Orlequin — Gilt's creature, level 5: archive

8 generations

Earlier passes, newest first: each is the presentation the owner reviewed before the next pass.

Pass 9 -- before 2026-10-18

The breathing idle, 120 keys, from the three-quarter front: both knees bowed outward in the O, weight from stilt to stilt, the heavy head lagging, a ripple through the mane; the legs' gold now behaves exactly like the face's, trading deep gold and cream as they shift

Both needles stay planted (declared bite, probed). The sun shadow is the mesh's own at a 24 m shadow box; the game's near cascade stays off (its cost, see the blurb).

The high-step stalk, faster (a 56-key cycle, 2.59 m/s), filmed for three cycles with the camera following: the head lags the body, the mane fans on the plant
The showy run with a bounce: the knees bow outward and the swinging knee lifts wide, the planted needle telescopes at mid-stance and the body rises on it, a chin toss on every plant
Admires its own mane: the body turns only a little, the head turns AWAY and down to look at it, so the fanned mane faces you through the pose; the legs crossed, the gold flashing (150 keys)
Chin up, a slow condescending sweep, the sneer preset
"Come on, then": a rear-up on telescoped legs, two head JABS at you with the jaw barking, a laughing head shake, the mane fanning and snapping shut (90 keys)
A CURTSEY: both needles telescope in so the head goes down near the ground; the right leg now sweeps back nearly straight in a courtier's leg-back
One stilt lifted -- its knee raised outward, keeping the O -- a wobble, a sharp correction
The falling tree: it keels over its planted tips, accelerating -- then EIGHT quick alternating steps race to land under the falling head, the stance narrowing as it is caught; it steps home and looks round as if nobody saw (150 keys)
It speaks: the white lens of a mouth opens on a syllable table to show the dark inside, head nods on the stresses, 86 keys (close, near front)
Low HP: the head sagged and tilted, the favoured leg's knee buckled further outward, a tremor and two winces
The needle inspection, 120 keys: a flamingo lift, two telescope checks, a tsk-tsk, a flick, a stab replant, then a glance at the viewer
The peacock, 140 keys: it rises 1.1 m, fans, flares the rim, turns its profile each way, rattles and dips
A low, quick hurry at 4.62 m/s, three cycles, the camera following
THE ATTACK, 97 keys: the crouch (the tell), the needles TELESCOPE, four turns with a soft fading smear trailing the blades (a bright line at the blade, feathered edges), one strike per turn, the retraction

Area damage in a RING at 6.4 m reach (tests/test_u03_combat: arc 360 against an arc-70 control; four strikes in play).

One stilt planted, the other telescoped out, three turns on one leg
THE ANTI-AIR STAB: one needle chambers, spears straight up far above the gem head, then folds sideways and drops

The only melee that reaches a flier, and only one nearly overhead; deliberately weak (judge file u03_pierce_up).

A rapier lunge, 64 keys: it chambers with a red twist, punches over three keys on a 2.2 m telescope, holds and retracts

Visual only: no events and no combat data yet. Proposed as the normal attack (judge u03_clip_roles).

Two tiers, the pass-2 motion kept (the owner: keep the hits and jolts): a big blow plays the full reaction, a small one a jolt -- which now also bristles the mane, dulls the gold for a blink and flicks the crown, so it reads at 240p (tests/test_u03_combat section 5)

Big hit, front
Big hit, right
Big hit, left
Big hit, back
Big hit, top (the crush)
Jolt, front
Jolt, right
Jolt, back
Jolt, left
Jolt, top
Felled backwards in one continuous fall, a press and a small bounce on impact; the legs drop as it lands and lie in a heap (one stilt still hangs in the air for a moment, far shorter than pass 3's hold)
A staged struggle, 84 keys: one needle plants, the push fails, the second plants, the head comes up last
Airborne: a full turn per loop, the legs flailing, the mouth agape, the mane in every frame
The landing, heavier: the points stab in, the head drives down past rest and recovers (36 keys)
Thrown end over end
The death: it rears, half-pirouettes on one needle, then topples onto its side -- the far leg flung out straight, the near folded under
The HEADSHOT death: a frozen flare, then the skull cap with the eyes kicks off BACKWARDS (it no longer clips into the head), the gold plates, the crown gems and the mosaic's stones fly, the shins and splinters burst from the legs; every piece tumbles, bounces and settles (held; filmed at a fixed distance, so shards leave the frame)

Played when the killing blow lands on the head or mane (combat.death_headshot, sheet death.headshot_clip); every other kill plays Death. The cap-vs-head clip is probed in tests/test_u03_ground section 9, with a control.

Unfolds and rises past its height, a full roll of the mane, presents itself
The sheet's own pose: from the ordinary knees the legs swing out into the O, hold it, and swing back. Pass 9's knees bend in two planes, so from this three-quarter camera the O reads as two bowed shins with ground between them

Default knee pair: right forward 200 / out 1000, left back 1000 / out 400 (u03_pose.h kKneeO*). Both needles stay planted.

The knee wheel: right, then left, then both into the O for two plies, and a smug nod. The wheel now follows the knee constants

Proposed as the special, after a kill (judge u03_clip_roles).

The same two clips on pass 8's knee pair (both knees in one bend plane): a clean diamond from the side and the front diagonals, but one needle from this camera. Shown for the owner's choice; the default is pass 9's pair above

Sheet O, pass 8 knees (comparison, not default)
O flourish, pass 8 knees (comparison, not default)

A Zixxtrixx (the first creature) standing in its stance beside it: Orlequin is about six metres tall

Idle, a Zixxtrixx 3 m to its side
The sweep, a Zixxtrixx 7.6 m out -- just outside the 6.4 m ring
The idle while the camera turns once round it: the legs and the face one gold from every side
The preen from every side
The taunt from every side
The four-turn sweep while the camera turns
Close on the head while the camera circles: the re-authored crown -- a mosaic of tilted crimson, orange and blue triangles like the drawing's -- each facet a cut stone, with a darker inner table that slides and a highlight that travels as it turns
Under the night sky: the face and the legs lifted to one moonlit gold with the hot spot travelling, the gem facets mirroring the night sky
Orlequin — Gilt's creature, level 5 - Pass 3 (rows 1) and pass 4 (rows 2 and 3: noon, night) beside a real gold photograph, from the shipped shader: three yaws and the 240p read. Judged by eye in motion too (the orbits).
Pass 3 (rows 1) and pass 4 (rows 2 and 3: noon, night) beside a real gold photograph, from the shipped shader: three yaws and the 240p read. Judged by eye in motion too (the orbits).

Photo: "Gold bullion bars" by Stevebidmead, CC0, Wikimedia Commons.

Four clips at 1080p (lossy VP9) (re-rendered for pass 9; the mane orbit at crf 25 to stay under the host's 25 MiB file limit)

Idle, 1080p
Sweep, 1080p
Mane and gold orbit, 1080p
Night orbit, 1080p
Orlequin — Gilt's creature, level 5 - The front sheet beside the lit front view: the shield with its cheek points flaring a quarter up, the legs bowed outward in the O, their gold shaded along the leg down to the needle (pass 7's plates; not re-made for passes 8-9)
The front sheet beside the lit front view: the shield with its cheek points flaring a quarter up, the legs bowed outward in the O, their gold shaded along the leg down to the needle (pass 7's plates; not re-made for passes 8-9)
Orlequin — Gilt's creature, level 5 - The side sheet beside the lit side view: forehead, nose and mouth jutting forward, the calmer faceted crown, its crimson, orange and blue triangles laid like the drawing's, and its scalloped outline (pass 7's plates; not re-made for passes 8-9)
The side sheet beside the lit side view: forehead, nose and mouth jutting forward, the calmer faceted crown, its crimson, orange and blue triangles laid like the drawing's, and its scalloped outline (pass 7's plates; not re-made for passes 8-9)

The render's silhouette over the sheets at matched height, and the front / side / back stills: each face feature appears exactly once (pass 7's plates; not re-made for passes 8-9)

Orlequin — Gilt's creature, level 5 - Front overlay
Front overlay
Orlequin — Gilt's creature, level 5 - Side overlay
Side overlay
Orlequin — Gilt's creature, level 5 - Front, side, back, other side: one face
Front, side, back, other side: one face
What the console sees today: the software reference view, faceted cel with flat pigments

No metal, no telescoping, no flying debris: the console reference does not have them yet (a report went to the hardware session).

Pass 7 -- 2026-10-03

The pass-7 presentation the owner reviewed before passes 8 and 9 (pass 8 was not published): the first outward O, the leg gold shaped for a leg, the cleaned face.

Idle
Stalk
Strut
Sweep
Death (shatter)
Orbit: idle
Orbit: mane and gold
Orbit: night
Orlequin — Gilt's creature, level 5 - Front vs sheet
Front vs sheet
Orlequin — Gilt's creature, level 5 - Side vs sheet
Side vs sheet

Pass 6 -- 2026-10-03

The pass-6 presentation the owner reviewed: both knees still toward the face, eyebrows, dark patches on the cheeks and under the mouth, a flat profile, and a dark band at the foot of the gold legs

Idle
Stalk
Strut
Sweep
Death (shatter)
Orbit: idle
Orbit: mane and gold
Orbit: night
Orlequin — Gilt's creature, level 5 - Front vs sheet
Front vs sheet
Orlequin — Gilt's creature, level 5 - Side vs sheet
Side vs sheet

Pass 5 -- 2026-10-02

The pass-5 presentation the owner reviewed: both knees toward the face, the faceted mane read as messy (spikes, sprinkled colours, white dust), the legs still too yellow

Idle
Stalk
Strut
Sweep
Death (shatter)
Orbit: idle
Orbit: mane and gold
Orbit: night
Orlequin — Gilt's creature, level 5 - Front vs sheet
Front vs sheet
Orlequin — Gilt's creature, level 5 - Side vs sheet
Side vs sheet

Pass 4 -- 2026-10-01

The pass-4 presentation the owner reviewed: the right knee bending back and the left forward, the mane as colour-changing rosettes, the legs a flat yellow

Idle
Strut
Wounded stance
Bow
Balance
Sweep
Knockdown
Death
Death (shatter)
Orbit: mane and gold
Orbit: night
Orlequin — Gilt's creature, level 5 - Front vs sheet
Front vs sheet
Orlequin — Gilt's creature, level 5 - Side vs sheet
Side vs sheet
Orlequin — Gilt's creature, level 5 - Side overlay
Side overlay

Pass 3 -- 2026-10-01

The pass-3 presentation the owner reviewed: a lemon gold that read as paint, white blow-outs on the stilts, a death that ended in the splits

Idle
Strut
Taunt
Preen
Bow
Stumble
Sweep
Knockdown
Death
Orbit: mane and gold
Orbit: night
Orlequin — Gilt's creature, level 5 - Front vs sheet
Front vs sheet
Orlequin — Gilt's creature, level 5 - Side vs sheet
Side vs sheet

Pass 2 -- 2026-10-01

The pass-2 presentation the owner reviewed: orange-yellow gold, a stone mane, the choppy stumble and knockdown

Idle
Strut
Bow
Stumble
Sweep
Knockdown
Death
Death (shatter)
Orbit: mane and gold
Orlequin — Gilt's creature, level 5 - Front vs sheet
Front vs sheet
Orlequin — Gilt's creature, level 5 - Side vs sheet
Side vs sheet

Pass 1 -- 2026-09-30

The pass-1 presentation the owner reviewed: dull gold, a box head, filmed from behind

Idle
Sweep
Stumble
Death (shatter)
Turntable, day
Turntable, night
Orlequin — Gilt's creature, level 5 - Side vs sheet
Side vs sheet
Orlequin — Gilt's creature, level 5 - Front vs sheet
Front vs sheet