Ciem Tomorrow

Note: The following requires a re-write for G7 continuity. Ciem Tomorrow is a dystopian future sci-fi superhero adventure series that was originally proposed back in December of 2005 as a follow-up continuity to Ciem 3: Curse of the Millipede. It was later revised to fit the timelines for Classic and even-later Comprehensive Gerosha. Ciem Tomorrow tells the tale of Dana McArthur, the daughter of Donte McArthur and Candi Levens, as she assume the Ciem mantle for herself to free 2050s Gerosha from the Phaletori.

Plot
After the last trace remains of the Hebbleskin Gang have captured and killed Miriam Flippo and Marina Baret, they go for the grand prize: Candi McArthur. An attempt to collect her head for the Arfaas trophy collection had been foiled once before, nearly 30 years earlier. But Delusia was not around anymore. Candi and her daughter Dana McArthur are both captured, and both are prepared for beheading. However, the Gray Champion finds the villains' cave. While he fails to get there in time to save Candi's life, he does arrive in time to save Dana's.

The death of Donte McArthur renders all of Dana's siblings as orphans. Frank McArthur has already died in battle as Emeraldon II, leaving behind a wife and some kids. Dana returns home and begins dating Devin Spanz, who claims he is moving from the Louisville area to Gerosha. Dana's brother John McArthur has already adopted the name "Verdecent," and has moved to Evansville to pick up where Frank left off. At 17, John is too young to take care of himself. So he instead moves in with Charlie McArthur and his family. Charlie offers Dana a home with him also, but she declines. She decides to follow Devin to Gerosha, suspecting that the remaining Hebbleskins and new Phaletori threat that have popped up there deserve attention.

Lex Philippine sets up an operation beneath the Gerosha Cemetery to monitor their activities and possibly fight back against them. He gets help from Andy "the Pitohui" Baret, a motorcycle vigilante who wants his mother Marina's murder to be avenged. Devin, Dana, Lex, and Andy begin hunting down the Hebbleskins responsible, and have them brought to justice. However, their home town of Gerosha suddenly finds itself inside a dome put there by Phaletori staff. Said dome not only makes the city an enclave like what the Hebbleskins did to it in the 1990s, but also traps Gerosha in perpetual nightfall.

The citizenry finds itself at the Phaletori's mercy. Those found crossing a line are harassed by True Centhuen troops, while Centhuen Warriors are being manufactured. Since true Phexo methods are deemed to take too long, a new evil overlord named Duke Bligzet Storven takes control in Gerosha. He puts his Phaletori staff to work creating first-generation Centhuens from amongst those who would be loyal to Phaletori causes. However, a resistance does form to the villains, wanting to take its city back. Devin, Dana, and Dana's cousins become "Team Ciem," as Dana dons a futuristic Ciem suit to continue her mother's legacy.

She gets financial help from her brother Charlie, and popularity assistance from her rock star cousins Trina and Larry McLaine. Her cousin Marie McLaine becomes a legal consultant for Team Ciem.

Team Ciem

 * Dana McArthur / Ciem II: An Emwault-Centhuen Prototype hybrid, and the daughter of the original Emeraldon and Ciem, having the abilities of both. She longs for a free Gerosha, so as to honor the legacy of her mother and grandparents.  She is more level-headed than her mother, and has an easier time focusing on missions.  However, she gets very defensive when questioned about the wisdom of her relationship with Devin.  As her quest continues to free Gerosha, she is partially disheartened by the Phaletori putting a bigger nightfall dome around Evansville.  Her identity as Ciem is eventually exposed, in which case she drops the secret identity and begins operating openly as a resistance agent.  She and Devin eventually marry and have three children: Lionel, Curtis, and Anna.


 * Andy Baret / Pitohui: A motorcycle vigilante and Dana's older cousin. He is the son of car salesman Matthew Baret and Turkeybreath Skyline lead singer Marina Baret.  In addition to wanting revenge on his mother's murderers, he shares Dana's dream of a free Evansville.  Lacking any real abilities, he relies on whatever equipment he can get his hands on.  He occasionally aids Dana on missions.


 * Devin Spanz / "IT Guy": Lex's backup field agent, who strives to become as good with machines as Miriam once was - if not better. He is also dating Dana on the side.  He and Dana eventually marry.  He is warned that he and Dana together visually look alarmingly like Candi looked with Denny Levens, her first husband.  Devin is determined that while he may look a little like Denny, their fates will not be identical.


 * Lex Philippine: The son of Darius Philippine, who in his younger years was set to inherit the operation. He was born years before any of the others, being three years older than his aunts.  The stress of his job aged him before his time, so he retired from being the lead for all Phaelite and National Guard work-together operations.  Instead, he used his savings to build a base of operations underneath Gerosha Cemetery.  He can easily fight off a small army of unarmed guards all by himself, but chooses instead to spend most of his time as mission control for Dana and Andy.

Allies

 * John McArthur / Verdecent: One of a set of twins, his sister being Dana. John moved in with Charlie following the deaths of both Candi and Donte.  While Dana vows to bring about a free Gerosha, John vows to fight Phaletori creations that threaten Evansville.


 * Charlie McArthur: Born as Charlie Wortell, he was adopted by Candi and Donte following their defeat of Captain Aardwulf. He later grew up to become one of the most successful businessmen still in business.  He uses a tiny portion of his seemingly unlimited funds to assist Team Ciem in their revolution.  He also runs his business, has a family, and takes care of his younger brother John after their parents die.


 * Marie McLaine: One of Steve and Miriam's twins from long ago. She grows up to become Team Ciem's legal consultant, and contacts Lex frequently.


 * Trina McLaine: Marie's twin sister and the guitarist and lead singer of a band she is in with Larry.


 * Larry McLaine: The youngest-born child of Steve and Miriam McLaine. He becomes a drummer for his sister Trina's band, and uses his position as a rock star to perform in Gerosha.  His lyrics are often encoded instructions for Team Ciem, or ballads of their adventures.  He and Trina have narrowly avoided arrest multiple times for lyrics offensive to the regime.


 * Arthur Spanz: Devin's father, who was captured by the Phaletori but escaped. He was not, however, able to return to his family right away.  Instead, he sends Devin encrypted signals from the outside.  He generally spends his time helping out Charlie and John.


 * Cassie Spanz: Devin's mother, who suspects he may be involved with Ciem but cannot confirm anything. She likes Dana, but is suspicious of her at the same time.


 * Wynona "Winty" McArthur: A small, blond, curious young girl; who is bent on discovering what it is that John keeps as a secret from her. She is the daughter of Charlie and his wife: Melissa Gates-McArthur.


 * Gordon McArthur: Winty's baby brother.


 * Chantell McArthur: A housewife who also aids Team Ciem by providing them with clothing and care packages that are smuggled into Gerosha for them. She has three kids: Lucy, Dylan, and Cindy. Her maiden name was Tamble, and she is the surviving wife of fallen hero Frank McArthur.


 * Charisse Hamilton: The daughter of Khumar and Lindsay Hamilton, who becomes a cop in Gerosha and refuses to report Team Ciem's activities to the Phaletori's regime.


 * Dolly Malestrom / The Earwig: A semi-retired hero from Candi's tenure as Ciem. She eventually finds a way into Gerosha with her family, and offers to join the resistance.  However, her determination to fight no longer outweighs the enemy's resources.


 * Jeraime Malestrom: The aging Earwig's blind husband. He does what he can for his wife and kids, though he still occasionally has nightmares and flashbacks to his tenure as Musaran.


 * Gunther Malestrom: A freedom fighter who works on his own in Gerosha. He is a bit of a loose canon, and accuses the Pitohui of "going soft."  He is the son of Jeraime and Dolly Malestrom.


 * Fran Malestrom: Gunther's sister, who is calculating and methodical rather than hot-headed.

Villains

 * Duke Bligzet Storven: Supreme ruler of the Gerosha division of Phaletori. He has put the city in its dome, and rules it like a typical dictator.  Overthrowing his rule becomes one of many goals for Team Ciem.  Another is ending his plan for mass production of first-generation Centhuen warriors.


 * Centhuen Militia: Storven's foot soldiers, who are complete transhuman combinations of man and centipede. Getting past them proves necessary for Dana and her friends to achieve most of their goals.  Fortunately, all the Centhuens' physical enhancements come at the expense of significantly reduced brain functionality.

Concept
The desire for a Ciem Tomorrow timeline goes back to late November and early December of 2005, around the same time that Ciem 3: Curse of the Millipede was completed. The journey towards making a Ciem webcomic series felt empty with all the adventures ending only with Candi's life and times, so the tail ending introduced the possibility of her having a daughter named Dana that could continue her legacy. Dana was actually named after a friend the Dozerfleet founder had at the time, whose likeness appeared towards the tail end of Curse of the Millipede and also showed up in Corando's "Don't Lose Hope" Music Video as "Tina Nares." Since the only scenes for Dana's debut were all at night, an idea suddenly came to mind that Gerosha under the Phaletori would be trapped in perpetual nightfall.

Lex became Dana's mentor in a way that was modeled after the Bruce Wayne and Terry McGuiness relationship in Batman Beyond. While a lot of futuristic elements seen in Batman Beyond are toned down or absent in Ciem Tomorrow, the intended general aesthetic and genre for Ciem Tomorrow were basically the same as for that show. A secondary influence on Ciem Tomorrow was Spider-Man Unlimited, though to a much lesser extent.

Continuity
In 2005, Candi and Donte both die of cancer upon reaching old age. The scene that ties in a Ciem Tomorrow timeline is Donte's funeral, where Dana and her boyfriend Devin are among the few in attendance. Lex is seen lecturing Dana about the need to watch herself around Devin, and not get too carefree about sleeping with him. She blows off Lex's concerns as him worrying too much. It is implied that Dana imagines Candi watching over her. A similar ending was considered for Despair Gerosha in 2006, but not pursued due to the cancellation of that webcomic reboot. However, the reboot cleaned up a lot of problems that were caused by the initial Gerosha Prime run. Jason and Tanya, for example, were completely written out of continuity and rendered inconsequential.

By 2007, Classic Gerosha came to form with the Ciem webcomic of that era. Mike and Jeff had become almost entirely inconsequential. Vince was renamed Tom Flippo officially. However, he too was under-utilized. That era's version of Ciem 3 sought to further advance the backstory of Lex Philippine, helping to flesh him out as a character - whereas he had been fairly one-dimensional beforehand. His backstory was established as having dated Yvette Wade (later renamed Mallorie Wade.) They had a son named Silo Wade. Both Mallorie and Silo went missing, and it became part of Lex's lifelong mission to find out what happened to his missing girlfriend and son. He was made less grumpy and more coherent than his previous incarnation.

In 2010, the arrival of Comprehensive Gerosha and the Ciem novel trilogy led to a darkening of things in the original timeline. Use of The Sims 3 meant a redesign for Dana's suit, along with several other changes. However, the basic story that was to be remained almost identical to its Classic Gerosha counterpart.

Design
A new Ciem suit was designed for use in Curse of the Millipede, but its special features were too horsepower-demanding for the at-the-time station that served as Dozerfleet Main to render. There were some considerations to later use a more powerful station to render that suit. Also, the suit was under-utilized for the plot of Ciem 3. It soon became the early Dana Ciem suit. That same suit would be later redesigned in The Sims 3 from the ground up, given a limitation of ability to successfully replicate the original Dana Ciem design.

Andy was not originally depicted for Ciem Tomorrow in Gerosha Prime, though his Classic Gerosha version did have a sort of war paint. The war paint was dropped in Comprehensive Gerosha in favor of giving him hair dye. He was going to go by "Cyclehawk" until it became clear there was a brand name already called that in real life. As a result, he was renamed "the Pitohui." His hair dye was then made to fit with a Hooded Pitohui's plumage. Devin and Dana's out-of-costume designs, along with Lex's, have changed very little since their first time being rendered in late 2005.

Cancellation
After the November elections in 2012, the entire premise needed for Comprehensive Gerosha to work seemed unlikely. It was uncertain if the Dozerfleet founder's family would even remain on US soil, as an Obama re-election (even via fraud) posed an imminent danger to the continued existence of SAI. Therefore, work on Ciem: Vigilante Centipede was canceled. Instead, the Cataclysmic Gerosha timeline was envisioned. The series Sodality became a replacement for traditional Ciem continuity. However, Dana and her adventures were not completely scrapped. The Gerosha Gaming Universe, based on Cataclysmic Gerosha, has an aftermath to Centipede + 49 which implies that Dana and Andy arrive in Gerosha with Devin to protect it while the city is being rebuilt. This is after it was destroyed by the Muslim Brotherhood under leadership of Halal Affadidah. Therefore, a variation of Ciem Tomorrow remains possible. However, the original premise was canned.

Project history importance
Around 1:35 PM EDT on Monday, August 12th of 2013, the wiki article for Ciem Tomorrow coverage was properly fleshed out for the first time. This made it the final project article in DozerfleetWiki to no longer require use of the  template. As such, it set a new precedent for project articles in the Dozerfleet Catalog: no new articles on projects until it can be verified that the article can develop naturally. This way, articles on projects can evolve as the project does. Prevented is a problem that had previously existed since the wiki's inception: that important details about project development could be lost or forgotten before the article has a chance to cover those details.