the flower that bloomed nowhere

I'm lurina, and this page is for my webnovel, The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere. I will post update notifications, reblog fanart, answer questions, and maybe post writing snippets or behind-the-scenes things. Thank you for reading!

[lurinatftbn]

hello! Like the description says, I made this blog to post about my webnovel, The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere, currently hosted quasi-inappropriately on RoyalRoad, the online hub for progression fantasy and dubious user ads. I am intending to set up a site in the near future, but have been procrastinating.

TFTBN is a weird project that I've been working on at variable pace for coming up on four years now. To try to sum it up, it's a psychological whodunnit in a science fantasy setting that is 1/3rd depressing yuri and out there sci-fi concepts, 1/3rd my decade's worth of fermented thoughts on Ryukishi07's library, and 1/3rd my hyper-specific grudge against critical response to a bunch of ideas surrounding life extension espoused in certain strands of nerd/tech culture, most particularly the rationalist community. It's kind of an over-complicated mess but I'm also proud of it, so please consider reading if you haven't and any of that sounds appealing!

I haven't posted on tumblr in almost a decade, so I'm not 100% sure what I'll do with this beyond announce updates. But if you have any questions regarding my writing or the story, setting or characters of TFTBN, my asks are open, so please go hog wild.

[lurinatftbn]

TFTBN 207: The 1,000,000 Ways to be Murdered by Utsushikome of Fusai (4)

Lamu and Su are both confronted with the impossible. A new chapter is now available.

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TFTBN 204: The 1,000,000 Ways to be Murdered by Utsushikome of Fusai

A locked universe mystery. A new chapter is now available.

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TFTBN 203: Shadow of a Shadow (12)

The culprit reveals themselves. A new chapter is now available.

[lurinatftbn]

TFTBN 201: Shadow of a Shadow (10)

A new chapter is now available. A jar is also a kind of closed room.

[ot3]

Can you draw Kam from Flower?

real kam hours

[lurinatftbn]

TFTBN 199: Shadow of a Shadow (8)

Su begins to suspect something. A new chapter is now available.

[starry-carrousel]

The order + Mr Go Fuck Myself

[lurinatftbn]

TFTBN 198: Shadow of a Shadow (7)

Train lore is interrupted. A new chapter is now available.

[lurinatftbn]

TFTBN 197: Shadow of a Shadow (6)

Train lore. A new chapter is now available.

[lurinatftbn]

Chapter 196 - Shadow of a Shadow (5)

Su solves the mystery. A new chapter is now available.

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Chapter 195 - Shadow of a Shadow (4)

Trains. A new chapter is now available.

[lurinatftbn]

Update will be tomorrow as per (mostly) usual, but for today I'm showing off another set of character art! Once again, these are all done by Zerovirus, our artist for the project.

This time we'll be showing class surgeon and accidental eugenics advocate Ptolema of Rheeds. Ptolema's design went through a couple iterations, initially being a lot more cutesy and in a more minimalist outfit, as described in the web serial. I wanted her to be more tomboyish, while Zero thought it would be appropriate - and add some visual interest to the design - if her rich girl background was a little more reflected.

So we arrived at this design where she retains her green chiton and period sandals, but with a fancier fur coat and accessories. Again, if you're a reader, let me know what you think!

[lurinatftbn]

Chapter 193 - Shadow of a Shadow (2)

Kam debates a tired topic, but this time with a new rival. A new chapter is now available.

[lurinatftbn]

No update this week while I catch up on some other work and story planning, but have some proper renderings of Su's design for the VN. More in-depth stuff to come in the future. If you're a long-time reader, let me know what you think of it!

Bonus panic attack face:

[lurinatftbn]

Chapter 192 - Shadow of a Shadow

The descent into the Empyrean Bastion is revisited from Kamrusepa's perspective, who reflects on the power of suggestion. A new chapter is now available.

[lurinatftbn]

VN adaption news!

Got a different sort of announcement than the usual chapter one (which I forgot until days later again…) this week! As many of you are already aware, a visual novel adaption of The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere has been tentatively in the works for a while. Since I don't really like keeping secrets for the broad-strokes details of something like this, I thought the time was ripe to do an informal 'announcement'. So here's that!

(Example of our current art and interface direction. Actual sprites and background used for this scene very much not final!)

Though honestly, there's not a lot to say. The project will be more or less a direct translation of the work into a new format, though with some… minor adjustments to the storyline, in the interests of keeping the mystery elements fresh and amending a few of the bugbears I've personally built up regarding the plotting over the years. The game will be built in Ren'py (predictably), and joining me in development will the very talented Zerovirus, who'll be handling the art, while Benedict (Cordyceps, Star Seeker in: the Secret of the Sorcerous Standoff) is helping with some of the programming. Contributing to the OST will also be Xeecee, creator of lesbian murder nun game Misericorde, with the remainder handled by myself. (At least assuming I don't flub it and end up resorting to stock music lmao)

(The character bio menu. Also WIP.)

While we're undecided on the release model, the tentative plan is to release a short free demo at some point this year. After that, we'll put out a series of further updates semi-episodically, playable through a one-time purchase on itch. This will continue until we have enough for what feels like a 'complete' release - probably 1/3rd-ish of the story? - at which point we'll put this on steam or something, then start the process over for the next segment.

…and that's it! Stay tuned for future updates. I'm obviously in the privileged position of already having a fair few fans of the work, so I'd love to get feedback from people on things like the script changes or the character designs, so we'll hopefully be showing tidbits off semi-frequently going forward. Thank you as always for reading!