True Monster by Northumbria University

THE STORY OF

TABLE OF CONTENT THE STORY OF

THE TRUE MONSTER

HUMAN VILLAGE

ENVIRONMENT DESIGN

CARMINE RIDING

MAIN CHARACTER ONE

HARKIN RIDING

SIDE CHARACTER ONE

WOLF CAMP

ENVIRONMENT DESIGN

WEREWOLF FORM CHARACTER DESIGN

LUPUS VIR

MAIN CHARACTER TWO

ALICE

MAIN CHARACTER THREE

DUG

SIDE CHARACTER TWO

LINE UP

GAME CHARACTERS

GAME DESGN

COLORED NARRATIVE SAMPLES

THE TRUE MONSTER 1

Based on three of Angela Carter’s Wolf Stories, in The Bloody Chamber And Other Stories. By combining The Werewolf, The Company of Wolves and Wolf Alice short stories; I have created a Gothic fantasy video game plot and world inspired by them.

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THE GAME STORY PLOT: A dark gothic fantasy story based in a world divided between humans and werewolves, who fight against each other to be rid of the true monster creating a never-ending war on the land. The story focuses on three main characters, looking into their lives in this cruel world they call home, along with their journey to end the war and change the world.

TARGET AUDIENCE:

Fans of RPG games and dark fantasy stories 18+

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Most of the characters in the original short stories were pre-teens to young adults, but I ended up making them adults 20-30 and with two characters pre-teens instead; to fit the dark story setting and target audience.

ORIGINS OF THE WORLD: There is a world that has been divided into two sides, the humans and the devilish monsters known as werewolves. These two races, that live in this world, have been at war with each other for a long time, fighting against each other to destroy the true monster. It is also forbidden in this world for human and werewolves to interact with each other, they cannot be friends or even lovers; as it’s hard to be with someone if all they see is a monster. The humans in this world believe in this cult, that dominates their existence taking full control over their lives in the name of the Mortem. As part of the cult there is an order of humans that hunt down the werewolves to protect their own kind from these monstrous creatures. They are known as the Venandi (Latin for hunters). Those who join this order take a vow to give their life to the fight, in the process renouncing ever having a life of their own; unable to find love or the choice to start a family. However, this cult isn’t all they seem they pretend to be, the good and saviours of human kind, but they hide a dark secret that leads to death (Mortem is Latin for Death). Nevertheless, in the right hand this information could change the world completely for the good or the bad ending the war, but for which side will it favour the humans or werewolves? Could there even be the possibility of peace between them?

HUMAN VILLAGE ENVIRONMENT DESIGN

LIGHTING AND RENDERING

The humans of this world live in an overcrowded and rundown Victorian Gothic village, that was built on a mountain just by the forest where the devil creators of werewolves live. The colour pallet of the village is a mix of brown and grey tones a neutral pallet, that feels cold and dirty as the human life is poor. These design choices were based on the description used in Angela Carter, one of three short wolf trilogy story used for the inspiration of the game called The Werewolf. It describes that the village as: “It is a northern country; they have cold weather, they have cold hearts. Cold; tempest; wild beasts in the forest. It is a hard life. Their houses are built of logs, dark and smoky within …. A bed, a stool, a table. Harsh, brief, poor lives.” I also used the description from The Company Of Wolves that describes the environment as: “It is winter and cold weather. In this region of mountain and forest” It may be short but it expanded creative ideas for the environment that also keeps to the description from the werewolf.

Following on there is a social structure to the village with the cathedral run by the human world cult that dominates over the residents of this town at the top. Then after the more well-off (but not rich) villages live just under them where its safe, then at the bottom of the mountain and ground part of the village where the poorer residents and farmers live; being exposed to the devil’s forest, being frequently attacked by the werewolves. Because of this all the village homes dress their houses in garlic and blood, as they believe it keeps the monsters away based on traditional remedies established by the cult.

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The residents that live in this world appear with features of dark brown or silver-grey hair and eye colour, wearing thick layers of clothing with hoods, boots, leather, wool and fur to keep them warm from the cold temperatures of the north. While the human cult that over sees the function of the village wear long gowns, black with huge hoods wearing the symbol of their religion. This is the same with the order of Venandi that hunt the werewolves, but instead of a gown it’s a big hooded coat marked with the symbol too to make it easy for them to hunt with ease; keeping to the gothic inspired, keeping to the art theme of this game and story it’s based on.

CARMINE RIDING MAIN CHARACTER ONE

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DAY LIGHT Based on young female character child in The Werewolf by Angela Carter’s wolf Stories, the character here is displayed as a darkest version of Little Red Riding hood children’s book. BACKGROUND: Carmine and her family live in the poor part of the human village, at the bottom of the hill by the forest. She is part of the religious cult order called the Venandi, people who give their lives to fight against the werewolves and protect the human race. PAST: When she was a young girl, she visited her grandmother from her father's side, who lives in the forest reserved by the human village. Carmine was attached by a werewolf, but she wasn’t scared. Carmine stood her ground and fought against the creature cutting their paw clean of with her blade. However, when she arrived at her grandmother’s house, Carmine discovered that her grandmother was the werewolf who just attacked her. Carmine told the village about what happened, which led to them ending her grandmother's life.

Ever since that day Carmine was praised for her strength, enrolling her into the order of the Venandi becoming the first female to do so. But deep-down Carmine became cold in her heart, she trusts no one and suspects everyone, giving her life to end all devils to keep her family safe. GAME STORY INVOLVMENT: In the game Carmine will be on the side of the humans who will hunt down the devils, but as the game story develops her character and beliefs will be challenged. This will come down to Carmine discovering the truth about the world she lives in, the friendship with her brother Harkin challenged, finding love, breaking her vows along with new friendships and betrayals that will change the world for ever. Which side will Carmine choose, the humans or werewolves? CHARACTER DESIGN: Carmine Riding design is inspired on the young female child in The Werewolf,

but with the direction on imagining how this child would appear when she becomes an adult, based on her character presented in the story like here talent with a blade and fearless attitude towards the werewolves. Along with the design features based on the world I have created, when combining the three wolf short stories together; taking key themes that have inspire a design and lore to them.

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Following from this her design she appears with a black long coat, a key part of her design as it’s a uniform for the cult organisation the Venandi, which Carmine is a member of based on her story direction following the world lore I created. Carmine also has dark deep brown eyes and short dark brown hair. By styling her hair short it’s easy for her so it doesn’t get tangled or pulled when fighting against the wolves with the fellow Venandi. This also keeps to the design appearances the humans of this world have to identify them from the werewolves. Because of these key colours established, I used a colours pallet that complements the black coat and her brown hair colour. For example, I used dark green trounces, tanned skin tone and a mix of brown accessories that complements the key features nicely pulling her design together.

HARKIN RIDING SIDE CHARACTER ONE

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DAY LIGHT Based on young female character in The Company of Wolves by Angela Carter’s wolf Stories, the character here is displayed as a dark and romantic version of Little Red Riding Hood children’s book. BACKGROUND: Harkin and his family live in the poor part of the human village, at the bottom of the hill by the forest. His oldest sister Carmine is training him in preparation to join the cult werewolf hunting order the Venandi. However he is reluctant to join even though he has similar talent in strength as his sister. PAST: At a very young age Harkin lost his grandmother, from his father's side to a cruel ending by the villages; all because she was a werewolf. Unlike his sister Carmine; who holds hatred and sorrow from the event, Harkin holds great sympathy to the werewolves. He doesn’t see a monster but a person; a view his sister tries to drown out of him. INVOLVMENT IN GAME STORY: In the story Harkin is a secondary character to his older sister Carmine and Lupus

Vir, a possible romance or friend. Harkin has a strong part in this game story. He will help build a bridge to find friendship and peace between the humans and the werewolves. Harkin will challenge the main characters' story development and choices in the game as the story develops with friendships, loyalties, love and beliefs; if the player isn’t careful Harkin could end up dead or lose ties to one of the main characters completely. There’s also an important part in the game where, Harkin or his Sister Carmine, are a possible romance option for the second main character Lupus Vir. By going down this game story pathway with Lupus, it can affect the plot and open new dialog options. These could affect the ending of the game, with the choice between supporting the different sides in the war between humans and werewolves or even finding peace. CHARACTER DESIGN:

“The youngest of her family, a little late-comer, had been indulged by her mother and the grandmother who’d knitted her the red shawl …… her hair is like lint, so fair it hardly makes a shadow on her pale forehead……. she has just started her woman’s bleeding”.

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From this description I designed Harkin with a dark red hooded jacket, silver hair and pale skin; based on the female character description in the quote, and keeping to the human pallet design. Even when the gender is flipped from female from the original story to male for my game inspired form Angela Carter three wolf short stories, by simply looking at the bold dark red hood you may instantly think of the character he is based on. The reason I flipped the gender, from the original short story source for my game, was my own creative take and direction to have more verity on unique characters, and a selection of different genders you could play or romance in the game for audience to connect more to when they play and experience the game story, I set out to create.

When it came to designing Harkin Riding, his design is based on the female character in the Company of Wolves. When reading the short story by Angela’s Carter, the character came across as a mature version of Little Red Riding Hood, a children’s classic fairy tale character. For example, in the story it describes her as:

WOLF CAMP

ENVIRONMENT DESIGN

LIGHTING AND RENDERING

SUNS SET LIGHT The werewolves in this world live in the giant pine tree forest, referred to by the humans mostly as devils’ forest, located just near the edge of the human mountain village. Unlike the humans who live in wood and stone base houses the werewolves live in tents. They prefer this way as they can live off the land and be able to move around freely as a pack of true wolves .It’s also handy as the humans always try to hunt them down and destroy everything they have. Living in tents helps them pack up and move quickly to escape. There’s a huge divide between both the human and the werewolves environment, as if the lands are divided in to two; this may be due to the way the forest appears looking on the outside. The pine trees of the forest stand tall together like a large wall that splits across the land. There’s only one way in and out the forest which acts as a gate way between the two environments; making them appear as two worlds of their own. The inspiration for this design came from the description Angela Carter used to describe the forest in the Company of Wolves: “Step between the portals of the great pines where the shaggy branches tangle about you, trapping the unwary traveller in nets as if the vegetation itself were in a plot with the wolves who live there, as though the wicked trees go fishing on behalf of their friends--step between the gateposts of the forest with the greatest

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trepidation and infinite precautions, for if you stray from the path for one instant, the wolves will eat you.” The werewolves enjoy living in the forest, even though they had no choice but to due to the humans driving them out. They made it a home worth protecting at all cost. Despite what the humans say about them, and the way the werewolves appear, they are normally quite harmless. They prefer to be one with nature and practise in pagan rituals as to them the forest is alive and protects them giving them life. Following this they decorate the forest with these pagan décors, which also keeps to the Gothic Art style for the game world established by Angela Carter's writing style. Because of this mystical feel I gave to the forest, I used a colour pallet of green and purples keeping to a traditional colour pallet used in these types of environment. But by using purple it creates a nice cool and misty look making it appear mysterious, capturing that magical feel I created. It also contrasts well in comparison to the human world. For instance the humans live in a cold and dirty village environment, the wolves live in a forest rich with peaceful colours and full of life; making both environments unique in character from each other, capturing the story I create and the characters that live in them.

WEREWOLF FORM

WOLF FORM APPEARANCE

CHARACTER DESIGN

FEMALE HUMAN FORM APPEARANCE

MALE HUMAN FORM APPEARANCE When it comes to the design of the werewolves physical appearance, they have two forms, a human form and a full transformation werewolf form. In their human form they to have a similar fashion style of to the human villages, wearing thick layers of clothing with hoods, boots, leather, wool and fur to keep them warm from the cold temperatures of the north; but with mix of gothic pagan elements to match the décor of their environment and way of life in the forest. However, despite taking the form and appearing as any other human, they are easily identifiable from the humans unable to hide amongst them. This is because the werewolves in human form have pointed ears, sharp teeth, long nails and thick body hair. Even their hair and eye colour also divide them from the human, with hair colours ranging from blond to red similar to eye colour but with the added variant of blue as well. This colour pallet and design choice came from Angela Carter's description, when describing the appearance of the devilish creatures in her story The Werewolf:

“A blue-eyed child born feet first on the night of St John's Eve will have second sight. When they discover a witch--some old woman whose cheeses ripen when her neighbours' do not, another old woman whose black cat, oh, sinister! follows her about all the time, they strip the crone, search for her marks, for the supernumerary nipple her familiar sucks. They soon find it. Then they stone her to death”.

Following on when creating the appearance of the werewolf form, I design them as a wolf and human mutation sharing physical attributes from both human and wolves, combined together to make an unsettling creature. I designed their appearance to have their ribcage and spine exposed, the bones emerging from their body with bold and fur formed around it. I wanted this as a design feature for the werewolves full form, as when I imagine turning into a wolf the process must be extremely painful. A person’s own anatomy reshaping itself, bones will break through the skin due to the pressure it undertakes in the process. Apart from appearing as a wolf with exposed bones and human physicality, I plan for their design to have some elements of clothing, nature or pagan designs on them. This design element keeps to their character and environment design, along with making each werewolf characteristic shine through in both forms so they don’t get confused. But it also supports the idea that, because they take the shape of a monstrous form, it doesn’t mean they are a monster deep down form.

LUPUS VIR

MAIN CHARACTER TWO

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DAY LIGHT Based on the Wolf Man character in The Company of Wolves by Angela Carter’s wolf Stories, the character here is displayed as a dark and romantic version of Little Red Riding Hood children’s book. BACKGROUND: Lupus is the leader of the werewolf pack in the forest of devilish creatures. Born with a hatred for humans, Lupus leads a rebellion against the humans for fair rights and revenge on all his fellow werewolves who were tortured and treated like monsters. PAST: His father was a werewolf who fell in love with a human woman. However after giving birth to Lupus she was killed for what the humans see; committing a sin for having a romantic relation with a werewolf. Lupus's father was able to save him in time and raised Lupus with his own kind in the forest of devils. As time passed Lupus gained a step mother, a fellow werewolf, giving Lupus a younger brother and sister who were both twins. But sadly, not long after the human hunters known as the Venandi attacked the werewolf pack, killing every werewolf in sight. Lupus was able to survive this attack and vowed to revenge his family and fellow wolves after seeing the monstrous behaviour humans have for the second time in his life.

However, in this time Lupus befriends, maybe even loves, a human man called Harkin Riding. At first, they were tending to kill each other, but as they continue to meet up with each other they become curious. Although despite this new friendship Carmine the older sister of Harkin Riding finds out about this. She tries to stop this from happening making things difficult for everyone. Lupus could try to help Carmine Riding both to understand each other's feelings towards another, possibly even befriend or fall in love with her instead (if he didn’t romance Harkin). This reunion between the Ridings could unite the world or end it all for either side. Based on Lupus's past reputation as a leader, new Friendship brings love, rivalry and new found truths of the world. Lupus must decide how to lead the wolf pack forward. CHARACTER DESIGN:

INVOLVMENT IN GAME STORY:

When it came to Lupus Vir creation, his design and character was inspired by the wolf man in Angela Carter’s story The Company of Wolves. From this the wolf man in the original story is described as a handsome strong mysterious man in a large green coat, later revealed as a werewolf, who romantically pursue the female character making it a mature take on the original Little Red Riding Hood story. For instance, using the quote:

In the game Lupus will attack the humans leading the werewolf rebellion, to end all humans and create a new world free from the evil human’s possession.

“A fully clothed one, a very handsome young one, in the green coat and wideawake hat of a hunter, laden with carcasses of game birds…. Off with his

disguise, that coat of forest-coloured cloth, the hat with the feather tucked into the ribbon…. He strips off his shirt. His skin is the colour and texture of vellum. A crisp stripe of hair runs down his belly, his nipples are ripe and dark as poison fruit but he’s so thin you could count the ribs under his skin”. Based on this description I designed Lupus Vir with a large signature dark green and leather coat that dominates his appearance, with the rest of his clothes being simple with a darker colour pallet to keep the focus on him and his coat as it’s the key feature of his design. Following from this I also included other features to his design, which also complement his coat and capture the character I established for him from the original source and game plot. For example, I gave Lupus long unkept dirty blond hair, yellow eyes, long nails, clothes with tears in them and body hair. Using these features, it again refers back to the original material, when describing his appearance later on as he reveals himself to be a werewolf. The reason why I kept the green coat in his wolf form, with it being his key feature, but also how he revealed himself being a werewolf after removing this item.

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ALICE

MAIN CHARACTER THREE

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Based on the young female character Alice from Wolf- Alice by Angela Carter’s short wolf Stories. Background: Alice and her twin brother Dug have lived their life since they can remember, within the human village cathedral as servants to the cult order. Despite the two of them being werewolves, the cult order of the human village raised them like a fellow human. Because of this both Alice and Dug never knew they were werewolves, till they became teenagers and experienced changes associated with being a werewolf. After the twins come to realise, their life, they came to know, was all a lie, they also discovered a dark secret truth about the human cult order that could change the world. Being scared with everything that has happened recently in their life, it’s now up to Alice with to her brother Dug to find their way home and discover who they are; which will make a difference between the war of the humans and werewolves. Past:

When Alice and Dug were new born babies, they lived in the devil’s forest with their family and fellow pack of werewolves. However, one day human hunters called the Venandi, attacked the pack, killing every werewolf in sight; except their eldest half-brother Lupus who was able to escape the attack. After the humans attacked the werewolves, within the aftermath, the Venandi discovered the twins.

They decided to take them back to the human village cathedral where they were raised as slaves, but to be later secretly experimented on to see if they could become human; forgetting who they truly are. INVOLVMENT IN GAME STORY: Alice and her twin brother Dug live in the human village cathedral, but come of age experiencing the werewolf transformation. The twins end up discovering a dark secret the cult have kept for centuries, that could change the world. After learning about this secret, the twins escaped from the human village filled with fear, leaving everything they knew behind, to the place they were born; to be with their own kind in the forest. However, on this journey, the twins will face challenges testing their friendship. Alice wants to be with her true family, Lupus and the other werewolves, while Dug is wants to return to the human village as that’s the life he felt like he belonged in. Which side will Alice pick? Will they stay together or split up in this war choosing a side in the process? CHARACTER DESIGN: Alice’s design is influenced by the young female child character in Wolf Alice. However, when it came to designing this protagonist, the story described the

young Alice appearing like a human girl who is unable to speak with other features that resembles a wolf: “Could this ragged girl with brindled lugs have spoken like we do she would have called herself a wolf, but she cannot speak, although she howls because she is lonely--yet’ howl’ is not the right word for it, since she is young enough to make the noise that pups do, bubbling, delicious, like that of a panful of fat on the fire. Sometimes the sharp ears of her foster kindred hear her across the irreparable gulf of absence....they are trying to talk to her but they cannot do so because she does not understand their language even if she knows how to use it for she is not a wolf herself, although suckled by wolves”. Although her appearance hasn’t been established. I used the characteristics expressed by the young protagonist in the original source, to inspire the animal like and playful design while also keeping to the original design style I gave the wolf characters in the world. For instance, I gave Alice Pure red hair which is long and tangled, styled in a loose massy brayed to keep it slightly under control while running around having fun. I also designed her character to wear a traditional gothic influenced maid dress, to symbolise and portray her position in the world as a slave to the church. I also added small details onto it to flush out her individuality onto it like un even socks, bandage and untidy sleaves to reflect more on her wild character more.

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DUG

SIDE CHARACTER TWO

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DAY LIGHT Based on the Male character Duke from Wolf- Alice by Angela Carter’s short wolf Stories. CHARACTER DESIGN: When it came to Dug, he is designed as Alice’s twin brother, and side supporting character for her. With Dug and Alice being twins, it came to designing their appearance as well with the story. For instance, with Alice designed with a Gothic maid dress with wild red hair and eyes, Dug also presents himself with the same design but with a gender swop instead, a male counterpart to Alice. Following this everything between them is the same even with the colour pallet design of dark blue, brown and white pallet combination for the outfit along with a tanned skin tone; which really pulled the characters; design together, definitely better and different then using a traditional black pallet for this uniform, as I felt it made the twins looked flushed out and flat. Apart from Dug designed to be identical to Alice, but with a re design to meet a male character appearance, I did include features in Dug's creation to reflect his characteristics as they may be twins, but their characters are vastly different making the twins clash a lot with each other; which is an important part in their story for the game. For example, although Alice is wild in nature Dug is quite the opposite, while his siter enjoys playing all day getting in trouble in the process. Dug is very shy and timid in his nature, he likes following rules and keeps to himself with a good book to read. Because of this for his design I gave him

features in comparison to his sister a lot tidier and well kept. Dug takes care in his appearance with short clean hair and a tidy uniform; he also needs glasses to help him see better when reading his books. Although Dug is Alice’s twin, his whole design isn’t based on that factor of the game story. Dug design is also inspired by the character Duke in Wolf Alice There wasn’t much describing the Duke's appearance apart from the similar approach of him being like a human but with wolf traits: “The Duke ….. thin legs scabbed with old scars where thorns scored his pelt…….. He sleeps in an antlered bed of dull black wrought iron until the moon, the governess of transformations and overseer of somnambulists, pokes an imperative finger through the narrow window and strikes his face: then his eyes start open. At night, those huge, inconsolable, rapacious eyes of his are eaten up by swollen, gleaming pupil. His eyes see only appetite. These eyes open to devour the world in which he sees….. he will leave paw-prints in the hoar-frost when he runs howling round the graves at night in his lupine fiestas……. shoulders a weird burden of fear; he is cast in the role of the corpse-eater, the body-snatcher who invades the last privacies of the dead. He is white as leprosy, with scrabbling fingernails, and nothing deters him. If you stuff a corpse with garlic, why, he only slavers at the treat: cadavre provençale. He will use the holy cross as a scratching post and crouch above the font to thirstily lap up holy water.”

With this in mind, the way the story describes the Duke and the later relationship he develops at the end of the story, influenced my decision to make them twins in the game as they both were presented in the story as more than humans sharing a lonely experience in the world. This quote also helped when designing Dug’s appearance in wolf form, the same approach in human form, although his sister Alice's wolf form has wolf unkept fur decorated with knotted braids. Dug likes to keep his wolf form well tidy; he even decorates his wolf in vines of frons. Following this I used the frons on the leg as a reference and key design to the Duke who Dug is inspired form. This is from the way it describes the Duke having scars on his legs from the frons. By adding the frons to his design it’s only keeping to the Gothic pagan design I gave the werewolves of the world.

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GAME CHARACTERS

LUPUS VIR 3O Male Werewolf

I take pride in my work to save lives

I will choose my own path in life

HARKIN RIDING 23 Male Human

ALICE 15 Female Werewolf

DUG 15 Male Werewolf

CARMINE RIDING 28 Female Human

True Monster

Articles inside

ENVIRONMENT DESIGN

MAIN CHARACTER ONE