Member Characters

1. Xan (terran) - The main character of the game. A natural psionic (somebody born with unexplainable mental powers, a very rare thing that's unheard of in terrans) born on the planet Dorn (hey, that rhymes!). When he was just a little tyke (5 years old) some nasty draconan soldiers came and destroyed his village. They really don't like terrans, you see, because terrans were nasty to them and the draconans pretty much wiped out human civilization. His parents were killed along with all the village's other adults, and his best friend, Jaelis, was killed when she knocked him out of the path of an energy bolt. Xan was taken as a slave along with the other kids of the village, and brought to Draco to work on Lord Arraxis' plantation. He's been there 10 years as the game begins, keeping his abilities a close secret.

2. Kariis (mai'Roth) - Another resident slave on Arraxis' plantation. He's Xan's best friend, and that's kept him frm being sold for rough labor (Kariis is mai'Roth, a species of really tough silicon-based lifeforms). Xan's usefulness around the plantation (his abilities make him uniquely suited to calm and counsel fresh slaves dealing with the transition poorly) keeps himself and Kariis relatively protected. Kariis knows something of Xan's powers, but he does not let on.

3. Seila (terran) - A fresh arrival on Arraxis' plantation, part of a shipment which arrives at the start of the game. She seems to have a bit of psionic talent in her as well, and she uses it to with the respect and trust of her peers. She's a natural leader, and she has big dreams of fighting back the draconans and reclaiming Earth for terrans. But how far will she go to achieve that goal?

4. Nemin (terran) - Another from the new shipment, Nemin was the son of a poor drunkard and has some talent in thieving. His small, somewhat emaciated stature made him the perfect choice to be made an example of to the other new slaves. Throughout the journey to Draco the slavers starved and beat him, and when the shipment finally arrived at Arraxis' plantation, he is too weak to be of any use to Lord Arraxis. As is standard practice, the slaves are assembled that evening to watch the overseers torture the example to death. Seila rushes to his rescue, earning herself significant punishment. From that point on, Nemin will follow her through hell, serving as her right-hand man until he repays the debt with his life.

5. Arraxis (draconan) - Lord Arraxis comes from a noble family and has distinguished himself with a shining career in the military, rising to the rank of strike commander. It was on one of his many assaults on terran infestations that he acquired Xan, and because of the boy's usefulness, has kept him ever since. When the revolt comes, most of the draconans on the plantation are murdered, but Arraxis is kept alive as a hostage, to help the slaves arrange their escape from Draco. But for all his faults, Arraxis is no coward, and will prove a very difficult captive to hold...

6. Drone (Hive) - The Hive is a species of insectoids whose evolution has produced a curious feature of the sexes: females are very rare (one out of every few hundred), and males are mindless, controlled by the will of the nearest, strongest female. This arrangement led to a very violent history as the females strugged for control, but eventually the supremacy of one female was established, and ever since, females have been lobotomized at prematurity and kept as breeders, except in cases where a successor was needed for an aging Queen. The arrival of a strange presence in the current Queen's space, able to communicate with her mind-to-mind, prompts an unprecenteded experiment -- the release of a male from the psychic hold of the Queen, imbued with autonomy of will. This Drone joins Xan in his journey across the stars at the behest of the Queen, charged with collecting information for the Hive concerning the space beyond the Queen's psychic influence.

7. Eulik (silaan) - The captain of the Wetakkan (lit.: fat, slow bird), Eulik started his career as a spacer with dreams of adventure, discovery, and excitement. What he found was a great deal of monotony. He has served aboard a dozen different starships ranging from luxury liners to ore mining vessels, in capacities ranging from technician to navigator to executive officer. A few years prior to his appearance in the game, he had finally amassed enough money to get his own ship. He operates primarily as a ferry, carrying cargo and passengers from desination to destination as he makes his circuit of the galaxy. However, his thirst for adventure often drives him to plot courses through the galaxy's rough patches -- spacial anomolies, intrasteller debris, and of course, areas known to be pirate hunting grounds. Thought the Wetakkan is neither fast nor flashy, it has been modified by Eulik over the years to house a very sturdy power core and an impressive (and hidden) armament for a ship its size. Eulik agrees to take Xan's party to Roth, one of the stops on the way to his current cargo's destination, for a good rate. It will prove to be a decision that will lead to the greatest adventure of Eulik's life.

8. Khet (ysarii) - This mercenary commander has been making a name for herself throughout the galaxy as the leader of a team of bounty-hunters, soldiers of fortune, and cutthroats capable of completing any missing. Originally only six warriors strong, Khet's team is now composed of twenty of the galaxy's most ruthless, cunning, and bloodthirsty mercenaries. Though the group is held together by the mutual self-interest of being paid better per-merc as a group than any individual could hope for independently, a certain level of respect and awe exists between the mercenaries and Khet. It doesn't stop one of them from trying to assert his or her dominance of the team and subsequently bleeding from the throat from time to time, of course. After the slave revolt and the escape from Draco, a shamed and embittered Lord Arraxis expends most of his remaining liquid capital on hiring Khet's mercenaries to hunt down and kill Xan.

9. Rook (nomad) - Almost half a century before the uprising on Draco which led to the fall of the Terran Federation, a group of terrans disgusted with the state of affairs among their own kind left terran space in a small fleet of shuttles and clippers, in search of a planet to call home. These immigrants came to be called nomads, because though they spread out through the galaxy, they continue to seach for their promised land to this day. Rook was only a child when pirates attacked and boarded his family's clipper. He hid and watched as the adults were murdered and his siblings and cousins were taken to be sold to the draconans, who drew no distinction between the nomads and terrans in general. Once the pirates had departed, Rook activated the distress signal and waited. It was two weeks before another pirate starship happened upon his crippled vessel. The captain, finding little of value to plunder from the clipper, took pity on Rook and brought him aboard his ship. Rook grew up working many different jobs, for the pirate captain and others after him. Most involved Rook's talent with small arms. By the time Rook was eighteen, he was working as a freelance assassin. He was good at his job, but his soul knew no peace. Rook traveled to Tianar, seat of the Order of Balance, and when they would not admit him into even the study portion of a Guardian's training, Rook did not leave. He sat in on classes, and learned meditation from observation, and slowly, over time, foud a measure of peace. When Rook was eventually deemed balanced, he passed the student tests easily and was accepted as an apprentice of the revered Guardian Thelient. At the time of his appearance in the game, Rook still faithflly serves the Order, plying his unusual talents in the maintenance of balance. He is dispatched by a heavy-hearted Thelient to locate and, if necessary, eliminate the source of a powerful imbalance in the universe: Xan.

10. Plinq* (vermaline) - A master thief, allegedly the greatest in the galaxy (if you ask her). Plinq is hired by Khet in Parallel Game I to plant a listening device within the walls of the Order of Balance, so that Khet can keep track of the Guardians' seach for Xan and stay ahead of them. Unfortunately for Plinq, Khet contacts the Guardians while she is on her way out, and she is apprehended before she can escape, thus saving Khet from having to pay the rest of Plinq's fee. Plinq sits in a cell for months while the events of the main game play out. But when Khet comes to visit, and the party takes pity on Plinq and asks for her release, Plinq decides to repay the favor with betrayal -- just as Khet did.

11. Hrayan* (gul-darakh) - Until relatively recently, Hrayan's life has been primarily centered around crime. He started out working as a hired thug on Calera, and slowly ascended the ladders of organized crime. He was a full-fledged enforcer when he first met Khet. Possessing a keen eye for talent, Khet recruited him immediately for triple the wages he had been making. However, after several years with the mercenaries, Hrayan met and married the love of his life, and retired from the band to start up his own business back on Calera. He runs the hotel where Seila quarters her officers when visiting Calera, and it is in this capacity that he meets Khet years after leaving her employ. Khet asks questions about one of the hotel's guests, and leaves peacably. If only that had been the last time Hrayan's past caught up with him...

12. Orinn* (zeshiv) - Son of a famous archaeologist known for her discovery of the largest Predecessor dig site yet unearthed, Orinn has spent his life trying to outdo his mother's accomplishments. The planet TC-7095 holds Predecessor secrets, he knows it -- but progressing the traditional way is much too slow. The traps are too elaborate, the security systems too dangerous. He believes that his luck has finally turned when he meets and hires a talented young rogue Guardian able to sense the traps before they spring. Unfortunately, only a few hundred meters into the Predecessor compound, the Guardian is assassinated -- by another Guardian. Despite the curses he throws at Rook, he is now without a vanguard. Oh well. Perhaps he'll be lucky again when he returns to Calera...

13. Lox'Namar* (unapratu) - Bishop of the Church of the Grace of Sequiatal on Calera for years beyond count, Lox'Namar has dedicated his life to the service of his god. Many years ago, a troubled young nomad came to his church seeking solace for his tormented soul, and stayed with the bishop for many months. Though Lox'Namar did his best to impart the word of his religion to young Rook, the boy found no peace, and to the bishop's great disappointment, left the church. Later, when Rook is waiting for Xan and Seila to return from their trip to TC-2471, he makes a visit to the church, and the bishop recognizes him. Lox'Namar is deeply saddened to see Rook wearing the cloak of the Order.

14. Bredai* (silaan) - Bredai's father was a Guardian who died for the maintenance of Balance when she was very young. As a child she imagined that her parentage might mean that she was a natural psionic, but as she matured she found that her innate talents leaned toward science, research, and academia. She never lost her fascination with the nature of psionic talent, however, and now, as a professional scientist, she continues to explore the mysteries of the mind. She receives regular contributions from Seila's reserves, as the terran commander has keen interest in research which might give her an edge, should psionics ever become a problem.

15. Jule* (terran) - One of the slaves who arrived with Seila on Lord Arraxis' plantation, and who susequently escaped. Jule has stood with Seila from the beginning, and was one of her most trusted lieutenants throughout the slaver hunts. When it came time to prepare to take the fight to the draconans, Seila asked for a volunteer to re-enter Commonwealth space as a spy. Jule was not alone in stepping forward, nor was he Seila's first choice; he was, after all, a very useful tactician. But he was chosen over the others, and sent in with the help of a captured slaver, and delivered to the commander of the Commonwealth military. He periodically sends updates back to Seila containing whatever intelligence he is able to gather. But when the terran army is defeated, Jule is left alone in draconan space, no longer a spy, but now simply another slave. He continues to send transmissions from time to time, hoping that some remnant of the army he served, somehow, will come and extract him.

Non-Player Characters

1. Jaelis (terran) - Xan's childhood best friend, murdered in the assault on the terran village when she saves Xan's life by giving her own. It is an act of kindness and self-sacrifice which stays with Xan all his life, partially defining who he is.

3. Cilcis (draconan) - The on-site medic for the slaves, Cilcis has been a long-time terran sympathizer and does what she can to make their lives better, if on a small scale. Because of his long term on the plantation, she has adopted a motherly attachment to Xan. She is detested by the other draconans, who refuse to allow her to touch them, even in cases of medical emergency. Until Arraxis hires a medic exclusively for the overseers, they will continue to take their wounded to 200 km the city to be treated.

3. Lin (zeshiv) - The youngest child in a family of Guardians, Lin was devastated to learn that the Order of Balance would not allow her to be apprenticed to a Guardian following the completion of her classroom schooling. They explained to Lin that her internal balance still tipped toward bias after her years of studying, and that without balance she could not be trusted with the powers of a Guardian. Lin left Tianar in search of a teacher. After a long journey, Lin found Faran, a former Guardian who was long ago banished from both the Order and his homeland. Faran reluctantly agreed to teach her.

4. Faran (draconan) - Faran was a relatively weak natural psionic, but his meager powers were enough to earn him the fear and resentment of his friends and family. He left the Commonwealth while he was still young, afraid that he would be denounced to the Shi'Oam, the draconan priesthood. Faran traveled to Tianar, hoping that the Guardians could cure him of his curse. They could not, but they did convince him to stay and learn more about his powers. Though Faran always maintained a secret belief in good and evil, right and wrong, he was able to keep it concealed from his teachers well enough to pass the tests and graduate to apprenticeship. When Faran finally completed his training, he explained to his friend, Thelient, that he wanted to return to his homeland and try to change the rigid religious system which he had feared. Against his friend's advice, Faran returns to the Commonwealth. His words are lost on his brethren; he is quickly apprehended by Shi'Oam templars, and convicted of witchcraft. As mandated by their religion, the draconans remove Faran's eyes (which they believe to be the source or residence of evil powers). Exiled permanently now, Faran retired to Ixim, a calm world just outside the Commonwealth's border. There he lived for decades, until one day, a bright young zeshiv named Lin came to him, asking for his tutelege. In her Faran saw the same light of justice he had once felt in himself, and he accepts.

5. Thelient (silaan) - A contemporary and friend of Faran's during their schooling days and through the term of their apprenticeships, Thelient advised Faran not to return to the Commonwealth with dreams of change. Unlike his friend, Thelient truly believes in the princible of balance, and serves its cause zealously. In the years after Faran's departure, Thelient distinguishes himself within the Order, and by the time Lin leaves Tianar in search of a teacher, Thelient is a member of the Order's High Council.

6. The Queen (Hive) - The Queen had been alone for a very long time. The lonliness was, of course, self-imposed; she continued the long-standing tradition of lobotomizing the females of her own species, the only possible companions she could hope for. Until one day, a strange mind entered her awareness, neither controllable like a male's or disruptive like a female's. This mind asked a favor of her -- the temporary use of a small corner of her star system. In exchange, the Queen asked a favor of her own. She imprinted a male with the drive to follow this new mind and remember all that it observes, and then released the Drone from her control. This would allow her to see parts of the galaxy beyond the sphere of her influence, which until now had been limited by the speed-of-light psychic comminication between her mind and those of her minions.

7. Kree'ek (native) - Chieftain of the male camp on TC-6313. He hopes that the strange visitors from the sky will burn the female camp to the ground and destroy their magic relics so that he and his brethren can feel safe.

8. _______ (native) - Chieftain of the female camp on TC-6313. She hopes pretty much the same thing for the male camp. (I have the name written down somewhere.)

9. Baen (zeshiv) - One of Lin's older brothers, still in his apprenticeship. He was close to Lin before her departure and misses her greatly.

10. Rion (draconan) - The Grand Priestess of the Shi'Oam, the theocracy of the Commonwealth. Rion inherited the mantle from her father a few years before, and has since kept busy (and entertained) by stirring up controversy and conflict among the stodgy Shi'Oam aristocracy. Because it is forbidden for a terran to set eyes on the Grand Priestess, even represented on a screen or picture, Rion has never seen a terran in person, and is largely apathetic to their state. The formerly-disgraced but recovering Lord Arraxis is a regular fixture in her court, as he is championing a movement for complete terran eradication. She finds him very annoying and hopes soon to find an excuse to have him arrested.

Scene: After being drawn into the darkness of the gulf between their
consciousnesses, Xan finds himself standing in what appears to have once
been the grand hall of a palace, but which is now ruined. The jagged line
of the tops of the walls frames rolling grey clouds. Moss and vegetation
color the crumbling stone. Ahead, large doors lead into a room beyond,
hidden from view by a still-standing wall. And beside Xan stands a young
girl, perhaps five years old.

Xan: Jaelis? What are you doing here?

Girl: I knew you'd recognize me! How do you like it? Isn't it beautiful?

Xan: This? But this place is falling-

Voice:
<Be careful, Xan.>
<You are in a construct of my mind, but your presence influences the
surroundings of this place. You see desolation because you know that this
palace was destroyed when the draconans came to Dorn. But what you see
and what she sees are not the same. Do you want to tell her that the
pristine, elegant castle she sees isn't real?>
<I thought not.>
<Be mindful of the distinction between reality and illusion here. I am
creating this illusion because it is easier for you to see than the
reality. The same applies to Jaelis. We will come to reality soon
enough. For now, play along.>

Xan: Are you saying that she's real? She isn't an illusion?

Girl: What? Who are you talking to? I'm not an illusion, silly. Look.
See, I can touch you. I'm as real as you are.

Xan: Sorry. Thought I heard someone talking.

Girl: You sure are acting strangely. Aren't you glad to see me?

Xan: Yes. I'm very glad. I missed you a lot.

Girl: I know. But it's okay now. We can be together, like before.

Xan: How? You...

Girl: Died? You'll get it soon enough. Come on, Xan. He's waiting to
meet you.

The girl begins walking toward the large doors. Hesitantly, Xan follows.

Xan: Who is?

Girl: My protector. He made this place for me. Bad things happened
outside. He brought me here, where I'd be safe. Come on, you'll like
him. I promise.

At a single touch from the girl's hand, the doors swing inward
noiselessly, revealing a throne room beyond. The walls seem impossibly
tall, but again there is no ceiling. Tapestries lie in heaps where their
places on the walls meet the floor. The throne sits on a raised dais,
with many steps leading up to it like concentric circles. The throne is
thrown into shadow by a stone canopy-like formation over it, but a figure
can be made out sitting atop it.

Voice:
<Xan...>
<Welcome.>
<We meet in person, at last.>

Xan: I thought we just met in person.

Voice:
<We met in the flesh.>
<The distinction is important.>

Xan: I met...

Xan glances at the girl beside him, who is staring at things apparently
not present in Xan's version of the construct.

Voice:
<Do not worry. I am in complete control in this place. While we talk,
she will hear nothing that would upset her.>

Xan: I met Jaelis in the real world, didn't I?

Voice:
<You saw the body, yes. I thought you might recognize it now that you've
been reminded.>

Xan: But you aren't Jaelis.

Voice:
<No. Except in the sense that I live in her body and answer to her name.>

Xan nods toward the girl.

Xan: And she is?

Voice:
<She is what remains of the entity which you would call Jaelis. Think of
her as Jaelis' mind. I'm afraid her growth has been rather stunted all
this time we've been together. The unpleasantness we faced was creating
uncomfortable friction between our ... minds. I created this place so
that she could keep occupied without getting in the way. Better for us
both this way, really. She is happy here.>

Xan: So what are you? Some sort of mental parasite, living inside Jaelis'
body, in control while she plays in an illusionary sandbox forever?

Voice:
<Such harsh words. I am hardly a parasite. On my better days, I even
like to think of myself as a symbiont, of a sort. I protect poor Jaelis.
She could never have survived the hardships we have faced without me.>

Xan: How *did* she survive? I was there. I watched her die.

Voice:
<Yes. You did. I watched you watch her die.>

Xan: Answer my question. Why is Jaelis still alive? Whatever tricks
you're pulling in here, I know that out in the real world I saw her, a
real, physical body, which was missing the charred hole it had the last
time I saw it.

Voice:
<Ah. I see it in your eyes now, Xan. You have made the realization. You
still don't understand, but it is the realization that will lead to
understanding. Go on. Ask the question you want to ask.>

Xan: ...Why is she so much older than I am?

Voice:
<There.>
<I knew you had it in you.>

Xan: I still don't understand anything.

Voice:
<You have set foot on the path to understanding. That is the difficult
part. Now you must simply...>

The dark figure indicates a door in the wall which was not there a moment
before with a sweeping gesture of the hand.

Voice:
<...follow.>

The girl takes Xan's hand and tries to gently pull him toward the door.

Girl: Come, Xan. This way.

Xan studies the door, then looks back toward the dark figure.

Xan: What's down there?

Voice:
<Understanding.>

With obvious trepidation, Xan steels himself against whatever might be
ahead and walks forward, opening the door and stepping through...

DREAMS

PROLOGUE - Initial instance
The player witnesses the actual assault on Xan's homeworld and Jaelis' subsequent death.

CHAPTER ONE: SLAVE - Nightmare version
A twisted, distorted version of the attack.

CHAPTER TWO: APPRENTICE - What if...?
A short clip of young Xan's flight through the ravaged village to his home, to be shot by a surprised draconan soldier before the eyes of Jaelis. Xan wakes as the bolt is passing through him.

CHAPTER THREE: SOLDIER - Tower
A vision of the tower and Xan's meeting with entity atop it. Roiling blackness replaces the form of the entity.

Contact
In accordance with tradition older than known time, the eldest spacefaring species in the galaxy, the zeshiv, were present to congratulate the newly-formed Terran Federation on the date of their first successful faster-than-light trip through their own system. The terrans were given schematics for building more efficient, long-range versions of the hyperdrive they had just created, and invited the fledgling Federation to visit the zeshiv with delegates to negotiate trade agreements. The xenophobic terrans, distrustful of the zeshiv and of the other alien species throughout the galaxy, kept mostly to themsleves as they spread their influence over the surrounding systems. An attack on Federation Explorer Corps ships by a group of ysarii pirates was all the evidence the terrans needed of alien treachery, and thereafter the Federation enforced a policy of isolation, policing its borders and only permitting access to authorized diplomatic vessels. For the most part, the rest of the galaxy sighed and shook its collective head, believing that in time the terrans would adjust to galactic society and overcome their introversion.

Draco
Though the Federation kept its border closed, that border was by no means static. The FEC leapt from system to system, cataloguing for themselves each planet they encountered. Those which fell within certain habitability parameters were marked for colonization, and the border was repositioned to include the new system. In a few instances the Explorer Corps encountered worlds which were already inhabited by sentient, if not space-faring, species, and reluctantly passed them by. But far more often, the planets which the FEC claimed were inhabited by what the media dubbed "beast hordes" -- large populations of tool-using life forms with limited technological development and no developed language. Unfortunately, "beast horde" was a term applied to several species which by all rights should have been classified under the sentience category. One such instance occurred when the FEC made landfall on a relatively barren world close to a red dwarf labeled TC-1816. The planet wore a wide band of desert wasteland around its equator, fading into easily-habitable plains and forests only near the poles. These regions were inhabited by a species of saurian reptiles which the scouts nicknamed "dragons" and the FEC labeled a "beast horde", despite the fact that the "dragons" were nearing a bronze age in their technological development and had highly articulated lingual and mathematical systems. Though the atmosphere was ideal, the colonizable area was initially deemed too small to be worth the trouble, and the planet, named Draco for its dominant specied, was offered up for bidding to the burgeoning intersteller resource mining conglomerates. A relatively small corporation called GDCI which had been unable to afford any of the nearer, richer worlds purchased Draco for the price of three cargo frigates. It would prove to be the most profitable transaction (on the part of the corporation) in recent history.

Slavery
The terrans returned to Draco with a small fleet of ships, and set up multiple compounds throughout the arid bands. GDCI possessed no harvesting equipment, and the moment word was out that it needed more in great quantities, the equipment became incredibly difficult to find at anything resembling reasonable prices. To overcome this obstacle and prove that it would not be pushed by bullies, GDCI instead turned to the ready supply of "beasts of burden" already living on Draco. In planning ahead, a retrovirus was released into the populations of native draconans, altering the DNA of their sex cells so that the next generation would be both easier to control and better suited to the manual labor of cutting and transporting chakata -- bipedal, with more muscular arms and vestigal wings. By the time the prices for harvesting equipment fell, GDCI no longer needed the machines; slave labor was cheaper, self-replenishing, and was already available on Draco.

Revolution
It is theorized that the start of the revolution came when terran sympathizers -- several of whom were members of the scouting teams who knew draconan customs and spoke the language -- smuggled weapons and equipment away from the compounds to the great numbers of free draconans living at the poles. The warriors came in, for want of a better word, hordes, overwhelming the terran compounds and killing all who resisted. However, wise to their own disadvantage in an open war against the terrans, the draconans kept alive all the prisoners they could, and forced them to teach the warriors to use terran technology. Before even reinforcements could arrive, the draconans had comandeered shuttlecraft with jerry-rigged beam weapons, and had captured the oribital platform and almost half of its crew. When the transports laden with GDCI-hired grunts arrived, expecting a ground battle, they were cut to pieces in high orbit, and the draconans collected the weapons and salvageable equipment. While the orbital defenses grew, the Shi'Oam commanders on Draco's surface found the genetic engineers responsible for the transformation of the draconan species, and forced them to continue their work. A second retrovirus, contractable only by injection, was transmitted into the bodies of the Shi'Oam. When the first of their progeny arrived, the new breed bore stronger bodies, sharper claws, brighter coloring, and repaired wings.

Conquest
Though it was fifteen years before GDCI, and thereafter the Federation Defense Force, stopped sending assault forces to Draco, the Draconan Commonwealth, under the command of the Shi'Oam theocracy, defended its planet with ferocity and tenacity beyond the comprehension of the terrans. The details of the conditions on Draco were leaked, and the public outcry froze the Federation's outward expansion for the first time in fifty years. Politicians claiming never to have heard of the crimes against the sentient inhabitants of Draco extended a peaceful invitation to the Commonwealth to attend a meeting to discuss future relations and reparations. The Commonwealth replied that it would send delegates. They did -- ten thousand of them. The draconan space forces, cobbled together from the ruins of the dozens of terran starships and hundreds of fighters destroyed over Draco, fought fearlessly against Earth's defense platforms, often ramming or self-destructing when threatened with destruction. The surface installations on Earth were bombarded from orbit, using maps and coordinates from the computers of the terran ships. But the draconans did not make landfall. They blockaded the planet, initiating a communications blackout, and from their captured defense platforms, began sending assault forces outward from Sol.

Irony
It took the Commonwealth ten years to take the last of the terran colonies. Periodically additional surface strikes had to be made against Earth to keep the inhabitants from making any brash attempts at retaliation. After the last terran citadel had fallen to the unstoppable onslaught, draconan ships descended into Earth's atmosphere. The Shi'Oam orators reported to the terrans that from this day forth the Federation was no more, and that the terran species was now the exclusive property of the Commonwealt. The terrans would now serve those whom they had tried to enslave for all eternity. And, over the course of the next twenty years, every last terran was exported from Earth to all of the numerous colonies which the draconans now inhabited. A great many were sent to Draco, to cut chakata. The draconans declared Earth to be a restricted zone, to be defended from orbit at all times and left uninhabited forever.

Xan has spent ten of his fifteen years living as a slave on the chakata plantation of Lord Arraxis. Among the slaves, he is an important young man, a figure of authority. To the masters, he is a useful tool, a prized possession. And yet Xan lives in fear. Within him dwells a strange and terrible power, which he must keep hidden from all around him at all costs. For if his masters discover it, he will surely be put to death. But far worse, if his fellow slaves should learn of his power, they would undoubtably want him to use his powers to kill...

Things change with the arrival of a new shipment of slaves to the plantation. It includes a girl Xan's age with a strange talent for winning the trust and loyalty of those around her. And when she intervenes in a demonstration of the masters' power for the sake of a single boy, she sparks a revolution that can only end in blood, and Xan is forced to choose between the safety of his fellow slaves and their freedom. No slave revolt has ever succeeded in delivering even a single revolutionary to the freedom beyond the Commonwealth border. But this one is about to...

But Xan will soon learn that escape from bondage is only the start of his journey. He begins to suspect that the voice he hears within his mind does not originate there; that, in fact, he is being instructed from without. But by whom, and for what purpose? The answer lies in the latent powers he is only beginning to unlock, and in the strange mental undertow he feels pulling at his mind, drawing him inexorably toward the dark tower he sees in his dreams, and the shadow-figure atop it...

THE STORY

THE STORY

EXPLANATION OF GAME FLOW

Reality Branch
Jaelis was happy, once. She used to live on Dorn, daughter of terran servants living in the regent's palace. She grew up in a rather privileged environment, wearing nice clothes made by the in-house tailor and attending classes with the regent's children, as well as studying under her parents' tutelage. Her parents often brought her to the terran village just outside the city to play with other children of her own kind, but most did not have much interest in her. There was one boy, however, who enjoyed her company; a strange, quiet boy named Xan. Jaelis often snuck out of the palace after dark to meet with Xan in the forest, where he would use his mysterious talents to call animals to her, or to make small objects float. It was on one such occasion that the happy period of Jaelis' life ended. A shuttle landed in the center of the terran village, and out poured soldiers of the Commonwealth, clad in their battle armor and bearing assault weapons. The village was in flames after only a few moments. Startled by the commotion, Jaelis and Xan rushed toward the village, Xan heading straight for his house. Upon throwing open the door, Xan startled the draconan soldier standing over the bodies of his parents, who turned and fired out of reflex. Jaelis tried to reach Xan in time, to push him out of the way, but she was not fast enough, and the soldier's energy bolt burned through Xan's body a fraction of a second before Jaeils collided with him. They tumbled to the ground, and Jaelis, in tears, got to her knees and looked down into the face of her dying friend. And then she felt it. A probing, searching sensation, deep within her mind. She felt the panic, the desperation of the mind which was trying to cling to hers. She fought as hard as she could but she had no defense against the strange invader, and even as the body below was dying, the mind which had formerly inhabited it was now pulling free, and clinging tenaciously to Jaelis' mind. Now she fought, not to keep the invader away, but to keep from being displaced by the strange presence. She succeeded; the invading entity did not force her from her own mind. But the exertion caused Jaelis to pass out.

Duality
Jaelis was unconscious for six days, and if the draconans had kept a closer eye on their captives, they would have taken her for comatose and flushed her from an airlock. She awoke only when the two consciousnesses now inhabiting her mind formed a kind of synthesis, fusing partially to allow a sharing of resources -- specifically, the body in which they lived. To say that Jaelis awoke would be inaccurate, for the entity which regained consciousness was neither completely Jaelis nor completely Xan, nor was it a simple composite of the two. But the entity which awoke wore Jaelis' body, and answered to Jaelis' name, and and if this Jaelis was not the same as the Jaelis which had existed before the psychic invasion, the other slaves were too scared to notice. And most of them had not known her very well to begin with. The walking, talking being thought and spoke and acted with one mind, and one will. But beneath that, on a much deeper level of subconscious, the division between the component personalities was still there. And the power play for control had only just begun.

Ten Years
Jaelis was brought to Draco, where the slaves were offloaded from the transport at Lord Arraxis' plantation. Jaelis was taught how to be a good slave; how to speak and act before her masters, how to work and keep working no matter how tired she became, how to harness her rage and use it to fuel her when despair threatened to drown her. And rage she had, in abundant quantities. Every atrocity hardened her, made her hate her masters, the draconans a little more. But she hid her rage, buried it as best she could, and made herself as useful to the masters as she could. The more they trusted her, she reasoned, the easier it would be to stab them in the back some day. So she spied for them, using the abilities Xan's consciousness brought with it, watching the dynamic connections of loyalty and trust between the slaves, and reporting to Arraxis. She did it for ten years, isolated from her fellow slaves by the knowledge that she was betraying them to those she hated more than anything. And her rage grew.

Divergence
Until the slaves' escape from Commonwealth space, the difference between the realities was minimal. An inconsequential child had died, and inconsequential child had lived. A slave who had remained on Arraxis' plantation had stayed only a short while. A girl with dreams of revolution died before she could incite an uprising, and the uprising went on without her. A wealthy slave owner who had been disgraced was instead violently killed. But after the escape, things changed. Jaelis, believed to be the divinely-chosen terran messiah, built up an army of terrans and sympathizers in remarkably little time, and brought it to bear against the Commonwealth. But the Order of Balance, which had been watching Jaelis almost since the moment of her emergence from Commonwealth space, decided that intercession was required, before Jaelis could upset the galaxy's balance any further. On the evening before the battle, a Guardian called Rook attacked and subdued Jaelis, and sealed her in stasis for the duration of his trip back to Tianar. Baffled by the disappearance of Jaelis, the senior sub-commanders did not tell the armies that their leader had gone missing, and instead decided to press on regardless. The rumors did their work, and the army was thoroughly demoralized when it met the draconan forces on the battlefield. The terran forces were utterly smashed, half deserting and one in ten of the remaining escaping in life pods.

Consequences
Fueled by national solidarity, the draconans pushed began an outward push, in the name of cleansing the galaxy of terran vermin, that would last sixty years and triple the size of Commonwealth space. Meanwhile, on Tianar, an unconscious Jaelis was loaded into one of the specially-designed "psionic cells", designed to inhibit both movement and use of any abilities while still allowing the inhabitant to remain conscious in a dream-like state, to think about their crimes. As the years passed, senior Guardians came again and again to the cell, probing Jaelis' mind to determine whether or not she was beginning to understand the danger she represented. And again and again, all that they found was rage. The years became decades, which blurred into centuries. Jaelis, suspended in stasis, did not age a day, while the Guardians around her learned of her in textbooks and visited her as journeymen and attempted to find redemption in her as elders. The psionic cells had never been used for so long, but the senior guardians, fully aware of the burning rage inside her, did not dare set her free.

Irredeemable
Galactic society, such as it had existed, was no more. The Commonwealth had been wiped from the stars completely, and the terrans had long before been hunted into extinction by the draconans. Most of the remaining nations had been crippled by Jaelis' retaliatory attacks. And Jaelis looked over the galaxy, her domain, and pronounced it irredeemable. She decided that the universe had failed to guide its own course properly, and needed help. But it was too late for help. And so Jaelis gathered the remaining denizens of the galaxy to her, and decreed that a machine would be built to amplify her powers. The finest minds in the galaxy worked for decades, but this did not bother Jaelis any longer; she neither aged nor ate nor breathed any longer. When finally the machine was constructed, she used it to expand her perception of reality, studying the nature and flow of space/time. And when she was ready, Jaelis summoned all of her energy, amplified by the machine, and pushed her way through the walls of reality, emerging from the timestream into the nullspace beyond. And she followed the stream back though every second was exhausting, every minute agonizing. When she maintain her detatchment from realspace no longer, Jaelis crashed back into the timestream, spent to the point of hovering on the brink of death. She drank in the light of suns, and her strenght returned, but she knew that she had failed. Her target had been the beginning, and she had not even passed the middle. As she recovered, she sought to understand why she had failed, and how she could succeed. At length, she came to an indisputable conclusion: her composite consciousness was half dead weight. The powers she weilded were not meant for her. They had belonged to the Xan entity, the entity which was now inextricably bound to the Jaelis entity.

Fate
Jaelis surveyed her surrounding reality, looking for clues to its time period. She was dismayed to learn that she had traveled back a mere four centuries. Traveling back in hops, be they four centuries or four millennia, would kill her long before she reached the beginning. She could already feel how much the last jump had cost her. Even if she some day regained all of her energy -- and she could feel that that alone would take another half-century, at least -- the damage it caused her was permanent. Despair was about to settle over her when she finally realized where she had landed. Her senses took in the positions of the stars and planets, and she knew the exact date and time. And she knew that she was fated to succeed. She had arrived on the day Xan died.

S: (humorlessly) "Funny how we always seem to be reunited over the grave of a friend."

X: "I'm sorry about Nemin. He was a good soldier, and a good friend."

S: "He respected you a lot, you know. After you left, he asked me if I was sure we should go through with it. He said, 'If Xan isn't with us, how do we know what we're doing is right?"

X: "You did what you thought was right. So did I. That's the best any of us can do."

S: "Yeah, well. It wasn't good enough for Nemin."

X: (long pause) "You blame me for Nemin's death."

S: "Get over yourself, Xan. Nemin was a big boy. He made his own decisions. We all did."

X: "And you blame me anyways. For leaving."

S: "We could have used you."

X: "You would have killed billions of innocent draconans if you had succeeded. I liked Nemin, but I'm glad you failed. If the cost of those civilians' lives was Nemin's, then it was worth it."

S: "You filthy son of a bitch. How DARE you say that? You... you TRAITOR."

(Silence)

S: "Why are you here? Come to rub the defeat of my army in my face while I bury my friend? Is that it? Well, mission accomplished. Get out of my sight."

X: "I'm not one of your soldiers anymore. And you're in *my* home."

S: "What are you talking about?"

X: "Look around you. Do you recognize this place? You saw it once, a long time ago."

S: "...your village."

X: (looking around) "It's seen better days."

S: (rising and walking toward village center) "It's strange. I think I knew already what this place was. You're all over it, you know. You left an imprint." (pause) "Maybe that's why this place felt right. I was looking for a terran village -- I didn't want to bury Nemin alone. And I found this place, and it felt *right*. I understand now. Nemin would be happy with this. Poor bastard never did get over his hero-worship of you, not even when you deserted."

X: "That's my house, there."

S: "Will you go inside?"

X: "No. No, I don't think so."

S: "You sure? When we took this planet all of the terran remains were buried in their own graveyard."

X: "And the draconan civilians?"

S: "You keep trying to make a point, Xan. Do me a favor and jab it in your eye. You going in or not."

X: "No."

S: "So you didn't come here to visit home?"

X: "No, I came looking for you."

S: "You've found me."

X: "I need your help."

S: "Hah!"

X: "I'm serious."

S: "You're crazy if you think I'll help you."

X: "You'll help me."

S: "You think so?"

X: "I think so. If you listen to what I have to tell you."

S: "So tell. Ought to be pretty damn interesting."

X: "I'm going to fight a being planning to collapse the universe and I'm raising an army to fight her templar. I need someone to lead it for me."

S: "Is this some kind of joke?"

X: "No joke. We're talking the end of all things."

S: "I think you had better start at the beginning."

A sprite's got to eat, right? Well, not strictly speaking, no. But a sprite most certainly has to travel. Otherwise, the sprite can't finish the game and pass on into the sprite afterlife, where sprites go after the game ends (unless they're sequelists, in which case they believe they'll be reincarnated as themselves in a whole heap of trouble all over again -- this religion is not especially popular). And in order to travel, a sprite needs money, and THEREFORE, a sprite's gotta work. Here's a list of jobs available throughout the galaxy. Each inhabited system has FOUR jobs available for the player to work. These are static, and do not change over the course of the game. With 50 inhabited systems, that means there are a total of 200 unique jobs to work. And I say unique because no one is precisely like the others. They all fall into five general categories (Collection, Combat, Delivery, Hazard, and Mini-Game), and are sub-divided into specific types. Each job type has four examples spread across the galaxy. Therefore, there are 50 types. Certain jobs yeild more cash than others, but generally, working one job will provide a sprite with about enough cash for passage to a system one jump away. So, here they are.

Collection
1. Animals - collect escaped exotic animals
2. Machine Parts - collect pieces of a broken machine
3. Lost & Found - collect lost items
4. Journalist Footwork - collect information
5. Contest - collect tokens

Combat
1. Bodyguard - protect employer from harm (local)
2. Boxing - fist-fight for a cut of the bet profits
3. Gladiator - weapont-fight for a cut of the bet profits
4. Bouncer - break up scuffles and expel rowdy types
5. Law Enforcement - help police clean up street crime
6. Retaliation - repay a grievance with pain
7. Bounty - find and subdue a fugitive for bounty money
8. Pelts - hunt beasts and sell the pelts
9. Extermination - kill all beasts in an infested area
10. Escort - protect employer from harm (abroad)
11. Fighting Tournament - fist fight up a ladder for prize money
12. Marksmanship Contest - shoot weapons at targets for prize money

Delivery
1. Food - deliver ordered food (local)
2. Medical Supplies - deliver medical supplies to a hospital
3. Drugs - deliver illegal narcotics
4. Data - deliver data storage media
5. Briefcase - deliver unmarked packages
6. Message - deliver a message (local and abroad)
7. Long-Range - deliver goods (abroad)
8. Pickup - go pick up a package and return it to the employer (local and abroad)

Hazard
1. Water Purification - descend into a malfunctioning water purification machine
2. Security - maneuver a malfunctioning security grid
3. Air Filtration - ascend into a malfunctioning air filtration machine
4. Engineering - navigate a malfunctioning power core
5. Space Walk - cross a zero-G environment in a pressure suit
6. Cliff - scale a cliff face to reach the top
7. Tower - climb a tower structure to reach the top
8. Geothermal - descend into a geothermal power station
9. Vehicles - cross the tops of moving vehicles to reach a goal
10. Factory - weave through an operating factory to reach a goal

Here's a list of Xan's psionic powers.

Key:
(P)layer: Ability affects only the player character (Xan)
(S)ingle: Ability affects only one target (may be an ally, enemy, or object)
(M)ultiple: Ability affects multiple enemy targets, usually within an arc
(A)rea: Ability affects all enemy targets in a defined area

TELEKINESIS

Level 1
Push – Xan is able to concentrate psionic force to shove an enemy or object away from him. Colliding with walls or other object will harm a shoved enemy or some objects. (S)
Pull – Xan is able to concentrate psionic force to draw an enemy or object toward him. Enemies will fall at his feet, whereas objects will land in Xan’s hands. (S)

Level 2
Leap – By utilizing telekinetic force to propel himself into the air, Xan can make a powerful leap that can carry him long distances and over some obstacles. If Xan lands on an enemy, he will tackle them. (P)
Constrict – Xan can create bands of telekinetic force which contract around an enemy, squeezing their entire body. (S)

Level 3
Levitate – By focusing his telekinesis on his own body, Xan can lift himself into the air and float. Be advised that Xan’s stamina will drain continuously, that a flying man draws more attention, and that Xan’s concentration will be interrupted if he is attacked in mid-air, causing him to fall. (P)
Crush – The most brutal application of Xan’s telekinetic power. A sphere of force contracts around an enemy, crushing them inward; almost invariably fatal. (S)

TELEPATHY

Level 1
Pacify – By forcing emotional adjustment on a target (enemy or ally), Xan can decrease a target’s attack strength and speed, but in doing so raises the target’s defense. (S)
Enrage – By forcing emotional adjustment on a target (enemy or ally), Xan can increase a target’s attack power and speed, but in doing so decreases the target’s defense. (S)

Level 2
Illusion – Xan can influence the perception of those around him to make himself appear invisible. Stronger willed bystanders will be more difficult to fool, and will see through the illusion at close range. Drains stamina continuously. (P)
Numb – Xan can prevent himself from feeling pain (thereby preserving his stamina), but his speed is decreased. Lasts 30 seconds. (S)

Level 3
Mind Control – By forcing his will through mental defenses, Xan can control the actions of some targets (allies, enemies, or neutrals). While attempting to wrest control from a target, both Xan’s stamina and the target’s will drain, and if the target’s stamina is reduced to 10% before Xan’s, he will gain control of the target’s mind. However, if Xan’s falls to 10% first, he will fail the takeover, and if his target possesses the Mind Control ability as well, will be vulnerable to takeover himself. Once a takeover has been initiated, the controller’s stamina drains at a much slower rate, and the takeover lasts until cancelled or the controller’s stamina reaches 5%. (S)
Enhance – A refinement of the Numb ability. Xan can prevent himself from feeling pain (thereby preserving his stamina) without loss of speed. Additionally, his attack power and defense are increased by 50%. Lasts 45 seconds. (S)

ANATOMY

Level 1
Regenerate(Lv1) – Xan can mend tissue at an accelerated rate, healing some physical damage. (S)
Pain – By manipulating a target’s nervous system, Xan can inflict paralyzing pain. While no physical damage is inflicted, the target’s stamina will drain for the duration, and target will be effectively immobilized. Lasts 30 seconds. (S)

Level 2
Regenerate(Lv2) – A refinement of Regenerate. Xan can mend tissue more efficiently, healing more physical damage. (S)
Disease – By applying modifications to a target’s immune system, Xan can set a target’s body to attacking itself, draining health continuously until death or use of Regenerate. (S)

Level 3
Regenerate(Lv3) – The perfection of Regenerate. Xan can mend tissue almost instantly, healing all physical damage. (S)
Death – Xan can initiate the brain death of a target, killing them instantly. (S)

ESD

Level 1
Shock – Xan can direct a weak electrostatic discharge at one target. (S)

Level 2
Electrocute – Xan can direct a strong electrostatic discharge at one target. (S)

Level 3
Lightning – Xan can emit a series of powerful electrostatic discharges. (M)

PYROKINESIS

Level 1
Heat – Xan can heat a target’s weapon in their hands, causing them to drop the weapon and fight hand-to-hand. (S)

Level 2
Burn – Xan can set fire to a target, inflicting continuous damage until the fire is put out (by water or rolling on the ground). (S)

Level 3
Firestorm – Xan can set fire to an area, inflicting continuous damage on all enemy targets until the area is escaped and the fire put out (by water or rolling on the ground). (A)

SHIELD

Level 1
Absorb – By projecting an energy shield around himself, Xan incurs halved damage from most attacks (Psionic abilities exempt). (P)

Level 2
Repel – By projecting an energy shield around himself, Xan blocks most attacks (Psionic abilities exempt). (P)

Level 3
Reflect – By projecting an energy shield around himself, Xan redirects most attacks back toward their origin (Psionic abilities exempt). (P)

FOCUS

Level 1
Psiblade(Lv1) – Xan is able to focus pure psionic energy into a tangible blade. Drains stamina continuously. (P)

Level 2
Psiblade(Lv2) – A refinement of Psiblade. Xan is able to focus pure psionic energy into two tangible blades. Drains stamina continuously. (P)

Xan's abilities upgrade with practice. The more he uses them, the better he gets at it. With each use the effectiveness grows a bit -- attack abilities do more damage, regenerative abilities heal more, etc. However, at certain milestones Xan makes a breakthrough in his understanding of the basic nature of the ability he is using. For instance, after the 100th use of his telekinesis ability (using either push or pull), Xan will gain a greater mastery of the ability and have the leap and constrict functions added to that ability's list. Furthermore, after using the ability a total of 500 times (employing any of the 4 posessed functions), Xan's proficiency reaches another milestone and he learns the levitate and crush functions.

Note that while functional applications of abilities are gained at each milestone through use of their abilities, the abilties themselves can only be learned at scripted points in the game. In other words, Xan can only learn a new ability (pyrokinesis, focus, etc.) when someone teaches it to him (or when he learns it himself, in one certain cases). Functions marked with a 0 milestone are available for use immediately after their ability is learned, and are generally fairly weak to begin with. Also, abilities learned near the end of the game (shield and focus) require fewer uses between milestones, as Xan will have become more comfortable with his powers.

TELEKINESIS - Game start.
0 Level 1: Push, Pull
100 Level 2: Leap, Constrict
500 Level 3: Levitate, Crush

TELEPATHY - Game start.
0 Level 1: Pacify, Enrage
150 Level 2: Illusion, Numb
750 Level 3: Mind Control, Enhance

ANATOMY - Seila's recovery.
0 Level 1: Regenerate(Lv1), Pain
100 Level 2: Regenerate(Lv2), Disease
500 Level 3: Regenerate(Lv3), Death

ESD - Faran's tutelage.
0 Level 1: Shock
50 Level 2: Electrocute
250 Level 3: Lightning

PYROKINESIS - Faran's tutelage.
0 Level 1: Heat
50 Level 2: Burn
250 Level 3: Firestorm

SHIELD - Guardians' training.
0 Level 1: Absorb
25 Level 2: Repel
125 Level 3: Reflect

"Hey."

"Still brooding?"

"Maybe."

"Well get over yourself. Eulik says the Wetakkan's ready when you are."

"It's not me I'm brooding over."

"You're still whining about *her*? She tried to end the bloody universe, Xan. I hereby absolve you of whatever twisted sense of guilt you're clinging to."

"It wasn't her that did those things. It was me."

"You don't know that. You saw what she showed you. Just because she chose to depict Jaelis as the perfect little angel you knew as a kid and Xan as the dark prince doesn't mean that was how things were. Free tip: the next time you hop into the mind of somebody who's that freaking crazy, don't believe what you see."

"You don't understand."

"I'm trying to."

"I know."
"Thanks."

"Any time."

"What will you do now?"

"Fight the good fight, I suppose."

"Without your army?"

"Without my army. And on a new battlefield."

"You're going to accept Rion's offer?"

"Yeah, I think so. I don't see how I can turn it down. Arraxis said that the offer was for you, originally."

"He mentioned it. I turned him down."

"How? How do you manage not to care about all those slaves on Draco, or on the other Commonwealth worlds? What makes you different from us?"

"Nothing. And I do care. It's a leap forward and I think it really can succeed with Rion behind it."

"Then why did you turn it down?"

"Because I'm done with history, and I want history to be done with me. And I knew that there'd be someone to go in my place if I passed."

"I might have refused. You know I hate dracs."

"I know. But you'll go anyways. You'll do what you have to do to make sure they remember your name when terrans are celebrating their first millennium on their own planet, even if it isn't Earth."

"That's really what you think of me? That I'm some glory-hound that will do anything to be famous?"

"Not famous. You'll do anything to be great. You're ambitious. It's not an inherently bad thing. It all depends on what you do with your ambition. This is a good cause. This is a right and just cause. This is something worth being remembered for."

"Well, I'm glad you approve. There's a load off my mind."

"Glad to hear it."

"And what about you? You could be great too, Xan. Hell, you saved the bloody universe; you probably qualify already. You're going to go to Roth and farm a plot of land for the rest of your life? Is that all the ambition you have? Most of the galaxy has no idea what you did on top of that tower. They don't know Jaelis even existed. So what will you be remembered for?"

"That's the fundamental difference between you and me. You want to be remembered. I want to be forgotten."

"I don't understand you. Sometimes I wish I could read people like you can."

"I can read people and I *still* don't understand you."

"But I think you're right about me. Partially, at least. If I had your powers, I'd probably use them to do bad things with the best of intentions. Whatever picked you to be what you are, they chose well. You can be trusted with what you have."

"I wouldn't be too sure. Just remember the future Jaelis came from."

"And now we're back to the beginning again. Come on, Xan. Everybody's waiting."

THELIENT
"I'm sorry to see you go, Xan. You'd make a fine Guardian, with more training."

"Liar."

"Alright, you'd make a terrible Guardian, but at least we could keep an eye on you. You make the Council nervous. We still don't know if we can trust you with the power you weild."

<smile> "What makes you think you have a choice?"

"It's that kind of talk that makes us nervous."

"I don't intend to go running after any other threats to the continued existence of the galaxy without letting the Order know, if that's what you're worried about."

"Are you sure you won't reconsider? Think of what you could learn about yourself here. About the power inside you. Think of what *we* could learn about you here."

"I'm not interested in being studied, even by myself. I just want to go someplace quiet and grow old."

"Then go with peace in your heart and balance in your actions."

"Thank you."

ROOK
"Rook."

"Xan."

"I suppose if the Council decides that I'm too dangerous to leave alive, they'll send you."

"I have had the opportunity to observe and study your habits and routines. I have an operational understanding of the limitations of your perception. I would be the obvious choice."

"Yes, well. Let's save the goodbyes, then."

"Be seeing you."

BAEN
"Lin would be proud of you."

"Of you as well. A true Guardian now."

"I miss her."

"Me too. Take this. I'd have given it to you before, if it had occurred to me to part with it."

"Lin's pendant. No. You keep it. She would have wanted you to have it."

"Keep making her proud, Baen."

"I'll try. You try to."

KHET
"I trust that my debt is fulfilled?"

"More than. You were a tremendous help on Roth. Thank you, Khet."

"Don't thank me. If you convince me that I did you a favor for free, I am required by ysarii law to commit suicide."

"Oh. Then yes, debt repaid. With exact change."

"I suppose you'll go back to being a mercenary, then?"

"It's what I do. I have a reputation to uphold. Infamy isn't so easy to maintain as you might think."

"I'd wish you luck, if it didn't cost so many so much."

"So long as I'm not hired to track down any more terran demi-gods, I shouldn't need luck."

"Goodbye, then."

"Goodbye, Xan."

ARRAXIS
"The Grand Priestess sends her regards, and asks that I convey her regret that you will not be returning to Draco."

"She'll get over it. Seila will accomplish much more."

"She will have a much more difficult time than you would. She was the commander of the army which killed so many of our soldiers. Her safety will be a constant concern."

"I'm sure she can handle herself."

"Be that as it may, the Grand Priestess has permanently reinstated my rank and assigned me as the commander of Emissary Panir's personal guard."

"Sounds like an honor."

"It is... unprecedented."
"I have worked very hard to build a support base for the extermination movement. I myself will have many enemies when I return to Draco."

"I'll bet. Do you still agree with them?"

"No."
"When you were my slave, I trusted you a great deal. I became so used to your presence on the plantation that I relied upon you, forgot that you were not there of your own free will."
"I think now that you used your witch powers to nurture my attachment to you, but I do not care. When the rebellion came, I felt betrayed, and I hated you. Now I have stolen a glimpse at another universe, where things would have gone quite differently, and I see how noble you were, and are. You are a credit to your species."

"Thanks. I think."

"I see now that the Grand Priestess is right; we draconans have leaned upon the crutch of terrans for far too long. We tried to become the Masters, but we are still slaves to your species. We have yet to break our dependence on your kind. Only when we do can we truly be free."

"What will happen to the terrans? Will they simply be expelled?"

"I do not know. Perhaps someday the Commonwealth will give them back their homeworld. But not in our lifetimes, I expect."

"One step at a time."

"Indeed."

"Good luck, Lord Arraxis. Take good care of her."

"I will. Goodbye, Xan-Akaal."

SEILA
"So."

"So."

"This is it."

"This is what?"

"It. You know. We probably won't see each other again."

"Why not?"

"Well, I don't expect you'll be leaving your farm again. And I'm going to be very busy."

"I suppose so."

"Perhaps I can come visit some time. When the extermination movement takes a vacation."

"I'll watch for you."

"You keep away from those mai'Roth girls until I get there, understand?"

"I don't think terrans and mai'Roth are compatible. Genetically and, er, physiologically, that is."

"And you just keep that in mind. I've left Kariis with instructions."

"I expect you'll liberate some starry-eyed young man who will follow you to the ends of the universe, until you have to marry him just to stop the draconan tabloids from drawing their own conclusions."

"Hah! Let them. Where am I going to find *another* terran slave with reality-bending powers whom I can use to achieve my megalomaniacal schemes for galatic domination?"

"Have you checked Draco's Tallahn plains? I hear they grow them there."

"I'll check that out. But just in case, you're still reserved."

"Noted."

"I'm going to miss you, Xan."

"No you won't. You'll be too busy."

"How about I make that visit when Rion officially abolishes slavery?"

"It's a date."

"See you then, Xan."

"See you then, Seila."

EULIK
"Don't say your goodbyes yet, kid, I'm your ride."

"I know. I figured I'd get it out of the way, just in case your piloting gets us killed before we leave the atmosphere."

"Get in the shuttle, smart ass."

DRONE
"Will Eulik be dropping you back on TC-2471 after he leaves Roth?"

"Oh no, I cannot return."

"What, not ever?"

"Absolutely not. I am a being of free will and spirit now. To return would mean relinquishing my mind to the Queen once more."

"But you didn't lose your free will when we returned."

"We only visited. The Queen could not allow a free mind to live among the Hive. She would have to subjugate me again."

"Oh. I didn't realize..."

"Do not be troubled, Xan. The Queen gave me a mission: to explore this galaxy on her behalf. I will continue to do so, aboard the Wetakkan."

"Sounds like fun. Adventure and excitement out among the galaxy's infinite mysteries, is that it?"

"That's exactly what I told Eulik! He laughed at me."

<chuckle> "Well, just try to keep the adventure and excitement to a minimum until you two drop me on Roth, OK?"

The prototype:

The emotion spectrum can be conceived of as a 3D cube, with each axis counting up one of the three primary colors: red, green, and blue. In other words, we have three scales: red, green, and blue. If you've used Photoshop this shouldn't be too hard; think of the RGB sliders.

Now, these colors represent the "primary" emotions: Passion®, Greed(G), and Fear(B).
Passion: emotions that are fiery or hot. This includes both love and hate. Kat would register firmly in the red all the time.
Greed: this includes envy, lust, and other emotions which involve wanting. Ambition is a prime example of a solidly green emotion.
Fear: of anything, really. Fear of danger, fear of rejection, etc. Blue would also encompass emotions like caution or distrust.

So by adjusting these scales, we can create a visual representation. There are some examples on a 1-10 scale:

Love: R10 G03 B01
Hate: R10 G01 B03
Envy: R05 G10 B05
Lust: R07 G10 B03
Ambition: R03 G10 B01
Fear (Danger): R05 G01 B10
Fear (Rejection): R03 G05 B10
Distrust: R03 G01 B10

You get the idea. The interesting thing about this feature is that, while the basics will be explained (somewhere) to the player, there will be no translator which will read these stats and tell the player specifically what that character is feeling. The player is being given access to Xan's perceptions, and it is up to the player to interpret those perceptions. So while the player would have trouble telling whether an NPC's current emotion is fear of danger or distrust (as there's just that slight difference in the red tint), they'll be able to tell the difference between fear of danger and, say, lust.

Another feature I may include would be intensity of emotion. In this case, major characters (be they party members or NPCs) would be assigned a certain number of points pased upon how emotional they are. The stronger that character feels emotions, the more points they get. These points would then determine the strength of their moods, as they would be distributed between the three primary emotions. So characters who are fairly cold might have, say, 10 points to distribute between the three primaries, whereas a character who feels with the volume turned up might get as many as 25. Of course, not all the points would have to be distributed for any given situation ("OH MY GOD! CEREAL! I'M SO HAPPY!!!"). These would represent the limits to which these characters are normally able to feel. In the case of NPC extras, they would probably be assigned a canvas number, like 15. If they're important enough to need more, they aren't extras.

Chapter I: Slave
"Prologue" - Intro, Xan & Jaelis playing in the forest
"Nightmare" - Destruction of Xan's village

ChapterII: Apprentice
>Seila - "Cutting In"
"Visions" - Flashes of a dark (alternate) future, ending with the black tower
>Rook - "The Renegade"

Chapter III: Soldier
>Plinq - "The Order"
>Seila - "Chasing Shadows"
>Lox'Namar - "Unexpected Guest"
>Jule - "The Lion's Den"

Chapter IV: Seeker
"The Call" - Xan is summoned
>Nemin - "Sacrifice"
"Revelation" - Drawn into Jaelis' mind, Xan is shown the truth regarding reality's natural course.

Rather than do the parallel game thing, devoting time to unimportant things so that important things get game time (though rather after-the-fact), I'm going to do this instead: Xan's perspective will be the only shown in the game until the Open-Ended Game (where control transfers to Eulik and Drone). Xan will occasionally "Link" to the minds of others during the main game, allowing the player to temporarily hop into that character's shoes. Though as far as the story is concerned, Xan is a passenger aboard these characters' minds, the player will have control of said character for the duration of the link. The characters linked will be those who have been, are, or will be important to Xan's existence. Xan's unconscious will only make these links when he is asleep.

The game flow will now be as follows. The main game will play as planned. Three of the extra characters (Bredai, Orinn, and Hrayan) will become available at the start of Chapter 5. These characters will be completely optional, and while each will have a small quest attached, they will not affect the overall plot. Following the completion of the main game, the player will be allowed to continue playing the Open-Ended Game with Eulik, Drone, and any of the extra characters already collected, and instructed to locate the main game's member characters as well as the three additional extra characters (Plinq, Jule, and Lox'Namar).

Xan & Kariis are on Roth
Seila & Arraxis are on Draco
Nemin is buried on Dorn
Khet is available for hire on Ysar-Hara
Rook is missing
Plinq is locked in the dungeon below the Order
Jule is somewhere in Commonwealth space
Lox'Namar is abroad

Aside from the game's main quest, there are many major subquests tied to the story.

Subquest#1: Plinq
Shortly after the start of Chapter III, Xan will dream-link to the mind of a vermaline thief who is sneaking into the Order of Balance. Protected by a machine which disrupts the psionics' perception of her, the thief (Plinq) manages to slip past the Order's defenses and plants an electronic listening device on communications array. Plinq is on her way out when the Guardians are suddenly and inexplicably alerted, and Plinq is captured. Xan wakes without understanding the significance of the dream.

After Xan is able to come and go freely from the Order in Chapter V, he will be able to find Plinq in the cells in the basement. Should Xan try to talk to Plinq with Khet in his party, he will learn of Khet's part in the break-in from Khet.

Once the player has completed the main quest and is playing the Open-Ended Game, visiting Plinq's cell with Khet once again will prompt the characters to plead for Plinq's release. Thelient will reluctantly agree, and Plinq thanks the party and leaves. Upon returning to stardock, the party will find the ship missing.

The party will be able to find the ship again on Calera, where Plinq sold it to a local dealer. The price to buy it back being impossible, the party will be able to reclaim the Wetakkan by finding the dealer at the casino. A minigame will prove the party's worth, and the Wetakkan will be returned. A second minigame will earn the party information regarding Plinq's whereabouts.

The party can catch up with Plinq on Ysar-Hara, where Plinq is preparing a revenge heist. Plinq tells the party that the Wetakkan's theft was necessary and squares them, but that if they want to recoup their losses they can join her in her heist. The heist is played out.

Aside from the game's main quest, there are many major subquests tied to the story.

Subquest#2: Jule
During Chapter III, Seila dispatches a spy charged with infiltrating the Commonwealth and posing as a slave on Draco while gathering information for her. Later in the same chapter, Xan dream-links to Jule's mind and witnesses Jule's infiltration.

During the Open-Ended Game, if the player party enters Commonwealth space and visits Seila, they will learn of the progress the abolition movement is making. However, Seila will also tell the party about Jule's current situation, and ask that they quietly extricate him. She arranges the papers they need.

CHAPTER I: SLAVE
1. New Acquisitions
>Cutscene: "Prologue"
2. The Revolt
>Dream: "Nightmare"
>Gain NEMIN, KARIIS as party members.
3. Underground Railroad
>Gain SEILA, ARRAXIS as party member.
>Cutscene: "The Escape"

CHAPTER II: APPRENTICE
1. The Sorcerer
2. Journey to Roth
3. The Tower
4. Faran's Teachings
>TUTORIAL: Psionic abilities.
5. Cutting In
>Link: Seila targets the slave trade.
6. Xan's Training
>Dream: "Visions"
7. The Renegade
>Link: Rook hunts down an "imbalance".
8. Farewell
9. Ixim's Fall
>Cutscene: "Xan's Wrath"

CHAPTER III: SOLDIER
1. Reunion
>Cutscene: "Landfall"
2. Trial by Fire
3. The Order
>Link: Plinq infiltrates the Order.
4. Campaign
5. Calera
>Cutscene: "Assassin"
6. Chasing Shadows
>Link: Seila tracks the assassin.
7. The Hive
>Gain DRONE as party member.
8. Unexpected Guest
>Link: Lox'Namar greets the returning prodigal son.
9. Falling Out
10. The Lion's Den
>Link: Jule infiltrates the Commonwealth.

CHAPTER IV: SEEKER
1. Wetakkan
>Cutscene: "The Wetakkan"
2. Cabin Boy
>TUTORIAL: Starflight
>TUTORIAL: Away Teams
3. Ambushed
>Gain EULIK as party member.
4. Shipwrecked
>Cutscene: "The Crash"
>Dream: "The Call"
5. Two Camps
6. Sacrifice
>Link: Nemin gives his life to save the ship.
7. Return to Roth
>Gain KHET as party member.
>Gain WETAKKAN as vessel.
8. Revelation
>Cutscene: "Rook's Choice"

CHAPTER V: GUARDIAN
1. Dreams
>Dream: "Apology"
2. The Council
>Gain ROOK as party member.
>Gain GUARDIANS as assault group.
3. Draco
>Cutscene: "The Grand Priestess"
>Gain DRACONANS as assault group.
4. Homecoming
>Gain TERRANS as assault group.
>Gain ORINN as party member (Ysar-Hara).
>Gain BREDAI as party member (Tianar).
>Gain HRAYAN as party member (Calera).
5. Call to Arms
>Gain MERCENARIES as assault group.
>Gain NATIVE HUNTERS as assault group.
>Gain HIVE WARRIORS as assault group.
6. The Assault
>Cutscene: "Deployment"
7. Endgame
>Cutscene: "Showdown"
8. Denoument
>Cutscene: "Epilogue"

It's time to gather together all the different ideas I have rolling around in my head into a semi-manageable pile. This features list will detail the portions of the game concept which I consider either integral to its vision or important to its implementation.

1. Epic Sci-Fi Plot
This is probably the most important aspect. The game needs to have a certain feel to it. It needs to feel grand and sweeping; the characters need to be caught up in events greater than any of them. The dangers have to be real and immediate, and the consequences of failure important, catastrophic even. The people and places need to be believable within a sci-fi setting, and the social and political dynamics touched upon in the game need to feel plausible and authentic.

2. Massive Galaxy
I want the players to be able to explore. I love to explore in video games, and I don't want the player to be locked into some carefully-planned terrain corridor which will funnel them along through the story until they get their "airship" (in this case, the Wetakkan). However, that exploration needs to carry some price. If the player can go anywhere too soon, exploration loses its mystery too quickly. So a job system (discussed later) will put a restriction on exploration that will be easy enough to overcome if the player wants, but will keep the less tenacious players from wandering away from the story path.

3. Memorable Characters
I'm hoping to avoid some of the RPG archetype cliches so commonly found among party members, particularly among characters collected later in the game. Each character should have his/her own unique personality and history, whether those are plot elements or not. Even more important is the main character's portrayal. Xan needs to be handled very carefully in order to maintain player interest and sympathy. He is a highly atypical RPG hero, and if handled poorly may frustrate the player with his morals and politics. Tread carefully.

4. Extra Characters
The total number of playable party characters in this game is 15, though the player will never have more than 11 available at any point in the game. Throughout the course of the game characters will join and leave the party as the plot directs. Six of the party characters will not be made available by the story path itself, however; they must be collected either during Chapter 5 or after the completion of the main game. The three characters available during the main game (Bredai, Orinn, and Hrayan) will each join the party and open a minor subquest somewhere in the galaxy. These will be short but challenging subquests which will have no real impact on the plot. The other three extra characters, who only become available during the open-ended game, will each have a greater impact on the game's plot (and that of a sequel, should one come about). Each has an associated subquest which can only be activated after the player has contacted a certain member of the main game's party (now no longer playable). These subquests will tie into a greater plot which will lead into the sequel, should one exist.

5. Open-Ended Game
This section is poorly titled and needs to be renamed before it can be implemented, as it is not truly open-ended. Though the open-ended game has a more free-form feel to it, it does have an end which can only be reached by completing set goals. The open-ended game follows two characters from the main game's party, Eulik and Drone, in their quest for fortune and glory aboard the Wetakkan. In addition to fattening their wallets and battling pirates, the crew of the Wetakkan can seek out the other party characters from the main game, which will provide expanded denoument information and open subquests which will introduce three of the extra characters. The three extra character subquests all tie into the Patron's galactic empire from three separate angles: a thief recovering a dangerous artifact from a former employer, a terran spy in Commonwealth space with sensitive intelligence regarding military R&D, and a priest carrying an amulet sent to him by a former student. Upon completion of the third and final subquest, a cinematic will be presented in a cliff-hanger "To Be Continued..." fashion.

6. Custom Battle System (CBS)
During development, RPG Maker 2's default battle system (DBS) will be used as a placeholder for the CBS I plan to implement. Due to the complications that would arise from attempting to code Ally and Enemy AI, a real-time Zelda-like combat system would be impractical at best. The turn-based system I plan to implement will allow four party members to face off against enemies using three commands: Attack, Ability, and Item. Abilities will vary from character to character; Xan and Rook will be able to use psionic powers, while other characters will have specific abilities of their own. Different actions will tax each character's stamina, so players will have to keep a close eye on this stat. Only characters with the "Unconscious" condition (Stamina=0) can be revived in battle; those who fall "Wounded" (Health=0) must be restored after the battle ends.

7. Psionic Abilities
In addition to being able to hurl psionic flame and weild arcs of lightning at foes in battle, the player will be able to employ Xan's powers in the field screens as well. These will be handled through a menu called by the Square button, offering a list of Xan's field abilities. Some will be contextual, such as putting an enemy to sleep or burning through a barrier. Others, such as leap or levitate, will always be available to the player, opening up new areas to explore.

8. Empathy System
One psionic ability which will constantly active is Xan's empathic sense of those around him. Represented visually as a soft color-coded glow around NPCs, the player will be able to use Xan's empathy as an extra source of information in interactions throughout the game.

This game is being made for RPG Maker 2, which means that my control over the controls is rather limited. But for the sake of design purity, I'll post what my ideal control scheme would look like. This assumes a real-time combat system with enemy and ally AI, and the ability to use psionic abilities in the field.

Left Stick - Character Movement
Right Stick - Camera Movement

>< Button - Action (Speak, Inspect, Open, Activate), Accept (Menu)
|_| Button - Draw Weapon, Attack
(_) Button - Open Ability Menu (Hold), Use Ability (Tap)
/\ Button - Open Inventory (Hold), Use Item (Tap)

L1 Button - Empathy View (Hold)
L2 Button - Sense View (Hold)
R1 Button - Enemy Lock (Hold), Cycle Enemy (Tap)
R2 Button - Object Lock (Hold), Cycle Object (Tap)
R3 Button - Camera Center