the valley road The World

The hand

The hand is you. Move it over the world; click a roshi to pat it (it comes to like you), right-click to scold, drag a roshi to carry it somewhere, drag a thing — food, a toy, a seed — to move it. Let go of either over a doorway — a door, a cave's mouth, a room's way out — and it goes through. Click the ground and your Vetti walks there. A biscuit drops where the hand is.

The Vetti

Your Vetti is a person of one of the eight peoples who lives in your Plot, minds the roshi on your orders, grows by the week on the schedule you set, and walks the Hollow and the Wilds for you. Click it and the Info window shows its sheet. Home is its room: talk to it, praise it, scold it, give it a pat on the head, let it nap, dress it, give it things from the pockets — and it answers in its own temper, which what you do shapes, slowly.

Its day

Your Vetti keeps the hours where you live, and is in one place at a time — the Dock, the Home and the Plot all say where. It sleeps in its bed at night (an infant from seven, and after lunch too); breakfast at seven; the morning round in the Plot when there are roshi to see to; from ten to four the week's three slots of two hours each, each with its activity where it is done — lore at the table with a book, the garden in the Plot, errands and the counter in the Hollow, an outing in the Wilds — and within a slot it goes from one thing to the next (pulling weeds, staking the beans, a drink from the stream), with breaks and, by temper, a little mischief; you can pick what it does next from the week; lunch at noon; the afternoon in the Plot; supper, then its own corner till bed. Out, it can't be talked to at home: call it home (the Home's card, or the Vetti menu) — called from its day's work, the rest of that work is lost from what the day gives. A word wakes it from sleep, and it is cross about it; a pat doesn't. What it can be set to do grows with it: an infant has stories, tummy time, naps and play; lessons and work come with childhood; the arcane, the counter, the Drill and the Curio with adolescence; teaching the roshi and the Fair when grown.

Telling the Vetti

Type in the box under the world (Tell, or its name first: “Wren, explore the map”). It keeps rules — feed and take care of them · no breeding · pat the scared ones · don't let them eat the beans — and goes where it is sent, from wherever it stands: explore the map · enter the cave (the nearest) · go home · go into the round hut · go to the incubator · find Pip · go up · come out · go to the plaza · find a seed. It carries a roshi in its arms — up ladders, through doorways, into rooms — till it puts it down: pick up Pip · carry Moss home · take Fen into the cave · put Pip to bed · put her down. “Stop” clears its list. What it can do grows with it (D117): a young child plays, feeds and waters; a child carries, explores and teaches; an adolescent matchmakes — pair Pip with Moss — and may mind a stall; an adult can be told take charge, and runs the Plot: every order on, the grown paired while there is room.

Rooms

Caves, the castle's halls and cellar are rooms to walk into, dark till your Vetti has been. Huts, the tree house, the watchtower, the shrine, the temple and the gate house are scenes: click the door and the room opens over the world, whoever is in it standing before its backdrop. A roshi inside is looked after — fed, watered, warmed, put to bed — and comes out when it is ready, or when you send it out; drag one onto a door to put it in. Things set down in a doorway are kept inside — food for whoever is in, a toy to play with — and the room lists them, to take back out. The big hut is your Vetti's home: its door is the Home, and it sleeps there at night.

The places

The Places box takes you anywhere a Vetti can go: your Plot, the valley (the neighbours' freeholds, seen from their gates — the hand can't reach in), the valley road (a walk with your Vetti down to the Hollow or up to a neighbour's gate, with things on the way — walked to a gate, it can call over it), the Hollow's shops and services, the Wilds' six regions, the Commons, the arena. Nothing leaves this window.

The kits

Info — whatever you clicked last: a roshi (its loudest needs, pat, scold, what?, why?, teach), your Vetti (its sheet, what it is doing) or a thing (what it is, what it is for, how much is left). The week — the schedule, the standing orders, a moment to decide. Hatchery — the seeds. Pockets — what the Vetti carries, and what to do with it. Speech History — the log. Orders — the standing orders.

Keys

F follow · arrows look around · Esc closes the top kit · F1 this · H Info · P pockets · L the log.