fun fact there were actually a few prototype stories before i came up with mortally coiled that included a few current mortally coiled characters- specifically null and rasputin
rasputin was a main character in a science fiction story i was developing for a lil bit about animals native to alien planets being abducted + uplifted/given sentience by a corrupt corporation to increase the workforce and get around loopholes in teraforming laws. There were a few other main characters, but only one of them i still remember/might reuse for something (a weird bat/bear/porcupine thing called juggernaut whos whole thing was theyre a species that hunts by pretending to be a corpse floating in still water). Null wasn't TECHNICALLY part of this story, but it DID include a species whose design i tweaked and eventually turned into null (and nil, by extension- in fact, a lot of the features I removed/changed to make null ended up being added back for null, like having a stinger and eyes)
and THEN rasputin and null were both NPCs in a video game i started developing in my free time called You Need To Go West. it was going to be a weird 2d puzzle platformer where the player character was a little blob of black goo and you had to progress by teaming up with one of the main npcs, each of which gave you different platforming mechanics AND puzzle mechanics. it was a really weird story but the gist of it was you were compelled by a strange force to go west but since you were a little blob with no arms or legs that is something you cant reasonably do. and there were 3 main npcs you could team up with. all of them bird people- rasputin was one of them, and the other two were lazarus and the major. each of them would have WIDELY different playstyles and paths.
if you teamed up with rasputin, you got the ability to double jump, and the puzzles were bullet hell minigames (called "dodge" in the game). You'd be taking the "high path" in platforming, mostly traversing in treetops. Most platform-y of the three.
if you teamed up with lazarus, you would be able to climb up vertical walls and would have a REALLY small jump, and the puzzles would be logic puzzles/riddles/etc- stuff you typically think of when you think of a puzzle yknow (called "debate" in game). Lazarus took the "low path" in platforming, so its almost ENTIRELY on the ground level, with more moving stuff around and doing tasks to progress instead of typical platforming.
if you teamed up with the major, you would get the ability to glide and have a much faster move speed/have a momentum mechanic. the puzzles would be pretty much just rhythm games (called "duel" in the game). Playing with the major would be taking the "fast path," which consist of mostly time trials.
There would be a bunch of different points where you can swap between which one you joined up with, along with a MUCH harder "friendless" mode where you went WITHOUT any of the npcs and played thru the game as a really slow blob with an extremely limited moveset.
null was actually a secret FOURTH npc you could team up with by going the wrong way at the very beginning. youd get stopped a few times but eventually youd be let through to a secret area where youd meet null (who was much more like sar'kai at the time and also fucking GINORMOUS.) if you chose to team up with null you would have extremely easy platforming where you pretty much just go forward and no puzzle sequences (ie whenever a boss shows up null would Literally Just Eat Them). aka this was the secret "deal with the devil" bad ending
it had a big story and plot and everything but i forgot 99 percent of it and never got farther than making a sprite for the main blob guy and a few random assets before dropping the project entirely lol