Level Up (A5E) Wildstar and its Insight into Player Mindset

[Steampunkette]

Welp... I spent about 2 hours last night unable to sleep because of this until I put down 2,500 words of Wildstarian Setting and a 7 part theme guideline section to make sure I largely stay on theme if not style.

 

[Steampunkette]

Anyone wanna help me create a name for this thing? I'll drop the short narrative timeline and premise, here.

It’s been 300 years since the birth of the Imperium during the Ecclesiastic Devastation. What was once a coalition of worlds battling against massive theocratic uprisings and invasions coalesced behind a powerful figure, Emperor Coetus Alden. Despite the occasional border war or expansionist drive under a given Emperor, peace reigned within the sextant. But even an empire at war must fight an enemy. And after the majority of priests and crusaders were killed in battle or executed in the wake of it, the Empire turned upon its own citizens.

The Iron Order was born merely 30 years after the end of the Ecclesiastic Devastation. A band of mage-hunters that scoured Imperial Space for mystical texts, witches, wizards, and magical bloodlines. Some disappeared into black sites. Others were executed publicly. For the people had to know that their Emperor would keep them safe from magic of any kind. A strange power held by only a few and wielded with forbidden knowledge that often drew the eye of terrible beings from other realities.

And with that knowledge was lost far more. Magocratic civilizations were destroyed utterly along with their art, history, architecture, and accumulated knowledge. Entire worlds were burned and cleansed by orbital bombardments to ensure that none of their mystical knowledge would slip out into the sextant, hidden in dry treatises of animal lore or the coding of three dimensional star charts.

The Gods, if they ever existed, have retreated from the sextant. Have withdrawn their blessings and their powers, their hands from the lives of the public. No more does their righteous fury fall upon their foes, no more does the clergy wield their sacred zealotry. They, like what sources of magic yet exist, hide in the darkness between the stars, lost in time and space. Their return, should it happen, will be a reckoning.

However not all sat well within the Imperium. Civil Uprisings occurred on dozens of worlds throughout the centuries, oft quelled by Imperial Soldiers and the Iron Order. Each uprising made the Emperors more and more aggressive. Culminating in the failed rule of Coetus Alden VII. Named for his ancestor, he was a petty tyrant whose grasp exceeded his weak will and weaker military acumen.

Taking direct control over the military would prove to be his ultimate downfall as the Commonwealth, a collective of worlds which battled back against the Imperium, was led by former soldiers, statesmen, and leaders of passion and skill. Ultimately, the Emperor himself fell to their glorious heroes, or cowardly assassins, depending on who tells the tale of that fateful day.

While the Imperium was shaken that day, and many worlds broke free of its yoke, it was not destroyed. A Regent rose up, Dione Ravinger, who has ruled the Regnum since the Emperor’s Death 20 years ago. 20 years of a cunning, capable, powerful ruler whose leadership has increased the Regnum’s might while preparing to reconquer wayward worlds. Some question why a Regent yet holds the throne when Emperor Alden’s son has long since reached adulthood.

Those people disappear swiftly after uttering the question.

Now, a new galactic war rages between the Regnum and the Commonwealth worlds, displacing peoples from half a dozen worlds that have fallen to the conflict. Three standard years have passed since the fighting began, and there are no signs it will end even as both sides scramble for the resources needed to maintain their offense, and defense. Word spreads of ancient powers moving in the vastness of space, in the darkness between the stars…

 

[xiphumor]

Name suggestions:

Fractum
Invictus
Vestige
Anathema
Event Horizon

 

[Steampunkette]

So one of my thoughts for the title is:

If you played Wildstar to any degree, you ran across these comic book covers scattered around the game. Sometimes they were posters on a wall (some you could put in your in-game housing!) other times they were set-dressing pulp comics sitting on a coffee table, and there were also collectable copies that Explorer characters would find as nifty little rewards for their exploration.

Tales from Beyond the Fringe is not copywritten. How do I know? Copywrite search. But also, because I knew there was a graphic novel called "Fringe: Beyond the Fringe" and there's no way "Tales from Beyond the Fringe" would've gotten used if copyright litigiousness was an issue.

It would also play into the tropes of Wildstar, being a sort of wild west pulp action sci fantasy conglomerate of concepts.

After all: They used Moxie as a character attribute.

And it plays into my love of the over the top art styles of old pulp covers, so win-win, there.

BUT! I'm also absolutely open to spreading out from that particular phrasing and style. It's just an anchor in my mind. B-Movies and Pulp Comics are great for sci-fi and fantasy and sci-fantasy. And Carbine Studios? CLEARLY knew it.

 

[SakanaSensei]

Tales From Beyond The Fringe would be an excellent title to work with for all the reasons you said!

My little heart can’t take this. I’ve missed Wildstar for years.