Splatoon: Mysteries and Light

by AronRT

In a laboratory deep in Alterna, a species of squid was experimented on. During the Final Hour, they escaped and evolved alongside the rest of their kind. Some worshiped them as gods, others sought to exterminate them. After thousands of years of chaos, one young Luxling will rise to a challenge that not even he could have anticipated, and take the final step towards peace forever.

This story is one that has gone through many, many revisions. Originally, it was called Five Islands, and it featured a separate Inkling society that lived in a Spartan society, where Inklings that came of age and could control their form were drafted into the military to fight the Salmonids. When a Minecraft animation series called Songs of War began airing, I adopted the five clans (Sendaris, Nestoris, Mendoris, Kaltaris, Voltaris) into the story as a way to further set apart this group of Inklings from the rest.

When Glow Squids were added to Minecraft, I decided to change the story drastically. Five Islands became a sort of retelling of Songs of War, with Turf Wars being a major part of the story. As I began to alter the plot more and more, I grew to realize that this simply would not work. So I decided to scrap it for the time being, in hopes that something new would come along.

Later, after some successful stories and some failures, I came back to this site and remembered this story. I thought "why not?" and figured I might as well give it another try. Unfortunately, it was overshadowed once again. When I finally got my hands on Splatoon 3, I was enthralled. The changes to the lobby, the new campaign, everything was perfect. Once again, I turned to Five Islands and realized that the new plan would need a new name to suit it. After a lot of brainstorming, I thought of quite a few different names. Azurania, Mystery of the Luxling, and Turquoise Eyes were all considered, among some others that I knew would definitely not make the cut.

One stood out, however. That name was Mysteries and Light. It perfectly encapsulated everything I wanted to do with the story. However, there was one major problem. I still didn't know which point in the timeline to place the story in. I could go with the game I was most familiar with, which was Splatoon 2. I could go with the original setting and go from there, but lose out on a lot of newer stuff. I could place it at the latest point, but the plot would have become far too complicated. I was stuck.

Eventually I came to a realization: things like the Splatlands and the lobbies still existed in Splatoon 1, they just weren't shown in-game. So it became pretty clear which route I wanted to take. At this point, all I needed to do was rewind to 2015, blend in the new lore, and write the story. The first two steps of that process are done, leaving only the writing left.

But since I was prevented from giving a clear summary of Mysteries and Light, I'll give an overview of the story that covers some important details without a character limit. In Inkopolis, Luxlings are not the most popular. It's primarily in the Splatlands and Azurania that they are prevalent, due to some discrimination against them in Inkopolis. However, one Inkling family was kind enough to take in one Luxling infant. His name was Lux; perhaps a bit unoriginal, but it helped him to shine more among the rest of the Inklings. In just a few days, he'll turn fourteen years old and be able to partake in Turf Wars with his sister and her friends.

But not everything is quite so lighthearted. Ever since Marie won the Splatfest against her cousin, Callie has grown more distant. Marie is struggling to keep the two of them together, but the harder she tries, the more hopeless she becomes. She always knew the Squid Sisters wouldn't last forever, but she never thought it would be because of this, or that it would happen this soon. There may not be much time left before her and Callie's relationship breaks, and Marie is going to need a miracle to save it.