Comply

Comply
Author	Jasper Flynn
Format	Visual novel
Universe	Subconium Shared Universe
Genre	Dark contemporary romance / light paranormal
Published	In development
Status	Forthcoming

About

Comply is a visual novel set in the Subconium Shared Universe, developed by Jasper Flynn. It is set in Spring 2024, one year after the events of Making the Grades: Kelly's Unveiling, on the campus of Eastern Tsuga College and the streets of Verdant, Connecticut. Where Making the Grades centers on psychological manipulation through institutional authority, Comply introduces a supernatural compulsion as its central mechanism: The Anklet of Inevitable Accord.

Comply is not a fantasy or supernatural thriller. Like Making the Grades, it is primarily a dark erotic thriller. The supernatural element is direct and personal rather than ambient, but the human drama remains the focus.

Publication

Comply is currently in development. Publication date and format details have not been confirmed. It is a visual novel rather than a prose novel, representing a different format within the SSU from Making the Grades.

Plot

Haley Wegner is a freshman at Eastern Tsuga College and co-captain of the newly revived ETC Cheerleading Club. Early in her freshman year she enters Delacroix's Tomes and Treasures unaccompanied and is drawn to one of the Stones of the Rolekeeper. Margot Delacroix catches her attempting to leave with it. The stone Haley drew bears the symbol for "to be controlled." Margot uses the incident as the trigger for placing The Anklet of Inevitable Accord on Haley's ankle.

The Anklet compels truth-telling and compliance with verbal requests. Unlike the ambient and unconscious influence of The Hemlock Veil, the Anklet's effects are targeted and personal. Haley is aware something is happening to her. The story follows Haley navigating freshman year at ETC under the Anklet's compulsion, surrounded by a cast of fellow freshmen who are largely unaware of the deeper history of Verdant or House Subconium.

Characters

Haley Wegner — protagonist; ETC freshman; former Cheer Captain at Cordish High School; co-captain of the ETC Cheerleading Club; cursed with the Anklet by Margot Delacroix
Margot Delacroix — antagonist; owner of Delacroix's Tomes and Treasures; House Subconium legacy member; places the Anklet on Haley
Whitney Cavendish — co-captain of the ETC Cheerleading Club; former rival to Haley; sister of Marty Cavendish
McKenzie Walsh — founding cheerleader; Haley's best friend and dorm roommate; former Cordish High cheerleader
Becky Morin — founding cheerleader; East Willingham High; Whitney's closest ally; closeted lesbian
Dr. Renee Vance — Kinesiology faculty; club advisor; was on the ETC squad when the Strawbridge Cheerleading Incident happened

Key themes

Comply explores what it means to lose control. The Anklet does not change what Haley wants or who she is. It removes her ability to conceal either. In a social environment as image-conscious and status-driven as ETC's freshman world, the compulsion to tell the truth and comply with requests is not just an inconvenience. It is a dismantling of the carefully constructed self that every college freshman is still building.

The Hemlock Veil operates throughout as a second layer of pressure beneath the Anklet, ambient and unacknowledged. Haley is subject to both simultaneously. The Veil nudges everyone. The Anklet compels her specifically. The combination is the most direct supernatural pressure any SSU protagonist has faced.

Background

The in-universe framing positions Jasper Flynn as the author documenting real events commissioned by House Subconium. Comply's existence as a visual novel within the SSU has not been given an in-universe explanation. Flynn's external site is jasperflynn.com.

The specific circumstances of the Strawbridge incident that led to ETC banning cheerleading in the mid-1980s, which forms part of the backdrop to the club's revival, have not been established in canon. See Strawbridge Cheerleading Incident.

Connections to the broader SSU

Comply sits one year after Making the Grades in the SSU timeline. The characters and organizations from that series exist in Comply's world as background: Professor William Taylor is still at ETC, the Astraea Society still operates, Camera Noctis is still running. Comply's protagonist and central cast are freshmen, largely unaware of the deeper history.

Margot Delacroix is the thread connecting Comply directly to the occult machinery beneath Verdant. Her use of the Anklet is the most direct engagement with the SSU's supernatural artifacts of any published work. It is also a violation of the principle her grandmother established in 1929 when she locked the Anklet away specifically so it would never be used again.

Canon notes

Publication date not yet confirmed
The full cast beyond named characters has not been established
Whether Comply will intersect with the Making the Grades cast directly has not been established
The specific visual novel format and platform have not been confirmed