Seeing as how I've no time to continue the event and there seems to be no interest from anyone else in picking it up. I figure I'll give it a wrap and reveal the final chapter.
Over a year and a half ago, about around the time Aero 3 ended, storyboards for Aero 4 were brewing. The first seeds of Aero 4 were to come at the end of the Letters series. The final episode which unfortunately never aired due to problems with our audio team's schedule at the time. Syco just was swamped hard with work and it didn't get better for almost a year later. Then on top of that he had some computer issues that compounded it more. It was always a goal of his to get it done and release the final episode but real life wasn't so kind, and by the time Aero 4 was discussed again, it was clear things just weren't happening.
So I'm delivering to you now, what was done of the final Letters to Home episode. There is no music score as it never got completed. Keep in mind, The Letters series takes place during Aero 2. It just aired for Aero 3:
Episode Three: Thin AirOriginal Signal Tower thread is here:
https://gunsoficarus.com/community/forum/index.php/topic,5225.0.htmlSo now...Aero 4...
The Story of Aero 4Aerodrome 4 was scheduled to be dubbed: Fires of Revolution. It was to do a few things to build on the conflict of 3 but mostly it was the world war storyline we had planned. The
Arashi would finally enter into the fray and at the same time we'd have a new conflict in the north erupting around the
Baroness of Everesk. We actually had a voice actress lined up to play her too.
Here is the setting directly from the storyboard doc:
Nash’s plans are coming undone. He’s been backstabbed by an Arashi friend who has known him longer than anyone. With Nash out of the picture, his carefully laid plans for other nations also begin unraveling. Revolution begins in the Fjordlands with the Baroness of Everesk who finally wakes up and wants Nulia’s head. She is joined by the people who support her coup.
Arashi lands have just been succeeded by the son of the former chief. He’s the one who stabs Nash in the back. Instead of playing along with Nash, he decides now is the right time to begin a massive invasion of the Guild.
Yesha gets dragged into helping the Guild. Anglea in turn gets drafted to helping the Baroness in her coup attempt. While Chaladon sides with the king to fight off the Anglean aggression.
To answer the exact details of why the Arashi friend backstabs Nash, it ties into the end clip of the final Letters video which starts Nash's backstory. With the Mercantile War concluded, the focus turns to the antagonist Nash and his plots. Everything at this time seems to be on the up and up.
Nash decides to exit the after party and attend to personal matters. The Anglean hero who, still wants to kill him, secretly follows and we find Nash now in Liro Dunum on personal business visiting a grave. But who is Elena?
Elena ties in directly to who he is because the last name on her grave isn't her last name. It's his. However, they were not married, only arranged to be.
The backstory behind Nash is he was from a former noble's family in the Fjordlands. Lohengramm (+10 if you get the reference) was to be the biggest clue to his identity because the family was killed in an "accident" along with a Chaladonian family many years prior. Nash's family was gaining a lot of attention by their actions with Chaladon. So much so that there was a marriage arranged that many in Lord's Leap hoped would solidify a lasting relationship between Chaladon and the Baronies.
Trouble was, this brought about jealousy, and in the cloak and dagger society of the Baronies, those that wanted them dead found their chance at making that happen.
Elena and Nash meet when they are kids (exact age uncertain, hadn't decided. Doubtful teens. Likely younger). Nash actually isn't his real name although I forget now what his real name was finally going to be. Same with Elena's last name. But needless to say, they both were nuts about each other. The first meeting takes place in Chaladon, followed by a second meeting to decide on more concrete details back in the Fjordlands. This is when tragedy strikes.
It happens midflight on the way back. Nash and Elena actually are off playing around the ship (hide n seek/etc. Elena is hiding). Assassins act, they pretty much kill everyone else easily in their cabins. Nash witnesses it but hides and is missed. Only then the assassins realizing they've missed two. Instead of trying to find the two kids, they decide to just set the ship on fire and have it crash into the sea.
Nash gets out of there, then finds Elena but it is too late to do anything. The assassins are gone and they've sabotaged the controls. The airship does indeed crash. However the kids survive and are rescued by a trader en route to Liro Dunum. Unfortunately Elena isn't in good shape. They're both hurt in the crash, she's worse off than him.
This starts a point where Nash pretty much watches her slowly pass away while in Liro Dunum. There is a lot of heart to heart moments. She's a much more forgiving person that he is. She was very sheltered within Chaladon.
Growing up a Fjordlander is part of that background of his. He's seen more of the evils of the world even at his age.
She's heard of the bad things but never had experienced them herself. So she very idealistic about wanting the conflicts to stop and the reason for assassins to exist to end.
At the core of Nash's plots is this desire to bring a stop to the conflicts. However, he reaches a conclusion on it that she'd never agree with. Partly because he never quite gives up his desire for vengeance.
When he's older he leaves Liro Dunum. Spends a bit of time traveling and seeing the world. This is where he sees how really ugly the world is. Travels from nation to nation, working for some of the more seedier elements trying to find the assassins, which he does eventually catch up to and kill.
After getting that revenge, he pretty much loses his desire to do anything. He believes Elena would hate him now if she saw him, and ends up wandering into Arashi lands where he saves the life of the friend/chief. He's about in his 20s by this time.
There he realizes that no matter of arranged marriages or well wishing would do any good. The only way to stop the madness is to make the madness destroy itself. Or so he believes. He takes this belief to the point he doesn't care about being a villain to the world. In his eyes he'd rather be a villain than a hero with one of those nations. The Arashi friend agrees with him.
So the Arashi friend is very much in on the entire plan from the beginning. Actually backs it and helps Nash get involved with The Bully Boys, a arms dealer/semi criminal enterprise up in Firnfeld that profits off conflicts up there.
This is Nash's entire desire throughout the Aerodrome series. He learns how to manipulate nations and events. Even if something doesn't go his way, he turns it around and uses it to his advantage. One way or another, his goal is to bring down the major nations and force change. Hence in Aero 2 he suddenly starts trying to promote certain heroes of each faction. Even if they end up martyrs, it'll further his goals of changing the power structure of the nations.
So what goes wrong with the friend in Aero 4?The Arashi friend comes to realize a lot of things with the death of his father. Many of those past ideas and plans were not what he ultimately wants. Obtaining the position of power causes him to want to help his people more. He doesn't want to be a villain with Nash after all.
So instead of following Nash's plan, he sides more with a plan that would benefit the League, his own.
Trouble is, this forces him to kill Nash. He knows Nash won't stop otherwise. But more than that, he knows the nations are weak because he knows things are still following Nash's plan. Originally this was to bring about a more peaceful future between the Arashi and Guild, but none of the Arashi trust the new Guild leadership. They see the time to strike their old oppressor The Guild, is now. The friend agrees.
The Aero 4 TrailerIn the Aero 4 opening trailer, you'd get the scene where Nash has been lured to Alleron only to be shot by the friend on the balcony of his home overlooking the city. Nash falls, presumed dead. Friend remorseful yet knows it had to be done.
This brings about a string of events where suddenly he's not there to handle the actors behind the scenes. The Baroness wakes up, The Bully Boys entice her, and she starts her revolution. In the meantime, the Arashi take advantage of the Guild's weakened forces to strike.
Princess Nulia returns in the chaos, less stuck up, and tries to save her father's kingdom. Thus it becomes a civil war in the Baronies between the old throne and Everesk's revolution. With both Anglea and Chaladon taking sides. Same as Yesha taking sides in the south.
This would have been the events teams would have played in.
Special finaleIn the ending, it is revealed, the Anglean hero who's been following Nash around, saves him.
She's learned a lot about him and Elena in her quest to unravel his secrets. Which hits a chord regarding her own life. Losing someone close to her when she was young up in Anglea.
She still wants to kill Nash for what he's done, but she realizes what he was ultimately trying to do and realizes how right he is about the ugliness in the nations. Kinda sides with him to some degree at this point. Well, at the very least, she wants to kill him later, not now. Kinda would be a running gag with the two of them. Partners in crime yet she's always carrying a bullet for him.
The end!So there you go, the closing story of Aerodrome and how Aero 4 was to go. We'll never know how the war would have ended since it won't be played, but thinking about it now, it would have made for some fun moments. Actually had planned for Nash to make an exit from the series at this time, maybe have cameo roles later. But mostly to give the story line to a new storyteller from the community, which never panned out. No one seemed to want to attempt an event like Aerodrome or create their own lore so, oh well.
Anyways, was fun writing this all up and finally getting it out. Also running the Aerodrome events. Working with VAs and the community. Then finally with artists to bring the story out from the shackles of a very low quality fan project. Hope this post wraps up some questions regarding the backstory of Aerodrome. Sadly, I'm too busy to do it again. But I've moved onto much better things so yay!
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