Mortish

Nightborn Edition - Poll #01 - Designer Baby

Added 2025-03-09 23:00:06 +0000 UTC

In the novel series I drafted, the MC has one child. This was a decision I'd wrestled with, and one of the reasons I love writing an IF because I can explore alternate possibilities. Male or female? Serax or Valdricht? One or two? If two, who are the fathers? What will they look like? How awful will it be to be pregnant with twins while traversing an arctic continent on a drivagn?

In the free version, these details will be decided based on certain hidden variables. Twins will be fairly difficult to trigger even for code divers and will change several aspects of the story. For The Nightborn Edition, I had a totally different set of polls planned, but as I was drafting this yesterday I had an aha! moment. I've since given it some consideration and I think I have a really good idea for how to make the conception/pregnancy aspect of the IF feel truly unique.

I've drafted a series of passages that blend into the story nicely and will allow you to determine most of the aspects of your child(ren). There will be some restrictions depending on your story route. For example, if you're playing on Bound mode and you opt for a Valdricht-only romance, you won't be able to have a baby with Serax. Additionally, for readers who enjoy the randomness (DnD anyone?) there will be an option to bypass the scene and leave your conception in the hands of fate. This scene will occur on Night VII or VIII depending on which choices you make. It'll also give you a lot more agency with replays, as different pregnancies will trigger different story routes, particularly in the mid to late parts of the IF.

In coming up with this, I feel like I've negated the need for several pregnancy-related polls I'd planned to run. But since we're here now, you can let me know which aspect you're most interested to select. Also, feel free to leave a comment with any additional thoughts!

-Mortish