Lore I: The Insecure One

Note

Sorry for the length of this but I suck at summarizing things. 

Also this is not a representation of our world, but rather one that shares a relative likeliness. Just saying XD


Content:

  1. Background
  2. Map Zones
  3. The Problem
  4. The Objective
  5. Characters
  6. Environment (Brief)
  7. Game Transport
  8. Character Creation/Stats
  9. Developments

Highlighted bits are additional details.

Highlighted bits are ‘laws’ and ‘traits’ being added.


Background

The greatest of ancient civilizations spoke of the gods, depicting them as if they lived among them and documenting how their gods not only offered guidance, but insight and wisdom of their past, present and future.

In a world no less lacking in faith, it came to be decided that such divine presence could only bring with it such progress, of which a lasting legacy would surely emerge. Rallying together, the people sought every means by which to bring a god, any god among the faiths, unto the physical world, and after years of exhausting every outlet across the fields of prayer, magic and technology, they succeeded.

Arriving to the world, whatever they summoned did indeed possess power befitting a god, as standing 40ft tall, it tore the world from reality, flattening its surface into a single, suspended plane in an abyss of the night sky. It answered no questions and made no indication of even noticing the confused and terrified people around it, and kneeling, settled in the center of the world.

After years of the initial fear, anger and grief fading away into a hopeless acceptance, those who survived that day came to mock the being as The Insecure One, or Inse, for at the very moment it opened its eyes to the world, all life outside its field of vision was brutally torn from the bodies of every man, woman, animal and child. Decay accelerated in everything; flesh deteriorated amidst metals, concretes and fabrics alike. Only that which was before Inse was spared, and many speculated it was the beings way of keeping an eye on them, the elimination of everything else a drastic means of preventing anyone from bringing upon it unforeseen harm. Those who had been fortunate or unfortunate enough to have been at the edge of its sights however, found themselves stricken with unexplained illnesses, physically impaired and near death, and only those who were able to return to the direct field of sight were eventually freed of their ailments, experiencing almost arbitrary, additional improvements to their physical states.

These regions – where life could still barely exist – between the major field of vision and the being’s blind fields, became simply referred to as the West and East Peripherals.

For all the destruction, life could have returned to being a twisted kind of simple: Stay where life could exist and all would be well. A month after the sudden shock to the world, however, those still alive realized Inse was beginning to turn.

Evacuating in panic, survivors watched as the seconds brought decay and death to their homes behind them, forcing them into the remains of what had previously been destroyed. Inse seemed to slowly rotate where it was, but stopped after a week’s worth of constant travel to keep within its sights. Time went on, and always Inse would turn, creating a world where all notions of home were abandoned, replaced instead with perpetual travel for survival. Perpetual scavenging became a normality as well, as decay seemed to reverse under Inse’s gaze, providing a sufficient amount of resources to remain available with each journey forward.

Life went on, around and around the remains of the world, with the unmoving Inse at its center.


Map Locations

Primary Zones

Major:

The direct field of vision of Inse stretching from Inse itself to the edge of the world. The safest and only place where life can be sustained and decay is reversed. This reversal however, stops short at actually returning life to organic matter.

The West Peripheral:

The safer of the two peripheral zones as Inse has been known to turn its gaze in the direction of the West, which upon doing so would replace it as the new Major.

The East Peripheral:

The riskier of the two peripherals as those in the East must be sure to keep up when on the move during the shift in Inse’s gaze, else they be pushed out of it to their deaths.

The Blindlands:

All outside of Inse’s vision, where instant death and accelerated decay are to be found.

Secondary Zones

Fore-lands:

The immediate region in front of Inse. It is a contested space for its security, as situated so close to Inse, the least travel is required to stay within Its sights, and the rate of Its gaze’s turn is also the slowest.

Mid-lands:

The entire region between the immediate Fore-lands and faraway End-lands. The majority of the surviving population ‘resides’ here.

End-lands:

The outer rim of Inse’s sights towards the edge of the world. It requires the fastest and furthest travel to stay within Inse’s gaze, and is the hardest region to survive in without help and proper transport.


The Problem

Life literally revolved around Inse for a barely tolerated ten years, but as the cycles of Inse’s gaze went by, it became apparent among survivors that the old could not die, and the young barely aged. Their prolonged lives, constantly beset by the never ending reminder of Inse’s destruction with each journey, were also forced to coexist by the piles of dead loved ones and fellow man alike who would never find rest, and finally, anger was reignited; survivors rallied to fight.

Creating weapons and reviving spells of battle, they traveled inland towards Inse despite the next period of travel expected to have been approaching, intent on finding some way to make it pay for their predicaments. As the first attacks fell, however, Inse, for the very first time since its arrival, reacted to their presence.

Its gaze began to turn faster than it had ever turned, and when it finally settled again, it did so for a week less than before, the period of travel itself lengthened by hours. Again the survivors tried, and tried again, but as if Inse now watched them, the mere act of preparing an attack brought along even shorter period of stillness, accelerated turns, and gradually lengthened periods of travel. To continue trying to fight, it seemed, was to bring about their own demise.


The Objective

Inse’s gaze now turns every 3 days-almost too quickly to keep up on foot-and each turn lasts 9 days.

But still people are angry.

There is no stopping further impulsive attempts against Inse, and hence no stopping the eventuality that one day, Inse’s retaliation would set his sights beyond any survivor’s means of keeping up.

There is no stopping It bringing about the end of all remaining life, and the only thing left to do is to beat Inse to that eventuality by either outsmarting, or destroying, It first.


Characters

The dwellers/survivors of Whatslef, a name coined for the region under Inse’s gaze at any given time for obvious reasons, vary largely in terms of lifestyles given the complex nature of the world and the absence of any official social structures. How they travel and whether they are solitary or part of a group can change on a whim, and the majority of the population largely came to create their own purpose in life to live for.

The list below both serve to present the types of people you may encounter as well as the types you may choose from. You may also choose to come up with something completely different as long as it could exist in this world where technology and magic are still being practiced (based on what can be/was recovered from Whatslef by said character).

***

Groups/Alliances:

“Barriguards”

Those who carried out the first attacks against Inse were the first to recognize the consequences of doing so. Rallying together, they created the second and most formidable line of defense in the Fore-lands against those out to destroy Inse in the hopes of preventing the attacks from worsening the situation. They are only active and hence effective at the base of Inse Itself, where they have set up a barricade they guard. They are strictly organized and hardly tolerant even among their own ranks.

“Zealots”

Survivors who have convinced themselves to embrace Inse’s presence. They make up the first defense of Inse in the Fore-lands beyond the barricade and claim to receive power from the ‘god’.

“Airtroopers/Airfarers”

Survivors who choose to travel in airships and air balloons during times of travel. Often, these vessels form a secondary ‘city’ above the ground when anchored in the Major with makeshift bridges and ladders linking them to trusted ships. Given the high risks involved in relying on these vessels for travel and security, access to them are often restricted to the crew and trusted passengers, or strictly controlled in visitor/passenger movement. There are only a few people who have their own, solitary air vessels that are tolerated by the larger vessels. Air space within Inse’s sight is not exactly contested, but for fear of crashing, proximity is a serious, mutual concern.

Unofficial Groups and Callings:

“Ritesmen”

Finding the dead too many to bury, survivors initially piled them up and left them for the element. Returning to the location the next time around Inse however, it became apparent the dead were unable to decay away under Inse’s restoring gaze. Some people began trying to solve the problem of the piling masses, and dedicated groups or individuals began formed in the hopes of laying the deceased to rest. With cremation throwing the ashes of the dead into the air to invisibility spells causing rude shocks and dangerous obstructions, however, these people are somewhat respected for their cause but generally seen as a nuisance.

“Railfolk”

Dedicated to manning and maintaining the train and the tracks in the End-lands for the sake of fellow survivors.

“Scavenger-Traders”

Self explanatory. These people have selective ties to different groups and types of people who choose to coordinate with them.

General Survivors:

“Survivors”

They mind their own business and do their own thing for their own purposes and means. Whether in groups or alone, they generally do little to stir things up. Even if they did stir things up, odds are those in their circles would know.

“Extravs”

Whatslef is the ‘continent’ that Inse is based on in the center of the flattened world. Other continents are still in existence, and testing fate, the more extreme travelers risk sea travel to them without the certainty of surviving the next shift in the waters or in the next lands over.

“Riskies”

Riskies, or Risk Junkies, come in three forms. 1. Highly adept at survival and more exposed/uniquely equipped than others. 2. Extremely, learned and informative but also extremely disabled and/or dying. 3. Dead, with their only use being in collecting whatever loot they recovered whilst still alive. Whatever the status, they are the most unpredictable of the lot, with a extended branch of their lifestyles being the Saboteurs.

“Saboteurs”

Unsatisfied with their already dangerous lifestyles, Saboteurs are Riskies who cross the line and literally find/create trouble around others, causing anything from petty scuffles to fatal accidents for the heck of it. The worst among them once caused an airship to fall into Blindlands during a shift, killing everyone on board.

“Inventors/Alchemist”

Survivors actively still pursuing advancements in technology and/or magic wherever they can. Their intentions and purpose for doing so vary.


Environment (Brief)

Whatslef features mostly intact ruins of large buildings and structures, with land forms depending on the Major at the time. Dwellers usually use mechanized or simple stilts or climbing equipment in order to get around.

Water bodies inland are not common.

Given Inse’s restoring gaze, physical tolerance for damage and contaminants are moderately improved, so riskier feats within the Major can be achieved at reduced physical consequences.

The air is breathable (so long as the Ritesmen are not burning corpses. . .)

 


Game Transport

‘Public’ Transport:

Nice people do exist, and such people would be willing to help others during the traveling periods of time as Inse turns by allowing you to hitch a ride or even temporarily belong to their traveling groups for a price or even for free. Be advised however: Murphy’s law wasn’t one of the victims of Inse’s arrival.

Private Transport:

Players are allowed to create any form of personal transport vehicle based off, and even combining, the use of magic, technology and science with whatever their character may have been able to salvage from their surroundings with respect to their backstories.

Players are even welcomed to go to the extremes in their transports if so wished, though it would be advised to set your own limits to these extremes as given the nature of the environment, it would be just as easy for your characters to do so as it would be for me to destroy them across the course of the story.

This would be in order to prevent any-over-the-top-extremes from compromising the plot.

All characters would typically require some means of transport however.

Unless you’re cool to walk.

***

(Additional)

‘Emergency’ Transport:

Over the years, some of the more practical of survivors, eventually coined Railfolk, situated in the End-lands started creating train tracks that would run from the East Peripheral to the West in order to give the Eastern dwellers a better chance at getting away. The train would be placed a distance from the edge of the East Peripheral while the tracks, built the last time they were there and since rusted away, recovered under Inse’s gaze. Upon the beginnings of Inse’s shift, the train would leave the East Peripheral without any stops until it reached the West. The rest of the way is independent to the survivors.


Character Creation

Character Details

  1. Name
  2. Age
  3. Means of transportation, whether a personal vehicle or not (Completely up to you. This will affect your overall inventory.)
  4. Preferred ‘tools of the trade’ (Magic/Tech/Nil/etc)
  5. Backstory
  6. *Character Type

*Brief overview of your character’s chosen ‘lifestyle’. You may choose a listed character type or create whatever character fits into the lore. There are only humans in this world, but the existence of both magic and tech may provide alternatives if you want to go there. . .

Additional Details:

  1. Stats (You may arrange your 8 stat points according to your character. If you leave this out, I will assign them for you based on the above details.)
  2. Affiliations in Whatslef
  3. Companions/Familiars if any

Making it to the bottom of the page means you needed to scroll past the sea of font above. I went crazy so you’re welcomed to do so too.


Development

The was a rumor that if a child is hated by Inse, he would be born with blue inscriptions on the body.

2D Final Project: EGO

Final

11-min

Supportive Family + Chaotic Imagination = Me

[Supportive Family]

I choose the most significant family member in my life to represent my primary support and opted for bolder, stronger colours to indicate both the personality of the person and the qualities of the support given to me.

[Chaotic Imagination]

I opted to use an orderly background crowded out by one of my most significant original characters and a language created for one of my original stories to show the makeup of my creative mind. The words translate to ‘Weirdness and randomness’

[Me]

Just me. A serious exterior actually made up of brighter, more playful colours.

Exploration – Indecisiveness = Better Me

[Exploration]

A butterfly with bright pretty colours is the last thing I would have ever drawn otherwise due to long standing practices, established preferred styles and admitted bias, and so the idea of Exploration is best represented by giving a chance to what I would usually never do.

[Indecisiveness]

A genuine case of indecisiveness. I destroyed an earlier attempt at [Me] due to indecisiveness, so I cut it out and combined it with older personal works I have yet to complete due to a lack of decisiveness and inability to be satisfied with my own work.

[Better Me]

Churning out a whirlwind of ideas, characters, stories and ultimately, my own comics, with ease.

22-min

Focus x Exposure = Ideal Me

[Focus]

The symbol is an old one, almost 10 years, that I created and always perceived to represent ‘consciousness’. Hence, conscious focus was appropriately represented by it, together with glue drops one would not notice unless focused on the panel.

[Exposure]

Encountering people and places of different natures (represented by the four quadrants that ultimately all consist of strangers and the unknown) and taking something back from each encounter. I put myself wearing the colours of the quadrants and standing among the crowd in complete comfort to show the fruits of exposure.

[Ideal Me]

The hieroglyphics translate to ‘The genius of creative utterance’. There are a lot of divine and god-like interpretations and implications to that, but then this IS supposed to be the ‘Ideal’, even if unrealistic, me.

Experience + Originality = Me In 5 Years

[Experience]

Standing upon a telescope with a telescope to represent building on past knowledge from experience with more knowledge from experience in order to reach new heights.

[Originality]

A compilation of my original characters as well as unused drawings and designs. The composition is fractured as something original should not be instantly recognized.

[Me In 5 Years]

A representation of what my mind will be like in 5 years rather than where I will physically be. I want my mind to be so fired up and on the ball I used brain neurons with lightning encased in a clock to show  my overcharged thoughts and ideas are allied with time rather than being obstructed by it. The lightning breaches beyond the clock, being too active to contain.

Colour Theory Research

001 002

Exploration of Ideas

003 004005

Panel By Panel [ Me]

[Supportive Family]

006

Gouache over digital print

Development:

006008 007

[Chaotic Imagination]

007

Inks, gouache

Development:

009010 011

[Me]

009

Gouache, colour pencils over digital print

Development

013

Panel By Panel [Better Me]

[Exploration]

002

Colour pencils, gouache

Development:

dfv014

[ Indecisiveness]

005

Collage/Digital prints, inks, colour pencils, gouache

Development:

015 016

[ Better Me]

001

Colour pencils and gouache

Development:

017

Panel By Panel [ Ideal Me]

[Focus]

012

Hot glue over digital prints

Development:

024

[Exposure]

011

Gouache, Inks over digital print

Development:

018

[Ideal Me]

010

Gouache, Inks

Development:

021020022

Panel By Panel [ Me In 5 Years]

[Experience]

003

Collage/Gouache, colour pencils over digital print

Development:

023  026025

[Originality]

004

Gouache over digital print

Development:

027028

[Me In 5 Years]

008

Gouache, colour pencils over digital print

Development:

029030

Compilation:

Project 2: Nursery Rhymes

“Ring A Round A Rosie,

A Pocket Full Of Posies

Ashes, Ashes

We All Fall Down”

Final Compositions

1.

2

“We All Fall Down”

The Bubonic Plague was largely accepted as the workings of God’s wrath upon the world for its sins, and as a result, the devout relied on repentance and prayer to bring about their salvation. The blind faith is directly depicted in the blindfolded priest, with the mask doubling as a symbol of the ignorance of the time as well towards the true nature of the disease that swept through Europe. The Bubonic flea indicates the true driving force of the plague’s destruction, and positioned over the priest’s head implies the plague’s rooted hysteria and paranoia into the minds of all.  Posies,  all dead, ‘all fall down’ with their faith.

2.

3

“Ring A Round A Rosie”

Mice were perceived to be the primary carriers of the plague virus, and taken out of the Plague Theory context, Ring A Round A Rosie is merely a merry rhyme accompanied by a dance about a circle. Here, mice dance the rhyme to the Danse Macabre, the ‘Dance of Death” seen in the musical score, in a ring that drifts towards, and then away from the light of salvation.

3.

4

“Pocket Full Of Posies”

Plague doctors of the time were rarely learned doctors and healers; rather the only thing one such doctor had in common to the next was the distinct, long-nosed plague mask that identified them to be of the profession. As it was believed the plague spread with scent in the air, the noses of the masks were said to have been stuffed with Posies to block out the smell of death, which ultimately, were as useful as rocks may have been in their place. Rocks hence fill the doctor’s mask, and crosses lay over the skull of the dead man, who as before mentioned, would have been religiously motivated in his views of the plague. His mind, the doctor’s nose, and the skull’s mouth are all pockets ‘full of posies’, and set against a light, almost magical and whimsical background (and inspired by Michelangelo’s  ‘The Creation of Adam’), the carrier mouse meets the doctor from the mouth of its victim.

4.

1

“We All Fall Down”

The chrome man is spotless and perfection in both form and strength, which translated over into qualities of the spirit, represent the perceived virtues of the souls of the faithful. Perceiving accepting God’s will as the truest act of devotion and faith, they allow themselves to meet their demise, leaping from the cross to join the many before them.

Research and Exploration

001

Page 1: Thumbnail Exploration

002

Page 2: Thumbnail Exploration and Research

003

Page 3: Research

004005

Pages 4 and 5: Development

006

Page 6: Composition Planning (Prior to final edits)

Lines : 2D Project 1

‘A dot is a line that went for a walk. . .’ 

Final

Monoprints

[Mono-prints] Emotions by Line:

Sloven

Spontaneous

Turbulent

Fragile

Distracted

Indecisive

Anxious

Sensual

Exhausted

part 2

[Mixed Media] Emotions by Line:

Aggressive

Bizarre

Nonsensical

Psychotic

Awkward

Lyrical

Embarrassed

Ambiguous

Systematic

Selected Emotions

20150903_202351-1

Closeup 1: Sensual

Created by laying dollops of black and white ink, mixed with finishing varnish and acrylic gloss, and manually swirling and spread by hand.

20150903_203704-1

Closeup 2: Anxious

Created by mixing black and white ink into an uneven light gray which was spread, then gone over again with varnish and gloss. Semi-dried white ink blotches were pressed across the gray, which was then gone over again with a lighter gray mix to create a mix of bright and obvious layers among almost ‘hidden’ layers.

20150903_202341-4

Closeup 3: Turbulent

Black, white and gray ink spread together with bunched, cut paper strips over a scratched up and slightly cut surface.

Research

001

Research page 1: Cai Guo-Qiang

002

Research page 2: Unica Zurn

003

Research page 3: Andy Warhol

004

Research page 4: Yves Klein

005

Exploration page 1: Fixatives, ink, charcoal, pen, pencils, chalk, paints

006

Exploration page 2: Charcoal, inks, paints, fixative, chalk, mechanical pencil lead

72

Exploration page 3: Mono-prints (Black and white inks, varnish and acrylic gloss)

42

Nothing to say about 4D at the moment but heard someone say write about the meaning of life. . . So yeah. . . Plus now that I think of it I’m a lot like Deep Thought: Too much time thinking about my own irrelevant stuff and not enough time searching for the answers I was asked for in the first place.

If you don’t get it educate yourself it’s a good movie XD