The last few weeks have been a lot of writing non-core stuff for me, so since I don't have a really good pertinent update I figured I could post some stranded bits I'd thrown out on various social media:
Adoption is informal and very common in the Outer World. This is mainly due to an abundance of families who are unable to bear children for a variety of reasons (same sex couples, inter-species relationships, chronic heroism, so on and so forth) and an alarming amount of orphaned individuals (the Outer World can be a dangerous and unpredictable place).
This means the concept of family itself has become pretty broad. It has brought the folk closer together in general; in a world where chibs and bruun can be brothers and sisters, it seems silly to fight over trivial things,
It also means that your human character may have been raised by a happily married couple consisting of a ghost and a robot.
In BREAK!! - you have your Hearts, which are basically a buffer for damage, representing luck, courage, and gusto. Once those are depleted you start taking injuries (or damage, if you’re a synthetic character). Enough injuries/damage can render you inert or kill you, of course. Hearts are fully restored at the start of every dangerous situation, and lots of magic and items can give you a bonus heart or two. Injuries/Damage does not - you either have to get them treated by someone trained or you have to take downtime actions to rest to heal them. A few spells assuage them for a time, but these are temporary solutions.
Hence why I say it’s harsher - it’s not gritty or anything, but a lot of games give you ways of restoring yourself instantly. BREAK!! doesn’t,
Status Ailments in BREAK!! are another harsh but not terribly gritty thing. I wanted to skew a bit more fantastic/animated, as well as have ones that make things odd or challenging rather than totally debilitating - so you might end up becoming a slime version of yourself, squashed into a chibi like state, blown up like a balloon, or randomly acting in ways counter to what you are trying to accomplish. Of course, some of the classics are in there too (being turned to stone/calcified over time, being blinded/deafened, etc) but I was careful when implementing them.
The 1st Aeon was a time of little order - beyond the intrinsic nature of mortal shape and finiteness, everything was at the capricious whim of the Unshaped. This changed with the actions of Regulus, the first hero. Not only did his rebellion against his former peers force them into physical form, it solidified the formerly liquid nature of reality itself. This was the creation of Fate, an invisible hierarchy that influenced the actions and consequences of the Outer World’s inhabitants.
Fate was an ever present force, but not a direct one. It would empower various individuals (predominantly Chosen Ones and their “villainous” counterparts) and encourage them towards certain actions via contrivance and coincidence. These actions were machinations in a cosmic cycle, one where the dominance of Light and Dark was in constant flux. This cycle was meant to be unending, a symphony which would vary somewhat in sound but never in basic structure. But the folk unknowingly defied this idea again and again, forming societies and taking initiatives that made Fate’s key players increasingly less relevant.
Some theorize that the catastrophic actions of Regulus during the 3rd Cataclysm were as much spurred on by the ragged remains of Fate as his own initiative. Indeed, this once omnipresent force now clings to him like a mournful wraith, only occasionally extending its influence to bitterly pull its chosen towards catastrophe and ruin.
