A quick overview of the people, creatures, and physical world of The Book of Beasts, an exploration game where the player creates a bestiary cataloguing all the animals in the world. This game’s world is called the Spheres.
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People and Civilization
The people of the Spheres have colors and patterns inspired by dogs–brindle, spotted, tricolor, and so on. They are not furry; the patterns are simply skin coloration. Their hair never grows more than two inches long, and they have pink or black pads on their palms, fingers, and soles. Some also have features like blue tongues.
The civilization of the Spheres has a technology level similar to the early 20th century with a lightly dieselpunk vibe, including cars, radios, firearms, and the like. However, there are no fossil fuels in the Spheres–all fuel is derived from plants or animals.
The main mode of transportation is small personal airships and boats, fueled by oil harvested from the Spheres’ vast cloud whales. A movement is arising to protect these majestic creatures, but with no known replacement for cloud whale oil, phasing out hunting would cripple the infrastructure of the Spheres.
Biomes
Unusual biomes create unusual lifeforms. In the highlands, unusual volcanism creates jagged cliffs of obsidian cut through with rivers of radiant-hot molten gems, populated by armored reptiles that thrive in the heat. Lush underwater fungus forests thrive in the deepest ocean trenches. Gelatinous bubble lakes are home to colorful meter-long aquatic slugs. Most famous of all are the legendary migratory floating islands, where birds propel themselves by singing. (More on that in a moment.)
The player must climb, jump, swim, and glide their way through these environments, either on foot or with dieselpunk submersibles and flying boats, as they search out these elusive animals. And spotting them isn’t enough–the player must also observe where they live, what they eat, and how they interact with their environment.
The Risen Empire
Thousands of years ago, the Spheres were dominated by an enigmatic, technologically-advanced culture that has since vanished. Since its writing system has never been deciphered, no one knows what they called themselves, but height and levitation so defined their society that they are now known as the Risen Empire.
The ruins of the Risen Empire–found now only on remote mountains and in deep jungles–are dizzyingly tall, gravity-defying towers constructed of glass, ceramics, and unknown metal alloys. Modern engineers cannot explain how they have stayed up for so many centuries. Attempts to dismantle or study them usually result in their sudden collapse.
The Risen Empire also constructed delicate airships that seemed to have no source of fuel, and their art depicts people doing impossible midair dances and acrobatics. Artistic license, or a secret ancient power? No one knows.
Physics
Except the player, of course, who will discover the true nature of the Spheres over the course of the game.
Resonance is a vibration in a material produced by specific wavelengths of sound. In our world, resonance can cause severe damage to structures and is usually minimized; however in the Spheres, resonance produces a force orthogonal to a surface.
In plain English, music makes things float.
This is how the Risen Empire built its civilization. This is how the Spheres’ many flying creatures propel themselves. Modern civilization has forgotten about resonance, but by reconstructing these fundamental music based laws of physics (through a minigame, of course), you can rebuild a society that is fueled entirely by the Spheres’ natural harmonies.
Factoids
A few details about the people of the Spheres that probably won’t make it into the game, but may amuse you nevertheless:
- Their finger pads aren’t very sensitive. When they want to feel something, they use the side of their finger.
- No one in the Spheres knows how to whistle. It’s a lost art.
- Mundane objects like bottles are typically asymmetrical in design, an ancient custom to prevent unintended resonances.
- Because their hair is naturally short, most cultures did not historically cut their hair. Hair cutting only arrived in the Capital within the last few decades. It’s considered extremely daring.