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

[theplottwist]

NOTE: THIS PROJECT IS NON-PROFIT AND NOT ENDORSED BY KONAMI. ALL CONTENT CREATED SPECIFICALLY FOR THIS FAN PROJECT IS NOT OPEN TO BE USED IN ANY OTHER FAN PROJECT UNLESS THEIR RESPECTIVE CREATORS GIVE YOU PERSONAL PERMISSION AND ARE PROPERLY CREDITED! "CONTENT" IS ARTWORK, MUSIC, VOICE WORK AND (POSSIBLY) PROGRAMMING. "CASTLEVANIA" IS PROPERTY OF KONAMI.

Castlevania: Umbra of Sorrow is a fan project focused on developing a platonic interpretation of the Demon Castle War arc by researching, respecting and tying plot points left unresolved by Koji Igarashi's canon and other unresolved details scattered through the entire Castlevania storyline.

The goal of this project is to use 1999 as a stage to present creative solutions to these holes, with big emphasis on "connecting the dots", using all of the official Castlevania lore as the foundation.

This project has no pretention to be an ultimate answer or overwrite anyone's own headcanon, or even 100% accurarely depict canon -- we're only human, with access to limited information. Its only goal is to provide a believable, entertaining interpretation of the Demon Castle War.


Plot Summary:

After centuries of consistent defeat at the hands of vampire hunters, a prophecy foretold the resurrection of Count Dracula in the year of 1999, who will finally plunge the world in terror and agony.

Julius Belmont will reclaim the role of his ancestors, and will be the first Belmont to inherit the sacred Vampire Killer whip after 200 years since it was last wielded by someone of his bloodline.

Along with agents of the Church, Shinto priests and even a military force, Julius will be sent on a mission to thwart the revival of the Dark Lord before the prophecy can become reality. He is also destined to face a rival with ties to his family's past, and whose name arose from ancestral times to take down the Dark Lord by themselves using a special weapon thought to have vanished in the mists of time...


"Is this project still alive?"

Read this post.

We are currently working on a downsized version of this project, called Seal of the Eclipse. Follow the thread.

[theplottwist]

Supporting cast:

Jonathan Morris - 73 years old

(click to show/hide)

The guardian of the Vampire Killer and the Alucard Spear, descendant of the Morris clan and relative of the Belmont family.

Jonathan is a father figure to Julius; Not only did Jonathan teach Julius Belmont about the secrets of whip combat and the manipulation of vampire-hunting tools, but also martial arts and exorcism. Jonathan taught Julius to value his own strength and character above the power of the whip, just like his father had taught him. Under his tutelage, Julius learned about his ancestors, and about the conflict destined for him to overcome.

Eisuke Hakuba (白馬 栄祐) - 54 years old

(click to show/hide)

The chief priest from the Hakuba Shrine. Eisuke's clan was found by Alucard, and he eventually learned about evil incarnate Count Dracula.

Eisuke and an ensemble of his priests travel to Europe in 1999, to conduct a ritual that will banish Dracula's Castle, the source of Dracula's powers, inside a total solar eclipse.

Father Ermingild: - 40 years old

(click to show/hide)

An exorcist who got tangled with the Church's ongoing battle with Dracula.

He was a first-hand witness to the terrible influence of Dracula and, after the events surrounding a mysterious cult's actions in 1997, Ermingild joined the ranks of the Church as a field agent.

Ermingild earned himself a fame of being a highly accomplished exorcist, having defeated very dangerous demons years ago.

General Berthold - 45 years old

(click to show/hide)

General officer leading the military forces against Dracula's army of demons.

Berthold was present when, in 1997, an invisible party unleashed chaos upon the unsuspecting population of a quiet town. As a seasoned soldier, he fought back, but his involvement with this event forced the Church to disclose its feud with the forces of darkness to the government, along with the prediction for Dracula's revival in 1999.

The governments of Europe worked with the Church, naming Berthold as the man to assemble and lead a special battalion against Dracula in 1999, should his presence become a threat to the world.

[theplottwist]

[RESERVED SPACE]

"There was a timeline here! What happened?"

I removed it since it was causing a bit of confusion. The timeline that was here was not fully corresponding to the one being used on the project, which is updated much more constantly. Some dates were reworked, and also some character backgrounds. Plus, it was spoiling certain stuff. So I decided to remove it.

If you remember something from that timeline and have any questions, message me.

[VladCT]

Looking at the scope you want if you could make it into a game, looks like that'd require quite the collaborative effort even from the programming side alone for it to be feasible.

[theplottwist]

Looking at the scope you want if you could make it into a game, looks like that'd require quite the collaborative effort even from the programming side alone for it to be feasible.

Precisely why I'm aiming to just tell a story instead of making a game out of it. No one would sacrifice so much time and effort into a fan project, I think (unless they got paid, I guess, but still~). But I'm also inclined to consider something smaller. The requirements I put up there are my TOP requirements, not the smallest ones.

Who knows? I might end up making a classicvania with a bunch of levels just to tell the story (modified things up there to fit this).

[VladCT]

There's also the option of animations, if you want.

[theplottwist]

There's also the option of animations, if you want.

Which I like very much. But I can't exactly do it alone too.

If it where an animation, I'd be able to have even crazier things than programming allows for, but something that I have in mind and I don't leave hand: It must look like a game. The animation would have to feel like someone is playing it (but of course, with all the flourishes that an animation entails) going as far as having HUDs and etc (but without all the complications that a game would require, like a pause menu and equipment screen, for instance.

And this would also be more fitting to the "multiple character" thing I mention on the main post.

[Chernabogue]

Sounds super nice. I'd love to see it as a game -- with all the people we have here, I think it's possible.

If you need music for your project (either as a game or for animations), I'd be happy to help. I know you want to use the OST from Pachislot games and The Arcade (very good choice), but as a lover of that idea, I cannot resist to ask.

[X]

Plus, in this game, you'd even get to control the rival during the main story doing his own thing!

This is where I see an issue here. Throughout all the mentioning of the 1999 game in other CV games there was absolutely no mentioning of a rival hunter or rival hunters. There was only Julius, Alucard a few soldiers for military escort and defense, and Yoko Belnades' (Father? Mother?). No offense of course but Julius has no time to be dealing with rivals. He's got a job to do and that's kill Dracula. Besides if the Military knows all all about the history of Dracula and the Belmonts then they won't let a cocksure rival with delusions of grandeur or a personal vendetta (either against Julius or Dracula) enter Castlevania. It would compromise the mission at hand which is something the entire world itself cannot afford.

[theANdROId]

Perhaps I was mistaken, but I thought that statement implied playing as Dracula.

On the whole it sounds awesome, and I think Chern makes a good point that there might be a decent crowd here to help put stuff together with you.  I wouldn't say I have much to offer, but I'd offer it nonetheless, if for no other reason than to see something awesome come to fruition!

[theplottwist]

This is where I see an issue here. Throughout all the mentioning of the 1999 game in other CV games there was absolutely no mentioning of a rival hunter or rival hunters. There was only Julius, Alucard a few soldiers for military escort and defense, and Yoko Belnades' (Father? Mother?). No offense of course but Julius has no time to be dealing with rivals. He's got a job to do and that's kill Dracula. Besides if the Military knows all all about the history of Dracula and the Belmonts then they won't let a cocksure rival with delusions of grandeur or a personal vendetta (either against Julius or Dracula) enter Castlevania. It would compromise the mission at hand which is something the entire world itself cannot afford.

Nowhere is mentioned a number of things that must've happened in 1999 where we have to fill in, because the event is only spoken in a broader sense, never in detail. If I do not take liberties to create, and keep myself restricted SOLELY to what little information we have, we'll have quite a barebones thing that makes not much effort to explain stuff and provide an entertaining story to read; Something that made me enamored with the series is the "opponent" factor, for instance, introduced by IGA as Richter Belmont to Alucard, that became a thing: Richter to Alucard, Albus to Shanoa, the Candidates and Graham to Soma, the Sisters to Jonathan and Charlotte... There's always that "foe" who's under control by someone, or who's aspiring to reach the same goal as the protagonist. On my case is a rival who wishes to destroy Dracula before Julius does.

There are some details that I can only convey by having this rival be present, and fanfiction will be inevitable. My goal with the fanfiction part (which will be quite big to explain things that have zero clues, like Julius Belmont's origin, for instance) is to make it as plausible as possible by connecting the dots that this story creates. Julius will have quite the convoluted origin, btw.

About the conflict between Julius and this rival, It's not about "having time to deal with a rival", but about the rival entering the scene by himself and forcing Julius to it. This rival plays an important role in the "purpose" thing I proposed above. The rival doesn't carry weight by SIMPLY being a rival for being a rival's sake, but by having a story himself. His goal is NOT to face Julius (he's the "opponent", but he's still a rival. He's there to take Dracula, and not Julius), but facing Julius will become part of the grand-scheme of things and will help me construct the "conflict of purposes" idea I proposed above.

I'll admit that the rival's presence was firstly created to reflect IGA's ideas of the "opponent", but he evolved beyond "existing for IGA's sake" to actually respond a few questions on the plot. There's a lot of ways that a rival could circunvent the military's and the church's defenses. I believe that I managed to create a character that can explain some details, be a rival, and complement the overall plot, without it feeling too implausible.

X, if you want, I can send all the details about who is this rival, and his role. Of course it's spoiler and won't make much sense without context, but I'll provide you as much context as possible, and try to explain how the concept fits in the story.

EDIT: I had the whole thing here, but I decided to remove it as I'm not yet ready to present the idea in such spoileriffic fashion

On the whole it sounds awesome, and I think Chern makes a good point that there might be a decent crowd here to help put stuff together with you.  I wouldn't say I have much to offer, but I'd offer it nonetheless, if for no other reason than to see something awesome come to fruition!

It would be very nice to have help, since there's a LOT of talented people over here (including Chernabogue and his music)

Anyone can help, but I can't guarantee I'll listen to every single thing or add every single change people want, since this might disrupt the overall "architeture" I'm going for with this. Much of what I've written up there is kinda set in stone because they've become "beams" to support the story. I've been thinking about them for years (really) and imagining how they fit the story and how to make the story interesting. The rival thing above was one such thing. But of course, I'll be accepting all kind of criticism and feedback to improve on the story, and I'll try to be as malleable as possible, but I'll ask people to hold on their horses a little while I lay the main framework for everything, before they start poking holes at it.

[X]

X, if you want, I can send all the details about who is this rival, and his role. Of course it's spoiler and won't make much sense without context, but I'll provide you as much context as possible, and try to explain how the concept fits in the story.

You don't have to go that far. I was just thinking a few seconds ago there are ways to have a rival around without anyone knowing. You might have already considered this, however there could be a hunter and/or several other hunters whom fell under Dracula's subtle influences before the war broke out (hence the military not knowing about them), and have been acting as Dracula's top commanders (or something along those lines). This would force Julius to face these rivals as well as progress the story.

[Chernabogue]

You don't have to go that far. I was just thinking a few seconds ago there are ways to have a rival around without anyone knowing. You might have already considered this, however there could be a hunter and/or several other hunters whom fell under Dracula's subtle influences before the war broke out (hence the military not knowing about them), and have been acting as Dracula's top commanders (or something along those lines). This would force Julius to face these rivals as well as progress the story.

Plus when you have supernatural creatures such as Alucard or the Lecarde sisters, I'm pretty sure the military wouldn't notice them infiltrating the castle behind their backs ^^

[X]

Plus when you have supernatural creatures such as Alucard or the Lecarde sisters, I'm pretty sure the military wouldn't notice them infiltrating the castle behind their backs ^^

I doubt they would need to infiltrate Castlevania without the military knowing considering that Alucard is probably in command of said military or at least holding a rank high enough to allow him leeway. The reason why the DCW was so big a thing as it is, is because the world by now knows about the truth behind Dracula, Castlevania, the Belmont family and so-on. The military would cooperate with those fighting along-side Julius Belmont as they know that it is only he who can slay Dracula and end the war, but he would need assistance from other power users to aid him. We also have to remember that this is in the year 1999. We can't think of it as the Victorian era anymore. It's a modern world, with a modern military force as well as digitally advanced modern telecommunication systems interconnected via satellites and land lines. And not only would the military prevent the undead and demonic hords from leaving the set perimeter surrounding Castlevania as instructed to, they would also be preventing anyone from entering the perimeter. If someone manages to get past the perimeter the military would call it in and have a unit dispatched to pick them up and drag them back out; peacefully or otherwise. You can't outrun a Motorola, lol. All this must be taken into account when writing a story set in the modern world.

[theplottwist]

And not only would the military prevent the undead and demonic hords from leaving the set perimeter surrounding Castlevania as instructed to, they would also be preventing anyone from entering the perimeter. If someone manages to get past the perimeter the military would call it in and have a unit dispatched to pick them up and drag them back out; peacefully or otherwise. You can't outrun a Motorola, lol. All this must be taken into account when writing a story set in the modern world.

This.

When writting the story, I told some people about one of the details. This was a main one: There's a perimeter formed around the Castle, with creatures trying to leak into the world at all costs. The military here has two purposes: Reconaissance and protection. They dispatch a special force inside the castle tasked with cleaning the way for Julius Belmont to reach Dracula faster, and the majority, along with the church, keep a perimeter outside facing the creatures that try to leave. Right outside the castle, also, there is a team formed by sorcerers that need to be as close to Dracula and the eclipse as possible, and they too must be protected by the military.

The military is equipped with special weapons (silver guns and rifles, for instance) and a special, experimental weapon to deal with monsters, since ordinary arms do not work against them. I'm using this to explain how some of these weapons are found inside the castle by Some Cruz in 2035, too.

People seem to think that just because there's "war" in the name of the event, it was really a fullscale war with monsters attacking the city and wreacking havok the such. I don't think that way, specially because these people have prepared a LOT to contain Dracula's forces before he appeared, and formed a perimeter around it to not let any information leak. The word "war" here is used loosely, I think, because of the number of people involved, and the military's presence.

One more detail: I'm planning to also show why the castle can't be attacked with missiles or bombs, or cannot have an helicopter simply fly Julius to the throne room through the outside