"Soulace" is my primary passion project and is deeply personal.
The premise is as follows:
An ordinary human with no discernable features or manner of importance sits alone on the dunes of a lonely beach at night. They no longer want to particpate in this world and wish to float among the black abyss, where the sea meets the sky.
The premise is as follows:
An ordinary human with no discernable features or manner of importance sits alone on the dunes of a lonely beach at night. They no longer want to particpate in this world and wish to float among the black abyss, where the sea meets the sky.
...
A plucky, spiky, tomboy sort of being (similar to Akira Toriyama's characters - socially "cool" in our world) is playing on the beach. The bright world around them (think Scooby Doo Island vibe - animated and fun) should be a stark contrast to their monochromatic palette, but their charismatic personality makes them a beautiful sight. They are laughing alongside what appears to be a skinny boy; topless and sunburned, wearing only comically ugly swim shorts and flippers, but has a fish for a head. He can laugh and speak in only bubbles.
They play catch in the sand, with the fish boy catching the item in his (again, comically large) fishing net. The item falls into the sea - a naturally crimson red in this world, and discovers a jellyfied substance floating on the waters.
He nets the gelatanous substance and presents it to the friend.
Essentially, this story is about those who have lost their souls, their identities, and through helping each other finding their authentic selves. Some live on the Soulace Isles as part of their job description; others have found their identities through being soulless but choose to stay on the Isles to help others...but Soulace is in peril! So they have to save it as well.
Other characters:
'Ferrythem' - a GIANT turtle (She/They), muscular, youthful despite their age (dawn of time!) and beautiful; tasked with carrying the souls of the dead to the next world. Made redundant by Void Industries (more on that later!), is currently honing their weightlifting skills by pulling new planets into orbit and plays competitive WIBA (Women's Intergalactic Basketball Association; whereby dying stars in dead spaces are thrown into black holes for points. It's a light commentary on the WNBA and (N)WSL)
Void Industries - Capitalism breeds everywhere, even in death. Void Industries wishes to take away the traditional rites of life and death and have set their sights on the Soulace Isles. No longer will souls remain lost or be ferried to their next life through various means (seen to be "slow", "archaic" and "costly"). They will simply be manuvered on conveyor belts, their gelatanous forms squelched into literal cookie-cutter shapes, so they can be "more appealing and productive" in the next Capitalist world or afterlife (which means they won't have any identity, will purchase and produce the same consumerist rubbish, etc.) They are the villain of the story. God only knows who's behind all this (seriously, at this stage I have absolutely NO idea).
Ordinary human - completely bereft of any want of life and totally lost, their soulless, gelantanous form slowly becomes shapened as they befriend a variety of characters on the Isles and find themselves. They have no gender nor particular identifiable characteristic, not just because they "don't have a soul", but because they are meant to represent the universal individual; anyone who has felt like this person before.
Frog - a character who is a frog, because a good story always has frogs in it.