The city of Phaeton used to be perfect; its people content, its government fair, and its way of life normal and easy. Nothing could have prepared its people for “The Switch”, an event which rocked their world and turned their world upside down... in more ways than one.
No-one in Phaeton can seem to remember The Switch exactly, if at all. All that is known, is that one minute everything is fine, the next, gravity reversed.
Since then, things haven’t been the same. Walkways and ropes swings and pulleys have been installed to get from one place to another. Contact from anywhere outside Phaeton has been lost. It is no longer safe to go beyond the city, for you may fall into the sky. A new government has risen to power, headed by the mysterious Regent Black, and is enforcing a dictatorship on the significantly reduced populace in the wake of the catastrophic Switch through the use of ‘Polis’; the police, secret police and army of Black’s regime all rolled into one.
Anyone who defies Black, or tries to figure out what exactly happened in The Switch, or is of particular interest to the government, is arrested without trial.
But a resistance has risen, and with a device able to generate portals to other worlds, they aim to bring in help from beyond…
The Switch is a cyberpunk / dystopian Original Character Tournament where you must explore the city of Phaeton, fight other competitors to prove your strength and trustworthiness, and find out why The Switch occurred - and if there is a way to reverse it!
The Switch is brought to you by: Hipster-Coyote
and can be found on deviantArt.
Auditions for The Switch OCT opened in 2012, the final results were revealed in January 2014; the winner was pokesam with Copper . The Runner-up was Fyrecalla with Kiff and Consience .
Basic Tropes in The Switch:
- After the End: ...Well, after the end of Phaeton, anyway (as far as the city is aware).
- Art Shift: Between different artists' interpretations of the characters, and entries where artists began to run low on time.
- Alien Sky: It may not be THAT alien, but it sure is disconcerting to see an upside-down skyline with no sun or moon.
- Being Good Sucks: On the run from people who want to imprison you all the time, on another world entirely, with no guarantee to the state of where you'll be sleeping next, or even if you'll be safe there. Being part of the resistance is HARD.
- City Noir: Imposing skyscrapers and walkways dominate the background.
- The City Narrows: Phaeton may have once been a shining utopia, but it has fallen into varying states of disrepair after The Switch. Naturally, it now has many of these around the city.
- Common Tongue: Despite Phaeton being on another world, and the resistance going to multiple different universes, and planets therein, ONLY ONE OF THE CHARACTERS CANNOT SPEAK ENGLISH.
- Crystal Spires and Togas: What Phaeton was before The Switch... minus the togas.
- Evidence Scavenger Hunt: As well as the fighting, the contestants should also be looking for clues to why The Switch occurred, and if it can be reversed…
- Stern Chase: …as well as hiding from the Polis. This doesn’t always go as planned, though.
- Evil Tower of Ominousness: The central tower of Phaeton is the tallest building in the city, and can be seen anywhere throughout the place. It’s also home to Regent Black.
- Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: Despite everyone and everything in Phaeton being able to fall into the sky, the weather still works normally; rain and snow (if it should ever occur) still fall towards the pavement as it should.
- Gravity Screw: A good chunk of the entire premise.
- La Résistance: Who you'll (hopefully) be fighting for and alongside.
- Let's You and Him Fight: Part of the point of the whole OCT.
- Not in Kansas Anymore: This reaction can largely sum up the contestant’s thoughts on first arrival into Phaeton.
- There Are No Therapists: to help the citizens of Phaeton deal with losing loved ones, friends, and colleagues, along with a good chunk of their possessions in a catastrophic gravitational disaster. Ammunition for angst and repression is rife.
Not everyone lets this affect them though.
