Chroma, Moonlacing, and You

a breakdown by Anonymous for the Moonblessed
Congratulations! You're now on the planet Prismatica, in the city of Lunatia, population: Prismals and Moonblessed. (That's you!) What do you want to know about Chroma, Moonlacing, and your survival in this place?

What is Chroma?

To recap what the Lunar Scientia should have said when you were processed, Chroma is a form of energy that we, the Moonblessed, generate. In Prismatica's history, Chroma was also produced through various means on world, but since the Calamity, Prismatica has only been processing energy crystals for demichroma to keep things working. Demichroma is both a less powerful form of energy and the standard currency throughout Lunatia, and is what any person working in the city will be paid in. Weird enough yet? It gets weirder.

Why should I care about Chroma?

You should care because if your body's Chroma levels fall too low, you'll begin crystalising. You need direct infusions of Chroma to reverse the process, and the only way of getting that Chroma is through moonlacing.

If your body loses all Chroma, you will completely crystalise and die. This should be difficult. Should be! If you're feeling horrible, take at least one hand held out to you so you don't get to this point. See What happens when we die? for more information.

What the fuck?! Why do I lose Chroma?

Chroma is a form of energy. It seems like it may be linked with your life energy here on Prismatica. Living your life means burning energy, and now you don't only use the energy of food or whatever the fuck usually keeps you functioning, but also use Chroma in order to stay functional on this world.

You lose Chroma because you burn it up like any other energy source by existing. Which is why you need to moonlace for more Chroma to stay active and healthy.

Be warned, Moonblessed! You can burn through Chroma faster by doing any of the following:

participating in any non-moonlacing related physical activities that take a lot of normal energy;
using any special or advanced abilities you may have (magic, superpowers, energy manipulation, psychic abilities, any and everything, even whatever you're thinking about now, probably);
or being under the influence of outside forces. Are you influenced by the Cordis moon? Sorry, Moonblessed, but you may find your Chroma consumption goes up whenever your moon's in phase! Have you been drugged with Glow? Welcome to your new energy vampire urges!

It's fucked, we know.

Then what is Moonlacing?

When one Moonblessed and another Moonblessed come into physical contact, they generate Chroma. Think of it as a reaction that naturally occurs when two Moonblessed come into contact and maintain that contact, though it does not appear to work well or at all in instances of senseless violence or force. Sparring is a different matter, but punching someone for no reason or choking them for Chroma if they're not into breath-play and haven't given consent is not going to work.

Moonlacing is the name for this process of Chroma generation between two Moonblessed. No one knows what the fuck is up with it, only that it happens, and can be measured for how much Chroma-energy is generated at a time. Chroma is weird, because you need it to live, and yet it also is credited as "energy" you've added to Prismatica... and since energy is money here, it's money you've earned.

Now, Chroma that you naturally lose seems like it's absorbed by the world around us, or by some technology the Prismals in Lunar Scientia use, or maybe both or something else, which is how it's out there getting measured by Lunatia. Chroma you consume directly to use any abilities you have does not get released out into the world, but still appears to be counted as currency "earned" at time of moonlacing. This Anon doesn't understand it either. Financial records are visible and yet still mysterious.

How do you Moonlace?

Any way you can imagine that isn't rejected by one or more people involved. Two things of importance to note:

Moonlacing does not require direct skin contact.
Moonlacing will always feel good, but that does not mean all moonlacing will feel arousing. (Arousing can be of any associated emotion, okay! Any emotion! Any emotion!)

Addendum: While moonlacing is necessary, we advise you only moonlace with people you find tolerable. We advise against forcing yourself to moonlace with people you can't stand.

Forms of moonlacing contact can include, but are not limited to:

Napping on or in physical contact with someone. (Also ideal when you have a full animal moonphase form.)
Clasping a shoulder or upper arm.
Holding hands.
Brushing each other's hair.
Shoulder massages.
Wrestling.
Supporting your drunk friend home. Or at least out of the bar.
Carrying someone.
Hugging.
Cuddling.
Snuggling. (Is there a difference between this and cuddling? This Anon just does not know.)
Leaning shoulder to shoulder.
Kissing foreheads, cheeks, hands, anywhere really.
Everything remotely sexual does too. I'm not making that list for you. Sexy Anons out there can make that list for you!

The take away point is this: moonlacing is necessary to keep your chroma levels high enough so that you don't crystalise and die. So don't be a fool: moonlace. Survive. Those who want to go home under their own choice are only going to have that chance if they don't kill themselves along the way.

Can Moonlacing help heal?

For those who participated in recent tournament events, the answer appears to point toward "yes." However, it should be noted that increasingly more intimate levels of moonlacing were better at helping bodies recover quickly: kissing provided more than hands held over wounds, but massaging helped muscle aches, embraces helped generate enough Chroma for people's natural abilities to take control, and so on.

Short of something incredibly ill advised with someone suffering fatal injuries, moonlacing is not enough to save you when you're already dying. Talk to Prismals, and they'll tell you even in their general knowledge, "healing" was for minor injuries. It's what all those kisses exchanged before people swaggered out onto the arena were about, and all the hugs from Daddy Dearest before we went down. Moonblessed seem to be able to heal more than minor injuries with enough moonlacing, but it is not! Enough! To prevent you from dying if you've lost all your chroma already. Understood?! Don't go testing this out!

What happens when we die?

When you die, either because you used all your Chroma or because you managed to kill yourself or get yourself killed... your corpse is encased in crystal. Just your corpse. You're movable by anyone who can manipulate the crystal sculpture you've turned into, and as this Anon has been assured, the Prismals will take care of the crystal body if your friends don't want to.

But wait! There's more! Like everything else here, it gets weirder. After enough chroma has slowly seeped back into your body... you resurrect. Not entirely okay, but at least you're not fucking dead because you fucking died.

Prismals find nothing weird about this. Crystalising when you die is normal here. The not normal part is coming back out of the crystal, which if you remember waking up on the moon? Sounds like the same fucking process.

What happens when we disappear?

Great question. No idea. Does anyone have an answer from Lunar Scientia about this?

This is "as accurate as it can be right now," which means if you have information to add, comment for Anon to update. If you have questions, ask and this Anon or any of the other people reading can speak up and try to answer.

A question for anyone who knows: is there any noted increase in overall moonlacing if more than two people are involved in an act of moonlacing?

[ What follows is an audio version of this post with a big, green play arrow for anyone who doesn't read; it will narrate this post and replies in a voice oddly similar to Samuel L. Jackson. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It can be much more efficient, it's true. Other means meant leaving two people vulnerable at the same time, which is not often ideal.

I suppose, since any spiritual energy probably does the same? The more you have of it, and the more control you have over it, the more you can do. Kind of similar to what the fox prismals were demonstrating earlier in the week when their envoy first arrived.

At least a kiss wouldn't take very long. You wouldn't be vulnerable for a lot of time.

Right. Not that I know all that much about that sort of thing.

[A bit about mana, but that's really it.]

[ ... okay maybe he's just too distractable? Then again his first kiss was when he was in too much pain to have much more than a general resistance to what he first perceived as an attack; the second was for the exact instance this person is describing, and he had been subtly pulled into extending the contact; and every subsequent kiss had been given to a dying man.

Maybe most the time kisses aren't supposed to take that long?! Fuck! How would he know!? (Now he guesses he does.) ]

Compared to other forms of moonlacing that are less encompassing, true. Still, not always a time easy to afford.

Did you attempt any of their spells the day they first arrived?

No, I can't say that I did. I didn't actually run into any of them, come to think of it.

[She'd kind of missed the whole thing.]

[ That's probably not a bad thing, really... ]

May have saved you some extra mischief. The most interesting thing to me was their claims to spellwork, and that those "spells" were ones Moonblessed were able to use. Such as they were.

[ A silencing spell to keep a conversation between friends and a spell that makes people more flexible?

... anyway, there are... probably some uses for the second one, but the first is interesting because it doesn't rely on advanced cultivation abilities or arrays. It's accessible! So what else is out there which is only possible for them because of their chroma? ]

Spells, huh? That sounds interesting.

I wonder if there are any books on that sort of thing in that massive library the Scientiae has.

[After all, weird fox prismals can't have a monopoly on that sort of thing, right?]

[ watch foxes having a weird monopoly on that sort of thing, somehow ]

It'd be a good line of research. Plan on taking it up yourself?

I guess I could. I'm no scholar, though.

[Honestly, she wouldn't even know where to start.]

Having the will is more useful than necessarily having the experience from before. Besides, all scholars started out being something else at the start. I believe you'd surprise yourself, if it's what you decide to do.

[ this anon is, admittedly, a nerd with years of schooling behind him that has drilled in how to research and a follow-up in a life where research was necessary for his own survival, so he may... in fact... have a vested interest in information gathering. and promoting people to do the same! ]

Well, I did usually wind up being the one to do most of the research in group projects in school... I guess I could give this a shot, too.

[Though much as she likes curling up with a good book at times, she thinks this project might be entirely too much like homework.

But on the other hand, homework never came with the possibility of cool new magic spells to learn.]

There's a few Moonblessed who enjoy haunting the Lunar Scientia library. If you end up wanting company without the weight of carrying a graded project over your head, they can be a good resource.

[ It's at least exciting homework! And these spells are useful! Or some will be, probably. Most likely. ]

They sound a lot more helpful than some of my fellow students back home.

[She loves Sora dearly, but schoolwork is not his forte.]

Alright, I'll see if I can find something. Don't get your hopes up, though... even if there is anything, there's no guarantee it got written down.

There are different motivations when it's voluntary versus required. Easier to be helpful when you have an interest in what is going on.

That you're willing to try is hopeful enough. What you do or don't learn in the process is good, whatever it is.

That's a good point. I'm not sure I've ever been working with people who were researching for their own purposes before, come to think of it.

Are you a teacher, by the way? Because you really sound like one, especially that last bit there.

[ DON'T CALL HIM OUT AS A TEACHER but hey he has no degree so technically... he's not! He's technically not a certain kind of modern day teacher! ]

It was a new experience for me until after I reached my majority.

Ah, not exactly? But I've been through higher education and dealt with helping instruct my juniors, so in that sense, yes.

[ Truth and bullshit all rolled together into one blob. All technically true! He just did the instructing of junior disciples after he died without finishing his higher education.

Details. ]

[Kairi's not particularly fussed by the lack of a degree. Master Yen Sid probably isn't certified either, but everyone knows he's a teacher.

Or a weird old hermit who dispenses wisdom. Either or.]

Close enough. You've got the attitude down, anyway.

[ Kairi! You're calling him out except not intentionally except a little bit! Sobs! Then again he's not being all that... un-teacher-like at the moment. Conundrum. ]

Thank you? Could come in handy if I ever decide to go the teaching route here.

[Well she has no idea this qualifies as a call-out, really.]

It's something to consider, at least!

Anyway, that's about all I have to offer right now.

[ No, she's just an earnest young woman calling it like it is, but he still feels called out! Not knowing if he wants to laugh or cry! ]

Good luck with the research if you decide to go through with it!

Thanks! I have a feeling I'll need all the luck I can get.

I'll talk to you again if I come up with anything new. I'll respond to this post with it if I don't have anyplace else.

This Anon thanks you! Here will be great. May we speak again in the future!

anonymous text post

Chroma, Moonlacing, and You

What is Chroma?

Why should I care about Chroma?

What the fuck?! Why do I lose Chroma?

Then what is Moonlacing?

How do you Moonlace?

Can Moonlacing help heal?

What happens when we die?

What happens when we disappear?

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