The 2nd original ever created, Costine is almost 200 years old, having seen her people rise and fall throughout the ages. Her race is that of the Vanators, winged beings created by Rolf Vladimir to be monsters used in battle, capable of shattering steel with their bare hands and surviving in the coldest of temperatures. Draconian in design, the Vanators all have leathery-scaley skin, thicker than the average human’s, and their legs are something akin to legs you’d find on a large lizard, talons and all. Massive creatures, Vanators are built like bricks and are capable of taking heavy damage and tearing through ships if necessary. Because she is an Original, she and the other Originals have more mutations than the others of their race, ranging from color, number of eyes, number of limbs and wing, abilities, etc. Vanators also have growths on them that can act as plating and armor, which can be filed down into a form that best suits that Vanator, as well as horns that vary from each individual. All Vanators have 2 abilities, a passive and an aggressive.

Costine herself stands at 8 ft 4, with a wingspan of 29+ feet from tip to tip and weighs in at 400 lbs. While she is by no means the largest Vanator, she’s larger than non-Original Vanators which is useful for intimidating opponents. Like the originals, she does have some mutations, including 6 eyes, longer ears, and 4 muscled arms, with the bottom two having extra thick plating that can be used to block several melee attacks (within reason). Like all Vanators, she’s primarily carnivorous, with teeth that match such a diet. Because of her anatomy, tight clothing is very useless so she wears more tunic-like clothing that allow for higher movement with less restraints.

As the 2nd oldest known Vanator, Costine is a wise individual who knows for a fact that while some humans can be trusted, her people are still viewed by many as monsters rather than as individuals. A cautious person, she’s very picky about who she trusts, and it takes a lot for her to fully trust someone given the treatment of her people. As a Neutral Vanator (she has no bloodline), she’s often called in by Clans of Vanators to act as a judge to settle disputes and act as a diplomat, which over time has given her a strong sense of moral and justice. Despite her age, and her interactions, Costine is to a degree a bit naïve about certain things. She and the vast majority of Vanators didn’t exactly get to have an education, so her ability to read and write is mostly self-taught and there’s things about this world she’s never seen before, so she actually has the curiosity of an excitable child when she sees something new and interesting.

Pros:

• The strongest character you can play in the game, as she can basically beat things to a pulp with her fists and is the most combat based character (if a player is more into battle this is the character to play).

• Abilities:

  • Passive: Allows for her to predict an attack from up to 10 seconds randomly.

  • Aggressive: For a limited amount of time, she can phase through a physical thing, be it a person of a thing. But doing so means she needs to be at full energy

• Gets to do the most amount of exploring as she is the one traveling on foot the most

Cons:

• Has waaaay more enemies than the other heroes to deal with

• Can only travel in cold areas. Vanators have a higher body temperature so traveling in hot places like the south of Bharata is not an option

• Has the hardest time making political allies

• Given her sheer size and anatomy, indoor combat is near impossible for her, which makes it harder for her to fight indoors.

• Is extremely bad at dealing with technology.

Tutorial

Post-revolt, 200 years back, the Vanators, with the Council are tentatively living somewhere in Aldorf. Understanding that they need to establish peaceful relations with humans in order to successfully coexist, they head to the capital of Aldorf to talk about trade routes, possibly a reconciliatory event between Vanators and humans, as currently their relationship is on shaky ground. Costine and Pierce are the representatives of the Vanators in this exchange.

On the way to the capital:

• Go over conversation mechanics/options

• Hunt animals for food, go over combat commands

• Save a fellow Vanator from getting eaten by a large vicious animal

In the capital of Aldorf,

• Meeting between the humans and Vanators to discuss relations and possible co-species events.

  • Meeting is successful and humans and Vanators end discussions on good terms

  • Meeting is unsuccessful and humans tell Vanators to leave

Time-skip - 1 Year Later(?): Pierce is exiled for his dangerous ideals, and in his rage, he destroys the capital of Aldorf in a rage to make a statement that Vanators are an enemy to humans and it helps his ideal that Vanators should be above humans.

After the tutorial 200 Years Pass

Primary Conflict

Costine is summoned to the Council of Originals, where the council brings up the fact that within the past half year since they’ve convened, 30 colonies have been forced to move and 4 have been completely wiped out by the Vladimirians and Aldorf Slayers.

• In the middle of the meeting, a wounded messenger comes in, bearing ill-news. The 11th Original, Pierce, having long been exiled and hunted done, has revealed himself and has been experimenting, creating mutated Vanators that are more monstrous than anything else. And that by numbers alone, if the Vanators face him alone, the war will be lost.

• Kilesso, the 1st Original, suggests that one of them must travel and warn the major countries of the world, to prepare them all for potential war. Costine volunteers, as she and only 2 other Originals are Neutral and represent the race without bias.

Rising Action

During this time, Costine will be traveling to the countries of Aldorf, and Marvansk

• Aldorf: A highly religious country that wants the Vanators dead and is home to the slayers, there are a few colonies that are at peace with the town so long as they follow the laws of the country, but even here there is conflict. Thankfully, here in Aldorf there are Honorary Vanators that are old friends and can be trusted.

  • Sanctuary: An old nunnery in the middle of the wilderness is where Costine finds her old friend Sister Theresa, the head of the nunnery and secret sanctuary for Vanators. Unfortunately, the Abbey is under attack by monsters and a Clan that is seeking an individual nun who has insulted/attacked them and is hiding in the Abbey. Costine can:

    • Destroy the monsters and somehow talk the Clan leader down (good ending)

    • Convince the Clan Leader to help her destroy the monsters and then figure out diplomatics (peace ending)

    • Destroy the monsters and fight the Clan Leader to remind him that he does have less authority than the originals (bad ending)

  • Upon helping the sanctuary, she gains the travel companion of Laura, the nun who because of her actions has been kicked out of the nunnery, forcing her to stick to one of the leader of the people she hates (ally/romanceable character)

    • Jane’s Journey (Part I): After getting kicked out of the nunnery, Laura wants to head to her friend, Jane’s, place on the outskirts (South of the capital) of Aldorf close to the ocean. Costine reluctantly agrees knowing that it’s not safe to be that far from the Vanatorian colony AND that close to the capital. (Continue editing this mission)

    • (Add one more mission, but make it small)

    • Slayer Academy: Unfortunately, they have to pass through here to get to Lorcia and talk to the leaders. As they pass by, Laura spots that the Slayers have captured a Vanator warrior and plan to use him for training and eventually give the honor of execution. Costine decides they must help him. They can:

      • Use a number of Costine’s allies (assuming she’s gotten some from missions) to talk to the Slayers while she sneaks in and breaks him out (good ending)

      • Have them interrupt the execution, with all of them together, including Costine, and convincing the Slayer Head of Academy to let him live. (Peace ending)

      • Interrupt the execution, and fight their way out, on their way killing many Slayers (Bad ending)

    • After doing so, the wounded Vanator Klaus (romanceable ally) joins their ranks. A hot-headed individual, he despises humans after the face they destroyed his Clan and countless others, so Costine will have to keep him under control

    • (Add only 1 mission here)

    • The Aldorf government – Just as they’re about to cross the border, they are caught by the government and forced to court, to see if they will be freed or not. This is the first time Costine has to talk to a government directly. She can:

      • Break her chains and show them that she means no harm, and promises that while they will not be allies, she will not return to Aldorf so long as the government no longer destroys already established colonies (Good ending)

      • As a show of peace, she remains within her chains and allows for Laura and Klaus to talk for her and convince the country to stand down and ally themselves with the Vanators as they have the common enemy of the 11th (Peace Ending)

      • Break her chains, fight her way to the oligarchy meeting, and threaten them with war if they do not let them go, swearing to squash their entire country if they failed to do so (Bad ending).

• Marvansk: Eventually the group arrives at Marvansk, a country with so much wilderness that several hundred colonies make their home in the wilderness that suits their specifications (cold, enough meat to feed several countries for decades, easy to defend). Here, they must make their way to the King Mavrock (romanceable ally) and convince him to ally themselves with the Vanators for the war that is to come.

  • Harmony: 2 Clans have been rivalling over a city that would allow for them to have great trade with the vulnerable city stuck in the middle. Here, Costine must take the consideration of the civilians (Laura) and the considerations of the Vanators (Klaus). She can:

    • Help the city get enough food and resources for the winter and then talk to the Clan Leaders and telling them to ally both to the city (Good ending, favours Klaus)

    • Force both Clan leaders and the leader of the city to talk, and work together to have enough resources for the winter as well as protection (Peace ending, favours both Klaus and Laura)

    • Fight the Clans and force either both or one of them to leave (Bad ending, favours Laura)

  • Jane’s Journey (Part II)

  • Monster Hunt: Massive monsters in the tundra have been destroying entire cities and they have the option of eliminating them to gain interest of the king.

    • Help the people set up traps for the monsters and help them destroy them (Good ending)

    • Summon a nearby Clan and forge an alliance between Clan and city, so that the Vanators will hunt and consume these monsters thereby protecting the city, while the city provides them safe haven (peace ending)

    • Kill off all the monsters, leaving the people hungry during the winter (Bad ending)

  • Eventually, they get the attention of the king after helping so many cities and Clans, and they do several missions with him to help the country deal with the rival country of Helyon that intends to invade Marvansk.

  • Jane’s Journey (Part III)

Climax

Just as they’re beginning to make war preparations, Costine receives word that a nearby colony needs assistance. Going with Laura and Klaus, she gets separated from them when she is captured by Vladimirians while keeping them from going after her two companions. Captured, for several days she is stuck in captivity before making it to the north of Bharata, on the brink of death because of her inability to stand heat. However, she is rescued by her two companions and a merchant by the name of Arjun (romanceable ally), who if she gets a strong enough relation to him, he can later help her convince Bharata to assist the Vanators.

As they head northwards, the reports of the 11th and his army attacking are increasing, and several times will they team need to stop and assist cities with side quests and missions to help defend.

As they fly over Lorcia, they are forced to stop when they see Lorcia is swarming with bad Vanators and need help. Here they meet Grace Vester (romanceable ally) and can help her multiple ways:

• Killing off the Bad Vanators and trying to save some of them who can be turned (Good ending)

• Saving a number of these Bad Vanators and showing them the wrong of their ways, while killing off the truly bad ones and saving the country with the help of Clans(Peace Ending)

• Killing off ALL the Bad Vanators and sacrificing a lot of lives in the process (bad ending)

They make it back north in Marvansk, where the news of Pierce have arrived. He has allied himself with Helyon and plans to destroy every single country he can, and Costine must use her allies to take him down at last, uniting all 4 of their armies and allies together.

Falling Action

After having defeated Pierce, Costine has a while to do a bunch of missions that can improve and worsen relations with multiple countries, strengthening the bonds between them and helping the Vanators adjust to human society.

• Vanator recruiting mission

• Vladimirian peacemaking (good)/ killing (bad) mission

• Slayer onslought mission

• Jane’s Journey (Part IV) - OPTIONAL

Conclusion

Good ending: Costine has killed either 1 hero or none, has kept her species alive and while might have lost some colonies has kept most of them alive. Her relations with some countries might not be the best, but they’re stable. Arjun does manage to talk to Bharata and when the United Powers convene there, a new bill of rights including the ones for Vanators is passed, allowing for her people to have more freedoms than before. Vanators and Marvanskns now live in harmony and are strong allies.

Peace Ending: No heroes are dead, all her colonies and Clans have been kept alive and are no longer on the brink of extinction. She’s managed to keep her alliance with Aldorf strong and the Slayers are no longer a threat. Marvanskns and Vanators now live in harmony. Arjun does bring the subject up in Bharata, and when the United Powers convene, Vanators are given citizenship in the United powers and a chunk of the territory that once Helyon to call their own country.

Bad ending: None, some or all the heroes are dead, killed after the climax, and many colonies have been lost. The tensions between humans and Vanators are on the rise, and while there is hope, extinction is still a possibility. Slayers and Vladimirians are uniting, meaning that Vanators in Aldorf and Lorcia will never be able to be safe again.

• I am Costine, a Vanator.

• I am the 2nd Original.

• For my people!

• With age comes wisdom.

• Protect the Vanators!

• You are nothing to me.

• I am not a monster!

• We are not monsters!

• We are living, breathing beings just like you! We feel just as much as you. Just as much human.

• We strive to live in this world. To find a place for ourselves. That is all.

• Please!

• I have fought for so long to get us where we are now. I won’t let you ruin it.

• You will not take me down!

• I have been a part of this vast world for so long, but I’ve yet to see everything.

• Commander Vester, you fight with grace,

• Don’t be so arrogant, King.