#ergoemos

[cassyblue]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

My piece for @ergoemos for the Republic of Two Systems Exchange. I hope you like it!

[magience]

How long in the comic's world (Earth or Riariti time, your preference) has it been since we've moved from Book 9 (Strange Happenings) to Book 19 (Utopia)? It can be hard to follow at times (through no fault of the story) given that we see a lot of hour long conversations separated by weeks of montages?

I make vague mentions here and there about time passing, but I haven’t been very specific so don’t worry if it’s hard to keep track! Especially since time is so distorted between Riariti and Earth.

In Earth time, it’s been about five days since the end of Chapter 09. Not much time has passed on the other side. (It’s been about 7 days, give or take some hours, since Crystal first logged in as Rune.)

In Riariti time, Chapter 19 begins 120 days or so after the end of Chapter 09. (Give or take some chronological wiggle-room for logging out/school/irl shenanigans) 

[magience]

Can players get messages from inside the world while logged out? For instance, CAS was helping out Rune/Crystal. If her "help ticket" had updates while she was out of the game, would she be able to get messages from CAS out of the game, or would they only appear in-game? Fanfiction demands answers. (not actually demands. just a polite ask, when you have time!)

Nope! At this time, there’s no way to communicate between the game and real life in real-time. Cas would have to have waited for Rune to log back in (and, in fact, did! if you remember he was waiting for her when she returned from IRL)

[magience]

What happens as an alarm goes off in the real world for a player? Do they hear an extended minutes long droning? Or does the game recognize what it is and tell the user?

The game recognizes it! 

There’s a built-in alarm function as part of the system menu the Player can access, but sensors on the headset that detect when someone IRL is trying to interfere with the headset can also detect noise patterns recognizable as alarms.

[vraik]

Don’t know how much you like arts, but I was listening to the klk commentary and I thought you might like the Artist @pythosart . They basically focus on queer, mad scientist women, and body horror. I just wanted to share what might be your bag.

I know very little about visual art but those all sound like things I like.

[magience]

Do Creative Assistants get access to external media, like movies and books? I was just curious, given that Cas seemed to recognize the Hannibal Lector reference.

Yep! They have full access to the internet, as it’s supposed to help them understand people better (and thus be better able to help new players). Basically if they don’t get a reference, they mentally Google it in order to be able to respond.

HOW they respond (humorous, sarcastic, etc) depends on the personality of the assistant.

[magience]

Sorry for more mechanical questions, but what's the relative level cap for the game (if there is one)? How far can a typical player level in the first few "sessions" at a week or so of play, Riariti time? Do rookies have level caps before they pick a class?

No level caps for any of them! But each level past ten increases the amount of EXP you need to level up again exponentially.

Like, for the first ten levels as a Novice, gaining levels is easy. You can get a few levels in a matter of hours if you’re really determined. You won’t get many skill points for rushing through like that, but it’s totally possible.

After level ten though it starts scaling up. 

No matter what you do, once you pass level ten you can’t get more than a level a day.

Past level 20, you can’t get more than a level every 3 days.

Past level 30, you can’t get more than a level a week.

Past level 40, you can’t get more than a level a month.

Past level 50, you can’t get more than a level a year.

Any further scaling is unknown, no one’s made it past level 60 yet. Not even Beta Testers! They haven’t stopped gaining experience, it’s just reeeeeeeeeeeally sloooooooooooooooooooooooooow.

[magience]

What happens when Sleepers touch a Statue of Fate? Do they have any indicator, private or not, that shows that their respawn point has changed?

There’s a feeling of warmth that briefly floods from their fingertips to the rest of their body, but it’s so gentle and so subtle that most don’t even notice.