Lore
Every game has a story. Stories shape the rules of the game and make sure all rules follow the same principles. WaifuGame hasn't had much opportunity (yet) to tell its story, but fans would like to know what it is.
This is a short collection of individual pieces of lore. Each one can change.
The Party
The Party is a traveling band of adventurers: moving across the lands, constantly looking for new members and challenges. They must always be on the lookout for potential members, they must be lucky to run into the right people, and they must have the skills to convince others to join them. And, when faced with challenges, they must be able to overcome these through combat.
Encounters
When the Party meets someone new, they'll have a little interaction with them. All sorts of things may happen during the interaction. Perhaps there was a little flirting going on, perhaps there was a date, maybe they went on vacation together. Perhaps there was a battle... It's not important what exactly happened. Something happened.
Anyway, at the end, the outcome is visible.
It can be any of the following:
- The person they encountered was impressed, and they gave their Card. More about that later.
- They gave a Gift. Something to remember them by, or something as the result of a good time.
- The person themselves joined.
- Experience Points.
Cards
These are special, magical items in this world. It's like a business card in the real world, except, it doesn't contain a phone number and e-mail address. Instead, it contains the magical property that when enough Essence is added, it creates a person. The Card is a seed, and Essence is water.
Cards are magical themselves, and when crushed, release a bit of Essence to the holder.
Animus
When a Card is brought to life, it's called an Animu. The word 'Animus' was chosen by the creator of WaifuGame for two reasons:
- Naturally, the relation to Anime, the art style of most Cards.
- The Latin word Animus, meaning: "[the] life-giving aspect which animates: life, life force, soul, vitality"
The word "Animu" is the same as "Person" in the real world.
A female Animu is referred to as Waifu, a male Animu is referred to as Husbando.
[!] Because Animus are living beings, they cannot be traded. Animu Trafficking is illegal.
Essence
The physical properties of it are that it's a gas that clings to other gas particles by its own gravitational field. One of the magical properties of this special gravitational field is that it "knows" who the Essence belongs to. The field refuses to attract particles that belong to someone else. This magical property of the gravitational field is called "Soulbound".
Only a specialized type of mage, called Shamans, can extract or infuse Essence.
[!] Essence is a Soulbound material, and therefore cannot be traded.
The Festival
Despite the Party always traveling around, there's the Festival which is always accessible to the player and Party. It's where rewards can be collected, and where Shamans can be visited to exchange Essence.
Hotel
The Hotel is where Animus "temporarily" stay while they're not in your Party. It's essentially a vacation, but they're still on call because they can be swapped to the Party at any time.
(There are plans to deepen the lore of the hotel, and what the Animus actually do here.)