Xenomorphia-Master66

Hello everyone, just a new journal entry to inform you of what exactly Armored Core: Tower of Faith is, and why I made it.

In case there are those of you who don't know, Armored Core is a video game franchise made by FROMSoftware, the critically acclaimed producer of the SOULS franchise (Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne) as well as the far older Tenchu series and the even older King's Field games. Armored Core, in general, is a mecha action game based on a third-person shooter style of gameplay. What captivates most who play (or have played) the games is the sheer customization options available for your personal machine of wanton destruction, the Armored Core (hence the name). Now in my case, I first played Armored Core on the PS2 with Armored Core 2, and being young at the time, I found it incredibly difficult to play the game (being around 8-10 at the time) and due to my PS2's failing operational expectancy, i didn't really have enough time to invest into it as I could have. Despite that, I worked my way through and fought one of the later bosses before the CD broke Sad times, sad times indeed. However, over the course of a few more years, I picked up other AC games like Nexus and Nine-Breaker (both of which, at the time I had gotten them, were reputed as being rather good). Unfortunately, I never got to grow fond of either of them, the change in control scheme (and being unable to find out a way to change it back to AC2-era controls) meant I could not enjoy Nexus. Nine-Breaker, on the other hand, was a bit of a hit and miss really: it could port over the save data from Nexus, and from I understood at the time, meant that the game itself, without any viable save data to port over, was practically useless. I didn't get back into AC games proper until AC4A came out. And to be honest, I liked it. It handled much better than the previous AC games I played, and it had an actual TUTORIAL (something of which the older games lacked, mostly due to the "tutorial" consisting of a manual that came with the game). However, after a while, I grew bored of it. Not necessarily because of the controls or the mechanics, but because of the speed of the game. Being as I am, I have pretty sub-par hand-eye co-ordination, and so you could expect me to be very sluggish in something like a NEXT, trying to dodge an AI opponent whom is 2-3x faster than I am (both physically and otherwise). My actual time came with the advent of Armored Core V. Many people disliked it? Why? Because the titular mech of this reboot lacked flying capabilities. Me? I was one of the few that didn't care, and I actually adapted rather way to the control scheme, being a little similar to one of the control formats for 4A. Heck, to put it into perspective, the game makes you first one of the last bosses in the very first opening mission (prior to the actual game) who has a one hit kill move. Having watched such videos beforehand (because America got the game before Europe did) I got the chance to analyze his move set and patterns, and low and behold, I held my ground against it. And didn't die. Yep, didn't get hit ONCE. AT ALL. I dunno how I did it, even today.

And that's where Tower of Faith comes in.

You see, Tower of Faith started out as my own little headcanon variant of how the story (or lack thereof, a standard feature of FROMSoft games) came together to form a cohesive, constructed storyline. Of course, all I had to go on was the few pieces of dialogue in the game, cutscenes and the occasional post on the interwebs, but that how it originally started out. And even today, nearly four years later, that objective still hasn't changed, not one bit. What has changed however, is how the story is going to be told, and the events that transpire throughout. As more and more information comes to light and the world of ACV and its constituent game, Verdict Day, arises from the gates of Japan, this story will evolve to adapt as much of that information as possible.

Still bummed about AC4 and ACV universes being connected. I will never openly admit that it was a good idea, but hey, that's FROMSoft for you.

In any case, here's a little idea of how Tower of Faith is going to work:

• The main story, from beginning to end, will function somewhat similarly to J.R.R Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings Trilogy. Yes a trilogy. Tower of Faith's overall story will have multiple focus points, with each said focus representing one "Section", or Book, of the overall tale.
  
• The story will focus on the main character, the protagonist, as he rises from the ashes of a broken society to become one of the most terrifying legends in a world where deadly weather and toxic atmosphere cripple humanity and its struggle for survival.
  
• The trilogy will be split into three parts (or six Sections/Books), each one focusing specifically on a particular part of the mercenary's life. Part One (Section 1+2/Books 1 and 2) will be the quintessential "prologue and opening scene" of the trilogy, detailing the protagonist's rise to take up the mantle of the mercenary to survive in a war-stricken world. Part Two (Section 3+4/Books 3 and 4) will encompass the events of the game (i.e. Campaign and Order Missions) and directly lead on into Part Three (Section 5+6/Books 5 and 6) which is the epilogue.
  
• The Book/Section titles are as follows:
  

                 Part One:

• 1) The 5th Rebellion
  

• 2) The Great Collapse

    Part Two:
  

• 3) The Nameless Mercenary
  

• 4) The Zodiac Crisis

    Part Three:
  

• 5) A Subsequent World
  

• 6) The Tower Incident
  

• To help supplement any missing content or unexplained event, I will post up sidestory material that focuses on those particular occurrences and help better bridge the gaps between each Book/Section. Sidestories will also include, but not exclusively consist of: character interactions, minor fluff/romance flicks, character perspectives, as well as some AU (alternate universe) occurrences of some particular points in the story.
  
• I will also post character profiles, AC schematics, in-universe documents, character conversations, lore, locations, a timeline, amongst other things.
  
• My upload schedule is RANDOM: which means that one chapter might not necessarily follow up immediately after the one before. I'd appreciate if people are patient and wait for each chapter to be released.
  
• Additional: I will be solely working on one Book/Section at a time, from beginning to end, and then focusing on sidestory material to go along with each Book. Please do not request content from one of the future (or previously completed) works, I prefer clean, clear-cut objectives and do not want to frantically go back and forth completing content for one Book and another.
  
• Constructive feedback is accepted, as well as general questions that doesn't involve the disclosure of spoilers. However, I will not tolerate abusive or slanderous comments, and those will either be ignored, reported or blocked depending on their frequency or content.
  
• At some point, I will allow others to make AU's of this overall work, or other general fanfictions relating to the characters or events of this work. Heck, even fluff/lemon fics are fine, so long as you credit me, but only after the overall work is done (although I won't mind if others post up such things beforehand).
  
• Fanart will also be accepted of this work, I will also be open for people to commission/collab with this work if requested. Just send me a note detailing what you'd like to make, and whether or not you wish to make such things to provide a visual outlook to the work.
  
• I will (at some point) consider opening a commissions outlet so that I can perform requests for those who are interested in such works.
  
• Also, at some later point down the road, I will also consider adapting this into an online OVA/anime or even manga adaptation, either by my own hands, or through a lengthy collaboration with another (if they wish to do so or have the time to lend their talent).
  
• This work (and all subsequent Armored Core-related, as well as any other franchise-based work) are non-profit, except for any possible future commissions or Patreon works (if I ever start such a thing up). These works are simply for my own enjoyment and to express my interpretation of such content.
  
• As mentioned above, you may not redistribute, use, copy, replicate or reuse any of the content of these works (and all other subsequent works) without my express authority. Give credit where credit is due people, don't make me hunt you down and feed you to my pet flock of Ravens, because I will. I bloody well will. Don't be that guy/gal/person/thing/whateveryourspeciesorgenderis
  

In any case, that is generally how Tower of Faith is going to work. If you have any queries about the content of this upcoming work, do not hesitate to send me a message through the note system. I do generally tend to frequent DA quite a lot, so it will be rare that I will miss a message from any of you. Just keep in mind I may be too busy to respond immediately as I will most likely be working on the project itself, or attending a study program. That said, I wish you all a happy 2016, and may we all prosper on the battlefield.