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Yarth
58m P.H.
Scope
The motivation behind building Yarth
So my thoughts arent lost to time, And to map out my headspace.
The goal of the project
a better understanding of myself and a beautiful world for other people to use as a setting and hopefully one day draw/animate/use
Yarth's Unique Selling point
Surviving a shattered world orbited by two unknowable gods.
Theme
Genre
Dieselpunk is the average but due to the 4 mass extinctions on yarth some towns may be in the medieval age and others may have ai butlers all depending on what can be scavenged.
Reader Experience
happy. i want the reader to be filled with a happy feeling. and i want them to do this most of all while aware of all the dangers of yarth. between venari, sol, and Amans I want the reader to imagine themself watching a multicolored sky shine while their family runs across the homestead they built and feel peace. And I want them to know no matter how bad things look if you stop to smell the roses there just might be salvation under every leaf.
Reader Tone
The lack of films and settings like Stardust really inspired me to write. Yarth is wonderous the kind of place where you could be brought to tears by a vista or forest. And depending on if its Venari or Sol rising you may have horrors beyond imagining or the entire world wanting to give you a hug. but it should be remembered even venari is soft, she does not crave destruction in a traditional sense and her voice is that of perfection.
Recurring Themes
Cycles. Above all else Yarth is about Cycles. Venari may rise and wipe out surface life but it will be back. just as when Sol rises and sends Venarians scurrying for shade they too will one day back. Do not take this to mean nothing matters it absolutely does. Sometimes though, what you do will matter more for someone cycles after you than for you.
The video that started ALL of this was Weather Service Broadcast by Local 58 in fact i personally see that as footage from the very first nightfall as Venari first arrived and was entering the moon.
Yarth's overall feel can be found in the Sky pirates of Stardust. it just gives you the giggles for how fun, pretty, and happy it is without feeling too childish.
Death Stranding also had a not so subtle effect on a particular continent. but seeing as Death Stranding is similarly an expression of Kojimas thoughts and feelings its not surprising they'd be similar.
Character Agency
Players have a few options on race. Topsiders the jack of all trades with the added racial trait of dominion, or the ability to tame any animal. relictas the offensive powerhouses balls of blade that cant be stopped. or the Buzzies modifiable self aware AI from a bygone age. normal people could be playable but without protection from venari or her ilk they wont get far. in regards to player agency they could go so far as to reclaim or build entire cities. Topsiders especially are naturally curious, intuitive, and trained at Icarus for adventuring, armed with a sunstone to damage Venarians of all kinds they are the most common adventurer. However Yarth is a chaotic place. The defeat of Sol, Venari, or Amans, is simply unobtainable.
Focus
Drama
Venari seeks to reconstruct her husband and bring about the end of humanity but is directly opposed by Sol and his Solarians.
The Pop and Hewa do battle but not with the lives of innocents. The pop utilizes Solarian warriors and Hewa resurrects the dead. when they meet in person the Pop can utilize the nigh limitless power of an elder god and Hewa, the current holder of Amans's thinking vestiges can use them to control 100% of Amans's corpus effectively stalemating.
The wilds of Yarth are not some frontier to be conquered. they bite back. wildlife is often hostile and the land resists construction. add that Venarian corruption only becomes more of a threat in larger populations, what few populations Yarth has are isolated hamlets with under 100 people in most places. A perfect setting for Homesteading.
The multitude of energies on Yarth are a constant threat. Solar Purification Venarian Corruption Whitik-ification all promise power and doom to any who walk the surface. the night sky, sol light, bluut there are many many ways to lose yourself here, and for those unlucky enough to be affected directly they must learn to live with their new condition....if they can still think.
If celestial entities werent enough the soil grants no such shelter. The myriad ruins and lost cities offer up lost technolgies and practices but also ancient evils. these civilisations died for a reason and that reason may still lie buried.