After a short hiatus during work on the machinima, I’m back from outer space.
Let’s shine the spotlight on Terrance Culthorne, our Player character.
This guy’s a war vet and a mental patient. Lobotomised and paralyzed, he’s stuck in the back of an ambulance in the physical world. Through fading in and out of sleep or consciousness, he enters the Rave. It’s a trick that only his special squad of black-ops dream commandos could pull off through years of training, hypnosis, drugs, ancient rituals and Nazi-grade mental conditioning.
During his time in the crazy house, he grows obsessive over wanting to return to the Unconscious Realms and averting the Silence. Even in the rave, his mind is so focused other’s issues can easily drown out behind him. He’s a little unhinged, years of experimentation with conditioning, psychotropics and weaponised psychedelic drugs crafting his mind into something that can absorb and utilise the mindshards found in the Unconscious Realms, and making him a little nutty. Not as nutty as an unprepared mind trying the same thing, of course. He’ll make a deal with anyone (or, anything) who can get him what he wants, but if he feels threatened he will rebel. That same rebellious nature is what helps him survive the lobotomy with little effect. That same lobotomy also amplified his other traits. This of course is his base persona when not being affected by the mind shards (covered in Diary 1).
Culthorne's Character Diamond
So we’ve got an obsessive, slightly rebellious and desperate loon, making claims about working in some secretive, supernatural program that actually turns out to be true. Think Randall McMurphy (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1975) meets Lyn Cassidy (The Men Who Stare at Goats, 2009).
He’s hit hard with PTSD following the catastrophe all those years ago – the entire Parasomic Corps wiped out by some dark cosmic force, upset over their meddling with the subconscious realms. He’s one of a few survivors left while, the program closed and filed away in secret archives, any wild claims shrugged of as conspiracy theories. This opens up a potential sub-plot where Culthorne can learn more about the program through a dead conspiracy theorist/undercover journalist and uncover some strange truths.
His lobotomy isn’t the success everyone thought it would be. He’s dead for just a split second before returning to life. He catches a glimpse of the Rave; the bizarre astral city built from the ruins of the Parasomnic Corps Unconcious HQ. And then he gets a flash, a vision of the Silence, threatening to return and destroy this unholy middle finger to the Cosmic lords of the unconcious realms, followed by the end of the physical realm that spawned it.
The moment he wakes up, Culthorne realises that he only has 8 Physical hours to save reality; 44 hours in Rave time…when it’s behaving itself. Completely submerging himself into the Unconscious Realm involves a chanting in an ancient tongue while undergoing paralysis. By being paralyzed, he avoids disturbing his sleep-state through movement. Back in the day they would’ve used a relaxant that would wear off, but he doesn’t have that right now. Instead he jumps off the little clocktower during a forboding storm.
Yes, he decides the best way to travel into the unconcious realm is to BREAK HIS SPINE. And against all odds, it’s a success.
He’s insane, remember that.
Moshosblog 
Yes, I think I get the idea that he’s insane 🙂 This makes for an interesting character, Michael. If you look at the character diamond though, can you see anything that is lacking? While I think piggybacking onto this character in the game could be a rush, it’d be interesting to see some emotional complexity. Is there any way, for example, of humanising him a bit more, given his PTSD etc?
Thanks for the feedback Mark.
I admit the character probably sounds a little bit flat on paper. I could probably update this with a post regarding the major supporting cast and their relationship with Culthorne. The biggest one would be the doctor in the ambulance where Culthorne’s body lies; a kind of audience surrogate to the unconscious realms and a foil for Culthorne’s ramblings. He’s the only link to the physical realm when Culthorne’s not awake. Maybe his role intertwines with the gameplay, asides from a ‘respawn checkpoint’ gimmick…
Also I haven’t elaborated too much on the plot so far, but the idea is it starts as something simple ‘save the physical world’ trope and would slowly open up with a more personal connection for Culthorne that’ll play a major part in his development. This would involve making a really hard choice. Just thinking about making a similar choice in real life should be able to shake anyone’s nerves. I’ll elaborate on THAT at a later date.