Topic: Castlevania: Umbra of Sorrow (1999 Fan Project)

[TatteredSeraph]

So here is the sprite versions of Alucard in Human and Vampire forms side by side:



EDIT: Added red outline for better viewing. Also, Alucard is in "Dark Metamorphosis" during this state, so it makes sense.

WOW!  Those sprites look amazing!  

[FeRcHuLeS]

...What? Where did you hear such a thing?

Sorry, my mistake I posted to the wrong thread, but the concept you are developing focusing on story and the untold chapter of castlevania fascinate me too, especially since IGA was gone from Konami maybe this chapter will be archived indefinitely.

[darkmanx_429]

How about that art book idea? It would be cool for you have at least 1 printed copy of your work in one place...

[Castle34hk]

AWESOME work so freaking good you are VERY good keep it up cant wait too play this.

[darkmanx_429]

AWESOME work so freaking good you are VERY good keep it up cant wait too play this.

This is not a actual game. Just fan-fiction at this point.

[theplottwist]

How about that art book idea? It would be cool for you have at least 1 printed copy of your work in one place...

I don't think Konami would like this.

MAYBE after I finish the story, I can get all the art and the story into a printable format full of frillies and artsies and distribute it for free.

[Castle34hk]

What???

This Umbra of Sorrow (Fan Project) its not a fan game???

Not a game??? What a??

[theplottwist]

What???

This Umbra of Sorrow (Fan Project) its not a fan game???

Not a game??? What a??

Read the first post on the very first page.

This project is not a fangame YET. It's not a fangame because a fangame takes way too long and way too many resources to create. It's a promise I can't uphold alone. I simply can't afford that much time and that many resources to create a fangame yet.

If I do a game, I'm doing one hell of a game. The fangame to end all fangames. I refuse to deliver half-baked content, and at this point a game would come half-baked. For now I compromise to deliver a story, and I'm infusing my best efforts to deliver a good one.

That said, plans for a fangame are not discarded. I'm designing the project in such a manner that, if the chance to develop a game arises, there will be resources ready for it. And I got a killer team to help me: There is artwork done by Junki, there is soundtrack being done by Chernabogue and Dracula9 (and two more artists yet to be made public), there is a map, there is a gameplay system in mind, there are conceptual sprites, there are people reviewing the plot all the time, there are japanese-speaking sources helping me so I don't get the nuances wrong, and if everything goes fine, there will even be voice-acting.

All of these things are not for nothing. If a game doesn't come, at least you'll have a lot of things designed to stir your imagination while you read (or listen, who knows?) the story

[Shiroi Koumori]

I love pretty Alucard! ♪
The sprites are looking really good!
I can't wait to read more of your story. The fangame can wait.

[Lelygax]

(click to show/hide)

1942: Dracula's Castle is revived. Eric Lecarde is killed by Brauner.[6]

1944: Jonathan and Charlotte storm the castle and finish Dracula together. Charlotte learns from Brauner that Dracula can be separated from his castle. Two of Dracula's remains used by Death to revive him are recovered by the Church.[7]

Details:

[5] - The remains disappearing is a build-up for Umbra. Notice how Dracula keeps getting revived after Ecclesia and the remains are nowhere to be seen and nobody is looking for them?

[6] - As stated in the manual, Eric died at 50 years old. If you do the math with the years of his birth and Portrait, you'll notice he died two years before Portrait. Ergo, the castle in Portrait has been up for two entire years.

This 2 years gap give a lot of contradiction in a lot of aspects, I think it would be better to have 1  contradiction with Eric age than a lot.
It is said in Portrait of Ruin that someone vampirized can be healed only if it have been turned in recently, also Death wouldn't notice Dracula absence in 2 years? I think even less than 1 week would be enough (frankly in less than 1 day, but whatever).

Lastly it would be the first that someone took so much time to notice Dracula's Castle and do something about it.

Heh sorry for my late reply about this and remember that I appreciate what you have here.

[theplottwist]

This 2 years gap give a lot of contradiction in a lot of aspects, I think it would be better to have 1  contradiction with Eric age than a lot.
It is said in Portrait of Ruin that someone vampirized can be healed only if it have been turned in recently, also Death wouldn't notice Dracula absence in 2 years? I think even less than 1 week would be enough (frankly in less than 1 day, but whatever).

Lastly it would be the first that someone took so much time to notice Dracula's Castle and do something about it.

Yep, I argued that already in another thread when we were discussing how long is "too long for Sanctuary to not work". Apparently, two years is not long enough for vampirism to take over. Yet just a couple minutes was too much for Sara.

As the project proposes, I can't contradict what the manual says. Both manuals, english and japanese, say that Eric died at 50 years old. I could ignore that as it doesn't have a TOO big of an impact, but this is not the project's proposal.

-Portrait of Ruin takes place in 1944;
-Eric was born in 1892;
-1944 - 1892 = 52
-Then the manual says he died at 50 years old:




Since the canon offers zero explanation about Death's arrival, the only logical conclusion I can draw is that Brauner was cutting Death off from the castle by hijacking its power. Thus Death had not yet emerged from chaos as his master wasn't truly revived nor near being revived.

Also, there are some things about Death we must consider:

We do not know how long Death has been inside the castle. Maybe he's been inside it for a looooong time now, trying to figure out what is happening, but Brauner has evaded his detection for all this time. Or maybe he HAS detected Brauner, but didn't found a way to attack him or an opportunity to revive Dracula -- until Jonathan and Charlotte showed up. He said he didn't know who Brauner was, but that could have been a lie.

If you're Death and Brauner has separated the Throne needed to revive Dracula, and has sealed himself inside a room where you have no way to gain access to, there's not much you can do but wait, right? And this wait can take years.

This would not be the first time this happens, also. In CoD, we don't know how long Death has been disguised as Zead wandering the lands. He knows Dracula is not present, but this doesn't stop him from acting alone. His plan was to use Hector's body, but what if Hector never came? He'd stay wandering the lands maybe for years to come (maybe this is what happened, even, before Hector showed up). So Death can return by itself with no castle or no Dracula present to act alone. It's definitelly within the realm of possibility for Death to wait years for the best opportunities to show up.

As for Umbra -- there is an explanation for Death's late arrival on Portrait. Though it'll probably play no role in Umbra's main plot in any form.

About the sisters: Important to mention is that VINCENT is the one who is "in the early stages [of vampirism]." Eric says that if the sisters "become full vampires, then it may be too late", but we don't know the reason why they're not still full vampires. As we know by Sara and Walter, the transformation is REALLY quick. If they have been vampires for two years, then they could be clinging to their humanity during all this time by being related to the Belmonts. Evidence for that is that the whip refused to attack the sisters because they're related to the Belmonts, and not because "they're not full vampires yet". The whip had no problem attacking half-vampires before, as is the case with Alucard who is a half-vampire AND good hearted. Belmont blood is powerful, yo.

After saving the sisters, Eric says: "You were in time?! I don't believe it. It's a miracle!" To think it's a miracle Sanctuary worked, they must have been vampirized a long time ago.

Lastly, after you first fight Stella, she briefly returns to normal just before Loretta shows up. This is evidence that the vampirism was unable to take over completelly. For what reason, though, is up for debate.

Heh sorry for my late reply about this and remember that I appreciate what you have here.

No prob dude. Your criticism is always welcome, and I'll do the possible if I can to heed it.

[Lelygax]

Thanks, I didn't knew that it was backed up by the manual too. That clear all contradictions. Now we can imagine Death wandering in the castle for 2 years XD

Maybe Death never noticed Dracula's absense because no one could reach the throne room, him being so loyal as he is wouldn't even question why his master would shield himself from the world, until noticing something strange.

[Super Waffle]

Lenora sort of looks like a more mature Charlotte imo.

[theplottwist]

Today I come to talk about Umbra's antagonists: The cult named Angolmois, working in the shadows to ensure Dracula's rise in 1999.

Heavy spoiler ahead. There is not much I can keep under wraps for this project anymore, so from now on, basically everything I post will be spoily in some way. Also, this will come in two parts, so today is part 1:

(click to show/hide)

Soon after Dracula's defeat at the hands of Richter, the remaining followers of darkness previously led by Shaft were hunted by Richter himself and other hunters. Many of them were captured or killed, and the surviving ones went into hiding like cockroaches.

If things were bleak for them, they got even bleaker after Alucard sealed Dracula's remains. Now the reason for their union was beyond their grasp, behind an unbreakable seal. It became impossible to locate the remains since their dark energy couldn't be tracked anymore, like they had done for centuries.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the Belmonts disappeared. The evil cultists tried to seize this final opportunity to rise and recover the remains, but in the place of the Belmonts, many organizations of vampire hunters and clerics arose. Without any way to fight back or locate the remains, they hid their secret treasure -- previously used by Shaft to locate Dracula's body -- and finally disbanded.

With the years, Dracula's resurrection became a fleeting dream and, as their wickedness subsided, it was forgotten by most cultists with time. But not all of them.

----

In 1844, Dracula was revived once more by Barlowe, and his castle appeared for all to see. Shanoa was fast in returning Dracula and his castle to dust, but not fast enough -- Cultists still roaming the land had witnessed Dracula's return. The return of the castle signaled that the remains had been freed from the seal.

The last handful of cultists of old reunited once more, many years after the persecution carried by the numerous vampire-hunting organizations. They recovered the secret treasure they had hidden long ago and used it to track the dark power of Dracula's remains one more time. They didn't know that the remains had been reduced to ashes and silenced by Shanoa's use of Dominus, however, so they couldn't find any of them. But they found something else instead -- pulsing faintly with Dracula's dark influence, a weapon lied buried inside a makeshift grave along with the corpse of a young man.

A new cult was formed, and with this discovery, preparations for Dracula's next resurrection began.

----

In 1897, after having prepared for more than 50 years, the now robust cult set out to revive the Count once more, even without his remains.

Through an intrincate scheme, an once noble-hearted man was slowly corrupted into insanity until he became a suitable vessel for Dracula's soul. As his possessed body slowly morphed into Dracula's visage, the cultists carried it inside a coffin towards the Demon Castle, which had reappeared to receive its master and restore his power.

With the help of a Lecarde, Quincy Morris succesfully reached and destroyed Dracula at the entrance of his castle, ensuring that he couldn't be fully revived by reuniting with it. The man possessed by Dracula died as a consequence, but such is the price paid by someone possessed by Dracula's evil soul. Quincy, also, didn't resist the injuries from the battle, dying shortly after his victory.

Meanwhile, the cult still existed, taking notes in the darkness. It was imperative to locate Dracula's remains and rebuild his own body, since a vessel would never provide the resistance against vampire hunters that Dracula's body had. And thanks to an agent who had worked with Quincy and his group, the cult now knew exactly what to do next.

That's it. Part 2 will come soon. Some things here were kept secret, but I can answer through PM to anyone who wishes to know.

[theplottwist]

Here is part 2:

(click to show/hide)

17 years after Quincy's victory over Dracula and subsequent death, the witch Drolta Tzuentes is deployed by the cult. Her goal is to resurrect the vampire countess Elizabeth Bartley, who was the first person to locate Dracula's remains and revive him with them -- information acquired by a cult agent from vampire hunter Van Helsing himself during the events of 1897.

Elizabeth is revived, and starts a war. Just as the cult predicted, she's able to locate all remains through a ritual held at the ruins of Dracula's Castle, and is able to restore them with the chaos from the war she started, resulting in Dracula reviving in his own body.

By unlocking the true power of the Vampire Killer, John Morris defeats Dracula, and the Countess is destroyed by Eric Lecarde. Yet, through Drolta's efforts, the cult is finally able to seize control over Dracula's previously lost remains.

At this time, along with control over the remains, the cult also receives knowledge about Nostradamus' prophecy for Dracula's return in 1999, and that the Belmonts must not touch the Vampire Killer until then.

----

During the following decades, the cult evades detection by the Church, who is looking for Dracula's remains after they disappeared in 1917. They seek the perfect moment to revive Dracula, and the moment shows itself when the growing tension in Europe turns into a second war.

Believing that the lingering despair of the war coupled with an eclipse's darkness can grant Dracula enough power to block the sun in the entire planet, they schedule Dracula's next revival to take place under a total solar eclipse in 1945.

They see this as an opportunity to outsmart Nostradamus' prediction by fully reviving Dracula 54 years before it materializes. Mocking the prophecy, the cult names itself "Angolmois."

In 1942, however, the vampire Brauner manages to gather the despair generated by the war to revive Dracula's castle by himself. With his magic, he separates Dracula from the castle, taking control of its power. Startlet by the castle's sudden return, Angolmois tries to resurrect Dracula, but the ceremony is a failure -- Unbeknownst to them, Dracula's revival cycle had been broken by Brauner's unexpected intrusion.

Angolmois spends the next two years looking for a method to circunvent the magic cutting Dracula off from his castle, and trying to discover who is behind it.

----

In 1944, Charlotte and Jonathan invaded Dracula's castle.

Angolmois had awoken Death from his slumber and had been working with him to discover who or what was behind Dracula's disappearance, without success. But it is thanks to the hunter duo that Death learns about Brauner's presence.

Death informs Angolmois about Brauner, and they then form a scheme to manipulate the hunters into gaining access to him, so Death can kill him and remove the impediment on Dracula's resurrection. Angolmois gives Death two of Dracula's remains, so, in case the hunters win, they can't recover all remains at once. Death then sets out to the castle, and waits for the best opportunity to revive his master.

Brauner is destroyed, and Dracula is successfully revived by Death once more. Even with Death surrendering his own soul to supplement Dracula's incomplete power, however, they are defeated. The two remains used in Dracula's revival are recovered by the Church, just as Angolmois antecipated.

Their last plan foiled by Brauner, the cult decides to take another route -- use Nostradamus' prediction against the Church. A new solar eclipse draws near, and they'll have their chance at the same plan again. With the return of the Belmonts becoming inevitable, they turn their eyes to another family who might have one or two scores to settle with them, and who might just be the perfect allies in their pursuit of Dracula's resurrection.

So, this is the basic framework for Angolmois' motivations and moves up until 1999.