FREEDOM-RIOT!
Original concepts, imagery, and written content © Rohil Aniruth & Thribing Games, 2020-2026. All rights reserved.
Illustrations by Quinjao (Joaquin M.), property of Thribing Games.
FREEDOM-RIOT! is an epic sci-fi space opera.
Writing began in 2016 with a pre-prod phase in 2018.
Full visual novel development kicked-off in 2026.
After years of conflict and environmental damage destroying the Earth, humans are forced to migrate to the new habitable planet of Emus. It’s discovered that babies born on Emus are developing unique powers, a result of planetary displacement. These powers, referred to as Blooming, allow transit-born humans to spawn or propagate organic elements from Earth, e.g., its plant life. Prolonged use of this ability, however, will cause the user to fall into a deep dream state.
Unbeknownst to Emus’ citizens, this dream state is a nightmare, a collective longing for their true home, Earth, that slowly summons an Earth-sized intergalactic threat…
When strange insectoid-like creatures begin to attack Emus, the Government Planetary Defense drafts a team of unlikely heroes to save the planet.
My Role:
Conceive and write the game’s stories, characters & events.
Plotting/mapping and maintaining a branching narrative.
Writing game dialogue.
Art direction, character design.
Growing up and being shaped by sci-fi and horror, perhaps much like you, my passion was not gradual.
From day one, I knew I’d be creating mind-blowing space adventures and grotesque, cuddly critters hungry for face meat.
You don’t need me to explain the lack of South Asian representation in “the space,” i.e., outer space.
My philosophy is to take ownership of our stories. If the mainstream wasn’t going to showcase Brown characters whoopin’ supernatural butt, then I’d take the stage. My roster of characters reflects the diversity of my South Asian diaspora and immigrant communities. I focus on building characters with depth, their emotional lives, backgrounds, interests, and beliefs, while actively eradicating “tokenization” and boring, lecture-heavy storytelling in our nerdy art. I’m committed to creating new, unique Brown characters that actually excite my people and resonate with the world.
See the consistency of this mission statement in my projects Caz & The Bag and Kase & Thyme: The Manor Rouge for Simple Machine game studio.
Early Character Concepts - 2018-2023
Main Cast: Pagoda
Pagoda is a janky Government Planetary Defence (GPD) computer program that drafts a team to combat threats on Emus.
Emus has used drafting systems before. This is the latest.
Pagoda assesses, runs success simulations, then drafts the new team.
Think if an AI ran through every citizen of Emus and put together a bunch of “Avengers” teams, it might not be the folks you’d expect…
Each drafted team is given a name. The newest team, the one the player or audience joins alongside the main cast below, is named GPD-FICTION.
Citizens are drafted from all of Emus’ sectors: Akiferoh, Belmont, Chu, Nu-Nu, Odeü, and Vox Kong.
If drafted, citizens must serve Emus or face repercussions.
Some will still disregard their draft.
Sometimes Pagoda glitches out and says some out-of-pocket things.
GPD-FICTION (our core protagonists) uncover some dark truths about the Government Planetary Defence and reband as the anti-fascist outfit FREEDOM-RIOT!
3/1/2016
Main Cast: Hima
Hima was an Emus Sector Representative for Sector: Nu-Nu.
During this time, the sector was invaded by a race of beings called Kajali, from a war-torn planet.
Emus’ immediate response was violence, but Hima advocated for finding common understanding and facilitated a controversial peace treaty.
Controversial at first, it was one of the foundational decisions that transformed Emus into a more progressive, open planet.
Nu-Nu prospers and Hima is beloved.
Hima is charismatic in front of crowds, showy in a self-indulgent way, a bit of a bullshitter, entirely buying into his “heroic status.”
Dude is so dope as a leader that other planets are, like, “Yo, we need some Hima, too!”
Despite the citizens of Emus urging against it, Hima answers the call.
He is not seen for years. Nu-Nu regresses, and Hima is labeled the deadbeat dad of sector reps, Mr. Failed Potential.
By the time the player hops in, to everyone’s surprise and concern, Hima shows up to his GPD-FICTION draft.
He claims to have been traveling the galaxy saving planets from a slew of villains.
Hima sounds like he’s bullshitting, yet he’s clearly traumatized by something and proves to be a lethal fighter, a skill set he didn’t have when he left Emus as a charming community builder.
Hima looks human, is assumed human, but might in fact be Swan or half-Kajali, both races in the FREEDOM-RIOT! universe previously persecuted as invaders.
Hima and the great majority of the main cast all share experiences of immigration and displacement.
3/1/2016
Main Cast: Don Toppa, Araca, Hunter
Don Toppa starts off as the GPD-FICTION team leader.
Don was the lead in a Bollywood sci-fi television series back on Earth. His fandom “meme’d” him into the selection process for Earth’s first wave of mech-pilot programs, casting him into a life of war. He is sensible and severe, much of his joy brutally sucked away in the extreme process of going from the entertainment industry to warfare. He’s now considered a legendary pilot and combatant. Don witnessed the destruction of Earth and the early development of Emus.
Araca is a rare case of a Human born in transit from Earth to Emus. They have the Blooming ability mentioned above, though it presents far more powerfully than in Humans born on Emus, not in transit. Araca becomes the primary protagonist over the course of the story.
Hunter Toppa is Don’s estranged brother. He’s a bouncer turned bounty hunter. He’s a distant, grump-ass hardass.
Don and Hunter are First Humans.
First Humans are Humans born on Earth.
“Humans” that don’t explicitly mention “First” in the title are the following generations born on Emus, essentially second-generation Emus.
Emus recognizes a distinction between First Humans and Humans.
3/1/2016
Main Cast: Jinji, Nobomi, Ori
Jinji is Cimela royalty, they feature a signature pale skin and floaty hair.
Jinji was worshiped as part of a royal bloodline they've since denounced. She’s gothic, somewhat cold but lights up when there’s an opportunity to prank a grump like Hunter.
Cimela are a mystical race of deeply empathic beings. Vampiric in appearance. A sister race to the Alee-ach.
Cimela have a unique ability called Binding, which fully connects them to another life-form — their feelings, memories, and even allowing some control of their motor function. Cimela can Bind with multiple partners, though not all at once.
Consent is needed for Binding.
Cimela Binding has been said to weaken the immune system of the Bound partner or host. But this could be a bullshit story stemming from the Cimela’s vampiric appearance.
Some Cimela can levitate, and some can teleport short distances, very few known to have both abilities.
Bomi is a former sector representative for Sector: Odeü. They are caring, clumsy, and carry themselves with a light disposition. They have no combat experience and comically charge into every battle with a boat-load of weapons (video-game-inventory-style), using whatever they can get their hands on to survive.
Alee-achs are a sister race to the Cimela. Also deeply empathic, Alee-achs can perform a version of Binding, which fully connects them to one other life-form — their feelings, memories, motor function.
The DIFFERENCE between Cimela and Alee-ach Binding:
Once Bound, an Alee-ach can only perform Binding with that individual. No multiple binds. Again, it requires the consent of both parties.
The price of Binding is that it shortens the Alee-ach’s lifespan, so it's not as frequently practiced.
Because of the one-individual limit on Alee-ach Binding, most Human/First Humans project a romantic context onto the ability. Alee-achs and most other races find this Human assumption odd, especially given that Alee-achs are slowly dying when they Bind and that the application of the ability far exceeds romantic connection.
For example, Alee-achs have Bound to strangers experiencing paralysis to grant greater mobility, and have Bound to others to bring them out of a coma. Doing this, of course, means sacrificing their option to Bind with a potential romantic interest.
There are instances of Alee-achs being in a romantic relationship with someone, having Bound to an entirely different someone. Alee-achs don't treat Binding as a special thing you only share with someone you love — they don’t operate with that Human framing. There is no societal or cultural context for Binding being a romantic thing. Peak Human douchiness is pressuring or manipulating Alee-achs to Bind.
Cimela Binding drains life from the partner (rumoured). Alee-ach binding drains life from themselves (observed).
In extremely rare cases, some Alee-achs, have teleported their connected individual out of a dangerous situation.
Ori is Araca’s day-one homegirl. They are Cimela.
Main Cast: Sammy Valnak, ThusoJuno, Frank
Sammy Valnak, Human, seventeen years old. He’s the youngest character in our core cast, our coming-of-age arc.
Sammy already has quite a large profile as an idealistic, morally absolute tech genius and prodigy. Sammy makes a covert communication program called Banta, which becomes a major tool for the core cast mid-story during the transition from GPD to rebel crew.
Sammy has ideas that seem radical, like wanting to stabilize a neighboring planet called Ecstasy.
Ecstasy is a planet created by a being named ThusoJuno (Thuso), who also helped restructure Emus’ geography during the planet’s early development.
Ecstasy is uninhabitable, as the planet works as a sort of random generator. Day to day, things like its resources, gravity, and geological structure change significantly. You could wake up one day and the air is just poison now. The original population lived in total suffering, and it's unknown whether anything lives there now. If you’re lucky, you might get the planet at a ridiculously prosperous moment and become resource-rich; this is what Sammy is hoping to take advantage of for Emus.
3/1/2016
Sammy: We’ve not confirmed if there is new life on Ecstasy. We have not established contact with ThusoJuno or done the adequate research into how the planet shifts its resources. If there are any patterns we can recognize in how Ecstasy turns its resources, we can use those patterns to mine what we need to further our tech. It’s like predicting the probability of a drop in a video game.
Older Panel Member: I’d say the only real thing the government has done right is our tech trade! We receive the latest from all our neighbouring planets.
Sammy: We should be focused on building our own.
Older Panel Member: Ha! A young man in resistance to galactic trade— that’s an Earth take right there!
The panel tries to root Sammy’s ideas in a nationalist mindset that eroded Earth years back, a distrust of people from countries not their own, let alone from other planets, and a refusal to share resources.
Sammy: That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying we don’t really know the behind-the-scenes cost of our trade.
Host (backhanded): I love the video game references. Gifted, but still a child… as you should be!
5/1/2021
Sammy is drafted for GPD-FICTION. He refuses to create weapons or fight. This becomes a huge point of contention with Don Toppa, who wants to toughen him up, but later takes on a softer, older-brother role in Sammy’s life. Over the course of the story, Sammy’s moral code and passive stance are challenged.
Shockingly, ThusoJuno is also drafted. They carry themselves in an oddly ungodly manner for a creator of worlds. They’re perpetually tired, hungry, and horny. They feel an insurmountable amount of failure, guilt, and self-hatred over Ecstasy, and, when the player first meets them, it isn’t clear whether they even still have powers or not. ThusoJuno is dismissive of Sammy’s attempts to learn from them.
3/1/2016
Frank, a talking, genius-brained border collie, pilots and co-pilots GPD-FICTION’s primary ship, the Lanparty. Beloved by all, but he forms a special bond with Sammy and Hima.
Main Cast: Apex
Apex is a former professional athlete who competed on an intergalactic level. Apex is beloved by the people. Brave and wholesome.
Apex has been drafted into defence teams before and is an experienced combatant. He’s saved Emus’ sectors from some smaller scale attacks.
Apex is a Valiant.
Valiants are a humanoid race with features akin to a lion. Notably hairy, with fiery manes. On average, they stand around 7'1" tall and are often stereotyped to be highly diplomatic and “proper.” Apex is an outlier in his capacity for beating that ass.
3/1/2016
Main Cast: Alima
Alima is a hyper-whimsical avant-pop, bedroom pop musician, popular on LightLink (an anti-GPD, underground social platform).
They are currently in their “fall-off” era in terms of career relevance. They are Araca and Ori’s favorite artist.
Alima was abducted by The Cult Ohh as a child and escaped when they were 11. They’re now in their early 20s.
The Cult Ohh is a “domestic terrorist” organization forcing assimilation into the insectoid creatures attacking Emus, going as far as to surgically augment their bodies to appear more… buggy…
Alima and Apex develop a brother-sister–level friendship.
3/1/2016
Main Cast: Eldritch
Eldritch is the leader of _HellaMined, a hacker group of Humans who have the Blooming power.
They believe Emus is facing a cosmic-horror–scale extinction event, and the only one who can save the planet is Araca.
A big part of the FREEDOM-RIOT! story is the idea that multiple factions have different beliefs about what is happening to the world, big picture. Often in the writing, we like to highlight groups who agree on the events that will occur but conflict on the meaning of those events. In this example, the same events The Cult Ohh sees as the next step in humanity, an evolutionary gift, is registered as an extinction event by _HellaMined.
FREEDOM-RIOT! plays a lot with propaganda/agitprop, misinformation, and disinformation as storytelling tools.
1/1/2023
Spaceship & Environment Concepts - 2023
Main Ships: The Drop & The Lanparty
The Drop originally functions as a GPD military base and prison, parading around the skies as a refugee safe zone. After GPD-FICTION reforms into FREEDOM-RIOT!, The Drop is commandeered and transformed into a true sanctuary and resistance base.
The Lanparty is GPD-FICTION’s primary mission ship. It is inspired by the Gekko in Eureka Seven.
3/1/2016
Don’s Mech
Emus’ Sectors
In the early story, Don’s mech is a massive advantage. He’s one of the only characters to one in working condition. After the sustained mech wars that contributed to Earth’s destruction, most mechs were ordered to be scrapped and banned. A character comments that for babies on Emus, mech parts are like dinosaur bones. The banning of mechs is a silly performance, as the GPD still rolls around with significant firepower.
3/1/2016
