【Rules】Voting and Transformations

Voting

Periodically the story will take a break to let readers vote on certain narrative choices and on transformations for both Adrian and his squires. All votes are optional. You can choose to ignore parts of the voting if those choices don’t interest you.

To vote, all you need to do is to give any number of the possible choices a rating between 1 and 6, with 1 indicating that you really don’t want that choice and 6 indicating that you strongly prefer that choice. You can leave any number of options blank, which will be treated like a 1. The choice with the highest total rating will be selected.

Some votes will allow for multiple results. For example, selecting multiple squires to assist Adrian or selecting multiple transformations for a squire to undergo. In this case, first the highest rated choice will be selected, as normal. Then, people who rated that choice very highly will have their votes removed from the pool, operating under the logic that one of the choices they strongly prefer has already been chosen. Using the remaining votes in the pool, the next highest rated option will be selected. And so on, until all of the necessary options have been chosen.

Certain options which are likely to be very popular, that is a sort of ‘lowest common denominator’ choice, may be given a handicap so as to require higher support to be chosen than other more niche choices. If this is done, it is to try and make the outcome of the voting less generic. The author reserves the right to do this in the interest of making the story more entertaining, but will always try to keep their finger off of the scale whenever possible. This will only prove necessary if things start panning out to be boring, and won’t be used by default.

In some cases, when multiple choices are substantially similar, they may have their votes grouped together by counting the highest score provided to any such choice by each person who cast a vote within the group. Ties will then be broken within the group as normal. This may be done if, for example, a large number of voters want to change a squire’s hair color but have split their vote among the different colors too much to change the color at all. Whether or not this procedure is necessary will be decided by the author on a case by case basis, but it should not be needed often if at all.

Voting begins when the end of each chapter is reached. It will stay open so long as votes continue to roll in at a steady pace. Typically this is expected between three days and a week. Once voting is closed it will not be reopened.

TL;DR Give choices you like a 6. Give choices you don’t like a 1. If you want, give choices you kind of like or kind of don’t like something between 5 and 0. Feel free to leave as many choices as you like blank, rate them all, or anything in between.

Transformations

Each voting period will allow you, as a spirit in Araqiel’s court, to exert your influence on Adrian and his squires. There are a wide array of different ways you can do so, including physical changes, mental changes, supernatural compulsions, and more.

Transformations are assigned a ‘level’ ranging between 1 and 4, with increasingly drastic changes having a higher level. At the start of the story only level 1 changes will be available. As Adrian grows more powerful the influence Araqiel’s court holds over him and his squires will also increase, allowing for higher level changes.

Some transformations may have pre-requisites. For example, if you wanted to make an Average height squire instead be Statuesque height, you would first need to make them Tall. Likewise, if you wanted to make a Short squire Tall, you would first need to make them Average height. Pre-requisites will be displayed with arrows on the transformation charts.

Within a single voting round only one squire can receive any given transformation. This limit does not apply over the course of the entire story. Any number of squires may receive the same transformation, just not at the same time in the same voting round. This is to increase diversity between the squires, rather than having them all start to become carbon copies.

Bonds

Adrian shares a bond with each of his squires, giving him some measure of control or influence over them. At the start of the story these bonds are weak and vague in nature. As his power grows these bonds will strengthen, transforming to take on some specific nature. Early selections color what kind of choices can be made later on as the bond takes on a more specific character. Certain types of bonds may also unlock exclusive transformations. Higher level bonds can have powerful effects that will warp the nature of the squire’s relationship with Adrian, and possibly their lives as a whole, around them.

Fetishes

The squires can be given fetishes. These fetishes come in four levels of increasing strength, as listed below. Fetish specific transformations are unlocked after the squire receives the fetish. Of course, more **** transformations are unlocked as the fetish becomes more entrenched. In certain cases, high levels of a fetish may let you ‘skip ahead’ on appropriate transformations, jumping one or more intervening stages to get to a high level transformation immediately.

• Curiosity - the fetish is something they may be willing to dip their toes into, entertaining it when they otherwise wouldn’t. The squire wouldn’t, however, care if they can’t try it out. It isn’t important to them.
• Indulgence - the fetish is something they like. They enjoy it from time to time. While they would be a little sad if they couldn’t partake it wouldn’t really be a problem. It’s just something they like.
• Perversion - the fetish is something they’re really into. It becomes a major part of their sexuality. They will seek to indulge it when possible, and will usually prefer to partake rather than not. Being unable to do so would make them feel frustrated, but would ultimately be manageable.
• Fixation - the fetish is deeply entrenched in their sexuality. To some extent, it is what they mean by sex. They couldn’t give it up if they wanted to. They may not even be able to get off without it.

Chained Transformations

Most mental and physical transformations are chain transformations. All transformations connected by a double-ended arrow on the transformation charts below are considered part of the chain. Only one transformation in a chain can be active at a time; for example, a squire cannot be both Short and Tall. Ordinarily you can only advance one step along a chain per vote. Some fetishes may allow you to skip multiple steps.

Mutually Exclusive Transformations

A few transformations may be mutually exclusive with one another. That is, a squire cannot have both at the same time. This is indicated by a line marked with a pair of Xs on the transformation charts below. If a transformation is chosen that is mutually exclusive with one the person already has, they will lose the one they started with and gain the one that was just selected by the vote.

Squire Powers

Adrian’s knightly powers are shared between and amongst the squires. Squires may inherit smaller variations of his powers, possibly colored by their own transformations. In some cases, the transformations a squire undergoes may leave them unsuitable for field work, so to speak. In this case, things start to work the other way. Instead of them inheriting powers from Adrian, Adrian can use them like a battery to enhance his own powers. The key point is that, no matter what transformations a squire undergoes, they will always be useful to Adrian.