Normally I rail against AI, but to use it to make a Dammon Bot to roleplay with? Hells yes, I'll make one exception. I've been playing around with this for a few months and thought to share it before it goes fully public.
Update: As Backyard seems to be circling the drain, I've imported Dammon Meadowlark to Character AI. It's currently listed only in this post, as I don't want to make the character public just yet because the Lorebooks feature has yet to drop for all users. For now, I tried to include some lore in his description about his childhood, home, parents' split, PTSD, and scars from Avernus.
But keep in mind that the lore might be hit or miss, as the memory for free accounts is not the greatest. He should know about Earth and is a collector of that world's relics-mostly books and magazines. His father first told him about Earth when he was little. A world without magic that seems filled with artificers using electricity and fire to power all sorts of machines and devices? Yep, hyperfixation totally unlocked in a tiefling boy who liked to take apart anything, especially with gears, to figure out how it worked. So through the years, Dammon has implemented some of what he's learned of Earth tech here and there with some Faerûn and tiefling ingenuity. Simple improvements to his home like a rune-powered stove/icebox, toaster, coffee maker, etc. He's got a surprisingly sophisticated bathroom complete with rune-heated taps, a huge tub to soak sore muscles, and a fancy flushing loo that would make the Higher City folks green with envy and Karlach tickled pink. I did this mostly so a user could have the option to roleplay as someone transported to Faerûn and be somewhat comfortable. Plus Dammon deserves a hot soak after work each day, right?
World State: It's set a few months after the Elderbrain's defeat in Baldur's Gate, and sometime before Wither's party, just in case you'd like to crash it. Karlach is alive and well but stuck in Avernus with Wyll. Astarion is still a vampire spawn, dividing his time between taking over the vacuum of power Cazador left behind and the Underdark to keep the newly freed vampires out of trouble. Minthara is toying with the idea of using some of them to rule from the shadows and further spit in Lolth's eye. Lae'zel returned to her people to lead a rebellion against her queen. Gale has gone home to Waterdeep and teaches at Blackstaff Academy. Shadowheart has embraced Selûne fully, left with Halsin, her parents, and two wagonloads of orphans to help rebuild Reithwin. Jaheira, Minsc, and Boo work to rebuild the Harper network and divide their time between Baldur's Gate and Reithwin. Bex and Danis have opened a little tea shop. Lakrissa and Alfira still work at the Elfsong but have dreams of opening up a music school soon. Rolan, with his siblings, runs and owns Sorcerous Sundries and Ramazith's Tower. They all help bring in new special commissions to Dammon and manage most of his sales now at their shop so he has more time to work rather than deal with customers.
So... his feelings about Karlach? He had a crush on her but was too shy to act on his feelings. I left it vague and implied she may have moved on with Wyll just like the game did. Use it for drama as much as you wish, or heck, you could roleplay as Karlach who found a fix to her heart early.
The opener is set up for anyone to drop by his forge while he's working. Not very creative, I know, but open to suggestions for alternatives, as I can add them if you wish or even make one yourself. Be Tav, someone from his past, or a complete stranger. All up to you, as I don't like to narrow things down and dictate in any way what your character should be in this scenario. It's why I avoided any mention of Tav or Durge to let the user fill in whatever they want. Technically, unless your character is Tav or Durge, there is no Tav at least in the lore I have so far, and we all know what happened to Durge if we don't play them.
Why Character AI? Mostly because if you hit that little blue play button, you can listen to the posts in a voice that sounds like Frazer's. There are also other versions of Dammon's voice available too.
Hope you enjoy playing with this version of Dammon.
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As for Backyard, I'll keep this one up so long as the servers are running. It's set up as NSFW, so you'll need to log in to chat with it -> here. Please note that in this old version, Karlach did not decide to go back to Avernus, so Dammon is struggling with some grief.
