[Chruser]

Okay, so what is Mercurial? In short, Mercurial is a complely free, web-based RPG, set in the world of Vita in a time after a golden age of technology has come to an end. The following exerpt is a part of the storyline of the game. If you don't like to read, you can always skip it, and try the game out. The link can be found at the bottom of this message:

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Vita was once an arid planet with desert throughout, where life was hard. Crops were destroyed by swarms of locusts, and the heat and lack of an ozone layer made life unbearable. Science became a priority, and a way to transform the arid world into a greener, lusher environment was very longed for. It was not long before scientists managed to construct nuclei accelerators; machines capable of assembling or taking apart all kinds of known particles, even the most minute ones. Protons and electrons could be assembled in any wanted position, meaning even the driest substances as sand could be remodelled into pure water. The discovery lead to an instantaneous industrialization of Vita, where new means of transportations became available almost every day. The scientific prospects seemed good, and civilization had reached a golden age.

It was not long before major breakthroughs within genetics started to surface. Scientists managed to genetically engineer the brain of humans, giving them access to previously unusable parts. A normal human can use from 5 to 10% of their brain capacity, but their new test subjects could use almost three fourths of their brains. Their test subjects proved to have telekientic abilities as they could move objects around. Even more importantly, they could move all particles around in any way they pleased their minds alone, which shortly rendered the behemoth-sized nuclei accelerators obsolete. These "super humans", or "Controllers" as they were called due to their ability to control nature with their minds, were an ideal workforce throughout the world. Rivers, oceans and forests started to cover the planet, but the Controllers grew tired of their lives. They did not want to remain slaves of their masters, who they clearly found less fit to survive than themselves. Mankind grew obsolete in the eyes of the Controllers.

The exact date is still unknown, but at some point, the Controllers revolted and abandoned their work of evolving the planet into mankind's idea of a paradise. The Controllers, feared by mankind for their superhuman powers, were mostly captured, killed or driven underground. Despite the power of the Controllers, they could do nothing but escape as they were an extreme minority compared to their masters. The survivors among the Controllers planned their revenge on mankind, and shorly started to alter the weather on the surface, causing a major flood, sinking entire continents, drowning millions. Only a few continents were left as the Controllers wanted to return to the surface one day.

The survivors of mankind escaped to the two continents of Kayon and Bherola throughout the southern regions of Vita. An attack from the Controllers seems to already have begun, as genetically engineered critters have started to appear throughout the lands and caused havoc. The players start their adventures in the forest village of Casmon on the continent of Bherola, and a group of mercenaries have started to join forces to fight this new enemy. What you will do from here on is entirely up to you.
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The project has been worked on for a while now, but there's a serious lack of artwork. I've spent some time in the #art IRC channel after lurking on Sijuns for a while, and I thought it'd be a good idea to post here, as it may increase the interest in the project. And no, doing artwork is not a paid job. But of course, helping Mercurial out offers a great opportunity to do innovative monster design, character design, backgrounds and so forth. A great way to boost your porfolio a bit if you so like. Since this game isn't being designed for the purpose of making any profit off it, I have nothing against anyone using their art for portfolio purposes, but I do require it to NOT be used for any other games/projects, especially ones to be sold. The artwork needs to be unique and designed for the purpose of improving Mercurial. And transparent backgrounds for sprite design would be a good idea.

So, without further ado, give the game a try. Currently, it involves rather basic features as navigation, NPC conversations, monster battles, exploration, item finding, stores and soforth. A very thorough skill system is being worked on, which involves becoming better at skills the more you use them, rather than "gaining levels and purchasing new skills from skill points" or anything like that. It's kind of like drawing. The more you do it, the better you become.

Oh, and you'll have to register beforehand:

http://www.zelaron.com/game




As I'm sure most of you will notice, most of the monster sprites are from Chrono Trigger, using their original monster names. The monsters involve some fairly complex variables, so it's hard to expand the game and a waste of time unless I would really want to *keep* the monsters. And since the non-unique ones will be cleared out, I'm not planning to expand the actual monster codex and game areas right now as doing so would be a waste of time. Likewise, classes will be remade to suit the storyline better, but this will be done AFTER the skill system is completed. So, no more fighter, mage and assassin.

I could post a big list of features that are to be made, but I'll settle with listing only a couple:

* Trading between players.
* Player duels.
* Castle sieging. (Yes, you heard me right)
* An unlinear storyline by ALWAYS giving the players at least two options in every "quest". Betray your contractor if you like.
* Range of weapons, and movement in battle.
* Clan creation.



If you have any further questions or would like to contribute material, either contact me via ICQ, AIM, MSN, YIM or email (use the Mercurial suggestions form in-game if you like). Or, of course, simply reply to this thread with more questions, and/or artwork for the game.

Now, I'll shush and go back to my underground den.