Bilbao and its Inspirations

The next chapter will be focused on the nation of Bilbao, the home of the heroine Bilbine Bengochea. This chapter was actually intended to take place before Audr's chapter but due to delays in getting the art for it done (when Audr's art was already done) it was swapped in order.

This does reveal the strength of my modular system. Really any heroine's chapter could happen in any order while still telling an interesting narrative.

In this case I have a few inspirations for this chapter. First is Locke's scenario from FFVI, as I previously mentioned. It's one of my favorite sequences in gaming. That said, those of you familiar with it will know I am going to take some pains to differentiate it from the Sayda chapter which also drew a little inspiration from it.

The second and obvious influence on this chapter is Spain. Notably I want the terms and locations based on Basque Spain (and Bilbao is a town in the real Basque Spain). However I will be using Spanish throughout this section because Basque is not a popular language now and I cannot be certain of using words and terms in Basque whereas I can have Spanish language speakers vet any Spanish terms I use.

As for how it will be based on Spain I intend to use Francoist Spain as an inspiration. Bilbine is the heroine of kindness, an interesting choice for the leader of a fascist regime. However it was also a highly religious Regime and this is a good chance to show off a bit of the faith of the Goddess in Overwhored and how an overzealous heroine focused on getting everyone to stick to the ideals of kindness can take it in the wrong directions.

A lot of the civilizations in Overwhored have inspirations from real world groups and locations. Nanshe's civilization of dark elves is sort of an underground Babylon; Sayda is based on Sidon (Also known as a city in Lebanon); Beerenberg is based on Norway and the Goblins are based on Australians. The connection with these isn't that strong yet. I would like to make it a clearer connection in future rewrites. People tend to forget that this game is more or less on a first draft right now. I'm more focused on getting new chapters out than polishing each one as much as I'd like. I often go back and make numerous small tweaks and revisions but those aren't really equivalent to doing a second or third draft of the script, for instance.

Some civilizations are more variable. I had originally intended to make Rubati's civilization more like Phoenecia but I haven't really fleshed it out yet, it could be more along the lines of the "generalist Englandish fantasy" type at this point. I suppose I'm obligated to include it. That was originally the intention of Wardhaven so people's expectations of fantasy aren't immediately subverted though over time I decided to make it Welsh instead. Welsh words are fun.

Bilbine's chapter has been based on Basque Spain for a long time and the intention was always to make her somewhat fascist. You could argue that most of the heroines at this point are to some degree fascist but there is some difference. Branda was a totalitarian dictator of a populace she wasn't native to and wasn't loved by. Audr was obviously inspired to some degree by tumblr (which although not totally terrible there are people there who are worse than I ever depicted Audr to be). I intend for one major difference to be that Bilbine is the leader of a truly prosperous, technologically advanced nation that was never all that evil. Indeed, in contrast to the other heroines her rule has made her state MORE prosperous. The issue, however, is the cost.

Namely what happens to those who disagree with the political or religious stance her state takes. The "unkind" are taken, encased in mechanized magical golem suits and forced to act for the rest of their lives as servants and enforcers of kindness, never again to control their own actions. I'm trying to come up with some snappy alternative to "grises" for them. Thanks to the labor of the eternally enslaved 'unkind' (ideological dissidents) Bilbao is perhaps the most prosperous and advanced city in the world. It is even a republic - albeit one where now those who do not make the right choice when voting get mechanized.

For those who do stick to the party line the place is great. It's a wonderful paradise where mechanical labor takes the place of much of the physical work people would do in the rest of the world.

If most of the world of Overwhored is somewhere around the 1400's-1500's (with some aesthetic exceptions) then Bilbao is in the 1600's with bits of the 1700's creeping in. For a modern person it would easily be the most comfortable, stylish, and safest place to live in the Overwhored world. People drink coffee and alcohol, people enjoy their vices in moderation and the whole place is well maintained.

There's an old story that presents a moral dilemma called, "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas". It goes something like this:

In a city everything is perfect, prosperous, and all people are happy. But to maintain this state of affairs one child is brutalized and isolated for their entire life in order to power the magic that makes it work. Is it worth it? Is it right?

That story had its own inspirations from a number of sources I won't go into now, but needless to say the question of whether the suffering of a few is worth it for the sake of the prosperity of the many is an age old one.

Is it worth it to live a life of wonderful comfort, prosperity, and plenty when the cost is that those who disagree with the government are trapped in a magical golem suit that will forever control their own movements? If what you replace it with won't possibly be as good for the people is it right to do it? Yes, they will forever be stuck in a state of being of having to scream and not having a robomouth to do it with. But it is for the good of all, and hey - they're criminals, right? If they didn't want to end up that way they wouldn't have broken the law. Nevermind that the law is insane; those that follow it have it made.

The Overmind, of course, won't care. The Overmind is the Overmind and a force of nature. He wants the girl, he will chase the girl, he will get the girl or die trying. Anything is justified in that pursuit. That is what he is; it is his fundamental core of being.

But will you, the player, feel the same way?

Find out in the next release of a porn game where the creator spends way too much time thinking of ethical dilemmas and reading history books when all you wanna do is masturbate.