The Aslanders is the 2nd proposed serial in the Spectral Shadows series. It is the newest serial to be added to the series, cutting short the once lengthy Children Of The Ommadawn and putting an abrupt end to the more traditional Feral Furry series Spectral Shadows was originally conceived to be, while introducing bipedal anthropomorphics much earlier than planned.
The insertion of this Japanese pop culture based serial at this early point in the series was driven by The Author's feeling that traditional Feral Furry stories were no longer of interest to Furry Fandom, and if that was the case the series would not hold readers if it didn't quickly move into territory modern readers could relate to. The result being that the Spectral Shadows series has turned tail and run from it's traditional Furry Fiction roots to become a product of modern pop culture.
Plot[]
Jon Ommandeer, Rael Ommandeer and Christy James take on anthropomorphic forms to enter The Aslander Magic School and virtual role playing game. Their main objective is the school, but it is not optional to attend the school without playing the game.
Though the game may seem to go on for several years, during which the characters grow to maturity while absorbing an equivalent amount of education and experience, in the real world it is all happening within one night's sleep, and the characters will be children again when they awaken.
In spite of this, both the game and school would not seem to be for children at all. The physical training is brutal, the student body is generally depraved, and the education deals with concepts far beyond what would be taught in any real world university.
The worst factor of the game is that it requires the students to acquire extra lives, as it is a foregone conclusion that all of them will die several horrible deaths before winning the game and their diploma.
Christy's roll in the game is that of Fox Fairy Princess. Jon and Rael play her faithful guardians. But, as with most Furry RPG's, the roles wear thin, and they pretty much end up playing themselves as they encounter the various students and teachers at the school, some of whom are friends, while others become deadly enemies out to take advantage of them on the game courses by stealing their extra lives.
List of Episodes[]
For a complete list of episodes see List of Serial 2 Episodes
Serial 2 currently has six episodes, but is currently frozen in development and has been since its last published episode back in 2004. This is mainly due to Perri being preoccupied with other serials on top of the combat and RPG-heavy nature of the serial; simply put The Author feels that they are not familiar enough with writing stories containing those elements to make Serial 2 all that it can be.
Conception[]
This serial is inspired by Japanese Anime and video games from the 1990's. It is meant to be a Furry parody or homage to every cliché The Author was inundated with over more than a decade in the Japanese Pop Culture Fandom.
Anime is notorious for the endless rehashing of popular plot devices. This serial attempts to hit all the commonly rehashed ideas in Anime at least once, but to approach them all with the extreme seriousness common to the Spectral Shadows series. The concept is very much "What if Anime was real?"
The Game[]
Students entering the RPG have the option of playing pre-existing roles within the game, or playing themselves as they are, if they happen to be an anthropomorphic species in real life, or playing themselves in a form adapted for the anthropomorphic story line, should they be some kind of 4 footed animal in real life.
The object of the game is to be a fun way of gaining practical experience for students of various universal magic oriented disciplines. To this end there is an actual school that students may attend while playing the game where they are instructed in magical techniques, such as use of chi energy, physical transformation, levitation, spell singing, astral projection, magical healing techniques, and also various styles of fighting, self-defense and use of technology, such as piloting star fighters and giant robots.
The object of the game is to survive long enough to finish the game and graduate from The Aslander Magical School. To do this one must defeat a succession of bosses, working his way up to the final boss, tentatively named Omega Metallicus. The bosses are all preset roles that students have chosen to play, each being granted special powers within the game to make them tough to beat. And they are each granted a section of land within the virtual world to be their "stage." Each stage to be filled with traps and dangerous minions of the boss that must be cleared before a player can face the boss.
Minions are usually students who have opted to serve a particular boss, either because they were defeated by the boss and opted to become a minion rather than be killed by the boss and loose one of their lives, or because it is just in their nature to be a lackey of someone more powerful than themselves.
Minions will usually have at their disposal various types of odd looking critters to hide about a stage as traps for players. The attacks of these critters get progressively more powerful as the player nears the lair of the boss. Clearing these critters gives the students XP (Experience Points) increasing the power of their attacks. A certain level of XP is needed to clear most stages, and a wise player will clear all stages in ascending sequence of the required XP level for each. In this way he is assured of achieving the highest possible power level.
A player can only store so much XP in his body. This is to prevent players from starting the game at a high level. The amount of XP that can be stored increases the longer the player survives.
Should a player acquire more XP than he can store at the time, the excess will give the player an uneasy feeling of needing to drain it off. To drain off the excess XP he must transfer it to someone else through physical contact. This can be accomplished by any type of physical contact, but the more emotional the contact the faster the transfer. Holding hands, slower. Sexual contact, faster.
The need to share excess XP encourages players to find friends of the opposite sex to become emotionally attached to. Thus a hero will usually find a weaker companion to love, protect and share XP with to help them become stronger so they can survive.
It naturally follows that there is a lot of sexual activity going on within the virtual world, either between lovers or by groups that organize orgy-like XP sharing parties. Students can also rape other students to take their XP against their will. But only a villainous character would do such a thing.
Sex in the virtual world serves no other practical purpose than the sharing of XP. It is not possible to get pregnant and bear children in the virtual world, unless by special arrangement with another student who wants to play the child of that couple. But this is an extremely rare occurrence, as entering the VR world as an infant makes one an easy victim and greatly increases the probability that they will get wiped out of the game by being killed before they acquire extra lives.
Students enter the game with no extra lives, but it is assumed every student will be killed several times before the end of the game. So they must acquire extra lives if they wish to continue. Extra lives can be purchased from equipment shops, but they are very expensive. The most common way of acquiring extra lives is to fight and kill other students. Every life a player takes registers on their arm band power level meters as an extra life.
Purchasing power. XP can be sold for cash credit if one needs money or does not have a friend to share it with. But it is much easier to make money by seeking employment in the virtual world, or by entering tournaments that offer huge cash prizes to the winners.
A steady income is needed in the virtual world as students must secure their own lodgings, usually in apartment buildings. Though some people with private residences do rent rooms. But renting a room from a private residence usually means getting involved in a pre-set plot device written into the game that may involve the student in mystery and mayhem.
Some students come from societies that are well accustomed to outdoor survival, and thus may opt to live in the wild, killing other students and eating them, rather than paying for meals. This makes the wooded areas of the virtual world very dangerous.
The Aslanders, who run the game and the school, make no rule that restricts such villainous activity on the part of the students. Nor do they attempt to sway students in any moral direction. They are their to teach magic and survival skills. They regard morality as the domain of the parents, religious discipline and society raising the student outside the game.
They figure the game would not be accurate if they made rules about morality, being as the real universe they are preparing their students for has no such limitations on heroism or villainy. Thus it is best that they prepare their students for the worst that they may face in life, as well as to show them the rewards of nobility. Then they can make up their own minds whether they want to be heroes or villains in real life.
School attendance is not mandatory in the game, but it is recommended for a student to get the full benefit of the experience. Inside the school building violence is not permitted, as the school building is technically outside the virtual world on the planet of The Aslanders.
Teachers may tolerate certain benign mischief in class, such as females beating off over enthusiastic "Tail Chasers." But any serious fighting must either be taken outside to the school's battlefield or be properly staged in the school's dojo where instructors will grade students on their fighting skills.
The School Clubs[]
The school has various clubs that a student may join according to his interest. The most notorious club is the "Tail Chasers" club.
Tail Chasers tend to be mostly male students who are obsessed with the opposite gender. They idolize the most attractive female students, sharing photos and drawings of them. And they will follow around or chase the tails of their favorite female students hoping to be of service to them.
In the interest of being of service to females, Tail Chasers often go out to fight or clear stages and frivolously over charge themselves with XP. Thus, if a certain female is there mainly to study magic and has no interest in fighting to pay her way through the game, she can accept a Tail Chaser's admiration and allow him the pleasure of boosting her XP level, as well as being her champion and protector if he chooses to be.
If a Tail Chaser catches a girl's tail, she is expected to visit the Tail Chasers clubroom in the school and pose for photos that will appear in the Tail Chasers Club newsletter. This is usually a good natured game played between males and females, as it is well known that The Tail Chasers have a very strict honor code that forbids them from being in any way abusive of females or forcing them to do anything they really don't want to do.
Tail Chasers are usually attracted to the cutest and weakest females, serving the function in the game of giving the weakest students a chance to survive in the hostile environment of the virtual world. Often they will even turn their noses up at warrior like females who are obviously able to look out for themselves, as they do not fulfill a Tail Chaser's need to be needed.
There is also a manga club. The Manga Club is made up of artistically talented people who earn their way through the game by selling the comic books they draw. Just like in any other school, students need such types of frivolous entertainment to help them unwind after the stress of daily classes. So the manga business is pretty good.
It is especially lucrative for the hentai and yaoi artists, who often draw comics about their fellow students, creating interesting pairings, usually without the consent of the students being paired. This often results in angry students assaulting members of the manga club.
The manga club is also something of a Mafia. It is very protective of its artists and copyrights. Usually it frowns on artists working independently and will put pressure on them to either join the manga club or stop drawing. Pressure, as in having them killed.
The Manga Club members enjoy a life of excess because of their unusually large cash flow. They often instigate large orgy-like XP sharing parties of a depraved nature. They may even rape and kill certain students foolish enough to attend for their XP and extra lives.
But worst of all is the yaoi division of The Manga Club which likes to take unfair advantage of the Tail Chasers, abusing them in ways that they are not allowed to abuse females. Wise Tail Chasers know to avoid Yaoi manga artists.
The "Warriors Club" is made of masculine warrior types, mostly males. They are prideful of their prowess, but not necessarily hero types. Many members of The Warriors Club are amoral barbarians who will beat up or kill anyone who doesn't seem to be showing the respect they demand.
The "Alien Princesses" Club is a special club for female students who happen to be princesses in
real life on their various planets. The Alien Princesses tend to dwell on things they think are important for
princesses. Things such as style, beauty, feminine power and independence, compassion for the common
folk less fortunate than themselves and sexual restraint each usually having only one male companion
that they share their affection with.
Alien Princesses study hard the ways of magic and self-defense and are usually quite formidable, while at the same time being extremely attractive and sensitive to natural beauty and cuteness.
