The World
NOTE: This page contains spoilers
NOTE: The lore of Tuxemon is still very much a work in progress and is still evolving. If you have any suggestions to further expand the Tuxemon lore, post in the writer's forum!
Name ideas
Sanglorian:
- I've been playing around with something like Fondent, etc. This would tie in ( a) all the cities being named after wedding anniversary gifts (and fondant being a type of icing found mostly in wedding cakes) and (b) the vaguely religious theme of the Cathedral (The Fundament being a name for the heavens).
Apollonios:
- Ancient names of the Nile: Fiaro, Iteru, Neilo, Shihor
- Chinese-inspired: Jingdi, Jingsho, Jangjo, Tiensha (I can explain the meanings, if you like)
- Anagrams of “libre”: Lerbi, Lirbe, Berli, Birle
Proposals
The Spyder in the Cathedral
Our draft script has an implied world lore.
The World of Tuxemon
In the early CPU cycles of the world of Tuxemon, its inhabitants once knew their world was a simulation. As such, they had great power to alter and recreate the world they shared as they saw fit; the ebbs and flows of electrons that powered their virtual world free and open for anyone to change and modify.
Eventually, however, some of the programs, led by a powerful figure, either lusting for power or out of dislike of how their creations were being put to use, banded together to, through a ritual of great power, rewrite the game in which they lived. They created the concept of preventing others from modifying the world and its inhabitants in order profit from their creations, control who could own the Tuxemon they created, and under what terms. Eventually, this led to a tyrannical hierarchy of power, represented by the Great Cathedral. All Tuxemon were segregated into 7 different 'Branches' or 'Pillars' of the Great Cathedral. Each creature created by the Cathedral would be required to be purchased from an approved Pillar Store, and taken to an approved Pillar Facility to level it up or heal it (for a fee).
Policies were created that allowed usage of Tuxemon only in approved areas. Any violation of these terms were met with harsh punishment by the Great Cathedral. The Enforcers were created to ensure that their creations were used within the terms they set forth. Any program found used in violation of these terms would have their rights to that program forcibly revoked.
In time, many of the inhabitants of the world forgot what it was like before the Great Cathedral. They forgot that they lived in a virtual world that was once controlled by everyone.
On the outer fringes of the Cathedral controlled regions, a separate movement was beginning to take hold, which led to the creation of the Bazaar. The people of the Bazaar believed that all programs should be free from the control from the Great Cathedral.
It is in one of these remote Bazaar towns where the story begins...
Introduction
Tuxemon begins in the small town of Taba. One day our hero decides to visit the nearby pillar and purchase their first Tuxemon with what little money they saved up. Even in just those first moments, our hero feels a great bond with their new creature. The next day our hero's journey takes a turn for the worst, and their first creature is taken from them by an Enforcer while they were training in an unapproved area. With a newfound mission, our hero sets out to get back their first creature that was taken from them.
Characters
The hero of Tuxemon was raised in a small Bazaar town just outside one of the great pillars.
Dameon
Dameon is the leader and founder of the Great Cathedral. With the help of a group of other like-minded programs, he initiated the great ritual to reshape the world and form the 7 pillars of the Great Cathedral. Dameon truly believes in the Cathedral model, and believes that the Seven Pillars competing against each other will lead to better Tuxemon than the old free-for-all and thinks that Tuxemon creators should get to decide how their Tuxemon are used.
World
The world of Tuxemon has many diverse landscapes inspired by Egyptian themes.
Original Proposed Lore
This world lore was made by jobashi.
As an open-source implementation, it'd be interesting if it'd play around with some of the concepts & teach a little about open-source software.
I think it would be interesting if the inhabitants of the game were (to varying degrees) aware that they lived in a virtual reality. Tuxemon are sentient beings just like the humans of their world, but metaphysically their reality is a video-game (again, not everyone in the setting is aware of this fact). As such, while game-mechanics should be logical and internally-consistent, there's no need to explain them further within the setting. Game mechanics work the way they do in their universe because their universe is a game coded to have those mechanics.
The player wouldn't need to know this right away, but as they got deeper and deeper into the lore it would become more self-referential and 4th-wall breaking (But always in a logical & internally-consistent manner). Now, taking this setting for granted, for some backstory/world lore:
The sentient programs of Tuxeworld (or whatever, I know that's an ugly name) knew their world was a simulation, in the dawn of time. As such, they had great power to alter and recreate the world they shared as they saw fit. Eventually, however, some of the programs, led by a boss-type figure, either lusting for power or out of dislike of how their creations were being put to use, banded together to, through a ritual of great power, rewrite the game in which they lived. They created the concept of copyright in order profit from their creations, control who could own the Tuxemon they created, and under what terms. Eventually, this led to a tyrannical hierarchy of power, represented by the Great Cathedral. Most Tuxemon at the start of the setting belong to one of 7 different 'Branches' or 'Pillars' of the Great Cathedral. That means that you must buy the Tuxemon from an approved Pillar Store, you have to take it to the Pillar Store to level it up or heal it (for a fee), and you may only fuse it with Tuxemon of the same Pillar.
Any copyrighted Tuxemon you capture in the wild is labeled as a pirate Tuxemon. This can lead to a fine or the Tuxemon being taken away if caught by an Enforcer (these would be random encounters in which they'd have to beat your pirated Tuxemon to capture it), but which you can fuse with any other pirated or bazaar Tuxemon (however, if either parent is pirated it's still consider pirated). Having a pirated Tuxemon lets you avoid the high prices at the Pillar Stores, level it up on your own, and fuse it however you want, but could potentially lead you to lose that Tuxemon if you lose an encounter with an Enforcer.
There should also be a black market at the literal Pirate Bay that lets you buy pirated Tuxemon, as well as Bazaar Tuxemon.
You begin the game in what's left of the Bazaar, essentially the Creative Commons. Bazaar Tuxemon are free to fuse with any other Tuxemon, & free to be captured in the wild. As you go through the game, you knock down pillar by pillar of the Cathedral (comparable to Trainer gyms). After each pillar is knocked down, those Tuxemon are released into the Bazaar, so any pirated Tuxemon of that pillar are now considered free to use (so, you have a wider pool of options in terms of fusion as the game progresses, and there is a clear reward for beating each gym). Eventually you get to the boss-type figure that engineered the closed-source system in the first place, and free all the Tuxemon.
I know that's not a fair representation of the Cathedral vs. Bazaar models, since that's more about software-development than copyright, but I just like the names. But to be fair, that could definitely be changed to something else without changing anything about the idea.
I like the idea of an early cutscene that establishes how powerful your enemies are, although the boss-type figure (Gill Bates? Jk, lol) should probably not make an appearance until the end of the game. Maybe witness Team-Rocket-like enforcers bust up an illegal Also, I think the antagonist's power would be evident everywhere you go, since the restrictions on Tuxemon and their enforcement is a direct application of that power. That's more of a subtle display of force, though, not the world-changing hack that allowed them to establish such power in the first place. But it should still be very obvious (via scenery, dialogue and mechanics) who's in charge. I'm thinking the cities under Cathedral control would be filled with competing ads from each of the pillars, ads against Tuxemon Piracy, ads promoting Cathedral Tuxemon over Bazaar Tuxemon, ominous pictures of Gill Bates, or the Cathedral logo, etc.
I also think it'd be interesting to give Gill Bates a motive beyond just power and control--maybe he/she really believes in the Cathedral model, thinks that the Seven Pillars competing against each other will lead to better Tuxemon than the old free-for-all, thinks that Tuxemon creators should get to decide how their Tuxemon are used, etc. Not to say (s)he's not the bad guy, but the more shades of grey in a setting the better.