DES201 2018 Storyworld: Silk Road Wiki

## DES201 Final Storyworld: Post-Apocalypse Silk Road

   \*This wiki is for a student group assignment\*
In ancient times, when the storied **Silk Road** linked East and West, the **God of Boredom** cursed the **supernatural beings** of the world, sealing them away in a mystic ice crystal and secreting it on a frozen mountaintop.

In the near future, **climate change** caused the icecap to recede. The exposed crystal finally melted, releasing the supernatural beings and powers back into an unsuspecting world already suffering from the ravages of climate change. This event came to be called the '**Re-Enchantment**'.

The Re-Enchantment had two major effects. First, the supernatural creatures of legend and myth returned to their old haunts but for them, no time at all had passed. Many were disoriented by the modern world and lashed out, causing great destruction.

Second, people who would have been born with mystical abilities but did not manifest them due to the curse suddenly became enchanted. However, these people (who have come to be called "**The Gifted**") had no training or experience in using these abilities. Many accidents occurred due to unstable Gifted losing control of their powers.

   In the aftermath of the Re-Enchantment, many modern systems such as the Internet that were already overtaxed by the climate crisis became patchy or unavailable in large areas. Some regions reverted to wilderness as civilisation retreated and supernatural creatures tried to change the world back to something more familiar from their original era. Travelers along the Silk Road risk encounters with dragon's lairs, bridges embargoed by trolls, mischievous forest spirits, unstable Gifted, and so on.
The Gifted face a choice: either try to control their powers by rediscovering ancient mystical techniques, or use specially developed drugs (called **Disenchanters**) to moderate their abilities - sometimes with the cost of significant side-effects. To the delight of autonomist leftists and libertarians who had mastered the Blockchain rather than partaking in frivolous social activities alike, underground and informal networks based on magical **arcanocurrencies** formed to disseminate Disenchanters beyond the regulation of the remaining governments. These networks have taken up all the graphics card processing power still available and thus led to the end of gaming as we know it, but they allow the existence of a narrow band of civilisation where the magical mayhem that has been unleashed on the world is relatively controlled.

Running from China to Europe, this fragile network of trade amidst the climate and magical apocalypses has taken on the combined names of the ancient trade route and an old illicit network for decentralised exchange: now, it is known as The Silk Road.

**Inspiration:**

 ☀https://www.carbonated.tv/viral/mysterious-hunger-stones-appear-europe-river-drought-climate-change

## Instructions for Students

You will work on **two** Narrative Design elements for a hypothetical Silk Road MMORPG that will run on mid-spec PCs and be marketed as a story-driven experience. You submit each piece by uploading it to this class Wiki. Ensure that each page is **clearly identified** with **your name and student number placed between square brackets after in the title of the page**. Example: "Character Design: Mayor of London [Joe Student 123456]".

The first piece should be completed by the Week 11 Tutorials, and the second by Week 12 and can involve more cross-links with other student work (perhaps working in a different Hub).

Narrative Design elements could include: Mission Design, Character Design, Dialogue, Worldbuilding, Level Design and Progression Design. If you have an idea for another contribution, discuss it with me. We've done a bunch of these now, so this is a chance to experiment with both form (use different programs and apps to present your design) and content (explore some new themes and concepts).

Players will be able to play characters ranging from technology-using humans, unstable Gifted and supernatural beings. The game system allows characters from levels 1-60, using a system very similar to World of Warcraft or other MMORPGs.

The Re-Enchantment has affected different parts of the world in different ways, and different supernatural creatures are endemic to specific areas. This gives a lot of latitude for development of different themes, approaches, genres and ideas. In the Week 11 Tutorials, each group will select a city along the Silk Road to develop as a hub which will then be linked from this main page, providing structure for the subsequent development by individual students.

## Hubs

* Transylvania

* St. Petersburg

* Cairo

* Moscow

* Beijing

* Hong Kong
* Tibet
* Karakorum
* Amsterdam
* Gyeongiu
* Constantinople
* New Babylon

## Latest activity

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1. ↑ http://www.newsnfo.co.uk/pages%202/Silk%20Road%20Maps%20-%20Useful%20map%20of%20the%20ancient%20Silk%20Road%20Routes.htm