World Building

World Building of Alter - Tales of Ubuntu

André Figueira – Alter Tales of Ubuntu

You can see more about this project here.

Game story synopsis:

In a remote village in Africa, it was heard of the tale, of a child stuck in a woman’s body. When in situations of great stress, this woman would transform, and become a child, with no apparent remembrance from her other life. After the transformation, it was like she was a completely different person. Knowing the magical roots of Ubuntu, the government sent a specialized organization called Helve, to capture the subjects and test them, to see if what is said about them is real. What do they test? If they retain knowledge when changing personality, and if the change affects their cognitive skills. If they pass this test, the government can train them, and try to help them control the change, communicate between them, and use them for specialized operations.

Nomenclature:

(All names have Swahili origins)

Kid name: Haki (Justice and truth)

Girl Name: Niyara (Utmost purpose)

Country name: Ubuntu

City: Umoya, Capital City.

Year: 1973

Origin of Ubuntu:

A long time ago, there was a group of people situated in Lunda, the region between Angola and Congo, called the Bochmanes. They were Lunda’s first organized settlement.

Some years passed, and as the Bochmanes slowly grew their civilization, the Bantu came. A community from northern Africa, that had mastered several skills, such as metal work, ceramic, and agriculture. But not everyone was open to what the Bantu had to offer. Some elders believed that the Bantu only wanted to share their knowledge so that they could have an easier time settling in their territories. So as the Bochmanes were divided, the group that did not agree with the Bantu migrated to the Congo south region, hopeful to establish a more concise union with the locals. When they arrived, some Bantu were already prepared to establish their culture in Congo. However, the Bochmanes outnumbered them, so the ones that did not agree, were banished. The Bochmanes established a great bond with the local village chief, Ngbendu, and from there Ubuntu was born with Ngbendu as the country’s first leader.

As these different cultures started to bond as well as share experiences, the previous Bochmanes adopted Congo’s beliefs, making offerings, including daily prayers to Adroa, the supreme God. Adroa was a split god. His good half was the creation God, while Adro, his bad half, was  the God of earth, which was normally associated with death. When the Bantu started to grow, Ubuntu was threatened as their territory and beliefs where endangered by the Bantu. As a cry for help, Ngbendu prayed to Adroa for a miracle that would help them keep their territory. As Ubuntu was the group with the strongest faith in Adroa, he granted their wish, catapulting Ubuntu into a new technological era, but with this came a cost. Adro did not want this knowledge to be spread across the globe, so he made them greedy and proud, causing Ubuntu to be closed off from the world. With the God’s help, Ubuntu kept their territory from the Bantu, while creating a country decades ahead of the remaining civilizations.

Origin Story of Main Characters Niyara and Haki:

The year was 1940. Abed (Ubuntu’s current leader), and his wife Asali had been trying to have a child for years, but every attempt was unsuccessful. So, they decide to ask the Gods to help them conceive a child. But as they knew the Gods didn’t always give without taking, they each wanted to pray to a different half of the supreme God. Abed wanted to pray to Adroa, as he was considered the good God, the creation God, while Asali wanted to ask Adro, as he was the Earth’s God, and his connection to humans was much stronger. Abed tried to warn Asali that Adro was not to be messed with, that he was very dangerous, but Asali said that Adro was not like that, that was a misconception created by the elders to scare off the younglings. Without being able to agree, they decided to pray separately. One night, in the middle of a thunderstorm, they went separately to a shrine representing each God. Abed asked Adroa for a young boy to help lead the country, while Asali asked Adro for a girl, to change up the ruling in Ubuntu. What they didn’t expect, was for the Gods to give them both what they wanted. Asali was pregnant, and after 9 months she gave birth to a girl, but unfortunately Asali died during labour. Seeing the girl, Abed knew that Adro was the one that listened, and traded Asali’s life for the new-borns. Abed consumed by anger and devastation, ordered the child to be taken far away, as no child was worth his wife’s death. The girl was taken to a small village far away from the capital city, there she was raised by locals living an independent life. What Abed didn’t know, was that the boy he asked for was also alive, inside his daughter. Every time she felt scared, her body would transform, and the boy would take control, without knowing the existence of each other. Due to this condition, they aged separately, and as the kid would come out less often, after 32 years later, she was 25 while he was 7. The village elders named the girl Niyara and the boy Haki.

Ubuntu, Niyara and Haki now:

The years have passed, and it is now 1973. Ubuntu continues to be closed out from the world but is now the most technologic advanced places on Earth, even though other civilizations didn’t know it. Ubuntu is still a mystical place, with strong connections to Adroa, having several temples and shrines dedicated to him throughout the whole country. Ubuntu’s population greed, weakened the link between them, having the contrast between high luxury cities, along with villages dwelling in poverty.

After hearing stories about this woman that would transform in a child, Abed hired Helve to capture that woman, perform tests, so too they could understand who she is, and how was this possible, without knowing that she is his own daughter, and that the son he always wanted was also alive, trapped within his daughter.