Part 16

Video 8: The radio star.


[ Hosted / Viddler / Blip ]



[ 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 ]
"Evolved from the sea, the Aurelians function very much like other social, aquatic-based life forms. Rarely do individuals travel/swim alone. Public transit consists of joining a school of Aurelians as they swim to their destinations transitioning from school to school as traffic and individual needs dictate.

The Aurelian family unit is very close-knit. A family consists of three, a father and mother with usually one child. Aurelians usually procreate only once in their lifetime. The rarity of this occasion engenders the extreme loyalty to the newborn child, the safety and success of whom becomes the family's primary focus.

The government of Aurelia is structured in a tiered fashion, with popularly elected senate choosing the presidential triumvirate to preside and officiate. These three council and vote on every issue, the outcome of which is always majority of at least two. (Aurelians have many things structured by threes.)

Religiously founded on the Human Myth, the Aurelians believe in the transcendence of their race via these ancient teachers/protectors. Most of their religious doctrine teaches transcendence through strength of body and mind. However, in recent years, tradition has been giving way to anticipation of galactic advancement.

Discovered by Seekers nearly 1,000 years previously, Aurelia has almost finished its introductory phase of galactic recognition. Notwithstanding, Aurelia has observed the sinister duality of the Seekers. Aurelians for the most part are an honorable people. For some, however, the overwhelming desire for galactic recognition has caused them to all but abandon honesty and integrity.

With power and racial prestige hanging in the balance, the human discovery poses a great internal dilemma. Should they deny their core beliefs as humans are hunted and destroyed?"

You'd think, with a typical birth rate of 1, shouldn't the Aurelians be long extinct by now? It's worth noting, though, that it's uncertain how long the average Aurelian actually lives, much less the typical age at which they mate. But still, the Aurelians gonna die.


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Age: 247
Height: 7'10"

"Kelehm is a ninth-tier Aurelian Garghon, with enough experience and backing to become the High Senator when Aurelia is admitted into the Galactic Senate. Kelehm is the epitome of nobility, full of wisdom, strength, and pride. He has spend much of his life studying the mythology of humans, and has secretly trained himself in human telekinetic arts."

Something I like that ended up on the cutting room floor about Kelehm is how he would play the polar opposite of Enorym. Enorym was intended the battle-weary warrior, skeptical and begrudging of humans and of Gideon's abilities, but followed Kelehm's directions out of respect for him and his high ranking, whereas Kelehm would be the awestruck believer shouting, "I knew it." If that had made it into the finished version, I think the internal conflict of the Aurelians over whether or not they should abandon their myth about humans to retain some respect in front of the Galactic Senate would've felt much more natural and believable.

In terms of building his character, I think the game does a really good job of setting him up as the pious, fragile old man with seemingly little left in his life besides the pursuit of his faith. He's one of my favorite characters in Advent, which I attribute almost entirely to his voice actor, Dwight Schultz.



[ 1 ]
Level one: 5 uses
Level two: 5 uses
Level three: 5 uses/5 uses
Level four: 5 uses/5 uses
Level five: 5 uses/5 uses

"Wraps loose objects with energized particles drawn from the surrounding environment and then allows for manipulation. Alternatively, the particles can be woven through the loose objects within a limited radius, suspending them until the power wanes."

Lift is given to us at the perfect time to showcase one of its most useful features: tossing things off cliffs. You control Lift by first flick targeting something (object, enemy, or grenade), after which the thing is levitated up like ten feet into the air, where it will stay suspended until you either run out of psychic energy, drop it, or throw it. While you're lifting someone, you can lightly move the mouse or analog stick to push the enemy around, to get a better angle on a throw for example. As an added bonus, while something is suspended, Gideon can use his other hand for another power or a weapon.

The secondary mode is Multi-lift, which is almost exactly the same as the normal Lift, but with the added capability to lift around three targets at once. This makes it incredibly useful to just let Gideon take a breather and regain his health in the middle of a firefight, or just wipe out an entire room by tossing them off the side of a canyon.

Unfortunately, very little control is given to you over movement of anything when using Multi-lift. You're intended to sharply push the right analog stick or flick the mouse in the direction you want to send enemies and whatnot flying, but the throwing is a little iffy and the game makes its own decisions about what you were aiming at. And unlike normal Lift, you cannot move the analog stick or mouse slightly to twirl them around in midair.

Also, Lift is completely unusable in first-person mode.

Originally, it was called, "Wield," then later "Levitate" or "Levitation." Promo screenshots of the game showed Gideon lifting Scythes, but for some reason you can't (I assume because there was a problem involving flick targeting them). You can lift  Seeker Tanks , though.