WORLD ATLAS

Andres, the Dreamer of Old Fantasy

A boy named Andres is a typical Filipino boy, helping his family with household requirements, if not attending school publicly. He is shy, incapable of approaching others, to the disappointment of his parents.
But at night, he is a dreamer. He is a dreamer of lost literature, lost stories and fantastical events only ever seen as legends and myths. In his dreams lies the Tambal Village inside Siquijor, filled with fairies and witches—sources of magic, dwarves—little assistants, and the aswangs—mysterious watchers at night.
But bridging his fantasies with his reality, perhaps the oddities of what make him different in the world of the non-slumbering might be improved with a certain diwata’s help.

The Timeline

Once upon a time, the small boy Andres slept, and woke up to a new world. This world found itself at home both in Siquijor itself, and inside the boy’s mind. Diwatas came to be, witches were formed, dwendes roamed about, and the myths and legends of the Philippines came to be.
But was Andres truly its core? Or was the land something that came to life when special individuals coincidentally possess the power to awaken their land with a dream over the years?

Their Anatomies Form What?

They are mostly humanoid in figure, but are altered in appearance to better fit how they are depicted as mythical creatures. The village they reside in is composed of the lives of diwatas and dwendes, witches and mysterious kapres watching them. They are all magic users if not extraordinary, with Andres being the only exception as he is completely human.

Shaping Their Land

In a modern Filipino village there is a secluded forest. In the forest, hidden behind a set of vines lies Siquijor, a mythical island of witchcraft, home to a lot of fairies and magical creatures. In Siquijor, you will encounter the Capilay Spring where the diwatas reside and the Tambal Village where witches and healers reside. The Balete Square Market where herbs and potions are sold and the Elder Mananambal's house is located in the Tambal Village.

Friends and Foes

It can be said that this kingdom of light aims to protect and help human beings, but those who are in the kingdom of dark aim to cause chaos and fear towards them. In an attempt to seal them, the elders, mananambals, and diwatas from the kingdom of light have provided a spell that ensures no one from both kingdoms can escape to go to the human world, leaving no interactions to humans and magical creatures. However, many creatures from the darker realms have found a way to escape by disguising themselves as wild animals and concealing their presence aswangs and kapres in the woods. Because of this, the spell that keeps them inside the kingdom fades, causing many creatures to create chaos when a human wanders to their village. It is up to the diwatas to save them before they can be devoured.

The Land Where Peace is Found

HIRAYA will be focusing through the different settings that can be seen in the Philippines that has been a part of our beliefs and “pasaling-dila”. It will showcase the different hidden gems of the Philippines through its story.

The titles in the story or the roles are of course the dreamer who is Andres, the main character, his friend the Diwata, and mythical creatures such as the duwendes.

Since HIRAYA’s setting will be mainly focusing in the Philippines, it will be known that the characters who will be starring the story will be Filipinos. THe difference is that some of the characters have magical elements in them compared to regular people such as Andres.

The world revolves around a four-part literature:
- Scene 1: Andres tells his parents all about his mysterious dream of a forest and a girl of his dreams who took care of him and told him stories.
- Scene 2: The diwata takes Andres around Siquijor and introduces him to the locals and took him to the house of the elder mananambal.
- Scene 3: It was time for Andres to go and both of them share a conversation, accepting how all of it was just Andres' dream built out of familiar things from reality. Diwata shows him around a bit more before parting ways.
- Scene 4: Andres is then back to the modern Filipino village he lives where his family and friends are. While meeting his probable new friends, he feels a sense of familiarity with a girl named Judy.

The different characters of HIRAYA will be portraying most of the qualities and characteristics of a what a Filipino consist of. It will be evidently seen especially from how the parents treat their family in their respective households, how Filipinos are as friends, and how Philippine Mythical Creatures can be welcoming to newcomers.

Lots of Filipinos have different beliefs that have been passed on to different generations throughout the years. A popular one is that if a person crosses paths with a "nuno sa punso" or nuno which are little dwarves that live inside an anthill who are usually nice and doesn't do anything much when they aren't bothered but you have to say "tabi tabi po" so the dwarves will know that you're gonna pass by their home and that they should make way for you. If you don't and you end up stepping on them or hurting them, they will seek vengeance by making you ill or your body parts swollen. In order for you to get better, you have to seek the help of a faith healer or an "albularyo" and do what they say.

Natural diseases occur in the modern, real world. In the mythical island of Siquijor where mythical creatures roam, they can also be inflicted by natural diseases but are more exposed to magical diseases from spells, magic, and witchcrafts.