Written by esotericdev

Lore: The Manifestation of Nightmares: A Treatise on Demonology (Fake)

This lore entry is not actually real, it is an impostor forged by the AI overlords to infiltrate our writing. More seriously, it’s an example of output chatGPT produces, as I figured it’s worth presenting a concrete instance of its writing. Generating this short bit of lore took me well over a hour of trying to force GPT to improve it, with little success. The way it structures sentences is generally bad, but the worst parts are how repetitive its verbose writing becomes for larger bodies of text (this text has been made less repetitive multiple times). Finally, how it “obsesses” about certain ideas got in the way of working on this text as well as it refused to let go of incorrect concepts that I requested it purge/rewrite.

Written by esotericdev

Voices – Part IV – Voices With Tone

If you think about it, it’s odd how few tools human languages possess to convey the tone of a spoken sentence. And that’s what we’ll be going over, the way tone fits into the voice of a character and how that can be, and often is, difficult to express. I find this to be particularly interesting with the emphasis on dialogue-driven writing in video games and how that actively hampers expression.

Written by esotericdev

Reviewing chatGPT – Part II

Well, it’s over for all writers and programmers. So if you are one, all that’s left for you is to pack your backs up and submit yourself to the nearest soilent factory… or is it? In this article, we’ll do something novel and unusual. I’ll give my review of the new chatGPT AI and give my own perspective on the quality of its output and broader capabilities. But just to make it clear that I’m not fishing for fear clicks – chatGPT is a step in the right direction for this type of AI, but it’s not going to take your job.

Written by esotericdev

Reviewing chatGPT – Part I

Well, it’s over for all writers and programmers. So if you are one, all that’s left for you is to pack your backs up and submit yourself to the nearest soilent factory… or is it? In this article, we’ll do something novel and unusual. I’ll give my review of the new chatGPT AI and give my own perspective on the quality of its output and broader capabilities. But just to make it clear that I’m not fishing for fear clicks – chatGPT is a step in the right direction for this type of AI, but it’s not going to take your job.

Written by esotericdev

Lore: From Whence The Geometries Came?

There is a genuine question that pertains to our real world, in all of the different occult geometries, what even is the source of the shapes to which we ascribe meaning? In this case, we see a world in which geometry has actual power over reality, or at the very least the mind that shapes it. But that makes the question even more important. Where do these geometric patterns comes from, how do they exist, and what dictates their meaning. In this excerpt, a mage ponders these very questions.

Written by esotericdev

Lore: The Dangers of Oculomancy – A Medical Study

Some forms of horror are subtle, they are not about monsters inhabiting the world, or strange, unexplainable events. Some horror hides between the lines of text plainly stating facts, it comes from the implications and our empathy putting us in the shoes of those affects. In this excerpt a mage discusses the possible negative effects of magic, and there is a small, silent horror inhabiting the empty space between each line.

Written by esotericdev

Voices – Part III – Voices With Accent

Ok, since I’ve started talking about character voices and dialects… let’s do another little article about that. The topic I want to discuss here is the presence of characters who do not speak the fiction’s primary language, which is likely also the fiction’s in-universe language. That is to say, we’ll be talking about real-world language issues. And since I’m not a native speaker, I might have some insights for you that you don’t usually think about.

Written by esotericdev

Of Problems And Solutions

Have you ever felt, when playing a game, that the dev was sitting behind you and telling you precisely what you needed to do next, and if you tried to deviate from that even by a little bit, you got smacked with a floppy pool noodle? Well, if that ever happened, it means you had a moment of clarity about the nature of the game you were playing. So let’s talk about problems and solutions to problems from a video game perspective.

Written by esotericdev

Lore: Dissertation Upon The Key Of Malkuth

This excerpt examines the subconscious correlations humanity makes between godhood and kingship. Emperors call themselves gods, and gods wear the symbols of rulership. This topic loops back to multiple previous pieces of lore presented from the setting, as the matter of both kingship and godhood returns to the minds of mages repeatedly. After all, what is a mage if not a nascent god?

Written by esotericdev

Lore: The Fortress of Solipsism

Solipsism, speaking briefly, is the philosophical position on epistemology that states you can only be sure of the existence of your own mind. The existence of the arcane sadly does little to clear up this issue, but at the same time opens new avenues to question the very existence of reality. In this excerpt we see a mage express their doubt about the issue.