Hey there! Fae back again with another Void Dreaming crosspost from before the Itch page went live!

Last time we took a look at the various choices in the game and how they impact the story, as well as the character Approval and Lust values that define how you interact with them. Today however, we’re going to get down and personal with the various members of the crew of the Void Dreamer, as well as talk a little about that special little Excelton-II surveyor herself. We’ll also dive into the special Event scenes you can unlock with different characters in the course of the story, and the more usual social scenes that come with each day. Let’s get started!

Or rather, let’s give a quick note first. In the interest of not ruining anyone’s discovery for when you get started in the story itself, we’re not going to be going too in-depth with the various characters you’re going to be associating with aboard the Void Dreamer. That’s for you all to discover as you play! Still, we’ll give you a little taste of what to expect from the crew when you do have the story in your paws, and some of you may already be familiar with them if you’ve been checking out the sprite sheets as they’ve been going online. So now let’s get started!

Cruisin’ Galaxy

The best place to begin would have to be the ship herself. Void Dreamer is a Sureshhan Dynamics Excelton-II Survey Ship. She’s one of a very limited run of ships that almost bankrupted Sureshhan Dynamics, after the model proved incredibly expensive to create, operate, and maintain. Seen most often in the paws of collectors who prefer to put such a rare piece on display, Zuberi’s not only happy to fly his Excelton-II about the galaxy, but modify her extensively as well.

You’ll have the chance over the course of the visual novel to become much more intimately familiar with the technology within the Dreamer, so we’ll keep things light for the moment. In addition to being able to traverse warpspace at significant distance and speed for a craft of its size, she’s also equipped with top of the line, milgrade hardware that wouldn’t be out of place on a warship. Indeed, she’s more than capable of standing up to the threats of fringe space and answering with a fiery retort of her own.

Inside, she’s been kitted out in such a way as to make her into a home. The upper level of the ship is home to the observation deck which, when not in a combat situation, evokes the feeling of walking onto the hull of the Dreamer herself. There’s no better place to sit and contemplate the infinite expanse of space than the observation deck.

A single, long corridor extends down the centre of the midships. At the bow is the bridge, followed by the crew quarters along the main corridor. On the port side of the ship is also the commissary (which connects up to the observation deck and features an adjoining conference room and lounge), and upper cargo bay access. On the starboard side is a well-appointed gym for maintaining crew fitness (and another connection to the observation deck) and the ship’s infirmary, as well as the ship’s rec room. In the centre of the deck, halfway down the corridor, is the embarkation platform usually used for receiving short-range displacement transport, though it can also lower through the ship like an elevator and deposit crew on the ground when the Dreamer’s landed. At the aft of the midships is the stairs down to the lower decks.

There you can find access to the engineering bay, as well as the secondary command centre in the event that the bridge is compromised. Along the way are various engineering and maintenance access points for working on the ship, as well as the main cargo bay access in the belly of the ship and the primary computer core.

As most of the story is set to take place aboard the Void Dreamer, I wanted to make certain I had a clear idea of her internal layout before I went and wrote a damn thing. My background artist was able to punch that layout up into something truly special, and I can’t wait to see how you all settle in and traverse her rooms and halls once you get into it!

PostHuman Resources

But no ship is complete without her crew, and as customisable as Rael is, the crew have their own backgrounds, natures, and stories. Here’s the crew that helps to keep the Dreamer flying safe through fringe space.

Name: Zuberi

Species: Wolf (Vilchaeran)

Gender: Masc

Physical Age: 186 Standard Years

Biolocked Age: 49 Standard Years

Homeworld: N/A - Spacer

Role: Captain

And where better to start than the captain himself? Zuberi’s owned the Void Dreamer for over two decades, and is a seasoned spacer. A long-time member of the Astrogation Guild, he leverages his starship’s capabilities in the name of charting unknown star systems and expanding the sphere of influence of the Galactic Authority. Hard when he needs to be and soft when he chooses to be, Zuberi’s warm and friendly when with those he trusts. Just be careful you don’t lose that trust, because those who put him or his crew in jeopardy are quick to discover just how vicious he can be. He also leads the first work shift each day.

Name: Caleia

Species: Fox (Palfrinian)

Physical Age: 202 Standard Years

Biolocked Age: 45 Standard Years

Gender: Femme

Homeworld: Kalabrand

Role: 2IC

The ship’s second-in-command, Caleia, is perhaps Zuberi’s complete opposite. Quick to anger, deeply mistrustful and willing to utilize her authority to the fullest, Caleia prizes order over chaos and runs her shift in an extremely no-nonsense fashion. Those who stand up to her walk a delicate line between piquing her curiosity and rousing her irritation. She’s been an on-again, off-again part of Zuberi’s crew for the better part of twenty years and, despite her hard demeanour, has the utmost confidence of her captain. Earning the same of her, however, is likely to be an uphill battle. She also leads the second work shift each day.

Name: Mizz

Species: Cheetah (Nartholan)

Physical Age: 23 Standard Years

Biolocked Age: 20 Standard Years

Gender: Masc

Homeworld: Torderra

Role: Junior Sensor Officer

The youngest member of the Void Dreamer’s crew, Mizz has only been aboard the Dreamer for the better part of six months. He’s a little guy with a lot of attitude and a chip on his shoulder larger than the ship he serves on, having come from a prominent upper-class family with all of the privilege and arrogance that comes with it. That stands in sharp contrast to the way that he presents himself, more than happy to flaunt his body at anyone willing to direct their eyes to it. He works as Sensor Officer on first shift with Zuberi.

Name: Bromm’ka

Species: Bear (Hevri)

Physical Age: 72 Standard Years

Biolocked Age: 37 Standard Years

Gender: Masc

Homeworld: Hevris

Role: Helmsmaster, Doctor

Easily the friendliest member of the crew you’ll meet, Bromm’ka’s only so big because he needs to be in order to contain all of his good vibes. In addition to being a fully-trained doctor and serving as the ship’s medic, he’s a fairly even paw on the flight console as well. He’s also the only person besides Zuberi who’s allowed to actually pilot the Dreamer, so you know he’s got to be good. If you need an ear to bend, you’d have a hard time finding someone more happy to do so than Bromm’ka. He works as the Helmsmaster on second shift with Caleia, and is always on call for medical emergencies.

Name: Sam

Species: Rabbit (Alchestan)

Physical Age: 158 Standard Years

Biolocked Age:  34 Standard Years

Gender: Non-Binary, Masc-Presenting

Homeworld: N/A - Spacer

Role: Chief Engineer

In another contrast, Sam serves as an opposite to Bromm’ka. As friendly as the bear is, Sam is very much not that. Much more content to spend all of their time in the engineering bay tinkering with the ship they love so much, Sam usually couldn’t care less about what crew is aboard. For them, they trust that Zuberi knows what they’re doing and keep to themself. Foul mouthed, foul tempered and antisocial by very deliberate choice, getting Sam to warm up to you might take a bit of effort… or a careful lack of one. They’re not active on any one shift, instead working as required.

Name: Tulemeni

Species: Cybe/Otter (Kesh’anun)

Physical Age: Unknown

Biolocked Age: Unknown

Gender: Femme

Homeworld: Vallis

Role: Chief Navigation Officer

Tulemeni is a mystery, to herself as much as to the crew of the Dreamer. The young-looking otter is a cybe; a majorly cybernetically-augmented individual, and this shows through in her highly mechanical appearance. Her mannerisms are more robotic than even some simulants, and she sometimes has a hard time relating to matters that seem mundane to ‘ordinary’ people. This also tends to make it harder for people to relate to her, unless they have a history of dealing with advanced tech and cybes. Make no mistake though: Tulemeni is a whole and complete person in her own right, and un-personing her is a good way to make an enemy of most all of Zuberi’s crew. Her extensive cybernetic augmentation makes her a fine choice as a Navigation Officer, and she spends most of the first and some of the second work shifts jacked into her interface chair on the bridge.

Name: Obaa

Species: Biomech Service Solutions Class III Simulant Mind (Generation 1)

Physical Age: 3 Standard Years

Gender: N/A, Femme-Presenting

First Initialization: Void Dreamer, docked at Rustou Station over Dyrabesh

Role: On-Board Artificial Assistant

Obaa is a simulant mind; the disembodied digital consciousness of a modern BSS Class III simulant. Such automatons are highly advanced androids capable of reliably passing for sapient, but even the most advanced Class III unit pales in comparison to Obaa. Caught in an ion storm barely a year after Zuberi purchased her, Obaa’s core matrix was fried. It was only by integrating her with the systems of the Dreamer that both she and the ship were able to be restored to functionality. She lost the nanomat shell that formed her body, and gained a starship… and a whole host of rewritten neural code. Now she straddles the line between digital mind and true sapience, supporting the crew of the Dreamer… oftentimes whether they like it or not.

I’ve mentioned before, but I’ll say it again here: while every member of the crew has their own Approval score for how Rael’s appealing to them, only one member of the crew is not romanceable. That crewmember is Obaa; as a disembodied digital mind, it didn’t really seem right to me to give her a romanceable path through the story. You can certainly try at certain points if you’re feeling like it, but Obaa’s very nature makes such a thing a difficult proposition at best.

Finally, some of you who’ve been paying attention to the Bluesky account may be noticing a certain character missing from the crew here. Don’t worry. You’ll meet him soon enough!

Introvert? Extrovert? Perver-

Generally speaking, spending your free time aboard the Dreamer is a good way to get to know the crew. They all have their preferences as to where they like to spend their time, but they’ll also move about and can seldom be found in the same place multiple times on the same day. Sam’s an exception, of course; you can almost always be guaranteed to find the ship’s engineer down in the engineering bay. And why not? No one bugs them down there.

Starting on Day 2, the whole (or almost whole) of the Void Dreamer opens up for Rael to explore at his leisure. From the observation deck to the engineering bay, the remainder of the day is broken up into neat and tidy little time units that tick away in the background of the story and account for First, Second, and Third Shift aboard the ship. Each Shift roughly takes up two time units, so depending on the normalcy of the day, Rael might have access to anything from two to as many as five time units to spend with the crew of the ship. Do note that the crew don’t like it when you become too familiar; you’re generally limited to one social scene per crewmember per day. And given that those social interactions are different every day and differ across locations and depending on events in the story, picking who to see, where to see them, and when to see them can net you very different scenes!

Social scenes all follow a pretty similar pattern, but each one of them gives Rael the chance to spend a little time with the crew on a one-on-one (or sometimes one-on-two, or more!) basis. You might help out with whatever they’re working on, or you might just chill out and relax with them, or they might be having some particular thoughts about the circumstances that they find themselves in. Through spending time with them, Rael will gain a deeper understanding of what makes each of the crew tick, and may be able to even help them with any issues or anxieties that they might have. He’ll even earn their Approval (and sometimes even their Lust; ooh la la!) through their efforts, or maybe build his Skills if he’s doing the right things in the right places with the right people.

Given that these social scenes are the main way you build up your relationships with the crew, those relationships have to build to something. Once you’ve fulfilled the minimum Approval (and/or circumstantially Lust) ratings with a given crew member, you might find that one social scene in a day might not be enough.

Sometimes they’ll want you to stick around, and this is where Event scenes start.

Eventful Days

Event scenes are where you start to actually crack the shell on the crew of the Void Dreamer. If you’ve shown that you’re good enough company by raising their Approval, they might propose a more comfortable sit down to talk about themselves. And if you’ve managed to pique their interest by raising their Lust… well, they might have some very specific recreation in mind, and your help will be integral.

Event scenes can trigger any time, as long as there’s at least still some time left in the day to accommodate it and the crewmember in question is going to be in a position to actually follow through. Of course if they have specific plans, they might skip out before you can be offered some extra time. They’re busy people; they’ve all got their own things on!

But generally speaking, Event scenes are the mechanism where no matter where you are in the Dreamer’s tour, you can get to know the crew on a deeper level than just the surface. Event scenes don’t start showing up until Day 3; even if you’re focusing in hard on a specific member of Zuberi’s crew (or Zuberi himself!), the first couple of days are too soon for them to open up so much to you. Some open up later than others, some open up earlier, and some might be more down to fuck than discuss their feelings.

There’s a sure-fire way to give yourself the best chance to unlock the Event scenes of the cast, however! Just try Rael’s handy, dandy Three-Step-Event-Guarantee* plan!

Step 1) Socialize with the characters you like best as early as you can to build that Approval! Minimize your chances to upset them.

Step 2) Make sure the person whose Event scene you’re excited to experience is your first port of call on a given day, so there’s time after socializing to have that chat!

Step 3) Don’t blow them off! People aren’t really into being blown off!

With Rael’s Three-Step-Event-Guarantee* plan, you too can experience the deepest dreams, fears, and history of the crew of the Void Dreamer!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little look into the Dreamer and her crew, and the Event system set up to help you get to know them! Starting from next time we’re going to be diving into the setting a little bit from here on out, to talk about its history, its people, some key terms and their definitions, and other little bits of worldbuilding as we run as fast as I can toward the initial launch! I’ll try not to make them too much longer than the rest, but no promises!

Until then, stars guide you.

 - Faora

* - Rael’s Three-Step-Event-Guarantee plan is not guaranteed to succeed. Some crew have more important things to do at various times than indulge you. The only real sure-fire way is to try and find out!