- Omar Bradley
It was the turn of the twenty-fourth century when mankind finally agreed on an international peace. No longer were world wars fought. No longer were religious wars fought. The utopian idea of Earth had been established, and a blanket of peace settled on top of the world.
A blanket of peace, that is, to hide what all countries considered to be a domestic issue: the war against crime. All military efforts had been aimed to completely wipe out the criminal syndicates of the world, a plan that received roaring approval for everybody who wasn’t involved in the battle. The nations began a technological beast, aimed to smash the poorly-equipped mafias.
However, the mafia revealed another trick up their sleeves: magic. The supernatural abilities of the criminals were enough to hold the technology of the nations at bay, and the war went into a standstill for fifty years.
However, a class of magicians began to rise, known as “sorcerers”. The masters of magic, they have done the impossible: subdued a god and bound the god’s magical power into an artifact called a grimoire. The threat of the sorcerers caused the nations to escalate military alert, and war found itself at its most brutal point in half a century.
Two years after his victory against the most powerful sorcerer, Vainamoinen, the amnesiac sorcerer Takara Naoya arrives at Arcadia, a militaristic city built in the name of a fake peace. There, a battle between the strongest names of both magicians and the nations is fought, with crime invading Arcadia’s underworld in hopes of defeating their foes in their base.
Amidst the bloodshed, Naoya seeks to break the curse inflicted on him by Vainamoinen, one that poisons his body within the presence of the god he had subdued, Odin, and such begins the story of a boy and his quest to save himself, even at the cost of the world’s.
Elements
Archives are records of a magician’s research and studies, including notes about personal and developing theories of magic, as well as spells and other studies. Usually, an archive takes the form of a notebook or a journal, and can be written into as well without worry of interference due to the charms placed onto the item to turn it into an archive. Magicians typically do not need to write into an archive as memories write themselves into the archive, usually disguised as well so that anybody else but the owner would have to decipher a seemingly impossible language. Archives are useful for research that takes place over decades, as it keeps a log of studies and thoughts by itself, as well as quickly noting down information found in other research through reading alone.
Rules of Magic can be a complex thing. As magic is thought to be a natural phenomenon, there’s no real way to explain how something beyond the knowledge of humanity works, but there is a way to explain why it works, which is where the most fundamental rule of magic comes into play: a reaction. Magic in its most basic form is defined as the partnership of a “vessel” and a “recipe”.
The vessel is the instrument used to bring about a spell and has a multitude of forms that revolves around the strength of the magic to be controlled: it could be as simple as a name, and as complex as a giant ship. The famous “vessel” found in popular culture was the magic wand.
The recipe is the foundation of the spell itself. Casting a spell can be compared to a blank canvas: every painting starts out with the same base color (white), but depending on what color is added and how the color is applied to the canvas, every painting takes on a distinct form, and can also determine the quality of a spell as well. The development of a recipe works like a puzzle: to think of the shortest possible recipe for a task. The shorter the recipe, the stronger the spell.
But the quality of the spell must also take into account the vessel’s ability to bring out the spell’s full strength. The number of factors that determines a spell’s strength and form as well as the difficulty of controlling such factors makes magic a practice that requires complete devotion in order to even consider mastering the basics.
More to come...
Characters
Takara Naoya is one of the few sorcerers found in the world, and the youngest to boot. His right eye is made of glass, and serves as the grimoire that holds Odin, the All-Father. Although he’s unusually calm about his situation at most times, the pain inflicted by the curse can bring about a desperate and violent reaction from Naoya, who is clearly afraid of death. Although his Archive had been cleared of much of his research material due to his amnesia, Naoya is extremely familiar with multiple magical theories and practices, allowing him to understand spells and even invent some of his own in a short period of time. Naoya can be rather manipulative, but he does not answer to anybody but himself. At times, he may appear to be a monster, absolutely brutal in combat and completely indifferent to the consequences of his actions, although he does not appear to understand what it means to be a hero and a villain. “Takara Naoya” is not his real name, but rather the name he took from the first man he met since he was inflicted with amnesia.
Vainamoinen was the first sorcerer, and said to be the strongest, having bound the god known as the “origin of magic” itself. A wise man, he found a student in the original Takara Naoya, and traveled the world to continue spreading magic to people in less developed countries as part of the war effort against the nations. It was said that his power was found in vast understanding of magic itself due to his connection with the origin of magic, which serves as one explanation as to why he was defeated by Odin in terms of firepower. Prior to his defeat, he casted an unknown curse that poisoned Odin should he use his grimoire, as well as inflicting amnesia onto his opponent. His student Takara Naoya witnessed his master’s death, and was soon killed by Odin afterwards, who would take his name for his own.
More to come...
Notes
I’m thinking a run time between 6 to 10 hours for the overall story. This is more of a Kinetic Novel, as this is indeed my first project, and it’s asking too much from me (especially considering I’m working by myself) to even consider a branching storyline at the moment. A linear visual novel may be possible, but we’ll see what the future holds for me.
I have little artistic skill, regardless of my character sketches, and although I may just end up learning how to draw, a partner for this will be much appreciated. Music too, since I know very little people who share my interest in this project. ;w;
I have all the descriptions in this notebook I’ve been keeping for a year now, and I spent my spare time just writing descriptions in it and all. The main reason why I don’t have all my information up for this visual novel yet is because I got kind of excited and just wanted to post this idea up for feedback so I could perhaps get advice from others during the development process, so I still have to transfer all of my penned descriptions into a word document.
Credits and Progress
Outline: 100% - Shione
Story: 5% - Shione
Concept Art: 10% - Shione (but I hope to find a partner for this soon)
Sprites: 0%
CG: 0%
BG: 1% - Shione (just using a renderer to “animate” stock pictures that were free).
Music: 15% - zero-project, Kevin Macleod (placeholder, although depending on where this goes, I may just use the songs).
. I also really like the quote posted at the top, which pretty much drew me in to read the rest of the story.
For a free game, I suggest 30 minutes to be the maximum of the entire game, or at least a self-contained story within that universe. It will still probably take a while to do that much, considering it's your first VN.
