gamer city ... it's real..?

the story follows nuclear armageddon which resulted in extreme environmental destruction, ongoing war, scrambling for resources, reorganizing of countries/borders, and mass economic and cultural instability. internet and cell networks have long been defunct and are largely mistrusted. travel has been significantly impacted in many areas, as oil/diesel is extremely scarce and fought over fiercely. in about 150 years, we've gone from billionaire AI instaconvenience back to 1700's pilgrimages. most things run on electricity but it's kind of shit, sometimes very expensive, and not accessible to everyone. there is a huge variation in the ways people, communities, and countries have approached restoring infrastructure, power, and food, especially because there is so much flooding. religion has held fast and has an immense presence in some places; "old world" religions still maintain presence, but nature and ancestor worship has also become relevant in some areas.

i swear to god somewhere there's a post that goes something along the lines of "monk drawing a snail in the margins of his illuminated manuscript copied from wikipedia" but i can't find it anywhere in my screenshots or on my blog. so if anyone finds that, please let me know, because that's literally what rohan is.

rohan is born and raised in denja, a mountainous island country full of monasteries that focuses itself on recovering information from old world sources (including wikipedia lol.) denja maintains computers with massive stores of information on them, as well as vast temple libraries full of physical media. monks here either make illuminated manuscripts or travel abroad, either to teach, or to acquire new materials for their libraries. they are pacifists. monks in denja are not necessarily restricted from what they do as far as marriage and family, but there is an overarching understanding that their work must come first, and if they cannot commit to pilgrimages and manuscript writing full time, they cannot be part of a monastery.

here is my map of denja i drew w my finger in 5 seconds. idk if it really will look like this cause this is the first time i've drawn it lol, but all islands are connected via boat travel and some even have forested bridges between them. it's a beautiful place full of nature that receives hot summers and mild winters.

rohan combines his library research with lots of field research. he is a keen outdoor survivalist and focuses his manuscripts primarily on wildlife, especially insects and birds. he is also a skilled ceramist who makes lots of cooking and carrying vessels for his home temple, and instructs other monks in ceramics as well. he reads a LOT, and likes exercising, painting, and wood carving in his free time. he's tall and handsome, but is feels quite shy about the frequent compliments he receives. rohan is an introvert who prefers being alone, but he's also empathetic and good at giving impartial advice, so he realizes that others like being around him.

personality wise, he's laid-back and soft-spoken. he can be very frank, but is well intentioned. rohan developed his habitual smile in his youth as a way to keep calm, and now it's ingrained. he's hard to read.

rohan's life is turned upside down when denja is invaded. rohan and many of the other monks are conscripted into the army of a regional warlord named tadayo. tadayo is part of a coalition of armies in the area who are rallying against a rapidly weaponizing, fascist nation-state to the north called babylon, so tadayo justifies his conscription of the denja monks through the idea that babylon is about to kill them all if they don't join forces.

as pacifists, the denja monks struggle in tadayo's army. rohan loses many of his friends not only to the war, but also to suicide and abuse from other members of tadayo's army. some disappear. babylon's army consists almost entirely of androgynous soldier-clones that can travel long distances by transforming into heavily armed jet planes. no one has seen planes in over 100 years, so the soldiers fighting against babylon must wait until the soldiers, designated MICHAELs, transform into their human mode. in the meantime, tadayo and his allies force the denja monks to scour their libraries for information on how to build SAM sites. the denja monks stage a resistance.

rohan dies in this rebellion, but somehow awakens later with a hard lump in his chest that he can feel every time his heart beats.

kato is a MICHAEL.