Wednesday, February 23, 2011
The Site as Section
First pass at visualizing the site with enough detail to convey some of the elements underneath the island. The Cenotaph "void" is a gateway to the Uberwelt. I've also included cave details with markers as a means of denoting pathways in the site. This is still an ongoing matte painting, and I have yet to make some considerable changes. Note depth.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Dr. Erasmus So
Click for larger image
Character Profile:
A renowned existential psychologist, theorist, and lead scientist of Project Eidolon, Dr. So was instrumental in the fundamental understanding of the Reification hypothesis. He was born in Stockholm, Sweden by his parents, Alexander and Olivia So, both of which later disappear under inextricable circumstances. His uncle, Jacob So, lived the United States and adopted the orphaned Erasmus, where he later attended Stanford University at the age of 16. As a student, he studied under Irvin D. Yalom, who took the young Erasmus under his personal tutelage due to the youngster’s particular interest and understanding of existential psychology. Both individuals became close friends and respected each other greatly at their time in Stanford. Erasmus would later move on to study in Germany, where he met Dr. Earl Von Steinberg, who was during the time, a lead participant in a highly classified research project headed by the German government and the United States. Dr. Steinberg saw great potential in the young Dr. Erasmus, and eventually invited him as a possible candidate for an official research position on the joint research project. The new project involved a revolutionary theory called “Reification,” an induced psychological state of being that allowed the person to undergo an out-of-body experience.
Unfortunately, the partnership between So and Steinberg was short-lived. Agents under the guise of German internal government security were made aware of the project and a security task force was dispatched in hopes of taking both under custody. The Puppeteers, the organization responsible for the kidnap attempt that resulted in the unfortunate death of Dr. Steinberg, were able to obtain highly classified research information regarding Reification theory. In spite of the loss of Steinberg, Dr. So was more than willing to further the project in hopes of completing the work of his peer and negotiated an agreement with the agents of the Pupeteers: he will make no attempt to divulge the project so long as he was in charge of the research and given “unlimited” amounts of resources, including financial funding and equipment. Erasmus was no fool; his work under the Puppeteers allowed him to proceed with the work that he and Steinberg had started, but also buy him time to understand the ethical implications of the research itself and to plan an escape. Dr. So was later listed as “missing” in official government reports by both the CIA and German intelligence.
In 2030, the Cenotaph was found on Hashima Island by the Puppeteers. The project was renamed, Project Eidolon, led by Dr. So himself, and Hashima Island was made the base of operations for his experiments that eventually culminated into the design and construction of the first ECT-Types.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
ECT-Type Candidacy
Preferred children for the Project include young adults from ages 15 to 25 and tested with a low to moderate introverted personality rating. Aspergers syndrome, a psychological disorder characterized by a high obsession with objects and repetitive behavior, is a dominant and preferred trait in candidates. Dr. Erasmus So, lead scientist of the Project observed that such candidates are “…focused, easier to control, and maintain while undergoing Reification. Candidate’s lack of understanding and disinterest in their environment, role in life, and identity, is key to preserving the Project’s integrity.” Dr. So would later regret his position as chief creator of the Project itself, saying, “I had very little choice in the matter…my work is a testimony to our fallibility as human beings.”
Next post: Dr. So's character bio.
Next post: Dr. So's character bio.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Desert Places
Snow falling and night falling fast, oh, fast
In a field I looked into going past,
And the ground almost covered smooth in snow,
But a few weeds and stubble showing last.
The woods around it have it--it is theirs.
All animals are smothered in their lairs.
I am too absent-spirited to count;
The loneliness includes me unawares.
And lonely as it is that loneliness
Will be more lonely ere it will be less--
A blanker whiteness of benighted snow
With no expression, nothing to express.
They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars--on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places.
- Robert Frost
In a field I looked into going past,
And the ground almost covered smooth in snow,
But a few weeds and stubble showing last.
The woods around it have it--it is theirs.
All animals are smothered in their lairs.
I am too absent-spirited to count;
The loneliness includes me unawares.
And lonely as it is that loneliness
Will be more lonely ere it will be less--
A blanker whiteness of benighted snow
With no expression, nothing to express.
They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars--on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places.
- Robert Frost
Monday, January 24, 2011
The Site: Battleship Island
First pass at the concept art for Hashima Island, also known as Battleship Island. Note the ghostly faces on the exterior top facets of the buildings. Still working on the idea of the body being fragmented. In order to portray fragmentation of the site, I may need to work in terms of form and interior sections. The ocean sinkhole idea came from a natural wonder, known as the Cave of Swallows.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Behind the Veil
Life can be seen as multiple layers of reality and meaning. This is true in existential psychology; our human perception and experience is grounded on a sense of stability--meaning is attached to our relationship with people (Mitwelt), life-long goals, and attachment with the built environment. We cover our worries through many layers of meaning that is difficult to penetrate. What we hold dear, true, and close to our hearts is something that we do not wish to lose upon certain death.
"Nothingness" is what we humans truly fear. The effects attributed to a causal form, a feeling of unease can destroy the many layers of meaning that we experience in everyday life. The sensation of floating endlessly in the void is horrifying enough; to simply not exist, is incomprehensible. However, in all this doom and gloom, there is always the human need for companionship. To force an individual to die alone, is the worst thing you can do to a human being. Death in the midst of friends, family, or a significant other is a last desperate attempt to hold on to meaning. With meaning, there is stability, and with it, there is a sense of hope.
"Nothingness" is what we humans truly fear. The effects attributed to a causal form, a feeling of unease can destroy the many layers of meaning that we experience in everyday life. The sensation of floating endlessly in the void is horrifying enough; to simply not exist, is incomprehensible. However, in all this doom and gloom, there is always the human need for companionship. To force an individual to die alone, is the worst thing you can do to a human being. Death in the midst of friends, family, or a significant other is a last desperate attempt to hold on to meaning. With meaning, there is stability, and with it, there is a sense of hope.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
In the year...
The Cenotaph
In the year 2030, an artifact was found on Hashima Island located off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan. The artifact, known as the Cenotaph, dates back approximately 1500 B.C. Scientists have found inconclusive evidence regarding its origins, who built it and why. However, one thing is clear: the civilization that built it was technologically advanced, centuries ahead of our own modern technology. In 2043, more than a decade after the Cenotaph’s discovery, Project Eidolon was born.
Project Eidolon
Project Eidolon is a means for the Puppeteers to act on their own ideological imperatives. The Project involves transcending the physical world through advanced machines, known as ECT-Types (Experimental Cairn Two). Using the original Cenotaph as a model, scientists were able to create modern variants with a limited degree of success. Baring a close resemblance to a sepulcher, users of these ECT-Types were able to transcend their consciousness into an existential world called Mitwelt. In other words, ECT-Type users were capable of exploring the physical world outside of their bodies in a ghost-like state. Upon waking, their memories were downloaded into the ECT-Type’s storage banks for analysis. Unlike the original Cenotaph, ECT-Types did not imbue the user access to the Uberwelt, the spiritual world. Users were normally found between the ages of 15 to 25. This favorable age group was used to compensate for undesirable effects from using the ECT-Types, such as high stress and rapid aging.
Click for larger image
The Puppeteers
The Puppeteers were a secretive, loose organization of individuals involved in buying and selling information to national governments. Their real intent was to sow distrust amongst the United Nation’s members, provoke proxy wars, and deny large national governments, such as the U.S., China, and Russia from forming a world government. By manipulating the interests of national governments, the Puppeteers were able to maintain their belief in the status quo and idiom: The more things change, the more they stay the same. The Eidolon Project was a means of maintaining this ideology throughout the latter half of the 21st Century.
In the year 2030, an artifact was found on Hashima Island located off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan. The artifact, known as the Cenotaph, dates back approximately 1500 B.C. Scientists have found inconclusive evidence regarding its origins, who built it and why. However, one thing is clear: the civilization that built it was technologically advanced, centuries ahead of our own modern technology. In 2043, more than a decade after the Cenotaph’s discovery, Project Eidolon was born.
Project Eidolon
Project Eidolon is a means for the Puppeteers to act on their own ideological imperatives. The Project involves transcending the physical world through advanced machines, known as ECT-Types (Experimental Cairn Two). Using the original Cenotaph as a model, scientists were able to create modern variants with a limited degree of success. Baring a close resemblance to a sepulcher, users of these ECT-Types were able to transcend their consciousness into an existential world called Mitwelt. In other words, ECT-Type users were capable of exploring the physical world outside of their bodies in a ghost-like state. Upon waking, their memories were downloaded into the ECT-Type’s storage banks for analysis. Unlike the original Cenotaph, ECT-Types did not imbue the user access to the Uberwelt, the spiritual world. Users were normally found between the ages of 15 to 25. This favorable age group was used to compensate for undesirable effects from using the ECT-Types, such as high stress and rapid aging.
Click for larger image
The Puppeteers
The Puppeteers were a secretive, loose organization of individuals involved in buying and selling information to national governments. Their real intent was to sow distrust amongst the United Nation’s members, provoke proxy wars, and deny large national governments, such as the U.S., China, and Russia from forming a world government. By manipulating the interests of national governments, the Puppeteers were able to maintain their belief in the status quo and idiom: The more things change, the more they stay the same. The Eidolon Project was a means of maintaining this ideology throughout the latter half of the 21st Century.
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