Invisible Parties — 7 of 31

Book - Gifts

A gift is a kind of thing. Understand "gift" as a gift.

A gift can be promissory. A gift is usually not promissory.

A gift has some text called introduction.

Instead of doing something other than examining or using to a gift:

say "Gifts inhere within the gifted; you can examine or use them, but not treat them as separate from the individual.";

[Tsawac knows all her abilities at the outset; Jave's are gradually revealed over the course of the game. At first I had thought that endings would vary depending on how heavily the player relied on Jave's abilities as opposed to Tsawac's, but that seemed overcomplicated and not quite in keeping with the tone I was after.]

To say giftintro: say "[one of]As for your resources... well, physical things don't always translate reliably world-to-world, and walkers tend to be wary of them. Most learned skills rely too heavily on specific circumstances that rarely obtain in other worlds. The range and life expectancy of a wayfarer are circumscribed by [i]gifts[/i], talents in the bone, uncannily irrespective of culture, climate or metaphysics. Gifts are inborn, or hard-bargained from subdivine powers.[p][or][stopping]".

the Warrior is a gift. The player carries warrior. The description of warrior is "With the warrior gift, you win fights. People often describe it as innate skill, and that's partly it, but it's something more than that; it also, somehow, shields you from the kinds of bad luck that get even the strong and experienced killed. It is not something to be relied upon, given that it makes you neither bulletproof nor inexhaustible, but it's one hell of an edge.[p]For some, the talent manifests in sublime grace, a whirl of dancer's rhythms and brush-stroke arcs. It does not work that way for you. You're more about short stabbing motions, nasty little twists and locks, low defensive stances, staying in cover, controlled fire. Looks like a dog's breakfast." Understand "fight" as warrior.

the Forager is a gift. The player carries forager. The description of forager is "One of the most common gifts, if only because those without it tend to die off fast. A forager can find food and water if there's any to be found. You know, somehow, which berries are best left uneaten, which meat is full of hookworm, which water is a cholera vector[one of].[p]The forager gift is often given as the reason why so many of the Walk are ravening foodies. You're doubtful of the correlation, yourself: travel's reason enough. But a professional-quality meal [i]does[/i] seem more enticing when you've been living on grass seeds for a month[or].[p]Jave lacks it. On the one hand, this makes her even more insanely impressive. On the other, it's something to be anxious about whenever she's out of sight[or][stopping]."

Understand "forage" as forager.

the Textual Critic is a gift. The player carries critic. The description of textual critic is "Some gifts are of, well, fairly marginal utility. You met a guy once whose only talent, other than wayfinding itself, was juggling. He could juggle pretty much anything he could lift one-handed, mind you, and had thought of several unexpected applications, but it didn't go all that far.[p]Textual criticism is a good bit more useful, because - like most gifts - it's truly cross-cultural, which means that you can read, say, a pamplet of pornographic 18th-century French political satire, or an oral history of land rights among indigenous Tasmanians, or a zine circulated among otaku in 1980s NorCal high schools, and you will actually [i]grasp[/i] all the layers of meaning.[p]Apart from making grad school embarrassingly easy, it's very useful for grappling with the otherwise-incomprehensible peoples that populate odd corners of the ways and worlds - as long as they're literate, or willing to tell you stories."

Understand "criticise" or "criticize" as critic.

the Troublemaker is a gift. The player carries Troublemaker. The description of troublemaker is "It's called [i]trickster[/i] by some, and the stories that feature it usually depict someone with a pathological need to start shit, who glories in shit-starting for its own sake, even at vast personal cost. Yeah, there are people like that all over, and the ones who have the gift are fucking [i]awful[/i]. But you're not, by inclination, someone who [i]lives[/i] to make trouble. Not since you were younger and more confused, anyway. Nor do you create trouble by accident, at least not any more than the average person. What the gift [i]does[/i] is to make the trouble you start [i]highly effective[/i]; if any potential exists for a riot or a fist-fight or a shouting-match, you can pretty much ensure it'll be an [i]epic[/i] one. Which may have something to do with this whole business, come to think of it." Understand "trickster" or "trouble" as troublemaker.

[In the first release Tsawac only had three gifts, a result of running completely out of creative energy. Troublemaker came out of a pick-up brainstorming session on ifMUD.]

the Commander is a gift. Jave carries commander. The description of commander is "There's a more common Leader gift, which is just the ability to motivate and organise people you're in charge of. The commander's gift is rarer, and considerably more complicated: it inspires some of the same confidence, the same deft touch for managing people, but it's also about putting all that to effective use. A leader is perfectly capable of leading everyone off a cliff: a commander sees the cliff coming and can quickly understand the best way to deploy a range of resources to deal with it. It is, in short, very highly sought after.[p]From your perspective, it has the mystery and alien allure of black magic. From Jave's, it's just basic common sense."

the Abider is a promissory gift. The description of abider is "This may not even count as a gift, but it's certainly as useful as one. People get themselves in all kinds of trouble, generally, because they're not prepared or able to wait things out, from a compulsion to do [i]anything[/i] rather than doing nothing. Hurry-up-and-wait drives you up the walls, but to Jave it's one of the standard modes of life. If something bothers or pains her but there's no good way to fix it, she doesn't beat her head against it."

The introduction of Abider is "A memory:[p]You'd come off a particularly lousy patrol, and the depot was just on the other side of the river; but the river was swollen with unseasonal rain, and had turned from a clear sheet of water a stone's throw broad to a turbid chocolate torrent, full of broken-off trees. It was still raining. A couple of grunts had taken noncritical wounds in a skirmish, but more to the point, the antifungals supplied by command were about as effective as talcum powder, so you were all itching furiously in inconvenient places. You had fuel and ration bars and tents, so there was nothing to do but wait; and everyone knew that as soon as command spotted you setting up camp, they'd be starting the clock on your four days off. Nothing to do but sit and itch and stink until the water went down, cheek-by-jowl with a bunch of exhausted, grouchy grunts.[p]Jave was just about the only reason why the group didn't disintegrate by the second day. She sat quietly, did stretches, and made tea. She didn't lose her temper when a brawl broke out among the grunts, and she didn't run herself ragged trying to figure out a fording method that was, plainly, never going to work. And somehow her calm transferred to the rest of you, and made it all [i]endurably[/i] shitty."

the Laughing One is a promissory gift. The description of laughing is "Humour's tough. It's pretty much a cultural universal, and it even tends to refer to the same topics, but really catching all the threads of something funny is a tall order. And there's a big difference between [i]understanding[/i] it and [i]getting[/i] it. Jave's gift is, therefore, a very special kind of fluency, a kind that gets deep at the heart of what people are concerned about, and potentially a very direct route to a powerful species of trust. It's instant, totally unanalytical, completely without artifice. It's not exactly a matter of making jokes - she's not a raconteur or a wit, she's understated rather than showy. It's primarily reactive, an ability to laugh fully and know why, complete freedom from uncertainty and second-guessing. You are not given to envy, on the whole, but if anything could spark it it'd be this."

the introduction of Laughing One is "A memory:[p]Two-thirds of the way along Mirror Branch, the only time that an easy job got a little twitchy. Along the river there was, unexpectedly, a stockade, set up by a Romani band, out of Upside via Kosovo. They were well-armed, and had one or two single-gifted among them; it was not clear whether they were set up as bandits, or toll-collectors, or were simply protecting their settlement. They bristled; accustomed to persecution, they assumed trade along this river would be followed by Mission, and if they were wrong it was only through happy accident. You still don't really have any idea about how their humour [i]worked[/i] - you had the vague sense that dark humour was part of everything, something in the vein of Soviet political jokes, and that there was a subtle distinction between the kinds of joke told by women and men, but really all that you [i]knew[/i] was that there was a vast, vast amount of vital meaning that was shooting back and forth over your head.[p]And Jave just sort of waded into all this - look, the first time you really remember her, remember her as a distinct person rather than a template Mission-vet, is when she burst out in full-bellied laughs at an aside from the headman.[p]They didn't suddenly become her bosom friends. The scene did not end with a guitar sing-along over potent drinks, worse luck. They knew that something was going on with her, and you're not completely sure it changed the outcome. But they had started thinking of her (and only her) as a person rather than a problem. She waved when you left, and some of them waved back."

the Antinominalist is a promissory gift. The description of antinominalist is "To the pure all things are pure. Jave has a sort of translation field for social mores up around her, enabling her to kiss girls in Riyadh or smoke weed in Singapore or walk around armed in Upside or unarmed in the steader worlds, just because [i]she[/i] doesn't see anything wrong with it. She doesn't take advantage of it anywhere near as much as you would - which is perhaps part of how it works. In any case, it's a powerful survival tool."

The introduction of Antinominalist is "A memory:[p]In Masdita you almost never saw a woman outside without a man or several other women. Every girl above the age of five or so wore long skirts, and hats above about twelve. But nobody took exception to the two of you wandering around in shorts and going all goopy-eyed over one another. You vaguely ascribed it to genial tolerance of the strangeness of outsiders (which was, in other respects, true: they had a strong hospitality code and a deep appreciation of the ridiculous), but once you started paying attention it became clear that they were decidedly unhumourous on the subject."

[EXAMINE PLAYER and INVENTORY were the same command in the first version. This kind of confused people, at least to the extent that they didn't really register gifts as things that were inventory items (and thus worth examining.)]

selfex is a truth-state that varies. selfex is false.

Instead of examining the player:

if selfex is false, say "Worlds change wayfarers to a certain extent, and you're used to that. But a tangle is a messy superposition of many worlds, so it's liable to be more abrupt. Watch yourself.[p]";

now selfex is true;

say "[the tsadesc of the location][br]";

Understand "tsawac" or "poitier" as yourself.

Instead of taking inventory:

let L be the list of things carried by the player;

say "[giftintro]You are [L with indefinite articles].[one of] [co]To use a gift, USE GIFT or just GIFT. You can EXAMINE gifts for more information.[/co][or][stopping]";

if Jave is in the location and Jave carries a gift begin;

let X be the list of gifts carried by Jave;

say "[br]Jave is [X with indefinite articles].";

end if;

your hair is part of yourself. The description of your hair is "Now is not the time to be worrying about it."

your clothes are a scenery wearable thing. When play begins: now the player wears your clothes. [For some inexplicable reason 'your clothes are worn by yourself' threw up a bizarre bug.] Instead of examining your clothes: try examining yourself. Instead of taking off your clothes: say "Nudity is better-reserved for less hazardous situations." Instead of dropping your clothes: try taking off your clothes.

Understand "clothing" as your clothes.

Understand "shirt" or "skirt" or "pencil skirt" or "shoes" or "sensible" or "hose" as your clothes when the location is office party.

Understand "red" or "scarlet" or "crimson" or "dress" or "shoes" or "heels" as your clothes when the location is beautiful people.

Understand "sweatshirt" or "hoodie" or "pants" or "trousers" or "carhartts" or "keds" or "socks" or "stripy" or "striped" as your clothes when the location is gamesnight.

Understand "tactical" or "pants" or "trousers" or "tank" or "top" or "tank-top" or "keds" or "shoes" as your clothes when the location is gamejam.

Understand "turtleneck" or "cargo" or "pants" or "trousers" or "shoes" or "approach shoes" as your clothes when the location is turning stair.

Understand "bridesmaid" or "dress" or "confection" or "train" or "gown" or "frock" as your clothes when the location is wedding.

Understand "tunic" or "sandal" or "sandals" as your clothes when the location is wine-dark sea.

Understand "tux" or "tuxedo" or "suit" or "shoes" or "dance shoes" as your clothes when the location is ballroom.

Understand "suit" or "formal" as your clothes when the location is wakeroom.

Understand "cloak" or "desert cloak" or "indigo" or "shoes" or "hiking" as your clothes when the location is Barren Way.

Understand "shorts" or "sandals" or "t-shirt" or "shirt" as your clothes when the location is hotrock.

Understand "waistcoat" as your clothes when the location is maying.

Understand "hiking" or "boots" as your clothes when the location is Hollow Way.

Understand "jeans" or "army boots" or "boots" or "hoodie" or "gloves" or "black" or "shooting gloves" as your clothes when the location is Empty City.

Understand "black" or "dress" or "shirt" or "pants" or "waistcoat" or "tie" as your clothes when the location is DoubleTwisted.

Understand "gown" or "dressing gown" or "dressing-gown" as your clothes when the location is orgy.

Understand "rags" as your clothes when the location is bacchanal.

Understand "hiking boots" or "pants" or "tank top" or "top" or "tank" or "tank-top" as your clothes when the location is Into the Woods.

[This is the basic mechanic:

Rooms can have exits or puzzles; there are eight of each. Four puzzles must be solved to get out.

After solving a puzzle, that room and the next room the player moves to will be destroyed. When the fourth puzzle is solved, *every* room the player moves to will fall apart, aside from exits.

The easternmost edges will be locked until the first puzzle has been solved; the north section until the second puzzle is solved.

]