[Q+A] Mortis Ramble Thread

[skinstealer]

here you can ask questions about pretty much anything project-related, worldbuilding or character or meta stuff etc.


currently speaking is xavier; looking for stuff related to any of my characters. go nuts

[Guest]

What's some situations where the Rival is prone to doing ill-advised things or messing up trying to show off.
What sort of foods and serving styles does Frost like?
How anime is Shauna, in the negative sense.

[skinstealer]

without spoilers (that i KNOW you know, rime)...the rival is a very boastful person who wants people to like him, up until the point where he thinks their opinion doesn't mean shit to him. it's a fine line and can fluctuate a bit, but this leads him to doing a lot of things to try and prove that he's cool or worth admiration in some way. this can include but is not limited to doing stupid stunts involving shit that gets him hurt (sometimes badly, which thankfully doesn't last long due to being a concept IRL and not actually a zombie, i will not be showing or expounding much beyond vague shit on this but you're welcome to try and ask), trying to flirt with hot guys and coming off like a complete prick, and any time where he feels like his pride is being challenged, doing shit to try and counter that. the hot guys thing is especially a problem and something that wilson has mixed feelings about- he thinks that the rival's approach is abhorrently tacky if not outright kind of dickish (it's a lot of trying to be "cool" in ways that...while not pressuring, it's definitely qualifiable as coming on too strong in a lot of cases.) but in a sense, he's kind of jealous of how easily the rival can try, and engages with his gayness and flamboyance a lot more openly. the two of them also disagree a lot on how to handle trans stuff (both are trans men), but that's a whole other ramble.

i could...talk a lot about this guy, honestly. he's a hot mess.

frost eats a lot of cozy foods when he gets the chance to, but he can't cook for shit and has to order out. since he's also pretty broke, this is infrequent and i'd imagine it's mainly when ivory comes over. he likes big portions and has a huge appetite, which i'd imagine is pretty common for wasp combers, considering they're also based on dragons. stuff with sauce is a must, but he goes for sweet desserts as well.

shauna is a fucking edgelord who has been put through the wringer so many times that she's very capable of stupid anime monologues, which while enjoyably cheesy sometimes, if it weren't for the fact that she actually has enough power to back up any threats she makes, it'd probably lead to people not taking her seriously. aside from that, anyone who had the guts to try and become her friend would probably be put through a lot of angsty rage rambles, as she has a hard time internalizing when stuff could possibly be her fault and would much rather blame others after the events that caused her to discover her scrap powers. lots of monologueing.

[AceOfNothing]

Any fun facts about Obscura? Maybe something you had didn't get a chance to do in Gauntlet

[skinstealer]

oh god it's been a bit uhhh

i guess i've always wanted to show obscura and dropdead's relationship more. rin and i were just starting to test the waters with us being in a relationship when we decided we could have two characters be married, and even though their relationship had a lot of strain to it, i think there was something really valuable there, and interesting to portray. if i did anything with him these days, it'd probably involve the two of them trying to achieve a life of domesticity while also dealing with the effects of both being recovering drug addicts (i have no idea if rin ever divulged that giant fucking spoiler??? whatever i can talk about that too if people are interested)

[AceOfNothing]

Aw I like that. Hopefully ya both do explore that sometime, it'd be interesting.
Any hobbies you could see Obscura being into? Anything they'd collect or watch?

Can we know anything about Faint?

[skinstealer]

obscura would probably be into puzzles and board games, honestly- but board games would probably be hard to play with dropdead unless they're...digital, which makes them videogames i guess lol. he prefers tactile pieces and things that he can mess with his hands, but he does also want to be able to, yknow, play games and such with his wife. he'd probably be into romance to an embarassing degree (to him, i mean), which dd teases him about a lot.

faint is planned to be a character with some kind of dynamic with opera, and while i'm not sure what kind of appearances they'll make in future projects, como invited me to essentially make opera's equivalent of maes, parallel universe style. i chose a neuroth base because maes was planned to be a mantis at one point, at least i recall. i don't have a lot down for them yet, but i'm kind of thinking paranormal investigator?

[MarxzVulpez]

Are there any Morbit species you particularly enjoy? Be it like, aesthetically wanting to eventually make a character with etc

[skinstealer]

obviously i like the bugs, but i'd like to dabble a bit in...well, everything honestly. since fronting more i've realized that i want to expand my horizons artistically and really experiment on the same level as rin does. a lot of us in the system feel nervous about breaking out of our "aesthetics" and i think that while those will always be comfort zones for us, it'll be a valuable and validating experience to break out of that and embrace things that challenge us and make us think in new ways, maybe even discover a thing or two about ourselves in the process. for instance, through tim and some stuff with frost relating to plush shit, i realized "hey, i really like soft and gentle aesthetics in character design", and it's now something i work with a lot, and is honestly just as empowering to me if not moreso than the rougher edgy shit. all this to say: there's going to be a lot of variety from me, even if a lot of my characters are also just, yknow, cats spiders and bugs with goth/wintry palettes.

[skinstealer]

xavier again- going to be working on some maze trials anthology stuff, but just letting people know i'm good for more of this stuff, especially talking about the rival.

[AceOfNothing]

What is Rival? Any background (where he's from, come from a big or small family, any close friends)

[skinstealer]

oh this is a fun set of questions that you're not going to get a lot of good answers for, let's see how much of this i can answer cryptically

-rival is a concept, but i'm not allowed to reveal his IRL design, just his dream form. in dreams he resembles a wolf-like zombie who's literally falling apart at the seams, which is symbolic in more ways than one.
-he is from the same town and school as wilson and the two of them grew up together, but they are not friends and as his current stand-in name would imply, see each other more as unwilling rivals pitted against each other.
-he has a small family with two parents and no siblings, and gets along with them just about as well as wilson does with his parents (which is to say, not at all). avoids contact at all costs and pretends he doesn't see messages from them.
-as much as he tries to boast and come off like a big deal, he doesn't really have friends and due to a bunch of life circumstances, hasn't really had the chance to make any. ever. wilson's probably the closest he's ever had in his life and considering that involves the two of them slapping each other and screaming, it's not much to speak of.

[skinstealer]

shauna notes while i'm writing anthology stuff

-shauna is one of the few maze trials TCPs with significant amounts of power that does not actually ally with anyone else- most TCPs who accrue enough strength also get some kind of either followers or allies, but shauna is 100% a lone wolf and doesn't trust fucking anybody.
-this is also pretty standout considering she doesn't go after people either, she just...operates on her own and carries a metaphorical big stick. any larger, outwardly scarier TCP who underestimates her by her size is going to really fucking get it, though as of right now i don't think she has any kill marks, just a lot of experiences close to it. she doesn't like the idea of taking another person's life.

[knux400]

what is shauna's reaction to this image (the lil red hedgehog build on the side)

[skinstealer]

burning rage and then kicking it over and then feeling bad after because she has repressed toy empathy

[knux400]

But Does She Have Enough Empathy To Stand It Back Up Again

[skinstealer]

yes and would also put it somewhere safe and hidden

[knux400]

secret friend.........

[MarxzVulpez]

I know there are a few characters already getting updated/reworked designs, but are there any earlier designs that you could give us insight into how you would do them differently now? (E.g. Rin once doodled/showed off how Primus and tent types in general would look more like a tent if designed now)
Also gonna extend this to the other system members cause it's nice to see each of y'all's different design philosophies

[skinstealer]

hmmm that's a good question. i haven't done a lot of designs directly myself compared to the Vast Library Of Rin Ones and for the most part, i'm satisfied with the design work i've done...i guess one thing i am kind of sad about (but is definitely too late to change now) is that we never really captured the texture of the plush that inspired tim.


it's distinctly nubbly and curly and i'm not sure how to portray that without greebling the shit out of him, which is probably why we didn't do it in the first place. still, it's a cute texture...kind of wish there was a better way of going about it.

aside from that...i guess i would probably have some differences between how rin designed spider and how i would have worked with the same concept, but i'll be honest i think she's one of the best designs rin has ever done and i want to do her justice as is. i consider her a very nice gift from rin and want to make sure she gets a cool story... but hmm.

it's a good question for other system members as well so i'll leave it floating around for them as well.

[MarxzVulpez]

so, from the examples we've seen so far both in world building data and projects, Concepts seem to usually have either no dreams or more lucid and/or conscious dreams. Is that pretty standard across the species or is there a fair amount of like Standard/Weird Dreams as well?

[skinstealer]

i cant actually remember if i put down that concepts have No Dreams so much as they have blockers to prevent sharing them with people in a certain proximity (typically a room), but all concept dreams aside from that Are Lucid, and standard dreams, if they happen, would honestly be seen as a concerning medical condition due to how culturally important they are to concepts- it would be concerning if someone just...no longer had control, in their eyes

[skinstealer]

ellerie here, figure i could ask for some character development questions while we work today. my characters aren't very well known though, so...




esme- she/her, flame shroud, also has blood fever and is fairly aggressive about it. feeds on people directly instead of getting bloodbank stuff, making her sort of an antagonist...she finds justification for herself doing it but she's definitely not in the right. not a bad person if you're not on the menu, though. showing up in a future project that i can't talk about.



marrow- my morbit sona, sort of...may also have blood fever, i haven't decided yet. has some rare mutations (induced on purpose, but not willingly to her) that replace her midsection with crystals, and has a hard time getting around without her cane. how she still eats is a mystery (maybe she can only eat blood?) also, fucking huge for a mothlie. kind of scary to people. terror hunter. part of the system polycule project but i haven't actually done anything with her there yet.



grace stripes- fairly underdeveloped bellows character. wizard who handles the magical supply and demand of bellows, an underground fighter as well. kind of a coward who talks a big game, loses a lot in the ring.



patchy- patchimus type with a lust for revenge and an irritation at being treated like a toy. this is a running theme with smaller/cuter TCPs in the maze trials and we're making it work. all the same, they're okay with helping out the faction they're a part of with their comforting ability.


pine- very sad and scared TCP groomed into ritualistic murder by its overseers. i actually can't remember if pine uses it or she pronouns so i'll alternate. has very little in the way of comforts and lives a miserable life, hopefully remedied someday...

MISC TCPS
i don't have much for 90% of these but you can ask stuff and i'll make things up. then they get developed.


cherry square- TCPsona? that's what she was made as, anyway. don't have a lot to say


craven- probably an asshole


dusker- likes being out at nighttime



forrest- probably as the name implies, likes being outdoors?


gimmick- another terror hunter...supposedly. she doesn't have any kill marks and refuses to elaborate on her techniques. mortal enemies with esther (played by rin) and takes their entire "from another dimension" thing 100% seriously. "raised" in the TCPdex facility, got bullied a lot for being perceived as overdramatic over the fact that she has an edgy backstory and refuses to budge on that


iceberg- no idea


limerick- i had a whole thing for this guy and i completely forgot what it was. probably a terror hunter or something


pill bottle- not my usual aesthetic at all but it's here i guess? i'll be honest i'd really like to develop this one and see what i can do with something so bright and cheery looking.


there you have it, there's my guys. ask away

[Ignispark]

so marrows's a terror hunter? how does that work, like how does she hunt them? what does the job entail? is this like, contract work or like a position guarding an area prone to attacks? what are her thought's on the job?

[skinstealer]

find terror (typically based on reports), kill terror (typically beheading or attacking obvious vital areas- beheading is always a safe bet as it's usually a fatal wound for most morbit species and animals. gods too, for that matter.), ransack for parts and sell them on the black market. is it technically cannibalism if she eats her kills? probably, and i don't think too many people would take kindly to it (something something eating zombie meat), but it saves on grocery bills.

...this is providing that she actually is able to eat in the first place, which i'm still unsure of.

she operates independently and travels a lot, leaving her apartment in wayside unattended a lot of the times. doesn't do much on her offtime, mainly just sleeps. she thinks it's dirty work and it takes a toll on her pretty bad at times, especially when the terrors appear to have more sapient-like behavioral patterns, but she justifies it as "theyre gone now and theyre going to endanger the population if i don't kill them". also considers it the only work she really can do, even if it has a big toll on her body, she sees her bursts of abnormal strength (and they are very much bursts) her only asset to society, even if that's not really true at all.

[Ignispark]

wow! that's really interesting, also a very rough situation to be in.

is, eating terrors 'safe'? like are there health risks to eating them? is she immune to potential health risks or is this like a bad thing for her?

also, what's her favorite places of the places she's traveled through?

[skinstealer]

it probably varies super hard re: safety upon consumption and she's probably gotten sick a bunch of times. she's still resistant to it i think but her mutations probably made her on and off sickly as well.

probably likes the woods. somewhere she can be safe and quiet and spread her wings a bit (she's not capable of flight due to her wings being fucked up and torn up, but spreading them still feels nice.)

[ThreadLurkingComorant]

Tell me about the future project Esme is involved in.

[skinstealer]

i cannot talk about the project esme is in because it's actually not my project lol

but she is a vampire-like bastard in it. that is guaranteed

[Ignispark]

what's blood fever like? what are its symptoms/effects?

[skinstealer]

blood fever is, to be blunt, an adaptation of our stupid vampire/werewolf hybrids back in the original roleplay group that would eventually become morbit. people with blood fever need to consume blood (the fresher the better) or they risk turning into a temporary terror state that lasts until the desired amount of blood is consumed. these terror states vary wildly and those afflicted with it do temporarily lose sapience once the form is fully reached- though, with careful blood dosing and lots of mental training, some are able to achieve a halfway state where their impulses may be a bit risky, but the strength payoff and persistence of sapience is worth it, especially in bad situations.

[ThreadLurkingComorant]

What are your vampire takes

[skinstealer]

i'm more of a werewolf person myself (you know this) but i did have a twilight phase in general and i respect vampires. they're cool. not monstery enough though if they just look like people with fangs

[MarxzVulpez]

does blood fever only affect sentient/sapient morbitians, or can plants animals and others catch it too?

[skinstealer]

well, rin did something incredibly generous and gifted a character back to me that was kind of both of ours back in the day... she's extremely important to both of us but rin hasn't been able to figure out stuff to do with her in a long while (or at all really for the modern morbit iteration...) so-




plethora vladi- the first ever morbit character, blood fever afflicted, terrible at managing her condition. works for a diner we haven't named but is The Actual Morbit Denny's, mainly with as much manual labor as her girlfriend (who owns the place) can get out of her. very bad at social interactions, kind of fighty. doesn't like to talk.

[Ignispark]

(re: blood fever. that's pretty interesting. i like that alternative takes on vampirism because i think, its fun. i do have to agree that like...vampires when they just are people with fangs are a bit too tame for preference.)

oh! a diner.
what's the aesthetic of the diner? what sort of decor does it have?
what's on the menu?

what's plethora's favorite food (um, presuming, normal food is edible and not just blood.)

[skinstealer]

it's a pretty cozy local place, but it has huge ceilings due to having its gimmick be centered around catering to monsters (horror-mutated people, such as those with blood fever). as such they stock a lot of meat dishes and have heaping large servings for those who need them. decor is pretty goofy, lots of framed pictures of patrons doing dumb expressions, but that's what makes it nice.

plethora likes french onion soup when she's not devouring steaks raw. it would probably not be called "french" onion soup, though.

[knux400]

Who's the smaller character standing with Plethora in the first pic?

What job does she work at in the diner (cashier, cook, etc)?

What's the first thing you remember doing with the character (if you're both comfortable sharing it, of course)

[skinstealer]

so...that's not actually a morbit character- that's the first iteration of plethora, back when she was an edgy 13 year old vampire werewolf tiger. this was for a memoir article that rin wrote a while back, about the old RP group and what it meant to us. kind of a passing of the torch gesture.

pleth mainly does manual labor, stuff like carrying shipments and boxes around, and is in charge of delivering particularly big meals to customers as well. kind of an unorthodox position, but it works.

uhhhh plethora back when we were kids ran a gang called "the forgotten", which was for cool monsters like her. it was also notoriously hard to get in because you had to have your character beat her in a fight and she was overpowered as fuck, and we kept disappearing for long stretches because of various life circumstances. it kind of pissed people off lol

[skinstealer]

tony + miles here, our turn for a q+a. we've got a bunch of characters between us so here they come


TONY CHARACTERS


badd boy- badd for short. he/him, kind of an obnoxious ham, means well but ends up bragging his ass off. doesn't really have friends. freelance sex worker (be tame about questions here pls, save anything more risque for the discord or 18+ thread), poor as dirt but tries to pretend he isnt



braxton- he/him, fashion blogger/influencer, lives in hoopla. has a permanent case of the sillies.



needy- they/them, lived in hoopla with braxton for a while before moving back to monte to work for the hearts mob. kind of a bastard who needs to clean up their life and get somewhere safer.


stellaris- she/her, potion type that sells potion liquid on the hoopla black market. pushes herself way too hard and really needs someone to help her out. felid factor TCP.


unnamed pitcher plant guy- maze trials TCP, i do not have a lot for them yet but they're here and probably pretty dangerous


mark + park- two twin guys, up to no good.


noidea- survivor of a peaceful TCP session, team was run by Slate, who is not listed here because he doesn't have a ref or details yet. she/her


price- raised in the tcpdex research facility, now lives in a TCP exclusive city. not a lot down for this guy but he used to have aggression problems "growing up" that he's trying to move past

crush- TCPsona, [PASSWORD_JOURNAL] on the felid factor forums. a huge flirt and prone to making messes, but he also just likes making friends and gossiping.


vix- no idea for this guy but they probably have a bone to pick
 

---

MILES CHARACTERS


biome- they/them, no details yet aside from living in hoopla



zebbie- assassin for hire that's currently on a revenge bender for his fallen mother. powerful scrap user and most likely to have a boss battle out of anyone else listed here.


cecelia- a "princess" for the god Decorum (one of rein's lesser gods), kept as a weird fucked up pet and deals with regular ritual consumption. discovers the internet and writes really goofy cringe stories about wizards. she/her, felid factor character

biscuit- it's a cookie! this is bad. maze trials character, he can sense scraps


letterhead- lives in TCP-exclusive city, formerly from TCPdex research facility. it/its


carver- scary, but gentle. designer gore type.


have at it

[Shifter55]

Some fun designs and colour choices on Mile's end, what sort of vibes would the area Letterhead lives in have?

[skinstealer]

hold on let me look up what the name of the city is...okay i don't think we named it. it's a city setting we've been developing with the heartsongs and is a sprawling (relative to TCPs, anyway) metropolis on the far north side of hearth that's founded by, governed by, and inhabited exclusively by TCPs. it's considered a haven to many but it has a lot of structural problems due to the fact that the districts are generally chosen by different clusters of typings (such as sensory types getting a district, etc) and this, while an attempt to be accomodating, does let TCPs that either don't fit the standard model for their typings, hybrids, and/or TCPs that just don't fit nicely into categories fall through the cracks.

as such, letterhead probably lives in a district related to crafts and stationary-related typings, where hazards such as water and fire are avoided as much as possible to avoid serious injury. probably covered roofs even on walking areas and streets, and a focus on selling stationary and office goods to those looking for wares. probably a pretty popular district to shop, honestly. everybody needs shit to write with.

[MarxzVulpez]

I really like Braxton's tusks, and Badd is super cool!

hmm, for Needy is the mob work of their own volition, or something they can't get out of?


...will we ever get to see any of Cecelia's Wizard stories?

[skinstealer]

thankssssss rin designed braxton and badd but i claim their vibes were made for me

needy thinks that mob work is what they're meant to do, especially with helping their family- but it's rough work and they're really only able to get as far as they do because of their family connections. they probably get bullied a lot by other people in the mob and brush it off as "just part of the job".
 

---

cecilia's stuff actually does show up in the actual felid factor project. i tried very hard to write it in a similar way to how we wrote things as kids, because while cecilia isn't a kid at all, she definitely isn't well versed in writing and is very sheltered from the real world, similar to our deal.

[skinstealer]

good morning it's tony again. i desperately need to develop my pitcher plant type TCP for maze trials. please god help me with questions

[AceOfNothing]

What do you have for them so far? (Name, Pronouns, any likes?)
Is there any other characters they know? What's that relationship like? How do the bond/what do they disagree on?
If they don't know anyone, who do you think they'd get along with?
What kinds of trials are they good at

[skinstealer]

let's see how much of this i can bullshit

name: hush
pronouns: they/them but uses masculine terms like dude/guy
likes: cakes, sweets
character relationships: not sure. i think theyve been kept pretty isolated, partially because they see their typing as inherently dangerous to others and even if they wouldnt use it to actually eat/digest anyone, they're scared of people assuming that of them and hide themself away. if shoved in a trial chamber with other people they tend to be very withdrawn and go with whatever the gameplan is, very passive even if they have a lot of ideas for how to solve a puzzle.

speaking of, they're good at analyzing situations, which probably gets them heat in the case of them Not saying something that's obvious to them but not other trialgoers

[King-Clod]

What sorts of rewards have they gone for so far? Do they tend to go for consumables, knowledge, decorations, tech, toys, etc?

How do they feel about their overseers?

How do they feel about their isolation? Do they long for companionship, or have they found a form of it elsewhere?

What has been their least favorite trial room so far?

[AceOfNothing]

If they went to school, what classes would they find easy? What would they struggle with?
What do you think their fashion sense would be like?

[skinstealer]

What sorts of rewards have they gone for so far? Do they tend to go for consumables, knowledge, decorations, tech, toys, etc?

probably a lot of books. kind of thinking they're a nerd. they might have a small weapon such as a pocket knife, and a bag to hold it (and other trinkets), but it'd be something multipurpose. good for cutting ropes and such. probably looks longingly at stuff like toys and comfort objects but can't actually warrant spending impressions on it considering they aren't very good at getting them in the first place

How do they feel about their overseers?

very fearful of the overseers and doesn't like to speak ill of them out of worry of being punished. gets very nervous around TCPs talking escape plans or outright revolution because even though they would really like to be out of here, they are terrified of trials being made harder on them or other people as punishment.

How do they feel about their isolation? Do they long for companionship, or have they found a form of it elsewhere?

hush is very lonely and definitely wants some companionship, but feels like it's too dangerous for anyone to get close- even if their ability very much requires their own agency, considering they can control the rate that their internal acid digests things at. they see themself as born to be a predator even if they Really Aren't, and thus see their isolation as a necessity.

What has been their least favorite trial room so far?

probably any trial rooms which require them to use their ability, which i haven't figured out yet- the ability to make pitcher plants and control them is kind of a selectively applicable thing and primarily useful for traps, which when they don't want to hurt other people...idk

cw: animal death

Show ContentSpoiler:

probably have been made to use it against animals, though. that would definitely be the worst for them.

If they went to school, what classes would they find easy? What would they struggle with?

they would probably find anything to do with literature easy, and math as well. i feel like theyd struggle with stuff like public speaking or anything that requires a lot of group projects. also, gym class.

What do you think their fashion sense would be like?

i think they'd like casual clothes, probably just t shirt + jeans type person. if they're feeling brave, they try a cool jacket or something.