CANDY HUNTERS: INTRODUCTION LOG

SACCHARINE DOPPELGANGERS
Throughout SBURB sessions all over the multiverse, we hear about or even encounter these creatures. I won't lie, it's kind of surreal and abstract the first few times, but you more often than not don't realize this until after the cataclysmic fight or incipisphere-wide escaping such an encounter entails. And by incipisphere-wide I mean that these things will hunt you down like tomorrow isn't a thing. it's almost as if it's a sport for them, but for the sake of the community we studied the so-called Saccharine Doppelgangers and are willing to distribute information we found out.


Who are 'WE' ?
We are an organization self-dubbed the Candy Hunters. Our goal is to find, observe, study and eliminate this phenomenon players call Saccharine Doppelgangers. Do NOT look for us. You will NOT find any trace of us on any server, temporally secured or not. Suffice to say, we intend to serve the greater good and help you, the players, at our own risk. We have lost good people to this cause, so don't be asshats about the issue and be thankful we do the dirty job for you.


What is a Saccharine Doppelganger?
There's a reason why that question is flawed. There have rarely been proper documentations of these creatures before our group was founded, which is why some things are yet to be shed light upon. There are, in fact, two entirely different creatures, both named Saccharine Doppelgangers by the community. The reason for this is quite simple: both of them are highly intelligent and destructive, and both of them will take the shape of a player in the session they appear. There is, however a difference between the two. One of them will be an almost 100% replica of the player with few exceptions regarding its physiology, whereas the other will resemble a player but will be made entirely of sweets. Candy, chocolate, marshmallows, your pick.
We do not know the reason for the community overlooking this difference between SD sightings, but there is one thing that can be said in case of encountering any of the two types: destroy them without mercy and remorse. Leave the observing for those who know what they are doing.


Okay, there are actually two types of the buggers, why is this significant?
First of all, their origins are different. Secondly, they show different behavior patterns and abilities. Third, and most important, is the fact that you need to deal differently with the two of them.
I will postpone explaining this for now and will extrapolate upon it later. There is the issue of their presence in various sessions, which is rare at best. There are even rarer instances in which both of the species make an appearance, but in 100% of the cases, they treated each other as if dealing with actual players. Despite showing obvious signs of intelligence, there is still a lack of any instance in which they cooperated against the players. This, though a rare situation, can be used to your advantage, as they will tire each other out, making it easier for the players to finish them off.


Well then, which are these two types?
As both are named Saccharine Doppelgangers, we decided to call them subspecies to avoid confusion. The Candy Hunters have given them names appropriate to their appearance in case of the one made of sweets (we dubbed them Candy Players. Not a very inspired name, I know.) and to their behavior in case of the ones more similar to the actual players (dubbed Role Stealers by our ingenious thinkers). Out of the two, Role Stealers are much more dangerous purely because, in most cases, you can't tell it's a Doppelganger until it's too late. Their combat prowess, however, varies between sessions, so it can't be said with a high level of certainty which one is stronger.


-Candy Players-

ORIGIN - This subspecies is created by screwing around with Alchemizing. Things that should be avoided in the process of alchemizing are the code of a fellow player (in most cases it is their brain), as this will have a chance of spawning a Candy Player. In combination with any kind of sweets will result in a certain creation of one, but alchemizing with other food supplies was also determined to have a chance of spawning them. Aside from this obvious combination, there are a few other objects which should be avoided, such as corrupted items, as they tend to animate the alchemization result. This however, though certainly creating an abomination, will not always create a Candy Player. Other items that should not be combined with player codes are: cooking books, utensils, actually anything related to food (Weird glitch? We have yet to find out the reason for this), remains of something once alive, unique items (aside from breaking the game, 100% chance of spawning a Candy Player), actually living things such as consorts or carapaces. The list is incomplete and any information regarding such hazardous alchemy formulas is gladly accepted. The reason for all of these combinations turning into candy is unknown. Creating them on purpose in a controlled environment in order to study them is our job and should NOT be attempted by players.

ABILITIES - The Candy Players present an exaggerated amount of Mangrit from the moment they spawn ('spawn' is not the correct word, as they are not recognized by the game. More on this later.), amongst other sky-high stats. Despite not being recognized by the game, their stats are readable and they have a health vial, which can be convenient. Candy Players will always 'wear' the face of their player code part of the alchemy formula that spawned them, and from a distance they can be confused with the actual players. They can, however, alter their appearance upon killing and feeding on other players. This zombie-like behavior appears only when the player they impersonated is dead, and in most cases the Candy Player knows instinctively if their real counterpart is alive or not. Reason for this knowledge is unknown. There are some cases in which they will keep impersonating the dead player though, and in some rare instances, when more than one Candy Player is present in the session, they might share the appearance. They present a high level of intelligence, which is for some reason counterweighed by an equal amount of arrogance. Candy Players think themselves invincible, and in spite of their enormous Brainitude stat, they have a very straight-forward thought pattern. Even like this though, they are very potent fighters and they adapt rather easily when faced with new situations. They have not yet presented the ability to copy a player's title or aspect powers and our opinion is that they will not develop such abilities on their own. Something that is worth mentioning that they can communicate with each other without speech, as (in case two or more are present in the session) they will be perfectly coordinated in their actions.

PURPOSE - Their only objective seems to be wiping out the players of the session. They do not go for pendants and do not attempt to play the game themselves. Reason for this is unknown, as we have repeatedly failed at interrogating them.

SPOTTING A CANDY PLAYER - For this subspecies, this is rather easy, as they can be confused with their real counterparts only from a distance. Upon closer inspection, their being made of jelly and chocolate can be an instant giveaway. In case of being this close to one does mean that they also observed you and are ready to Strife.

FIGHTING AND DEFEATING A CANDY PLAYER - while a high number of players is always advised, low level players have little chance of overbearing even one specimen, which is why they are advised to Abscond. High level players will themselves find it a challenging Strife, and although Candy Players CAN be overpowered by brute force, there are better courses of action. Candy Walkers have two weaknesses. A smaller one against fire (once lit, the fire will not extinguish itself and the SD will slowly melt. They can and will ,however, apply countermeasures to this situation, like rolling around on the ground or jumping in a body of water. An ideal moment to spam it with attacks), and a greater on against surprise. Yes, it is the element of surprise that will help you most against these guys. Albeit adapting to changes, if such a change were to occur suddenly and without knowledge of its happening, Candy Players can be easily outsmarted. As it was said in a FAQ, they are quite vulnerable to suddenly having an enormous object crush them. This is a critical reason to have the Space player nearby when encountering a Candy Player. Upon defeat, what is left of them will melt into puddles of sticky, sweet goo. (And edible. We have a few nutjobs on the team, though this particular one takes the prize. In his defense, I think he was a Doom player at the time).


-Role Stealers-

ORIGIN - UNKNOWN. We have absolutely no idea where they come from or how they are created. We believe them to be an outside influence on the game, though it is mere speculation. Any information on this subject will be treated as priority and will be looked into as soon as we acquire a new specimen. Because they do not depend on alchemy, it's harder for us to find and then capture one, which is why we have so little information on their origin.

ABILITIES - We do know for the fact that, not unlike their candy cousins, they steal the faces of those they kill. For a very long time, we did not know what their appearance was until their first kill, as their cunning nature made it possible for them to remain hidden. After the identity theft (face, appearance, voice and Sprite Pendant), Role Stealers will attempt to replace the players they had just killed. It was a strike of luck that we managed to capture one before it got to its first victim, and what we found out was shocking. They are white templates of the respective species in the session. They do not have a face. It is a very eerie sight, and it still haunts my nightmares from time to time. We speculate that they are made of a material similar to the Sprite Pendant, because (although not indestructible) they will only physically react to touching these objects. When taking the Pendant of a player, they steal their identity and BECOME the player for the game purposes. It is rare when a Role Stealer is encountered as an impersonifyier before a death on the team's side, but in most cases it can be explained by lost Pendants. For an unknown reason, they are attracted to them, and through association, to sprites. In the cases in which all Pendants are accounted for and a player's duplicate is still running about, we do not know how they do it, but the Whisperings can influence them. Depending on which Land you find them, they will most likely resemble the player assigned to that particular Land, although not as similar to the real player as when possessing their Pendant. On the subject of Whisperings, if a Role Stealer DOES get a Pendant, the Whisperings of the player will treat the creature as such. it is unknown why, but for them, the Whisperings manifest much more strongly for them than for actual players, more often than not allowing Doppelgangers to use Aspect abilities. this is bad news, as they are quite potent with these powers, along with their similar stats to their candy cousins. Along with this, the game actively recognizes them as the player and offers them according quests.

PURPOSE - Their main objective is to replace a player, lay low and play the game along with the rest. We do not know what motivates them, as they refuse to share (or do not know themselves) any information about their behavior. There will be an occasional additional murder when they suspect that a player has realized something is off. if this is the case, they can alternate between identities via using the pendants one at a time.

SPOTTING A ROLE STEALER - This is usually hard, as they resemble the impersonated player almost perfectly. The only physical giveaway is their eyes. You would expect a player to have an eye color similar to that of their text color (for other races, it is their color-based physiological component), but Role Stealers have pitch black eyes. It's like looking into the Void, and trust me, it's unsettling. As a former Seer of Void, I know what I'm saying. Their physical appearance poses an enormous threat in the early game, when most likely the players haven't met in person, as they will not be able to tell if something is wrong. Role Stealers can, however, be spotted based on their behavior. They will always be in a good mood, eerily cheerful in any situation, and they will always favor thought and cunning. if the player did not use to be like this, BEWARE, IT'S A POSSIBLE DOPPELGANGER.

FIGHTING AND DEFEATING A ROLE STEALER - There is no foolproof strategy against these guys, except for attacking them with everything you've got. Just as potent in melee fighting as their candy cousins (without the weakness to fire) and with their occasional bursts of Aspect manipulation, they more often than not make a challenging fight for any player. If the player being impersonated is still alive, avoid using them in direct combat, as the Doppelganger will instinctively avoid most of their attacks. Ironically, it is usually their own aspect they are weakest against. What you will want to do is have the particular player surprise the Role Stealer with an Aspect ability. It is also handy to have weaponry infused with said aspect. WARNING, they are immune to most of the psychological abilities. Do not attempt because it is a waste of time and energy.


Anything else we should know?
There are many myths about the Saccharine Doppelganger which we have attempted to clarify, and most of them have been solved. In case you have such a myth that was not listed below, please submit it and it will be promptly looked into.

Myth of the domesticated Doppelganger
Several players from different sessions have claimed to have tamed such creatures and have them fight for them. This was only partially true. The Doppelganger was only feigning submission in all of the cases and in most of them the players realized this too late, when the creature decided to surprise them. Personally, I only know of four such sessions in which not everybody died. Do NOT attempt to interact with these creatures, except if you intend to completely obliterate it.

Myth of the time traveling Doppelganger
This myth is confirmed. They can, and often WILL ride meteors through reckoning portals and aquire SBURB copies. An actual player Doppelganger should be watched out for, as they have a very high tendency for game breaking. urban myths on certain homeworlds describe creatures resmbling the blank template of a Role Stealer, such as the infamous 'Slenderman'.

Myth of the corrupted Doppelganger
Saccharine Doppelgangers of both subspecies can be subjected to both kinds of corruption. Candy Players will often be impartial to which kind of corruption they recieve and in some cases will spawn as corrupted (when alchemized with such items), but Role Stealers have a higher resistance to Others' corruption and are almost instantly corrupted when contacting Angels. Reason for this is unknown, but as both are foreign to the game, it is speculated they are somehow related.

Myth of the prototyped Doppelganger
It is confirmed that they can travel through reckoning portals. As such, they can be used as prototype material. For some reason they are regarded by the Kernel as dead and will satisfy the necroprototype condition. It is unknown why they are attracted to sprites and their Pendants, but we have noted that they will only attempt prototyping in case they did not manage to get a SBURB copy. In this case, every minion and underling will suddenly have the ability to steal identities and WILL go after a player. An army of small deformed Doppelgangers is far worse than the real deal. Most Doppelgangers are blank template when they go back in time, but they might already have acquired a Pendant. In case they are prototyped like this, the game will be broken.

Myth of the Trickster Mode
For a long time we have dismissed this as made up, until we noticed something: There was an actual game file with this name. The reason for it eluding us for so long is that it simply doesn't exist until a Doppelganger appears in the session. It might be their countermeasure against game mechanics, but we can't say for sure. It is them who create the game file, not the other way around, contrary to popular belief on this theory. This, of course, leads to the majority of instances in which the game doesn't even realize their very presence.

Myth of the glitched/bugged Aspects
True for Void and Mist. As potentially gamebreakingly bugged, they will have weird reactions when a Role Stealer will attempt to copy the abilities of the Aspect. Void will have them completely disappear (we believe this might have to do with the inactivity of the Null) and Mist will make them freeze in one place randomly from time to time, giving an advantage in Strife. Aspects that have weird effects on them when used against are Rain, Rage, Hope and Law.

Myth of the edible Doppelgenger
True for Candy Players. Not as true for Role Stealers.

Myth of relation to game elements
This refers to the Eldricht and the Apocryphal Antithesis. The first is an actual game element and the second is a glitch. neither have anything to do with Saccharine Doppelgangers.

Myth of false death
Confirmed. Doppelgangers WILL fake their own death when they consider the Strife lost. Make sure that it is dead and tear the body to pieces or burn it. In case of a missing body, they are NOT DEAD. Be prepared to encounter them again. In case of Candy Players, it is easier to confirm death, as they will slowly melt.

Myth of the Scratch
There are rare instances in which a Role Stealer will recognize an unwinnable session and will attempt a Scratch. In the majority of cases, though, it's not the case to worry about this. WARNING, for reasons unknown to us, a Doppelganger WILL survive a Scratch. This might be a case of the game actively ignoring them.

Myth of the dead player replacement
Theories state that Doppelgangers might be the game's attempt to replace a dead player, hence the ability to impersonate them once taking the Pendant. There is no proof in favor of this theory, as we have found no lines in the game code that refer to such a game mechanic.

Myth of the "glitched" Doppelganger
In all our time as a research team, we've only encountered this once. The Doppelganger may be completely neutral to everything around it (somewhat like the Angels in the Underworld). It will not react to attacks, it will just go about its own way, disregarding the pummeling it might be subjected to. It's really weird, but hey, it was an easy capture, so I'm not complaining. (Might have been a case of Aggreviance, but we are unsure.)

Myth of the Ringwraith/Scepterwraith Doppelganger
Myth busted. Rings and scepters only affect carapaces. Myth tested several times in different sessions.

Myth of the mental disorder susceptibility
We don't know if they only pretend to exhibit symptoms of mental disorders or are actually susceptible to them, but we have reason to believe it is the latter. Most often documented case is that of the Questant's Lament. You people would not BELIEVE how many times we had to deal with Doppelgangers acting under orders of the White/Black Queen. In a session it intervened in the final fight and obliterated the Black King, completely disregarding the players, after which it promptly returned to Prospit. Of course, killing the Queen will make the creature go on a session-wide rampage. In this state they are easier to defeat, as they pay less attention to their surroundings are much more easily caught by surprise.
This leads to the theory that most Doppelgangers act under influence of Umbral Ultimatum or something similar. This, however, is mere speculation.

Myth of the Ascended Doppleganger
Confirmed. We have no idea how, as they do not have dreamselves, but they can Ascend, be it on a Quest Bed or a Crypt Slab. Don't forget, they can play the game normally until the very end without players realizing.

Myth of the mental disorder
This one seems to really be just a myth. Some people theorized that veterans that played through countless sessions will be inevitably turned into the faceless white template which is the Role Stealer, and they would wander the Outer Ring until stumbling on a new session. The point is, becoming a Doppelganger might be a mental disorder developed over countless sessions. This myth is unlikely, but I am afraid we will never be sure.

Myth of the disco Doppleganger
WHAT. THE. HELL. PEOPLE.
This idea was an instant no from the moment we heard it. It supposes that in case Questant's Lament is developed on the white side, there's a chance it will join the white agents in their infinite dancing party and become harmless. There has been no documented case of this and neither are we willing to look into something so stupid.

NOTES
- If the two subspecies meet, they WILL fight each other. There is no doubt.
- They can use Aspect-specific abilities but not Title-specific ones.
- If not spotted, they can and will play the game until the very end and claim the Ultimate Reward. Studies on this show that they will go on a rampage once they realize it has been for nothing.
- Candy Players do not react to being eaten alive.
- Our colleagues over at Corruption Prevention have asked us to give a warning about Angels (apparently they are somehow cut of from almost everything internet-related). Whisperings are nullified in their presence. Do NOT let angels anywhere near Skaian Summonings, as they will disable those. A Land with Angels in its name will have no Skaian Summonings and the only place where the Whispering specific to the Land's player's aspect will be present will be around the players themselves. Should this player encounter corruption, their Whispering will be completely erased from the session. WE CANNOT STRESS HOW GAMEBREAKING THIS IS. This is true for corrupted Dopplegangers too, any Whispering following them will be nullified.
- Corrupted Doppelgangers do, in fact, spread corruption. I don't even know why this was an issue.
- It is unknown if they fight underlings because of attempting to impersonate the player or because they do not discriminate between enemies and players.
- If they catch Questant's Lament on different sides, they will fight each other, even if they are of the same subspecies.
- Role Stealers are almost immune to Other corruption but are almost instantly critically corrupted when contacting the Angels.
- A Role Stalker will NEVER break the Underground Law. It is unknown if because knowledge of said Law or because the game, once again, does not recognize them.
- Despite the Kernel recognizing them as dead, their Land (when having stolen the identity of a player) will recognize them as alive.

Special thanks to the team that made all this information knowable, to satelliteMuncher, one of our best Hunters, who singlehandedly captured the majority of our Role Stealers and to xenoBiologyst, who handles the Candy Player creation. And of course, musicalCaptivity, who founded our group.