The Rules of Harem Hotel: Intergalactic

With that, every eye in the room was wide open, most of them focusing on Andrew with varying levels of fear, suspicion, hatred, and pity. Andrew felt his stomach drop somehow, this was worse than a dating show.

“First off, to make it clear to our contestants just what is at stake in this competition, let’s show them just where exactly they’re standing.” C2’s voice said and, suddenly, one of the walls began to change, turning from an opaque black to transparent, becoming a window. Outside the window was endless blackness filled with a sky-spanning nebula, the surface of a purple gas giant.

“Welcome everyone, to Harem Hotel: Intergalactic!”

“That’s right, this season, the hotel is actually a space vessel in deep space in a distant galaxy and our Master isn’t just the Master, he’s the Captain of the vessel which he’ll own outright once the game is complete. If any of you are fans of astronomy, you still won’t recognize that nebula. After all, you are currently approximately 57 billion light years from your home world and, even with the most advanced technology in the local galaxy, it would take incalculable generations just to send a message back to Earth. And, to be clear, we won’t be helping you get home, even if you win. This galaxy is your new home and we’re committed to helping Andrew and his Harem Crew get prepared to journey through this new galaxy until they can find somewhere to settle, or just until they get tired of exploring the vast wonders of a new galaxy.”

“Now, while each of you is now bound to Andrew as members of his harem, what that means will vary for each of you, and a lot of that depends on how well you do in the game. The way to win is to earn Victory Points or VP, anyone who manages to reach 100 VP at any point in the competition will be immune from elimination and will earn a prized position in the harem, though you will continue to compete for the top prize, a wish of your choice which will be awarded to the top VP earner. Some conditions apply, so no wishing yourself out of the harem or back home. Anyone who ends the season without having passed that mark will still earn their place in the harem, but won’t get the package of bonuses to help them transition into their new lives. However, any player that enters a challenge round with less than 0 VP, loses a designated ‘Elimination Round’, or egregiously violates the rules will be eliminated and receive an Exit Package. Meanwhile, their position in the competition will be filled with one of the contestant replacement candidates that we have selected who will receive a pack of transformations to get them up to speed. Once a player has been eliminated, the Master will have first dibs on allowing the eliminated contestant to remain in the harem, trapped eternally in their new lowered position. However, if, at the end of the competition, the Master chooses to pass on taking ownership of the eliminated contestant, they’ll instead be sold to the nearest **** market.”

“That’s right, slavery is very much legal in this galaxy, which also leads us to another point I should mention. You see, in this galaxy, things like the ability to own a ship or land, or start a business, even make certain transactions or be considered a real ‘Person’ are all dependent on where you fall on a sort of caste system. The Master has been provided with full galactic citizenship, and credentials of the highest echelon of society as part of his role as captain of the ship, but for the rest of you, your new citizenship level depends entirely on how well you do on our show. Those of you who cross the 100 VP mark will get galactic citizenship of their own. They’ll still be bound to the Master, but they’ll be able to work, own property, and be a real partner to the Master. Those of you who remain below 100 VP will generally be in the caste that consists of slaves and indentured servants. You’ll be recognized as ‘people’ and will have the chance to achieve citizenship, but it’ll be a long road and, until then, you’ll be considered the Master’s property. For those of you who are eliminated, you will essentially be marked as sentient livestock, which is generally how your species would normally be viewed in this galaxy given your level of advancement.”

“So, if you want to work on working yourself up to being seen as a real person by the galaxy you now live in, I’d focus on getting those VP totals up. Luckily, there are two ways to earn VP. First, you can win it through the various challenge rounds we’ll have, where you’ll compete against each other in a variety of challenges that will test your minds, bodies, and willpower. Unfortunately, those who don’t do so well will find that challenges also bring the risk of losing VP. The other way to potentially earn VP is to play into the name of the game, this is Harem Hotel after all. Pushing your relationship forward with the Master or, to a lesser extent, your fellow harem members, will earn you additional VP. Of course, doing things that displease the Master will also lose you points. Additionally, any **** towards the Master, fellow Contestants, or to the facilities will result in **** VP loss and, eventually, immediate elimination. Point values may be adjusted based on how new the experience is to the contestant and the master, and for the first player to reach certain milestones.”

“You’ll have plenty of time to earn those points though, in addition to the time you’ll all spend in close quarters here on the ship, you’ll each get some guaranteed time alone with the Master. You’ll each spend one night in the Captain's Quarters before a new challenge round. When it’s your turn in the Captain's Quarters, you must both remain inside from 8p to 8a. While there, you’ll be required to both sleep in the bed. Violating these rules will result in VP penalties for the contestant.”

“While you’re on the ship, most of the ship’s amenities and requested items will be free. However, there are some items that you can purchase using Bonus Points or BP. Each contestant will receive BP at the beginning of each round based on an audience popularity poll and can earn more through performing special tasks, either around the ship or in the challenges. You’ll be provided with portable terminals that will allow you to purchase items with BP and interact with the ship facilities. Your terminals will only work for you, and will always return itself to its owner's possession if outside of its owner’s possession for more than 30 minutes, so no stealing. They’ll also track the global score board so you can see how everyone’s totals are increasing and decreasing.”

“Now, we get to the crux of the game. After all, this show isn’t just about earning your way into the Master’s harem, it’s about us changing you so you belong in the Master’s harem and you’re suited for your new life among the stars. Starting immediately after this discussion of the rules and then following every challenge, there will be a set of options given for each of you for transformations that will change your body, your mind, or even your past. The harshness of the transformation will depend on how well you do in the challenge, but the winner of each round is immune from transformations. Eliminated and victorious contestants will continue to receive transformations, but they have some special rules about how their changes are chosen. The audience will select one of the transformations through a vote. If multiple options tie for first, you’ll get all of them. I have two vetoes per round that allow me to change the results of a contestants votes to whatever I please. Once a transformation is applied, it is permanent, and cannot be reversed, even by a winning wish. The quality of transformations, whether for good or ill, will depend on how well you do in the challenges and what you most need to find your place in the Master’s harem. The Exit packages you receive if you’re eliminated will be an especially severe combination of transformations. Additional transformations can be purchased for BP, and can even be purchased for other players for the cost of a 100% markup. Why on Earth would you buy yourself additional transformations? Well, you're pretty far from Earth and there are some potential benefits to spending BP, which we'll get to in a later episode. Losing options will always be available for the person who they were offered to, and may repeat during transformation rounds if they are sufficiently popular. So, don’t think that just because you’ve evaded one once, that you’ve done so for good.”

“Additionally, this season, each round of transformations will include one global gift that will be granted to all contestants, including any that may join later. These are generally not transformations, but technologies of the local galaxy being provided to our contestants by some of our sponsors. Of course, compared to the technology of our contestants home world, these improvements will likely seem just as magical as our usual transformations. The difference is, these changes cannot overwrite an existing transformation so, if you already have a change that turns you blonde, an enhancement that allows you to change your hair color won’t allow you turn it blue, though that’s a bad example because, in that case, we’d probably just find some way to give you a mixture of the two.”

"The Master isn't immune from changes either. After all, he's only human at the moment and six harem members are a lot to keep up with. So, he'll be getting a transformation every round that will help improve him as a Captain and Harem Master."

“The competition ends when the Master says so, but only after at least two contestants have passed the 100 VP mark, but, hopefully our Master won’t end things too soon if he wants to win them all citizenship. Alternatively, if the Master decides not to play and more than six contestants are eliminated, we’ll call the game a wash and all contestants, including the Master and any victorious contestants, will be eliminated and sold into slavery.”

“Any questions?”

And, with that, they were suddenly able to speak again and they all started to speak at once.