Amicus/Synopsis

The synopsis of Amicus from the Sci-Fi Visual Novel, Adastra, and its sequels Interea and Khemia.
==Past==
Amicus was born 23 years prior to the story (1995, if it takes place in 2018, when the visual Novel came out) in the Moon of Adastra, within the Galaxias: a union of various sapient species, the Siblings, who set off to uplift other promising species into sapience, making them the Children, as ordered by the Parents, nigh-divine, incredibly advanced beings who gifted the Siblings with sapience and incredible technology in the first place.
His father, Potes was the Emperor of the Wolves and, as his one older sibling, Virginia, was female, Amicus was the designated heir to the Imperial throne.A few years later, Amicus’ younger brother, Cassius would be born. The two brothers spent their childhoods very close to each other, Cassius even looking up to his older sibling and although the two were always competitive, it was always in good fun. With time, however, the two would develop polar opposite political ideals, with Cassius’ being far more conservative, the younger brother would also start longing for the throne and the death of their beloved mother would only embitter Cassius further: in the end, he and Amicus became harsh rivals and, thanks to his sheer popularity thanks to his speeches, Cassius managed to become a great threat to Amicus’ Emperorship in spite of being younger.
Throughout the years, Amicus started realizing his homosexuality, which was a problem in Adastra’s very homophobic society and, as rumors spread, especially after Amicus performed poorly with a girl he was arranged with, a triumvir who Potes had wronged in the past decided to have his own homosexual son seduce an 18 years old Amicus, with a drone recording the consequent make-out session between the two and broadcasting it to disgrace the Emperor. Amicus’ father later used his power to erase that broadcast and send the triumvir and his family to work in the mines, but the young Amicus had been scarred by the betrayal, growing insecure over his sexuality and distrusting towards others.
Aware of Adastra’s more corrupt aspects, such as its xenophobia towards the other Siblings, the terrible systemic misogyny on the Moon, the corruption among the triumvirs and the Wolves’ policy of stumping their Children’s sapience so as to keep them subordinate and practically enslaved, and planned to use his authority as Emperor to do away with these issues, albeit gradually, as he knows it would be impossible to bring so much change right-away. His cunning sister, Virginia, offered to help Amicus become Emperor as not only did she prefer his egalitarianism to Cassius’ conservativism, but she also wanted Amicus to make her his Advisor, which would’ve been revolutionary in the patriarchy that is Adastra.
Amicus had always been his father’s blatant favorite, as Potes was very tough on Virginia so that she would survive as a woman in Adastran politics, while Cassius he would outright neglect. As a result, Amicus was the only one out of the three siblings to really be distraught when his father’s spaceship malfunctioned and crashed, killing the Emperor. In reality, the ship had been sabotaged by Cato, Potes’ treacherous old friend and advisor and a legate from the Adastra-Khemia War who planned to usurp the Imperial throne so as to wage war all over again.
After the Emperor’s death, the Parents, disgusted by Cato’s manipulations, decided to sever the ties with Wolven society until someone righteous was sitting on the throne again, in this case, Amicus. Now left with very few of the drive that was given to them so as to travel in space, among other things, the wolves were left separated from the rest of the Galaxias and in a precarious situation, Adastra desperately needing a new Emperor.
Now the acting emperor, it was up to Cato to decide who to elect the new Emperor between Amicus and Cassius and he eventually opted for the Trials: three competitions among the contenders for the thrones (the first in singing and dancing, the second in debate, the third in combat) in which the five main Triumvirates and Cato would have to vote the victor of each trial, the first to win two out of three of them becoming the new Emperor.
Since Cassius, who was born with fragile bones due to an illness he got from his mother, would stand no chance against his hulking brother in the third Trial, Amicus would only need to win one of the first two to have the Throne.
However, Cassius public image only improved further when he shew himself to be charismatic enough to convince a Sibling to be his pet (basically, a very close servant). Cassius’ pet, the cat Alexios, was, in fact, a spy sent from Omorfa to bring chaos to Adastra’s politics and society.
Nevertheless, Amicus needed to prove himself with a pet of his own, so he went to the archives of the Imperial palace in search of an exotic species to impress the public with and, wrongly believing it to be part of the Galaxias, he secretly departed with his late father’s ship and set off to Earth in search of a pet.
==Adastra==
===Meeting Marco===
As the archive indicated that, millennia in the past, the wolves had attempted and failed an uplift of the Human race in Rome, Italy (which is implied to have kickstarted Roman Civilization), Amicus sought his pet there, eventually setting his eyes on Marco, a college student who was studying abroad in Italy.
Since records of Earth were in the archives in the first place, Amicus wrongfully thought that the Humans were still aware of the existence of the Galaxias and the Sibling races; but, when Amicus greeted Marco in the latter’s hotel room that night, the Human was predictably terrified of the large, anthropomorphic, Latin-speaking wolf in front of him. In order to communicate with him, Amicus implanted a lingua in Marco, a device of parental tech that translated all languages and allowed communication between all species.
After the initial tension dissolved a bit, the two introduced themselves to each other and, hoping he’s just dreaming, Marco tried to understand the situation better. That’s when Amicus discovered that the Humans had no memory of the Galaxias, meaning that the Wolf had technically accidentally committed unauthorized First Contact, one of the most serious crimes in the Galaxias.
Worrying that Marco may have spread the word about seeing the Wolf and alerted the Monitors (the Parents’ eyes and ears) of Amicus’ actions, the latter impulsively shocked Marco unconscious with his nervo (an advanced taser) and abducted him, the two setting off back to Adastra on the ship.
Marco later woke up in the ship, shocked at the fact that it wasn’t all just a nightmare. Amicus greeted the disoriented boy and desperately tried to make him comfortable, the two even having some conversation, partly on the accomplishments of the Human race. The Human, nonetheless, wanted nothing but to go back home, but the Stretch Drive that powered the ship was no longer sufficient to bring Marco back home and then travel back to Adastra and Amicus tried to come up with some unconvincing lies. Unfortunately for Amicus, however, Humans turned out to be smarter than the semi-sapients he thought they were and the Wolf had to tase Marco unconscious again.
Amicus tied up the unconscious human with sloppily-made knots that Marco easily untangled upon waking up. Marco then grabbed a metal pipe and tried to sneak attack Amicus, instinctively stopping himself from bashing his head in and instead hitting his neck. The two fought, the much weaker Marco only making it through groin attacks and other sneaky moves before he used the nervo on Amicus on maximum intensity, making Amicus unconscious after a brief seizure.
Amicus later woke up, Marco having done a much better job at tying him up and, after a brief attempt at an interrogation, the Human decided to improvise with what little he could understand about the ship’s control panel and drive back to Earth himself, in spite of Amicus’ protests and warning. The Human should’ve listened, however, as he soon accidentally set course to a star, almost destroying the ship with the two in it. Only with combined effort from the two and Amicus’ advice was Marco able to drive the ship away from the star’s gravitational pull, although the ship was left greatly damaged from the whole ordeal, leading to a system shut-down as it recovered.This gave Amicus and Marco enough time to calm down and, after a bit of spiteful silence, talk things out. Amicus finally exposed his troubles as contender for the Imperial throne and the two eventually compromised to collaborate, Marco as the wolf’s pet, under the condition that, if Amicus becomes Emperor, he’ll use his authority to get Marco back home.
When the ship was functional once more, the two finally reset their course to Adastra.
===Amicus and Marco in Adastra===
The two arrived on the Moon in the dead of night and Amicus and Marco had to sneak into the former’s room, but not before Amicus was interrupted by Cassius, who informed him that, due to his expedition, Amicus had missed a meeting he needed to attend, his sister Virginia going in his stead.
Embittered, Amicus led his new pet to his room, which they’d have to share, with Marco sleeping on the sofa. The following morning, Amicus goes to attend his meditation, leaving Marco alone in the room. Unfortunately, Cassius, who was suspicious of his brother’s recent activity, enters Amicus’ room, leading to him and Marco meeting, to Cassius’ horror. Cato and Amicus were soon alerted and the latter finally introduces Marco to the others in the palace, passing him off as a semi-sapient Simanian (a primate species from the Galaxias), thus the Human had to feign stupidity in front of the others in the palace.
To try and get Marco familiar with his role as pet, Amicus asked him to help him bathe and later brush and perfume him. While Marco refused to do the former, he accepted to do the latter, and in the process even bonded with the wolf a bit, to the point of starting to see him as handsome.
That same morning, Marco had to attend to another duty as pet and attend to Amicus during breakfast, which he did by mimicking Alexios’ behavior. When Amicus started petting Marco on the head, like Cassius does with his omorfan pet, Marco spilt wine all over the wolf, feigning it as an accident. Despite understanding Marco’s intention, Amicus still defended him when Cassius advised his brother to beat the Human over his failure and tried to do so himself. Cato eventually broke up the brotherly quarrel and the three wolves departed to their duties, Amicus having to attend his math studies. Marco was left alone with Alexios and started to realize that he’s uncomfortable with staying in the palace without Amicus, but eventually, after failing to maintain his semi-sapient façade to the cat, the Human and Alexios started bonding, the former being unwitting of the Omorfan’s true, manipulative colors.
Amicus and Marco met again in the afternoon and discussed various matters: from Amicus’ mistreatment at the hands of his teacher to Marco’s grievances with Adastra’s treatment of its Children species, which he had learned from Alex. Amicus agreed with Marco, but also told him that he would’ve had to bring only gradual change once he became Emperor.
Marco then took a shower for the first time in two days, and soon as he exited the bathroom, he was greeted by Amicus, who brushed the Human’s hair to return the earlier favor. Amicus confessed to enjoying Marco’s company, as life in the palace was lonely for the wolf, who only had Com as his companion, and Marco had to admit to himself that the wolf was starting to grow on him as well.
The following morning, Amicus decided to take Marco on a picnic with Alexios on the Island close to the imperial palace. The three got ready, but were briefly interrupted by Cato, who reminded Amicus of the training session in Pugnu (a combat-based sport) they had planned for the eleventh hour, but luckily allowed him to have the picnic.
Amicus decided he’d swim towards the island while Marco and Alex would be taking the Sightseer, a small hovercraft, mostly so he could race the two to the island and easily win against the slow-moving vehicle. Marco, however, decided to dive into the lake and swim towards the island as well, intent on beating the wolf. This, however, sent Amicus and Alex into a panic as, unlike Humans, most primates in the Galaxias were completely unable to swim, so the wolf hurriedly “rescued” Marco from “drowning” and carried him towards the shore, Amicus and Alex remaining shook even after Marco told them both that Humans could learn to swim. Alex had tried throwing the picnic basket at Marco to help him stay afloat, ruining most of the food, but some things could still be salvaged and the three had their meal. Now knowing that he could swim, Amicus challenged Marco to a swimming race around the Island, the Human giving the Wolf a run for his money even if the latter won.
Amicus then asked Marco to teach him freestyle swimming and, although clumsy at first, he quickly got the hang of it, to Marco’s surprise. Marco and Amicus would hang out on the island for longer, with the human wrestling the wolf to stop him from teasing Alex and even taking a glance at Amicus while he’s naked (if the player chose the option to do so) to the wolf’s initial flutter. Amicus told Marco of his former friendship with his brother Cassius, about his father’s death and the wolves’ enhanced lifespan.
When going to the palace’s amphitheater to train with Cato, however, Amicus found out he had gotten carried away and was half an hour late. Amicus then shew off his athleticism and playfully sparred with Marco, but then Cato finally arrived, furious over Amicus’ tardiness and the two started their match of Pugnu. Although he landed some good hits, Amicus was quickly overpowered by Cato (not helped by Cato taunting Amicus with the great success Cassius’ speech had that day) and, eventually, the old wolf threw Amicus against the amphitheater’s stairway, injuring his back. Amicus was left in a grim mood by the humiliation and Marco understood that Cato was an unpleasant fellow.
When returning to the palace, Amicus and Marco met Virginia, who has returned from her trip, and Neferu, a Khemian (humanoid jackal) and the son of the Pharoah who had remained stuck on Adastra when the Parent’s withheld its stretch drive and who had befriended the wolven princess. Marco greeted these new acquaintances with some “exotic” human gestures, to Neferu’s particular delight, while Amicus was still in a sour mood, but still made attempts at civilty with his sister and her new friend before hurriedly going to his room with Marco, the wolf getting weird vibes off of the Khemian.
Seeing the wolf still upset, Marco offered to massage him, as was expected of a pet, and, after making sure Marco consented, Amicus eagerly obliged. During his massaged, the two discussed on Cato’s harshness, while Amicus actually agreed with the old wolf, as he wasn’t taking his duties as seriously as he should have been, while Marco comments that Cato was still too strict and that, even if he was a monarch, Amicus still deserved some fun once in a while, while being serious when he needed to be. After the massage, Marco then rubbed Amicus belly, resulting in the wolf falling asleep, the human quickly drifting asleep as well beside Amicus. Following this, Amicus and Marco finally started sleeping on the bed together at night.
===The Trials and Falling in Love===
After the painful lesson from Cato, Amicus started acting much more seriously during the following weeks, waking up in the morning to meditate and run campaigns in the city and forgoing outings with Marco or Alex altogether, leaving the human with very few things to do throughout the day.
The first Trial approached, and Marco was nervous, as it was a dance competition in which Amicus and his pet would’ve had to dance together against Cassius and Alexios. Marco wished to already start practicing, but Amicus dismissed the dance as easy enough to memorize in a few sittings.
One day, when Amicus was absent, Cassius borrowed Marco to have the pet serve him while he conversed with Virginia, as Alexios was attending to diplomatic matters. Amicus was furious to hear this when he came back home and threatened Cassius to let Marco go through Com. Amicus then wanted to approach Cassius and give him a piece of his mind, but Marco reassured him that the wolf had not been abusive and the human insisted that Amicus would, instead, start teaching him the choreography, as the first Trial was only three days away.
Amicus took Marco to the Throne room, where he told him of how the dance was more of a play with narration rather than music, as, in Adastra, dancing is used to tell stories.
The wolf finally explained the meaning of the dance to his companion: Amicus and Marco would be reenacting the tragedy of Drusus and Meera, respectively, the wolven Emperor who founded Adastra and his late wife, who was a Hindo (humanoid tiger); Drusus’ domain was fractured and decadent and abandoned by the Parents and, when he asked for them to return and make his Empire prosperous once more, they asked for Drusus to sacrifice his lover as the price; with Drusus unwilling to lose her, even at the cost of his people, Meera decided to kill herself for the good of the Empire and, from her sacrifice, Adastra was born and prospered for millennia.
Marco was at first exasperated at the fact that he’d have to play a woman, and that the reenactment would have included cuddling and even a kiss on the mouth at the end, but obliged and the two practiced the dance, barring the final kiss, and it went pretty well.
Exhausted and sweaty after an afternoon of training, Amicus decided to take Marco to the palace’s communal bath. Amicus dived into the extremely hot water and then forcefully dragged an horrified Marco into it. The two continued teasing each other in the water, which had now become comfortably warm to them, some of that teasing even oddly flirty and then relaxed, discussing the tedious formalities of Adastran politics, but also how populist Emperors like Cassius have made the Empire isolated and poor in the past. Finally, Marco voices his worries over how he would go back to Earth if the Parents had withheld the Stretch Drive from the Wolves, but Amicus assured him they’d find a way, even if he didn’t become Emperor.Neferu eventually entered the bath as well, to Amicus and Marco’s surprise and later to the former’s annoyance, as the jackal appears to be even too interested in the Human. The two canids held a short, polite enough conversation before Neferu wanted to speak with Marco, having been told by Alexios that the human was fully sapient, and was appalled by Amicus restraining his freedom of speech, as the wolf was still trying to hold up the charade of Marco being semi-sapient. When Neferu got a bit too touchy with Marco, Amicus angrily pinned him to the wall and warned him against touching his pet. Since the jig was up with the Khemian, Marco finally voiced his non-consent to Neferu’s advances. After Amicus and Neferu argued some more on the wolves’ employment of slavery, the jackal started flirting with a surprised Amicus, as he had heard all the rumors about the latter’s sexuality, only to be pushed away by the bewildered wolf and take his leave.
A grumpy Amicus was then followed to his room by a confused Marco, who curiously asked the wolf if he really was gay like the jackal had assumed. Needless to say, this was a touchy subject for Amicus, but, after the human reassured him that homosexuality isn’t usually frowned upon on Earth like it is on Adastra, the wolf awkwardly came out as gay. He was afraid Marco would see past events, such as the massaging or the dance, in a different light, but the human knew Amicus wasn’t taking advantage of him. Seeing how ashamed the wolf is of his sexuality, Marco came out as gay to Amicus too. To show that things hadn’t changed between them after the confessions, Marco proposed to have a shower together, the human no longer in self-denial about finding the wolf attractive.
The day of the first Trial finally arrived and, to prepare him for the role of Meera, Amicus had Marco wear a Hindo dress while an old wolf painted tiger stripes on his face and arms (the cultural insensitivity of what’s pretty much alien blackface not being lost on the uncomfortable Human). Marco felt ridiculous, but Amicus reassured him that he looked beautiful. The wolf explained everything to his pet one last time, also revealing to him that the Trial would be broadcast live to all of Adastra…but immediately realized that it was a bad idea to tell this to Marco, who was now infinitely more nervous.
In the first part of the Trial, Amicus and Cassius competed in playing an alien brass instrument and howling a song, but then came the time for the dance, and the pets stepped in to play Meera. Things came crashing down, however, as Marco’s lingua turned out to be unable to translate the howled narration the pairs would be dancing to. Marco was completely lost and his confused moves ruined Amicus’ tempo as well, the two performing very poorly, not helped by the end when Amicus, still insecure over his homosexuality, kisses Marco on the cheek instead of the mouth as the dance expected. Cassius and Alexios, on the other hand, performed very well, impressing even Marco, and won the first Trial by a landslide.
Marco walked out as quickly as possible in complete humiliation and later anger, towards the system, the entire situation, and even a bit at Amicus, who had gotten him there in the first place.
Amicus faced Marco as soon as the Human came out of the shower. Marco’s initial passive-aggressiveness at the wolf asking him if he was alright soon turned into frustrated venting, partly because things would’ve gotten better if they had practiced a bit more, and the two quarreled briefly. But then Marco just started laughing at it all and explained all that went wrong with the lingua to Amicus.
Eventually, Marco’s sour mood dissipated and the two cuddled to relieve all the stress from that day and because they both felt very lonely and vulnerable. During their embrace, Amicus tried to understand what the Earthly concept of “dating” was when Marco brought up how this sort of intimacy was befitting of a dating couple rather than of two friends.
His chances at Emperorship having decreased, Amicus started going on public campaigns even more often, leaving Marco in the palace, where he kept hanging out with Alex, their competition in the dance having left no dent in their friendship. Marco even discussed Cassius’ plans of removing the triumvirates with the cat, as the human had heard of them when serving Cassius and Virginia that earlier day.
One day, after Alex went on a walk with Neferu, whom he was having an affair with, and left Marco alone in the garden, Marco noticed someone hiding among the bushed and discovered it was Amicus, who was hiding something behind his back. He then went down on one knee and shew Marco what he was hiding: a bouquet of lavender and other white flowers he had made himself.Marco was left speechless, leaving Amicus to worry that he had messed up. Marco questioned if the wolf fully knew the connotations that dating has for humans, especially the main, romantic one. Amicus was embarrassed at discovering what dating really was about. Marco confessed that, if the situation wasn’t as precarious as it was, he would accept to go further in his relationship with the wolf.
The two returned to Amicus room to help him practice his debating skills, as the second Trial, based on oration, would be starting weeks from then. They were surprised to find Cassius there as, unwittingly to them, he had set up some cameras in Amicus’ room in search for something incriminating. A furious Amicus asked Cassius what he was doing, but the white wolf ignored his questions and threatened to call Cato if Amicus didn’t let him leave. But, before exiting the room, Cassius turned to Marco and mocked him over his poor performance in the first trial, even trying to condescendingly touch his face. That’s when Amicus made good on his threats and punched Cassius, leaving him to bleed from his nose on the floor. A furious Cassius threatened that he would imprison Amicus and have Marco executed when he became Emperor and stormed out. Marco was understandably worried, but Amicus was confident in Cassius being all bark no bite and that he had no chance of becoming Emperor in the first place.
On the last day off Amicus had before having to prepare for the second Trial, he and Marco sat in the garden, discussing Amicus’ plans once he became Emperor, the war Adastra and Khemia had in the past, etc. before the two set off to have a picnic on the Island again.
There, Marco asked  some information about Cato, who was still a very mysterious figure for him, and continued voicing his worries over if fate if Amicus didn’t become Emperor. Amicus reassured him once more that he’d keep him safe and, to be sure, even taught Marco some self-defense techniques he could use against Cassius if things really got ugly. The two teased each other a lot as they wrestled, even if it’s clear Amicus had the upper hand, and they soon ended up with the wolf crouching above a laying Marco.
That’s when Amicus finally kissed Marco on the mouth, to the latter’s utter surprise. After both had calmed down from the excitement, Amicus finally mustered the courage to confess his feelings for Marco and again, Marco had to remind the wolf that, even if he returned the feelings, their situation made all prospects of being a real couple null. Marco did, however, confess he had liked the kiss, to Amicus’ relief. Amicus then told Marco of his terrible experience with the Triumvir’s son all those years ago, but Marco reassured him he wouldn’t act the same way. The wolf then asked the Human to date him again, this time knowing what it meant, and Marco replied that he’d think about it, telling Amicus to not think about it and focus on the second Trial.
Amicus and Marco’s relationship, however, got much more awkward the following days. Although still worried about the incredible illegality of their whole situation, Marco started accepting his feelings for Amicus and, the day before the Trial, he made his own bouquet to ask Amicus out himself and finally make things unambiguous between the two of them.
Amicus, however, had planned to make a deal with Neferu so that, if Cassius became Emperor, Neferu would make Marco his pet, giving the Human diplomatic immunity and protecting him. In return, Neferu asked for an alliance between Adastra and Khemia, but, since it wasn’t something Amicus was sure he could provide, and he couldn’t make such important promises for the sake of one person, Neferu changed his mind and instead requested to have sex the wolf, who reluctantly obliged, for Marco’s sake.
Unfortunately, however, Marco walked in, intent on asking Amicus out, just as the wolf and the jackal finished their coitus session. Suddenly aware of Marco’s presence in the room, Amicus and Neferu desperately tried to explain, but the confused, angry and somewhat heartbroken Human was already jogging away as far as he could. Amicus reached Marco, who tried to dismiss it all as no big deal, as it was never going to be anything more than a “fling” between him and Amicus, but the wolf explained his deal with Neferu to Marco. In turn, Marco was enraged still, as Amicus had once again decided everything for him, without any consultation first, as if Amicus really saw him as a dumb ape. A quarrel broke out until Marco left, in spite of pleas from the wolf.
Amicus didn’t come back to his room that night, and instead stayed in his meditation room, sulking. The morning of the second Trial, Neferu and Marco talked things out and the jackal took him to Amicus so he could give his wolf some encouragement before the Trial. Amicus, however, was completely disheveled, deeming himself a spoiled brat who wasn’t prepared for, nor deserving of the throne. He then apologized for everything he did to Marco. The human was glad Amicus had had that epiphany, but then was a terrible time for it, so he encouraged the wolf, reminded him of his duties and made him pull himself together. Amicus finally regained his confidence and set off to prepare himself for his debate.The Trial of Rhetoric finally started and the two competing wolves were each given twenty minutes to expose their policies, without referencing the other at any point. Amicus went first and, with great confidence and theatricality, narrated the History of Adastra and his plans to carry on his ancestors’ legacy of collaboration with the Siblings and prosperity for the Moon.
Amicus performed very well, to Marco’s pride, but then came Cassius’ turn. His speech was much more populist and aggressive, often directly towards Amicus in spite of the rules and Cato’s half-hearted attempts to enforce them. The worst was still yet to come, however, as Cassius had used the cameras he had in Amicus’ room to record his coitus session with Neferu, which he proceeded to broadcast moon-wide, to everyone’s shock. The tension was thick, and Amicus, Marco, Neferu and Virginia knew they had lost. However, Cassius’ intention of getting rid of the triumvirates were ratted out by Alexios and the rumor had spread far and wide, so all of the triumvirates voted for Amicus instead, only an enraged Cato voting for Cassius.
The heroes were too surprised and shocked by all that had happened to cheer, but Amicus had won. Since it was clear that Cassius had lost only because of the rumors of his intentions with the triumvirates, the people of Adastra rioted, while Marco was still in danger, since Cassius believed him to be the one who spread the word, as he was the only one present to his discussion with Virginia over it.thumb|right|250px|After winning the second Trial, Amicus has a nice dinner with Marco and the others in a restaurant in Adastra City.Nonetheless, when Amicus returned to his room, he was greeted and embraced by Marco. The two then departed with the rest of the cast to have a dinner with the Triumvirates in Adastra City so as to celebrate Amicus’ victory, but not before Marco did what he wanted to do since before the Trial started and kissed the wolf.
During the ride in the chariot, Amicus had a bit of an argument with Neferu, but Virginia was luckily there to make her brother behave. They eventually arrived and were greeted by the Triumvirs, who entertained the three siblings, but especially Amicus, in long, boring conversations on their way to the restaurant. Citizen greeted Amicus from doors and windows and, eventually, a group of young girls arrived to give flowers to Amicus and the triumvirs. One of the girls, a sickly-looking child, shyly gave a flower to Marco, brushed her muzzle against his cheek and sprinted away from the weird-looking “alien”. Amicus tried showing Marco some souvenirs and explaining wolven culture to him, but the triumvirates still kept him too busy.
The two finally got some time to themselves in the cozy restaurant. The two discussed what Amicus’ duties as Emperor would have been and Marco proposed Virginia as a god potential advisor, to which Amicus agreed, even if it would have been risky to have a woman fill the roll, especially when Amicus first had to amend to the scandal over his homosexuality. Marco then voiced his concerns at Amicus’ questionable victory, but the wolf reassured him that the public’s anger was directed towards the corrupt Triumvirates rather than him and that, although Cassius broadcast would’ve given Amicus a lot of PR issues to fix, it wasn’t that irreparable, since Amicus was at least not the “bottom” between him and Neferu.
Amicus then asked Marco if he would like staying in Adastra even after he became Emperor, but Marco did need to at least go back to Earth and tell his loved ones he was ok. Still, even if he knew there were problems, he wished to keep in touch with Amicus and he finally asked the wolf to date him, a relieved Amicus obliging, even if Marco demanded to no longer be kept in the dark about anything. Marco goes so far as to promise to have sex with Amicus when they were back home, feeling nervous but excited at the prospect.
However, tragedy struck, as the little girl had infected Marco with Avia Pox, which was relatively harmless for the wolves, but turned out to be very dangerous for the human, who vomited and had terrible seizures. Amicus and the others hurriedly brought Marco back to the palace; Neferu and Virginia wanted to use the chariot for him, but Amicus feared it was too slow and desperately ran to the palace with Marco in his arms himself. There was little that the palace physician, Felix, could do and, although he survived, Marco fell into a coma that he was diagnosed to never be able to wake up from and was laid in the amphitheater, covered in flowers.
Amicus was absolutely devastated and spent the following three days sulking in his room and drowning his despair in wine and stress tablets. After a conversation with the Monitor, however, Marco woke up from his coma, fully healed and went to check on his wolf. He found Amicus in his room, passed out and surrounded by empty wine bottles and, when calling for him and shacking him didn’t wake him up, Marco splashed him in the face with water, which did the trick.
Seeing his boyfriend back from practically death, Amicus was shocked to the point of numbness and initially dismissed Marco as another despair-induced hallucination, until the Human touched him and warmly embraced him. The wolf fainted from shock, but it was easier for Marco to wake him up the second time. Now sure that his lover was really back, Amicus and Marco warmly reunited and could finally confess their mutual love. They showered together, kissed passionately and finally made love with each other.
They showered once again and then fell asleep together on the bed.
===The Darkest Hour===
The sweet reunion, however, was interrupted the following morning, when a furious Cato barged into Amicus’ room, a frightened Cassius behind him. When trying to cure Marco, Felix discovered that the Human was a different species from any profiled primate in the Galaxias, therefore Amicus and Marco’s masquerade was bust and the wolf’s illegal first contact was exposed, just like his relationship with Marco.
Cato cruelly sent Felix off to the dungeons and forced a reluctant Cassius to hold Marco hostage with his nervo (which was supposed to have been set to lethal mode, but, luckily, Cassius didn’t have the heart) while the old wolf restrained Amicus.
Cato forced Amicus to stage a fake third Trial in which Cassius would win, justifying the nigh-impossibility of the outcome with the importance of luck and tactics in Pugnu. Amicus obliged, as Marco would’ve been killed if he refused, and the four moved to the amphitheater, where Cato beat Amicus to make the staged footage more convincing, ignoring the protests of even Cassius. As Cassius stepped into the scene to feign a victorious move over Amicus, he accidentally left his nervo behind. Marco swiftly proceeded to tase Cassius with it, but was unsuccessful in trying the same with Cato. As Cato was about to tase the Human in turn, Amicus quickly reached up and tore the old wolf’s ocular prosthetics straight out of his face.
Amicus then told Marco to run to Neferu as Cato quickly ordered Com to send drones to execute the Human. Marco managed to evade the murderous robots and hide in Neferu’s room and, since the Khemian kept his end of the deal with Amicus and made the Human his protegee, Cato and Com wouldn’t be able to harm Marco while he stood in the palace or the island.
Amicus, however, was locked up in the dungeon under Cato’s orders and, thanks to the staged Trial, Cassius became the new Emperor of Adastra, even if, in practice, he was a puppet ruler for Cato, who was now close as ever to his goal of usurping the throne. Luckily, after a conversation with the Human over his true nature, Cassius allowed Marco to visit Amicus in the dungeons, when Cato was away from the palace, of course, as even he wanted to help his brother. Amicus was incredibly relieved to see his lover once again after all those days, and the two started crying profusely as they embraced. Amicus plead to Marco to leave Adastra now that he’s a Khemian citizen, but the latter assured him that he wouldn’t be leaving until Amicus and all of Adastra had been saved from Cato. As time ran out for the visit, Amicus simply asked Marco to be careful.
Meanwhile, Virginia, Neferu and Marco were organizing a plan to take down Cato, with the Human visiting Amicus whenever he could to spend time with him. With help from Neferu, Marco would eventually discover Alexios’ true nature as a spy and the one responsible for a lot of problems in his stay in Adastra, including Cato finding out Marco had woken up from his coma.
Virginia was eventually able to access the palace’s Archive room and retrieve footage of Cato and Cassius staging the fake Trial. She and Marco then confronted Emperor Cassius with it, with plans of blackmailing him into abdicating the Throne and leaving it to Amicus, who deserved it. Cassius was easier to convince than expected, as he found out his role as puppet Emperor was unfulfilling and seeing both of his siblings working against him made it all not worth it to him, so the wolf accepted and planned to publicly abdicate the following morning.
Unfortunately, Alexios was present during the discussion and alerted Cato who, the morning Cassius planned to announce his abdication, poisoned the Emperor’s wine during breakfast and had Marco serve the cup to Cassius so as to flimsily incriminate the Human. Thanks to Virginia helping him puke out some of the poison, Cassius ended up hospitalized rather than dead, but Cato, nevertheless, became the Emperor, violent riots breaking out in Adastra city as he did.
Neferu was accused of ordering Marco to assassinate Cassius and consequently sent to be executed, restarting the war with Khemia like Cato had longed for so long, Virginia was forced by the evil wolf to marry him so as to give him absolute power and Marco was locked in Amicus’ room to be done away with later. However, Cato didn’t know Humans can swim unlike all other primates, so Marco took a dive from the balcony and into the lake below and swam back to the entrance of the palace. With help from Alexios, whom the Human had threatened into collaboration, Marco found Amicus and broke him out of the dungeons, explaining the dire situation to him afterwards.
Amicus and Marco rushed to the Amphitheater, interrupting Cato just as he was about to execute Neferu with a dagger, broadcasting it for all of Adastra to see. Amicus resorted to the only option he had left to stop Emperor Cato: challenging him to a duel to the death. Cato accepted, mostly to have the glory of beating a youngling despite being an old-man with bad eyesight and to finally have a chance to kill Amicus. A vicious fight broke out between the two wolves, but Amicus was eventually knocked out. As Cato prepared to bite Amicus’ throat open, Marco, who no longer cared about the rules and was even encouraged by Virginia, grabbed the dagger that was meant for Neferu and stabbed Cato twice in the back. Fatally wounded, the mad Emperor used the last of his strength to take the dagger from Marco and slash his neck wide open, the Human landing in the arms of an horrified Neferu. As a dying Cato approached the Khemian in one final, spiteful attempt to kill him, Amicus grabbed the old wolf, smashed him against the ground and mauled his neck, finally killing him for good.
As Com announced Amicus the victor and the new Emperor of Adastra, roars of joy that came all the way from Adastra City could be heard from the palace.
====Bad Ending====
Despite Cato having been defeated once and for all, Marco’s mortal wounds were unrepairable and the Human started bleeding out.
Amicus grabbed his dying lover, absolutely devastated, and desperately cried for medical help for him. Amicus tried to tell Marco that everything would be fine and they’d be able to live and grow old together, but it soon became clear not even he believed it.
Marco, at least glad that he got to see his wolf for the last time, died while unsuccessfully trying to tell a sobbing Amicus that he loved him and, in death, went on to become one with the Parents.
It’s not shown what happened next, but Amicus was most likely too distraught over losing Marco forever to attend to his Imperial duties and maybe even committed suicide.
NOTE: This ending will be achieved if, during Marco’s prior conversation with the Monitor, the player refuses when given the option to submit to the will of the Parents.
====Good Route====
When the last bit of life left Marco’s body, a grieving Amicus was left emotionally numb and remorseful over having dragged the Human into all this, feeling responsible over his death. That grief then turned into resolve, as Amicus refused to lose his lover and ran to the Archive room to talk with the Parents, the Human in his arms.Upon entering the Parents’ dimension with Marco’s corpse, Amicus was incredulous yet relieved to see his Human’s soul reenter his body. He merrily told Marco that they’ve won and the two embrace again.
But the moment was interrupted by the Monitor, the Parents’ messenger. The Parents themselves then manifested so as to communicate with Amicus as directly as possible, possessing Marco to speak to the wolf, much to his confusion, horror and anger. But all of his defiance against the Parents was overwhelmed by his sheer desperation, and he begged for them to leave Marco be and heal him back to life.
The Parents revealed to Amicus that his meeting with Marco was meant to be, so that Marco would help Amicus become Emperor and bring a new, brighter future to Adastra and all other Sibling civilizations and so that Earth, which had been an experimental microcosm for the Parents, could finally become part of the Galaxias. They then revealed to him the greater purpose of the Galaxias and why the Siblings need to prosper in unison: to become strong enough to confront the Other, Eldritch Machines that plan to consume and assimilate the entire Universe.
The Parents then informed Amicus that he needed to make a decision. Amicus initially thought they wanted to give him the same crossroads as Drusus and defiantly refused, but the Parent reassured him that Amicus merely had to submit himself to the will of the Parents to have his Human back. After making sure his choice wouldn’t take away Marco’s own freedom, Amicus accepts.thumb|left|250px|Amicus is relieved as the Parents revived Marco, the two being able to be together once again.The wolf then returned to his realm with Marco, who had been revived by the parents and given a mechanical throat, to his initial startlement.
Marco had no recollection of Amicus’ dialogue with the Parents and asked what had happened, but right then and there, Amicus only wanted to enjoy the moment. Amicus apologized for having dragged Marco into everything, as he felt guilty even if it was the Parents’ plan, but Marco held no grudge. The lovers had finally been reunited after all their hardships and they could celebrate their victory.
===Emperorship===
Amicus was finally Emperor, which resulted in him being kept busy throughout the week by political duties and ceremonies and getting to spend little time with Marco. He took on a more mature persona when acting as Emperor, but Virginia, now finally his advisor, still had to teach his less responsible brother a thing or two.
When Cassius recovered from his poisoning, he mellowed out considerably, made slight amends with the heroes and was nominated Chief of Social Affairs, as the white wolf’s populism and concern for medical welfare were always genuine. As for Alexios, Amicus banished the cat out of the palace as soon as he was told of his treacherous nature (after Marco talked him out of outright killing the cat) and the Omorfan went to live in an apartment in the City, his lover Cassius still visiting him. Neferu and Amicus never became outright friends, but they at least stopped their fighting.
One day, Amicus finally explained to Marco the what he had discussed about with the Parents, the deal to revive Marco, their predestined love and, lastly and most painful, what Marco’s own duty would have been: he would have had to spend the following eight years on Earth trying to integrate the planet into the Galaxias, starting nine months from then. Marco, understandably distressed, spent most of that time undecided on what to do, even if Amicus had Felix provide Marco with life-expanding tablets so that eight years would seem much shorter.
Five months passed and the holiday of Lover’s Day arrived. Amicus seemingly had the day off, and eagerly surprised Marco with a bouquet that morning, explaining Lover’s Day to the Human. Amicus had the entirety of the day with Marco planned out, but Neferu arrived to warn the Emperor that he was expected at Varro’s University, where the council and the Khemian ambassador and Vizier were waiting for him. Amicus was upset and disappointed, but set off to the meeting, Marco coming with him, as he still expected it to end soon enough for him and Marco to carry out at least most of Amicus’s plans for the day. At the University, Amicus met Virginia, who was livid, as Amicus had kept the Vizier and all the others waiting for one hour, though, luckily, the University teacher and Khemiaphile, Veteris, entertained them in that time. Amicus, Virginia and Neferu left Marco alone in the University to attend to the meeting. The Human explored Varro’s for a while and then fell asleep, suffering a terrible, possibly paranormal nightmare. When he woke up, it had become late in the evening and Amicus had just finished his meeting, which had lasted longer than expected. Amicus tried to at least salvage the meal he planned to have with Marco in Adastra City, but he was five hours late and the restaurant was closed, enraging the wolf. Marco was greatly disappointed seeing his wolf act like a spoiled pup, something he proceeded to scold him over, but also felt sorry for the wolf, who had all his plans go null. Amicus, deflated, simply returned to the palace. The walk back initially started with sourness between the disappointed pair, but it soon got more lighthearted, as they started discussing the social situation back on Earth in relation to Adastra. That’s when Amicus revealed that the place they weren’t able to dine at was actually an Italian restaurant Amicus had ordered to be built to help the integration of human culture in Adastra and which he had named after Marco himself. Marco then asked Amicus some questions about the Other, but the conversation soon turned into Amicus teasing the Human with scary stories of cryptids.
Amicus and Marco decided to at least have one more picnic on the Island to have a pleasant end for a very disappointing day. After having eaten, Amicus grabbed Marco and carried him towards the shore, to Marco’s horror, as he didn’t want to swim in the freezing water with his robes on. However, Amicus instead placed Marco on the beach, kneeled, pulled out a ring and finally popped the question.Marco was once again left speechless, but Amicus was determined to have something that would keep him and Marco bound even after eight years of separation, even if same-sex marriage was illegal on Adastra.
Marco accepted, and Amicus brimming with joy, kissing and bear-hugging his human. Amicus gave Marco his stretch ring, a ring which symbolizes the spherical shape some theorize the Universe to have. Stretch rings are usually used for long-distance relationships, as a reminder that, although they move away from each other in one direction, they are technically moving towards each other in the opposite one, as the Universe is spherical. Marco lovingly hugged Amicus, no longer holding in any of the feelings and conflictions he had felt in those last months.
The couple then returned to Amicus’ room and proceeded to make passionate love once again.
===Interea===
Before Marco left Adastra to go back to Earth, Amicus planned to take the Human with him as he toured the Moon for his imperial duties, so as to finally show Marco all of the cities on Adastra.
The morning the day the two were to depart on their journey, Amicus and Marco woke up, the wolf detecting that his Human was troubled by something (most likely, his approaching departure from Adastra), teasing the latter when he refused to spill the beans.
Amicus then left to attend to various meetings, leaving Marco alone in his room to study Adastran History.
When Marco and Neferu later visited the island, they found out that Alexios and Cassius were trying to build a device to contact Omorfa and also that, due to Cassius’ popularity in various places in Adastra such as Lux, the two would also be coming with them on the first part of the Tour, to Marco’s dismay.
Marco later fell asleep on the beach only to then be awoken by Amicus, as their guide for the Tour, the Bear Sibling, Bjarni had arrived. Marco informed Amicus of Alexios attempt to contact Adastra and, while the outraged wolf’s first thoughts were to kill him, he recomposed himself, as he knew of the consequences it would have on Adastra’s already strained diplomacy with Omorfa. Amicus then instructed Marco to be formal while the two were in public, and an initially offended Marco agreed. Marco, in turn, urged Amicus to tell him should he ever feel stressed out by his role.
The two prepared and went to the automatic carriage to go to the University with Neferu and Virginia, not before being first scolded by her for being almost an hour late. During the trip, Virginia was also filled in on Alexios’ activity and proposed killing him and making it look like an accident, but Marco, in spite of the Parents’ orders, objected, as that was the method Cato had used with Potes. As Marco had struggled greatly to voice his opinion in spite of the Parents’ controlling his throat device against it, Amicus and the others were disturbed and worried, but Marco tried to brush it all off. There, they met with Bjarni, interrupting an awkward dialogue he was having with Alexios. The bear introduced himself and, after warning Amicus of Alexios’ deceptiveness, he greeted Marco, showing himself to be quite knowledgeable in Earth’s customs, as diplomats on Adastra had undergone lessons on the Humans as ordered by Amicus.
The Bear then informed the cast of the three locations they’d be visiting: Lux, a wealthy but conservative region; Lupas, Adastra’s cultural epicenter and Ad Rotae, a city for resort and entertainment.
During the briefing, it was discussed how the trip to Lupas might be dangerous for Marco, as a separatist movement was on the rise there, and they had clear antagonism towards Neferu and Marco.
Being given one hour before departing, Amicus took Marco to an atrium and discussed with him over the dangers posed by the extremist cult in Lupas, worrying about if Marco should so much as give his planned speech there if the situation really is that dire, but, in spite of warnings from the Parents, Marco was determined to give it.Still the two kept on arguing about the threat of the situation and how little Amicus had told Marco about it and Neferu didn’t lighten the mood when he joined the conversation under Virginia’s advice, informing Marco of Lupas’ long history of assassinations, to Amicus’ annoyance.
Amicus then complained about Bjarni changing the tour’s schedule without warning, just as the Bear arrived at the atrium to alert Amicus, Marco and Neferu that the security check had finished earlier than expected and that the Tour would finally start.
NOTE: Interea is currently a work in progress.
===Saying Goodbye===
The last full day before Marco’s departure, Amicus, unfortunately, still had Khemian matters ro attend to, but he plans to spend the night alone with his “Emperor Consort”. They spent that night having one of their arguments that they both learned to enjoy, but Marco was a bit lacking in energy, feeling very uncertain on what to do to integrate Earth into the Galaxias. When Marco fell asleep, however, the Monitor reassured him in his dreams and shew Marco the destiny that awaited him and Amicus after those eight years: they would travel the Galaxias together, unifying it, they would change Adastra greatly, reforming it and shifting the power away from the Imperial family and at last they’d get married, retire to the countryside and grow old and die together. Amicus also received this vision of the future.
The morning of Marco’s departure finally arrived and, after one last goodbye to Virginia and Neferu, the Human boarded the same ship that had brought him to the Moon one year prior, Amicus with him on the last, ten-hour trip.
They ate and chatted for the following two hours, Marco worrying about his mission one last time while Amicus still had confidence in the Parents. Relaxed by his wolf, a tired Marco fell asleep, Amicus not wanting to wake him up and eventually drifting off as well. Hours passed and the two were woken up by Com informing the two that they’d reach Earth in twenty minutes, Marco being upset at Amicus for allowing him to sleep through their last eight hours together. The Human then swallowed his bitterness, not wanting to ruin his last moments with Amicus.The two had finally returned to the hotel in Rome where they had first met. It was clear that their adventure together was about to end for eight whole years and, despite their attempts at light-hearted banter, the two are absolutely devastated, embracing each other longingly.
They encouraged each other and, as requested by the Parents, Amicus gave Marco a tablet he would need for his mission on Earth.
Amicus’ brave face completely crumbled at last and the two share their last, loving goodbyes in tears and warm hugs. Amicus encouraged his boyfriend one last time, kissed him lovingly and disappeared into the night to board his ship and return to his Empire, while Marco, under instruction from the Parents through the tablet, started his mission on Earth at last.
==Khemia==
After having been an Emperor for three years, Amicus’ efforts to mend to Cato’s destruction of diplomacy between Wolves and Khemians finally paid off, as he was invited to Khemia for a diplomatic meeting with the Pharaoh himself.
He planned to take four others with him: Neferu and his assistant, the wolverine Brunis, the old scholar Veteris and his Khemiaphilic student Scipio, who was chosen by Veteris for the mission due to his emotional closeness with the Neferu.
During a meeting at the University, however, Amicus was displeased to hear that, being a now symptomless carrier of Ava Pox, Marco had accidentally infected and killed some representatives, had been quarantined and various world powers threatened to pull out of the diplomacies with Adastra, leaving Amicus worried for his human and angry at the Parents.
To sour matters further, Scipio and Neferu decide to spend the night before the departure to Khemia a love hotel in the Clay District of Adastra, where criminals and separationist extremists are especially numerous. Predictably, the two are almost assassinated by a separationist in their own room, being saved just in time by a security drone.
When they return to the Imperial Palace, Amicus is there to berate the both of them, especially Neferu, for their short-sightedness, as not only did it almost cost their lives, but Neferu’s death would have most likely destroyed all hopes of diplomacy with Khemia right there and then. After the lecture, Amicus forgives the two, warning them to be more careful, and stops Com from telling Virginia of the incident, as she would’ve not been as forgiving.
The next day, the Khemian ship comes to retrieve the heroes and, after setting sail, Amicus and Veteris leave Scipio alone with Neferu and Brunis, the Emperor being entertained by the chatty old man.
Eventually, the ship arrives at its destination and the heroes can finally look with awe at the planet Khemia, Amicus summoning Scipio to discuss some matters with him.
NOTE: Khemia is currently a work in progress.
Category:Synopsis