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Grim Fandango
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World
Souls' time in the Eighth Underworld usually takes the form of a very linear four-year journey—most people's goal is to get out and get on to the Land of Eternal Rest. It's not uncommon to find souls who have stopped at any of the sites along the way and settled down to live their afterlives there, though.
The first place any soul encounters in the Land of the Dead is El Marrow, a large metropolis that resembles an Aztec-flavored New York City. The skyscrapers there are made from the marrow of large trees in the nearby Petrified Forest. One of the most important locations here is the Department of Death building, where all souls who have come from the Land of the Living go first (accompanied by a reaper) to consider their travel-package options (see below). Thus, every soul in the Land of the Dead has passed through this city at one time another. El Marrow is also noted for its annual Day of the Dead celebration carnival. By the end of the game, the city has gained some new nightlife in the form of a seedy casino or two.
El Marrow is linked with the Land of the Living by the Limbo Highway.
Eight kilometers outside the city is the Petrified Forest, a terrifying place filled with monsters. Although it's technically a forest, not much seems to be living here. The trees are brown and gnarled, and the only social interaction comes in the form of deadly encounters with demon beavers and huge winged spiders.
Those who make it out of the forest continue their journey along a lonely highway to a city called Rubacava, 1020 kilometers away from El Marrow. Rubacava is all about the nightlife—it boasts a cat racing track, a beatnik hangout, and an upscale little club temporarily owned by one Manny Calavera—but more importantly, it's the place where souls must go to book passage on a ship across the Sea of Lament to continue their journey. At the end of the game, the city has been largely abandoned in favor of the now more action-packed El Marrow.
At the other side of the massive and treacherous Sea of Lament is a port called Puerto Zapato. From there, most souls make the long journey through increasingly icy terrain to the End of the Line. Here, a massive Aztec-looking temple rises high out of the snowy landscape, and a forbidding gatekeeper makes sure that souls are cleared for their passages to the next world. At the top of the temple is a dark tunnel leading to the Land of Eternal Rest. The Number Nine is the fastest way there, but souls who have made the long trek by other means can simply walk through.
Culture
The game is based on the Aztec belief that human souls must pass through the underworld. When people die, they are reaped of their mortal coil and escorted from the Land of the Living (Seventh Underworld) to the Land of the Dead (Eighth Underworld). The Department of Death (DOD), Bureau of Acquisitions, consists of agents known as ‘reapers’ who serve as those escorts. Reapers are to assume the role of salesmen, or ‘travel agents’, and access the DOD network for their clients’ life records. Their job is to sell each client a travel package. Souls must be rightfully entitled to the package they are offered. It can help them cross the Land of the Dead to reach their final destination, otherwise known as the Land of Eternal Rest (Ninth Underworld).
Possibly worse than having to journey on foot is when a soul is in debt. They have to pay for their sins by working at the DOD. Reapers can gradually wipe their debt by earning commission from righteous souls; clients who qualify for premium travel packages. A ticket on the Number Nine is the best package they can sell, reserved for those the company call ‘saints’. The Number Nine is an express train with tracks stretching from El Marrow all the way to the End of the World; the only mode of transport that skips past the perils other souls must face.
Although everyone is already dead, the concept of death within death exists, and can occur through means of physical incapacitation or through being “sprouted” (when a chemical agent called ‘sproutella’—or a dart containing it—comes in contact with bone, flowers bloom all over the skeleton until they are completely covered in them, supposedly ‘killing’ the soul).
Powers
As mentioned above, souls in the Eighth Underworld can only be destroyed in a very limited number of ways. Even when decapitated, their skulls continue to speak and think just as easily as if they were attached to a body. So characters in the Land of the Dead are essentially immortal—they can survive underwater without breathing, fall from great heights without hurting themselves, and sustain themselves without eating or drinking. They can still feel physical pain, but apparently not to the degree a living person would.
Souls are able to cross into the Land of the Living for one day each year (the Day of the Dead) to visit their living relatives, although their family members would likely not experience anything more than a sense of their departed loved one's presence.
Reapers have some additional abilities. They can visit the living world whenever they have an assignment to "harvest" a soul there, although they must be driven in a chauffeured company car. When a human dies, he or she is encased in a kind of cocoon (the "moral coil"), which the reaper slices open with a scythe in order to free the soul within. Mortals cannot see or hear a reaper in the Land of the Living (although the reaper would be able to drum up business by scaring one to death, at the expense of a conflict-of-interest rap). To a dead soul, the Land of the Living looks like a bizarre world of cut-up paper figures.
World
Souls' time in the Eighth Underworld usually takes the form of a very linear four-year journey—most people's goal is to get out and get on to the Land of Eternal Rest. It's not uncommon to find souls who have stopped at any of the sites along the way and settled down to live their afterlives there, though.
The first place any soul encounters in the Land of the Dead is El Marrow, a large metropolis that resembles an Aztec-flavored New York City. The skyscrapers there are made from the marrow of large trees in the nearby Petrified Forest. One of the most important locations here is the Department of Death building, where all souls who have come from the Land of the Living go first (accompanied by a reaper) to consider their travel-package options (see below). Thus, every soul in the Land of the Dead has passed through this city at one time another. El Marrow is also noted for its annual Day of the Dead celebration carnival. By the end of the game, the city has gained some new nightlife in the form of a seedy casino or two.
El Marrow is linked with the Land of the Living by the Limbo Highway.
Eight kilometers outside the city is the Petrified Forest, a terrifying place filled with monsters. Although it's technically a forest, not much seems to be living here. The trees are brown and gnarled, and the only social interaction comes in the form of deadly encounters with demon beavers and huge winged spiders.
Those who make it out of the forest continue their journey along a lonely highway to a city called Rubacava, 1020 kilometers away from El Marrow. Rubacava is all about the nightlife—it boasts a cat racing track, a beatnik hangout, and an upscale little club temporarily owned by one Manny Calavera—but more importantly, it's the place where souls must go to book passage on a ship across the Sea of Lament to continue their journey. At the end of the game, the city has been largely abandoned in favor of the now more action-packed El Marrow.
At the other side of the massive and treacherous Sea of Lament is a port called Puerto Zapato. From there, most souls make the long journey through increasingly icy terrain to the End of the Line. Here, a massive Aztec-looking temple rises high out of the snowy landscape, and a forbidding gatekeeper makes sure that souls are cleared for their passages to the next world. At the top of the temple is a dark tunnel leading to the Land of Eternal Rest. The Number Nine is the fastest way there, but souls who have made the long trek by other means can simply walk through.
Culture
The game is based on the Aztec belief that human souls must pass through the underworld. When people die, they are reaped of their mortal coil and escorted from the Land of the Living (Seventh Underworld) to the Land of the Dead (Eighth Underworld). The Department of Death (DOD), Bureau of Acquisitions, consists of agents known as ‘reapers’ who serve as those escorts. Reapers are to assume the role of salesmen, or ‘travel agents’, and access the DOD network for their clients’ life records. Their job is to sell each client a travel package. Souls must be rightfully entitled to the package they are offered. It can help them cross the Land of the Dead to reach their final destination, otherwise known as the Land of Eternal Rest (Ninth Underworld).
Possibly worse than having to journey on foot is when a soul is in debt. They have to pay for their sins by working at the DOD. Reapers can gradually wipe their debt by earning commission from righteous souls; clients who qualify for premium travel packages. A ticket on the Number Nine is the best package they can sell, reserved for those the company call ‘saints’. The Number Nine is an express train with tracks stretching from El Marrow all the way to the End of the World; the only mode of transport that skips past the perils other souls must face.
Although everyone is already dead, the concept of death within death exists, and can occur through means of physical incapacitation or through being “sprouted” (when a chemical agent called ‘sproutella’—or a dart containing it—comes in contact with bone, flowers bloom all over the skeleton until they are completely covered in them, supposedly ‘killing’ the soul).
Powers
As mentioned above, souls in the Eighth Underworld can only be destroyed in a very limited number of ways. Even when decapitated, their skulls continue to speak and think just as easily as if they were attached to a body. So characters in the Land of the Dead are essentially immortal—they can survive underwater without breathing, fall from great heights without hurting themselves, and sustain themselves without eating or drinking. They can still feel physical pain, but apparently not to the degree a living person would.
Souls are able to cross into the Land of the Living for one day each year (the Day of the Dead) to visit their living relatives, although their family members would likely not experience anything more than a sense of their departed loved one's presence.
Reapers have some additional abilities. They can visit the living world whenever they have an assignment to "harvest" a soul there, although they must be driven in a chauffeured company car. When a human dies, he or she is encased in a kind of cocoon (the "moral coil"), which the reaper slices open with a scythe in order to free the soul within. Mortals cannot see or hear a reaper in the Land of the Living (although the reaper would be able to drum up business by scaring one to death, at the expense of a conflict-of-interest rap). To a dead soul, the Land of the Living looks like a bizarre world of cut-up paper figures.
OnSoullessFeet |
Latest page update: made by OnSoullessFeet
, Jul 18 2008, 10:52 AM EDT
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