She's got skills and attitude.
Skyborn is a 2012 western-made Eastern RPG created for PC with the RPG Maker engine by Dancing Dragon Games. It can be bought
through Steam or Big Fish Games.
Claret Spencer lives a simple and happy life working as the main mechanic in her family's repair shop, Spencer's Drydock and Repairs. But one day, her brother announces that he is selling up so he can travel the world, and has promised Claret's hand in marriage to the shop's new owner, professional rich fop Sullivan Chesterford.
This throws Claret out of her comfort zone and into the wider world: a place ruled by a race of Winged Humanoids known as the Skyborn, who use their magical powers to oppress humans and persecute the half-Skyborn "half-breeds". Yet a resistance movement led by the Zorro-esque "Red Spectre" is gathering strength in the shadows, and Claret soon ends up deep in the inevitable showdown.
Skyborn provides examples of:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Philibert, who always has a heart in a speech bubble after talking to Alda and flowerly compliments her, including calling her a goddess. Alda regards him with little more than telling him to stand right there to get away from him, which he does all the time. Funnily enough, his third appearance gets her declared the Skyborn's Empress.
- Aerith and Bob: Jake Spencer and Sullivan Chesterford sound normal enough. Claret and Chaska are unusual first names. Corwin Elenthir and Qua' Lon, however, are not usual names at all.
- Arranged Marriage: Subverted. Jake tries to marry Claret off to Sullivan Chesterford, but she runs away in Sullivan's airship, which kickstarts the game.
- The Atoner: Alda, for killing her best friend in the Trial of Arms. She eventually left society and lives as a hermit searching for "answers".
- Bittersweet Ending: The Skyborn's magical abilities are greatly reduced following Qua'lon's death, surely dulling their teeth for more conquest especially with Alda telling them about what fueled them for so long, and most of the characters look forward to what will hopefully settle down into a much more peaceful time... aside from Chaska, who must be remain alone in the Celestial Nexus. She's happy that she's finally in the "place" she belongs, though, and hopes that one day other Fey may be born out of the Earth, to learn how to open the dimensional portals to get visit her friends every now and then, and to change the Celestial Nexus to something less torturous.
- Bragging Rights Reward: Defeating Saehral gives you an achievement, an item that doesn't actually do anything, and a bunch of experience which you've just proven you don't need.
- Draw Aggro: In an MMORPG-like fashion, the player's party has "threat" of 100% divided up among living members of the party. Damaging and killing enemies increases a party member's threat, and characters have specific abilities that especially manipulate the threat system.
- Elective Monarchy: After the death of the Skyborn Empress, Alda is made the new one after a bold exclamation from Philibert, funnily enough.
- Fantastic Racism: Skyborn hate humans and half-breeds. Humans hate half-breeds because they remind them of Skyborn.
- Fair Folk: The Fey, magical beings who came out of the Earth and created the Skyborn after watching humans' lives with interest.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: The equipment system in general. Your party will later be armed and armored to the teeth, which would probably attract interest in of itself given most of your characters aren't professional guards, and lots of that stuff certainly doesn't sound very concealable. Obsidian is mentioned to be closely regulated by the Skyborn, with various people saying having the stuff is a quick way to get the Skyborn to put you down. However, players are quite capable of eventually obtaining armor and weapons made from it (buying it from a Skyborn shop, even) which won't cause them any trouble with other Skyborn.
- Genki Girl: Chaska qualifies, especially when visiting the Skyborns' domain.
- Genre Mashup: An RPG where Fantasy meets Steampunk.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: The Skyborn Empress. She's having half-breeds kidnapped to be sent to the Celestial Nexus so their magic can be drained by Qua'lon and is probably ensuring the Skyborn's origins are kept under wraps, though as far as she knew, Qua'lon was the only Fey left in the world.
- Goggles Do Nothing: Lampshaded - Claret's goggles are named "Glorified Hairband Goggles"
- Half-Human Hybrid: The half-breeds, born from Skyborn and human, are despised by most others. As it turns out though, half-breeds are really just half-human and half-winged-magical-humans, since the Skyborn were humans changed by the Fey.
- Healing Magic Is the Hardest: Those with Skyborn blood are inevitably magical, but healing magic is incredibly rare. Only Corwin and the original Empress of the Skyborn are known to have this capability.
- If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten!: The final test in the Trial of Arms for Skyborn Legion cadet teams: kill your partner. Ryler Dhacian can't do it. Alda can.
- Interrupted Declaration of Love: Implied. Ryler wants to say something to Alda before their final examinations, but neither she nor the player ever find out what it is.
- Just Following Orders: Alda's reasoning for killing her partner at the end of the Trial of Arms. The explanation didn't hold on her conscience, however.
- Last of Her Kind: Chaska is the last of the Fey... On Earth. Qua' Lon exists in an alternate dimension.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Sullivan. This is offered as an explanation for his behavior.Jillian: He acts that way on purpose, silly! Deep down, he's actually a really thoughtful guy!
- Put Them All Out of My Misery: This view is held by the Skyborn towards the half-breeds, and to a certain extent, humans. The humans also think half-breeds are vermin.
- Parental Abandonment: This is the way Claret views her parents. To be fair, Jake never told her they had died as rebels when Jake and Claret were just children.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: The Skyborn race in general. Alda found almost nothing about their past save for the war against the humans which is only part of their history they'll talk about, and military rank is Skyborn hierarchy. It's expected they'll drift away from this with Alda telling them of their horrible history and what's being done with the kidnapped half-breeds, not to mention Qua'lon's death has significantly reduces their magical powers.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: The Skyborn Empress, Qua' Lon before he was sealed in the alternate dimension, and later, Alda, when she is nominated as the new Empress.
- Redemption Quest: Claret feels responsible for the destruction of the Rebel HQ, and so tries to make up for it by completing her parents' work. Later, the Red Spectre, especially after slaying the Skyborn Empress.
- Rule of Three: Philibert's appearances. The first two times, Alda tells him to just stand him right there which he enthusiastically obeys. The third time, he pops in after Alda tells the Skyborn of their past to suggest Alda should be the Empress, which promptly happens.
- Secret Identity: Sullivan Chesterford is the Red Spectre and leader of the revolution against the Skyborn.
- Secret Other Family: Played with. Jillie is Sullivan's half-sister. Sullivan knows Jillie is his half-sister. Silas knows that Jillie is his daughter. However, Silas doesn't know that Sullivan knows about Jillie until late in the game.
- Shout-Out: Several.
- The Red Spectre is one to The Scarlet Pimpernel.
- Saehral is one to the person responsible for the artwork in the games.
- Start of Darkness:
- Dhacian learns to see other people as nothing more than stepping stones to power after Alda (almost) kills him at the end of the Trial of Arms.
- The Skyborn started as humans given magical powers by the Earthenfey. They were originally loyal, but being still part human, they soon grew to envy the freedom of the humans and resent their masters.
- Steampunk: The human towns look like this, as does the protagonist Claret (not to mention the existence of airships, or the towns being covered in enough smog to conceal the sun...). However, other characters don't adhere to the genre's look and tend more toward a fantasy aesthetic.
- Sweat Drop: Several times, most notably by Alda.
- Rebel Leader: The Red Spectre serves as the leader of La Résistance.
- The Reveal: Quite a few.
- The Red Spectre is Sullivan... though Claret figured it herself pretty easily.
- Ryler is actually Dhacian's first name.
- How the Skyborn race was born.
- Why the Skyborn are kidnapping half-breeds.
- Twist Ending: A child and a cloaked man have a conversation about the new Empress Alda, during which the cloaked man tells the child that he once knew the Empress and that he was - is - in love with her. Dun dun dun.
- The Unfought: The Empress. The player never fights her - Sullivan just kills her dropping in as the Red Spectre in a cutscene himself.
- Wrench Wench: Claret from fixes airships and is all too ready to chew out anybody who mistreats their ship. She also built herself an R2-D2 type robot sidekick.
