[????] Mortis Character Ramble Thread [18+ edition]

[skinstealer]

he's very familiar with the headspace, yeah. there always seem to be new areas popping up, but he's prone to walking all over the place in search of answers- both for himself, the system as a whole, and as to how he can acquire these powers he's so dead set on developing.

oh yeah i could absolutely see the down feather thing, the visual similarity was already very intentional. stealing that idea

[skinstealer]

ok it is. rin tonight, hi

i am not usually nervous about rambling about characters but it has been a bit and today we are talking about caine. which is, uh, a weird subject for me.

a lot of our recent characters have been autobiographical to some degree due to that being interesting for us to explore as a system, and caine is also that in ways i have not explored, at least not on this level. i wanted to make sure that even though he touches on similar subjects to wilson (namely, being uncomfortable with his interests/sexuality), it's explored differently, and in a way that ties in heavily into the comorbid system's internal and external struggles. caine is also an exploration of how certain dynamics i've had in the system would go if they were applied to one  with a different situation- while i've been the primary fronter of our system for many years (up until this one), what would happen if someone had similar complexes but in a different situation- one where people wouldn't be so biased.

that said, he's not directly me, and i prefer to leave a lot of the specifics of where those lines begin and end more mysterious for the sake of my own safety and comfort. be cool about it and don't ask anything of me personally, just focus on the guy. the failguy.

krowling has talked a bit about caine before, and if you've been keeping up with this thread, you know already that he is kind of a huge danger to the comorbid system at large. his inability to feed without completely freaking out has lead to way too many near-shifts into terror state, and in general, people prefer him to be locked the fuck up. locking him up never seems to work, however- despite him being relegated to the basement of one of the cabins in headspace, he has a tendency to manifest in other parts of the headspace without actively deciding to be there. this is extremely awkward for everyone involved, especially since caine in headspace is a 7 foot tall fleshy wolf monster that can and will jumpscare people when he materializes behind them and gets just as panicked.

that said, he has a strong relationship with delaney, a slug dopple in the same system who takes interest in him as something new to try on for size (interpret as you will). the two of them's bond is very hard to explain, but delaney appreciates having a massive guard dog at her disposal (especially against the headspace's many monsters and threats) and caine appreciates having someone to scratch him around the neck and encourage him instead of shoving him in a basement. when asked if their relationship goes beyond sordid flings and more into romantic territory, caine stops talking and looks incredibly embarassed, while delaney asks "wouldn't you like to know?"

del convinces caine to start feeding on willing external participants eventually, which everyone is INCREDIBLY relieved by, even if caine himself has mixed feelings about it. he's still wildly uncomfortable with the fact that his brain likes the sensory experience and act of feeding a bit too much, but finding people who are surprisingly down for that cough ivory helps a lot. the other people del hangs out with in system- river, maddie, and johnny- do not approve of her relationship with caine and think she is fucking insane for palling around with him. however- this does not stop them from letting her have him tag along on their adventures/patrols around headspace, with the caveat that she keeps an eye on him at all times. he's very useful against headspace monsters, as mentioned.

so yeah. this guy. if anyone has any questions, go ahead, i'll be back to ramble more either way.

[skinstealer]

rin again, still having a lot of caine thoughts but i will return to those later i think. today...and probably for the next few days...we are working on some "christmas presents to ourselves", in the form of grandma simulator designs made to fill niches we feel like we haven't filled- or just want to play with. we pick out a character base to use (TCPs for now, but we're considering bulking up the plaything universe up a bit as well...), slap it into grandma sim, and go through our usual selection and editing process until we get a new guy that feels nice to the system member in question. for added challenge, we randomize "personality stats" (we'll explain these at a later date, tldr theyre a character development tool we have to make 500+ characters actually viable and unique) and give them a random song on shuffle to form the basis of their character around. suddenly people now have a little design puzzle to play with!

for me, i ended up picking out a touch type for the base i wanted to use. yes i know this is predictable as fuck considering touch types are my #1 favorite TCP type, but my brain was waffling between that and collision type and i've already got three of those too. i had no idea what i would Do with a...fourth touch type, but i thought maybe it could be cool to do a contrasting character with hazard, my favorite and most beloved TCP, and use them as a foil to explore differences in touch type perspectives.


[image description: a touch type TCP ref, this one with a mottled white body with its arm stripes having pink/yellow mottling and black/blue mottling. the pink/yellow combination also exists on their slimy fingertips.]

this is fingertips. not the most unique name for a touch type, but that's kind of on purpose- fingertips has fully embraced their ability and what it means for them, and has settled into a somewhat indulgent lifestyle in the sensory district of haven, a TCP-only city that generally has its residents live in specialized areas. TCPs can live wherever they want in the city, but it's easier to get into a place if you fit into whatever specialty it's catering to- and in tips' case, that's the sensory district. we want to sketch what some of this district looks like at some point, but it's very much inspired by autism sensory rooms in a lot of places, and tips' place especially resembles that- a place that's meant to engage the senses and provide stimulation. they immerse themself in new sensations constantly, and consider themself to be a connoisseur of life's tactile experiences, including both positive and negative.

they've asserted themself as someone who can help other TCPs explore these delights as well, letting TCPs have a sample of their increased sensitivity for whatever purposes they'd like- though usually, this involves people wandering around tips' sensory house and experiencing all of the weird stim stuff there is. they generally take the enhanced sensory ability back before the person leaves, in order to keep them from getting overloaded outside of a safe environment...and those "touch sessions" help them make an income and stay afloat.

outside of work and their ability, they're a very flirtatious person who falls in love easily, to the point of being somewhat impulsive and lackadaisical about it. even so, partners don't generally stick around, often drawn in by their ability and disenchanted once they realize how fixated tips gets on it. it's appealing at first to many, but when people realize how single-minded they are about it- this constant desire for more and more sensation- and the ambition and impulse spending that comes with that (gotta get all the new textures!), they detach and leave tips to their own devices once again. as such, tips remains in a constant desire for the perfect partner or two, but is unable to find someone who shares their desires....or someone they're willing to compromise with.

they wear most of their positive feelings on their sleeves, but tend to keep their frustrations and upset more internal, not wanting to show anything unseemly- at the very least, not without putting it through a filter first. even stuff like seeking unpleasant sensations is done with a filter of it being an adventure, and nothing Scary. they have many friends and peers, even casual lovers, but no particularly close relationships to call their own.

the first person they meet in a long time that catches their eye, however- is hazard.


[image description: a touch type TCP ref. this one has a mottled pink and teal body with yellow/pink and black/dull purple stripes, creating a "caution tape" like effect on his arms. his slimy fingertips are deep pink and blue.]

hazard is a character who started as a silly RP character back in 2019(?) and evolved a lot over the past five years. he was spawned in the TCPdex Research Facility and was raised there as well, eventually making his way out to haven's sensory district. his time at the facility was a Hugely mixed bag, mainly marred by the way one scientist in particular treated him- which i will detail a bit under spoilers.

Show Content

CW: CSA analogues/SA, TCP gore and injury

the scientist that ended up spearheading a lot of the research done with hazard liked to focus on the sensory angle, as is typical for similarly typed TCPs. this involved subjecting hazard to both pleasant and painful simulation, which was again, pretty standard- except for the fact that most of these experiments involve consent and proper explanation to what's going to happen. hazard was never really given these things, and it became increasingly clear after the first few years of testing that there was more gratification going on with this guy than just his scientific prowess and research.

as a result, hazard became withdrawn and even resentful towards his ability, and left when the first opportunity arose. it still took him 8 years to leave the complex post-spawning, but he got into a housing program in haven and was able to settle into a simple dormitory situation in a sensory building.

hazard could never really fit in with the other sensory typings, as much as he wanted to. while his urge to explore things and sensory seek was still very present, touch could become agonizing seemingly without warning, and he would go through episodes of having any sensation period feeling like pain. (wow this hits different after realizing we have fibromyalgia.)

it's been decided for a while that eventually he decides he can't take much more of living in the sensory district and books himself into a (as of yet unnamed) TCP assisted living facility in haven, enduring mandatory curfews and therapy in order to try and "fix himself". the facility itself has its ups and downs, but offers a weird in between of feeling nostalgic and way too restrictive. still, he's able to befriend a lot of people there, and feels a sense of community for the first time in his life among others who couldn't "fit into society at large".

before this, though...i think that tips and hazard did meet, and that them knowing each other may have been the inciting incident for hazard seeking out assisted living in the first place. tips is a very overwhelming person in their desires and relishes in that- desires that conflict extremely hard with what hazard is able to handle. it could be that hazard sought out tips' help, only for that help to backfire explosively and lead the two of them to have very different feelings about each other and their life trajectories- tips seeing someone that they want to get in the head of, to understand and pick their brain about all of these perspectives they've never heard of, and hazard seeing someone who desires the very things that lead him to get traumatized in the first place. it's a weird relationship, and hazard probably avoids tips after that initial encounter, but tips can't get over hazard like any of their other partners/lovers (though we haven't decided whether the actual interaction was along those lines)...

tips means well, but doesn't have the perspective he does, and he's not really down for sharing it. it creates this sort of dynamic of tips looking for him ever since then, and being distraught that he just fucking disappeared from the district after their interaction, but hazard going "jesus i cant show my face back there again and also this guy is kind of weird as fuck in ways that i dont know how to deal with yet".

will they meet up again? will they just be figures in each other's backstories? who knows! but that's tips.

[AceOfNothing]

I kinda love Tips. I feel bad for Hazard, Hazard has always been great, but I like tips a lot. Hope he gets explored more, it's a good contrast in trauma and indulgence.

Also I really wanna know Haven in general. Curious what districts there are

[skinstealer]

i think that like. it's interesting, their dynamic. tips makes for a weird "love interest"/"rival"/"foil" for hazard, especially when compared to hazard's eventual partners he makes while in the assisted living facility, but i feel like there's some kind of weird magnetism between him and tips that excites the latter but freaks out the former. i don't think hazard would want to admit to feeling drawn to someone who actively seeks out pain when it's something that he has extremely avoidant tendencies to, and tips has no fucking idea how to interact with someone whose experiences are So drastically different from theirs. something i've been mulling over since posting is maybe having the two of them reconnect online and see where things go from there, even if being around them would be too much for hazard right now in person. whatever happened between them, it was enough to really freak hazard out, even if it wasn't technically tips' fault and more of a consequence of hazard's totally-not-fibromyalgia condition.

no idea if this tracks or makes sense but this is our ramble thread and we get to be as incohesive as we want.

as for haven, it's something we initially came up with along with the heartsong system, so we'd like to talk it over more with it at some point before doing a deep dive into how it works. sensory district is pretty developed in our mind visually though, so that's fair game for discussion.

[skinstealer]

here to talk about some guys. it's currently noel with merry in the copilot seat- we have two characters to talk about (for now), and we hope you enjoy them!


[image description: a songbird type TCP with a gray squiggly pattern on his yellow body, along with a deep teal head and belly, pastel lime beak, legs, and accents, and bright teal patterns.]


[image description: a moodboard featuring four images- a steel, ornate birdcage, two stand microphones in a foggy environment, an antique key among fallen leaves, and a circuit board.]

welder is a songbird type TCP living in Haven, a TCP-centric city. he lives among other bird types, their aura abilities usually combining to create a calming environment for those living there- but for welder, it tends to lead to more emotional numbness than anything. he is a quiet man who spends his time working as a singer for charity and therapeutic events due to the soothing effects of his song, but longs for the moment when he can express his more passionate and "hard to market" emotions. he has a deep love of computers, televisions, and electronic toys, and has beliefs of them being alive in their own sense- and may even feel attraction to them to some degree. if he does, it's pretty heavily buried in denial, and he doesn't see a way to express those feelings safely.

it's hard to say what would be the catalyst for his feelings being freed, but cage and lock symbolism feels very important for his characterization, as well as a certain tenderness expressed around the electronic devices he wants to care for. he's a talented guy who is well known in the city for his skills, but he struggles with being known for something that feels like a simple result of his type's ability- and not what he actually wants to be doing. he has a romantic side that he also keeps under wraps, feeling that in his numb state and "strange" attractions, he would be unable to find a suitable partner- even among the objects he keeps.

meanwhile, on merry's end...



[image description: two images of the same gargoyle TCP, one clothed and one not. the unclothed image displays a black and white mottled gargoyle type TCP, with blue and orange accents- blue on one side, and orange on the other. she has an exposed chest cavity with a ribcage and a heart, but no leaking fluid. her clothes are simple and comfortable, with a light brown chevron patterned sweater, a white undershirt (with only the collar visible), a blue bow tie, and a plain brown skirt.]



[image description: a moodboard consisting of four images- a ribcage seen from below, creating a tunnel-like effect, a lion shaped door knocker, an abandoned, retro phone with its receiver off the handle, and a dark blue room with dim lighting and glowing windows.]

fresco is a gargoyle type TCP living in solitude, working as an indie game dev for a hit horror game. it isn't released yet, but it gets her a lot of traction on the [FELID_FACTOR] forums, even if that attention is often overwhelming. the game itself is a mostly-text adventure with world of horror-esque stylings- think screentoned graphics when any are on screen. she isn't a graphical artist, so it's hard for her to make graphics- but she's spent years learning how to write evocative, frightening horror that takes its readers/players to another world. she desperately wishes for people to talk to about her process, but resists reaching out to others often- making public forum and blog posts involves less vulnerability, and the last thing she wants to do is enter a weird power dynamic with another person.

as for iconography...obviously, the chest cavity comes to mind. she was spawned with it and has had to do a lot of work to keep it clean and safe. the fluid around it has hardened into a muscle-like shell, keeping it open and hollow with no bleeding- unless said shell is pierced. undershirts and protective bandages are common in her wardrobe, allowing fresco to create a sort of false skin to keep things from penetrating into it. she takes her ability and typing very seriously, so gargoyle and scary sculpture iconography is a must- her typing allows her to protect others around her from curses or negative influences, and she will sometimes make income working as a party escort for adventurers fearing magic consequences visiting the area. it's a dangerous job, but it pays extremely well, and tends to debuff TCPs with negative auras and abilities without much fuss. abandoned telephones feel correct for the fact that she has struggles making emotional connections with others, and lives a rather lonely personal life..


here are our TCPs! we like them very much.