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I'm deciding to get rid of my old Sweven folder and delete the old versions of those characters, but I wanted to save my notes so here is what was written (sorry it's all text)
A lot of this lore was completely changed but a good chunk is still canon
Old music playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaLV3-HV2gO5d8dGARNMvaM6cxfWvdb6I
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The world itself:
They live in a medieval-but-not-really fantasy setting. Magic isn't "considered" real but folktales, magic-related practices, psychics and the undead exist.
The country the main cast reside in is one of the largest in the world, but it's central cities don't have a lot of technology (trains, electricity and telephones exist but cars, tvs, and radios are rare and old fashioned).
(summary of the unwritten story)
After the leader of the country's rebels was executed, the royal knight Alec (who was secretly the leader's right hand man) returns the favor to their tyrant king. Journey ensues where he, his niece Noa who managed to tag along without him noticing at first, and people they meet along the way get chased by the Queen's knights. Then they do a big circle through areas under the kingdom's rule back around to the capital and fight the Queen and win yaaaaaaay.
I was heavily inspired by Lisa the Painful and Middens rpg when I made these characters. There would've been a whole thing where the royal family used their powers to control their citizens and caused some kind of supernatural version of global warming (like towns would become distorted and people would turn into joy mutant type monsters). The ghost of the rebel leader (scribbles dude) would start off as Alec's delusion but then slowly merge with everyone's negative emotions and become a physical manifestation of hatred, indiscriminately attacking soldiers and almost killing the Queen.
I think the main theme I was going for when I was still developing these characters was learning empathy for others and also learning to love yourself.
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Old versions/ideas for characters
Alec:
Originally I wanted him to be the late rebel leader's secret lover but I don't think I stuck with that, they were still very close though. Alec had problems with self-loathing that got worse after their passing. He was also forcefully drafted into the army. As a knight he was standoffish and got into fights on purpose. Despite this, Miriam and Remmy still managed to get close to him before ~all that~ (war) went down. He and Wayne slowly fell in love when he took the vampire along after coming across him in a frantic state in an abandoned house. Cared for Sam despite the boy's royal status simply because he can't stand being cruel to children. Most of this is all still canon.
Wayne:
I was thinking of having the person who turned Wayne be the mayor of the small desert town he moved to, but that character was never made. He had a music partner (never got designed, decided they're no longer canon) and a music rival (has a design but is unused), and his partner would've died at the hands of the mayor years before the main plot happened. Admittedly, he was kinda detached from the old plot compared to the main other characters but I figured I could tie him in with some message about capitalism. I also thought about him and Alec becoming "monster experts" a la Mushishi after the post-old story (basically this is the new story now). I dream about him for some reason.
Ezekiel:
Ezekiel is a little funny... he was a character made during the old plot that wouldn't have appeared till post-said-plot who would helped the main cast out with ghost stuff. I think he was inspired by some specific characters but I don't remember who... (I think at least one of them was Death the kid from soul eater). Originally he was some kind of judge. I didn't think I would give him the role he has now. He also used to have a crush on Remmy.
Sam (Samuel):
Sam originally became friends with Alec's niece, Noa, in the old plot. I think he was heavily inspired by Mob/Shigeo Kageyama. His psychic powers centering on hearing people's hearts would have tied back to the theme of empathy. Sam would start off the story not wanting to hear anything because people's negative emotions were "too loud". Sam would've also dealt with emotional mistreatment from his mother, with Alec's fatherly kindness helping him change his mindset about the world. I don't remember why I gave him a frog theme- maybe something about the frog prince in fairy tales? He and Noa are the sw characters with the most concept art. His "still stuck with mom" outfit would mimic snake colors. When I gave him his newest design I wrote that he was wiping himself from people's memories out of guilt... decided to change that to him just being in hiding and people not recognizing him. Used to have a trumpet.
Noa:
She was meant to be a protagonist with dream powers. Originally she actually didn't have dream powers, I kinda tacked it on when I realized there wasn't anything to tie to the title of the story ('sweven' meaning dream). She was the first sweven character I ever made. The earliest design for Noa had long hair and a knight-in-a-dress aesthetic. I don't remember exactly why I shifted away from this but I guess it was a "children shouldn't have to fight" kind of mood I was leaning towards. Interestingly, even though I made Noa first, the story became much more Alec the more I thought about it so I don't have much to say in regards to her role in the old plot. None of her plot is canon anymore. I didn't design her mom (Fabi) until I had started redesigning and changing things.
Phoebe:
I was gonna have Phoebe meet Alec when she heals him despite already learning he's a wanted criminal after Noa desperately drags his battered self to her office. She would with trauma involving her church. Then eventually she learned to detach herself from the church and let herself be more open minded. Most of this is still canon.
Miriam:
In the main old plot she would have been the antagonist constantly trailing Alec. There would've been a point towards the finale where all the knights under her watch went mad and violently attacked each other, causing her to give up and let Alec go. I thought I'd have this be where she lost her eye but also debated having the Queen take it. I imagined a lot of fluffy scenes with her after the story where she opened a café and had Remmy and Wayne be waiters, so that's what's (sort of) canon now.
Remmy (Remiel):
Remmy was going to be similar to Serizawa (mp100) I think. He would've been Miriam's 2nd in command. I honestly don't remember much else about him :/. He's cute though.
Daucus:
Was originally a duke of the overthrown royal family and would've tried to get revenge on Alec, This is no longer canon. He exists because I wanted a touhou reisen-like character that was also a goofy comedy-relief villain.
Olive:
They were originally Daucus' maid. They were written as cold and threw knives and was like the "straight-man" of the duo who kept him in check. They weren't part of them main plot and I didn't really know what to do with them at the time. None of this is canon anymore.
Lonia (the queen) (no longer exists):
She was the queen who took power after the king died and then was overthrown. Her powers revolve around mind control. In my mind she would've pretended to be a kinder ruler than her husband and act like she was also a victim to keep the people from revolting against her next. At the end, the whole capital would fall under madness including her due to her actions and after sanity returned to everyone she'd let herself be arrested. I never ever figured out her design but it would've had a snake motif. This is still canon, but she's just dead now.
??? (no longer exists):
Was the spirit of the late rebellion leader. I was going to make a design for him but it never happened WARGH. I don't remember if he actually existed before I made the "A Message From The Headless Knight" animation or if I made him after. I think I was reading Dorohedoro when I started to think about him more which led to him becoming a violent amalgamation in the old story.
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