A few ideas have popped into my mind whilst thinking about this project.

One big idea was that the electrodes on the choker surface could be in a grid, with each electrode having 3 states; positive, neutral, and negative. This way, an arc can be produced between any two (adjacent) electrodes allowing sequenced arcing for really cool chasing and design effects.

One of the questions is how to control the state of each electrode in a compact and switchable way. Perhaps something similar to the way that addressable SM LED strips are set up.