# The Oomara- a world 8 years in the making.



## Oomatu (Nov 20, 2015)

That's right, 8 years planning and creating ONE fictional universe.

Hi, I'm Oomatu, the new guy here. I am currently writing a novel called "Islandfall", which I have poured my imagination and ideas into for almost a decade. For those of you who are willing to read and review my concept, please bear in mind that some of the info here is saturated which spoilers... be wary. 

 Synopsis__Islandfall tells the chronicles of Matu, an amnesic castaway who awakens on the shores of a idyllic island paradise, called Kuatu Mai by it's inhabitants... the kua. The kua are a generally peaceful race who lives cities and villages spread across the island. The kua have many cultures and traditions, but lack any real understanding of the nature of their world. Savage and merciless creatures hunt the kua, and the fabric of their society falls apart under the pressure of the massing hoards. 

Physics___The physics of the world of the world are techno-magical, i.e. "magic" is actually hyper-advanced technology. There are other races, universally called "Beings", who do posses abilities like telekinesis and physics warping capabilities. They live in other "plains of existence", or alternate dimensions. There are four known planes of existence, the kua live on the lowest. 

Creation____These planes of existence were created by one god, the Ancient, who repeatedly tried to create her/his own nirvana. Each time she/he made a plane, fragments of herself were left behind, forming all conscious races. Early planes of existence had more chaotic life forms, and later were more godlike. 

General Backstory____The Beings live on the highest plane, and possess the ability to "banish" each other to lower planes, stripping most of their powers. The lowest plane, the Oomara, is where the kua live. But the kua where not directly created by the Ancient. Eight Beings (called the Eight) rebelled against the Being's council and were banished to the Oomara. The creatures I mentioned before where the original inhabitants of the Oomara. 

The Eight used their combined weak powers to turn some of the creatures into kua, and then ruled over them as gods-in-flesh. They taught the kua advanced technology, and began the construction of an inter-dimensional bridge. Once the bridge was completed and activated, it caught the attention of one of the Beings, Ayukua. Ayukua was the most powerful beings, and was held personally responsible for keeping balance in all the planes of existence. He was afraid the Bridge would anger the Ancient, and so flooded the Oomara to destroy it. 

The seven of the Eight escaped through the bridge before it was buried. The last one stayed behind to hide the power source inside of the one of the kua (also his love interest). Both were buried in the flood, and both survived. The tip of the Bridge stuck out of the water, forming the island that the kua would eventually call Kuatu Mai. The Eight charged Ayukua with genocide, and banished him onto the island. There, Ayukua plotted against the eight, breeding the original creatures into more lethal hunters, which he eventually used to "clean" the island so he could use the Bridge. About this time the Being, who left behind, washes ashore, without his memory. He tries to uncover the history of the Island by exploring ancient ruins, constantly hunted by the creatures. Twisted Fate reunites him with his love, and she sacrifices herself to re-power the bridge. This activates it's defense mechanisms (robots and shields), which were programs to kill the creatures. Ayukua survives.
 Thus ends book 1 of Islandfall.

What do you think? Original or cliche? If you read this you are a champ!... I purposefully did not use all the proper-nouns and titles for your convenience. Islandfall will be a 5 book series. I just realized I not describe much about the island itself... this is World Building after all.

Kuatu Mai has jungles, deserts, mountains, two "blue-lava" volcanoes powered by the bridge, grasslands, and miles of coastline. The kua live in seven distinct tribes, or Mawi, made up of a few dozen villages. The bridge has a fail safe shield that activates on shutdown, which prevents the kua from exploring any of the small islands or ocean. The kua are friendly, inventive, and fierce warriors. They are led by the Akaiga, shaman-chieftains who can commune with the Eight. Tensions are high in the wake of the creature's infestation, and the easy going kua are becoming unnerved.


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## WooHooMan (Nov 20, 2015)

I'm a little disappointed in how sparse this article was.  For eight years, I was expecting more.
But I dig the apparent Polynesia influence.  I've also done a tropical fantasy setting.  It's a very underused aesthetic in fantasy.

I liked some of the ideas but I'm still a little disappointed.  Like I've been working on a setting for 3 years and I have multiple creations stories, branching mythologies, several types of magic, numerous cultures/races/countries and unique socio-political structures.  If you're going to use the development period as a hook, you're going to need something bigger and with more depth.


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## evolution_rex (Nov 20, 2015)

I doubt that's everything. I don't think he needs to post everything, as that would be a very long, sort of unnecessary read.

I can dig it, but I don't like that the character has amnesia. It's usually used as a cop out. 'The Eight' is also the name of the gods in the Elder Scrolls universe, so be weary of that. But yeah I like the pacific influences and the influences.


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## Oomatu (Nov 21, 2015)

You gotta understand that what I wrote here is, simply put, the dry-bone skeleton of a large, lush, and very much alive universe. This synopsis here is the dumbed-down culmination of hundreds of thousands of years of history for multiple civilizations. I left out countless side species, the details of the kua society, religions, pacts, sects, and the abundant ecosystems on Kuatu Mai.


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## WooHooMan (Nov 21, 2015)

I assumed as much but I'm just saying: if that's part of the pitch, I'm not buying it.  Saying the universe is really big, spending most of your post talking about one myth and then following that up with "trust me, this universe is huge" doesn't really make for a good hook.  I should've come to the conclusion that the universe is very in-depth on my own without you having to tell me.

I'm not trying to critique your setting.  I'm critiquing your pitch.

On an unrelated note: are you a fan of the Elder Scrolls?  I noticed some mild similarities between your myth and a myth from that series.


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## Zadocfish (Nov 21, 2015)

I'm sensing a definite Bionicle vibe, believe it or not...


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## Oomatu (Nov 21, 2015)

I played Skyrim for a little while, but I don't know much about the backstory. What lore were you referencing?

Bionicle... yes, I am a fan. My early concept for Islandfall was very much influenced by Bionicle, as well as a plethora of other popular fantasy/science-fiction. Perhaps the strongest connection between the two is that they are both on a Polynesian-Esq island, and they have a technologically advanced past. I swear I'm not trying to rip it off or in anyway recreate it in any way, and I have made leaps and bounds in the last few years to eliminate any direct copying that might have seeped in subconsciously.

(If you could, would you point out the things in particular that triggered this comparison. I just remember that in bionicle they used the name Beings, so I'll fix that. This would help me a lot.)


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## Oomatu (Nov 21, 2015)

Ok, so I just reread the synopsis, and I can see the areas that are similar, notably the setting of the Island around the time the first book starts. The devil is in the details. A lot of the descriptive words I used (creatures, shaman-chieftains, planes of existence, gods-in-flesh, robots, tribes) could easily be misinterpreted if read in the context of a Bionicle setting. I assure you that many of these terms have distinctively different characteristics and functions in the plot that have little to no callback to the MU.


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## WooHooMan (Nov 21, 2015)

Oomatu said:


> I played Skyrim for a little while, but I don't know much about the backstory. What lore were you referencing?



You weren't referencing it.  You'd have to be a big fan of the series to get it.

In the backstory of the Elder Scrolls, the main creator god is motivated by his attempt to reach true enlightenment.   This quest eventually led the universe to be divided into several planes with the main setting, the Mundus, being the lowest and least divine plane.
Eventually, the creator god was "betrayed" by eight lesser gods who then ruled over the Mundus.
The races of the world are the descendants of a fractured group of gods/spirits who were left in Mundus after the creator god was betrayed.
There are a couple of guys in Elder Scrolls (Akatosh, Lorkhan, Mehrunes Dagon, Hermaeus Mora, Dagoth Ur) who have some similarities to your guy Ayukua but that's probably just me looking for similarities.



Oomatu said:


> Bionicle... yes, I am a fan. My early concept for Islandfall was very much influenced by Bionicle



Good taste.  But other than the general Maori-ness, I don't see a great deal of influence.  I'd wager most readers wouldn't draw any connections.


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## Oomatu (Nov 21, 2015)

Thanks WooHooMan, I didn't realize that I had recreated the Elder Scrolls creation story by accident, lol. My characters motives are a little different, but the actions are pretty much the same. I'll read up so I don't accidentally plagiarize.


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## WooHooMan (Nov 21, 2015)

Oomatu said:


> Thanks WooHooMan, I didn't realize that I had recreated the Elder Scrolls creation story by accident, lol. My characters motives are a little different, but the actions are pretty much the same. I'll read up so I don't accidentally plagiarize.



Don't worry, no one will think you plagiarized it.  You can keep it as is.  

Also, save yourself the trouble.  You'd reading for days.  I actually gave you a very simplified version of a cosmology that would only be apparent to someone who thoroughly knows about the backstory to the last three games of the series.


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## Ban (Nov 24, 2015)

Oomatu said:


> That's right, 8 years planning and creating ONE fictional universe.
> 
> Hi, I'm Oomatu, the new guy here. I am currently writing a novel called "Islandfall", which I have poured my imagination and ideas into for almost a decade. For those of you who are willing to read and review my concept, please bear in mind that some of the info here is saturated which spoilers... be wary.
> 
> ...



I love your creation myth. It is understandable, fairly straight forward (but seemingly complicated enough to be interesting) and i love the name the ancient. 

I'm not sure about the technology part. Call me a magic traditionalist i suppose, but if executed well i can certainly get into that.

Just a question and i don't know if it's been asked before, but does your name Oomatu mean something significant in the Oomara world?


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## arboriad (Dec 2, 2015)

Sounds very cool. I just finished listening to Terryville Pritchett's 'The Nation', and there are several similarities, but yours had some great story points going.  

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk


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## Oomatu (Dec 9, 2015)

Banten said:


> I, but does your name Oomatu mean something significant in the Oomara world?



Yes! The Oomatu is, put plainly, the power source of the Ksai (kua predecessor) civilization. After the Eight were banished into the Oomara, they combined their residual abilities to create a power source for their newly created kin. The Oomatu is the source of all ooma, or magical energy.

 Ooma is multi functional- the Ksai used it to power their automatons, portals, and floating structures. Not only that, it powed their weapons and a fail safe shield around the (interdimentional) Bridge. At the same time, Ooma has regenerative properties towards organic life... since organic life and the ooma has common creators. 

The Oomara itself is an abstract object, invisible, and needs some form of containment to maintain it's potency. Ksai batteries... or any organic life for that matter, is capable of holding the Oomatu. Until the flood, the Oomatu was kept in a facility called "The soul of the Ksai", and powered the Ksai's Bridge.

Just before Ayukua's Reckoning (the flood), Namu... one of the Eight, secretly hid the Oomatu inside his ksai girlfriend to keep it out of Ayukua's hands. The Ksai girl, Mysila, was kept alive by the Oomatu, despite being buried alive. She and Namu both washed ashore on the Island some time later, when all such things were forgotten.

For most of Islandfall, the Oomatu is a point of speculation, and is seen as some form of spiritual weapon. Islandfall concludes the Namu (Matu) sacrificing Mysila to re-power the Bridges defenses, and save the Island.


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## Oomatu (Dec 9, 2015)

Banten;223015

I'm not sure about the technology part.[/QUOTE said:
			
		

> Also, check out my artwork on the forum and you'll get a sense of the technology. It is pretty much magic, but super-cool tribal-techno magic.


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