Northern Cross Legend (2000)

Writing

The Northern Cross (+NC+) was a very well known group of online gamers that played Tribes competitively back in the late 1990s. I joined the team near the end of their career. There was a comeback planned and the guy in charge (Relic) asked me to come up with ideas for the comeback announcement. I came up with the idea for a short video that would tell the legend of the Northern Cross with hand drawn backgrounds and voice overs. If you’ve played Homeworld and watched the cinematics I was thinking something along those lines.

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(Dark scene, maybe with an old man or a camp fire?)

“What tale will you bring us tonight, Loremaster?”

(Child’s voice) “Oh Master….. Can we hear again the tale of the crusades?”

(Other child) “Oh yes! Please! Please sir can we hear of them again?!?”

(Gentle laughter from old man) “Let me see…. That was a time when I was much, much younger….. Very well, as you wish…..Gather round and listen my children. I will relate this evening a mighty tale of battle, glory, death and honor… A tale of the great force who once saved us from the savagery of those who would enslave our people………”

(Voice below starts as old man.. then fades into younger voice a few sentences in.)

Once there was complete chaos across the starscape. The Tribes who were once the pinnacle of human evolution, had come to blows over petty differences. Tribemate batted tribemate, brother fought brother, nation against nation. All was in disarray, and madness ruled supreme. A great force of darkness arose from the sundered realms. A mighty army that swept over the lands like a flock of dark birds, bringing evil and slavery to everything they touched.

(War shot.)

(Shot of old soothsayer type?)

Amid the chaos and the slaughter, a prophecy was foretold. The prophecy claimed that one day a great army would arise from the ashes of civilization, just when the entire universe seemed on a journey towards certain destruction. And save the Tribes from the rot that had risen within the. An army of the honorable… of the just… of the elite. These warriors would unite together under a great banner, with grand visions and ideals. These men and women would proudly bear the legendary mark of…….

(Northern cross logo embossed on tribes armor breast plate?)

The Northern Cross.

Then, after many years of sorrow and savagery had past, amidst the fighting and the destruction as was foretold, the great host arose from the masses and laid waste to all who opposed them.

They were called many things by those who would face them. Conquerors. Madmen. Evil. And yet they survived and flourished, living by the ideals of honor and justice. Those they championed had other words for them. Saviors. Light bringers. Honorable.

And the names of the warriors among them were legendary across the cosmos. Relic. Perpetrator. Cyborg. Hormone. Evil Rabbit. Firestorm. (add whatever names. 🙂 Their strides encompassed worlds, and the dark ones trembled in the light their might showered upon the lies and unjustness they cowered within.

Battle by battle the forces of darkness and the evil that drove them to barbarity were pushed back further and further from the reaches of civilized space. Planet by planet the forces of The Northern Cross were victorious.

But the victories had their cost, and were not easily won. Many a warrior fell to his wounds, defending his beliefs and comrades to the bitter end. Their friends and companions honored their sacrifices and fought harder than ever, as though the deaths of their companions fueled their vigor rather than draining it.

And so the Cross marched on, until the forces of evil were vanquished from the realms in a final mighty battle that decimated both sides. Peace was restored to the galaxy….. For now……..

By this time, after the passage of too many years and companions left on ravaged worlds, many of the warriors were ready to retire and return to their families and friends… Far from the battles that had consumed their lives and souls. Far from the horrors of warfare… And so the companions did disperse, convinced that the evil had been vanquished forever. Before they separated however, they took a powerful blood oath that should anything ever again threaten the Tribes, they would reunited to defeat it…………………..

As history has shown us, evil is never far from us.. A thing that should never be forgotten…… Forever waiting for an opportunity to reinstate itself in our time and space and destroy all that is good and just. Such an opportunity was given to the darkness by the decadent and foolish people of the Empire of Earth. We fled the empire many centuries ago to escape the machinations and political maneuvering of corrupt and morally deficient leaders. The Empire created a race of “sub-human” slaves called the bio-derms. They enslaved their creations, and forced them to do all the labor they did not care to do. All of the dangerous jobs were relegated to these unfortunate creatures until one day they arose………

After destroying their masters in an epic campaign, the Bioderm hordes are now turning their eyes to the stars….. (Bunch of bioderms looking up………..)

And they are coming now for us………..