SoS: The Mortal Coil (WIP)

I love Michael. Great character.

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It sure would, but your remark comes very close to sounding like a demand toward the author. You may want to reconsider your phrasing, otherwiseā€“rather than me replyingā€“posts like that should only be flagged. :thinking:

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Thereā€™s a question Iā€™ve been meaning to ask for a while now :thinking:, Iā€™m not sure if itā€™s been asked yet :woman_shrugging:, but are one of the fae siblings ROs? :confused:

No, neither of them are ROs. You can, however, have a one night stand with one if you so desire, but thatā€™s it.

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@AGJiles
Iā€™m glad youā€™re enjoying him. He tends to evoke strong feelings in peopleā€“they either love him or hate him XD

@VioletHikari
As @QuixquillianParadise said, they are not. There are several opportunities in various flashbacks for Gabriel to engage in dalliances, but none of those are considered full romances.

The official ROs are Sabriel, Michael, and Ramiel out of the characters youā€™ve met so far in the demo, and of characters yet to come Stephanie, Charleston, Alice, Iain, Zaria, Tom, Iro, Aelius, Karyn, Leo, Tadea and Ryder.

Stephanie and Charleston are restricted to m!Gabriels and Tadea and Tom are restricted to f!Gabriels.

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Oh godā€¦ for SOME reason I thought Michael wasnā€™t an option, and I ended up not finishing playing the demo yet after that because I was not in the mood for that type of storyā€¦ Now Iā€™m suddenly hyped to pick it back up! :rofl:

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I did do the one night stand, thatā€™s why I asked :sweat_smile:

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I was really expecting the Fae siblings to be ROā€™s. It would be interesting to have them ROā€™s.

Please refer to this specific passage by the author with regards to Fae;

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Sabriel is an RO!? she is like michael but reverse .

@Konoi
There is also a poly route for Ramiel and Michael as well.

Theyā€™re not going to be around for long regardless

To reiterate some points Iā€™ve made before (somewhere within the archives of tumblr and/or this thread XD)

Obviously as the player you have a different perspective than me, and her scenes are being redone. Originally I was trying to get to the precinct as quickly as possible, under the impression that people would not want to spend much time with the background of the character right off the bat. Now, however, I think that the game benefits from a more prolonged intro, including spending more time acclimatizing Gabriel to the modern world. As this is a demo and a rough draft of the final game, this may change in the future based on player feedback.

For me, I donā€™t see Michael and Sabriel as similar. In the game, you catch Sabriel on a bad day. She has to sacrifice resources that are already allocated to make your job easy and sheā€™s expected to do it at the drop of a hat without any warning and not so much as a word of thanks. She sees an untrained (in regards to working as a guardian angel), arrogant fool who thinks that they can waltz in, take whatever they want regardless of the inconvenience to others, and sheā€™ll be the one cleaning up the mess.

This is, of course, not fair to you and itā€™s not intended to be. People donā€™t always make the best first impression. It is, of course, your prerogative to like or dislike characters, but as a warning, the characters of this game are not all going to want to interact or get to know you at first. It may take effort from you, and you may not want to put in that effort, which is fine, but do not expect all the characters to instantly like or want to know you.

Back to Sabriel and Michael and their differences. Michael views Heaven as the end-all, be-all of righteousness and good. His views of the world are overly-simplistic and his approach to problems does not involve any introspection. He believes there is only one right way to resolve problems, and that what is good for Heaven is good for everyone. His decision to not communicate his problems with his nestmates has driven a wedge between them, and it only becomes exacerbated by misunderstandings that he doesnā€™t bother to clear up as he is in a self-destructive cycle where he believes that the mark of how annoyed you are with him is a mark of how successful he is at keeping you safe (which means keeping you in line so Heaven canā€™t find fault with you.)

Sabriel views Heaven as a corrupt bureaucratic entity (she turned down an archangel position, the only angel who ever has) and has chosen a position where she believes she can do the most good. It is a struggle, and Gabriel barging in and, to her perspective, demanding instant results does not endear you to her. Itā€™s difficult, too, because from an abstract point sheā€™d admired you the second most of the archangels (Auriel, as her nestmate, coming first.) She feels underwhelmed and disappointed by the reality, because she cannot bring herself to trust that you will be able to care for Daniel as he needs. At the same time, because of the difference in rank, she feels that she cannot directly engage you without there being detrimental consequences for those she is responsible for. Sheā€™s never been one to back down from a fight, however, and so her approach to you is confrontational under the guise of her position as a shortcut to get to the truth of who you are behind the rumors and reputation.

But this is her on a bad day, not her regular approach. Whether Gabriel wants to move past that or not, she will not be confrontational like that in the future unless she perceives Gabriel as endangering Daniel deliberately, or deliberately attempting to harm innocents (i.e. powerless humans).

Hereā€™s a few links related to the subject as well:
Most people dislike Sabrielā€¦

Sabrielā€™s walls

Surprised over how popular Michael is as an RO

Further notes on Michael from Tumblr

Michael is a character designed to cause problems, and wanting nothing to do with him is perfectly legitimate. If you ever feel that available responses to him donā€™t fit your Gabriel, please let me know (including why not, and what kind of response you would feel fits). I canā€™t promise to fit in everything, as I do need to keep some eye on scope, but if I can tweak something I will!

As for Michael, thereā€™s a few very important points (I think without going into spoiler territory) that may or may not help explain my viewpoint when writing him as a character. Not trying to bias anyone, just realized that thereā€™s some confusion/lack of clarity about him that I did not previously consider. He comes across as an angry, aggressive character (which was my intention for the start of the game) but thatā€™s not what he is. Itā€™s just the surface, the initial impression the players get. Weā€™ve seen so very little of him in comparison to what I have planned for him, that I think itā€™s difficult to accurately assess him. So all of this discourse I take with a grain of salt until the game has been completed.

Iā€™m pleased as punch people dislike him. Heā€™s a highly flawed characters designed to piss Gabriel off. I just want to make sure that people are disliking him for the right reasons, and not because Iā€™m writing his character poorly :slight_smile: Please feel free to skip anything below if youā€™ve had enough of anything to do with Michael! Putting below the read line just to make it easier.

Also, this is probably the last post Iā€™ll make on this topic (unless people wish to discuss this more) as there is so much to the game that we havenā€™t seen yet, and itā€™s difficult to discuss characters and how they are just from scenarios, most of which arenā€™t going to be seen in the game. Ultimately, the impression the game gives is what I value most. The rest is, ultimately, not of much importance.

  1. I think thereā€™s a huge gap between the way people are imagining angels and the way I have them in my head. Angels may be millennia old, but in general, they are little more than children in terms of how we might view their behavior. They are taught to be good soldiers. They are taught to follow orders. They are not taught to innovate, to explore, to be curious, or to question. Israfel, Gabriel, and even Ramiel may seem mature, but itā€™s because theyā€™ve been exposed to people and societies outside of Heaven. Michael hasnā€™t. Pretty much the only reason he leaves Heaven is to fight. So he hasnā€™t had the opportunity to develop. Heā€™s slightly more mature than Hanael, but the pair of them are mostly Heaven bound, and therefore are meant to seem naive in comparison. So over the course of the game, Michael can do more developing than he has for most of his life, because heā€™s getting new experiences that allow him to grow. Angels are immortal in terms of age, but that doesnā€™t mean by any standard that they are wise or mature. The more time/incentive he has to spend with Gabriel on Earth, the more chance he has to grow.

  2. Michael was conceived, first and foremost, as an obnoxious sibling. Iā€™m not sure how many fans out there have siblings, but from personal experience, you can fight all the time with your sibling and still love them to pieces. This is where Michael is supposed to stand. Michaelā€™s an arse, heā€™s a jerk, but he wonā€™t let anyone else get on your case (Council not counting) because heā€™s your nestmate and they arenā€™t. We havenā€™t really seen that secondary protective side to him, but itā€™s something that I know in the back of my head (which does nothing to help the players out so far). Michael doesnā€™t ā€˜chooseā€™ to act younger. He doesnā€™t understand how not to act like he has, because the higher-powers have never tried to correct his behavior. Authority is a bit of a misnomer for what archangels have, really. Weā€™ll understand more in the trial scene, but archangels are more the equivalent of generals and messengers. They lead the charge, and they do what God tells them to. They donā€™t have to be smart or independent to do either of those things.

  3. About ā€œMichaelā€™s development as a person is entirely dependent on whether a Gabriel cares enough about him.ā€ That may be, more or less, true, but thatā€™s not exactly why he develops. Michael develops because:

  • He gets out from under the thumb of the person controlling him (which he cannot do alone)
  • He gets to experience Earth by spending time there (due to Gabriel) and starts to understand just how much he truly doesnā€™t get. He also gains more of an understanding of how his actions may appear to others.
  • He believes his attitude is already unforgiveable. While itā€™s not appropriate, forgiving him, or at least moving past it, gives Michael more of a reason to strive to change. Otherwise he believes thereā€™s no hope, and thus, itā€™s easier to make you hate him.
  1. Itā€™s really interesting and slightly alarming (just to me) that he comes off feeling entitled to Gabrielā€™s affections. Thatā€™sā€¦ not how heā€™s supposed to be. Heā€™s possessive of it, but also terribly insecure about it. After the way heā€™s been towards Gabriel, he knows he has much to make up for. This is something Iā€™ll have to keep an eye on as the story continues.

  2. If youā€™ve read the nestmates extras, you know that Michael was rejected by his original nestmates. For an angel, that is a very strong stigma. Thereā€™s more to it than that, but Michael is full of a lot of self-hate. Not trying to aim for sympathy here, just trying to say that as a character Michael wants Gabriel to hate him. He also wants Gabriel to love him, but, well, that one is far more difficult to achieve. Hate is easy. So he goes for the goal he believes achievable.

  3. Iā€™m still considering adding an option to plain ignore him, but Iā€™m not inclined to add it. Ignoring him does lend Gabriel more maturity, but these two were raised as siblings. Siblings have a way of getting under your skin unlike anyone else, and I want to preserve the idea that while Gabriel might normally be stoic and capable of ignoring people, Michael just brings out the worst in Gabriel (and necessitates some sort of response). Ignoring him would only make things worse, and that is something Gabriel would be aware of. But weā€™ll see.

  4. Thereā€™s 15 romances. None of the others get jealous on the same level of Michael, and itā€™s kind of fun to write a character like that for games. Heā€™s not for everyone, and thatā€™s the way itā€™s going to be, and thatā€™s great. If you really, really dislike him, you can always kill him. Or send him to the equivalent of Antarctica for angels. Or just ignore him as much as possible.

  5. Michael is someone whoā€¦ without getting into too heavy of spoilers, was intended to be a nuisance throughout the first playthrough. You wouldnā€™t like him, you wouldnā€™t want anything to do with him. And then, after the first playthrough, you might reconsider. For reasons I wonā€™t go into, but suffice it to say that it was a ā€˜in retrospectā€™ you might understand most of his motivation. Agree with him, likely not, but at least gain some insight. Of course, whether or not I accomplish this is strictly theoretical at this point since the game is no where near to being done. It will be a long journey, and weā€™ve only just taken the first steps.

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Oh, interesting - though Iā€™m usually not for poly routes so I wonā€™t go that way! But itā€™s nice to know!

Honestly, I love Michael so much I donā€™t even have words so eeehā€¦ I guess my character would be pretty exclusive and possessive too, in that regard :rofl:
It was kind of love at first sight for me, IRL.

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Thatā€™s great, Iā€™m always up for the poly routes so I might definitely try this, but I have to see how this goes first.

I like both Michael and Ramiel anyway.
Is this the only poly route available?

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I get it and i appreciate the lenghts you are going into fleshing out your characters and i didnā€™t mean to critique its simply refreshing for me to actually like and or dislike different characters in a story instead of having a liking for all of them like most stories .
That said i am looking forward to more of sabriel and her motivations/experiences that made her into the person she is and same for all the characters really Michael / lucifer everyone.
This WIP is a very intriguing piece of work and i am looking forward to the next release.

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This looks really good. Just one question though, is Leochlan a possible romance option?

As stated previously the fae are not ROs:

These are the official ROs:

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@Empress_Nightmare
Ramiel and Michael is the only poly route planned, yes.

@Servant_of_choices
Oh please critique away. I was trying to provide some insight on why I view the characters as very different, but I also have a unique perspective on them.

I donā€™t want people to feel obligated to like people, though some are meant to be more likeable than others (especially Alice and Iainā€“the idea is that you can pick a partner that you will want to spend time with, rather than the least annoying one). Thatā€™s one of the reasons the cast is do largeā€“I want the world and the characters you interact with to feel different, and I donā€™t want every relationship to be ā€˜oh weā€™re the best of friends.ā€™

@Sheaon13
As mentioned, fae are not romanceable in this game. The twins are only side characters seen briefly.

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I canā€™t wait to meet the werewolf ROs!

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I donā€™t mean to offend but Iā€™m a little curious on how youā€™re going to pull off so many ROs. Thereā€™s a common belief that sometimes less is more - the more you add, the more you have to compromise between quality and quantity. Iā€™m worried that youā€™re stretching yourself thin working on 15 ROs (not to mention all the branching paths for the story).

Donā€™t get me wrong, SoS has potential, but I think it may be a little too ambitious for its own good. Iā€™ll give you some credit though, as many authors would have already given up or moved on at this point but SoS has been in development for 5 years and still going.

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could you have a kid with Charleston? If you choose to I mean. Sorry if you answered this beforeā€¦

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