Author Notes
Recently I was on the net looking for something to inspire my writing and I came across Rule34Economy, and that's basically a Chose Your Own Adventure set up with fictional characters as a harem. Most of them were pretty simple and didn't really provide any ideas on what a self-insert would actually do once the set up for the CYOA was done.
Then I came across the Waifu Catalog CYOA and while this is somewhat like Jump Chain it's more based on acquiring a harem either by buying them with points or acquiring them in the fictional world you go to Also, it is very open with that you can do with it while having some rules, as well as methods of gaining more points, so I thought of a way to use this setup for a series of self-insert adventures.
Basically, the SI, who like in the other stories is an alternate version of myself, the guy writing the stories, and he goes from setting to setting, each is more dangerous than the last leading up to Warhammer 40k.
To leave one setting and enter another, collecting more points to spend before starting each new setting, he has to complete an objective. He has only the Waifu and the stuff he gets from the setup to work with as well as anything he can pick up on the way, although he'll have to carry it all since there is no Cosmic Warehouse.
There are Perks and such he can learn along the way to help better prepare for his adventures but to succeed he'll have to rely on his Waifu and any powers, skills or objects he can pick up during his adventures that he will need later on.
In order to obtain the Waifu that he will need, this version of Gothic must plan carefully, and do things he considers morally questionable, but for a good cause, such as saving the world, or maybe even the whole galaxy.
This series of stories will be more orderly than Jump Chain because there are set goals, and no need to spend years in some settings.
Every world he goes to much be higher on the intensity scale than the one before and its a scale of one to ten there can be no more than ten stories. This will make it all much simpler than Jump Chain.
I'm using Pokemon as the first world, but I will likely go with something I enjoy more for the actual story. This set up is more to give you an idea of how the stories will work. Assuming I ever get around to writing them as I do have a lot of other stories that need my attention.
Since there is no benefactor or Cosmic Warehouse everything will be handled via a Smartphone. This will make more sense later and hopefully, I'll think of a name for this story that fits in better with the existing stories.
One last thing. I didn't come with this idea for any of this I just stumbled across it, and a few people have added to the Waifu Catalog CYOA, and I would like to thank them for their hard work.
Rule34Economy 1
I won a free smartphone, and I did wonder how as well as who had sent it, as there was no return address, and upon opening the box it came in that had been pushed through my letterbox, I discovered that the phone came with no manual or even a charger.
At this point, I began to realise this could be some sort of scam. Since the box was empty of any charger the battery would have no way of getting recharged. I was willing to be that the charger would be for sale for a high price and that whoever had made the phone would have ensured that only one kind of charger would work.
I considered just chucking the smartphone in the bin, but it did have a full charge, so I figured there was no harm in just checking out the device. So I sat down on the couch and I began to play with the phone, not really having anything better to do right now.
It began as expected with the phone taking my personal details, and then it switched on to something unexpected.
Waifu Catalog CYOA
This didn't seem like a phone set up at all. As far as I knew CYOA meant Chose Your Own Adventure, so I assumed that it was sort of game.
Waifu Catalog Rules, Controls, Perks
First, pick a starting world. Depending on that world's intensity, you'll be assigned a number of credits with which to make the rest of your purchases. Intensities are weighed based on the power of the typical combatants, the average danger level to ordinary people living in that world, and especially the actual cost of what might be needed to survive in that world. Active apocalyptic scenarios may raise a world's intensity by one or even two tiers.
Specific worlds and their intensity ratings are listed below.
After looking over the list I picked a level intensity one world, Pokemon to be precise. This gave me seventeen points to spend.
Now that you know your budget, you can pick one Binding-type control and as many of the Lure-type controls, Perks, and waifus as you can afford. The waifu lists can be found further down.
So far this all seemed pretty easy to understand. I had a set amount of points to spend on things that would help me play the game. As of yet, I didn't know what this game was, but that didn't worry me as this was just a game and I doubted I'd play for long as the battery would die sooner or later.
The Company's Waifus are all clones manufactured on demand. Waifus are sorted into eleven tiers, each of which has a different cost. See the table on the first page of the spreadsheet for details. "Capturing" a waifu in her homeworld adds that number of credits to your account. Capture credits are not granted for local versions of waifus you've purchased or alternate versions of waifus you've already captured once unless they're a higher-tiered variant. If you only wanted a capture for her credit value, you may ship her to the Company for the rest of her full purchase value; they'll reprocess her and send her where she needs to go. Otherwise, captured waifus are yours to keep.
While I didn't know what these waifus were, it seemed as if the way to win this game was capture and sell them for credits you could spend on more perks as well as whatever these Lure-type and Binding Type controls were.
Binding-type Controls:
For safety reasons, all purchased waifus are bound with one of the Stamp's tattoos before delivery, unless you opt-out of any bindings. With one exception, noted in the binding's description, you must apply all higher bindings to each waifu manually. When you buy a higher binding, the previous binds will disappear from existence; you'll be refunded their full cost. The two exceptions to this are No Bindings, as there's nothing to replace and refund, and the Stamp's tattoos, which will merely become dormant (invisible and inert) if any higher binding is applied. If a waifu was never Stamped, whether by you or before delivery, the use of any higher binding method will also give her a dormant tattoo; this is what marks her as one of your captures.
Binding any waifu whose powers come from an external, (semi-)sapient source will permanently sever their connection and replicate those powers as innate abilities. All waifus whose power comes with a crippling, categorical weakness, such as vampires, Kryptonians, or Devil Fruit users, will be no more affected by that weakness than an ordinary human. Both of these processes have already been applied to all purchased waifus, regardless of whether or not they're bound.
No matter which binding method you use (or don't), you will receive a complimentary smart device of your choice, preloaded with the Company's shopping app so you can manage your purchases and trade-ins on the go.
I assumed this was the phone that had already been sent to me.
You and your waifus are the only ones who can perceive or use any Company app, but only you can make any transactions through this one. This device cannot be hacked or destroyed. If this device is ever broken, it will repair itself completely the next time it isn't observed. If this device is ever more than 10m away from you or any of your waifus for more than 15 minutes, it will teleport into your pocket. If the local space is too warped for that distance to be accurate, you may also recall it manually. If one of your waifus is using this device for any purpose and you ask for it back, she'll hand it over immediately without question.
I spent a moment just looking at the phone, and wondering if this part of the set up for the game was referring to a device within the game or this phone. Not that it really mattered. I just wanted to get on with this.
Stamp (Default)
Type: Binding
Cost: 0
This permanent magical tattoo ensures a waifu's loyalty, friendship, and romantic and sexual interest in you and nudges them in that direction toward your other waifus. Bonds between your waifus grow more quickly with increased interaction, but will not override familial relationships without significant pressure.
Waifu obedience is not absolute. Waifus, in general, put the spirit of your orders over the letter. Strong-willed waifus may elect to ignore disliked orders and follow their own initiative; more often, a competent waifu whose moral alignment conflicts with an order's means or ends will raise an objection and the two of you will have to argue it out. Tattooed waifus are also somewhat more likely, depending on their moral alignments, to consider "Just tattoo her and make her one of us" a valid solution to any problem involving a waifu candidate. Even the purest-hearted waifus can find themselves seduced by the power to turn any enemy into a friend. These mental effects are the baseline for all of the more expensive bindings.
This tattoo may be applied to captured waifus, typically to the pubic region, lower back, or back of the neck, with a thumb-sized ink stamp that only you and your purchased and captured waifus can perceive. The inked part, on one end, contains the tattoo's core, a circular design that serves as your emblem. Newly-applied tattoos require 72 hours to ramp up to their full effect. During that time, additional ink will fill itself in around your emblem to form a much more elaborate design, about the size of the waifu's palm, that represents her history and personality. Captured waifus and people they know will not notice a tattoo-in-progress until it completes itself, at which point they'll rationalize away its sudden appearance. Completed tattoos are always perceptible. If a tattoo's location is ever damaged or severed, its effects will continue and it will reappear when the skin is regenerated or the body part replaced.
The stamp never runs out of ink and cannot be used accidentally or on you. If one of your waifus marks a new girl with it, the new girl will feel its effects as if you had used it on her yourself. The anti-loss, -theft, and -destruction measures on the Company's smart device also apply to this stamp.
A digital stamp app for your smart device is also available. Just take a photo of the target waifu, rotate, zoom, and pan around a generated 3D model of her until you've found the right place for your tattoo, and apply the tattoo remotely. This is a Company app and benefits from all such protections.
So all I had to do in order to have more of these Waifus, whatever they were, was mark them after somehow capturing them and this could be done with this phone. Perhaps they were like that pokemon mobile game I'd heard about and you had to use your phone to capture these Waifu and make them yours. I'd figure it out later.
Since I couldn't afford the other kinds of bindings this early on in the game I moved on to lures.
Lure-type controls are more subtle than bindings, but waifus who are merely lured and not bound will only count as captured when they tell you they love you and mean it. You may purchase more than one lure.
It seemed that I had to lure these waifus and then bind them in order to make them mine. This seemed odd, but it is just a game.
Sticky Fingers
Type: Lure
Cost: 5
You know all the points that make a waifu melt. You can play her like a piano. Your very touch is electrifying. You are also a sexual savant. Keep a waifu on the edge long enough, and she'll promise anything to make it stop. With your skills, she'll be sure to keep that promise.
Apparently, it was an adult game, as for the choice, I only had 13 credits, now 8 so I had to be careful what I brought.
Extra
Cost: 1
Special: Chargen only, cannot be taken with Possess or Substitute
You replace a non-canon "normie" character from your starting world, the equivalent of a tier 1 waifu. All relevant local records and memories are retconned to include you, and all knowledge and memories that an alternate you who grew up in your starting world, in the place of the character you're replacing, would have had are downloaded into your head alongside your original memories. You can distinguish between the two sets of memories without difficulty.
This seemed as if it would help me blend in whatever world I played the game in and it only cost 1 credit so I got it. Leaving me 7 credits to spend.
I decided to save the rest of my credits as the pokemon world wasn't dangerous, people don't die much in a kid's show, and with seven points I could get a Tier 3 waifu for five credits as well as second-tier Waifu for 2 credits. I didn't think that a first-tier would be worth having around.
As it turned out waifus were fictional characters from many different worlds that the player could take with them into a fictional setting. Their tiers had to do with how useful they were so a normal person with no special skills or powers would be a tier 1
For my tier 3, I went through many lists and since I loved video games I ended up selecting Lara Croft for 5 points, she had good fighting skills and other talents I'd no doubt find handy, leaving me 2 left. That I spent on Lydia the Housecarl from Skryim as there weren't many good choices at her level, and at least having a Housecarl could be useful. Besides we were going to the Pokemon world so I didn't need very powerful waifus yet.
With all the set up I started the game and suddenly everything went dark.
