Aeryn – The First Voice of Rebellion
Time for the first character spotlight! I’ve been focusing on worldbuilding this past week. Fleshing out factions, and designing the first key NPC players will meet in Stride. Her name is Aeryn, and she’s kind of the spark that sets the whole game in motion, literally.
Who is Aeryn?
Aeryn is a young Sylvenstride (more on Slyvenstrides later). Unlike the rest of her people, who are traditional, ritualistic, and deeply in denial about the source of their fading power, Aeryn is a scientist, a skeptic, and a believer in the impossible. Or more specifically: in us.
She’s one of the few Sylvenstride who thinks the legends about a parallel world (ours) are real. She’s not just curious about it, she’s been quietly researching it for years. And recently, she managed something no one thought possible: she opened a portal.
That’s how the player ends up in Stride. They’re summoned by Aeryn, in a hidden grove pulsing with unstable energy and unsanctioned glyphwork. It’s a risky move. Her actions could get her exiled or worse. But she does it anyway.
Because she believes the connection to Earth is real. And that we’re the key to saving Stride.
Why start with her?
I wanted the player’s first contact in this world to feel grounded, urgent, and slightly rebellious. Aeryn isn’t a tutorial-bot NPC. She’s smart, determined, and walking a dangerous line. She doesn’t fully trust you, why would she? You’re from a place her people pretend doesn’t even exist. But you’re her best shot.
Narratively, she’s the first crack in the old order, and also the player’s window into Sylvenstride culture—both the beauty of it and the rigidity that’s slowly killing it. She knows their rituals aren’t working. She sees the forests growing dim. And she refuses to sit still and pray while everything collapses.
Also, having an NPC who helped cause the inciting event (your arrival) makes her feel more tied to the player’s journey. She’s not just reacting to the plot—she’s part of the reason it exists.
Behind the Scenes: World Anvil & ChatGPT
To help me wrangle this growing world, I’ve been using World Anvil, even bought the yearly "Master" subscription for it. But worth it, honestly. It’s been very helpful for organizing lore, tracking factions, and keeping characters like Aeryn consistent across entries. There’s a ton of depth in the tool, which can be a bit overwhelming, but I think I figured it out by now - more or less.
As you probably can imagine, I have also been bouncing ideas back and forth with ChatGPT, developing the world, its history, and the narrative tone. For the images and videos, I have been using midjourney for now. I don't know if it is best in class at the moment, but for my rough sketching more than good enough. At some point I'll have to figure out a better way to get graphics and art for my game, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
I’m genuinely happy with how far things have come already. So far, I’ve written up several factions, outlined the three human nations, and spent a lot of time focusing on the Sylvenstride in particular.
What’s Next: Gameplay Design Focus
For next week, I want to shift gears a little and focus on gameplay. There have been a couple of ideas floating in my head, especially around how movement in the real world ties into in-game action. But I want to take the time to really think through the core gameplay loop before I start writing any actual code.
Since I’ll be building this myself eventually, I need to balance ambition with feasibility. So before diving into development, I want to make sure I actually understand how I want players to interact with this world: what they’re doing minute-to-minute, how GPT fits into that flow, and what makes it fun to come back to.
That’s it for this week’s update. I don't know how you got here, but thank you for reading! I’m still treating this "devlog" as a kind of accountability ritual, and it’s helping a lot.
See you next Sunday. Maybe. Probably.
