In regards to aesthetic, the world of Limbo is gray, gloomy, and supernatural. Colors are dark or desaturated except in areas where the Islanders live, each with their own associated color palette and patterns. The art would best be done in a stylized cartoon look along the vein of Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker with a twist of Tim Burton. The modeling of the characters would be lowpoly, with the textures and animations imitating the aesthetic of N64-era games.

The snide woman in control of the Dark Tribe’s resources and trade. She is manipulative and has gotten the mafia and some of the tribe’s trust, but doesn’t care for her pawns at all.

She is the one in charge of choosing which of the Air Tribe art guilds receives patronage for the entire year following the Gallery Show, leaving the others to starve. She lies to each of the guilds to bring up their hopes, but cruelly chooses only one guild. She fuses into a cloud, rock, and electric/clockwork monstrosity.

Though they put up some bravado, they actually are very cowardly, hiding behind walls of Fire Tribe soldiers and blocking Val’s way rather than facing a small little girl head-on. He uses fear himself to keep the soldiers and villagers in line to the detriment of the rebels.

A corrupt judge who uses dishonest methods to subvert the Ice Tribe’s dedication to morality, leaving them permanently enslaved to the Founders. Her spirit fusion combines fire, plantlife/wildlife, and ice into a snake/dragon being.

The emperor of the Founders, a wicked man with no purpose other than to be terrible. As the final boss, he fuses with spirits of all 13 vices. You can take a guess as to how terrible he looks.

A deceitful man envious of the joy the Light Tribe has; he has made it his personal mission to kill that joy by kidnapping their children and sending them to other areas as workers. When he fuses with the spirits, he becomes a water/dark/light monstrosity.

A man who is in charge of the scheme to enslave the Earth Tribe to the mines, forcing them to work longer hours by lowering their wages. Stingy beyond belief, he hordes the best for himself while leaving the village to starve.

The headmaster of the Thunder Tribe’s academy, this snappy woman is the reason why so few are excelling while so many others are breaking down and crying, creating an unforgiving curriculum where only geniuses can succeed while everyone else is forced into labor in the clockworks. Lazy herself, she prefers to let the others do her work for her, unwilling to help the citizens.

Proud and extravagant, the Prophet thrives off of telling the “good news” to the Founders’ villages, receiving riches in exchange for the promise that the donor would be able to got to the “promised land.” It was his humiliation to a Spirit Tribe man that led to the tribe’s destruction all those years ago in revenge.

The Scribe is the keeper of history for the Founders. An anomaly of lust and despair, he has no faith in the world of Limbo and as such does whatever he wants at the moment, whether that be recordkeeping or killing people regardless of whether they are friend or enemy.

An ignorant man who does not respect basic rules of science, preferring to stay behind in his own closed world of money and luxury. Because of his detachment, he has no qualms about forcing the Water Tribe scientists into working on his project and letting the village starve.

A vengeful and violent woman who sneers at the Nature Tribe’s nonviolence. Her bloodlust is her primary motivation for the destruction and extraction of regions wildlife, and is happy to satiate it by destroying the tribesmen.

A grizzled elderly man, eager to help Val and Pelas… by forcing them to do things for themselves. His tough love approach to teaching is intended to help the kids grow in Courage, though results can end up mixed. If you are stuck, he MIGHT drop hints as to what to do, otherwise he’ll let you figure out for yourself.

A teenager living under the pressure to succeed in school under his parents expectations. Quite frankly, he doesn’t know what he wants from life other than success

The last Metal Tribe member who has not assimilated into the Founders; was deeply in love with Tyresis, a Spirit Tribe man who was killed in the Spirit Tribe genocide. She holds a deep regret for the event, mulling it over for the past 60 years

A college age starving artist of the Air Tribe trying to find which guild she belongs in and thus devote her life to; very fickle and subject to her whims, but finds compassion rather than envy towards the other guilds

The young rebellion leader of the Fire Tribe; fierce and determined, she makes brash decisions with little regard for the collateral damage her resistance creates

A fidgety young adult (24-30) who wants to do the right thing all the time, even it means sabotaging the tribe’s survival by honoring the Pact made with the Founders.

A mere toddler, she shows a innocent sense of gratitude and Joy despite the trials of desert life. Even when held captive, she never seems to lose a sense of awe.

A middle aged woman (30-40) struggling with keeping up a social face even when her family is increasingly hungry, forcing her to stay in the mines for longer periods of time

A mature middle-aged woman (40-50) suspicious about the growing strength of the mafia. Loyal to the old traditions of the Dark Tribe, she risks life and limb to preserve her culture and way of life..

Young, spry, and enthusiastic about everything, Pelas is your typical annoying 1st grader. He tries to get Val to break out of her shell and excited to Understand the world of Limbo, with limited success. He catalogues the hostile spirits of Limbo in the bestiary. His researcher parents rely on him for food and household chores.

A prepubescent child who acts as the Nature Tribe’s leader as no one else stepped up; he wants to fight back against the Founders’ destruction of their forest but does not want to upset his people

A timid young girl, homeschooled, naive, and protected by her mother; does not know how to think for herself nor does she have a set of beliefs to follow, relying on her mom for everything. She does not speak in words, but instead has speech bubbles with childish drawings.

Ennea is a turn-based RPG game where you control Val through her journeys in Limbo, moving around in a 3D environment. A unique system reliant on Virtues, which acts as both your HP and stat modifiers, allows you to cast magic and fight against the numerous hostile spirits that roam the island. By building Virtue, you are better able to get these enemies to recognize the error of their ways and peacefully move on. Strategy is key to winning any battle in Ennea. Outside of battle, Ennea is an exploration of human personalities based off of the Enneagram, talking to the Islanders over the virtues they follow and how it can both make a person great or terrible based on how they act on them.

Initiation

Initiative determined by AGI stat; a graphic showing turn order appears on top, also determined by AGI

Player Turn

Choose between Act(Offensive Skills), Tactic(defend for a turn, flee), Meditate(Heal, Defensive Skills, Stat Changing), or Item.

• If Act or Meditate chosen Critical timer bar appears with green area, size of which is affected by FOC stat; if confirm key is pressed at the right time, critical hit- increased damage or added negative effect, increased healing or added positive effect

• If Act hits Enemy Enemy has short moment (half a second or less) following attack hit to react; if reaction is true, then damage dealt with be lessened or status effects are less likely to occur, or some counterattack will be done to the player

If Enemy Turn

No enemies have an Item, so will choose either Act, Tactic, or Meditate.

• If Meditate chosen Enemies will not have a critical timer bar.

• If Act chosen Critical timer bar appears with green area; randomly choose when to attack; if hit within the green area, critical hit

• If Act hits Player Player has short moment (half a second or less, can be increased with AGI stat) to react, visual or auditory cue will be given; if timed right, reaction where damage dealt will be lessened, lower chance of negative status effects occurring, or Val deals a counterattack

End

Battle ends when either the player has run out of HP, the enemy has run out of HP, or either Val or the enemy flees.

Val will face many hostile spirits during her travels, all of which aim to render her unable of having energy and thus easy to rend her soul from her body. Due to their incorporeal nature, spirits cannot be harmed by physical attacks. However, by learning how to wield Virtue, one can fight against the spirits and let them move on.

Your character has thirteen attributes, each representing one of the thirteen Virtues, all starting at zero but can increasing to a baseline capacity determined by your WIS or higher depending on actions you take both inside and outside of battle. Your enemies, on the other hand, have the opposite of these- Vices. Depending on the amount of certain Virtues you have, Val will either be well-prepared or weak when facing certain enemies, forcing players to be well-balanced.

Combat begins with Val taking initiative, given the choice of either Attack, Meditate, Item, or Flee. Attack allows you to use an offensive skill against the enemy, Meditate lets you heal or change Virtue amounts, Item lets you use an item from your inventory, and Flee lets you escape an encounter. Following your choice of action, enemies have a similar choice of Attack or Meditate.

There are certain status effects present in battle that can affect you or the enemy. These end after a certain number of turns though they can be healed via a skill or item.

• Fatigued greatly lower ACT

• Vulnerable greatly lower RES

• Frazzled greatly lower FOC

• (?) greatly lower AGI

• Zealous greatly increase ACT

• Resolute greatly increase RES

• (?) greatly increase FOC

• Haste greatly increase AGI

• (stun equivalent) unable to move

• (poison equivalent) slowly drain MES each turn

• (regen equivalent) slowly heal MES each turn

Your goal as the player is to reduce your enemies’ MES down to zero. In a similar vein, you want to make sure that your own MES does not drop to zero or below; if it does then the battle is lost since you are too tired to fight the spirit. Healing and meditating is encouraged. On occasion you may have to fight two or three enemies at a time.

At the end of battle, you gain EXP, item drops if any, and gold. When your EXP bar is full, you gain a level which boosts your stats and gives you skill points to be used in the Skill Tree.

Mechanics call for keyboard controls, with optional mouse interaction. Movement in overworld include arrow keys/WASD with inputs for diagonal movement and/or analog stick, and a button for interaction, default is X. For menu navigation, Enter pauses the game and opens the menu. Arrow keys/WASD to navigate, X for confirmation and Z for canceling. Menu controls are also used in-battle with reaction-based critical attacks. Mouse movement can be substituted for selection movement when navigating menus and battles.

Equipment

There are five basic item slots for equipment- Hands, Mind, Heart, Body, and Feet. The Hands slot is where ACT boosting items can be equipped in place of a weapon. The Mind slot is for FOC boosting equipment. Items that either boost Virtue or regenerate MES can be equipped in the Heart slot. The Body slot is where defensive RES boosting items can be equipped. Finally, items in the Feet slot boost AGI.

Other Items

Other items that can be used in-battle include healing items which can double as attack items, status inducing items to be used on both Val and/or enemies, and component items to be used for quests and crafting.

Val is the only party member for the sake of streamlining the game. She has 6 stats:

• Action(ACT) meant to simulate how willing a person is to act upon their virtues; the attack; currently tied to Virtue as a modifier, since the more you adhere to a Virtue in general the more likely you are to act upon it.

• Resilience(RES) meant to simulate how well you resist things that oppose your virtues; the defense; also affects status effect resistance; currently tied to Virtue as a modifier, since the more you adhere to a Virtue in general the less likely you are to suffer damage because of it.

• Focus(FOC) how easily a person can focus on memories/feelings of specific virtues; healing stat; with Val as the only character, healing becomes very important and is implemented for the sake of preventing multi-vice/enemy battles from being too difficult; not tied to Virtue to make healing easier instead of lumping it with ACT or RES

• Agility(AGI) how quickly a person can move; determines turn speed, evasion, reaction timer; not tied to Virtue because it doesn’t make sense being tied to it; can be important when dealing with multiple enemies at once, balances out having a one-person party

• Wisdom(WIS) the baseline Virtue cap; simulates the experience a person gains and therefore has a greater ability to hold virtue within themselves; there are time when a person’s virtue shines more, so Virtue can go over the WIS cap; however, when it goes below the cap and a person heals, the highest they can go is up the baseline WIS

• Virtue the HP; Val has multiple Virtue HP bars to simulate how a person can have differing Virtues; multiple HP bars imitates the effect of having multiple party members and buffers against more difficult enemies; you gain Virtue by meditating(healing) in battle, healing at a save point, or taking an action (dialogue/quests); only the latter can boost Virtue beyond the WIS cap

Battles stick to this basic system. The further you are in the game, the battles become more challenging: multi-vice enemies are added, then multiple enemy battles. Status effects can also be included, representing difficulties encountered when dealing with terrible personalities. As the battles are represented by overworld sprites, some are avoidable for the sake of preventing the game from being too grindy. Like irl conflicts, most times you get to choose which battles you face and appeals to both casual and battle-oriented players.

After battle, you earn gold which you can use to purchase items and equipment to make battle easier. You also gain experience which you can level up with. When you level up, you can earn skill points which you can put towards one of 4 skill trees, which present in order to appeal to different play styles.

Current issues this model has includes:

• Terrible balance issues; the way the system is currently set up, a player might have too much or too little Virtue to effectively survive filler combat; granted, this forces players to keep an eye on all of the Virtues instead of just one just as the game’s philosophy is meant to, but is sacrificing playability for philosophy worth it?

• Healing’s importance forces players to sacrifice a turn as Val is the only character; this might extend battle unnecessarily by forcing players to heal constantly

Alternative Implementation of Virtue

Rather than HP, Virtue can be implemented as one of many MP bars that power all your skills so it can still be tied to attack somehow; however, that would quickly drain Virtue and would overthrow a lot of the philosophy. You don’t become less courageous after a show of bravery or less understanding after you displaying what you have learned about a topic.

Something that is a very radical overhaul of the Virtue-HP system is the Virtue-progress system. This changes not only the creatures found in each region but also battle and game progression. Each land has one Virtue they excel at and have a deficiency in all the others, with one being especially weak. This invites hostile spirits of all the other vices into the region. Virtue is not a battle stat; ACT, RES, and HP are all independent. Rather, Virtue is like a progress bar for restoring balance in a region. The more enemies of a certain vice you defeat, the more of its opposite Virtue increases in the region until the area’s balance is restored (palettes become brighter, npcs gain different dialogue, monsters of a vice eventually disappear from the minor dungeon). After restoring balance, you can then enter the major dungeon and face the boss. Issues with this system might make the story repetitive and not as flexible (unless restoring balance is applied in another way like granting an item or skill or something). Also makes the battle system similar to other turn based rpgs; not much is changed other than battles feel more mandatory storywise.

Virtue could also be implemented as an elemental rock-paper-scissors system like Pokemon; after all, each Virtue can defeat a vice that society has caused. For example, Fire’s vice is wrath. Wrath is defeated by Harmony, which is Nature’s Virtue. Therefore, Nature beats Fire. This could quickly get complex due to 13 elements and lead to match-ups that do not correspond to the classical pairs (i.e. normally Water beats Fire and Fire beats Nature, but here Water beats Light and Fire and Nature beats Fire).

Virtue as indication of your rapport with an enemy (helping the enemy to understand their problems) is another solution. Like in the original system, your Virtues are pitted against the enemy’s vices as HP. However, ACT and RES are not tied to the HP Virtue but instead to the other unused ones. The closer your Virtues match (i.e. enemy has high UND and low CRG and so do you = high match) the more effective your attacks are but the more effective the enemy’s attacks are as well (you both resonate with one another, so it’s easier to get a response). Vice versa, if your Virtues do not match up well your RES goes up but ACT decreases (your values do not match and so it’s easier to ignore the other). You can meditate to heal or increase a stat or forget to decrease a stat to better match your opponent. This involves a lot of strategizing: do you want the battle to be over quickly or guarantee a win over time? Do I decrease my stats now for an easy win but risk having too little HP next time an encounter a spirit? This can make battle increasingly tedious, but it imitates conflict between people whose ideals match or don’t. Status effects would be of greater importance in this kind of battle system. For an example of this in use, play Taming Dreams on the Android market, first 2 episodes are free.

Virtue is separate from mental stamina (HP) and it is simply an attack/defense modifier. Depending on the amount of the Virtue you have, the stronger or weaker you will be in battle. Virtue can increase or decrease based on external actions take in the Overworld or boosted by meditation in battle. Virtues are specialized attack/defense modifiers against an enemy of the opposite vice.

Virtues as class: Following specific Virtues encourage a particular style of fighting. For example, courage as a high DPS, air as primarily AGI focused, etc. Val would be your generic build-your-own character based on fighting style, with flexible skill trees. The problem then becomes how can we make it necessary to become well-rounded?

Virtue should be:

• Affected by story(can go up or down based on decisions taken by the player)

• Affected by battle(conflicts are based on ideological battles, therefore your virtues can change as can the enemies)

• The Virtue system should somehow encourage the player to become well-rounded in them by either benefitting the player; though deviation is allowed, extreme specialization in just one Virtue should somehow be punished by the gameplay

The menu can be accessed from the overworld at any time. Within it, a panel displaying Val’s stats are available for you to see as well as Skills, Items, Bestiary, Map, Options, and Return to Main Menu. The Skills page lets you see all of the skills you have learned as well as look at the Skill Tree so that you spend skill points. The Items page lets you look at your inventory, both with in-battle use items, equipment, and key items. The Bestiary contains all of the enemies you have encountered as well as their stats. The Map shows you both the world map and local map as well as the location of yourself, items, and entrances/exits. The Options page allows for you to adjust graphics and audio. Returning to the Main Menu lets you go back to quit the current saved game.

Movement in the overworld is done from an top down view similar to Super Mario RPG, where you can move around the map, entering and exiting areas, and encountering enemies which appear as single sprites. Running into these sprites immediately start a battle between one or more foes. Other objects you can interact with are NPC humans, peaceful spirits, treasure chests, switches and levers in certain areas, and save points which also serve to heal you.

Ennea at its heart is an exploration of people’s motivations, personalities, and seeks to make players at least consider these before taking action. The exploration part needs some sort of conflict in order push players forward. Thus, the battle system. The battles should work with the story; basically, the Virtues and actions you take outside of battle are then put into use in fighting against hostile spirits.

The skills Val can use in battle can be found in the Skills page, with 4 branching paths within the Skill Tree. The first branch is the ACT branch; skills in this branch increase your attack power as well as unlock stronger attack skills. The FOC branch boosts MES recovered when meditating as well as unlocks healing skills and Virtue-changing skills. The defensive tree, the RES branch, lets you use status blocking skills as well as create in-battle shields that weaken enemy attacks significantly. The final branch is the AGI tree which focuses on increasing speed, evasion, and adds status inducing skills.

• MES mental stamina, your HP and how tired you are; if this hits zero, the battle is over

• ACT action, affects the strength of your attacks and chance of inflicting status effects

• FOC focus, how much Virtue or MES you gain when meditating as well crit hit rate

• RES resilience, the defense of your MES against enemy attack or status effects

• AGI agility, affects turn speed as well as evasion rate; unaffected by Virtue

• Virtues these are your “elemental affinities;” the higher one Virtue is the stronger your attacks and defenses against one type of vice attack become but the weaker it becomes to another vice

Concept: To get people interested, we can design posters depicting characters from the game and have these limericks so they get the creepy yet cartoony vibe.

Timid young Val is no leader and in Heaven she is no believer. ‘Twixt the plane’s crashing noise and her mom’s worried voice, Torn between life and death- she chose neither.

Sundyu tries not to be selfish; His love for the forest’s quite elfish. But it’s turning to rubble and his tribe is in trouble- He’s their leader, and he’s only twelve-ish.

For Coriol, music’s her passion; She might also be into fashion… But she’d better pick soon- Hunger’s inopportune since she’s all out of food to ration.

When anxious, Nakit feels much better writing her suspicions in letters. Though she was not prepared to have her concerns shared- Now the mafia’s out to get her.

Arco studies hard, hits the gym, extracurriculars filled to the brim. He’s dying, quite frankly, Pressured by his family To be perfect or else they’ll disown him.

Argena watched the first war erupt, Only one her tribe not corrupt. She watched her love slaughtered and also their daughter; Now she waits for her past to catch up.

Gobe hardly ever feels down His laughs’ volume knows know bounds. So it’s rather concerning that his family’s not yearning when they find out he hasn’t been ‘round.

Marbelle’s life seems like perfection, surrounded by her family’s affection. But with wages declining, she spends more time mining- Now she’s struggling to maintain connections.

Fyord had known deep down inside in keeping the Code, Founders lied. He does have his doubts of what will win out: His tribe’s honor, their hunger, or pride?

Pelas, “Great Explorer,” runs free; His parents, most times, leave him be. Two researchers absorbed in their work had ignored The guards coming by for the “fee.”

The Air Tribe is, above all else, eccentric. Everyone is urged to do “their own thing,”” giving them the freedom to pursue whatever they want. The idea of being a unique individual is of great importance to them- being told that they are “not original” or “lacking personality” is like a slap to the face. Many become artists and performers or engage in strange hobbies. Despite the variety, they are prone to being a jealous bunch, envying what talents another may have.

Region: Cloud/Mountains

Aesthetic: Incan/Baroque influences

Dungeon: Fogflute Isles

The Chaos Tribe was the tribe of starstruck dreamers, ever optimistic and determined to deal with whatever life threw at them. Unlike the Water Tribe who was too busy studying and the Thunder Tribe who only built only if it would bring them recognition, the Chaos Tribe took the opportunity to explore the possibilities of magic and science, building a metropolis with tech that defied physics. However, their propensity for being whimsical and fickle meant that many led rather aimless lives doing only whatever they liked at the moment.

Region: Upper Capital

Aesthetic: Sci Fi

Dungeon: The Starscraper

Within the toxic fungal swamps, the Dark tribe thrives. Practically everything here is dangerous, and hostile spirits lurk about, prompting the clan to trust in one another for survival. Tribesmen are anxious about support or security, and build support groups and are prepared for nearly everything. Nevertheless, their tendency to lean towards extreme paranoia leads them to be either very clingy or quick to abandon new relationships.

Region: Swamp

Aesthetic: Iroquois/Ethiopian influences

Dungeon: Sporedor Swamp

This tribe lives underground with tunnels carved deep into the mountains, mines running far below. Their value of kindness allows them to be more freely giving amongst their clan, though rarely with other tribes. Family- and society-oriented, most Earth tribesmen live well if not very exciting lives. Their generosity has its drawbacks, with excess luxury rampant amongst all classes while the poor sacrifice their earnings for family and others, hoping that it will earn them love and friendship (and occasionally donations).

Region: Caves/Crags

Aesthetic: Persian/Japanese influences

Dungeon: Faultline Mines

In the volcanic region of Limbo, it’s kill or be killed, and the Fire Tribe does its best to protect itself against spirits and the land itself. Though its members do manage to eke out a home life farming the fertile soil and mining, the most awaited moment comes when a tribe member comes of age and joins the military, displaying courage in the face of dangerous beasts and spirits. Hiding emotion and turmoil for the sake of bravado, they tend to be very temperamental and violent when provoked.

Region: Volcano

Aesthetic: Medieval European

Dungeon: Mt. Pyrenis

There are 11 areas of the game minus the intro corridor and final dungeon, each corresponding to a miniboss/boss. Each region has a minor dungeon (the lands around the village), a major dungeon (where you fight the miniboss/boss), and generally a village.

There are a total of 10 villages over the course of the game, 9 for each of the first areas and the rebel’s camp functioning as the village in the final chapter. Each village has a shop, a crafting area, a save point, and a few NPCs who can give out quests. These can range from gather, kill, and fetch quests and reward Val with Virtue, items, or a stat boost.

The type of enemies found in a region coincide with the Vice the local tribe is weak against, ie Pride elementals found in the Ice region.

The minor dungeon is where most quests will take place, and are easy to navigate for the most part. Think of these as the dungeons connecting 2 areas like in the Zelda games.

The major dungeons are more puzzle oriented than the minor dungeons. Much of the level design is to discourage the Islanders’ virtues or take advantage of them, like the Water dungeon might take advantage of the curiosity of the tribe by placing traps in chests.

The exceptions to the one minor, one major dungeon per area are the plains area and the Capital area. The plains region’s “minor” dungeon contains puzzle elements you would find in a major dungeon, in a way having 2 major dungeons. The Capital area instead has 2 major dungeons and no minor dungeon.

An isolated and often judgmental tribe that lives according to strict principles. They work often for their own subsistence, hunting and logging and fishing; having to exchange goods and services enacts an honor system amongst them, something they are bound by. A deep seated fear of being wrong means that tribesmen are perfectionists and unwilling to admit they are wrong, a stubborn attitude that allows them to survive in the harsh landscape.

Region: Tundra

Aesthetic: Inuit/Nordic influences

Dungeon: Lynxkill Glacier

The desert, being as barren as it is, is nonetheless filled with the laughs and awestruck voices of the Light Tribe. They enjoy the little things in life, being thankful and in wonder in every opportunity they are given. A sad moment in life is the last thing any tribesman would want, but entire life’s worth of covering up bad experiences has left even the tribe’s most experienced farmers and artisans, to be quite frank, childish and naive and unable to make judicious choices.

Region: Desert

Aesthetic: Mali/Navajo influences

Dungeon: Mirror Hall

Even though they lived on the same land, the Metal Tribe settled in small stationary villages alongside the Spirit Tribe. Since they did not get to move when times were bad, they constantly struggled to gain enough resources for the whole year. Economic with resources and words, the tribe was focused solely on balance, never letting one ideology or resource dominate the tribe. Such a rough and tumble attitude of “doing whatever it takes to survive” does however make it easy to justify criminal activity, part of the balance between good and evil within the tribe.

Region: Plains

Aesthetic: Post-apocalyptic/Western

Dungeon: The Colonial Quarter

The peaceful Nature Tribe lives one with Limbo’s nature… kind of. Vegetarians who seek not to harm any living thing, their way of life is easygoing and lax with relatively plentiful food and peaceful spirits all around to protect them. They’re quick to forgive and forget, and tend to treat everyone equally. Such a way of life leaves them sensitive and emotional when things go wrong, and as such they are the first to fall prey to feelings of hopelessness.

Region: Forest

Aesthetic: Northwest Coast/Aztec influences

Dungeon: Everthorn Reserve

The Order Tribe disliked change beyond all else or in general being in a position which they weren’t comfortable with. By restraining their desires, they live repetitive and comfortable lives guarding the ruins of the Ancient Capital, keeping alive the history of the Islanders. Their love of tradition however often times masks inertia and laziness, deeming change as too much work. Their patience prevents them from taking the initiative, instead waiting “for when the time is right” when it might not ever come.

Region: Lower Capital

Aesthetic: Roman/Egyptian influences

Dungeon: The Timeless Ruins

Nomadic tribe whose focus on spirituality allowed them to unlock the consciousness of all of their past lives. By doing so, their greatest fear, death, was basically nullified since in a way they lived forever. Living a simple life with little regard for how they appear to others let them to focus on spiritual matters. However, their disconnection from earthly things meant that they were apathetic to the world around them, including the troubles of the other tribes.

Region: Plains

Aesthetic: Sioux/Mongol influences

Dungeon: Asphode Plains

An entire clan of busybodies who dwell in the cityscape of their homeland. Their society despises being worthless and so prioritize diligence and hard work above all else. The higher your place of power or the more famous you are, the better, leading many to becoming inventors and merchants. However, they are prone to losing themselves to the desires and expectations of others, deceiving themselves and others about their true nature and intentions.

Region: Mech

Aesthetic: Victorian England

Dungeon: Coulombyn Clockworks

A tribe that seeks to archive, experiment, and explore everything there is to be known. By figuring out how Limbo works, then perhaps their tribe would not be caught unawares and left helpless- thus the great scientists and explorers of the Water Tribe continue to compile science, history, and everything else in the Grand Library. Their sheer focus on research has however left them with little desire to use what they learned or do anything else- Water tribesmen are loathed to sacrifice both time and resources to others, doing just enough to keep themselves and their research alive.

Region: Jungle/Island

Aesthetic: Polynesian/Indian influences

Dungeon: Tidewater Labs

The project would be a medium-sized undertaking, very much feeling like an indie game with art and mechanics trimmed down to the basics. On the other hand, the assets required as well as story are very fleshed out but a balance between battle and exploration would be fantastic. The best situation is to have some concept art, a refined battle system, and a clear main plotline fleshed out by the end of the semester. The roles required would be:

• Concept Artists for enemies, characters, and the environment. With 11 areas in total, consisting of a small village and 2 dungeons, there many opportunities for artists to draw their own flora, fauna, and designs. The enemies are all based on various pitfalls of human nature like Procrastination and Bad Tan Lines, so artists are free to let their imaginations fly!

  • Water Tribe (Understanding) beaches, jungles, Indian/Polynesian aesthetics

  • Dark Tribe (Loyalty) swamps, mushrooms, Iroquois/Ethiopian aesthetics

  • Light Tribe (Joy) desert, glass, Mali/Navajo aesthetics

  • Fire Tribe (Courage) volcanoes, charred forests, Medieval European aesthetics

  • Nature Tribe (Harmony) forests, wild animals, Northwest Coast/Aztec aesthetics

  • Ice Tribe (Just-ice) tundra, taiga, Inuit/Nordic aesthetics

  • Earth Tribe (Kindness) caves, mountains, Persian/Japanese aesthetics

  • Thunder Tribe (Diligence) steampunk, mechanical city, Victorian aesthetics

  • Air Tribe (Integrity) cloud mountain tops, Incan/The Capitol aesthetics

  • Spirit and Metal Tribes (Faith and Temperance) plains and wasteland, no aesthetics as the Founders killed the nomadic Spirit Tribe and assimilated the Metal Tribe

  • Chaos and Order Tribes (Hope and Patience) futuristic sci-fi city and ancient Roman/Egyptian ruins; people deported

  • The Founders the villains, buildings in industrial modernist style, Americana aesthetics

• Storyboarders for writing out the script and dialogue. There is expected to be at least 4 main chapters, each encompassing 3 lands. As linear as the game is, the story writers have a unique challenge of presenting the different Virtues each tribe represents while still pushing Val onward in her journey.

  • Chapter 1 Water, Dark, and Light

  • Chapter 2 Fire, Nature, and Ice

  • Chapter 3 Earth, Thunder, and Air

  • Chapter 4 The Lost Tribes and the End

• Game Designers for refining the battle mechanics and the user interface. Because Virtue, the HP, is a modifier for attacks AND defense, it becomes tricky in battle to make sure neither the player is too strong nor too weak. In addition, we will need game designers to create maps for the various dungeons.

  • Battle System

  • Level Design

  • UI

• Sound Design for composing music and adding sound effects

The game is fairly linear, organized into a prologue, 4 chapters, and the epilogue. You are free to travel between the villages using warp portals within the villages at any time.

Prologue

Cinematic, one controllable area where Val is at the Life-Death corridor, followed by another cinematic of her falling.

Chapter 1

Water Tribe battle tutorials and intro to world; free period to do available quests; cutscene of the Trustee “reacquisitioning” the scientists followed by more time to do other quests; dungeon: Tidewater Labs and miniboss: The Trustee; resolution cutscene and travel to the next area

Dark Tribe finding Nakit and chasing her to her house; free period to do available quests; cutscene followed by more time to do other quests; dungeon: Sporedor Swamp and miniboss: The Banker; resolution cutscene and travel to the next area

Light Tribe meeting Gobe; free period to do available quests; cutscene of Gobe disappearing followed by more time to do other quests; dungeon: Mirror Hall and boss: The Mayor; resolution cutscene and travel to the next area

Chapter 2

Fire Tribe travel to village blocked, meet with rebels; free period to do available quests with the rebels; cutscene giving access to main village followed by more time to do other quests; dungeon: Mt. Pyrenis and miniboss: The General; resolution cutscene and travel to the next area

Nature Tribe witness destruction of the Mother Tree, go find the location of the new village; free period to do available quests; cutscene followed by more time to do other quests; dungeon: Everthorn Reserve and miniboss: The Warden; resolution cutscene and travel to the next area

Ice Tribe getting run out of the village and meeting Fyord; free period to do available quests; cutscene followed by more time to do other quests; dungeon: Lynxkill Glacier and boss: The Judge; resolution cutscene and travel to the next area

Chapter 3

Earth Tribe intro; free period to do available quest; cutscene followed by more time to do other quests; dungeon: Faultline Mines and miniboss: The Overseer; resolution cutscene and travel to the next area

Thunder Tribe intro; free period to do available quests; cutscene followed by more time to do other quests; dungeon: Coulombyn Clockworks and miniboss: The Principal; resolution cutscene and travel to the next area

Air Tribe intro; free period to do available quests; cutscene followed by more time to do other quests; dungeon: Fogflute Isles and boss: The Curator; resolution cutscene and travel to the next area

Chapter 4

Spirit and Metal Tribe rebellion from all 9 tribes gather, Founders create barrier; free period to do quests for Argena; quest to take her to the grave of her beloved; dungeon: the Colonial Quarters and miniboss: The Prophet; break the barrier and proceed to the next area

Chaos and Order Tribe rebellion begins to get more extreme; free period to do available quests; Val is captured and taken into the Capital; escape prison and travel through The Timeless Ruins; rest area; escape the The Starscraper; miniboss: The Scribe; give a speech on both hope to rebels but restraining themselves from hurting the Founders (or not).

Final dungeon The Imperial Palace; final boss: His Imperial Majesty Tredecimus Vitiae; Val has the choice to either return home or stay

Prologue

Val and her mother are aboard an airplane, flying over an ocean. Suddenly, things get turbulent, and the plane quickly loses altitude. As the plane plunges into the ocean, everything blacks out. Val wakes up at a corridor with two mirrors beside her, one of the plane wreckage in the sea and another of a glimpse of heaven. Scared and worried for her mother, she instead turns her back and wanders into the darkness, eventually stumbling into a pit where she fall from an immense height down into Limbo, plunging into the sea and blacking out.

Chapter 1

After falling, Valerie wakes up on a beach with no clue of where she is. Finding no sign of her mother, she wanders around a beach until she encounters a hostile spirit. Ambar, a cranky old man, appears but instead of warding it off lets it fight Val. He instructs her on how to use Virtue to cast magic and how to win a battle against spirits. Ambar takes her to his hut where Pelas, an enthusiastic young boy, is setting up a meal for Val, having found her earlier and sending Ambar to check up on her while he prepared dinner. Ambar and Pelas both tell Val that she is now in Limbo and explain a little bit about the tribes and Virtues. When asked about her mother’s whereabouts, Pelas replies that he didn’t see anyone with her on the beach, causing her to panic and cry out for home. The boy suggests that perhaps she could accompany him back to the Water Village to meet with his parents who might know of a way to find her and get out.

Pelas’s mother and father, though kind, are experts in marine biota and cannot offer much help. Realizing how useless they were in this situation, they began to panic. In order to make up for their inability to help, they instead give her a map of Alto Pyrenis and tell her to ask around the village, hoping that maybe one of the residents would know how to help her. They don’t. Disheartened, Pelas suggests they visit Ambar for another lesson in battle. Ambar gives her some equipment and tells her about the Founders and how they have taken control over all of the tribes. Seeing how late it is, Ambar escorts her to the Water Village where she can take a boat ride to the mainland to find a way home. Upon arrival, they find that the Founders are threatening the village with a message from the Trustee, who says that the researchers are late with their results and that “funds” will be cut off if they do not comply. Ambar steps in, saying that they cannot do this when they already have taken so much away. In a fit of anger, he attacks one of the guards, prompting the Founders to kill him. While the tribesmen look on in horror, the head of the guard states that as further incentive, some “funds” were to be taken right at that moment. The guards seize Pelas’s parents and a few other researchers and take them away.

The remaining villagers explain that the Trustee provides the village with “funds”- that is, people. If they do well, they release villagers they have captured and send them to the village instead of in a prison lab setting. Should they fail, they are instead taken away, with the tribe struggling to both complete research and provide for themselves. Pelas is heartbroken, losing both his parents and his mentor. However, Ambar reappears but as a peaceful spirit, claiming that Val and Pelas still have much to learn and his desire to help guide them kept him in Limbo. They want to rescue them, but the villagers are not of much help, stating that they’d prefer to continue researching and getting them back then. Val must then convince the villagers that their research can actually be used to help save the imprisoned villagers rather than simply using up all of their time on studying.

Once they are persuaded, the villagers begin working on a plan. Val and Ambar alone enter the Founders’ Lab, infiltrating it and freeing multiple villagers. Upon freeing Pelas’s parents and letting them escape, Ambar urges Val to explore what the Trustee was using the villagers to research. The lab, unfortunately was flooded by the Founders. Trapped, Val is forced to face the Trustee in battle. Upon his defeat, the Trustee is forced to come to terms with the plight of the Water Tribe, undoing his former ignorance, and the Founders thereafter abandon the lands of the Water Tribe, leaving the natives in peace to rebuild.

Amazed at the tribe’s liberation, Ambar urges Val to free the other tribes on the mainland. They sail to the closest region, the swamp of the Dark Tribe. There they find the tribe to be surprisingly well-off; with the wetland as difficult, toxic, and dangerous as it is, before the Founders the tribe found supplies scarce. However, Val and Ambar soon uncover that the tribe is in dire straits as they are nearly bankrupt, having relied almost entirely on the Founders and being discouraged from getting their own supplies through the machinations of the Banker. With the people having money extorted out of them, the people will soon starve, leading to a massive wave of organized crime as people begin to both continue to rely on the Founders yet distrust them, forming the mafia, who are also tied to the Founders. Your goal is to both defeat the mafia and the Banker, breaking their reliance on the Founders’ supplies while simultaneously alleviating the constant fear the Dark Tribe has for both its future and one another.

Past the marsh and through the mountains lies the desert of the Light Tribe, where the people seem to be living an ideal life free of any Founder influence, which strikes Ambar as odd. Upon asking the villagers, it appears as if they have no idea of who the Founders are or what they have done to the other tribes, instead remaining clueless of the outside world and denying that bad things are happening. Ambar and Val soon find that the villagers have been kept in isolation under the seemingly paternal governance of the Mayor. However, the Mayor has in fact brainwashed a great number of the tribesmen so that the disappearance of their children and goods goes unnoticed as they are smuggled off into far away lands. By making contact with the last remaining unbrainwashed villagers, they are able to reveal the Mayor as the corrupt man he is. Angered by this, the Mayor reveals a strange device attached to his arm. Upon activating it, an Ignorance, Deceit, and Envy spirit appear and appear to fuse with him, transforming him into a grotesque watery, angelic, and demonic creature that Val must defeat in combat. Fearful of what this could mean for the Islanders’ future, Ambar urges Val to continue to the lands of the Fire Tribe, where defeating the Founders may lead to an island-wide revolt.

Chapter 2

The Fire Tribe should have been willing to help, with the majority of the tribe being proud warriors. Instead, Val and Ambar are blocked off from reaching the village at every turn by the local militia. The soldiers have been enlisted by the Founders to guard the region against a rumored uprising while the Resistance led by Etanoli has been leading guerilla attacks. However, the Founders have been planning on the rebels’ attacks on finishing the tribe off once and for all- Val must quench the rebels’ wrath and break the General’s hold on the region.

Unlike the resentful Fire Tribe, the Nature Tribe instead decided to live in peace with the Founders. However, the nonviolent approach of the tribe has led to the destruction of the forest they love. Rife with violence, the people have fallen into despair and despondency where they feel helpless to do anything but watch as the Founders destroy their home. It is up to Val to stand up to the Warden and lift the people from their hopelessness into action.

The Ice Tribe is by and large a proud people bound by honor and the desire to be right, a trait that was noticed by the Founders. The tribe was then tricked into being indebted to the Founders with a deal that they could not fulfill. The tribesmen must provide enough resources as tribute, but it is sabotaged annually and thus they are unable to fulfill the requests of the Founders. Val must either stop the sabotage from occurring or convince the tribe to give their pride and honor code for the sake of their survival. Upon doing so, the Judge will attack the player, fusing with Fear, Wrath, and Malice spirits.

Chapter 3

Everyone is smiling in the subterranean world of the Earth tribe. They all look so cheerful working themselves to the bone in the mines that Anbar and Val do not notice them starving at first. Despite the cheery attitude in public, the Earth tribesmen of the lower classes are miserable as the Founders used the custom of lending a hand no matter what to heighten the already-present class inequality. While the rich are free to spend extravagantly on luxury goods and donate occasionally to the local charity, the poor are so embroiled in their own financial woes that they are spending more time working in the mines to pay off their generous lifestyle. Defeating the Overseer will free the poor and restore balance.

The Thunder Tribe, for the most part, no longer identify themselves as such except for the old and stubborn, and even then only in private. With the Founders in places of power, the Thunder Tribe has been turned into the workhorse of the Empire by using their desire for success against them; in order to be successful now, all Islander culture must be abandoned and replaced with Founder beliefs. Val must stop the reeducation of the students by urging them to find their own dreams rather than following the expectations of everyone else. In overthrowing the Principal, their identity is restored and they can be true to themselves once more.

The village of the Air Tribe, set atop the Cloud Mountains, appears to be thriving in spite of the presence of Founder soldiers with the various art guilds showcasing their talents throughout. Despite this, the artists themselves are clearly in trouble: the guilds have been manipulated into an envious rivalry against one another where sabotage and conflict run rampant. The Gallery Show is coming up, where each guild will be judged based on their work and the Curator will choose who gets the Founders’ patronage for the upcoming year- that is, who will be supplied this year with food, money, and other necessities, and who will starve. Val must break the jealous rivalry between the factions and get them to work together instead. In restoring balance to the Air Tribe, the Curator fuses with Greed, Sloth, and Deceit spirits.

Chapter 4

The rebellion culminates in the surrounding of the Founders’ lands in the center of the Island, once the Capital. However, a barrier has been set up in the plains, inaccessible to all but Founders and Metal Tribesmen. The plains are barren, with a few Founders’ forts dotting the area thanks to the Spirit Tribe genocide and the betrayal of the Metal Tribe. Val meets the last unassimilated Metal Tribe member and must help her walk through the regrets of her past in order to break into the Capital. The miniboss, the Prophet talks of salvation for the Founders in the creation of new and brighter empire in a world far off, unsettling the heroes.

With the rebellion at its closest, Ambar is worried of the Founders’ progress on the technology and what their motives are. Wandering off into the plains, Val is captured and imprisoned within the Capital by the Founders in hopes that they get some information out of her. She escapes and must battle her way through the Timeless Ruins of the deported Order Tribe as well as the Starscraper of the sealed-away Chaos Tribe, learning about hope and patience as the rebellion needs it. At the top, she faces off against the Scribe, who talks of the Founders’ troubles in running out of resources and the desire they have for more, causing them to create a portal to Earth where they can have more. At their defeat, Val must broadcast a speech to the rebellion with the choices she sends affecting her Virtue for the final battle.

With the final dungeon, Val must go alone in fighting through waves after waves of spirits in the Imperial Palace. There she faces off against the one who started it all: the Founder Emperor, His Imperial Majesty Tredecimus Vitiae. In building a portal to Earth, the magic of Limbo renders their technology useless; however, since spirits are inherently magical, the Emperor starts the fusion project so that supersoldiers can make takeover of Earth simple. He then fuses with 13 hostile spirits of all the vices and morphs into a hideous monster blocking the way of the portal. After his defeat, the Founders all flee, but the portal is finished charging with only one possible use. Val must decide whether to return or stay, and then the epilogue happens.

Epilogue

Depending on how many of the hostile spirits you defeat (there is a set number per area) and which choices you make in the final chapter, the epilogue can come out differently.

If she stays, Val becomes an ambassador for the tribes. Though the Emperor is defeated, his minions still control the Founders Empire elsewhere in Limbo though its hold is falling apart. Some Founders who converted to Virtue decided to stay, though others couldn’t last and left for other lands. The outcome of Alto Pyrenis as a whole depends on how many hostile spirits she has defeated. With a few defeated, the Islanders are left alone by the Founders but the presence of so many hostile spirits makes development difficult, leaving the nine/ten tribes isolated and disunified. The Founders who wanted to stay were kicked off the island due to conflict, leaving them to practice Virtue elsewhere. The Imperial forces attack the weak nation every now and then, but it still remains autonomous. With more defeated but not all, a weak federation forms with Val at its head, still prone to conflict but less so than before. This time, the converted Founders are instead integrated into the remaining tribes, and the Empire leaves the island alone. With all of the spirits defeated, the tribes are unified under a strong democratic government with Val as its eventual head. The new nation is strong enough to influence the Empire into letting the deported Chaos and Order tribesmen return.

If she goes home, she wakes up amongst the wreckage of the plane floating in the ocean; if she defeated only a few hostile spirits, her mother’s jacket can be seen floating in the water, implying her death followed by Val crying and paddling away. With more saved but not all, Val will just look off into the ocean, waiting before rowing herself away. This ending is open to interpretation as to what Val’s mother’s fate was. With all hostile spirits defeated, Val wakes up and sees her mother unconscious next to her, checking her vital signs before rowing off into the distance.

In both cases, the closing scene is a childish scribble of Val and all of her friends.

Limbo/Purgatory

In the moments after death, people are given a choice: do they stay on Earth to roam as wandering ghost, or do they move on to heaven, hell, or wherever their faith and karma sentences them to? Despite the relatively clear cut choice, still many spirits are indecisive. Such spirits end up in the strange dimension known as Limbo/Purgatory, a subterranean world where a murky, endless ocean divides continents and islands, each with their own twisted and horrific biota.

Here, the sun and moon do not rise nor set but stay along the horizon, casting an eternal twilight, circling around and around. When their sun’s feeble rays shine through the thin mist that permeates the plane, that is the island’s day. When a gloomy shadow falls upon the sea and the moonlight barely illuminates the land, the faint glimmer of cold crystals shining far away on the the cave’s ceiling, the inhabitants know it is nighttime. The world is neither joyous nor painful, only dreary; nevertheless, danger lurks around almost every corner, not just due to the varied and unforgiving landscape but also due the spirits that make up the majority of its inhabitants.

Spirits

Upon arrival, the indecisive spirits of Limbo are classified generally into two major groups- peaceful and hostile. Many just wake up in a random location with no idea of where they are. Unable to truly interact with the world due to their ethereal bodies, spirits are thus left to wander the world until they find a way to remove the obstacle that keeps them from moving on. However, some spirits do possess living and inanimate objects that allows them to interact with the material world.

Peaceful spirits are often trapped due to lingering desire to stay in the material world despite meeting all other requirements of moving on. By satisfying their wishes or letting go of what binds them to the material world, they can move on. Hostile spirits on the other hand are far more dangerous, going out of their way to harm other spirits and humans. Their reason for being in Limbo is more often than not due to being a good person at heart but committing many bad deeds in life. By either letting them realize their innate goodness and then serving penance, or by letting them accept the damage their actions have wrought, they can move on.

They have a strange tendency to imitate certain forms based on their Vices. For example, a spirit of Ignorance will take on the appearance of form of light, an angel, or something of the desert as the desert-living Light Tribe is prone to ignorance. In other words, hostile spirits take on the forms based on the Vice most common to the area.

The Island of Alto Pyrenis

Among the numerous landmasses that dot the Ocean of Purgatory lies the Island of Alto Pyrenis, a name given to it by the Islanders’ ancestors. The island is rather large, approximately the size of France. Due to the supernatural nature of the island, its landscapes are extremely diverse, almost like a patchwork quilt.

The island can be divided largely into ten main regions. The first is the tundra region, cold and unforgiving with a few taiga located along the slopes of some southern mountains. To its southeast is the barren crags and canyons region, with mountains riddled with large underground cavern systems. East of the crags lies the mech region, metal structures like gears and pipes rising from the ground like a city stood there. The eastern coast of the island is dominated by the Cloud Mountains which reach high above the seas. An jungle archipelago lies off the southeastern coast, with reefs hidden beneath the dark waters of Limbo. A humid swamp lies to the islands south amidst a giant river delta, gloomy and teeming with giant mushrooms. Past some high mountains, the swamp gives way to the arid desert area, bordered to the north by a highly active volcanic zone. Tucked in between fire and ice strangely enough is a vivid forest, teeming with wildlife.

In the center of it all (and taking up the majority of the island) lies the rolling hills and plains region through which most of the regions are connected, the Asphode River winding lazily across the prairie. The ancient Capital, a city that had originally fallen into Limbo due to a disaster on Earth, too lies in the center of the plains, a region of its own. Due to the divergent cultures of its inhabitants, it has two districts: the above ground is futuristic, filled with technology that could not exist without the presence of magic. The other half is the underground ruins, the actual ancient city that serves as a foundation to the one above, preserved by its inhabitants.

Magic

The Islanders were the descendants of humans who had fallen into Limbo by accident, mostly from the original inhabitants of the Capital; people who simply disappeared on Earth with no sign of them having died. The circumstances around such an occurrence are rare; the human must, in a single moment of facing a life or death situation, choose to do neither. Spirit and body are not torn asunder and are both thrown together into this unforgiving dimension, where the killing is more likely to occur due to hostile spirits and harsh landscape and thus solving the problem of a person neither dead nor alive.

Nevertheless, societies such as that of the Islanders have thrived in Limbo thanks to the knowledge of magic, taught to them by the peaceful spirits. As the spirits have found out, the Virtues that they once held in life manifest themselves in the form of magic in Limbo, which makes sense when you think about Limbo as a place where your fate is decided based on your innate goodness.

• Ice Justice, righteousness, honor, respect, morality; opposes Malice (the desire to do wrong)

• Earth Kindness, selflessness, cooperation, charity, compassion; opposes Greed (hoarding time and resources)

• Thunder Diligence, efficacy, ambition, competence, success; opposes Sloth (laziness, inaction)

• Air Integrity, creativity, honesty, freedom, individuality; opposes Deceit (lying, being a hypocrite, not being true to yourself)

• Water Understanding, curiosity, wisdom, reason, acuity; opposes Ignorance (denial of truth, avoiding the facts)

• Dark Loyalty, trust, responsibility, caution, prudence; opposes Apathy (lack of attachment, not caring about anyone or consequences)

• Light Gratitude, joy, enthusiasm, wonder, purity; opposes Envy (jealousy, desire for someone else’s things)

• Fire Courage, confidence, fortitude, discipline, valor; opposes Fear (cowardice, shyness, anxiety)

• Nature Peace, acceptance, equality, harmony, mercy; opposes Wrath (anger, violence, brutality)

• Spirit Humility, detachment, faith, simplicity, idealism; opposes Pride (vanity, narcissism, selfishness)

• Metal Temperance, frugality, moderation, survival, balance; opposes Gluttony (excess of resources or ideology, luxury, waste)

• Chaos Hope, optimism, perseverance, resilience, flexibility; opposes Despair (depression, futility, lack of anything worth living for)

• Order Patience, remembrance, chastity, tact, restraint; opposes Lust (uninhibited passion for anything not just sex, impatience)

By following these thirteen sets of Virtues, the Islanders are able to wield magic to protect themselves from the hostile spirits of the Island, and even mold the land around them so that it was more hospitable. Virtue magic also had the benefit of raising virtues within spirits and people, allowing them to realize their mistakes and do penance.

The Islanders

Over time, the Capital simply grew too overcrowded for everyone to stay; and so the people migrated to each region of the island in masses, settling in villages and towns. Due to the various terrains of Alto Pyrenis, the people soon found it to their advantage to know a certain magic, and therefore certain Virtues. Soon, they developed distinct cultures of their own, relatively isolated from one another. An atmosphere of xenophobia and mistrust grew due to the different emphasis on Virtues, with tribes often looking down on one another and claiming superiority. Each tribe was independent of one another with no centralized form of government, resulting in many conflicts between tribes. This disunity set the Islanders up for one of the worst disasters to befall them: the arrival of the Founders.

The Founders

The Islanders are not the only people to have fallen into Limbo and survived; indeed, on many a far off continent, many societies have risen and fallen, having discovered magic and technology for themselves. As later arrivals from a circa 1950s Americana town, the Founders have a leg up in technology though not as advanced as some of the magitech developed in Limbo. However, the Founders stand out in that their magic is unique; rather than learning Virtue from peaceful spirits, they instead learned Vices from hostile spirits. Vice magic, similar to Virtue, manifests itself as forces of nature but corrupted in a way.

With their twisted magic, they conquered and enslaved many other societies around them, letting hostile spirits thrive while forcing peaceful spirits to find sanctuary elsewhere. Soon, the Founders’ Empire grew to span multiple continents. Upon arrival at Alto Pyrenis, the conquerors found the Islander tribes to be fragmented and mistrustful of one another- perfect for conquest. In no time at all the entire island was subjugated, with colonial authorities set in place to keep the natives enslaved and Founders sending people to settle on the island. Some of the tribes, however, they saw as long-term threats to their empire, bringing a risk of rebellion. The three offending tribes were swiftly dealt with: the Chaos and Order Tribes, keepers of hope and the Islanders’ traditions respectively, were deported and scattered amongst the Empire’s holdings. Faced with harsher living conditions, the Metal Tribe buckled into the pressure and assisted in the Spirit Tribe’s genocide, dangerous due to their ability to manipulate minds and emotions. The Metal Tribe were then assimilated into the Founders with a few holdouts.

Faced with these tragedies, the nine remaining tribes stayed subjugated, watching as their children slowly became assimilated into the Founders’ wicked culture and losing their own. Though once relatively uncommon, hostile spirits flocked to the island, making life even more dangerous. Though the most isolated villages managed to cling on to their culture, it truly felt impossible to escape the grasp of the Founders.

Death is the ultimate mystery, with people holding on and coming back to life while others move on into the afterlife. In that split second decision, what if you choose neither life nor death? Welcome to Limbo, a mysterious and gloomy dimension where hostile spirits lurk about and your Virtues manifest as magic, a place where how good you are as a person is judged by whether you survive or not.

Play as Val as she tumbles head first into Limbo and fights her way back home, saving a civilization of diverse and quirky characters from imminent destruction under the Founders along the way. Featuring a unique twist on the traditional RPG battle system as well as an art style that hearkens back to the PS and N64 era, prepare to wise up and take action: welcome to Ennea.