Gildedgrimoires - Under Construction

Oh yeah, for sure. Go right ahead dude!

update #2

I cannot for the life of me determine if I am over-planning or improvising too hard, but I feel like if I don’t get to the next stage now I’ll never get anything done.

So I wasn’t going to add in ‘Personality Stats’ at first to make things easy on my first try, but I like them and practice makes perfect if I want them in potential future projects. 

Most likely you will have: Charming v Reserved, Genuine v Insincere, Optimistic v Pessemestic, Warm v Cold (Kind vs crueler), Reckless v Careful, Teamworker v Solo Act.

I’ve been mulling over these for a while now, and will mull again. So as always, things are subject to change.

When writing a character struggling with shame

Shame isn’t guilt. Guilt says I did something bad. Shame says I am something bad. It’s corrosive. It rewrites self-worth. And most of the time, it whispers, not screams.

✧ Start with silence. Characters carrying shame don’t confess it on page one. They avoid. They deflect. They joke. They become perfect. Shame thrives in secrets. Let it fester before it speaks.

✧ Show the disconnect. They don’t feel lovable, even when they are. Compliments bounce off them. Praise feels like a setup. They think kindness is a trick. Show them flinching at affection.

✧ Give it a backstory. Shame doesn’t appear from nowhere. Maybe they were told they were too much. Not enough. A mistake. Shame is always planted by someone else, then internalized. Find that origin moment and make it hurt.

✧ Let them sabotage good things. They get a healthy relationship? They run. They succeed? They downplay it. They get seen? They shut down. Shame convinces people they don’t deserve good things and they’ll act accordingly.

✧ Body language matters. Hunched shoulders. Arms crossed. Averted eyes. Shrinking into themselves. Shame has a physical posture. Write it.

✧ Watch their inner voice. Shame doesn’t sound like “I’m the worst.” It sounds like “Why would they care about me?”or “Of course I messed it up.” It’s casual. Constant. Cruel.

✧ Make healing slow and clumsy. Shame doesn’t vanish after one pep talk. It takes safe spaces. Relearning. A lot of awkward baby steps. Let your character accept one small good thing and then panic about it later.

✧ Let them rewrite their own story. Eventually, they’ll have to look at who they were and say, “Even then, I was trying. Even then, I deserved love.” Let them get there. Let it be earned. Let it feel impossible and then let it happen anyway.

Game Drop! Affairs in Blood

Hey Hey everyone, so I've made a short twine game about a monster hunter has a run in with a vampire who they happened to know before they turned.

This story has two ending and you can pick from some pre selected names for your hunter for customization.

So if you've got the time and are interested check of Affairs in Blood

Gilded Cage

Nothing but ashes remain of your home. Your loved ones have all been taken from you overnight, leaving you all alone in the world. 

Fight, flee, cry, scream, rage. Seek revenge, find forgiveness, fall in love, break hearts. Poison, lie and sleep your way to the top of the imperial harem.

The golden chains wear down heavy on your pretty little neck. And they will do so until you break them.

You were still a child when the Zephyran hounds razed hell on your homeland. Overnight, everything and everyone you knew and loved withered before your eyes, claimed by the flame and the ashes.

You were fortunate enough -or unfortunate, depending on how you see it- to survive that fateful night. Instead, heavy chains were placed around your wrists and you were sent away to whoever would pay to own you.

Some masters were kinder than others. But captivity tastes just as bitter regardless of how opulent your cage is. 

And this is the most opulent cage you will ever be locked in. The Jade Palace is where you being shipped off to this time. The capital of the grand Zephyran Empire. The very same that ripped your childhood apart.

You have been selected to join the imperial harem of Sultan Ahmad, an honor bestowed only upon the most beautiful and worthy of servants.

Regardless of how you feel regarding this great 'honor', you are every bit as powerless to fight against it as you were to defend your homeland when the Zephyrans came for you.

Don't despair yet, child of the Ancients. There are many opportunities in the Jade Palace for those who wish to seek them. 

You may find yourself pulling the strings and changing the course of history, whispering in the ears of royalty, marching bravely into battle, even escaping and claiming your own freedom once and for all, away from this mess that was inflicted upon you. If you play your cards right, you may even one day become the parent of the next Sultan.

Beware however. There are many who will stand in your path. The worst enemies are hidden not in the shadows but amongst our closest of friends.

Gilded Cage is rated 18+ for explicit language, explicit sexual themes, graphic descriptions of violence and depictions of slavery. 

FEATURES 

•Create your MC. Anything from what they look like to how they feel about their years of servitude and their arrival to the Jade Palace is for you to choose. Are you a conniving courtesan, set on claiming the crown for yourself? Do you merely wish for a life of peace after all these years of hardship? Do you have a single-minded focus on achieving your own freedom? If so, what are you willing to risk for it? 

•Define how others perceive you. You are no ordinary servant after all, you are a member of the Sultan's harem, and those around you are eager to watch your every move? The nobility, military and common folk will all form opinions based on what they hear of you, as will many important political figures like the Valide and the Grand Vizier. And of course it is better to be admired than mocked, ridiculed and despised...

•Engage in a world of intrigue and danger. The Zephyran Empire is deadly. The harem even more so. One wrong step and it will be off with your head, if the Sultan is feeling generous that day. Many plots and schemes are already in place by the time you arrive to the Palace. Some of which may or may not involve you. It is on you to uncover secrets, distinguish enemy from ally and keep yourself safe from the vipers of court. In these halls, few are truly innocent and you might be forced to get your own hands bloody.

•Climb the ranks of the imperial harem. How you achieve that is up to you! You may ally yourself to Valide Sultan, act as a mole for the Grand Vizier or even become a tutor for the young Prince! And of course, if you are willing to participate in some old fashioned seduction, the Sultan's bed -and his heart, if you are capable enough- is the road to unimaginable power and wealth, but also danger.

•Change the course of history. Raise the next Sultan, assassinate your enemies, encourage a military uprising, cause a shift in the religious establishment, become a general, an advisor, even a Haseki. If you are daring enough to bare the consequences of failure. Your actions will have farfetched consequences for the future of the Zephyran Empire and the wider world. So be wary. History has its eye on you.

Romantic Options

The Sultan of the Zephyran Empire: Ahmad

You have heard of him only in hushed whispers and screams of terror. He rules en empire stretching far across the east and west. He is the master of the hounds that raided and destroyed your home. He took everything from you and now he owns you. Still, your very survival depends on his whims.

Yet, when you come face to face with the Lion of the East, he seems less monstrous than you had expected...

The Grand Vizier: Selim

He has had an eye on you since you first entered the palace. And not for good reasons. He may very well be the second most powerful man in the empire-after the Sultan of course- and he seems to have decided you are a threat to his master.

Getting him on your side might just be the thing you need to propel yourself in the court. If you manage to do that anyway. Selim is known as a tough man to charm, but who knows what hides underneath.

The Valide Sultan: Nazli

The Sultan may rule the world, but have no doubt his mother rules the harem and she does so with an iron fist. She controls everything. Who does the chores, how much gold each maid is afforded, who gets to enter the Sultan's chambers. She has her finger on the pulse of the harem. She wants things a certain way and she will have things a certain way. This Queen Dowager is every bit as much of a lion as her son.

She is distant, but not unkind. Most importantly, she can raise you to the highest of highs or doom you to the dungeons in less than a glance. You will have to earn her respect before she accepts you into the inner circle.

The Favourite (?): Meryem

Meryem is the most beloved of the Sultan's concubines. Or rather she was. For unknown reason, it seems she has fallen out of his favour. Rumor is it has been a year since he asked for her.

Still, her position remains significant as the mother to the only son of the Sultan. Her son, Mustafa, in combination with the support she receives from the Grand Vizier has helped her hold onto her power.

But her position remains insecure while the Sultan's eyes wander. You could intergrate yourself amongst her closest companions. Or you could be the downfall she so fears.

The Artist: Emil De Angelis

Emil is a... controversial presence at court to say the least. He was raised from a starving artist to the next big sensation by the Sultan overnight. He has been involved in several projects ever since, whether that be art, poetry, singing or architecture. Known around court for his -perhaps a bit too daring- wit and charming smirk, it is hard not to notice him.

He is also the closest to a friendly face you have at court. Emil has handpicked you as his next side project of sorts. The new thing he will concern himself with to fill up his time. You will have his support in whatever you strive for.

Be warned though. Emil acts with ulterior motives as much as anyone else at court.

The Childhood Friend (shouldn't they be dead?): Helena

You thought you had lost them. They died in your arms. You held her body. You carried it. You buried it.

Now they are back. Somehow they have returned from beyond the grave.

The worst part?

They don't even remember you.

Asks: Open

Demo: Soon... (should be ready in a couple of days)

being in a completely normal nonthreatening scenario & environment and thinking “i have GOT to get the fuck out of here” with the intensity of some trapped neurotic prey animal

*emerges from the other room covered in blood* you should see the word document

↳ YOU ARE A SCAVENGER; a lone wanderer of the galaxies barely scraping by on your derelict secondhand ship. You hunt down abandoned ships and settlements, stripping them of what useful parts you can find and selling those to whoever will pay your prices. It's a dangerous, solitary life, but you don't have much choice in the matter. You have too much of a past to trust a crew or to settle down planetside.

But everything will change when you discover the salvage of a lifetime. Among the ruins of a planet older than you thought possible, you discover an ancient prison, containing something that you thought existed only in myth.

You don't remember what happens next; but when you wake, you're a prisoner on a Consortium ship — and you are no longer alone in your own mind.

↳ YOU ARE NOW A VESSEL; the last vessel of the lost god.

Or is is the lost vessel of the last god? Either way, life as you know it is over. The Consortium — the conglomeration of various companies and governments that rule known space — want your head. The rebels want your power. But what do you want?

Escaped the Consortium with the aid of a fellow prisoner and a disgraced officer. Find a new ship, gather a crew of your own, and forge your place in a universe in which you are now something other than human.

And don't forget.

Gods may rise, but they also fall.

↳ Play as The Last Vessel of the Lost God, a human who's mind and body has been invaded by a symbiotic (or parasitic?) deity.

↳ Customize your character — choose your gender (female, male, non-binary), pronouns (he/him, she/her, they/them), appearance (height, weight, skin color, hair color, scars, tattoos, & piercings), cybernetic enhancements, and backstory.

↳ Six potential romance options and three optional encounters.

HOLLIS GALLOWAY ↳ the grifter (they/them)

DAISUKE SAITŌ ↳ the traitor (he/him)

AMANI HAMMOUD ↳ the captain (she/her)

SEBASTIAN JĖZ ↳ the mechanic (he/him)

MARÍSOL ESPINOZA ↳ the psychiatrist (she/her)

SALEM SMITH ↳ the adherent (they/them)

& ENCOUNTERS; ↳ Felix Whitaker; the commodore (he/him) ↳ Renata Zhukova; the rebel (she/her) ↳ Esmé Delacroix; the data broker (they/them)

God I need like a writing buddy who I can yap about my works with, and who can tell me about their stuff. I miss that :<

Okay so this is not as short and sweet as I thought it’d be, still not a multipart thing but I’m starting to realize nothing is ever as simple as it is in my head. Still, having tons of fun with it!

So the prologue is definitely not coming out by the end of this month, I am slow and this is a a lot longer than anticipated. But (fingers crossed), I will not be completely empty handed by month's end. I always have a million ideas in my head, it is actually a problem, so I'm doing a short and sweet twine thing to get one idea out of my head.

There will be vampires :)