Inspiration: Castlevania, where I have just acquired two
more gems in the series. Konami has
mostly filled its quota for Castlevanias.
Now writing over its storied history again with Lords of Shadow, it
seems as though the lore of the series is again set to change, not always for
the better.
Outline: I wonder if the deep story of Castlevania, itself
grown from Bram Stoker’s Dracula, could be directed to grow the other way –
indeed to move through time to some era before Vlad Dracule of
Transylvania. Searching back through the
mists of time within that region, we find other stories that prove fertile for
the backdrop of more conflict and hostility, and ultimately more opportunities
for a Lord of Darkness like Dracula to take shape.
Constants: Death is
an immortal, and has compatible names under both the Greek pantheon (Tanatos)
and Roman pantheon (Mors, Letum). In
Castlevania, especially Lament of
Innocence, Death is directly responsible for the creation of Dracula, who
in every game refers to himself as the Lord of Darkness, or more recently, I
think as recently as Order of Ecclesia,
Lord of Shadow. Death is a significant
presence in the gaming lore, and survives Dracula, challenging Soma Cruz and
Julius Belmont some 30 years after the Old Whip Cracker “defeated” Dracula for
the last time, in the Daemon Castle War in 1999.
This requires explanation, as Death is in all depictions
subservient to Dracula. Given that Death
essentially made his own master in Lament
of Innocence, it could be argued that Dracula is needed for a plan; Death
is still an immortal without him, and was around before him and will be around
after him, but requires a Dark Lord for whatever specific achievement that we
haven’t seen yet. Mathias Cronfist
becomes Dracula, even commits to a war against God, but Death is still very
much the power behind him.
This “war against God” also broaches the religious
challenge; go far enough into Transylvania’s history and Christian God is
unknown. How does this project surmount,
or at least acknowledge the needs of the existing lore and the God who is
paramount in all its medieval forms?
While this might seem a puzzle, in fact it is an opportunity: having a
surplus of competing cults is not a problem, it is an opportunity, indeed a
chance to interact with the audience (should I say player?) on a deeper level
than just “There’s pure evil or there, go and get him!”
I loved Order of
Ecclesia for its single greatest protagonist, standing head and shoulders
above every last Belmont. By the time
she leisurely strolls through the gates of the Daemon Castle Dracula, she has
been stripped of emotions, confronted and killed her best friend, been betrayed
and exposed the betrayal of her master and teacher, and stood contemplating a
life of nothing, except the Order`s stated mission to battle Dracula with the
might of the Glyphs. There are no
Belmonts, no other heroes coming to save you.
Shannoa can toughen up and tackle the Castle head on, or turn and run,
admitting failure, indeed that it was all for nothing. Contemplating the considerable challenge
ahead of her, ahead of you, can prove daunting, even considering Shannoa`s already
quite familiar with adventuring. That connection I find deeper than any other
in the series, and, if possible, I would love greatly to replicate it in this
project. To me, that means creating a
deep world for the audience to interact and connect with, and giving them
license to explore it at length, long before letting them into the gates of the
Akumajo. That also means building out
the people, the languages, the superstitions, in Latin the religi, and in that expression, the systems of belief, the
religions, that dominate them. I confess
to just a hint of desire to copy and emulate Tolkien, even in this endeavour.
This brings me to the question of when this shall happen. I could set the whole story a generation or
two before Vlad Dracule, but that would be a wasted opportunity, a story that
falls altogether too close to the original.
I could set in the ancient prehistory, or Bronze Age, of Transylvania,
but we know altogether very little about this period, and a great deal of that
is circumspection. I’ve studied long and
hard enough in the period at the end of the Roman world that I feel pretty
confident building such a story, and that the upheavals of that age could
easily frame a backdrop for a story about a Lord of Evil. I can get into greater details next time, but
for now, let me just build this case in a quick summary:
The Legions of Rome withdraw from Transylvania (not for the last
time), and the aristocrats take fright at the reported advances of Goths. Adventurers are gathered to collect
intelligence, and they stumble upon the keys to summoning Daemon Castle, and
the great treasures within. Death, the
immortal, awakens, and decides that one of their number is exactly what he
needs to make the Castle’s presence permanent, and further a quest of his own.
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