Money Can Procure Happiness
Warning: This page is still a WIP as this project is massive (100+ pages!)
In this world, emotions were a type of privilege you had to pay to get access to. It’s targeted advertising, and monetization on life. People in this society can’t feel happiness until they pay the fee for unlocking it on their mobile app called the Emotional Grid (The Grid for short). This social media app makes people feel like they’re missing out if they can’t experience certain emotions. Not to mention, certain businesses can deny a person access if they don’t have a high enough emotional-social status on The Grid.
Inspiration
When it came to developing Money Can Procure Happiness (MCPH), I really wanted to lean into Sci-Fi series that inspired me to become a writer. My favorite author, Ray Bradbury, was a huge influence on the technologies incorporated into the world of Aisling. A great example of his works would be The World the Children Made or There Will Come Soft Rains. In more modern references, Black Mirror (Fifteen Million Merits) would also be a great example of how technology controls every single aspect of the Aisling's lives.
The way that technology is used in MCPH is to not only control all of humanity, but to heavily influence the development of humanity as a species.
World Presentation
The genres of Cyberpunk and Tech Noir are blurred within this world. Cyberpunk pulls on the concept of body modification, as Money Can Procure Happiness focuses on using technological advances to allow society to download software into their minds. Tech Noir is also a great genre to describe this world, as our main character is morally grey and stands more of an anti-hero perspective rather than a typical protagonist. However, having such futuristic technology deeply integrated into society’s way of life has become oppressive to those who cannot afford to buy their emotional senses back.
How Genres play into the world of Aisling
Leveraged
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20 Minutes into the Future: Similar to Urban fantasy, it’s a drastic change in our world to the point of not being recognizable. The cities aren’t only on the ground, buildings are attached to the glass dome which covers the quadrants. Every direction has buildings, but those on the buildings higher up are considered ‘wealthier’ than the common group of the quadrant.
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Weather-Controlled Machinery: One of the jobs in Quadrant 2 is focused on controlling the weather for all four quadrants. Unfortunately, those in Dalgaard and Stranach are required to have brutal waves of heat (and the occasional thunderstorm) for the sake of growing food rapidly. Meanwhile, the Quidnuncians and Aethelites get to have clear skies and a cool breeze.
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Black-and-Gray Morality: Neither side (Lower Quadrants of Dalgaard and Stranach and Upper Quadrants of Quidnuncian and Aethelites) is good nor evil, as both have strong reasons why things should be changed. But the issue is, can you have a ‘good’ if one side wants others to suffer for their gain?
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The Beautiful Elite: Their whole life is the ideal situation, but it is unfairly earned. Most are born into this lifestyle, and if they did rank up to this status, it was from a neighboring quadrant, not from the bottom and working their way up. They are insensitive to those who work day and night to fund their lavish lifestyle.
Twisted
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The Central Theme: People in this world are judged because they’re constantly judged by everyone else, and their livelihoods are on the line if they can’t display the proper emotions in their social circles.
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Good Colors, Evil Colors: Those who can afford to be in The Qudnuncian and Aethelite quadrants tend to wear bright colors to fit in a “preppy” lifestyle. Meanwhile, those in Dalgaard and Stranach tend to wear darker shades as it relates to their social status being more negatively driven.
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Allegedly Optimistic Ending: It’s still a corrupt society, but there are better ways now to help those affected by the circuitry limiting their emotions so that they don’t have to pay all of their earnings in fees to feel alive.
Avoided
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Happily, Ever After: This won’t end just because the “evil” was defeated, as there will always be problems with this society’s system.
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Good Vs Evil: This is a morally grey world in general, as those in The Upper Quadrants are cruel towards those not in these quadrants, and The Lower Quadrants are the same. They function as clans that are allies, while their rivals are the opposite quadrants.
Over World Map
During the game, Devana can access her journal which has various tabs in it for specific needs. As the player explores and new knowledge is learned, a little red marker appears in the corresponding tab to alert that new knowledge has been discovered.
The big three tabs are: The Index, which covers the biomes and ingridents Devana can discover, The Recipes, which handles potion combinations, and the Puzzle Guide, which is the tips and tricks to solve the various biome-based puzzles.
Quidnuncian Quadrant / Red Market
The Red Market wasn’t always about illegal means, it was supposed to represent the fire of a phoenix being rebirthed as the Cultivators saved their town from being wiped off the map post-war. However, over the decades, the legality and ethics of the Red Market began to get blurred as the economic impact began to grow.
The Red Market acts as a place of gathering to break down the social barriers between all quadrants who visit. Due to the nature of the activities that occur in the market, people in this faction tend to avoid it like the plague to avoid unnecessary drama.
The Red Market
The Red Market wasn’t always about illegal means, it was supposed to represent the fire of a phoenix being rebirthed as the Cultivators saved their town from being wiped off the map post-war. However, over the decades, the legality and ethics of the Red Market began to get blurred as the economic impact began to grow.
The Red Market acts as a place of gathering to break down the social barriers between all quadrants who visit. Due to the nature of the activities that occur in the market, people in this faction tend to avoid it like the plague to avoid unnecessary drama.
The HUB
The HUB is the tallest building in the continent. It oversees every single quadrant and acts as a connection hub between all of them. The lower half of the tower is open to the public as a transit center, but you must have special access to the upper half of the tower. This is where the government works and keeps tabs on everything occurring in society.
Inside the HUB is like walking into a hospital. Everything is sterile, white, and squeaky clean. The train station where all four quadrants can travel is on the first floor of the tower, and the remaining floors are where government officials and other important figures get to work. Noticeably, the tower has NO windows. But on the inside, the cameras on the outside of the building project what the outside of that building looks like inside. It is very easy to see all four quadrants from inside the building with this technology.
Major Wars and History
The Carbon Dawn / The Loss of Rite
The Carbon Dawn as officially sealed off the country from its natural skyline, being covered by a Plexiglass dome which allows for time and weather manipulation from the Government (The HUB).
This led to the populace growing manic as the fear of the artificial sky made their connection to the greater beyond feel lost. Citizens believed they were no longer able to connect with Saint Taliesin spiritually, as sacred rituals cast post-dome-fixture were failing and prayers going unanswered.
This led to people going out into the street and causing chaos by breaking into businesses and destroying nature. The mindset was if they caused enough chaotic energy in the air, a divine being would appear and restore peace. When the rival businesses were found on each other’s turf and purposively trashing it, this led to the War of Velina starting up between the Lower East Side and the Upper West Side.
The War of Velina
The war only came to an end when people began to lose entire family names in this petty war, which resulted in businesses having nobody left to run them. With this, the people began to abandon all hope of a connection to the divine to ever return naturally. Towards the end of this era, the country was split by the Velina River. The Lower East Side belonged to those who took the most drastic loss in the war. The Upper West Side was then run by those who wanted to move away from the entire war and embrace surviving the internal turmoil instead by taking the first steps into the future.
Development of Fashion per Section
Dalgaard
Due to the intense sunlight, button-up shirts, large overalls, farming belts, and large are the basic outfit pieces worn here. Additional pieces to wardrobe varies based on type of work the person does.
Root Farmers grow and focus on growing fruits/vegetables, carrying shears and baskets as well on their persons.
Meat Farmers focus on ensuring that their livestock life cycles are always developing to ensure that there’s never a ‘down’ period in meat production. They often have "probing" hooks to check on animals well beings, as well as branding iron on their belts.
Quidnuncia
The fashion for this district is heavily based on which side of the Velina River you're traveling to.
Quidnuncians embrace the technological advances of the world. The idea is to seem like you’re from a world that is more robotic than human. They don’t want to give a silhouette that they are human at all. This can include fur, chains, metal pieces/armor, and rope-bound clothing items.
Red Market visitors tend to cover their body shapes with chunky/sharp clothing on top of the daily Quidnuncian wear. This is done to protect their bodies from any sudden attacks from those who lost their minds traveling the Red Market. The layers can help defend from any attacks given, while stronger armor can defend from weapon attacks.
Stranach
Men and Women typically wear the same outfit for both Guild and Fishing Families; overalls, tight boots, crossbody bags, and their faces covered by a large hat.
Fishing Families tend to have two major tools on them:
Auto-rods - These are automated fishing rods that pull in mass hauls. Instead of a singular hook and line, it acts like a net that is tied to a fishing-rod-like mechanism that will automatically start to collect when it detects specific fish types and/or weight limit is reached.
Scalers - A machine on every fishing boat that auto-descales fish caught.
Guild Families have hammers and chizzles typically on their work belts.
Aethelite
Aethelites’ fashion has two major requirements: layers and beige. Beige is a heavy contrast to the dark colors worn by those in the lower quadrants, such as Dalgaard and Stranachides. The layers, however, offer protection from being injured as their bodies are frailer than any other quadrant.
Men-leaning Aethelites tend to focus on a brutalist fashion technique, focusing layers to protect their technology-infued clothes and themselves.
Women-leaning Aethelites tend to focus on more preppy fashion with their layering, this allowing the technology to be flaunted while still protecting the user.