Freedoom Datacenter: Alien Lore
Inspired by modern sci-fi shooters, I've tried to construct some backstory to the monsters from the Freedoom project that gives the enemies some character and a little explanation for monster infighting. Download xenolore.txt for a description of each monster. Download enemyai.txt for an explanation of Boom monster behavior that must be considered when constructing lore.
An up-to-date version in HTML format with images and styling can be found at https://ericxdu.gitlab.io/kingdoms/boomscr/xenolore.html
Check out my page on the engine bestiary at https://ericxdu.gitlab.io/kingdoms/boomscr/mthing.html for a more detailed analysis of Boom monsters across different games.
Below are short descriptions of the factions used to create the lore.
The Nek'raal
Once a galactic empire thousands of years ago. The backbone of their war machine was the usage of thanatos energy to grant supernatural abilities. What's left of this now-defunct empire consists of Necromancer warlords and wandering Summoner constructs and their Deadflare swarms
The Bru'al
A war-like species who believe in power and conflict as part of the natural order of the universe. The Painbringer and the Pain Lord make up their ranks.
Virtrex
A culture of cybernetic splicers who breed barely-controlled war constructs like the Assault Tripod, the Combat Slug (Firebat), the Large Technospider (Walker), and the smaller Technospider (Miniwalker)
Spacers
Humanoids who evolved specialized physiological qualities to withstand the vacuum of space and other hazardous environments.
Mutants
Unintelligent genetic mutants created for some foul purpose.
Unaffiliated
Lone wolf entities like the Player or the enigmatic Dark Ranger.
xenolore.txt 4.6 Kb [3 download(s)] enemyai.txt 1.1 Kb [3 download(s)]
Comments
Interesting, haven't seen many similar posts :) Freedoom is one of my favorite games. Is this going to be included in the official backstory?
Unfortunately I think the lore I came up with diverges from the current Freedoom pseudo-lore a bit too much. Once I develop mine a bit more I'd love to run it by the Freedoom community and see what they think though!
I'm working on some (free)doom mods on my own though, and that's where this lore is likely to end up eventually. Thanks for the comment!
I've added a link to the upstream text file which is checked in to my Gitlab repository
The lore text has been moved to a different repo. I'll update the link as soon as its commited.
i love freedoom as well. only issue with trying to make lore for it is that the monsters will possibly change with time. revenant replacement could become octaminator, baron of hell replacement could become lavamander. although those pull requests have been sitting unresolved on the github for a while... but you might be retconning your lore from now until the end of time, since freedoom will likely never be "done."
i like your backstory though. are you working on a freedoom-based mod incorporating any of this?
Ragnar Random,
Yes, I'm working on a pair of mods that leverage Freedoom assets; the second of which I have only developed this lore outline for. I'm designing the mod primarly around default Boom engine monster behavior and sprites licensed from the Freedoom project. The sprites already have some discrepancies with my lore, and I hope to correct the issue by the time I need them.
For instance, Freedoom's SSWV sprites (originally Wolfenstein SS) are inappropriate for the purpose of a soldier in the POSS/SPOS/CPOS mercenary group. Also, Freedoom's SKEL sprites (originally Revenant) do not really match my lore; a space-suited humanoid weilding a heavy weapon would be more appropriate (my Dark Ranger is similar to the concept of Darktroopers from various Star Wars properties, and is meant to be an "evil" version of the Player who is a Space Ranger).
Due to Freedoom's licensing, whenever their monsters change it potentially expands the amount of sprites I can choose from to support my lore. I hope it is in the spirit of the Freedoom project to mix and match assets like that. :-)
If you like my backstory, I hope you find the time to also check out Hideous Destructor's similar effort to construct lore around Freedoom's monsters. I'm hosting an online copy of the Hideous Destructor manual which contains extensive monster lore for their project.
yeah i would say it is definately in the spirit of the freedoom project to exactly that. it is explicately stated in the description that it is not just a replacement IWAD but also "a collection of reusable artwork" it's just a shame that the assets are BSD licensed and can't be put on OGA.
interestingly enough i am half on half off working on a freedoom mod myself that goes in the complete opposite direction: more hell, no techbase, with dark fantasy stuff from the blasphemer heretic iwad replacement project, and freedoom attic stuff. i haven't done anything more with it than give it a name and a "backstory" and collecting the elements for my frankenspriting plans......
LIBERATION OF THE WRETCHED
The story:
You are one of the Wretched, prisoner-slaves in Hell. You kill a guard and steal his pistol. Now what? Escape Hell and kill a bunch of shit on the way out!
No lore, just dead monsters.
That certainly makes it easier to make sense of the mess that is Doom monster AI. ;-P Good luck on your mod!
You actually reminded me that I need to update this content page, because I have sitting on my hard drive an almost-complete MarkDown document categorizing the factions of all 21 entities in my Alien Lore.