Upsurge

About the game:

Gold and high politics, sea power and piracy, sex and the strange customs of a canine society from three centuries past — Upsurge is unlike anything you’ve encountered.

Told through the lens of renowned canine historian, The Right Honourable Tompf, Fourteenth Earl of Maine under the Imperial Crown, Upsurge blends cutting-edge technology with ancient relics to resurrect a forgotten age. Lord Maine, a fabulously wealthy academic, employs advanced quantum systems that interface with objects from the era — including his ancestor Thrix’s diaries and preserved locks of hair from Thrix’s many lovers.

Through quantum resonance, a vast artificial intelligence reconstructs vivid images of historical events — over nine hundred of which appear in this narrative. The same AI, for reasons known only to itself, has rendered the text into English and made it available to us. Its translation is thorough, but utterly indifferent to the cultural sensitivities of our time. As such, readers may find portions of this work surprising — or even shocking.

Upsurge is a bold and unflinching exposé of the origins of Lord Maine’s inherited fortune. Set in a world parallel to our own early eighteenth century, the events unfold within the deeply alien norms of a bygone canine society — a culture as hierarchical as it was strange.

Due to biological realities and the limits of primitive medicine, this society had an extreme gender imbalance: eight men for every woman. Social customs confined women to the luxurious isolation of elite households, while boys were cast out around puberty to fend for themselves. For many men, this meant living their entire adult lives without ever seeing a woman again.

As a result, same-sex relationships were the overwhelming norm — but in a society marked by severe inequality and rigid dominance structures, these relationships were often steeped in coercion. Male life was organized into packs that could just as easily become gangs, and the tension between brutal violence and strict control was ever-present.

Upsurge does not shy away from the raw and disturbing truths of this world. It is saturated with these dynamics — violent, erotic, and politically fraught — and is not suitable for all readers. If you are sensitive to themes of coercion, gender imbalance, or systemic violence, you are strongly advised to proceed with caution — or not at all.

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