Pariah's Creed, Work in Progress- Demo Available Options

[Crazy Rob]

Pariah's Creed

Abstract- Condemned to be a scapegoat for a village's sins, a young boy rebels against the sadistic designs of a religion born of cruelty and irresponsibility. He must succeed, for not only is his life at stake- so is his immortal soul.

Genre- Fantasy RPG

Platform- RPG Maker 2003

Story
In the village of Pahne, the theocracy of Vindism reigns supreme. A Pariah- a human scapegoat- serves as a means by which the villagers ritualistically absolve themselves of their faults and sins, damning the pariah to the hells in the process and tormenting them with a lifetime of abuse. For seventeen years, Lohste Geldon, chosen as Pahne’s first pariah when he was four years old, has endured countless beatings and the knowledge when he dies, he will be damned so that the other villagers may be spared.

One day, Elder Oremas, the very man responsible for introducing Pahne to the gospel of Vindis, the god of punishment, offers the unthinkable to Lohste. If he succeeds on a suicidal mission to retrieve a book of magic from the aptly named “Grimoire Tower”, he will also find the spring of redemption, which will slay him but for a moment, allowing him to escape through a loophole in the terms by which he is damned. Failure means death and damnation, but so does inactivity. Lohste, aware that this is too good to be true, sets out anyway… but certain powers take interest in the boy’s plight…


Setting
New Gaea is the project of rogue gods and goddess who, for reasons still vague, broke off from what is only known as the Multiverse Alliance, a mega-pantheon of deities. Magic is available to all in some small way, though focus and practice allow for spectacular feats. The deities involved refrained from making rules and policies they felt were asinine, such as demanding worship without ever once displaying care for their worshipers.

Up until a few centuries ago, New Gaea knew nothing of demonic forces or supernatural evil. Then a new religion- Vindism- began to spread. Under it's influence, people grew cruel and vicious, blaming their faults and sins on scapegoats called "Pariahs" instead of dealing with their problems. As Vindism spread, so did reports of unholy things- creatures of evil made flesh haunted the 'holy sites' of Vindism. Mages began to be tempted by whispers of dread secrets and knowledge man wasn't meant to know. Once peaceful countries suddenly shattered alliances and began expansionary campaigns, leaving death in their wake. Monstrous fauna and flora appeared.

Now, as the game begins, the search by both mortal and deity for the source of these horrors grows ever more desperate...

Characters
Lohste Geldon
Age: 17. Male. Could be a hero. Could be a villain.
BIO: Lohste is the first pariah of Pahne, having suffered for 14 years. He is immediately aware that the suicidal mission given to him by Elder Oremas is a false hope, but during his quest, several entities take interest in his case...

Kalie Pareri
Age: 17, Female. A thief with a heart of... silver, at least.
BIO: Kalie is a world-worn thief who has been cheated so many times by life she feels it necessary to cheat back. Her and Lohste's relationship is complicated, beginning out of a mutual need for survival.

Javes Horrence
Age: 18, Male. An educated cleric-in-training with little tolerance for law-breaking or evil.
BIO: Javes spent most of his life studying for priesthood in the church of Jarep, the god of Justice. He sees Vindism as a fast-spreading cancer that must be eradicated.

Elder Oremas:
Age: ???, very old. Male. A cruel, selfish, unrepentant sadist who uses honeyed words to achieve his ends.
BIO: As far as most of Pahne is concerned, Oremas is a savior and prophet of Vindis. He came during a dark time in which the divine mercies of the village's former gods had vanished, leaving decay, disease, and madness in their wake. He once served Jarep, but became frustrated when he realized his power would never rival a warmage's, and that he would always owe fealty to a god he didn't truly agree with. He doesn't care what Vindism does to the world, so long as he can spend his remaining years getting whatever he wants.

Anthony Geldon:
Age: 44, Male. A man who betrayed his own son for the sake of minor prestige.
BIO: Anthony Geldon was an adventurer whose exploits never really got past the simple antagonizing of the local fauna. Already seeing Lohste as a burden even before Oremas came, he leaped at the chance to be able to legitimately deny his son all but the basic of basics. He longs for adventure, but his laziness and lack of ethics make him undesirable by everyone outside of Pahne. He works as Pahne's winemaker.

Maritas Geldon:
Age 43, Female. A mother who sacrificed her son for her own salvation, now poisoned by countless regrets.
BIO: Maritas hates her life. She wasn't supposed to get married to someone who balked at being a father, balked at emotional relationships. She wasn't supposed to be stuck in a backwater town serving as a housewife. Her son wasn't supposed to be the sacrifice for the village. Yet all of this happened. She has suppressed any hint of remorse for consigning Lohste's soul to damnation behind a facade of cold apathy and self-pity, haunted by the ever present realization that even if she had a chance to apologize, it's already too late to ask forgiveness.

Stein Terka:
Age 19, Male. A boy whose every single attempt at noble action ends in horrible disaster for him and everyone around him.
BIO: Stein once attempted to become a paladin, both as a means to prove himself to his strict father and to get divine aid in freeing Lohste, his former friend. He failed, and during his absence his mother was slain by goblins. Even when he joined in the cruelty, he silently hoped Lohste would succeed at the elder's mission so he would be spared. As has been the case for all his life, no good deed- or good wish- is going to be unpunished...

Parea Basacard:
Age 17, Female. A girl who felt abandoned by her gods and grew bitter.
BIO: Parea remembers the dark days of Pahne very well. She was four when the gods left, her sister lay dying from a wolf attack, and the prayers of the healer, once able to even revive the dead, could not even slow the bleeding. She remembered her sister's pained gasps and pleas to stay with her, dread and fear in her eyes as her soul descended into what she later would know to be the hells, truly forsaken by the gods her sister held so dear. It was after this her heart grew cold and bitter, willing to do anything for Vindis so long as it meant being spared the same abandonment she watched her sister suffer. She and Lohste once played together, but thirteen years of being on opposite castes in Vindism have made friendship a dead, bitter memory.

Credits
Thanks to Silver Zero and KaminitX for some battle animations.

If anyone sees resources used that I didn't credit appropriately, let me know so I can. All that i can recall were downloaded without credit requested or an author name.

Screen Shots

[Show/Hide] Screenshots

An early test of Lohste's ability to move quickly and refrain from swimming in molten rock.


Alchemy at first allows you to make standard potions cheaper (provided you can get the ingredients), but with practice the potions you brew will be much more potent than store variety.


When a simple, ordinary blade or piece of armor isn't working, upgrade. Find materials and blacksmiths to remake ordinary swords into flaming blades, standard leather armor into advanced protective gear, and eventually create weapons of legendary quality.


Few monsters drop piles of coins. Most enemies leave behind items that can be sold for money, or saved to create potions and gear. This enemy in question can drop Heavy Sand, an ingredient for making a Stone Mace.

Features
*Lufia II style enemies: In dungeons, you'll see your enemies. Stay away and they will (normally) not attack you. Get too close, and they'll pursue.
*Alchemy: As stated above, you begin creating potions that are merely cheaper, but experience and learning from other alchemists will allow you to concoct potions that you won't find anywhere else.
*Weapon and Armor Upgrading: Why a sword that's on fire? Why not? Enchantments start with the useful and slowly progress to the devastating.
*Command based tech system: Every attack, skill, and defend action you take builds momentum in battle. With enough training and momentum of the three types, you can unleash a character's latent powers through their weapon. Early techniques are merely useful and economical. Later techniques leave demigods bleeding and dying.

LINKS
Important:
You need both either the rtp or non-rtp version, and the patch. Install the game, use the patch on the directory to get it up to date.

No RTP
With RTP
The Patch!

Questions or comments are welcome. Whining about the rtp chipsets will be barely tolerated. Direction to relevant chipsets for a fantasy rpg game will be greatly appreciated.

[Titanhex]

A lot of time has obviously been given to both the game and presentation. It sounds pretty interesting too, and well designed. I like the sounds of the story.

My only question now is do you want this in LD or GUC? Either edit your post or PM me when you have your answer.

[amerk]

I'm not keen on the screenshots, especially the battle scenes, and I cringe when I think of RM2K3's ATB wait time.

However, the story sounds pretty epic, and a bit original in comparison to the other game stories I've played through. A word of advice, for the long wait time on RM2K'3 battle system, I've heard if you keep your agility low throug level progression and balance monsters to be at or below your current level agility, the battle speed becomes faster.

[Ecut]

There has clearly been a lot of thought put into this! It sounds great and pretty original.
I shudder at the use of the default rm2k3 battle sprites but I personally just don't like them. xD

[Crazy Rob]

No, I'm not fond of the rtp characters either.

But all the battle charsets I find are naruto and superhero recolors. Doing custom stuff seems the way to go, but finding matching sprites and facesets is the main obstacle I'm facing.

[m4uesviecr]

I'll definitely be playing this.

The storyline peaked my interest, and then seeing the old school graphics helped me cast my vote.

This post has been edited by m4uesviecr: May 11 2012, 06:38 AM