This time I’m talking about the Catalyst story beat. This is an important beat as it’s what starts the hero off on his new journey. The catalyst (sometimes known as the inciting incident or the call to adventure) is always something that happens to the hero. It’s not something the hero does to himself. This can take many forms. Getting bad news from a doctor. A tragic accident. A cute meet (in the case of romantic comedies or buddy love stories). A declaration of war. A tournament. Whatever. It’s the thing that catapults your hero out of the Setup world and into a new world or new way of thinking. You could also double-up on your catalyst. That’s the case for Elohim Eternal: The Babel Code. We’re going to talk about those two here [b](warning, spoilers ahead!!)[/b]. The first catalyst is when Joshwa finds the gate under Mount Sinai and then a Cainite surprise attacks him, cutting off his arm. This is a huge event. Not only have we just learned that Cainites still exist (and so the war never ended), but Joshwa has just lost his right arm, his dominant arm, the arm he uses to hold his sword and fight. It’s also something that quite obviously happens to Joshwa. He didn’t cut off his own arm. It’s after the catalyst that we then get to the Debate (the next story beat we’ll talk about). [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41609742/6be4f9e0125e406ff723fde41effcda0915fe6cb.png[/img] The second catalyst is after Joshwa and Beyoz return from confronting Balaam. Again, here we have another call to adventure. The gate into Mount Sinai won’t open and it’s discovered that the Idinites need a special code (called the Babel code) to open the gate and the only way to get that code is to venture into enemy territory in Ugarit. Someone must go retrieve the code, hence the call to adventure. And who takes on that call? Joshwa and Beyoz, with Ruthia. Again, something has happened to our heroes: they can’t open the gate and they need a special code. A new adventure begins! Off to a new “world”: Ugarit. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41609742/cce29f3c773dc41bd1497c0c5b6e00c4f2872dd1.png[/img] It is, of course, much cleaner to have just one catalyst and then you’re off on your adventure, but sometimes it’s necessary to have more than one. The Debate beat comes next (sometimes also known as the gathering allies and equipment beat). Stay tuned!