Original story idea inspired by Chrono Cross

[redandblack64]

This isn't a Chrono fanfic idea, but an original one. Chrono Cross's theme of alternate universes was a huge inspiration. I'm posting here just to see what you guys think, and if you have any ideas of possible scenarios. Here's the basic premise.

What if there were 3 worlds with humans who were Negroid on one, Caucasoid on the other, and Mongoloid on the last, due to adaptation? And what if each of these societies followed a philosophical and theological 'truth' that was irrefutably true on their own world, but false on the others, along with differing laws of physics? And, what if these planets exist in concurrent, paralell universes that could be accesed through some gates/wormholes?

There, that's all I have. I do know I want this to explore the paralells between what would come up from that conflict; namely religion. I'm also intending to point out an observation that's been made; Monochrome casting the humans in tons of fantasy worlds. I noticed that all the humans are usually white or Asian, and that people pretend to not notice or make up excuses. Well, this is going to change that.

Anyways, I'm having trouble finding a plot, as this is going to be a long, plot-driven epic. Under the conditions that no one wins or loses, do you have any ideas?

[gatotsu911]

Sounds like an intriguing concept. Try writing it up and see where you get!

Some people might take offense to the "Negroid", "Caucasoid" and "Mongoloid" segregation, though, for a number of reasons. I don't think it's that bad myself, but you might want to be cautious.

[FaustWolf]

Hmm, this actually got me thinking about black separatism. Could someone's desire to set their own group apart (supposing perceived advantages) be so strong that they're willing to add spacetime axes to the degrees of separation?

The opposite, perhaps, would be dimensional apartheid: spacetime-separate but unequal, forced upon one or more exiled/excluded groups.

You also have an opportunity to examine ways humans segregate themselves even controlling for race: you could look at sex/gender divisions in addition to the religious question you've already introduced. Based on human experience in the three dimensions, do you want to adopt a message such as: "we're doomed to split hairs no matter how similar we become?" What characteristics separate your heroes from your villains when you're examining something like that?

Anyway, there's a lot of different ways you could go with this, and the results could be really interesting. Whether you should start by defining your theme, by character brainstorming (hee, almost wrote "barnstorming"), by building your three worlds' histories, or by just randomly thinking of stuff, is something you'll have to answer for yourself no doubt. It's probably nigh impossible to come up with a general formula for creating art. It can never hurt to indulge yourself in a generalized soup of inspiration: watch that one Star Trek episode, browse DeviantArt for stuff that has racial overtones, listen to 1920s Jazz, watch a documentary on the culture of Chinese immigrant railroad workers in the 19th century US, etc.

[tushantin]

XD First thing that comes into my mind is a three-way story with no clear "villain" -- each side has its own hero battling another hero for its own believe. Nice concept!

[redandblack64]

This idea came from some observations I made in the media and by having my parents beating me over the head with their religion (Jehovahs Witnesses) and it's beliefs. That made me realise that real world religions will clash constantly, sometimes ending in murderous, disastrous results. And the belief that God will destroy every other one and wipe out everyone in opposition to him in order to start a New World order gave made me think "what if there were different worlds like that, with conflicting beliefs in seperate worlds?", and that thought stayed with me for 5 years. Cross gets credit for placing the worlds in paralell worlds, and the Gates thus setting up possible story setups. This is going to hopefully be a full color webcomic that I'll use as all my assignments for my Illustration major at RMCAD, whenever I start.

Oh, and as for the villians in such a setup... I wouldn't know. The dilemma I'm facing is whether to make them someone from outside of the dimensions, and causing the wormholes to connect the worlds, or to make them from within the worlds, representing the basic problems humans have always, and will always face.

Edit: Oh, these worlds will be 1/3 the size of Earth (symbolic, eh?), and the environments, ethinicities and cultures borrow from real world regions as follows. Also, the planets will have different names besides Negroid World, Caucasoid World and Mongoloid World in the end product. The "Negroid world" will use all but North Africa as a base, along with Oceania/Australia. The "Caucasoid World" will use North Africa/Mediterranean, the Middle East, and Europe as a base. The "Mongoloid World" will use Asia, the Pacific Islands (such as the Philippines and Hawaii), North and South America as a base. So, expect diversity within each world.