Random Ideas

The ongoing story that I'm writing into this blog is actually the main portion of the Fantasy of War, something that happens a very long time after this first chapter I'm talking about in the previous post.

Fantasy of War as with some good storylines is developed and imagined in reverse, with the ending coming first – and the beginning coming last. This first chapter I speak of is merely chronologically first. This by no means is the beginning of the story. The beginning of the story is already right here on this blog. That's the beginning of the story.

This first game/chapter is a flashback from the present time storyline – and this is the a major portion that could actually be told in a short game. At present, it has no connection whatsoever to the current storyline – but all will become clear in time.

I've decided that one of the experiences in my dream made for a good beginning to the first chapter, which is actually the development of one of the more important concepts in the Fantasy of War – the concept of a greater power. In a sense, it's one of the wackier sides of the Fantasy of War, but an important one.

After all, there is no greater fantasy of war than of one involving far greater, far more powerful beings which cannot be described in any way but abstract.

Expect the story to begin like my dream – your main character arrives in a trains with others, gains a short briefing about the world – and soon after, your main character's goals will come into view, together with what you need to do to get them accomplished.

(This is a rant about The Story. If you didn't like it then, you aren't going to like this rant either. Feel free to skip.)

After a while, I went back and reread my stories, and then I realised how childish they were. Despite me having planned massive story arcs, backstory and technological advances and levels, apparently, my writing is still horrible. It's bloody obvious I haven't thought through how I should start to tell the story.

The problem with it is that it was originally conceived as a television series of sorts. Within this series itself, it was planned somewhat for half-hour episodes, not the normal one hour shows that normal sci-fi shows tended to extend to. In this manner, it was much like anime. In fact, it was meant to be animated realistically via 3D. (When you're young, you dream a little less realistically.)

Thinking about it now, it's probably far more appropriate to think of it as more of an anime-style project. After a while of going nowhere, I then decided that I should start writing it out as a set of short sections, with the aim of completing an entire book by the end of my university life – which is what I did try to do on the blog.

The problem was that since I originally conceived it as a show, I couldn't get it out of my mind that it was a TV show of sorts. As a result, my writing suffered, from both my inexperience and the fact that I visualised it as a show.

How large was I actually planning the project? Believe it or not, I planned for the long-run story arc to run over five seasons. After that, I intended to conclude the greater Fantasy of War arc (which is actually meant to run over several movies or miniseries, but this is the only running TV series) with two 2-hour miniseries episodes. Sounds really ambitious, no?

And funnily enough, the Fantasy of War as it is now is actually 2 seasons shorter compared to when it was originally conceived. If you've actually bothered to read it, you would've noticed the medical vessel seems kind of pointless – since Cass and Kanya almost instantly get a transfer to a military-class ship, the Aegis.

Originally, Harrison was a main character too, especially since the show was actually supposed to run on the medical vessel for one season, and then Kanya was to get a transfer and then meet Cass on the Aegis. Now, I've cut that part of the story for simplicity's sake. The fact that Kanya and Harrison start off in the story in the medical vessel is important (even after the story cut). It's also important point that Cass was originally on the ship.

What else is important? The fact that there is no war to speak of in the first season, merely a buildup of one, as well as important facts of what happened from several previous wars in the FoW universe.

There are rules in this world. However, they can be bent to perverse ends, causing what you would see as an anomaly to simply be normal in the flow of events. To this extent, any human can gain the abilities you have seen so far over the course of time you have spent here.

It is not to say that you could gain the same abilities they do, but spend enough time with them and it will not be long before you will gain the same abilities that they wield as if it were nothing. Of course, first you'd have to contend with how to live among them without the same powers they do.

They can access data by merely touching the terminals, but you cannot. They can order food by merely channeling enough data into the grid in the floor. It will not be long before you will find yourself alienated by their very norms because you do not have the same abilities they do. Of course, there will be those among them who are disabled and do not have the ability – and that is how you will live until you possibly gain it, of which the probability is slim.

They are actually of the same origin as you, with a possible genetic predisposition. There is no evolution at hand here, merely a massive process of learning to be done. It may take until your next lifetime before you complete your learning process, but nothing can stop you if there is a will to do it.

The room was familiar. He remembered the bed, the white sheet, even the bedside cabinet. He knew where he was. He knew it was somewhere safe. He reached out to the bedside table for something. Something was supposed to be there. He couldn't find it.

Despite being in a familiar room, it felt disjointed to him. He could not recall why he was in this room. He found himself asking the strangest question: “Where am I?”. He began to scan the room. He could see a data terminal nearby. There was something on it. It was what he wanted. He got out the bed and immediately grabbed it.

It was a small little thing. A form of watch, to be exact. The back of the object read:

PDD
Kanya Methodius

“Kanya?”, he thought. “Is that my name?”

He searches his memories for a recollection of his name. He recalls being called that, and how ridiculous a name he thought it was then.

He puts on the PDD. It tells him that it is the 29th of April, 3031. He knows the situation he is in now. He now recalls why he is here. He was in a training accident more than a year ago. However, his memory tells him that accident was yesterday. He checks his PDD for recent recordings and photos. He finds that his PDD is completely devoid of such things. He still has other pieces of information (such as contact details) on it, however. His PDD has obviously been updated in the past year. He sees strange new menu items such as “Locator” and “Ping”.

He opens up the Locator application. He sees that he is within a medical care unit room within a Medical Vessel owned by the TRi. He heads for the door with the intention of looking for someone. He leaves his room and follows the map on his PDD to find the medical care office. He finds a room – “Chief Medical Officer – Harrison”. He wonders why there is no one around the medical unit. He opens the door.

He finds a man busy doing some typing. The man looks up and gets a little startled. “You're awake!”

Kanya is puzzled by his reaction.

“You haven't been responding to any treatment we've been giving you since the accident. And now, you are bloody awake and walking around in the middle of the night!”

“What?”

“You aren't a ghost or spirit or something, right? It's way past midnight, I might be seeing things.”

“I assure you that you are not. What the hell is going on?”

“Well, er, let me pull up your file, Kanya.”

Harrison reaches out to the display and suddenly a file on Kanya opens.

“You see, you've been in a coma-like state ever since the accident, if you remember. Some newbie pilot rammed straight into you during landing. For some odd reason or another, you refused to come out of the coma even after several different treatments, even newer ones. At some point, you were moved into this unit for looking after. If you looked around, this particular unit on this vessel specialises in comatose patients and the rooms around you are similar. Usually people are only put here when their families have given up on waiting for them to heal on colonies. Research puts heavily regulated environments like on a medical ship as ideal for comatose patients to recover. And you're just another piece of walking proof. It still is rare though. But recovery time on ships is still a good amount higher than on planets.”

Kanya is speechless at the information Harrison is feeding him.

“I suggest you do go back to your own room and sleep. I'll arrange something of a checkup tomorrow to make sure you're all OK, even if the vitals here on my screen say so. For now, it's the middle of the night. No urgency – you've been somewhat dead for a year anyway.”