The Statute of Tint and Shade [Historical / Drama / Non-interactive]

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RozzyRoz
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Projects: The Statute of Tint and Shade, Peridot's Lovesong
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The Statute of Tint and Shade [Historical / Drama / Non-interactive]

#1 Post by RozzyRoz »

"The Statute of Tint and Shade" is a narrative set before and after the civil war in 19th century America; 1849-1865.

A wealthy man's wife in confederate Louisiana fell in love with one of their slaves, having a secret affair and thus, twin boys from it. However, the conception was a heteropaternal superfecundation: a pair of children with different fathers.

Seth, son of the businessman, is raised to be a normal citizen with his family and friends while Jason, son of the slave, is sent to live with the others; picking for the estate's tobacco plantations. At a very young age, the boys learn their taboo secret and develop a tightly wound relationship--though hidden from everyone's eyes.

The story's genres are historical and drama, and though the plot is a work of fiction, is meant to accurately depict the treatment of slaves, the struggle and events of the civil war during the story's main focus, and relationship dynamics of different slave owner/slave relationships. Everything is being thoroughly researched and it's my mission to not leave a detail out of place. There is a content warning, because the visual novel both shows and hints at graphic violence, sexual content, mental and physical abuse, suicide, depression, racism, and death.

Characters:

Seth Kelly: Elder twin of the pair, son of esteemed businessman and farmland owner, August Kelly. Extroverted and wears his heart on his sleeve, his kindness showing no sign of an end. A bit of a crybaby and in touch with his emotions. All smiles.

Jason Kelly: Younger twin of the pair, though he acts and looks like an older brother more-so. Son of the Kellys' slave "Mars", a man suspiciously missing from their plantations after the affair was discovered. Put together and composed. Viciously protective of Seth.

Lena Kelly: Wife of August Kelly and mother of Seth and Jason. Treats their slaves like family despite her husband's strong controlling and disagreeable stance on the matter. Loves both of her sons, but mentally powerless. Often confides in her handmaids.

August Kelly: A man who thinks nothing of his business, even including family. After the revealed affair, his personality and racism shot through the roof, being a stern and well-rounded man of terrible mental decline and flaws.

Mary: Much younger sister of Mars. Lena's handmaid and friend when August Kelly isn't home. Ensures protection and mothers Jason in Lena's place. A naturally naive, but kindhearted woman with the emotional strength of a thousand people.

Mars: The man Lena fell in love with, and Mary's older brother. A soft-spoken, gentle soul who often approached Lena when she'd take walks from her overbearing and sometimes detached husband. Father of Jason.

Amina "Minnie" Porter: Daughter of a doctor in New York. Becomes a supporter and aid, sharing in Seth and Jason's secret.

Ethan Davis: Childhood friend of Seth. Family owns an abundance of cotton plantations. Straight-forward and honest hearted.

Juniper: A Davis slave that Ethan later closely befriends and plans to set free.

Dr. Porter: Medicinal master, but only serves white people with a deep rooted bias. Totally unknowing of his daughter's relationship with the twins.

Mr. Everett: Seth's classroom teacher during his younger years.

I'm drawing all of the art, composing, and writing for it. So far there's a prologue and first chapter completed, though it is still very beta and needs a lot of reworking in all aspects mentioned, ha.

Character avatars, backgrounds, and CGs below (some may be redone, and there are still a lot more to make.)

It's non-interactive for now because I'm still fleshing out ideas on how to make it so without it involving making direct choices for characters themselves. So far menu wise there are only menus for proceeding after content warning, and then chapter menus. Maybe certain actions taken in the game should have single menus. I don't know.

I have one artist helping me out should I need it, but it's always nice to have some extra hands! Honestly, I'm a little bad with backgrounds and consistency. All of that aside, I'd love to hear thoughts and comments on this project as a whole. There's no end goal release date, this is more or less just a passion project. I'm very into historical events and writing stories based within them, so if anyone is willing to help, has ideas or would like to help me with my research, go ahead and shoot me a PM!

-Roz
Attachments
Seth finds out.
Seth finds out.
Content warning two
Content warning two
Content warning one
Content warning one
Tobacco plantations background.
Tobacco plantations background.
Window
Window
Hallway one background
Hallway one background
Small, angry Ethan
Small, angry Ethan
Seth and Ethan CG
Seth and Ethan CG
Young Jason CG
Young Jason CG
Intro CG
Intro CG
Intro CG
Intro CG
Intro CG
Intro CG
Ethan, a faceless side character when he's six
Ethan, a faceless side character when he's six
Four year old Jason
Four year old Jason
Four year old Seth
Four year old Seth

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Zelan
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Re: The Statute of Tint and Shade [Historical / Drama / Non-interactive]

#2 Post by Zelan »

It seems like you're already very conscious of this, but I'll repeat it anyway: do your research when depicting racism and people suffering from it.

Now that that's out of the way, this is a super cool concept so far. I know that it was a somewhat commonplace practice for slave owners to have affairs with female slaves, and for the children that resulted to be slaves themselves, but I've never heard any specific stories about a woman having an affair with a male slave. I'm interested in seeing how you approach all of the relationships between people in this VN.

It's also pretty rare to see bona fide historical fiction settings in VNs - more often, you get VNs loosely based on a certain time period without much actual research being done. This is a welcome change of pace. c:

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