In the process of doing that, I also kind of halfheartedly scrubbed at the serial numbers, so while you could still kind of tell it was Sims-based even if you didn't know, the differences are pretty substantial and it is not really the Sims anymore. That is fine by my brain. My brain is still very excited about it.
Here are some things about the setting (now spoiler-boxed to encourage you to check out the etherpad because the species information in this post is getting out of date):
1. Age
Age
2. Species(?)In this universe, people don't age linearly; they do it in phases. For humans, the progression is:
Baby - from birth until first birthday
Toddler - from first birthday to fourth birthday
Child - from fourth birthday to fourteenth birthday
Teenager - from fourteenth birthday to twentieth birthday
Young Adult - from twentieth birthday to thirtieth birthday
Adult - from thirtieth birthday to sixtieth birthday
Elder - from sixtieth birthday until death by old age, which generally happens somewhere between 90 and 120
People do go through puberty during the Teenager phase, but otherwise people experience very little intra-phase aging. Babies always look less than six months old by our standards; Toddlers go from looking a little less than two to maybe a little less than three; Children start out looking about six and end up looking about twelve; Teenagers start out at Just Before Puberty, go through puberty, and then don't change any further until they age up; Young Adults go from looking about 20 to looking about 25; Adults go from looking about 30 to about 40; Elders go from looking about 60 to looking about to keel over.
Baby - from birth until first birthday
Toddler - from first birthday to fourth birthday
Child - from fourth birthday to fourteenth birthday
Teenager - from fourteenth birthday to twentieth birthday
Young Adult - from twentieth birthday to thirtieth birthday
Adult - from thirtieth birthday to sixtieth birthday
Elder - from sixtieth birthday until death by old age, which generally happens somewhere between 90 and 120
People do go through puberty during the Teenager phase, but otherwise people experience very little intra-phase aging. Babies always look less than six months old by our standards; Toddlers go from looking a little less than two to maybe a little less than three; Children start out looking about six and end up looking about twelve; Teenagers start out at Just Before Puberty, go through puberty, and then don't change any further until they age up; Young Adults go from looking about 20 to looking about 25; Adults go from looking about 30 to about 40; Elders go from looking about 60 to looking about to keel over.
Species
Besides the age phases I'm probably not going to include too many other Very Gamey elements. Probably no Traits, probably a barely-recognizable derivative of the whole aspiration point system, and I'm waffling on whether you can exchange currency for objects and vice versa by magic or whether the economy functions normally. I know I definitely want to include some kind of alchemy/herbalism system; I'm pretty sure I don't want to have anything to do with time travel.I really shouldn't call them species because they can all interbreed with each other, except ghosts, and also three of them are transmissible states, to everybody except each other and ghosts. But I'm not sure what else to call them. Anyway, here's the list. Note that lifespan factors are exact (e.g. Luminants age up from Baby to Toddler at 2, Dryads at 5), but super-characteristic factors are approximate (I wanted nice tidy balanced numbers to put in my spreadsheet, but there's a lot of individual variation, especially in strength and to some extent speed since they can be affected by training/lifestyle).
Humans are pretty much like our Earth humans, except for the abovementioned aging characteristics. They can learn all the learnable magics but not do any of the innate ones.
Light and Shadow
Luminants are loosely based on Aliens. Their lifespan is twice human. They have slightly increased speed and durability (1.5x human).
Starspeakers are loosely based on Vampires. They age like humans until they don't. They have superspeed (3x human) and slightly increased strength and durability (1.5x human).
Dryads are loosely based on PlantSims. Their lifespan is five times human. Their strength and durability are 4x human. They are taller than humans on average (1.4x).
All these sorts of person can have children with any of the rest, except ghosts who can't reproduce at all, but I haven't started in on figuring out how hybrids tend to work because *gestures emphatically at this enormous list*.
Humans are pretty much like our Earth humans, except for the abovementioned aging characteristics. They can learn all the learnable magics but not do any of the innate ones.
Light and Shadow
Luminants are loosely based on Aliens. Their lifespan is twice human. They have slightly increased speed and durability (1.5x human).
- Their skin and hair colours are in the blue-green-purple range. Their eyes are large, solid black, and glossy. Their bodies emit a faint glow.
- Their magic is very mind-focused. Telepathy, sensory powers, that sort of thing.
- Their hair and eye colours can be nearly anything humans don't naturally come in, and their fingernails are opaque and coloured. They might have some sort of shadow-based visual effect but I'm undecided on what.
- Their magic is very focused on the external/physical world; they use wands and other tools to cast spells that produce concrete effects. Well, sometimes "concrete effects" is something like "luck charm", but it's not something like "love spell".
Starspeakers are loosely based on Vampires. They age like humans until they don't. They have superspeed (3x human) and slightly increased strength and durability (1.5x human).
- They have fangs, starry black eyes, and born Starspeakers have skin and hair colours exclusively in the black-grey-white range. Turned Starspeakers only get the fangs and the eyes.
- Starspeakers do not age past the Young Adult phase, and therefore don't die of old age. They can turn other people (who are not already sky-kin) into Starspeakers by biting them With Intent. They cannot eat solid food, and although they can drink any drinkable beverage, they are nourished only by blood and blood substitutes. I think they have other magic too but I haven't decided what it is exactly.
- They have fangs, shining silver eyes, and born Moonsingers have very thick hair with silver markings - usually silver tips, sometimes also silver streaks. Turned Moonsingers only get the fangs and the eyes.
- Moonsingers do not age past the Adult phase, and therefore don't die of old age. They can turn other people (who are not already sky-kin) into Moonsingers by biting them With Intent. They can shapeshift, fully or partially, into wolflike forms; under the direct light of the full moon they are unable to remain in forms other than full wolf. I think they have other magic too but I haven't decided what it is exactly.
- They have fangs, shining golden eyes, and born Sunwalkers have a faint golden sheen overlaying their skin and hair all their lives. Turned Sunwalkers only get the fangs and the eyes.
- Sunwalkers age all the way to the Elder phase, but stop there: they don't die of old age and don't experience aging effects or any deterioration of health in the Elder phase. They can turn other people (who are not already sky-kin) into Sunwalkers by biting them With Intent. While most species' hair will go grey or white with age, Sunwalker hair turns brilliant gold. Sunwalkers can eat, but don't need to, and will begin to feel unwell if they have much more than a few bites of food in a day; they find dehydration moderately uncomfortable but can't die of it. I think they have other magic too but I haven't decided what it is exactly.
Dryads are loosely based on PlantSims. Their lifespan is five times human. Their strength and durability are 4x human. They are taller than humans on average (1.4x).
- They have pointed ears, hair made of leaves/flowers, and skin/eyes in shades of green and brown with occasional pretty floral shades.
- They have plant-based magic and can partially turn themselves into trees - their skin takes on a bark-like texture and appearance, and they become slower to move but much tougher and stronger. It is uncomfortable for a dryad to be in an environment with little to no natural light.
- They have pointed ears, are usually surrounded by a visual effect similar to a heat shimmer, and have hair/skin/eyes in generally fire-related colours: orange, yellow, red, some black or white, occasional touches of blue or violet.
- They are pyrokinetic and have some illusion magic; they might also be able to fly or hover in some way, but I haven't worked out the details. It is uncomfortable for a Mirage to be in a cold environment.
- They have pointed ears, fairy wings (usually abstract insect-based styles, particularly butterfly and dragonfly, but sometimes weirder things), and their hair/skin/eyes come in pale rainbow colours - any hue, but exclusively pastel or lighter.
- I haven't fully worked out what their magic is, but one thing they can do is partly turn themselves into gusts of wind, becoming blurry and insubstantial; this allows them to get from place to place even faster than they already could. It is uncomfortable for a Sylph to be in an environment with poor air circulation.
- They have pointed ears and scaly mer-tails. Their scales, hair, and eyes tend to come in vivid jewel tones, and their skin tends to be a less saturated shade of their scale colour, usually lighter or darker; for example, an Undine with emerald green scales might have dark green or pale green skin.
- They are hydrokinetic, breathe water by magic without gills, and may have some other magic I haven't worked out yet; they can also shift their tails to and from (scaly, web-feeted) legs. It is uncomfortable for an Undine to be in a dry environment.
All these sorts of person can have children with any of the rest, except ghosts who can't reproduce at all, but I haven't started in on figuring out how hybrids tend to work because *gestures emphatically at this enormous list*.
Questions? Comments? Validation?
Updating with index of subsequent posts:
3. Hybrids
4. Cosmology and Geography
Hey look, an Etherpad: /p/sile
