Lore Dump (spoilers)

I wanna talk about some bits and pieces of general lore that didn't make it into the game (Karen can only exposit so much, after all...)

As noted, I've been conceptualizing this since I'd say October/November of 2012 (the memory of developing the earliest character is ingrained in me, lol) So I've been thinking about little bits and pieces for the story and its world in all that time that I dropped in as topics in this game, as well as summarizing it in the opening summary of the game on the main page. I'll try to have it be in some sort of order? But I'll probably just write what comes to mind as I see fit.

To wit: some time in a pretty far off future, a country called Egalia is formed, and every one of it's citizens has some sort of power of varying degrees of strength, with each sorted into a ranking based on that strength (1-7, 1 being lowest and 7 highest) that defines their level of wealth/class.

There are no parent-child structures in Egalia, and its citizens aren't capable of procreation - all children are made via the use of artificial wombs, then raised in Arcarden until they are six years old, to which by that time, their power will mainfest at random during a random event, often one where greater emotion is felt (it could be as worrisome as almost getting hurt/stuck somewhere, or as benign as just REALLY wanting a cookie from the cookie jar). They're given a rank after thorough testing and comparing how they rank to others with the same/similar power (or, if there are few/no powers like it, then how innately dangerous the power is) given a last name based on that power, and sent to one of the six school cities (all six and Arcarden located in its own province, Farbe) until they graduate at the age of 20.

Chanz brings it up, but to clarify - a Primary Schooler is a younger student (ages 6-12), whose lives are much more strictly controlled by the AI Dorm Mothers that run each dorm, managing their allowances and meals, enforcing curfew, and besides that are generally kept restricted to classes held near their dorms along with a variety of other vast restrictions. Secondary Schoolers (ages 13-19) are shed of most of these restrictions, and get to enjoy a much greater range of freedom to do as they wish, for better or worse.

As for the rankings, its clear that there is a vast divide between the levels in terms of wealth inequality - the Level 7's live as mega-billionaires without a care in the world, and Level 1's are lucky enough to maybe buy a nice meal and then eat nutritional paste for the rest of the week to make up for the cost. Well hey, at least they still have something to eat, and a place to live, right? (/s)

It's at least harder to get your allowance stolen, as all citizens of Egalia are injected with a mircochip in their right wrist, which gives them automatic access to all their personal accounts with just a touch, no login or password required. (of course, bullies can just get you to buy things for them TO steal from you...) it also allows you to interface with any surface, from desks, to walls, tables, etc. That are made to be interfaced with (which is most surfaces) and as such there is no paper at all in Egalia (and most people would not have any clue what paper even is.)

But back to rankings - let's use an example so we can understand how it and the last naming works!

Let's take Cherika Lumitria - the first and obvious part is the suffix, -tria, which is the suffix used for all Level 3 citizens. (The suffixes, from 1-7, are -no, -ki, -tria, -kat, -cha, -ex, and -et) so in summary: suffix = Level.

The prefix then, denotes the kind of power they have. It may be guessed by some, but Lumi- is a suffix denoting light powers (specifically, it's the umbrella prefix for light powers that neither emit harnessable energy, nor are able to be fired as a weapon, the latter being what the Ener- prefix is for, Elec- being the one for both harnessable energy/fired as weapon, and... well, there is one for the harnessable energy/nonweapon, but thats a big load of spoilers)

Cherika got her last name of Lumi- because her power is a flashlight eye - it was powerfully bright (enough to temporarily blind someone at its strongest) and she was able to mildly adjust factors like the range, broadness, and intensity of the beam while still mostly being able to see out of it (unless the light is set to really bright) - but she couldn't completely turn it off. She'd gotten this power when she ended up locked in a dark closet and got freaked out - and was found pretty quickly by a worker who saw the light shining under the door. It was compared to other light-emitting powers, and though versatile, her brightness was 500 lumens max, and 300 lumens on average, which landed in the same perimeters as other Level 3's with light powers, and the lack of ability to fully turn it off was thought to cancel out the versatility. (This is a basic summary, there would have been millions of other things alongside pedantic arguments to make a full determination of her level.)

There is one exception to the 1-7 rule - "Elementals" who are instead ranked on a scale from 1-4. This is due to an error in the system used to run the computers of the power plants, where "Elemental" powers are heavily used - for some reason, the 1-4 ranking system used at the start of Egalia's history ended up being locked into place on those old computers, and no one has been able to fix it in all this time. Since its been a reliable program, and some are even terrified at trying to replace it with a new program and risk completely shutting down the country, they've simply allowed Elementals to exist on a different ranking scale (E1 being somewhere between a Level 1-2, E2 to Level 3-4. E3 to Level 5-6, and E4's to Level 6-7.) Those with the prefixes Elec-, Veni-, Agni-, Aqua-, and a few others are considered part of the "Elemental" Class. Thanks to a new source of energy, however, there have been plans once its made properly harnessible by the system to at minimum use it to supplement the country's power until the system can be properly updated/replaced, and at most, outright replace it as the new energy of the country.

The final thing I'll add to this post are the six school cities, three 'average' and three specialized. Verta Mila, the "green" city, is one of the average schools (though it has some quirks, such as it being the city where products are focus tested, the city closest to Arcarden, and also where many people with unique powers are sent) alongside the foggy Lanse Azur (blue) and the arid Taron Jia (orange). There are also the three specialized school Cities, with the offhandedly mentioned Amor Isle (yellow) where students with powers very useful to running society (healers, Elementals, etc.) are sent to be educated in their needed career path, Vio Letta (purple) which is a fancy art school with a higher percentage of high level students, and Rod Vermell (red) which is a juvenile prison city (and the smallest one) where dangerous students (either criminal or via uncontrollable powers, often both) are sent to be handled. There is a seventh, contested city, the underground Indigo Chambers, but it's less a proper school city and more a branch of Arcarden where child geniuses are gathered like a science camp during parts of the year to take extra courses and engage in experiments/inventing.

I have, WAY more I could add to this devlog, but the basics above are probably enough for the time being. I'm obviously really happy to answer/bullshit any questions asked of me, and maybe I'll make a part 2 if people want to generally hear more about this world.