thearethproject

[thearethproject]

03 Bhora-Ravine

In the middle of the Balehdesert, there is the Balehoasis. You’ll be able to find the most common things in this oasis as you’d expect from any oasis: grass, water, that kind of stuff. Where there is water, there is life. And there is a variety of life to be found there, mostly predators. This is often reason enough not to visit the oasis, the desert isn’t populated and therefor there are seldom travellers who seek water. The water in the oasis springs from a natural source underground. The heat and pressure of the stones make it erupt from the ground. Besides the fact that the water evaporates in the desert sun, there is a large portion of the water that flows into the nearby ravine. This ravine is called the Bhora-Ravine. This ravine has a stunning length of 147 kilometers (91 miles). The depth of the ravine has never been measured. The water of the Balehoasis flows into this ravine. The ravine is so deep, that the water evaporates during it’s fall, becoming a mist. The sun shines right above the ravine, which gives the area a tropical climate. In this ravine you’ll find grasses, mosses, tropical flowers, trees and dense bushes. This climate invited many animal species to settle down, but it also houses people because of this. The Bhora’s are peaceful tribe that’s completely isolated from the rest of the world. Other tribes often know nothing about these people or the Bhora-Ravine itself. Bhora’s aren’t inclined to leave the ravine, although there are some Bhora’s who intend to become merchants.

[thearethproject]

02 Triqta

Triqta is the capital of Areth, well, that’s what it’s inhabitants want it to be. After the shuttle crash, all passengers went their own way. Triqta was the location where the most passengers met each other. They decided to build there city on that spot. Located centrally on Areth, Triqta has a great temperature and humidity. The city itself is structurally built. The city is nicknamed ‘The Great Berder’. Berders are like onions, but sweeter. The different peels of a Berder give the city it’s nickname, Triqta was built in different peels. The richest peels live in the centre of the city, while the poorest peels are located at the outer districts. That also makes it increasingly difficult for an ‘outerpeeler’ to reach the innerpeel. The borders between different peels also become increasingly difficult to pass, thanks to the strict checks and high walls.

The buildings of Triqta have a gold/brown color with a subtle sparkle. This is because of a mineral called ‘Azol’. Azol is a rare liquid which leaves its sparkles on any surface it touches. 500 years ago there was a Azol lake near Triqta, but it dissolved into the ground. This proces gave the stones and minerals around Triqta their sparkle. Azol also made it relatively easy for Triqta to grow so fast. The minerals around Triqta were worth lots of money because of the Azol.

Triqta has an annual rainseason. During this season, Triqta becomes a huge chaos. This is because the peels were designed to act as a water drainage. The water flows from the inner to the outerpeel. Some years are worse than others, but 90% of the time there is a great flood, dragging houses and people with it. The rich innerpeelers call this phenomena ‘the Great Rinse’, because of all the poor people being dragged out of the city. The smartest people store the rain, to sell it as drinking water later that year. The dense population makes it hard for the innerpeelers to get their own water. This is why innerpeelers occasionally travel to the outerpeel (ofcourse incognito) to buy water from those who have plenty of it. Many civil wars have been documented because of innerpeelers who travelled without disguise.

[thearethproject]

01 Prologue

The year is 2047, an elite group of people lives on Mars. On earth, there are monthly flights to populate Mars. Flight 09, nicknamed Atlas, flew towards Mars on the 10th of February, 2047. Everything went well until a comet flew close to Atlas. There was no impact, but it drastically changed the course Atlas was heading. Doomed to float on infinitely. A journey to Mars usually took around 150 days, but this flight had a duration of nearly 50 years. The passengers slowly lost their knowledge about Earth. They also gave birth to 2 new generations. Knowledge became memories and memories became tales. The generation of original passengers eventually died, leaving behind all the original knowledge about Earth.

Eventually, Atlas crashed into a planet. The shuttle’s impact was softened by sea. Atlas flew towards a beach where it stranded. Miraculously, all passengers survived. Once recovered from the crash, the passengers decided to explore the new planet. It was quickly decided that the planet would be named Areth, an anagram for Earth. Areth has a complex eco-system. Like on Earth, there are deserts, jungles and mountains. But Areth also holds shockrocks, whinda’s and tropical ravines. Everyone went their own way. Because of that, small groups of people formed villages. Some went into the desert and some decided the jungle was their preferred choice of climate. 659 years later, Areth changed drastically. Cities were built and tribes were established.

[thearethproject]

Introduction

Hey everyone, this is the first post of the Areth Project, I’ll try to explain what I want to achieve here.

Most great films, books and stories are not just the stories themselves. They are stories that play in a fictive, living world. It just happens to be that specific story, but there could be many other stories playing within that world too. Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings are great living worlds, for example.

My goal is to build a fictive world that feels complete and alive. I don’t want to tell any stories here, I want fans to tell their own stories. I’ll be giving you the ingredients, but you’ll have to cook. 

I want to focus on multimedia storytelling. I don’t want to limit my world to just illustrations and sketches. Audio, video, cosplay, photography, all of this will be playing a big role in telling my story. I also invite any artist to join me in our journey, because you guys are the ones who will tell the story.

I’ll update the world of Areth on Instagram, Facebook and Tumblr. The roles of these 3 are simple.

Instagram: Snapshots, previews, recruiting. Facebook: Sharability, tag friends. Tumblr: Complete stories, in and outs, visuals, fan-contact.

I hope you’ll have as much fun with this project as I’m having. Thanks for checking in.

Let us build cities, let us create characters, let us tell stories!