Capricious Skies (WIP)

Hosted Games Works In Progress
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Hello, I have been a lurking member of the CoG forums now for quite awhile and have had a few ideas in the past and am here to share another. My current WiP story which I believable has a lot of potential, or at the very least excites me at the possibilities, is set in a clockwork/steam punk fantasy setting full of manufactured magic and a horizon full of sky ships.

You take on the role of a new hire aboard the misfit mercantile skyship Capricious Skies. A skyship of close-nit refugees and outcasts who have all suffered at the hands of the Holy Veridian Empire. The Holy Veridian Empire, or the Ascended Imperium as they call themselves, is the strongest political and military power in all of Elise.

Its power comes from its abundance of Aurora Opalescence and its great advances in Aurora technological. Aurora Opalescence is a preternatural substance with limitless potential due to its miraculous magic like properties. Having mastered its refinement and technological use, the Holy Veridian Empire claimed divine right over all Aurora Opalescence in Elise.

This action brought about the Aurora wars, more commonly known as The Year of Tears, which ultimately ended in victory for the Holy Veridian Empire and ratified the Aurora Mandate. The Aurora Mandate, also known as The Bloody Truce, was signed at gunpoint by the losing nations and surrendered the governance of Aurora Opalescence exclusively to the Holy Veridian Empire.

Now the Holy Veridian Empire polices the skies enforcing unfavourable regulation on the trade an distribution of Aurora. With a growing scarcity of Aurora for the nations under the thumb of the Holy Veridian Empire, being bled dry, whispers of rebellion have emerged. Some of those whispers can be heard aboard the Capricious Skies where unknown to its crew their newest member holds a fatal secret that might just be the spark to put everything in motion. Willing, or not.

So that’s the setting so far I am working with, now for some general details I want to throw out there about the game. I see this as more of an adventure RPG then anything else. You will start out as a fish out of water trying to earn your keep aboard the Capricious Skies while slowly learning about the world, the ships crew, and your own past. You have a deep secret, one that makes you valuable to some, enemy to others, and secretly and relentlessly hunted by the Holy Veridian Empire.

Will you leave your past behind and dedicate yourself to simply becoming the newest member of the Capricious Skies, or will your secret past drive you to seek revenge against the empire that is hunting you? Will you become a skilled skyship crewmen, or struggle not to get kicked off the ship? Are you brave and will fight, or will you cower or run from danger? There are theses choices and more!

Features:

  • Deep fleshed out world, characters, and branching story altering events.
  • Truly unique character customization that lets you alter a few major details about your character and significantly impact the story experience.
  • Fight, cower, or flight. Pick how you want to approach conflict.
  • Multiple diverse endings (Planned, but story is far from complete and might remove this feature)
21 Likes
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sounds cool. can’t wait to see how it ends up!

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I am looking forward to your demo or beta project being shared.

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You can’t take the sky from me…

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plz no transphobia for “realism”, please no transphobia for “realism”…

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No blood sacrifices here … no chaos storms seen yet… @Divinity_One has a truly awesome world built so far, doesn’t she? :rose:

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Haha nope! I believe I will only have binary gender choice for my game sadly. I was playing with the idea of cross dressing though, such as a girl hiding her identity as a boy, but things quickly spiraled out of control in the amount of work involved. No the unique character customization involves things like a fear and a secret. These choices will alter how the character themselves act in key situations, and alter the choices that can be made from it.

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…Why?

Honestly nb options are my lifeblood here on this forum.

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To clarify there will be same sex romance options, but i have no plans for a none binary gender choice for the main character. Its simply to broad a topic and isn’t the story I am trying to tell.

1 Like
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Thanks! I have so many details I haven’t shared mostly do to risk of information overload. I don’t feel I’m doing my world justice with what I have revealed so far.

As for a beta, it may be a little ways out as I’m still in the process of detailing the major arcs and hammering out what stats I wish to track or include. All I have right now is a whole lot of world building a direction I want to take it.

1 Like
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Does that mean the gender of your character will have an impact on how people will treat the MC during the story? If not it’s just a purely cosmetic choice, like in most games, and it would require little effort to add a non-binary option.

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If I recall, there was a thread where we discussed how to use ROs with set sexualities and non-binary MCs (this one, from my question here). I don’t think it would be that hard to implement, and the fact that it’s in a fantasy world means you’re really not being held back by real-world issues.

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Yes, I plan to have multiple instances where the characters gender influences or impacts events. Example: A confrontational crew member who may develop a good natured rivalry with a male main character, might constantly second guess and look down upon a female one unable to see them as an equal. On the inverse, there are characters who will have no strong interest in a male MC, but might seek friendship from a female MC.

I intend to make gender choice that matters beyond romance options and cosmetics. However it may prove to be to big an ambition. Will have to wait and see as I plot things out.

As a point of interest, one of the main crew members of the Capricious Skies, is a cross dressing male, but sexually straight. There is a story there to be discovered. I have also considered allow one path of the main character to cross dress as a means of disguising their identity. However I have yet to decide if I will pursue this path or not.

4 Likes
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It seems like you have a great game coming. I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

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Sounds awesome…cant wait to read some!

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Love the sound of this game.

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An excellent idea! I look forward to seeing how this develops.

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I’m glad there is interest in my game. Still world building, its a lot of fun… but so time consuming. I wonder a bit if I’m putting to much detail into everything as it feels like I’m building a world suited for a novel or two. I don’t have plans to multi part this game, but with the amount of details I’m turning out for the world I don’t know if I can fit it all into only one game. Might mean I don’t need to share every detail I make though, I’m sure not everything will make it to the page in the end.

Anyway a beta is a little ways out simply due to the fact I’m tossing around ideas of how I want the game to actually start. A flashback played out as a prologue of the traumatic past events that shaped the main character, or maybe start in the present with the player discovering the Main Characters past as events and situations make it relevant. Or maybe just a mix of the two. Hard to say!

So far in the romance department I plan to have gender locked romances for a few characters. Straight or gay match ups only, but a few bi characters as well. And one character whose very gender gradually alters to suit your preference as your affinity with them grows. More on this character later! Their shaping up to be a favorite of mine.

2 Likes