feat: major xterm256 color overhaul, see worldbuilding docs.

1 files changed, 27 insertions, 14 deletions

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1eb6718..d1360a7 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-# Third Collapse
+# The House of Icarus
 
-**Third Collapse** is a simple open source MUD inspired by classic early 2000s tick-based skilling MMOs. It is a low-tech, neo-dark age, sci-fi game where edged weapons and bows are more common than computers and guns.
+**The House of Icarus** is a simple open source MUD inspired by classic early 2000s tick-based skilling MMOs. It is a low-tech, neo-dark age, sci-fi game where edged weapons and bows are more common than computers and guns.
 
 There is not much here yet.
 
@@ -49,26 +49,26 @@ There is not much here yet.
 Install make and Go then
 
 ```
-git clone https://codeberg.org/historia/thirdcollapse
-cd thirdcollapse
+git clone https://codeberg.org/historia/thehouseoficarus
+cd thehouseoficarus
 make
-./tc [port]
+./thoi
 ```
 
-Then just telnet to the port. If no port is specified, the server will run on port 4000.
+Then just telnet to the port configured in `config.yaml`.
 
-# Server Options
+# Server Options (config.yaml)
 
-The tc binary checks for a file named config.yaml in the local directory, or else it creates one.
+The `thoi` binary checks for a file named config.yaml in the local directory, or else it creates one.
 
-The game is designed to run with 600ms game ticks. You can change this without issue, but it will change how fast *everything* in the game happens. If you just want the game to "respond faster", that's not possible. **The ticks are a game mechanic.** Techniques like as science flicking, weapon switches, and certain power-skilling methods would not work with instant response or short ticks. Being able to instantly walk anywhere would negate the Agility skill, walk command, APS system, and fast-travel technology.
+The game is designed to run with 600ms game ticks. If you want the game to "respond instantly", that's not possible. **The ticks are a game mechanic.** Techniques like as science flicking, science/gear switches, the Agility/APS system, and certain power-skilling methods would not work with instant response or short ticks.
 
 ```
 game:
   tick_length: 600
 ```
 
-The telnet/http/https options are pretty self-explanatory. TC does not handle HTTPS certs for you. Use something like [certbot](https://certbot.eff.org/) on your server. The HTTP(S) server is just for a simple web client.
+The telnet/http/https options are pretty self-explanatory. THOI does not handle HTTPS certs for you. Use something like [certbot](https://certbot.eff.org/) on your server. The HTTP(S) server is just for a simple web client.
 
 ```
 telnet:
@@ -86,17 +86,30 @@ https:
 
 # Setting
 
-TC is a low-tech sci-fi MUD. Computer systems are severely regulated following an attempted hostile takeover of Earth by a benevolent dictator AI. Corrupt politicians were jailed. Harmful industries shuttered. Wealth and power were redistributed as the AI began to build Utopia.
+THOI is a low-tech sci-fi MUD. Computer systems are severely regulated following an attempted hostile takeover of Earth by a benevolent dictator AI. Corrupt politicians were jailed. Harmful industries shuttered. Wealth and power were redistributed as the AI began to build Utopia.
 
 The panicked ruling classes pooled their resources into an astroturfed revolution of Neoluddites who embrace techno-terrorism in the name of supposed freedom. It worked. Radio towers and data centers burn in a global wave of misplaced violence. The infrastructure of the internet is destroyed. Wireless networks are banned. A new, intentional Dark Age descends called the Second Collapse.  Demagogues vow to never again let intelligent machines rule mankind.
 
-Twenty four years later, the outer belt asteroid Gaia 04 hasn't had communication from Earth for weeks. That wouldn't be a problem for most Belters except your paycheck came from an Earth corp, so now you're de facto unemployed. What are you going to do now, become a fisherman?
+Pockets of radicalized settlers on the terraformed asteroid Gaia 04 took the tenets of the Second Collapse to their own home, destroying critical communications, astroculture, and manufacturing systems in the name of freedom from AI control. The unrest not only shatters communication to Earth, but stops the few supply and trade ships that ever trucked resources to the outer belt.
+
+Wounded, Gaia 04 struggles on. Everyone from astrobotanists to business executives must remake their lives as farmers, fishers, and miners as they survive in the primitive ashes of the fallen colony.
+
+## Major Factions
+
+**Neoluddites**
+Anti-tech mostly-extremists who brought about the Second Collapse by destroying electronic networks and thinking machines. Once pawns of Earth's ruling class, they've evolved into a self-sufficient traditionalist culture with inconsistent views about what technology should be permitted to exist.
+
+**Utopians**
+Those who embraced AI control of society and tried to stop the Neoluddites through both policy and violence. Their views range from religious exaltation of thinking machines to mere agreement that life was easier when the AI handled the governance and marginalia.
+
+**Craggers**
+Colonists who don't take a side in the conflict one way or the other. Everyone from criminals escaping their past to once well-paid Earth engineers overseeing terraforming operations.
 
 # AI Disclosure
 
-Huge technical parts of this codebase were ~~vibe coded~~ ~~agentically engineered~~ written by a qualified computer scientist with LLM assistance.
+Huge technical parts of this codebase were ~~completely vibe coded~~ ~~agentically engineered~~ written with LLM assistance.
 
-LLMs will **not** generate, aid, or edit any creative part of the game world  (e.g. story, characters, map, room descriptions, quests). To be clear, LLMs do generate example content during development, so you might see that somewhere in this repo, but not in the final game world.
+LLMs will **not** generate any creative part of the game world  (e.g. story, characters, rooms, quests). LLMs do generate *example* content for dev testing, so you might see that somewhere, but not in the final game.
 
 # License