More Books for the PWA

I want to put eight books in each library in the game, not counting reference texts.
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2025-10-23 05:03:12 +00:00
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story.ni
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@@ -2058,6 +2058,8 @@ Naturewandering ActionLink "wander" "[Naturewandering ActionLink]"
Sanctity VisitLink "seek sanctity" "[Sanctity VisitLink]"
Playing Games ActionLink "play games" "[Playing Games ActionLink]"
Random Reading ActionLink "pick a random book" "[random reading ActionLink]"
Look Up Worlds ActionLink "look up worlds" "[Look Up Worlds ActionLink]"
Look Up Cities ActionLink "look up cities" "[Look Up Cities ActionLink]"
An EthrielLink is a kind of link. EthrielLinks are defined by the Table of All EthrielLinks.
@@ -2145,6 +2147,12 @@ To say knockin dose trees in Ethriel:
To say Sanctity VisitLink:
Try seeking sanctity.
To say Look Up Worlds ActionLink:
try looking up worlds.
To say Look Up Cities ActionLink:
try looking up cities.
Wandering is an action applying to nothing. Understand "wander" as wandering.
Instead of wandering when the location is Beyond the Domes:
@@ -2818,7 +2826,7 @@ To say Visit Canteen ActionLink:
Try visiting a canteen.
Check visiting a canteen when the location is a PWA Guildhall:
If the PWAPlasticMember of the player is false and PWAMembershipTimer is 0:
If the PWAPlasticMember of the player is false and the PWAMembershipTimer of the player is 0:
say "You're not a member. The cheap fish at the PWA is members-only.";
stop the action;
If the hungerNum of the player < 1:
@@ -2846,12 +2854,17 @@ A PWA library is a kind of room.
Past World Library in Ethriel is a room. Past World Library in Ethriel is a PWA library. "The PWA library in Ethriel is plush and brightly colored. The shelves are made of stout brown wood. The floor is a thick, cushiony pile in red. The seating areas are a mix of big puffy kalla/vohntrai duffans and the even bigger cushioned nests that vrash and vashael prefer, with the cushions upholstered in vibrantly colorful fabrics. The shelves are completely laden, and the stoutly constructed books feature colorful covers with pictures fanciful or suited to their contents.
There are two basic kinds of books in the library. They are past world novels and reference texts about past worlds. The reference texts are rather fantastical themselves, but most of the reading focuses on the past world novels. It's impossible to spend time here without learning about past worlds... and usually gaining something of theology as well. To go back to the PWA annex, type in 'visit [CommonLink PWA Link Two]', or click that link.
There are two basic kinds of books in the library. They are past world novels and reference texts about past worlds. The reference texts are rather fantastical themselves (there have been many thousands of worlds), but most of the reading focuses on the past world novels. It's impossible to spend time here without learning about past worlds... and usually gaining something of theology as well. To go back to the PWA annex, type in 'visit [CommonLink PWA Link Two]', or click that link.
Local commands: You can '[CommonLink Random Reading ActionLink]' here to spend a time studying a random book in the collection, which will ignore reference texts. You can use 'look up worlds' to find the names of some of the past worlds before Theoma, and then 'look up' the worlds once you know their names. [line break]Area Change commands: [Location Command Block in Ethriel] [line break]Personal Commands: [Personal Command Block in Ethriel]"
Local commands: You can '[CommonLink Random Reading ActionLink]' here to spend a time studying a random book in the collection, which will ignore reference texts. To get at the reference texts, '[CommonLink Look Up Worlds ActionLink]' to get the list of worlds, and then 'look up <world>' to get information on a specific world (will require a keyboard). [line break]Area Change commands: [Location Command Block in Ethriel] [line break]Personal Commands: [Personal Command Block in Ethriel]"
Understand "visit library" as visiting a library. Visiting a library is an action applying to nothing.
Check visiting a library when the location is a PWA Guildhall:
If the PWAPlasticMember of the player is false and the PWAMembershipTimer of the player is 0:
say "You're not a member. The library at the PWA is members-only.";
stop the action;
Carry out visiting a library when the location is a PWA Guildhall and current city is Ethriel:
If location is Past World Library in Ethriel:
Stop the action;
@@ -2872,11 +2885,61 @@ To say PWA cushion choice:
Otherwise:
say "soft nests".
The list of past worlds is always {"Ord", "Guntave", "Owotaro", "Itemonin", "Lamatan"}.
Understand "look up worlds" as looking up worlds. Looking up worlds is an action applying to nothing. Carry out looking up worlds when the location is a PWA library:
say the list of past worlds.
Understand "look up Ord" as looking up Ord. Looking up Ord is an action applying to nothing. Carry out looking up Ord when the location is a PWA library:
say "Sequence: Ord was the mythical first world. It ran for 1,073 years before being ended.
Theme: Ord was before the worlds had distinct themes. The original land god — Kraska — created Ord merely to find two souls capable of underpinning reality the way his own could. All of Ord existed within Kraska's will. Many nations existed in Ord, and power often transferred between the nations in wars. It's said that Kraska despaired of maintaining the peace of his world, and gave up, focusing solely on the cultivation of the specific talents he was trying to harvest. Those two souls were the first Apotheotic yields of the Infinite Story Project.
Structure: Ord was a great slanting world which ascended from an 'oceanward' or 'swampward' that we may helpfully think of as south, to a 'riseward' that we may think of as north. At the extreme swampward, there was an ocean that extended into the flux. At the extreme riseward, the land broke up into flying islands before extended into the flux. The other two directions were 'coldward' or east and 'blastward' or west. Coldward was cold; blastward was hot. The terms 'north', 'south', 'east', and 'west' are technically anachronistic, being later inventions unknown in the time of Ord.
Misc: Ord had an unusually high density of flying wagons, which were known as levicarriers (small) and airships (large)."
Understand "look up guntave" as looking up Guntave. Looking up Guntave is an action applying to nothing. Carry out looking up Guntave when the location is a PWA library:
say "Sequence: Guntav was the world four worlds prior to Theoma, roughly thirty seven thousand years ago. It ran for 631 years before being ended.
Theme: The Consensus was trying to see if they could actually make a war-like population happy. They used the most violent souls in the Infinite Story Project and tried to keep them happy without necessarily keeping them peaceful. Guntav developed into a world of large nations vying for control over land, many of them wracked by internal dissension as dragons sought power and/or vengeance over past slights.
Structure: As revealed during its runtime, Guntave was a single, roughly circular, immensely large island bounded on all sides by water. The surrounding oceans were shallow and lush with life, but going out from the continent crossed over into flux. Guntave had several inland seas and several segmental ranges: mountain ranges so broad and impassable that they created distinct geographic barriers to expansion and control of territory. A single gigantic portal in the center-north of Guntav linked to the Firelands, and climates cooled as one got more distant from the Firelands portal. Guntav appears to have been a flat world with no call for naval development. It had a moon. It is unknown what the stars above the world signified; it is thought that Guntave had further structure which was not revealed due to its short extant period.
Misc: Guntave never invented guns, or at least did not do so to the knowledge of the Past World Alliance. It is actually thought to have been called to an end when a Guntavian sage began to manufacture and distribute fireworks."
Understand "look up Owotaro" as looking up Owotaro. Looking up Owotaro is an action applying to nothing. Carry out looking up Owotaro when the location is a PWA library:
say "Sequence: Owotaro was the world three worlds prior to Theoma. It lasted 2,647 years before being ended.
Theme: Owataro attempted rapid industrialization to focus on the later stages of civilizational development according to a secular stagnation ideal point theory then-popular among the lands gods. It was supposed to achieve maximal cultural development within a specific scope of civilizational development, being a satellite-era service economy with little to no space settlement. Unfortunately, it stank with pollution, it was rude and alienating to many dragons, it had high rates of homicide and suicide, it had economies and governments rotted with corruption... and after struggling through for many centuries at its high-but-stuck level of technology, it unified into a semi-individuated hive mind. Like most relatively brief worlds, Owotaro was generally considered by the Consensus as a failure.
Structure: Owataro was a single large 'planet' with a moon and stars that were generally out of reach. A few of its dragons eventually settled its moon in late Owataro. Owataro's biomes were diverse and its gravity was low. The planet was riddled with otherworlds, further expanding its diversity and available space to expand into.
Misc: Owotaro culture presumes that anyone can talk to anyone at any time. The mind-linked consensus that the planet approached in its end-state was deeply disappointing to the Consensus, but has produced a particularly alien strain of past world fiction."
Understand "look up Itemonin" as looking up Itemonin. Looking up Itemonin is an action applying to nothing. Carry out looking up Itemonin when the location is a PWA library:
say "Sequence: Itemonin was the world two worlds prior to Theoma. It lasted 13,576 years.
Theme: Itemonin was one of the periodic Unrestricted Reproduction (UR) worlds. The theme of these worlds is largely all the same; the land gods try their best to manage the chaos of an ever-expanding population. Things are good for a long time, but resource constraints and their concomitant edge-case optimizations gradually kill joy and potential in the world. The land gods perform these worlds as a way of gathering new souls and expanding the potential of the ones they already have, so although the Apotheotic yield is not that great, the Redemptive Sub-Apotheotic (RSA) yield is spectacular enough to justify periodic UR worlds.
Structure: Itemonin was a 'star cluster' setting with many subworlds, called 'planets'. It implemented fifty-eight star systems, of which about two dozen initially contained habitable planets. The worlds were initially deeply isolated from one another by the immense distances of space, and developed strongly distinctive cultures with only a faint awareness of each other generated by necromantic past-life analysis. Fast travel between systems was not invented for nearly eight thousand years, leading to the formation of an imperial administration from the advanced star system of Skirelo. The Skireloans held onto Itemonin for almost nine hundred years through a series of rebellions before the Mutual Support Secessionist Movement (MSSM) created a much less interventionist League of Independent Worlds that survived to the end of the world.
Misc: Itemonin's space-borne population eventually greatly exceeded its planet-borne population. Accordingly, fictions preserved from Itemonin often focus on artificial settings."
Understand "Look up Lamatan" as looking up Lamatan. Looking up Lamatan is an action applying to nothing. Carry out looking up Lamatan when the location is a PWA library:
say "Sequence: Lamatan was the world prior to Theoma. It lasted 20,098 years before the Consensus ended it.
Theme: Like the vast majority of worlds occurring directly after a UR world, Lamatan was a traditional paradise world meant to utilize and further develop the RSA yield from the UR world. It was generally successful and produced a large A yield for the Infinite Story Project.
Structure: Lamatan was a 'portal-linked' setting with many subworlds, called 'planets'. It implemented seventy-eight star systems, of which about thirty five initially contained habitable planets on which dragons were created. Passage between the initial inhabited planets was possible via portals that were permanently maintained by the land gods. This free and ubiquitous portal system encouraged the formation of a unified meta-culture across the many star systems, with a free travel agreement binding all nations in most eras. The development of space travel some thirteen millennia into Lamatan revealed more star systems for settlement. Despite long traditions of freedom of travel, some wars occurred in the history of Lamatan, most awesomely being the Time Wars of the twentieth millennia.
Misc: Time travel novels in Theoma are often set in 'Late Lamatan', which invested a great deal into time travel."
A QQ library is a kind of room. QQ in Ethriel is a room. QQ in Ethriel is a QQ library. "A city block in one of Ethriel's domes is dedicated to this tall, broad structure. Past a huge pair of glass doors, a many-floored library sprawls with wooden shelves, carpeted floors, and cheerfully burning (but smokeless and heatless) magic flames hanging from the ceiling and mounted on the walls for lighting. Dragons of all shapes and colors, some of them wearing robes, carry books from the shelves to reading rooms sprinkled throughout the structure.
The Temple-Libraries of Querent-Querent are the most ubiquitous religious structures in Theoma, existing in most cities and many towns. Querent-Querent is a non-sectarian geomantic alliance for the advancement of trade and travel. The libraries are packed with travel accounts and descriptions of distant places, more than anyone could ever read, and most QQ facilities also have a small collection of geomantic lore available to be perused. Books are not checked out from QQ libraries; it is expected that patrons will use the on-site reading rooms.
Local commands: You can 'look up' cities if you know their names, or use 'look up cities' to find the names of cities which have had QQ files entered into the game already. You can also '[CommonLink Random Reading ActionLink]' to spend a time block studying a random book in the collection. [line break]Area Change commands: [Location Command Block in Ethriel] [line break]Personal Commands: [Personal Command Block in Ethriel]"
Local commands: You can 'look up' cities if you know their names (will require a keyboard), or use 'look up cities' to find the names of cities which have had QQ files entered into the game already. You can also '[CommonLink Random Reading ActionLink]' to spend a time block studying a random book in the collection. [line break]Area Change commands: [Location Command Block in Ethriel] [line break]Personal Commands: [Personal Command Block in Ethriel]"
Understand "visit QQ" or "visit Querent Querent" as visiting QQ. Visiting QQ is an action applying to nothing. Instead of visiting QQ when Current City is Ethriel and chargencondition is false:
If the location is QQ in Ethriel:
@@ -3710,9 +3773,9 @@ Report reading a long book:
if bookmark is booklen:
say "Having completed [genre of the noun], you put it down.";
otherwise:
say "You pause in your reading, marking your place.";
say "You pause in your reading, mentally marking your place.";
Romance of Blood is a kind of long book. The printed name of A Romance in Blood is usually "Romance of Blood". The author of Romance of Blood is "Oceloise the Steadfast". The genre of Romance of Blood is "a Guntavian action novel". The origin of Romance of Blood is "Memory of Esseri". The XP table of Romance of Blood is the table of Romance of Blood XP Values. The readability of Romance of Blood is 6. The full contents of Romance of Blood is {"'It is the nation of Aellystiru; it is the year 591. A young vohntrai named Tiloi has set about the most influential of all uses of vohntrai immortality: assassination.' This is a pretty dark novel. Well, that's Guntavian fiction for you...", "'Tiloi was not dismayed. His quarry had been of a different moral standing than he'd anticipated, but he'd made no misjudgement of her historicity. Her death would still advance Aellystiru.' Morally flexible patriotism. That's not seen on Theoma.", "'Are all your missions this hectic?!' demanded Palist. Tiloi could only shake his head. There'd been far more need of main battle in this mission... and he could see another enemy homing in on them. He drew his blade yet again.' Even when things went wrong, Tiloi didn't die easily. Still, the years passed, five years at a chop when he did die.", "'Tiloi had to get out of this business. He knew himself now. He was powerful. He was capable. He was looking forward to using his earnings on himself instead of to prepare for yet another hit. He only hoped the Consensus honored his actions. Aellystiru's position had grown desperate.' Guntav was a dark world with many desperate dragons living in it.", "'The year 640 dawned with Tiloi in a vile place. Every day, Tiloi prayed for relief. Every day, he faced his captors again. Knowing he would reform outside of their control if he died, they would not kill him, nor would they let him kill himself. In the end, he never escaped. Relief came when the entire world of Guntav ended, and his immortal life as a vohntrai concluded with the end of the world.' So vohntrai do die. When the world ends, they die like everyone else. Guntav ended during its seventh century, cut short much younger than most worlds are as the land gods had grown sick of its warring."}.
Romance of Blood is a kind of long book. The printed name of Romance in Blood is usually "Romance of Blood". The author of Romance of Blood is "Oceloise the Steadfast". The genre of Romance of Blood is "a Guntavian action novel". The origin of Romance of Blood is "Memory of Esseri". The XP table of Romance of Blood is the Table of Romance of Blood XP Values. The readability of Romance of Blood is 6. The full contents of Romance of Blood is {"'It is the nation of Aellystiru; it is the year 591. A young vohntrai named Tiloi has set about the most influential of all uses of vohntrai immortality: assassination.' This is a pretty dark novel. Well, that's Guntavian fiction for you...", "'Tiloi was not dismayed. His quarry had been of a different moral standing than he'd anticipated, but he'd made no misjudgement of her historicity. Her death would still advance Aellystiru.' Morally flexible patriotism. That's not seen on Theoma.", "'Palist demanded, 'Are all your missions this hectic?!' . Tiloi could only shake his head. There'd been far more need of main battle in this mission... and he could see another enemy homing in on them. He drew his blade yet again.' Even when things went wrong, Tiloi didn't die easily. Still, the years passed, five years at a chop when he did die.", "'Tiloi had to get out of this business. He knew himself now. He was powerful. He was capable. He was looking forward to using his earnings on himself instead of to prepare for yet another hit. He only hoped the Consensus honored his actions. Aellystiru's position had grown desperate.' Guntav was a dark world with many desperate dragons living in it.", "'The year 640 dawned with Tiloi in a vile place. Every day, Tiloi prayed for relief. Every day, he faced his captors again. Knowing he would reform outside of their control if he died, they would not kill him, nor would they let him kill himself. In the end, he never escaped. Relief came when the entire world of Guntav ended, and his immortal life as a vohntrai concluded with the end of the world.' So vohntrai do die. When the world ends, they die like everyone else. Guntav ended during its seventh century, cut short much younger than most worlds are as the land gods had grown sick of its warring."}.
Table of Romance of Blood XP Values
skill XP
@@ -3721,6 +3784,38 @@ writing 7
influence 4
theology 1
Still-Beating Heart is a kind of long book. The printed name of Still-Beating Heart is usually "Still-Beating Heart". The author of Still-Beating Heart is "Staltal the Envious". The genre of Still-Beating Heart is "a Guntavian romance novel". The origin of Still-Beating Heart is "Galrien". The XP table of Still-Beating Heart is the Table of Still-Beating Heart XP Values. The readability of Still-Beating Heart is 3. The full contents of Still-Beating Heart is {"'Princess Alrasti was overwhelming. Having dropped into Drasilu's life without warning, he had no idea what to do with her. She was unreal, supernatural, spiritually as large as the moon, and Drasilu was just a peasant.' Told from Drasilu's POV, the entire story seems to orbit Princess Alrasti.", "'Alrasti told him, 'You have to learn the etiquette if you're to stay in my orbit. We can pass you off as a foreign noble from the other side of Guntave, but you have to be well-read! I know this is hard, but don't you want to stay near me?' The weary Drasilu looked morosely on the world map painted on the wall of his quarters.' Drasilu agreed for the sake of his relationship with Alrasti to be educated into a long-term deceit.", "'The worst part of being mated to the Princess was the constant pressure to open relations with the distant bubble kingdom Drasilu was supposedly from. He knew everything that anyone in the kingdom knew about his supposed homeland, but that didn't mean he had real influence to carry him. Alrasti had his tail in a vice, and not only in the way he liked; he was locked into a lie of years.' Guntave's politics offer, um... A lot to learn from, but mostly in what not to do."}.
Table of Still-Beating Heart XP Values
skill XP
influence 5
sex appeal 4
past world knowledge 3
writing 3
erotic art 1
theology 1
One Spell Away is a kind of long book. The printed name of One Spell Away is usually "One Spell Away". The author of One Spell Away is "Teudan the Waggish". The genre of One Spell Away is "a Lamatanian time travel novel". The origin of One Spell Away is "Memory of Chakocha". The XP Table of One Spell Away is the Table of One Spell Away XP Values. The readability of One Spell Away is 7. The full contents of One Spell Away is {"'I still remember my old university professor. 'It is a mistake,' zie intoned grandly, 'to think of the world as moving forward in time. Truthfully, all that is and all that was is but one spell away from the present moment, and indeed one present moment is all that exists.' It was zie who got me started on the path of the Ziostian Temporal Agency.' This one is set in the twentieth millennia in the Lamatanian nation of Zios... and like most stories set in the twentieth milennia of Lamatan, it doesn't stay there.", "'We were cut off from the main timeline after that. The failure of the mission meant our founding had been negated. Our souls nonetheless persisted, and in the honor of the Consensus, we were given an otherworld in which to retain our nation of Zios. The Ziostian Temporal Splinter was down, but not out.' This story really hinges on aspects of how theology works to create time travel. Some of this may be valid in Theoma.", "'The situation was getting dire. Temporal bleed had afflicted most of the public, and though no damage could be done to the soul itself by such a means, the Consensus was starting to recycle the faded citizens. Temporal agents, heavily attached to time magic anchors, were largely unaffected, but Zios was turning into a realm of ghosts. It was hell on the nightlife...' The Ziostian Temporal Agency wasn't doing well in its efforts to refound Zios. How would they pull out of this?", "'It was like dying. It was like emigrating to a fantasy land. It was like swimming in a river of dreams. Most of all, it was like giving up. But I'd found love there and then, not here and now. But with the rebels backing me, I could do better than just going myself, so much better...' The Temporal Agency couldn't keep control of its dragons...", "'Dissident to the Ziostian Temporal Agency, I capped off a career of loyal service with one grand betrayal: I fixed the grand portal to a new destination and then signaled for the gate to be detonated. The baying crowd outside rushed in, roaring and stomping, wreathed in the illusory flames of amateurishly-crafted Hydra-based time anchors. I, and a million ex-Ziostians, were moving to a different planet in a different time. What new adventure awaited me in the fifteenth millennia? I was going to find out.' They didn't pull it off at all! They failed. If a million Ziostians migrated five millennia earlier, how long DID Lamatan exist? The 20,098 linear years no longer sound like they carry the whole story."}.
Table of One Spell Away XP Values
skill XP
theology 15
past world knowledge 2
writing 7
carousing 1
sex appeal 1
Shadowforce 2 is a kind of long book. The printed name of Shadowforce 2 is usually "Shadowforce 2". The author of Shadowforce 2 is "Valtailo the Bored". The genre of Shadowforce 2 is "a Lamatanian virtual adventure novel". The origin of Shadowforce 2 is "Memory of Chakocha". The XP Table of Shadowforce 2 is the Table of Shadowforce 2 XP Values. The readability of Shadowforce 2 is 3. The full contents of Shadowforce 2 is {"'I considered my psi-dome, and I considered my life. Constant training won the way to new content, and it was like visiting whole other worlds, but I knew it was a tamed and domesticated challenge. Still, I put the psi-dome on, and the world of Dark Adversary bloomed before my senses, as real everything I'd ever known. It was time to put away my life as Valtailo Taostine. It was time to be Eurallys the Shadow Doctor again.' The book embarks on wildly described places after that, but periodically cuts back to an equally alien cityscape for Valtailo's scenes-as-himself. It's a little hard to understand where the characters are. And is this a self-insert story?'", "'The meaning of life still eluded me. In the world of Dark Adversary, I was a capable and stealthy conspirator. In my own life, a great deal of nothing was going on. Was this a meaningful way to spend eternity? I would eventually get bored of Eurallys. Dark Adversary couldn't capture my soul forever. But was it really in a meaningful sense less real than life? All of life was totally safe. Why should it mean something to spend my time in one way or another?' Valtailo is describing his own past life memories as a basic income gamer on the planet of Aidasti. He muses philosophically at times and has a very introspective attitude, but overall it's a short book."}.
Table of Shadowforce 2 XP Values
skill XP
past world knowledge 6
writing 2
carousing 4
sex appeal 1
mental games 1
panhandling 1
To grant book experience to (P - a person) for (b - a long book):
Let bookname be the printed name of the noun;
If there is a title of bookname in the Table of Reading Progress:
@@ -3739,9 +3834,15 @@ To grant book experience to (P - a person) for (b - a long book):
now amount is 2;
Otherwise:
now amount is 0;
If the alloace spectrum of the player is sex-repulsed asexual and skill entry is sex appeal:
next;
If the alloace spectrum of the player is sex-repulsed asexual and skill entry is erotic art:
next;
give amount XP to P in skill entry. [todo: check this]
One Romance of Blood is in the Past World Library in Ethriel. Instead of taking Romance of Blood in the Past World Library in Ethriel:
One Romance of Blood is in the Past World Library in Ethriel. One Still-Beating Heart is in the Past World Library in Ethriel. One One Spell Away is in the Past World Library in Ethriel.
Instead of taking a long book in the Past World Library in Ethriel:
say "You can't take library books from the Past World Alliance. The reading environment is perfectly comfortable, why not use it?";
Stop the action.