Emoji

VellumFE renders :shortcode:-style emoji in incoming game text, and lets you add your own custom (Discord-server-style) emoji.

Standard emoji

Any standard gemoji shortcode in game text is rendered as its emoji:

Someone thinks, "heading to town :grin:"

In the GUI, emoji are drawn in full color (Twemoji artwork). Toggle color vs. monochrome with the ui.color_emoji setting.
On the phone/web client, emoji use the system emoji font.
In the TUI, emoji render as whatever Unicode glyph your terminal font provides.

Shortcode expansion is controlled by the ui.emoji_shortcodes setting (default on).

Custom emoji

Drop image files into ~/.vellum-fe/emoji/ and reference them as :name:, just like Discord server emoji.

Create the directory ~/.vellum-fe/emoji/ if it does not exist.
Add an image named after the shortcode you want, e.g. ~/.vellum-fe/emoji/vibecat.png for :vibecat:.
Restart, or run .reload, to pick up new files.

Supported formats:

Format	Extension	Animated
PNG	`.png`	if it is an animated PNG (APNG)
APNG	`.apng`	yes
GIF	`.gif`	yes
WebP	`.webp`	yes, if the file is animated

Animated GIF, WebP, and APNG all animate in the GUI and on the phone. Discord serves its animated custom emoji as animated WebP — save one as ~/.vellum-fe/emoji/<name>.webp and it animates. (To grab one: right-click the emoji in Discord → Copy Link, open the ….webp URL in a browser, and save it.)

Naming rules: the filename (without extension) is the shortcode, and may contain letters, digits, _, +, and - only. Names are case-insensitive (VibeCat.png matches :vibecat: and :VibeCat:). If a custom emoji shares a name with a standard one, your custom emoji wins.

Sizing custom emoji (GUI)

Two settings tune how custom emoji look in the GUI (Client settings → UI):

Setting	Default	Effect
`Custom Emoji Size` (`ui.custom_emoji_size`)	1.0	Image height as a multiple of the text line height. Above 1.0 the emoji stand out above the line.
`Custom Emoji Spacing` (`ui.custom_emoji_spacing`)	0.2	Breathing room around each emoji, as a fraction of the line height added to its width.

How each frontend renders custom emoji

GUI — draws the image inline, animating APNG/GIF frames.
Phone/web — draws the image inline via a private, token-gated endpoint; GIF/APNG animate natively in the browser.
TUI — cannot render images, so it shows the literal :name: text as a readable fallback.

Emoji are never sent to the game

GemStone IV is a roleplaying game, and sending emoji (or the shortcodes that render as emoji) as speech, thoughts, whispers, or actions can get you warned or banned. Emoji are a display convenience on your side only.

VellumFE strips emoji from every command before it reaches the game — whether you type it, a hotbar sends it, or a Lich script sends it. This includes actual emoji characters and any :shortcode: that resolves to a known emoji (standard or custom). Ordinary text, unknown shortcodes, Lich script syntax, and things like time strings (12:30:45) are left untouched. This protection is always on.

So a Lich script can safely send :vibecat: for VellumFE to display, and the game will never see it.