Walkers of the Chasm (2023 - 2024)

Educational Role Playing Game - 'Weird Fiction' Tragedy

With the objective to introducing students on the Animation Cinema course at the École de Condé Rennes to the widest possible spectrum of the creative entertainment industry, second-year students take part in a role-play exercise that I organise as part of their screenwriting and character design modules. (For reference, third-year students are creating a board game and a promotional trailer.)

By rolling dice to determine their characters’ stats – thereby encouraging them to move away from the trope of the character who has to be ‘cool’ – the students then take part in three three-hour sessions, after which they produce an illustrated book in which they recount their characters’ adventures through both text and visuals.

The themes vary each year, drawing on the cultural hits of the current year and combining them with one or more ‘classics’. In addition to the three sessions, I also produce an illustration to accompany the final one. Once the project is complete, a lesson is held explaining the narrative structure of role-playing games and the process of creating the illustration.

For this second year, the huge success of the massive Baldur’s Gate III a few months earlier was inevitably the starting point for the plot. But rather than trying to delve into high fantasy, I wanted to take the opportunity to practise English with the pupils.

Drawing inspiration from Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, as well as Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem Ozymandias, Walkers of the Chasm was a role-playing game I wanted to be at the crossroads of a whole host of genres. Fantasy, a sort of semi-horror ‘Vernepunk’ (Steampunk/Jules Verne) in the vein of China Miéville’s The Scar, all sprinkled with that British sense of tragedy that is so adept at giving pride of place to emotion and romance.

A mix I deliberately wanted to be unusual, particularly so that I could then analyse it with the students in comparison with the original works.

The story is therefore set in a sort of alternate history of our own world. 1870, the Industrial Revolution in a Victorian style blended with steampunk. An island a thousand knots east of Bermuda has appeared as if by magic. Discovered by a merchant expedition sponsored by the British Crown, its settlers realise they are not alone. A strange man stands before them. With a lilting accent, he greets them.

And so it was that the young Caelyn Beth met Oghma.

Oghma – a reference to the god of knowledge in Dungeons & Dragons – an interdimensional explorer who went on to found a city called New-London, falls in love with Miss Beth, the youngest daughter of a family of British merchants. But their romance is hampered by social conventions and the disapproval of the nobility, and, as time goes on, Oghma, overtaken by the power that links him to a world other than this one,begins to lose his humanity. Gradually, he becomes a threat to all living things.

Now Lady Beth must choose between saving the man she loves and protecting the world from his monstrous transformation.

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Plot

And on the pedestal these words appear:

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

Oghma is the original Nautilon and the creator of the Chasm, the portal that connects his world to ours. Originally a simple explorer in search of new worlds to discover, it was love that ultimately persuaded him to stay. Meeting Lady Beth in the early 19th century – then a young daughter of a noble merchant who traded between the lands of Albion and the New World – a romance blossomed that lasted several years. But whilst the demands of high society called Lady Beth back to her duties, they came to terms with the idea of revealing their Garden of Eden to the world. Revealing the existence of this city, where strange creatures mingle with humans, is a certain risk; yet only this risk seems capable of paving the way for a future in which their love endures…

And so the city that would come to be known as New London reveals itself to the outside world. Oghma, dehumanised by his journeys between universes, dons a mask and armour to conceal his disfigured face. Presenting himself to the Crown as a simple man ashamed of his smallpox-scarred face, he sets about protecting the nascent city as a Major in the Royal Army.

But whilst Her Majesty Victoria herself welcomes the knowledge and wealth that Oghma brings, the same cannot be said of the nobility as a whole. And soon, the Beths forbid their daughter from associating with this ‘masked vermin’ known as Major Oghma. Privileges are never felt more keenly than when they are about to be taken away, and under the weight of the pressure, the romance turns to tragedy. Their love affair becomes a well-hidden secret, an abominable taboo. And the cheerful, vivacious Lady Beth is quickly forgotten, giving way to the formidable Iron Lady who reigns supreme over the Sons of the Oak Tree.

The decades fly by and New-London becomes the Mechanical Jewel we know today. Yet behind this glittering façade lurks a growing shadow: more and more Nautilons – the name given to those half-human, half-animal chimeras who live alongside the humans of New-London – are beginning to emerge from the Chasm. With no connection or explanation for their creator, Oghma. And whilst they strive to control this influx, this event is all too revealing of a fact they are trying, as best they can, to forget: little by little, Oghma, the original Nautilon, is growing weaker… Like all those who defy the laws of this world for too long, he is now being called back by the Chasm. First his memory, then his body, and finally his mind; the mighty Major crumbles like a house of cards drenched by a torrential downpour. His appearance shifts from curious to monstrous. Instincts begin to drive him – a smouldering rage, a delicious and uncontrollable violence that continues to grow.

And what was bound to happen did happen. It begins with a maid round a corridor bend. A bite from his fangs, a swipe of his paw. The murders pile up rapidly, and although she does her utmost to conceal the facts, Lady Beth knows full well that this is only temporary. Humans and Nautilons are beginning to plot a rebellion against her iron fist, and above all, she must find a cure quickly.

But, unable to think clearly in this race against time, torn between love and life, Lady Beth chooses love.

Descriptions & Onomastics

Oghma - The One who challenged Ye Mighty

Deity of the world of Faerun, Lord of the Knowledge. Here Immortal and Smiling Bard falling into Madness. "The Immortal Bard" being a reference to Shakespeare's own nickname.

Lady Beth - The Ruler of Love & Despair

Obvious reference to Macbeth, but to Bethsabée (Bathsheba in English) as well, mythical figure and mother of Solomon whose life was marked by the relentless grip of power over her destiny. Hence the comparison with King David for Bathsheba and Queen Victoria for Lady Beth.

Caelyn is a name derivated from Catlyn (Caitlyn/Catherine), meaning "slim" in gaelic. Paired with the "pure and innocent" meaning of Caitlyn, it allowed a clear depiction of who was Miss Beth before the Chasm.

Bhán & Aisling - The Panther & the Snake

Beautiful and terrific leaders of Hydra. Based on the "Easter Rising", hence the Irish Revolution of 1916 against Great Britain. They're condemned to lose against Lady Beth and Oghma.

Bhán [bawen] - "Beautiful" in gaelic.

A black panther Nautilon with a charming smile. Hardly humanoid at all, he really gives the impression of a huge, two-metre-tall feline standing on two legs that are also jet-black. He wears a fitted leather jacket that reveals finely defined muscles, and leather trousers rolled up above his cat-like ankles. A thin, colourful scarf is tied around his neck, completing his outfit.

In charge of maintaining order in the seedy backstreets of New-London, he owns an ‘entertaining torture chamber’ adjoining the cells of the ‘Three Heads’, an Irish pub that serves as Hydra’s headquarters.

He speaks with a thick accent, rolling his R’s, amongst other things.

Aisling [achline] - "Vision, dream".

During the harshest years of the English occupation, around the 18th century, the word ‘Aisling’ was used to describe a particularly moving style of poetry, in which the poet encounters Ireland in a vision, personified as a beautiful young woman in distress.

This royal cobra-woman with crystal-clear eyes is as beautiful as she is imbued with an unsuspected gentleness: proprietress of most of the brothels in New London, where she shelters many unwed mothers and other women with nowhere else to turn, she is a lady dressed in a suit that reveals her broad shoulders and wasp waist. She wears high, clicking heels, which allow her to tower over those she speaks to. Impressive as she may be, her serpentine tongue tends to peek out of her mouth, causing her to lisp when she speaks.

Her ‘ladies’ and Aisling herself all wear a hairpin in the shape of intertwined lilies (Easter Lily).

As Oghma’s former companions, convinced that his downfall was caused by Lady Beth, their sole aim now is to put an end to the suffering of the man who was once their friend. Beyond their bonds of friendship, they are also driven by a sincere desire to protect the Nautilons who have found themselves in this world that is so hostile to them.

Isaac Carey - Lord Great Chamberlain

"Isaac", the son almost sacrificed in the Bible + Henry "Carey", William Shakespeare's patron who gave his name to the troupe.

A high-ranking official sent by Queen Victoria to New London for the reception, he is doomed to be slaughtered by Oghma himself during the zombie attack, pinned to a portrait of the Queen herself.

"These violents delights have violents ends. Thus, with a kiss I die. Parting is such a sweet sorrow that I shall say goodnight till it me morrow." Romeo & Juliet - Shakespeare (1597)