God of the Red Mountain (WiP) (Update August 17, 2020)

[Summary unfinished because I’m not good at those]

You are a spirit born of the Red Mountain–though you’ve run away from it long ago. You’d be content to stay away, too, if not for the mountain god who suddenly comes looking for you. But what purpose do they have? And what exactly is your end goal?

Based on East Asian myths and folklore, you play as a powerful, nameless spirit in a shifting world. As a being caught between death and life, you are connected to a stream of limitless power, and the more you are known, the more powerful you become.

However, your journey will not be so smooth. You have been cursed by powerful, malignant beings known as Foxes, and it’s only a matter of time before you fall from sanity yourself.

Here’s the demo!: https://dashingdon.com/go/2946

On the update (Aug. 17th, 2020):

The first half of chapter 2 for the mountain route, and the Western spirit route have been added!

A final rewrite for the prologue, at last!

You can now choose which season you awakened to, from the get-go.

You can now change your pronouns at any point through the appearance tab, accessed through the stat the stats page!

Lots of the standard edits, as per usual.

Stats are not fixed nor are they finished in any way, shape or form.

Features
  • What kind of spirit are you? Choose between ten choices! (5 plant and 5 animals).
  • Return to your mountain homeland or remain in the spirit world!
  • Prepare for the ever-approaching wave of Foxes, malignant monsters that threaten to corrupt both worlds.
  • Build friendships with a wide cast of characters, and perhaps fall in love with one of them.
  • Become a god of your own making, or remain a nameless spirit!
Characters

Of the Mountain

Min He: The god of the Red Mountain. Slender and pale, with long, silky, ink-black hair. Her gray eyes encompass storm clouds within them that stir with her emotions. She is tall, though she changes her height often depending on how imposing she needs to be.

Kaski: A bear deity. Tall and well-muscled. His silhouette is striking and towers over most. He has short, dark brown hair that curls at the tips, and blazing green eyes. He has scars all over his body, except for his face, though there is one deadly looking one across his neck.

Qiu: Min He’s retainer, quail spirit. Athletic build with a sturdy posture. He skin is the color of wet silt, with an ash undertone. His long hair is tied up neatly and dark brown, though you can see strands of copper in the light. His eyes are sharp pieces of amber.

An: Min He’s retainer, peony spirit. Delicate and lovely, with long, wavy black hair and petal-pink irises. She has full, sensuous lips and cream-colored skin.

Xinyi: Human psychic that lives in the village. Average height, and a gentle build. He has rare light brown hair that’s curly and soft, and warm brown eyes. He’s tanned from the sunlight he gets.

Of the Spirit World

Go Ro: A minor god of healing, works underneath the High God Ki Run. Tall and imposing, with an always perfect posture. He has long dark hair that is tied in a low ponytail, and golden eyes.

Hiemi: A lotus deity. Lithe, long-legged to show an elegant figure. She has short, light-pink hair and light green eyes. She has strong muscles and a fierce expression at all times.

Spider: A wandering spider spirit. Average height and toned body. He has tanned skin, and short, dirty blond hair. His eyes are narrow and almond-shaped, and he often sports a cat-like grin. Covered in scars, and they ripple across his forearms and torso from all the fights he’s gotten into.

Chun: A witch. Petite build and about head shorter than most others. She has wavy brown hair that reaches her back. Her eyes are blue-gray (a trait shared by all Witches), that are thin and scrutinizing. Freckles dust her upper cheeks and across her nose.

Author's Note

Hello, hello!

As said in the interest check, I’m a newcomer to the forums though a longtime player of CoG games. I’ve had this little story stuck in my head for years and since it’s pretty fleshed out, I thought, why not? Also, yokai and East Asian myths are very fun to explore, so I thought I’d share that joy.

I’ll try to update my progress as often as possible. Either way, I hope you guys enjoy this as much as me!

Tumblr and Discord

https://friendlybowlofsoup.tumblr.com/

https://discord.com/invite/b9J38KF

Warnings

Light swearing, violence and blood, mentions of cannibalism, suicide
That’s all that should be present, but I will definitely update this list if it gets any worse.

Updates

27/7/18: Demo Uploaded!
2/8/18: Redone pacing of prologue, included first half of chapter 1, did some editing all around. Also added saves!
16/8/18: Branching added to chapter 1. Hiemi and Mountain route finished for chapter 1.
28/8/18: Prologue updated. Spider path uploaded. Naming ceremony redone. Stats somewhat fixed but not quite done.
20/5/19: Lootts of edits, Friends. Added Chun and Go Ro. Updated prologue (again). Stats are still being reworked, but relationships tab is refined!
25/7/19: Customization Update!
22/9/19: First half of Mountain route for chapter 2, rewrite to west path in chapter 1
17/8/20: First half of Western route for chapter 2, rewrite to prologue and a bunch of other misc. edits. Pronouns tab added. Season of birth added.

622 Likes

well ive played it and so far i enjoyed it and i can see a lot of potential for it

14 Likes

28 Likes

Will definetly keep an eye on this one :wink:

7 Likes

Your description and language fit the “spirit world” theme perfectly: it’s evocative and gives a sense of the ethereal while the setting descriptions ground it in the natural world. It’s rare that a game makes me feel that I am in the story, and you’ve done that perfectly.

The ability to become a plant spirit is definitely intriguing, as a lot of games are either focused on animals or humans when it comes to spirits. However, I think that the Foxes could use a bit more description or explanation. Are they fox spirits, or something else entirely?

The story also jumps around quite a bit and while the headers mostly remain clear, I’d suggest grouping the flashbacks so that the tone doesn’t drastically change from moment to moment. The two flashbacks that go back 50 years are also a bit confusing since they’re broken up by a scene in the present.

Overall, it’s really enjoyable to play through and I’m definitely looking forward to what’s coming next.

Grammar


*fists


This should be a separate sentence.


Generally, the format of dialogue tags go
"Dialogue," she said.
Periods are changed into commas, and the pronoun doesn’t take a capital letter. There are several more instances of this.

*provincial

*it’s

*breathe

*Its

I didn’t choose to attack the Fox yet it says that it won’t stay dead for long.

15 Likes

It was a pretty cool read, can’t wait to see the rest ^^

4 Likes

Oof you’re a godsend, thanks for catching all those mistakes, I’ll edit those in soon. And I’ll see if I can implement your suggestion about the flashbacks. I was a bit hesitant about doing it this way myself, so I’ll try to see if I can make that whole sequence a bit smoother.

And for your questions, the nature of Foxes will be explained in story (next chapter, actually), but I can tell you there are no natural foxes in this world. Without giving too much away, corrupted spirits begin a transition to turn into a Fox, hence the strange chimeras you see outside the inn. I’ll definitely see if I can make the physical descriptions more understandable though.

Thank you for your words!

And thank you everyone else! I’m so happy you guys like it so far! :smiley:

12 Likes

I’m curious if it will be possible to play as a white tiger spirit in the future if this follows Chinese mythology. Dragon, phoenix, tortoise, tiger.

I’m not saying all of those or anything, but it just seems weird that not one is mentioned yet(At least for now) when they play such a critical role to Chinese mythology.

At any rate, it’s just me being nitpicky and thinking outloud.

8 Likes

oh snap lol you caught me

There’s a reason. I have a great, great love for Chinese dragons so don’t worry. Granted, though this story is inspired by Chinese/Japanese/East Asian myths and stories, it is a world that’s also completely separate. So these great beasts may play a different role than you would expect.

13 Likes

Awesome demo. The concept is really cool, love playing as spirit. Only played as a nice tho can’t wait to do a evil play through. The writing is great to it really pulled me in.

6 Likes

Thanks! And you will definitely be able to play a more darker/evil spirit later on, I just wanted the spirit to be sort of innocent or carefree when they first awakened. Writing from a darker perspective is new to me though, so please bear with me!

10 Likes

Oh man! The demo is great! I hope there is more sides(?) we can choose from! I played again to choose that choice where we could be a little girl. That scene crack me up.

2 Likes

:grin: Don’t get me wrong I like playing a innocent little spirit lol. Can’t wait to see what happens to big sister tho :thinking:.

4 Likes

Definitely one to keep an eye on!

1 Like

Fantastic demo. You really came through, and I do adore east asian spirtiualism and folklore so I will watching closely!

I’m very curious about the existence of the flora spirit. Do they exist in say, one particular bunch of flowers? Or do they spread their consciousness to their own kin? Like a hivemind?

Regarding lore dumping, I feel it is nary an issue! You peppered much of it into dialogue that it feels very natural, might I also add that it is a rather seamless transition as well?

I usually dislike lore dumps as it does little draw us into that particular scene, but the big sister exchange was wonderful. No need to worry aha.

4 Likes

I’m actually super passionate about flora spirits because the original MC was a red lily spirit (he’s still very near and dear to my heart), so I’m glad you asked.

Flora spirits are born from a plant’s subconscious, be it the collective thoughts of a field or just one bloom. As such, they don’t belong to any one flower or tree and can take over any of their unawakened kin. They are also parasitic, in that they can expand their subconsciouness over an area of their own species if they wanted to. The range of that area is limited though, based on the spirit’s strength.

Flora true form = resting in a body of their own kind. Stronger spirits that can maintain their human form, like the MC, can get away by turning parts of their bodies into leaves or blossoms for energy, but weaker spirits need to have that home and rest.

While we’re on flora, most of them dislike both remaining in their true form (it renders them immobile) and transforming completely (flesh and blood is uncomfortable), so half-transformed plant spirits who leave their skin as bark or cellulose are very common.

Thank you so much for your kind words! If you have anymore questions about the world, I’m very happy to answer! :smiley:

18 Likes

Thats super interesting actually. I assume once their corporeal form is destroyed they either shift consciousness or if no kin is in their radius they would die?
We already worship huge ancient trees, so i can also definitely see humans worshipping out flora mc!

3 Likes

So in a sense they would take the form of a dryad, or the Asian equivilent?

2 Likes

Just played the demo, and it was really interesting. I love the concept and the idea to play an actual spirit. The “foxes” were also very intriguing from the short glimpses that you’ve given so far, and I’m curious to see where this will be going. Can’t wait for future updates!

1 Like

Yup, while fauna will die to a fatal wound, flora might be able to escape if they had their kin nearby.

@TropicRayder flora spirits are basically dryads, yup!

@biscuitsntea thank you! I’m glad you had fun :slight_smile:

2 Likes