#valiant extras

[valiant-if]

If you share the secret about you and CAIT with Zero, depending on your relationship with her and choices made during the dialogue, she might share her big secret right back with you much earlier than you would learn it normally. 👀

[valiant-if]

as far as character archetypes go path is giving 'horrendous little purse dog that bites everyone but you' more than anything else im ngl

Hi, anon!

Honestly, that's not too far off, except the horrendous little purse dog also bites you. No one is safe. 😂

[valiant-if]

I really enjoyed the "Team B" route! My poor MC was having a panic attack the whole time though 😅 (they were SO HAPPY when Kiran told them to stay hidden)

+ The moral discussion MC & Kiran had was interesting to read/play through 🤔

Hi, anon!

I'm so, so glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for taking the time to send a message to say so!

And yeah there's a little bit of down time during Team B's operation, so I thought it was a very apt time for that discussion to come up. Sense of self is one of the things I've talked about in the past that Kiran struggles with, but they also struggle with their moral compass—more than the rest of the crew. That scene is kind of the first real taste MC gets of that.

[valiant-if]

Path is giving tsundere to me

Hi, anon!

I could see that. I think Switch fits the tsundere vibe more, though. Path isn't really the type to start being nicer or even less mean once he likes someone, which imo strays a little from the classic tsundere trope. With him, it isn't about breaking down his walls and finding the warm softy underneath, nor is it an I Can Fix Him scenario; it's very much a Take Me Baby, Or Leave Me situation which i'm pretty sure makes him less tsundere and more just an asshole 😂

[valiant-if]

sometimes you put a character on the page with one plan of color association regarding their clothing, and they just tell you so strongly a completely different color they would favor

so anyway, i was asked a long time ago about characters and their favorite colors, to which, for Yulia, I answered she had none but I associated her with salmon pink

but here we are however much time later and now she's telling me that she likes the color blue, so blue it is

[valiant-if]

Yulia is finally and fully on the page in my drafts, and I am very excited about it.

She was very much the least popular character in the poll that I ran a while back, which is probably owed mostly to my lack of advertising her character ahead of time. She's certainly gotten less attention than Hex, for example, who is easily the most popular character that has yet to be introduced. But it might also be because her character archtype tends to be less popular in femme characters than in masc characters.

But I really hope people end up liking her as much as I do. There's an arrogance in her that other characters don't quite have. Like, yes, some of the other characters display a certain amount of arrogance at times—owing largely to deserved confidence in their own abilities—but Yulia really is just a little arrogant for arrogance's sake. She really does just think she's smarter and better than everyone else, and there's something very fun about making all of the other characters interact with someone like her.

Plus, is there anything quite as fun as making an arrogant character realize that they are just as capable of fucking up as anyone else? Trust me, she'll get that moment very quickly.

So anyway, it's her time to shine a little, and I couldn't be more ready for it. Incidentally, her introduction means that Hex and A2's isn't far behind. Perhaps both closer and farther than you might expect.

[valiant-if]

Origin Characters Sneak Peek 2

As a follow-up to this post, here are the rest of the origin characters—

Brother (he/him)— Available to MCs with the Aspirant background. Your older brother loved serving in the Damiren military, but he decided to come home and take care of you when your parents died. He's always been a rigid man, preferring to follow rules and have everything in it's place. Despite this, he was a dedicated guardian to you, and that only changed when you left the Damiren Primacy to avoid your mandatory service.

Parent (they/them, you'll get to decide what you call them)—Available to MCs with the Aspirant background. As a single parent to you, life wasn't always easy, but they did their best to be supportive, nurturing, and loving. In leaving the Damiren Primacy to avoid your mandatory service, you had no choice but to leave them behind as well.

Brother (he/him)— Available to MCs with the Family Kid background. Your younger brother has been described as lazy and unmotivated, but you know his refusal to achieve academically was a small rebellion against Archon Systems. He works in sanitation—what most Archon citizens would consider a dregs-level job—but he always seemed happy enough there. You're certain he'd be ecstatic knowing you stole something from Archon.

Parents (their genders and pronouns vary based on your choices)— Available to MCs with the Family Kid background. Both always put supporting and raising you above their career duties, which was no small thing considering their level of connection in Archon. One is a financial advisor to the upper-echelon while the other is a legal consultant with close connections to the Archon Council. The amount of prestige they've built in their careers makes your decision to steal CAIT from Archon an especially dicey one.

Kahlil (he/him)— Available to MCs with the Refugee background. You survived the disaster on Azure together and were always each other's little reminder of home. He's usually quiet and observant, but that changes when he has a burning need for information—he spends most of his words on asking questions. Last you knew, he worked as a professor for a prestigious school on Archon Station. His position means he has high-ranking connections that could prove a danger to you if you were ever to get back in contact.

Father (he/him)— Available to MCs with the Refugee background. A quiet man with a special talent for keeping cool under pressure. As a single parent, he worked many odd jobs during your first years at Archon Station to ensure a good life for you. He only settled into a well-paying assembly job late into your teens. He's still there, working as hard as he always has, and probably wondering where you've gone.

Sibling (they/them)— Available to MCs with the Refugee background. Your sibling is close enough to you in age to feel more like a friend than just a family member. With a naturally friendly demeanor, everything always came easy to them. Their career in foreign relations is no exception. Any contact with them now might muddle your intentions in the eyes of Archon Systems.

Trisha (she/her)— Available to MCs with the Aspirant background. She was always better at art than other more "practical" skills, which made her ill-suited to life in the Damiren Primacy. Between her artistry and your acumen in technology, you made for a well-rounded pair that exposed each other to different ways of thinking. You left her behind when you fled Damiren to avoid mandatory service, and that's a decision you live with every day.

As said in the previous post, you'll be able to name the family members at some point. I may revise the current section to add in the option in the current section or I may add it in somewhere else later. Also as said in the previous post, you will be able to explore these origin relationships without going through the "bunk" segment of Chapter 3, but the presentation will be different.

[valiant-if]

Just about finished writing the remainder of the origin character bits in the "Bunk" segment, and I realized I left out the variable for one of the Refugee characters. 😱

For members playing the early access demo, if you are playing the Refugee background and chose your sibling as your origin character, the game would have incorrectly routed you to an Aspirant character instead. Sorry about that. It'll be fixed this weekend. 😂