Storyline (All on one page)

Pre-plot Notes: Rangi and Papa Reunite
The Normal (Campfire Creation Story)
Introduce Main Character (Forest Chase)
Main Character Goal (Kōtiro meets Ingo)
Setup for Inciting Incident (Manaia is Missing)
Setup for Inciting Incident #2 (Manaia Attacks)
Setup for Inciting Incident #3 (The End Begins)
Inciting Incident (Full Eclipse)
Introduce Love Interest and Impact Character #1 (Burnt Forest)
Introduce Love Interest and Impact Character #2 (Search for Aroha)
Introduce Love Interest and Impact Character #3 (Consumed by the Ocean)
Introduce Love Interest and Impact Character #4 (Underwater Rescue)
Introduce Love Interest and Impact Character #5 (Whaitere Saves the Lovers)
Central Question Raised (Kōtiro’s Vision)
Impact Subplot Setup #1 (Warrior Moko)
Impact Subplot Setup #2 (Mataora’s Swamp)
Impact Subplot Escalation #1 (Tutelage of Mataora)
Impact Subplot Escalation #2 (Niwarkea’s Rage)
Impact Subplot Escalation #3 (Back to the Hapū)
Impact Subplot Escalation #4 (Ingo’s Lie)
Plot Point 1 #1 (Rauamoko is Upset)
Plot Point 1 #2 (Kōtiro follows Kimo)
Plot Point 1 #3 (The Wind Lies)
Plot Point 1 #4 (Farther Up the Bluffs)
Plot Point 1 #5 (Mt. Ruapehu Approaches)
Plot Point 1 #6 (Descent to the Womb)
Plot Point 1 #7 (Ruaumoko is Silenced)
Reflection & Doubt (Aroha is Afraid)
Rising Action #1 (Pouakai Strikes)
Rising Action #2 (Kōtiro in Pursuit)
Rising Action #3 (Pouakai Defeated)
Raising The Stakes (Kōtiro addresses the Iwi)
Rising Action #1 (Kōtiro ascends the Funnel)
Rising Action #2 (Tāwhiri Speaks)
Rising Action (Escape to Ngongotaha)
Subplot Point 1 #1 (Ingo shows Bravery)
Subplot Point 1 #2 (Ingo Travels)
Subplot Point 1 #3 (Ingo Dies)
Subplot Point 1 #4 (Kōtiro is Touched)
Rising Action
Subplot Reflection & Doubt
Rising Action
Subplot Development
Subplot Development
Rising Action
Subplot Development
Subplot Development
Subplot Development
Subplot Raising the Stakes
Rising Action
Subplot Development
Raising the Stakes
Subplot Development
Subplot Point 2
Subplot Reflection & Doubt
All is Lost
Plot Point 2
Reflection & Doubt
Rising Action
Rising Action
Plot & Subplot Climax
Plot & Subplot Resolution

Kōtiro

Pre-plot Notes: Rangi and Papa Reunite

For an epic story, it seems fitting to incorporate Rangi and Papa, the primordial father and mother. The drama is delicious: Rangi and Papa embraced each other for immeasurable time before their children separated them to let in the light and let the world grow. So great was the lovers’ grief that Rangi filled the entire world with tears.

There are other branches of that story, but in the end, the greatest lovers who ever were, Rangi and Papa, are still separate and heart broken.

We as an audience feel for them — we want them to be together.

But if their limitless cosmic bodies were to embrace once again, our world would be crushed under their mighty weight.

The drama unfolds as they prepare to fight back against their godly children, and embrace once more.

So the lovers, whose love bore all living creatures, must be prevented from reuniting so that their children can live.

It’s a nice concept because we know what side we’re on, but we feel terribly conflicted about “winning.”
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The Normal (Campfire Creation Story)

Scene Purpose:
-Establish the normal state of the world
-dramatize backstory

Mōhio relates the story of Creation to an audience around a camp fire. The story is dramatized by wispy visuals, like ephemeral puppets, in the flickering fire, with Mōhio in the background telling the story with large, sweeping gestures.

Kō: Sad story…
-Dialog in which Kō expresses sadness that such great love was ruined by the selfish brothers. Mō counters in a patient and fatherly way that from this great tragedy comes all life, and so some evils are to be endured for the greater good. Even great love, he says, must come after duty.
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Introduce Main Character (Forest Chase)

Scene Purpose:
-Show the main character’s personality traits

Kō is awoken in the night after the fireside story, by Aroha. The room is almost pitch black, but there’s a halo of dim light around the embers of a fire inthe middle of the floor, and moon light shining in from the low door. Aroha tells Kō that some village boys snuck into her house and stole her Twist necklace.

Pressing a movement button will cause Kō to jump up from her mat on the floor.

The player can direct her outside–she has to crouch, because the ceiling is low, then she has to crawl through the door, which is only a couple feet tall, in the normal Māori style of building.

Once outside, the player is instructed to hit the “path” button, which will make Kimo show the correct path through the given level. Kimo speeds off, leaving a stream of sparklies for Kō to follow. They go into the forest, where Kō chases the boys through a movement tutorial area without enemies.

When Kō finally catches up to the boys, she grabs one by his scruff, but just then she’s interrupted by…
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Main Character Goal (Kōtiro meets Ingo)

Scene Purpose:
-Show the main character’s personal goal and obstacles to it

Pre dawn, still in the woods, Kō catches up to the boy with the Twist, who has tripped at the bottom of a tallish bluff (maybe 24 feet tall).

While near the boy, the player presses the interact button to make Kō grab the boy, picking him up by the arm. Player presses the attack key to pull her hand back to “bitch slap” him.

Just then a voice from the top of the bluff calls out. Camera zooms out enough to see both Kō and the people at the top of the bluff. Kō drops the boy, who scurries into the underbrush behind them. They have a traditional greeting exchange in which they establish their identity and peaceful intent (I’ll look up exactly what the exchange is, I can’t remember off the top) (also, maybe it could be a quick time event, in which Kō has to call out the right stuff at the right time?).

They are a contingent from One Tree Hill. They are here to celebrate Kō’s upcoming marriage to Ingo, a prince of their tribe.

[Ingo demonstrates that he's kind of a shit]

[Kō demonstrates that she isn’t happy about the situation]

[Kō awkwardly lies and says she’ll be right behind them]

[Kō continues the pursuit of the boys by following the one who got away through the underbrush]
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Setup for Inciting Incident (Manaia is Missing)

Kō runs a screen or two through the woods before coming to the base of a steep mountain. She climbs the mountain up through the canopy of the forest, chasing the boys to the mountain top shrine of Manaia, the protector bird god of their village.

Side Camera: looking through pillars in foreground, to boys looking away from cam, toward central shrine wall. Dark pre-dawn, lit by torches around the shrine.

Kō enters the shrine, her movement is now limited to a walk. The boys have stopped in front of the shrine, which has a small, square pool of water in front of it. Kō walks over to one of the boys, pressing the attach button will make her elbow the boy, knocking him over, and finally taking the Twist back.

They tell her to knock it off, and to look: Manaia is missing.

The center piece of the shrine is a very large, wooden statue of Manaia, but instead of a statue, there is just an outline where the statue used to be fastened to the wall, but is now gone.
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Setup for Inciting Incident #2 (Manaia Attacks)

Hidden Camera Style cam, about face level, pointing out from shrine. Kō is in the front of the boys, leaning in to see the missing statue. Behind her are the boys. Behind the boys are the shrine pillars, and the full moon.

As Kō leans in, a large, winged silhouette floats up behind the boys from camera bottom, blotting out the moon.

The figure swoops quickly into the light of the torches, while impaling one of the boys through the back, revealing himself to be Manaia.

Manaia is much larger than Kō – maybe 3 to 4 times her size, not including his wings. The cam pulls out to give a sense of scale, making Kō 50% her usual size on screen.

A battle ensues. Kō ascends the shrine, jumping from pillar to platform, until she reaches the top, where there is a large decorative totem, and torches burning on the tops of pillars. Manaia lunges with his spear to attack while she ascends.

The trick is to get Manaia to run into the torches – when he runs into all the torches (probably 3), he’ll be burned and be knocked off kilter, smashing into the totem and breaking it, so that only a pike of broken wood remains. For the finishing blow, Kō tricks Manaia into lunging right into the broken totem, impaling and killing him.
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Setup for Inciting Incident #3 (The End Begins)

When Manaia dies, there’s a camera shake and small magical explosion that knocks Kō from the top of the shrine, back to ground level (several levels below), into the small pool right in front of the shrine. (Camera zooms in during the fall, restored to normal distance when she reaches the pool).

Mōhio enters the scene (he’s been looking for Kō since she didn’t show for her celebration), and trots over to the pool.

Sparkling feathers wisp from Manaia above, to the shrine below, swirling until the statue reappears where it should have been.

Manaia speaks: “You are the one chosen. A foe far greater than I awaits. Behold: the end.” (statue stiffly moves its arm to point toward the horizon.

Camera facing away from the shrine, again through the pillars, moving to look out over the vista from the mountain top, with Kō and Mō in the foreground.
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Inciting Incident (Full Eclipse)

Scene Purpose:
-An event or decision that sets the plot in motion, and tells the audience what the story will be about.

Up until now, the time has early morning, and this would be right around dawn. However, I want this scene to have a full solar eclipse, which has to happen around 4pm, because that’s actually when the real solar eclipse happened: read more.

So right now this scene takes place both right around dawn and at 4pm… I’ll fix it later.

The full moon makes the ocean sparkle in the purple darkness. The torch lights in the village far below are clearly visible, although it’s too distant to see individual people. A thin mist hovers near the top of the volcanic cone to the right.

The sun is covered by a shadow–a full solar eclipse. At the moment it’s full covered, a piercing roar cuts through the ambient flute, triggering an earthquake. The mountain top explodes into the sky, belching smoke and boulders. The smoke curls outward, revealing a magma creature: a giant bat made of lava, perched on the mountain like a vulture.

The ocean nearby boils as smoldering boulders splash into it, and from the depths leaps a water beast, like an octopus with arms. The water creature tackles the lava creature, and they both roll down the side of the mountain.

Both people, having been knocked down by the explosion, look in horror as the creatures roll over their village. A shot of Kō sitting sort of in Mō’s lap, Mō is holding her shoulder, and Kō is clasping her twist in one hand, and reaching out with the other, screaming “Aroha!”
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Introduce Love Interest and Impact Character #1 (Burnt Forest)

Scene Purpose:
-Present the character whose ideas/methods conflict with those of the Main Character, but who has an influence on him/her throughout the story.

Kō scrambles up from the shrine floor, and jumps straight off the edge of the temple area, crashing through the forest canopy below.

She then continues toward the village. This time, there’s an obvious line where the forest ends and the smoldering ruin of trees begins.

The forest is now a husk of muddy pools, burning trees, smoldering logs, and fire sprites that must be avoided and dodged.

Kō has to make her way through the ruined forest, eventually returning to the village.
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Introduce Love Interest and Impact Character #2 (Search for Aroha)

Scene Purpose:
-Present the character whose ideas/methods conflict with those of the Main Character, but who has an influence on him/her throughout the story.

Ingo greets her there, relieved to see her alive. Kō asks where Aroha is—Ingo doesn’t know, and isn’t really sure who Aroha is anyway. He insists she wait in a hut for him to find survivors. Kō ignores him.

Kō frantically searches – there are fires, destroyed homes, and bodies all around. Eventually she finds Aroha, emerging alive from one of the dug in shelters.
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Introduce Love Interest and Impact Character #3 (Consumed by the Ocean)

Scene Purpose:
-Present the character whose ideas/methods conflict with those of the Main Character, but who has an influence on him/her throughout the story.

Camera from Kō’s perspective, with Aroha running toward her. A giant tentacle ascends to the sky in the background (the creatures are still fighting), then crashes down in between the two. It wraps around Aroha, and drags her backward toward a sea cliff.

Side camera pulled back so Kō is half size, and the cliff is visible screen right. Kō chases Aroha, trying to catch her before she falls, but fails—the tentacle takes Aroha down the cliff. Without missing a beat, Kō swan dives off the cliff, after Aroha.

After Kō starts running, we see Ingo running behind her. He yells for her to stop right at the moment it’s too late.
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Introduce Love Interest and Impact Character #4 (Underwater Rescue)

Scene Purpose:
-Present the character whose ideas/methods conflict with those of the Main Character, but who has an influence on him/her throughout the story.

The camera follows Kō’s plunge into the sea perhaps 100 or 200 feet below, zooming in slowly, until it’s at normal zoom when she hits the water.

Kō must swim deeper and deeper, avoiding swinging tentacles as she swims. At the bottom, the creatures appear to be dead, having finally killed each other.

Aroha is caught under them. Kō tries to push the tentacle off (interact button), but it’s no good: it’s too big. A piece of the magma beast settles near her – it’s like part of its foot, it has a sharp claw on the end, with part of the toe still attached. In a desperate move, Kō hauls the claw of the magma beast over her shoulder (interact button), bringing it close enough to burn through the water creature’s tentacle (attack button). The tentacle wound gushes steam, burning her on the other shoulder.

The gambit works! Despite Kō’s burns, the tentacle falls away, releasing Aroha. Kō grabs her (interact button), and struggles to swim upward. Kō is clearly wounded, and Aroha is passed out.
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Introduce Love Interest and Impact Character #5 (Whaitere Saves the Lovers)

A face shot reveals her eyes rolling into the back of her head, bubbles evacuate her mouth, and they both sink.

The shot is looking directly down at their splayed bodies. A portion of the sea creature’s body is visible teetering on the edge of an abyss. Kō and Aroha are sinking into the darkness below.

From the darkness of the abyss, a light flickers. A pattern of colorful light begins to illuminate, getting brighter and appearing to actually be drawn onto some surface.

A giant manta ray with colorful moko on her back emerges, and pushes both Kō and Aroha upward with her wide back. The back comes straight into the camera, blocking it, so that the view is now black.

Voice in the blackness: “Love like yours should never be extinguished. The underworld will not have you yet.”

Vague shapes fade in and out of the blackness. The sound of lapping waves slowly becomes louder. The camera is eyes opening, blurry and too bright to see. It fades to normal, then unblurs, revealing Aroha looking down at you first worried, then smiling, backlit by the morning sun.

Camera shifts to a close side shot of Kō and Aroha. Kō reaches up and places her hand on Aroha’s cheek (interact button)

Then (big reveal), Aroha leans down kisses Kō deeply. They lay their foreheads together, relieved to finally be together, and safe. Kō’s arm collapses to the ground and camera fades to black again.

This scene unlocks the story of the mythical stingray Whaitere.
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Central Question Raised (Kōtiro’s Vision)

Scene Purpose:
-Resolving the problem or situation presented here (based on the Inciting Incident) would bring the story to an end.
-The Antagonist character is introduced.

Kō has a vision: clouds are front of her eyes, swirling and moving—violent faces seem to form in them, snarling and snapping. As she draws nearer, the clouds begin to break, and the surface of the world becomes visible, with land and ocean present.

Comets fall from behind you like shooting stars, hitting the earth and splashing into the ocean. Land rumbles and shifts, still drawing nearer.

The shape of the land is changing—new mountains are forming right beneath you.

The contour of the land now forms a picture—just as a giant earthen face becomes visible and takes up the camera, the face’s eyes open wide, and blind Kō with white light.

The white light fades, to a double zoom side view of Kō lying on her back, Mō and Aroha are present. They in a temporary hut, with people sitting outside, around their own small fires. It’s raining lightly.

Kōtiro has just witnessed first hand the sky father, Rangi, hurdling toward the earth mother, which is the ultimate goal of the antagonist Tawhiri. This is what will happen if Kō fails.

(Thanks to Richard for the idea to make this scene a vision!)
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Impact Subplot Setup #1 (Warrior Moko)

Scene Purpose:
-Main Character and impact disagree over their basic nature/way of doing things.
-Ingo tries to manipulate Kō to his point of view about Duty
-Explain Kō’s new shoulder moko

Mōhio and Aroha are with Kō in the hut.

Mōhio tells Kō that he needs to change her bandages. While she was passed out, he wrapped wet seaweed over the burns on her shoulders.

Mō unwraps the bandages very carefully. He unwraps toward the camera, so he can see what’s underneath, but the viewer cannot.

Mō and Aroha gasp at the same time.

Ingo: Impossible!

Alarmed, Kō sits up. Camera switches to front view of Kō, sitting up in bed, looking down at her shoulders. They are covered in intricate moko.

Mō: you have been marked, my child!

Kō: What is it?

Aroha: Whaitere! The manta, Kō, do you remember? Our love gave you these!

Ingo: You’re wrong, these are not for love.

Kō: What then?

Ingo: … These are the marks of war. Of warriors. There must be a mistake.

Mō: your tahonga knows of these things. We shoul–

Ingo: No, he will not know.

Mō: But, he’s a great lore master and seer, this–

Ingo: I said he doesn’t know! I know the one who will.

Kō: Who then?

Ingo: The one called Mataora. He will know what this moko means.

Ingo knows these are the marks of a chosen warrior, and he knows his tahonga will understand them, but he’s embarrassed that Kō has them while he doesn’t. Also, he’s jealous of Aroha, and wants to prove to Kō that her crush will not work out of the best–he happens to know that Mataora and his wife are miserable together.
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Impact Subplot Setup #2 (Mataora’s Swamp)

Scene Purpose:
-Main Character and impact disagree over their basic nature/way of doing things.
-Ingo tries to manipulate Kō to his point of view about Duty
-Explain Kō’s new shoulder moko

[Kō travels to Mataora on Ingo’s instruction, through a swamp. Meanwhile, the remaining members of her village travel to One Tree Hill, Ingo's home, a fortified town. This needs to be fleshed out.]
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Impact Subplot Escalation #1 (Tutelage of Mataora)

Scene Purpose:
-Main Character and partner disagreement escalates into conflict

Kō arrives at the home of Mataora and his wife Niwarkea.

Legend has it that the human man, Mataora once beat his supernatural wife. She ran to the home of her father Uetonga. After trials, tribulations, and begging for forgiveness, she took him back, and her father taught him the art of moko. He is therefore the source of knowledge for all human moko.

Ingo knows this. He also knows that Mataora and his wife are miserable. They had a lover’s affair, and now they are stuck together and hate each other. Ingo sent Kō here not to learn about moko, which Ingo’s tohunga could have taught her, but to see how miserable “love” can make people.

Kō is educated about her moko: Mataora explains that the moko is the mark of a chosen warrior. One gives her power over water, and the other power over fire. She can now swim underwater without being overcome, and she can pass through non-magical fire without being burned.

Also, the moko gives her access to the whole range of abilities via the figurines described in the ability system.
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Impact Subplot Escalation #2 (Niwarkea’s Rage)

Scene Purpose:
-Main Character and partner disagreement escalates into conflict

When Mataora has finished explaining everything, his wife comes home and finds Kō there. She immediately flies into a rage, thinking Mataora is being unfaithful. A fight ensues, which Kō narrowly escapes when Mataora shows her a water hole which has an underground waterway out of there.
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Impact Subplot Escalation #3 (Back to the Hapū)

Scene Purpose:
-Main Character and partner disagreement escalates into conflict

Kō travels to One Tree Hill to meet with her family.
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Impact Subplot Escalation #4 (Ingo’s Lie)

Scene Purpose:
-Main Character and partner disagreement escalates into conflict

Upon arriving, Kō is greeted by Ingo’s tohunga. He immediately notices Kō’s moko, and

Tohunga: Who gave you these moko?

Kō: I gained them from a battle with water–

Togunga: and fire, yes, I can see. These are warrior moko–they give you–

Kō: Mana. Yes, the mana to command the elements. You knew all this?

Tohunga: Why, yes. Who told you?

Kō: Mataora told me. I was sent there by–[Kō realizes at this moment that Ingo has sent her on a wild goose chase]–Ingo! [directed at Ingo].

Why did you send me there? To get lost? To die?

Ingo: No, n–

Kō: I was nearly killed by his crazy wife!

Ingo:… I… how was I to know that they were so unhappy together?

Kō: You… I never said anything about them, I said she attacked me. You knew–you sent me there to teach me a lesson, to make me doubt my love. Well I won’t learn your coward’s lesson, asshole.

(Later)

[Dialog: Mō explains the whole story of Mataora and his wife. Kō and Aroha have a conversation about them:

Kō: Such a waste. It’s sad to see such a love broken.

Aroha: Poor people. That won’t ever happen to us…

Kō: … of course not.
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Plot Point 1 #1 (Rauamoko is Upset)

Scene Purpose:
-Event that turns the Normal World upside-down, propels the story in a new direction, raises the stakes, and defines the specific plot goal.

The next morning, a meeting is held with all the travelers who continue to pour into the village. Kō watches from a nearby bluff. She’s not invited because she is a woman.

Camera pans from Kō’s vantage point, to the meeting a few feet below.

Man: All of our food, gone! Our forests, reduced to ash!

Man #2: And ours! Ash pollutes the bay nearby, a smoky cloud of soot has overcome the elderly where I’m from.

Tohunga: So this madness is everywhere. What does it mean?

Mōhio: All across the plateau, the world shakes at its foundations. Volcanoes are angry, and titans awaken. That is the cradle of the infant god…

Tohunga: Rauamoko the unborn, yes. But why does he quake in the womb? What has upset him?

Camera pans back to Kō. Kimo twinkles, and zooms away, asking Kō to follow the trail.
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Plot Point 1 #2 (Kōtiro follows Kimo)

Scene Purpose:
-Event that turns the Normal World upside-down, propels the story in a new direction, raises the stakes, and defines the specific plot goal.

Kō follows through scrub, until she reaches an overlook.
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Plot Point 1 #3 (The Wind Lies)

Scene Purpose:
-Event that turns the Normal World upside-down, propels the story in a new direction, raises the stakes, and defines the specific plot goal.

Below her, she can see dust storms across the plains, and browning forests.

A voice calls out nearby. A two faces form in the ferns and plants.

Face #1: Deceit!

Face #2: Lies!

Kō: Who are you?

Face #1: We heard the whispers that angered our baby brother so

Face #2: Yes, the lying whispers on the wind.

Kō: What whispers?

Face #1: A plot to kill the unborn one, the whispers said.

Face #2: Our plot! But it’s lies.

Face #1: They say we want to reach down into the earth

Face #2: Reach into his very womb!

Face #1: Strangle him!

Face #2: Yes, silence his beating heart.

Face #1: And take his place in our mother’s warm embrace.

Face #2: Lies, Deceit.

Face #1: We told him, but the damage was done. He does not listen to reason.

Kō: Whispers told Rauamoko that you were trying to kill him? So that’s why he attacks you! But who?

Face #1: Whooooo….. the wind, it whispers. I heard it whistling

Face #2: Echoing

Face #1: Through a cave it did! Whispering, echoing, until it came upon the womb of our unborn brother.

Face #2: Chosen.

Face #1: By birthright!

Face #2: Don’t fail us.

Kō: What do you– hey, wait!

The plants relax, and the form of the faces disappear. A path of plants or various types spontaneously grows, further up the bluffs.
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Plot Point 1 #4 (Farther Up the Bluffs)

Scene Purpose:
-Event that turns the Normal World upside-down, propels the story in a new direction, raises the stakes, and defines the specific plot goal.

Kō follows the trail of plants up the bluffs.
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Plot Point 1 #5 (Mt. Ruapehu Approaches)

Scene Purpose:
-Event that turns the Normal World upside-down, propels the story in a new direction, raises the stakes, and defines the specific plot goal.

Kō reaches the top of the bluff and the end of the plant trail. The plants seem to form an arrow, while the parallax background comes into view, the arrow is pointing directly at Mt. Ruapehu.

The mountain is actually too far away to see normally, but using a fisheye/zoom effect, Kō will be to see it (by magic).

Since Mt. Ruapehu is too far to actually see, some plants will form a loose sort of frame around the view. The view will zoom in by magic to show the mountain.

After a short delay, a ramp or stairs up to the plant “lens” will form.

Kō climbs the plant stairs, and steps into the lens area.

Plants envelope Kō into a sort of green cocoon. The cocoon pulls itself into the ground. A path of lush plants forms, traveling down the cliff, past the village, then we get the sense that some time and distance has passed. A scene fades in of a craggy mountain side, and the plant path forms from the bottom of the screen, stops in the middle on solid ground, and the cocoon reemerges from the ground, leaving Kō standing in the middle of some dense foliage.
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Plot Point 1 #6 (Descent to the Womb)

Scene Purpose:
-Event that turns the Normal World upside-down, propels the story in a new direction, raises the stakes, and defines the specific plot goal.

Kō begins at the base of the mountain, and climbs. She enters the mountain through the blown top, and makes her way farther and farther down, through the caves, deeper and deeper, into the heart of the world, where there is lava and hot gas.

Kō arrives at the womb of Ruaumoko.
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Plot Point 1 #7 (Ruaumoko is Silenced)

Scene Purpose:
-Event that turns the Normal World upside-down, propels the story in a new direction, raises the stakes, and defines the specific plot goal.

Ruaumoko looks like a giant, demented fetus. He can shake the ground and cause lava to surge.

Kō can either kill him/knock him out with fire, or just block his lava tunnels with water/lava rock.

Kō defeats Ruaumoko.
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Reflection & Doubt (Aroha is Afraid)

Scene Purpose:
Something happens to cause Kōtiro to doubt her ability to achieve the story goal.

It’s unclear to Kō why Tāwhiri lied to Ruaumoko.

When Kō reports back that Ruaumoko has been silenced, Ingo berates her in front of everyone saying that she shouldn’t have gone on her own, that she shouldn’t have offended the gods. Kō is deflated because her just risked her life and as far as she knows she saved the world, but no one gives a shit.

She leaves to be alone.

Kō sits on a sea cliff, overlooking the ocean in the purple twilight. Camera faces the ocean, with a silhouette of Kō sitting. Tree overhanging the middle screen right. Aroha enters screen left, and sits next to Kō.

Aroha: My brave Kō… I’m proud of you.

Kō: …

Aroha: Hey, look on the bright side, you can stay home now. With me.

Kō: I don’t want to stay home.

Aroha: …

Kō: Don’t look at me that way… you know what I mean. Will those slouches protect us?

Aroha: Kōtiro, you’ve done enough. You’ve risked enough.

Kō: Do you remember when we were little, [enemy whanu] attacked us on a fishing trip. Took Mōhio’s eye?

Aroha: I was small, but I remember them carrying Mōhio back. I had nightmares… I didn’t sleep for days, I was afraid they would come and take my eye.

Kō: No one could’ve taken your eye. The men, they didn’t even discuss it. That very day, they hunted the enemy down. Attacked in the night. They devoured our enemy so not even their spirits could haunt us.

Aroha: This is different!

Kō stands.

Kō: Why? Because the enemy is too great? Because we are too weak to take rightful revenge for our village? For our family?

Aroha: …

Aroha stands, looking at the ground.

Aroha: I love you Kō, and I’m scared. Do what you have to do, I’ll be here waiting.

Aroha turns and shuffles away.

Kō: AHHHHRRRR…..

Kō yells and throws a fire ball at the tree, screen right, lighting it on fire.

Camera overlooks seacliff pulled way back, with the dim and fading sunset at the top of the shot, the burning tree and smoke in the middle (small), One Tree Hill visible at the bottom right.

Shot “stop time” fades from night to morning–moon revolves, tree stops burning, it becomes light out, but it is overcast.
(View scene page)
Rising Action #1 (Pouakai Strikes)

Scene Purpose:
Kōtiro feels compelled to make decisions/take action toward the story goal.

Kō wakes up on the seacliff, and sits up. For a moment she doesn’t move, instead just looking downward. She sighs, then stands up.

Kō goes down to the town through a screen or two, through the town, with people going about their business. She comes to Aroha, sitting outside a hut. While Kō is traveling through those screens, the wind is making a strange noise, that Kō might even comment (to herself or Kimo) on.

Kō is walking to the right, and when she hits a certain spot, a scripted sequence begins — the camera moves further right, putting Kō screen left, and Aroha screen right. Aroha stands up, and crosses her arms.

Kō: Aroha… I don’t want you to be scared anymore.

Aroha lets her arms down, and moves her body as if to say “Well, okay then, I forgive you!”, and trots forward, arms outstretched.

Just before she reaches Kō, a giant flying beast drops like a rock onto her from above. The thing screeches, knocking Kō backward. The beast launches upward, carrying Aroha helplessly in its talons.

Kō is on the ground, with one arm holding her body partially upright.
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Rising Action #2 (Kōtiro in Pursuit)

Scene Purpose:
Kōtiro feels compelled to make decisions/take action toward the story goal.

The only button that works is the movement button pointing in the direction of the bird monster. Pushing it will get Kō to her feet, and cause her to run forward. Stopping or pushing a different button will cause Kō to swoon or act disoriented–the only option is to move forward off this screen.

Kō pursues the bird, who is always just a little ahead of her. She pursues the bird up a hillside, and whenever she reaches a new screen, the bird flies a little farther.

Eventually Kō reaches the base of a tall tree, and she has to climb from branch to branch to reach the top, where she finds the nest of the bird, with babies.
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Rising Action #3 (Pouakai Defeated)

Scene Purpose:
Kōtiro feels compelled to make decisions/take action toward the story goal.

The bird has Aroha and will drop her into the nest for the babies to feed on. The nest is out of reach for Kō, but she can lob a fire ball at the bird, causing the bird to fling Aroha from her mouth (Aroha lands safely but is out of reach, and presumably unconscious).

The bird comes down after Kō. Kō must dodge the bird who is now trying to dive bomb her or swoop horizontally across the screen.

If Kō uses fire magic she can kill the bird, who crashes into the tree in such a way as you allow access to the area Aroha is laying. Once Kō reaches Aroha they can descend the tree together.

If Kō uses Repel or Bubble water magic, she can cause the bird to crash into the tree, granting access (by a broken branch or maybe by the body of the bird itself) to Aroha. When Kō reaches Aroha, they can make their way down the tree, but the bird is still alive. At the base of the tree, the bird finally leaves Kō and Aroha alone. Aroha is saved, and the bird lives.

Depending on whether you kill the bird, something should change in the future. Maybe you have to fight a different monster later on. If the bird lives, you find that monster already dead by the bird. Maybe you meet the baby birds at some point, and they are either friendly or aggressive depending on whether you killed their mother.
(View scene page)
Raising The Stakes (Kōtiro addresses the Iwi)

Scene Purpose:
The Antagonist causes an event or decision which makes the goal harder to reach, and more dangerous for the Protagonist/Main Character.

I somehow need to tie in “wind” with the previous scene. Wind whispered to Ruaumoko that Haumia and Rongo were trying to kill him. Then the wind whispered to the eagle beast to take Aroha. The reason is that Tāwhiri took notice when Kō defeated Ruaumoko, and thought he could get rid of her by sicking the bird on her.

Kō arrives back to town with Aroha in tow. Mōhio and others quickly gather to greet them and make sure they are alright.

Kō can walk forward but the crowd will follow, like a swarm. If the player walks forward enough, he will reach the communal meeting area, and climb the stairs. The crowd won’t follow onto the stage area.

She can walk forward to where a man is standing, who tells her she cannot address the tribe because she is a woman. She doesn’t stop, and when she reaches the man, who is still speaking, the player is prompted to hit the attack button, which will shove the man off the stage unceremoniously, grabbing the talking stick from him.

Throughout the following dialogue, the wind is getting faster and faster. The sound is picking up, and by the end, debris is flying across the screen.

Kō: I speak by my own mana. You refused before, but you will hear me now if you wish to live.

The crowd murmurs.

Mō: Let the young one speak.

Kō: I was sent to silence the unborn god by the twins Haumia and Rongo. From the very ground they burst before me. They charged me with calming their baby brother, and they told me of whispers on the wind. A wind carried through the cavernous underworld to the ears of the unborn one, to lie to him–to incite him to rage. The wind. I now have heard this wind as well. This malicious wind licking my ears, whispering fear, doubt, and hatred. This is the very wind that carried the bird beast to take revenge on me. I stood in the way. Who is wrathful enough to incite the land to devour itself? The crops and forests to turn to dust? Who is mighty enough to command the very wind and the great beasts who ride it? My family, the enemy who destroyed our home and tries now to destroy me–to destroy us all–is Tāwhirimātea.

The crowd goes nuts, drowning out Kō’s voice.

Ingo: Petulant and blasphemous! Even if you are right, who are any of us to question a god? What do you propose we do?

Kō: A enemy has come upon us unprovoked, and taken our home and families. I propose we act as our fathers acted, and their ancestors before them. I propose we steal upon our enemies in the night, and devour them!

An even bigger uproar than before from the crowd.

Ingo: Stupid girl! Even if we believe your tall tale of Ruaumoko, he was a child god, not even breaching the womb of his mother. How would defeat the wind, fiercest among all his brother save Tū?

Kō: …

Ingo: I thought as much. Why don’t you let–

Kō: Tū.

Ingo: Huh?

Kō: Right you are, Ingoingo. The one mightier than even the wind is Tū. I will find him and put an end to this!

She raises the talking stick above her head, while yelling over the rising wind.

Camera angled up toward Kō who has the talking stick aloft, and the sky in the background. A funnel cloud forms above. The talking stick is sucked quickly from her grasp into the sky, and she looks upward.

Looking back down, right into the camera, she yells: I will find you. Now run!

As she yells “run” she is sucked up into the sky as well. The camera is “knocked” back and continues to back up, showing Aroha stumble backward, and reach out as if to grab Kō even though it’s futile. Mōhio grabs her, and pulls her to run, while people all around are running and being blown around. The camera has panned out to show the crowd running amok, and wind clouds begin the cover the view, whipping past, obscuring the scene below. There is a sense that the camera twists up from showing the ground, to parallel with the ground, and the scene is all gray with whisps.
(View scene page)
Rising Action #1 (Kōtiro ascends the Funnel)

Scene Purpose:
Protagonist/Main Character pursues the goal with increased vigor

The gray clears, as the camera pans upward, revealing Kō being tossed around in the wind, until she finally grabs a large piece of debris, like part of a wall or hut, or maybe a big tree trunk.

Kō makes her way along pieces of debris, upward into the sky. Not sure how the physics will work, maybe just normal but with moving platforms, maybe more like clinging on for dear life. She’s compelled forward by Kimo who was sucked up with her, but who is not strong enough to withstand the winds. Kō climbs upward to rescue Kimo, but each time she gets close, Kimo loses grip once again and goes farther up the funnel.

Eventually they reach a hut that’s still almost in tact. It has 4 walls, and Kō can sit inside of it while the player can see through it since it has no roof or floor. She picks up Kimo.
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Rising Action #2 (Tāwhiri Speaks)

Scene Purpose:
Protagonist/Main Character pursues the goal with increased vigor

Kō yells into the wind.

Kō: If you intend to kill me you’d better do it now! I will not be as merciful to you!

Kō is facing away from the camera and throws fire magic into the cloud in front of her, ineffectually.

The camera zooms slowly outward, and there’s a sound like a chortle, or just “hmm.” The tornado is center screen, and we can now see it’s held like a marionette by a vague hand-shaped cloud. Eyes open in the cloud bank behind the scene (in other words, camera in foreground, tornado and Kō are mid ground, eyes and cloud bank are background).

The eyes open low on the screen, and move to reveal that there’s a face that was looking down. The face looks up at the tornado, and cocks its head, as if curious. The face fills the screen and Kō is barely visible at this zoom level. The gaze of the face wanders away for a moment, and a tiny fireball can be seen hitting the cheek of the face, which makes the face snap back to attention.

Tāwhiri: Hah! There you are. Saved your bug, I see. What a curious, selfish creature you are…

Kō: Wha… who’s selfish? I stand to avenge my family and my home! I alone stand against your destruction, while you lay siege to the world! You are the selfish one!

Tāwhiri: Small minded, and impetuous. You use your mouth to curse me for ending your life, while using your hands to end the lives of the creatures you devour and leave in your self-righteous wake, hypocrite. Don’t you have any compassion? Don’t you believe in love?

Kō: …er, of course I believe in love! I love my family, I love my Aroha… what difference does it make to you? What does that have to do with anything?

Tāwhiri: Love has everything to do with it, foolish girl. It was from the fountain of love that I sprang, along with my brothers. It is they—and you as well—who do not value love.

Kō: I don’t understand…

Tāwhiri: Of course you don’t, mortal. What would you know of great love? With your petty infatuations, and short lives, you children of Tiki could not possibly fathom the infinite depths of true love. Pathetic!

Kō: What true love? What are you talking about?

Tāwhiri: So great was my father’s love that he filled the entire world with tears when my heartless brother Tāne pushed him away from my mother. The primordial embrace of infinite cosmic love torn apart… and for what? Light? Comfort? The likes of you and your kind?

Kō: I…

Tāwhiri: I grow tired of your sniveling! Just as you would crush every child of Tangaroa—every eel, every manta, every fish—to nourish your love, Aroha, so would I end you in the name of love!

Tāwhirimātea’s mouth opens wide, it’s black inside except for a massive lightning storm. Cloud hands look as though they are trying to scoop the tornado, and Kō into the mouth.

The camera pans into the mouth, close enough to clearly make out Kō struggling to hold Kimo in one hand, and the hut in the other. Kimo begins to glow, then envelopes both she and Kō in a bright light. The glowing ball flashes, forcing Tāwhiri to flinch away.
(View scene page)
Rising Action (Escape to Ngongotaha)

Scene Purpose:
Protagonist/Main Character escapes Antagonist’s clutches.

A wide angle landscape shows a massive, black, hurricane-like storm system on one side of the shot. A mountain sits on the other side of the screen. In the foreground, on the ground below Kō’s people can be seen trekking away. A brilliant flash of white lights comes from the storm system, and what looks like a comet shoots from the center of the storm, to the top of the mountain in the background.

A shot of a stone terrace with forest and what look like temples in the background. The white light zips into the center of the shot, glows there for a moment, then fades to reveal Kō and Kimo. Kimo falls to the ground a moment later, followed closely by Kō crumpling.

Kō can crawl forward to Kimo, and pick her up with the action button. She can then continue crawling forward, until she shortly reaches what looks like a throne with another, smaller throne next to it.

A large group of fair skinned people seems to materialize out of thin air, surrounding Kō on all sides.

Kō gets up when the player presses the jump button. She can try to attack but all attacks with reflect off the man in front of her harmlessly. He’ll say something like “Now now, we’re not your enemy.” If the player uses a defensive spell, he’ll say “You have nothing to fear from us, lost one.” If she does nothing but tries to move, she’ll stagger forward.

Regardless of whether Kō casts a spell or staggers a bit, eventually she’ll fall backward and a woman will materialize right behind her to catch her.

This is Ngongotaha mountain, and Kō finds herself among the patu-paiarehe. She doesn’t know this yet, but Kimo was a patu-paiarehe, and Kō herself is half patu-paiarehe.
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Subplot Point 1 #1 (Ingo shows Bravery)

Scene Purpose:
Partner character goes out on a limb for Main Character, bringing them closer together and changing their relationship.

Mo, Ingo, Aroha, and the rest, are sitting around a campfire.

Ingo: She is a stupid girl.

Aroha: Braver than you, spotted one!

Tuhonga: Silence brat, how dare–

Mohio: Now, now, let the boy speak…

Ingo: A very stupid girl. Still, she is brave. She called Tawhiri to battle, and he accepted. Her mana is true. Then she escaped him like a star–

Tuhonga: We don’t know what that magic was!

Ingo: Don’t be proud father. All who saw it knew that it was Kōtiro escaping the clutches of the wind. She hid among the mist of Ngongotaha mountain.

Tuhonga: Her people…

Mohio: It appears the stories are true. Perhaps our Kōtiro really is patu-paiarehe.

Ingo: Tūrehu or not, she is more headstrong than strong. More courageous than powerful. I will go to save her.

Tuhonga, Mohio, and a few others protest at the same time.

Ingo: I will go with the sun. No one will come with me, you need all the men you can keep.
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Subplot Point 1 #2 (Ingo Travels)

Scene Purpose:
Partner character goes out on a limb for Main Character, bringing them closer together and changing their relationship.

Ingo travels to Ngongotaha mountain. Not sure what the landscape will be like.
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Subplot Point 1 #3 (Ingo Dies)

Scene Purpose:
Partner character goes out on a limb for Main Character, bringing them closer together and changing their relationship.

Ingo fights a boss.

Ingo loses the battle and “dies.”
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Subplot Point 1 #4 (Kōtiro is Touched)

Scene Purpose:
Partner character goes out on a limb for Main Character, bringing them closer together and changing their relationship.

The scene with Ingo segues by zooming out a little and showing the frame of the “magic mirror” being watched by Ko and company.

Kō: He is a stupid boy. A stupid, brave boy…

Ingo has only appeared to die. He can show up later, in the nick of time, and it will be revealed that he survived his ordeal.

That way Kō can feel like a wash of gratitude and regret, and a renewed sense of vigor in her quest.
(View scene page)
Rising Action

Scene Purpose:
Antagonist steps up opposition to the goal

Kō is back with the patu-pariehe, they reveal that she’s part of a line of priestesses of Tu. She was lost to the people of the mist when her mother was killed. Getting her out of the way was Tawhiri’s plan all along, which is why her mother was killed and she was abandoned on the island. Without the priestesses there, Tu was undefended, and he has now gone missing from his usual shrine.

They don’t know where Tu is, however…

The oceans have gone cold, Tangaroa also appears to have gone mad as well.

Something here needs to connect her time on mountain to the ocean scene. How does she get home? How does she actually discover the cooling of the ocean? How does she decide that Tangaroa must be to blame, and how does she decide to go after him?
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Subplot Reflection & Doubt

Scene Purpose:
Main Character holds back from the relationship with the Partner character

Ingo, Resolve: Steadfast. Ingo feels that Love is not enough, it has to be considered in context. He never changes his opinion in the story.

Ko meets Ingo again. She excited to see him, but cuts off her own excitement. Maybe he tries to hug her, and she becomes “all business” after that.

This scene happens too soon after Ingo “dies.” I need to move it somehow.
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Rising Action

Scene Purpose:
Antagonist goes after Protagonist/Main Character

–The Antagonist is directly opposed to the Protagonist and seeks to prevent the Protagonist from achieving the goal. Through mental effort, the Antagonist gets others to Reconsider their attempts to attain the Overall Story Goal. Using physical effort, the Antagonist tries to Prevent or Avoid the Overall Story Goal from being achieved.

–Character and Plot Dynamics: Limit — Optionlock
Kō is just a little human, she must find and employ the help of gods to stop Tāwhiri. She will try several things, until at last she has no option but to [go to the underworld to retreive the last piece?].

–Plot Information: Goal — The Future
To stop Tāwhiri from destroying the world by bringing his parents back together. His parents’ bodies touching would crush the universe.

–Plot Information: Requirements — How Things are Changing
Tū must be reassembled, which means collecting all his body parts and literally putting them back together. Maybe Kō will also be saving people along the way, and securing encampments against enemies.

The ocean has cooled, and the fish have disappeared. It seems like Tangaroa has now gone mad as well, so Kō will have to go find and stop him as well.

maybe because of the cooling ocean, some kind of huge creature emerges from the water (something like what rolled over the first village?), and it looks like it was sent to attack. In reality, it was just trying to escape the frigid water.

Ko must go into the ocean to stop Tangaroa from cooling it any more.

She succeeds at warming the ocean, and Tangaroa tells her she’s a dumbass, and that with a warm ocean, Tawhiri is free to start a hurricane and cause a tsunami that will knock over the world tree.

Tangaroa laments that even his brother Tu can’t stop Tawhiri now.

Ko: You know where Tu is?

Tangaroa: Of course. He is slain, and his head is Whiro’s prize now.

Kotiro decides to go to Whiro and take Tu’s head back.
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Subplot Development

Scene Purpose:
Partner character’s actions cause a setback in the relationship with the Main Character.

Impact Character: Problem — Avoidance

Main vs. Impact: Throughline — Fixed Attitude

Plot Information: Dividends — Obtaining
Kō finds an inner strength she did not know she had.
Aroha is terrified of losing Kō. At the same time, one of the reason she loves Kō is Kō’s strength and power. So while Kō is out fighting, Aroha finds herself more deeply in love and admiration for Kō.
Ingo, although Kō makes him angry by violating his traditional sensibilities, discovers how to unlock his own desires by watching Kō go after hers. His sense of duty is perhaps too strong, and he comes to learn the value of following his heart. This is why, at the end, when Kō and Aroha are together, he will be able to reveal his own secret love and desire.

Main vs. Impact: Signpost 1 — Contemplation

The water creature is defeated, Kō wants to go into the water to stop Tangaroa. Ingo wants to do it instead, but cannot go that deep. Aroha wants her to stay.
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Subplot Development

Scene Purpose:
Main Character mends rift with Partner character.

Character and Plot Dynamics: Approach — Do-er
The problem of the story is really a physical issue, so she has to burn, smash, and fight her way through to get the objects and information she needs to prevail against Tāwhiri. Thinking about it won’t help her at all.

Main Character: Problem — Reconsider
Kō fiercely believes in love, but she must reconsider her quest when she realizes what Tāwhiri is trying to do, and is deciding to stop him, she must reconsider her position on love.

Plot Information: Preconditions — Playing a Role
Kō must play the role of someone duty bound to stop love, even though she is internally torn up by the situation.
(View scene page)
Rising Action

Scene Purpose:
Protagonist/Main Character seeks to bypass Antagonist.

Tāwhiri: Activities
–The Antagonist is directly opposed to the Protagonist and seeks to prevent the Protagonist from achieving the goal. Through mental effort, the Antagonist gets others to Reconsider their attempts to attain the Overall Story Goal. Using physical effort, the Antagonist tries to Prevent or Avoid the Overall Story Goal from being achieved.

Impact Character: Concern — Changing One’s Nature

Ko travels through the secret ocean passage to the underworld, with the sting ray helping her.

She goes into the darkness, maybe Kimo can light the way, the subterranean fires do the rest

Ko fights Whiro for the head of Tu. He prizes it highly, so this is a tough fight.

She succeeds, and leaves the underworld with the head of Tu.

In one part of the underworld there is a huge door. Maybe the obsidian vagina of Hinenuitepo? We’ll come back to this later.
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Subplot Development

Scene Purpose:
Partner character makes effort to help Main Character.

Kōtiro (Protagonist): Activities
–The Protagonist is the prime mover of the Overall Story, the one seeking the goal. Through mental effort, he/she is the one that Considers the Overall Story Goal, and influences others to also consider it. Using physical effort, he/she is the one that leads the charge towards the Overall Story Goal, and rallies others to follow him/her in his/her physical Pursuit.

Mōhio (Guardian): Activities
–The Guardian is the helper/teacher who provides a sense of conscience to the Overall Story. Through mental effort, his/her strong sense of Conscience influences the conscience of others in the Overall Story. Using physical effort, the Guardian provides Help for the efforts to achieve the Overall Story Goal.

Impact Character: Problem — Avoidance
He wants to avoid a bad outcome with Kō, so he’s unwillig to put his foot down and forbid her love even though he feels it’s the right thing to do.

Plot Information: Preconditions — Playing a Role
Kō must play the role of someone duty bound to stop love, even though she is internally torn up by the situation.

Impact Character: Signpost 2 — Developing a Plan
(View scene page)
Subplot Development

Scene Purpose:
Main Character’s interest captured by another competing character, to dismay of Partner character.

Main Character: Throughline — Activity
her main personal issue is being able to freely love Aroha. She’s not allowed to because women can’t marry other women, and Kō is already betrothed to Ingo. Kō believes that love is the most important thing, above the politics surrounding her betrothal, yet she has to fight Tāwhiri to stop him from bringing lovers back together because in that case, love is NOT the most important thing.

Main Character: Problem — Reconsider
Kō fiercely believes in love, but she must reconsider her quest when she realizes what Tāwhiri is trying to do, and is deciding to stop him, she must reconsider her position on love.

Synopses: M/I Backstory
(Ko and Ingo backstory)
(View scene page)
Subplot Development

Scene Purpose:
Main Character and Partner character work together as a true team.

Main Character: Concern — Obtaining
Her world will be destroyed if she cannot obtain all the pieces of Tū, so he can defeat Tāwhiri.
Maybe in a way, she’s hoping to “obtain” Mōhio’s blessing for her forbidden love.

Main Character: Problem — Reconsider
Kō fiercely believes in love, but she must reconsider her quest when she realizes what Tāwhiri is trying to do, and is deciding to stop him, she must reconsider her position on love.

Main vs. Impact: Issue — Closure
Kō wants a final judgment from Mōhio either way. Mōhio withholds because he thinks Kō will come to her own conclusions, and that his blessing will become irrelevent. (Mohio is no longer the impact character, Ingo is)

Plot Information: Dividends — Obtaining
Kō finds an inner strength she did not know she had.
Aroha is terrified of losing Kō. At the same time, one of the reason she loves Kō is Kō’s strength and power. So while Kō is out fighting, Aroha finds herself more deeply in love and admiration for Kō.
Ingo, although Kō makes him angry by violating his traditional sensibilities, discovers how to unlock his own desires by watching Kō go after hers. His sense of duty is perhaps too strong, and he comes to learn the value of following his heart. This is why, at the end, when Kō and Aroha are together, he will be able to reveal his own secret love and desire.

Main vs. Impact: Signpost 2 — Memories

Impact Character: Approach
Kō has to do things to stop the world from ending. Mōhio can’t do anything, he can only talk and think, because he’s dead (or maybe just incapacitated). (Mohio isn’t the impact. How does Ingo’s approach differ from Ko’s?)
(View scene page)
Subplot Raising the Stakes

Scene Purpose:
Main Character and Partner character relationship tested/questioned by other character trying to drive a wedge between them.

Character and Plot Dynamics: Approach — Do-er
The problem of the story is really a physical issue, so she has to burn, smash, and fight her way through to get the objects and information she needs to prevail against Tāwhiri. Thinking about it won’t help her at all. Main Character: Concern — Obtaining
Her world will be destroyed if she cannot obtain all the pieces of Tū, so he can defeat Tāwhiri.
Maybe in a way, she’s hoping to “obtain” Mōhio’s blessing for her forbidden love.

Main Character: Critical Flaw — Responsibility
Hopeless Romance

Main Character: Signpost 3 — Obtaining

← Subplot Development | Rising Action →
(View scene page)
Rising Action

Scene Purpose:
Antagonist presses the issue.

Tāwhiri: Activities
–The Antagonist is directly opposed to the Protagonist and seeks to prevent the Protagonist from achieving the goal. Through mental effort, the Antagonist gets others to Reconsider their attempts to attain the Overall Story Goal. Using physical effort, the Antagonist tries to Prevent or Avoid the Overall Story Goal from being achieved.

Overall: Throughline — Situation
Most want to stop the destruction of the world.
The situation is that with Tū incapacitated, no one can stop Tāwhiri from crushing the world with the bodies of his parents.

Plot Information: Requirements — How Things are Changing
Tū must be reassembled, which means collecting all his body parts and literally putting them back together. Maybe Kō will also be saving people along the way, and securing encampments against enemies.

Tawhiri gathers a storm over the ocean. How does this affect Kotiro? Where does she exit Whiro’s lair?
(View scene page)
Subplot Development

Scene Purpose:
Partner character proves worthiness to Main Character.

Kōtiro (Protagonist): Activities
–The Protagonist is the prime mover of the Overall Story, the one seeking the goal. Through mental effort, he/she is the one that Considers the Overall Story Goal, and influences others to also consider it. Using physical effort, he/she is the one that leads the charge towards the Overall Story Goal, and rallies others to follow him/her in his/her physical Pursuit.
she’s trying to save her love interest at first, and finds herself responsible for a greater and greater number of people and creatures as time progresses.

Mōhio (Guardian): Activities
–The Guardian is the helper/teacher who provides a sense of conscience to the Overall Story. Through mental effort, his/her strong sense of Conscience influences the conscience of others in the Overall Story. Using physical effort, the Guardian provides Help for the efforts to achieve the Overall Story Goal.

Main Character: Critical Flaw — Responsibility
Hopeless Romance

Impact Character: Problem — Avoidance
He wants to avoid a bad outcome with Kō, so he’s unwilling to put his foot down and forbid her love even though he feels it’s the right thing to do.

Main vs. Impact: Throughline — Fixed Attitude
Mōhio knows the best thing for Kō to do in terms of her love struggle, and in terms of her physical quest, but he’ll only giver her enough information to get her to the next portion of her journey.
Mōhio knows that exuberant love isn’t enough to sustain a relationship, and Kō will come to learn that.

Plot Information: Dividends — Obtaining
Kō finds an inner strength she did not know she had.
Aroha is terrified of losing Kō. At the same time, one of the reason she loves Kō is Kō’s strength and power. So while Kō is out fighting, Aroha finds herself more deeply in love and admiration for Kō.
Ingo, although Kō makes him angry by violating his traditional sensibilities, discovers how to unlock his own desires by watching Kō go after hers. His sense of duty is perhaps too strong, and he comes to learn the value of following his heart. This is why, at the end, when Kō and Aroha are together, he will be able to reveal his own secret love and desire.

Plot Information: Preconditions — Playing a Role
Kō must play the role of someone duty bound to stop love, even though she is internally torn up by the situation.
(View scene page)
Raising the Stakes

Scene Purpose:
The Antagonist causes an event or decision which makes the goal seem impossible to reach, and makes disaster likely for the Protagonist/Main Character if he/she tries.

Character and Plot Dynamics: Limit — Optionlock
Plot Information: Costs — Changing One’s Nature
Kō has to ignore her core impulse to love by fighting against it. She lose some innocence in the process.

Aroha wants to support Kō in her quest, but also hates seeing her in constant danger of death. Maybe there’s a tension here where at some point Aroha will demand Kō stop, but Kō will go on despite Aroha’s feelings. In this way, Aroha will succumb to her feelings instead of her normal mode of applying reason to a situation — logically, Kō MUST go on or everyone will die, but Aroha is overcome with anxiety, and has something like an emotional meltdown which forces Kō to explicitly choose duty over love in that circumstance.

Ingo is a brute who must come to terms with the fact that his “wife to be” does not need him to be “the man” of the relationship, and the farther Kō goes, and the more she succeeds in her quest, the more immasculine he feels. He has to learn that men are not superior to women in order to make peace with the situation.

Mōhio fears losing Kō both physically and emotionally. Everything that happens that pushes Kō toward her more balanced outlook makes Mōhio feel sort of guilty — he’s glad that she’s seeing things his way, but feels like her innocence was valuable, or in his heart of hearts wishes “true love” really could conquer all.

Tāwhiri assaults the World Tree.

He gathers a storm over the water, then dips under the water, emerging moments later with an erupting volcano. He is part of the ash cloud, like he’s tall and skinny, with his head near the top. He stretches out his arms to either side, with massive lightning erupts from them. He directs the wind toward the world tree, on land. Shot from the vantage point of the world tree, the ocean receeds quickly, leaving crags and sea creatures flopping around.

Switch to a shot of the characters in an “oh shit” moment. (Where are they? How can they see it but not be killed by the incoming wave? )

Shot switches back to view of the ocean, Tawhiri towering in the background, the world tree is buffeted by gales , and a swell begins to rise out of the ocean. Up and up and up, until it towers, dwarfing everything on land, nearly as tall as the world tree itself.

The wave slams into the tree, cracking it in half.

I want to justify the raising volcano somehow–the tsunami image is just too good not to do.

Also, I may have to move most of this to the all is lost scene–if the tree breaks right now, the sky will fall pretty much right away, but we want Maui to have been rescued first.

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Subplot Development

Scene Purpose:
Main Character and Partner character relationship is comfortable, running smoothly now.

Plot Information: Dividends — Obtaining
Kō finds an inner stregth she did not know she had.
Aroha is terrified of losing Kō. At the same time, one of the reason she loves Kō is Kō’s strength and power. So while Kō is out fighting, Aroha finds herself more deeply in love and admiration for Kō.
Ingo, although Kō makes him angry by violating his traditional sensibilities, discovers how to unlock his own desires by watching Kō go after hers. His sense of duty is perhaps too strong, and he comes to learn the value of following his heart. This is why, at the end, when Kō and Aroha are together, he will be able to reveal his own secret love and desire.

Impact Character: Resolve — Steadfast
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Subplot Point 2

Scene Purpose:
The ultimate test of the relationship. How far will Main Character and Partner character go to commit to each other…?

Character and Plot Dynamics: Problem-Solving Style — Logical
She approaches problems directly, e.g., when she discovers that Tū has been torn apart by Tāwhiri, she reacts by finding out where the pieces are held, and going to find them. When arguing her position to Mōhio about Aroha, she uses logic to call attention to what she considers silly, outdated rules about marriage.

Main Character: Problem — Reconsider
Kō fiercely believes in love, but she must reconsider her quest when she realizes what Tāwhiri is trying to do, and is deciding to stop him, she must reconsider her position on love.

Main Character: Solution — Consider
She must consider that the context of love really is important, not just love itself.

Main Character: Critical Flaw — Responsibility
Hopeless Romance

Impact Character: Solution — Pursuit
If he was willing to go to the other iwi and negotiate a change in the betrothal directly, that could solve his problems.

Main vs. Impact: Concern — Innermost Desires
Kō wants love more than anything, Mōhio needs her to see the bigger picture of the iwi.

Main vs. Impact: Issue — Closure
Kō wants a final judgment from Mōhio either way. Mōhio withholds because he thinks Kō will come to her own conclusions, and that his blessing will become irrelevant.

Impact Character: Signpost 3 — Changing One’s Nature
Main vs. Impact: Signpost 3 — Impulsive Responses
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Subplot Reflection & Doubt

Scene Purpose:
Both Main Character and Partner character worry that their relationship will not work out.

Character and Plot Dynamics: Resolve — Change
She changes from 100% believing in love above all, to realizing that other factors have to be considered for whether a love is to be allowed.

Impact Character: Resolve — Steadfast
Mōhio’s belief that context is important for love never changes.

Impact Character: Problem-Solving Style
Kō wants to cut the heart of issues logically, and discard anything that doesn’t fit withher framework. Mōhio is more likely to respect old ways because of factors he can’t quite understand –just to assume they are like that for a reason, and so to be more conservative.
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All is Lost

Scene Purpose:
Protagonist/Main Character is running out of time or options now. Achievement of plot goal seems impossible.

Character and Plot Dynamics: Driver — Action
Tāwhiri tricks his brother Tū in order to get the upper hand, and separate him into pieces. That allows him to launch an offensive against the other gods, and disable them one by one, eventually reaching up into the sky to pull the body of Rangi back together with his lover, Papa.

Character and Plot Dynamics: Limit — Optionlock
Kō is just a little human, she must find and employ the help of gods to stop Tāwhiri. She will try several things, until at last she has no option but to [go to the underworld to retrieve the last piece?].

Plot Information: Goal — The Future
To stop Tāwhiri from destroying the world by bringing his parents back together. His parents’ bodies touching would crush the universe.

Overall: Signpost 3 — The Future
Now that the gods are united, and Tū is alive again, they can go about defeating and imprisoning Tāwhiri.

Impact Character: Resolve — Steadfast
Mōhio’s belief that context is important for love never changes.

Tāwhiri successfully topples the world tree. The sky is literally falling.
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Plot Point 2

Scene Purpose:
Event that again propels the story in a new direction, speeds up the action, and asks the Central Question again. Protagonist/Main Character finds new sense of purpose

Tāwhiri: Activities
–The Antagonist is directly opposed to the Protagonist and seeks to prevent the Protagonist from achieving the goal. Through mental effort, the Antagonist gets others to Reconsider their attempts to attain the Overall Story Goal. Using physical effort, the Antagonist tries to Prevent or Avoid the Overall Story Goal from being achieved.

Character and Plot Dynamics: Driver — Action
Tāwhiri tricks his brother Tū in order to get the upper hand, and separate him into pieces. That allows him to launch an offensive against the other gods, and disable them one by one, eventually reaching up into the sky to pull the body of Rangi back together with his lover, Papa.

Plot Information: Goal — The Future
To stop Tāwhiri from destroying the world by bringing his parents back together. His parents’ bodies touching would crush the universe.

Plot Information: Forewarnings — Doing
Enemies become more and more numerous, deadly, and bold as Tāwhiri nears his goal.
Whenever Tāwhiri acts to harm a god, the areas that god is responsible for begin to get worse, with enemies, the land erupting, etc.
Whenever Kō successfully gains a piece of Tū, her enemies become more fierce and agitated.

Impact Character: Resolve — Steadfast
Mōhio’s belief that context is important for love never changes.

Impact Character: Approach
Kō has to do things to stop the world from ending. Mōhio can’t do anything, he can only talk and think, because he’s dead (or maybe just incapacitated).

Impact Character: Problem-Solving Style
Kō wants to cut the heart of issues logically, and discard anything that doesn’t fit withher framework. Mōhio is more likely to respect old ways because of factors he can’t quite understand –just to assume they are like that for a reason, and so to be more conservative.

Ko makes a plan for Ingo to kill her so that she can enter the underworld to fins Maui, who has held up the sky before. She needs to buy some time to finish getting Tu’s body and bring it to Rehua.

This is a choice that explicitly against love: Ko may never come back, and she’s making the ultimate sacrifice to stop love.

Ingo kills Kō so she can go to the underworld to find Maui.

She goes, finds Maui, fights Hine to escape.
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Reflection & Doubt

Scene Purpose:
The Antagonist marshals all his/her forces against the Protagonist/Main Character.

Character and Plot Dynamics: Approach — Do-er
The problem of the story is really a physical issue, so she has to burn, smash, and fight her way through to get the objects and information she needs to prevail against Tāwhiri. Thinking about it won’t help her at all.

Character and Plot Dynamics: Problem-Solving Style — Logical
She approaches problems directly, e.g., when she discoveres that Tū has been torn apart by Tāwhiri, she reacts by finding out where the pieces are held, and going to find them. When arguing her position to Mōhio about Aroha, she uses logic to call attention to what she considers silly, outdated rules about marriage. Main Character: Issue — Approach

Main Character: Problem — Reconsider
Kō fiercely believes in love, but she must reconsider her quest when she realizes what Tāwhiri is trying to do, and is deciding to stop him, she must reconsider her position on love.

Main vs. Impact: Conflict
For there to be any closure on the issue of love, Kō has to reconcile her desires with he sense of duty, and has to make that determination for herself, without Mōhio’s input. Mōhio must gain enough respect for Kō to allow her to do so without interference. That can only happen if Kō stops denying her love/duty, and Mōhio realizes the depth of her love.

Maui is free from the underworld, and he’s holding up the sky, but he’s being buffeted by the wind. There’s not much time until Tawhiri overcomes him.

Maybe this part should be from the perspective of Ingo or Aroha, who see the sky falling and don’t think Ko will return. Then the next scene is when Ko comes back with Maui.
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Rising Action

Scene Purpose:
The Antagonist marshals all his/her forces against the Protagonist/Main Character.

Tāwhiri: Activities
–The Antagonist is directly opposed to the Protagonist and seeks to prevent the Protagonist from achieving the goal. Through mental effort, the Antagonist gets others to Reconsider their attempts to attain the Overall Story Goal. Using physical effort, the Antagonist tries to Prevent or Avoid the Overall Story Goal from being achieved.

Character and Plot Dynamics: Limit — Optionlock
Kō is just a little human, she must find and employ the help of gods to stop Tāwhiri. She will try several things, until at last she has no option but to [go to the underworld to retrieve the last piece?].

Overall: Throughline — Situation
Most want to stop the destruction of the world.
The situation is that with Tū incapacitated, no one can stop Tāwhiri from crushing the world with the bodies of his parents.

At the moment when it appears the sky will begin to crash into the world, Ko emerges from the underworld with Maui in the nick of time. Maul grabs the sky with one hand and grows to massive proportions to hoist it back up into the air. She grabs onto his grass skirt as he’s growing (while it’s still low enough for her to grab from the ground), and ends up dangling from Maui’s massive body.

She must climb his body while wind creatures try to kill her. Some fly and swoop, others just land on the platforms to attack.

She climbs up the skirt, past the abdomen, and face, and eventually up one of Maui’s arms, where she emerges into…
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Rising Action

Scene Purpose:
It’s “kill or be killed” now for the Protagonist/Main Character, who is tested to his/her limits by the Antagonist.

Tāwhiri-mātea: Activities
–The Antagonist is directly opposed to the Protagonist and seeks to prevent the Protagonist from achieving the goal. Through mental effort, the Antagonist gets others to Reconsider their attempts to attain the Overall Story Goal. Using physical effort, the Antagonist tries to Prevent or Avoid the Overall Story Goal from being achieved.

Character and Plot Dynamics: Limit — Optionlock
Kō is just a little human, she must find and employ the help of gods to stop Tāwhiri. She will try several things, until at last she has no option but to [go to the underworld to retreive the last piece?].

Plot Information: Costs — Changing One’s Nature
Kō has to ignore her core impulse to love by fighting against it. She lose some innocence in the process.

Aroha wants to support Kō in her quest, but also hates seeing her in constant danger of death. Maybe there’s a tension here where at some point Aroha will demand Kō stop, but Kō will go on despite Aroha’s feelings. In this way, Aroha will succumb to her feelings instead of her normal mode of applying reason to a situation — logically, Kō MUST go on or everyone will die, but Aroha is overcome with anxiety, and has something like an emotional meltdown which forces Kō to explicitly choose duty over love in that circumstance.

Ingo is a brute who must come to terms with the fact that his “wife to be” does not need him to be “the man” of the relationship, and the farther Kō goes, and the more she succeeds in her quest, the more immasculine he feels. He has to learn that men are not superior to women in order to make peace with the situation.

Mōhio fears losing Kō both physically and emotionally. Everything that happens that pushes Kō toward her more balanced outlook makes Mōhio feel sort of guilty — he’s glad that she’s seeing things his way, but feels like her innocence was valuable, or in his heart of hearts wishes “true love” really could conquer all.

Kō must fight her way through the heavens, until she reaches the top. It would be cool if ancestors were there to help her against the enemies?

Kō finally arrives at the 10th heaven to find Rehua fast asleep. Kō must revive the sleeping Rehua so he can resurrect Tu. She does this while being attacked by Tawhiri’s children.
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Plot & Subplot Climax

Scene Purpose:
In a final struggle, the Protagonist/Main Character defeats the Antagonist to achieve the plot goal (or not), goes out on a limb for the Partner character, and answers the Central Question set up earlier.

Tāwhiri-mātea: Activities
–The Antagonist is directly opposed to the Protagonist and seeks to prevent the Protagonist from achieving the goal. Through mental effort, the Antagonist gets others to Reconsider their attempts to attain the Overall Story Goal. Using physical effort, the Antagonist tries to Prevent or Avoid the Overall Story Goal from being achieved.

Character and Plot Dynamics: Limit — Optionlock
Kō is just a little human, she must find and employ the help of gods to stop Tāwhiri. She will try several things, until at last she has no option but to [go to the underworld to retreive the last piece?].

Character and Plot Dynamics: Outcome — Success
The world is saved, and Tāwhiri is shackled.

Plot Information: Costs — Changing One’s Nature
Kō has to ignore her core impulse to love by fighting against it. She lose some innocence in the process. Aroha wants to support Kō in her quest, but also hates seeing her in constant danger of death. Maybe there’s a tension here where at some point Aroha will demand Kō stop, but Kō will go on despite Aroha’s feelings. In this way, Aroha will succumb to her feelings instead of her normal mode of applying reason to a situation — logically, Kō MUST go on or everyone will die, but Aroha is overcome with anxiety, and has something like an emotional meltdown which forces Kō to explicitly choose duty over love in that circumstance.
Ingo is a brute who must come to terms with the fact that his “wife to be” does not need him to be “the man” of the relationship, and the farther Kō goes, and the more she succeeds in her quest, the more immasculine he feels. He has to learn that men are not superior to women in order to make peace with the situation. Mōhio fears losing Kō both physically and emotionally. Everything that happens that pushes Kō toward her more balanced outlook makes Mōhio feel sort of guilty — he’s glad that she’s seeing things his way, but feels like her innocence was valuable, or in his heart of hearts wishes “true love” really could conquer all.

Plot Information: Consequence — Innermost Desires
the innermost desire of the characters is to live, and see their loved ones live, which won’t happen unless they stop Tāwhiri.

Impact Character: Signpost 4 — Conceiving an Idea

Tu is restored to life.

His head was hidden in the ocean, and while he was dead, fish ate his eyes, so he is blind. Kō must ride on his head and tell him where to strike. (This is maybe a dumb idea. A better one might be to imbue Ko with the spirit of Tu. Tu is supposed to be the wrath of humankind anyway, and in some versions of the story all of humankind in aggregate is Tu’s “body.” This would allow a God of War style show down with Tawhiri on equal terms).

Tu fights Tawhiri with Kō’s help, defeating him.

(I need to tie in Ingo/Aroha, but they are down below? Maybe after the battle Ko falls from heaven so the scene can continue with the rest of the cast?)
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Plot & Subplot Resolution

Scene Purpose:
Loose ends are tied up. Characters start to get on with their lives, now that order has been restored.

Character and Plot Dynamics: Judgment — Good
Kō ends up with Aroha, and hopfully the blessing of her iwi.

Main Character: Issue — Approach

Main Character: Problem — Reconsider
Kō fiercely believes in love, but she must reconsider her quest when she realizes what Tāwhiri is trying to do, and is deciding to stop him, she must reconsider her position on love.

Main Character: Solution — Consider
She must consider that the context of love really is important, not just love itself.

Main vs. Impact: Issue — Closure
Kō wants a final judgement from Mōhio either way. Mōhio withholds because he thinks Kō will come to her own conclusions, and that his blessing will become irrelevent.

Overall: Signpost 4 — How Things are Changing

Main Character: Signpost 4 — Gathering Information

Main vs. Impact: Signpost 4 — Innermost Desires

Main vs. Impact: Conflict
For there to be any closure on the issue of love, Kō has to reconcile her desires with he sense of duty, and has to make that determination for herself, without Mōhio’s input. Mōhio must gain enough respect for Kō to allow her to do so without interference. That can only happen if Kō stops denying her love/duty, and Mōhio realizes the depth of her love.

Impact Character: Approach
Kō has to do things to stop the world from ending. Mōhio can’t do anything, he can only talk and think, because he’s dead (or maybe just incapacitated).

Trees are put back in place to hold the sky.

Kotiro kills herself to be with Aroha.

FIN
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Storyline (All on one page)

Table of Contents

Kōtiro

Pre-plot Notes: Rangi and Papa Reunite

The Normal (Campfire Creation Story)

Introduce Main Character (Forest Chase)

Main Character Goal (Kōtiro meets Ingo)

Setup for Inciting Incident (Manaia is Missing)

Setup for Inciting Incident #2 (Manaia Attacks)

Setup for Inciting Incident #3 (The End Begins)

Inciting Incident (Full Eclipse)

Introduce Love Interest and Impact Character #1 (Burnt Forest)

Introduce Love Interest and Impact Character #2 (Search for Aroha)

Introduce Love Interest and Impact Character #3 (Consumed by the Ocean)

Introduce Love Interest and Impact Character #4 (Underwater Rescue)

Introduce Love Interest and Impact Character #5 (Whaitere Saves the Lovers)

Central Question Raised (Kōtiro’s Vision)

Impact Subplot Setup #1 (Warrior Moko)

Impact Subplot Setup #2 (Mataora’s Swamp)

Impact Subplot Escalation #1 (Tutelage of Mataora)

Impact Subplot Escalation #2 (Niwarkea’s Rage)

Impact Subplot Escalation #3 (Back to the Hapū)

Impact Subplot Escalation #4 (Ingo’s Lie)

Plot Point 1 #1 (Rauamoko is Upset)

Plot Point 1 #2 (Kōtiro follows Kimo)

Plot Point 1 #3 (The Wind Lies)

Plot Point 1 #4 (Farther Up the Bluffs)

Plot Point 1 #5 (Mt. Ruapehu Approaches)

Plot Point 1 #6 (Descent to the Womb)

Plot Point 1 #7 (Ruaumoko is Silenced)

Reflection & Doubt (Aroha is Afraid)

Rising Action #1 (Pouakai Strikes)

Rising Action #2 (Kōtiro in Pursuit)

Rising Action #3 (Pouakai Defeated)

Raising The Stakes (Kōtiro addresses the Iwi)

Rising Action #1 (Kōtiro ascends the Funnel)

Rising Action #2 (Tāwhiri Speaks)

Rising Action (Escape to Ngongotaha)

Subplot Point 1 #1 (Ingo shows Bravery)

Subplot Point 1 #2 (Ingo Travels)

Subplot Point 1 #3 (Ingo Dies)

Subplot Point 1 #4 (Kōtiro is Touched)

Rising Action

Subplot Reflection & Doubt

Rising Action

Subplot Development

Subplot Development

Rising Action

Subplot Development

Subplot Development

Subplot Development

Subplot Raising the Stakes

Rising Action

Subplot Development

Raising the Stakes

Subplot Development

Subplot Point 2

Subplot Reflection & Doubt

All is Lost

Plot Point 2

Reflection & Doubt

Rising Action

Rising Action

Plot & Subplot Climax

Plot & Subplot Resolution

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