Geneforge 3 - Plot

Plot

The player begins as an apprentice learning the arts of Shaping. While attending school on Greenwood Isle the player character is awoken when the school is attacked. Luckily, two Shapers are ready to join his/her group and help him/her survive in the world outside.

Alwan is a loyal Shaper Guardian who has only one skill, that of using his iron sword. He is trained as a Guardian, to obey without questioning. Due to there not being anyone he is able to obey, at first he is disoriented by the attack and does not know what to do. The player can get him to join him/her group after, and only after, obtaining permission from the servant mind in the school.

Greta is a castout from the school because she started to sympathise with the Shapers' creations. She was an Agent, skilled in magic (at first only Firebolt but the player can get teachers to teach her other spells later in the game) and battle arts (also a sword). She is living in the village, outside the school, that is aptly named South End. She consents to joining the player's group without any conditions.

It is discovered that a traitor Shaper named Litalia has orchestrated this and other strikes against Shaper communities. She and others, including a former teacher at your school, believe that the Shapers are tyrannical rulers who make the lives of their creations miserable, and should be stopped by whatever means possible. The rebellion has been creating rogue spawners throughout the Ashen Isles; these are summoning creations that are causing chaos and attacking the Shapers and those who serve them. The player can choose between fighting for Litalia and her comrades, or allying with Lord Rahul and the Shapers and stifling the insurgency.

It is found that either Alwan or Greta will leave the player's group depending on which faction the player joins. Greta will leave if the player joins the Shapers due to her thinking that the player is inhumane and Alwan will leave if the player join the rebellion because he will think the player is disloyal.

Three major differences in the plot emerge here: first, and most obviously, there are only two factions, Shapers and rebels. Second, two additional characters can join the player's party, who occasionally engage the player in conversations that ground the plot and the questions and ethics behind it more firmly. Finally, and most minor, the drawn images at the beginning and end portray the user character in the artistic style of a female Agent, as opposed to an androgynous Shaper.

The two NPCs who accompany the player return as faction leaders in Geneforge 4: Rebellion. This portrays the set of moral values that they follow in their lives.