalty of a dog. She’s also been known to act as his guide-dog, though with his study in Negation (which shields his eyes from the brighter light), it’s not truly necessary anymore. She misses being able to help him more, and then berates herself over it: she has rather low-self esteem, even though Aaran is fond of her and never expects anything more.


Aaran honestly spends almost as much time in the infirmary as he spends in his classes, and in the evenings he usually has detention for attempting to sneak out of the infirmary, ignoring curfew, or his blatant refusal (or so Professor Badcrumble describes it- he's actually usually just absent minded) to follow the dress code (he has a habit of wearing his shoes without hose (or even stockings or socks), a grave sin for an Avila student, certainly). Even when well and behaving, he’s hard to find- if the sun’s down, he’s off in the streets of Mineta and virtually untrackable, and if it’s up, he’s in his dormroom or in the darkest quietest places he can find in the main building. As people prefer to avoid him, he avoids them- though he at least has been known to talk to both Malacresta and Ana.


He does have a sense of humor, though he’ll deny it to his death (it tends towards dark and slightly wicked, but it’s certainly there). He tends to be blank faced and it's hard to tell how he's feeling emotionally, which has created a habit of saying the most absolutely absurd (or horrible) things with a blank face just to see how people respond (and to amuse himself). He’s actually rather used to taking care of himself, despite his physical weakness, and detests pity: he comes across as having rather strong mental fortitude while being a bit naive and even childish emotionally. His favorite color is probably white, and he’s very much a non-picky eater (however, he hates eating soon after waking and usually just pushes food around at the morning meal). He never loses staring contests. Unless you suddenly cast a lantern spell right in front of his eyes, anyway.


(But if you do that, he’ll get his dog to bite you. Don’t think he won’t.)


By far the most common skill used with Aaran is Ethics. Part of it is simply due to that like of moral dilemmas as described above, but part of it is also his mind can take incredibly wayward leaps and he occasionally needs speeches on ‘why this thing is a horrible thing to do and there really isn’t any excuse that would make it right’. He feels he lacks agency in his own life, and although events involving him are incredibly diverse (many of them are truthfully *about* other people, with him observing and questing the player on their actions rather then taking active part), that’s a core theme running through it. The player can make a difference, and everything is carefully PG13 at most, but he's rather prone to not making the wisest choices. The adults are hoping with some proper instruction and discipline he'll grow out of that: as it is, he's borderline delinquent if no one's keeping an eye on him.


His adventure is incredibly tedious (it involves two trips to City Hall- ‘nuff said), and he drops lampshades on that repeatedly: it asks more questions then it answers. He’s the lucky one who takes after Magsa and has two adventures, though (although the second is most certainly as much about the player character as it is him)- however, the requirements are so obscure no one who doesn’t check forum threads or the mod tools will never find it. I suppose it’s sort of an easter-egg, though considering the subject, it should be. Is that mysterious sounding enough?


As I just spent today deconstructing Miya’s adventure, I guess Aaran’s now the most done. Huh. He certainly gets the longest text, as I predicted above.

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Louise Kandinsky is a simple girl in Collage Vernin, and she prefers to be seen that way. She’s from Staade, and when frustrated, she lapses back in to Vilocian. She speaks the language with a rather unusual accent, though, and Kandinsky is most certainly not a common last name in Staade or its surrounding reasons. Ask Louise about it, though, and she’ll start grinding her teeth and bite off something about her mother. She never fully explains it, though, as she usually falls in to using some incredibly inappropriate words (particularly when one's mother is the subject) and getting herself a rather rare for her detention.


She’s a tomboy, though she makes friendships with boys no easier then she makes them with girls. She’s shy enough that she has difficult approaching people, and she’s aloof enough that people have difficulty approaching her. She always seems busy (any moment when she’s not multitasking is a moment of time wasted, in Louise’s eyes), and even the few times when she’s relaxed (usually cloud or bird watching), she seems melancholy and lost in thought. She pushes people away, evne though she doesn't attempt to, and even when they try to include her, she usually just alienates them.


She won’t touch makeup, only re-braids her hair after bathing (and never lets it down outside of the bathing facilities- even sleeping with it braided), wears no jewelry besides a pair of rather plain white studs, and dresses casually in dull colors even when given permission to not wear robes. She hates reading, has no interest in Rimbal, finds practical jokes juvenile, thinks bullying and dating are both wastes of her time, and generally isn’t in to things most other students are in to. What she does like? Smithing. Running. Birds. She really does like birds. But not all that much else- and she gives off an impression that ‘attending the best school for potential magicians in the world’ isn’t exactly on her like-list.


Louise studies both Zoology and Botany (both because she enjoys the outdoors, and because she enjoys plants and animals), Athletics (partially because of the whole outdoors thing, partially because it’s something to do), Revision (mostly due to potential spells of use in later years), Enchant (due to her like of smithing), and then Arithmetic (due to collage requirements, although she has nothing against the class and finds it suitable enough). She does well in the practical for all six of her classes, but her dislike of studying means her scores suffer.


Her familiar is a gorgeous animal: a large, brilliant, black hawk. Unfortunately, the beauty extends only to the outside. The hawk is not ‘evil’, and it would protest the label 'cruel', too (if she designed to notice someone who would label her, anyway, which she certainly will not), but the creature is very… practical. The straightest, most simple solutions are, the hawk feels, the best, and she advises Louise to continue acting that way. She strives to be an example, too- for instance, while she could go out to the grounds and war with every cat, bird, and snake on campus for one of the few rats that hasn’t already been eaten, or she could go to the aviary or critter pens and wait patiently for a human to arrive with food… she could also simply fly in to the Vernin Common Room and find twelve or so plump rats, moles, ferrets, and who-knows-what-else at almost any given time. A much easier dinner.


Thus, the hawk is currently confined to the Aviary unless Louise has the animal tied to her (with a falconers glove). It’s been gently suggested that Louise may want to consider binding herself to a more agreeable familiar (with the not-so-gentle follow-up that if she doesn’t want to consider that she needs to get her familiar under control before the decision is made for her), but such suggestions infuriate both girl and hawk.


(The hawk is referred to as the hawk because her current name is The Hochmeister. The writer wishes for the hawk to use a title for a name, but she fears that such a title is not quite obscure enough. If the readers would supply their opinion on whether the title would stick out as too real-worldly for the Academagia, or if it would work as something of an amusing in-joke/Easter-egg, the writer would most humbly appreciate it.)


Louise will do almost anything to avoid being inside a library, and doesn’t really like common-rooms (or, more exactly, even the upperclassmen glare at her after that event with her familiar, so she hates having to be around them). She’s not much for shopping, either, and is usually on the Academagia Campus or in the Reserve rather then in Mineta or further out. Common spots to see her are in one of the school’s two forges, the Grand Stairs, or any high-up places that are open to the outside air (such as the bell-towers). She’s not above being in places that aren’t that enjoyable to her just to feel like she’s a bit involved, so you can find her in the bleachers during some Rimbal events working on another project just so she feels she's part of the crowd


She’s attempting to figure out what club or organization to join next year, but she hasn’t had much luck. It makes her a bit mopey, but Louise is a bit prone to being mopey and bitter, if in understated ways. She hates messes and people who don’t clean up after themselves, snores a bit in her sleep and is rather embarrassed over it, and tends to hide smiles and laughter behind her hand almost instinctively, so no one can see if she's happy. Her favorite color is most certainly white, and while she’d say her favorite foods are all the things in Staade they don’t serve all that often in the Great Hall, she's come to find herself with an extreme sweet tooth for all the various tarts and pastries and pies and cakes that are so well known in Renagalia. If she goes in to Mineta, it’s almost certainly for them (and to pick up new quills and wand polish and textbooks, but the pastries are, honestly, the most important goal).


Oh, and Louise’s really not the sort of person you want to get in to a vendetta with. While she’s no Vincent W, she does study dueling in her spare time, and while she doesn’t like ‘bullying’, she doesn’t consider punching someone in the stomach repeatedly and trying to kick their teeth out bullying if they announced a Vendetta beforehand.



The tidbit for her: from Phillipe to Catherine to Mhadi to Flore to Leopold to Lambert to Milena to Els to Ana to Prudence, almost every student seems to be enjoying their time at the Academagia, if in some wildly different ways.(and preferring that the school be more open to their philosophies and goals). Which makes sense, as Academagia is Awesome!- but go even to Disney World, and there is always one child who despite all the awesome and fun is extremely unhappy. That child? Louise. This is an attempt to write someone who is constantly miserable while still attempting to make them sympathetic and to a degree, likeable (if annoying and irritating at times).


Other tidbit: her background comes from a piece of lore in the game that I believe both Kay and Renate commented about in their roleplays, calling it depressing. She'd agree with them.


Oh, and for Louise? Temperance helps.

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Antonio, Antonio. He has to put up with me keep fiddling with his last name to see how many parts I can fit in game without it seeming too ridiculous. I’m odd like that.




Antonio de Reyez e Irizarry-Vargas (and that’s not even half of his full name- it’s just most of the important parts) is perhaps the most cheerful face one could find in Collage Aranaz (not that cheerful stops him from going at the Aranaz-Durand rivalry with absolute glee). He seems to run on pure optimism, and getting him angry or depressed is near impossible (though annoyance is all too easy). He makes it hard to dislike him: he’s charismatic and friendly, but never pushes, he has a rather broad spectrum of interests, he’s an excellent listener, and when you get down to it, he’s not all that bad to look at, either, having the classic Monteon looks.


Hard, however, does not mean impossible… as playing the part of a social chameleon is only one of Antonio’s many talents. He’s one of Professor Sido’s favorite students, being both excellent with history and actually qualifying as a hyperpolygot. He’s great with numbers, too, able to do rather obscure calculations totally in his head. He’s athletic, and is going to be in a shoe-in for the Rimbal team next year- as well as being able to compete (and actually fight, though it’s not something that would often come up) as an archer. And then he can dance. Ride horses. Speak intelligently about both art appreciation and music theory. Play the lute. Cook. Sketch. Act. If you ask him what he’ has trouble with, he actually has to stop and think about it for a while before offering something among the lines of being good at everything he does, because he never has to do anything he’s not good at, which is not the sort of answer anyone wants to hear.


Adding on to the irritation, he’s not even the spoiled mature only noble son from a traditionalist family on Ile Bruyere, as might be assumed considering his skills. No, he’s a mercenary brat (as well as being one of the youngest students in his year, and a twin), and he and his sister were more accidents then anything: almost everything he knows he’s learned from life experience, having no formal education. It’s a bit difficult not to be jealous of someone who seems to have everything going right for them, and it’s even more difficult to not be annoyed that even when giving perfectly reasonable criticism about him, you’re likely to be jumped by a bunch of his ‘friends’ who will eagerly shout you down for your ‘petty jealousy’ no matter what the cause.


Antonio course selection is basic: Arithmetic, Calligraphy, Dialectic, History, Revision, and Rhetoric. All of them were chosen because he enjoys them (though he’d like to add another Magic course- he just hasn’t decided between Glamour, Astrology, or Negation), and as would be expected, he tends to do well in all of them.


His familiar, however, is not what would be suspected. That Antonio has a Godsgift Fair Cat isn’t all to surprising, and that the cat is named Fanuco (meaning ‘free’) seems suitable for an animal that they say rides the winds. But Fanuco does not look like a cat that was once a companion to royalty. He looks more like a confused stray that wandered on to the Academagia campus that no one’s been able to get rid of: too thin, too scarred, and too bristly. He seems like an imperfect fit for Antonio, but the boy with ignoble origins and noble bearings and the cat with noble origins and an ignoble bearing is at least poetic. Antonio absolutely adores the cat: as difficult as it is to make him angry, mistreating his cat is a guaranteed way to do it.


(This is despite the fact that they always seem to be bickering (not that Faunco can talk, but the cat makes rather expressive eye-rolls): Fanuco is of the opinion that Antonio needs to slow down, relax, and rest more often, and Antonio’s of the opinion that Fanuco needs to stop sneaking off to the Morvidus common room for an extra meal, as he’s just filling Girars tirade about how Aranaz students mistreat their familiars horribly.)


The key to Antonio’s success and skills truly is hard work (people think it’s a joke when it’s said that he falls asleep sitting up as he’s still reading, and as soon as he wakes up he immediately starts right where he left off- but his roommates would assure you that it is, actually, very much true), which makes him impossible to find at any circumstance. He can basically be anywhere working on anything- the best key to finding him is that he’s rarely alone, so you can usually ask person after person and eventually be directed to him. The other method is to just stand at a busy crossroad on campus and attempt to catch him when he goes running by on his way to his next event.


There’s quite a list of organizations that Antonio has expressed desires to be involved with (and ones that have expressed desire to recruit him). Student Council and Rimbal are likely a given, but it wouldn’t be out of character for Antonio to practically have a club a day for as long as he can get away with it. Already, he’s involved in quite a few unofficial groupings and organizations both on and off campus: he probably has a theater card and library card, at the very least.


Antonio’s quietly religious, and less quietly extremely superstitious. Observant people tend to notice that he seems to purposely act superficial at times, and while it’s easy to be ‘friends’ with him, it’s hard to actually become friends. When he’s distracted, he switches between languages even during same-sentences, an utterly unnatural- and unusual- behavior to anyone who’s done any linguistic studies. He has difficulty asking for assistance, and he never reads the (many) letters he gets from his family. His favorite color is red, but he’d tell you it’s green or blue depending on his mood, he was born only a few days in to the school year (under favorable stars), and the food he honestly likes best is fresh fruit, particularly citrus ones (even if they’re sour).



(He’s another one you don’t want to get in to a Vendetta with, but for entirely different reasons then Louise. It’s… complicated, which is why his Vendetta coding keeps changing with every rebuild. >.< Grr to it.)



Character Study, Sleuthing, and Investigation are extremely important when dealing with Antonio; everything written for him so far has some sort of Investigation option, actually, now that I’m looking it over (huh). He doesn’t tend to explain everything, mostly because he thinks people should just catch him with him along the way.



Tidbit: Antonio is, in a way, a representative of the concept that there’s always someone better… just as, to him, the PC is very likely to become this (curse you, PC, with your random events and adventures!... or not). As his notions of self are deeply wrapped up in presenting a perfect presentation, this is going to be a disappointment to him in later years, although a slight mark in his credit is that he's more likely to get angry at himself then feel annoyed towards another for besting him.


Tidbit 2: Antonio has required over thrice the research of the others, due to me researching nomadic cultures who have lost their homes (…not a very long list there, huh) and trying to figure out how that would be the same and how it would change in a world where magic was available. Thus, he is the least complete. Probably the most fun to write, though, although Miya’s sarcastic streak is more amusing as a whole.

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Also, what's going on in EU III? :)


My beloved Spain has gotten it's Spain is the Emperor achievement (though currently, she has a queen, so the crown is in the hand of my many vassals), as well as Is This The Way to India?, the monopoly of five trade goods, and the a port in every nation achievements. I'm on the way to destroying the poor Inca and taking over India for those two achievements, as well. I control all of the Iberian Peninsula (okay, Portugal has two pretty green providences, but they're vassaled), all of Italy (save for two providence Silcy, also vassaled), and then most of the southern area connecting the two areas (and, oddly, a tiny bit up far north- I wanted the Novgorod CoT). What was once France is now a mess of mostly my vassals (France, with two providences over in Brittany, is one of them), and I have many scattered through the German area, ending with vassalation of a tiny Denmark and Norway. England has gone through many injuries (including having once been fully conquered by the Scots), and with my vassals of Cornwall and Wales, they have been unable to unite the isles (and I think there are a few other hands over in Ireland, too). The Ottomon Empire has brutally collapsed, and Greece is in the hand of my lovely vassals who are mostly ignored as remnants of the Byzantine Empire and an expanding Hungary war with each other and the many countries that sprung in the collapse of the Ottomans. The Mamuluks have been dethroned by my hand as well, and the hordes seemed to have quietly died. Austria is dim, and hides out in what was once Poland.


The Spanish Empire controls the entire bit of the Caribbean and Bahamas (save for St Thomas, which is in Portugal's hands), the majority of South America (the Hansa has three providences, and the Inca holds around five), and, er, Florida. The entire west and east coasts of Africa are also held, save for a tiny bit in the south that belongs to some ultimately unimportant nation that will be defeated sometime or another when I get around to it. I seem to be the only one able to reach to India and beyond, meaning that conquering and colonizing India and the Indonesia area is up to me. The other colonizers- mostly the Hanseatic League, Guyenne, poor Portugal, and England (oh, and my vassalized Milan, who is doing quite well as a vassal, actually)- fight over North America (with a doing rather well for themselves Cherokee), but I grimly approach through central America, and all will be mine in time.


...Unfortunately, while I was doing all this great stuff south and west, the three blobs of the north have made their stand- Sweden (poor one providence Denmark-vassal is all that stops them from being Scandinavia, really) has expanded in to Russia, Russia (it formed!) has thus expanded even further east, and in turn Ming has basically taken over all of southeast Asia. Thankfully, they're not really in my way- Russia probably wants Norvgood back, but I can beat Russia. More concerning is the Hansa: small, but super rich and colonizing, and then Guyenne, right on my borders and with the crime of being a heretic. However, they will likely be taken care of with some easy wars (problem is they're just too big to vassal, but I don't have any cores in their lands, and they have nothing left to release).


Not so much Bohemia, my chief competition for the crown, which is this huge giant thing that ate a bunch of German minors, Austria, Poland (the part that Austria isn't currently now hiding in, anyway), Lithuania, and the hordeland southeast, including where Genoa and Georgia used to live. They also seem to have alliances and vassals of everyone I don't have alliances and vassals with, which means every war between us two ends up in some giant messy world war, and we both have Imperial Liberation CB's whenever either of us gets the crown, so it's, um, very ugly.


But Spain is too far ahead to lose (and they have three sea providences compared to my five million, which means I can blockade and make them come to me, preferably while pointing and laughing), and thus, BEE-DA, oh Bohemia. Castile is rather easy, though- my next game will likely be TO to Germany (with Prussia in the middle), which means defending oneself from Denmark/Sweden, Russia, Poland/Liet, and the Golden Horde all at once, while everyone and their mother wants Gotland and everyone else won't let me take Riga. Or maybe I'll attempt a world conquering by starting with the Golden Horde. Hm!



We are watching this topic with great interest. :)


But, er, yes. This first. Did some portrait editing today, got frustrated with it, didn't get anywhere. On the other hand, the modtools is now baking another attempt at everyone's AI for me to run through a game with. I'm pretty satisfied with it (...not that AI is that hard to make), but I keep wanting to tweak just a tiny thing which ends up with me tweaking some other tiny thing, and the cycle goes on and on.


Planned out two more events, too, though they're not in the modtools yet. Events/encounters are really becoming difficult- most of them are 'something happens, while (Character) is nearby', which is similar to most of the student events so far, but I worry I'm going to rift off or practically repeat something in game. I've read so many events I don't know whats-what anymore, it feels like. XD

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Kongo's obsession with declaring war as their OPM self on me every time our treaty expired lead to their Annexation, which lead to around five other OPM's declaring war on me, which lead to most of the native Americas declaring war on me, which lead to every stupid country left in India save for two declaring war on me, which means I'm hovering dagerously close to the BB limit. May need to release some vassals in Africa for a while... most of those providences aren't doing too much for me anyway.


Still, foo, EUIII. And Bohemia has managed to take over enough that now Austria's hiding over by the Caspian Sea. One day I'm going to look up and find them on the pacific, I swear.



On modding terms, I think the AI is fine. Crossing that off completely. Today's project is to write the last duel 'adventure' (...which, honestly, should take five minutes- they're not really that hard) and put all four duels in the modbase. After that, I'm going to start working on transferring the adventures and the abilities in to the game.


With luck, that will mean next weekend will be an alpha release (though it'll likely be shared via PM with anyone interested in taking a look- I'd like opinions on the writing before, um, anything public): each characters will have the coding, three abilities, duel and normal adventure, and at least three events (though I think even now, all have more). The only thing missing is going to be portraits, which... is probably going to be the thing I save for last. I've had no luck begging deviant art folks and friends with artistic talent to help, and I'm a bit leery about paying money to hire an artist for a modding project, so... we'll see how that goes.

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I will pester you on facebook about this if you want. Soon, but not now, because I've came down with some rather horrid digestion problems.


@Legate: I don't know why, but the forum insists on showing me a blank page for the previous few days..... :(

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Will gladly be a test subject for the mod if you like.


About portraits,.. gneh, I'm horrible at it. I hate to ask, but any idea of the price for 4 portraits from either the original artist or some fancy-pants at Deviant Art? If it mountable I'll gladly tip in to it...






Back to work <_<

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Owch for pains. :( And forum troubles. And work. Boo!


There are some complicated things going on in my real life: put it bluntly, we're losing my great-grandmother. She's 97, and is ready to go, but things are a bit painful right now. Oddly, that may mean that I do get more modding done in the next few days, but I can't promise I'll be keeping to a great schedule or that I'll be on the boards all that often.


Um. Did write out last duel, but only put M and Aa's in game. (Miya wants to make you feel like an idiot and make a show out of it, Aaran thinks being under a geas will be an interesting experience, Louise wants a full month to hit you with her vendetta coding because she's hateful like that, and Antonio just wants no audience and to get it done quickly.) And wrote an event about blue birds (that may be bluebirds) that Miya is convinced are pirate spies (...it's a bit obscure and bewildering, but it's her generic Miya event, so I figure it can get away with it), and then wrote an event of her and Alan bickering about finders-keepers vs takers-keepers.


All four of them, a few of their events ended up turning in to Collage-only ones (...though Antonio has a weird one that will only show up for Avila, Hedi, Godina, and Vernin). I figure that's okay, as long as it's equal, though it does leave out Durand, Hedi, and Morv which is sad. :(


I've been wondering how to label events. Adventures, I just use traditional labeling (Student Adventure Miya, Duel Adventure Miya and so on- Aaran's extra will go under it's title), but for Events, for now, I've just gone with the normal naming (Godina vs Avila or whatever) but added MKA before (MKAGodina vs Avila 00) it so they're easier sorted and don't conflict with anything. I hope that makes sense and will be acceptable.


Feel free to bug me on facebook, and thanks for the testing offer! <3


...While I don't know the original artists price (that's one thing I should ask about, if the artist doesn't mind being known and asked), Deviant Art commissions wouldn't be too bad, moneywise. The problem is that someone can say they'll intimate the originals, and indeed do their best and make wonderful awesome portraits- but they might still not be quite a fit, leaving me needing to pay them but no closer then before.


Considering doing some sketches (I can sketch, while not 'well', a lot better then I can do pixel art), seeing what the Legate thinks, and then tossing them off as a base and more specifically looking for a colorer-painter who could use them as guideline art. But that would be another time waster... ah, well, I'll figure out something. :)



...I can't get Renate's game to load. :( Apparently it doesn't like that the cache isn't there, even though I have the old DLC files and whatever still around. Boo.

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Paradox Interactive are well known for releasing great historical simulation games, having an incredibly moddable games (in fact, many games released under the Paradox Interactive name started as game mods... unfortunately, that means that the label Paradox interactive doesn't necessary mean quality as there are many different Paradox Interactive teams), selling almost everything through digital distribution and thus being able to not have to worry about non-online marketing giving them more money to put towards patching, which is good, as the last thing they're known for is releasing incredibly broken games. A few patches, and you have a great historical real time strategy game. Buying a PI game as soon as it comes out is only folly, though.


EU III Chronicles is usually pretty cheap on Steam, and has all expansion packs involved. It proves a nice balance between the other two games Paradox is known for: Victoria (II being the current), which takes place during the Industrial Age and focuses on manufacturing and government manipulation (also some colonizing)- and has a great/ugly Civil War scenario for USA, and then Hearts of Iron III, which takes place during WWII and thus mostly focuses on that. (It used to be possible to take a dynasty from Crusader Kings, import that map in to EUIII, then import that in to Victoria II, then I believe import that in to an obscure Paradox game I don't know for WWI, import that in to Hearts of Iron III and maybe even import from there in to some obscure Cold War game- but the problem would be you'd then likely have the freakin' Roman Empire running around in WWII with no units for it and it would get very confusing.


Was fun, though. I recomend EUIII and Victoria II (Hearts of Iron doesn't do much for me- mostly because I'm horrible at it! XD), and Crusader Kings II will be coming out soon, which I can't wait for. They also just released Sengoku, which is supposedly sort of like EUIII, but focused only on Japan. I've heard mixed reports, but could be fun.



Also on EUIII, I finished my Spain game. I wanted to upload my world map to image shack in order to brag, but the file's too big for imageshack, heh. Rest assured that I did take over India and got that achievement, and made my fleet so awesome that I got the my navy can take on the whole world bwhahahaha achievement, too. (I also ended up taking over most of Japan due to some weird vassal interaction). I never quite made it in to North America save for the Mexico coasts, though (and the isles), and sadly, my stupid Queen just wouldn't die (she was 70 something, grr, and had been rulling since 15!) so I never inherited my PU's with Portagul and Blobhemia (...and some one providence German minor no one, including me, cared about). Fooey! But perhaps that will be my next try... total world conquest. I've heard England is actually pretty decent for it...



As for modding in Academagia... it's going a bit haphazardly. My great-grandmother passed away, I'm apartment hunting, I have a two-week vacation coming up that needs plans for, we had a cancer scare for my mom (thankfully, it turned out to be much more mundane, but it was rather scary), and now they think something's off with me and I get to go have all sorts of fun-fun tests taken that my insurance will probably only design to cover after I call them some seventeen times, so I'm a bit distracted. I've written and coded a bit more (...though coding at this point is mostly just retyping things I've already written in to the toolset so there's no bugs for layout), but I'm honestly unsure if I was paying enough attention while doing that stuff for it to be of good 'quality'.


So for now, I'm probably just going to try and post a spoiler (or preview, if you prefer) a day (it might be every other day), as it is, to keep me concentrating on the project rather then being wrapped up in being depressed. ;)


Later tonight, I'll be making a post about Miya's abilities. So. Wee!

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Thank you, Adrian. :)



So, apparently tonight means 'three/four days later' for me. Sigh. But I should be able to post every day now, at least.


So, yeah. Let me talk about abilities.


As is probably obviously known to all, all students have three: their own self ability, the ability they give everyone in their clique when they join, and then their familiar ability. The familiar ability is always an active: it gives no passive buffs, the student has to choose to use it. The self ability and the clique ability can be either.


In my head, when I look at abilities, I put them sort of between what I consider the best and the worst. I use clique abilities as my judge, as they're the ones that come up the most. In my mind, one of the best belongs to Emilia P: Emilia's 'Gift', which is a passive that gives you +3 to an attribute, plus +3 to skills, and then +3 to subskills. It's lovely. (It's overpowered.) On the other hand, one of the worst belongs to poor Zorzi, who has Air Affair- an ability you have to activate that gives you +3% chance of success at casting spells with the Air type for three days. There really aren't that many Air Type spells in the first place, in general most spells are not difficult to cast (...unless you choose Negated, anyway), +3$ success is not the best buff in the world anyway, and you actually have to spend an action setting that up! (It's underpowered.)


My goal, then, is to have all twelve abilities I'm writing fit in-between Emilia awesome and Zorzi not-so-awesome. In practice, I try to average them out- if a kid has one good one, their two other ones get reduced... however, if in doubt, I went closer to Air Affair then Emilia's 'Gift', for the simple reason that it's much easier to buff later then it is to nerf later. I think Miya ended up the unlucky one with the worst abilities, but arguments could be made about who gets the best: Aaran's has the potential but can also hurt, Antonio has by far the best self-buff but a pretty meh familar ability, and Louise's I think are just perfectly average.


It actually seems a bit silly to divide it by character rather then by type, so later today, everyone's self abilities. I'd do them now, but I have a scary appointment coming up in a bit and I'm too nervous to actually type sanely. Hm.

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Most of these have been reworded slightly in the in-game description so that the boosts are more uniform with every other description, but as I don't have the modtools and I do have my AcademagiaModdingofDOOOOM.doc with me at the moment, consider these, er, the draft before the final? None of them have been altered mechanically since then- so far while testing, they seem to work well enough. Antonio's is overpowered, Louise's is likely under, Aaran's is both and neither and Miya's is just sort of there, but it all works in the end. Sorta. ;)


Though Miya's needs a name change. I'm open to suggestions. The other ideas I've had either also touch on sea when they shouldn't (Sea Hawke), or they sound dumb (Air Legs just... doesn't have the same ring).



Sea Legs (...only not)

Miya considers the aspects of living on a ship boring compared to the adventure’s she’s had during landings, but they're also the only training in her life she's completely unable to hide despite all her vaunted acting skills. Surviving storms have left her Acrobatics (+3) second to none, and years of scouting have improved her Knots, Cartography, Perception, and Climb (all by +1).


(Miya's first passive ability is what is now the in-game Sky Pirates background (amusingly, it even had the detection chance upped that the background uses but I had written out when I first submitted it to the boards for use). :) I thought it was too fun to waste on just one NPC. Still, what was left for her feels a bit plain.)



Broken Fate (or Reparations to the Broken Fate- I change it every other day)

Astrologers tend to get weird when the subject of fate comes up, and Aaran’s no exception. Convinced in someway that it’s broken (his fate, in particular), he tends to walk in aimless patterns around the odder rooms of the campus, tear through books in languages he can’t read, write up star charts and horoscopes for people he barely knows, cast Glamour spells on mirrors and mostly just act bizarre. This mostly just leads to him stressing himself out or learning a bit more about astrology, but there are other results. Sometimes someone who just happens to be unfortunate enough to wander near him gets infected by his strange luck. Sometimes he gets horribly sick. And, very rarely, sometimes he learns something really, really strange.


(Aaran's ability is most similar to Iustus: it's a reference table. It's also not quite finished in game, as it keeps annoying me. In practice, it does as I say: the most common result is stress, and after that is a step for an Astrology subskill. There are two conditional effects it can place on either him or others for two days: one gives a minor luck boost, one a minor luck drop (it's set to target friends and rivals (...though one's just as likely to get hit with good or bad), and thus can be rather easily avoided by a PC, though the AI isn't that lucky). It occasionally gives him a bit of research or information on something, a glamour subskill, or a trip to the infirmity as he takes 6 VIT dmg and dooms himself. There's also some 1% stuff. It's usually not good.)



Detestation of Obstacles

Distractions are evil, in Louise’s world. Distractions get in the way of her dreams and goals and everything she wants to do. Sadly, there are a lot of distractions. Around once a week, Louise manages to find it in her to release pent up energy and emotions (usually by kicking walls or by a rather epic rant). The process is highly cathartic, allowing her to shred three points of stress. It’s also rather unnerving. In practice, it moves three of her relationships closer to a ‘clean slate’ as they find other things to do then get in Louise’s path. One of them is a rivalry, but two are friendships. It’s the price she pays for her explosions, but she would claim it worth it.


(This works and fits for Louise, but tends to run in to the unfortunate fact that due to her not prioritizing social skills and friend making (she does not have Wuv, Better the Collage, or Make Friends as her goals, just to start) she runs out of friends to move towards 0 pretty quickly. It also means she tends to split cliques she's in unless there's a social monster calming things down. So far in testing, I'm okay with this: it should be hard to keep her as a friend, and she doesn't use it *that* often. This is one of those abilities that's almost certain to change in coming years if the PC manages to befriend her, get her loyalty, and sort of calm some of her plans, but in her first year- yes, she's difficult and frustrating and sabotages herself. Not good, but not unheard of.


This has been slightly rewarded, too- it targets people she has low relationships with and people she has high relationships, not particularly rivals or friends. That would be a very tiny pool.)



Chasing Perfection

Why exactly is Antonio so skilled? Mostly, a good education. When there’s around twenty adults and two kids around, those two kids get a lot of attention. Partially, a good birth under bright stars. Twins are relatively fortuitous, too, and old tales say that as they grow, what one learns, the other does, too. Likely, full on determination. Hard work really does work at times. Or maybe he really is just better then everyone else. Regardless of the reason, Antonio gains +2 Charm, +2 Intelligence and +1 Fitness.


It’s not really fair, but few things are when it comes to him.


(In theory, this boost is ridiculous. Even Neta only gains +3 CHA! In practice, it seems to work. Antonio's sabotaged by me: his goals are too weighty, and he has far too many skills to boost in both his interests and personalities. This helps him become what he should be: an ultra-talented generalist, who has a super wide-array of skills but never passes the specialists in their fields. Thus, high attributes which help him gain the first few levels in skills easily... that tend to hover around 4-6 as he moves on to something else. Others testing will see if I'm correct, though.


(Right now, I need to 'teach' him how to get over the third step in his second goal, which is currently confusing him oh-so-much.))



Uh, yay, I guess? Tomorrow either more skills, or goals to mix it up. Probably goals. They're fun.

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Now I'm just running the mod in the background as I play other games. Usually, when I loaded up the mod, it was specifically to befriend/rival the kids and see how that worked: now I'm more just letting things happen naturally. As said, Louise has been changed so that her ability won't work on people she has friendship or rivalry with, as the spell that does similar does. The other way worked if the player is in her clique, but although most NPCs raised their own relationship with her back up quickly, there are a few students as antisocial as she, and that led to a bit too much clique breaking even for more.


Been working on Miya's adventure. I had first attempt all coded, which was about stealing a certain item from the city... but in practice, it was starting to remind me a bit too much of a combination of Catherine and Corradin's. I then outlined an investigation of Mineta's thieves guild, but that one reminded me a bit too much of Isabeau's tracking-the-thief (and various other investigative focused adventures) and I didn't want to put too much information on the Thieves Guild down, as I know the Legate has mentioned that there will likely be an opportunity to join in later years, so it would probably be all wrong. Then I wrote something involving her parents landing in Mineta for a while and her struggle to deal with it, but it felt more like a long event.


So now I came up with something I think works and is sort of fun, although it's a bit more low-key then a lot of adventures (it's not a difficult one (and thus will probably not reward a stat point or glory), and there are a few times when your not making rolls, just giving opinions that shape how the adventure goes). I'm still fleshing it from an outline in to a full writing, though, so I guess we'll see. :)



Goals! That's where I went crazy. Most students have one unique goal... all of these kids have two unique goals, if not three. Also, some of them are just other goals with different names to be more unique.

...=/ I suppose this is the biggest thing that makes these kids stick out as not being the same as the others, but, well, as you can't really see the mechanics of goals without going in to the mod tools, it's not as important, right? Maybe? Hm.



Miya is the closest to the baseline, as is usual for her.

  • Academic Success (same as everyone)
  • Familiarize the Familiar (same as everyone)
  • Fit in Godina (Better the Collage, only she also tries to teach herself Rimbal)
  • Weave Them a Tale (her learning-my-interests one, which is mostly Storytelling along with a few other supporting skills)
  • Wuv. Tru Wuv. (the same as others, save for that she adds Romance to the Dating and Flirting, tries to inform on both guys and gals, and will expand relationship with both genders)


Aaran's are by eye the most different, though the actual truth is that they're mostly the same as others, just reordered. Better the Collage, Familiarize the Familiar, Know the School (though he focuses on indoor locations) are all just split between the Safe and Secure options.

  • Academic Focus (Same as success, only no teacher relations)
  • Feel Safe (familiar bond, regent relations, and other helpful skills for surviving)
  • Feel Secure (familiar skills, collage relations, explore-ing, money, and then some danger sense)
  • Feel Sorta-Kinda-Maybe Happy (the learning-my-interests skill, plus some Astrology- though I'd change that to goofing off with the Maret Deck if I had the latest skills, as that suits him even better (and would help move him even further away from Malacresta, hopefully))
  • Show Nothing (composure, mostly)


Louise is the one who is to me the most changed, but you be the judge of that.

  • Attempt to Grow Wings (Enchant and Revision. Also, birds.)
  • Explore Outside (Know the School, only not really- it's Exploring Grounds and the Reserve, and raising Explore skills)
  • Familiarize the Familiar (the same as everyone, hurray!)
  • Half-Hearted Studying (Academic Success, only she only studies twice, not thrice, and she doesn't buddy up to instructors, either)
  • Try Flying Away (athletics, some more explore skills, and exploring Elumia Proper)


Antonio's are in practice similar to normal (technically, he only has one 'unique', like normal students), but he adds new things to each goal beyond the first. Mostly so I can sabotage him. Poor kid.

  • Academic Success (Normal!)
  • Aranaz Perfection (Better the Collage with no reason to have a new name save for that it's about ARANAZ(!!!)- he adds regent favor and Honor of Mallen Field. For the longest time, he also was sabotaging Durand's Merit, in 'honor' of the rivalry. I managed to teach him how to do it, finally, but I took it out because although it is in character, it's not fair to a player character in Durand (their collage is already basically screwed for merit competition, no need to make it worse (second to last place for the win?))- instead, I switched that over to his Vendetta table, so it's just something he does when stressed because he's rival'ing with someone.)
  • Familiarize the Familiar (Normalish- in the vein of some of the more animal-obsessed students, he adds an extra Bond.)
  • Make 'Friends' (Adds informing himself on students and expanding Beguile to the usual Befriend, Expand Relations, Add Friendship)
  • Monteon Virtues and the Mercenary Vices (his learn-my-interests skill... Compete, War, Gambling, Dance, and Worldliness, IIRC)

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So. I'm going to be away from the 17th to the 31st (I may have limited internet access during some of that- especially the middle- but I'll be on the laptop, and I don't trust the laptop not to explode in tiny little pieces of confusion if I put the modtools on that, and anyway, I'll be on Vacation!). Then, in November, I participate in NaNoWriMo (I'm Mikka over there, too, for anyone else who does it, too- not that I'll be checking the site much until November), and I'm going to be moving.



So I'm working at an extreme pace over the next week and a half. Keeps my mind of other things. Nothing to report at the moment, but the progress thing I was supposed to be updating in the first post will be, well, updated finally today and the next few days.


As usual, the things I need the most help on are portraits. If you have any mind for art, please post here, the portrait thread, or PM me. Even if you don't have a mind for art, if you want to give a try, lemme know. I simply don't have the talent to do it (especially for the two guys), and thus, this mod will be eternally stalled until, well, I get help, as pathetic as they may sound. So, well, please give it a try if you're interested in this at all. ^^;;

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Writing Random Events today. And trying to come up with a few more.


Miya and Aaran are very easy- I have more then enough events for them (though when the idea comes, I write up another, because why not). Antonio and Louise are still underachieving in that. Probably because I've had much more time to think of events for the first two, but still, it's bugging me. I manage the Neutral event revolving around them, and then the rare event that only shows up at low friendship/rivalry. Then at least one collage-only one. Then I sort of squint. I'm just lacking a bit in inspiration today, I guess. ^^

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How's it going? :P


Btw, a quick question:

What would the students' reactions be if all four of them spot you describing them to a shimmering figure at the same time? :P


Just wanted to have a bit of meta-fun.

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Oh, yay, someone prodded me! I was wondering if anyone was still interested. <3 Well, things are going 'interestingly', I suppose I can say. :D Prepare for a long post!



I made myself a deadline: these four dorks will be 'out' as my New Years Present to, uh, the forums and perhaps at this case myself (I would like to do it for the holidays (meaning Christmas and the Winter Solace, really, but if there's another lateish December holiday, count that in as well :D), but in practice my move the middle of this month plus NanoWriMo'ing makes that difficult and the week between Christmas and New Years has always been a great time for goofing off: no work, no distractions, no crazy. Considering the consequences of New Years parties (though I'm hoping this year will just be a relaxed few friends get-together), I would thus say expect the mod to be 'out' January 2nd.


I'm saying 'out' for a few reasons: first, it won't be the 'final' version, I'm sure. The portraits will not be Tabin with the words 'not tabin' written on them in bright red (as Antonio's currently is as I'm testing... >.> (the other three at least have mock-ups)), but particularly the guys I'm sure won't be of very good quality, and there might be some writing that hasn't had a 'quality pass'. There are some very slight changes to adventures I want to make once I have access to modbase 5 (Aaran should have a place in the Avila boys adventure as it effects all boys in the dorm, and Miya probably in the start of the Godina working one, as I think every other Godina student is there- I don't think Vernin and Aranaz have any 'everyone involved!' adventures themselves, though Antonio is probably going to be writing Emilia hate notes for not inviting him in on the student council sabotage mission), and technically some skill changes (Antonio and Aaran will pick up Dispassion and Numerology just by their study all Malice/Astrology respectfully, but I'd like to give a nudge). So on, so forth- basically, it will be released as a release, not a beta, but it'll still be version 1.00... that just means they'll be 1.01, 1.02, not to mention eventually release 2.00.


The second is if all possible, I'd like to get these brats included as 'official' content, which would make everything involving them easier on, well, everyone but the poor people in charge of Academagia, I suppose. ;_; (Sorry, Legate and everyone else!) This is likely to be a difficult sort of thing- once I have a version that has all the important things and that doesn't embarrass me, I'll send it to the Legate and see what he (and all the others) say and if there is any possibility. If there is one, that might mean they don't get released on Jan 2nd, as they're being refitted behind scenes to be released in an official DLC, which may take much more time.




So, to summarize: kids will be done in a doneish way on January 2nd, and then will likely be in your hands, unless they manage to make the pass as becoming 'official' content, in which they will be in your hands who-knows-when, and I'll honestly be running around in excited glee rather then caring at that point.




(Someone asked me a question about authorial integrity/intent in PM, and although they've since stopped posting, I figure now is a good enough time to mention it. As soon as these kids make it out in to release (and even now, for that matter), I basically am releasing all 'control'. They're open-source, as you say. Certainly, I'm going to continue writing adventures and events for them (in this year and beyond till year six, unless sudden death or the like overtakes me :P), but if you want to write for them? Write for them! If you want to make events where they're lovely mary sue saints, go for it, if you want to make events where they're horrible idiots only to be used as bullying targets, that's fine, too. You don't need my permission to do what the hell-ever with them. The only thing I ask is that their sexualities remain as they are, as that was my reason for creating them and I think a pretty important thing. Everything else is open. I certainly have my own ideas on the backgrounds and secrets each have (well, Louise and Aaran, anyway- the other two mostly have pretend-secrets that aren't really that important to anyone but them), but I can share them or you can make up your own reasons if you want to poke at such things. Whatever works. I think Academagia works best when we work on things cooperatively, anyway. :))



Everything Aaran and Miya need has been written. Not coded, but written.


I believe I've written about my frustration with this before: what I've found is that if I copy and paste a story part from, say, word, and put it in to the modtools, it works, but the formatting breaks- there will be huge spaces between paragraphs that mean that each paragraph ends up on a different page, which as I already am pretty wordy to begin with, is absolutely horrible (or occasionally I end up with paragraphs with no spaces between them, or with sentences that break paragraphs, and all other sorts of wonky formatting trouble) and it drives me batty. You can notice the problem with quite a few of the awesome user events- compared to the rest of the game, their formatting is often a bit 'off'. Unfortunately, the only cure I've been able to find for this problem is to nuke and retype- IE, don't copy and paste, but retype the whole thing. And I don't care that I'm a typist by profession (or transcriber, actually, but same difference): that is *tedious*. The actual coding and linking isn't all that troublesome (occasionally a bit tedious, but not troublesome), but the retyping and retyping and retyping is... well. Ugh.


On the amusing side, I realized yesterday that all the events I'd coded, I'd forget to associate a picture with them. Doh! Thankfully, that was an easy fix.



I had hoped to be able to both test and write some more when I was on the vacation I took, but things didn't quite work out. I did, however, start to work on two things I wanted to do: The Horrible Disastrous Theater Adventure, and the mysterious card game that actually has a dundundun plot involving gates but you don't get to find that out till like, year three, sorry (year one's just finding out about it and playing for fun). While I'm still on the fence about the second, the first will be included in this mod, bringing our adventure count up to six.


The Horrible Disastrous Theater Adventure involves two set events: one triggering during the last week of the first month, and one triggering during the first week of the last month. In the former, you have a chance to put your name on a sign up sheet to participate in an upcoming school event that will feature a theater performance from each year (or to run away screaming). In the latter, you have a chance to lose some stress by watching the nice little feature theater performance your yearmates are putting on (or be a part of it and wish to run away screaming). In the between, if you did choose to put your name on that sign up sheet, due to busy teachers wishing to promote student independence and smart decision-making and bored upperclassmen who are too busy with their own productions to supervise you, YOU end up in charge of the planning for the class play and trying to make it not a disaster. All of it. The main stars besides your character are the theater brats: Catherine, Luti, Tabin, and yes, Miya and Antonio, but I made a joke to myself that every student gets at least a name-check (and some have very important roles :)... after all, you can't put on a production with just actors!). Be forewarned, though: it's a long adventure (if not that hard) and requires some serious work (read: time-commitment) from your student to make it well, not be a disaster, so those with little interest should probably skip the sign up thing. Though being in charge of a horrendous play during year one makes interesting backstory for year two, I suppose. :D Can't win 'em all.


...It's been extremely fun to write so far. :)



As for your question, Creme, a silly answer and then a more serious one:


Aaran, immediately: "Dispel, dispel, dispel!"

Louise, a bit bemused: "...." /thinks, then tries, "...excuse me?"

Aaran, stage whisper: "The thing that listens is shimmering."

Miya, overly confident and a bit smartass'ed by quoting a cliche at Aaran who likes them: "Some beings like to shimmer. You shouldn't be so quick to judge, lest you be judged in return."

Miya: .../beat

Miya, not so confident: "Wait, are they talking about me? Who is that girl-woman? What is that figure? Why are they talking about me? Are they saying something nice? Aki!" /panicked look-around-for-a-familar, but quick to give it up, "Ah, we need to get closer! Tell me what they're saying! Aggh, you- you, all of you, stop looking so suspicious! We'll be noticed!"

Antonio, being reasonable or the devil's advocate, you decide: "If they're already speaking of us, would it be so bad for them to notice us? It may convince them to stop, hm?"

Aaran, mostly under his breath and talking to himself: "What if they know? What if they know? What if they know? What if they know? What if they know?"

Louise, talking over him: "I would prefer they stopped. I dislike people conversing about me behind my back, very much so."

Miya, interrupting to talk over her: "Wait, wait, I want to hear what they're saying! ...I hope it's good. I'm sure it's good. It's good, isn't it?"

Antonio, doesn't really care, but going to engage the girl more likely to do harm if angered then the two crazy kids: "Let's just go up to them, then. Thus, they won't be talking about you behind your back, they'll be speaking to your face."

Miya, complete with foot stomp: "But I want to hear what they're saying! They may stop if we approach."

Aaran, back to senses: "Eavesdrop!"

Miya: "I prefer my way. Eavesdropping is rude and invasive. You shouldn't make a habit of it."

Louise: "..." /grumbling "...they're the same thing..."

Aaran, now confident: "No. I want to eavesdrop. They may know, and if they know, I want to know, too." /characteristic head tilt "Why should we approach? Do you fear hearing their opinion?"

Louise: "Are you talking to me?"

Aaran: "Would your response change if I was?"

Louise, wait, whut: "...." "..." "...Excuse me?"

Miya: "STOP MAKING SO MUCH NOISE." /coughs "Shoot, they're looking! Pretend to be a tree!"

Antonio and Louise, not trees: "..."

Aaran, arms half-heartedly stretched as branches, to Louise: "You are pardoned."

Miya, a very beautiful tree, thank you: "Your tree poses are offenses against every tree that sprouts on this lonely island, and you shame them by standing on the very grass they feed."

Louise: "You're just mocking me, aren't you? All of you! I have better things to do then stand here and me gossiped about, or be mock-"

Antonio, in everyone-should-get-along (unless it's Aranaz vs Durand, in which it's WAR)) mode: "They didn't mean it like that, they're just socially deficient, yes? (Like you.) Let's just calm down; it seems we're only being described, and in relatively plain terms. ...I do wonder why."

Miya: "You just started wondering?! I've been wondering since... ugh, bird... eh... droppings." /glowers at Aaran, then goes to cleaning her sleeve with a handkerchief

Louise: "Lovely." /heavy sigh "...I'm going to go confront them."

Aaran, addressing Miya: "...You blame me for your misfortune?"

Miya, responding in turn: "I don't see anyone else sapping all the luck around here, do you? Urk. Why didn't I learn Glamour or Revision?"

Aaran, a bit unhappy, though it's hard to tell: "...You are an idiot."

Antonio, talking quickly over him: "Likely because you wanted to learn how to set things on fire- that's the usual reason for studying Incantaton, hm? No matter, I took revision: plates, phemes, and your robe is as good as new, Miya."

Miya, successfully distracted: "Eheh! Perfection! Thank you very much, dear friend."

Louise, wonders how they're dear friends when they've barely ever spoken before: "..."

Louise, also was sort of hoping someone would back her up because she's sort of nervous at confronting strange people alone: "..."

Louise, thus is standing in place looking and feeling awkward but is unsure how to express this: "..."

Louise, doesn't even really know these people anyway and why are they talking about her this is so awkwardddcd: "...."

Aaran, has yet to untilt his head: "Are you planning on speaking?"

Louise, don't rush her, darn it!: "...I... feel that we should confront them."

Miya: "If you all stopped talking, we'd hear exactly what they're saying." /crosses arms in a huff "And why there's so much shimmer."

Antonio, taking pot-shots at the creator: "That girl with them is also odd, don't you think? She doesn't seem to fit in at all. Her clothing is very... 'unique'."

Miya, slightly defensive: "She could simply be from a culture you don't know about."

Antonio, getting an edge: "There aren't any cultures I'm unaware of."

Miya, irritated: "There most certainly are!"

Antonio, also irritated: "Could you prove that? No? I thought so." /pause, but as soon as Miya opens her mouth quickly adds, "Don't be so childish."

Louise, was born irritated: "So much for 'dear' friend."

Miya, oh snap!: "At least I have friends, unlike some people."

Aaran, sort of thinks that refers to him, too, but: "...Ah. We are being observed."

Antonio: "Well, they stopped talking. You two happy now?"

Miya, angry: "I wanted them to keep talking!"

Louise, also angry: "The world doesn't exist to satisfy your wants."

Miya, irrational: "Then I'll change the world so it does!"

Antonio, curiously meta: "Is the author going anywhere with this, or has she written herself in to a corner and just made us all seem like bit- jerks?"

Aaran: "...may I dispel now?"


Okay, not as silly as I thought.



More practically, though, I imagine a similar result. Miya would want to eavesdrop to make sure good things are being said (and be very disappointed if it wasn't so good), and would try and force the other three in to compliance- not bothering with being too nice, as she doesn't really like any of the three of them personality-wise (obviously, in game relationships, she'll make friends each game with whoever- she doesn't have any directives one way or another). Everything else would be unimportant. I imagine she would prefer to remain hidden and listen, but if she hears something she dislikes, she'd burst out from hiding (preferably with the others acting like her posse), and do a dramatic, "Lies, lies, vicious rumors!" routine, complete with a fake burst of tears.


Aaran is used to people talking about him behind his back. He doesn't really mind it. He doesn't like people talking about his past (as opposed to speculating), but there's a solution to that: act weird and crazy and they will start discussing you being weird and crazy rather then whatever else they were saying. Being eccentric has it's advantages, at times: you can figure out meta. ;) He's the one who would really be concerned about the shimmering figure, but it's rare that he actually gets to hang out in groups, so I imagine he'd bow to the whims of the others at least at first. If alone or bored with his company, he'd probably ask the cards or stars, and then either spy or walk up to the figure and ask them why they're shimmering as the cards/stars decreed.


Louise would just be very, very uncomfortable. Weird person and a shimmering figure talking about her while she's stuck with these people she doesn't know well? Her preference, obviously, would to be go up and tell them if they have anything to say about her, to say it to her face... but she'd be too shy to do it alone. So more likely, she'd glare at them and eventually stomp off angry and irritated about everything. Who were those strange people, and why were they discussing her? It would stay on her mind, and she'd curse at herself for not having confronted them, and so on so what.


Antonio, in this situation, honestly wouldn't really care. People are talking about him? Good for them: he probably talks about them sometimes, too, or at least he would if they knew them. Weird person? There's a lot of weird people in the Academagia, honestly. Shimmering figure? A bit more interesting, but in general, a good chance of them being one of the Fair Folk or otherly, and one shouldn't go out of the way to invite their attention. He'd try to remember what they looked like and see if he could ask a Professor or look it up in the library later. Having said that, if the issue bothered someone he was with, he'd encourage them to confront and go with them. Just because it doesn't bother him means it doesn't bother them, and he tries to be gracious and helpful (...not really because he's a gracious and helpful person, but that's another story).


In the end, the combination of the four of them isn't a very good combination. I imagine they'd mostly just stand around with stupid expressions- Miya's going to hang around listening, Louise is going to be ready to stomp off as soon as her defenses are triggered, and Antonio's not really invested and will probably wander off when something else interesting goes by. Aaran might eventually approach: if he does it early enough, Louise and Antonio will follow (and Miya might, too, just so she doesn't look stupid). Once they start talking to this shimmering figure and me, I will probably end up roasted alive, but then Miya and Antonio will be on more comfortable ground (they like talking!) and Aaran and Louise will have their curiosity sated and get a chance to ask/say what they want to ask/say. So all's well.


Until the next crisis. Hm.

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