A few years ago I entered a competition to create a lore for an original Trading Card Game. That project didn’t ever come to fruition, but the original submission notes and art I created for the project stuck with me, and I integrated the story into my existing comic, at least superficially.
The story will be set in a galaxy far, far away, if you will. So there will be very little crossover between this galaxy and L’Ysette’s. But I do have…some notes…
For the trillions of life forms in the Mendreb System, THE GAME is the thing. It’s the only thing. THE GAME is Life. THE GAME is Death.
A Player in THE GAME is connected empathically through technological means to his Avatars. The Avatars are creatures or constructs that the Player has trained or programmed to operate as a combatant representing the strategic skill of the Player.
The Players battle in various structured formats with various rules and regulations depending on the chosen venue. But one constant remains. Gaining points adds actual days to your life. Losing points removes them. Winning is literal life or death. A literal Immortal Duel.
For L’ysette, THE GAME is more than life or death. THE GAME is meaning. Purpose. Existence. For her entire life, THE GAME was everything she had lost in childhood. It was friend, enemy, family and rival. THE GAME was her culture more then even the blue-skinned species she had descended from. It meant more to her, than it did to even the energy-based life forms, the Adumendreb, who had created it centuries ago.
It’s too bad she’s going to have to burn it all to the ground.