The Dark Side: War on Destiny

The Dark Side: War on Destiny (or DSWD for short) is an original project created by Raven Kammeyer and Jay North.

History
DSWD was conceptualized by Jay North on August 29th, 2014 after having a vivid dream. Four teenagers lived in a split country where one side was dark and run down and the other was bright and rich with the two separated by a giant gate. Three of those teenagers had incredible beasts who watched over them that they summoned through charms around their necks to fight. With simple descriptions of each of the seven characters to go by, Raven Kammeyer began to design them, and together they worked to create a full-fledged project out of this one dream.

Synopsis
After a long civil war, the country divided into two, separated by a giant gate.

Luceria, known as the Light Side, stands as a beacon of shining prosperity with beautiful buildings and a wealth of resources. However, underneath its brilliance lies a corporate dictator ruling it all. Its counterpart is Graveria, the Dark Side, the remnants of the wartorn cities where those who lost were deemed to stay, and they scrape by while the Light Side reaps a share of their own resources and terrorizes those who simply attempt to survive.

For many years before - many centuries, millennia - people have used the spirits of powerful creatures to achieve what they most desire. And now, during this dark period, a group of teenagers are chosen to obtain their own personal creature: a Destiny Guardian.

This group of teens, led by a refugee from Luceria, take on the dangerous quest to start a rebellion against the tyrannical dictator of their land and unite their nation once again.

Protagonists

 * Kyle Andersen
 * Skylar Jarvis
 * Reena Lund
 * Emily Xie

Deuteragonists

 * Nathan Shishiya
 * Fatima Almazan
 * Jordan Greene-Lopez

Antagonists

 * Leo
 * Musashi
 * Jasper
 * Jet
 * Valencia
 * Victor Jarvis

Destiny Guardians

 * Guarudan
 * Wanyuu
 * Yuetuna
 * Nekmet
 * Moniqos
 * Lapidae
 * Kazaita
 * Kinari
 * Behearth
 * Vitorran
 * Ziwin
 * Shinelon

Trivia

 * The main concept behind DSWD was inspired by promotional toy anime such as Pokémon, Beyblade, and Yu-Gi-Oh. The inspiration was mostly for involving children/teenagers in a threat against the world that must be stopped by magical creatures they own, not the actual production of toys.
 * However, actual toy marketing has been thought about, with the most reasonable idea being a trading figure game.
 * North discontinued her work on the project after losing interest in mid-2015, leaving Raven to take the helm themself, though they still share their ideas with North for approval, since she was the one who started it in the first place.
 * Some of the initial title ideas were "Darksiders" (which was actually the title of a video game) and "The Darkside Rebellion". The current title was inspired by Attack on Titan's naming scheme, and the incorporation of the importance of destiny within the story.
 * North created the ideas for Kyle, Skylar, Reena, Emily, Leo, Guarudan, Wanyuu, and a scrapped Destiny Guardian named Noctoko. The rest of the characters were created by Raven.
 * The dream included an episodic story. Here's how North described it: "It was Skylar's birthday, and he hated it! When they were on the bus to the high school, he said 'Can we skip a day? Can we just pretend that it's not my birthday anymore?' Kyle told the whole bus and they all started singing, and as soon as the bus stopped to pick up more kids Skylar just left. Kyle and the other two chicks try to find him, and then they got in a battle with their cool creatures, and Skylar came in to save the day." This episode concept ended up in the actual project as an early episode (around #3).