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(box:"=XXXXXXXX=")[#TERMITE CASE]
An unfinished Interactive Story By Ivan Phillips
[[Continue->STORY INTRO]]
[[AUTHOR NOTE]](enchant:?page,(text-colour:black)+(background:white))
You turn your attention back to the work desk. It's a study and non-descript piece of furniture with two [[draws->S1 LOCKED DRAWS]].
The computer sitting on the desk is a old one, boxy with generations of wires and adapters that weave through and around the casing. You wonder how this mess hasn't started an electrical fire yet.
Gingerly you turn on the computer and wait for it for to boot up.
While you wait, you examin the headset with an uncomfortable looking strap hanging from a plastic pole jutting out of the computer's casing. You fiddle with the headset while you wait and find that the strap that is designed to hold the googles to your face is made of a plastic material with metal buttons sequentially placed on the inside of it so that when placed on your head you would feel them against your skull. You wonder why.
Eventually the computer, after much whirling and protest presents a message on the screen written in red authoritative text.
[[Continue->S1 COMPUTER SCREEN]](enchant:?page,(text-colour:black)+(background:white))
Consciousness bubbles as your brain's act of arranging the white wall from formless patterns to solid painted brick and mortar focuses your mind. You try to think about why you find yourself in this situation but struggle to focus on any specific memories.
You become aware that you haven't been aware for an unspecified amount of time. You've clearly spent long enough there to feel the cramp from sitting cross legged on a cot for, well, an unspecified amount of time. You look up towards the ceiling and see the same white paint there.
From behind you, you hear a clatter-clang of something being dropped on the other side of the room and a sarcstic voice saying 'Oh wow thanks, white gruel, it matches the room'. Then another voice grunts in acknowledgement, followed by receding footsteps, a door closing indelicately and then an electronic pip.
[[Investigate the noise->S1 MAIN NODE]]
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You turn around and discover two things: First, that you're not alone; another prisoner on the other side of the room eats quickly from a metal bowl while looking at you with a mix of concern and distrust.
The second thing that you realise is that the comment about the decor made earlier was wholly accurate. Even the floor is made up of white tiles, giving the cell both an anonymous and sinister look and feel. The room's contents also appear symmetrical, with the bare essentials for two people.
On your end of the room, next to the bed, there is a bed with a work desk next to it. The desk has drawers and a [[yellowing computer|S1 COMPUTER INTRO]] on top of it
On the desk, there is also an identical metal bowl of [[gruel->S1 GRUEL DESCRIPTION]] that you should eventually turn to for sustenance).
[[Talk to the other prisoner|S1 YEN INTRO]](enchant:?page,(text-colour:black)+(background:white))
The gruel looks very unappetising, the same white colour as the room. You gingerly scoop up a bit in your spoon and try it. The texture and taste is exactly as gloopy and bland as what you imagine it to be.
[[Continue to eat->S1 LOST MEMORIES]] You look at your cell-mate siting on her bed at the other side of the cell. She is muscular and tall and she too has an identical set of drab furnishings and wears a strange uniform, the same as yours.
The uniform that you are both equiped with is part orange jumpsuit, part strait jacket that leaves you the functionality of your arms but also envelopes the entire body, leaving only the face and hands exposed. There's a small screen attached to the chest of the suit that seems like it records biometrics and other data. It also seems to act as a lock to the suit, and this gives you a case of mild anxiety as you wonder how you could possibly get out of it.
[[Try to use the biometic device->S1 YEN DIALOGUE]]
(enchant:?page,(text-colour:black)+(background:white))You try not to think too much about the bowl's contents.
As you chew on the lukewarm chunks of what you hope will at least keep you functioning until you can find something more edible, you think that you haven't eaten anything as bad as this since... when? You try to place the time, the place, or just even the smell of this previous incident of bad cuisine, but your mind fails you. It's like the shadow of the memory taunts you but you can't quite catch it.
You realise now that there are chunks of your memory alludes you! You can remember certain details. The smell of clean washing. Early morning dew. The heat of a raging fire. However, when you try to foucus on certain things, like what you were doing last night, or what the name of the city that you live in. You draw a blank- these things are like holes in some much cheese. What the hell happened?
[[You finish the meal.|S1 MAIN NODE]]
(enchant:?page,(text-colour:black)+(background:white))You're not sure why, but there's something strange about the way she holds herself. It's as if she doesn't really belong in this place and you think that she seems different somehow. Maybe it's the gray hair and eyebrows that look like they should be on an older person. Unfortunately, with your memories clouded like they are now there's nothing but a strange hunch to back this up.
The other prisoner sees you panicking over the suit and its device, and gets your attention.
(text-colour:orange)['Hey you there. Don't worry, this damn orange rind can open, just only when we need it too. It's standard issue for all the prisoners here so it has a lot of functionality.' She smiles sardonically 'I wouldn't ask what happened to the last person to wear it though.']
You decide to ask...
(text-colour:purple)[['What am I doing here?'->S1 DIALOGUE WHAT]]
(text-colour:purple)[['Where are we?'->S1 DIALOGUE WHERE]]
(text-colour:purple)[['Who are you?'->S1 DIALOGUE WHO]]
(enchant:?page,(text-colour:black)+(background:white))She looks at you with concern
(text-colour:orange)['That's rough, you can't even remember that they already took away your past?']
You tell her that you don't understand what she means.
(text-colour:orange)['Let me back up and tell you what I know. I've been a prisoner here for awhile, and although we've never talked before today, I know a little bit about you. I know that you were brought here because you couldn't resist trying to change things outside this place, and let me tell you this. You didn't change once they brought you in. Eventually, you tried to organise some prisoners to your activism art cause and started a riot in the prison. That didn't end well for anyone. Last I heard, they placed you in solitary, but we all know how that ends. They take you for an 'operation' and wipe some of your memories as punishment.']
You think to yourself that the person that she is telling you that you are (or is that used to be?) sounds like a pretty interesting character. You wonder if there's any way to get more details about what happened to you, or if there's a way to reverse the mind wipe?
(text-colour:orange)['Look, I know people like you, and there's something deeper than memories that drive people like you. Please don't ask me to help you with whatever schemes that you have in mind. I'm sorry that I can't help you out more, but I'm not going to jeopardise my own safety for you. It's just too risky right now and I value my own memories far too much. More than you at least!]
[[You wonder if she says this out of survival or fear, but let the subject go for now.->S1 DIALOGUE END]]
(enchant:?page,(text-colour:black)+(background:white))She crackers her knuckles together and starts explaining.
(text-colour:orange)['I only know a little about this this place from what I've gathered by my own experiences. I know it's underground, and that there's a lot of people held down here. It's not often that they give us free time outside of whatever they've assigned for us though. They let us into a grand hall for dinner, a complex for exercise once every couple of days and an open air hole that they let us in to walk around for a couple of hours that the other prisoners like to call "The Well". Oh and if you're wondering, there are countermeasures to stop thinkers like us from getting out.']
She looks at you quizzically and askes almost rhetorically
(text-colour:orange)['Shouldn't you know this already? I guess the rumours about them taking your memories was true.']
This place sounds like a paradise, you sacastically think to yourself.
Almost reading your thoughts, she remarks:
(text-colour:orange)['Well, I probably make it sound kinda hopeless, but there are worst places out there in the world. At least in here, there's a rhythm to the days in here. Three square meals and they keep us occupied enough to stop fights from breaking out. Usually. All I'm saying, I guess, is that freedom can really be too much for some people.']
[[Before you can ask her what she really means by that...->S1 DIALOGUE END]]
(enchant:?page,(text-colour:black)+(background:white))(text-colour:orange)['Damn, they really did a number on you if you can't even remember that... Well, I don't mind helping you out a bit. Here's three things that you should to keep in mind, IF you can still do that. You can call me Yen, you've had your memory wiped by our mutual jailers, and you should obey the rules presented to you unless you want to lose any more than you already have.']
You tell her that you're not sure there's much else to lose in your position.
She looks you dead in the eyes
(text-colour:orange)['You'd be surprised how much autonomy can be taken away by thoses who need to maintain a level of control'.]
[[You consider these words->S1 DIALOGUE END]]
(enchant:?page,(text-colour:black)+(background:white))After a pause, she gets up from her half slouched, half sitting position on the bed.
(text-colour:orange)['Anyway' She says, 'we both have things to be getting on with. These guys aren't joking around, but if you just do what they ask you to, you should be fine. We can talk later at lucnh though. Now, just copy me and sit at the computer, it's important to do the tasks that it asks you to do.']
She goes to the computer and puts on the headphones attached to it. You decide to play along and do the same.
[[Continue|S1 END]]
(enchant:?page,(text-colour:black)+(background:white))(enchant:?page,(text-colour:black)+(background:white))
You examine the draws beneath the desk more carefully. each one has a handle, which glow with a (text-colour:red)[(text-style:"smear")[Red]] LED light but do not budge when you attempt to pull on them.
[[Back|S1 COMPUTER INTRO]](enchant:?page,
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//The screen throws up a few clickible options://
(text-style:"fidget")+(text-colour:red)
(align:"<==>")+(box:"==XXXXX===")[PLEASE CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING
[[S1 MISSION INFORMATION]]
[[S1 CAMERA INFORMATION]]
]
[[Step away from the Computer|S1 MAIN NODE]](enchant:?page,
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(t8n-arrive:'instant') +
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You put on the googles and reality instantly twists itself backwards and then to the side.
You are in a body that does not feel like your own. You have memories that are not yours.
This sense of delirium goes on for about a minute until it subsides and you feel like you are living through someone else's eyes.
It's like a dream, but a dream that you know will descemd into a nightmare.
You rub your eyes as the sunrise light through the blinds of your apartment window refract onto your face.
Another morning. Another day of work.
They seem to be getting longer now, or maybe it's just that you can't remember the last time you had a day off work. You get up [[now-> S2 CHARACTER INTRO]] and try to enjoy the rare free time that you have to yourself. You push through the weariness and get out of bed, stretching your body out after the pityful short rest that you have managed to catch. The Great Leader would be proud of your dedication. Unfortunately, dedication doesn't lighted your eyelids, nor puts energy in your limbs.
To add to this, you feel out of sorts. Like the internal monologue that runs in your head is on overdrive. Like instead of writing down your thoughts from your mind, someone or something is writing thoughts onto your mind. You have bigger things to worry about now though, so you'll have to come back to this later.
You look at the picture on your bedside table. It's a picture of you with Lenny, your childhood friend. You're wearing a thick coat, while Lenny is in a freshly cleaned and ironed guards uniform, fresh out of the academy, [[battered and brused, grinning despite the pain.|S2 WAKE UP SUB1]] You could be brothers from a stranger's eyes.
The background is innoculous enough: a monument arch, however the building doesn't exist now. It was destroyed in the purge after the revolution failed.
[[Make a cup of coffee->SECTION TWO MAIN NODE]] The apartment sits on the side of the valley in a residential suburb of the city. From here, there is a wide view of sprawling urban area. You look past the rest of the apartment blocks, following the lines and curves of the train line, carriages sending people back and forth umpteen times.
[[Look to the South| CITY CENTRE DESCRIPTION]]
[[Look to the East| INDUSTRIAL SECTOR DESCRIPTION]]
[[Look to the Horizon|DOCKS DESCRIPTION]]
[[Go back|SECTION TWO MAIN NODE]]You pick up the remote, sit cross-legged on your bed and switch the TV channel to...
[[Switch to the children's Edutainment channel|TELESCREEN OPTION 1]]
[[Switch to the News channel|TELESCREEN OPTION 2]]
[[Switch to the Entertainment channel|TELESCREEN OPTION 3]]Around you, you see the contents of your room. More empty than you would prefer but who (or at least someone who lives this kind of room) has time for luxuries?
On the east side of the room, there is a window looking out at the [[City|CITY WINDOW EXAMINE]]. On the south wall, there is your front door. On the west side of the room, is your kitchen and bathroom. On the Northside, there's a well worn sofa and the often watched [[Telescreen|S2 TELESCREEN]]. You should leave soon, as the rising sun is indication enough that your day is about to start.
As you pick up the pair of jeans that you wore last night, a not-so-light [[plastic disk|LAST NIGHT MEMORY]] falls out of them.
As you drink your coffee, you decide to watch the .For a moment, you put your head in your hands, stop and listen to the sounds of the city moving around you. Footsteps pacing in the apartment above your own. Chatter outside in the hallway. Trains then ferrying them to their work, alongside trucks carrying industry into the middle of the city.
You get up, grab your bag and coat and make to leave your flat.
[[LEAVE FLAT]]You close and lock the door behind you. It's busy, so hopefully you should be able to get to work on time.
[[Look to the left|LEFTSIDE FLAT CORRIDOOR]]
[[Look to the RIGHT|RIGHTSIDE FLAT CORRIDOOR]]//Looking at the disk, you think back to last night on the roof, where you spent the few free hours of leisure sitting with some of the workers from the apartments. You would drink, smoke, gamble and party for a while, letting off steam in the way only frustrated and tired young people can. Topics of discussion consisted of complaining about bosses, the constant risks taken to reach quotas for reasons not well understood by anyone there and talking about who had been promoted.
You lean on the railings and take everything in. You friend Lenny, comes up to you and gives you a beer. You chink your bottles and make small talk. If he was on duty, the people around you would act differently- but then Lenny is known around here, and there is an unspoken truce that is: 'things that happen on shift, stay on shift'.
There's a pause in the conversation and he has an unusually serious expression on his face. He turns to you and asks://
(text-colour:cyan)["Listen, you know the shutters that the deliveries come through in the mornings at work? I need you to unlock it for tomorrow. I also need you to place this disk in the dinner trolly.]
//He leans close saying this, and you examine the disk. It's the size and weight of a poker chip, metalic black on one side, metalic silver on the other. Your first thought is that this is dangerous and strange, but unfortunately, someone in Lenny's position does dangerous and unpredictable things.//
(text-colour:cyan)["That's all I need. I can't tell you why right now, but I can make it worth your while."]
//You tell him that it's an awfully big favour that he's asking but you'll do it. Because it's him. And you trust hin, He seems to switch back to his usually jovial self, laughs and slaps you on the shoulders.//
(text-colour:cyan)["Thanks man! I really apprieciate it, I really do."]
You step back to reality in your appartment and decide to take the disk.
Then you get your coffee and look at the Telescreen.
[[Turn on the Telescreen|S2 TELESCREEN]].You look down the coridoor- at the end of the left-hand side is the stairwell. If you had time, you could go up to the roof or walk down to the ground floor, but it's better to take the lift at this point.
[[Look to the right|RIGHTSIDE FLAT CORRIDOOR]]You look down to corridoor to the elevator and the people lining up to go down to the ground floor. Waiting for the elevator, the sun outside the corridoor window catches your eye.
[[Continue|S2 HALL KITCHEN]]You switch the Tele-Screen to the channel you watched as a kid. Sometimes you put it on to relive those better days before the revolution, the rise of The Arrow and your overworked state. Since you where young, it's changed hands more time that you can count, and the programming in the last couple of months has changed significantly. In your opinion, for the worse.
You've tuned in just in time for the main theme of a show about the fictional life of The Arrow, the leader of the City. [[A cheery song sings his praises and how he saved our society from moral degeneration.|TO1 SUB 1]]
As you angrily think about the time you almost where mugged coming home one late night, the narrator describes the day The Arrow took power and [['brought enlightenment to the sinking Treehome with his powers gifted to him by the Gods, fixing all deviants that dared rise above their station and disobey their calling.'|TO1 SUB 2]]
That's enough. Your coffee is rapidly cooling, and you need to leave for work soon.
[[You turn off the TV.|TURN OFF TV]]You change the channel to the News and instantly regret this action. You've caught the host in the middle of the daily efficiency report, proudly poking a graph that looks more like an ascending hill than anything with any real meaning.
It's difficult to trust anything coming from this channel anyways. It's always a mismatch of information released from the institute for the enhancement of entertainment (a propaganda wing of the government), fluff pieces by journalists looking for a bonus in the endless chase for profit, or official releases made by The Bow to dissemination. None of this garbage could really be considered [[News|TO2 SUB 1]]
The programme ends with the official mantra of the government. This is credited to a famous poet and goes:
[['Obey your duty to Treehome and sacrifice all deviancy, your sacrifice will be the string that sends our arrow into the heavens'|TO2 SUB 2]]
You think this line to yourself, finish your coffee and continue on with your day.
[[TURN OFF TV]]You switch the channel to the entertainment channel. Maybe there will be something to keep your mind off things.
Or maybe not.
The show is one of those weird propaganda videos that’s filmed in front of a live audience. The story is a dramatic retelling of how the how The Arrow gained his powers and divine mission and in turn [['blessed'|TO3 SUB1]] Treehome and its inhabitance with his gifts
As the televised play warns about the ignorance of the age before the rise of The Arrow, and how this led to the old guard's downfall, you note the expressions of the audience that the camera kept on cutting too. [[Their plastered grins. Their far-to-enthusiastic clapping.|TO3 SUB2]] It make you shiver, but maybe it's just your cold flat.
You conclude that you would see nothing but the same old regurgitation of the same tropes about the Great Leader that leaves a sourer taste in your mouth than the low quality coffee. It’s time to go to work.
[[TURN OFF TV]]To the south lies the center of the city. It is known as marbled, historied and weathered from polution- skyscrapers reach far higher than your own building's elevation, figures of the Grand Leaders cast in stone watch over all. The nexus of this affulent area is the Service Hall, which acts as a governing, communication, policing and transportation hub. In the middle of it, surrounded by the teeming industry, there is a gigantic tree that reaches out and marks the edge of the city centre. It has been co-opted and hollowed out by the urban environment, structures and buildings carved into it's trunk and steams.
A gigantic copper dome encircles the tree and shields this ant hill from prying eyes, and the building descends down into catacomes unaccessable to most citizens.There are rumors of dark experiments and surveillance programmes here that keep city denizens obedient.
[[Bring your sight back|CITY LANDSCAPE EXAMINE]]Near the viewable horizon, on the coast that restricts the endless expansion of the city sits the docks. An important inport/export area of the city, which feeds the engine of production, consumption and growth. Watching ships come in and out from far away exhibitions is a favourate past time of the apartment youth, with some taking bets about which ships are so heavy that they sink into the sea.
[[Bring your sight back|CITY LANDSCAPE EXAMINE]]To the East of the apartments, you can see dim lights blinking through mist floating upwards. Tall chimneys and round tankers define the industrial quarter, belching out smog, fumes, soot and anything else losely defined as a gas. The output seems to have increased recently, and there are now few days where the sky is not coloured by the smog that that quater produces.
[[Bring your sight back|CITY LANDSCAPE EXAMINE]]//You think that the writers of this garbage should stop listening to The Bow's proclamations about the glory of Treehome and come down to the docks and see what (and who) are being sold out of repurposed cargo containers or come up to the apartment roofs and gamble with the officers who guard them in the day. //
[[Return from thought|TELESCREEN OPTION 1]]//This line takes away all the warmth in your body from the coffee. Watching people that you cared about suddenly collapse one after the other, being taken away by others who used to be comrades or allies. Its not a time you like to think about. //
[[Return from thought|TELESCREEN OPTION 1]]//The reason why you know all this about the inner workings of journalism is your background in it. Your time as an assistant journalist for a revolutionary paper ended with the revolution itself. If it wasn't for your friendship with a royal guard, and you giving up your notes and papers to the new regime, you might be just another of these news reports about the daily jailed deviants. //
[[Return from thought|TELESCREEN OPTION 2]]The mantra is a threat of sorts. The poor guy who wrote it was disappeared by The Bow as his poetry was deeply sarcastic and deviant. One poem angered him so much that he The thing is that they never repeat the second verse of the poem. This isn't surprising as it's been stricken from all records. You'll never forget it, as long as you remember who you are. It goes something like this:
'If we are the string that stretches itself out for the will of some rigid abuser's ambition, then let that shaft fall short of it's mark, no matter the accuser's intention.'
You think this line to yourself every time him or his work is mentioned.
[[Return from thought|TELESCREEN OPTION 2]]//One of the most attractive thing about this new regime were the technological advancements that it offers, directly from the hands and mind of its great leader. Electrics, advanced machinery, even screen based communication and entertainment was produced in a very short period of time. These changes formed the basis of the transformation of Treehome’s society from a focus on conservative values and an aristocratic hierarchy to the driving force primarily relying on consumerism and consumption.
For most people, this was enough to forget the horror that came directly after the collapse of the revolution, and the constant advancements in technology kept them satisfied with the authoritarian government. It’s easy to do your work and keep your head down when you know that you have the next flashy device that did a little more than the last one, or ignoring the homeless people being removed from the streets so you can make your appointment to fit into the latest extravagant ball gown.//
[[Return from thought|TELESCREEN OPTION 3]]//It always disgusted you how easily people ate up these lies, especially in the entertainment industry that seemed to pop up overnight to elevate the regime to cult-like status. Watching this channel, you think to yourself that the best you could hope for was an inoffensive 2 hours of stroking the ego of the administration at best, and desperate actors sweating in the ridiculous overly designed costumes practically resigned to being taken away at the end of the performance at worst. Sometimes if things got really bad, there might be a meltdown or two and someone from the cast would explode into a rant about the daily injustices that the city faced. These might have been satisfying to see at first, but people in the industry quickly learnt to just choose to hold their tongue, as this was a very quick way to have yourself disappeared by the royal guard.//
[[Return from thought|TELESCREEN OPTION 3]]This story is a disaster. It's the cullmination of a couple of months of experimentation with Twine. I feel like I've learnt a lot about using Twine but at the same time it's exposed all my struggles with creating things. Basically, whenever I get close to finishing things or if things go wrong, I end up abanndoning the thing I'm working on because it's easier to run away from it than submitting garbage to be judged by my peers or complete strangers.
So its gone through many changes, it grew to 8,500 words and went through many different versions and at this point I don't really know what I was aiming for with this but I hope that I will be able to take the lessons I learnt here and apply them to future projects. Mostly because I don't know how I could ever make something that took so much struggle to do so little.
Now it's jibberish, saved and frankenstein'd together the notes on a laptop that is slowly dying. I don't care about this world or this story anymore. It's grown in mutated into something I can't control. And like many things that I can't control, I fear it. So I'm putting it out there. And hoping that this will lessen its effects on me. Before my anxiety and madness drive me into a doom spiral.
Any feedback is really appreciated. And yes, I know I need to learn to programme in Twine properly...
Rip it apart. It's nothing I haven't told to myself.
Thank you so much for reading this and I hope that it is entertaining to puzzle what the hell all of this was about!
[[Continue|STORY INTRO]]Our tale is set in a strange city in another world. This city is called Laos Ygrish, and it is a city state that is being consumed by a toltalitarian regime. This regime is headed until recently by a mysterious, powerful dictator with even more mysterious, powerful Benefactors.
The state began when a democratic revolution fought to usurp the royalist elites that controlled the city for generations. On the eve of victory, the revolutionaries were betrayed by one of there own, leading to their downfall and imprisonment. After this, one man rose to power. His honorary title is Francis, Supreme Leader of Ygrish. Those who fear him call him The Arrow. Those who plot against him call him The Puppet Dictator.
There are a many rumours about his background and many that are fabricated by His own government. Some say that he is an illegitimate progeny of a powerful royal family. Some say that he is an unknown bureaucrat from the secret police. Some even say that he is a power hungry solider that betrayed his comrades in the revolution for unfathomable power. All that is certain is that he rules with an iron fist and that through them, the state has twisted society to ensnare any who stands against The Arrow.
However, that all changed a month ago. There was an explosion at the base of the tree, while at the top, The Great Leader mysteriously disappears. The assistant to The Arrow, The Bow, has covered up his absence but there is only so much he can manipulate for so long. A second revolution is coming, and Treehome will either change, or burn.
A detective has been called in to examine the facts, and learn the truth about what really happened.
[[Now that detective stands at the base of the tree and looks up.|INTRO CHAR INTRODUCTION]]SHIFT TO THE:
[[THE WITNESS|S1 INTRO]]
[[THE BARREL ARTIST|S2 INTRO]]
[[THE INSECURE DICTATOR|S3 INTRO]]
High upon a tower, a lord sits in his castle on his Porcelain throne. Sometimes he comes here to think, but mostly to hide from his responsibilities (of which there are many).
Eventually his legs go numb, and the discomfort of squating on the toilet overcomes his anxiety. He finishes his buisness, gets up, washes his hands and checks himself in the mirror to ensure that he asserts the right mix of authoritative unconcern and irritation (Disguising his near constant anxiety, of course) that has flavoured his leadership for all these years.
He leaves the bathroom and is immediately stopped in his tracks by something on the wall.
[[Continue|S3 CHARACTER INTRO]]The thing on the wall is a painting. A full body portrait of him looking out from the Service Hall that houses the great decaying Tree that the city shelters under, various government administrative services and the old royal suite carved into the upper trunk of the Tree that he now resides in (almost permanently now).
FRANCIS, a man in the midway of his life, looks out at this heroic characture of himself. He might have been beautiful at some point, tall and thin, with cheekbones described by his admirers as 'commanding' and the painting certainly reflects this. Even the painted eyes are piercing, almost an oranage. However, in reality they are dulled and the bags under them paint another picture stress and sleeplessness. The physical and psychological excusions have worn its toll on his body.
Like the Tree that he resides in, he feels hollow, wittled out and used for some other purpose than what he was truely meant for.
Even now, he feels watched- like some entity wispering through him, pushing him slightly, like walking in a strong wind and feeling it pushing he towards a destination not his own. But then, he's used to this strange feeling of possession. It's something that the status of his office demands.
[[Before you can think more on this, you are interupted by the door to your bedroom opening|S3 MAIN NODE]]You shaved your head for the photo, though you weren't that interested in your looks.
You did it for Lenny. To cheer him up after some locals near where you used to lived bullied him relentlessly about his aspirations for something better than the slums and shanties that you somehow made your way out of. Just before the graduation, the thing that he had been looking forward to for years, you overheard that the local gang of aimless youths were planning to throw paint over the uniform that he was cleaning in the bunkhouse that you both lived in as teenagers. These kids would search for some reason, any reason to destroy anything different from themselves, which was something that you were angry and tired of dealing with. So, you decided to alert Lenny to this, and in your shared frustration hatched an elaborate plan to ambush them before they could sent up their own devious scheme. You succeeded, but not without a fight, hence the bruises. There were reprecusions because of what you had done, but they were worth the satisfaction.
While Lenny wanted a better life for himself and for you, your interest way always what was on paper. Searching out knowledge and history from books and documents. Building up a picture of the past, the present and the future. So while he rose in the ranks of the royalists, and then after the revolution, the The Arrow's Guard, you went to the Universidad de la horma to study journalism, and then onto write professionally. If only all that knowledge could have helped you predict what happened in the revolution. How it would fail. However, that was all in the past. There is no more room in this world for people who think.
[[Go back| S2 CHARACTER INTRO]]The man raises himself up and examines what is important to him in the room.
There is the half written journal that the biographer writes in and leaves for Francis to examine after he tires of pronoucing [[his glorified adventures and misremembered exploits|EXAMINE BIOGRAPHY JOURNAL]].
His administrator, tormentor and right hand mand has just walks into the room and waits on decorum to brief you on [[this evening's news|S3 THE BOW DIALOGUE]]- whether you want to listen to him or not...
If the PUPPET DICTATOR had any sense of self-examination, he would read through this journal and see that the stories and tales that had been written down had little to do with reality, his rise to power, or the many issues that he ignored for 'the greater good'.
Truely, the book that he was thinking of calling his 'testiment to power' was only a testiment to his poor sense of imagination. A malformed force that manipulated as well as it lied. In his mind though, it was meaningful. It was important to make people at least remember you. You wonder how long you will be around for.
[[Back|S3 MAIN NODE]]The manipulative individual known by those who feared him as the The Bow and to the dictator, simply as Red pretends to patiently wait for Francis' attention. However, this is simply another one of his mind games- a way to trick the puppet into thinking that he holds his own strings.
He begins to speak: 'So, my arrow'
'There are a couple of things to alert you to. The recent disturbance at the statue of The Founder, the performance tonight and the day's economic report.
'What may I go into detail about first, oh great leader?'
[[What happened to my statue?|S3 DESTROYED STATUE DIALOGUE]]
[[What is happening at the theatre tonight?|S3 THEATRE DIALOGUE]]
[[Show me the ecomonic report|S3 ECONOMIC REPORT DIALOGUE]]
MISSION INFORMATION:
* PROVIDE BIOMETRIC TRACKING OF SUBJECT
* PROVIDE PSYCHOLOGICAL TRACKING OF SUBJECT
* PROVIDE TASKS FOR SUBJECT BEHAVIOURAL ADJUSTMENTS
* TRACK META-SPECTRAL ANALYSIS OF SUBJECT'S AURA VIA CAMERA TRACKING
[[Go Back|S1 COMPUTER SCREEN]]//You stare into the camera set on top of the computer and the camera stares back at you. Without any warning, strange text scrawls out at you.//
//STARTING EXTRASENSORY LENS EXPERIMENT
Carol looks back at the camera looking at her looking at the camera. The camera was an just object usually. An entity without any will usally or object permanence in regular circumstances. However, in this experiment, it thinks and it sees. It sees the woman; slowly fading purple hair and tired yet defient expression, a large flame tattoo, the tip starting on her neck and saw but did not see the dirt under her nails that seemed to stay there now no matter how hard she washed them or the pain in her left knee after jumping one too many fences.
The camera saw her past, her present and her future. It sees her creating art in the streets of the city, stuff that makes people stop and stare, makes them think about what they're doing and what they're buying. Then, the camera sees her in this place. This maze beneath the roots of the great tree above, doing the same, just with worst tools. Until they take away even that from her. Then the future. The camera sees her once again with her tools of choice again. Running through smoke and fire. One more desperate, pure act of creatation before the end.
The camera loses focus and looks inward towards itself. First to the glass and the metal and silicon and the plastic that make up its entirity. Then closer at the electrons and protons flickering up and down its circits. Then how it was produced, bought, installed and tested. Then to what a camera is and how they evolved and changed over time. What the meta-context of what a camera in game meant for being there. What the person behind the keyboard would think of this rambling cicular loop of word-vomit. The camera felt an existential crisis of identity coming. It didn't want to be aware that it was aware. It didn't want to know that it was just a camera created for a singular purpose, and once the experiment was complete, it would once again fade away into nothingness. The camera hated when it felt like this, it felt pretentious and observed. The camera felt fear and self-consciousness and anger and betrayal and was lost in these emotions and lost in these emotions and lost in these emotions and lost in these emotions.
//SELF-FUFLILLING LOGIC LOOP DETECTED. SHUTTING DOWN EXTRASENSORY EXPERIMENT
'That was really weird.' You think: 'it would make a thought provoking art piece, that's for sure, although I'm not sure what they're testing'.
[[Go Back|S1 COMPUTER SCREEN]]Beans of light pierce through the metal shutters covering the window, illuminating dust particles tumbling lazily through the atmosphere.
Now the sky is a warning light orange creating a dramatic mix of tones in mountains of clouds. As the generators in the east of the city blend their concoction upwards into the firmament in the afternoon, the world filters itself into a base gray as only source of light disapears behind the clouds for another long day of work.
[[Try opening the shutters and peer past the morning light ->CITY LANDSCAPE EXAMINE]]It's later now.
You're in the kitchen of your workplace in the service hall under the great tree that acts as the focal point to the entire city. It's raining outside and the sound of the droplets hitting the bronze roof in the distance lulls you into a false sense of calm.
It's been a another average work day, moving boxes of produce, preparing ingredients and avoiding the ire of the cooking team.
In reality, they're not much better or higher up then you are, but in the heat of the kitchen there is a strict hierachy which makes the you, a waiter and kitchen assistant around the bottom. The cooks are higher than you, then the the kitchen manager and so on.
You go to get another sack of potatoes from the large trolly brought in from the trains for today's prep. It's the last of the deliveries and you're tired from the strain and the effort. this last bag weighs strange on your shoulders.
You put the sack down and go back to close the doors that
[[Suddenly, the sack explodes.|S2 EXPLOSION]] Francis worried about the statue. It had a personal connection to him, as much as he could admit. It was a bust of victory recently set outside of the great Service Hall that he inhabited. From his balcony, where he would often have his breakfast, he would see the statue, axe outstreached to the horizon standing on a bronze log the first of many pioneers.
//The detective thought about how much Francis really knew about his own history. The pioneers who came here invaded the land that the Great Tree stood on, annihilating the guardians who had lived there for thousands of years.//
[[S3 THE BOW DIALOGUE END]]
[[S3 THE BOW DIALOGUE END]]
[[S3 THE BOW DIALOGUE END]]You look at the table that you've rearranaged every time you take off the VR headset. You find that once you order the environment around you, things that may have once been chaotic then become clear.
Once you're ready, you can proceed. You only have one chance to get this right, so make sure you understand all the facts of the case.
[[CONTINUE|FINAL CHOICE]]
[[GO BACK|END OF MEMORY]]Double-click this passage to edit it.Double-click this passage to edit it.Double-click this passage to edit it.You think that nothing makes sense. This whole thing seems like a bunch of jibberish BS, woven together by someone who doesn't know what they are doing.
Your journey is full of holes and you feel like you've been jumping from place to place. Things start and end without your understanding and knowledge. You want it to end. You want things to be different. But you also know- if you try to change things, they might not go in your favour. they might explode. Twist. Mutate into something unrecognisable and damaged. You could hide. Accept things as they are. Would this be as bad? Would you be excused from responsibility by doing nothing?
So what are you going to do? You feel trapped in your own story and and the walls are closing in. So what will you do?
[[Embrace chaos? A bit of thoughtless destruction? Attempt to change things?|CHOICE 1]]
[[Or will you will you turn away?|CHOICE 2]] You reach the end of the memory. You take off the headset to take a breather.
You can see The Bow glaring at you through his office.
[[Find another memory to dive into|CHARACTER SELECTION]]
[[Look at your desk|FINAL SECTION DECISION GATE]]
YOU LOOK AT THE CASE FILE. IT WILL PROVIDE ALL THE ANSWERS, BUT WILL SPOIL EVERYTHING FOR YOU. ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO LOOK?
[[YES|CASE FILE CONTENT]]
[[NO|INTRO THE BOW DIALOGUE CONCLUSION]]The detective looks up at the great curved bronze disk that sits on top of the Service Hall, acting as a protected barrier for anything that might drop from the great tree above them.
In usual times, she would be able to see her face reflected in the metal. Janatorial teams were sent, usualy twice a day, to clean and polish the giant circular structure. However, now all she could see when she looked up were hazy impressions of people rushing back and forth, in and out of the building, with a hazy blob where she would be placed in the scene. Most of them kept their heads down, ignoring the massive [[BREAK THE ARROW|INTRO CHAR SUB 2]] graffiti.
In this moment, The Detective was very glad her [[foot-solider|INTRO CHAR SUB 1]] days where behind her.
Her absent mindedness was punctured by the calls of horns in the distance. An extravagantly dressed agitator materialises out of the shadows of the enclosing buildings, screams 'THE SECOND REVOLUTION APPROACHES!' and runs towards the multiplying calls. A summon for another day of push and shove against the increasingly irritable guard protecting the Service Hall.
She too had her own orders, [[a call deep within the bowels of the complex|INTRO DESCENT INTO COMPLEX]]The detective had been in the guard for the majority of her adult life, rising up the ranks from a patrol officer out of the academy to one of the youngest Lieutenants in the force. From then, she persude a career in investigation, becoming a 1st class detective specialising in missing persons, famous for her integrity in the field and her meticulous investigations. All of this is to say, she is very good at her job.
Then the revolution, with all it's glorious hope and opportunity, only left destruction and failure in its wake. While the new administration was powerful beyond imagination and equiped the force with the kind of technology only existed in the most outragous science fiction plays, it also transformed the officers of the force. The personal were not unprotected from the mass arrests after the rise of The Arrow. It was a terrifying period of time and The Detective couldn't keep up with the amount of people who would be there one day and gone the next. She was taken off Missing Persons anyway, and moved onto The Department of Sensorship. She still doesn't like to think about all knowledge lost from the books, plays, recording and anything else deemed Devient and the mass bonfires that they were assigned to. But at least now she works in Major Crime. She would take the smell of rotting corpses over burning literature anyday now.
The good news was all those people who went missing came back. The bad news was that they came back changed. Hollow in their eyes and crueler than they had been before, their negative traits enhanced and their positive ones diminished. After that horrific revelation, most people just kept their heads down and did what they were told.
All of this would be enough to drive someone to madness or to drink or destituion. But not her. She had her little brother to think about. And that's why she's here now and walking into this den of snakes. [[If she wanted to save her brother, she would have to focus on that.|INTRO CHAR INTRODUCTION]]Even without the labor strikes these teams couldn't keep up with the level of vitriol, graffiti and trash now hurled at the bronze disk in the last two weeks.
For the protestors, it had become a rite of passage, a tradition to see how much damage they could do before guards with tear gas and battons rushed forward, arresting who they could reach and beating or shooting who they couldn't.
[[Go Back|INTRO CHAR INTRODUCTION]]Past the suited and booted officers she goes, untroubled by their threating aura. Then through the hall and to the elevators going up and down the hollowed out trunk of the tree.
The detective flashes her badge to the attendent who tells her that she is expected and directs her to one of the larger elevators at the back of the hall.
[[Go down below the roots of the tree|INTRO ELEVATOR]]The elevator operator bables as you descend down but you pay no attention.
Out of the elevator window you can see the central shaft. People and carts crawl around this massive pit, going to and fro. It never ceses to amaze you how the modern technology that has been developed by the new admistration can transform the world around you.
Finaly, you reach the bottom of the shaft and you get off the elevator. You begin the short walk to the central building, the headquaters of the highest ranking offical next to The Arrow. It runs various different important functions of Treehome and A very well lit glass and concrete structure, with square offices and meeting rooms surrounded by a central concrete tower that can oversee all around it, while maintaining a privacy enjoyed by one person and one person only.
[[The Bow.|INTRO THE BOW]] You climb the central tower, walk into the office and The Bow stands at his desk, staring at you like he could see you coming through the concrete. He probably could.
The Bow is a slime of a man, pale and portly. He carries himself with an air of superiority that annoys you.
He starts speaking, a bit louder than a whisper 'Hello Detective'. He makes a half smile- does he practice in the mirror to be that sinister? 'I am so glad you could make it. Hopefully this meeting won't just benifit you. Your brother, your city and your life will all be discussed here. After your little outburst on the phone earlier, I was so worried that I had done something to upset you. Please, I insist, have a seat.'
[[Resist the temptation to punch him in the throat and sit down|INTRO THE BOW DIALOGUE]]The Detective opens her metal bound notebook and attempts to interrogate the Bow.
[[Where's my brother?|INTRO BOW OPTION 3]]
[[Do you want to know question that I know you're not going to answer, but I need to ask it anyway?|INTRO BOW OPTION 2]]
[[CONTINUE|INTRO THE BOW DIALOGUE CONCLUSION]]This seems to amuses the bastard. He chuckles and mockingly tries to pretend for an innocent tone.
'Honestly, detective! I don't know who you think I am, but I'm going to be as forth coming to you as I can. I'll do anything to help my favourite, most diligent detective.' He says these last words with a hint of silvery condescension which makes you want to commit violence against him.
You keep these emotions at the bottom of your belly and redirect them into that part of your mind that uses rhetoric against perverts, abusers and the common scumbags.
You try to take in all of his facial movements as you look him in the eye and ask him 'What I really want to know, is what's your angle in this? I'm not going to pretend that I haven't run out of leads, because I have. No one will talk to me about where Lenny has gone, and I don't know how, but I know //someone// is stonewalling me. I've been doing this long enough to recognise at least that. So why come to me now, after all that effort to stop me?'
'Sorry Detective, you'll have to actually agree to the case before I can tell you anything. You know how it is- I want to help you, but I just can't until I know that you'll help me clear up just a few things' He says nonchalantly.
Damn, you didn't expect that to work but he completely shot you down. You'll just have to find another way through too the truth.
[[Go Back|INTRO THE BOW DIALOGUE]]'Now don't you worry detective- you can rest easy knowing that your brother is safe in the embrace of the state. Now, while he's safe for now, I will need you to do something for me to ensure his continued safety.'
[[You knew it wouldn't be that easy, try another question|INTRO THE BOW DIALOGUE]]'Now detective, are there any questions'?
The Dectective considers her options. There aren't many. The meaninglessness of struggling against the people who are higher than her makes her chuckle darkly.
[[CASE FILE]]
[[COMPUTER INTRO]]The Bow takes you to a desk with a computer. It has a headset connected to it. You have seen this design before. It's often used to recreate crime scenes and is a useful investigation tool for cold cases.
The Bow instructs you in it's use and then tells you to get on with it. You haven't a choice honestly.
[[SEARCH THROUGH THE COMPUTER FILES|CHARACTER SELECTION]]The Bow looks at his watch. He clearly has better things to be getting on with, so the dictator tries to extract himself from this buisness with as much decorum as he can.
Francis asks who his next appointments are. The Bow tells you it's the official biographer that has been working with you for the last couple of months.
'The biography will be such an entertaining addition to your oeuvre, my lord' Francis wonders if The Bow even knows how smug he sounds sometimes.
[[The biographer comes in, and The Bow leaves|S3 END]]You sit on the computer and put on the googles.
In an instant that feels too long and too short reality twists itself backwards and you feel fuzzy. Like the gray buzz of a Telescreen set to between the channels.
You are in a body that does not feel like your own. You have memories that are not yours.
More gaps in your memory. It's like a dream but being awake also.
You are aware that time has past, but it feels like no time has gone at all.
You feel subdued and groggy. Like all the air has been let out of your brain or you've been sleepwalking.
[[Then the perspective switches|CHARACTER SELECTION]]The world goes bright white in a carcophany of sound and light. The it all goes black.
There's the smell of ash. And Burnt things. Many Burnt things. Then the real world rushes back in with a start. You feel yourself being dragged along.
[[This is where the memory ends|CHARACTER SELECTION]]Last redo: You are a detective, the sister of Lenny. You have three memories to search through. The memories of a witness to a bombing. The memories of a prisoner. The memories of a missing dictator. You have been assigned this case a year after the disappearance of the leader. You must find three things that tie together the memories.
The item used: The item that is given to Johnathan the witness. The key word is also mentioned
When it was done: after the Bow leaves the leader. It is the biographer who activates the item, however it only activates after the maid has come to give the dictator his evening wear.
Who did it: there is a power cut in the prison and you and the other prisoner escape. You go down to the maximum security sector to retrieve a prisoner who tells Yen that he did what she asked of him. Before it is revealed that it is Lenny the surveillance cuts out.
You must answer the above questions. You get one chance for each. If you get two wrong then you are killed by the hand. If you get one wrong them you are sent to the prison. If you get all right then you are asked to lead an investigation into where the leader has gone and you have a meeting with the mysterious benefactors. They are multiversal/archetypical versions of the characters that you have just met. Each one has a different meaning and a different role.
This includes the detective. Yours is justice and you do it for the love of the people. To walk amongst them as an equal and to protect them. You are also the strongest (although you do not know it). While the others strive for godhood (that is only maintained by the consumption of materials), you are the wildcard. If you gain back your memories, then you will end the world and the cycle begins again. This is related through a stage that acts as the metaphysical plane that these archetypes inhabit.
The detective and Lenny are really descendants of the guardian of the great tree. Their history is one that is hidden but often comes out while The Detective is examining the memories.
The last decision is to either kill The Bow or leave him be. Either decision only changes the end dialogue a little. This will highlight the meaningless of the act of resistance against this terrible system by individual action.
If you kill him, then the mysterious benefactors are impressed by your action to try to change the cycle of history. If you don’t they congratulate you in understanding the meaninglessness of destroying the cycle.
However, if you don’t kill The Bow, he reveals later that he wants to die and that his role is to break this cycle of history as he is just as much of a constant as any of the other players. He implores you to help him destroy it.
[[Now you know all the secretes of this plot. You can skip to the end if you like.|FINAL SECTION DECISION GATE]]
[[Or you can go back and have another look at some of the other parts of the tale|INTRO THE BOW DIALOGUE CONCLUSION]]You decide to try to change things. And you know exactly where to start.
You walk into the office of The Bow. You aim a pistol right at him.
You ask him if he has any last words.
'You know, this isn't going to go the way that you want it too. I'm just another cog in someone else's machine. Nothing that I do really matters. I'm just perpetuating someone else's plan. So go ahead and shoot me. I Guarantee that this sense of control that you crave? You won't find it in my death.'
'I know,' You reply 'but an act of justice, to take down the linch-pin of all this crap that is going on in my world, well, it's the only thing that makes any sense any more.
[[You shoot The Bow|STORY END]]You decide that you can't kill the person who holds your brother capitive. You might hate him, but he's the best next clue to finding out where Lenny is being held.
However, you decide if you're not going to hurt him, you are going to arrest him. You can't tell for certain, but you're pretty sure that The Bow has something to do with this whole mess.
You decide there and then. Someone has to start the Revolution again. It's not going to fail again. Not with you around. Beside, with you, it will be different. With you, you'll have a third revolution.
[[Next|STORY END]]The biographer looks nervous as Francis readies to dictate another hour of his definitely not fake childhood stories.
As Francis opens your mouth, the biographer's beard slowly peels of his face, and you realise that this is not the same man that you have reciting your life story too.
Before you can react, the imposter throws a black and white disk at you! As it hits you, you realise that you are losing your grip on reality. The floor disappears under you and you seem to fall and fall.
[[CHARACTER SELECTION]] As the lights on the stage go dim, the concequences of your actions live with you and only you. A story can only illuminate these choices, give them context. The content of a narrative can justify decisions but it doesn't mean much when the content itself isn't coherent.
Hopefully next time, things will be different.
#END