Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator marked its 20th anniversary since publication late in 2019. What follows is part 07 of a deep dive retrospective on the making of this cult classic RPG!
(BTW – In case you missed them, here’s Part 01, Part 02, Part 03, Part 04, Part 05, & Part 06.)
Septerra Core development was in full swing in 1998 and 1999 at Valkyrie Studios. As we barreled towards completing the underlying tech and art that was required for the game, the script was being finalized and readied. What follows is a bit of insight into how the story came to be formed (back at Viacom New Media) and how the script was finalized and made ready for recording at Valkyrie Studios.
Throwing Out Good and Evil
I knew early on that Septerra Core was destined to tell a war story—all those flying battleships I had envisioned had to serve a purpose, after all! The worldbuilding had defined the major cultures, nations that would have long histories of clashes as they competed for resources and land. But while such natural conflicts could certainly lead to war, the war that would ultimately drive the plot needed to be grander in scope . Such a unique world as Septerra needed an epic story that would explore its very origins—in fact, the very world itself needed to be the ultimate mystery for the player characters to unravel .
Unlock a puzzle so vast it’s a world unto itself… A secret so powerful, it could destroy that world…or create it!
-Original Septerra Core tagline used to pitch the game.
No mundane war was going to fit that bill. The story needed to be ambitious on an entirely different scale, that of world creation itself, and that meant delving into the nature of its creator and god.
Nothing less than a holy war was going to suffice.
Holy wars are fought over beliefs. Therefore, rather than a typical (for the time) RPG story driven by some dark lord doing evil stuff because, well, reasons, I wanted the characters and their beliefs—both the protagonist and the antagonist—to drive the plot.
This would not be a tale of an evil villain attempting to take over the world or “cover it in darkness.” Rather, our antagonist would be fighting for what he believed in, at all costs, to save the world. It was important for this character not to see himself as evil, but rather be the hero of his own story.
I wanted to convey this right at the very beginning of the game, before the plot itself has even truly revealed itself. The very first quest sends Maya to learn at Azziz’s temple. There, she hears the tale of the ancient demi-god Marduk and his war to defeat an evil daemon lord, Gemma. In most RPGs, it would be the return of this Gemma that would drive the story. But when Maya asks if this evil will one day return, she learns otherwise.
“No, no, child… That kind of thing only happens in stories! No, I fear there are much worse evils that this world will one day have to contend with. Evils like greed, lust, and ignorance.”
-Azziz
Many players probably expected Azziz to be proven wrong, that the ancient dark lord would soon return after all. Instead, they would find themselves embroiled in a holy war waged not by Gemma or one of his latter day disciples, but by a descendant and follower of the ancient hero and savior of Septerra, an antagonist who sees himself as the prophesized savior.
A Tale of Holy War
Septerra Core is primarily about faith, but not faith with a capital F.
It’s about the things we believe in—not necessarily gods and dogma and the tenets of a religion, but the beliefs we hold, our values. Those beliefs drive our actions as we make our way in the world, and those actions have consequences.
On one side we have Doskias, a man who is the true descendant of a Christ-like savior of the world, a bloodline that has been prophesized to save the world. This is what he BELIEVES, and this belief dictates his actions. Doskias has no qualms about taking his rightful place in this world, of stepping over others in his quest to be their very savior. He knows in his heart that he’s ultimately doing the right thing—the beliefs of others are immaterial.
Creator. It is my destiny to fulfill His prophesy! If I have to step over your corpse to
do so, like I did your father’s, so be it…”
Doskias treads over the other cultures of the world and meddles with the balance of Septerra’s ancient creation in his quest to be the descendant of Marduk. But even these actions might not paint him as evil in the story, if he would only take care how his actions might affect others. It’s the selfishness of his holy crusade that ultimately pushes him into the realm of evil.
On the other side we have Maya, a woman whose homeland was destroyed by people like Doskias, people who believe so fully in their own righteous place in the world that their actions are justified. But Maya BELIEVES in the goodness of people, BELIEVES that she has no right to take from others, to dictate their place in the world, or to violate their own beliefs, even if she believed that doing so would be for the better good.
The holy war of Septerra pits these beliefs against each other—the true believer versus the truly selfless.
Ultimately, this is represented by the two halves of the Core Key. It’s no coincidence that Maya ends up in possession of the key known as Wisdom, while Doskias acquires the key known as Power. Only when the two are brought together can the riddle and mystery of the Core be revealed.
“Lo, when the two halves are made one, and ye have brought together the forces of power and wisdom, it shall pass that the legacy of the Creator shall be delivered unto the saviors.”
-Kyra the Angel
After all, wisdom without the Power to affect change can do little, while Power without the guidance of Wisdom is doomed to corruption. To bring about the prophesy, the inhabitants of Septerra need to prove to their maker, through their actions, that they can wield the two together.
Good and Evil Take Many Forms
Characters like Tori, Maya’s younger brother, were added to further illustrate these ideas. Tori doesn’t care how his actions (re: weapon smuggling) will affect the people of other lands. In this respect, he’s Maya if she had gone down the road of being more like Doskias. In fact, it’s Tori’s selfish actions that start the chain of events that draws Maya into a greater conflict, as she sets out to right the wrongs he committed.
Many of the lesser “evil” characters in the story originally started down the path of their actions based on what they think is right—Mayor wanted to militarize Junk City to protect it from further outlander invasions, while Wind City’s Dugan wanted to eradicate the old hierarchy of lords, knights, and peasants and replace it with social equality—so long as he receives “more equality than others.”
I also wanted to counter the trope of the “Chosen One,” especially when it’s tied to bloodlines and genetics. Many fantasy stories seem to casually hinge on the idea that someone is a chosen savior because of their bloodline / lineage / genetics. Our protagonist always seems to discover they’re actually a prince/princess in order to be a hero, or that their ability to wield some power or abilities was passed to them along with their blonde hair and blue eyes. I personally find the trope not just boring, but troubling.
Doskias believes in this trope, that’s for sure. He doesn’t just hail from a people who call themselves the Chosen, he believes himself to be the Chosen of the Chosen, the literal descendant of a god and foretold to save the world.
Unfortunately for him, it’s Maya who completes this monumental task in the end. So is she the “Chosen One” instead? Is she actually a secret descendant of Marduk?
Nope. She merely succeeds because of her drive and determination, not because it was pre-ordained or foretold, or because there was something special about her bloodline. It’s her empathy for others, and the actions she takes, that defines her as the “true descendant” of Marduk—not in blood, but in deeds. And, in fact, anyone willing to fight and make the sacrifices she did could have fulfilled that role in the prophecy.
Big Ambitions, Small Victories, Fun Additions
All that sounds pretty heavy, I know. I certainly set some lofty goals for the story, and I tried my best to do right by them. I was a young designer in his mid 20’s with only a few narrative-driven games under his belt, so maybe all this was above my pay grade. But I worked hard to tell the best story I could, with the time and resources we had.
In the end, Doskias ended up a lot more straight up evil than I originally intended, and I don’t think some of the ideas behind Maya’s role in the prophesy came across as the statement that I had intended. But, in the end, I’m still glad I swung for the fences rather than settle for the safe bet.
And remember how I had tried my best to avoid anything Tolkien-esque? As a huge fan of Middle-Earth I was tired of seeing the Professor’s work endlessly rehashed, so I avoided the elves and dwarves and orcs when worldbuilding. I had even renamed Runner—his original name was “Strider,” which had been a reference to the Dark Crystal, but even that had to go for obvious reasons. And yet… I still failed miserably at avoiding the Professor’s daunting shadow. After all, I had the denizens of Septerra delve too deep in their mining of the Core for a priceless resource, and guess what that did? It released a terrible creature of legend, of course—that silvery ore might as well have been Mithril and the creature a Balrog. Doh .
Oh well. On the other hand, Septerra Core couldn’t all be Fantasy Lit 101 and meditations on life, the universe, and everything. I also wanted the game to be a fun adventure. So there are little sci-fi and fantasy jokes in the game, for those paying attention. Some are obvious, like Lobo’s Star Wars cantina moment…
And that AE-35 power converter that needs to be recovered from a downed battleship? That was totally a reference to the Discovery’s AE-35 antenna unit from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
We also had fun naming some enemies…
An Accidental Mythology
Septerra’s holy war needed a foundational mythology to underscore the conflict. This came in the epic tale of the son of the Creator and his war against a fallen angel. Obviously, I leaned heavily on Judeo-Christian concepts and folklore for this, with the Creator sending his “only begotten son” to defend Septerra against the evil rule of a demonic “Fallen Angel.”
In truth, I named the heroic demi-god of the story “Marduk” on a whim, plucking the name blindly out of real world mythology because I thought it sounded cool. This mighty hero would be helped on his quest by a winged angel, a goddess of light. I also gave him the power to trap the very daemon allies of his devilish foe and then summon them to fight against their former master.
It was only after this seed of story had been created that I discovered that the Judeo-Christian stories I was inspired by were intertwined with the mythology and creation myths of the Mesopotamians and their gods.
Reading these stories, I began to find similarities between the hero I had created and the “real” Marduk, star of the Babylonian Enuma Elish. This ancient tale says that Marduk fought and killed the demonic Tiamat to create the world, but she had some allies….
“…Her divine aides, who went beside her…. They were completely surrounded, unable to escape. (Marduk) bound them and broke their weapons, and they lay enmeshed, sitting in a snare, hiding in corners, filled with grief…The throng of devils who went as grooms on her right hand, he put ropes upon them and bound their arms…”
The Enuma Elish Tablet IV – Translation by W.G. Lambert
This was an unexpected find! The real Marduk had captured demons? Ok, maybe he didn’t whip them back out to fight his enemies, but hey, it was too cool of a coincidence to ignore. Plus, one the weapons that Marduk uses against Tiamat was the divine seven winds of destruction!
These discoveries sent me down the path of adopting more of the flavor of the Mesopotamian stories into the game. The “angel” Kyra was reimagined to align more with the goddess Ishtar. Not only was Ishtar associated with love and sex, but some accounts associated her worshippers with the performance of sexual rites, a theme which would surface in the sacred “working girls” of Septerra’s brothels. I even added a Fate Card character, Enkidu’s Son, named after the beast man of the Epic of Gilgamesh. This “fifth” Fate Card category was ultimately cut, but would have centered on manipulating earth, beasts, and growing things.
The Structure of the Tale
All this research and comparative mythology inevitably led me to Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces and ultimately to the Hero’s Journey, which is often applied to tales of holy war. Maya’s story was very much influenced by that cycle, including passing into the underworld (the Core), death and rebirth (after the battle of the lenses it is intimated that she is dead or near death when the spirit of her mother urges her to wake up and keep fighting), attaining holy weapons from the gods (the twin swords of Marduk) and ultimately transformation and returning home with the knowledge of the gods (Maya’s sacrifice and transformation into a Watcher as she leads her people into the future).
While the story was split up into multiple chapters behind the scenes, I also mentally divided these chapters into two main movements.
For the first part of the story, Maya is the underdog, constantly one step behind Doskias, who bests her at every turn. This first movement is all about building the player’s hatred for the antagonist, cementing their desire to turn the tables and fight back.
It’s only during the second movement of the story that Maya begins to truly do this. By this time Maya has gathered allies who are eager to help (the other player characters). However, it’s only when the player attains Lobo’s ship that Maya truly gains autonomy over her adventure, giving her the freedom to truly fight back and save the day.
Love, Race, and Septerra
Septerra was made in the days before the modern rise of RPG romance quests. Still, a good story should include a romantic interest for its main character, right?
I’m sad to say that back in 1996 I made the decision to exclude any romantic stories for Maya. I had chosen a female lead for the game, which I thought was pretty progressive at the time, but I dropped the ball after that. I was confident that players (and by players, I meant “men,” who were still predominately seen as the main player base in the 90s) wouldn’t balk at playing a woman in a JRPG-esque game. On the other hand, I suspected they wouldn’t care to play out a romance with a male suitor…
A very short-sighted opinion, but it nixed any romance for Maya. And the idea of having her romance another woman was also not something main stream games seemed ready for yet, not when a major network was canceling a sitcom because its lead was coming out of the closet.
These ideas are quaint by today’s standards, when players have modern RPGs that let them romance men, women, (or even aliens) as they see fit!
Romance would be relegated to side stories added late in the game. In fact, towards the end of development I suddenly decided that the game needed at least a handful of “side quests.” These stories were not planned, but a few of us gathered and knocked out some ideas that would add some interest to Maya’s companions, as well as reward curious players.
Grubb and Led were given a romance which could actually unlock the only two player combo attack in the game, and Corgan and Selina got their own romance, of a sort. They hate each other—if the player puts the two characters into a party together there’s a chance they’ll attack each other instead of the enemies. Their side quest allowed them to mend their differences and stop that behavior—which is a good thing as the player MUST use the two of them together in the final battle!
There was also the question of race. While I’m proud of the fact that our main character was a woman, with two more strong women characters following her, I dropped the ball on making the party racially diverse. At one time there was considerable talk of adding color to our cast. We even mocked up art of Grubb as a black man. But I didn’t want to take a character created as one race and simply “race-switch” them late in development—that was not going to create an authentic character of color. Ultimately we balked. Instead, we made sure that the NPCs of the world were racially diversified, which was honestly taking the easy way out. To this day I think it’s one of the great missed opportunities of the game.