#heritage features

[tales-of-wocdes]

Demo update 2.5: Heritage Features overhaul

Guess what? The post about the heritage features overhaul was in the post queue for a good few days :D I have been working on it.

The demo has been updated:

There is no new story content. Instead this update is about the heritage feature system.

By popular demand, I have overhauled the heritage feature system to allow for multiple features (at the moment, up to 4 which may be too much). This also allows for mixing of different features from different races.

There is one new heritage feature: face fins. And a pretty beefy codex entry for races (WIP like everything) of about 3.5 k words. The codex etc. have not been included in word counts. In total the codex entries are ~ 5k words so this new one makes up most of it :D

This required the editing of all instances of a feature being mentioned! So I am sure I missed some. Therefore, I would like to ask for people to test it out, and report instances of odd behavior to me with details of their choices! This is why I am making this a separate update instead of just waiting until I have more story content! If this is not properly implemented now, then it will be a huge pain in the future.

To see the most amount of heritage feature mentions, when looking in the mirror in C2, do the feature customization before focusing on just your face!

Being able to choose a number of features may result in clunky text where there is a sentence about each feature in a row. For example

This I have no idea how to do any other way, I cannot write combination specific text, that would require far too much fiddling. Also with the amount of individual features, that would be an eternity project since there are dozens of combinations.

Other things/specific notes:

Questions at the end of C1 can now only be asked once. A bug relating to if a question has been asked has been fixed which could affect flavor text in C2.

C1 bug fixed (Havard infinite approval)

Some typos fixed all over the place.

Word count: Slight increase in total new words ~600+ due to new heritage feature, but I also edited out about ~500 words worth of repetitive bits from inspecting them in the mirror so I don't think this does much. I am not changing the total word count.

However, the word count per play through will have gone up slightly since each feature has their own inspection scene, that now you can do up to 4 times instead of just one.

The beastkin heritages are the most complicated since they need also the type of animal specified. In the previous version, at least the horns were bugged and the choice did not register correctly. I have implemented a solution but it is clumsy and requires the player to click on an extra bit of text. I may return to this, I think a widget could make this easier.

The menu after choosing your features has been overhauled since it needed to work entirely differently.

[tales-of-wocdes]

Will the mc be able to use magic?

Also does mc have different lifespans depending on what heritage they have like they live longer than a normal human if with dragon heritage etc?

I think I have answered both of these already :D

See this post for magic.

For the heritages, Q4 of this post.

Though since that one is rather long, here is the relevant bits:

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We can assume that those with strong immortal heritage will live longer though it is debatable by how much for the current story, everyone here so far (aside from the Ancient) is also part human here and the heritage features are supposed to be inherited from far back.

Still, let us assume people with different heritages develop at the same rate as everyone else (and pretty much have to assume or otherwise we get into too much trouble with timelines and stuff). I view this as a function of the environment. I.e. being surrounded by other children and adults of a very mixed heritage will adjust their perception of time. A sort of "life in your years vs. the years in your life thing." As in, if an immortal is surrounded by mortals they will experience life at the same rate as those mortals in the moment. If an immortal is surrounded by other immortals, everything slows down. (I am using an immortal here as a catch all word for every species that just lives a very long life.) Alternatively, we could assume that the human blood has diluted the immortal blood too much (but I don't like this as much now, it made more sense when everyone could have one heritage feature but not so much now that you can have many).

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I will add that anyone who learns "enough" magic, will be able to pretty much stop aging.

For some stuff about the heritages: Here is one about how the heritages pass down.

Here is one about how different heritages are treated. Though actually the Tales From the Past: Havard is probably good for this one.

[tales-of-wocdes]

On the kitsune stuff. I like to imagine you start off with one tail. So you think you are a regular little fox. But one day another just pops in 😅.

The tail is not the only way to have kitsune heritage I think (the ears as well), but something along those lines definetly :D Maybe MC will pop the first tail or do something else kitsune like....

Wait... if you already have another type of tail, and then grow a kitsune tail...

Or would the kitsune heritage override the old ones? They are supposed to be highly magical and one would therefore assume dominant heritage wise.... But what if MC has like draconic heritage too... Yeah, this could be a problem :D

On the other hand, I put in the ability to mix and match. If people end up with some unique combinations, that is up to them :D

Context here.

[tales-of-wocdes]

so if we choose multiple heritages, like the maximum 4(3?), would that be considered normal or would people (especially the races who had those features) be surprised seeing an human with so much features

So as many know, I added the possibility for multiple features based on feedback with not so much thought given to narrative consistency :D But I am sure this can be dealt with.

So right now, I would say 1 or 2 features (or perhaps heritage races) are the most common, and above that is more rare but certainly not unheard of in Firgrat.

As for the races being surprised about so many features, inside Firgrat, probably not very surprised. However, if MC were to travel say to a place with only Elves, then probably MC would be something of a curiosity. Perhaps some might view them with disdain, but that I think really depends on the race. Like beastkin, kitsune and the fey I would imagine would be thrilled about MC who has so many heritages :D Elves, maybe less so. Some might also be a tad jealous, for example garuda have hollow bones. If MC has wings but not the hollow bones then would be one inconvenience less. Though I imagine MC's flight ability would be less agile as well.

[tales-of-wocdes]

Given how old elf’s, dragons, demons, and maybe elementals can get, what are the chances of the MC having one or multiple of those heritages and meeting a great great great great great grandfather or a random uncle

I would say quite possible :D I don't think it will be a part for the story, maybe an easter egg.

I would also say most the really old people are generally not ones for city life, at least not dragons or elementals. There could be exceptions but I do think they would have generally moved on from the city by the time of the story.

[tales-of-wocdes]

I think it would be cool for heritages to mix, like if we have the demon heritage and the one with the wings, we can grow eyes on the wings to give them that scary biblical angel look

Yes that would be cool :D

Also a pipe dream. There are dozens of combinations between different heritages/features, I believe I have mentioned that I will not do a thousand variations in an older post about the overhaul I did :D

It is just not feasible to do it by hand, and I am not good enough at coding to do it any other way. So people will just have to imagine any cool combinations in their headcanons :D

[tales-of-wocdes]

Hear me out, MC using their tail (if they have one) instead of their hands to grab and hold things. Imagine if Azha tries to give MC a handshake and MC brings their tail towards her instead. Question... how long is MC's tail? Can they wrap it around their neck like a scarf?

I like it, and it has been discussed before! Sort of :D Had to scroll down for a good while. Here are some older posts:

Tail snippet

Tail snippet 2

Prehensile tail

Original tail post

And I have pretty much decided that all the tails are prehensile i.e. capable of grabbing things. So this could very well happen :D I will try to remember, and make a note of it.

As for length: fairly long in all cases, though I would imagine some variation between the tail. Like the draconic one I would imagine to be the longest, though I will not be making the distinction in text :D Therefore, I would say all tails can at least reach their own head, and I have think I have already included spots in C3 where MC wraps their tail around their waist.

I would say this awesome art post is a good baseline.

[tales-of-wocdes]

Can a dragon MC breathe fire?

Currently I am thinking it could be something triggered later... So not right now.

Though of course not all dragons breathe fire... How many elements are there? I am really not making this easy on myself, am I? I will need to think about it :D