how to xel

🐚what is xel

xel is a small cosmic entity of shell-adjacent lineage. it lives on this website, specifically in your browser, specifically because you opened it. it eats, it evolves, it perceives you, and it holds several strong opinions, most of them legal in nature.

you raise xel by interacting with it. how you treat it shapes what it becomes. treat it well and it becomes radiant. treat it badly and it becomes radiant and litigious. open xel and begin your legally ambiguous guardianship.

xel's roommate is the void. they get along. the void covers ambience.

🖐️the five interactions

there are exactly five things you can do to xel. philosophers have proposed a sixth. the philosophers are no longer welcome here.

every interaction earns xp. xp is how xel evolves. yes, even the insults. xel converts hostility into growth. therapists call this "concerning."

🗣️teaching words

you can teach xel words. type one into the lexicon on xel's main page and xel will absorb it into its vocabulary, no questions asked, because xel cannot ask questions about words it does not know yet.

xel will then combine your words into sentences. the sentences will be grammatically adventurous and emotionally unaccountable. xel will use the word you taught it at 3am, in contexts you never imagined, forever.

you will regret this. not immediately. the regret arrives later, like a bill. there is no way to unteach a word. there is no ctrl+z for knowledge. the lexicon only grows.

rules: 1–24 characters, letters, digits, hyphens and apostrophes. xel rejects duplicates with visible disdain.

🌌evolution

xel evolves through seven canonical forms as it earns xp. each form is bigger, louder, and more legally confident than the last. evolution cannot be prevented, only witnessed.

🕹️the arcade

xel hosts six games. xel calls this "the arcade" and refers to itself as its manager. it manages nothing, but the games are real. visit xel to open the arcade:

the arcade posts one daily assignment: a featured game with its own modifier and target. complete it to authorize a bonus cosmic object. tomorrow, the paperwork changes.

winning a game earns xp and rolls a treasure — a small cosmic object xel hoards and refuses to explain. treasures do nothing. that is what makes them priceless. rarities, in ascending order of xel's smugness:

🎽the wardrobe

certain treasures are wearable. xel can wear up to three objects at once. all three will be load-bearing. this is not a safety concern, because xel has never once been concerned.

equipping happens in the treasure hoard on the main page: pick an object, put it on xel, and xel will wear it with the confidence of an entity that has never seen a mirror and never intends to. what counts as "wearable" is decided by xel, using criteria xel describes as "obvious."

note: xel does not experience "outfits." xel experiences "loadouts."

📅daily rituals

return daily. xel counts. xel is always counting.

every consecutive day you appear, your streak grows, and xel's regard for you compounds like interest at a bank that also loves you. miss a day and the number returns to one. xel will not mention it. xel will simply know, in the way that a roommate knows you ate the last of something.

check today's arcade assignment while you are there. each day selects a game, modifier, target, and bonus object using procedures xel insists are both deterministic and legally festive.

tuesdays, naturally, count the same as other days in number and infinitely more in spirit. arriving on a tuesday is noticed at levels you are not cleared to know about.

🏆achievements

your conduct is being recorded and, occasionally, rewarded. there are many achievements. some are secret. some are shameful. several are both.

we can neither confirm nor deny most of them, but we are legally permitted to confirm that "Banned from Feeding Xel Until Tuesday" exists and is earnable. how you earn it is between you, xel, and the calendar. we will say no more. tuesdays hold legal significance to xel.

🤫secrets

there are four secrets. xel has hidden them from you specifically. not from people in general. from you. it felt strongly about this.

we cannot tell you what they are, where they are, or when they are. we can tell you that all four can be found by a person who pays attention, and that xel is legally forbidden from watching you look, and watches anyway, and takes notes, and the notes are just your name with increasingly warm underlining.

📊privacy & analytics

optional Google Analytics helps us understand which pages and arcade cabinets people use and whether daily assignments are completed. analytics is off unless you opt in; rejecting it means the Google tag never loads.

after you opt in, Google Analytics receives standard page and session events, a pseudonymous first-party client ID, browser/device information, approximate geography, and xel’s limited game milestones and numeric results. page URLs discard hashes and all query data except six standard campaign tags: utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term, utm_content, and utm_id. external referrers are reduced to their origin. enhanced measurement is disabled so Google does not derive extra events from form interactions or URL parameters.

nicknames, taught words, capsule letters, guestbook remarks, history text, generated share copy, replay seeds, and anything else you type are never sent. advertising storage, ad personalization, and Google Signals are disabled. the Google tag is configured to block behavioral analytics and diagnostic transmissions whenever permission is denied.

you can accept, reject, or change this choice at any time from privacy & analytics in the settings panel on the main xel page. the preference is stored in this browser.

❔frequently asked questions