#astral falls

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Astral Falls: Day 0

So my NaNoWriMo story has finally taken shape in full. It’s disconcerting how late in the game (no pun intended) it took— I think I was so sure that I already “prewrote” the story seven-through-four years ago that I didn’t think that what I had was a worthless piece of failure and regret with a few neat scenes until I finally started probing what I had.

But the more I focused on things and asked myself “Why this” and “How that?”, the more I realized “What the fuck?” If I tried writing this, I’d have repeated NaNoWriMo 2015, where I was actually working on an earlier version of this story (that now bears little resemblance to the one I have now) but gave up 27k words in because the story was a clusterfuck of the soul the likes of which have never been seen. I still don’t know what I was on about back then, trying to combine Electric Wizard and A Clockwork Orange with Daft Punk and Mirror’s Edge in a terrifying miasma of incongruence. 

This one’s much more well formed and isn’t just a bunch of scenes that I have to go out of my way to string together as I go. 

And hey, it’s LitRPG, so it’ll be my first step into that genre. 

What I love the most about this concept is that I’m finally getting back to that World Ends With You ripoff concept I had way back in 2009 or so, which was always what this story was meant to be. But now with Daft Punk and Mirror’s Edge added to it. And it works. Holy lord, it actually works this time! I’m not constantly thinking “This doesn’t feel right”. Which is to be expected— you can’t make pieces fit in a puzzle by cutting out parts from an entirely separate puzzle.

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Raharu!

Actually, my OC for Astral Falls: Enekai Rahal, drawn by RedCorpse-Dezzer. Gothy electro-psychokinetic high-elf princess whose boyfriend was a freerunning stoner-rock Jesus Christ.

For whatever reason, people just love her Chinese jacket/gothic hime-cut hair combo. I like it too, but she’s already got fanboys! 

Anywho, Rahal’s story is a reverse “magical transplant” story, where she is brought to a near-future version of our Earth. Jesus Christ and a stoner dwarf went to Middle Earth for a trip (not like that!), and He found her. She was all droog, secretly part of a thieves guild, and she utterly pissed off her ultraconservative elf-nationalist parents by daring to date a human (even though Jesus is technically divinity). Jesus eventually dumped her because she was far too violent and occultistic (which comes naturally to her since she’s a “chaosborn”, or an electrotelekinetic). He does, however, introduce her to the joys of freerunning and parkour.

And that’s pretty much what she does in Astral Falls— parkour. Except, as Yahtzee would say, she actually can will platforms from the land of dreams. Also, while she’s an elf (and not a human-elf hybrid but a fullblooded High Elf/Wood Elf), she took to transhumanism a bit too much. So actually, she’s even more of an elf than ever before— she jokingly says that she’s “5% machine elf”. Terrance McKenna would be proud.

Astral Falls is a fun story to think about. It was conceived as a response to the fact there were no sandbox sci-fi/cyberpunk games (until the lackluster Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst dropped), as well as a reaction to ultra-bland open worlds like that of Saints Row the Thirds/4′s, where there was no personality and nothing to do. Among other things, of course. Like fusing Mirror’s Edge, The World Ends With You, Gravity Rush, and GTA. However, I don’t think it’s a story I’ll begin writing until next year at the earliest. I mean, I already have a premise and a very-well constructed world (it’s a world I’m using as a common setting for multiple, unconnected stories, and have even allowed other people to join in on the fun), but I’ve got other priorities.

So shut up and enjoy the goth elf maiden.

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Enekai Rahal, the elf maiden protagonist of Astral Falls. She’s supposed to be a high elf princess who’s on very bad terms with her parents (especially her ultra-conservative father) for being in a relationship with a human (though, to be fair, he’s also divinity, but that only makes things worse). Whether that’s what she’ll always be remains to be seen, but I like this particular incarnation. She’s become much, much less of a rebellious punk as time went on— though she remains a high-energy nightmare, since she’s a chaosborn. That is, an electrotelekinetic. In universe, chaosborns naturally possess electrotelekinesis, but as a result, they have wild and chaotic personalities. Enekai’s no different, and one way she expresses being so high energy is through parkour, essentially making her a traceuse. This was always the point of her character— I created the post-cyberpunk Elon Isle to be the ultimate sandbox world for a video game, particularly one in the style of Mirror’s Edge or Sleeping Dogs (which are heavy on freerunning). Enekai’s always meant to be a telekinetic to maximize the possibilities with extreme freerunning. The electrokinesis aids those cybernetic augmentations she’ll be using. The elven aspect is pretty new, and reflects a very recent development in the story. For whatever reason, people seem to have fallen in love with her Chinese jacket, but it doesn’t look too good for a freerunner. So I had to make it ethereal.

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Enekai Rahal's Ultra-High Voltage Electrotelekinesis, by rara

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Enekai Rahal as a Superchaosborn, by Marcos Uchima

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Enekai, by RedCorpse-Dezzer

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Zen Enekai Rahal, by /u/sonotcalculated