Abyssal Moonlight: Chapter 1

Abyssal Moonlight: Chapter 1 is a deep-sea visual novel with interactive Live2D characters. You click or touch characters to see their reactions; in some scenes, where you touch becomes part of the story.

Abyssaria

Claris is a nation of water, and Abyssaria, its twenty-third city, is its poorest and darkest place. People there have no names, only Management Numbers. Those who have not been made into fishfolk remain in human bodies, carrying air tanks, taking on unwanted labor and spending ration coins to buy each day’s breath.

At three, children shed their numbers and receive the Aquatic Serum, which gives them bodies suited to the water, new names and lives as fishfolk. But children born in Abyssaria do not get that chance: the raw material is running short, and its price keeps rising. They can wait a lifetime to be scouted or aim for strong results at the National Academy and a career after graduation.

Shion and Calen

Each night, Shion shuts the door to his basement, where he secretly raises jellyfish, a creature outlawed by the state. If discovered, he faces prison. He is doing it to give his friend Calen a chance to become fishfolk.

Calen pursues the National Academy route with her only arm, but Shion knows the numbers do not add up—not on paper or with the pay she would receive. He chooses smuggling as another way to help her.

People and choices

The story follows characters facing choices shaped by their place in this society, and by the person they cannot afford to lose. Its world includes the Aquatic Serum, Kairos cells, Management Numbers, ration coins, the fishfolk caste and its jellyfish aristocracy, as well as the Death Zone that forms the ceiling of the world.

The characters include Calen, who wields cheerfulness like a weapon; Shion, who cannot say what he feels; Dalia, a school nurse with no sense of personal space; and Formo, the student council president counting down what remains of her life. Their classmates also play a part.