ThePudding

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 29

Chapter 29: The People of Stone

So, my first species was ready… or rather, my first species that used my new system. The dragons didn’t really count. They weren’t there to provide energy; that had just been a happy coincidence born from them sorting through the mess of abilities. My new class-naming situation would also give me a little more time in this high-generation period… but I couldn’t rely on it.

I placed one large population of each elven species in the most sui...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 28

Chapter 28: Splintering

I now had a good start for the species.

After a few hours of thought and running some simple simulations, I took a step back and did a little more work before finalizing anything. In the past, I might have gone ahead and just dropped it in, then tried to fix it later if a problem came up… but I was taking things much more slowly now.

The thought that Orpheus’s absence was somehow making me more cautious was a little troubling. She’d sai...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 27

Chapter 27: The First People

I set the pencil down and slid the notebook away.

I wasn’t sure exactly how long I’d been working, but I knew I’d slept for at least eight hours several times. Considering I didn’t need to sleep unless I wanted to organize my thoughts – and that only happened occasionally – I guessed I’d been at this almost continuously for several months.

The result was a dense book of notes, references, diagrams, and interlocking designs....

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Foundation Classes

Orpheus stared at me like I’d just grown two heads.

Actually… maybe that wasn’t a good comparison. For all I knew, Orpheus in her real form did have two heads. Maybe that was normal for her.

I briefly lost myself in a tangent, wondering if Orpheus saw me as I had constructed my body… or if she, too, was viewing me through some kind of filter. For that matter, was her fairy form even a physical object she was aware of? ...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 25

Chapter 25: The Fine Print

“– give your inhabitants any access to your interface!” Orpheus finished, sounding alarmed.

I double-checked that I had turned the mutation rate back down to normal before reducing the interface to a manageable size so I could glance at Orpheus. I smiled at her and gave a quick shrug, then turned my attention back to my interface and mentally tapped the Reality Points counter.

“I can see why you’d think that,” I said as I examined the r...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 24

Chapter 24: The Great Game

Vistaka flexed her wings, lazily working some of the soreness out of them.

Her recent ascension to Elder had left her far more powerful, but her infrequent flights out to hunt were not the level of activity she was used to. Every time she awoke, the stiffness took longer and longer to work out of her joints and muscles.

She had been told that this would pass in time, as she grew greater in strength. But a tiny part of her – still young, still imp...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 23

Chapter 23: The Children of the Moon

Orpheus flew around in a slow circle, but clapped her hands together.

“Be aware that shortly after your first intelligent species, you will likely enter the Fourth Epoch. Unless something strange is going on, I will likely take my leave of you at that time. Before I do so, I will give you a means by which to contact me for emergency information requests, but I cannot guarantee a timely response.”

She paused for a beat, then added, “...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Finished Prototype

The first thing I did was look for any creatures that had monster cores. I wanted to see how the monsters were faring, and whether they’d taken over the world or not.

The results were… a little complicated.

What I did find was that the various creatures with monster cores had, in fact, diversified quite a bit. This included developments I hadn’t really anticipated.

When I took a closer look using my scrying tool, for exampl...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 21

Chapter 21: The Diversity of Life

I was almost ready.

Now that the new changes had been installed, I knew I had a lot more work ahead of me later… but for now, I could leave things be.

I didn’t turn the time dilation back to running the universe fast just yet, though. I still had one more important thing to handle.

Sweeping through the interface, I searched across my little world until I finally found what I was looking for: a large area with a landmass I could cut...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Don't Worry, I Have A System

These small mistakes were getting annoying. I really wanted to take a break and let the universe run by itself for a while. But first, I had to make sure it would run without everything collapsing.

I took a heavy breath and let out a sigh before turning and collapsing into the recliner. Propping my feet up, I laid my head back and slowed the time dilation to ten times slower than my own subjective time. If the world's ecosystem hadn’t col...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 19

Chapter 19: The Origin of Species

Once again, with the time dilation sped up, I could watch months pass in just a few minutes. Not that this world had a conception of months yet… but who knew what sort of timekeeping a civilization in this world would invent?

I sat back and watched the interface carefully, zooming in and out of various places to see how the animals and plants were doing. This time, I didn’t get any serious warnings. I did get one extinction notice rather quick...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 18

Chapter 18: The Grand Experiment

I crossed one more thing off my to‑do list with the creation of disease and infection. I wasn't proud of it, but I knew a life without that sort of pressure would be very different from what I understood. I still had doubts about it, especially about my implementation. I felt it was fairly clever and not as bad as what humanity had to live with in the early days, but I had a feeling this wasn't my specialty.

I still wasn't sure what I had done in...

Engines of Obsession: Volume I Epilogue

Volume I Epilogue

Byron folded his hands together and looked at Turner as the door closed, leaving him alone with only Turner and Nikandros in the room.

Turner glanced at the butler, then cleared his throat apologetically.

“I’m very sorry, sir, but I really think this should be something that just the two of us talk about. It won’t take long.”

Nikandros frowned, but Byron made a gesture, waving him off.

“Really, don’t take offense, Nikandros. I don’...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 17

Chapter 17: The Second Horseman

A lot of what I had just done wasn’t all that expensive, since I wasn’t directly manipulating things currently in the world. Sure, there had been several tweaks to what was going on, and I had added a few things, but I didn’t really have sticker shock. The total cost was 173 Reality Points. That wasn’t cheap, but I thought it was a bargain considering what I had done.

I pulled up my Scratch Pad and crossed o...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Node Network

Now that I had the various essences of Mana to work with, I had to see if they would properly fit into the conception of the world. Fortunately, I had kept Mana separate from actual matter, so I didn’t have to explain why something as prolific as air didn’t have a direct essence yet.

Still, I had to come up with ways for everything to work and make sure I didn’t have any huge gaps. For example: if something wanted to use magic to fl...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 15

Chapter 15: The Essence of Elements

I went ahead and placed the new animals and plants.

Now that I’d actually done it, I found myself wondering about some of the assumptions I’d made.

Could I have made a world where there was no real difference between animals and plants?

Where every creature was of the same basic type?

Could I create something else entirely… something in between?

Would it be possible to make something that was living rock… or somet...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Core Concept

I was very pleased, because the moment I named my new organ, Orpheus was actually curious.

“I have only limited understanding of your old world,” she said. “But… isn’t a monster a bad thing?”

“It can be,” I agreed, as I began refining the parameters of the new organ and what it would do. “But compared to a normal wolf, wouldn’t a wolf that can breathe fire and bite through solid rock be considered monstrous? Thes...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 13

Chapter 13: High Fiber

After another few hours of browsing menus and prototyping ideas, I finally settled on something for the plants.

Putting restrictions on living things wasn’t that difficult. But limiting what they could develop into… that was the hard part.

I stretched my arms and sat up, causing Orpheus to perk up and alight on my shoulder again.

I glanced at her curiously. “Are you getting more interested in what I’m doing?”

The fairy no...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Cohesion

The 1:10 ratio gave me time.

If I’d been a scientist trying to resolve everything, even with that dilation, the work likely would’ve taken so long that the rest of the biosphere would have died out before I came close to a solution.

Fortunately, I could alter the rules of reality itself.

The main question was: how do I do that to fix the problem?

“The most straightforward solution would be to add all of the ins...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Mistakes Were Made

I pulled up the interface that showed me the world and zoomed out as much as I could.

It thankfully allowed for options like cutaway views and region overlays, and I could mentally flip it up or down, zoom in on various regions, and isolate elements one at a time.

I set the Time Dilation to one year per hour, so I could hopefully see if my idea for seasons had worked. I wasn't expecting any big surprises, but it wouldn't have b...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Emerald Blanket

FIRST EPOCH

You have started the flow of time in a new universe. The First Epoch has begun.

SECOND EPOCH

Your universe has become host to a stable, viable world capable of sustaining life. The Second Epoch has begun.

RANK UP - LEVEL 2

Due to your accomplishments, you are now a Rank 2 Administrator. Probationary Status still in effect.

The notifications that flooded my vision were only a mild surprise. I’d expected somethi...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Tea Time

I took a deep breath. Functionally, I knew I didn’t have to, but for some reason it still felt calming.

Briefly, I wondered how far this modeling of my personality went. If I could still feel anxious, if I could still soothe myself with a breath… how much of me was me?

I had a feeling that if I thought too long about that, I would give myself a headache—whatever that meant for a nonphysical body.

“I’m going to take a small break,�...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Night and Day

The first thing I had to do, of course, was add some atmosphere.

This was a lot easier than I expected. I could simply select it from a list and determine the depth along with various behavioral properties.

While I was doing this, I belatedly realized I was missing some important elements. In this case, “elements” was literal. Turns out, making an entire geosphere was just one more complication on top of another.

I also almost forgot to set...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Landscaping

The interface could sometimes be overwhelming, but I was starting to get how it was customized to me. To make a cylinder, I just set the parameters – wall thickness, radius, and so on.

Now that I wanted to actually make some terrain, selecting the surface opened up something like a 3D paint program. I didn’t have to actually do the painting, though. It was more of a 'picture it in your mind and the interface responds' kind of thing.

Probably a ...