Adastra (Visual Novel)

**Main page**
Gallery

The main menu, featuring a view of the capital city.

## Related Work

Khemia
Adastra: Interea

**Adastra** is a sci-fi furry visual novel with an emphasis on romance and political intrigue. It is the second standalone game from Echo Project and was written and developed by the team founder, Howly.

The game features sprite art and CG illustrations by HAPS and background paintings by BlackSun.

The first public demo for Adastra released in December 2018. The final build released May 17, 2020 on Patreon and June 12, 2020 publicly.

## Premise

Adastra tells the story of a human who has been kidnapped from Earth by a well-meaning but impulsive alien wolf named Amicus.

The wolf is actually royalty on his home world of Adastra, and is competing with his younger brother Cassius for control of the Wolven imperial throne.

Amicus, who finds himself unable to amend his mistake and bring the main character back to Earth, strikes a deal: if the human can help improve his chances of winning the emperorship by posing as a sapient "pet," considered a status symbol for royalty, then Amicus will in turn use the power that comes with the throne to find a way to bring him back to Earth.

Their secret gambit leads Amicus and the human to become much closer to one another, and their relationship develops from one of necessity into something much fonder. As the trust between them grows, however, their trust in the others who live in the palace falters, and the intensifying battle for the throne begins to reveal that everyone, from the lowliest servant to perhaps even the gods themselves, may have a hidden agenda. With danger rising, the bond between human and wolf is put to the ultimate test while Adastra's fate hangs in the balance.

## Characters

### Marco/MC

Marco is the main player character of Adastra. He's intended to be a blank slate/self insert character for players to place themselves in the story, though he does offer a few of his own characteristics. While his name can be anything, inputting no name at the beginning of the game defaults to Marco.

### Amicus

Amicus is the love interest of Adastra. He is the eldest prince and next in line to become emperor of Adastra, though his plans are thrown for a loop when his brother Cassius challenges him to the throne in the aftermath of their father's death. He comes off as a bit arrogant and overconfident at times, but in getting to know him he's shown to be a caring individual with insecurities of his own.

### Neferu

Neferu is the one of the main characters of Adastra and, like Marco, a foreign visitor to the palace. Unlike the rest of the cast, Neferu is a jackal that comes from the planet of Khemia. He is very blunt in conversation, yet ambiguous in his intention. Neferu claims to be on Adastra in hopes of forming an alliance between Khemia and Adastra, though Amicus questions this as his actions say different.

### Virginia

Virginia is the elder sister of Amicus and Cassius. She's seen to be the most straightforward and intelligent of her siblings, though due to Adastra's outdated laws favoring male leadership, she is not eligible for the throne. Despite this, she does everything she can to make the empire a success- even if doing so means taking harsh actions.

### Cassius

Cassius is the younger sibling of Amicus and Virginia who has recently challenged Amicus for the throne. Unlike his siblings, Cassius inherited their mother's pure white fur as well as a disease that makes his bones very brittle and easy to damage. Cassius is a short-tempered and rather aggressive wolf intent on winning the throne and shutting Adastra off from the rest of the Galaxias.

### Alexios

Alexios is a cat from the planet of Omorfa who was accidentally abandoned on Adastra when his visiting delegation left the moon. While waiting for a return ship, Alexios became the pet of Cassius via a special agreement between the two and helps the prince strengthen his public image and status. He's seen to be a kind and helpful person, though as the story goes on some of his actions continually seem to be off.

### Cato

Cato is the current acting emperor of Adastra, taking over temporarily after the unexpected death of the reigning emperor and the father of the royal siblings. Cato is very straight-edged with no patience for nonsense, and he frequently attempts to get on Amicus' case when he isn't focused. He was a former general for the Adastran military during their war against Khemia and a close personal friend of the former emperor.

## Historical Parallels and Context In Adastra

* **Names and Words**: Adastra can be seen as loosely reflective of true historical happenings across human history. Starting with the linguistic standpoint, many words and names invoked in the visual novel use real Latin nouns to represent their meanings and purpose to the main character. For example, Amicus' name represents the Latin word for "friend" or "partner." To be more precise, the word would be formed in the second declension, nominatie of Amicus, Amicī (m.). Another name with a deeper context to it is "Cassius," whose name literally translates to "hollow," or "empty," but can also mean "killer of Caesar," (in reference to Gaius Julius Caesar, who was betrayed/assassinated by Cassius and other Roman senators.) Many other characters and locations have significance in their names as they relate to a historical context, such as:
	+ **Adastra** - From the Latin phrase "Ad Astra," which translates to, "To the stars," (a phrase said within the visual novel). The fuller phrase of which being, "Per Aspera Ad Astra," "Through the difficulty, to the stars," said by Lucius Annaeus Seneca (a roman philosopher). Adastra is the name for the "home moon" of Amicus and the Adastran Wolves (Roman Wolves). The named cities on Adastra include:
		- **Adastra City** - Capital city of the Adastran civilization.
		- **Lupas** - First Declension form of Lupa, Lupae (f.), which means "she-wolf."
		- **Ad Rotae** - "ad" is a preposition in Latin that takes the "accusative case," so it takes either the accusative singular or plural of the word Rota, meaning wheel. When combined, these words mean something to the effect of "To wheel/wheels." As such, a loose translation of "Ad Rotae" could be understood to mean "In Circles", a potential reference to Echo.
		- **Lux** - Latin word meaning "light."
		- **Lex** - Latin word meaning "law."
		- **Gebiī** - Unknown, may simply be a name, but it shows signs of second declension genitive form with "-ī."
		- **Tricelli** - Unknown, may simply be a name.
	+ **Vita** - The star which the planet Ancoris (planet to the Adastran moon, whose name means "Anchor," in Latin) orbits. "Vita," is Latin for "life."
	+ **Khemia** - The Greek word for "Egypt," which inspired the Egyptian-inspired culture of Khemia. Khemia also serves as the Adastran equivalent of Carthage to Adastra's Rome.
	+ **Omorfa** - One of the Greek declension words for "beautiful" (όμορφα - Nominative, Accusative, and Vocative plural neuter form of όμορφος [ómorfos]). It is also the Greek-inspired planet of the race of cats (Omorfans).
	+ **Marco** - Marco is an Italian masculine given name, which derives from the Latin name "Marcus." It can mean a variety of things, ranging from "warring/war-like," to "God of war (Mars)." One of the most famous bearers of the name "Marco," is Marco Polo, an explorer from Venice.
	+ **Cato** - Serves as an Adastran equivalent of the real Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Elder), who served as a Roman senator during the time of the Punic Wars. He is most famous for earning his reputation as a soldier, and for marking the words, "***Carthāgō dēlenda est***," meaning, "Carthage must be destroyed." In the roman senate, Cato is said to have pushed for the war on and destruction of Carthage by the Roman army.
	+ **Virginia** - Serves in Latin as the feminine form of the name "Virginius," which, in the feminine form, can mean "maiden," or "virgin." This could be a nod to Virginia being the only prominent woman within the story. It can also be seen in Roman society as the family name "Verginius," or "Virginius;" a name widely presumed to derive from the constellation Virgo.
	+ **Neferu** - Neferu I was the first queen of Ancient Egypt and ruled in the eleventh dynasty of ancient egypt. The name also means, "the beauty," in the respective language, which may have loosely inspired Neferu's reputation as the "flower of Khemia."
	+ **Ahhotep** - A briefly mentioned deity in Khemian mythology. In Egyptian history, Queen Ahhotep I ruled during the Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt.
	+ **Alexios** - Alexios' derives from the Greek word for "defender," or "defender of man." This may abstractly hint toward Alexios as a defender the Omorfans.
* **Historical Connections**: In the visual novel, there is mention of a war that occurred between Adastra and Khemia, much like that of Rome and Carthage in the Punic Wars. The Punic wars essentially occurred because the imperial ambitions of the Romans had interfered with Carthage's territorial claims on the island of Sicily.
* **Note**: These interpretations are loosely drawn based on the setting and depiction of Adastra's story and characters. It does not mean that this set of theories is 100% accurate to the intent of the creators.

## Trivia

* Concepts for Adastra can tie all the way back to when Echo was also being conceptualized. Howly was trying to decide between a sci-fi based visual novel and a small town horror visual novel, he ended up choosing the latter and began work on Echo. Adastra wouldn't start development until several years later.
* Adastra was the first Echo Project title to complete development. It also has the shortest development period of any Echo Project title, having reached completion in just under two years.

 External Links

* Download links on itch.io
* Echo Project Official Patreon
* Echo Project Official Twitter