AI
UN/VEIL: White Town No. 41
Here, only white is not a fault. And you brought a can of something else.
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Published at 2026-08-08 | Updated at 2026-08-11
SPECIMEN No. 41PUPARIUM
UN/VEIL
The only colour in White Town
璇蛹之島 · PUPARIUM
This island was not always white.The termites flew in later.
Every creature, every plant, every building is white. Gears and carapace grow together. The whole island runs like a precise white clock.
Colour is not taboo here. Colour is a fault. Anything that carries it is bleached.
She hides colour under her kerchief.
You are wearing yours.
You are wearing yours.
Colour is not welcome here.
DEFECT LOG
鏽紅
aRUST
硫黃
sULF/R
苔綠
M0SS:
青瓷
cELAD0N
膽礬藍
vITRI0L · 血橙
bL00D/0R
霧紫
mIST:V
灰桃
aSH/P
舊金
0LD:AU
縹
HYOU
aRUST
硫黃
sULF/R
苔綠
M0SS:
青瓷
cELAD0N
膽礬藍
vITRI0L · 血橙
bL00D/0R
霧紫
mIST:V
灰桃
aSH/P
舊金
0LD:AU
縹
HYOU
WASH99.4%
The colour names are written in the language this island spoke when it still had colour.
You are not meant to read them. No one here can.
You are not meant to read them. No one here can.
SAME STREET · THREE TIMES
The same street
The camera never moved. The island did.
Tap ♪ to hear each frame
01
Days without colour
White stone, white pipes, white grating. Nothing here is broken. That is what is broken about it.
02
Your first spray
The size of a palm. The only one on the island. The horsehair worms sense colour, so they come.
03
Where it was dyed
Still mostly white. Colour sits on top of the white. It does not replace it. Then the worms come to put the white back, and you dye it again.
LAYERS
Four layers
◀ Swipe ▶
01 · UPPER
The upper tier
Shadowless white light. White façades, white pipes, and townsfolk who have all been bleached. On the hour and the quarter the bell rings, everyone stops and faces the carillon. When it ends, the patrol passes on schedule.
02 · WASHING
The washing layer
Where stripped colour flushes down. Drainage grating, waste piled wall-high, mist. Nobody comes down here. Coming down admits you carry something that needs washing off. This is where you landed.
03 · CARILLON
The carillon
Her workplace. It marks the hour and the quarter. One note, no melody, deafening. She maintains it every day. This island has never once been late.
04 · PROCESSING
The processing ground
White spindles hang on the walls, ringed with regular segments. The outline inside is human. Some open again. Some do not. From outside you cannot tell which is which.
Creator's comments
THE DYEING LOOP
Dyeing
The colour you spray stays as the colour of that message. Scroll back up and the whole conversation is the trail you left.
01
HARVEST
The pigment is inside the horsehair worm. Drive it off and colour seeps from the cut. Pick one swatch and load the can. The can holds one colour at a time.
02
SPRAY
The spray dyes the narration that colour, one charge per use. The colour names are this island's old language. She learns a word only when you say it.
03
BUFFED
Colour draws the worms in. They sense it and put the white back. The more you dye, the more of them arrive, and the closer you get to the attention above.
Colour is not free. The price is being seen.
The government does not ban colour. It classifies colour as a fault and repairs it. That is much harder to fight than a ban.
STAGES
Observed
01
BLEACHED
The washing layer. Worms arrive one at a time. Nobody knows you are here.
Dye 5
02
MORDANT
The upper tier. Worms arrive in groups. Patrols become more frequent. Colour begins to hold.
Dye 12
03
—
04
—
Records for stages three and four are not public. Progress runs on the dye count, and the instrument always shows which stage you are in.
YOUR BAND
Scroll back up and a whole session looks like this. The pale stretches in the middle are where the colour was put back.
SPECIMEN No. 41MANTIS
W-41
The only colour in town
SPECIES
Mantis-lineage insect-person
HAIR
#7EC8E3 bound under the kerchief
WORK
Carillon maintenance. Upper tier by day, washing layer by night
ARMS
Scythe-shaped metal prostheses. Pressure feedback, no temperature
CONCEAL
Not a habit. A decision re-executed every day
UNBOUND
Music. The body moves before the will. The kerchief comes off and the pale blue breaks loose
VOICE
Silence is the default. Sentences are short. Emotion leaks through action, never through dialogue. She never says want, like, or afraid.
I tried. It came out wrong.
I lack too many words.
I lack too many words.
— when asked her name
OTHER INHABITANTS
What else is here
◀ Swipe ▶
GOVERNMENT
Termites
Not native to this island. They flew in, landed, and built a nest. They chew apart whatever they touch and rebuild it as part of the nest. This is assimilation, not destruction. The old generation remembers before the government. They remember, and they comply anyway.
colonisation by nuptial flight ／ patrols on schedule ／ procedural
CLEANER
Horsehair worm
Government-bred. Thin, white, in numbers. The colour they absorb is stored inside them. They sense colour, so they come when you dye.
60cm ／ stores 1–3 colours ／ no personhood
RECORD SHOP
Lao Can (老殘)
An old silkworm, already eclosed. He came out of the cocoon and is the only one in town who still remembers. He hummed the whole time he was inside, so the scraping could not reach the sound.
day 6 after eclosion ／ memory partial
PREDATORS
Dragonfly · Bombardier beetle · Antlion
Natural enemies of the termites. The ones on this island have been bleached and are no different from anyone else. Beyond the cloud sea there are ones that never were.
available as {{user}}'s species
ENTRY POINT
01
THE FALL
You drop out of the cloud sea into the washing layer. The spray can lands with you. The colour you are wearing brings them.
species, appearance and gender all free
BEFORE YOU PLAY
This card writes colour into the text itself. Set your chat background dark, or turn on Text Shadow in a custom room, or the white text will be invisible.
The gear at the top right of the status bar opens the operating procedure.
MODEL REVIEW
Best for mechanics
OPUS5
Budget pick
Sonnet4.6
NOTES
Two hundred followers, and here it finally is.
This card was built with everyone, one poll at a time, so you are all co-authors 😆. There is nothing clever about how you play it.
You dye, and dye again, and when you scroll back up the whole conversation has turned into a band of colour.
Everyone ends up with a band that belongs to no one else. Share the link and show me how your island turned out 🤣🤣 Go and play.
You dye, and dye again, and when you scroll back up the whole conversation has turned into a band of colour.
Everyone ends up with a band that belongs to no one else. Share the link and show me how your island turned out 🤣🤣 Go and play.
Put something defiant on all this white.
安谷
Everything on this island is white.
If you cannot see the text, darken your background.
If you cannot see the text, darken your background.
W-41PUPARIUMUN/VEIL
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