A Bitter Panacea
For our World Building unit in English, we developed a unique world and eventually wrote a full story treatment after 3 months. I chose to participate in two projects, an individual one and a group one.
This is my group story, worked on by two other peers, A Bitter Panacea.
please note this is an original idea do not copy our work 🙂
Logline
When an infectious fungus infiltrates a community of sophont species, a prodigy healer must rush to find a cure before all life is destroyed, but her closest friend gets in the way.
Sophont Species
Human appearances tend to vary depending on the planet’s climate and environment. They coexist with the other sophont species in planets across universes.
Bengals are a knee-height, feline species. They are granted seven available lives should they die while carrying out Warrior duties.
Finsifia are pink, fluffy, propellor-winged pixies. Their main role in society is to produce food for Arcadia. Other species in Arcadia also contribute to the community, including Svexeas: long-legged artisans that recently started building biotech equipment; Nausicaäs: provide entertainment with their flowy wings; Bobs: titanous underground nomads that help transport goods.
Characters
Iona is a 1.7 meter tall human girl with curly, medium-length, red wine hair, and chocolate-colored skin. In simple terms, she is quirky, and she hones it into charisma. Like her parents, she is intelligent and perseverant. (main character)
Emir is a Bengal. Her fur is dark brown with a gold speckled pattern. Emir’s parents died in combat when she was young, and ever since, she has lived closely with Iona and her family. Iona’s parents, Aesthera and Igor, are lead scientists in Arcadia’s agriculture industry. They are both tall with dark-chocolate colored skin and a strong build.
Overview
The Reucera epidemic is spreading throughout planet Arcadia, hindering the responsibilities of the Finsifia population (once the Reucera’s spores come in contact with a Finsifia’s fur, the spores multiply and take over the Finsifia’s body while weighing them down. Many Finsifia become sick and drown). Finsifia plays a crucial role in food production for the entire Arcadia Community.
Treatment
Young Arcadians gather under the great Agria tree. The canopy quickly fills up with creatures from villages across the inhabited regions of the planet as they prepare to watch the role assignments of the future generation of Arcadians. As the Sun begins to set, the first Finsifia steps inside the tree hollow. He exits, and after announcing that he has received the role of Producer, is greeted with a smattering of applause. The Producer’s have the job of transporting and taking care of plant life. One by one, the Finsifias receive the role of Producer.
As they await their turn, Iona, who has a sunken look on her face, tells Emir she worries that she will not get an assignment at all, but Emir reassures Iona.
It is now fully dark, and it is finally Emir’s turn. She takes a deep breath and confidently strides into the tree hollow. She watches her visions and once she exits, she announces that she received the role of Warrior. The audience gasps in awe, for warrior is a highly honorable position, and only fitting for a Bengal. With a big smile on her face, Iona mouths to Emir, “Congrats.” Emir gives her a quick nod and returns her gaze to the ground, solitary, and walks over to join her Bengal cohort. “Your parents would be proud,” an elderly Bengal says while embracing Emir.
It is Iona’s turn. She hesitantly climbs into the tree hollow and sits in the middle of the cavity. It’s too dark. Iona grows increasingly anxious as she waits for her visions to appear, but her surroundings only seem to get darker. She lets out a deep sigh and stands up to leave. Suddenly, she sees a flash of vibrant colors quickly followed by visions of life that disappear as soon as they come. She exits the hollow, dazed, and the crowd goes quiet in anticipation. Iona pauses for a moment, looks up, and says hoarsely, “My visions have pronounced me, Healer.” The canopy roars of cheers of shock and joy. A healer is the most noble role, and because of their rarity they often are worshiped. Emir’s accomplishment became insignificant next to Iona’s. Iona rushes over to Aesthera and Igor, and gives them a joyful embrace. Iona excitedly waves at Emir and motions her to come over, but Emir gives her a bitter look that Iona mistakes as a smile, and turns away.
A few seasons later in specialized training, in which Arcadians learn about their specific roles and slowly integrate into society through small jobs. Iona is learning rapidly and is becoming the prodigy of the generation. Emir is also making impressive progress as one of the strongest warriors. Aesthera and Igor recognize her talent and enlist her help in protecting their laboratory as they work on private biotech innovations. However, Emir also faces interactions in which her peers talk to her just to ask about Iona’s training and advancements. Emir’s reluctant responses eventually turn into frustration as Iona’s achievements become more recognized. Several seasons pass and Iona and Emir eventually finish their specialized training and become fully assimilated into the Arcadian society.
***
They witness the spreading of a mysterious fungus that ___ the Finsifia, lodging onto their fur. Iona is part of a committee that gives a name to the epidemic: Reucera. Iona visits the Finsifia district, hoping to further investigate the Reucera epidemic. She inspects the Finsifias’ swollen appendages and determines the infection is airborne and travels through spores. Despite her efforts, she cannot figure out how to heal the infection, so she takes a few samples and returns to the human district’s scientific lab. She heads to her parents’ lab room to ask them to investigate the biological properties of her samples.
Iona enters the lab doors and calls out for Aesthera and Igor. Something is wrong; she notices shattered glass on the floor and is flooded with panic as she follows the glass trail around the corner. She sees her parents’ bodies unconscious on the ground, and falls to their sides and frantically tries to revive them. When they don’t show any response, Iona hugs her parents’ bodies around their shoulders in efforts to get them all outside. She tastes blood in her throat as she desperately screams for help. When she makes it outside, dozens of scientists rush to her aid and lift Aesthera and Igor’s bodies from Iona’s weakening grasp and seek help.
***
Downpour accompanies Igor’s wake. Normally, the Finsifia would bring a deceased body to rest by composting its elements, but the Reucera epidemic has diminished the health of the Finsifia population in particular, and many workers were unable to attend Igor’s wake. Emir stands by Iona’s side as she lays Igor under the shade of the family tree. Iona weeps, and Emir comforts her. Aesthera is not far from Igor’s fate. They are unsure when she will wake up from her coma, if at all.
Although her heart is in a fragile state, Iona is determined to continue trying to find a cure to the Reucera infection. She hands the samples to other, older scientists, supposedly more experienced, but they claim it may take them years more to understand it. Iona feels hopeless, but she remembers an old tale her parents told her when she was younger. Past the outlands, there is an ocean filled with spirit creatures that provided the first Arcadians with guidance on how to navigate and establish civilization. She asks Emir to embark on this adventure with her, with hopes of receiving guidance on how to overcome the Reucera epidemic. Emir evades Iona’s beseeching request, telling her that she is low on lives and must conserve them for tightening security around the world’s portals to receive any intruders, whom she insists to Iona must have ambushed her parents lab. Iona is reluctant as she does not want to be left alone with her overwhelming emotions, but she understands and embarks on her journey to the ocean, alone.
Iona walks through the limestone mountains, rivers, and jungles. She enjoys looking at the flora and animals that live there. At some point in her journey she comes to the realization that her parents got attacked with no one around, no one protecting them. She wonders if her father died slowly and painfully. Anger, sadness, and grief flood her eyes as tears stream down her face. Iona is half way to the ocean, she’s in the dunes right now. The hourly pour starts she realizes the storm cloud continues upon the horizon, the wind rises. A hurricane is on its way, which is not very common, but very dangerous to be caught in, while on the dunes. The sound of thunder grows louder, it sounds like screaming. She runs and runs for hours, her feet are scorched from the sand’s heat, and her body is achy. After several days of journeying through the jungle and through her mind, she makes it to the ocean, just as the sun starts to rise. The sunlight paints the clouds to be shades of purple, green, and yellow, which reflect on the glistening surface of the water. The clouds crack open to reveal sun rays filled with dancing ethereal horse-like figures, and without words they offer consolation, as if they had known what Iona was experiencing. Iona is mesmerized by the display, and some of the weight of her grief is lifted by this moment of clarity, as she absorbs the creatures’ silent advice.
Iona returns to Arcadia and invites Emir to her empty home. Iona tells her about her adventure: the different terrains, animals, and sunset. Iona compares the evening to the vision she got on advancement day. Emir says under her breath that she wishes she didn’t get the warrior assignment and wants to be a scientist. Iona is shocked at Emir’s comment. She tells Emir that the tree never makes mistakes: they are each assigned to their roles by fate to help the community grow to be as best as it can be. Emir tells Iona that she wishes she had a choice. Iona brings up their Advancement Day, comparing it to being truly born into the community. Emir retorts hotly that if that were the case, she should wish she had never been conceived. Iona finds Emir’s comments ridiculous and asks why Emir can’t appreciate the importance of the visions. Emir scoffs in frustration and leaves.
***
Iona wants to find the reason behind this hostile interaction and make amends. She finds herself in the lab, where the atmosphere has changed from clean and progressive to now feeling like a forgotten artifact. Iona looks around, leaving dust in her tracks. In the corner of the lab, Emir sits on a stool. She is twirling a vial between her claws. Iona asks Emir why she’s there. Emir takes a deep, sad sigh, and tells Iona that she needs to know the truth. She explains to Iona that Aesthera and Igor had secretly asked Emir to protect them during their undisclosed experiments, in which they had been trying to make a cure against the Reucera infection. This is shocking for Iona. She asks Emir to stop, and angrily wonders aloud why Emir hadn’t told her sooner. Emir continues the story. One day, Aesthera and Igor needed to have a test run of the cure. Since using test subjects is unethical, Igor volunteers to test it on himself. He injects himself with the Reucera virus, and then the antidote. Igor starts suffocating and coughing up blood, and eventually stops breathing. Aesthera is devastated and tries to end her life, and Emir panics. She tries to stop Aesthera and accidentally knocks her out. When Aesthera doesn’t wake up, Emir runs away from the lab. She wipes the footage in the hidden security cameras. Emir tells Iona that she had no intention of hurting her mother, or letting her father die. She tells Iona that if she were allowed to help with those experiments they might have been able to finish the cure. But because her role had been decided for her, she and Iona would never know if her father’s death could’ve been avoided. With this unfinished cure they can pick up where her parents left off. In exchange, they will sell the antidote to Finsifia and all planets affected by the Reucera epidemic. They must capitalize on it to honor Igor’s sacrifice. Iona is heartbroken, she tries to gather herself mentally, and explains to Emir it doesn’t have to be this way, and they can help everyone by distributing the cure as fast as possible and ending the epidemic. Iona explains that Arcadia was built on trust and equality. If they were to sell the cure it would break their sacred honor code as citizens of Arcadia.
***
Iona takes the inactive cure substance to the lab and asks all the scientists to try to complete it. After several hours the scientists return to her and tell her they simply don’t have the knowledge that Aesthera and Igor had when they developed it. Iona finds herself stuck again, and realizes that the only other that saw it develop was Emir. She begins sprinting to Igor’s burial tree. Guilt consumed her as she finally understands that she overlooked the source of Emir’s motivation, to make personal choice. She finds Emir at the burial tree weeping. Iona catches her breath and sits next to Emir and apologizes for everything, for blaming Emir, for shamelessly not trying to understand her thoughts and emotions, and for not being there for her during the accident. Emir looks at Iona. Iona tells Emir that Arcadia needs her, not as a warrior, but as a scientist, to complete the cure and save the community. In return, Iona will do everything in her power to help Emir to abolish the role selection system and allow Arcadians to make their own independent choice. Emir is hesitant. Iona says, “I want to show you something.”
As Emir and Iona make their way to the Finsifia’s hollow, they struggle to step through tendrils of sticky, orange appendages of dead Finsifias. They reach the hollow and make an announcement to what is left of the village that they have cure and will be back in short time with more. Emir tells Iona to hop on her back, so they can get there quicker.
At the lab Iona tells all the scientists to gather around Emir to learn how to make the cure. Emir wracks her brain to try to remember how Aesthera and Igor made it. Eventually Emir successfully makes a cure, and all the scientists lead by Emir immediately get to work to mass produce each cure by hand. Meanwhile Iona is trying to find Bobs to help transport the cures to the Finsifias, but she can only find a few. She starts to lose hope as she realizes there is no one to help. She desperately looks around, and realizes that she is surrounded by help: humans, bengals, svexeas, and Nausicaäs. She asks them to help for assistance, but everyone gives her an uncomfortable response. She realizes her frustration and helplessness must have been what Emir was feeling all along. She turns her guilt into initiative and steps up on a nearby platform and preaches in her loudest voice that the community should not rely on a tree and old traditions to govern their lives, that a tree could not adapt to the rapid growth and change. She tells them they found a cure for the Finsifia, and without their help they might not be able to save Arcadia. Even if some could not immediately accept her ideas, they recognized the urgency of the situation and temporarily discarded their beliefs. Despite their differences, Emir taught new Arcadians, while some gathered the cures and transported it to the Finsifia district, where more Arcadians helped distribute the cure.
After a night, enough Arcadians were trained to help so that Iona and Emir could take a break. They meet under the Agria tree and Emir starts to cry
Rejecting tradition
No more depending on the same species to carry out a certain type of role.
Tradition that isn’t seen as harmful until it actually comes into play
Elders saying differently (ex. Older scientists)
Iona’s journey →
Doesn’t only restore health, restores order and changes restore