Everything you ever wanted to know about my game goes here. Most of the information featured here is background material, and I haven’t decided what will or will not make it into the final game.
This game is about a game. The Quenta Game. What is the Quenta Game? Eric, the protagonist, is asking this question himself. He doesn’t know how or why he’s playing, and he doesn’t want to be in the Quenta Game. But losing means death, and Eric won’t accept that lying down. How hard could it be to win? All he has to do is go around helping people and earning Points, which keep him alive. At least, that’s how it starts out. But as more is revealed about this mysterious game and Eric’s memories come back, the game turns into more than just a game: it becomes something akin to a nightmare. Only this nightmare doesn’t end when Eric wakes up. Because that’s when the nightmare starts.
In Empty Possibilities, you play as Eric and gather Points by doing side quests. If you don’t have enough Points, you die. If you’re the last man standing, you win. Simple, right? But the more Eric plays the Quenta game, the more he realizes winning may not be so easy.
Eric will ride quite the emotinal roller-coaster–he’ll feel the pain of losing a friend (or an enemy), but he’ll also feel the joy of finding a new one. And he won’t ride this roller-coaster alone: Orion, Eric’s guardian, as well as all the other Players in the Game are riding right along with him. Due to an unfortunate side effect of being a player in the Quenta Game, whenever Eric (or any Player, for that matter) feels emotional stress, strange things enter his head–psyches. These psyches will try to corrupt Eric, and it is Orion’s job to make sure they don’t. Orion fights using nothing but Fidesoul and wit, and his fights are not in vain–without Orion, Eric would most likely go insane.
Eric
Eric is the main character of Empty Possibilities. Partially due to his amnesia, he doesn’t know much, and isn’t certain what he knows is true. All he wants to do is escape, or win if possible. He is also very self-sacrificing.
Keria
Keria is the first person Eric meets. Would you believe she isn’t gullible at all? Of course, this means she is very trusting, and puts a lot of faith in the people she meets. She accepts new things quite easily, and she is also a team player, wanting to include everyone.
Brett
Brett wants to get out of the Game, and knows how to do so. He has a far better working knowledge of the game, but often doesn’t tell valuable pieces of information to his friends, and tries to do everything himself.
Robyn
Out of all the players, Robyn is the most hardworking and happy. She is a bit shy around all these older people, but wants to help them. She would much prefer one of them to win over her, whatever the consequences.
Orion
Orion Is Eric’s guardian and possibly my favorite character. He does all of the fighting in the game. And while he may not appear to, he cares about Eric.
Minor Characters
Marissa
Marissa is a meddling Faeling who hijacked the Quenta Game just to mess with Eric. Winning for her is just a bonus.
Joy
Joy is a rather ditzy illusionist who acts as Marissa’s underling. She isn’t too bright, and while her illusions are good, her IQ ends up hampering her ability to follow a plan.
Max
Max is a rather enigmatic villain. Why? Because I haven’t written any scenes with him yet.
Cris
Cris is a crystal (see what I did there?) who acts as Orion’s compadre: he heals him, gives him levels, and makes him breakfast. All with a sarcastic tone, of course.
While I’m sure you have questions, such as “Who designed the Quenta Game?” and “What happens when you win?”, I can’t really answer them without spoiling the game. However, if you would like to learn more about the world, read on…
The Quenta Game
The Quenta Game, or just Game, is the game all the characters are playing. The rules are long and complicated, but in the end it boils down to this: The Quentan (Player) who earned the most points wins. All the others die. Further rules include an elimination system. No one knows who, when, or how the next person will be eliminated. The game has 64 players. Each player plays with 3 other players, until only he or she remains. Once a player wins, they move on to play with the other winners. The players never see the same player more than once.
Joining a Quenta Game
In order to join the Quenta Game, a Fide has to die with an unfulfilled wish. Once this condition is met, that Fide is given a rundown of the rules. These explanations vary in detail, but there is always a player with a lot of knowledge and a player with very little knowledge about the Quenta Game.
Points
Points are a special kind of Fidesoul. They consist of concentrated Fidesoul, and like Fidesoul, they exist in the Quenta Realm. They can be spent to increase abilities. A Point will never appear in the physical plane—but a Quentan will know when he or she has received one because they will feel stronger.
Hackers
Hackers are people who have joined the Quenta Game after it has started. In order to do this, they have to get close to a player and touch their Quentan Shard. Once this is done, they can go into a Player’s room at any time. A Hacker cannot be an ordinary Fide, however; he or she must be either an Innate or a Faeling.
Guardians
Guardians are the protectors of players. A guardian’s only two jobs are to indirectly assist their protégé, and to fight off psyches that invade a Quentan’s mind. They live in the Quenta Realm, and while they can project their bodies with the help of a familiar, it is very painful for them to do so.
Extra Rules
- If a player loses his or her notebook, they will be eliminated
- A player cannot kill another player, however, a Hacker may kill any player
- Players can only die if they are eliminated, killed by a Hacker, etc. They will not die of natural causes while playing the Quenta Game.
- Only Fides the Asker has deemed worthy join the Game
- A Quentan will function exactly the same as he or she did while he or she was still living; if the Quentan was an Innate while he or she was alive, he or she will still be an Innate as a Quentan
- A Quentan cannot be married
- A Quentan cannot be an adult
- Quentans playing the same game can only die within one week of each other (Person a dies on Monday, which means persons b, c, and d can only die between then and the next Monday)
World Inhabitants
Fides
Fides are basically humans. However, they have a defined soul (called Fidesoul) that governs their life. Fidesoul courses through a Fide like blood does, and has a high concentration in the hands, head and heart. The Fidesoul in those places governs aspects of a Fide’s life: The Fidesoul in the hands governs work and drive, the Fidesoul in the head governs reason and logic, and the Fidesoul in the heart governs emotion. If a Fide loses too much of its Fidesoul, it dies. A Fide can lose Fidesoul by being cut open, or by going into a deep depression.
Faelings
Faelings are outcast from the Fides. A faeling looks like a fide, but can also take on other forms. However, they are doomed to die at the peak of their lifetime. When they take on other forms, their eyes do not change color. They also have the ability to change back into a Fide-like creature, and can transform into many different forms. No non-faeling knows what a faeling actually looks like. Faelings do not have any Fidesoul.
Innates
Innates are Fides blessed with an incredible amount of Fidesoul. They can do amazing things, such as create fire, illusions, or strong gusts of wind. Some are telepaths, or have telekinesis. Some are “Nulls”. Nulls are incredibly rare, and are naturally resistant to normal Innates. Both Nulls and Innates can’t activate their powers unless they go through a traumatic experience.
Pseudo-Faelings
Pseudo-Faelings are Fides that decided to become a Faeling. They have had their Fidesoul extracted, but they lived through the procedure. In exchange for their power to shapeshift, they also will die at the peak of their life. It is impossible for either a Faeling or a Psuedo-Faeling to become a Fide.
Green-Haired Fides
Fides born with green hair are destined to do something amazing. The three great leaders of Casus all had green hair.
Traditions, Customs, etc.
Marriage
A marriage is what happens when two Fides fuse their Fidesoul together. This causes a new Fide to be born on the spot. A couple can only marry once and have one child. Once one parent dies, the Fidesoul link is severed and the living spouse leaks Fidesoul until they die.
Earth-Borns
Earth-Born Fides are exceedingly common. Earth-Born Fides are not born from a marriage, but from stray Fidesoul gathering into one place. Since it doesn’t take a large amount of Fidesoul to create a baby Fide, the majority of Fides are Earth-Born. Unfortunately, many Earth-Borns die at birth because they are not found.
Fidesoul
Fidesoul exists in the Quentan Realm, and not the material plane. As a result, it is invisible. However, Fidesoul is the only known link between the Quentan Realm and the material plane. Fidesoul is like water: it always wants to “evaporate” into Finis. Once the Fidesoul in a Fide has gone to Finis, the Fide will die. Fidesoul has another odd property: if it is in the Quentan Realm, and there is an excess of Fidesoul in one spot, the Fidesoul will be ejected from the Quentan Realm and enter the material plane as a baby Fide.
Planes
The Material Plane [Countries, Oceans, etc.]
Casus
Casus is the main country where most of the story takes place. It is a rather normal place, with no extreme temperatures and a mountain range and a river cutting it in half.
Nordon
A place where a small part of the story takes place. It used to be a wonderland as well as a prison, but is neither of those things now. Most of the population is dead, and the living want to leave.
The Trinity Islands
The Trinity Islands are three small islands off the coast of Casus. A small part of the story takes place there.
Academy Island
This snowy land is home to nothing but the world’s finest academy.
Island of Exile
A place south of Casus, it is simply an island where criminals are dropped off.
Eastern Sea
This large sea is almost impossible to sail across, and separates Casus and Nordon.
The Quenta Realm
The Quenta Realm is a sort of limbo. It is also where Fidesoul comes from, and it is the battlefield where guardians and psyches fight for control of a Quentan. Occasionally, Fidesoul will gather in one spot and eject into the material plane. This causes a child to be born. The Quenta Realm has the same features as the material plane—but all the light in the Quenta Realm comes from Fidesoul. As a result, the Quenta Realm is quite boring to look at, because it is too dark to see much of anything there. When two people are married in the material plane, their Fidesoul fuses together in the Quenta Realm and a child is born in the same fashion that an Earth-Born is. The couple may go as far away from each other as they like in the material plane, but they are forever linked together. If one of them dies, then the link will be broken and the other will leak Fidesoul until that Fide also dies. There are some structures that do not exist in the material realm that exist in the Quenta Realm—notably the Quentan Lobby, the terminals, and the guardian houses.
Finis
Finis is the third dimension of the world of Empty Possibilities. If the Quenta Realm is limbo, then Finis is heaven. It is where all Fidesoul ends up. There is nothing but Fidesoul in Finis—not even vacuum. There is such a large amount of Fidesoul in Finis, it has achieved “super-sentience”–another word for Finis would be God. The Fidesoul in Finis acts like a raincloud—every so often, the Fidesoul in Finis will bombard the Quentan Realm. This typically results in several Earth-Born Fides. Below is a chart showing what happens to Fidesoul and where it goes:
Material Plane<———-becomes matter————-Quentan Realm<>===<>Finis
So theoretically, Fidesoul would enter the material plane until there wasn’t any left in Finis. However, this will not happen. This is because there is so much Fidesoul in Finis, it could fill the material plane 10 times over as matter and there would still be excess Fidesoul in Finis.
