#mod squarewave

[techtakesoff]

How do you think dream selves would work for species with atypical sleep cycles? Like for example, an AI that doesn't really need to sleep at all if they were the main player instead of just a supplement for an actual player, or something like a dnd elf where they don't sleep but do have to consciously rest for a few hours a day.

Interesting question! I think the existence of the lunar kingdoms and dream selves are essential to the function of Sburb, so they would still exist in some form unless the game was extremely, fatally glitched, even if they didn't really make sense for the species playing it.

For a player who doesn't need to sleep at all, I imagine dream selves would function as an alternate state of consciousness that they could more actively shift into.

For some this could be like how pre-Sburb Dirk is awake as both his normal and dream self at the same time, but focusing heavily on one plane results in zoning out and losing awareness on the other. For others they could only be able to manage one consciousness at a time and whichever one they weren't using would be left "empty" in a sleep-like state.

Someone who is very observant, probably a Light or Mind player, might be able to access the senses of both consciousnesses but only move the body of one at a time.

A Breath or Void player, or anyone who often feels like they don't have control over their own life, could find themselves thrown from one consciousness to the other with no warning and have to come up with creative workarounds for suddenly dropping off in the middle of a conversation or even a battle.

For these players the process of awakening would be more like gradually becoming aware of one's existence on another plane, like experiencing déjà vu, recognizing symbols from the lunar kingdoms when they appear elsewhere, or getting distracted and "daydreaming" about another world.

For a player who doesn't experience sleep but still has to meditate or enter some other kind of low-energy state, the dream self would be something akin to astral projection -- being able to send one's consciousness into another body while resting in the normal world.

If they were startled out of their resting state, they would lose control of the dream self. The dream self may become totally inactive or it could continue to "sleepwalk" and act in accordance with the player's subconscious, which could potentially get them into a lot of trouble.

The process of awakening would be similar to that of totally sleepless players, with awareness coming on gradually, a vague recognition of another body on a different plane that progresses to conscious control.

For a player who totally lacks a physical form, like an AI, I feel like the dream self would still manifest as a physical entity. Sburb must create *some* kind of representation of the player to fulfill the functions of a dream self; if the player actively wants to have a physical body, then the dream self will take the form of that imagined body.

This is basically the same as how corporeal players' dream selves can manifest with different physical traits than their actual body if said player doesn't consider those things part of their "true self." If a noncorporeal player conceptualizes their true inner self as something that would be better represented as a physical thing, their dream self will appear as that thing.

On the other hand, if the player *doesn't* want to have a physical body, their dream self's body may appear as more of a "perfectly generic entity," like a featureless doll, or as a form of energy or matter that is non-literally representative of the player.

For example, a Light player may manifest as a physical being made out of pure light, a Void player as a living shadow, or a Life player as a person-shaped assemblage of plants. Being revived via dream self would work somewhat differently for these players; if the death of their main self doesn't leave behind a physical body to kiss, the transfer of consciousness to the dream self might involve something like another player saying a particular "magic phrase."

If the dream self is a physical body, then the deceased player's consciousness enters that body. But if the dream self is not physical, things are more complicated. If the player is an AI who exists as a decentralized computer process, being revived would be like using the dream self as a one-time backup to restore their consciousness to wherever it was originally stored.

If it was limited to one particular location, such as Hal existing only in Dirk's shades, a new copy of that object may magically reappear somewhere and the consciousness put inside it. If the player exists more as, like, a personified concept or some universal force given sapience... I don't really know what would happen? If "the physical process and force of gravity" played Sburb, died, and was revived... I guess they would just go back to existing however they did before.

[techtakesoff]

Planets for a derse Maid of Doom, perhaps?

Maid of Doom is a really interesting title.

This person is tasked with being a healer of what is by definition unhealable, and a protector of what is already inevitable. They are going to struggle a lot with finding a sense of purpose. Their quest might manifest as a huge impending disaster that all the planet's consorts beg the Maid to stop; but, as they explore the land and grow into their role, the Maid learns that the disaster really is inevitable.

Maybe it just really is beyond their power to stop it, or maybe it's actually a necessary step in beating the game, but the Maid's true quest is to figure out how to break the bad news to their consorts and endure the disaster. This planet would have a sort of eerie, melancholy atmosphere, unnaturally quiet and dark with only scattered consort villages and ancient ruins on its surface.

The weather is permanently stuck in that "just before a storm" state. I would call this the Land of Falls and Static. "Falls" refers to a physical landscape made up of dramatic cliffs and waterfalls, which makes the planet look stark and inhospitable.

Perhaps the land is also covered in autumnal plants, as in the season of fall. It also brings to mind phrases like "a fall from grace" and "whatever goes up must fall down," and even "learning to fall" -- learning not how to avoid falling, but what to do once you inevitably do.

"Static" also has multiple meanings: it refers to static electricity in the air preceding a storm, and to something that is fixed or unmoving. In this case it relates to the Maid of Doom's journey towards realizing they can't stop the disaster.

Other potential names:

Land of Ponds and Decay -- still, stagnant bodies of water that can be deceptively deep, and can preserve things at the bottom due to cold temperatures and lack of oxygen; decay can refer to biological decay (rot) or nuclear decay (radioactivity), both of which are inevitable physical processes

Land of Lead and Sediment -- lead is a dark, heavy metal that can be poisonous to the human body, and is also the element that most nuclear decay chains end in; sediment refers to material that builds up at the bottom of a basin and over time can turn into sedimentary rock, becoming "set in stone"

[techtakesoff]

i wanna know the rest of the mods' classpects :]

As we all know, I am a Knight of Heart, Derse sway.

Hal: Bard/Mage of Heart, Derse sway.

Squarewave: Seer of Heart, Derse sway.

Halley: Seer of Void, Prospit sway.

Roxy: Maid of Space, Derse sway.