Well, in the midst of the likely flaming ruin that is my attempt at a novel, Iāve been persistently annoyed by an idea that has survived several attempts to āsleep on it,ā so I may as well toss it out there.
While my main project is still Diaspora (which Iām writing with a friend), I currently have the time and attention for a side project, and fortunately the idea that will not leave me alone is good for the CoG format. Itāll also hopefully give me a chance to practice writing things I donāt usually focus on, like romance and such.
Itās called Fields of Asphodel.
Here is the basic idea: the player is cast in the role of Persephone, about to become consort of the Underworld, not entirely by choice.
Of course, I say āin the role ofā because, the character need not be Persephone as such. Gender choice in games is a thing I care about, so the deity of spring could be female, male, or nonbinary.
And despite the slightly-awkward premise, Hades isnāt the only potential romance here. Heās a fundamentally decent dude who has no interest in forcing his company (or anything else) on anyone, and so there will be space to diverge from that part of the classical story if so desired. At the moment, the plan is for a total of six possible romanceable characters: two male, two female, and two nonbinary (in particular, a demiguy and an agender person). They are very much fixed characters, and all of them are romanceable by MCs of any gender.
The central premise here is that the MC, a half-human deity and child of Demeter, is taken to the underworld as a result of, more or less, the whim of Zeus, who has exerted pressure and extreme jerkitude on Hades to go along with what is essentially a grudge he has with Demeter. Hadesās reasons for agreeing to this will play a part in the story, which opens with the MCās move to his eponymous land of the dead.
But itās a transfer that comes with some unexpected perks for an otherwise-minor seasonal deity: Hades isnāt a small name, after all, and suddenly being co-ruler of his realm brings with it more opportunities than the MC otherwise would have had to literally shape the world. Deific politics is complicated, and the godsā ways of doing things are rather set, but nothingās totally immune to shakeup, and a half-human touch might just turn everything upside down.
Basic feature things Iām thinking:
Features!
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Gender choice: obviously a big one. M/f/nb; separate pronoun choices for, e.g. nonbinary folks who use he/him or she/her, as well as the option to input neopronouns if those are the right ones. Planning to also code in the option to change in the case of genderfluid folks, if I can figure that out.
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An, I think, reasonably detailed personality and skill system. Four main skills, four or five opposed pair personality things. My goal with this one really isnāt to punish anyone for losing checks, thoughāIād much prefer the choices to be about how things go rather than if they go at all.
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Significant variation that is as much in the MCās effect on the people around them as on the world directlyāthough Iām hoping there will be plenty of both. I think some of the themes Iāll be dealing with here are things like punishment and mercy, as well as humanity and to what if any extent beings with deific powers would be justified in interfering with them, as they so often do in the source myths. This is part of the reason the MC is half-human.
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More focus on romance than anything I usually write. I feel a weird need to justify myself on this when I really shouldnāt, but suffice to say I think I could use more practice at it and a side project seems like a good place to experiment. So there it is. Iām going to try to code a couple of poly options, even, and thereās a full six ROs, which is more than in my main project. Two of them are nonbinary, because that feels important to me. Also Alekto is binary trans, because thatās also important.
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The List:
- Hades (M)
- Hermes(M)
- Charon (NB)
- Pyriphelegethon āPyriā (NB)
- Alekto (F)
- Hekate (F)
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My goal with this lot is to make them allā¦ human. Well, as human as possible, considering theyāre gods. But the running theme with them is that the Underworldās the place for the misfits, and so theyāre going to be weird and messy and imperfect and hopefully also lovable if I do my job right.
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Appearance customization. I think it would be cool if the player could specify a reasonable number of things about the MC, and none of it was attached to gender. Iām thinking things like height, build, apparel, and the general cast of oneās facial features in addition to the usual hair, eye, skin color stuff. I think I also might just want to flat out give the player the option to be like āyeah no, my character is super plain lookingā or whatever. Still working out if this is all too much to askāas in, too many fiddly choices.
Anyway, Iāve descended into ramble territory now, so Iāll stop and actually check for interest, as it were. My thanks if you sat through the ineloquent read here.
Cheers, yāall.