Hello again!

Sometimes I appear in a cloud of miasma when one least expects it and start babbling about the undead. If the crucible bans me for hollering at the liches, I will face its yolk and walk backward into the void.

This devlog will serve as a quick introduction to a few of the non-playable characters you'll encounter in Resurrection Gate. But first!

STATE OF THE GATE

The majority of my time is spent as a freelancer, caregiver, and once again a cat-haver (after adopting a  kitten last summer). Some of my ongoing projects are wrapping up, including A Compendium of Lesser-Known Cryptids, which is heading to print soon! The latest game I worked on, Harmony: The Fall of Reverie, is also coming out on June 8th for PC and consoles! It was such a delight working with Actezéro, Don't Nod, Pitstop, and the incredible voice cast to bring this story to life.

Now that I'm between gigs, I've been finding time to give RG more attention. Some updates:

• ✦ My Patreon is currently on hiatus so that I can keep up with everything life's been throwing at me, but development has not stopped!
• ✦ New audio by Ruune and more work on the soundtrack (track names, cover concepts,  etc)!
• ✦ Expanded device testing! I scored a cheap tablet that lets me do more hands-on responsive design.
• ✦ Reworking the narrative outline and refining mechanics like character attributes.
• ✦ Lots going on in the game's innards, where the Twine Gore resides: reorganizing passages, variable management, structuring menus, wrangling macros, etc.
• ✦ A gorgeous new illustration by Jay!!
• ✦ New intro sequence prototype, experimenting with giving players an immediate choice between Yasha and Sully.

SUPPORTING CAST

In Resurrection Gate, the point-of-view can switch between multiple characters, at which point previously-playable characters can become reactive NPCs in each other's storylines. With the rest of the cast, we can't get all the way into their heads, but we can interact with them. These characters include Rheya, Nazaret, and Besarion.

RHEYA

A man trying to outrun despair

A former political minister and high-ranking aide to the assassinated Marquis of Mir, Rheya is weary of the struggle he and Yasha have been forced into after the destruction of their home. He is in his 50s and yearns for stability,  for the weight that he carries to be lightened. The events that led to the disastrous siege weigh heavily upon him, and he seeks somewhere new in which he may grieve, rebuild, and move on.  He hopes to find that place in Wratun and its renowned library, where one can be immersed in history and literature and poetry rather than the raw nerve of the present.

A scholar and a diplomat by training, Rheya can keep a cool head in intense situations, but he is all too aware of how fragile life can be and will avoid violence wherever possible. Though he and Yasha have been friends and colleagues for decades, they have their differences, and it's possible for their relationship to either weaken or strengthen as a result of Yasha's choices.

One of their most harrowing disagreements is about whether or not a mutual friend might have survived the siege. Rheya mourns his death, while Yasha is in denial. Neither realizes that they are both correct.

BESARION

The Mind's Eye

After the previous Duke executed or exiled the majority of his staff, new blood is very much in demand to fill several vital positions. Wratun takes what it can get, which is how no less than three dead people found roles to play at the Citadel. Though they are posing undetected as a mortal intelligence operative, Besarion is an especially ancient lich who lost their sense of physical pain centuries ago. They bear the gift of perception, which manifests as an otherworldly sense of sight and an eyeball in their chest.

Besarion tends to appear stoic and tranquil, devoted to cultivating their mind and remaining senses, but they are not immune to passion. Though they cannot feel injury, they still feel keenly, and they are no stranger to strong emotions: wrath, love, sorrow, joy. Besarion cares deeply about the well-being of their fellow undead, and is not hostile to mortals unless sufficiently provoked.

They may seem gentle, but the fact remains that they are the sum of centuries of experience, much of which includes misfortune. Their ongoing feud with Cyrus the Devourer has honed their vigilance to an extreme degree, but despite the ugliness they have witnessed, they are still able to summon curiosity and wonder toward the world and its denizens.

NAZARET

The Haruspex

Nazaret is quite alive for a dead woman, and she takes joy in the flesh-and-bone indulgence of incarnation. Clawing at omnipotence, almost all-knowing, she is an undead oracle whose gift of clairvoyance is limited only in that she cannot view the possible futures of her fellow undead without great peril to herself.

After being resurrected in her early twenties, she remains young at heart and continues to live her un-life hard and fast. She often uses her gifts to learn strange, anachronistic phrases and to pull off schemes, scams, and grifts. She has a piratical nature and a wealth of nautical knowledge, but after a disaster at sea of which she does not care to speak, she has elected to remain aground awhile, entertaining herself by mingling with the mortals of Wratun.

Presenting herself as an ordinary apothecary, she helps concoct and distribute remedies to the Citadel and local pharmacies. She is emphatically not a doctor — she excels at breaking humans, not fixing them — but she is fascinated with chemicals and reactions. Not all of her potions, however, take effect on the living.

BONDING

Although romance will not be a main feature of the narrative, playable characters are able to deepen their relationships with certain characters in a variety of ways.

Whether that is a platonic bond, a professional agreement, or a romantic relationship will depend on the characters that are interacting. Though there is no romantic attraction between Sully and Besarion, they can nevertheless form a meaningful friendship. Yasha's fixation on the fate of an old friend can be played as platonic concern, or deep denial born of unspoken yearning. Laurence can remain carefully distant from others, or allow himself emotional vulnerability with Besarion. Other possibilities exist as well.

Bonding to a certain extent with specific characters can result in a new reflection in a character's Mirror menu representing their dynamic. Here are two examples of these kinds of qualities:

EYE CONTACT
(laurence & besarion)

It's said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. For whatever reason, the lich known by that epithet sees something worthy in Laurence. The Mind's Eye looks upon him fondly. 

FORTUNES UNTOLD
(sully & nazaret)

Nazaret claims that she can tell Sully's future from the look in their eyes and the lines on their palm, but insists that it would be more fun not to. If she foretold their death, it would be a "huge bummer." She doesn't like to know her friends' expiration dates.

Although these characters have differing affinities and in some cases even pre-existing histories with each other, different dynamics can still be explored between them, just as aspects of each playable character can be de/emphasized. Stay tuned to discover other character dynamics.

There are still some other characters left to introduce, but I'll save them for another post. In the meantime, take a look at Jay's latest illustration: a mesmerizing triptych featuring Rheya, Sully, and Yasha in the swamp surrounding Wratun.

Thank you for reading! I appreciate every bit of interest in this project.

Until next time,
Grim