Week 1: Outline Exercise, Prt. 1

Inspirations (Some examples!)

—

Classic Literature

Alice in Wonderland & Arthur/Avalon Legends
--

Cyberpunk and Scifi

Ready Player One & The Matrix & Nueromancer
--

Fantasy and Magical Realism

The Neverending Story & The Cronhonicles of Narnia
--

Anime & Video Games

Sword Art Online & Digimon Series
--

Philosphical & Psychological Influences

The Hero’s Journey & The Metamorphosis
--

Modern Technology and VR

MMORPGS

Augmented Reality

—

Names of characters (examples!!)

—

Henry (Protagonist)

Meaning: ‘Ruler of the home’ and/or ‘estate ruler’.

Symbolism: Reflects his potential leadership role in both the real world and Virteria. Henry represents balance between the ordinary and extraordinary. He has a normal beginning but as the story unravels he discovers his actual role.

—

Malek (Side Antagonist)

Meaning: ‘King’ and/or ‘Ruler’

Symbolism: He has a strong desire to dominate and has tragic roots in the backstory. He once had noble intentions. He is in theory a mirror of Henry but what would happen due to going down the wrong path.

—

Lyra (Secondary Protagonist)

Meaning: Is the name of a star constellation that represents a lyre, a musical instrument

Symbolism: She tries to balance the worlds be it in the real one or Virteria. Her character offers insight into connection with the earth and magic that ties into life, and yet is also the counter-balance to the high tech world of Virteria.

—

Astralis (Main Protagonist)

Meaning: Derived from the Latin for ‘of the stars’ or ‘heavenly’.

Symbolism: He represents a cold, distant and god like force that is able to control events from the present and afar. His name represents cosmic power and ambition, and the desire to reach beyond human.

—

Alexander (Supportive)

Meaning: Of Greek origin meaning ‘defender of the people’. The name is often associated with figures like Alexander the great.

Symbolism: Due to his father figure in the story, he was a charismatic and powerful force in the real world and that of Virteria.

—

Eleanor (Supportive)

Meaning: Derives from the name Helen which relates to ‘light’ or ‘bright one’.

Symbolism: Her name comes from the idea of light and guidance and independence, strength and the mysterious. She is a elegant and seemingly timeless being in the story.

—

Emily (secondary protagonist)

Meaning: Has Latin roots, derived from the name Aemilia which means ‘rival’ and or ‘eager’.

Symbolism: She is a hardworking and stubborn character and has a powerful sense of self regulation. Yet she also carries herself with grace ad of the female vibe, despite her gentle appearance of a young girl.

—

Sarah (secondary protagonist)

Meaning: Of Hebrew origin and means ‘princess’ or ‘noblewoman’.

Symbolism: She provides support from the real world to Henry and his friends, and her main traits are that of dignity, leadership and caring about her charges.

—

David (secondary protagonist)

Meaning: Of Hebrew origin meaning ‘beloved’

Symbolism: David is a transgender male to female character, and his greatest objectives include overcoming great obstacles and growing into his place of the story.

—

Zarek (side antagonist)

Meaning: Slavic origins, short form of Zarad and Zareck; means ‘god protects’ or ‘protected by god’

Symbolism: This character has themes that involve divine intervention and fate that involves Henry as his quarry. He is fixated with capturing Henry for some reason.

—

Gender roles

—

Virteria has fluid expression of gender where gender roles are not the same in the real world. This world allows freedom of expression and fluidity. There are very different social norms in Virteria than on Earth. In Virteria, characters take on different forms of their inner nature, not their actual appearance or conscience desires. However in Henry’s case, both his conscious self and sub consciousness are intertwined so deeply his appearance remains the same in both worlds.

There are no gender based hierarches and instead all things are based upon skill and knowledge. Artherium Tower is a governed vy a council solely based on their expertise.

The norms of and modern gender roles of the two worlds vary greatly in terms of how they’re followed. And if they are, how they impact the world of Virteria. Here are some examples

Eleanor and Sarah: These female characters challenge the traditional roles of female archetypes and are key players in leadership, combat and power dynamics.

Zarek: He finds gender irrelevant and focuses on his goals as he seeks to obtain his greater and greater purposes.

Combat and power dynamics involve females much more strongly, while males tend to be more nurturing and diplomatic in some aspects.

Characters such as Emily showcases great determination and genius, this challenges the notion that woman of any age are less capable in battle.

Henry’s form shifts over time as he travels between the worlds, and begins to take on a more androgynous/gender-fluid appearance. This shows his self acceptance and break from the typical male stereotype.

Non-binary and transgender characters include David, whose gender identity is questioned in the real world has free reign to choose his path of gender related situations as he pleases.

—

Real world is slightly more advanced than current technology. They are, however, quite limited in terms of comparison to the world of Virteria. Virteria is full dive but still distinguishable from Earth technology.

The Pendent serves as a cutting-edge interface that allow full access to Virteria but has severe consequences the more it is used.

There are Smart cities on Earth with Ai-Driven mobiles much like Virteria. However Earth still follows the degrees of reality and physics, where Virteria is not bound by them. In theory Virteria can easily reshape itself.

Physical tech like drones, robots, and automation is relevant but still have their limitations on Earth. Characters cannot shift their potential on Earth like they can in Virteria.

Medical and Biological means are semi-advanced on Earth but no where to the extreme that Virteria is.

Viteria has supernatural abilities and powers, while also shifting appearance at a whim. This cannot be done with Earth science bound tech.

Real world medicine is able to cure most sicknesses, but has no match on Virteria’s superior means of self regeneration and amongst other things.

Cyber security is paramount alongside Control on Earth, even more so than Virteria. Earth hackers pose a serious threat to the infrastructure and existence to Virteria, while the Ai in the VR world is limited in it’s counter stance from the outside world’s influence. Earth has much more power over Virteria in that sense.

—

Significant factors

This includes Duality of both worlds, (the VR world isn’t ‘fake per say’), Control and power, Tech vs ‘magic’, escape/consequences, human connections and relation, exploration of gender and identity, roles of avatars, conflict between reality