Story
A lone Human is on a one man space craft.Where he is heading is unknown but he is in peril. The fuel tanks in his ship are drastically draining due to a malfunction. He is advised by colleagues through the crafts radio to land on the nearest planet and wait for a team to pick him up. It could take days but he has resources on the craft to survive.
As he enters the planets atmosphere his craft gets further damaged causing his ejector seat to malfunction and as a result, he crash lands on the surface of the Planet. He wakes up fully healed, somewhere very industrial and steampunk with cogs and steam showing the inner workings of the area. A robot race resides on the planet and after the shock he soon realises they are very excited he his there.
The robot race have lived on the planet for a years, they populate the size of a city, if not less. It is clear from their culture, design and environment that they have clearly been influenced by Humans, but how? How do they know of us? We have been sending signals into space for years, even broadcasts from television out into space in the hope that maybe something will receive it. This race of robots received a signal, broadcasting television stations and shows. However, because of the distance and time the broadcast is actually around 1950's era. The robots saw this and where amazed of our technological accomplishments and the life we had on our planet, it wasn't long before they began to create creatures and various things through the zeitgeist of the time. Films often show humans in peril overcoming monsters and various villains. The robots saw this and believed the humans to be amazing creatures that can overcome seemingly impossible feats - they where fascinated by it. But they where even more fascinated by the life on our planet.
There was basic life that had been discovered by the robots not long ago on their planet, in the sense of trees or grass. Life that is very much living but not like animals. The robot community want to nurture this life and let is flourish on their planet. They feel it is what completes them as a race. However, their race is very much split. A large sector are against the idea of there being life on their planet. They want to eradicate it.
Because of this, the two sides of the Robot race conflict, but not necessarily because they hate each other, but because their views conflict one another. The robots against the idea believe it is more important for them to grow as a technological race, becoming the best they can be by moving further with technology. In turn it's damaging the environment because of the advanced resources they are using, and going against the other sides beliefs.
There is a deeper meaning why the tech robots want to eradicate life on the planet before it's even advanced. They are scared. They have seen what life is capable of, the films that have portrayed creatures, monsters or real life animals causing trouble...and they have seen what we are capable of. They think it will only bring them problems, thus they want to destroy it before it begins.
There is only one section where life resides, as the rest has been destroyed. Guarded by the pro life robots, it has seen many an attempt to be destroyed by the other side. It is their last beacon of hope and their numbers are wearing thin...
With a human now on the planet, the pro life robots are hoping they can make peace with the other side - that the sight of an advanced organic creature may change their minds about the beauty life can bring. However, this proves to be a complicated affair, to some extent having a reverse effect as the tech robots try to destroy the human, seeing him as a threat from what they have learned from the broadcast footage they have seen.
With a failed attempt by the Human and his pro life robot friends to make peace with the other side, they must now protect themselves and last of the life that remains. Whether peace can be made between the split race is unsure, but time is running out.
The idea is rich for expansion and endings could be different depending on the players actions. An example of a bleak ending would be the pro-tech robots destroying all life, leaving the pro-life robots with no hope. They turn to the human and ask whether there is any way the life from earth can be replicated on their planet with human technology...but Earth is no longer a planet, destroyed long ago. Leaving the robots no hope for life....
That is the story for the most part. I believe it conveys the message that we need to look after our world, that technology is overriding nature and the beauty of our planet.
Aesthetically, The pro-life robots would have features that are more akin to human and animal, because they are influenced by us and want to embrace life. On the contrary, the pro-tech robots would be much more industrial and surreal with their design. They would be more emotionless because they are against the idea of life.
The steampunk, haphazard style used for the pro-life robots is similar in a sense to recycled items/junk, to be environment friendly. This style I think is important for both the human and the pro-life robots in reflecting their beliefs and the message I am trying to convey. My next post will focus on the human character, delving into his personality and character to understand why he wants to help them and also understand why he will look the way he does aesthetically.
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