When creating characters and stories for neoXeno I employ a concept I call the “Ridiculous Extreme” where I take an idea, something small, simple or basic, and then I ponder it out to the craziest most unusual possible outcome I can imagine, making something curious or mildly interesting into something pretty out there. Here are a few examples;
- The Conduree: The idea here started with the idea of reversing the social construct of Saudi Arabia, making women the dominant gender in the society. But why just stop at putting women in charge, so I take it farther. Conduran men are virtual slaves, forced to wear a noticeable, easily identifiable uniform; the women are openly hostile to males of all species. But there is no need to stop their either. What happens when the males are no longer “men?” My answer is that a segment of the female population begin to take on male qualities, violence becomes a problem. Women acting aggressively toward any man they encounter, harboring an almost permanent hostility (like many teenaged boys.) Underground fights, where women bring men and boys to fight (human cock fights) for their amusement and gambling.
- The Sh'plegruven: I wanted to come up with a monster. But not just something big, deadly and ugly. Something horrific, disgusting and frightening to even the toughest of the tough. So I started thinking, what would scare a big bad space traveler who has seen the weirdest, strangest things imaginable. And the Sh'plegruven is what I came up with. It doesn’t just kill you and eat you, like the normal sci-fi monster. It doesn’t just torture you like some malicious villain. When I took it to the ridiculous end, I came up with a beast that keeps its prey alive and alert while it eviscerates, dismembers and devours the victim. It wasn’t good enough to just have an existing myth of a creature, so there is video of an attack available for the characters; it’s an undeniable visual of the assault that anyone can see.
- Tchefuncte: Here I started with the idea of planet with an unusual feature; a mountain so big it can be seen from space. Its covers so much of the planets surface that it tilts the planets axis, the peek pokes out above the breathable atmosphere. One side of the mountain is lush and green, the other a vast barren desert. Here is where I have to go the other way, when one thing is so totally ridiculous there needs to be balance, so everything about the planet’s geography and weather is related back to this huge mountain. While I make some things ridiculous I also want to maintain a bit of scientific possibility, while these things are highly unlikely I would like some of the details to remain within the realm of possibility.
