Character 1 – Ivan

Note: Characters are numbered in order of in-game appearance.

Full Name: Ivan Lawrence Rokata
Age: 18
Sex: Male
Height: 5′10″ (178 cm)
Weight: 142 lbs. (64.5 kg)
Hair: Blond with a hint of orange
Eyes: Blue
Blood Type: A

Character Summary:

Ivan is our extremely reluctant yet strangely lovable hero. His hometown is Gaia, where he shares a house with his father (Lawrence Rokata). His mother, the earth mage, went into exile after committing a terrible crime. Though she disappeared when he was only a child, he remembers her well.

Cold to those around him and even more so to women, Ivan remains an enigma to most of the town. Only those close to him have any clue of why he is like this, and even then, there is much that Ivan keeps to himself. He is the product of a troubled childhood, scarred by the memory of watching helplessly as his best friend was murdered before his eyes. From time to time, traces of his old, more carefree side start to peek out, but he tends to stifle them very quickly.

Despite his “attitude problems”, as [Character #2] cheerfully labels them, Ivan has his personal strengths. For one, he does not anger easily. He also feels like he has an obligation to protect those around him, perhaps because of his traumatic childhood experience. Ivan is also as stubborn as a mule. Once he has made up his mind about something, the decision is final. This works both to his advantage and his disadvantage throughout the game. We also learn as the story progresses that Ivan is, in fact, incredibly intelligent and even a bit on the shy side. Strangely enough, he has a “soft spot” (as worded by [C#2]) for [Character #3] and tends to act less cold toward her than the other characters for reasons unknown.

Of course, as you may have gathered already, Ivan is not without plenty of flaws. I would say that, as far as the main characters go, he’s probably about #2 or #3 on that list. As mentioned before, he is cold to almost everyone to the point of being a bit ruthless at times. He is not afraid to speak his mind if there is something negative for him to point out. Ivan approaches most things in life with a “Why bother?” attitude ever since the death of his dear friend. He does not want to learn earth magic. In fact, he could care less that his self-trained swordsmanship is sloppy and inadequate. As you can imagine, his lack of ability to fight creates problems when he is forced into a situation that requires him to use his sword.

Author’s Notes about this Character:

Ivan is actually one of my favorites for the reason that he is a fun character to work with, especially in conjunction with the other characters. The fact that he is very blunt and cold allows me to use him for some wry comedy in the game’s script. If a mean hero isn’t your cup of tea, have no fear! He is also one of the most dynamic characters in Phoenix and…well…Like I said, he’s fun to work with. I won’t say much about what happens to him yet, but let’s just say that our reluctant hero is not such a straightforward character as he might first appear to be.

As for the blond hair and blue eyes thing, you might immediately think of Cloud from FF7 or Isaac from Golden Sun or the 1,000,001 other blond main characters and wonder if I’m just pulling off a cliché. Well, I don’t really like clichés. I try to keep my heroes original with strengths, flaws, and interesting background stories. I originally pictured Ivan’s hair as more orange than blond, but then I realized that this did not quite fit with the rest of the game. In the world of Phoenix, blond hair is in fact a very rare trait present only in those with an affinity for earth magic. It is a product of the magical energy in one’s body rather than of genetics. For this reason, there are very few characters in the game with blond hair (I can think of 4 others off the top of my head, and that includes NPC’s!). Ivan also originally had brown eyes, as evident by a picture of him that I drew about a year ago in photoshop. I’m not sure when I changed this, but I think I did it just to add a bit more variety to eye color. You will see what I mean when I post the rest of the character profiles.

A Note on Japanese Blood Typing

Before I go into each character, I want to make a note on Japanese blood typing. If you are a hardcore video gamer or you like to watch anime or read manga, you may have noticed that the Japanese like to give their characters blood types. Big deal, right? Actually, in Japanese culture, blood types are considered to have a significant effect on how a person’s character will turn out. As I am an anime fan and that undoubtedly has affected my ideas of what characters should look and act like to some extent, I will be blood typing my characters. Below is a list of the characteristics associated with each blood type, ripped directly off of this wikipedia site.

(For the record, the author is type A+. ~_^)

The 7 Layers

No, this has nothing to do with layers of Hell although that’s what the idea is based upon. This is actually an idea that I have thought up lately that I want to jot down as soon as possible so I don’t forget it. This is a location visited very far into the game (In fact, it is part of an optional side quest). For easy reference, let’s make a map.

• Level 1 – This is the top level, where only the noblest and most important souls go. Souls encountered here include Arcanus (character info will be added later) and many other important and strong magi from ages long past.
• Level 2 – This area is mostly home to the souls of priests and other clergymen.
• Level 3 – When you enter, you start out on this layer. Souls here are simply ordinary people.
• Level 4 – This level is home to minor criminals and those who have committed crimes out of insanity.
• Level 5 - This is the lowest regular level. The souls here are those of evil men or enemies of the gods. The look/feel of this area resemble the slums of a city.
• Level 6 – This is the layer where new and “partial” souls go. For the most part, they just drift around aimlessly and mourn what they’ve lost, though they cannot quite remember what those things are.
• Level 7 – The Soul Graveyard. This idea is still under development, and what I’ve decided on so much is pretty much spoiler material and wouldn’t make sense out of context.

Now, for the specifics of how this place works. As the layer descriptions state, you enter at the third layer. The idea here is that higher layers are closer to the gods, and lower levels are closer to the earth (a.k.a. evil). As a certain character (spoiler!) describes, there are generally considered to be six layers, as the seventh layer is separated from the rest and entry is prohibited. Travel between layers is heavily monitored and restricted by guards and is done via something very closely related to a train. The train does not have a track and does not travel to the seventh layer.

As for those living in the 7 Layers, they have fallen into a pitiful state and have forgotten all of the things that were once important to them. They are listless and confused, and they wander around endlessly trying to find out what it was that they had and lost. These people are empty husks without dreams or ambitions, although they might exhibit old habits such as running from place to place as if in a hurry or mumbling to themselves about things they need to get done.

The environment of the 7 Layers is dark and desolate with no sun or sky to be seen. The layers seem to exist in a void. Layers 1-5 are set up like towns and contain run-down, hollow buildings. Pale streetlights line the streets and shine dimly in the darkness. The environment matches the people who live there – empty and in despair.

…God, I wish I could make this game just so I can make a zone like this. Reality checks hurt!

Introduction

Phoenix is a game that I have dreamt up over the past few years of my life. I do not remember when I first started writing about it. I think that it has been three or four years, although I found a notebook of mine the other day which seems to suggest that I had some basic ideas before that. It has come quite a way since then, and I’ve even written up about a third of the script for the “game”. All of the characters have been created, and the general framework for the storyline is in place. The problem? With the exception of the script that I’m trying to write and a few word documents that describe each character in depth, it’s all floating around in my head. There are good ideas that I have had and forgotten. That is why I’ve decided to make a categorized, blog-style record of my ideas so I can look and expand on them and fill in plot holes or things that I haven’t really thought about that much.

So, what is the game about? You will soon discover that if you delve into the subcategories on this blog. Phoenix is a vast RPG, or at least it would be if it existed. It begins with our extremely reluctant hero, Ivan Rokata, and the events that transpire on his fateful eighteenth birthday. Because he is the son of a powerful mage, expectations for him are high. The problem? He wants nothing to do with the arcane, and he could not care less about his heritage as the earth mage’s son. As a rite of passage on his birthday, he is ordered to go to the dangerous Gaia Temple and receive his powers from the Earth Phoenix. As if this is not enough to deal with, he also finds himself caught up in the affairs of a strange yet polite foreigner who unintentionally wound up in the town and seeks to leave as soon as possible. These events mark the beginning of a very long journey during which true natures begin to emerge and the difference between good and evil becomes a little more than a blur.

Sound interesting? Feel free to keep looking around at some of my scraps of ideas. Have fun!

Introduction

Welcome, Visitor, to the Phoenix Blog!

First of all, I have no idea how you wound up on this site. It was probably some random Google search involving video games, fantasy, or…I don’t know, pie? Anyway, I created this blog as a means for me to jot down ideas for a game that I’ve been developing for years. And by developing, I don’t mean that I’m actually piecing the game together into something that you can download and play for free. I lack the skills and equipment (Can you say “sucky computer”?) necessary for that. It’s nice to dream, though.

Before I begin posting my thoughts, I want to make a few notes about me and what you should expect to see (and not see) on this blog. My name is Lauren, and I am a fantasy author. I have written a book but have not tried to get it published. Perhaps I will someday once I motivate myself to get off my butt and make a revised version of it. You can expect to see some posts made on the “Off-Topic” page about my progress as far as that goes. I wrote it when I was a bit younger, so there is dialogue that needs to be rewritten and scenes that need to be entirely reworked. It’s a pain in the butt to redo it all, but someday I’ll finish the project and look into getting it published.

As for what you should expect to see in this blog, expect ramblings about things that relate to my little game storyline project. Like I said, this was created as a means for me to jot down ideas. I’m going to be using it mostly for my own reference so I can more easily develop and expand on my own ideas while piecing the storyline together. The basic storyline is essentially complete, but there are “holes”. By that I mean that there are things that I’ve given a lot of thought to and things that I’ve given little thought to or have just skimmed over. I realized this the last time I tried to make an outline of the game’s storyline. However, because this is a site for personal reference, there will also be posts that you cannot see because I either don’t feel like spoiling the story (in the event that something ever does become of this) or because they are things that I would rather not have just anyone looking at. I actually tend to be a bit on the shy side about releasing things that I write to the public. I guess you could consider this entire site like the draft for a personal creative writing project. If you find it interesting, good! Take a look around.

Well, that’s about all that I have to say. Enjoy the rest of the site, and “May Selistaa be with you.” (You’ll understand soon enough.)