015 - Liberty

Concept:

This Conjure concept is based around dreams in which we can fly. I didn’t think too much of this concept at first, until I realised that it could play very nicely into the second aspect of escapism idea I had when drafting up the concept. This Conjure is going to be a counterpart to Impervious by way of showcasing the opposite side to escapism, and how liberating to the self it can be.

My initial idea here is to make a Conjure that uses rainbows and bright colours in general, as to signify liberation and enrichment

Research:

Throughout human history, we have been fascinated by the concept of flight. We are bound to Earth via gravity, and are unable to venture into the skies without planes and other flying machines. This concept has shown to bleed into our dreams, too, and there are a variety of reasons for this:

1. Wish-fulfillment: Freud proposed that one of the reasons we may dream about specific things is that we wish to simulate experiences we would otherwise be unable to achieve in the real world. Since flight is impossible without flying machines, flight literally remains as a dream to us. By combining our lived experiences together, our brains can simulate just what it’s like to fly, helping us feel at least marginally more fulfilled in our lives.
2. Escapism: The stresses of reality can have a resounding impact on the ways in which we escape. One of these ways, just like the wish-fulfillment idea suggests, is by liberating us of the confines of reality via our dreams. Flight is a very liberating feeling, and makes many of us feel alive (think zip-lines, paragliding, sky-diving etc), and would make sense to be a means of escape for us.
3. Overcoming and self-confidence: Some propose that dreams of flight signify our ‘overcoming’ of something impeding us in our lives. To fly over a mountain is to fly away from said resisting force, and to be freed from it. It may also signify an increase in ones confidence; and overcoming of fear - self-embrace. Our problems may often times feel like shackles upon us, restricting our every movement, but flight completely contrasts that, and signifies breaking free of them.

Translatable Qualities:

A Conjure inspired by flight and escapism absolutely fits into the offensive archetype more than the others, but since there is only room for a defensive Conjure in the 15 Conjure roster, I have to make it work in that sense.

Since self-enriching escapism can be seen as more ‘colourful’ than self-suppression (in the case of Impervious), I could utilise this colour concept as a means of gameplay.

• Rainbows and explosions of colour
  • Prisms, dispersing light into its subsequent frequencies
    • Dispersing attack damage?
    • Ability to concentrate damage from allies into itself?
  • Explosion-based attack that forces positional respect?

I’m currently thinking that the ‘flight’ concept may have to be more of a visual element (e.g wings) rather than a mechanical component, and to instead focus on making self-enriching escapism be the driver of the mechanical side to the Conjure.

Conjure Ideas:

Since Impervious gains more and more mass as it takes damage, it eventually turns into a structure akin to a black hole (Lifeline Protocol). Since this Conjure is to contrast Impervious, I think taking inspiration from a supernova would play perfectly into the aforementioned ‘explosive’ attack and visual explosion of colour.

• Impervious gets darker and darker the more mass is added, what if this Conjure got brighter and brighter instead, to the point where it shines like a star?
• Humanoid design to fit in lines with Impervious, but a more abstract design for its Lifeline Protocol, as to mirror Impervious’ Lifeline?
  • Angelic being? Seraphim?
    • Seraphs literally translate to ‘burning one’, so this works well
  • Wings to signify flight, that radiate light in a rainbow
    • Maybe strange wing patterns as to allude to the form it becomes in its Lifeline Protocol?
    • Maybe wings of glass?
      • Alludes to stained glass and the holy connotations it has
      • Also references the crystalline shell of Impervious?
  • The body of the Conjure could act as the prism and absorb light, starting off as black but becoming brighter and brighter

Moodboards: