Character Development
The following are a series of breakdowns for characters across a range of existing and speculative franchises.
Orlisa
Orlisa was developed as a key NPC for the StarGarden universe. Click here to read a story featuring her in our narrative Discord experience, Voices of Eleriah.
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Overview
Orlisa is a shaman who lives in a region of Eleriah (our story world) known as the Cloaked Core—an underground rainforest that spans a colossal maze of cave tunnels beneath the mainland. A reclusive shaman who worships the Divine Gods, Orlisa is an old soul; she clings to a religion and belief system that has all but left these shrouded woods. Her only companions are the Nectar Fey—small fairies—that live in her mossen cloak. As hope continues to fade in her lonesome outpost, Orlisa decides to set off on a journey to find the Divine Gods, though they have not been seen in the Cloaked Core for ages. In this journey, she will make her way to the Elerian surface and uncover sacred truths at the heart of this world—all while finding a home of her own.
Physical
Orlisa is a young woman of the forest—stout and steadfast. This is someone who cares not the way she looks. Her voice comes in a gentle whisper, as if she has lost the ability to distinguish between conversation and prayer; and she wears a cloak stitched from moss and bramble from the surrounding trees, which allows her to better blend into the woods. A group of Nectar Fey, little forest sprites, live in this cloak, and when they sense danger nearby, they light up, casting a pink aura around her. Her prized possession is her SaintedBreath Necklace, an esteemed heirloom among forest shamans, which is said to contain the captured words of a Divine God.
Psychological
Reclusive and stoic, Orlisa resides in the outskirts of a village in the Lulutin Groundlands, an underground forest community in the Cloaked Core. Hers is the life of a secluded monk: She lives in proud service of the Divine Gods who once presided over this forest. Years of isolation have taken their toll, however. Orlisa—though certain in her mission—is far less trusting of others. She understands the trails between towns in the forest better than she does the whims of passersby. And as a woman of faith, she possesses strong beliefs about how she should interact with the natural environment. She takes care not to harm the woods she calls home—protecting their inhabitants and herself with trickster magic, as opposed to brute force. If she could die without leaving a single imprint on the woods, she would consider hers a life well-lived. But before that day comes, she dreams of encountering Story-Weaver, the Divine God she worships most.
Social
Worshiping of the Divines has receded in these woods, meaning that Orlisa is an outlier in her community. She lives in a hut far from anyone and spends most of her days in solitude. The locals regard her as an outcast—a mysterious witch, a practitioner of dark magic. They know not her gentle soul, instead judging her as a devout fanatic of a bygone religion. Orlisa has always felt a certain yearning for community, but that feeling is swallowed by an unyielding faith in the Divine Gods. As such, her only company are the voiceless Nectar Fey she keeps in her cloak. She protects and cares for them, just as they protect and care for her—a perfect representation of her relationship to the woodlands. But if Orlisa ever wants to meet the Story-Weaver and resurrect the Divine Gods in their Sacred Lagoon, she will have to get over her reclusive instincts and find a community to call her own…
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Story-Weaver… Show me the way…
Oremheb Anodyne
Oremheb Anodyne is a character developed for the speculative cyberpunk world of The New Kingdom. Click here to read excerpts from The New Kingdom story bible.
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Overview
Oremheb Anodyne is a pretentious aristocrat who resides in a New Memphis highrise at the heart of the New Kingdom’s capital. While he seems aligned with the empire’s ruling class, the Ozymandian Sovereign, he is, in fact, a leader of the Obscurants, a group of rebels exploring a virtual frontier hidden between the seams of their city. Oremheb is the only person to have encountered a mysterious figure known as ShadowLark—the wise prophet who leads Obscurants into the grid. In his heart, Oremheb believes that if he can join forces with ShadowLark, he can seize control of the kingdom and overthrow the pharaoh.
Physical
Because Oremheb is often encountered in the VR grid (known as Field of Reeds), he essentially has two appearances. In Field of Reeds, he appears to strangers as a humanoid shape swarmed by a murder of crows, his gaze—glowing and red—gleaming out through the blackened shroud. The cloud can materialize out of nowhere and vanish in the blink of an eye, like a digital hallucination. In reality, Oremheb is a young man serving the Ozymandian throne. Unlike many other citizens of the kingdom, he possesses minimal cybernetic enhancements. No mechanical limbs. No sensory augmentations. Demure and baby-faced, he is the last person you would expect to possess a demonic alter ego in the city’s banned VR grid. Perhaps the only giveaway are the ornate tattoos flooding his chest, markings he hides beneath a heavy topcoat, fleeting suggestions of a past life adrift in the Wastes outside the kingdom…
Psychological
Oremheb secretly despises the Ozymandian Sovereign—but he also does not trust the rebel outsiders in the desert Wastes. A man without a home, he has placed his faith in the Obscurants, the grid, the idea of a pristine tomorrow detached from the corruption and failures of yesterday. With the help of ShadowLark, Oremheb wants to take over the kingdom… and he will do anything to achieve this goal. He has no problem with lying, cheating, stealing, killing. A lifetime spent toiling on the streets of the city—not to mention his years of witnessing the depravity of the ruling class—has left him a cold psychopath, willing to do anything or hurt anyone to realize his goals. All his sins, he believes, will be washed away once he claims the throne and steers the empire towards a better future. Who cares if a few skulls are smashed along the way? Perhaps his greatest flaw is the overconfidence gleaned from decades of experience and careful book learning—here is a man who will not suffer fools.
Social
When he was a child, Oremheb’s family was murdered by some generals from the Ozymandian Sovereign. He spent his teenage years as a FreeRoamer in the Wastes, where he contributed to rebel efforts against the crown. Over time, though, Oremheb lost his faith in these outlaws. When a rival leader attempted to assassinate him, Oremheb decided that the FreeRoamers were no different from the crown they claimed to oppose. So he left the desert and returned to the city with a new identity, slowly climbing the social ladder and gaining a strong standing among the royal family. At the same time, he began exploring the VR grid and building his relationship with ShadowLark. Due to his wandering youth, Oremheb is now among the most networked aristocrats in the Pilgrim Empire. But while he now boasts strong ties in places high and low, one connection has always eluded him: the one called Metonym…
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Metonym, you think you belong here? In this, our bottomless nightmare?
Rakal the Dream Seeker
Rakal is a speculative character written as a creative exercise for FromSoftware's Bloodborne, drawing from the game's lore. Players would encounter Rakal mostly in the Hunter's Dream, with his quest eventually spilling into worlds beyond.
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Overview
Rakal is a former Cleric and Hunter who served alongside Ludwig in the early founding of the Healing Church. After Ludwig was transformed into a horrifying beast, Rakal set off on a journey to find a cure and restore his master to his original, human form. This journey quickly took Rakal from Yharnam to the Hunter’s Dream, which he now explores as a new frontier. Because he has not been back to the “waking” world in eons, Rakal has become unstuck in reality—part man, part beast. His loyalty to the Master who trained him will ultimately lead to his downfall… if it hasn’t already…
Physical
Rakal is a gaunt man with vaguely beastlike features. The mutton chops down his cheek flay out like wolf fur, and his eyes have taken on an eerie shimmer. His explorer's uniform has grown tattered and bloodstained through decades of drifting about the Hunter’s Dream. Squint at the designs on his garb and you might notice some emblems from the Tomb Hunter uniform, suggesting a relationship between the Church and catacombs beneath their city. Rakal has not aged a day since he left Yharnam to explore the nightmares of this world; he remains a young man in his twenties. Players find him by following the trail of smoke flowing from his pipe, leading to his hiding place. His blood has been infected like all other Church Hunters, but he has managed to stave off the plunge into beasthood... for the time being...
Psychological
Rakal has started going mad from his listless journey about the Hunter’s Dream. While he remains fixed in his dedication to Ludwig and the Healing Church, he is growing more and more disillusioned and paranoid as his adventures progress. Should he ever return to Yharnam and see the sad state of the world, he would lose all faith and descend into a blood-drunk frenzy—realizing that his loyalties and years of searching have served a malevolent kingdom. Perhaps suspecting this already, Rakal is content to remain in the Hunter’s Dream, sifting through its endless mysteries under the guise of trying to help Ludwig. In reality, this place is his last bastion of comfort, of peace—a fog of denial that pushes away the horrible knowledge that he will, one day, wind up like all the others… a beast…
Social
Rakal is a prideful man, unwilling to speak with commoners. He deeply values his status within the Healing Church, and he doesn’t really understand how to build relationships outside its confines. Driven mad from isolation and a foolhardy devotion to Ludwig, Rakal has little empathy for the player—and he wishes to be left to his own devices. One reason for this might be the creeping feeling that he is turning into a beast, which he treats more as an unseemly embarrassment than an existential threat.
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Ahhh… Ludwig… Master… Blessings grace this moonlit void…