identifying digital monsters | attributes
this is a part of a small series i'm working on! i have been working with digimon for a few years now, and i figured it's time to jot some things down. if you have any questions please let me know! creating digital monsters / working with digital monsters.
this is a difficult topic to write about, because i feel as if there are countless ways to identify digimon. these are just methods i have tried out with success, but feel free to work with anything that you feel suits your needs more.
virus, vaccine, data, free (attribute).
these are the main categories of digimon, and the first thing you must discover when you work alongside them. when your digimon hatches from its digiegg, it will likely be a "free" type, then changing into one of the above types per evolution, or remaining "free". it is not uncommon for digimon to change attributes as it grows or reverts, so do not feel as if your digimon will always remain the same attribute for its whole life.
how to discover attributes.
these are upg, and are absolutely open to criticism. these are just methods i have used, and conclusions i have drawn. feel free to explore these methods (and more) in your own time and draw your own conclusions.
virus: when monitoring yourself, you may feel a sense of negativity. like a cloud looming over your head, and making you feel more easily influenced by negative emotions. virus digimon will not cause "tower moments" that are external, but they can bring on challenging emotions internally. you may feel very low-energy, too, as virus digimon tend to feed on the energy of their partners.
vaccine: when monitoring yourself, you may feel a sense of positivity. like a weight has been lifted off your chest, and making you feel more easily influenced by positive emotions. vaccine digimon are reinforcing of feelings of hope, happiness, and excitement. you may feel very high-energy, as vaccine digimon tend to give their partners energy.
data: when monitoring yourself, you may feel more grounded. you are more realistic, and see your reality without rose-tinted glasses. you may feel more neutral, around a data-based digimon. your energy should be more consistent around a data digimon, levelling out to allow you to perform tasks and not overdo them. data-based digimon balance their partner's energy, giving and taking where needed.
free: when monitoring yourself, you may feel more light. you become more dreamy, more distant from reality and being regularly flooded by what's happening spiritually around you. a free digimon is remarkably different from virus, vaccine, and data, as they tend to bring attention not to your physical energy, but your spiritual. if you feel more psychically attuned to the world around you, or even more paranormal events seem to be occurring, a free digimon may be responsible.
assessing the data (or energy) to create the monster.
virus: assessing the data (or energy) that created your digimon, virus digimon tend to be created from negatively-inclined data. these can be something like vent expressions (such as art, posts, poetry etc), photographs of someone who has passed, or something as simple as concentration or rumination on sadness and pain.
vaccine: assessing the data (or energy) that created your digimon, vaccine digimon tend to be created from positively-inclined data. these can be something like photographs of friends or loved ones, fanart drawn in love for a character, positive and fun DM conversations, or ruminating on feelings of joy or excitement.
data: assessing the data (or energy) that created your digimon, data digimon tend to be created from neutrally-inclined data. photographs or artworks that are reflections of the world around you, binary text that creates a program, or simply rumination of the present (mindfulness can work wonders for this) can create a data-based digimon.
free: assessing the data (or energy) that created your digimon, free digimon tend to be created from supernatural or glitchy/corrupted data. they are created from paranormal photographs, writing or voice exerpts from mediums, the corrupted data of a crashing program, or ruminating on a floaty, airy energy.
this is pretty self-explanatory, so i won't go to lengths at this. however, you can use tarot and pendulum, if you're not confident in reading the energy of yourself or your data.
for tarot, remove the major arcana. shuffle and draw a single card. you may also draw additional cards to predict which way your digimon will evolve (as it's common for a digimon to switch between virus, vaccine, data and free multiple times).
cups: virus
wands: vaccine
pentacles: data
swords: free
as for pendulum, simply write down the attributes on the four corners of the paper. see where the pendulum swings. bam.