Asi’eterat (Bluebell Character

Asi’eterat

Age: 144 yrs

Height: 6’2

Species: Helkaa (unclipped)

Place of Birth: Olu Alahm

Place of Residency: Dimiiwaa’s Rest

Occupation: Cook

Alignment: Chaotic-Neutral

Life Circumstance

Asi’eterat lives in Dimiiwaa’s Pass. He participates in the commune as a cook, and he trains people on survival, fighting, and stealth. He spends a lot of time exploring the cave systems in the mountains by himself.  He is one of the Keepers, and he camps on the outskirts of the oasis, closest to the mountains, as they all do. The Keepers have spent the last month planning the infiltration of a major event in Olu Alahm, with the intention of assassinating the Holy Sovereign, Usha Helkhem.

History

When Asi’eterat was a toddler his mother died in a lab incident that caused a lot of problems for the Sovereign. In the aftermath,  his father, along with his great-aunt and older brother, took him and fled to a place he’d heard about in the mountains. They were found by a Keeper after several days of struggling to find their way through the mountains, and brought to Dimiiwaa’s Pass where they were welcomed into the commune. 

Asi’eterat grew up in the commune mostly comfortably and held his role with a sense of duty. Roles in the commune typically rotate, but Asi’eterat’s cooking was popular and he enjoyed doing it enough to concede to staying in that position. He’s been very diligent in keeping up with his skills as a Keeper, and he’s gone out and done many missions with them. He’s had a lot of experience with infiltration, reconnaissance, assassination, and close combat.

Asi’eterat’s mother was Helkaa and died, and his father was Mur. His great-aunt had been clipped. He learned about his Helkaa voices from others in the commune and was taught to wield the voices as a weapon against the Holy Sovereignty. 

Beliefs

Asi’eterat believes that the Holy Sovereignty is corrupt, just as is the common belief of the Keepers and the people of Dimiiwaa’s Pass. However, he does not share a belief in the four gods in the same manner as the others. He accepts that there is a lot that they don’t understand and that there are strange things occurring on their moon, but he’s not sure what that means.

Motivations

Asi’eterat is grateful to his dad and great-aunt for being brave enough to take him and his brother to Dimiiwaa’s Pass and he is mostly comfortable in his life there. He is motivated strongly by a sense of duty to repay the Keepers for taking them in and the people they protect. However, he also feels personally curious about what else there is on Dibikaad. Or perhaps they were wrong and there was more on Miiknaa than just Dibikaad. He had a strong desire to find out for himself to see what more life has to offer than just the simplicity and monotony of Dimiiwaa’s Pass.

Personality

Asi’eterat is very kind. He’s observant but reserved, preferring to be alone even within proximity of others. His shy and melancholy nature can quickly transform into moodiness and disagreeableness. He’s also very impulsive at times, often endangering himself and others with little regard for his own mortality.

Eilo (Bluebell Character)

Eilo

Age: 71 yrs

Height: 5’11”

Species: Anemijii

Place of Birth: Sorn Onahm

Place of Residency: Usha Helkhem

Occupation: Personal Service Worker for the Countess of Usha Helkhem

Alignment: Neutral-Good

Life Circumstance

Eilo lives in a shared apartment with the other Personal Service Workers, close to the Countess’ chambers. Eilo is romantically involved with the tavern keeper, Isah’ren, and they’re trying to plan their future together but his job is making it difficult.

History

Eilo grew up in another beach city, Sorn Onahm. He received training to work in architectural engineering and did so until he moved to Usha Helkhem less than a decade ago. While preparing to begin work in his new home, he was offered a job with the Countess and accepted due to the increase in advantages. At the time the sacrifice of independence didn’t seem like a big deal, but he shortly got close to Isah’ren and slowly developed a relationship with him. 

Beliefs

Eilo shares the same belief system as the Holy Sovereign, but he believes the leadership is corrupt.

Motivations

Eilo is motivated by his conflicting desires to maintain a more comfortable life, which he has working directly for the Countess, and to be with Isah’ren, which he is hardly able to while working for the Countess. 

Personality

Eilo is rambunctious and outgoing. His attitude is generally lighthearted, and he is quite noble. He can be very indecisive, as he wants to please everyone and he avoids upsetting others.

Ytharae (Bluebell Character)

Ytharae

Age: 103 yrs

Height: 5’

Species: Tathnos Elephne

Place of Birth: Usha Helkhem before it was Usha Helkhem

Place of Residency: Usha Helkhem

Occupation: Personal Service Worker for the Countess of Usha Helkhem

Alignment: Chaotic-Neutral

Life Circumstance

Ytharae lives in a shared apartment with the other Personal Service Workers, close to the Countess’ chambers. They also maintain a secret home inside the hidden cave system where they were left by the Fate Beasts. Ytharae lives a quiet, solemn life seeking for something that they can’t describe. 

History

When Ytharae was born, the Apostles of Fate still occupied that part of the forest. The Apostles of Fate gave birth to their children in dreams and the Fate Beasts would deliver those infants to a parent (whether or not it’s the biological parent is irrelevant). Ytharae was delivered to Lia in an unusually chaotic and violent manner, and they were the last infant to be birthed in a dream to be returned to a parent. The events of Ytharae’s delivery were very stressful for Lia and they changed considerably afterwards. After 4 years, Lia abandoned their two children and the Apostles. While nobody really knows for certain where Lia went, it was only months later when greater numbers of the High Sovereignty’s soldiers arrived to forcefully secure a part of the cliffs they’d grown a lax with on account of the tiresome and ongoing fight over the forest. It wasn’t long before they found the beach and many of the free people and Apostles living in the forest were slaughtered. Inevitably, Usha Helkhem came into existence. 

In the meantime, Ytharae and their sister Nelnyne had been taken under the care of Coeus, one of the High Priestesses of the Apostles of Fate. Coeus raised them to be Apostles themselves. Coeus spent most of their life hiding parts of who they are and trying to survive the forced incursion of the High Sovereignty. 

Ytharae has tried on a number of occasions to leave the forests, but every time they try, they’re violently prohibited from leaving by the beasts everyone thinks have disappeared. Ytharae has made a secret reprieve out of the caves Lia found them in when they were born, which incidentally, the High Sovereignty has not discovered yet because it’s hidden so well in the cliffside. 

Beliefs

Ytharae was, of course, raised to share the same beliefs as the Apostles. But the beasts don’t quite appeal to Ytharae for obvious reasons and they can’t help but think if the beasts are so different than what Coeus has described, then how much can they trust the rest of it. Ytharae has had many strange experiences in the forest, just as everyone else has, so they definitely believe that there is more than what is easily understood. But they find all current religions inadequate in interpreting the different wonders of their frozen moon.

Motivations

Ytharae is largely unmotivated because they’re stuck in Usha Helkhem. What little motivation they do have is from the curiosity they feel for what’s to come. They feel that something big is bound to change soon. 

Personality

Ytharae is untrusting, but curious to a fault. They often get into trouble just because they “wanted to see what was going to happen”. They can be described as serious or intense, as well as detached in general as they are very imaginative and thoughtful. They can be described as mischievous, and even playful in more intimate settings.

Zosime (Bluebell Character)

Zosime

Age: 117 yrs

Height: 6’2”

Species: Mur

Place of Birth: Olu Alahm

Place of Residency: Usha Helkhem

Occupation: Textile Worker

Alignment: Lawful-Evil

Life Circumstance

Zosime lives in the outer housing surrounding the Countess’ palace in Usha Helkhem where she shares an apartment with two life partners and their three children. She is largely removed from her home life, as she has dedicated herself primarily to the purpose of vindicating her family’s reputation and legacy in the eyes of the Sovereignty. She works painstakingly intense hours perfecting her textile crafts and meticulously planning efficient work protocols. What little spare time Zosime has is generally spent frollicking in the city. 

History

Zosime is the only child of Rilri (Helkaa) and Esme (Mur). Rilri was the High Priest of Textiles in Olu Alahm, and he was highly regarded there by the Sovereign for many years. After the Sovereign perceived behaviour of the High Priest Rilri at a social event to be political and secretive, she took precautions and sent Rilri to Usha Helkhem to establish the textile industry there. Zosime was 20 at the time. 

Zosime spent her formative years living luxuriously and even after leaving the capital she experienced life comforts beyond those of the average person. Zosime’s parents were strict and Rilri tutored her in textiles from a very young age. Such a young age in fact, that Zosime’s hands are permanently stained and calloused. Zosime was raised to respect and honour the Sovereignty and she was groomed to succeed her father as High Priestess of Textiles and her family’s place back in the capital. Zosime has always been heralded as an exceptional talent and a well-loved individual in the community.

When Zosime moved to Usha Helkhem there weren’t many other children there. She met Ytharae by chance while wandering the forests and her curiosity about Ytharae yielded a hesitant friendship. Though the two have little in common, their shared curiosity and enjoyment of adventuring in the forest created a lasting bond. 

Beliefs

Zosime is a devout follower of the Holy Sovereignty. She worships Sula Helkhem and is a more moderate follower of the faith. She unequivocally believes that performing their work in honour of the god Sula Helkhem will lead them back to paradise on Yan’ishpi. 

Motivations

Zosime is driven by success in her career. Due to her history, she seeks redemption for her family and particularly Rilri, whom she idolizes. Her sense of duty to succeed is emphasized by the nature of her faith. 

Personality

Zosime has a very strong personality. While she is very intense and serious about work, she has a charming personality. She’s funny, flirtatious, and playful. She comes across as very confident, arrogant even at times. She’s spent her life being told that she was special and that she was destined for great things, and she believes it.

Coeus (Bluebell Character)

Coeus

Age: 327 yrs

Height: 5’4”

Species: Tathnos Elephne

Place of Birth: Usha Helkhem before it was Usha Helkhem

Place of Residency: Usha Helkhem

Occupation: Cherished member of the community.

Alignment: True-Neutral

Life Circumstance

Coeus lives in an old home on the outer edge of Ush Helkhem closer to the more dense forest with their cat Obi. They are not in good standing with the holy Sovereignty and especially not with the local Countess and they know it’s only a matter of time before they’re either expelled or killed. In the meantime, Coeus serves as a wise caretaker for those in the community who have not taken to shunning them. Coeus provides shelter, healing, nourishment for those in need, and they provide wise guidance. 

History

Coeus is the last High Priestess of the Apostles of Fate. They were born in the cult and spent their life dedicated to it. They’d been High Priestess for several decades when the Holy Sovereignty came for their land and forced their submission. Coeus held out as long as they could, but with the beasts all but gone and members being killed, running away, or voluntarily converting to the Holy Sovereignty, there was no life left to keep the cult intact. 

Coeus took primary care of one of their Acolytes Lia’s two young children, Ytharae and Nelnyne, when they ran 100 years ago. Though Coeus had given birth to many children in their dreams, they had never been delivered any to raise. With the disappearance of Lia, however, it seemed only sensible that their children needed to be cared for and Coeus, as High Priestess, was a natural choice. Coeus was a kind and caring parent, though heavily distracted by the events of the cults diminishment and inevitable death and they strongly enforced the ideals of the Apostles of Fate with Ytharae and Nelnyne. 

Beliefs

Coeus is still devoted to Yrzhum and the beliefs of their cult. They rationalize that the beasts disappeared and their way of life ended because Yrzhum had completed setting the path for the liberation of the moon from the grasp of Sula Helkhem. And now they essentially just wait for things to unfold and for the moon to become their utopia. 

Motivations

They are motivated by a principled view of balance as a necessity to keep the path set by Yrzhum on track. They consistently weight their choices with a heavy mind, trying to interpret the purpose for every encounter so they make the correct choices. 

Personality

Coeus has a very strong, bold personality. They are principled and very confident. They are knowingly very harsh and sometimes forceful in their manner because they think they know what’s best for everyone better than they do. Despite this, people naturally endear themselves to them quite easily as they are very warm and nurturing and a persuasive caretaker.

Ryth (Bluebell Character)

Ryth

Age: 44 yrs

Height: 5’3”

Species: Erytra Elepne

Place of Birth: Elthkroe

Place of Residency: Elthkroe

Occupation: Carpenter

Alignment: Neutral-Evil

Life Circumstance

Ryth is a carpenter in Elthkroe. While the Giant’s Chosen provide for all their people and Ryth had all their material needs met, they longed for the prestige and assumed satisfaction of a higher station in their society. They’ve left their home to complete a rite to change their occupational status to Elthkroe. They are seeking to obtain waters from the newly formed beach in Usha Helkhem, completing a coveted feat of courage to earn their way into the warrior class and bringing back a coveted sample not yet obtained by the Giant’s Chosen. 

History

Ryth was pronounced a carpenter before birth like every familial relation of the previous four generations. Due to most of the carpentry work being underground, due both to the rapid and needed expansion further into the ground and repairs to the older parts of their city hive structure, carpenters over the last couple of centuries have lived particularly strenuous and unhealthful lives, and have not been living long enough to enjoy the reprieve and status of becoming an Elder. History indicates Ryth’s life in Elthkroe does not have much promise is it is. 

Beliefs

Ryth is a non-believer, though they perform devotion in public. In fact, they are part of a small but growing percentage of Elthkroe residents who live as Giant’s Chosen but subscribe to the idea that the Erytra Elepne was a mutation caused by the toxicity of the Giant’s meat that they consumed. They believe that a madness spread among poisoned Tathnos Elephne, who shared in a delusion of religiosity that had long since dissipated and remained propped up for the concentration of power among certain families. 

Motivations

Rather than leaving a society they believe to be corrupt, Ryth is motivated for their own desire for power and prestige. They are motivated by their wish to escape a generational pattern of service and to live the life of someone they long believed to be the most pleasurable.

Personality

Ryth is very charming and outgoing. They have a sarcastic humour and enjoy entertaining and performing for others. They’re very animated and quite dramatic. Ryth has a tendency to be malicious in response to jealousy, and does not hide their more sadistic inclinations.

Ophos (Bluebell Character)

Ophos

Age: 55 yrs

Height: 5’5”

Species: Erytra Elepne

Place of Birth: Elthkroe

Place of Residency: Elthkroe

Occupation: Chief Siege Strategist and Inventor

Alignment: Lawful-Neutral

Life Circumstance

Ophos is a warrior for the Giant’s Chosen and they play an important role in the 127 Year Siege on Agwaaq’aji. They are stationed on the frontline camp beneath the right hand cliff tower. They have lived in the camp for most of their life as the Siege is the primary focus for them. They are puzzled by the problem of enabling many warriors to reach the summit and hold their ground long enough to conquer the city.

History

Ophos grew up in Elthkroe. Ophos’ birth ceremony saw them destined for the warrior class. Their birth took place during a rare planetary event on the 72nd year of the 127 Year Siege on Agwaaq’aji, and these particular individuals were groomed under the scrutiny of a Council of Elders as they believed one of these children would be the one to accomplish the task of conquering Agwaaq’aji. 

Ophos had a strictly regimented life with only a singular goal. At an early age, they demonstrated a keen talent and interest for understanding large scale war technologies, and it wasn’t long until they were learning to build them and then learning to engineer them. At 14, Ophos was working and completing further training on the frontline camp where they have lived since. Ophos was quickly elevated to the status of Chief Siege Strategist, since as previously stated it was believed that they had potential to win the war. Ophos bore this as a great weight on their shoulders and they lamented their failures, and growing their curiosity into a life consuming obsession.

Beliefs

Due to the nature of Ophos’ upbringing and life, they have very little time to interrogate or share in their people’s beliefs. They, of course, perform their duties and engage in the ceremonies and state their belief in the Giant and their deliverance to paradise. But their connection to their beliefs are fairly absent. Ultimately, they just don’t know any differently and their life is so bound up with duty, it simply never occurs to them that what they take to be the truth might not be. 

Motivations

Ophos is heavily motivated by a drive to realize their destiny. But what they don’t tell others is that they are equally motivated by the curiosity of what lies beyond that realization. Ophos longs to be free to live a life of their own, contrary to all of the teachings of the Giant’s Chosen that state that one’s life is always in the service of protecting the Giant, and they hope for the end of the Siege so they can discover what else life has to offer them.

Personality

Ophos is naturally very curious, though emotionally and intellectually isolated. They are shy, though also strongly affirmed in their abilities and belief that they will achieve their goals. A deeply serious individual, Ophos is reserved and tremendously focused. Due to their lack of connectedness, they tend to be socially awkward and naive as well.

Tal’iln (Bluebell Character)

Tal’iln

Age: 67 yrs

Height: 5’10”

Species: Anemijii

Place of Birth: Agwaaq’aji

Place of Residency: Agwaaq’aji

Occupation: Order of the Winds of Fate

Alignment: Chaotic-Good

Life Circumstance

Tal’iln lives as ordinary a life as possible for the people of Agwaaq’aji during the 127 Year Siege. Her life is focused on her work with the Order of the Winds of Fate. Otherwise, she has a small social life but no close bonds. Tal’iln has made multiple failed requests to leave Agwaaq’aji on an expedition. The situation with the Siege reduced the number of Chroniclers leaving for expeditions nearly down to nothing at all, and though Tal’iln has no hope that she’ll ever get her approval, she continues to request it so she has something to look forward to. She’s increasingly given into her curiosities, venturing away from their cities on the cliff tops and exploring the cliffs themselves. She’s found a hidden cavern that she’s made into her own hidden getaway. She recently felt a strange sensation while playing around dancing to her own whistling within the caverns protected from the loud winds, and exploring that sensation resulted in her discovery of wind magic.

History

Tal’iln was born during the 127 Year Siege. The Chroniclers of Agwaaq’aji have a strongly held belief that their wind gods only allow those they want to reach the peak of their library haven and so they interfered very little with events of the Siege, and consequently they were pacifists. Their society went on as though nothing was happening. When Tal’iln was a small child one of the Giant’s Chosen actually managed to reach the top of the south cliff. Most crossed to the Central Commune (where Tal’iln lived with all of the other children) and cut the bridge, but many were left to be slaughtered. The lone Giant’s Chosen destroyed most of the Southern Commune and caused a lot of destruction to the library before they realized what it was and stopped. Any concern that the Giant’s Chosen would manage to bring more of their people to the top of the cliff from the top was elated when they were thrown from the cliff by a large bird who has been friendly with the Chroniclers for centuries. Life went on and they slowly repaired the bridge, honoured their dead, and managed to make a small part of the Southern Commune habitable until the end of the Siege would allow them to rebuild it. Tal’iln was very young when she was welcomed into the Order of the Winds of Fate. 

Beliefs

Tal’iln sincerely believes in the religion of the Chroniclers and the Wind Gods. The Order of the Winds of Fate is in a unique position among the Orders. It’s considered especially challenging and thus a bit more prestigious because it demands a knowledge of all of the Orders. But it’s also considered the most fallible. What the Order of the Winds of Fate do is essentially make educated interpretations of the winds as Prophecies. As such, Tal’iln’s strongest beliefs centre on the culmination of their work as laying the groundwork for the architecture of a new civilization after the end of their own.

Motivations

While Tal’iln is heavily motivated by her strong beliefs and her work, she is mostly motivated by boredom and a desire to have new experiences. The irony of her life purpose being consumed by the prophesying of a future civilization born of one she’s hardly experienced is not lost on her. 

Personality

Tal’iln is strong-willed and assertive. Her arrogance can make her difficult to like, but people are easily softened by her kindness and generosity. As is typical of individuals in the Order of the Winds of Fate, Tal’iln is sociable, but more of a listener than a talker, as she is interpersonally reserved. She’s observant and thoughtful, though presumptuous, a natural consequence of her arrogance. She is selfish in her unselfishness.

Mother Z and the Zodiac Rebellion

When I was a kid my godfather made me a colouring book he called ‘Madam Z and the Zodiac Girls’ that I obviously thought was the coolest thing in the world. He’d reimagined the Zodiac as a Charlie’s Angels sort of idea. The Zodiac signs were each fantastical secret agents and Madam Z was their handler. I’m trying to build a character concept portfolio with more marketable and censorship-friendly digital work (I’ll make another post about this), so I decided I would reimagine Madam Z and the Zodiac Girls for a few pages for this portfolio.

My concept is ‘Mother Z and the Zodiac Rebellion’. It took a month for me to do all the drawings, so I spent a lot of time thinking about the rationale and details for this concept. We all love world building, right? This post is a collection of the art for this and all of my excessive thoughts about the concepts and an overall narrative.

I imagine this as a TTRPG or video game RPG. I was playing Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader right before this and I really love science fiction games like Mass Effect and Outer Worlds and Cyberpunk. The tone I’m going for is more in line with SyFy series like Battlestar Galactica and Killjoys, where it’s mostly quite intense but also definitely campy without ever accepting its own silliness. It’s charming to me. It’s a flavour of science fiction that verges on just being space fantasy. I don’t really know exactly what kind of RPG system I would use for this, I’d have to do more research and plot things out further to decide.

The Milky Way Galaxy

It’s the year 2379. Earth is left a decaying mass of garbage and humans have travelled into the Milky Way to colonize the galaxy. Life is governed directly by corporations, who are at constant war across the galaxy over territories rich in desirable resources and political advantage. A very small percentage of sentient beings in the Galaxy occupy entire worlds of unimaginable luxury. But life for the overwhelming majority involves little but toil and survival in colonies that function as worker camps.

While the Galaxy is ruled by capitalists, religion remains a major part of social life. There are three main systems of religion that encompass the various faiths across the galaxy.

The Great Old Ones

I love HP Lovecraft. For the purposes of this project, the Great Old Ones are essentially a class of primordial deities in the Milky Way. They are frequently worshipped by fringe hedonists of the anarchist variety and they do factor in strongly in the faiths of rebels who have a less traditionally destructive view of the Great Old Ones, as many see these deities as Dionysian-like figures.

The Titans

In 2133, Lady Lydia, a highly acclaimed explorer, ventured into the Virgo constellation where she began an obsession with what she quickly came to believe was the voice of the star Heze. She claimed that Heze was in fact a Great Old One, who had been imprisoned in the star, and he was calling out to her to help him. Lady Lydia slowly went mad trying to unravel conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory in the Virgo constellation to explain the voice of Heze she insisted she could hear. At one point, Lady Lydia vanished with no contact for nine years. When she suddenly hailed a corporate ship, she was found to be entirely mad. Within minutes of her boarding the corporate ship an incredible force rippled through almost the entire expanse of the constellation, causing immense damage to ships and even shifting the orbit of some planets. Heze had suddenly disappeared and the entire system destructively displaced.

In the time when Lady Lydia was missing she had given birth to a child. Over the eight years following his birth she replaced his entire body with enchanted augments, until the boy was no longer made of flesh at all. When she launched this boy into Heze, his enchantments absorbed the whole of the sun into its shell. The enchanted mechanized boy was now possessed by Heze. However, Heze was not a Great Old one, as Lady Lydia had believed him to be. Heze was in fact one of an incredibly ancient species that is older than the universe as we know it. They were a species that came after the Great Old Ones, the resultant consequence of their chaotic actions, and the Great Old Ones hate them. This species, now called the Titans, were bested when they tried to overcome the dominance of the Great Old Ones and they were punished by being imprisoned as suns. Heze was a particularly old and intelligent Titan and thanks to circumstances aligning just perfectly, he was able to reach Lady Lydia and trick her into creating an enchanted vessel to free him into.

Heze has since become the center of his own Cult of Luminaries who worship him and further the cause of releasing more Titans from their prisons. The Luminous Cult of Heze is very expansive, and there are branches of Luminous Cults in the name of other Titans who have been freed to live in enchanted mechanized bodies of boys aged 5 to 12.

The process for creating the vessels has not changed over the years. The rituals begin at confirmation of the sex of the fetus, and once the boys meet certain criteria they receive different enchanted augments until they are eventually no longer made of flesh at all. Most boys don’t live through these rituals. And of those who do, very few survive and successfully absorb the essence of the Titans.

The Popular Religion of Conceptual Personifications

By 2379, the Galaxy has mostly returned to polytheistic religious beliefs. Each individual has the freedom to choose their colour-coded God, and to be treated accordingly. Capitalist “innovation” tends to follow a path of continuously degrading our imaginations at this point, so I think it’s suitable to have a colour coded pantheon of conceptual personifications as the core of popular religion. These Gods are the result of the Titans, and considered to be the origin of humanity.

The Green God - Personifies Capitalism

The Yellow God - Personifies Technology and Progress

The Orange God - Personifies Wellness and Happiness

The Red God - Personifies War and Sex

The Pink God - Personifies Love and Romance

The Purple God - Personifies Death and Memory

The Blue God - Personifies the Mind and Knowledge

The Grey, Brown, Black, and White Gods vary considerably as fringe localized Gods across the Galaxy

The Zodiac Rebellion

Various small rebellions have turned up over the years across the Galaxy, with only very small immediate victories as a result. Over the last year a mysterious alien from unknown origins beyond the Milky Way visited individuals from the Zodiac constellations to orchestrate a network of rebels across the Galaxy. Her reasoning was vague but she speaks in riddles about Fate that inspire the extra efforts of people who have been spent for generations. When you talk nice you don’t have to actually answer questions and make much sense. She comes to be known as ‘Mother Z’, and she is an enigmatic figure who makes herself the center of this network of rebels. Together, these Zodiac rebel leaders, under the guidance of Mother Z, sync up their efforts to fight back against the corporations and to claim their lives as their own.

I have three different concepts for Mother Z. I wanted to do something related to the classic grey alien but with a more dramatically shaped head. But I also like the idea of a totally invisible being. Mother Z is a figure representative of the various incarnations of Fates, which is very typically a triad. So all three would be in the game in some capacity but only one is Mother Z and the other two are minor background figures who are probably only mentioned and never play an active role. Ideally, the player would be able to choose their Mother Z out of the three.

Mother Z is the only being of her kind ever witnessed from anyone within the Milky Way. Within the Milky Way, there are three species and a variant.

Humans

Humans are pretty self explanatory, you know what a human is. Humans have high health, low regeneration, and low stamina.

Hydra

In 2102, there was a max exodus from the oceans, and a species only previously rumoured to exist emerged from the waters of Earth. Among these are the people famously from Innsmouth, written about by HP Lovecraft. The Deep Ones, an alien species transplanted into Earth’s waters by the Great Old Ones thousands of years ago, copulated with Humans around the world to create the hybrid species that came to be known in 2102 as Hydra.

Hydra escaped the toxic rivers, lakes, and oceans as they became uninhabitable and their children were becoming too sick to survive. Naturally, Hydra were met with a lot of violence but their own advanced technologies hastened negotiations with Humans. It was with the help of Hydra technology that rapid breakthroughs in warp travel and terraforming were made.

Hydra have lungs that have evolved for breathing underwater. They are able to breathe outside of water for 1-12 hours, it varies as it is a practiced skill. They typically wear water bowl helmets. Hydra have fish-like facial features including a flat nose and large bulbous far-set eyes. They have fins instead of hair. Their skin ranges between shades of blue and green. They have webbed fingers and toes, as well as a prehensile tail. They have soft voices and are on average of similar height to humans.

Hydra have low health, high regeneration, and medium stamina.

Abominations

The ownership of corporations of their territories extends to rule over the full autonomy of those who exist within those territories. Many corporations conduct biological experiments on seized people for the purpose of researching products, but mostly for the purpose of optimizing the flesh for their militaries and the pleasure of those who could afford such costly procedures. People who are used in these experiments are often criminals (though anyone is easily deemed a criminal if the corporations that rule them wish it) and/or individuals with desirable biological traits for the particular trials.

The experiments and their results range widely with mostly horrific outcomes. While the subjects of these experiments are often killed and disposed of, the monumental volume of experimentation victims over the last couple of decades has increased to such numbers that individuals and whole groups escaping is quite normal, and even sometimes many are simply released by guilt-stricken handlers. These people can be originally Human or Hydra, but in the end they are biologically engineered to be both in some capacity. Across the Galaxy, they commonly refer to themselves and are referred to as Abominations.

Abominations have low health, medium regeneration, and high stamina.

Gorgons

Gorgons are a very small species found on a single island on the Waterworld GJ 1214 b in the Ophiuchus constellation forty years ago. The Gorgons are an advanced civilization, though their preoccupation with life on their planet left them unmotivated to venture into the stars. Water being an extraordinarily valuable resource, this planet was immediately at the center of a major war. The life forms on the island were of such extraordinary rarity and beauty, that it wasn’t long before the discovery spread across the galaxy.

Currently, the Gorgons are mostly in resistance to occupation and colonization of their island. Some, of course, have made other choices post-contact. The Waterworld has become a very dangerous place.

Gorgons have faces resembling those of Humans. They do not have eyebrows. They have snake eyes. They are very tall, averaging around seven feet tall, and their bodies are narrow in comparison to Humans and Hydras. Gorgons have what appear to be snakes as hair. These snakes are more like complex prehensile tails that contribute to extraordinary sensory awareness.

Gorgons have medium health, medium regeneration, and medium stamina.

Player Character

The player is the Gorgon rebel leader for the very controversial thirteenth Zodiac constellation, Opiuchus. I love cosmetics in games, so imagining this as a game with a full character creator, there would be options for facial features, as well as makeup, tattoos, scars, eye colour, tech augments and jewellery. Makeup and jewellery would all be colour adjustable because details matter a lot. There would be options for Gorgon hairstyles as well, but the colours of the snake hair would be limited to ten options that are tied to damage types.

The player starts with a move called Snake Bites. Obviously. Depending on the colour of snakes you chose during creation there will be different types of damage for your Snake Bites (listed in appropriate order corresponding to the image).

Cursed Snake Bites - Afflicted character misses for 1-3 turns.

Electric Snake Bites - Afflicted character is electrocuted, causing damage.

Fire Snake Bites - Afflicted character spontaneously combusts at the beginning of his turn in 1-3 turns, causing damage.

Heat Snake Bites - Afflicted character’s blood boils, causing damage for 1-3 turns.

Hypnotic Snake Bites - Player gains control of the afflicted character for 1-3 turns.

Ice Snake Bites - Afflicted character is frozen for 1-3 turns, causing damage upon unfreezing.

Life Snake Bites - Afflicted character has vines sprout through their flesh in 1-3 turns, causing damage.

Luminous Snake Bites - Afflicted character has a vision of a Titan which causes them to flee.

Shadow Snake Bites - Afflicted character goes mad and turns on their allies for 1-3 turns.

Venomous Snake Bites - Self-explanatory, right? Causes damage over 1-3 turns.

The player also has Scale Armour to start and this will eventually evolve into Stone Armour. Upon completing the first Act, the tutorial Act, the player acquires Stone Look, which turns the afflicted character to stone for a certain number of turns and if the character is hit while in the form of stone they can crumble and die. I thought perhaps to have the Stone Look powered by a rage meter, or maybe have a rage meter that allows you to do a special overpowered Stone Look move that afflicts multiple enemies. And closer to the end of the game, the player will sprout wings, which gives them additional bonus movement in combat.

There are ten playable classes, with three subclasses each.

Paladin - This is a very powerful class who are given dialogue and choice options that align with their oath. I know this is very DnD but there has to be a consequence when a paladin fails to uphold their oath consistently, so Paladins who make choices that don’t align with their oath too may times become Shadow Paladins, where all their moves are replaced with a Shadow variant. This can’t happen before the halfway point in the game though.

• Holy Luminary (great weapons + luminous magic moves) - You’ve taken an oath to perform the will of Heze.

• People’s Champion (sword and shield + moves that motivate and empower allies) - You’ve taken an oath to protect the common people.

• Servant of the Red God (double wielding daggers + thematically limited mood altering magic moves) - You’ve taken an oath to succumb to desire in the name of the Red God.

Witch - A Witch gets their power by making a deal to serve a divine being. Breeders and Revellers will have enchanted augments added to their characters when they add certain moves to their repertoire, since their magic comes directly from those enchanted augments. Witches have extra charm skills.

• Breeder (luminous magic moves that correspond to an enchanted tech augment) - You’ve made a deal to produce sons to release the Titans in exchange for the use of luminous magic.

• Reveller (cosmic magic moves that correspond to an enchanted tech augment) - You’ve made a deal to live based on impulse, spreading hedonism in worship of a Great Old One in exchange for the use of cosmic magic.

• Prancer (magic wand + illusion magic) - You’ve signed a contract with a corporation to sell books of the word of the Orange God in exchange for the power to create illusions.

Officer - This is a class who have received extensive training in killing efficiently. This is a very high damage class, but they are very low on intelligence and mental skills, and they behave unpredictably, often shooting random characters, including allies, off-turn in battle.

• Policing (small arms) - You received your training in a localized corporate police force.

• Military (explosives) - You received your training in a planetary corporate military.

• Navy (heavy artillery) - You received your training aboard galactic corporate space warships.

Technomancer - This class have the ability to mentally control technology. The subclasses are broken up into occupations that would have unique skills related to their expertise that make a different sort of gameplay experience. Technomancers are typically worshippers of the Church of the Yellow God. Choosing this class makes it mandatory to add augments to your character in the creator.

• Doctor (knives + medical skills)

• Pilot (laser guns + strategy skills)

• Miner (explosives + destruction skills)

Berzerker - This is a class of illegally unionized ship engineer gang members. Notoriously brilliant and insomniatic drug users, they require heavy stimulant usage for stamina, but are high damage with higher likeliness of critical hits.

• Electrical Engineer (hammers + electrical damage) - All weapons you wield will become electrified.

• Life Support Engineer (tranquilizer guns + air damage) - All weapons you wield will push the afflicted character back 1-5 steps.

• Warp Engineer (double wielding guns + teleportation power) - All weapons you wield will move the afflicted character to a random spot.

Fighter - Fighters are a well balanced melee class. I based the subclasses on more modern types of fighters. Fighters are never that exciting for me unless I can give them a complicated backstory to make them more engaging, the subclasses fulfill that purpose for me.

• Guerrilla Fighter (versatile melee and ranged + medical and stealth skills) - You are stronger on the ground.

• Brawler (clubs and knives + medical and stamina skills) - You are stronger the more enemies you have within close range.

• Performer (bare knuckles + charm and speed skills) - You are stronger when facing higher class enemies and bosses.

Assassin - This class is exclusively cult members. Most assassins, of course, worship the Green God and accept Monetary Bargains, but you’re a Zodiac Rebel, so that’s not for you. Instead, you’re an assassin from a cult that gets vengence for those who don’t have the money to pay for it. This class kills in the name of an old world demon. They’re ruthless and efficient killers. All assassins have proficiency in sniper rifles, which follow the theme of their bargains and magic. They have a deficiency of charm.

• Blood Bargains (bladed weapons + blood magic) - You make your bargains in the name of Mephistopheles.

• Spirit Bargains (magic staffs, tokens, and spellbooks + spirit magic) - You make your bargains in the name of Murmur.

• Memory Bargains (revolvers + psychic magic) - You make your bargains in the name of Valac.

Necromancer - The necromancer class is science-based, more of a weird science thing than a magic thing. It is frequently practiced by Abominations especially. Necromancers have very high intelligence and knowledge. You also have to either choose to have a deficit of religion or a surplus of religion skills.

• Reanimator (bow and arrow + chemistry skills) - You focus on reanimating the dead to get information or to amass allies to fight with you.

• Summoner (staff + physics skills) - You focus on summoning spirits to assist you in battle.

• Manipulator (wand + biology skills) - You focus on using blood magic to control the living and to sustain your own decaying body.

Mage - This class learns a magic through good, old-fashioned study. Of books and things. All the subclasses are the same, essentially, except the theme of the magic. Spell books, high knowledge, high intelligence, very high curiosity. You can also choose to put a bonus towards medical, charm, or mental skills. But you’re terribly weak with slower stamina regeneration.

• Luminous Magic (spell books + knowledge skills)

• Shadow Magic (spell books + knowledge skills)

• Elemental Magic (spell books + knowledge skills)

Small Merchant - This class is sort of a combined conception of lumpen and artisans. These are individuals who illegally worked independently to develop their own products in secret, and then were either caught or voluntarily surrendered themselves to a corporation. The penatly for this crime is death, but if the corporation reviews your product and approves of it, you’re allowed to live and to continue producing your product under the protection of the corporation with a Small Merchant license. This special designation allows you to travel arround the galaxy to sell your product in any corporation’s territory. However, the number of people allowed to be incorporated along with the license holder is heavily limited by discretionary law, which limits their ability to have families and/or expand their operation. Licenses can be inherited if approved by the corporation. This class is very helpful towards your reputation points across the galaxy.

• Beauty Supplier (small weapons + chemical skills) - Your patrons are mostly wealthy underlings, the class of people who exist to adorn the entourages of capitalists.

• Art Trader (double wielding daggers + knowledge skills) - Your patrons are the most powerful and the most scholarly.

• Grocer (double wielding sickles + nutritional skills) - Your patrons are corporate governance bureaucrats, since food distribution is a major political issue.

So, for Character creation, you would have appearance, Snake Bites options, Class, Subclass, Religion (none being an option too), and Skills. As you go through the game you can convert your Religion by reading books that will make the option available to you through self-reflective dialogue options. Your Skill points will grow based on your choices. There will also be some sort of measurement of personality development based on your choices. And then a tree for acquiring new moves, evolving existing moves, and increasing your health, stamina, and regeneration as you level up.

Act One, The Introduction to the Story

This is not going to be a play-by-play of every Act for the whole thing. I only thought of how it starts and how it ends.

The player is a Gorgon from the Waterworld and the rebel leader for the Ophiuchus Zodiac Constellation. At the beginning of the game you’re hyping up your people before inflitrating/attacking (depends on whether you want to run in recklessly or go the stamina route) a large corporate team that’s occupied a newly unearthed ancient site on the island. At some point the player finds themselves deep in the structure on a circular balcony ledge looking down on a massive pool. Inside the pool is a Great Old One which is truly shocking to the player character to see. The player has wild visions and there’s a whole thing with the structure starting to crumble and the player has to try to escape while also having flashes that affect their ability to move and/or see. When you escape the structure there’s carnage and you become enraged and you continue to have visual issues while you try to fight to survive. At this point you develop your Stone Look ability, which works on a bunch of people for the dramatic effect and all. This leads to you being able to run after a man you recognize to be an important Manager and you mus use stealth to infilitrate his transport ship. You then have to kill him and take command of the ship.

At this point, you are in this small transport ship a distance away from the planet and the whole planet explodes. You’re the last Gorgon and you have to unravel what happened to your planet. As you progress through the game you obviously acquire a more substantial ship and you build a crew from the Zodiac Rebels you meet along the way, and then you also grow your resources and allies/reputation to build your final battle experience. And companions are all romanceable, with the exception of Virgo.

Companions

The companions are made up of the Zodiac Rebels that you meet as you visit their constellations and progress through the story.

Aries

Name: Andrea

Age: 42yrs

Class: Paladin - Holy Luminary

Species: Human

Religion: Titan - Tau Ceti

Starting Weapon and/or Moves: Luminous Greatsword and a healing move.

Colour Aesthetic: Jewel-toned red, purple, and yellow + gold.

Personality: Stoic, Meticulous, Preachy

Backstory: Andrea was born into the Luminous Cult of Heze, but their parents deeply displeased him by having Andrea in secrecy. Unapproved childbirths have strict punishments in the Luminous Cults and they were not only rejected by Heze, but hunted down. Their parents found protection in the arms of Tau Ceti, another Titan, and became the most gracious and loyal members of the Luminous Cult of Tau Ceti until they inevitably died for his cause. Since the age of eleven, Andrea has been a favoured devotee of Tau Ceti. Tau Ceti takes a heavy handed stance in opposition to the corporations who have outlawed the Luminous Cults since they’ve refused to give them ownership of their Luminous technologies. The Titans take no moral stance against the corporations, they merely see them as impeding their goals and beneath them. The Titans’ war against the corporations is born of conceit and self-defense. Andrea is an enthusiastic follower who believes Tau Ceti to be benevolent.

Development: Andrea can grow to be even more devout, they can convert back to Heze, or abandon the Luminous Path to be a Shadow Paladin for various different reasons. Their development focuses heavily on questioning their faith and learning more about what the Titans actually are and understanding that their goals are totally indifferent towards human life.

Taurus

Name: Ebele

Age: 31yrs

Class: Witch - Breeder

Species: Human

Religion: Luminous Cult - Heze

Starting Weapon and/or Moves: Hand, feet and face augments that correspond to a Luminous Beam move, a Healing Dance move, and Identity Illusion move. And also a hairwhip move that causes lacerations from the sharp ends of her long dreadlocks. She’ll unlock optional hair related moves as she levels up as well.

Colour Aesthetic: Light and dark green, neon yellow + gold.

Personality: Cheerful, Courteous, Presumptuous

Backstory: Ebele was raised in a mining colony and had a really rough childhood. A mining accident at the age of thirteen resulted in the loss of her left foot, a trauma Ebele struggled to cope with particularly because she couldn’t afford a proper prosthetic and had to rely on something her bunkermates put together with scraps they managed to sneakily steal. She had to keep her foot secret, on account of the theft of material and time required to construct such a thing. In addition, it caused her considerable pain. Six years later, her colony was infiltrated and occupied by the Luminous Cult of Heze for three weeks while the Cult stole resources and collected members. Heze himself lead the occupation and almost singlehandedly kept the siege by the corporation at bay while they seized the desired goods and people. Heze took a direct interest in Ebele and personally invited her to join his cult. She agreed, and became a Breeder. She’s not seen or spoken with Heze in any capacity since that day, but she has since birthed three children, only one of whom was a boy and his transformation into a vessel was unsuccessful, he died. The other two children were moved into children’s learning communities. Ebele uses her magic to help fascilitate the safety and secrecy of these communities and she is considered a great matriarchal protector of children. She also makes time to fulfill her agreement, and travels to consort with desirable partners. She is currently in her first term of pregnancy.

Development: Ebele’s pregnancy will progress throughout the story. She will go through periods of questioning the fates of her three children and what will come of her current pregnancy. Ultimately, Ebele’s personal development will focus on the choices she makes as a mother.

Gemini

Name: Josquin +Esther and Tommy

Age: 38yrs

Class: Officer - Policing

Species: Human

Religion: None

Starting Weapons and/or Moves: Multi-barrel plasma gun and a Wail move that intimidates enemies.

Colour Aesthetic: Mustard yellow, military green, lavender, brown + chrome.

Personality: Josquin - Idealist, Disciplined, Sad / Esther: Intense, Perceptive, Grim / Tommy: Outspoken, Decisive, Petty

Backstory: Josquin became a police officer because he idolized his father who was a cop who died while on duty. He specifically worked as a detective on one of the luxury worlds investigating murders but he remained an idealist and performed well. He was approached as a candidate for a new procedure his corporation was starting to do on select officers. This new procedure involved the digitization of a dying officer’s consciousness and the incorporation of it into the mind of a living officer. The purpose was to improve the performance of already optimally performing officers. Josquin agreed and that’s when Tommy was incorporated into his mind. Tommy became a police officer because after his proficiency exams the only educational sponsorship he could get was to a police academy, and that options seemed so much better than returning to the factory. He was deep into an undercover operation within an organization labelled as rebels when he was accidentally shot by someone within the operation cleaning a gun. He was selected to be digitized and incorporated with Josquin to continue his undercover operation. The arrangement was tortuous and regrettable for the both of them, but it was irreversible. The procedure was effective in its goals though. But after years of Tommy in his head, Josquin slipped up majorly, having gotten too comfortable with his extrahuman abilities, and the result was the fatal wounding of his partner, Esther. Tommy was deadset against incorporating a third consciousness when the offer had been made shortly after the initial procedure years ago, and up until now Josquin had agreed. But Josquin made the decision to do so because it’s his partner, and cop tropes. Esther is the estranged daughter of one of the corporation’s board members. Estranged because she chose to become a police officer instead of going into business. A farce she continued out of spite despite hating her job. Once Esther was incorporated, Josquin was made aware of knowledge she had regarding her father’s death. He was murdered by cops on the order of their corporation’s board of directors because he was hoarding illegally obtained corporate data. Josquin is then prompted to secretly work against the corporation from within the police force on a prestigious luxury world. Josquin, Esther, and Tommy are all of the combined mind to perform illegal acts if necessary to help desperate people escape the law and to uncover the secrets of the data Josquin’s father was killed for.

Development: The truth they uncover reveals various ways their lives have overlapped to lead to the combination of their consciousness. This can lead to peace or anger. And either response can lead to the character either martyring themselves or becoming a villain.

Extra note: I don’t think it would be a popular choice to have a cop as a rebel leader, but I think it’s smart to create a variation of characters to create conflict within the story and for the player.

Another extra note: This is not supposed to be representational of Dissociative Identity Disorder.

And one more extra note: The collar puts limitations on the incorporated minds. They all exist at the same time, in psychic dialogue with each other. Josquin speaks from his body. Esther and Tommy’s faces are projected as pictured from the collar over Josquin’s head and they speak from the speakers on the collar. The collar stops Esther and Tommy from controlling any facet of Josquin’s physical body. They discover though that there are settings that can set any selection of them as dormant, and give control of the body to any of them as well. Part of the level growth for him could involve being extra superpowered by having different consciousnesses in control of the body.

Last note because something occurred to me: As a romanceable character the above could get sketchy, but any romancing of any individual or combination of these three characters would be an extra challenge with triple the dialogue of other romances to acquire the consent of all three. For obvious reasons.

Cancer

Name: Nia

Age: 47yrs

Class: Technomancer - Doctor

Species: Hydra

Religion: The Great Old Ones - Mother Hydra and Father Dagon (they may not qualify as Great Old Ones within the Lovecraft Mythos, BUT the Hydra’s popular religion certainly portrays them as such.)

Starting Weapon and/or Moves: The biomechanical pincer arms on her back have a Strike move. And she has moves to regenerate hers or another characters health and stamina.

Colour Aesthetic: Blue and dark violet + chrome.

Personality: Brilliant, soft, guilt-ridden.

Backstory: Nia worked in large colony hospitals until she was forcefully recruited by her corporation to perform surgeries for their biological experiments. She killed and mutilated so many people that she quickly learned not to keep count, and she did so under duress. She thought she had no other option but to do as ordered or die. She then struck up a friendship with a patient she was working on, a criminal named Odo. Nia carefully devised a plan to help Odo escape and it wasn’t until many surgeries that she was able to execute the plan. She successfully got Odo out. She was welcomed by the rebels she’d arranged to retrieve Odo, his former comrades, and Odo encouraged her to escape with him. She agreed and she was introduced to a whole new world. Driven by guilt, Nia has created a network of nomadic medically trained rebels who travel the galaxy aiding other rebels in need. She remains close friends with Odo.

Development: Nia’s personal story is focused on introspection about her guilt and the effect it has on her medical treatment network. There will be some sort of conflict that arises because the network specifically provides medical services to other rebels and never to anyone else. Odo factors into Nia’s story heavily.

Leo

Name: Elliott and his holographic pet lion Albrecht

Age: 29yrs

Class: Berzerker - Electrical Engineer

Species: Human

Religion: The Grey God of Anarchy

Starting Weapon and/or Moves: Two electric hammers and three stamina boosters.

Colour Aesthetic: Orange, brown, and sky blue + bronze.

Personality: Clever, resourceful, cynical.

Backstory: Elliott is the union leader on his ship and perpetual second to the Chief Electrical Engineer. He grew up in ships, and was hanging out with union folks in electrical rooms from a very young age. When he was a teenager his union was caught and many arrested, including himself. He refused to turn on his fellow union members but was transferred instead of executed because of a lucky coincidence with a manager who had moral objections to killing kids on ships. After he was transferred to his current post he was more careful with his union organizing. He now heads one of the most powerful unions in the galaxy on a major corporate warship.

Development: Elliott’s development focuses on where his home is. In the end, depending on choices, his ending is tied up in where he chooses to be.

Virgo

Name: Heze and his pet bird Zeta LII

Age: Unknowable

Class: Titan

Species: Titan

Religion: Titan - Heze

Starting Weapon and/or Moves: His entire body is enchanted on the inside so he doesn’t need any weapons or accessories to channel the luminous magic that makes up his entire being.

Colour Aesthetic: Gold + neon yellow.

Personality: He has a specific and peculiar personality that can’t be described in three words. On the surface he behaves childishly in an eerie way, he makes obnoxious demands and throws tantrums and demands exhausting amounts of attention. He is very secretive and observant, he collects and files all information for potential manipulative use later. He is essentially an immoral trickster god. But he has indescribable power (limited by the confines of his vessel) and his egocentricism naturally appeals to desperate people conditioned by capitalist society.

Backstory: I’ve already described most of his story. He was from a species that came about accidentally from the frivolous actions of the Great Old Ones. This species repulsed the Great Old Ones and they were imprisoned in the sky as stars/suns. Heze was always exceptionally strong and clever. When Humans and Hydra began exploring the Virgo constellation, Heze called out to Lady Lydia and tricked her into performing a series of rituals on living flesh to create a vessel to carry him. He has since grown a large cult, commanding followers to replicate and improve the scientific and magical rituals that went into the creation of Heze’s vessel so the other Titans can be freed from their prisons too. This, of course, is not good for life, since removal of stars destroys entire systems and the life within them.

Development: Heze is not good. He primarily exists as the voice of sadism on the player’s shoulder, with a potential route for the character to intentionally or unintentionally betray humanity by joining in Heze’s cause.

Libra

Name: Raya

Age: 26yrs

Class: Fighter - Guerrilla Fighter

Species: Human

Religion: The Purple God

Starting Weapons and/or Moves: Battle axe and chakram, and she has a move that increases her movement.

Colour Aesthetic: Pink, deep cool reds, deep cool browns + silver.

Personality: Generous, Funny, Stubborn

Backstory: Raya was born on an agricultural planet in a tribe that has unique beliefs about the Purple God who they worship as the only true god. Raya’s people don’t worship death in a manner that calls them to kill in reverence. They actually consider it a sin to kill unless it’s for the purpose of preserving the rightful dignity of a natural death held by all sentient life. Because the Purple God is also a god of memory, Raya’s people consider a natural death of old age the path out of reincarnation and into heaven. They are opposed to space travel because they think it’s an unnatural influence on the aging of the body. Their beliefs are quite extreme, but it’s easy to make exceptions and to explain seemingly contradictory choices by rationalizing that it’s for the purpose of preserving the right to natural death. Raya shares all of these beliefs. Raya’s tribe are nomads on the agricultural planet who struggle to survive since the planet is heavily secured. As a result of the dangerous circumstances of their existence, they are all excellent fighters and effective thieves. Raya was always aware of the poverty and starvation of the colonies on her world, but after coming by a satellite radio by chance and communicating with people suffering on other worlds, she realized this was a huge problem. Raya convinced her tribe to orchestrate a way to steal enough food to assist starving colonists on their planet and also other planets by requiring the goods be picked up. Since they believe in reincarnation there are a lot of grey areas where sins are often rationalized as necessary for the cause. Your sins don’t carry over, you’ll die of old age and have a chance to make it to your natural death of old age and into heaven in the next life.

Development: The player would have a tough time convincing Raya to leave her planet and join them and there would have to be some sort of consequence. She would obviously deal with a lot of uncertainty if she’s doing space travel with you, so that will be a major point of internal conflict. Her people also naturally really hate corporations and the Luminous Cults, so she will have conflict with several of the other characters as well and either those issues can escalate or be mediated to improve over the course of the game.

Scorpio

Name: Phist

Age: 35

Class: Assassin - Blood Bargains

Species: Human

Religion: Mephistopheles

Starting Weapons and/or Moves: Blood hex sniper rifle and a cursed knife.

Colour Aesthetic: Black, red, burgundy, and eggplant + silver.

Personality: Witty, Playful, Secretive

Backstory: You don’t ever learn his backstory and it should be very obnoxious and frustrating for the player. Your dialogue with Phist is primarily heavily philosophical and if you befriend or romance him your interactions expand into discussions about your interests, so you learn about different media situated in this world. Over time, Phist explains his cult to the player and why he’s called Phist. Phists are people who make requests of Mephistopheles that are so monumental that they have to perform so many blood bargain assassinations in payment first. Blood bargain assassinations involve the promise of the soul of a future descendent of the bargainer, entirely up to the choice of Mephistopheles who he chooses from their lineage. The Phist then kills the target with the blood of the bargainer. Phist reveals his payment for the souls is to become an immortal demon himself. Phist was instructed to perform 837 blood bargain assassinations, and he’s reached 836.

Development: Does he perform the 837th blood bargain assassination or not? And if he doesn’t, what does all his philosophical ranting amount to in context of killing 836 people for nothing. Philosophical dilemmas abound with this character. If you romance Phist he shares that his real name is Nadim.

Extra Note: His blood sniper rifle is powered by just random blood, it’s not always bargain blood unless he’s actually performing a blood bargain assassination.

Sagittarius

Name: Odo

Age: 54yrs

Class: Necromancer - Reanimator

Species: Abomination

Religion: None, and he is extremely antagonist in regards to religion.

Starting Weapons and/or Moves: Bow and arrow and a big hatchet, main starting move is a Reanimator Arrow that will reanimate a corpse or nearby skeleton to protect and fight for you (this is limited to 1 at a time in the beginning.)

Colour Aesthetic: Purple, teal and neon green + steel.

Personality: Forthright, Calm, Ambitious

Backstory: Odo had a brief encounter with a small group of rebels in his home colony. The rebels were defending a young person from corporate security, and when presented with the dilemma of whether to step in and stop the inevitable killing of the youth and rebels, Odo had the courage to intervene. The youth and Odo both fled with the rebels who welcomed them graciously to leave their planet on their space ship. Over time Odo acquired his own ship and led his own rebel group, providing escape and transport to oppressed people. Odo was unfortunately caught during a mission gone wrong and he was forced into the biological experiments. He befriended one of his surgeons, Nia, who promised to assist him in escaping. While he waited for that to happen, he had an extra torso and legs added to his body, his feet were replaced with hands, his ears were given points, and he had a second heart transplanted into his chest. Eventually, Nia did break Odo out, and he was restored to captain his ship.

Development: Odo’s story would focus on learning more about the corporate experimentation and ending them.

Capricorn

Name: Alma

Age: 67yrs

Class: Mage - Luminous Magic

Species: Hydra

Religion: Titan - Heze

Starting Weapons and/or Moves: Staff and digital spellbook.

Colour Aesthetic: Grey, soft yellow, blue-violet + gold.

Personality: Eccentric, Tough, Sarcastic

Backstory: It’s very unusual for Hydra to join Luminous Cults. Alma, however, grew up taking care of her sick father who was a conspiracy nut with a strong belief that the Hydra didn’t actually need to leave the waters of Earth and did so at the behest of Cthulhu who wished for their demise. He also believed that Father Dagon and Mother Hydra were pretenders who were actually more like Adam and Eve figures who were left to their own devices and chose to manipulate their offspring into worshipping them. When Alma’s father died she was left with no purpose in her life. Due to the values and ideologies promoted by her father, Alma was easily swayed to the cause of the Luminous Cults, seeing the Titans as the rightful rulers of the universe.

Development: Can you sway her to change her beliefs? Can she sway you to change your beliefs? You’ll need to have 800 repetitive eerily hostile discussions about it to find out. Interacting with Alma should feel as much like wasting hours of your life debating a conspiracist on social media as possible. To motivate the player to suffer through this, Alma plays a very significant role in the conclusion of the game and what significant role she plays depends on the choices you make in relation to her.

Aquarius

Name: Gironima

Age: 42yrs

Class: Small Merchant - Beauty Supplier

Species: Hydra

Religion: The Great Old Ones - Mother Hydra only

Starting Weapon and/or Moves: Small pistol and a stiletto knife, a Poisoning move.

Colour Aesthetic: Coral, dark brown, blue and green + soft gold.

Personality: Charming, Methodical, Dishonest

Backstory: Gironima was the daughter of a corporate CEO’s palace servant on one of the luxury worlds. She was a disobedient child who was regularly disciplined by house security and she was an equally difficult teenager. When it was rumoured that the CEO ordered for Gironima to be taken away to a convent of the Green God the servants conspired and quickly snuck Gironima into the underground sewer systems to live amongst other social rejects with no other options. By the age of nineteen, Gironima had developed an immaculate product line of beauty products and she confidently resurfaced for the first time in four years and surrendered herself to the CEO. Her beauty products rewarded her with a Small Merchant license, thanks to the support of much of the CEO’s harem. Gironima has not only continued to thrive with her beauty supply business, but she’s developed connections with members of the entourages of capitalists across the Galaxy and has managed to establish a business carefully hidden with her beauty supply business involving the selling of poisons to vengeful members of these entourages.

Development: Gironima is put in a situation where she’s forced to question whether individual deaths ever help to change anything. There are many potential conclusions she can reach and they’re all more complicated than yes or no.

Extra Note: This character is inspired by Gironima Spana.

Pisces

Name: Kiyan

Age: 33yrs

Class: Oracle

Species: Hydra

Religion: The Great Old Ones - Oorn

Starting Weapons and/or Moves - Spear, a singing move that alters the afflicted character’s mood in a manner of the player’s choosing called Serenade, and a Frozen Orb move.

Colour Aesthetic: Light and dark aquamarine, seafoam green + soft gold.

Personality: Thoughtful, Curious, Melancholic

Backstory: Kiyan was born with a third eye and an aptitude for unique magic. It’s a rare occurence, but oracles have been recorded throughout Hydran history. Oracles are automatically adopted into a special Order of the Sighted where they spend their formative years learning how to use their powers. Oracles have visions of the future (often with the use of tools like cards or bones to assist in clarifying visions - potentially a series of in-game fortune telling games), voices that can alter the moods of others through song, oral storytelling, or the recitation of poetry, and water related magic (including cold/ice). Oracles are trained to be entirely free of judgment and personal ideology. They live in the service of anyone who calls upon them to provide their services, travelling around fulfilling requests for fortunes told, moods altered, and whatever assistance their water magics might provide. It’s a very lonely life but Kiyan performs his duties as he is too fearful and anxious about breaking from the path laid out for him since birth.

Development: It’s easy to talk Kiyan into joining you. Kiyan’s story involves a lot of new experiences for him and you learn more about Oracles and particularly about Oorn, who is an important factor in gaining information that helps you in your end game. It’s nearly impossible to not develop an intimate friendship or romance with this character, but choices you make and things you say to him have a much stronger impact and consequences for the character’s path. Kiyan has moves that only unlock if you achieve a certain reputation level with him. His survival and presence in your party is mandatory to win the final optional boss battle.

Extra Note: Hydras are the only species in the Milky Way known to be born Oracles.

Story Conclusion

The big finale takes place on a strange world with nothing on it but the Green God’s kingdom. The player surmises that the Green God acts as galactic governor and that the capitalists take direction from him. Evidence suggests that he ordered the end of her world and species, and the player can make a series of assumptions about what the Green God even is depending on the choices they’ve made and the side quests they’ve completed. Is he just the richest man ever? Is he a magical being? Is he augmented into divinity? Regardless of what he is, the player needs to kill him. The whole end sequence starts by managing to land on the planet, reaching the location of the Green God’s kingdom, then getting into the city, and then the player has to make their way through the city streets and into the palace to find the Green God inside. The amount and type of support in this final major battle depends on the connections the player made with different individuals and factions. Choices inform who lives and who dies.

After killing the Green God, it’s revealed that the destruction of the Waterworld wasn’t intentional but the result of a series of mistakes and bad decisions by several parties, some directly a result of the direction of the Green God, and some not, but in the end it’s debatable where the player wants to place the blame. The amount of detail and aspects of the chain of events that are revealed to the player depend on which side quests they’ve completed. And then the player can choose to take the place of the Green God for a variety of motivations (self-serving, to be a benevolent ruler, etc), to make the Green God’s kingdom a rebel haven, to go back to adventuring in the ship, to settle down on a planet, etc, etc. And then there are various outcomes based on the character’s choices throughout the game.

But wait! Then there’s more. It’s revealed that Mother Z had knowledge of these events transpiring before the destruction of the world. There’s a confrontation. Throughout the game there are hints in the main story quests and side quests about the origins of the Gorgons and the creature in the ancient site. But now Mother Z reveals that the creature on the Waterworld was Yig. Thousands of years ago, groups of Hydras did attempt warp space travel, but their calculations were clumsy and they ended up crash landing on the island of the Waterworld. When these Hydra killed the snakes on the island for food Yig became angry and turned them into Gorgons. The Gorgons lost all memory of their history, crash landing on a strange planet and being transformed into snake people by a Great Old One is traumatic. They carried on, and created a utopic society. Yig lived in the water of the Waterworld all that time, the site was a temple rigged to call Yig, but an unfortunate event occurred too long ago to be remembered that resulted in the burial of the temple and it was all but forgotten along with Yig’s presence in the waters of their planet. The occupying corporation couldn’t summon Yig, as the temple was bound to only work for Gorgons, so when the bleeding player enters the large room with the pool, that’s when Yig arrived and immediately knew what was going to happen, imparting precious power on the player (the unique Gorgon powers). The player can have a variety of reactions to this news and a bunch of complicated feelings about Yig.

Mother Z knew these events would transpire and inserted herself to adjust the events of the aftermath. Mother Z is a member of a trio of Oracles, each a member of a different species granted with the Oracle gift by Oorn. Oorn, however, has been captured by a much more intimidating and dangerous Great Old One (Ghatanothoa?) who has taken the trio of powerful Oracles into his service to play with Fate on his behalf. Yig’s demise was a satisfying settlement of an old score for Oorn-controlling fate-meddling Great Old One. The end of the Green God was a necessity that would set other events in motion, those events are left a mystery (subject for a sequel?). Mother Z tells the player that their existence is of no consequence any longer. The player can at this point end the game simply by walking away either with the intention of going on with their life or trying to sabotage this mysterious future that was set in motion, they can ask to join Mother Z’s cause, or they can attack Mother Z who is a hard as fuck fight that’s ALMOST impossible to win.

Full disclosure, it really didn’t occur to me that it would be remotely this long, but here we are.