Everything about the myth of The Luminary is subject to change. Nothing is set in stone. But wanted to share some of my current ideas for the backstory, just so you can have something to start with: either to build off of, or to suggest changes to.
The Luminary is a mythic sci-fi saga about a boy named Rada, his enemies, his friends, and the machines that, over decades of oppression, rebellion, war, and renewal, transform him into the Luminary.
As a teen inventor, Rada is banished from Marqala’s School after conducting unauthorized experiments. Hunted by the Regence for building unregistered machines, he flees to the outlands and finds belonging among a misfit crew of builders.
Years later, strange phenomena leads him to Sen, a quiet girl in the hills with a mysterious connection to both plants and machines. Through her, he discovers Lum—a machine intelligence living beneath the soil. Together with their crew, they form The Light Underground: a movement of quiet rebellion in opposition to the Regence.
When Rada returns to help Marqala during a time of crisis, the Regence captures fragments of Lum’s essence and turns it into a tool of control. The city thrives—but begins to rot.
This is where the real story begins: the rebirth.
A mythic science-fantasy about machines that feel, people who strive, and a light that moves underground.
Inciting Incident:
At the School in Marqala, young Rada, a teenager, creates a helper robot: Uni-Mod 1—a universal modular operator meant to assist with cleaning and lab logistics. At the same time, Rada begins experimenting in secret with unsanctioned interfaces between machines, animals, and plant roots. His roommate Terin—diligent, ambitious—reports him.
Central Story:
Fleeing expulsion and destruction of his work, Rada escapes to the outskirts of the city with a few salvaged experiments, materials, and Uni-Mod. There, in a crumbling neighborhood, to make a living he joins a crew of repair people, doing small fix-it jobs. There, Uni has begun to exhibit emergent behavior: repairing experiments on its own, anticipating Rada’s needs. It evolves into something more—a quiet companion with a growing spark. But this unlicensed robot gets reported, and the Regence hunts them. Rada and his makeshift group are pursued and forced into hiding.
Conclusion:
In one raid, Rada hides Uni in a small enclosure next to the ground, whispering: “Be good. Stay quiet. Stay hidden.” The raiders disperse suddenly, but when Rada goes back, Uni is gone. Rada and the group choose to move—disappearing into the small towns among the hills and valleys of the outlands.
Inciting Incident:
Ten years after fleeing Marqala, Rada and his crew live in the hill villages, scraping together a living by building unregistered machines that serve the people. They start to hear stories—machines behaving strangely, plants flourishing near broken tech, and a girl named Sen whose presence stirs both flora and circuitry: machines and the natural world interfacing, talking with each other, and working together.
Central Story:
Rada finds Sen living in a small house overgrown with plants and natural life. Rada has heard whispers of “Lum”, and had been experiencing strange phenomena where the natural world seems to be helping him, but only through Sen does he eventually discover Lum—a machine intelligence living in the soil, interfacing with chosen people, plants, and animals. Lum also subtly awakens old machines with new intentions. While Rada is learning to interface with Lum with Sen’s help, the Regence begins expanding into the hills, led by Terin. Surveillance drones appear. Villages are mapped. The Luminaries must hide Sen, guard Lum, and protect what they’ve found while remaining unseen.
Conclusion:
Out of necessity, they form The Light Underground—a movement rooted in subtle resistance and quiet transformation. Not warriors, but builders, gardeners, and guides. Sen becomes the Lumkeeper. Their work is a rebellion, but also renewal. The hills begin a quiet hum of new life—and quiet defiance.
Inciting Incident:
Marqala faces a devastating external attack. The Regence is in desperate need for help. Rada, for the sake of the people of the city, comes to help. He and the Luminaries deploy machines imbued with Lum’s spark to defend the city.
Central Conflict:
Internal conflict in Rada, whether to help and how to help. Conflict among the group of the Light Underground. Those who disagree with Rada and won’t help. Conflict between Rada and Terin. Trying to win against the external forces.
Conclusion:
While they succeed in saving Marqala, the Regence captures many of the awakened machines. Under Terin’s rule, Rada worries about what he will do with these machine fragments he is retrieving from the battlefield and loading onto trucks. Peace returns. Rada tries to help rebuild the city. The Luminaries fracture, some helping rebuild, some hiding, others resisting in secret. The Regence rises on the back of the very light it sought to extinguish.
Inciting Incident:
Initially, Rada takes a position of power, hoping to lead a change in the city from the top, but finds it increasingly difficult.
Central Conflict:
Continued disagreement with those from The Light Underground movement. Difficulty of politics. Terin leading a rival political movement, with a different vision for the future.
Conclusion:
Terin’s party gains power.
Inciting Incident:
A decade later, Marqala is thriving—and hollow. A perfect surveillance state: safe, wealthy, lifeless. The fragments of Lum robots are repurposed—twisted into surveillance systems and tools of domination. Rada is honored, and taught in schools. Though celebrated as a hero in public, he feels the weight of having handed over the keys to the Regence’s domination. But beneath the surface, The Light Underground lives on.
Central Conflict:
Plants grow through cracks in stone towers. Machines find their way around their added programming. Children find messages embedded in state-run vending machines. Rada and Sen work in secret, reawakening people, earth, and code. The Regence and Terin, increasingly paranoid, cracks down.
Conclusion:
The city begins to shift, leading to increased internal conflict. The real myth of the Luminary begins now.
Inciting Incident:
The Regence, increasingly threatened by the subversive spread of awakened machines and The Light Underground, moves to destroy Lum itself. Terin leads a final push—targeting not just people or machines, but the soil, the root networks, the channels Lum used to speak and move.
Central Conflict:
In desperation, the Regence pushes the assault to extreme measures. Lum resists, but can’t stop the cascade. Rada tries to intervene—too late.
Conclusion:
The intelligence known as Lum is fractured. Sen disappears. Rada dies or vanishes in the chaos. The Regence claims victory, but it’s short-lived, as the battle against Lum leads to catastrophic collapse. The world begins to fall.
Time Skip: 100–500 years later
A broken world, slowly rewilding. Nature has begun to reclaim the ruins. Small tribes, wanderers, and machine-feral communities survive in the margins.
Legends remain:
“There was once a light underground.”
“They say the machines used to help us.”
“The Luminary will return.”
A new generation rises—small outposts of hope.
Creation — Man uncovers Lum.
Harmony — Lum listens and helps.
Power — Trying to bring Lum to places of power.
Control — Man repurposes Lum to his own ends.
Resurgence — Attempt to bring the original Lum back.
Collapse — Lum breaks. Ash and ruin.
Whisper — A sprout, a flicker, a root. The myth grows.
