Winds of Change Preview - or "So I Wrote a Thousand Pages of My Own Fire Emblem Game"

Hey gamers.

Amy and I are on the penultimate stage of our big cross-country road trip from Los Angeles to Toronto and are currently sitting in a hotel in Michigan. During the trip we had two car breakdowns, one of my vertebra popped out of place, and we had two very lovely Epithet Erased signing events, so I've been very busy! I wanted to get something out for Patrons before returning to work on the Top 100 Anime OPs video, which will be our next project once we get settled in our temporary housing in Canada.

This is Winds of Change. For those who don't know, years and years ago Jay asked me "what my ideal Fire Emblem game would be". Because I am insane, I spent the day writing several actual chapters of dialogue and stage directions. I return to the project every few years. It's been ages since I've done an actual page count, but the project currently spans three massive documents and several note docs and support events. I'd guess it may well be over a thousand pages by now, and most certainly will be by the end.

The work I've written reads like a text LP for a game that does not actually exist. It describes mechanics, level design, and characters in detail and has all the dialogue that would be present in the final game. Jay has described it as "My favorite Fire Emblem Game, the one that doesn't actually exist."

In brief, the game follows two protagonists. Bea is a slave girl who ends up escaping her lot in life and rising to the ranks of nobility so she can become a member of the prestigious Aegis Knights, an elite group of pegasus riders. Unfortunately, the Aegis Knights are not as pristine as she had hoped. Corruption runs deep, and it's up to her and a group of other misfit recruits that the order would rather see discharged to expose the darkness below the surface of their white feathers.

During her quest, she meets Ranja (who's spelling was recently changed from Ragna and I'm still getting used to that). Ranja, pronounced RON-yuh, is a member of the local evil empire. She is currently being groomed to be the successor of one of their most powerful political positions. However, Ranja does not like that her empire is evil and would like to make it less so. She's got one hell of a battle in front of her.

They meet and fall and love and are very, very, VERY gay.

Winds of Change is a three act story I've spent six years on and off writing. It's mostly about classism, queer rights, and the consequences of politicking. And yes, I do plan to make a video about this eventually! With actors and artwork and everything! But that's still a ways off, probably 2-3 years away. And no, I do not plan to make this a game afterwards. I don't want to do that. I'm just here to write the thing and present it to you as a giant pitch bible.

I am currently working on the final chapter. Wow! Afterwards I have to wrap back and do at least two more drafts to make sure the dialogue doesn't suck and everything is consistent. I also need to write most of the remaining support conversations.

That's where you guys come in. I need you to force me to pick some characters to write Support Conversations between. If you've never played a Fire Emblem game before, Supports are where the characters have inane dialogue between one another between the game's battles. In a good Fire Emblem game, they're also the best character writing.

"But how are we going to suggest characters if we don't know them?"

Well, I'm going to introduce you to all of them, obviously.

But first I'll go over the six different sentient races in the game, depicted above in the lovely artwork from Jun Lo. I commissioned this three years ago. I've been working on this game way too long.

• Humans - You are one of these.

• Naiads - Aquatic/Amphibious creatures. Natural affinity for storm magic. They live in swamps and have close ties with nature. Lifespans are twice as long as humans.

• Kitsune - Magical fox-like tricksters. They can transform at will. All kitsune wear masks or somehow cover their faces. A kitsune showing you their eyes is as serious as a marraige proposal.

• Gargoyle - Powerful creatures that live in burrows. Stone by day, warriors by night. Their appearance is somewhat canine, but their biology is actually closer to a reptile.

• Fengu - Bird people with an electrical affinity. More technologically advanced and isolated than the other races.

• Shambles - Shams, for short. Sentient fungi/plant creatures born from mud. Their skeleton-like wooden frames and hanging skin-like velvet and lichen caused early settlers to mistake them for the undead. Simple creatures, somewhat goblin-like in demeanor.

All of the races can interbreed except the shambles who spawn via spore dispersal. At least one mix of all of the other five races is present in the game.

(Fan art by SonoComics)

So here's what I'm gonna do. I'll give a little descriptor of all the game's playable characters. If two of them catch your eye, comment below with a pair you'd be interested in seeing interact. I happen to have a chart and have already decided which pairs will be getting dedicated support conversations. If you happen to blindly pick a pair I've already decided get supports with each other, that's the one I'll write. It's like throwing darts!

Here's our cast (Spoilers for this Fire Emblem game I made up, I guess):

• Bea - Human pegasus knight. Empathetic baby farm girl. Loves animals and would probably be a veterinarian in a Modern Day AU. Helpful to a fault. Cutie pie.

• Ranja - Human dracoknight. Trying to fit in with her warmonger army, but honestly she just wants to kiss girls and play tabletop games. Usually playing the role of "One Sane Man".

• Syrenne - Naiad swordsman. Bea's adoptive older sister. Currently comes across as demure and shy, but has a past as an active criminal working for a liberation front. Jay's favorite character. If I can swing it, I'd want her to be voiced by Jenny Nicholson.

• Soba - Human fire mage. Looks after Bea and Syrenne on the farm. In her 50s. Badass wilderness forager. Was once a coyote smuggling slaves to freedom under the name "Wildfire".

• Rondeau - Human archer. A love letter-themed postman obsessed with everyone's comings and goings. Definitely reads your mail. Acts as Soba's informant. If I can swing it, I want him to be voiced by Brian David Gilbert.

• Vander - Human axe knight. A lumberjack who grew up in a backwards cult that eschewed all technology, even things as basic as fire and wheels. Speaks with a Skyrim accent.

• Sven - Human-Kitsune-Gargoyle mix, spear cavalier. Ranja's quartermaster. Keeps the armory running smoothly. VERY ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT HIS JOB!!! Probably autistic.

• Alphi - Human thief. A child with a unique talent for spotting forgeries. Works with a kitsune spymaster. Says what he thinks with no filter and this kid sees EVERYTHING.

• Phoenica - A different one than you're used to. Human thunder mage. 20-something rich idiot who really wants to be an Aegis Knight. Ends up in the same squadron as Bea.

• Chloe - Human-Naiad troubadour. A hippie-like healer who's laid back attitude belies an actual doctorate in psychology. Extremely chill. Definitely does drugs.

• Marlowe - Naiad singer. Local hotboy. Confident while on stage but has difficulty speaking with women after a bad relationship with an ex. Have you ever heard me mention that I realized I was bisexual because of a random mermaid? It's this one. This is the boy.

• Rocco - Gargoyle-Human mix dragon-rider. Dopey 1950s greaser who rides a dragon instead of a motorcycle. Big stupid sunglasses. Actually a sweetie pie. Gargoyle mixes like him don't petrify in sunlight, they just get sleepy. Going to be voiced by either Will or Gianni Matragrano.

• Petra - Gargoyle-Fengu mix healer. Spunky 1950s poodle skirt diner girl. Rocco's girlfriend. Collects gemstones. Much scarier than Rocco when she's angry. Going to be voiced by either Oz or Vixen. She can form a poly trio with the two above boys if you unlock the right supports. I've written all of them already btw, so don't bother guessing them.

• Rue - Kitsune, but she's pretending to be a human. Unique unit who can change into any class you want, like an Eevee. Extremely goofy and stupid character. Her hobby is living out months of her life as other races and seeing the cultural differences. She is massively unsubtle about it.

• Viscoe - Human archer. The third main character after Bea and Ranja. Ranja's best friend and confidant. He plays the blunt and sarcastic asexual bestie next to the main lesbian relationship. Viscoe's homeland was annexed by Ranja's empire and they're working to free it.

• Etro - Human fire mage. One of the generals of the evil empire and Viscoe's older brother. Extremely pleasant and always smiling, but also a massive snake who will betray anybody to further his own inscrutable goals. Even Viscoe doesn't trust him anymore.

• Perikka - Fengu archer. The princess of a fengu city. Has an explosion fetish and will do anything to acquire more test dummies for her to blow up. Actual lunatic.

• Willy - Shamble pirate. The only thing this goofball loves more than treasure hunting is Billy, a parrot who lives in his rib cage. Billy is his first mate and acts as the brains of the duo.

• Aves - Human pegasus knight. This accident-prone Aegis Knight recruit has broken most of her bones experimenting with new crazy flying maneuvers. Dresses as an aviator and speaks in a hyperactive mid-atlantic accent. Trans woman.

• Krenshaw - Fengu-human mix, assassin. A white peacock woman. Once a prolific star of the theater, now an assassin for the empire with a kill list miles long. Currently working as Ranja's tutor.

• Taran - Swordsman. Appears human, but is actually some sort of weird homunculus who absorbed a hero's personality from reading fairy tales. Calls himself a prince.

• Gothi - Shamble light mage. A mysterious sham wrapped head to toe in bandages with a cowboy duster on top. Travels from place to place preaching the good word... and maybe more?

• Solomon - Naiad-Gargoyle alchemist. His deep-sea fish fangs and gargoyle wings give him the appearance of a vampire. This savant tried to search for eternal life, and for his hubris was cursed to never be able to sleep again. Would be voiced by Arim.

• Vivian - ??? A giant suit of armor piloted by a series of vines inside. Only recently gained the ability to talk. Some sort of shamble? Who knows. Obsessed with protecting nature.

• Cayna - Kitsune thief. A career criminal with a long history of anti-human activity. Despises the humans-first mentality enforced by the nobility of Bea's country.

• Shilling - Naiad-Fengu mix, pirate. Half bearded vulture, half lionfish, this sea naiad stands an intimidating eight feet tall. A pirate captain and rebel in search of romance. Deeply in love with his first mate. This one's for the bara-likers. Would ideally be voiced by J. Michael Tatum.

• Ilmatar - Naiad-Kitsune mix, thunder mage. Half lantern fish, half otter. A quiet and unfriendly fortune teller. Became Shilling's navigator after the latter rescued him from traffickers. In love with Shilling. Would ideally be voiced by Brandon McInnis.

• Delphi - Fengu-Kitsune mix healer. Tutorial girl got lost. Has the highest strength stat in the game, but only uses staves. Hits people with them shockingly hard.

• Dreadnought - Gargoyle-Kistune darkness mage. The final boss of someone else's game. A mercenary working for the empire. Speaks in all caps. Saturday morning cartoon villain.

And that's all of them! Feel free to pair them together. I'll let you know if you hit one. First come, first serve!