#unsanctionedif

[whiteirisif]

To celebrate making an intro post, here's a fan art of Wren from @unsanctioned-if and Nadir side by side 🫡 our braincells synched while creating these meow meows

#fan art #unsanctionedIf #whiteiris #my art #Nadir

[unsanctioned-if]

On a dark winter’s night, a child signs a contract with a man dead to the world.

Promised an upbringing filled with forbidden knowledge, the two enter a strange and isolated existence together.

After nineteen years, the sanctuary and prison you have come to know as your home is discovered, and the land finally learns that the villain they believed to have perished a century prior has merely been in hiding…and that he isn’t alone.

Separated and forced to flee, you’re once again released into the world without your master’s hand to guide you. Only now, he is no longer the only one adept at the unsanctioned arcane arts.

“Unsanctioned” is an upcoming 18+ interactive Twine game where you play as the apprentice of an ostracized sorcerer. It’s set in a dark fantasy world where magic is simultaneously a symbol of status and strictly supervised.

Features

✢ Three backgrounds to choose from which will shape your MC and their relationship with the world, impact their pool of knowledge, their countenance, and how others may react to them.

✢ Three races to choose from: elf, human or the shunned cryn. More might be added later depending.

✢ A complicated parental relationship at the heart of the narrative.

✢ A cast of potential – and not entirely lawful – companions who you can forge various relations with.

✢ Around five “full” romances, along with casual flings you may try to pursue along the way.

✢ Choices that shape your MC’s personality as well as the world around them to a lesser or bigger degree and narrative branching based on certain choices.

✢ A game of truth and deceit with you as one of the main players. You've been taught to keep your identity and abilities a secret from others, but is secrecy what you truly want?

✢ A magic system of both legal and illegal spells at your disposal. Use wisely, or you might attract unwanted attention...

Characters

✢ Elven, He/Him

If the stories are to be trusted, he is the last surviving member of the group of sorcerers unceremoniously named the “Unsanctioned”. He is your master and your caretaker, your mentor and your jailor.

Knowledgeable and lonesome, he often seems to be pondering the world which he has now become a reclused observer of.

Whether you consider him family or a brute who took you away from the life you were meant to live, it can’t be argued that the nineteen years the two of you have spent together has shaped you into the person you are today.

How your presence has affected him, you cannot confidently say. His mind remains as closed off to you now as it did on that snowy winter’s night so long ago.

Perhaps leaving his side is what will finally allow you to learn the truth about him.

✢ ?, He/Him

As a being born from the very essence of sorcery, Muir’s existence threads a thin line between mortality and something wholly other. All mages rely on the energy of their Magiramús to cast their spells; you rely on this hoary eyed young man to do the same. Aside from his direct and stubborn disposition, he possesses both a palpable kindness and a sense of unmotivated ruthlessness.

You don’t know what he is, yet you know him better than anyone. You left your home together; now you must learn to navigate the world together.

Something that’s much easier said than done when your very existence marks you as outlaws.

✢ Elven, They/Them

One need only look at Wren to know that they’re one of the Institute’s agents. If the robes didn’t give it away, their demeanour certainly would.

Arrogance lies deeply embedded in their eyes, and they seem convinced that anyone who looks their way does so with envy.

When you encounter them in the troubled village of Kelmerth during their Practice of Passing, you get to witness firsthand what a student of the most distinguished academy on the continent can do, and what being a product of its teachings really means.

✢ Human, She/Her

Hailing from the southern land of Ciralor, Azora is less attuned to the laws of the arcane than a native of Aíos would be. Instead, she tends to rely on the inventions her homeland is both renowned and feared for.

Eloquent and straight-forward, her occasionally tactless phrasing might give the impression that she’s somewhat spoiled.

Spoiled though she may be, she can't as easily be described as naive. Blood stains the crown that was once destined to sit upon her head, and she is set on securing any means necessary to one day return home and claim what’s rightfully hers.

✢ Vampiric, She/Her

Astra's gaze always appears to wander, searching for something in the crowds she often surrounds herself with, occasionally locking on to someone who just so happens to catch her interest.

Although her muscular stature points to a life of strife, the poise she displays is more befitting of a high born than that of a common thug.

As a vampire, she has little choice but to shun the light of day and seek the comfort that lies in the shadows. Representing the part of her people that refuse to conform to the rules set in place by the less potent, she operates outside of the law, following instead the self-made rules of her Coven.

✢ Cryn, He/Him

The order of The Aelesh is enveloped in mystery. Worshipping the world of the unknown, they have chosen to cast aside the Faith in favour of the Truth – and in their eyes, the truth lies beyond that which mortals can comprehend and perceive with their senses.

With the simple mask he insists on wearing, your only clue as to Kirin’s true character lies in his voice and body language. Each sparse movement has a purpose, every phrase a veiled meaning.

He’s vowed to express his beliefs by following in the footsteps of the “Unsanctioned” and to serve them in any way he can.

In his opinion, this is currently best done by aiding you.

Magic System

You will be able to access a “book of spells” (codex) from the game's menu whenever you wish. The spells that your MC has learned, or learned about, will be displayed there along with some information regarding what each spell does.

There are key points during the story where using magic might attract attention or be more risky than other times. Know that there are no bad endings in this game, but that choices do have consequences, and that includes your use of magic.

There are spells which are considered “lawful” and spells which are labelled as “forbidden”. You will have access to both, though due to the nature of the MC's upbringing, they will have a wide range of forbidden spells at their disposal.

Even when using a “lawful” spell, this is still considered a crime unless you have a permit to do so.

There are moments in the game where you will be able to go to the spell menu and select the spell you want to cast (if any). Not all spells will always be available at all times simply because of branching reasons, but I’m striving to make it as free-choice as possible and add flavour-text in most cases at the very least.

Character portrait credit: @holyantenna (upper portraits + Cirern portrait) and @mooreaux (lower portraits + Kirin and Azora portraits)

Logo art credit: Khoai Designs (@khoaisama) 

#interactive fiction #if #twine #game #choose your own adventure #fantasy #twine game #story #writing #unsanctioned #unsanctionedif #no demo #interactive novel #twine wip #wip

[unsanctioned-if]

Snippet

Though I haven't finished the intro post yet and the demo is still very much a wip, it's been a long time since I made the intro post in the first place. Since I'd like a tiny bit more content featured on here (taking baby steps with that), I thought I'd post a small snippet of the very first scene, for now. Please keep in mind that it's not 100% edited and that I might polish it a bit more going forward.

Update-wise, I'm currently working on the character descriptions to add to the intro post and making slow but steady progress for chapter 1.

Enjoy!

"Time seemed to slow down in the silence that settled over the two lone figures facing each other in the middle of a glacial valley.

Coldness stung your palms as they dug into the white blanket beneath you, leaving a pair of messy, deep prints. Although it was your first time experiencing the rawness of winter, the sights and sensations all but escaped your notice as your focus was helplessly drawn to the man standing in front of you before all else.

Even craning your neck, you had difficulty distinguishing his features. They remained obscured by the darkness that had fallen over your surroundings.

What you could make out was the gold and red-streaked hair that fluttered in the biting gusts of wind passing by, along with the slight twitch of his mouth that bordered on a sneer and the pointed corners of his ears. A flickering wisp hovered in the air next to him, humming faintly and soothingly, though you barely paid it any mind. 

Your attention settled on the ring adorning his leftmost finger. It gleamed and glistened in the darkness, the green and gold patterns a stark contrast to the bleak environment you found yourself in.

Even a child of nine summers such as yourself had recognized the sigil inscribed on that ring. A gold and emerald pentagon with small, red gems embedded in each corner. The shape’s middle was empty, a hollow depth where one might otherwise have expected to find a jewel.

The Ring of the Unsanctioned."

#interactive fiction #if #interactive novel #unsanctionedif #unsanctioned #snippet #sneak peek #wip #writing