jigokucho | EMBER 2.0 - A Social App for Lost Souls! [July Substory]

UPDATE 7.17.2022
EMBER 2.1 (OVERFLOW)

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The EMBER Application icon flashes alive on the homescreen of all the Lost Soul devices across Jigoku-cho. Not a surprise if your character has been using it since launch, but perhaps unsettling to newbies or those who deleted it previously. It pops open on it's own, welcoming the user and telling them that all Lost Souls need to update to the newest version!

It doesn't specify by whose order, or if it actually is mandatory, but why think too hard about it? A lengthy and extremely technically worded Terms of Service appears, even if it's been gone through before, it has some updates. Again, why scroll up to read all that? There's a large ACCEPT button front and center! (There doesn't seem to be a Decline button. Closing out of the App is the only way to not agree... Might want to just delete the App to be safe.)

Accepting moves users forward to App Permissions! A Helpful Window says "Accept All and your profile will be quickly updated or auto-generated for you! Great for speeding set up along! (Recommended)". If that doesn't sway, then each Permission question can be prompted individually. The subsequent windows ask for a variety of totally standard and absolutely above board access prompts. Location Data, Photo/Video Access, etc etc etc- Yes or No! REMINDER: The app will function better if all access is granted!

It doesn't seem to matter what is pressed- all, some, or nothing- the App moves forward for users regardless.
Have fun connecting with your fellow Lost Souls!
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WELCOME to EMBER 2.0
A Social Network for Lost Souls!
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EXAMPLE PROFILE

YDRIS (Immortal)
SUTOKU ALLIANCE
☆☆☆☆☆ Creator

✓ ✕
FUCK | FIGHT

STAR RANK
For "who even knows why" reasons, users on Ember now have ☆'s denoting... something. The only clarity is that they come with a Title besides them. These are not, as it might first seem, faction star rankings. They're just something new! The example profile has the highest rank to be found, 5 stars and the title of Creator.

Everybody else gets between 1 and 4 stars with what seems like an algorithmically generated title. These could be anything from ☆ Stink Man up to more illustrious ☆☆☆☆ Faction Hero.

(These cannot be edited or changed ICly by a character and are fully an OOC choice of rank and title! Characters who know Ydris will find themselves with more curated titles, though not necessarily nicer ones.)

Higher star ranks seem to be weighted in favor of getting Green Checkmarks via the algorithm. Hmm.

SWIPE ¹

Swipe Left or Right, accepting the green or red... proposals? Is that what they are? The App immediately starts a Live Chat between the two parties, complete with recommendations for either highly rated Love Hotels or... discreet alleyways with nearby emergency clinics. (These might get presented to the wrong matches from time to time, coding is hard).

ALGORITHM
Stalling on the profile for more than a few seconds results in a loading graphic of a little dancing fire. **Calculating!** it says;

Ding! The In App Algorithm has decided for you! How convenient. The person whose profile was being looked at automatically gets sent a FUCK ✓ or FIGHT ✕, complete with that same live chat initiation mentioned above.

Rarely, there's a third option, essentially an algorithm fail state called CHILL, which still initiates the live chat. That means the system didn't find either of the other two options appropriate. Bummer. It generates completely random suggestions on where to meet, doesn't the DMV sounds like a great place to hang?

¹ [ DISCLAIMER: At the insistence of one Kim Kitsuragi, there is a link to an additional Terms and Conditions document for which the tl;dr is to "All Ember users engaging in matters of passion and/or violence are encouraged to practice such activities in a manner which remains safe, sane, and consensual.
Any injuries resulting from following through on an EMBER suggestion are not the responsibility of the application. ]

NEW FEATURES - JULY
So, what is in the Update to EMBER? Plenty! And much of it unseen to Lost Souls. Ydris has spent most of their time creating a splinter branch of the app denoted as "EMBER Premium" and it is for Celestials only. It is a pay to access service with a delightful little thing called microtransactions. Seems those Dragon Coins from answering Profile Questions do have some purpose! While Lost Souls cannot interact with the Celestials via the app, the Celestials have some functionality, namely they can donate Dragon Coins to their favorite Lost Souls.

Dragon Coins can be cashed out through the app for a small cash bonus- some extra spending money, nothing too crazy. By what rate compared to what they're being purchases at is unclear... Oh well. It's a little extra pay! Why not side hustle from your phone? There's even a leader board!

How does one become one of the favored souls, anyways-?

ONLY~~FANS~~ CELESTIALS

-MORE PHOTOS: Simple enough, the Celestials are very visual! They're more likely to donate if a Lost Soul has appealing photos on their profile.

-PLAYLISTS: Some curious Celestials like to see what music tastes are had among the Lost Souls. List a few songs you character is fond of or just selected at random to fill the missing profile element for a Dragon Coin bonus.

-QUEST NOTIFICATION: Some Celestials like to be a little more involved, so they spend to create a Quest. These can be sent to individual Souls or picked up from a virtual Bulletin Board. They are experiences or tasks to do around town and document! The app provides a location map should it require going to a certain place. These are largely benign requests such as "Take a photo drinking the new boba tea at this shop!" or "Share a story about your homeworld" or "Post video performing your favorite karaoke number!" Sometimes, they are requests to do good deeds or participate in local volunteer efforts.

Very occasionally, they are more saucy requests for lewd photos. Those requests cannot be sent to individuals! The Celestials get what they get when asking for those on the bulletin board!

Whether it's a rare moment of Ydris' coding filtering correctly or just the Celestials having collectively better judgement than those in Hell; no illegal, harassing, nor dangerous requests can be posted.

-LEADER BOARD: OOC OPT IN/OUT here to have your character added to/kept off of the HEAVENLY HOTNESS LEADERBOARD. This will be a purely RNG'd list of characters the Celestial's favor most. It will be updated every 1-2 weeks for the next (2) months, as I have time! Watch the rise and fall as a variety of results play out.

The Current Leader Board is linked here!

-PRIVATE PROFILE: Don't want the attention of these strange beings? Profiles can be set to Private! This doesn't actually block off from other Lost Souls, but it's an easy way to opt-out of any of this funny business. The cost is "all Dragon Coins" currently on account. If you're not playing, they why bother with those?

(Due to some obtuse design choices, it might be difficult to find this option... Your character would be forgiven for not even realizing it's there!)

PROFILE HTML
(Use squared Image for best profile template fit!)

FUCK ✓ / FIGHT ✕ / CHILL O HTML
✓ ✕ O

-EMBER is a separate app on a character's phone which functions using the main network.
-This is fully canon to the game! Threads on this post or using the prompts above for Log Posts of your own both count as a SUBSTORY thread. Per mods, these can be used for rewards!
-Post a profile below, engage with other Lost Souls or Only Celestials prompts, and/or tag around to other characters using the SWIPE, ALGORITHM, or just start a chat! Blame as much as you like on Ydris' at times shoddy programing! Have fun!
-FOR CHARACTERS NEW TO THE GAME please post a link to your TL in the New Users header below! This is so new people aren't so easily lost in the shuffle. Keep in mind this post is active from July to end of August, the next EMBER goes up in September!
-Feel free to repost the Profile HTML provided for IC inboxes if you like, but please do not take these out of this post and make individual EMBER profiles on the Network, as that would clutter up the main network very fast.
-Check out Ydris' OPT-IN if you want them to have access to your character's information through this app. This is NOT required to play around with this. The ToS basically just applies normal network rules to this post, messages are public unless explicitly marked [private] in the header. (Ydris will not have access to Private Messages unless the player Opts-In!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I was definitely one of those students with mixed feelings, so I get ya. Plus, the pay isn't that good at first... You kind of gotta start your way from the bottom and work your way up.

[She's gotta say, this was a rather refreshing conversation. It was nice to be able to speak to another militant.]

Yeah. Actually, in our world, people are blessed with magic upon birth, but...

Some people want to become more powerful, so they go to our little magic academy to hone in on their magic prowess. Most of those people become soldiers, or work within the military. The... "exceptional" ones come and work for me.

Out of curiosity, were you one of those exceptional soldiers?

never paid enough for the job we do - preaching to the choir on that one.

[ Exceptional soldiers, huh? There's a loaded term if he's ever seen one. But... well, frankly, it's nice to be candid about things like this. ]

you could say that.
the group i was a part of was separate from the rank and file.
special ops missions, that sort of thing.
and you had to be specially selected from the cream of the crop.
if you did, well... it was a lot of expectation.
and i don't know if i'd call what we did for the greater good.

[ Cloud's a soldier - but his history isn't one that's exactly squeaky clean. Shinra was - and is - more tan willing to get their hands dirty, and SOLDIERS were just one part of that. ]

Edited 2022-07-14 00:19 (UTC)

Ohhh, so you're a special ops kid, huh? That makes two of us, actually.

[That... Hits close to home, and honestly. She isn't any better than Cloud. If anything:]

If it makes you feel any better, you have an ally to confide in. I... specialized, and still specialize in contract killings. These days, I work recon to help out my students back home, but...

You do what you gotta do, you know?

Edited 2022-07-14 17:15 (UTC)

yeah, i get it.
sorry if i seemed cagey.

[ There might be honor among soldiers, but you know what they say - trust, but verify. He wanted to at least be sure he wasn't talking to someone who didn't understand what it meant, being a soldier for something you don't exactly believe in. ]

i can't say i ever had to do wetwork.
not that it didn't get done, but a lot of the wartime work happened after i enlistd.
instead, a lot of it was just 'defending corporate interests'.
you know how it goes.

Not at all. I think it's normal to be a bit cagey... Especially for people like us.

... Yeah, I sure do. I was there once, and I get it, Mr. Cloud. It's comforting to know that we have so much in common in that regard. Not exactly something you can talk about without getting looked at funny.

What kind of work are you doing now?

don't i know that feeling.
getting looked at funny, i mean.

it's a long story, but i fell in with a group fighting my old employers.
real 'activist means action' types.
between that? i mostly just try to use my sword skills to help people out where i can, i guess.
it's easy money, and people always need this or that monster killed.

Ohh i could have used a mercenary like you back at home. We have a good military force, but mercs are normally neutral so it's good to use them sometimes.

monsters... hm. it's funny, we have monsters back home, but they're extremely docile. actually, some people keep them as pets.

it's the people that are usually the problem. the ones that get neutralized.

[ Continued here. ]

EMBER 2.0 - A Social App for Lost Souls! [July Substory]

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