tryout -- dnp

[elyx]

ＫＡＴＥＲＩＮＡxxxＡＬＩＮＡ
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ - purest light



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note:
please consider whatever is here as complete!

[elyx]

location background

the desert cities:

"live your best life, and follow the brightest light"
--- desert cities, motto

takes up a small expanse of land in the deserts. each city has it's own level of elevation indicating the wealth of its residents. only deserts can be seen for miles in every direction, even from the highest towers in the golden city. it is unknown what lies beyond the deserts as anybody who has attempted such a journey has never returned. the sun always shines upon the cities; there is no night.

the city of gold:

where the wealthy and royals reside. can only move here upon invite. towers above every other city. residents either wear royal garments or are draped in golden jewellery. this apparel is worn in trips to lower cities as a way to prove status. upper cities look upon the residents and aspire to be them, whereas lower cities frown upon this as snobbish and a waste of money, when so many are living in poverty in the lowest city. residents from the golden city rarely, if ever, visit the lower cities, but on such occasions it's not uncommon for an attempt of robbery. if caught, a hefty sentence in the hole will be received. if not caught, most who steal these expensive embellishments travel to upper cities and sell them in order to try and move up and out of the lower cities.

the queen resides in the tallest tower here. she cares about the lower city residents and helps as much behind the scenes as she can without getting caught by her advisors, which is much less of an impact than she would like to have on their lives.

upper cities:

consists of 2 different cities, both equal in level. appearance of residents here could be described as somewhat more extravagant than many residents of the golden city, in order to appear richer and in attempt to attract an invite to live in the golden city. one city here is home to all the extravagant parties, whereas the other is home to valuable antiquities. most jewellery for residents of the golden city is commissioned from residents of the latter city.

lower cities:

consists of 3 cities, each on different levels. the uppermost level is home to most food and crop produce. the only city with any natural greenery, the crops here have adapted to the harsh sun and dry conditions. though water is still readily available here, there was never enough to water the crops as much as they would need in the desert conditions. this resulted in the crops evolving, however most died out long ago meaning less of a variation in natural food. there are no animals in any of the cities, meaning these crops are most of the desert cities food supply.

the middle city is mostly working class. residents here travel to the city above to work, and if they're exceptionally good at what they do they may be hired in the upper cities. income for workers here would never be enough to move into the upper cities, unless anybody there took a liking to a resident or their work and gave them enough money to move up. there is enough food and water here to live without rationing, but food purchase is still limited in order to have plenty extra for the parties in the upper cities.

the lowest city is in poverty. situated slightly above ground level. unlike other cities which are staggered in order to prevent complete darkness, this city is situated in such a way that no sunlight hits due to the positioning of cities above. as a result of this, residents are pale, and get sick often. food and water is rationed largely. many residents are malnourished as a result. rarely anyone from cities above visit here due to the poor conditions of the city itself and how easy it is to contact sickness from the residents. some residents of the upper cities believe more effort should be put in to solve the vast range of issues here, but most of the only ones who have the means to solve these issues (i.e scientists and doctors in upper cities with the funds to help) refuse to, and live selfishly with their own wealth. this causes friction with the few royals who want all of the desert cities to thrive.

the hole:

a prison. located underground. most visits to the lowest cities are prisoners being escorted to the hole. any crime committed, upper or lower, their sentence will be served here. sentences tend to be longer for residents of the lower cities due to the skewed and biased nature of the judicial system. a worse punishment than this would be exile.

the deserts:

nobody knows what lies out beyond the visible stretch of desert surrounding the city. many citizens have been exiled, few have chosen to venture out in search of discovery or adventure. none have ever returned.

[830 words]

[elyx]

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐧
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born into royalty in the city of gold, katerina was raised as a princess, and heir to the throne. her mother, the queen, ruled over all of the desert cities. long ago, all the cities lived equally, and aided each other. but ever since katerina was young, the difference in living conditions between the uppermost and lowermost cities was so extreme it was causing deaths and extreme sickness in lower city residents. there were riots and protests, but most had been quashed by threatening exile or sentences in the hole.

something had to be done. the queen was furious. she wanted peace and harmony between every city in the desert cities, but royal ambassadors warned her many times that stepping in herself would probably warrant in her being overthrown. after all, royals should never be seen associating nor helping lower city residents. its unheard of, and highly frowned upon.

so as katerina grew up, she watched all of this play out. a new illness appeared in the lower cities, the queen was informed, advised not to do anything. more residents of the lower cities died. it was a vicious cycle, but the queen could not afford to lose her position of power. then who would help the lowest city residents? although she wasn't doing much, any other ruler would do nothing. and if it was found out she was paying others to provide food/water/medicine for them, she'd be exiled, but to abdicate would mean she would not have access to funds to pay them, or the status to scare them into secrecy. it was impossible.

however, growing up katerina adopted the same views as her mother. as the princess, there was less focus on her from the advisers and other residents. many of the lower city residents didn't even know what she looked like. or so she thought.

she should've worn a better disguise. she didn't expect to be jumped by a gang of thieves on the lowest level whilst dropping off supplies. she didn't get it, she was trying to help, why would they hurt her? but it was too late. her identity had been revealed and royal officials had been contacted. she was thrown in the whole while her sentence was discussed.

everything was blown way out of proportion. associating with the lowest city residents resulted in a harsher punishment due to the biased judicial system and the fact she was royalty, so she was exiled. with an incorrect crime. she had no witnesses, and lowest city residents weren't allowed to be witnesses, so her crime was whatever the jury conjured up.

exiled. how did this happen? it was just meant to be a delivery drop. it was unheard of; a princess being exiled from the very cities she was heir to the throne of. the queen pushed and pushed as much as she could to get her daughter a lighter sentence, but too much pushing would be perceived as supporting her actions which would result in someone attempting to overthrow her for supporting her soon-to-be exiled daughter's views.

the queen was guilt-ridden. if she had not exposed katerina to her attempts to save the people of the lowest cities, she never would've wanted to help. what's done is done.

born into royalty in the golden cities, katerina was raised as a princess, and declared guilty of treason to her kingdom for working with the gangs of thieves in lower cities. which was obviously untrue, but the sentence still held.

allowed to see her mother one last time before leaving the only cities she'd ever known, she was told something that she wouldn't fully understand the implications of until later.


"be careful, katerina. i know what is out there. don't be afraid of the darkness."


and with that she was removed from the cities. whatever did her mother mean? the darkness? and how would she know what lies beyond the cities if nobody has ever survived such a journey?

[663 words] -- moodboard

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬
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miles and miles of desert and hot sands in the blistering hot sun. she ran out of water hours ago and she was starting to feel the effects. she had no idea how long she'd been walking, but the desert cities were almost out of sight. nothing but
a speck in the distance, climbing over this last sand dune would leave everything she'd loved behind and out of sight. she could barely walk.losing her footing at the top of the dune, she fell flat on her face.

and it was cold. freezing in fact. opening her eyes, all she could see was black; no wait, things were becoming clearer. it was just dark.

there was no sun, and there were clouds? loads of them! big, heavy black clouds. she'd been brought up believing the night was a fantasy, yet here she was. embracing the coolness of the night. it began to rain. such a welcoming, cool downpour of water. she'd never felt such a thing, did this happen all the time out here? and it tasted so fresh. worlds apart from the murky, condenser water she'd been used to. it was bliss. she replenished the water she'd had on hand, overly grateful for the timing, and watched as the torrential downpour eased off into a steady showed then stopped altogether. and at once the glee she'd felt from the rain was ripped away and the reality of her situation set in.

she'd been exiled from her own home, she missed her mother so much. how did she know what was out here? has she been before - no that'd be impossible right? if someone had been out here and made it back wouldn't everyone have known? her thoughts about her mother were dissipated by a pang of loneliness.

it was so lonely out here. she hadn't spoken to anyone in who knows how long, and with the night, she couldn't tell how much time was passing. and of course she forgot to ask her mother to give her a watch.

it was so cold, and she felt an emptiness, or some kind of loss for the sun. such a constant presence in her entire life, so suddenly ripped away. was this the fear her mother was talking about? how could she possibly overcome living in this darkness forever, it was too much.

child of the sun, essentially cursed to live in the pitch black.
the princess to the golden city, never again able to see it glimmer in the sunlight.
katerina alina, purest light, never again permitted to see her namesake.

condemned to be forever drowning in darkness,
thrashing to reach the surface she looked up
and she finally sees
the clouds had cleared
how could she have missed it?
the light; the moon
and at once she didn't feel alone.

[470 words]

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐧
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the sun is a star. the only celestial body visible to the naked eye in the daytime.

but look at the night. the sky is full of stars, illuminated by these tiny little spotlights millions of light years away. and the moon. oh, how she'd never related to anything more, for who else knows what it's like to have a love affair with the sun? to be a shining hope to many but never able to coexist.
she was at one with the moon.
and she had hope.
and she remembered stories and fairytale her mother had told her as a child, about lost adventurers following the glowing map in the sky. she'd thought they were fake, but all this time her mother had known everything about what was out here.
she tried to be angry at her mother, she really did, how could she have kept this a secret? but gazing up into the endless black void in stark contrast to the ethereal moon she understood. such beauty could never be understood by the shallow minds of the rich citizens, all they cared about was social hierarchy and extravagant jewels.
but the lower city residents deserved to be out here. it was beautiful, and they were used to the dark. maybe that's why so many of them were exiled, maybe her mother wanted them out.

maybe they're still out there somewhere.

she had to find them, they must still be out here.
the conditions were perfect for the same type of crop they used to grow on the lower levels until water was rationed; dark and it seems to rain a lot.
life could be easily sustained out here.

but how would she find them? there was so much desert, how could she possibly know what direction to go in. and as far as her knowledge went (of what she thought was myth until recently) the moon moved through the sky, much like the sun.
her mother must have given her a hint at some point in life, think katerina, think.
oh!
could it be the desert cities motto? no... but yes!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"live your best life, and follow the brightest light"

the birghtest light but not the moon, it has to be that one there. it's the brightest star in the sky!

and so she headed, bearing north, following the brightest light.

[393 words]

[elyx]

location background : part II

the deserts:

many know what lies out here, all the exiled so-called "criminals" live in peace together in a base camp. the deserts are always nighttime, but in no way devoid of light. the citizens of the desert adore these lights, drawing dot-to-dot patterns in the stars with their fingers, mapping out new constellations. the stars really are a map. the north star leads home, "the brightest light". not the sun. not the moon. and quite frankly, not even the brightest star visible from the outskirts of the darkness that lead to base camp. the brightest light was and is katerina. a sparkling hope for any and all exiled citizens, and though they don't know it yet, the biggest hope the lower city residents have.

base camp:

hundreds of exiled citizens live here, mostly ex-lower city dwellers. and they love it. generations of family upon family have lived here, in hand built shelters, sustained by crops that thrive in the dark and crisp water collected from the heavy desert downpours. sure, nobody has ever made it back from the journey to the desert, but they will soon. for everyone exiled, there is another back in the cities who they love or care for or want to save. katerina, no longer the purest light, but the spark, the spark to a rebellion. a raid to save the others, and rescue all the citizens in need in the lower cities.
and perhaps carry out the plan her mother had for her all along.

[255 words]