Creators & Roles

Marsha Clarke, Speculative fiction writer

Gisselle Bolden, Fiction writer

World summary/overview

Parallelia tells of a future world in the year 2087. After a series of unrelenting extreme natural disasters that ravage most of the world, most people across the United States are left homeless. Years pass while they form a new collective called the Earthbound as they move into the abandoned city of Los Angeles and the Bay Area.

As a community focused on maintaining a primal and spiritual connection to earth, they are able to restore some land and remnants of technology to establish live-able conditions and a culture based on energetic connectivity. Meanwhile, the Silicons, a group of hybridized human-android elites operate with alternative intentions. They found a way to digitize themselves as well as physical earth to escape the deteriorating conditions of the planet. They actively build a pixelized parallel reality by usurping land and resources that Earthbounds have christened as sacred modalities of connectivity.

There’s a major and hostile rift between both groups for the survival of humanity for each claim to be that their way is the answer.

Concept

The outside world is cold, tech driven and capitalist driven. After the vast working estates of silicon valley were abandoned due to environmental factors of the west like wildfires, erosion, water scarcity and other social factors. Employees moved to other states and countries that had less violent weather patterns and the sprawling headquarters of many of the worlds largest technology companies became abandoned.

Homeless people of the west (LA & Bay area) moved in and found shelter and were able to learn from the literature that was left behind and used the technology to cultivate food which also led to the creation of a symbiotic connectivity between earth people and technology.

Themes

Internal vs. external connection
Ideological conflict vs. physical war

Environment

Everything is determined by connectivity.  Either your plugged into the larger world system which is or your plugged into humanity

Technology

Technology here is as it’s always been – it’s being improved by the community of people who used to be homeless to build, grow food, improve logistics to reach out to more people who are homeless and need a new home and a sanctuary. Where they can be safe and be a part of a safe community that looks after one another. They rebuild and create new things like cars, robots, open spaces that provide community food and recreation etc.

Groups

Earthbound : Humans who reject the rampant use of tech and seek out sages to understand the past and the reason for human existence. They’ve had to endure a lot to build their culture and entire existence from the ground up starting with the generations of their founders. Materials from the earth and use ley lines to connect to the spiritual realm. 

Humans of the near future are called ‘Myopics’: They are heavily addicted to technology. They are unaware of their surroundings and go through the motions of being in a productive force. People downloads – 1 purpose, no sense of ancestry, very capitalist, always work towards efficiency, protection of powers that be and strive to evolve technologically.

Silicons: essentially wealthy tech wizards, who have amassed wealth and positions of leadership, especially in construction. they are bent on dissolving the physical world and converting it into a digital experience.

Sages: modern-day humans who study spiritual connection and  gods and spirits across different traditions: the beings that sages and learned humans visit for the restoration of self or to adopt a new reality. Your feelings matter more than anything else. People decide which is more important to them. 

Messengers: guides to soul seekers in animal form, usually have some kind of intuitive or telepathic communication style.

Androids: serve as security guards between realms.

Culture

Earthbound: culture encompasses all they have experienced within their humanity. This ranges from the best of the best to the worst of the worst. It’s peaceful and loving but also gritty thanks to the connection to nature and acceptance of light and dark forces as one. Strive towards selflessness.  They are making robots to be more human and connect while the Myopics are making humans into robots.

Myopics: Materialistic, practice selfishness, At birth they are given a chip which can turn off the human emotion or thoughts that make humans question their existence so they don’t crave connectivity instead they are more like human robots.

PENS DOWN Parallelia Act 1 Session 1

PENS DOWN Parallelia Act 1 Session 2

PENS DOWN Parallelia Act 2 Session 3

PENS DOWN Parallelia Act 2 Session 4