So, I suppose I should start talking about the storyline of this.
I'd imagine some of you remember Anormia. In its first incarnation, it was intended as an RPGM1 game. Based on storyline leaks, it was called "the xenogears of rpgm", and won a "most anticipated game award" over at the game faqs forums. Not that this really means a lot anymore.
However, I was too lazy/immature/ADHD/pick one to script a game this dialogue intensive for RPGM1. Thus, the Anormia Project failed.
It is now being restarted, and has been in development for the last 5 months or so.
I fully intend to finish Anormia this time.
So, about the storyline:
The world of Anormia takes place in a (somewhat) dystopian version of the near future (in an alternate-earth style environment.) The entire world was conquered several decades ago by the state of Centralia (that's no relation to silent hill the movie, kthx) who prevailed over a host of allied antagonist forces in a drawn out global war.
The roots of this global war are obvious on futher inspection: at the time the war started, the state of Centralia had long since subscribed to a new religion, Syolism. Syolism, which focuses on the percieved teachings of a goddess named Syol, began as a religion which insisted on equal treatment for all. However, in the name of big government and big corporations, this religion was slowly perverted into a conquering force. Centralia quickly succumbed to the Syolian Church, which installed a puppet prime minister into the state department. Driven by (somewhat re-interpreted) Syolist teachings, the state of Centralia began an aggressive campaign to convert and cleanse heathen populations. At the time these cleansings began, the world of Anormia had several major religions. At the time of the game, Syolism has been mandated as a world-wide faith, enforced by government patrols.
More alarming than this rapid drop in cultural sanctity, is that among the "heathens" Centralia attempted to purge or convert were several tribes of Vhyore. This brings up another issue concerning the world of Anormia, and that is the Vhyore. The Vhyore (pronounced veYOre) are an ancient race of partially psyonic proto-humans, long decimated by inbreeding and the incompatibility of their traditionalist lifestyles with the modern corperative state. Vhyore myth holds that the Vhyore once lived in a technologically advanced society, far before the dawn of man, but that as mankind began to emerge and spread, corruption followed, and technology was perverted into an instrument of indescriminate destruction. The Vhyore also have their own faith in a supreme being who, according to their legends, has died once already, yet will be revived again to usher in a new golden age. According to Vhyore legend, the death of this God and the spilling of his blood sewed the seeds from which humans (and thus, corruption), sprung.
These Vhyore, which already congregated in isolated societies and areas, have been quarantined off by the newly formed United Federation. (The United Federation is the name of the world-state as decided by its Centralian rulers.) The Federation requires background checks in order to be admitted to Vhyore societies, and treates humans who live among Vhyore as subhuman themselves. By law, Vhyore societies must pay tribute to the Federation by giving up one newborn child per year. These children are used in Federation laboratories for testing and research.
And yet, among all this repression, the Federation does not give off the image of being a dictatorship. Indeed, other than in the religious sector, its political and social freedoms are many, and its residents live a happily content life. Most problems are swept under the rug and forgotten about, and a healthy mixture of magic (keep in mind this world is high-fantasy) and technology keeps life functioning at a fairly smooth pace.
There is, however, one problem that just cannot be swept under a rug. And that is the problem of impending civil war.
The many cultures of Anormia, though they submitted to Centrialian Syolist rule, did not submit entirely. Two nations in particular have always plotted their escape from Syolist rule: Floria and The Morn.
Inspired by "folkish" purity groups, who demanded cultural, national, and racial sanctity, terrorist operations have been on the rise in these two states in the last few years. The most important of these terrorist groups is Red Saber, a Florian militia which demands full freedom from Syolist rule for both Floria and its allied state, The Morn. Although Red Saber is not directly connected with the Florian administration, there is no doubt that the higher-ups in Floria support Red Saber behind the scenes.
The problem of terrorist action has become an increasingly greater problem to everyday life in Centralia. Gas attacks and even full on stormtroop assaults have been launched into the Centralian capital, Hargen, a number of times. This has so aggitated the subjects of the federation that open revolt seems as if it may be in the near future.
The Centralian administration has taken a rather large step to combat this threat: the creation of Aquila.
Aquila, named after the ancient military symbol of the eagle, is an elite squad comprised of 3 partially psyonic special agents and 4 crack-squad backup agents to provide cover for the.
Aquila has served its duty well in a number of test runs against terrorist attacks, and the government has plans to begin using it as an offensive weapon to infiltrate terrorist cells and deactivate them from within.
And this is where the main character, Zonam, comes in. He's one a member of the Aquila squad. But i'll talk about him in another post.
It should be noted and emphasized that although Anormia: Paradise Rising begins with civil war, terrorism, and other normal topics, it does not stay on this course. The war between the rogue states and Centralia is only a backdrop for the real action: a storyline that will further involve religion and religious symbolism, a host of scientific experiments, ancient prophecies, at least three different strains of villainy and no one discernable main villain, cloning, and most importantly, a question: "What role does man play on the grander scale of nature?"
If this game looks cliche to you, its cause I'm trying to be brief and not spoil much. Keep your mind open about it. Those who know the entire story are quite, quite impressed with this. Maybe when I post the character descriptions, you can at least begin to see why.
To describe Anormia in three words, it is epic, romantic, and relevent.
It is epic by definition because of the subject matter and the story telling. It, like many other rpgs, involves (fairly) ordinary people thrust beyond their daily life and into a story dealing with the cosmos as a whole. The story of anormia draws heavily on religious symbolism, appropriating well-researched Hindu, Gnostic, and Pagan myth into a syncretic whole, while still remaining highly original (this is not rehashed Evangelion or Xenogears "symbolism.") This symbolism contributes to the epic nature of Anormia: there is always something much bigger transpiring in the game than that which the player realizes.
Anormia is romantic not just in the sense of love itself, but rather in the sense of the romantic movement of the late 1800s and onwards. The storyline of Anormia romanticizes eons and eras far before the game takes place, recognizing them as eras of fidelity, trust, fairness, honor, love, and loyalty. These ideals have been dilluted and displaced by modernism. The underlying message of Anormia is that even though these days have long passed, the cycle will one day be completed through a series of purgings and trials, and these ideals will be restored. Anormia is a story of redemption, redemption as a whole, redemption by fire.
The story of Anormia is relevent in many ways. I feel that the state religion of the United Federation, as it is portrayed in the game, has much in common with the doctrines of modern "megachurch" Christianity, and the ancient Vhyore religion can be related in the same way to many repressed pagan religions. There are a multitude of other similar allegories in Anormia. That's not to say that Anormia is a thinly veiled political tract: this is not the case. Anormia is a high-fantasy roleplaying game set in the near (alternate) future, with a fair number of rpg cliches, including a couple of spikey haired youth. (No, gloomy, this isnt an FF clone.) However, I have written the storyline in ways that make it easy to relate to modern life. Indeed, our modern life is one in which trust, honor, and love have largely been forsaken.
And one day, we can hope, this cycle will complete itself.
Anormia: Paradise Rising.
I'd imagine some of you remember Anormia. In its first incarnation, it was intended as an RPGM1 game. Based on storyline leaks, it was called "the xenogears of rpgm", and won a "most anticipated game award" over at the game faqs forums. Not that this really means a lot anymore.
However, I was too lazy/immature/ADHD/pick one to script a game this dialogue intensive for RPGM1. Thus, the Anormia Project failed.
It is now being restarted, and has been in development for the last 5 months or so.
I fully intend to finish Anormia this time.
So, about the storyline:
The world of Anormia takes place in a (somewhat) dystopian version of the near future (in an alternate-earth style environment.) The entire world was conquered several decades ago by the state of Centralia (that's no relation to silent hill the movie, kthx) who prevailed over a host of allied antagonist forces in a drawn out global war.
The roots of this global war are obvious on futher inspection: at the time the war started, the state of Centralia had long since subscribed to a new religion, Syolism. Syolism, which focuses on the percieved teachings of a goddess named Syol, began as a religion which insisted on equal treatment for all. However, in the name of big government and big corporations, this religion was slowly perverted into a conquering force. Centralia quickly succumbed to the Syolian Church, which installed a puppet prime minister into the state department. Driven by (somewhat re-interpreted) Syolist teachings, the state of Centralia began an aggressive campaign to convert and cleanse heathen populations. At the time these cleansings began, the world of Anormia had several major religions. At the time of the game, Syolism has been mandated as a world-wide faith, enforced by government patrols.
More alarming than this rapid drop in cultural sanctity, is that among the "heathens" Centralia attempted to purge or convert were several tribes of Vhyore. This brings up another issue concerning the world of Anormia, and that is the Vhyore. The Vhyore (pronounced veYOre) are an ancient race of partially psyonic proto-humans, long decimated by inbreeding and the incompatibility of their traditionalist lifestyles with the modern corperative state. Vhyore myth holds that the Vhyore once lived in a technologically advanced society, far before the dawn of man, but that as mankind began to emerge and spread, corruption followed, and technology was perverted into an instrument of indescriminate destruction. The Vhyore also have their own faith in a supreme being who, according to their legends, has died once already, yet will be revived again to usher in a new golden age. According to Vhyore legend, the death of this God and the spilling of his blood sewed the seeds from which humans (and thus, corruption), sprung.
These Vhyore, which already congregated in isolated societies and areas, have been quarantined off by the newly formed United Federation. (The United Federation is the name of the world-state as decided by its Centralian rulers.) The Federation requires background checks in order to be admitted to Vhyore societies, and treates humans who live among Vhyore as subhuman themselves. By law, Vhyore societies must pay tribute to the Federation by giving up one newborn child per year. These children are used in Federation laboratories for testing and research.
And yet, among all this repression, the Federation does not give off the image of being a dictatorship. Indeed, other than in the religious sector, its political and social freedoms are many, and its residents live a happily content life. Most problems are swept under the rug and forgotten about, and a healthy mixture of magic (keep in mind this world is high-fantasy) and technology keeps life functioning at a fairly smooth pace.
There is, however, one problem that just cannot be swept under a rug. And that is the problem of impending civil war.
The many cultures of Anormia, though they submitted to Centrialian Syolist rule, did not submit entirely. Two nations in particular have always plotted their escape from Syolist rule: Floria and The Morn.
Inspired by "folkish" purity groups, who demanded cultural, national, and racial sanctity, terrorist operations have been on the rise in these two states in the last few years. The most important of these terrorist groups is Red Saber, a Florian militia which demands full freedom from Syolist rule for both Floria and its allied state, The Morn. Although Red Saber is not directly connected with the Florian administration, there is no doubt that the higher-ups in Floria support Red Saber behind the scenes.
The problem of terrorist action has become an increasingly greater problem to everyday life in Centralia. Gas attacks and even full on stormtroop assaults have been launched into the Centralian capital, Hargen, a number of times. This has so aggitated the subjects of the federation that open revolt seems as if it may be in the near future.
The Centralian administration has taken a rather large step to combat this threat: the creation of Aquila.
Aquila, named after the ancient military symbol of the eagle, is an elite squad comprised of 3 partially psyonic special agents and 4 crack-squad backup agents to provide cover for the.
Aquila has served its duty well in a number of test runs against terrorist attacks, and the government has plans to begin using it as an offensive weapon to infiltrate terrorist cells and deactivate them from within.
And this is where the main character, Zonam, comes in. He's one a member of the Aquila squad. But i'll talk about him in another post.
It should be noted and emphasized that although Anormia: Paradise Rising begins with civil war, terrorism, and other normal topics, it does not stay on this course. The war between the rogue states and Centralia is only a backdrop for the real action: a storyline that will further involve religion and religious symbolism, a host of scientific experiments, ancient prophecies, at least three different strains of villainy and no one discernable main villain, cloning, and most importantly, a question: "What role does man play on the grander scale of nature?"
If this game looks cliche to you, its cause I'm trying to be brief and not spoil much. Keep your mind open about it. Those who know the entire story are quite, quite impressed with this. Maybe when I post the character descriptions, you can at least begin to see why.
To describe Anormia in three words, it is epic, romantic, and relevent.
It is epic by definition because of the subject matter and the story telling. It, like many other rpgs, involves (fairly) ordinary people thrust beyond their daily life and into a story dealing with the cosmos as a whole. The story of anormia draws heavily on religious symbolism, appropriating well-researched Hindu, Gnostic, and Pagan myth into a syncretic whole, while still remaining highly original (this is not rehashed Evangelion or Xenogears "symbolism.") This symbolism contributes to the epic nature of Anormia: there is always something much bigger transpiring in the game than that which the player realizes.
Anormia is romantic not just in the sense of love itself, but rather in the sense of the romantic movement of the late 1800s and onwards. The storyline of Anormia romanticizes eons and eras far before the game takes place, recognizing them as eras of fidelity, trust, fairness, honor, love, and loyalty. These ideals have been dilluted and displaced by modernism. The underlying message of Anormia is that even though these days have long passed, the cycle will one day be completed through a series of purgings and trials, and these ideals will be restored. Anormia is a story of redemption, redemption as a whole, redemption by fire.
The story of Anormia is relevent in many ways. I feel that the state religion of the United Federation, as it is portrayed in the game, has much in common with the doctrines of modern "megachurch" Christianity, and the ancient Vhyore religion can be related in the same way to many repressed pagan religions. There are a multitude of other similar allegories in Anormia. That's not to say that Anormia is a thinly veiled political tract: this is not the case. Anormia is a high-fantasy roleplaying game set in the near (alternate) future, with a fair number of rpg cliches, including a couple of spikey haired youth. (No, gloomy, this isnt an FF clone.) However, I have written the storyline in ways that make it easy to relate to modern life. Indeed, our modern life is one in which trust, honor, and love have largely been forsaken.
And one day, we can hope, this cycle will complete itself.
Anormia: Paradise Rising.
it for you...
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