Kombectures

Kombectures are the Plasma Temple equivalent of districts. While a decent branch of the Plasma Temple exists in the etherial state between virtual and corporeal, the Kombectures are branches that encompass solely physical territory and can be lived inside. They are therefore as inhabitable as any earthly city. All Kombectures are linked to - but not part of - the same dimension PT is native to. Their location can be thought of as a pocket dimension surgically grafted to a portion of the "real world", with various openings to allow travel. Despite its impressive and self-sustaining configuration, it is a sloppy ordeal not wholly understood by caliber 3 beings and above; the equivalent of godform spaghetti code.

The Kombectures are surrounded by THE WALL, which also exists in virtual PT and does the same thing in both.

## History

After the events of 1992, Phantom set plans in motion to create the Plasma Temple we all know**[citation needed]** and love**[citation nonexistant]**. His initial ~2016 release cashed in on the growing popularity of online networks by shaping PT to be a virtual-based platform. Phantom eventually realized this was a very limited form of interaction and expanded his platform to include physical aspects. Not only did this allow more haptic engagement, it also allowed legitimate escape from the poisoned conditions of a post-1992 earth. Since the release of the Kombecture update, many more inhabitants have come to live within Plasma Temple. With the advent of the mandela update, Kombectures became readily accessible as early as a decade before their "official" creation. Due to an u̶n̶i̶n̶t̶e̶n̶d̶e̶d̶ ̶b̶u̶g u̶n̶i̶n̶t̶e̶n̶d̶e̶d̶ ̶f̶e̶a̶t̶u̶r̶e c̶r̶y̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶i̶t thing, the virtual Plasma Temple and Kombecture Plasma Temple do not have good cross-platform support.

As of 2022, there are currently more than 46 different Kombectures.

## Transportation

Transportation to Kombectures is made possible through a network of dimensional tunnels placed throughout the surface and exterior space surrounding earth. These tunnels are adaptive in nature and flourish, stabilize, or decay as conditions change. Most diagrams of Kombecture tunnels depict them as roots that dig through space and time to "sprout" into accessible openings. Kombecture tunnels have often been compared to Piropipe entrances, but there are several distinctions between them:

-Piropipe entrances have "tells" where aspects of Piropipe physiology leak through and partially transform the surrounding environment, whereas Kombecture entrances can be completely unnoticeable.

-Piropipe entrances require an "opening" to transition from the outside world into the Piropipe matrix, while Kombecture entrances can be in open space.

-Piropipe entrances lead to the Piropipes, which are superimposed on existing reality. Kombecture tunnels lead past multiple barriers to a pocket dimension that exists alongside existing reality. The differences on this one are on the subtler end, honestly.

Lastly, individuals who enter and leave the Piropipes share no further connection to it beyond what it has taken from them. On the other hand, individuals who enter and leave the Kombectures become spiritually attuned to the location. This allows them an instinctual awareness of other Kombecture entrances and even lets them coax one into manifesting nearby, though this is no easy feat. Suffice to say, first discovery of the Kombectures is the hardest step.

## Culture

As previously mentioned, there are currently more than 46 separate Kombectures. Each Kombecture is different from the others. Some differences are slight, like those of earth cities. Others are much more extreme and directly affect the health, safety, and mentality of their residents. In addition, each Kombecture has something akin to a sentience, which dictates its actions and lives of its citizens. Kombectures are childish in many ways: they are selfish or indifferent towards other Kombectures and foreign citizens but affectionate towards those that live within their walls, even if that affection manifests as something obsessive, intrusive, or dangerous. A majority of Kombectures use Cunc as their standardized currency, and the dominant language is Plezmos. Kombectures generate their own power through an entirely self-sufficient process.

Notable Kombectures include Xuan Gut, Juin Xok, Bruan Crux, Uen, and Yin.

## Xuan Gut

The Xuan Gut Kombecture is easily the largest of all Kombectures. As a result, it has the most room for cultural and physical diversity. Xuan Gut can be thought of as the everyman location: it caters to no one citizen, but has something for everyone. Xuan Gut is most commonly known for its elegant, spiraling building clusters. While certain regions emulate the cities of earth, many others are filled with towering structures stacked on, wrapped around, or built through other structures. Despite the chaotic nature of the city, it is very accessible: few spaces are off limits and most buildings can be traveled to from others. Visibility is notoriously poor from many of its ground-level roads, but several citizens go through buildings or utilize roofs as part of their commute. It is a true Urban Jungle.

As the largest Kombecture, Xuan Gut has the most room for a developed personality. Fortunately, the city is largely benevolent and has been known to prioritize the luxury and safety of its citizens. It often makes micro-corrections like creating doors or hallways allowing faster travel, or adjusting light levels/positions to cater to the preferences of individuals. In rare moments it will make sudden changes to save a life, such as constructing a mesh or harness around someone mid-fall. The city may also show particular affinity towards certain individuals, especially those who crave companionship or simply treat it with respect.

When bored, some citizens are known to go on "Xuan Gut Journeys" where they walk without direction and let the city guide their path. The kombecture often has little to do with their final destination, but has been known to subtly influence their decisions through apparently no other reasons than play behavior.

## Juin Xok

The Juin Xok Kombecture is a smaller Kombecture that does not use as much of its vertical space as Xuan Gut. Juin Xok buildings tend to be aesthetically pleasing but minimalist. Most buildings are grey and metallic looking, with the occasional curve to break up the right-angle corners. Individual buildings can reach high elevations, but almost never connect to nearby structures. Some of the tallest buildings are also the thinnest. Unlike Xuan Gut, all are spaced expertly to allow maximum street-level visibility and provide deliberate areas of sunlight and shaded paths. The architecture of this Kombecture is sleek and efficient, but some outsiders would also consider it souless.

Juin Xok's personality is benevolent but obsessive, and runs more like a program than a self-aware entity. It broadcasts itself through the city's many signal generators and psionic manipulators, quietly editing attributes of the populace. The city may whisper encouragements to a citizen's unconscious, helping to flourish ambitions they did not know they had. It is also known to inhibit or even delete low-level negative thoughts before they can reach the conscious and affect an individual. These techniques are extremely subtle but omnipresent. As a result, citizens face a unique form of control in which they do not believe themselves controlled or do not believe the downsides outweigh the positives.

Unfortunately, a small percentage of lifeforms have an adverse reaction to the city's influence. These individual's minds instinctively reject the suppression of their thoughts and become neurotic, compulsive, and bipolar. This disorder is known as Susanne-Podner Syndrome (SPS), after its first two victims. Those afflicted with Susanne-Podner show the following symptoms:

-Cyclical periods of anger, depression, and fatigue with no obvious external source.

-A feeling of being unable to connect with others that manifests as loneliness and spite (this feeling is often reasonable, considering)

-A paradoxical hatred and infatuation with the Kombecture that renders the victim unable to enjoy their stay yet unable to bring themselves to leave.

Those suffering from SPS often understand they have a problem, but are unable to break the prison of compulsion to get themselves the assistance they need. Assistance from others is not easy, as the city does not seem to recognize Susanne-Podner Syndrome and its inhabitants find it easy to forget such a thing exists. As a result, victims are often isolated from those best equipped to help them and usually require outside intervention.

## Bruan Crux

Bruan Crux is a mid-sized Kombecture with glitched, unstable attributes. These attributes are a direct result of its abnormal foundation - the city simply wasn't built "correctly". If Kombectures can be thought of as rooted plants, Bruan Crux is a plant half buried, with most of its roots exposed to the air and prone to infection. Despite its malformed beginnings, The city has continued to grow in its own crooked way and become stable in its disfigurement.

Bruan Crux is a place of anarchy and exploitation. It is a wild city where anything goes and conventional consequence does not exist. Conditions within this place are actually quite similar to the conditions of earth shortly after 1992, albeit with less overall danger and more disregard for the basics of order and entropy. Life in the Bruan Crux is not like most other Kombectures. Materials can be duplicated with the right actions, spiritual power can be generated or stolen. Buildings can fluctuate on their own whims. Dimensional incursions can mutate existing inhabitants or release wholly new ones.

Bruan Crux attracts very specific types of people: The headstrong, the ambitious, the desperate, and the curious. These entrepreneurs enter the city to learn its secrets and use them to their advantage with varying results. Some visitors are simply swallowed up by the diseased town - lost to a glitch in the system or predator in the city. Others live to learn the tips and tricks that allow them to "hack" aspects of the city. The oldest inhabitants are often the most powerful and exercise some form of gang power, though no one entity lays claim to the city.

Bruan Crux's personality is fragmented into countless smaller ones. Different districts are dominated by different personalities at any given time, adding a second layer to the citizen's territory war.

## Uen/Yin

Uen and Yin are small kombectures, but otherwise different as night and day. These two cities exist in separate locations but are bound by intense history. The Yin Kombecture is incapable of generating its own self-sustaining power. Uen, meanwhile, generates twice as much power as most other Kombectures. No one is entirely sure how this happened, but common consensus points to Uen having stolen some fundamental aspect of Yin during the formation process.

As a result of its inability to siphon power, the Yin Kombecture has generated long, rootlike protrusions that leech into neighboring Kombectures and siphon portions of *their* power. Its personality is furtive and cunning, but not malevolent to its citizens. The Yin Kombecture sees its citizens - like itself - as underdogs, and works to provide for them as it provides for itself. A portion of Yin's siphoned power is made available to its inhabitants at no cost, while the rest of it is stored inside the Kombecture for an undisclosed reason. Yin inhabitants are often sympathetic to the Kombecture and feel no shame taking advantage of other cities if their own folk can gain. Some believe this shared affinity is a result of an even subtler version of Juin Xok's mind manipulation, but no Susanne-Podner equivalent has been discovered.

The Uen Kombecture, by contrast, is brimming with energy. Its lights shine brightly, its machines thrum, and the little city exudes a vibrancy matched by few others. Uen's personality is quietly prideful: one can almost feel the Kombecture's boundless joy in the hum of the streetlamps and whir of its electronics. The Uen Kombecture cares for its inhabitants, but only because they are its audience. Every second one lives in Uen is a moment Uen can show off its abilities. This Kombecture does not care much for interactions with outsiders and has built sturdy walls around itself to limit travel.

## Trivia

* Zoomspace, Ratwater, and Badburger are anomalous institutions that are usually harmless on earth, but mutate into something aggressive and virulent in Kombecture reality. These corporations have been barred from accessing the Kombecture's travel tunnels since the "Teratsuki Gut incident". No one really likes to talk about what happened there.
* Longstanding citizens with particular affinity to a Kombecture may notice the town calling out to them after they leave. This coaxing pull is especially evident when the former citizen is stressed or in danger, and has a soothing, nostalgic feel to it.