I Have Not Yet Found Death

In the story that I saw, life and death naturally had to have a physical form, it is just logical for a system which requires contact and interaction to build something tangible.
Life is easy, we always see it as a woman, full in hips and bust, life-birthing and earthy.
But I didn't know what death was.
Because death is an opposite, I supposed it to be male. I thought of a small boy, covered in pustules and eyes craned open unseeing the horror it wreaked.
But it wasn't quite right.
Then I tried to imagine it as a girl, winsome, innocent, wrapped in pale blue and bone white and not understanding the pain people got from what she caused to come upon them.
But again it wasn't there.
Now it is a man all clad in armor, cold-faced and duty-bound. He's red, black, white and not right.

Maybe death is a bird, like a raven, maybe it is the wind that knocks doors open in the middle of the night when nobody is there to see you breath that last breath, or beads reflecting nothing, hovering in a beautiful cloud over a body, a silent rain.

Whatever it is, I haven't found it yet.
It is a small hitch in the grand scheme of things, but a proper puzzler.
Whatever it ends up being, please bear with it.

   Do you ever realize, oh I've completely forgotten to say something really important? 

   Well I forgot that I never said the title of the game.

   Well, there it is. "In Lays" , not "Inlays". This game ain't about woodworkin', nosiree.

   This logo may not be permanent, but it's a good enough placeholder for my doing.

   So I may as well accompany this announcement with a bit of a hint towards the theme of the game. Of course, I can't help but touch on different things, but I do hope I can at least focus upon one theme a bit more than others, and so for that main theme, it's quite simply love.

   I wouldn't say it's a love story, but I think everyone does things for love, be it for love of people, love of self, love of money etc... So I chose love.

   It moves us all.

World Map

   So here's the world map, let's have a brief rundown of the countries, shall we?
   The swirls represent towers, for the record.

   Since the game properly starts in Ipsin, we'll begin with there.

   Ipsin is a small, mildly fertile land. It was formerly fairly dry, but it was blessed with a strong spring of water that fed farmland. Nowadays, that spring is gone, but a massive storm is perpetually thundering in the north ocean, which waters the land fervently.
   Ipsin is technically property of Cavalier, ever since they were invaded by that massive northern nation, but the former Ipsinian king's twin daughters are allowed to remain on the throne in name, at least.

Continuing on southwards, Qward's border which can be seen is not actually the real border, but Qward likes to pretend it is. Qward is really only the city of Qward, but as it takes rent from those who live outside the city up to that border line, it considers itself to be that land. Qward is a city of scholars, priests/priestesses and those blessed with powers from the goddess. All flock here, for the libraries are extensive, and the wisdom of the scholars is passed down generation to generation. Since there are so many powerful people living there, Qwerd doesn't bother to make a fuss about borders and gets by quietly. Qward is allied with Cavalier.

   Qwerd is a land of farmland and forests stretching out across the countryside. The only large city is the capital, and thus their strength is not so great that they dare go up against Qward. Instead, they focus on surreptitiously developing technology, lacking any profound magical talent. The people are fond of festivals.

   Sumire is a land of sand, fitting for the warm south. Here, no particular ruler is supreme- instead nomadic tribes wander the land, stopping at oases to grow crops for a season, or planting their tents by the sea to fish for a while. The only true cities are by the sea, where some people enjoyed fishing so much that they set root there.
   A tower can be found just off the southern coast, which stretches beyond the clouds.

   Numia is a land known by its abundant fishing and beautiful plants. It is here that worship for the Goddess flourishes the most, since they are grateful for it being so blessed. The arts are especially strong here- since food is not hard to get, people have free time aplenty to write plays, perform music and make art.

   The Isles of Penreth are a barren, cold sort of place. Rocky and dull, good soil is seldom to be found, though there are a few clay deposits. The sea caverns and hidden valleys make good hiding for pirates, rebels, mercenaries hiding from angry acquaintances, and refugees. You might find a few eccentrics scattered about as well, for the greatest of craftsmen seem to find settings such as this particularly inspirational and romantic.

   Lastly, Cavalier is known as the 'cursed land' on account of its placement as the land furthest from the World Light. This makes the cold season especially long, leaving precious few months for raising crops. Mountains stud the icy land like jewels, and indeed Cavalier's great commodity is rubies. They are reserved for the nobility, as a symbol of their reign. And there are many nobles indeed, for Cavalier is divided into ten provinces, whose rulers change quite a lot. Really, whether you wear a ruby or not is the only way to tell if someone's noble right now.

oh shoot I have to draw hundreds of monsters and color them so they fit with the artstyle of the character portraits rather than using the resources

Kale Character Profile

Ah, finally I feel like I have enough art of one of my characters to make a collage.
So here we go, a brief look at Kale!

 
Ah dear me, what, I finally decided to write on this blog?
How long have I been sitting on this?
Really, I ought to work on things faster, but somehow I always get sidetracked!

   Anyway, hello.
I made this blog with the idea that having a place to write about what I'm doing would inspire me to work on it harder, but since I never started using it, by extension I never got anything done.
I guess it's only natural.

   At any rate, I'm going to make a game, hopefully. Just using rpgmaker, since I have it.
I don't plan on being grand with it, so the story I ended up with is pretty plain, but I think I can do it well enough. Probably.

This isn't inspiring any faith so I'll just copy and paste the messy description I made for it now C:

"The world of Metris.
Suspended between the God of Death and the Goddess of Life, it has maintained a profitable balance for thousands of years. However, the balance has begun to splinter and the world has begun to close up shop...
   Of course, to the nations inhabiting Metris, this registers as nothing more than a few things out of the ordinary, for they are much more preoccupied with the growing northern threat of Cavalier.
   And so, we will begin the story near the end, because that is always the most interesting part.

   Our dear little Cecil is as absorbed in collecting powerful spells as the adults around him are with saving their own hides by allying with Cavalier, but when he begins to investigate black magic, they sit up and take notice. Without great trouble, the boy is arrested and thrown into prison to be sentenced for using forbidden magic- never mind that he hadn’t done anything with it.

   His childhood friend, Kale takes quite a bit of offense to that particular detail, however!
So please, join Kale on her journey as she tramples over any laws that might obstruct her from saving Cecil’s neck from the executioners axe, and perhaps along the way discovers some of the truths about her decaying world."

  Oh dear, I went a wee bit over-dramatic there, looking back.
Well, there's plenty of time to revise it!

   So, going forward, as I complete each major character sprite I'll make a post about the character with some art and some details about them. A rough world map should be coming your way soon as well, to give you a grip on where everyone hails from. Music, monsters, coding- I'll have to learn all these before I can use them as well.

   There's a long road ahead, so please be patient, especially since I am such a lazy person. I'm looking forward to this, though!