the tempest files
IRIS MARRIOTT - PARACOSMS
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Iris Marriott, 1987:
A solo videogame developer, making a series of titles for 8-bit platforms like the Commodore 64.
She was a mystery for a long time, address and real name unknown, her strange, haunting games passed around boot-swap communities and bulletin boards.
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I found a 5.25" floppy disk hidden in the stacks of the bookstore, with a single text file.
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Iris Marriott - 1987
Your mind is your only true sovereign territory. And the annex into a much larger world.
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I know this too well. Struggled with bad thoughts my whole life. Building these games is what's saved me. Made me realise I was looking at things from everyone's angle but my own.
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Stop visiting other people in their realities, on their terms. Stop passing. It’s right there. Right in front of you. The thing you've been wearing all your life. The mask. Take it off.
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Invite others into your world, instead. Show them how strange you truly are.
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You can create something that lies across the threshold between your inner space and the imaginal realm. Your very own story place, a paracosm it's called, like a barrier island between you and what lies beyond.
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Little games and bits of fun and something to gather round like a campfire. It's a vast dark ocean out there. We'd best learn to sail it together.
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Last known:
Iris's body was found in the tower that sits above Tempest Bay's western cliffs, March 1994. But somehow the games continued.
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