blue-blooded;

✦  PLAY THE DEMO HERE  ✦ FORUM ✦

blue-blooded — an interactive fiction | romance, low fantasy, drama

What would you do, if you knew how it would all end?

Your story begins where you die, and your fate is far more grim than the pretty fables recounted in books of fantasy and enchantment. With your untimely demise comes the world's end, all whilst you lock gazes with the person who caused it. 

But before you can proceed, you are thrown back to the beginning— back to day zero, in a tranquil village on the outskirts of a kingdom where magic vibrates in the very air and power is worn as a royal mantle.

The day the herald’s prophecy comes to fruition, a knight arrives to your village, bearing the emblem of the Crown. By will of the Crown, you are forced to join the blue-bloods who are flocked like cattle into a carriage drawn by horses. You and your neighbor are taken from your homes to be trained within the imperial stronghold. 

Despite your predicament, there's something itching the back of your mind… Your neighbor’s eyes oddly remind you of something.

A customizable MC— from gender (non-binary inclusive) and sexuality, to appearance and personality!

Choose to pursue a cast of complex RO’s (gender-locked & gender-selectable)

...Or simply build up (or down) your relationships with the various characters you will encounter on your journey.

Make decisions that MATTER and break the fourth wall.

Get taken from your family, live at the Crown’s mercy (or attempt to escape), and train your skills in the royal stronghold.

Choose your path to unlocking your true abilities.

Unveil the secrets lurking in the shadows of your neighbor’s past and the throne— or don’t.

Dictate the fate of the world and save it from inevitable perish— or don’t!

Who's excited for Chapter 4? 👀

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Why did Valens save MC and not Rhiannon? Especially if they were closer to Rhiannon than MC?

All will be revealed in due time, sweet anon. Valens will give MC a straight answer...eventually.

Valens....I tried to be kind but when she said she hates my Mc yeah all my love went out the window maybe next play thru love the game so far!

THANK YOU SO MUCH ANON, AND OUR SINCEREST APOLOGIES 😭 Unfortunately its one canon event of many that MC must live through</3 and Valens definitely didn't make things any better with their crash out... cry not, for Rhiannon lives on in our hearts and you can still fulfill her dying wish!! 🩵

Welp, now I know who my favorite RO choice is

OH FOR SURE SIBYL would cosplay, rp, larp, literally anything if it's what MC wants. Welcome to the Sibylmancers!

Ooh fun question, anon! 📚

VALENS would roll their eyes. At first, they would make little snide remarks like, “You do realize they do not exist, yes?” but once they see you truly have a crush on that character, they would never let it go. The next time you landed yourself in trouble, Valens would appear at your side with a wry smirk, drawling “And where is your beloved now?", waiting for you to plead with them before stepping in to help out.

For CALDER, it would depend less on who the fictional character was and more on what exactly MC sees in them. He would ask a few mild questions here and there, smiling as though he were merely indulging your enthusiasm. A valiant hero would earn approving nods; a charming villain or tormented antihero would interest him far more. “And what, precisely, do you find forgivable in them?” he would ask, with an intensity that feels strangely personal.

SIBYL would secretly acquire the book and read the entire thing in one night, partly out of curiosity and partly because they desperately want to understand what makes this fictional person so special to you. They would begin unconsciously borrowing little habits from the character— how they speak, how they dress, perhaps even recreate a scene for you, all in hopes of getting you to like them more.

ERIS would regard it as an act of insolence. They would have the book silently disposed of and replaced with several lavishly bound volumes chronicling the royal bloodline, every chapter concerning Eris conspicuously marked. One volume would even bear a hauntingly beautiful portrait of them on its cover. If confronted, they would scarcely glance up. “I merely ensured you have better things to occupy your imagination.”

Thank you for catching that and letting us know, anon!! Just double checked the scene and it is indeed a bug; we noted it down so that we can fix that in the upcoming update. Please accept our sincerest apologies for making your MC watch against their will 😭

Because for my Valensmancing MC it's just like WHY are you KILLING ME!!! I am on your side, I love you, also I am trying to save this kingdom!!! Has also killed Eris for their tyranny with her own hands at least once.

Meanwhile for my Erismancing MC, she's the 'light to their darkness' type and also wants best for the kingdom, but I'm guessing her love dooms her everytime and Valens is just like 'stop trying to redeem Eris you stupid fool, they cannot be redeemed!!!!!' *Kills her*

Also the friendship triangle choices gave me the big oof because out of the trio of MC, Valens, and Rhiannon whether it's actually true or not that two of the three are closer to each other than the other, that always leaves one feeling left out/sidelined for whatever reason and like they're not actually needed.

For example for Alanna (my Valens MC), I picked for her and Rhiannon to be the closest pair, but in reality she'd be like 'why would I have to choose, both of them are my friends, both are important to me. I feel about them equally, but differently. Rhiannon's like a sister and Valens is my crush.' So for having to pick one over the other, it's Rhiannon by a very thin margin only. And she demonstrates that she feels close to Valens as well as often as she can (plus she follows the music and asks Valens for a dance.)

For Lior (my Eris MC) I picked for Rhiannon and Valens to be the closest in the trio and like ouch, because whether MC's observations on their relationship making them think that they are the closest pair out of all of them are actually true or not in the minds of the other two, it's sad to still feel like an outsider even with "your own people." The final nail in the coffin being when Valens saying that they hate her cemented her feelings of isolation, and is probably the catalyst of what drove her into Eris's arms in the first place.

And for MC and Valens being the closet pair (which I'm never going to pick, for what I'm about to say next) Rhiannon might only think that they're friends with her only out of pity for the sick girl. And since Valens always picks saving MC over her no matter what, she might even have died thinking that at least she's "no longer a burden to them or anyone" anymore. And that's way too sad to contemplate.

I also wonder if Valens tried saving Rhiannon over MC from drowning at least once, but then the universe said 'nuh-uh' and then reset the timeline after MC died instead.

I'm also looking forward to seeing the tarot card flavour text, will be very intersection. Alanna The Chariot, and Lior The Hanged Man.

All this to say, everything we have so far is so juicy, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the story. <3

ANON, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SENDING THIS IN THIS WAS AN ABSOLUTE JOY TO READ 🩵 AND ALSO COMPLETELY HEARTBREAKING. Alanna and Lior fit into the narrative so beautifully with the way you’ve interpreted their choices and relationships.

You caught onto so many little details and implications woven through the story and dialogue, almost all of which we can neither confirm nor deny. Just know that several parts of this rendered us completely speechless LOL

The trio dynamic is absolutely something that will continue to ripple through many aspects of MC’s life. The choice is rooted in a child’s limited and potentially skewed perception— but that does not mean the loneliness they felt was any less real, whether the imbalance truly existed exactly as MC understood it or not.

So an MC like Lior, who grew up feeling like the outsider and later finds themselves drawn toward ERIS partly due to that, creates a very real and painful dynamic that the narrative will explore! There is also something especially compelling about an MC who sees Eris as the person capable of perhaps understanding that isolation— while also wanting to reach the parts of Eris that seem beyond saving. Whether Eris will make that easy for them is, of course, another matter entirely (HINT: THE EMPEROR card)

Choosing Rhiannon and MC as the closer pair also does not mean Valens mattered any less; it only reflects how MC understood them at that age. Rhiannon may have been the one most openly reaching for MC, while Valens is more withdrawn and their affection lies in gestures that are much harder to recognize (which Alanna, who danced with Valens, surely got to see hehe). The idea of MC later realizing just how deeply Valens cared especially after everything that happens is also something the story will also explore if you go down that route!

The characters personalities, insecurities, and circumstances keep things from ever feeling truly equal. That perception and the resentment, guilt, or grief it leaves behind will matter. The Hanged Man seems very befitting of Lior, and The Chariot for Alanna will make for a very interesting combination... 👀 Thank you for playing and we're super excited to serve up some extra juicy scenes for you next chapter<3

At least they are not forced to a marriage .... yet ...

ERIS'S MANDATORY ANNUAL CHECK-UP 😭😭 AU MC probably forgot about the whole encounter already meanwhile the Crown and Eris are duking it out back at the castle over who gets to do the annual rounds and who's staying behind.

(The palace declines to comment on matters of betrothal at this time.)

(I am in fact larping because I haven't gotten around to reading the demo but I HAVE been following the blog😍)

This is about whether mc is a strength or weakness btw

THE FACT THAT THIS IS LARP MAKES IT SO MUCH WORSE BETTER BC HOW IS ERIS HAVING MORE PEOPLE FALL VICTIM WITHOUT EVEN LIFTING A FINGER?

ERIS: "Good kitten."

- totally real line from the demo btw; come play, anon! pstpstpst

Oh MC, blissfully unaware they're at the center of royal beef </3 ERIS may not be the true heir, but they are the reigning monarch of petty. Though VALENS might be next-in-line to the Throne of Petty, unless MC would like to contest that spot.

Ooh, that's an interesting AU to contemplate 👀 So interesting in fact, that we wrote a little snippet for it! Perhaps this will also glean some further insight into ERIS and their family dynamic (aka trauma)... ERIS POV SNIPPET BELOW THE CUT:

VALENS: Trying to distance themselves and avoid MC at all costs MC:

We've received a few asks about this, so we've decided that MC will be able to do at least two of the activities before Calder and the knights arrive— so yes, you'll be able to make that promise and visit Valens. This'll come with the next update!

First off, thank you for playing! Second off, PLEASE ANON, WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT TELL ERIS; THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT HE WANTS TO HEAR 😭

Love the game, by the way ! The countdown is such a nice addition !!

We loved listening to that song, it 100% suits ERIS's vibe, especially these verses:

I have you strung, Strung in my web [...] Forget yourself, Surrender your mind

Thank you for the spot-on rec, anon! And the spot-on deduction LOL

Of course, perhaps Eris's means to an end are highly... morally questionable and unconventional— but come the reveal, you may even find yourself compelled enough by their reasoning to stand by their side. Eris is a product of their circumstances as much as their nature. As you said, they are the second-born and therefore not truly entitled to the throne. But MC will get the chance to discover that it is, in fact, not the biggest differentiating factor between them and their older brother, the Crown 👀 (no spoilers!)

In some other timeline, under different circumstances, maybe they indeed wouldn't feel the need to possess all that which they think may slip their grasp (they'd definitely retain their desire for prestige and to protect what is theirs by any means, though).

Thank you for playing and we're so happy to hear you're enjoying it so far!! 🩵 As the dawn draws nearer, we plan to make the countdown even more precise— down to the month/day/hour.