Dear Insane Children,
Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Here at The Asylum we’re heading into another week filled with online madness. We’ll start things off with a Crowd Design Session over on Discord. Here’s the start time…
And here’s a LINK to info on our Discord Server.
We host Crowd Design Sessions there every-other-week. If this is your first month with us on Patreon then you’ll need to wait until next month for Discord access to activate. But you can check out previous sessions after we upload them to YouTube.
Goblet Goblins
Omri sent along a render of some enemy designs based on “Cups” from the Tarot Minor Arcana. He was a bit concerned about how similar these are to an image we previously shared (a set of cup sculpture with mouths and legs) – and asked if we might want to get permission from that artist. Here’s my feedback to him…
I love these Cups. As for whether or not you need to ask permission… I don’t know. The idea of cups with legs isn’t original. We had a teapot with legs in A:MR. And if you Google Image Search for “cups with legs” you’ll get back tons.
Anyway, I like the cups as enemies ideas. And I like how this is connected to Tarot but also stands (pun, har) on its own … not being restricted by literal “card form.” More of this!
Maybe the tarot theme can be contained by Tarot Cards which are dropped (and collected) when you kill these enemies? Cups drop “cups cards” ?
Into Anger
From this week we’ll start our journey into the area of Wonderland defined by “Anger” as a phase in Alice’s PTSD. This is a realm ruled by the Queen of Hearts and patrolled by her Card Guard Army.
Our story for this area – so far – is that Alice will fight her way through to a confrontation with The Queen. Alice is captured and The Queen threatens to decapitate White Rabbit unless Alice joins her battle against The Red Queen.
It’s at this stage that our narrative will deepen to include the majority of the characters and themes we’re wrestling with through to the end of the game. This is where we’re set on our path to Mad Hatter and our confrontation with The Red Queen.
On the topic of Cups and Anger – it’s been said that “holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.”
Anger is also a messenger because it always has something to tell us. We only become angry in relation to things about which we truly care. That’s why it’s been said that apathy – not anger – is he opposite of love. Anger is, in many ways, an extension to strong emotions such as love. It contains an energy to act.
We need to explore that energy and what it represents in Alice’s journey.
Where is Alice’s anger directed? How does it wish to resolve?
We might suggest her anger is directed at the perceived source of her loss. In AMA, Alice directed her anger at herself (along with her guilt) in relation to the fire, her loss, and her inability to save her family.
“Save yourself, Alice!” transformed from a sacrificial plea by a loving parent to a burning scar branded across a child’s tender soul.
But anger at oneself contains a mature admission of the role we always play in our own misfortunes. We won’t go there again (yet?). She’s not yet ready for any of that.
Instead, I suggest we tinker with a more general “anger against the world” theme.
It’s no one’s fault and it’s everybody’s fault! The entire system is to blame it all needs to burn. This will play well within the institutional setting of the asylum. And allows us to frame the orderlies, doctors, processes, foundations, society, and world at large as The Enemy.
Even if a fire had not burned down her family we’re still dealing with a 13-year-old girl trying to come to grips with the nature of the world – with Order vs. Chaos.
These tantrums aren’t subtle or bizarre. Quite common – mundane even… but not to those who suffer them as all children must.
Is that enough for us to pin our story on? A big enough enemy to defeat? We’ll see…
Love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Cheshire Kitten Plush Collector Set – Reminder
Lots of you have joined recently to capture the Early Bird Special on the Cheshire Kitten Collector Set. Welcome!
Just a reminder that you must Set Your Tier to the $50 Tier before the end of August 2019. Lots of you (100’s) are joining at the $1 Tier. If you leave your Tier at $1 through August it WILL NOT result in you being sent a Cheshire Kitten Set.
If you want the Set – please select the $50 or $75 Tier before the end of August.
If instructions are still unclear then hit THIS LINK to go over and read the explainer.
Meow!
See you all tomorrow!
From Shanghai with (not) Anger,
-American