RDR2 Fantasy AU

What is the Red Dead Redemption 2 Fantasy au?:

it’s a wip!

it’s an alternate universe project using the characters of rdr2, except the gang(s) are all a collection of fantasy monsters trying to survive in a world that wants them dead.

Monsters have existed alongside humans for centuries. These creatures are able to shape shift into human forms, talk to humans, and hide amongst humans.

CONTENT WARNINGS:

Cannibalism

murder + gore

Verbal and physical abuse

bigotry against humans and monsters, bigotry amongst monsters

(more will be added if needed)

I am profic. I ask people to simply block me if they are uncomfortable with that.

——— Information———

Primary Lore Document

Reference Sheets

Story

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I’m less and less interested by the RDR2 fandom, so I’m just gonna pack up my shit and make a story that interests me.

“What will the story look like?”

no idea. Working on this AU is not a top priority of mine, but I like the designs and want to do something more with them.

what I want to explore further is the ideological war between Dutch, Owen, and Colm (and maybe Micah. He might fit into it somewhere). Adding onto that, the poetic downfall of all three leaders as none of them has the one “correct” path to surviving the impossible force that is mankind vs. monsters.

They go as thus:

Colm: monsters should kill the humans. They’re a weak species, what could they do against monsters? -> he mows down his men against an exponentially growing force of humans. He is tunnel visioned to the reality of things. -> he gets out smarted, shoved in a cage, and executed by the “weak” humans.

Owen: monsters should assimilate with humans! We can outsmart them through infiltrating their ranks. -> he alienates other monsters who can’t / won’t disguise and conform to human society. He was overly optimistic and ignored all who disagreed with him. -> he angered the wrong monsters and gets himself killed in a primal, beastly brawl to the death.

Dutch: toed in indecisive line between “monsters can live with humans as long as we help the good ones be the majority.“ -> he did this by meddling in human matters from time to time, but overall living pretty civilized monster lives. -> as tension grew, he began turning on the “good ones” when they disappoint him. He begins killing more and more humans because a lot of them are “the bad ones” in his eyes. Even monsters begin to be divided into “good” and “bad” ones. Anyone who agrees is good. Anyone who disagrees are bad and need to be stopped so the good can come out on top. By Chapter 6, he cannot decipher good or bad anymore… -> he has seen that powerful monsters like him can’t change quick enough to survive. He takes his life into his own hands as his last act against mankind.

if the summary length doesn’t imply it enough, Dutch is still the focus of the story as he sees himself as the most sympathetic of the three major leaders.

Apart from the big leader conflict, I imagine mini stories involving the common folk of the three leader’s gangs. It would be under appreciated characters (cough cough and I mean characters I want to write about).

Thank you! I’m glad my semi dormant project brings joy still.

when it comes to designing non-humanoid characters I tend to look at a character and pick out what are the defining traits to me. What do I look for when trying to evaluate who is who?

lenny and hosea as examples, I mainly use their shapes, age, and clothes to make them recognizable. Rdr2 characters already are super distinct so the game designers did most of the work for me, haha.

Davey and Mac are more similar in design, so i had to distinguish them with arbitrary differences I pulled out of my ass. Just choose some visual traits (shapes, colors, poses, scars, etc) and stick with them. People will eventually learn to spot them. I recommend visual distinguishing that is easily seen from a 360 degree view. Ex: the cut in Mac’s ear can be seen from most angles, even id the art was just line art and lacked color to identify their hair colors.

Thank you! and please do make some art, it would be lovely :)

>>I always stumble across your au... finally looked more into it and it's super rad! I have to ask, are there any "strangers" in rdr2 that also fit into the fantasy/monster setting? Like Albert Mason, Francis Sinclair, etc.<<

When it comes to most stranger missions / stranger characters, the characters involved are more often than not humans. I can offer a few strangers that have stories related to monsters in the AU:

Deborah MacGuiness: she’s a paleontologist who wants to reassemble the remains of an ancient monster (dinosaur). Arthur or John can aid her in the process and marvel(?) at the final product. The irony is that Arthur is John being monsters know that the skeleton assembly is incorrect, yet they don’t mention it.

Albert Mason: he wants to photograph wildlife, but more specifically capture the last few glimpses of monsters candid in their environment before they’re all gone. Arthur (or John? I forget if John can do Albert Mason missions) help him where possible, but is careful to not put himself as a monster.

Margaret (Bradley Bros. Circus animal wrangler): his mission is much the same as in game, except instead of a lion, Arthur or John are tasked with retrieving a Sphinx! Neither expects to find an ACTUAL Sphinx girl cowering in the barn with blood on her mouth and paws. It’s implied that she was captured young as a cub and kept in the circus her entire adolescence. She is small for a Sphinx and makes distressed blubbering as she was never formally taught to speak by her Sphinx parents or human handlers. Arthur or John shoot the Sphinx when she pounces on them, ending her suffering in captivity. This mission is a pivotal moment in how I imagine Arthur’s shift in chapter 6; he draws connections to how killing a Sphinx was difficult for him because of how much he subconsciously fears Dutch (a Sphinx). He’s lived his life in fear of someone he should be able to

Great thanks to @amrass for the wonderful short fic written for me after I won a bet, hehe.

the fic briefly explores the few moments of inward thought rdr1 sphinx Dutch had before werewolf John caught up to him on the mountain cliff.

warning for implied cannibalism and major character death!