What are Venn Machines?
They are transformation booths, standing eight feet tall, eight feet wide, and four feet deep. They can be most easily recognized by the spinning interlocked circles on the front when not in use. The circles interlock like a Venn Diagram, hence the name.
Venn Machines let you change another person into anything you can describe or find by wandering through image free association. However, they also let that person change you, so be careful who you trust.
We don’t know where they came from or who made them. They first showed up about a year ago, and have been appearing in larger and larger cities as time passes.
Most uses of Venn Machines are temporary and safe. Fertility can be impacted in several ways, so read the section on fertility before getting sexually active post-Venn.
What is appropriate content for this subreddit?
This subreddit is for discussion of tips and techniques for using the Venn Machines.
If you want to share your cool transformations: /r/venndesigns
If you have had a bad experience and need help: /r/vennrecovery
Tips on creating battle-worthy forms: /r/vennmonsters
Where can I find a Venn Machine?
See vennlocator.com/ for a live-updated searchable map. If you don’t have one near you yet, check back every now and then; new Venn Machines are popping up daily. The locator also shows which sites have conveniently located lockers.
What happened to my wallet?
Put your wallet and any other documentation in a locker before you get Venned. The Venn Machines always alter text to something indecipherable. Electronics tend to get hit even harder, not only are they unreadable, they can’t connect to our networks.
How do I use a Venn Machine?
- Show up with a Venn partner you trust, and wait in line for the machine to be free.
- Touch the three-circles icon; this will open the payment slot.
- Put payment in slot. Doesn’t have to be money, any small object will do.
- Touch one of the time icons one to three times to select duration (see below for meanings). If you press more than three times, it cycles back to one. You can’t mix and match times.
- Touch the icon(s) in the middle of the display to accept the duration, opening the doors.
- Enter one side, while your partner enters the other. When both sides are occupied, the doors will close.
- The display will show a halo of ‘bubbles’ around your partner, each containing the image of something you can transform them into. Touch a bubble to select that shape. Spoken suggestions will change what bubbles are near the center, and highlight some suggestions further out.
- Repeat the selection process as needed until you’ve picked something interesting. You will find that the machine adapts as you go, and will improve its suggestions based on your choices.
- Despite how it looks, your partner hasn’t actually transformed yet. Touch the green circle to apply the selected form.
- Wait for the circle to phase to empty, at which point the doors will open. This takes a bit over 48 seconds. Any time before the doors open, your partner can apply their chosen change to you.
- Walk out if you can, and check yourself out in the nearest mirror. (Yes, we all do it.)
How long will the change last?
There are four time icons in the initial display. The one shaped like a pie wedge of the earth represents a third of a day. The one that looks like a globe represents a day. The moon represents a lunar month, and the pictogram of the earth orbiting the sun is a year.
Day-long durations track the solar day accurately, so if you are changed for one day at solar noon on Saturday, you’ll change back at solar noon on Sunday. Month changes last for a lunar month, use a Venn timer app if you need to know exactly when the reversion will happen. While information is spotty as yet, year-long changes seem likely to follow the solar year, about six hours longer than a calendar year.
IMPORTANT: Long term changes are FERTILE!
If you are changed for a month or longer, you are fertile in the new form immediately. This applies to both males and females. So yes, you can become a father if you’re a woman. If you’re a guy spending a month or more as a girl, you will menstruate, and you can become a mother. Note that this pregnancy will persist after you change back, and we have reliable reports that males who got pregnant will spontaneously transform to female incarnations of themselves to give birth.
Even more importantly, this applies to non-human changes. If you turn into a female dog for a month, you could end up birthing puppies... even if you cut the change short after a few days.
That said, it is possible to request forms that are not fertile. However, it’s not easy to tell if you’ve successfully done so, unless you opt for distinctly artificial genitalia.
Changes that keep your gender the same are not affected by the above, even short-term changes are fertile. Spending even a day non-female can throw off use of birth control pills.
How do I change back?
Wait. If you’re inanimate, see below. If you’re ambulatory, start another Venn Machine session, enter, and hit the red circle to change back to normal.
What happens if an inanimate person enters a Venn Machine?
They get restored, and see a minimalist interface that lets them leave if they don’t want to be changed again. Press red to bail, press green to accept more changes. The time span will be displayed with the same icons as when starting the machine, so check that before accepting or you might spend three years as something “fun”... for your partner.
Who can use a Venn Machine?
As best we can tell, anyone with sufficient mental acuity to make an informed judgement about whether or not they trust the person they’re Venning with. There are no reliable reports of anyone under the age of twelve being able to use it, many teenagers can’t, and even some people older than that cannot use the Machines. The mentally disabled cannot use it, nor can anyone sufficiently intoxicated to prevent sound judgement (stumbling drunk, vs just tipsy).
If you do not have functional limbs, you will not be able to use a Venn Machine. There are charity groups making minimal neural interfaced prosthetics that are just barely adequate to operate a Venn Machine, allowing the fully disabled to be transformed to have a working body. See the Wounded Soldier Project for more information.
What can a Venn Machine turn me into?
Short answer: Anything.
Longer answer: Any object or creature you can find in the interface and that fits inside the box. No superpowers or magic. There are ways to work around the size limits, see next answer.
Longest answer: see /r/venndesigns
Safety tip: Dangerous creatures can do a lot of harm. Be careful, and make sure you are protectively Venned before getting too close to them. See “What happens if a Venned person gets damaged?”, below.
How can I see or hear while inanimate?
We don’t have good answers for why it works. Any form with a focusing element - even a simple glass bead - will give you some ability to see. Better lenses provide better vision. Clear, faceted gems produce fragmentary images, but most people can adapt and reconstruct the image after a couple days.
Any surface that can vibrate freely will give you a sense of hearing.
How do I learn to use my new body?
If you’re a real animal or a lightly modified version of one, your body will have the appropriate instincts to use its new limbs. Relax, let go, and focus on goals like “I want to move over there” not “how do I move my seventh tentacle”.
If your friend came up with something really out there, you may find the instincts lacking. Just take it slow, start wiggling whatever limbs you have one at a time to see how they work. Most people are fairly adaptable. You’ll find that with patience and practice, moving in your new body will become natural.
Help, my instincts took over and I can’t control my body!
This can be a real problem. If you’ve run into it, you’ve probably already solved it for yourself, because we really doubt you’d be able to go online while instinct-bound.
It can be difficult to get control back if you’ve let your instincts run the show for too long. Start small, focusing on one muscle group at a time. Getting control of your breathing is usually a good start, or trying to stop a specific limb from moving. Once you’ve got a little control, you’ll find it easier and easier to take more of your body back.
Help, I’ve turned into a girl/boy/dog/cat/whatever and I really like it!
You’ve discovered what the three-year setting is for. Congratulations! Enjoy your new life.
Can I go to work or school transformed? Please?
Check with your employer or school. There are a huge range of variations in Venn acceptance policies, all the way from zero-tolerance (iris scans at the door, if you’re Venned, you won’t match) to anything goes. Please make sure to follow the relevant policies carefully, so that Venned people are seen as cooperative. That will make advocacy efforts much easier.
See /r/vennpolicies for discussions and tips on how to work within your policies, and how to work toward getting them changed. That subreddit also has lists of employers and schools with Venn-friendly policies.
What are some useful words or phrases?
“History” - Depending on context, this can show the things you’ve been recently, or the things the other person has been. Very useful for getting back to a favourite shape.
“Twin” - Can be used to make your partner a copy of yourself. It also displays hypothetical fraternal twins and other variations, so you will need to iterate if you want an exact copy. Even the most exact looking copy will have different fingerprints and retinas.
“Pleasure” - This makes everything about the form more pleasurable. Using it three times will make the form very addictive. More than that tends to overload people’s minds, so they can barely recall anything at all.
“Less Pain” - Useful for Monster Wars; this can reduce how much the form feels.
How do you break Pleasure Mode addiction?
The most effective method known is to slowly taper them down through two-times and one-times, then spend some time as the object without a pleasure modification. Try to make the last bit as boring as possible. After that, go out and do something fun with them as humans. Use whatever definition of fun you think will best remind them why being human is great.
What happens if a Venned person gets damaged?
Don’t panic! Even if you turned your friend into a glass vase and broke him into a million pieces, he’ll be fine. Just find at least half the pieces by mass, bring them back to the Venn Machine, and let it do its thing. (If you put less than half into the machine, the pieces just disappear.)
If you can’t find enough pieces, don’t panic! You’ll have to wait out the timer, but they’ll be fine.
Venned people have been melted, stabbed, blown up, tossed out of planes without parachutes, and even eaten. None have even had a scratch on them once their change reverts.
If a Venned person gets flushed or otherwise widely scattered, they may reappear at the nearest Venn Machine instead. This can also happen if they would otherwise appear in a lethal location. (Flying forms high in the air and fish deep in the ocean are two common cases.)
Can Venn Machines heal me?
If you are able to use the Venn Machines, they can easily transform you into a shape that isn’t diseased or damaged. Some infections will persist if you change into a fully or mostly human form.
Does that mean the Venn Machines can’t cure the common cold?
Not at all. The best known fix for the common cold is to spend a full day as an inanimate object. To be extra sure, make sure your friend gives you a good cleaning.
What are the risks?
The biggest concern was that degenerative diseases would continue to progress while Venned. It was discovered early on that no matter how much or how little you eat while Venned, your body doesn’t lose or gain weight when you revert. So taking medicine while Venned likewise does no good, and will often make you feel worse because your body no longer needs it.
However, experience with multi-month changes shows no significant degeneration, and early reports of year-long changes are cautiously positive.
What are the benefits?
At the very least, spending months or years without symptoms. Being in a body that is healthy and able to move around also conveys some benefit to your normal or non-Venned body, improving muscle tone.
There are rumours that spending large amounts of time inanimate accelerates natural healing, but no conclusive studies have been reported.
Why is the government ignoring Venn Machines?
Our best guess is that it’s because they can’t control them. Every time someone barricades a Venn Machine to prevent public use, another one pops up nearby. The government response is thus the traditional “if we ignore it, it will go away”. Doesn’t seem to be working, but they seem determined to stick to it. There are unverified reports from media sources that say they’ve been discouraged from reporting on the Venn Machines.
Recently, some machines have been getting “Surgeon General Warnings” posted outside them, but those do not appear to be actual government documents.
What’s with all the cameras, then?
While the government is not making any official statements about the Venn Machines, they appear to be very interested indeed in how they get used. Trying to force someone into a Venn Machine against their will is ill advised, given the scrutiny.
Version History
v1 - Initial version
v2 - Initial HOWTO (payment, duration, inside interface)
v3 - Auto-cancel
v4 - Fertility!
v5 - New commands (twin, pleasure)
v6 - Medical applications, results of fertility testing
v7 - Controlling odd bodies, instincts
v8 - Pleasure mode addiction
v9 - Location data to /r/vennlocator
v10 - Fertility of animal forms.
v11 - History command
v12 - Move design pictures to /r/venndesigns
v14 - Separate sub for recovering Venn victims
v15 - Separate sub for Monster Wars
v16 - Locator website
v17 - Medical implications of long-term changes
v18 - Fertility: Spontaneous transformations to give birth.