games and words

Crème de la Crème Series:

My series of standalone games with different protagonists in the same setting. Expect romance, dark academia, and intrigue!

Book 1: Crème de la Crème. Climb to the very top of the class at your exclusive private school for socialites! Will you study hard, find a perfect match, or embrace scandal? A 440,000 word interactive novel published with Choice of Games. Winner of the 2019 XYZZY Awards for interactive fiction (Best Game, Best Writing, Best Story)

STEAM | PLAY STORE | APP STORE | FORUM THREAD

Book 2: Noblesse Oblige. Spark romance amid secrets in a crumbling mansion! What will you sacrifice for love? Can you trust your own heart? A 140,000 word interactive gothic novella published with Choice of Games.

STEAM | PLAY STORE | APP STORE | FORUM THREAD

Book 3: Royal Affairs. At your exclusive boarding school, will you rule the roost or be a royal disaster? Court publicity, sway the fate of nations, and find love! A 490,000 word interactive novel published with Choice of Games.

STEAM | PLAY STORE | APP STORE | FORUM THREAD

Book 4: Honor Bound. Guard students and secrets at an elite school! Recover or trash your health, purpose, and military career as you enact or thwart shady schemes in this 595,000 word interactive novel with Choice of Games.

Steam | Play Store | Choice of Games on Android | Choice of Games on iOS | Choice of Games on Amazon | Webstore | Forum Thread

Blood Money: By the power of your blood, you and your ghosts will take over your crime family! A standalone dark fantasy 290,000 word interactive novel published with Choice of Games. Selected for exhibit at AdventureX 2018.

Noblesse Oblige:

[b]Westerlin[/b] is your home country, a staid and formal society ruled by Queen Estell and a parliamentary government. Aristocrats hold most of the power.

[b]Gessner Wright University[/b] is where you went to college before dropping out. It has a good reputation but is recently established compared to Gessner University, one of the oldest and most famous universities in the world.

[b]Jezhan[/b] is to the east of Westerlin and is much larger, stretching from the western lakes and warm tourist destinations in the south to the much colder north. [b]The Isle of Teteriuk[/b] sits to the far north of Jezhan, where craggy mountains and moors look up towards the north pole.

[b]The Church of Jezhan[/b] is threaded through society at every level and there is little or no separation of church and state. It is a polytheistic religion in which gods are worshipped through formal church ceremonies, communal celebrations, shrines at home, and sacrificial plants, objects, and symbols.

[b]The Jezhani royal family[/b] has a High Queen, the High Consort whose children are heirs to the throne, and other multiple Consorts and their children (known as Potentates). Potentates are almost entirely ceremonial figures, though they are capable of wielding power. The High Queen is also the head of the Church of Jezhan.

[b]Jezhani culture[/b] has a historically stratified class structure, but as major industrialization hit in the last few decades, the growing of the influence of middle and working classes has shifted the balance. Now, the aristocracy no longer holds all the power or the purse strings: the merchant classes, new money, and the Church all hold much more influence. Unlike in Westerlin, polyamorous marriages are legal in Jezhan.

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Royal Affairs:

[b]Westerlin[/b] is your home, a staid and formal society ruled by Queen Estell III and a parliamentary government. Aristocrats hold almost all political power, and only aristocrats with generations of property ownership over a certain threshold can vote for the Westerlind parliament. In general, the gaps between aristocracy, the middle class (even the upper-middle-class), and working class are wide, and individuals rarely move between them.

You spent most of your early life in [b]Fenburg,[/b] the capital of Westerlin. It's a sprawling, prosperous city built on a river delta and is considered one of the world's major trade centers. Westerlin's climate ranges from cold, snowy mountains to temperate lowlands.

Although churches celebrating saints exist as community landmarks and focal points for charitable fundraising, religion isn't a major part of Westerlind culture and most people would consider themselves nonreligious. [b]Hearthlight[/b] is a winter festival celebrated in both Westerlin and Zaledo focusing on hopes for the coming year. [b]The Festival of the Birds[/b] is a spring festival celebrating the joy of the bonds of friendship or romance. [b]Verdancy[/b] is a summer festival celebrating the earth's growing bounty. Some of these festivals have distant roots in supernatural beliefs and mythology, but are mostly based in ancient folklore.

[b]Zaledo[/b] is to the southwest of Westerlin and is generally more egalitarian, with more social mobility. Zaledo and Westerlin have quarreled in the past but during the last hundred years or so have been allies—though relations have sometimes been warmer and sometimes cooler. Emigration between the two countries is common. Zaledo's climate is mostly hot and dry.

[b]Jezhan[/b] is to the east of Westerlin and is much larger, stretching from the western lakes and warm tourist destinations in the south to the much colder north. The polytheistic Church of Jezhan is a major influence in Jezhani culture and politics, and the monarch of Jezhan is also the head of the church. Polyamorous marriages are legal in Jezhan.

[b]Teran[/b] is a large archipelago far to the west of Westerlin and is more remote than either of Westerlin's closer neighbors. A meritocratic culture with a strong military presence and influence, Teran is ruled by a President and parliament. The Teranese Church broadly worships the same gods as the Church of Jezhan, but is a very different denomination. Polyamorous marriages are legal in Teran. Much of Teran is warm and highly elevated, containing broad stretches of rainforest; in some places it's more temperate.

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Honor Bound:

[b]Teran[/b] is your home, a warm, resource- and technology-rich sprawling archipelago. A belt of independent islands sit between Teran and Zaledo, some of which have always been separate and some of which seceded over the centuries. Most recent was the Dahaikan Secession. Despite resistance from mainland Teran, Dahaika successfully seceded forty years ago.

While Teran used to be a monarchy, a military coup three hundred years ago known as the Teranese Revolution resulted in transferral of leadership to a President and Parliament and dissolution of the aristocracy. Now, Teran is prosperous, with some technological advancements beyond those commonly seen in Westerlin, and sees itself as a meritocracy. A mountain range bisects mainland Teran; on one side is bountiful rainforest and fertile plains, while on the other the rain shadow of the range makes the land more arid. The current Teranese President is President Faraci, who has been in office for eight years. A presidential term is five years long at minimum, and there is no limit on the number of presidential terms (though in practice a single President has never been in office for more than three terms).

After the coup, the aristocratic classes were officially dissolved. However, the President recognizes individuals with the title Honored (which also bestows a yearly stipend high enough to live a very comfortable middle-class lifestyle) or the higher-level title Esteemed (whose yearly stipend enables a luxurious upper-class lifestyle). These titles are awarded for exceptional military, scientific, artistic, academic, philosophical, philanthropic, or otherwise heroic endeavors. The umbrella term for people with titles is the Elite. They do not like being called aristocrats, as the term feels too royalist.

The Church of Teran is polytheistic and worships a large number of deities. It's led by a Church Council, with more, smaller-scale Councils scattered across the country. Private shrines with offerings are usually set up in people's homes, as well as regular communal worship taking place in churches. Though they worship the same gods, the Church of Teran is a different denomination and split from the Church of Jezhan as part of the Revolution. Tenets of the Church of Teran include valuing personal ambition and striving, wonder and curiosity, and harmonic unity. In Teran polyamorous marriages are both legal and religiously celebrated.

The Teranese deities include:

Elene, deity of the sun.

Alvir, deity of protection.

Veslua, deity of the ocean.

Tecuzi, trickster deity of the night.

Baresha, deity of the hunt.

Hierat, deity of good fortune.

Balan, deity of medicine and plague.

Crinn, deity of water.

Revek, shapeshifter deity.

For centuries Teran has had mandatory two years' military service known as [b]Teranese Service[/b] for almost everyone aged between ages 18-20 which involves basic training and assignment across the Teranese islands or the mainland. The Dahaikan Secession was the last time a major military operation occurred, but Teran maintains a large, highly-trained army assigned to emergencies, policing, and disaster relief.

[b]Zaledo[/b] is to the southeast of Teran, beyond the group of independent islands, and its climate is mostly warm and dry, becoming very hot in the interior. Tension sometimes rises between Teran and Zaledo as they're major powers in the area, but in general trade agreements and emigration between the two nations keep things calm. Zaledo is ruled by King Mateo and King Alejandro del Quiros.

[b]Jezhan[/b] sits far to the east and varies a great deal in climate from the western lakes and warm tourist destinations in the south to the much colder north. The Church of Jezhan is a major influence in Jezhani culture and politics, and the monarch of Jezhan is also the head of the church. In Jezhan polyamorous marriages are both legal and religiously celebrated. There is some residual tension between Teran and Jezhan thanks to the differences in their major religious denominations, and the Church of Jezhan is more hierarchical than the Church of Teran.

Javi is the kind of person who wants to get out in front of this problem.

Their pet is not suited to a challenge: Javi rejects the challenge and doesn't bother making any effort

They're told the PC doesn't like them: that's fine if Javi pre-emptively dislikes the PC anyway