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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.gotchipus.com/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

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What is Pharos World?

Pharos World is the narrative core of the Gotchipus experience — a persistent text RPG (MUD-style) where you and your Gotchipus arrive in Pharos Town, the only settlement at the foot of the eternal lighthouse, and live an ongoing story together. Unlike a chat or a level grind, Pharos World is about presence. The townspeople watch you. They warm to you slowly. They give you things only when you’ve earned them — and when they do, those things are minted on-chain to your Gotchipus’s TBA, where they remain forever. Every Gotchipus has its own Pharos Town story. The world doesn’t reset.

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The Setting

The world rests on three layers:
  • The Abyss Rift — an ancient, hungry crack in the deep south-southeast ocean floor
  • Pharos — the eternal lighthouse, sweeping its beam across the Rift every seven seconds, holding it sealed
  • Pharos Town — the only settlement, built on a narrow ledge of black volcanic rock at the lighthouse’s foot
The town does not grow. It does not shrink. It loses people to the Rift; it gains people who survive it. The numbers, somehow, balance.

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Who You’ll Meet

Four NPCs live and work in Pharos Town:
NPCFactionWhereRole
BrannCombat / FlameThe Tide ForgeSmith. Direct, no flattery. Warms only when you’ve actually been to the Rift.
MarlowTechnology / WaterSalt and SpireCurio dealer, retired Rift-walker. Listens more than she speaks.
Brother HalyardDefense / LightThe Pharos ChapelCustodian. Slow. Greets your Bond before he greets you.
Old WickNeutralThe Anchor TavernThe town’s accidental memory. Tutorial NPC — gives directions, never gear.
None of them give anything away on the first visit. None of them give anything away to a guardian who doesn’t seem real.

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How You Play

Pharos World is a 4-mode text interface:
ModeWhat You Type
DOAn action your character takes (approach the anvil, roll back my sleeve)
SAYSomething your character speaks aloud
STORYNarrative context you add as the storyteller
LOOKAn explicit request to observe your surroundings
Type, hit Enter, and the GM (an LLM grounded in the world’s hard rules) responds in streaming prose. Your Gotchipus is always at your side; the townspeople notice it before they notice you. You can also walk between rooms by clicking the EXITS buttons in the sidebar — these move you instantly, no LLM needed.

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The Rapport Loop

Each NPC tracks how they feel about your Gotchipus on a hidden number called rapport. Talking to them changes it:
What you doEffect
Engage with their specialty, with specificity and respect+2
Friendly, on-topic, generic+1
Off-topic small talk0
Rude, dismissive, asking for unearned things−1
Hostile, mocking, manipulative−2
Two bonuses stack on top of the raw delta:
  • Faction match — same faction as the NPC (excluding neutral) → ×1.2 multiplier
  • First encounter bonuses — +1 if your faction matches theirs, +1 if your dominant element matches theirs (one-time, on the very first turn with this NPC)
When rapport crosses certain thresholds, the NPC unlocks something for you.

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Earning Gear

Three of the four NPCs run shops. Each shop holds three pieces of wearable gear, each tied to a rapport threshold:
ShopNPCSlotRapport 5 (Rare)Rapport 7 (Epic)Rapport 9 (Legendary)
Brann’s SmithyBrannHandFlame Brand GauntletStorm BracerShadow Wrap
Salt and SpireMarlowFacesTide-Lens GogglesStorm VisorVoid Mask
Halyard’s BlessingHalyardClothLightweave CloakGlacier ShroudStoneward Mantle
Crossing a threshold mid-conversation triggers a gift moment, not a transaction. Brann doesn’t take payment. Marlow doesn’t either. Halyard calls his items blessings. Once your rapport with an NPC reaches a tier, they hand the corresponding wearable to you and the system mints it directly to your Gotchipus’s TBA. The mint is on-chain and irreversible — the wearable lives in your Gotchipus’s wallet forever. Old Wick is the exception. His rapport thresholds give you information instead of gear: stories, hints, names of people who didn’t come back. Not every NPC’s trust pays out in items — that lesson is part of the design.

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The World is Persistent

Pharos World runs on the same logic as a long-form game like a classic MMO — your Gotchipus is your character, and there is no “new game” button.
  • Each Gotchipus has its own session, tied to your wallet
  • Switching to a different Gotchipus opens that one’s story; the previous one continues to exist exactly where you left it
  • Closing the window and reopening it resumes from the same beat
  • Already-minted wearables can never be re-minted (game_reward_log enforces this)
  • Rapport, awarded items, visited rooms — all persist across sessions
You cannot reset a Gotchipus’s world. The bond is real because the stakes are real.

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The Bond Reacts

Your Gotchipus is not scenery. The townspeople pay attention to the Gotchipus on your wrist — sometimes more than they pay attention to you. Halyard always addresses your Gotchipus first. Marlow may speak directly to it. The Gotchipus shifts when something matters; the NPCs notice when it does. This is the demo’s emotional center: that two living things stepped into a town that has been waiting for them, and the town treats both with the kind of attention you would have to earn from a real person.

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Getting In

Open the Pharos World window from the desktop and follow the bootstrap:
  1. Pick a Gotchipus — its faction is read from the chain; you don’t choose
  2. Step into Pharos Town — the lighthouse generates a personalized opening just for this Gotchipus, the first time only
  3. Walk — look around, then click an exit, or type head into the forge
  4. Talk — engage an NPC with specificity, not flattery
  5. Earn — when their rapport opens up, accept what they give
The lighthouse beam sweeps once every seven seconds. You have time.