The Rules (Summary)

This is a summary of the rules of Athanor.

Audience Engagement

Audience Engagement will have a role in Athanor. Each round, there will be stretch goals to reach (these may vary from round to round, and will be explicitly listed at the beginning of the round). They may include number of likes, number of comments, fan mail, cast-directed messages, and more. Each time a stretch goal is reached, a small pool of points (1-3) will be collected. At the end of the round, each popularity poll (which awards Azoth) will be accompanied by an Audience Awards poll, and those points will be distributed to the girls in accordance with the rankings of this second poll. This means it is possible for a girl to win the pop poll but not win Quintessence points (maybe because the Audience is trying to save someone at risk of elimination). Quintessence points earned through the poll will automatically transform into whatever Principle the girl needs to reduce her unbalance (so, for example, if Nebet-Hedj's Sulphur is dangerously low, and she earned three Quintessence points via the poll, they would add to her total as Sulphur points).

Heat (in the form of Quintessence points) will be applied to the Reactants for each of these stretch goals during Round 1 (which starts with The First Coil, and ends with the challenge results):

• For each chapter (from The First Coil up to the end of Round 1) with 12+ likes by the time the pop poll rolls in;
• For each 15 comments received across all chapters for the round (note: comments left only to pad this number won't be considered; comments to this Rules chapter are not counted, and neither are my comments);
• For each 10 transformations suggested in the Google Forms module (as long as they make sense and follow the paths given for each girl);
• For each 3 items of fanmail sent by the time the popularity poll rolls around.

Currently achieved stretch goals: ▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

Reaching a certain number of stretch goals will also grant the audience the ability to give a specific girl a Boon for the upcoming challenge, and/or another girl a Bane. These are temporary TFs that will make a challenge easier or harder for the receiving girls. A girl cannot receive both a Boon and a Bane at the same time.

In addition to regular fan mail, I will be collecting TF ideas and "fragments" each chapter. Fan mail can be sent at any time, but will always be read at the end of the round. TF ideas can be submitted at any time, although there is no guarantee they'll be used immediately, or at all. Fragments are short sentences you can submit at any time, and each round, a number of them will be found by the girls and by Adrien around Athanor (for example, as a piece of yellowed paper, or carved on a wall, or as a passage from a book). I reserve the right to edit them if they're too long or too meta, but you should consider them as little nudges you can give the cast (for example, suggesting they do something, warning them about something else). Not all fragments will be used each round.

Submit TF ideas here: https://forms.gle/7gy7jawmWkqckLbbA
Submit Fan Mail here: https://forms.gle/RjVLkMq6oeVa4U7EA
Submit Fragments here: https://forms.gle/MqgDwrcF6qvFCJiZA

Quintessence

Harem Hotel's traditional Victory Points are called Quintessence in accordance with Athanor's alchemical terminology. Quintessence comes in three Principles, or flavors:

• Salt: The "classical" Harem Hotel VP source, based on carnal or sexual activities;
• Mercury: A VP source based on the mind, understanding, and reasoning.
• Sulphur: A VP source based on emotions, the soul, and volatility.

Victory Condition

A girl wins when she reaches a total of 300 Quintessence across all three Principles. At the end of the five rounds, the girl with the most Quintessence and the best balance will win a Wish.

Eliminations

Going all in on one Principle instead of others is counterproductive because a balance of all three is necessary, not only for the Wish, but to avoid elimination. A girl who is too unbalanced (where one Principle is substantially higher or lower than the others) will be eliminated at the end of the round if she doesn't find a way to return to a less unbalanced state.

A girl's balance state will be reflected in the standings, in this sequence: Stable → Leaning → Volatile → Critical. A girl in the Critical stage will be eliminated at the end of the round if she doesn't recover before then. For this purpose, the "End of the Round" is when the round's TF ceremony ends.

Gaining Principles

Salt can be earned in the "traditional" Harem Hotel way. Sexual activities with the Master award Salt points depending on the activity. The first time anyone performs an activity with the Master, they get double points. It is possible to score additional points for repeat activities, but there are diminishing returns (meaning that a 1-Salt activity will not give more points if repeated, while a 5-Salt activity might only give 3 points the next time).

Mercury can be earned through some specific acts, or by having conversations with the Master that involve that Principle. Examples of discrete acts that earn Mercury can include understanding Adrien's reasons for important acts (or failures ot act), or getting him to answer hard questions. A heart-to-heart conversation that does not necessarily touch on these, but leads the girl to a better, non-judgmental understanding of the Master will also gain her Mercury.

Sulphur can be earned through some specific acts, or by having conversations with the Master that involve that Principle. Examples of discrete acts that earn Sulphur can include forgiving Adrien for failing to help/save/act a girl, falling in love with him, or breaking a personal rule for him. In general, choosing him despite knowing what he did, or situations in which desire overrides fear, pride, anger, or self-protection will earn Sulphur points even if no specific act is performed.

In addition, all three types of points can be earned through Challenges (the specific amount per position in the ranking is shown by the Curator before the Challenge, and it may not always be beneficial to each girl to end up first, at least in terms of points).

Challenges

There will be four Challenges. Each Challenge will be adjudicated by the Curator (in some cases, possibly with Audience support) and will grant each girl specific Quintessence point values. The Principle of the Quintessence will be set before the challenge, so the winner might ger +12 Sulphur, the second-place winner could get +10 Mercury, and so on. It isn't always strategically sound to win (although, on the other hand, a winner doesn't get a transformation).

Azoth

Bonus Points are known as Azoth in Athanor, but they work much the same way through the shops of the Concourse.