神龍之土 Land of the Dragon [WIP] (09/07/20 Update! The Uprising Appears!)

Hi everyone, I’m Hilsee and Land of the Dragon is my first project on COG!

Summary
The game is set in a land largely based on Ancient China, but without any actual real-world locations specified. It also includes magical themes and draws on Chinese mythology, so I’ve decided to label it as fantasy over historical. You play as the only trueborn child of the Dragon Emperor and Empress, rulers of the - you guessed it - the Land of the Dragon. On your 21st nameday the Uprising building in the provinces finally boils over and all hell breaks loose in the realm… Between political maneuvering, traitorous royals, road-trip adventures, tournaments in magical communities, and a civilian revolution, how will you, young royal, choose your path?

DEMO: https://dashingdon.com/play/ohmyvalar/land-of-the-dragon/mygame/index.php?cb=75971

Characters (spoilers!!)

This text will be hidden

Long Juan 龙鄄, Elder Prince Juan 鄄王爷
The Emperor’s younger brother. Became lovers with Imperial Consort Nefertari when he was tasked by his brother to bring her to him, before the Emperor claimed her as a concubine, torn between his love for her and his brother, wants to put her son on the throne, determined to eliminate Empress and MC as threats.

Chen Mudan 陈牡丹, The Empress Consort 龙后 (39) (adopted name if MC is biracial)
Warm, well-spoken, virtuous, graceful: she is all the peasants want and love. But beneath the veneer the facade has been slowly breaking since the denouncement of her child - and though she has only ever given you her favor, you may not like what you see under the perfect mask…

Long Qing 龙卿, Crown Prince Qing 长太子 (24)
The eldest of the Emperor’s children, he has been groomed to be the future Emperor since childhood. Proud and brilliant, he is supported by the military but less by the peasantry. That he takes after the Emperor is easy to see - except for that peculiar shade of his well-groomed hair…

Chen Kun 陈琨, Personal Guard 贴身侍卫 (21)
Empress’ brother’s biracial adopted son under her instruction on the condition that he would become your personal guard, grew up together with you, secretly part of the hidden magic community he is influential amongst, conflicted between loyalty to Empress and affection for you
Since youth he has been trained in magic by the Empress and become a prominent figure in the magic community under a different name and mask, though few know of his true identity.

Qin Lan 秦兰, Priestess of Duolin Temple (20)
Dowager’s (Emperor’s mother) brother’s granddaughter, dedicated priestess to the gods, influential among the religious
Once a noble lady of the Qins, she shorn her hair (now has a pixie cut!?) and chose to adopt the celibate life of the Priestesses of Duolin Temple instead of being forced into a political marriage with the Chens, a choice the Dowager has rewarded her for in secret.

Fang Yun 方韵, Lady Yun (23)
Scion of the noble Fang family, whose ancestor was one of the most loyal and influential allies and subordinates of the First Dragon Emperor. She has risen swiftly through the ranks - though her detractors pin it on her powerful background - to become an influential member of imperial administration
The eldest of the Fang children of this generation, she was raised with the expectation of betrothal as soon as she reached her name day. But this stubborn, intelligent lady destroyed all the plans of matchmaking, until the Emperor himself took interest and held a Grand Competition in which the man who could match her intellect would become her husband - none could. And ever since then, she has remained resolved not to marry on anyone else’s orders.

Jin 金 (19)
Young, baby faced Leader of the simmering Uprising against the royal family’s ancestry-driven rather than meritocratic governing system. Porcelain skin taking after their mother, strongly supported by peasantry. Their deceptive appearance hides a steel will and strong skill at influence.
Having lost their mother to a local governor’s senseless abuse of power, they gathered the masses and began an underground rebellion that has since become an uprising. By nature or nurture, they are friendly and have a ready smile for anyone, making them a favorite of the peasantry.

Mini Family Tree (minor spoilers!)

About Feedback:
I would be honored to receive feedback and suggestions, but may regrefully be unable to implement them if they diverge too much from my authorial intent(?) For instance, the game will favor narrative over flexibility. It is also my intent to explore the culture and mythology of the Ancient world, particularly Ancient China since that is the setting of the game after all, so there may be extensive worldbuilding that results in fewer choices in the prologue at least. I have further taken significant liberties with historical timelines and the boundaries of ancient technology in order to facilitate greater inclusivity in terms of race/ethnicity/gender/sexual orientation. After all, this is fantasy :slight_smile: Still, I would love to receive and implement any suggestions all you brilliant, creative minds may have!

Thanks for stopping by to play my game!

468 Likes

I haven’t played past the first few pages, but I just wanted to point something out. I’m pretty sure the romanization for the Chinese word for prince is wang zi, not huang zi, as you have it in the gender selection.

Also, it feels a bit strange to hear a (fantasy counterpart) Chinese child calling their father ‘Daddy’. Perhaps a better word would be ‘Papa’, since that sounds much closer to the informal Chinese term for a father, ‘ba ba’. Although the majority of people playing this probably aren’t Chinese speakers, so that particular issue might not matter so much.

16 Likes

Hi! You’re right, wangzi (王子) is the romanization for Prince aka a King’s son, but since the ruler is the Emperor, I’ve opted for huangzi (皇子) instead, which is the romanization for an Emperor’s son and the term used historically for Ancient China. As for the Papa suggestion, that actually sounds much smoother than Daddy! Although I’d like to point out that Ba Ba is a more modern term and in ancient China it would’ve been Die Die (爹爹) but that romanization is a little… ^_^Thanks for the suggestion!

15 Likes

Yeah, I was considering suggesting Die Die as well, but that had obvious drawbacks. Although, wang was also used in Imperial China in capacities that would be roughly equivalent to European princes, for example for the brothers of the Emperor. In fact, even some emperors used wang to refer to themselves, so the distinctions are not so clear as compared to the European terminologies.

Yup, you’re absolutely right! A character that will appear later, the Emperor’s brother, would be a (title)wang. Btw, what would u think of Elder Prince as a translation for his title? Edit: yeah, the wang/huang thing differed from dynasty to dynasty lol but I think generally huang applied to later ones which corresponds better to the game haha

I think simply calling him a Prince would work, since in Europe individuals in the same position would also just be called Prince.

Yeah, oh man… I’ve been forever confused about how to differentiate a King’s brother-Prince from a King’s-son-Prince. Like u aren’t helping the alr complicated family trees guys…

Perhaps an easier way to look at it would be like this: Anyone who is the son of any king is a Prince unless they ascend to the throne themselves. Therefore, the brother of a king is a Prince because he is the son of the preceding king, whom his brother the current king, who was previously also a Prince, has now succeeded.

Unless, of course, the state is a principality, in which case no one ever becomes king.

3 Likes

Oohhh! It is the first time I have played a game which the world and you, the monarch is Chinese based! Ooohh, I like fantasy. I am truly curious about the politic and the intern affair in the court. They can be so vicious from what Chinese novels I read. Anyone born in royalty cannot be normal, that is if they want to survive ^^ .

2 Likes

The stats doesn’t seem to work. Everything except personality stats is on 30%.

I just gave this demo a read and I’m liking it so far. Especially the Chinese inspirations so it should be interesting for me to learn a bit about their culture and their language.

1 Like

Oh heck yes! I am so ready for another game of politics that I horribly failed in! I’m very interested with Chinese’s myths and their history(and the fact there might be dragons involved, I’m so in). I don’t know much about the Chinese royalty… but I believed if one is born in royalty will have to do what they must survive? Of course, you have make us stop at a cliffhanger too!

I think it doesn’t work due to the demo / story line barely started.

Mmm hmm, I was just thinking the lack of differentiation in titles makes it much harder for modern historians to trace family trees… Thanks for the info tho :slight_smile:

Indeed, there’ll definitely be heart-wrenching royal family drama and backstabbing… >:) btw I think there’s a choice of kungfu(?) game around if ure interested in more games w ancient Chinese background!

3 Likes

Thank you for the kind comment! Haha yes that’s a primary motivation behind setting the game in an ancient China-based world

Yup! The current choices affect things other than the visible stats (which I may or may not have coded yet uhmmmmm I’m a lazy soul)

:joy: I’m sorry, I got too lazy to code the choice in. Haha don’t worry I suck at dealing w irl people politics too, but creating fictional scenarios im way too interested in lol.

Really like the demo so far! The amount of detail you’ve included (e.g. the significance of the Empress’ outfit) is really nice, and I’m excited to see more!

1 Like

I like it so far! Very interesting and I cannot wait for more! :slight_smile:

Is this genderlock or not I hope not