Geoyanguk summary
I’ve been meaning to write one of these fiefdom/update summaries for a long time, but always found myself a little embarrassed to “toot my own horn” so to speak, but I think it might be interesting to some of you, so here goes: my thoughts on Geoyanguk and how the quest, lore and culture came to be. If you’re interested, I can write about previous fiefdoms as well.
I knew I wanted some Asian looking characters (because they are hot) but didn’t want it to be simply “mediaeval Japan/China in the Twin Sisters”, I wanted to give Geoyanguk its own flavour.
In the past I have established that the Second War in Heaven, the war between the Doubt/Angels and the Weapon Races in which the Doubt and the Angels were forced to unite against their former creations, took place in the north of the Eastern Sister and that there was a massive migration south after the war (The Whale God leading the elves, The Chieftain helping the orcs), so I decided that Geoyanguk is now governed by the humans who remained behind. As is often the case in the Twin Sisters continents, this makes them arrogant cunts towards everyone south of their borders, considering themselves “pure humans”.
The names were the first trap I avoided. Didn’t want to make the names Japanese or Chinese clones, yet I still wanted to give them a flavour of their own, I decided on three syllables with a strong emphasis on the E vowel, something vaguely reminiscent of Hungarian (or how I imagine Hungarian…). Then I added an honorary title (Aal, Faal, Maal and Zaal, clearly organised from A to Z for my convenience) which can later be used to honour or humiliate a person, but addressing them with the wrong title.
Another lingual aspect I added is the Geoyanguk habit of sometimes adding the subject of a previous sentence as a standalone sentence, to emphasise it. Emphasise. It’s a little annoying so I don’t use it too much and thankfully Karder will not pick it up like he picked the Wakokipian “Ey?”, so be grateful for that.
Another aspect I based on Geoyanguk being the area where many mystical wars took place was the Taint, some residue of ancient spells, powers and weapons left behind, tainting the land and its people. I intentionally left the Taint and its actual effects vague and I leave room for doubt whether it exists or not and if the tainted humans (Shrieks) actually possess powers or this is just a very convenient excuse to all sorts of assholes to demand and wield power.
Then I wanted some people to hunt the Shrieks. Not sure how I came up with the concept of Bell Tollers, but I think it turned out to be a good one. Wandering witch hunters, experts in dealing death, facing all sorts of horrors and carrying an ominous Bell, I think it’s a cool image which fits the rest of the parts nicely.
To make the land “subtly creepy” I introduced the totems, those mask-wearing skeletons strewn about the landscape. I think their power comes from the fact that they are just there, present in the background of almost every scene but rarely referenced directly.
I love using weird beasts. They are a cool way of sending a message “you are someplace else now” without shoving it down the player’s throats. The word “beheyme” is a simple mispronunciation of the word “beast” in Yiddish. When I get lazy with names, I just borrow from Hebrew, Arabic or Yiddish.
There’s a certain template to the game: Parley -> Infiltration -> Meet with contact -> Get tasks. Templates help players orient themselves quicker but from time to time, breaking the formula is refreshing, like I did in the Tinpingia quest where you meet Gaal the Elfkin in what starts out as a normal “intro + get tasks” meeting, but goes south pretty fast. The royal couple’s betrayal was such a template break. I believe some of you found it surprising and interesting, although for new players the shock effect will be somewhat dulled as Geyanguk can be taken much quicker (especially when playing in VN mode).
I wanted to do a “King and queen” combo for a long time, and this update proved to be perfect for it. Those of you who have been playing the game for a long time know how I love having Karder take a woman (mother/daughter/wife) in front of a helpless male (son/father/husband). Tenemar-Zaal’s secret plot to train his own army of Shrieks and go against the Bell Tollers (and his wife) was also a driving force in the update and helped explain Xeney-Zaal’s venomous attitude against her husband, so it all tied nicely IMHO.
Funny how much thought goes into the “non-fucky” bits of the game, but perhaps this is what makes this game unique. Or perhaps I’m wasting my time on stuff people can’t be bothered with, who knows.
Normally I don’t do “toggleable bush” for non-Wench characters but I couldn’t resists Aerlith’s fiery fur. This is also a good time to mention my fetish of “pussy visible in normal situations” (Aerlith, Erela-Faal, queen Xeneny). Something about a woman being casual while her lady parts are clearly visible gets me all tingly.
While many dominance scenes in the game are driven by brute force or Karder’s ruthlessness, I wanted Reneka’s scene to be more of… disgusting manipulation, an experienced man manipulating his way into a young girl’s thighs. Karder shamelessly manipulates her to sleep with him, never using physical force but a toxic concoction of guilt, relentless mental pressure, lies and a dash of blackmail (by threatening to leave her alone at some point). What a disgusting man. I love this scene.
Last but not least are the soundtracks. Sanityzer’s tracks are amazing, giving a unique flavour to each character and location. If you make the mistake of playing the game on mute, give the music a try! Just mind the sex sounds during the sex scenes…
Thanks for reading, see you in 0.11! And don’t forget to
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