#moirai myths

[moiraimyths]

FEB 1, 2023: KICKSTARTER FOR THE GOOD PEOPLE (NA DAOINE MAITHE) HAS ENDED!

Thank you to our 776 backers for allowing us to bring this project to life, and reach our side stories stretch goal! We hope that you love what we have in store! Stay tuned, fateful friends!

The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe) is a lore-rich, choice-driven visual novel inspired by Irish mythology and Celtic folklore. Play as an Irish tenant farmer from the mid-19th century, whose path becomes inexplicably entwined with fairy affairs after getting robbed by the roadside and lured into the mythic and war-torn world of Tír na nÓg: A once unified land, now divided into the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. Will you escape with your stolen belongings? Or does fate have something else in mind?

Our Full Game will Feature:

Six Character Routes: There will be six character routes in total, each one exploring the individual stories of our diverse cast of Love Interests (LIs)! There are two men, two women, and two non-binary folk to choose from. Half of our cast is aspec, as well!

Secret Story Route: If you play through all six character routes, you'll unlock the secret story route! It's designed to tie up the broader narrative aspects of the game, and you can choose which character route is "canon" to your play through!

Flexible MC: Choose your preferred name and pronouns (including neo pronouns) and romance whomever you please! (We even have a stretch goal to customize MC's sprite appearance, too!)

Platonic Options: Not into romance, or don't want to romance them all? Not to worry! All routes can be played platonically.

Multiple Endings: Each route has two endings based on the health of your relationship with the LI, regardless of whether it's romantic or platonic.

English-Gaeilge Lexicon: Our game features translatable Gaeilge (Irish) words and phrases, and in the full game, translations will be voiced for ease of pronunciation!

Voice Acting: The main cast will have limited voice acting in the full game. Check our Kickstarter page periodically for voice actor reveals and samples!

Other Features (Stretch Goals): Side stories in-between route releases.

While we develop the full game, be sure to try out our FREE DEMO out now on Steam and Itch.io! Make sure to Wishlist our game on Steam as well!

[toadjunkie]

Doodles I did of the lovely ladies of The Good People

[maria-taiwin]

The Moirai (The Sandman netflix)

[mostthingskenobi]

I'll just leave this here...

[makitaki]

The Norns

The Norns in norse mythology, are female beings who create and control fate. Some sources name them Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld, perhaps meaning “past,” “present,” and “future.”

They were depicted as living by Yggdrasill, the world tree, under Urd’s well and were linked with both good and evil

They also correspond to the Greek Moirai; usually represented as three maidens who spun or wove the fate of men.

[melinoethenightmareartist]

Intro

Guess I should probably actually use this account… Hi, I'm Melinoe, goddess of nightmares and ghosts. Also the Environment Designer/Background artist for @moiraimyths I'll post some art here occasionally, probably. Also, I guess if you wanna ask anything about the game's background art I'm here. K bye.

[blerdyotome]

Indie Spotlight: The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe)

Indie Spotlight: The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe)

[lonely--shine]

Alaine Ní Daimhín

A thing about me is that if I'm left alone for 5 minutes I start making more OCs and this is a fate I must accept. So, without further ado, here's Alaine, my MC for The Good People/Na Daoine Maithe!

Now, I came up with Alaine's name pretty quick, but it took me an hour to choose her surname so I sure hope it makes sense for the game setting (mid 19th century Ireland, although you are snatched into the Fae world pretty much immediately, shenanigans ensue, demo free to play on itchio and steam if you want more info about it, or just check @moiraimyths)

I would like to note that this is Alaine at the start of the game, this is the reason why she's so skinny. They prefer bulky clothes to hide this, since they're really self conscious about being all 'skin and bones'. The fancy dress is the one Keagan gets her, and although she is impressed with how fancy and expensive it it, she does wish it covered more of her body.

Anyways, all this to say that 1) I imagine she will be getting other clothes when she can. I mean, if she stays in Murias (Autumn province) she will definitely getting clothes more appropiate for the weather so… And 2) they will put on weight as the game advances, they will still be thin, since that's their constitution, but not unhealthily skinny anymore.

[crispinablr]

Flannán x Mc

[maistiruin]

I know you don't do HCs but I like your theories so I wondered if you had any ideas what their weddings might be like 👀

anon i am so sorry because I kept forgetting about this in the drafts

planning fictional weddings may be one of my favorite things to do ever. Everyone else under the cut. This is arranged by who I had ideas for first. Lengths and details may vary.

Shae

You and Shae avoid getting married the whole time somehow, despite doing married people things your entire relationship. And then it's tax time and you realize it would be way more convenient to do these if you were married. Now you're married.

OK, tax joke aside, one night after a long time of marriage-esque domesticity, you just wake up bolt upright and ask, "Should we get married?"

Shae's still a little sleepy so they just grumpily tell you to ask again in the morning. They wrestle you back into a cuddle position. You are soft putty and cannot win.

Before you can wake up and ask again, Shae is up first and beats you to it. You should have proposed first!

You send out invitations—not a lot, just the people who matter. Shae's family, the friends you've made, small group only. You specifically tell everyone that it's because you're getting married in a few days, but everyone still brings food to the outpost like it's some kind of potluck.

The ceremony takes place three days later in the garden. Under the trellis, where some berry plants are tied to prevent them from falling over. It smells like it's about to rain, and you have to act fast.

It starts as a light drizzle that becomes a whole shower just in time for the final kiss. Everybody rushes inside before the rain gets any worse, but all in all, it was a great day.

Maeve

You and Maeve do get engaged and all, but in the spirit of her U-Haul Lesbian vibes (...U-Haul Bisexual?), one weekend in the heat of wedding planning, you spirit away and just elope.

It's a private affair with just you and the crows (ravens?) as your only guests. You come back to the capital two days later and dive back into the wedding planning whirlwind.

You still go through with the public wedding, but now it's more fun for you both. A lil wink to each other as you repeat your wedding vows. No one else gets the joke.

No one will ever know the wedding was just for show, except maybe three people (Flannán included?) and this knowledge will stay secret until at least your 10th wedding anniversary.

Robin

Robin canonically cannot got to a church, so you have a destination wedding instead.

First stop, the trash heap. You have to pick out your wedding rings. There's a lot to choose from.

Next stop, wherever the hell you want. It doesn't matter, they can take you there.

If you can't decide immediately, Robin will cycle between a few places, including but not limited to: Shae's outpost, the forests of Murias, literally right at the Seelie-Unseelie border, the throne room at the People's Castle, and the hoard he calls home.

What follows next may be romantically stupid or stupidly romantic, depending on which end you are so inclined. You exchange vows at the location of your choice.

Part of me wants to say Robin splits their wedding vows into sentences and each one is said in a different location, but I don't know how great teleportation is for either party.

Robin is as Robin does, the last line they say is "We're married now, buck-o."

Seems legit enough. Now let's go pick the honeymoon location.

Flannán

Married and engaged in the same day.

You wake up one morning to see Flannán trying to fit a ring over your finger, and he tries to make you go back to sleep and pretend like nothing happened, but eventually relents and proposes.

As soon as you step out of the bedroom, you find people rushing around the castle covering every inch of it with winter blossoms. Flannán looks as surprised as you.

He flags someone down to say that the proposal is off. He's bright red as he explains that he already proposed to you on accident.

Turns out this isn't for the proposal.

Apparently, no one trusts you or Flannán to plan your own wedding in a timely or easy manner. You are now getting married.

Talk about overwhelming. You just got engaged less than an hour ago. To be fair, it doesn't matter how you got married. Just that you finally do.

Also Flannán's dogs are chewing on the decorations the whole time. If this were a wedding with a photographer, they would feature in every single shot.

Not because the photographer was too focused on the dogs (valid but not the case). It's because they want to be included in everything.

Aífe

OBVIOUSLY a massive ceremony. All of the Seelie court is invited. I'm torn between having it in the palace gardens or the throne room. Both seem like great ideas.

Aífe's wedding will be loaded with outfit changes like nobody's business. She has at least ten gowns for herself, and then ten outfits for you so you match with her every single time.

The ceremony would be simple if not for the break taken for every outfit change. Aífe made all these dresses, she MUST get to use them.

Outfit changes extend to the reception, too.

Aífe sings you a lovely ballad and you just have to stand there and take it and how in love you are with her. And you need to let her finish the song or else she'll be very cross with you, and that's no way to start your marriage.

Unless, of course... you would like to sing with her? She does love it when you duet.

The wedding reception is truly equal parts reception and equal parts recital. People (mainly Aífe) showing off their talents and having fun, celebrating.

Keagan

Full disclosure, it is impossible for me to think of Keagan wedding HCs without thinking of my Arranged Marriage AU at the same time. And that's a very different wedding than what I imagine Keagan would normally have. Probably still similar enough though.

Sorry for talking about the Arranged Marriage AU (not sorry actually :P)

Anyway, garden wedding for sure. Aífe wouldn't say no to lending the royal gardens for her dearest friends' wedding.

It may also be next to one of those super cool waterfalls in the royal gardens but I have my personal reasons for wanting that.

It's a bad idea though because waterfalls are Loud, so maybe we'll keep it to that nice gazebo by the water.

There have been spring showers every day leading up to the wedding so the two of you are rightly worried about wedding plans, but when the day comes, it's nice and sunny.

It's actually too nice and sunny.

If you turn around at any point during the ceremony, you'll see people holding up things over their faces so that the glare from the sun isn't bothering them.

There's a tiny part of you that's actually upset that it didn't rain because you two planned this whole affair around the idea that it would be raining, and now it's not.

The wedding goes off without a hitch. Not a single dry eye when Keagan is done with his vows, made worse when it's your turn.

The reception is not much different from Aífe's (though significantly less of a talent show).

I imagine it's a bit more of a game. You and Keagan can be playful that way.

From the audience, all that can be seen is Keagan turning to you and whispering something in your ear that makes you smile.

From where you're sitting, he is trying to get you to break so you two can leave the reception early.

He is trying very well.

You both leave the reception early.

[moiraimyths]

Howdy, fateful friends! Are you an artist or illustrator with an interest in visual novels?

If so: Moirai Myths, creators of the visual novel The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe), are in need of guest artists! More specifically, we're looking for up to two artists to help us with the content graphics ("CGs") for Maeve and Shae's upcoming routes. All of the details will be listed on our application form (linked below), but here is the gist:

This is paid work with 20-30 business day deadlines per piece!

Complicated revisions in the post-sketch phase are compensated!

You will be prioritized for future guest artist opportunities!

You will be featured/credited on Moirai Myths' website and in the game itself!

Sound interesting? If so, apply here:

Click under the cut for some F&Q 👇

Who are you? (I'm new here!)

Hi! We're Moirai Myths: a small, newish visual novel company based out of Canada. We're making a game inspired by mostly Irish mythology, which was funded on Kickstarter in 2023! Our game's got fairy politics, a diverse cast, a Gaeilge-to-English translation tool, and routes that can be played either romantically or platonically! Also horses. An ungodly amount of horses, really.

If that odd pitch sounded intriguing, perhaps you'd like to play our demo! It's free on Steam & Itch.io.

Why are you looking for guest artists?

When we originally launched our Kickstarter, the plan was to have our three in-house artists collaborate on the CGs in the same way our header image was. However, we quickly realized that adding CGs, even if they're done collaboratively, onto the existing duties of our artists was a tall order. Add to that the departure of our original sprite artist (who has since been replaced by our graphic designer), and we determined that having our in-house team work on CGs was simply not possible if we still wanted our first release to happen in 2024. So, rather than omitting CGs or adding them in at a later time, we came up with the idea of hiring guest artists. Overall this means our CGs will be a bit more varied in terms of art style, but we like to think of this as a positive! NDM's development will take a number of years to complete in full, so we hope our CGs will allow us to feature a lot of artists either within the VN/indie dev community already, or artists who aspire to work in gaming and are looking for entry positions.

How long will applications remain open for?

This application will be open until Sunday, March 24 at midnight (EST)! If we intend to extend past that deadline, we'll make an announcement about it.

I can't apply right now. Will you look for more CG guest artists in the future?

Definitely! As mentioned, NDM will take a while to develop in full, so this is by no means your only opportunity to apply. That being said, we suspect we're going to end up shortlisting a number of artists over the course of this application period, and we intend to keep a list of all the runners-up. So, even if you won't be able to participate this time, it might be a good idea to apply anyway just to remain in our contacts! Either way, this will not be the last time we have apps.

Will you be looking for guest artists outside of CGs?

Maybe! We already have two guest artists (Nefukurou and Madi Funk) working on sprites and CGs respectively, so it's always possible that we'll have other artistic needs later down the line. Likewise, we may also reach out to past guest artists for future work with us, whether it's on this game or something else!

You say we need to sign an NDA. What does that entail?

The non-disclosure agreement essentially means you will be legally unable to publicly disclose any confidential information you become privy to as a result of working with us. This would include personal information about the developers, as well as spoilers from the game itself. In addition do this, you will be expected to sign over the IP and copyright of any artworks you produce for us.

Can I still use my artworks in portfolios, even if I don't own the copyright?

Yes! We'd only ask, if your portfolio is a website, that you wait to do so until after your art has been made public by us, either on our social media or via the publication of the game. Our first release is anticipated to happen later this year, most likely mid-autumn.

How do you guys feel about AI? Do you intend to use it, or would you ever train an AI off of the artworks whose copyright you own?

No.

Making a game is expensive and time-consuming, but AI is no replacement for human artistry. We fundamentally believe that any advancements in AI should be used for the purpose of giving people more time to make art, not take away opportunities for it. Moirai Myths will never, ever use AI or train an AI off your work.

***

If you've got any more questions for us that we didn't think to include here, feel free to send us an ask!

[vnui]

Game: The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe) by Moirai Myths

Genre(s): otome, fantasy, romance, fae

UI Shown: Title screen, ,ain menu, nvl, preferences, choice box, textbox, route selection, exit, glossary (lexicon)

Notes: The Good People’s UI uses a cohesive, weathered tome and scrawled paper theme all throughout to capture an otherworldly feeling of ancient roots and folklore. 

[classicschronicles]

Hi lovelies,

Today’s entry is about something I find endlessly fascinating- the Fates, divine beings in Greek mythology who personified life, birth and death. The Fates- or Moirai- were three weaving goddesses who assigned destines to mortals at the time of their birth. The idea of the fates is that they would split the three allotted portions of life between them and each deal with the process of handing out one portion. Fun fact- in ancient Greek the word Moirai translates to ‘allotted share/ portion’.

The first Moirai was Clotho (the ‘Spinner’). When a child was in the womb, Clotho had the duty of weaving the threads that made up their life, because of this- Greek myths often use metaphors associated with textiles to portray fate or destiny. Each thread that Clotho spun represented one soul’s life, including their future actions and choices (which raises the whole question of predetermination) and the consequences of said actions. However, some argue that the choices of humans were not entirely predestined and there was freedom of choice which allowed humans some degree of input as to their fate. Clotho would take all of these different choices into consideration as she wove the thread.

The second Moirai was Lachesis (the ‘Allotter’). As the second Fate, it was the job of Lachesis to measure the thread of human life and a lot a portion of life to each individual. She would often determine the length of human life and the trials and tribulations that they would face based on how long they would live. These decisions/ fate would be woven into the thread of each human.

The third and final Moirai was Atropos (the ‘un-turnable’). Her name refers to the fact that was the most stubborn of the fates, in that she was the one who cut the threat of fate and therefore decided when to end a life. Because of this, Atropos became associated with human death, and how each person would die (i.e. peacefully or painfully, nobly or ignobly).

There is no set genealogy of the Fates, with at least three different retellings of the story, but the most infamous one is probably the one told in Hesiod’s ‘Theogony.’ Hesiod tells us that the fates were the fatherless daughters of the Night (Nyx). This genealogy tends to make sense and the Moirai are linked with death through Nyx. In later genealogies, the Fates are given a new mother- Ananke (Necessity).

The portrayal of the Moirai often changes in media and so other than them being three spinster sisters, the depictions of them vary widely. Some see them as three youthful and beautiful sisters, and others as three elderly haggard sisters. In some depictions, Clotho (as she is associated with the start of life) is seen as kind and young whilst Atropos (being associated with death) is seen as elderly and evil.

The Fates do not appear frequently in myths, usually only seen at the birth of gods or mortals. However, there are some very interesting exceptions (such as in the same of Meleager). It is also interesting that despite them rarely having a physically present role, they almost always play vital roles and raise interesting questions (such as in the case of Achilles’ Choice- which we ALL know I could talk about for hours).

Meleager was a young prince of Greece, and at his birth the Fates stood around his cot discussing his life, but they appeared to be at odds. Both Lachesis and Clotho wanted him to have a glorious future with eternal fame. However, Atropos determined that when the log in the fire next to Meleager’s cot burnt out, so to would his life. Meleager’s mother had overheard this discussion and so she rushed to extinguish the fire and hide the log that Atropos spoke of. Meleager grew up to be a promising young prince who battled many monsters and gained his fame. However, after a dispute in which he killed both his uncles, his mother in a fit of rage threw his log into the fire. When the log turned to ash, Meleager died. In this case, Meleager ended up fulfilling the prophecies of all three Moirai.

In the case of the Hero’s Choice (and more specifically Achilles’ Choice) it brings into question the role of the Moirai in predetermination and free will. Achilles was fated to have two pathways in life- fight at Troy and never return home, but have fame and glory to last an eternity. Or, to never sail to Troy and live a long life with his family, but eventually fade into time. Now whilst Achilles did have a choice, in both instances whichever fate he chose, the outcome was already sealed for him- and so did he really have a choice in the end?

When it comes to fate and predetermination, as mentioned previously, the Fates would allow for humans to make choices but every choice that they made would have been would have already had its consequences lined up. So whilst choices were available, were there only a set amount of choices that one could chose from- and if that was the case- was it really free will?

Additionally, the role of Moirai as absolute arbitrators is also an interesting question. If the Moirai decreed something in the life of a human then it would happen, but in many instances we see the gods take the position of Allotters. Such an instance can be seen in the Iliad with Zeus and his son Sarpedon. When Sarpedon dies, Hera and Zeus have an argument over bringing him back to life and the role of fate. However, Zeus as the god of fate and destiny, argued that he should be able to raise his son from the dead. If Zeus is the god of fate then it brings into question the role of the Moirai.

The question of fate and the Fates is a fascinating one, but not one I think has a clear cut answer. Whatever the role of the Moirai and the extent of their power, I think we can all agree that concept of them is highly intriguing.

That being said, I hope you all enjoyed reading about the Moirai- enjoy the rest of your weekend!

~Z

[baambastic]

Hi, yeah, I’ve got thoughts and predictions on Hades II already:

So Melinoë’s mythologically the daughter of Zeus, who had her with Persephone while disguised as Hades? That’ll be interesting.

The goddess with the pointed hat is 1000% Hecate, goddess/Titan of magic and crossroads. The dual torches thing is very much one of her symbols.

Given Hecate’s association with crossroads, the Moirai (the Fates) will likely appear in the game.

We saw Moros and Nemesis. Both are children of Nyx, representing Doom and Revenge respectively. Given Hades is in chains, Nyx has likely gone missing or has also been captured.

Given two of Nyx’s children have already been shown, I’d say there’s a good chance Eris (Strife) shows up.

Melinoë is associated strongly with the moon, so Aether and Hemera could also show up. Selene will definitely show up.

The game seems to start on the surface world, and I’m guessing it will stay that way. It avoids repeated settings, and it keeps Zagreus from showing up to help.

Since the map will be entirely on the surface, and given Cronus’ role as primary antagonist, I propose that the different bosses will be the Titans of the cardinal directions (Iapetus, Hyperion, Coeus, and Crius).

If the bosses are the cardinal Titans, then the cardinal wind gods may also appear: Boreas, Zephyrus, Notus, and Eurus.

The midstage NPCs will be some of the imprisoned Titans, like Atlas and Prometheus.

If Prometheus appears, Pandora may as well, since she was the wife of Prometheus’ brother, Epimetheus.

The Hecatoncheires will show up as a miniboss, since they’re siblings to the Titans. Same with the Cyclopes.

The first game had Cerberus and the Hydra in it. This game will have their siblings: the Chimera, the Sphinx, and the Nemean Lion.

[greekmythcomix]

The Moirai (Fates) (2017)

From back in my OG grayscale phase

[natiesims]

“ Birth and death, cradle and grave ;    And the rest is silence “

The Moirai — Mythos March by: @samssims