Parasitical Chapter Five is OUT! This update contains almost exactly 100k words of new content! This brings the wordcount without code to 260k and the wordcount with to 278k, and the average playthrough length to 71k.
For those of you who'd rather jump in without spoilers, the features are under the cut, but otherwise...
(Tagging: @interact-if)
Experience the journey leading up to the Old Colony—a long, long hike through much, much meat
Bother, flirt with, or quietly evaluate your companions!
Scary stories, scarier dreams
Discover what sort of creatures you share His Grace's body with
Share a few tender(romantic or platonic!) moments with someone special... or not
There are also, as always, a few 'meta'/technical improvements.
Both Ami and Cato have actual relationship bars now
Added the option for custom pronouns, changeable at any time from the stats page
The always-glorious typo and bug fixes
Fiddled around with some of the images(as seen in this post. can you tell graphic design is my passion)
𝑵𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆 NEVER wanted to be a member of the 𝑂𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟... but accepted that in the end, they truly had NO say in being an “𝐸𝑥𝑎𝑙𝑡𝑒𝑑” 😔
Their room is nicely decorated (with many eclectic things, including their medical instruments)
𝑵𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆 absolutely LOVES learning (new information is exciting to them, no matter the subject) 😮📚
While working they like to keep their hair 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘯, otherwise, they allow it to 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘺
𝑵𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆 has always wondered if the Commune's actions have actually been harming “𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒” & was always curious about WHAT “𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒” actually WAS (once they learned the truth™ they were surprised & quite saddened... since their worries were proven to be true 😓)
Despite being well-spoken they tend to struggle with “casual” conversations (especially with strangers... it's hard to make a script when you don't know the other person well), however, if the conversational topic is something they're curious about/knowledgeable in, they can be quite a chatterbox
𝑵𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆 did NOT follow 𝑱𝒂𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓'𝒔 gun handling instructions, despite trying to keep an “open mind” about him & his companions, they trust him about as far as they could throw him 😒🫸😎 (good thing they trusted their instincts & skeptic nature)
They're a very community-minded person, even before they became an 𝐸𝑥𝑎𝑙𝑡𝑒𝑑; if possible, they're going to get EVERYONE to safety (even if the cost is their own life)
𝑵𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆 has suffered from nightmares ever since they were a small child 😰
They've gotten so used to wearing their 𝐸𝑥𝑎𝑙𝑡𝑒𝑑 uniform that they feel naked/uncomfortable without it
…
𝑵𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆 means “𝐻𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑟” (Latin)
𝑴𝒚𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌 means “𝐷𝑎𝑟𝑘” (Welsh)
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𝐼𝐹: @enameena
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Picrew used:
✦ This picrew is for non-commercial use only! No NFTs either <3
✧ You may edit the picrew or redraw it in your style, but you still have to
Apologies for how late this is! Starting a new job + summer classes + various other responsibilities means that the beginning of this month in particular has been packed. I will forever be infinitely admiring of people who can juggle school, work, & writing as I can hardly handle one or two or those at a time lol. In any case, my few weeks of freedom in May were put to good use, and I'm still trying to squeeze in as much work as I can. As always, thanks for reading!
as I so subtly teased yesterday... I have reached 1500 followers! I can't express how thankful I am for all this - the best I have is to do what I did for my 500 and 1000 follower milestones, and provide you guys with another set of RO POVs. I've technically been on vacation(which is also why they're somewhat late - meant to finish this, like, a week ago when I actually hit 1500, but...) but I could not resist writing this out.
The interlude can be accessed through the existing demo - just choose to skip to it in the beginning. The interlude as a whole is roughly 7200 words long, and each individual POV is roughly 1400. Under the cut, I have a few mandatory disclaimers/more information!
These in particular are a bit different from the preceding ones - for one, they contain a whole lot of character lore, enough that I was somewhat hesitant about posting them. If you're one who cares about finding things out slower, quote-on-quote organically, then maybe sit these out. On the other hand, if you love to analyze things and are champing at the bit for a tad more info, these may be just for you!
Unlike the former two interludes, I'm also probably not including this one in the official demo. The biggest reason for this is that I feel like these may toe the line of immersion-breaking, if you just happen to come across this chapter in normal gameplay, as well as aforementioned spoilers. Of course, it'll always be available, you just won't find it when reading through the story normally. If you have different feelings about this, feel free to shoot me an ask! Or, like, if you have Thoughts about the interlude in general.
Along the line of immersion-breaking, I also added a toggle in the game to turn 3rd-person POVs off entirely, if you so wish. For those who love their Exalted's brain, and that brain alone.
There also comes a smattering of typo and bug fixes. Many thanks and kisses to everyone who's been sending those in! Always so appreciated.
As per usual, I very much hope you enjoy. Thank you again for getting me so far (1500!! and i remember when i was ecstatic over 10), and supporting this story <33
Another month gone by... is it just me or was it so so fast? I've spent the bulk of this month still dealing with issues in my personal life, but I've managed to get some work done in my rare bits of free time. April's sure to be busy with finals and the like looming over me at the end of it, but I'm hoping to continue writing! Thanks to everyone for reading, as always.
I'm very pleased to announce that Chapter Five will be releasing in four days, on Sunday, July 6th, at (roughly!) 11:00 AM CT.
I want to save information about details and features until the release post, both for suspense's sake and because I am, predictably, still changing many little things around(I've wanted to make this post for about a week now, but kept telling myself I had to finish 'this one more thing' before I could announce it).
I will say, however, that this is both the longest chapter yet, and my favorite, and I am so excited to share it with all of you! Keep your eyes peeled <33