[Karkat's face quirks. It's not a smile, rare as those are, but it's definitely pleased. Redglare has landed her own self a good spot in ancestor rankings.]
Yes, they absolutely are.
But I'll start on Vatheon. Alternia will just lead into the game, which is a subject that will take ages to explain if just from the the time loops. Besides, the Vatheon explanation is one I'm actually used to giving, so I can just run down the list. And yes, I am going to do this all at once, so keep in mind what questions you come up with and ask me when I'm done.
[He clears his throat, then draws a deep breath.]
First, you're in Vatheon. That's the name of this city in the bubble. The planet itself exists in a different universe than you and I have ever been in before arriving here, and no, I don't know how they got us here. They, in this case, are the scientists in charge. We've only ever seen one, named Carol, but we have seen others who work for them - the head nurse at the local clinic, other authority figures, et cetera et cetera. We've kind of had to scrounge information as we can, namely from discovered papers - I can show you those - or information hacked from a lab some people found a while back, or the rare bit of info gotten from the people themselves. They're stingy about it, either for personal safety or just to be dicks. Carol's not bad from what I've seen of her, but the head nurse is a bitch who thought a fake murder in the Plaza made a good holiday prank earlier this sweep.
Now, why we're here is an experiment. I'm kind of fuzzy on the details, but this is what I've cobbled together from the aforementioned sources. First off, it involves these things called curses. They happen occasionally - anywhere from every other week to a few weeks apart - and last a week each, meaning seven days, from Monday through Sunday. Get a look at a human calendar when you can and learn it; it's how time is measured here. For reference, a sweep is two years and two months, with a year itself being comprised of twelve months.
Now, these curses manifest in a number of ways. They have been known to repeat, but it's impossible to predict what the curse is going to be until it happens. There have been weeks where people have changed species temporarily, been made to act differently by rumors coming true or personality-altering hats, theme weeks where the whole city changes to look different and so do we. One week was games, another fairy tales. We've been followed by literal thought bubbles that show what we think. Most recent was a week that showed us horrors based on our fears. They vary from tolerable to terrible, as that last one might suggest, but most of the time they're just annoying.
Carol told me the curses themselves aren't the experiments, despite my interpretation of those papers I found, and some hacked info kind of corroborated what she said. It's something about emotional energy - farming it from us via the curses, which makes sense with the reactions they inspire.
And you've seen the coral, right? That big thing in the Plaza? That's called the Lamufao, and through the curses, I think they're trying to experiment on that. I don't really know how or why. By the way, the natives--the locals here--will try to tell you it's a god, but that's bullshit. The scientists put it there just like they set up this bubble in the first place. The natives are also useless at giving you any information. Not out of lack of knowledge, necessarily, but because they refuse to discuss it at all.
I have no clue how or why they pick who they do to be brought here, or why the bring us in or send us back when they do. Obviously they control whether or not we remember things. The usual idea is that the longer you're gone, the less likely you are to remember your previous stay, but this is not hard and fast. Sometimes people forget even if they've been gone briefly - or remember a stay from ages back, but not the one in between. Terezi also showed up once only remembering part of her previous stay, but not all of it. Currently she doesn't remember anything of her previous times here, though.
Speaking of which, new arrivals usually come in around the end of the month, trailing off into the beginning of the next, but there are occasional blips where people come back mid-month after disappearing. There's no predictability to if someone will show up a given month or not, nor to when or if they're going to send someone back.
Also, as you might notice, time doesn't match up linearly. Just because you're from a given point of the timeline doesn't mean everyone else will show up from the same point. People can come from before or after you, or the same time, even if they show up at a different time here than you did. If someone's gone, the time spent in their home universe does not match up with the time passed here. I was gone for a few days once and only spent a few hours in our universe - and others have been gone for days or months or whatever, and spent years back home.
At the same time, don't worry about what's happening while you're gone. If or when you return, things will continue as if you were never gone, and you won't remember anything of your time here. If you want proof, see how you had no clue you were here, yourself.
There are also comas. Someone falls asleep, won't wake up, for no apparent reason. They're unpredictable, like a lot else, but they're harmless. The person will wake up eventually and be just as fine as they were before they fell into it. I have no clue why they happen.
The last worry is invasions. They happen infrequently, which is a good thing. I've been here almost two years, or a little less than a sweep - the first year, we had four invasions, and this one, we've only had one so far. Basically, something shows up and starts attacking. In order I've experience pirate ghosts, these big scaly creatures called dinosaurs, rotting fish monsters, a giant tentacled monster called a Kraken, and a giant transforming orb of darkness. That last one stands out because it specifically came from the world of someone here, but the others weren't specific like that.
All that chaos aside, living here isn't actually that bad. Most everything is free, including food, clothing, and shelter. You should have a mark on you--
[He holds up the back of his left hand, displaying the curled symbol on it.]
--and if you show that to whatever native is in charge of the place, they won't charge you. But note how I say most things. There's an area called the Nostalgia Nook - the humans named it, so blame them - that sells things from the universes of the foreigners. That's us, by the way. Ours is called GrubMart, and has things like recuperacoons, foods, sylladex stuff, and so on. Also an alchemiter but I'll get to what that is when we talk about the game. Anyway, things in those stores cost Starfish Tokens. You should have a card with you that keeps track of them, and you can earn more by working a local job. It's totally possible to get by without using it or the Nostalgia Nook stores, though, if you don't mind being cut off from troll stuff.
Also, it helps to know that humans tend to use highblood terminology for appliances and hivehold fixtures, though they have a lot of other words that are just plain different from ours. You'll get the hang of it eventually.
Let's see... The device you used to access the network is called a Starfish Communicator. I mentioned the contact list on there: if you look at it, it lists every foreigner in Vatheon. If you can't find someone and you suspect that the scientists sent them back, check the list. If they're on it, they're fine, but if they're gone from the list, then they aren't here, simple as that.
There's also an island. Ask around for a map and it should show you where the elevator is. There's a man called the Station Master who operates it, and apparently he's the only one who can. I don't know how or why, but when he let me try it myself, it wouldn't respond. The ride is a long one considering you have to go through the ocean up there, but it's worth it if you want to see the sky. The sun's harmless, by the way, and this planet only has a single white moon. I think it might be an iteration of Earth - there's more than one - but I'm not positive. And yes, I'll explain about Earth and the humans more later.
The island's pretty big, so if you want to explore, it'll take a while. There's an abandoned village and a lighthouse, and an abandoned lab where people got that info they hacked a while back, which was discovered after some damage that orb thing did. Long story, which I can also tell you about if you ask.
[Why shouldn't he want to brag about the time he was a god?]
There are only a handful of trolls here, all interrelated in some fashion or another. Which is to say, everyone is either part of my team or the ancestor of somebody on it, and they've never brought anyone unrelated in. There is apparently another group of trolls that might show up in the future if my guess is right, again related to us, but that's a whole other can of dirt noodles and related to the discussion of Alternia and the game. If you want, though, I can list who's here now.
[Action!]
Yes, they absolutely are.
But I'll start on Vatheon. Alternia will just lead into the game, which is a subject that will take ages to explain if just from the the time loops. Besides, the Vatheon explanation is one I'm actually used to giving, so I can just run down the list. And yes, I am going to do this all at once, so keep in mind what questions you come up with and ask me when I'm done.
[He clears his throat, then draws a deep breath.]
First, you're in Vatheon. That's the name of this city in the bubble. The planet itself exists in a different universe than you and I have ever been in before arriving here, and no, I don't know how they got us here. They, in this case, are the scientists in charge. We've only ever seen one, named Carol, but we have seen others who work for them - the head nurse at the local clinic, other authority figures, et cetera et cetera. We've kind of had to scrounge information as we can, namely from discovered papers - I can show you those - or information hacked from a lab some people found a while back, or the rare bit of info gotten from the people themselves. They're stingy about it, either for personal safety or just to be dicks. Carol's not bad from what I've seen of her, but the head nurse is a bitch who thought a fake murder in the Plaza made a good holiday prank earlier this sweep.
Now, why we're here is an experiment. I'm kind of fuzzy on the details, but this is what I've cobbled together from the aforementioned sources. First off, it involves these things called curses. They happen occasionally - anywhere from every other week to a few weeks apart - and last a week each, meaning seven days, from Monday through Sunday. Get a look at a human calendar when you can and learn it; it's how time is measured here. For reference, a sweep is two years and two months, with a year itself being comprised of twelve months.
Now, these curses manifest in a number of ways. They have been known to repeat, but it's impossible to predict what the curse is going to be until it happens. There have been weeks where people have changed species temporarily, been made to act differently by rumors coming true or personality-altering hats, theme weeks where the whole city changes to look different and so do we. One week was games, another fairy tales. We've been followed by literal thought bubbles that show what we think. Most recent was a week that showed us horrors based on our fears. They vary from tolerable to terrible, as that last one might suggest, but most of the time they're just annoying.
Carol told me the curses themselves aren't the experiments, despite my interpretation of those papers I found, and some hacked info kind of corroborated what she said. It's something about emotional energy - farming it from us via the curses, which makes sense with the reactions they inspire.
And you've seen the coral, right? That big thing in the Plaza? That's called the Lamufao, and through the curses, I think they're trying to experiment on that. I don't really know how or why. By the way, the natives--the locals here--will try to tell you it's a god, but that's bullshit. The scientists put it there just like they set up this bubble in the first place. The natives are also useless at giving you any information. Not out of lack of knowledge, necessarily, but because they refuse to discuss it at all.
I have no clue how or why they pick who they do to be brought here, or why the bring us in or send us back when they do. Obviously they control whether or not we remember things. The usual idea is that the longer you're gone, the less likely you are to remember your previous stay, but this is not hard and fast. Sometimes people forget even if they've been gone briefly - or remember a stay from ages back, but not the one in between. Terezi also showed up once only remembering part of her previous stay, but not all of it. Currently she doesn't remember anything of her previous times here, though.
Speaking of which, new arrivals usually come in around the end of the month, trailing off into the beginning of the next, but there are occasional blips where people come back mid-month after disappearing. There's no predictability to if someone will show up a given month or not, nor to when or if they're going to send someone back.
Also, as you might notice, time doesn't match up linearly. Just because you're from a given point of the timeline doesn't mean everyone else will show up from the same point. People can come from before or after you, or the same time, even if they show up at a different time here than you did. If someone's gone, the time spent in their home universe does not match up with the time passed here. I was gone for a few days once and only spent a few hours in our universe - and others have been gone for days or months or whatever, and spent years back home.
At the same time, don't worry about what's happening while you're gone. If or when you return, things will continue as if you were never gone, and you won't remember anything of your time here. If you want proof, see how you had no clue you were here, yourself.
There are also comas. Someone falls asleep, won't wake up, for no apparent reason. They're unpredictable, like a lot else, but they're harmless. The person will wake up eventually and be just as fine as they were before they fell into it. I have no clue why they happen.
The last worry is invasions. They happen infrequently, which is a good thing. I've been here almost two years, or a little less than a sweep - the first year, we had four invasions, and this one, we've only had one so far. Basically, something shows up and starts attacking. In order I've experience pirate ghosts, these big scaly creatures called dinosaurs, rotting fish monsters, a giant tentacled monster called a Kraken, and a giant transforming orb of darkness. That last one stands out because it specifically came from the world of someone here, but the others weren't specific like that.
All that chaos aside, living here isn't actually that bad. Most everything is free, including food, clothing, and shelter. You should have a mark on you--
[He holds up the back of his left hand, displaying the curled symbol on it.]
--and if you show that to whatever native is in charge of the place, they won't charge you. But note how I say most things. There's an area called the Nostalgia Nook - the humans named it, so blame them - that sells things from the universes of the foreigners. That's us, by the way. Ours is called GrubMart, and has things like recuperacoons, foods, sylladex stuff, and so on. Also an alchemiter but I'll get to what that is when we talk about the game. Anyway, things in those stores cost Starfish Tokens. You should have a card with you that keeps track of them, and you can earn more by working a local job. It's totally possible to get by without using it or the Nostalgia Nook stores, though, if you don't mind being cut off from troll stuff.
Also, it helps to know that humans tend to use highblood terminology for appliances and hivehold fixtures, though they have a lot of other words that are just plain different from ours. You'll get the hang of it eventually.
Let's see... The device you used to access the network is called a Starfish Communicator. I mentioned the contact list on there: if you look at it, it lists every foreigner in Vatheon. If you can't find someone and you suspect that the scientists sent them back, check the list. If they're on it, they're fine, but if they're gone from the list, then they aren't here, simple as that.
There's also an island. Ask around for a map and it should show you where the elevator is. There's a man called the Station Master who operates it, and apparently he's the only one who can. I don't know how or why, but when he let me try it myself, it wouldn't respond. The ride is a long one considering you have to go through the ocean up there, but it's worth it if you want to see the sky. The sun's harmless, by the way, and this planet only has a single white moon. I think it might be an iteration of Earth - there's more than one - but I'm not positive. And yes, I'll explain about Earth and the humans more later.
The island's pretty big, so if you want to explore, it'll take a while. There's an abandoned village and a lighthouse, and an abandoned lab where people got that info they hacked a while back, which was discovered after some damage that orb thing did. Long story, which I can also tell you about if you ask.
[Why shouldn't he want to brag about the time he was a god?]
There are only a handful of trolls here, all interrelated in some fashion or another. Which is to say, everyone is either part of my team or the ancestor of somebody on it, and they've never brought anyone unrelated in. There is apparently another group of trolls that might show up in the future if my guess is right, again related to us, but that's a whole other can of dirt noodles and related to the discussion of Alternia and the game. If you want, though, I can list who's here now.
I think that's everything. Questions?