compound
Well-Known Member
I was originally going to post this in the "Is this workable?" thread, but I realized it was quickly getting large and well-developed enough to merit a thread of its own.
I just wanted to share the idea, more than anything else. I have absolutely no intention of posting any related stories here, in the next year, at least. Still, I would appreciate all preliminary feedback regarding the concept. Gut reactions, and well-considered thoughts alike.
This is more of a "dream project" for me, something that I would only do as a creator-owned work for a medium-sized publisher, and with the appropriate creative team to support me. I envision it as an ongoing maxi-series, with a definite end-point after 75 regular issues or so.
The series is a "soft" sci-fi saga with political overtones and cultural critique. It *should* appeal to fans of DMZ, Y the Last Man, The Walking Dead, and similar titles, as well as TV shows like Lost, Jericho and Heroes.
ORPHANS
THE PREMISE
Alex Pharell -- known as "Alpha" to his friends -- is an 18-year-old small-town kid from rural Virginia, who has gone on to become an Honors student in Human Development at Cornell. (Alpha is physically modelled after actor Jesse Bradford, in the movie Bring It On.)
On Tuesday, June 21, 2006 -- the beginning of the Summer Solstice, in the Chinese solar calendar -- Alpha is in Seattle, WA, to attend the Future Leaders Accord, an international conference of youth leaders, convened by the UN Development Programme, and Alpha's idol, Stephen Wages, entrepreneur, "futurist", and co-founder of the pioneering info tech company, Ficus.
On that morning, he is standing on a sidewalk near his boarding house, when he recieves a cell phone call from his girlfriend, Carrie, in Philidelpia, who is crying hysterically. The line suddenly goes dead, and Alex is hit by a car that apparently has no driver.
He wakes up from a coma, almost three weeks later, in a Seattle hostpital, being attended to by an over-worked, Doogie Hauser, M.D.-like doctor who is only 20 years old.
Alpha quickly learns that on 6/21, a cataclysmic singularity occured, in which all people over the age of 21 -- precisely, those who have experienced more than 21 orbits of the earth around the sun -- sponteneously disappeared, leaving behind no corporal trace. This event has since been referred to as "O-Day", the day when nearly the entire population of the world became orphans.
O-Day has changed everyday life dramatically. The world's fuel supply is dwindling, because there are no adults to work on the oilfields, rigs, and refineries. Diseases are more rampant, and health servies limited, because of the lack of skilled medical professionals. Financial markets collapse, and bartering is as significant as cash. Long-distance travel is difficult. Without "grown-ups" to run the corporate media, blogs and internet feeds are the primary news source, though their relibility is (expectedly) doubtable.
Alpha decides he wants to travel to Philidelphia to find Carrie, stopping by his family's home in Virginia, along the way. He recruits a group of restless youth, each with their own personal reasons to make the cross-country trek. However, during this long and treacherous journey, he will have adventures that convince him that it may be possible to reverse the singularity, and restore the adults.
THE CHARACTERS
Alex's travelling group includes the following people:
Haroun "H-Bomb" ibn Ali, 18, was a Jordanian member of a sleeper cell of an international terror network. Before puberty, he was trained as a saboteur, then sent to live in Aberdeen, WA, posing as a high school student, with the planned mission of eventually bombing the Ficus Corporation's headquarters in Seattle. However, he grew attached to the friends he made, and found an outlet for his rage in the culture of hip-hop music, after he began an online collaboration with a DJ named "Disappearer", based in New York. He views the singularity as a divine act, liberating him from his former "employers". Haroun remains extremely critical of some aspects of American culture, but is not loyal to either the terror network OR the American state. He joins Alpha's party, hoping to travel to NYC to find his musical partner. He eventually confides his back-story to Hope. Haroun is visually patterned after French actor Saïd Taghmaoui in the movie La Haine.
Esperanza "Hope" Miyazaki, 17, is a bisexual half-Latina, half-Japanese punk girl with Harajuku fashion sensibilities. A quintessential "poor little rich girl", she ran away from her affluent family, suspecting her parents marriage was carried out to broker a truce between rival transnational crime syndicates. She has intuitive detective skills, is capable of street fighting, and is a pathological liar. She was mooching off friends before O-Day, unable to hold a steady job. She has a younger sister who lives with an aunt in Chicago, and joins Alpha's group in the hope of reuniting with her. She prefers not to speculate about the reasons behind the singularity, and instead adapt to this harsh new reality. Esperanza vaguely resembles actress Shannyn Sossamon in 40 Days and 40 Nights.
Casey Hall, 19, was a bench-warming basketball player for UCLA. He was in Seattle to pay a visit to his two-year-old daughter Viola, who was the result of a eugenic fling with Catherine Moreau, a much older sports agent, who wanted to have a baby, before she reached menopause. Like Alpha, his extended family is originally based in the East Coast; Massachusts, in particular. Casey later reveals that he had prophetic dreams about the singularity, and meeting Alpha. His appearance is modelled after actor/rapper Bow Wow in The Fast & The Furious 3: Tokyo Drift.
Viola Moreau, 2, is Casey's daughter. She was born with a curious birthmark on her lower back, which bears a remarkable similarity to the fig-shaped design that serves as the corporate logo of the Ficus Corportaion (whose CEO, Wages, owns the basketball team that Catheirne Moreau used to represent). Casey's dreams lead him to believe that Viola's genetic code may be the key to restoring the world's adults.
THE STORY ARCS
These will vary in length. This takes us up to the half-way point of the multi-volume saga.
"Teenage Riot" - Alpha wakes up from his 21-day coma to learn about the after-effects of "O-Day". gathering a small band of restless youths, they intercept a distant radio signal about a possible relief camp being operated by the U.S. Reserve Officers' Training Corps, in the outskirts of Portland. As they make their way to the base camp, they find a greusome discovery. It seems a bloody revolt has taken place, But where have the insurgents gone?
"Bastards of Young" - Alpha's party encounters a settlement based in the gigantic Mall of the Northwest, which is run like an anarchist collective. The "Mall Rats" -- one of whom is an ex-lover of Hope -- have their own theory regarding the origins of the singularity, which changes Alpha's perspective. Loyalties are tested and relationships are shaken up.
This arc is a direct reference to cult New Zealand TV series, The Tribe, which also dealt with the death of all adults.
This arc features guest appearances by indie rock bands Smoosh and be your own PET, who are the two of the most popular indie rock bands left, after the singularity.
"Barely Legal" - Alpha's group takes refuge at the Aphrodite Ranch, a makeshift full-service pleasure complex, owned and run by young women. Their activities range from strip-clubs and webcam shows, to S&M dungeons and full-on prostitution. The Ranch's operations divide the party, who are growing weary of Alpha's leadership. Hope confronts an uncomfortable part of her past. Alpha's loyalty to Carrie begins to waver.
Meanwhile, in the so-called "Area 51", a cabal of delegates from the Future Leaders Accord gathers. But is their intent to save the world... or end it?
"Children's Crusade" - The mutionous Reservists from "Teenage Riot" encounter Alpha's party at the state line between Nevada and Utah, with tragic results. The last hope for the survivors of Alpha's group may rest with the arrival of a mysterious second party of travellers from California. But they may prove to be an even greater threat...
Meanwhile, in Singapore, where the state requires mandatory National Service military training for all males aged 18 to 20, the ambitious new Commander in Chief has just led a bloodless take-over of the island-state, just in time for his 21st birthday -- and he's got his sights on making the country into the next world super-power!
"Old Before Their Time" - On Christmas day, the two parties share a rare dinner feast, where Amaya's hardended group share their experiences immediately after O-Day, involving (among other things) human trafficking, modern-day pirates, and a shipment of DeGrassi DVDs. It quickly becomes clear that Amaya, in particular, is no ordinary civilian.
"Youthopia" - The protagonists find their way to the town of Delivarance, UT, where an isolationist group of detemrined Mormons have set up a "neo-prairie" lifestyle, based on strict Puritan values, with all the "menfolk" and "womenfolk" occupying appropriate roles, in a pastische of turn-of-the-century American rural life, abandoning the trappings of contemporary youth culture. However, could Alpha's desire to "simplify" his life convince him to take up residence in the community? Or is a more sinister force influencing his desires?
"Ain't Nothin' But A Number" - Questions are answered, and many others are raised, as the travellers head straight for a three-way showdown with the Future Leaders and the Singaporean army, with Viola at the heart of the conflict, in the ski resort town of Telluride, CO.
DIFFERENCES WITH OTHER NARRATIVES
The premise of all the world's adults dying is fairly common. However, Orphans is based on the idea of the adults spontaneously ceasing to exist, as opposed to dying out because of a virus or similar plague. Also, most other stories -- like the comic and TV show Jeremiah -- deal with the distant after-effects, whereas Orphans addresses the immediate short-term impact.
OTHER NOTES
Yes, I have a definite explanation planned for the singularity. But giving it away here would constitute a spoiler, wouldn't it?
The series will tease several possible explanations -- some more scientific, others with mystical overtones -- but none that would qualify as "fantasy".
Let me know if you want me to elaborate on these.
I just wanted to share the idea, more than anything else. I have absolutely no intention of posting any related stories here, in the next year, at least. Still, I would appreciate all preliminary feedback regarding the concept. Gut reactions, and well-considered thoughts alike.
This is more of a "dream project" for me, something that I would only do as a creator-owned work for a medium-sized publisher, and with the appropriate creative team to support me. I envision it as an ongoing maxi-series, with a definite end-point after 75 regular issues or so.
The series is a "soft" sci-fi saga with political overtones and cultural critique. It *should* appeal to fans of DMZ, Y the Last Man, The Walking Dead, and similar titles, as well as TV shows like Lost, Jericho and Heroes.
ORPHANS
THE PREMISE
Alex Pharell -- known as "Alpha" to his friends -- is an 18-year-old small-town kid from rural Virginia, who has gone on to become an Honors student in Human Development at Cornell. (Alpha is physically modelled after actor Jesse Bradford, in the movie Bring It On.)
On Tuesday, June 21, 2006 -- the beginning of the Summer Solstice, in the Chinese solar calendar -- Alpha is in Seattle, WA, to attend the Future Leaders Accord, an international conference of youth leaders, convened by the UN Development Programme, and Alpha's idol, Stephen Wages, entrepreneur, "futurist", and co-founder of the pioneering info tech company, Ficus.
On that morning, he is standing on a sidewalk near his boarding house, when he recieves a cell phone call from his girlfriend, Carrie, in Philidelpia, who is crying hysterically. The line suddenly goes dead, and Alex is hit by a car that apparently has no driver.
He wakes up from a coma, almost three weeks later, in a Seattle hostpital, being attended to by an over-worked, Doogie Hauser, M.D.-like doctor who is only 20 years old.
Alpha quickly learns that on 6/21, a cataclysmic singularity occured, in which all people over the age of 21 -- precisely, those who have experienced more than 21 orbits of the earth around the sun -- sponteneously disappeared, leaving behind no corporal trace. This event has since been referred to as "O-Day", the day when nearly the entire population of the world became orphans.
O-Day has changed everyday life dramatically. The world's fuel supply is dwindling, because there are no adults to work on the oilfields, rigs, and refineries. Diseases are more rampant, and health servies limited, because of the lack of skilled medical professionals. Financial markets collapse, and bartering is as significant as cash. Long-distance travel is difficult. Without "grown-ups" to run the corporate media, blogs and internet feeds are the primary news source, though their relibility is (expectedly) doubtable.
Alpha decides he wants to travel to Philidelphia to find Carrie, stopping by his family's home in Virginia, along the way. He recruits a group of restless youth, each with their own personal reasons to make the cross-country trek. However, during this long and treacherous journey, he will have adventures that convince him that it may be possible to reverse the singularity, and restore the adults.
THE CHARACTERS
Alex's travelling group includes the following people:
Haroun "H-Bomb" ibn Ali, 18, was a Jordanian member of a sleeper cell of an international terror network. Before puberty, he was trained as a saboteur, then sent to live in Aberdeen, WA, posing as a high school student, with the planned mission of eventually bombing the Ficus Corporation's headquarters in Seattle. However, he grew attached to the friends he made, and found an outlet for his rage in the culture of hip-hop music, after he began an online collaboration with a DJ named "Disappearer", based in New York. He views the singularity as a divine act, liberating him from his former "employers". Haroun remains extremely critical of some aspects of American culture, but is not loyal to either the terror network OR the American state. He joins Alpha's party, hoping to travel to NYC to find his musical partner. He eventually confides his back-story to Hope. Haroun is visually patterned after French actor Saïd Taghmaoui in the movie La Haine.
Esperanza "Hope" Miyazaki, 17, is a bisexual half-Latina, half-Japanese punk girl with Harajuku fashion sensibilities. A quintessential "poor little rich girl", she ran away from her affluent family, suspecting her parents marriage was carried out to broker a truce between rival transnational crime syndicates. She has intuitive detective skills, is capable of street fighting, and is a pathological liar. She was mooching off friends before O-Day, unable to hold a steady job. She has a younger sister who lives with an aunt in Chicago, and joins Alpha's group in the hope of reuniting with her. She prefers not to speculate about the reasons behind the singularity, and instead adapt to this harsh new reality. Esperanza vaguely resembles actress Shannyn Sossamon in 40 Days and 40 Nights.
Casey Hall, 19, was a bench-warming basketball player for UCLA. He was in Seattle to pay a visit to his two-year-old daughter Viola, who was the result of a eugenic fling with Catherine Moreau, a much older sports agent, who wanted to have a baby, before she reached menopause. Like Alpha, his extended family is originally based in the East Coast; Massachusts, in particular. Casey later reveals that he had prophetic dreams about the singularity, and meeting Alpha. His appearance is modelled after actor/rapper Bow Wow in The Fast & The Furious 3: Tokyo Drift.
Viola Moreau, 2, is Casey's daughter. She was born with a curious birthmark on her lower back, which bears a remarkable similarity to the fig-shaped design that serves as the corporate logo of the Ficus Corportaion (whose CEO, Wages, owns the basketball team that Catheirne Moreau used to represent). Casey's dreams lead him to believe that Viola's genetic code may be the key to restoring the world's adults.
THE STORY ARCS
These will vary in length. This takes us up to the half-way point of the multi-volume saga.
"Teenage Riot" - Alpha wakes up from his 21-day coma to learn about the after-effects of "O-Day". gathering a small band of restless youths, they intercept a distant radio signal about a possible relief camp being operated by the U.S. Reserve Officers' Training Corps, in the outskirts of Portland. As they make their way to the base camp, they find a greusome discovery. It seems a bloody revolt has taken place, But where have the insurgents gone?
"Bastards of Young" - Alpha's party encounters a settlement based in the gigantic Mall of the Northwest, which is run like an anarchist collective. The "Mall Rats" -- one of whom is an ex-lover of Hope -- have their own theory regarding the origins of the singularity, which changes Alpha's perspective. Loyalties are tested and relationships are shaken up.
This arc is a direct reference to cult New Zealand TV series, The Tribe, which also dealt with the death of all adults.
This arc features guest appearances by indie rock bands Smoosh and be your own PET, who are the two of the most popular indie rock bands left, after the singularity.
"Barely Legal" - Alpha's group takes refuge at the Aphrodite Ranch, a makeshift full-service pleasure complex, owned and run by young women. Their activities range from strip-clubs and webcam shows, to S&M dungeons and full-on prostitution. The Ranch's operations divide the party, who are growing weary of Alpha's leadership. Hope confronts an uncomfortable part of her past. Alpha's loyalty to Carrie begins to waver.
Meanwhile, in the so-called "Area 51", a cabal of delegates from the Future Leaders Accord gathers. But is their intent to save the world... or end it?
"Children's Crusade" - The mutionous Reservists from "Teenage Riot" encounter Alpha's party at the state line between Nevada and Utah, with tragic results. The last hope for the survivors of Alpha's group may rest with the arrival of a mysterious second party of travellers from California. But they may prove to be an even greater threat...
Meanwhile, in Singapore, where the state requires mandatory National Service military training for all males aged 18 to 20, the ambitious new Commander in Chief has just led a bloodless take-over of the island-state, just in time for his 21st birthday -- and he's got his sights on making the country into the next world super-power!
"Old Before Their Time" - On Christmas day, the two parties share a rare dinner feast, where Amaya's hardended group share their experiences immediately after O-Day, involving (among other things) human trafficking, modern-day pirates, and a shipment of DeGrassi DVDs. It quickly becomes clear that Amaya, in particular, is no ordinary civilian.
"Youthopia" - The protagonists find their way to the town of Delivarance, UT, where an isolationist group of detemrined Mormons have set up a "neo-prairie" lifestyle, based on strict Puritan values, with all the "menfolk" and "womenfolk" occupying appropriate roles, in a pastische of turn-of-the-century American rural life, abandoning the trappings of contemporary youth culture. However, could Alpha's desire to "simplify" his life convince him to take up residence in the community? Or is a more sinister force influencing his desires?
"Ain't Nothin' But A Number" - Questions are answered, and many others are raised, as the travellers head straight for a three-way showdown with the Future Leaders and the Singaporean army, with Viola at the heart of the conflict, in the ski resort town of Telluride, CO.
DIFFERENCES WITH OTHER NARRATIVES
The premise of all the world's adults dying is fairly common. However, Orphans is based on the idea of the adults spontaneously ceasing to exist, as opposed to dying out because of a virus or similar plague. Also, most other stories -- like the comic and TV show Jeremiah -- deal with the distant after-effects, whereas Orphans addresses the immediate short-term impact.
OTHER NOTES
Yes, I have a definite explanation planned for the singularity. But giving it away here would constitute a spoiler, wouldn't it?
The series will tease several possible explanations -- some more scientific, others with mystical overtones -- but none that would qualify as "fantasy".
Let me know if you want me to elaborate on these.
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