Bellum Bestiae

## Story

Animal spirits have existed since they first originated in Africa. Over time, those spirits searched the world for warriors strong and worthy enough to host them, which would grant them the power to transform at will, be it in or out of combat, into all manner of powerful and mighty beasts. In August 1501, Damoclus, the demon lord of the Hell-like realm of Infernus, plans to plunge the world into chaos and conflict. Who will rise to the challenge and defend the world from his demonic forces or acquire as much of his demonic energy as necessary to doom it and all of mankind?

## Gameplay

Bellum Bestiae (the title is Latin for "War of Beasts") will have a 2.5D gameplay format, same as NetherRealm Studios' Mortal Kombat reboot and Injustice series, with some elements of Soul Calibur and Bloody Roar (except the animal forms aren't anthropomorphic) thrown in for good measure.

The Quest Mode, AKA the Arcade Mode of Bellum Bestiae, ladder will consist of eight CPU battles, a Mirror Battle, reminiscent of Mortal Kombat One, which also includes a cutscene where the character you play as is in their home stage and Damoclus shows up to create a copy of said character for you to fight, a Destined Battle, in which your chosen character fights their rival, that takes place inside the ruins of an abandoned cathedral, and two final fights in Infernus against the sub-boss and the final boss, who is, of course, Damoclus! So, that's 12 Quest Mode battles total.

The "super meter" here is called "Essentia Bestia" (Beast Essence), and do you know exactly what requires a third of it? Special techniques called "Ars Bestiae" (Beast Techniques), which are just like the Rage Morphs in the lost arcade game, Primal Rage II, in which your character quickly changes into their animal form to perform a powerful technique, and then back to human form at the same rate, and are performed using special command motions plus the B (Xbox One) or Circle (PS4) button, depending on which console you are playing it on.

The "fatalities," or "Percute Ultimum" (Final Strikes) as they're called here, are very similar to the Zetsumei Ougi in Samurai Shodown V Special in which they require not only that your opponent's health be critically low in your winning round, but also that you trigger an Instant Kill-like state, which can be done by pressing X+Y+A+B (Xbox One) or Square+Triangle+X+Circle (PS4), depending on the console version, requires that all three bars of your Essentia Bestia be full, and lasts until your Essentia Bestia meter runs out, then disappears with no chance of you being able to use it again (which can also happen if you whiff the pre-Percute Ultimum strike or the other guy blocks it). All Percute Ultimum are executed by, while in pre-Percute Ultimum state, performing the quarter-circle-back command and pressing the lower face buttons at the same time and allow you to gruesomely kill your opponent at the end of a fight, Mortal Kombat-style, and shape-shift into your beast form and back while doing it, so use your finishing move with anticipation! Now, I envision from 4:47 to 5:13 of this video to be the music for just about every Percute Ultimum (wouldn't that be awesome?).

Also, if your opponent's health is critically low in your winning round (same as with the Percute Ultimum), certain normal attacks or special moves can trigger a small animation of the camera focusing on the opponent, and the opponent only, as they are either decapitated, cut in half, horizontally or vertically (with the opponent falling on their knees like they just got on the receiving end of Kung Lao's MKII Body Slice Fatality before bisecting during the "vertical" part), have their left, right hand, or both arms chopped off, or bleed out and, regardless of the match win finish animation, drop their weapon in the process in a manner reminiscent of Samurai Shodown Sen, before cutting to the winning character's outro sequence. For the "Bisected" match win finish animations, "H" represents "horizontal" and "V" represents "vertical," and for the "Dismembered" ones, "H" represents "hand" and "A" represents "arms."

The game will run in Unreal Engine 4, to give it a very realistic look, from the stages to the character models.

With the exception of the game intro, Percute Ultimum sequences, character endings, and credits, which will have half the frame rate, I envision Bellum Bestiae to run at 60fps.

The Training Mode stage is a medieval-style training yard (you can fight in a different stage in Training Mode if you wish!).

Every Friday, I will be uploading two character bios, with the characters I'll be posting being Destined Battle rivals with one another, and each bio done should take at least until submission day to write in Sta.sh Writer.

The final boss battle vs. Damoclus is a three-round fight. Winning two rounds against Damoclus triggers an MKX Corrupted Shinnok transformation-like cutscene in which he will turn into a Tyrannosaurus rex as a beast form. While in his secondary form, Damoclus' moveset will change and the fight will become only one round and more like the Galactus boss fight in MVC3 and, also, the Ultron Omega boss fight in MVC Infinite.

The game intro and the prologues and endings for all the characters will be narrated by, of all people... Ben Kingsley!

The song that plays pre-credits roll, where short animations of all the characters, who are depicted in full-body, are shown in their home stages, with the names of their voice actors/actresses and pieces of 16th-century tapestry depicting said characters as their animal forms on their left or right (hidden and DLC will be added if unlocked), and also, during the credits, is "The Devil and the Huntsman," from Guy Ritchie's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

All character bios are rated "Strict Mature Content - Violence/Gore," just to make the project accessible only to viewers of at least the required age to play an M-rated game, which Bellum Bestiae is, and are not easily offended by excessive violence, gore, or blood.

## Characters

### Base Rosters

* Agnarr Holgersen *(voiced by Jamieson Price)*: Known as *Ulvensvrede* (Wrath of Wolf), the leader of a warrior clan in Norway descended from the mighty Vikings. He wields a greataxe called *Storøks* and his beast form is a Eurasian wolf.
* Fergus MacDougal *(voiced by Patrick Seitz)*: A Scottish pirate looking to terrorize the seven seas. He wields a cutlass and arquebus and his beast form is a North Pacific giant octopus, though he is only capable of partially transforming in battle.
* Grzegorz Krew *(voiced by Keith Silverstein)*: Hailing from Poland, an excommunicated Jewish pastor who now leads a vampire-like cult that, same as him, lives off the blood of poor, defenseless people. He wields a sword-hilt dagger (also using his own blood to fight) and his beast form is a human-sized leech.
* Hodari Jasiri *(voiced by Phil LaMarr)*: A tribesman from the made-up East African nation of Kenyania who is next in line to succeed his father, the current warchief. He wields a spear and cowhide shield and his beast form is a black rhinoceros.
* Juan Sánchez *(voiced by Liam O'Brien)*: A Robin Hood-like Spanish half-gypsy thief looking to steal a valuable treasure from the Incas, although fearful that the Inquisition will execute him for it, in order to help his poverty-stricken village. He wields a hidden dagger gauntlet and his beast form is a red fox.
* Ayumi "Karasu" Hinato *(voiced by Susan Dalian)*: Masaru's former lover, now a kunoichi in her father's personal army. She wields a pair of sai and her beast form is a flock of carrion crows.
* Masaru Kurozawa *(voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch)*: A young Sengoku-era farmer who, although uncertain of the truth of his origins, seeks to convince Karasu to change her ways and become his lover again. He wields a katana and his beast form is a human-sized praying mantis.
* Micha *(voiced by Mae Whitman)*: An Incan princess and daughter of the current Sapa Inca, Huayna Capac, searching for her kid brother, Huáscar, who has been kidnapped by the demon lord, Damoclus, so that he may succeed the throne later. She wields a pair of macana clubs and her beast form is a jaguar.
* Pierre Beaumont *(voiced by Alan Tudyk)*: A *gendarme* on a quest to defend France from Damoclus' demonic forces on the orders of his king, Louis XII. He wields a rapier and his beast form is a Breton horse.
* Rajesh Karamchand *(voiced by Dave Fennoy)*: A 73-year-old Indian hermit who, having lived in a cave since the passing of his wife 13 years ago, utilizes energy derived from the seven chakras. He wields a wooden staff, which he can mentally control, and his beast form is a Bengal tiger.
* Thomas Montague *(voiced by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau)*: A knight in the service of King Henry VII, and the poster boy of Bellum Bestiae. He wields a broadsword and shield and his beast form is a peregrine falcon.
* Weai'masitoon *(voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson)*: A Shoshone tribesman who, after receiving visions of demonic forces invading the world, seeks to bring peace and prosperity to it by defeating Damoclus. He wields a pair of tomahawks and his beast form is an American black bear.

### Hidden

* Han Qingmei *(voiced by Kelly Hu)*: An Elsa-like female Chinese cryomancer and former concubine of the Hongzhi Emperor, Zhu Youtang. She wields an ice dao and her beast form is an Arctic fox.
* Laurenz von Brandt *(voiced by Travis Willingham)*: A German blacksmith who hears of Damoclus' evil plans and decides to forge himself a weapon in preparation for his quest to prevent them. He wields a fire-infused zweihänder of his own creation, called *Feuerklinge*, and his beast form is a European bison.

### Bosses

* Damoclus *(voiced by James Earl Jones)*: The demon lord of Infernus and the final boss of Bellum Bestiae. He wields seven floating swords, known collectively as "Septemgladio," and his beast form, which you only get to see after beating him in two rounds, is a Tyrannosaurus rex.
* Torturex *(voiced by Brad Garrett)*: Damoclus' chief torturer and the sub-boss of Bellum Bestiae, who spends his days torturing defenseless humans in Infernus. He wields a chain sickle and is beast form is an Eastern gorilla.

### Pre-Order

* Shinzo Hinato *(voiced by Patrick Seitz)*: Karasu's father, a ruthless Sengoku general bent on becoming supreme ruler of all of Japan, so in order to do that, he must slay Damoclus and absorb as much of the demon lord's demonic energy as necessary. He wields a naginata and his beast form is a human-sized emperor scorpion.

### DLCs

* Anton Vasilyev *(voiced by Lucien Dodge)*: Damoclus' Russian half-demon son and a Pomestnaya Konnitsa of Ivan III the Great. He wields a cross between a halberd and a bow and his beast form is a griffin, although, same as Fergus, he is only capable of partially transforming in battle.
* Bubon *(voiced by Greg Eagles)*: A plague demon from Infernus (although, unlike Torturex and Insaniac, he doesn't serve Damoclus) looking to bring about a second Black Plague all over the lands. He wields a pair of rusty hook gauntlets and his beast form is a human-sized black rat.
* Insaniac *(voiced by Taliesin Jaffe)*: A psychotic, Joker-like jester demon in Damoclus' employ who kills for both his lord's entertainment and his own. He wields a pair of katars and his beast form is a spotted hyena.
* Yalewa *(voiced by Cree Summer)*: A Fijian (or Vitian as it's called here) tribeswoman who, when some of her people fall ill of a mysterious disease, goes out to find the cause of it all. She wields a *moto* spear and her beast form is a Candoia bibroni snake.