#harbinger's of hansa's woods

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I've been getting back into writing again, and I've been thinking about my old stabs at IF. They were brief, but notable for me as a person. A lot has changed since early 2020. When I first joined the IF community, it was after rediscovering Choice of Games, which I loved as a kid. This time, as an adult and more mature writer, I wanted to join and contribute my own thoughts. HHW was initially started as a kind of ode to my own childhood, in a way. Not just to what I thought the world was like as a kid, but the things I read and how they made me feel. More than that, or because of that, it also became an ode to the town my grandparents are from. I spent many summers in that house, remember that town, remember the strange discordance between the slow death of the town and the possibilities of my own life opening up. The story of a HHW was about a small, hidden, magical town being struck by a horrific disease brought about by a curse, threatening to finish off the town after decades of slow decline. It was supposed to be a love letter to the woods I tracked dragons through for years.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Then my grandmother died of COVID-19.

I started HHW in my senior year of high school. I never really "finished" my senior year of high school. In a strange, horrible way, the story I imagined came true. COVID killed the town, my grandmother, the story. My grandmother's town, the place I spent my summers, was gone. It was a place of horrible imperfections, and a place where my own ties had been severed. I remember holding my mother as we visited the grave of my grandmother, and across the street that day there was a trump rally. The man responsible for killing my grandmother was running for re-election across the street from a graveyard that held at least one of his victims. It was a beautiful autumn day.

I do not think I will ever return to Pennsylvania.

There is a lot of grief that never healed in my life after 2020. I've changed much as a person, and gotten a few years older despite it all.

None of this is even touching on the ways the IF community, especially the CoG community, has changed. Both for better and worst. I am somewhat glad I was not someone in the limelight for that period.

I don't know if I'll ever return to HHW. It never held much impact for me in the end, or for anybody. I only ever got a few followers here, a few readers on the forum. The demo is the majority of what I wrote for the game, although my notebook has a little more in it. But it's startling to find a work of art I was currently writing right before COVID in 2020. Maybe one day, I will return to HHW. Maybe I never will. Either way, it is at rest.

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ROs Reveal & 2/22 Update

Hello everyone! It’s finally time- I’m going to reveal the romantic options available in The Harbingers of Hansa’s Woods! Most of these characters will be appearing in chapter one or two of the WIP, but I wanted to give you all a sneak peak! Please keep in mind that this information may contain spoilers for HHW!

There’s five in total, all below the cut. For a quick general update: work on chapter one is still ongoing. I mostly have the intro done- from there, I’ll move on to character customization options and then to the main story paths the chapter will take. Progress is slow, and I apologize for this, but it’s been a very tiring month. Expect an update to the COG forum thread soon, a poll appearing on there, and a 100+ followers celebration happening here soon!

Julian Rosa --- Pronouns: He | Him --- Romance: Male & non-binary MCs only

Julian is a young half-elf living and working in Oldwatch (the town within the refuge of Hansa’s Woods) only library. He also works part time at a gas station located just outside the edges of the refuge’s boarders. He seems to be relatively shy and serious, and hasn’t made many friends in the three years since he’s come to the refuge.

Adaira Moire --- Pronouns: She | Her --- Romance: Female & non-binary MCs only

Adaira is a selkie who moved back to Hansa’s Woods several years ago to take care of her aging grandmother, who lives in a cottage by the sea. She’s the town’s main mechanic, plumber and electrician- there’s not a whole lot she can’t fix! She loves the refuge and the town within it dearly, and it is deeply disturbing to her to see it slowly decaying.

Harper Whitaker --- Pronouns: Selectable --- Romance: Any MCs

Harper is a werewolf a few years young than the MC who grew up within the refuge. Despite being given the best education the woods could provide, Harper never got the chance to apply themselves. This has made them feel restless and somewhat confined. Harper is eager to leave the woods so they can learn the skills they need to someday create new opportunities in the refuge, but for now is just doing whatever they can to entertain themselves.

René Knight --- Pronouns: Selectable --- Romance: Any MCs

René is a non-nonsense fae police officer working in the city nearby the refuge to help the fae living there stay safe and blend in with society. They act as a go-between for faes and humans. They feel that refuges are too isolated and restricted, but understands the value of community and just wants to keep people safe.

Avery Fletcher --- Pronouns: They | Them --- Romance: Any MCs

Avery is just your normal, average human. They work as a bartender in one of the city’s underground fae communities, and have known about faes every since they were adopted by their two werewolf dads. They’re very curious about faes, and enjoy being a part of this hidden world.

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Step Into the Woods

You are a harbinger, dedicated to protecting the refuge of Hansa’s Woods, one of the few remaining places where the fae hide from humans. When a mysterious force begins to infest your struggling community, you must find a way to stop your life from crumbling down around you.

The cure, however, may be just as deadly as the infection.

Hey! This post is the first official announcement about my COG WIP, The Harbingers of Hansa’s Woods! Currently, only the prologue is available on the demo, but I encourage you to check it out and tell me what you think.

The Harbingers of Hansa’s Woods is a modern fantasy horror (?) game about paranoia, disease, and change in an isolated rural community. Or at least, it’s supposed to be. You play as a struggling, magical caretaker, striving to find a solution to the issues plaguing your community before time runs out.

Demo link

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Playable Kinds of Fae

Hello! I’m proud that I can finally announce the four kinds of fae that the MC can be in Harbingers of Hansa’s Woods. I would have left this for when chapter one is out, but it’s something I wanted to share beforehand to warm y’all up to it. Keep in mind that this worldbuilding will be expanded upon & explained more within the game, and is always subject to change!

Werewolves are the largest community within Hansa’s Woods due to the large amount of open wilderness. Originally these fae were created when magic from the moon mutated a virus that originated in wolves and caused it to jump to humans, giving them a magical nature. The nature of the virus is relatively unknown, due to a lack of scientific study, but the virus can trigger physical shifts within werewolf individuals. There are many nuances to living life as a werewolf, but the virus is relatively easy to manage once one knows how, and it is hard to spread unless it is intentional.

Vampires were created when the earliest necromancers raised humans from the dead by forcing magical energy into their corpses. Vampires typically need a varied diet of fae and non-fae blood to sustain themselves, but cravings can be controlled by regular intake. Harbingers and fae communities keep a close eye on where and when new vampires appear, in order to help them properly assimilate and adjust to their new life.  

Taenvus are the descendants of the first fae servants, humans that were turned into fae by sovereigns who gave them great amounts of magic. These immortal fae went on to have children, and their descendants are known as taenvus. The magical abilities of their ancestors are not diluted over time, however it is totally random where within the bloodline magical powers will appear. These fae typically appear mostly human, however vivid and shifting runes will appear on their bodies sometime before adulthood. Taenvus most distinct magical ability is the ability to change their own features, although overall they have stronger innate magical power than other fae.

Sapants are odd fae, in that they appear in every way to be human. Instead their personalities, thoughts and memories stem from the small fruit of a graveseed tree implanted within the human’s corpse. These magical seeds were originally created by sovereigns to combat necromancy, but now they have spread to become faes in their own right. Graveseeds have their own personalities, but they are not usually apparent to others until they take up a human vessel- since it is hard for a seed to express its thoughts when it can’t talk! Once the seed is implanted within the corpse’s chest, the resulting fae is known as a sapant.

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sorry to be that uh, annoying person but will there be romance in the harbingers of hansa's woods?

Hey! Please don’t apologize, getting my first ask is honestly kind of exciting.

As of now, yes, I am planning to include romance in HHW! I am still working on finalizing the ROs. Romance is going to be optional, and you will be able to get the full story without pursuing an RO, but like any choice game of course there will be some scenes you might miss depending on your play through.

I hope this helps clear some things up!