Let’s jump right where we left last time! I was explaining the whole concept behind the purgatory and now we’re finally tackling the cute but intriguing guardian of the place: Lys.
Lys was originally a minor character that appeared in the secret route of a visual novel I had planned to make at some point. She was not called that way though and her whole role was merele to ‘die’ to be reborn in the Graveyard as her current self (I wanted to hint the existence of that place). Weirdly enough, I grew fond of her and decided to give her a power of some sort. After what happened in that unfinished game, she became the only idea to be both alive and completely forgotten by her author, which allows her to slip between worlds at will, invisible to all. Thanks to that, she would have been popping up here and there in the background of other games, as the unfazed but curious observer of the many, many stories unfolding around her.
Lys's concept art, by Anako. She's actually meant to be Little Red Riding Hood~
However when I was looking for a guide who could help the lost soul, she quickly became the best candidate as she was the only character able to go in and out of the Graveyard on top of not having a story of her own. And that’s how she somehow ended up in Chronotopia: Second Skin even though she was only supposed to make cameos!
Lys' in-game sprite, by Anako. She looks cute but you'd better not piss her off!
You could consider the whole purgatory segment as just pure writer’s intellectual pleasure. I just find it fun that a game which explores forgotten fairytales would be made of pieces of my own forgotten stories. Though it’s filled with paradoxes: after all, Lys wouldn’t have any role at all if I had truly forgotten about her, and many parts of Chronotopia are actually brand new, even if the fairytales in question aren’t. In any case, I hope you find that little anecdote interesting too!
Meeting Lys for the very first time is always something~
As I said, the purgatory is meant as a mere framing device that could be used in possible future games in the same series. Each time you would just incarnate a different lost soul with a different backstory and explore a different fairytale to gain clues. Second Skin fits the whole Chronotopia concept quite perfectly since it’s literally pieces of forgotten fairytales rewritten and put together but it’s probably not always going to be the case. I do have some ideas for a Chronotopia2 at some point and it would likely be a murder mystery in the decadent Paris of the 19th century, mixed with a darker interpretation of Snow White. It’s still very much an incomplete idea so who knows if it’ll ever come true~
