#with bosses that reflect players whos soul shard were shattered

[theskyexists]

Really wanna work on my multiplayer game idea again.... Hmmrrm.

[anyway-i-love-vanderwood]

Well since you insist: What are the general monster types in this MMO AU? Are they unique for the game, or are they just regular goblins and trolls? I'm good with either one, I'm just wondering.

✿ They’re definitely not just regular goblins and trolls, though traditional fantasy fair does crop up. In this AU, Jumin, Rika, and V are a trio of fantasy nerds, which is what caused them to want to create a video game and develop a setting for it, but V was responsible for a lot of the aesthetic design, so most of the monsters and locations have his influence...

And, more than anything, V likes things that are hauntingly, often tragically beautiful. 

V’s monsters are very unique, and that’s part of the draw of Mystic Message Online, quite honestly. His creations draw influence from classical art-pieces, folklore, and general commentary on the human condition, and aesthetically, they deviate drastically from ‘typical’ video game enemies.  Every creature has an indepth, detailed lore biography, which can be discovered by reading books and researching things within the game. Jumin knows basically all of it by heart, which makes going into a dungeon with him the equivalent of listening to a museum audiotape. This is either an interesting or a frustrating experience, depending on who you are.

In a general sense, monsters have a number of different ‘racial’ types - which factor into skills, abilities, and items that cause players to deal/take more damage from them. A rough list of them goes as follows -

Angel - originating from the celestial domain, ‘angels’ are sometimes friends and sometimes foes. V, being Christian, derives a lot of his influence for angel designs from Christian architecture and archetypes. Ally angels are friendly looking and traditionally beautiful, with shining gold wings and inlays of rococo-esque golden flourishes on their marble. Enemy angels are more baroque and gothic, with writhing forms cut deeply with twisted shadows. Some creature types attack with shards of stained glass, and some have glass windows inset into their bodies. Peering into them is sure to show you something terrible.

Aquatic - the designs of aquatic creatures run the gamut from ethereal, seductive sirens and terrifying deep-sea creatures. Rika had a big mermaid thing, and so demanded that there be at least one mermaid-themed area or dungeon, where seemingly beautiful people turned into horrible, jagged creatures of monstrous teeth when provoked. ...sort of like someone we know...?

Artificial - covers anything mechanical or manmade, such as constructs and artifically created life. Seven’s creations are all labeled as ‘artifical’, as are the homunculi that alchemists create. There are a number of quests - many of them suggested or written by Rika - about the ramifications of artificial life and the idea of a sentient creature made by mankind. These are pretty popular, and there’s a chunk of the playerbase who really wants to play as mechanical beings.

Beast - this is a pretty expansive classification, including things like wolves, bears, and many other traditional animal entities. V still tried to include some interesting beastial types though, like chimeras, griffins, manticores, etc.

Demon - these are where V dropped a lot of his ideas about human nature and tragic beauty. Demons represent the corruption of something that was good - such as rotted flowers, shattered vases, and the downfall of mankind. In every demon lingers some remnant of what they once were, but twisted beyond all belief and comparison. For example, some demons love animals, but the animals they touch become vicious, hateful, and monstrous. Some demons have within their wretched forms some object or soul that they’re trying to protect, and some demons mimic the appearance of the players that they’re fighting, showing them what they could become if they should fall...

Dragonkin - Jumin actually had lots of ideas about dragons, and during one creation session, he kept pitching things like, “Well, what about having more than dragons that just hoard gold? What about dragons who like gems, and who have the appearance of gems? What about dragons who hoard flowers, or bones, or other precious things?” V took a lot of these ideas, and every dragon enemy in some way embodies the thing it collects. Jumin keeps asking for a dragon that collects cat merchandise and V keeps saying no.

Korean-esque dragons exist within the setting as well, but they’re almost     always allies. You go to them to ask for aid, protection, and they’re often tied to elementals.

Eldritch - everything strange, spooky, and beyond the realm of mortal ken goes here. Eldritch type enemies aren’t encountered often, but Seven has a habit of making areas where everything seems normal and then you look in a corner and WHOOP HERE’S SOMETHING WEIRD. Weirdly enough, Unknown seems to employ monsters of the eldritch class...?

Elemental -  this class covers things like dryads and nature spirits, along with the beings that serve the river and mountain dragons. Some are simply manifestations of nature’s wrath, and some have sentience, being either trickster forest spirits or guardians of specific locations. Sometimes, elementals can become ‘corrupted’, and they reflect the destruction of nature’s beauty. Elementals that look like oil-slicks and rotten trees exist, and are often terrifying.

Humanoid - bandits, cultists, and other human enemies go here! Also, this class contains things that are... sort of human, like the Kumiho. NPCs in Mystic Message Online have pretty interesting societies, and the players who really like lore have a lot to explore in the various towns in the game. Goblins, tolls, ogres, and dokkaebi exist within this class as well.

Insect - so there’s a dungeon in the game where a giant spider stalks you throughout the entire thing, and it is ABSOLUTELY SEVEN’S FAULT and players HATE IT. It’s not just spiders though - giant praying mantis’s and other types of interesting bug show up in the game. There’s an area where giant moths swarm you and eat you. Who thought of that? Who thought it was a good idea? (Jumin did. he really hates moths.)

Yoosung refuses to fight the centipede boss.

Plant - Similar in some ways to elementals, plant-type enemies in Mystic Message Online are often not capable of thought. In some areas, you want to beware even the flowers, because giant versions will sometimes emerge and eat you. Seven absolutely has created troll areas where if you interact with the flowers, you die.

Undead - Gwisin, Jiangshi, and the western idea of zombies go here. Many of these creatures are tragic, and often when simply observed have movement patterns that suggest things they did in life. Some bosses of this enemy type need to be beaten in a very specific way, like reuniting a pair of tragic lovers, or taking revenge on someone who wronged the ghost. There’s one boss that V created that’s an old sailor covered in barnacles, sea-cucumbers, and coral, and another that’s a dead woman who died in the woods and whose half-rotted flesh is obscured mostly by roses.