User:GreytideSkye/Sandbox

Guide to Money

or... Station Economy?

there is no fucking way that's true. that'd be so dumb. that'd be madness. I'm going to search the tg codebase for what actually happens Was right about the Protolathes, that money for Unauthorized Users goes to the department. Don't think the electricity tax on cyborgs for using the lathe goes anywhere.

• • ACCOUNT_ENG** has vendors including a "Bluespace Vendor"
  • ACCOUNT_SCI** has vendors, including the modular computer vendor. Papers you sell. There's a **setting** where *every node researched on the Techweb* pays the budget some amount "techweb_bounty" (250cr by default), and while the default parameter for "get\_that\_dosh" is TRUE I can't promise it's actually used.

There's a FULL_ANCAP mode where shit like cryopods charge money. (Fun fact, the default value for fair\_market\_price is 69. niiiiice)

• • ACCOUNT_MED** has the Medical Kiosk out front which always charges you 15cr *but you can use a multitool on the **board** to change this price*. Under FULL\_ANCAP, Med charges 10cr for cryopods, 5cr for Sleepers, 10cr for Stasis beds.
  • ACCOUNT_SRV** gets the cash from *all* the snack vendors. I **don't** see where the Tourist robots add to the department budget, so I think they... don't? (Double-checking on Skyrat's code, and nope don't see shit there either, but fun fact: LustWish goes there too) Which means the strategy is to *ask your Cook to **not** make free food, and direct folk to the snack vendors*.
  • ACCOUNT_CAR** is the big one that coders treat as **The Station Budget**. See: paying pirates, the vault, shuttle insurance (Fun fact: if you buy shuttle insurance but then the shuttle catastrophe happens, you get 8000cr) There's this gem: ||icon_state = "car_budget" //saving up for a new tesla|| The "galactic_grant" positive station trait gives you 2k-5k bonus here at the start. Contractor ransom (1k-3k) comes from here. Cargo consoles all need to know ACCOUNT_CAR.

Confirming: the tourist only gives holochip payment. The round-end number is a total of these holochips handed over, and nothing goes into the Service Budget from them.

ok update apparently all departments get (at most) 500 credits every 5 minutes, as per /economy/proc/departmental_payouts().

Delivery crates with a Department Destination give Payment to ACCOUNT_CAR equal to pack.cost,

LANCER-style writing: Hemophage

《 Resanguinated 》
The dark of the night pulls you, and the coldness of space courses through your veins. You once had a life, and have been shepherded to the other side by a specific individual. Your "Sire," your "Parent," your "Superior," any number of names they may have asked you to call them, each with twisted connotations each as unholy as the infection encrusting through your veins. Regardless of the circumstance, you have but one person to thank for your unlife.
With your leige, you feel...
Loved. Like Romeo and Juliet, your darkest love has led you to your demise. Unlike the play, the curtains haven't dropped. Having quite literally given your life to your partner, you persist in eternal unlife. Who are you without them? They have blessed you with the same gifts that drew you towards them, and the same dark urges flow into you freely. Are you still the same person they loved? Now that you are no longer their prey, are they still deserving of your love? Do they still command it anyways? The honeymoon may be over, but your eternal reward still beats in your chest. Til death do you part?
Collected. You once were a prize who caught the eye of an eternal collector who couldn't fathom anyone else holding. Why were you so valuable? In a fit of jealousy, they made you like them. Are you theirs? Are you just another in their collection, or their prized jewel? For how long will you keep your luster?
Saved. Life is defined by a beginning and an ending, and for some, that last bit is too much to accept. Through circumstances, you found yourself at the end of the rope, and were graciously offered an eternal extension. How avoidable were these circumstances? Were they truly your god's plan? Through whatever storm, you have endured. Your body may be different, and your life upended, but nothing can take you away. How do you face the dangers that drove you here?
Indebted. A dark pact, a contract sealed in blood. What did you gain? What did you lose? You have drawn your final breath and still stand here, obliged to reciprocate. What power do they hold over you? What powers do you now hold?

《 Infested 》
You wake up in the dark with a blistering headache, a sore neck, and an unquenchable thirst. Your head throbs -- no, it's more of a continuous ache -- as you wander around and find a light. It seems so much brighter than yesterday, yet almost repulsive. Is it the light you fear, or the attention? It takes a moment to notice, but your tongue itself twists in horrifying ways. Sharp, and not in the usual ways. Something is wrong with you. Something has been done to you. And here you are, left in the dark as to who, what, or why. Were you discarded, abandoned, or forgotten? This wouldn't be the first time for either, would it? Thirst wracks your body, and in your darkest hour, your first meal screams out for you.
Where do you draw from?
Science. You're not smart enough to understand, not at first, but you're smart enough to know when you're out of your depth. Lab coats, the herald of progress. Be it a hospital, laboratory, or cosplay convention, you sought rational minds and were greeted in kind. How long did it take for them to figure out what kind of monster you are? For you to realize?
Religion. You're no stranger to temptation, and neither is the church. If anyone can help you understand your urges and wicked pulls, it would surely be those dedicated to something bigger. Do you beg forgiveness, or do you take it?
Instinct. It's simple logic: you want blood, they have blood, you take it. Who you were, who they are, none of it is significant. How much of the equation have you discarded to make it all add up? The present, the consequences, the future, none of those are blood and for a long time, none of those interest you. You have a long journey ahead, to go from mindless predator to someone worth employing, but here you are, same as the others. Do you have regrets? Do you have hope?

In-Game Lore

Though known by many other names, 'Hemophages' are those that have found themselves the host of a bloodthirsty infection. 'Natural' hemophages have their infection first overtake their body through the bloodstream, though methods vary; Hemophages thought to be a dense cluster of tightly related but distinct strains and variants. It will first take root in the chest, making alterations to the cells making up the host's organs to rapidly expand and take them over. Lungs will deflate into nothingness, the liver becomes wrapped up and filled with corrupted tissue and the digestive organs will gear themselves towards the intake of the only meal they can have; blood. The host's heart will almost triple in size from this 'cancerous' tissue, forming an overgrown coal-black tumor that now keeps their body standing. The initial infection process in someone becoming a Hemophage can have varied effects and impacts, though there is a sort of timeline that crops up in the vast majority of cases. The process often begins with the steady decline of the host's heartrate into severe bradycardial agony as it begins to become choked with tumor tissue, chest pains and lightheadedness signaling the first stretch. Fatigue, exercise intolerance, and near-fainting persist and worsen as the host's lungs slowly begin to atrophy; the second organ to normally be 'attacked' by the process. Coughing and hemoptysis will worsen and worsen until it suddenly stops, alongside the Hemophage's ability and need to continue breathing altogether. The ability to eat normal food becomes psychologically intolerable quickly after the infection fully takes root in their central nervous system, the tumor no longer holding interest in anything it cannot derive nutrients from. Foods once enjoyed by the host begin to taste completely revolting, many quickly developing an aversion to even try chewing it. However, new desires quickly begin to form, the host's whole suite of senses rapidly adapting to a keen interest in blood. Hyperosmia in specific kicks in, the iron-tinged scent of a bleeder provoking and agitating hunger like the smell of any fresh cooking would for a human.

Not all blood aids the host the same. It's currently thought that a Hemophage is capable at a subconscious level of recognizing and differentiating different sources of blood, and the tumor within hijacking their psychology to prioritize blood from creatures it is able to reproduce inside of. Blood from animals is reported to 'be like trying to subsist on milk or whipped cream or heavily fluffed up bread,' harder to digest, taste, or enjoy, necessitating the Hemophage to drink far more of it just to get the same value from a relatively small amount of human blood. 'Storebought' blood, like from refrigerated medical blood bags, is reported to 'taste thin,' like a heavily watered down drink. Only the physical, predatory act of drinking blood fresh from another humanoid is enough to properly 'sate' the tumor, ticking the right psychological and physiological boxes to be fully digested and enjoyed. The sensation is like nothing else, being extremely pleasurable for the host; even if they don't want it to be.

Photosensitivity of the skin develops. While light artificial or not won't harm them, it's noted that Hemophages seem to be far more comfortable in any level of darkness, their skin and eyes far more sensitive than before to UV. When taken away from it, and ideally isolated from higher-than-average levels of radiation such as found in orbital habitats, it's noted that the host's body will begin to reconstruct with aid from the tumor inside. Flesh will knit back together, burns will rapidly cast off, and even scar tissue will properly regenerate into normal tissue. It's thought that this process is even delicate enough to work at the host's DNA, prolonging epigenetic maintenance and ensuring biological systems remain healthy and youthful for far longer than normal. Given that Hemophages are converted and kept alive by their infection, it will ruthlessly fight off foreign bacteria, viruses, and tissues, repurposing or annihilating them to ensure there's no 'competition' over its host. Notably, the host's blood will turn almost black like ink due to their blood becoming more 'dense', yet no longer carrying nearly as much oxygen. Due to this hemophages are known to look more 'ashen', their lips often turning to a dark gray, and their skin going more pale than it normally would be. Their tongues, not an organ the tumor spares, additionally turn a pure black; in some cases, the sclera in their eyes might even turn significantly dark especially when bloodshot.

The psychology of Hemophages is well-studied in the psychiatric field. Over time, hemophages have developed a plethora of conditioned responses and quirks just as humans, their prey, have. The first few years after a Hemophage is 'changed' is often enough to drive them over the edge. In some cases, the first few days. The process of being turned is a series of traumas in quick succession as the host is often made to murder. The lucky have a 'moral' source of blood at hand and whoever 'converted' them to guide them through it; the unlucky have to scramble to maintain their sense of self as they become something else.

The physical sensation of first infection is often painful, often terrifying, and often grotesque to experience as the host feels their body shocked with vicious tumor tissue and their mind warped by near-death stretching over potentially days. Some snap, some grow stone-hard, but it's rare to actually meet a Hemophage that remembers the process. Some hemophages are born into their condition; the infection staying dormant until the child is a few months to a year old, ensuring their stability in being able to handle the tumor. These hosts tend to live extremely tumultuous childhoods, simply not being strong enough to feed on anything but the weakest of creatures, and trending towards immense loneliness from the high visibility of their condition's treatment during youth.

The hunger is the main driver for these sordid creatures. From the very moment they wake back up from the process of being 'changed,' a powerful hunger is awakened. It twists and throbs in their heart, drowning out coherent thought. During the 'semi-starvation' phase in humans, the changes are dramatic. Significant decreases in strength and stamina, body temperature, heart rate, and obsession with food. Dreaming and fantasizing about it, reading and talking about it, and savoring what little meals they can get access to; hoarding it for themselves and eating to the last crumb. In Hemophages, this response is heavily similar, but turned outwards. The hunger of a Hemophage is psychologically pressing in nearly every way, detracting from all other concerns in an urge to be dealt with as soon as it can be. Panic easily sets in during these times of famine, the host instinctually knowing that it must be sated or the tumor within them will soon run out of blood to feed on, which would result in their mutual death. Even the very sight and smell of fresh blood can push a Hemophage into this kind of state if they haven't fed in awhile, only drinking from a living creature or intense meditation and concentration being able to push it down.

Socially, Hemophages are mostly solitary hunters. It is extremely easy for them to recognize each other; the unique smell of their blackened ichor, the subtle details of their body and the way it moves, the shallow or nonexistant breathing, or even the likely smell of multiple victims' blood on their breath. Even normal humans report talking to known Hemophages being psychologically unsettling, linked to being armed with the knowledge that they've likely taken several lives and might take theirs. This predatory aura surrounding them tends to leave them operating primarily solitarily; always passively running threat analysis on others of their kind, especially given the higher 'value' of their more nutrient-rich blood. When they do choose to work together, Hemophages gather in groups of no more than ten. Any more, and their activities would surely be impossible to disguise.

'Conversion' tends to be uncommon for Hemophages. The typical line of thought is that one 'wouldn't want to raise a kid every time they go out for dinner,' as the 'creation' of a new Hemophage involves, essentially, becoming an on-site therapist and mentor for an unspecified amount of time. It's often not worth the risk to potentially allow a fresh 'convert' to gain access to a Hemophage's identity if they're attempting to 'blend', and to potentially turn on them and expose their illegal activities. However the infection which creates them, like any living creature, has a drive to procreate regardless; often the urge to spread it overtakes a hemophage's sensibilities anyway, and some are known to serially infect others simply to 'stir the pot.'

In terms of human society, it's known for Hemophages to be passively strangled by the law itself. In 'civilized' places like Sol, Hemophages that attack or kill humans for their blood are prosecuted heavily; almost disproportionately compared to if the same crimes were committed by a normal person.

Artificial sources of blood are intentionally kept rare by pharmaceutical companies, and those that do end up getting an easier access to such sources seem to almost always be working in the Medical field. Even adopting pets is made nigh-on-impossible for them. Those that don't leave to places like frontier systems typically end up part of oft-ephemeral networks of others of their kind, offering time-sensitive advice on where certain 'low-risk' or 'less-than-legal' meals may be found and forcing themselves to work past their base instincts to cooperate to an extent; anything else would mean death.