So Version 3.2.0 existed, but trying to upload it to different platforms confronted me with the daunting task of having to re-sort 134 entries manually each time. And occasionally, it even broke keywords.
I instead opted to remake the lorebook from scratch, ensuring that it would be imported correctly everywhere. Since I used that opportunity to fill a lot of gaps, it's 3.3.0.
So what do you get with the new update?
♡ Auror and Fifi Entries: The puppos are now fully available and consistent in every bot.
♡ King Icarius Entry: He is now a person!
♡ Six new BG Characters: I have added the NPCs from the first messages to the lorebook: Gebeiner Head Maid Nika, Ivory Knight Captain Leucos, Esmeragden Noble Lady Klotho, Verennian Marquis Polites, Palace Maid Melissae and Head of the Palace Kitchen Demeter.
♡ Magic and Tech: all four available nations now have more nuanced stances on different magic, different education systems, and a defined tech-level.
♡ All main Residences: The homes of all capture targets have definitions in the entries now and entries for the staff! A doctor in the Gebeiner Fortress will literally heal you differently than the Imperial Physician now.
♡ More Holidays: Gebein and Anbar finally get to have fun, too!
♡ Better Triggering: I tweaked the keywords and triggering conditions of most entries and split some older ones up, also changed injection - during testing, the results looked very promising.
♡ Lore: The three main deities of Alyon are now written in.
The most notable shift when playing should be that information is prioritized more fittingly, making the AI feel like it has a better memory. But you might now also encounter more interesting stuff if you leave the major residences. In Rhyddel, you might walk into some undead workers. In Verenne, you might notice a light show. In Gebein, someone might offer you monster soup or an artifact cobbled together from leftovers.
Behold, the placeholder art of our new arrivals!
Fifi:
Fortress Head Maid Nika:
Ivory Knight Captain Leucos:
Esmeragden Noblewoman Lady Klotho du Klorofilié:
I will probably not make a profile page for each one of them, but instead a collective NPCs page where I give each one a small blurb. Their entries in the lorebook are short and sweet, just enough to anchor their appearance and relationship to others.
What's Next?
Now that I've finally finished Anbar, my next upcoming bot is Pope Theophrastus le Xanthous. He's the final official capture target and caps off the main series! His definition is already half-written, it's just a bit of a challenge because of what I am trying to do with him.
Which brings us to the "bonus" bot I want to write, Ione de Verdant!
I always find it sad that in the comics and novels, everything is so comphet. While I based Alyon on that, it was never my attention to carry this specific aspect over unchanged. In fact, under the hood, all Alyon characters are explicitly pansexual.
So I'm continuing what I started with Chloe through Ione - another sapphic option!
Concurrent to Ione, I'll work on the writing side of Esmeragd. I have a lot of notes and ideas I'm trying to pull together there, so I've got my work cut out for me. But Esmeragd won't join the lorebook until I finish a different project I'll also talk about later.
Aris' and Rux' Festival Alts are also still in the works.
In terms of Game Mechanics, I want to start transferring more information from character definitions to the lorebook. Doing so will make character nuances even more consistent across bots, while freeing up space in context. As you may have noticed, I am extremely particular about optimizing space in the context window. The reasoning is simple: I want Alyon to be a great story for longform RP. The stories I'm inspired by span entire years, and I want these stories to be just as rich.
The Relationship Stages especially would benefit from only being injected one at a time. So I'm considering how to add them to the lorebook instead.
I have also had ideas for incorporating Random Events through the lorebook! Currently still brainstorming what kinds of thngs I want in there. Once I have a workable list, I'll go forward with it. Hopefully that will make the world feel more alive and encourage especially passive LLMs to bring more motion into things.
I am also working on the visual presentation of Alyon. My JanitorAI profile is in for an overhaul and I have been tinkering with the graphics on the bot profiles, too. When the JAI version of the Sandbox is released, I want it to be impressive enough to bring more people in! And to have some solid visuals that I can reuse on different platforms.
On this website, I'm going to implement the NPCs page and need to finish the profiles for Zeus, Hera and Icarius. I should also lay the groundwork for Ione... and update the LLM recommendation.
It's a lot. And on the side, I am currently also working on a Lorebook Converter with a sweet friend of mine, and am assisting Wyvern with their implementation of lorebooks. But it's absolutely worth it! Alyon is already incredibly advanced and I am so, so proud of it - and all that is because I set myself goals like these and patiently puttered forward.
More about the Lorebook Converter and the issue I'd been struggling with soon. For now, I need to go touch some grass after all that lorebooking, lol!
