RR Story Base

[MicroChasm]

This issue is to create and iterate on a short, simple explanation of the fact-based side of the story. I believe that the mythology-based side can be modified more freely to fit the facts, rather than the other way around. This is still early and I expect it to change.

The civilization on this planet once had the capacity to build giant mega-projects, like the Dyson Sphere and Tower, but the knowledge of making these things is lost. The tower itself is was maintained for a long time through ritual actions in an almost religious way. As the world got hotter, the people of the city developed genetically-engineered trees whose gargantuan canopies shielded them from the sun, and whose roots dig down to massive water reservoirs. These trees were planted through the city and they tower above it, dense leaves hundreds of feet in the air. At some point, the Dyson Sphere/Tower malfunctioned, and the city was largely destroyed. The area became irradiated and the mega-trees were all killed. The people who survived underwent a diaspora into the desert, where they live a harsh existence, shielding themselves from the sun however they can and living largely at night. A group of surviving scientists banded together and vowed to pass down a mythology about the world that might someday allow the remaining tree seeds within the tower to be recovered and replanted. The main character of the game is a decedent of one of these scientists, and (for some TBD reason) is about to access the tower when no-one else has been able to.

[nsmryan]

At a high level, my reading of the story is this: the civilization became increasingly complex and capable, but also had to sustain its increasing complexity. A shock to its system of some kind removed the ability to maintain its complexity, and it entered into a long period of decline during which its mega-projects could be mostly maintained but could not be renewed, leading to gradual decline. The gradual decline period lead to a sharp transition into a fully declined period starting with the malfunction. This period is like the gradual decline in that it is stable for a while, but not sustaining. The heat problem can be mitigated with the trees, leading to another long sustained equilibrium period at a much lower level of complexity, but perhaps more stable then the initial period which was always increasing in complexity and had a kind of inevitable cap where it would have to stop at some point.

If the trees can be returned to the world, perhaps with cultures of people maintaining them as a kind of new god or embodiment of the old god of life, then a new period can occur that will be a long and stable one. In the far future they may return to the complexity of the original civilization, but the general downwards trend after the fall of that civilization has been reversed and it will be a long time period something disrupts it again.

[MicroChasm]

I was reading some of The Nature of Middle Earth, which is a compilation of edited notes of Tolkien's concerning the way that Arda works, and especially the lives of the elves. He seemed to be constantly trying to work out issues with timing and consistency, which makes me feel better about the issues that I see in our own story. I think that solving these will help to drive the story-telling forward.

The issues that I see are: Why is the main character the one attempting this task? Why is the character doing this now, as opposed to someone else doing this a long time ago? The story would be more compelling if this were a last-ditch effort before it's too late, but if the story is about growing trees then the trees would likely not be grown for 100+ years after. What is the story behind the tree seeds-- where have they been, how many are there? If there is a god-like being in the tower, why have they not done anything about the situation until now?

[MicroChasm]

Thinking about my own questions, I could see maybe that the reason that no-one has attempted this before, or at least no one has succeeded, is because of the golems. We kind of have this answer built right into the game, since clearly it will be difficult to get to the center of the city.

It's harder to figure out why the character is the one doing this, and why now. It could be, for instance, that the group has been fairly cautious about attempting this task, since getting past the golems seems insurmountable, but the character has decided that they are just going to wait until its too late and someone needs to do something. The problem that I have with that is that, assuming that the seeds are precious, it would be a really rash and wasteful thing to attempt. It could be that the seeds are actually plentiful, but that doesn't seem to fit the story especially well, since there will just be a few massive trees whose seeds have been passed down for probably a few thousand years.

It could be even that the character has taken some of the seeds in order to attempt this journey, seeds that the group has kept for a long time.

On the other hand, it could be that they have been searching for the seeds using the myths, and finally found them, and now are attempting to do something with them. It could just be that the character is a volunteer. It brings to me the quote "Down to Gehenna or up to the throne, he travels fastest who travels alone." In other words, they may have decided that the golems are too powerful and the only way to get past them is to sneak past.

It could be that the trees, since they are genetically-modified, simply grow extremely quickly. Bamboo can grow 35 inches per day. The tallest trees in the world are 380 feet tall, which we can call 400, which is 4800 inches. We can assume 50 inches of growth per day, even though the trees are much thicker than bamboo, so this is maybe too generous. With these numbers, the trees would grow to full height in only about three months, which actually works pretty well.

You had an idea that would solve the last issue, which is the creation or awakening of a new god, who would then immediately go about fixing the issue. Maybe the seeds need to be dropped into the energy stuff first, and that will start their magic-like growth, and that is why the player needs to get to the tower. It's kind of Mount Doom-esque, but I don't really mind wearing the Tolkien-inspiration on our sleeves.

I've struggled a little with the fact that the golems have the energy stuff on them, and I like that about them, but if the energy has special features then it can't be too easy to get. I think it could potentially work like mount doom, where you can find lava or fire in other places, but only the intensity of this one place will be sufficient. We could communicate this through the intensity of the color.

Maybe I could design some cool seed that looks sweet when it gets a vein of glowy energy.

[MicroChasm]

The only way that I can think for the story to make sense is that the myth is related to returning the special seed or seeds to the citadel, but it hasn't been done because the group that believes is waiting for a messiah to come and do it for them. It's not an easy task because of the golems, or they wouldn't have to wait for someone.

The seed needs to be returned to the tower because it needs to bath in the energy substance in order to grow to its potential. There can be a myth about the creation of a new god that will usher in the next age through the birth of the new trees as well, and the god can appear as an AI hologram kind of image that activates when you get to the heart of the citadel.

There has to be a reason that the main character is the one to take the seed, and there has to be a reason why they are doing it now, and without any help. The only thing that I can think of is that they have stolen one of the seeds, perhaps the only seed left, and they are attempting to get to the citaddel with the understanding that they can't wait any longer, and someone needs to take things into their own hands or else the tribe will die off. It would be a pretty reckless thing to do, but they can struggle with their feelings on whether it was right or wrong.

[MicroChasm]

I had some thoughts that might tie up some of the loose ends in the story.

For one, I don't that there is even really a tower per see, just a scaffolding built into and beneath the tree. The tree is hollow in the center all the way down and the light of the dyson sphere enters through the top. The tree is also twisty and twirly, like this sort of tree:

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/3e/41/14/3e4114926d12cdfa92ecf10e111e13d2.jpg

So the light can enter from the holes as well. It is a super special "magic" sort of tree that lives on the orange energy instead of water. All the character needs to do is throw the seed into the pit in the center, like the ring into mount doom, to make a new tree grow. Once the seed is thrown into the energy, the tree will grow almost instantly.

The reason that this has not been done before is because of the golems. The golems were an army of automaton that were designed to groom, tend to, and protect the tree. When the event happened that destroyed the tree, it also caused them to malfunction and focus on protection to an unintended degree.