about the work

This is a brainworld project by me (Clovis), and has existed in some form since 2015.

The main premise concerns a quintet of characters: a young king, his sister, a noble, a merchant, and a journalist. The king, his sister, the noble, and the merchant betray each other in escalating acts. Their world falls down around them. The journalist watches on. He has ambitions of his own.

Above them, the gods bet on their champions.

Put a little less vaguely, this world is set in a kingdom where the government is an informal alliance between the crown and industry. Sius, the king, is fighting a losing battle against an encroaching famine when he is approached by a businessman--a self-proclaimed self-made geologist and inventor who makes him an offer he can't resist.

Meanwhile, Sterina, disgraced princess of the kingdom, risks returning to the land that banished her to issue a warning to the king. What she finds is a country--the country that should have been hers to rule--run to the ground by her brother's opulance. She turns to Lero, her brother's lover and her childhood friend, to hatch a plot that will place her on the throne.

Lero is a direct descendant of the knight who brought the First King to power several centuries ago. His ancestors have enjoyed a privileged spot in power since then, and he is content to have Sius' heart. However, he cannot help but see the kingdom's worsening troubles and notice that the one closest to him is to blame.

inspirations

many, manyy different stories have shaped this brainworld

• the dynamic between Sius and Sterina was inspired by The Prince of Egypt (1998)'s interpretation of Moses and Rameses, and Baldur's Gate 3's Dark Urge and Orin.
• Sius' general angst is attributable to Hamlet.
• Hadestown served as direct inspo for the vibes I wanted to give to the world's industry. Greek myth, by extension.
• Arcane very loosely inspired some things worldwise. Hacelia, an inventor (NOT the aforementioned one, who is currently nameless), was immensely strengthened after I rotated S1 Viktor around in my brain for weeks.
• Various legends surrounding King Arthur, and also the concept of Myth(TM) more generally. The mood captured overall would probably be different if I had never watched Lancelot du Lac (1974).
• The First Disciple (Tamino) is a song written about Jesus from Judas' perspective and directly inspired Lero's charcterization.
• The 1930s Prairie Dustbowl.
• Many many many songs which I am inserting as playlists throughout this site.