Feral: Days of Darkness

Trivia and Author's Sendoff

Welcome to the Trivia Chapter, detailing Easter eggs, trivia about the writing process, and more! Here we go!

Chapter 1:
- As I've stated in Perilplayz' Feral Series Easter egg book, Maxwell is the original name of the protagonist of F:DoD. Specifically, it was Emerald's name. Ruby's name was initially Olivia. Olivia was then recycled for the young kitsune girl. I decided to change the names to Emerald and Ruby to fit with Feral's fantasy theme; overall, I wanted to avoid using names that "sound humany". ...ultimately Maxwell was retconned as being Emerald's first name in the sequel. (Emerald is his middle name)
- Furthermore, The Maxwell character suggested to Perilplayz is more or less a cross between Emerald, Ruby, and Azure's personalities. (Kind - Ruby, Optomistic - Azure, Energetic - Emerald sort of. Might wanna write that down peril lol)
- While not explicitly stated, Emerald is an aspiring writer. This is a reference to my actual life, where I want to be an author. This was brought up in Rise of the Wielders.
-Emerald and Ruby's designs were made in the actual Feral game. Azure's design wasn't due to me not buying the werewolf. (I'm broke I know) Instead, Azure's design was based after a blue werewolf seen in the second official trailer for Feral.
- The Dark Spark invasion was supposed to begin in Chapter 1, but was ultimately delayed until Chapter 2. This was primarily done to get the readers to know the main three characters.
- During development, I constantly made joke about Emerald being voiced by Bill Hader. Because of that I picture Flint Lockwood quotes with Emerald every time I go to sleep.

Chapter 2:
- A song called Centuria Lights is mentioned in the chapter. 'Centuria Lights' is an actual song in the official Feral soundtrack, and was the most peaceful song in a Centuria, prior to the one that plays after the flying update.
-Furthermore, I wanted to use said flying update Centuria song, but it didn't have an official name.
-The plot went through several iterations. The earliest concept to memory was some kind of "virus" infecting Sparks, making them feral and violent creatures. This never made it in, but the concept was reused for the Darklings. The final plot was inspired by the 2017 video game Miitopia.

Chapter 3:
- Emerald's reaction upon learning that a hot springs exists in City Fera is a reference to me, as I myself didn't know City a Fera had a hot spring in game. Furthermore, the 'no one goes there' joke is a sad but true reference, as I am literally the only player when I log on to know it exists.
- Captain Anders is inspired by the Conductor from A Hat in Time. (Scottish, bird, arrogant)
-Anders' gag of "I heard that! I didn't say anything" is a reference to the Jimmy Neutron episode Sheen's Brain.
- Emerald running in front of Ruby and unlocking his hidden power is an example of Legend of Zelda influence, specifically Breath of the Wild, during a similar scene. (Yeah there is a lot of Zelda influence.)

Chapter 4:
-Olivia's design was inspired by Ninetailes from Okami. Her personality is a... complete contrast compared to Ninetails'.
-The battle scene between the survivors and the Darklings is inspired by the animated trailer for Left 4 Dead 2. A cameo to this is Azure's line of "this swamp used to actually decent" is a Easter egg of the infamous line "this used to be a nice neighborhood" in the aforementioned trailer.
-Ruby's leg injury was inspired by my brother, who broke a ligament (I think) in his leg an needed surgery. Ouch to him.
- The FRG is inspired by the fictional organization XCOM from the XCOM series, primarily the incarnation from the 2013 game "The Bureau: XCOM Declassified".

Chapter 5:
-The Queen's speech was inspired by a cutscene from the previously mentioned XCOM game.
-The Queens line about the Dark Sparks "fueled by hatred, born from hunger, and forged from the stars" is a nod the very first dialogue you read in Feral when referring to your Spark: "fueled by passion, born from imagination, and forged from the stars."

Chapter 6:
- Ruby saying she wanted Emerald's plant magic, while he wanted fire is foreshadowing to Ruby unlocking her power later on.
- Ruby not reacting to the cold of Blood Tundra is a nod to both her experience growing up in the Tundra and her soon-to-be-unlocked fire magic.
- Luka's line when encountering Emerald and Ruby for the first time (YOU PICKED THE WRONG VILLAGE FOOLS) is an obvious reference to the infamous internet meme YOU PICKED THE WRONG HOUSE FOOL
- Luka is an NPC in Feral. However her gender is never specified in game, but many players assume Luka to be female.
-Luka calling the villagers her 'happy flock' is a reference to her in-game dialogue.
- Luka mentions a character named Viola, whom she believes to be responsible for the Dark Sparks initially. Viola is an NPC in Feral, and responsible for several conflicts in Blood Tundra.
- Ruby unlocking her power trying to save Emerald from Daran is inspired from a cutscene from Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. (Which is a Zelda game btw)

Chapter 7:
-The chapter was initially a Ruby solo journey. However, considering how much of a friend Azure is, and Luka's relationship with Ruby, it was changed to a three party chapter.
-Eli's chant while reviving Emerald is a reference to Murray's chant from Hotel Transylvania 2.
- Said chant also holds Easter eggs within. One is 'Itina shippina ittus,' which is a joke on 'I ship it'. This was done because of the Emerald x Ruby scenes.
- Another chant, 'GETTUS TEHN EFFIN UPPUS!' Translates to 'GET THE EFF UP', which is literally telling Emerald's corpse to get the eff up.

Chapter 8:
No real trivia. Sorry mate.

Chapter 9:
- The beginning of Chapter 9, the 'who kills who' scene is a reference to the 'who shoots who' scene from the movie Planet 51.
-Furthermore, there are extra references in that scene. Daran refers to several Dark Sparks by name, which reference several Wattpad users, primarily Feral writers.
Gothlama - Gothic Llama, writes several books about Feral account safety.
Wingwish - Wingedwishes, the author of the hella good Feral story 'Sparkless.'
Sab - A reference to Sabbeth, the first voter for DoD.
Rhiannon - The name of Pixellstars, who writes the very promising Feral-inspired book, OMBS.
Element - A reference to element12345, a Feral shitposter, and my first follower.
Peril - Perilplayz, my personal favorite Feral story writer and follower.
Clay - A reference to the guy who made this mess of a story. (Aka me I guess)
- Furthermore, Clay, the Dark Spark who suggested that he can kill himself, is a shinigami, a fictional Japanese demon which invokes suicidal thoughts to humans.
- The scene of the Royal Guard's remnants allying Emerald and Ruby in the assault on City Fera is inspired by Doom Eternal: TAG 2's cutscene in Immora.

Chapter 10 and finale:
- The strange beehive like objects are stasis machine, used to preserve the Dark Sparks, until they find Feral. It also slowed the Darkening, but didn't stop it.
- The Heart of Darkness is an artifact created by Daran, used to control the temple, and responsible for slowing the Darkening as well.
-Eli's death, (getting stabbed in the back of the head) is a call back to Eli's death from the game Half-Life 2: Episode 2, who died in a similar matter.
- The ending of the chapter with the temple turning into a black hole, is inspired by the ending of XCOM: Enemy Unknown.
- Emerald and Ruby losing their powers after defeating Daran is inspired by the ending of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. (That's the last piece of zelda influence i swear)

Author's Farewell:
Hello! If you are reading this, then you have made it to the end of Feral: Days of Darkness! You've decided to take your time to read the whole thing, from start to finish. I thank you for reading my story.
This was my first story, and I must say, considering what I'm capable of, I'm surprised I was able to finish, and am also glad of the finished product.
Yes, there are some things I wish and know I could've done better. There's some things that could improve the story, but hey, first time writer here heh heh.
In any case, thank you so so SO much for reading! I am proud of what I managed to make, and hope to be writing some more in the future.
And so I say, thank you, goodbye for now, and above all else...
Stay feral.    -Claybear11

To be continued in Rise of the Wielders...