the Shallows 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.

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.

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 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. The Leet's kits (GENE, BRAIN, CHEM) need ELiTE.EXE.

Keys

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