Voice of the Void [Fantasy][Villain Protagonists]

[WizardOfWhat]

Voice of the Void

Serve an unstable circle of uncooperative “villains” on their last legs. Out of desperation they find themselves seeking power in a fractured sliver of reality. However, they are unaware of the world ending danger they have exposed themselves to.

Story

Led by Ouria, the group has faced repeated loses. Those who continue to follow her grow increasingly tense with each other and their situation. Too weak to do anything but hide, they wait for an opportunity. They need something to allow them to begin conquering everything in their path once again. Eventually they find themselves in a forgotten and destroyed slab of space. There they can sense a buried power, but none can decipher how to obtain it.

You were made by mistake in an attempt to access that hidden power. Weak as you are, you will need to make allies to survive the antagonism of these ne'er-do-wells. While awake you'll find yourself being called upon by Ouria and her compatriots for both consequential and frivolous purposes. However while you rest, a voice seemingly from the void speaks to you. It calls out to you for help and seems to know more than it should.

More Information

Voice of the Void has several different endings. Some endings feature variations within them. It also has a system which changes which scenes the player sees in between the main plot's sections. The player can't see every scene in a single play through as well.
Right now Voice of the Void has a little more than forty thousand words. It may end up getting another ten to thirty thousand words, but it can be played from start to any of the endings. The system for getting the endings and choosing the variable scenes is unbalanced to the point of being unfinished at the moment.

Questions

Feel free to ignores these if you have something else you would like to comment on.

• Are you interested in interacting with these characters and/or seeing them interact with each other?

• Is the general premise of the story and it's context interesting? Is there enough information provided about it?

• How do you expect to see these villain or antagonist characters portrayed in terms of tonal seriousness and morality? How would you like to see them portrayed?

[quinnsea]

The artist you commissioned seems to fit the theme really well! I love these designs, and the premise seems so cool! I'll answer these questions the best I can, I'm already pumped for the full release! This seems fun!

I'm really excited to see these characters come to life, especially Revluk. I dunno, he just really interests me! In the group, granted, I feel like he'll be a strong source of conflict. But that's never a bad thing. But they all have such conflicting interests, I imagine they'll all fight a lot whenever Ouria isn't in the room. It'd be interesting to me to see how much these characters get along if they do.

I like the story a lot as it is too, I don't think you need to share any more information. I appreciate that this story also seems to be one where the villains winning seems to be a possibility? I don't feel like I see it enough.

I think I ended up mushing some of my answers together except for this one?

Where would do you think the line should be between the characters being sympathetic and being malicious?

This is a really interesting question, but I'll try to help the best I can. It's a little hard to think of a way a character can sit on that line, but I can think of reasons why a character can be on either side. Emis seems like a sympathetic character to me since she's more in this situation out of circumstance rather than her own decisions. She originally tried to be... decent, from my understanding. Choosing to be a pacifist, but forced to become a murderer is what makes her sympathetic in my eyes.

What makes a character malicious is being a villain or cruel out of something that is completely in their control. If someone is making the conscious decision to be an asshole, then... there you go. They're malicious without any sympathy. Revluk seems to fit the bill with this. At least on the surface. I'm sure there's more about him I just don't know yet.

I feel like... hm. I feel like the line is drawn where the character in question has the desire to be good. If the character has a wish for improvement, I feel like they sort of walk that line. Or similarly to Emis, having a backstory that put them in this position.

I hope these answers helped you at all!

[WizardOfWhat]

The artist you commissioned seems to fit the theme really well! I love these designs, and the premise seems so cool! I'll answer these questions the best I can, I'm already pumped for the full release! This seems fun!

I'm really excited to see these characters come to life, especially Revluk. I dunno, he just really interests me! In the group, granted, I feel like he'll be a strong source of conflict. But that's never a bad thing. But they all have such conflicting interests, I imagine they'll all fight a lot whenever Ouria isn't in the room. It'd be interesting to me to see how much these characters get along if they do.

I like the story a lot as it is too, I don't think you need to share any more information. I appreciate that this story also seems to be one where the villains winning seems to be a possibility? I don't feel like I see it enough.

Thanks, I'm glad your interested! The dynamic of the characters interacting has been a fun aspect for me to write. Very few of them get along well, but they all put up with each other. Your right about Revluk he does tend towards being disruptive. On the other hand he's one of characters whose the most obedient of Ouria, so it kind of balances out in that way.

This is a really interesting question, but I'll try to help the best I can. It's a little hard to think of a way a character can sit on that line, but I can think of reasons why a character can be on either side. Emis seems like a sympathetic character to me since she's more in this situation out of circumstance rather than her own decisions. She originally tried to be... decent, from my understanding. Choosing to be a pacifist, but forced to become a murderer is what makes her sympathetic in my eyes.

What makes a character malicious is being a villain or cruel out of something that is completely in their control. If someone is making the conscious decision to be an asshole, then... there you go. They're malicious without any sympathy. Revluk seems to fit the bill with this. At least on the surface. I'm sure there's more about him I just don't know yet.

I feel like... hm. I feel like the line is drawn where the character in question has the desire to be good. If the character has a wish for improvement, I feel like they sort of walk that line. Or similarly to Emis, having a backstory that put them in this position.

I hope these answers helped you at all!

They did help. Your response was very constructive. I think I may end up editing that question. Thinking about it I'm not sure if phrasing it that way gets at what I was curious about.

Intent is certainly something I hadn't considered too specifically. Somewhat adjacent to that which is something that is part of Emis' character is the idea of doing the wrong things for the right reason. How other perspectives may or may not consider that justified. Moral relativity has been something of a through line for how each character specifically is or isn't "evil." I think Emis is the easiest to justify compared to the other characters, so that gives me some good information in that on one end I do have a character whose premise is sympathetic.

Anyway, thanks for the post it's very encouraging.