the tl;dr version of the last post.
Proposal: @
Script: @
Character sketches: 1 (Phillip, Snake monster, Jonathan), 2 (Jem, Sasha, Florence, Dave)
1 page finished: @
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Final Project- Aranala
I couldn't figure out how to combine them all into one .pdf, so here's several separate ones, containing the proposal, character sketches, script, and completed page. For the scenario and character descriptions, please see earlier posts.
Normally I'd write a long ramble about how things went and what happened, but I don't think I can do that today, because a) it was a very long process, I don't remember it all, and b) someone was hogging the scanner computer in the library and I procrastinated so I lost the half hour I had anticipated being able to use to write this ramble and now I don't have time.
But I will say a few things.
Firstly, I don't feel very strongly about my story. When it comes down to it, I wrote it because it was an assignment; I don't think I would ever care about it enough to make it a real comic; frankly it doesn't interest me. I guess that's one thing definitely learned from this class; the graphic narrative business isn't for me.
Secondly, I tried very hard to put a restraint on the length. First I said, "Oh, I should be able to fit in into 40 pages without too much problem." But the final draft is approaching 60 pages, and there's still much more to be said. So if I ever did have the passion and motivation to make this a real comic, this would really only be a rough outline; it would ideally be much longer.
And, with that said, on to the project. I hope you enjoy. Click the links below to access the PDFs. And, pleeeeease, read the scenario, which I posted a few weeks ago; it makes everything make much more sense.
Proposal: @
Script: @
Character sketches: 1 (Phillip, Snake monster, Jonathan), 2 (Jem, Sasha, Florence, Dave)
1 page finished: @
Supplementary links:
Scenario: @
Brief Character descs: @
With all that being said, I just want to say that, stressful as it was, it was a pleasure being in your class, Mr. Steiling. You're a great, enthusiastic teacher.
Normally I'd write a long ramble about how things went and what happened, but I don't think I can do that today, because a) it was a very long process, I don't remember it all, and b) someone was hogging the scanner computer in the library and I procrastinated so I lost the half hour I had anticipated being able to use to write this ramble and now I don't have time.
But I will say a few things.
Firstly, I don't feel very strongly about my story. When it comes down to it, I wrote it because it was an assignment; I don't think I would ever care about it enough to make it a real comic; frankly it doesn't interest me. I guess that's one thing definitely learned from this class; the graphic narrative business isn't for me.
Secondly, I tried very hard to put a restraint on the length. First I said, "Oh, I should be able to fit in into 40 pages without too much problem." But the final draft is approaching 60 pages, and there's still much more to be said. So if I ever did have the passion and motivation to make this a real comic, this would really only be a rough outline; it would ideally be much longer.
And, with that said, on to the project. I hope you enjoy. Click the links below to access the PDFs. And, pleeeeease, read the scenario, which I posted a few weeks ago; it makes everything make much more sense.
Proposal: @
Script: @
Character sketches: 1 (Phillip, Snake monster, Jonathan), 2 (Jem, Sasha, Florence, Dave)
1 page finished: @
Supplementary links:
Scenario: @
Brief Character descs: @
With all that being said, I just want to say that, stressful as it was, it was a pleasure being in your class, Mr. Steiling. You're a great, enthusiastic teacher.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
dome
here's a preview of what my dome will look like... it makes sense in my head, so I guess we'll see how it looks in real life...!
My laptop didn't appreciate the size of this, so the quality is kind of... yeah
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
to-do
because I really need to get organized.
- Personal story: breakdown,
roughs,
1 page finished
actual proposal
weeks remaining
11th
18th
25th- thanksgiving
2nd: meet at planetarium
9th: due date for personal project (proposal, scenario, roughs, characters, 1 page finished)
meeeeh
- Personal story: breakdown,
roughs,
1 page finished
actual proposal
weeks remaining
11th
18th
25th- thanksgiving
2nd: meet at planetarium
9th: due date for personal project (proposal, scenario, roughs, characters, 1 page finished)
meeeeh
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Scenario
Backstory (not to be included, simply useful to know; bits and pieces will be revealed as we go)
Arañala (or just Aranala, if I'm feeling lazy) is a small island located about 30 miles off the coast of South America, near Peru, which was once the site of a awesome and terrifying, but almost entirely self-contained, civilization. At first glance, this civilization might resemble other cult-sites of the area-- strange creatures, animal-human hybrids, all based around a clear worship of gods in the forms of Spiders. However, these were not just myths; the truth of Aranala is that the Spiders were its literal rulers. There is a breed of Spider on Aranala that is highly evolved, intelligent, even supernatural in the abilities which nature has gifted it. Through their venom they are able to either kill (in a matter of minutes), control (like a puppet), or alter the forms of men (i.e. turn into giant snake monsters by manipulating their DNA). Using these three powers, the spiders actually enslaved the human natives of the island to do their bidding. Ruling with an iron fist through a vicarious, puppet-like influence, they forced the humans to build monuments to their glory, to serve their every need, and to worship the leader they appointed-- the "Spider King", their nominal god-on-earth-- with all their strength. The humans themselves lived in tents, were always kept at hand, like dogs, and were punished severely for any rebellion.
The humans obviously were not very content with this setup. It was some time around 1500 AD, probably, that they began to plan their escape. It took three generations of subterfuge and under-the-radar sneakery, but they eventually managed to escape from the island on boats, and settled in an obscure area along the mountainous coast, where eventually they integrated with the native villages and only their name-- Aranalians, eventually shortened to Nalians-, and much of their mythology, endured. The location of the island was deliberately erased from all maps, and travel to it was forbidden, but spider monsters became a recurring theme of local folklore.
So the spiders had their servants taken away from them... In their absence, they largely returned to being normal arachnids; though they could still communicate with each other and develop their own little societies, they could not maintain the glory of their human civilization. The spiders' city (The Octagon, as we will know it) was largely abandoned; the spiders fled to the forest to feast on bugs and rodents and fruit. But even in this docile time, the spiders also maintained legends of their formal power and their human slaves, and even after 500 years, many would leap at the opportunity to regain it...
Modern Day: An professor named Edgar Cordell, leading an international group of students through an exchange-program tour of Peru's ancient sites, decides to deviate from the curriculum in order to go an an exploratory adventure. You see, he had spotted an island on Google Earth that he see on the map, and was eager to investigate. He, a colleague, and several bewildered students therefore stumbled onto this island, and discovered the amazing Octagon City. Interestingly, Cordell quickly died tragically of a rather nasty spider bite, but not before he was able to call in his discovery. Thus began the events that would lead to our story.
Story
An island about 30 miles off the coast of Peru is discovered by an amateur explorer. He dies due to a deadly spider bite, but news of his find still travels like wildfire. The island, called Aranala, based on local legend, is home to some amazing ruins and statues and riches rivaling those of King Tut, and seems to represent a culture never heard of before. Archeologists and treasure-hunters alike are ecstatic. There's a brief power struggle as people try to decide to whom the dig belongs (Peru says it's theirs due to pure proximity, but they have no real hold on it; the discoverer who found it was American, so the US claims a stake on it, but that discoverer is now dead; he was part of an international organization, every member of which is claiming their part... etc). In the end it's decided that a UN-appointed multi-national coalition of scientists will be the ones to study it, and all artifacts are to remain on site.
The "multi-national coalition" consists of five leading scientists, their assistants, several enthusiastic interns, a group of natives (to the Aranala area, not the island), and a small film crew. The "leading scientists" include a botanist (a well-educated native named Phillip, helping the clueless foreigners to navigate the wilderness), a zoologist (a lively, enthusiastic girl named Sasha, on the watch for new species), an anthropologist (a middle-aged and knowledgeable, but not very likeable, man called Dave), two archeologists (an upbeat, pretentious man named Matthew and a more subdued, blunt, and insightful woman, Florence). All of them represent the best and the brightest in their fields. Also noteworthy is the chief camera man and documenter, called Jem, who becomes deeply involved with the scientists.
All of these scientists arrive in Aranala and are first briefed by Phillip, who, though unfamiliar with archeology, is well acquainted with the local terrain and folklore. He tells his colleagues that the island of Aranala is mentioned in legend as being a place of fear and death. The scientists, including Phillip, are undeterred by this. They quickly make their way to the island, and to the city which lay on its northern corner, as spoken of by the original discoverer. They discover it to be even more bizarre and amazing than they imagined, and each scientist, even the botanist, finds something to be excited about. There are glorious golden monuments and sculptures, and stone reliefs line every wall. They depict the most bizarre scenes-- people with spiders for heads, monsters in chains, people bowing down in worship... but the most remarkable of all is the later-named Spider Palace, which from a distance looks like a towering metallic rectangle, but as it is approached, reveals that it's not solid, but made from layer upon layer of twisting, netted, and highly decorated gold. On the top of it, there's a slightly-larger-than-life statue of a man, seated on a throne, with a spider-mask, his empty hand outstretched and open.
For several days the scientists study this lost city with ample amounts of nerdy bliss. By studying the sculptures, they attempt to learn of the way of life of the people who lived there. But they aren't able to ascertain much; the scenes seem to depict pure fantasy, as far as they can tell-- the only thing they know for sure is that these natives clearly worshiped the spider. They assume that they associated them with the gods, but they can't actually read any of the markings, they can only speculate. But there are a noticeable number of extremely curious spiders around. No one is bit, however. The spiders seem to be, if anything, just watching their unexpected guests.
After less than a week of digging and discovering, a man suddenly arrives on the island, with a very expensive suit and a ship full of heavy machinery. He reveals that his name is Jonathan Burk, and he represents the Rotry Museum, and has been authorized by the UN to transport the entirety of the dig site to the Rotry for further in-lab study. The scientists are indignant: why did nobody tell them, nobody ask them, and why would the UN authorize such a thing? They argue extensively (some that they ought to keep the integrity of the site, some don't want it monopolized, some because it would simply be a horrible violation of history....) when suddenly Sasha (the zoologist) becomes very dead-faced and says that the Sacred Palace must not be violated. She very quickly goes back to normal, rubs her neck idly, and denies having said anything of the sort, but Phillip takes note of her peculiar behavior and is frightened, as if something has just been confirmed.
In the end, Jonathan does have documents, and, despite their enthusiasm, there's really nothing the scientists can do. So the RMAC begin to move in their equipment, while the disgruntled scientists watch and grudgingly aid them as they are ordered, since they are still under the UN's direction. This includes Phillip, a botanist, guiding them on what native plants are edible, since they didn't bring enough food, the morons. Meanwhile, he begins to make extra, more desperate efforts to persuade Jonathan and the RMAC to leave the Octagon alone. They don't listen, obviously. But suddenly, after a few days of set-up, as they're heaving away some freed reliefs and smaller statues, about a quarter of the workers suddenly collapse; they clutch at their necks and limbs in pain, they go pale, and in a matter of minutes, they are dead.
Responses to this are varied. The natives who have tagged along immediately say that it's a curse, they must run, they must leave! While the scientists, on the other hand, try to help the fallen and affirm that there must be a more logical explanation, although they, also, are in a panic and very shaken by the deaths. Even Jonathan looks a little disoriented. But then suddenly one of the interns walks up to a scientist, in the same monotonous and zombie-like disposition that Sasha had been before. He says, NO, IT IS A CURSE. LEAVE NOW, AND LEAVE THIS PLACE, OR ALL WILL DIE. Other interns and scientists attempt to drag him away, to pacify him, but, to everyone's amazement and horror... he turns into a monster.
The intern is now a giant, bright, shining, blue-green, three-eyed, reptilian-headed naga-like creature. Everybody completely panics. The monster kills a few people and injures several more. Finally, Phillip, seeing no alternative, shoots him in the head, and that's that. He promptly turns back into a (very dead) human. Everyone's a little mystified after this. They spend the next few hours recovering the dead and tending to the injured and staring into space wondering what the hell had just happened. Jem managed to get only a blur of blue on film-- no real documentation.
Jonathan very quickly recovers from the shock, and immediately searches for some logical, profitable explanation for the events. He really wants this site. So in order to keep from everyone panicking and running away from the curse, he comes up with his own version of things.
According to Jonathan, it was just some kind of wild creature-- a jaguar or something-- that killed those people. The others, who collapsed, must have eaten something toxic. In fact, he rest of us must have eaten a milder form of it, that caused hallucinations and made us think we were seeing a monster. It was the Botanist's fault. He told us the plant was safe to eat, and now a quarter of the men are dead. And, besides that, he shot that intern, which, since there was now no evidence that he was a monster at the time, made him a murderer and a conspirator. He should be locked up and the dig continued.
Jonathan's argument manages to convince a surprising number of people. So now the party is divided-- about half want to continue to tear up the Octagon, and just pretend like the incident with the monster had never happened-- and the other half are sure it was no hallucination, and they're determined to find the truth, to clear Phillip's name, or just to abandon the dig and escape from the curse.
After this initial outbreak of deaths, many things begin to happen at once. The spiders (although only a few of the people make the connection) begin to sabotage the RMAC's camp; they mess with the communications equipment, and doing so cut the island off from the outside world. Phillip, along with Sasha, Florence, and Jem, take advantage of this temporary anarchy to flee from Jonathan, in order to find evidence of the bizarre, supernatural goings-on, prove Phillip's innocence and hopefully save the Octagon from desecration. At first they are pursued, but Jonathan-- who has become the self-appointed director of the dig site, now that it has been interrupted-- very quickly decides that their absence is to his advantage. He takes the opportunity to enjoy the ancient richness of the Octagon.... and, he begins to hear voices, he thinks, calling to him...
Meanwhile, somewhere in the jungle, Phillip has his friends wear scarves and shares with them what he knows: he reveals the details of the legends of Aranala which he previously mentioned: how the island was supposed to have been run by demons, embodied as spiders; how the island was never lost or forgotten, but intentionally erased from history; how the people, his people, were said to have come from the few survivors of the arachnids' tyranny....
...Back in the camp, interns and RMACs alike continue to die, and there are two more reports of snake-monsters... Jonathan assures the people that all is well and that these are just accidents (and isn't so spectacular a thing as this worth taking risk for?) , and he becomes increasingly enchanted by the city itself. It's like a drug to him; and he doesn't want to give it up. He begins to listen to the voices-- to drink in their power....
Phillip, Sasha, Florence, and Jem continue to walk around, barely knowing what they're looking for. Suddenly Sasha sees a spider on the ground, and, cursing all them and all the evil they have caused, she crushes it with her foot. Jem has his camera at the ready, and it's a good thing-- because in the next few seconds, spiders fall from the trees like snow, and Sasha turns into a snake monster. She is actually able to fight off its control, and avoids killing her friends-- but runs into the woods wildly, and is never seen again. Jem is horrified by this, both because he watched a human mutate into a giant reptile, because he had a crush on said human, and because he knew that she was now dead. The spiders, after running of Sasha, actually depart-- they don't harm the others, because they hadn't' harmed them. Jem notices this. Suddenly, he does something rather rash.
Jem bows down to a spider, he pleads with it, and he begs it for the opportunity to talk. He offers his own neck to it in submission. The spider, after some hesitation, climbs onto it and clamps down. It uses Jem as a medium to talk to Florence and Phillip. In this way, they discover that the spiders are divided; most of them, like the one speaking, just want to the humans to go away so they can continue with their peaceful, docile lives, with their historic palace intact. However, there are others who hope to use these new humans to revive the old, violent regime. When the conversation is done, the spider goes away, leaving Jem unharmed.
Since all of this, from Sasha's transformation to Jem's spider-channeling, was caught on tape, they now have plenty of evidence to clear Phillip's name, and the three horrified survivors head back to camp. By the time they arrive, communications are still mostly down, but the workers have managed to get the other equipment up and running. They have been nearly a week without any kind of incident, and spirits are up-- however, Jonathan seems to be missing. His assistant, Rich, reveals that he hadn't seen him for two days, but he had assured him he would be back by that night. No one was particularly worried, because no one, not even Rich himself, liked Jonathan very much.
When Jonathan suddenly appears, he looks empowered, glowing with a weird mysticism that is very un-Jonathan indeed. He announces that the spider palace is to remain where it is-- he has changed his mind. In fact, they will all remain where they are. And he will rule over them as their Spider King. Throughout this brief but terrifying monologue, everyone stares at him with a mix of incredulity and horror (except Phillip, Florence, and Jem, who look on with understanding and horror)-- and out from the woods, hundreds of spiders appear, and begin making their way toward the humans. Jonathan, having finished his speech, converts into a giant snake monster (the observant will notice the spider on his neck) and damages the boats so no one can escape. The spiders begin to overtake the humans, but they don't convert them or kill them; zombie-like and fumbling from 500 years of no practice, they attempt to gain control of them.
Thus there happens the dramatic battle sequence... Eventually, through unexpected teamwork from Phillip, Matthew, and Rich, he is killed, and the spider that was on him is squashed. The other spiders-- mere directionless cowards, now that their leader is fallen-- release their human puppets and retreat. There is a reprieve.
Then... epilogue. We don't see exactly what happens to the spiders, but the implication is that, with the offensive side temporarily weakened, the peaceful party suppresses them until the humans are able to go home. The humans, now with no Jonathan to deceive them, willingly leave. Everyone agrees never to speak of this again, they make Jem destroy the tapes and they film fake footage of how they found nothing. The entire incident is publicized as a hoax, (the Octagon never actually existed, the island is erased from the map once again... The many dozens of scientists who died did so tragically of a rare, tropical disease, that has been isolated and is no longer a threat) And, well, they all go home.
Arañala (or just Aranala, if I'm feeling lazy) is a small island located about 30 miles off the coast of South America, near Peru, which was once the site of a awesome and terrifying, but almost entirely self-contained, civilization. At first glance, this civilization might resemble other cult-sites of the area-- strange creatures, animal-human hybrids, all based around a clear worship of gods in the forms of Spiders. However, these were not just myths; the truth of Aranala is that the Spiders were its literal rulers. There is a breed of Spider on Aranala that is highly evolved, intelligent, even supernatural in the abilities which nature has gifted it. Through their venom they are able to either kill (in a matter of minutes), control (like a puppet), or alter the forms of men (i.e. turn into giant snake monsters by manipulating their DNA). Using these three powers, the spiders actually enslaved the human natives of the island to do their bidding. Ruling with an iron fist through a vicarious, puppet-like influence, they forced the humans to build monuments to their glory, to serve their every need, and to worship the leader they appointed-- the "Spider King", their nominal god-on-earth-- with all their strength. The humans themselves lived in tents, were always kept at hand, like dogs, and were punished severely for any rebellion.
The humans obviously were not very content with this setup. It was some time around 1500 AD, probably, that they began to plan their escape. It took three generations of subterfuge and under-the-radar sneakery, but they eventually managed to escape from the island on boats, and settled in an obscure area along the mountainous coast, where eventually they integrated with the native villages and only their name-- Aranalians, eventually shortened to Nalians-, and much of their mythology, endured. The location of the island was deliberately erased from all maps, and travel to it was forbidden, but spider monsters became a recurring theme of local folklore.
So the spiders had their servants taken away from them... In their absence, they largely returned to being normal arachnids; though they could still communicate with each other and develop their own little societies, they could not maintain the glory of their human civilization. The spiders' city (The Octagon, as we will know it) was largely abandoned; the spiders fled to the forest to feast on bugs and rodents and fruit. But even in this docile time, the spiders also maintained legends of their formal power and their human slaves, and even after 500 years, many would leap at the opportunity to regain it...
Modern Day: An professor named Edgar Cordell, leading an international group of students through an exchange-program tour of Peru's ancient sites, decides to deviate from the curriculum in order to go an an exploratory adventure. You see, he had spotted an island on Google Earth that he see on the map, and was eager to investigate. He, a colleague, and several bewildered students therefore stumbled onto this island, and discovered the amazing Octagon City. Interestingly, Cordell quickly died tragically of a rather nasty spider bite, but not before he was able to call in his discovery. Thus began the events that would lead to our story.
Story
An island about 30 miles off the coast of Peru is discovered by an amateur explorer. He dies due to a deadly spider bite, but news of his find still travels like wildfire. The island, called Aranala, based on local legend, is home to some amazing ruins and statues and riches rivaling those of King Tut, and seems to represent a culture never heard of before. Archeologists and treasure-hunters alike are ecstatic. There's a brief power struggle as people try to decide to whom the dig belongs (Peru says it's theirs due to pure proximity, but they have no real hold on it; the discoverer who found it was American, so the US claims a stake on it, but that discoverer is now dead; he was part of an international organization, every member of which is claiming their part... etc). In the end it's decided that a UN-appointed multi-national coalition of scientists will be the ones to study it, and all artifacts are to remain on site.
The "multi-national coalition" consists of five leading scientists, their assistants, several enthusiastic interns, a group of natives (to the Aranala area, not the island), and a small film crew. The "leading scientists" include a botanist (a well-educated native named Phillip, helping the clueless foreigners to navigate the wilderness), a zoologist (a lively, enthusiastic girl named Sasha, on the watch for new species), an anthropologist (a middle-aged and knowledgeable, but not very likeable, man called Dave), two archeologists (an upbeat, pretentious man named Matthew and a more subdued, blunt, and insightful woman, Florence). All of them represent the best and the brightest in their fields. Also noteworthy is the chief camera man and documenter, called Jem, who becomes deeply involved with the scientists.
All of these scientists arrive in Aranala and are first briefed by Phillip, who, though unfamiliar with archeology, is well acquainted with the local terrain and folklore. He tells his colleagues that the island of Aranala is mentioned in legend as being a place of fear and death. The scientists, including Phillip, are undeterred by this. They quickly make their way to the island, and to the city which lay on its northern corner, as spoken of by the original discoverer. They discover it to be even more bizarre and amazing than they imagined, and each scientist, even the botanist, finds something to be excited about. There are glorious golden monuments and sculptures, and stone reliefs line every wall. They depict the most bizarre scenes-- people with spiders for heads, monsters in chains, people bowing down in worship... but the most remarkable of all is the later-named Spider Palace, which from a distance looks like a towering metallic rectangle, but as it is approached, reveals that it's not solid, but made from layer upon layer of twisting, netted, and highly decorated gold. On the top of it, there's a slightly-larger-than-life statue of a man, seated on a throne, with a spider-mask, his empty hand outstretched and open.
For several days the scientists study this lost city with ample amounts of nerdy bliss. By studying the sculptures, they attempt to learn of the way of life of the people who lived there. But they aren't able to ascertain much; the scenes seem to depict pure fantasy, as far as they can tell-- the only thing they know for sure is that these natives clearly worshiped the spider. They assume that they associated them with the gods, but they can't actually read any of the markings, they can only speculate. But there are a noticeable number of extremely curious spiders around. No one is bit, however. The spiders seem to be, if anything, just watching their unexpected guests.
After less than a week of digging and discovering, a man suddenly arrives on the island, with a very expensive suit and a ship full of heavy machinery. He reveals that his name is Jonathan Burk, and he represents the Rotry Museum, and has been authorized by the UN to transport the entirety of the dig site to the Rotry for further in-lab study. The scientists are indignant: why did nobody tell them, nobody ask them, and why would the UN authorize such a thing? They argue extensively (some that they ought to keep the integrity of the site, some don't want it monopolized, some because it would simply be a horrible violation of history....) when suddenly Sasha (the zoologist) becomes very dead-faced and says that the Sacred Palace must not be violated. She very quickly goes back to normal, rubs her neck idly, and denies having said anything of the sort, but Phillip takes note of her peculiar behavior and is frightened, as if something has just been confirmed.
In the end, Jonathan does have documents, and, despite their enthusiasm, there's really nothing the scientists can do. So the RMAC begin to move in their equipment, while the disgruntled scientists watch and grudgingly aid them as they are ordered, since they are still under the UN's direction. This includes Phillip, a botanist, guiding them on what native plants are edible, since they didn't bring enough food, the morons. Meanwhile, he begins to make extra, more desperate efforts to persuade Jonathan and the RMAC to leave the Octagon alone. They don't listen, obviously. But suddenly, after a few days of set-up, as they're heaving away some freed reliefs and smaller statues, about a quarter of the workers suddenly collapse; they clutch at their necks and limbs in pain, they go pale, and in a matter of minutes, they are dead.
Responses to this are varied. The natives who have tagged along immediately say that it's a curse, they must run, they must leave! While the scientists, on the other hand, try to help the fallen and affirm that there must be a more logical explanation, although they, also, are in a panic and very shaken by the deaths. Even Jonathan looks a little disoriented. But then suddenly one of the interns walks up to a scientist, in the same monotonous and zombie-like disposition that Sasha had been before. He says, NO, IT IS A CURSE. LEAVE NOW, AND LEAVE THIS PLACE, OR ALL WILL DIE. Other interns and scientists attempt to drag him away, to pacify him, but, to everyone's amazement and horror... he turns into a monster.
The intern is now a giant, bright, shining, blue-green, three-eyed, reptilian-headed naga-like creature. Everybody completely panics. The monster kills a few people and injures several more. Finally, Phillip, seeing no alternative, shoots him in the head, and that's that. He promptly turns back into a (very dead) human. Everyone's a little mystified after this. They spend the next few hours recovering the dead and tending to the injured and staring into space wondering what the hell had just happened. Jem managed to get only a blur of blue on film-- no real documentation.
Jonathan very quickly recovers from the shock, and immediately searches for some logical, profitable explanation for the events. He really wants this site. So in order to keep from everyone panicking and running away from the curse, he comes up with his own version of things.
According to Jonathan, it was just some kind of wild creature-- a jaguar or something-- that killed those people. The others, who collapsed, must have eaten something toxic. In fact, he rest of us must have eaten a milder form of it, that caused hallucinations and made us think we were seeing a monster. It was the Botanist's fault. He told us the plant was safe to eat, and now a quarter of the men are dead. And, besides that, he shot that intern, which, since there was now no evidence that he was a monster at the time, made him a murderer and a conspirator. He should be locked up and the dig continued.
Jonathan's argument manages to convince a surprising number of people. So now the party is divided-- about half want to continue to tear up the Octagon, and just pretend like the incident with the monster had never happened-- and the other half are sure it was no hallucination, and they're determined to find the truth, to clear Phillip's name, or just to abandon the dig and escape from the curse.
After this initial outbreak of deaths, many things begin to happen at once. The spiders (although only a few of the people make the connection) begin to sabotage the RMAC's camp; they mess with the communications equipment, and doing so cut the island off from the outside world. Phillip, along with Sasha, Florence, and Jem, take advantage of this temporary anarchy to flee from Jonathan, in order to find evidence of the bizarre, supernatural goings-on, prove Phillip's innocence and hopefully save the Octagon from desecration. At first they are pursued, but Jonathan-- who has become the self-appointed director of the dig site, now that it has been interrupted-- very quickly decides that their absence is to his advantage. He takes the opportunity to enjoy the ancient richness of the Octagon.... and, he begins to hear voices, he thinks, calling to him...
Meanwhile, somewhere in the jungle, Phillip has his friends wear scarves and shares with them what he knows: he reveals the details of the legends of Aranala which he previously mentioned: how the island was supposed to have been run by demons, embodied as spiders; how the island was never lost or forgotten, but intentionally erased from history; how the people, his people, were said to have come from the few survivors of the arachnids' tyranny....
...Back in the camp, interns and RMACs alike continue to die, and there are two more reports of snake-monsters... Jonathan assures the people that all is well and that these are just accidents (and isn't so spectacular a thing as this worth taking risk for?) , and he becomes increasingly enchanted by the city itself. It's like a drug to him; and he doesn't want to give it up. He begins to listen to the voices-- to drink in their power....
Phillip, Sasha, Florence, and Jem continue to walk around, barely knowing what they're looking for. Suddenly Sasha sees a spider on the ground, and, cursing all them and all the evil they have caused, she crushes it with her foot. Jem has his camera at the ready, and it's a good thing-- because in the next few seconds, spiders fall from the trees like snow, and Sasha turns into a snake monster. She is actually able to fight off its control, and avoids killing her friends-- but runs into the woods wildly, and is never seen again. Jem is horrified by this, both because he watched a human mutate into a giant reptile, because he had a crush on said human, and because he knew that she was now dead. The spiders, after running of Sasha, actually depart-- they don't harm the others, because they hadn't' harmed them. Jem notices this. Suddenly, he does something rather rash.
Jem bows down to a spider, he pleads with it, and he begs it for the opportunity to talk. He offers his own neck to it in submission. The spider, after some hesitation, climbs onto it and clamps down. It uses Jem as a medium to talk to Florence and Phillip. In this way, they discover that the spiders are divided; most of them, like the one speaking, just want to the humans to go away so they can continue with their peaceful, docile lives, with their historic palace intact. However, there are others who hope to use these new humans to revive the old, violent regime. When the conversation is done, the spider goes away, leaving Jem unharmed.
Since all of this, from Sasha's transformation to Jem's spider-channeling, was caught on tape, they now have plenty of evidence to clear Phillip's name, and the three horrified survivors head back to camp. By the time they arrive, communications are still mostly down, but the workers have managed to get the other equipment up and running. They have been nearly a week without any kind of incident, and spirits are up-- however, Jonathan seems to be missing. His assistant, Rich, reveals that he hadn't seen him for two days, but he had assured him he would be back by that night. No one was particularly worried, because no one, not even Rich himself, liked Jonathan very much.
When Jonathan suddenly appears, he looks empowered, glowing with a weird mysticism that is very un-Jonathan indeed. He announces that the spider palace is to remain where it is-- he has changed his mind. In fact, they will all remain where they are. And he will rule over them as their Spider King. Throughout this brief but terrifying monologue, everyone stares at him with a mix of incredulity and horror (except Phillip, Florence, and Jem, who look on with understanding and horror)-- and out from the woods, hundreds of spiders appear, and begin making their way toward the humans. Jonathan, having finished his speech, converts into a giant snake monster (the observant will notice the spider on his neck) and damages the boats so no one can escape. The spiders begin to overtake the humans, but they don't convert them or kill them; zombie-like and fumbling from 500 years of no practice, they attempt to gain control of them.
Thus there happens the dramatic battle sequence... Eventually, through unexpected teamwork from Phillip, Matthew, and Rich, he is killed, and the spider that was on him is squashed. The other spiders-- mere directionless cowards, now that their leader is fallen-- release their human puppets and retreat. There is a reprieve.
Then... epilogue. We don't see exactly what happens to the spiders, but the implication is that, with the offensive side temporarily weakened, the peaceful party suppresses them until the humans are able to go home. The humans, now with no Jonathan to deceive them, willingly leave. Everyone agrees never to speak of this again, they make Jem destroy the tapes and they film fake footage of how they found nothing. The entire incident is publicized as a hoax, (the Octagon never actually existed, the island is erased from the map once again... The many dozens of scientists who died did so tragically of a rare, tropical disease, that has been isolated and is no longer a threat) And, well, they all go home.
Character notes
I need to write my scenario, but I want to clarify some things about the characters first to make it a little easier on myself.
Yes, they're younger than who would probably run such a find as this; but they're also brilliant, and it was agreed that they needed fresh blood on the case anyway.
Jeremy "Jem" Connor- "The Camera Man" - 27- Jem was chosen to accompany the excavation due to his charisma, liveliness, and skill with a camera. In many ways he's like a male version of Sasha (and, actually, he develops a crush on her very quickly), being enthusiastic, friendly, and cheerful. However, he is very nontechnical and probably more relateable than any of the scientists, being of a more average intelligence and human emotional range. He serves as the compassionate figure in the story, and also as the chief narrator,-- asking the same questions as the reader, sharing in their wonder, rephrasing things to make them more understandable, etc... He survives.
Phillip Valdez - "the Botanist"- Phillip is a 34-year-old native to the Arañala area. His father was an American professor, however, and as such Phillip had access to an extremely good education-- he graduated top of his class at a prestigious American University, and despite the other scientists' skepticism, he is easily their equal in intelligence. He is dark-skinned, of average height, with a sturdy build, and for the most part is very taciturn, subdued, and tolerant. However, he also can be righteously stubborn, proud, and often defiant, when it serves his purpose. Being from the area, Phillip is familiar with the local legends surrounding Arañala, and he eventually becomes the one to lead the party's hunt for answers. He is admirable, non-showy, self-sacrificing, and practical. Has a thing for Florence.
Sasha Ryans- "the Zoologist"- a highly intelligent, but outwardly blond, bubbly, and enthusiastic English 25 year-old (she claims), Sasha is an extremely cheerful and eccentric scientist who delights in her work-- which, in the case of the Arañala excavation, chiefly consists of staying on the lookout for peculiar and/or potentially dangerous fauna. Despite her youthful and pretty appearance, Sasha is no pushover; she is sharp, alert, insightful, and critical; very strong-spirited. She very quickly befriends Phillip and becomes one of his closest and most useful allies. Essentially, she's little miss perfect... On the other hand, she is sometimes whiny, grudging, and spoiled... Unfortunately, she dies after being turned into a monster.
Florence Rousseau -"The Archaeologist" (note the difference in spelling) - 30 - Obligatory strong female love-interest lead. Florence is strong, mature, level-headed, smart, down-to-earth, serious, and good-natured... and sometimes moody, vacant, and sharp-tongued... Her origins are distantly French, but she's been working with Matthew for many years in South America, and treats him like a playful, oafish brother, being the only one accustomed to and so able to tolerate his behavior. As for her, she tends to be bluntly business-like; she is a motivator, not cheering you on, but drilling you forward, always asking "what are you going to do now?" and bringing the dreamy, surreal events down to a realistic plane. She survives. Whether she actually ends up with Phillip is ambiguous, but unlikely.
Marco Davanzati ("Dave")- "The Anthropologist"- 45 - technically, as the chief anthropologist, Dave would be the one in charge of the entire project; however, due to his forgettable and uncommanding nature, he is quickly and passively shoved to the side. Dave is an Italian by birth, but a South American at heart; he's in love with the culture and brilliantly knowledgeable of it. But for all his brilliance, he is little liked by the group, because he tends to be impersonal, cold, and self-serving. He comes close to death, almost suffering Jonathan's fate, but chooses loyalty at the last second instead-- he's a little twisted, but overall not a bad guy.
Matthew Dixon- "The Archeologist" - 35- Gaston. He's tall, strong, handsome, adventurous, proud, loud, opinionated, vain (and, in traditional stereotypical fashion, American.) Although, like the other scientists, he was top of his class and is highly intelligent, he doesn't hesitate to flaunt his many flauntable attributes, and he probably decided to become and archeologist more out of admiration for Indiana Jones than anything. Like your typical Mr. Big Stuff character, he can also be very vulnerable to criticism and quick to anger. Truth be told he's not a very important character, and exists chiefly to get on Phillip's nerves. In the end he survives, with a semi change of heart.
Jonathan Burk- "The Businessman" - Jonathan is the official representative of the Rotry Museum's Acquisition Company (RMAC) and is essentially the story's antagonist. He begins the tale as a completely insensitive, commercial, materialistic, business-like, letter-of-the-law kind of guy-- but it is quickly revealed that his eagerness to acquire the Aranala Spider Palace is egged on not only by his official duty, but his own magpie-like greed of collecting rare, valuable things, to have them near him... even if this means resorting to lies and manipulation to make it happen. In the end, he is seduced by the Spiders' call of power, and, after being engulfed by it, is killed.
"Rich"- "The Assistant"- We never know his full name; it's not really important. Rich is Jonathan's assistant, and spends most of the comic being ordered around, taking notes, carrying things, and such, and sometimes contributing to conversation. It is clear that he shares his boss's love of acquisitions, but unlike Jonathan, Rich also has a strong sense of morals. Most of the time timid, distracted, cold, loyal to Jonathan and suspicious of others, he eventually proves to also be sensitive, alert, active, decisive, and strong, when it finally matters. He survives, and plays a large part in Jonathan's death.
Also several dozen interns (indicated by uniforms,) natives (indicated by race, costume, and a general inadequacy of English), and RMAC workers (indicated by a different uniform, and a general expression of nonchalance)
Yes, they're younger than who would probably run such a find as this; but they're also brilliant, and it was agreed that they needed fresh blood on the case anyway.
Jeremy "Jem" Connor- "The Camera Man" - 27- Jem was chosen to accompany the excavation due to his charisma, liveliness, and skill with a camera. In many ways he's like a male version of Sasha (and, actually, he develops a crush on her very quickly), being enthusiastic, friendly, and cheerful. However, he is very nontechnical and probably more relateable than any of the scientists, being of a more average intelligence and human emotional range. He serves as the compassionate figure in the story, and also as the chief narrator,-- asking the same questions as the reader, sharing in their wonder, rephrasing things to make them more understandable, etc... He survives.
Phillip Valdez - "the Botanist"- Phillip is a 34-year-old native to the Arañala area. His father was an American professor, however, and as such Phillip had access to an extremely good education-- he graduated top of his class at a prestigious American University, and despite the other scientists' skepticism, he is easily their equal in intelligence. He is dark-skinned, of average height, with a sturdy build, and for the most part is very taciturn, subdued, and tolerant. However, he also can be righteously stubborn, proud, and often defiant, when it serves his purpose. Being from the area, Phillip is familiar with the local legends surrounding Arañala, and he eventually becomes the one to lead the party's hunt for answers. He is admirable, non-showy, self-sacrificing, and practical. Has a thing for Florence.
Sasha Ryans- "the Zoologist"- a highly intelligent, but outwardly blond, bubbly, and enthusiastic English 25 year-old (she claims), Sasha is an extremely cheerful and eccentric scientist who delights in her work-- which, in the case of the Arañala excavation, chiefly consists of staying on the lookout for peculiar and/or potentially dangerous fauna. Despite her youthful and pretty appearance, Sasha is no pushover; she is sharp, alert, insightful, and critical; very strong-spirited. She very quickly befriends Phillip and becomes one of his closest and most useful allies. Essentially, she's little miss perfect... On the other hand, she is sometimes whiny, grudging, and spoiled... Unfortunately, she dies after being turned into a monster.
Florence Rousseau -"The Archaeologist" (note the difference in spelling) - 30 - Obligatory strong female love-interest lead. Florence is strong, mature, level-headed, smart, down-to-earth, serious, and good-natured... and sometimes moody, vacant, and sharp-tongued... Her origins are distantly French, but she's been working with Matthew for many years in South America, and treats him like a playful, oafish brother, being the only one accustomed to and so able to tolerate his behavior. As for her, she tends to be bluntly business-like; she is a motivator, not cheering you on, but drilling you forward, always asking "what are you going to do now?" and bringing the dreamy, surreal events down to a realistic plane. She survives. Whether she actually ends up with Phillip is ambiguous, but unlikely.
Marco Davanzati ("Dave")- "The Anthropologist"- 45 - technically, as the chief anthropologist, Dave would be the one in charge of the entire project; however, due to his forgettable and uncommanding nature, he is quickly and passively shoved to the side. Dave is an Italian by birth, but a South American at heart; he's in love with the culture and brilliantly knowledgeable of it. But for all his brilliance, he is little liked by the group, because he tends to be impersonal, cold, and self-serving. He comes close to death, almost suffering Jonathan's fate, but chooses loyalty at the last second instead-- he's a little twisted, but overall not a bad guy.
Matthew Dixon- "The Archeologist" - 35- Gaston. He's tall, strong, handsome, adventurous, proud, loud, opinionated, vain (and, in traditional stereotypical fashion, American.) Although, like the other scientists, he was top of his class and is highly intelligent, he doesn't hesitate to flaunt his many flauntable attributes, and he probably decided to become and archeologist more out of admiration for Indiana Jones than anything. Like your typical Mr. Big Stuff character, he can also be very vulnerable to criticism and quick to anger. Truth be told he's not a very important character, and exists chiefly to get on Phillip's nerves. In the end he survives, with a semi change of heart.
Jonathan Burk- "The Businessman" - Jonathan is the official representative of the Rotry Museum's Acquisition Company (RMAC) and is essentially the story's antagonist. He begins the tale as a completely insensitive, commercial, materialistic, business-like, letter-of-the-law kind of guy-- but it is quickly revealed that his eagerness to acquire the Aranala Spider Palace is egged on not only by his official duty, but his own magpie-like greed of collecting rare, valuable things, to have them near him... even if this means resorting to lies and manipulation to make it happen. In the end, he is seduced by the Spiders' call of power, and, after being engulfed by it, is killed.
"Rich"- "The Assistant"- We never know his full name; it's not really important. Rich is Jonathan's assistant, and spends most of the comic being ordered around, taking notes, carrying things, and such, and sometimes contributing to conversation. It is clear that he shares his boss's love of acquisitions, but unlike Jonathan, Rich also has a strong sense of morals. Most of the time timid, distracted, cold, loyal to Jonathan and suspicious of others, he eventually proves to also be sensitive, alert, active, decisive, and strong, when it finally matters. He survives, and plays a large part in Jonathan's death.
Also several dozen interns (indicated by uniforms,) natives (indicated by race, costume, and a general inadequacy of English), and RMAC workers (indicated by a different uniform, and a general expression of nonchalance)
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Story progress
Ok, I've got a good ten pages in my notebook of brainstormings and scribblings for my final project, but I haven't actually typed anything up yet. So I figured I'd do that.
I've got the basic idea, the only thing that's really blurry is specific dialogue and events. I'm still trying to decide exactly what happens and how much information I ought to actually reveal. Sometimes less is more, you know.
The basic idea is that there's this island (name needed) about 30 miles off the coast of (an obscure or even fictional country in South America), that's discovered by some scientists. It's got some amazing ruins and statues and riches rivaling those of King Tut, and seems to represent a culture never heard of before. Archeologists are ecstatic. There's a brief power struggle as people try to decide to whom the dig belongs (all the countries and museums want it for themselves, you see). In the end it's decided that a UN-appointed multi-national coalition of scientists will be the ones to study it, and all artifacts are to remain on site...
anyway, the team of people basically consists of a few leading scientists, their less-important assistants, a large crew of enthusiastic interns, a small film crew, and some natives to the area. The scientists and the camera man are the only real important ones; there's a botanist (a well-educated native, helping the clueless persons to navigate the wilderness), a zoologist (a lively, enthusiastic girl, on the watch for new species), an anthropologist (middle-aged and knowledgeable, but languid), two archeologists (an upbeat, pretentious man, and a more subdued, blunt, and insightful woman). They're all very "I'm smarter than the rest of you combined" and it's very obnoxious. They have tentative names, but for now I'm just going to call them by their titles. Except the camera man. His name is Jem. But the botanist is the main character actually.
...umm... tangents!
This big group gets to this island and starts to look around. They find this city, which they basically just call the Octagon because of its eight-area configuration around a central point... which is called the Spider Palace. Anyway, it's this really great thing. There aren't really any houses (there's some evidence of tents as having been the dwelling of choice), but there's tons and tons of monuments and relief sculptures depicting the most bizarre scenes-- people with spiders for heads, monsters in chains, people bowing down... etc. There's also gold. A ton of it. The most remarkable piece of all is the later-named Spider Palace, which from a distance looks like a towering metallic rectangle, but as you approach it, you see that it's not solid, but made from layer upon layer of twisting, netted, and highly decorated gold. Kind of like a giant piece of sponge, with all these twisting cavities and passage ways. On the top of it, there's a slightly-larger-than-life statue of a man, seated on a throne, with a spider-mask, his empty hand outstretched and open.
The scientists are happy. They go about doing scientific-type things. Studying statues and rocks and plants and talking to each other about whatever they're discovering. Which isn't really a whole lot so far. Only that these people very clearly had a thing for spiders. They assume that they associated them with the gods, but they can't actually read any of the markings, they can only speculate. But there are a lot of spiders around... they just kind of sit there, like they're watching the scientists, patiently, but apprehensive for their departure...
ehh, yeah. Progress. After a few days of this, this guy suddenly appears in a suit, with a ship full of equipment. His name is Jonathan. He says he's from this pretentious Museum and he has been given permission to transport the entire site to there (he brandishes a document for proof,). The scientists are very upset by this, and they argue (some to keep the integrity of it, some because they think it shouldn't be monopolized, some because that would just be a generally horrible violation of history.... )... Suddenly the zoologist goes very dead-faced and says, no, this can not be, the palace must not be violated, it is sacred... (it's after this people start calling it Spider Palace)... but then she goes back to normal and rubs her neck and of course rationalizes whatever she said by going back to the scientists' arguments... But the Botanist takes not of her peculiar behavior, and he looks frightened, as if something has just been confirmed...
...I'm rambling...
in the end, Jonathan's got documents, so there's really nothing they can do. The museum men begin moving in the equipment, while the disgruntled scientists watch. Botanist begins making extra efforts to persuade them not to touch it. They don't listen. And suddenly, after a few days of set-up, as they're heaving away free reliefs and some smaller statues, and the crane is just being attached to the Palace, about a quarter of the workers collapse; they clutch at their necks and legs and arms in pain, they go pale, and in a matter of minutes, they're all dead.
Responses to this are varied. The natives who have tagged along immediately say that it's a curse, they must run, they must leave! While the scientists try to help the fallen and affirm that there must be a more logical explanation. There's a lot of sadness and panic. But then suddenly one of the interns walks up to a scientist (let's say male archeologist) and he's in zombie-mode like zoologist was the other day. He says, NO, IT IS A CURSE. LEAVE NOW, AND LEAVE THIS PLACE, OR ALL WILL DIE. Other interns and scientists attempt to drag him away, to pacify him, but... he turns into a snake monster instead.
Really big, bright, shining blue-green, three-eyed, reptilian-headed naga. Everybody flips out. He kills a few people, injures a few more. Until Botanist finally shoots him in the head, and that's that. He promptly turns back into a (very dead) human.
Everyone's a little mystified after this. They spend the next few hours recovering the dead and tending to the injured and staring into space wondering what the hell had just happened. Jem managed to get only a blur of blue on film-- no real documentation.
Jonathan really wants this site. In order to keep from everyone panicking and running away from the curse, he comes up with a different explanation.
It was just some kind of wild creature-- a jaguar or something-- that killed those people. The people who collapsed must have eaten something toxic. The rest of us must have eaten a milder form of it, that caused hallucinations and made us think we were seeing a monster. It was the Botanist's fault. He told us the plant was safe to eat, and now a quarter of the men are dead. And, besides that, he shot that intern, which, since there was now no evidence that he was a monster at the time, made him a murderer and a conspirator. He should be locked up and the dig continued.
Jonathan's argument manages to convince a surprising number of people. So now we're divided-- about half want to continue to tear up the Octagon, and just pretend like the incident had never happened-- and the other half are sure it was no hallucination, and they're determined to find the truth (and also clear the Botanist's name).
So for the rest of the story-- and this is the part I'm really not sure about-- simultaneously, the museum people go about and try to make arrangements for new men and new equipment, as the spiders continue to sabotage them-- making people turn in to monsters, spontaneously killing people with venom (tropical disease! says Jonathan), tearing up electrical equipment, and the like... While Jonathan, with a lot of free time, takes to touring the Octagon, and begins to hear mysterious whispering, calling him to be their god... and the remaining scientists, including the Botanist, Zoologist, Archeologist F., and Jem skirt around the red tape and try to find a) proof that here there be monsters and b) more information about where they came/are coming from, why, and how.
Some noteworthy but unorganized things that happen: spiders cut off communication to outside world; Zoologist is turned into a snake monster, but manages to fight off control in order to not harm her friends (but she dies); Botanist explains that the island was never really forgotten, but deliberately lost, and that from his youth he had heard myths of the spiders' cruel empire; Jem (charming thing he is) manages to convince a spider to talk to them through him, without killing him, and they learn that the spiders are also divided: most of them just want the humans to leave their city alone, but others have begun plotting to use the humans to reclaim the glory of their ancient empire...
...that doesn't happen in that order... it's more like, spiders mess with communications, which makes Jonathan unable to report when the scientists begin running off and breaking rules, but since they're at least out of his hair, he soon stops worrying about them and takes to enjoying the riches of the Octagon. Meanwhile, the scientists and camera lad seek out a chance to document the strange goings-on; Botanist shares his story, Zoologist, after making a snide remark against the arachnids (steps on a few of them?), is killed, and Jem talks to a spider. Since Jem got all this on tape, and Botanist may now be proved innocent, the remaining people all now head back.
By the time they get back, the communications are still mostly down, but the workers've managed to get the other equipment up and running. But Jonathan hasn't been seen for a day or two. Nobody really cares. Jonathan's a jerk. His assistant's been running things. But then Jonathan reappears... he's like.... no, let's not take the Palace. It is mine! bwahahaha.
And he gives a brief but terrifying monologue before a ton of spiders appear and he himself turns into a giant snake monster and starts killing everyone. He rambles about how he's the king of the spiders, blah blah blah
Ok, I admit, this part's really, really weak. I'm working on it.
Eventually he's taken out, and the spider that was possessing him is, too.
Then... I dunno... epilogue. Everyone agrees never to speak of this again, they make Jem destroy the tapes and they film fake footage of how they found nothing; they entire incident is publicized as a hoax, the Octagon never actually existed, the island is erased from the map.... The many dozens of scientists who died did so tragically of a rare, tropical disease, that has been isolated and is no longer a threat... and, I dunno, it's anticlimactic, but I don't see how it can end any other way.
We can show them sailing away on a ship and then a spider standing on the hull or something, like OH CRUD IT'S GOIN' TO THE MAINLAND, ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN, CLIFFHANGER.
This is really less random than my explanation of it made it sound. The spiders sound ridiculous, but when you have all the information, not just this, it makes sense-- they spiders bite people on the nape of their neck and can take control of their minds. In this way, the spiders ruled the land for centuries, enslaving the people, making them build monuments and cities to their glory. Their venom can also kill, or, a combination of the venom and mind-control can manipulate the human's DNA and turn them into a giant snake monster.... which the spiders used as the symbols of fear and discipline in their ancient world, to subdue those people who dared to challenge their reign...
Eventually the people (over the course of a few generations) created a grand escape plan, and managed to flee from the spider's control, to the safety of the mainland... these people eventually developed into the small civilization in which the Botanist was born and raised, which is why he knows so much about the legends and stuff....
Ah, it's complex. Definitely still a WIP.
I've got the basic idea, the only thing that's really blurry is specific dialogue and events. I'm still trying to decide exactly what happens and how much information I ought to actually reveal. Sometimes less is more, you know.
The basic idea is that there's this island (name needed) about 30 miles off the coast of (an obscure or even fictional country in South America), that's discovered by some scientists. It's got some amazing ruins and statues and riches rivaling those of King Tut, and seems to represent a culture never heard of before. Archeologists are ecstatic. There's a brief power struggle as people try to decide to whom the dig belongs (all the countries and museums want it for themselves, you see). In the end it's decided that a UN-appointed multi-national coalition of scientists will be the ones to study it, and all artifacts are to remain on site...
anyway, the team of people basically consists of a few leading scientists, their less-important assistants, a large crew of enthusiastic interns, a small film crew, and some natives to the area. The scientists and the camera man are the only real important ones; there's a botanist (a well-educated native, helping the clueless persons to navigate the wilderness), a zoologist (a lively, enthusiastic girl, on the watch for new species), an anthropologist (middle-aged and knowledgeable, but languid), two archeologists (an upbeat, pretentious man, and a more subdued, blunt, and insightful woman). They're all very "I'm smarter than the rest of you combined" and it's very obnoxious. They have tentative names, but for now I'm just going to call them by their titles. Except the camera man. His name is Jem. But the botanist is the main character actually.
...umm... tangents!
This big group gets to this island and starts to look around. They find this city, which they basically just call the Octagon because of its eight-area configuration around a central point... which is called the Spider Palace. Anyway, it's this really great thing. There aren't really any houses (there's some evidence of tents as having been the dwelling of choice), but there's tons and tons of monuments and relief sculptures depicting the most bizarre scenes-- people with spiders for heads, monsters in chains, people bowing down... etc. There's also gold. A ton of it. The most remarkable piece of all is the later-named Spider Palace, which from a distance looks like a towering metallic rectangle, but as you approach it, you see that it's not solid, but made from layer upon layer of twisting, netted, and highly decorated gold. Kind of like a giant piece of sponge, with all these twisting cavities and passage ways. On the top of it, there's a slightly-larger-than-life statue of a man, seated on a throne, with a spider-mask, his empty hand outstretched and open.
The scientists are happy. They go about doing scientific-type things. Studying statues and rocks and plants and talking to each other about whatever they're discovering. Which isn't really a whole lot so far. Only that these people very clearly had a thing for spiders. They assume that they associated them with the gods, but they can't actually read any of the markings, they can only speculate. But there are a lot of spiders around... they just kind of sit there, like they're watching the scientists, patiently, but apprehensive for their departure...
ehh, yeah. Progress. After a few days of this, this guy suddenly appears in a suit, with a ship full of equipment. His name is Jonathan. He says he's from this pretentious Museum and he has been given permission to transport the entire site to there (he brandishes a document for proof,). The scientists are very upset by this, and they argue (some to keep the integrity of it, some because they think it shouldn't be monopolized, some because that would just be a generally horrible violation of history.... )... Suddenly the zoologist goes very dead-faced and says, no, this can not be, the palace must not be violated, it is sacred... (it's after this people start calling it Spider Palace)... but then she goes back to normal and rubs her neck and of course rationalizes whatever she said by going back to the scientists' arguments... But the Botanist takes not of her peculiar behavior, and he looks frightened, as if something has just been confirmed...
...I'm rambling...
in the end, Jonathan's got documents, so there's really nothing they can do. The museum men begin moving in the equipment, while the disgruntled scientists watch. Botanist begins making extra efforts to persuade them not to touch it. They don't listen. And suddenly, after a few days of set-up, as they're heaving away free reliefs and some smaller statues, and the crane is just being attached to the Palace, about a quarter of the workers collapse; they clutch at their necks and legs and arms in pain, they go pale, and in a matter of minutes, they're all dead.
Responses to this are varied. The natives who have tagged along immediately say that it's a curse, they must run, they must leave! While the scientists try to help the fallen and affirm that there must be a more logical explanation. There's a lot of sadness and panic. But then suddenly one of the interns walks up to a scientist (let's say male archeologist) and he's in zombie-mode like zoologist was the other day. He says, NO, IT IS A CURSE. LEAVE NOW, AND LEAVE THIS PLACE, OR ALL WILL DIE. Other interns and scientists attempt to drag him away, to pacify him, but... he turns into a snake monster instead.
Really big, bright, shining blue-green, three-eyed, reptilian-headed naga. Everybody flips out. He kills a few people, injures a few more. Until Botanist finally shoots him in the head, and that's that. He promptly turns back into a (very dead) human.
Everyone's a little mystified after this. They spend the next few hours recovering the dead and tending to the injured and staring into space wondering what the hell had just happened. Jem managed to get only a blur of blue on film-- no real documentation.
Jonathan really wants this site. In order to keep from everyone panicking and running away from the curse, he comes up with a different explanation.
It was just some kind of wild creature-- a jaguar or something-- that killed those people. The people who collapsed must have eaten something toxic. The rest of us must have eaten a milder form of it, that caused hallucinations and made us think we were seeing a monster. It was the Botanist's fault. He told us the plant was safe to eat, and now a quarter of the men are dead. And, besides that, he shot that intern, which, since there was now no evidence that he was a monster at the time, made him a murderer and a conspirator. He should be locked up and the dig continued.
Jonathan's argument manages to convince a surprising number of people. So now we're divided-- about half want to continue to tear up the Octagon, and just pretend like the incident had never happened-- and the other half are sure it was no hallucination, and they're determined to find the truth (and also clear the Botanist's name).
So for the rest of the story-- and this is the part I'm really not sure about-- simultaneously, the museum people go about and try to make arrangements for new men and new equipment, as the spiders continue to sabotage them-- making people turn in to monsters, spontaneously killing people with venom (tropical disease! says Jonathan), tearing up electrical equipment, and the like... While Jonathan, with a lot of free time, takes to touring the Octagon, and begins to hear mysterious whispering, calling him to be their god... and the remaining scientists, including the Botanist, Zoologist, Archeologist F., and Jem skirt around the red tape and try to find a) proof that here there be monsters and b) more information about where they came/are coming from, why, and how.
Some noteworthy but unorganized things that happen: spiders cut off communication to outside world; Zoologist is turned into a snake monster, but manages to fight off control in order to not harm her friends (but she dies); Botanist explains that the island was never really forgotten, but deliberately lost, and that from his youth he had heard myths of the spiders' cruel empire; Jem (charming thing he is) manages to convince a spider to talk to them through him, without killing him, and they learn that the spiders are also divided: most of them just want the humans to leave their city alone, but others have begun plotting to use the humans to reclaim the glory of their ancient empire...
...that doesn't happen in that order... it's more like, spiders mess with communications, which makes Jonathan unable to report when the scientists begin running off and breaking rules, but since they're at least out of his hair, he soon stops worrying about them and takes to enjoying the riches of the Octagon. Meanwhile, the scientists and camera lad seek out a chance to document the strange goings-on; Botanist shares his story, Zoologist, after making a snide remark against the arachnids (steps on a few of them?), is killed, and Jem talks to a spider. Since Jem got all this on tape, and Botanist may now be proved innocent, the remaining people all now head back.
By the time they get back, the communications are still mostly down, but the workers've managed to get the other equipment up and running. But Jonathan hasn't been seen for a day or two. Nobody really cares. Jonathan's a jerk. His assistant's been running things. But then Jonathan reappears... he's like.... no, let's not take the Palace. It is mine! bwahahaha.
And he gives a brief but terrifying monologue before a ton of spiders appear and he himself turns into a giant snake monster and starts killing everyone. He rambles about how he's the king of the spiders, blah blah blah
Ok, I admit, this part's really, really weak. I'm working on it.
Eventually he's taken out, and the spider that was possessing him is, too.
Then... I dunno... epilogue. Everyone agrees never to speak of this again, they make Jem destroy the tapes and they film fake footage of how they found nothing; they entire incident is publicized as a hoax, the Octagon never actually existed, the island is erased from the map.... The many dozens of scientists who died did so tragically of a rare, tropical disease, that has been isolated and is no longer a threat... and, I dunno, it's anticlimactic, but I don't see how it can end any other way.
We can show them sailing away on a ship and then a spider standing on the hull or something, like OH CRUD IT'S GOIN' TO THE MAINLAND, ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN, CLIFFHANGER.
This is really less random than my explanation of it made it sound. The spiders sound ridiculous, but when you have all the information, not just this, it makes sense-- they spiders bite people on the nape of their neck and can take control of their minds. In this way, the spiders ruled the land for centuries, enslaving the people, making them build monuments and cities to their glory. Their venom can also kill, or, a combination of the venom and mind-control can manipulate the human's DNA and turn them into a giant snake monster.... which the spiders used as the symbols of fear and discipline in their ancient world, to subdue those people who dared to challenge their reign...
Eventually the people (over the course of a few generations) created a grand escape plan, and managed to flee from the spider's control, to the safety of the mainland... these people eventually developed into the small civilization in which the Botanist was born and raised, which is why he knows so much about the legends and stuff....
Ah, it's complex. Definitely still a WIP.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
