Character 4 – Alex

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

Full Name: Alexandria Maria Pyris
Age: 20
Sex: Female
Height: 5′6″ (168 cm)
Weight: 125 lbs. (56.8 kg)
Hair: Reddish-brown, kept in a ponytail
Eyes: Brown
Blood Type:B

Character Summary:

Alex, like Marinas, winds up in Gaia on Ivan’s birthday, but she has an important reason for being there.  She hails from Volcanus, a town far to the east, and has come to Gaia in order to find medicine for her sick brother.  Tomboyish and cheerful, she instantly takes a liking to Ivan when she meets him and feels indebted to him for showing her where to get what she needs to save her brother’s life.  She carries a bow and a quiver full of arrows on her back and is a talented marksman.  She also introduces herself and proves her might as the daughter of the fire mage on the ship from Gaia to the mainland, as she helps protect the ship alongside Ivan and Damien.

Despite her cheerful nature, Alexandria harbors a deep resentment for water magi.  This is due to an event in her childhood where the water mage travelled to Volcanus just to issue a challenge to Alex’s father, the fire mage.  Beside the water mage was his daughter, a pathetic girl who lacked even the ability to smile because of the torment that the water mage had put her through as a child.  Upon witnessing this man’s cruelty toward his daughter and his overwhelming defeat of the fire mage, Alex instantly developed a profound hatred for the water mage and all of the people in some way related to him.  However, this prejudice plays an important role in helping Ivan understand the true nature of humans and, furthermore, the nature of the quest that he is on.

In conjunction with her cheerful and peppy nature, Alex is also a bit mischevous.  Similar to Damien, she enjoys heckling others, especially Ivan because he is “fun”.  She also has a detailed knowledge of most things related to magi and the elements due to her upbringing as the fire mage’s heir.  Like Ivan, she is stubborn and will not admit defeat easily.  Of course, this also means that she has a difficult time accepting new things or admitting that others are right.  She is fiery and quick to anger, but she is in fact a very logical person who treasures her family and friends above all else…even if she won’t admit it!

Alex finally joins Ivan as a solid party member when the group leaves Volcanus.  She has promised her father that she will keep an eye on Ivan in order to make sure that his quest results in a better world and to make sure that Ivan improves his swordsmanship along the way.

Author’s Notes about this Character:

There’s not much that I have left to say about Alex.  I think she kind of speaks for herself.  She is the mandatory “cheerful” character in the story, although she has a twist.  She is extremely biased about water magi, and this results in huge problems later on (but I won’t go into that yet!).  Let’s just say that she causes a lot of drama from time to time.  She’s fun, though.  Kind of reminds me of Aika from Skies of Arcadia.

New Laptop = Win

Happy Birthday to me!  I finally got something that I’ve wanted for years and years and years…a laptop!  I originally wanted to get a laptop instead of a desktop, but at the time, they weren’t worth the money that you had to pay for them.  I picked up this baby today for about $750 (was supposed to be $600, but with NJ sales tax and the 1-yr warranty…) and I’m loving it so far.  That’s right, no more sitting in an uncomfortable wooden desk chair in front of the desktop and trying to concentrate on whatever I’m supposed to be writing.  This is so much nicer! ^_^

My decision to get one today was actually rather last minute.  I was working on revising my book and was just thinking about how much nicer it would be if I could go outside and work on it instead of sitting in my room for hours.  Plus, who can deny the versatility that laptops offer for a writer?  I wish I had this a few weeks ago, when I took a 5-hour ride up to the Syracuse area to visit family.  But that’s over and done with, and now I’m a happy camper.  Life is good.  Well, occasionally!

Well, time to transfer all of my docs from my desktop to this computer.  Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?

Character 3 – Marinas

Note: Characters are numbered in order of in-game appearance…with the exception of this character, who makes a brief appearance at the beginning of the game.

Full Name: Marinas Tsuikata
Age: 16-17
Sex: Female
Height: 5′7″ (170 cm)
Weight: 116 lbs. (52.7 kg)
Hair: Light brown, a bit longer than shoulder-length
Eyes: Green
Blood Type: Unknown

Character Summary:

Marinas is an unusual foreigner who washed ashore along with the wreckage of a sunken ship on Ivan’s birthday. She will not reveal much about herself other than where she comes from, a distant town called “Marinas” (No, that isn’t a typo.) . Though she is young, Marinas seems to possess almost supernatural knowledge about things that others know little about. She is extremely polite, and her tendency to attach honorifics to people’s names puzzles those who are not familiar with the customs of the town of Marinas. She also has a very kind and generous personality, and one of her greatest joys is being able to make others smile. Because of this, she always tries to act happy and optimistic no matter what the circumstances. No matter how hard she tries to act this way, however, she cannot entirely hide her darker side. In actuality, Marinas is a very docile and meek girl who keeps countless griefs and dilemmas bottled up inside.

Despite her weak appearance, Marinas is a surprisingly competent fighter. She claims to be self-trained, but she fights as if she has been doing it all of her life. Her weapon of choice is a glaive. Marinas also possesses strange healing powers which she claims are common among the people of her hometown.

On the outside, Marinas appears to be nearly flawless. She is genuinely sweet and motherly, and she springs into action when those dear to her are in trouble. She gets along well with others and is not quick to judge people. She teems with natural beauty and purity of soul. In fact, many characters in the game remark that she seems too good to be true. But, as one learns more about her, the dark aspects of her personality begin to emerge as well as some character flaws so severe that other characters have to intervene in order to keep her from making any reckless decisions. (You can fill in the blanks with your own imagination for the time being. Marinas remains a rather mysterious character for most of the game and her background story is rather complex and spoiler-filled.) Another one of Marinas’s greatest flaws is her natural weakness of character and her tendency to give up hope whenever something seems beyond her ability.

Marinas is a central character. Look forward to seeing the role that she will play in this story!

Author’s Notes on this Character:

As you may have already guessed by the webpage URL, Marinas is my absolute favorite character. She is a direct slap in the face to authors who create “perfect” characters who fit their appropriate stereotype and rarely ever make a misstep or show signs of weakness. Characters without flaws are not realistic characters. In a relaxed situation, Marinas may act like your typical weak female, but she has a tendency to become overwhelmingly serious from time to time and is extraordinarily skilled in combat. (What? A healer-type character who can fight?!). Her flaws are extreme; I did not pull any punches when deciding what her personality would be like. Yes, she is the most severely flawed character in the game, followed by either Ivan or maybe [Character #4]. Maybe.

In the beginning of the game, Marinas seems too good to be true. We learn about her flaws later in the game, especially when things start getting tough for her. Like Ivan, she is also a very dynamic character. She’s also fun to work with because…well…she’s just too damn cute. Plus, she has an interesting story behind her. All shall be revealed in good time.

Character 2 – Damien

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

Full Name: Damien Arun
Age: 19
Sex: Male
Height: 5′11″ (180 cm)
Weight: 145 lbs. (64.9 kg)
Hair: Dusty brown, shorter and more spiked than Ivan’s
Eyes: Hazel
Blood Type: O

Character Summary:

Damien has been Ivan’s friend since childhood. Though the two are exact opposites of one another, Damien is about the only person that Ivan gets along well with. While Ivan is cold and not afraid to state the harsh truth, Damien is rather sociable and is always considerate of others. He is also a bit of a flirt, never hesitating to compliment a pretty woman when he sees her. Despite this, he does not usually make serious advances or try to cause trouble. The exception to this is [Character #3], whom he instantly takes a liking to and flirts with just to mess with Ivan’s mind. He is a bit of a joker at times and is always heckling Ivan about something or another, primarily his hatred of women.

Despite his fun-loving personality, Damien is actually a rather serious and sincere person. He is one of the few people who know what Ivan went through as a child that led to his dramatic change of character. He is also perhaps the reason that Ivan was able to keep his sanity after his friend’s death. Talented with people, Damien is not one to fling insults around and tries to help out however he can. Unfortunately, his softhearted nature is his greatest weakness. He could never fight an opponent that he has some kind of connection to.

While Damien’s melee combat skills are superior to Ivan’s, he is unable to use magic. He is also quite the coward and tries to avoid conflicts at any cost. Though usually optimistic, terrifying battles and countless near brushes with death begin to take their toll on him after he and Ivan leave Gaia. Frightened and feeling powerless due to his lack of magical powers, Damien convinces himself that he is just a burden on his companions and that each fight will probably mean the end of his life.

Author’s Notes on this Character:

Usually, I don’t like including the stereotypical lady’s man in my stories. They’re too predictable and can even get a little annoying after a while. That’s why I tried to make Damien into a not-so-typical lady’s man. While he will make a flirtatious comment from time to time (particularly to [Character #3]), he is very mindful of what he is saying and usually does it because he likes to make others smile and feel good about themselves. This is the same reason that he heckles Ivan so much. There is a reason that he became this way, but it would be a spoiler if I posted that right now.

Anyway, Character #3’s description will have to come tomorrow. Working on this idea blog has made me sleepy. It’s a bad place to leave off because Character #3 is the best one. You’ll see. ~_^

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.)