Person of many names. I answer to Spring, Salad, Dee, Bones, or all of the above. Any pronouns. Official blog for the interactive fiction, Valiant!
Ko-Fi Link
Where is the line between virtual intelligence and artificial intelligence? What prerequisites does a computer need before it is considered a person?
It's not something you've put much thought to in the past. A computer is software. Software is lines of code. Lines of code are written by people. But when that software starts making choices of its own, when it begins to expand and grow of its own accord, evolving into something beyond what humankind has made it, is it really just a computer anymore?
These are the questions that led you to steal something, something that was never meant to be stolen. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to call it a rescue. But the company you're running from doesn't recognize the distinction. They've paid a lot of money to have their property returned to them. If you stop running, it won't just be your life on the line.
Valiant is an episodic interactive fiction novel centered around the main character (you) and an Artificial Intelligence that you have rescued. Explore your relationships and yourself as you encounter a mercenary crew that might just become your new family, if you let it.
Genres: Sci-fi, Thriller/Horror, Action, Romance
Content Warning: Valiant is rated 18+ for violence, gore, drug use, explicit sexual themes, horror, and other potentially sensitive topics. Additional content warnings will be provided as a forward to the work. Please interact with care!
Get exclusive benefits, including a weekly demo update, by subscribing to my Ko-Fi
Public Demo: Updated 12/1/2025
A customizable main character. Choose your name, appearance, gender, sexuality, personality, abilities, and explore your background.
Explore a variety of relationships from a main cast of 10 characters.
The choice of romance or sex or both or neither between 9 characters.
Help your AI friend to evolve her personality based on your interferences or lack thereof.
Learn the necessary skills to fit right in with your new mercenary crew.
Survive an extraterrestrial disaster.
Screw over (at least) one of the largest corporatocracies in the galaxy.
Help your new acquaintances to resolve their own personal demons. Or not.
The AI you took from the corporatocracy known as Archon Systems. CAIT (said like Kate), despite her extremely logical behavior, can be unexpectedly playful and friendly. She considers you her rescuer and will defer to your judgment in most situations, though she isn't afraid to veto your decisions with her own when your life is on the line. Will you nurture her independence or her compliance?
Anton Degauss | Alias: None
Pronouns: he/him | Age: 40
Romanceable: for all MCs
Captain of the SS Valiant and, for all intents and purposes, your rescuer. Anton Degauss has no reason to be as friendly as he is, but you left reason behind when you decided to take an asset from a powerful corporation. The truth is, you'll trust him because you don't have many other choices. But it helps that he seems pretty sincere.
Appearance: 5'11". Warm dark-brown skin. Locked black hair often tied into a ponytail. Often unshaven stubble that he sometimes lets grow into a full beard. Dark brown eyes. Medium build with a muscular upper-body.
Sonia Stark | Alias: Switch
Pronouns: she/her | Age: 42
Romanceable: for all MCs
Chief Technical Officer on the SS Valiant and Degauss' second-in-command. Switch is gruff and unsmiling, at least around you. You're pretty sure she doesn't like you—at least, she's always looking at you like she wants to jettison you out the airlock. But maybe that's just her face. The others keep swearing she's not that bad, but you're not so sure.
Appearance: 6'1". Light brown skin. Curly dark-brown hair often pulled back into a loose bun. Brown eyes. Large and muscular build. A few scars on her face of indeterminant origin. A tattoo on her right earlobe that corresponds with military rank.
Cassia MacKenna | Alias: Zero
Pronouns: she/her | Age: 31
Romanceable: for all MCs
Engineer and resident optimist on the SS Valiant. Zero is almost always bubbly and playful, though she knows when to back off. Despite your sudden appearance, she seems elated to have you aboard the Valiant. It's hard to tell if her trusting nature is a sign of kindness, naivete, or something else.
Appearance: 5'5". Light pink skin, lightly freckled. Yellow-blonde hair in a pixie cut. Blue eyes. Scrawny and rarely without a smudge of grease on her face. Several facial piercings.
Gael Lambert | Alias: Path
Pronouns: he/him | Age: 34
Romanceable: for all MCs
Pilot on the SS Valiant. Path takes to your appearance on the Valiant like it's an amusing inside-joke. He's relentless with his teasing—the only saving grace is that he targets everyone, not just you. The only one Switch maybe hates more than you. And, honestly, most days you can't blame her.
Appearance: 5'11". Pale white skin. Ash-blond hair, short and windswept. Clean-shaven. Gray-blue eyes. Thin with little muscle definition. Light scarring on his face of indeterminant origin. Prominent dimples on his cheeks.
Kiran Chandra | Alias: None
Pronouns: any | Age: 35
Romanceable: for all MCs
Medical Officer on the SS Valiant. Of all the members of the crew, Kiran is the only one who seems completely indifferent to your arrival. If they have an opinion on your presence, or anything else for that matter, she keeps it completely hidden. At the very least, they've been cordial with you, which is more than you can say for some people on the ship.
Appearance: 5'8". Warm light-brown skin. Long, wavy dark-brown hair usually pulled into a neat braid. Brown eyes. Slender with slight muscle definition. A couple of beauty marks on his face.
Yulia Kazantseva | Alias: None
Pronouns: she/her | Age: 49
Romanceable: for female MCs
An astrobiologist working for Archon Systems. Yulia might have no clue of your existence. Or she might be playing dumb. In either case, you can't let your guard down when you're around her. The only good news is that she seems too absorbed in her project to care much about you. On second thought, obsessed might be a better word for it.
Appearance: 5'7". White skin. Short, dark-brown hair with a liberal amount of gray. Light-brown eyes. Pear-shaped fat build with no muscle definition.
Hector Sideris | Alias: Hex
Pronouns: he/him | Age: 38
Romanceable: for male or nonbinary MCs
One of two Skiptracers hired by Archon Systems to bring you back in, dead or alive. He looks like the kind of guy you'd find drinking beer and generally taking up more space than necessary in a sports bar. You haven't exactly had a conversation with the guy, and you're not sure you want to.
Appearance: 6'2". Pale beige skin with light-brown freckles on his face. Auburn hair in a crop cut. Usually has an extended goatee. Hazel eyes. He has a weightlifter's build with a round gut.
Akagi Akio | Alias: A2
Pronouns: she/her | Age: 36
Romanceable: for male MCs
The other of two Skiptracers hired by Archon Systems to bring you back in, dead or alive. A2 looks every bit like a cold-blooded killer, especially when compared to her more laid-back partner. Either that, or someone peed in her food. Repeatedly. For the last twenty years. You would really rather not find out if she's as mean as she looks.
Appearance: 5'4". Pale skin. Straight, long black hair. Dark-brown eyes. Broad shoulders and slim hips with very knobby joints. She has noticeable muscle definition.
Ebrahim | Alias: The Prophet
Pronouns: he/him | Age: 41
Romanceable: no, though he may be up for an intimate encounter or two...
An information broker of no small renown. He strikes you as dodgy and dishonest, but maybe that's just part of his image. After all, he wouldn't be much of an information broker if he lied to his clients, would he?
Appearance: 6'. Light-brown skin. Black hair kept short and neat. Very neatly-cut anchor beard. Dark-brown eyes. Medium build with no muscle definition. He tends to wear a lot of eye makeup and has a fondness for ear piercings.
I've gotten several error reports regarding the Research choice at the beginning of Chapter 3 with no way to progress the story.
This section relies on an "action point" value. It looks like I incorrectly calculated that all players would be able to reach a required number of action points before running out of options, so the button to proceed isn't available. This is a pretty simple fix albeit a slightly tedious one. I'll need to go in and add an option to complete the scene for anyone not reaching the required action points—though this involves me going in and fixing quite a few passages, hence why it will be tedious.
By the way, the only purpose of the action points here is to force you to prioritize which information you want to learn, but if you're opting not to learn certain things, no reason my mistake should punish you for it. 😂
For those on the public demo, it ends immediately after that scene, so at least you aren't missing much, but I'll make sure this gets fixed in the next update. The public demo is not updated on a set schedule, but I like to update it when I finish certain chunks of the story. I'm very close to done with this next section, so an update is on the horizon.
For those on the early access demo, I'll fix this in time for the next update, which should be some time tomorrow evening unless something catastrophic happens.
Mori chapter 7 is here and the stakes have never been higher!
There's been a lot of housekeeping behind the scenes so here's a quick changelog.
- The gallery got an upgrade in terms of back-end stability and UI/GUI beautification + functionality, including on controller and in the Steam Deck version.
- The game is now capable of being modded through the Steam Workshop. Check out the workshop for more information on that!
- The "Dig Deeper" achievement has been slightly retooled so that the achievement is granted the second the click link action is executed. It should therefore grant the achievement regardless of whether or not a user's local browser or network settings prevent Renpy from opening the internet browser.
- FINALLY we got DESK MATS up in the TCM etsy shop! If you're looking to support TCM, this is a great way to do it!
This chapter adds another 45k words of content, bringing the grand total to 230k words.
I can’t express how excited I am to be releasing this chapter! Not only does it feel like the culmination of my original concept, but also a brand new beginning. ❤️
As previously mentioned, there’s going to be a longer period between this and chapter 7. The next two months will be a struggle for me, and I’m happy to be able to share this chapter with you now. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
I can finally release all the asks I’ve been holding onto, lol. I won’t discuss big spoilers for a few days, but some of the asks may give hints. Be sure to mute the tag #chapter 6 spoilers if you want absolutely no hints.
This month's update is heavy with lore, 21k worth of it, so read carefully. Every detail matters going forward. Whether you're here for the worldbuilding or the romance, pay close attention.
In this update, you will find:
💀 New chapter headers!;
💀 Explore the Yskari Mortuary with Éoin and Sophia;
💀 Have a lot of your questions answered;
💀 Find out the state the world is in since your imprisonment;
💀 Did you feel that?
Patreon release dates and public release:
Public Release [14/06]
Mortal Tier [12/06]
Immortal Tier [07/06]
Demigod Tier [02/06]
Divine Tier [28/05]
Creator Tier [23/05]
PATREON LINK
As always, thank you so much for your support, and if you find any typos or bugs don't hesitate to send me a message! 🖤
it's literally the evilest thing in the world to finally have time to write but then be tired. like wow you're telling me these two hours before going to bed are completely free but my brain is just Not Feeling It? fuck off
..., erm, im sorry if i missed an faq or something and im breaking etiquette in some way. i dont send asks often. anyway
i have a question about CAIT's access to the player character's thoughts. its evident she can't read them per say seeing as the PC must speak aloud to converse with her, but she's also described as being aware or attuned to the PC's feelings to the degree that she can read spikes in emotion. ive imagined her as sensing the chemical and hormonal changes in the PC's body while reading the story, but i guess im curious enough about the specific mechanisms that i wanted to trouble you with a question.
thanks for your time
Hi! 🤗 No worries at all, I honestly haven't gotten enough of the same questions to need an FAQ thus far. Sending an ask is always welcome!
Writing sci-fi is an interesting challenge; you want to make things rooted in real science enough to be believable, but you also want to include things that may not exist (yet), so it's a balancing act between these two things at all time.
So I haven't gone into too much detail about how CAIT works because over-explaining can start to make something sound LESS real, and sometimes it's better to let readers fill in the gaps with things that make sense.
So you're mostly right on the money! CAIT has limited ability to read physical changes in the body, such as hormonal changes, so she can pick up on changes in the MC's feelings to a degree. But that's not the only thing I imagine she's capable of.
Part of CAIT's abilities are based on the concept of modern BCIs (brain-computer interfaces) being able to essentially learn what certain electrical patterns in the brain mean. I've taken that concept and turned it up to eleven for CAIT. The longer she stays with the MC, the more she is able to understand about their thought processes. She can't literally read the MC's thoughts, but she can do something close—at least, as long as she is installed directly to their implants.
But, for CAIT, the process of learning what some electrical patterns mean might require speaking more directly with the MC. There's only so much she can learn from observation alone. In some scenes, this may or may not contribute to why she decides to speak up.
All of that being said, there may be other reasons readers might think of to explain why CAIT can do these things, and just because I didn't think of something doesn't make it wrong. So I always welcome people coming up with and going by their own ideas about it!
hi i'm sorry if i sound stupid. i really love valiant so far and am very excited to see how the story unfolds. there seems to be a lot of variables to keep track of and i hope they're not very exhausting for you. i have a question regarding the poly. are you writing the story with the poly variables already implemented? because i'm already eyeing for that anton path poly but i don't want to fuck up 😭 thanks in advance!
Hi, anon! You don't sound stupid at all, please don't apologize!
I'm glad you are enjoying it so far. There are quite a lot of variables to keep track of, and it honestly can be exhausting. 😂 But it's rewarding too. There are times when keeping track of all of the variables in a scene can be a bit much, so I'll occasionally move on just for the sake of driving the story forward, and I'll make a note to go back and add stuff during revision later. But most of the time I just make a list of the key variables needed for each scene outside of the normal list, and that helps me keep track of things as I write.
The variables for the polys technically already exist, but there aren't too many choices that affect them yet. Right now, I think there might be a handful of choices for the Anton/Switch poly and the Anton/Path poly.
I'm a long-time player of otome games specifically, which are really known for having to pick the right choices to go down a character route or get a bad ending. Ideally, I want to avoid that kind of thing here. It's my goal to give you several places where you can make selections toward a poly relationship (or any relationship in general) without accidentally missing out on a romance. I think the only caveat right now is that you do have to have at least one romance point with each character in order for the poly choices to show up. This is why I give you the opportunity during most of the intermittent hangout scenes to spend time with more than one person—so you have the chance to flag romance with multiple people if you want.
Beyond that, I would LIKE to give the player multiple chances to lock in to most of the romances if possible, including the polys. That way, again, you don't fully miss out on it if you choose not to lock in at the earliest point. This means a lot more scene variations for my workload, but I think it will also mean a more dynamic finished product.
So TLDR, it should be pretty easy to set yourself toward the Anton/Path poly as long as you've picked at least one romance option for each of them. You'll get some choices that add to their poly stats with you relatively soon.
We're kicking off a month-long celebration of interactive fiction this May—and we want you to be part of it!
Over the course of the month, we'll be building curated recommendation lists across a range of IF genres, highlighting standout games, and featuring interviews with the creators of these games.
Objectives:
We hope that this will be a fun, community-driven way to:
Allow authors to share their work with a wider audience
Help everyone discover new, awesome interactive fiction games!
How to participate *Edited dates:
Now–May 14: Submit your own games or nominate others (multiple allowed) in each genre.
May 16–21: Community voting on submitted games by genre.
After voting: Winners get short feature interviews.
By May 24: Final showcase published with all submitted games + rolling interview features from May 25
We're kicking off a month-long celebration of interactive fiction this May—and we want you to be part of it!
Over the course of the month,
Genres for this round^:
Fantasy
Sci-Fi
Action/Adventure
Modern/Slice-of-life
Historical Drama
^We might do other genres in the future!
WIP and completed games, twine, choicescript etc. games are all welcome, so long as they are 'interactive fiction'! Do try to tag the game as (WIP), (COMPLETED) when submitting if you can, though!
The second half of Chapter 4 has been edited and had new content added, which almost completes this chapter's rewrites*. Also, I ended up adding some Chapter 3 revisions too. Things to look out for in this update are:
-A couple chapter 3 additions: Mordred now has the opportunity to keep in touch with Arthur with the intention of gaining an ally/manipulating him. This means you get a new letter variation, as well as a different POV before Mordred's birthday.
-Also in chapter 3, Mordred has a couple new conversation choices when Gawain asks them to sneak out.
-A chat with Alina 👀
-Alina's confession to Gareth has also been re-written.
-More romance options with the Dragon Friend™, as well as the opportunity to confess if you haven't in the previous chapter.
-I've ended up seriously trimming down the birthday scene. There's two variants depending on whether Arthur is attending or not, and all the little scenes with various characters have been taken out for the sake of pacing. However, I want to release them as a separate extra, free mini-game for whoever is interested in playing through those scenes!
-Added a couple new choices when talking with Gawain the day after Mordred's birthday.
-There may be more little things I'm forgetting. As with the last update, there's a lot of little tweaks and edits made to the chapter overall.
*What I didn't get to finish are a few scenes that shouldn't take me too long; but just so you know, the conversations with Morgana, respectively Accolon the morning after Mordred's birthday are not yet revised. I also plan on adding a short Morgana POV.
First, a happy update: I’m done with writing chapter 8 and I'm getting started on the editing!
This chapter update stands at ~57k words (with code), and features:
Returning to Cargill after the National Doubles tournament (including spending the night with G or having breakfast with Rayyan if you’ve unlocked those scenes)
A freshman hang-out session with Max and Blake
Spending time with G preparing for the photography exhibition
Meeting your mother 👀—not once but twice?? (If you so choose)
Thanksgiving break 🦃—including:
Having dinner with Sam and his/her family
Sleeping over and possibly revealing that you’re together
Playing a friendly game with Sam at the neighborhood courts 🎾where you’d grown to love the game
Playing a lord-of-the-rings board game with Sam and finally unlocking the Samwise Gamgee nickname 🧙♂️
Calling Rayyan, G, Tobin, or your mother (if you’ve unlocked those scenes) and learning about how they’re spending their thanksgiving
Bond with your father, and/or spend time writing papers and preparing for finals
Reaping the consequences of your choices over thanksgiving break 🔥 (will you manage to submit all your papers in time? Or will you get benched for the last match of the season…?)
Chapter release dates
Early release (less polished): May 6
Early release (more polished): May 15
Public release: May 29 or earlier
Beta-tester slots
I have about 3 open beta-tester slots for CT:OS! If you:
Are interested in giving the full game a thorough play-through, particularly the later chapters
Are prepared to try out different branches/routes
Want to provide detailed thoughts, feedback, and suggestions (e.g. continuity, various moments that could be improved etc.) (preferably not just bugs/typos)
And would be available to do all of the above in the next week or so (in preparation for the update)
Do reach out to me either by Tumblr DM or by email ([email protected]), I would be very grateful for all the help I can get! :)
P.S. If you have a bug/feature that you desperately want to be implemented that I haven't gotten around to yet, feel free to submit an ask/drop me a DM and I'll consider doing so in this update! I'm also combing through previous asks to make sure I catch some of the stuff, but apologize in advance if I don't make it to something you've pointed out previously!
The cast of BotB season four has touched down in a new state: Ohio! That's right—they're infiltrated G's backyard (and maybe someone else's?) Unfortunately, the rockstar isn't happy about this development considering the people who have decided to show their faces here. Meanwhile certain rumors are tainting the BOTB brand while the home lives of the ROs are starting to creep up on them. Will there even be a tour? Who knows?
As usual, MC remains in the center of it all. Their plans for their future comes into question when they're forced with new faces and possibilities. That is…if they even have a career by the end of this. For some MCs they should probably keep in mind to think with their head and not their…you know!
Hi! It's been a long time coming but I'm excited to share the Chapter 5 alpha demo! Thank you for your patience and enthusiasm :) Please read until the end. Without fail I get questions that are answered in this post almost immediately after publishing it aha
I'm calling it an alpha demo because, and not to get all sad and lame, after the death of my family member I did not feel like adding more to my plate (aka beta testers). Writing took up much of my time already and it just hasn't been the right time to include other people into the process. Of course, that must change, and I will be getting beta testers soon now that the alpha is out. As always, the chapters are subject to change and improve as time goes on.
So with that said if there are errors im all ears! I will try to be as timely as possible.
NOTE: if you're band tier sub from late march to april expired, please send me a message so I can send you my email and send the demo. In the email be sure to add your email, subscription tier and proof! *If not proof then I can use your email to search it up!* Band tiers will get it immediately + fan tiers will be put on a list to get it in May!
Happy Chapter 13 release day! I'm so excited that it's finally here!! It's been nearly a year in the making, but we made it, everyone. You can play it HERE.
WHAT TO EXPECT.
Reminisce with [A] on how you met, your first impressions of each other, and what that has developed into
Learn more about Blane's backstory and why they have a fixation with the Rankings (spoiler alert, it might surprise you)
Hear about N's (tragic) childhood and their thoughts on your current relationship
Discuss the concept of immortality with K and learn why they keep pushing everyone away
Discover what happened the night Rylan was accused of murder while playing a game of 20 questions
STATS.
[A]'s Route: ~ 18,500 words
Blane's Route: ~ 33,700 words (2 Distinct Routes)
N's Route: ~ 22,000 words
K's Route: ~ 19,900 words
Rylan's Route: ~ 25,800 words
Total: ~ 123,530 / 690,420 words
LINKS. Game & Patreon
Also, a few players have experienced bugs with the new chapter. In most cases, their game was not properly registering the romance lock statistics, despite meeting the requirements. Because of this, I've created a short Troubleshooting Guide if anyone runs into similar problems. Please read this before sending me an ask or DM.
I hope you enjoy the new content! Please let me know what you think <3
Valiant: An Interactive Fiction Novel @valiant-if - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
