I’d like for my project to feel like a children’s story book, with complex characters and a hopeful, happy ending. With this is mind, I think that my target audience would be children from ages 8-15, but enjoyable to ages above that as well.
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Narrative Inspirations:
Adventure in many different settings, meeting loads of strange people and solving problems along the way.
The hero returns after an exile, older and wiser. There are also many parallels to the book of Exodus in my story with the Collapse representing both the Plagues of Egypt and then Judgement Day.
A surreal narrative with deeper metaphorical meanings in which a child travels to far away fantasy lands to learn important lessons (excluding Matilda on that last point).
Conflict stemming from a succession crisis.
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Anti-Fascist Themes:
I want my story to have an optimistic narrative and that despite the terrible actions of the Imperium, justice and empathy will ultimately prevail.
Authoritarian regimes are appealing to many because they offer simple solutions to complex problems with a disregard for nuance and empathy. To many, cruelty is easy and simple; animal even, but empathy is complex and difficult. When people are afraid they will abandon their empathy in favour of security, so it is in the favour of fascist regimes to stir up fear and manipulate the narrative.
In contrast to this, empathy is layered and requires patience, especially when dealing with those who are very different to one’s self. The message I hope to pass on to players or readers is that cruelty may be easy in the short run, but kindness reaps far greater rewards.