SETTING GUIDE
* TECHNOLOGY
* FASHION
* ARCHITECTURE
& FURNITUTRE
* TRANSPORT
* TV & MOVIES
* MUSIC
* MISCELLANEOUS
* EDUCATION
* SELENE VALLEY
* RESIDENCE
* PLACES
* CUISINE
* CLUBS & BARS
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The story of Hellbent takes place in a fictional, alternate universe version of Australia in the late 1980s. Each state is named after its native animal emblem in real life. Possum State is based on Victoria as the Leadbeater Possum is the emblem for Victoria. Platypus State is based on New South Wales and Koala state is based on Queensland.
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LOCATIONS
Selene Valley, Possum state - The coastal city where the story takes place. Selene Valley is best known for its beach and attractions such as Solaris Park, SolarisFest, Brad’s Cat Cafe, and their town clown: Maxxy Malone.
Golden Shore, Koala State - A coastal town, located up north where the Sabatini family grew up. Brad and Blake left to start anew and get away from their past after their house mysteriously burned down.
The Sun Shire Commune - Located in the lush mountains backdropping Golden Shore, Sun Shire is a self-sustainable off-the-grid hippie community. The Sabatini family lived among the communes during the 60s and 70s, until their departure from the group in 1976, when Brad was 10-years-old, and Blake was 14-years-old.
Swanton, Platypus State - Maxx’s home town where his parents George and Susan live. Swanton is the richest suburb in Australia, where the wealthiest aristocrats reside. Maxx’s Grandfather, Maxwell Malone Sr, was the mayor of Swanton in the 1950s. Maxx’s father, George aims to fill Maxwell Sr’s footsteps by becoming the new mayor.
Pink Top City, Palm Tree State - A coastal metropolis located in Pink-Dade County in southeastern Palm Tree State, USA. Pink Top City is known for its pristine beaches, non-stop nightlife, fetish studios galore, and high crime rate.
Mountainside, Koala State - The dying old town Craig and Makayla grew up in the rural north. They left for Selene Valley in 1973 when Craig was 10-years-old, and Makayla was 7-years-old. The only place still surviving is Ralph’s general store, run by an old family friend named Ralph.
Zelenoye pole - Зеленое поле (Greenfield) - The town Jaclyn grew up in the Soviet Union. It is a barren farming town full of paddocks for miles. She grew up on a poultry farm run by her father, Vadik, whose fate remains unknown after she and her mother, Vera, fled the country from his abuse when she was 12-years-old in 1977.
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TECHNOLOGY
The technology is that of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Television, photography, and Video Games are very popular. Not many people have the internet except for the rich, public libraries and government places. People use brick phones, pagers, and landline phones, or post letters in the mail to each other. Tabloids and Newspapers are the most popular news source. Cassette tapes, CDs and Vinyl Records are the format for music, with cars mostly being equipped for cassette tapes. VHS is the format for video.
FASHION
The fashion is that of the 1980s time period and previous time eras before it. Denim, flannel, legwarmers, neon colours, and leopard print are very popular right now. Big hair is all the rage!
ARCHITECTURE AND FURNITURE
The homes in Selene Valley have a range of varying classes, with the more expensive homes being located near the lake. The homes range from the Victorian era to the 1960s era, and are dominantly weatherboard, with some being made of brick.
The rich tend to have vintage furniture pieces of the Art Deco era and the Victorian era, whereas the poor and middle class tend to have furniture pieces of the 1960s and 1970s. Many poor residents get their furniture from the nature strip when other people throw them out.
The homes in Swanton are huge mansions of the Victorian and Edwardian era and are the most expensive houses in the country.
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TRANSPORT
People drive cars or motorcycles to get around and drive on the left side of the road. Steering wheels are located on the right side of the car. If they don’t drive, they ride bicycles, skateboards, get a taxi, or use public transport. Selene Valley has a train station which has a bus depot with buses that operate on a route around town, and coach buses that take you out of town and around the state as an alternative to the train.
You need a licence to drive a car or motorcycle. The age you can get your learner’s permit is 16. Drivers with learner’s permits can only operate a vehicle with a fully licenced driver present. A yellow L plate is required to display on your window and you must do 100 hours of driving before you are able to get your probationary licence. The probationary licence lasts for a year and you must display a red P plate on your window. There are limits to what kind of vehicle you can legally drive on your probationary licence and how many demerit points you have. Once the probationary is over, you can get your full licence. Those that lose their licence cannot drive again for 12 months.
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TV SHOWS AND MOVIES
Craziest Home Videos - A TV show where people can submit their funny videos for their chance to win big cash prizes. Oftentimes the same tired gag of someone falling over repeats itself. Craig enlists Maxx to make some money off his bad music video, he shoots with him. Maxx is not happy when everyone is laughing and he places Runner’s up, being overshadowed by Brad’s cute cat video taking home the grand prize. Brad puts the money towards opening up his dream cat cafe, and the rivalry between Maxx and Brad begins.
Metal Meltdown Countdown - A heavy metal music show that does a countdown of top 10 “latest and greatest” heavy metal records, along with the “curse of the worst”. The show features a different rockstar guest to co-host the show with the two hosts that are essentially heavy metal Siskel and Ebert. Maxx was a guest on the show after his music video and temper tantrum on the ‘Craziest Home Videos’ gained a lot of attention. His idol, Vivienne Vivacious makes an appearance on his segment and initially thinks ‘Sex Bees’ is a satirical joke, applauding Maxx for being so funny, but soon comes to find he’s serious and tries to give him some advice to improve his act… only causing another temper tantrum and Maxx’s fame to grow for all the wrong reasons.
American Pizza franchise. - Maxx’s favourite movie franchise that he tries to emulate in real life, copy-catting his heroes BJ Hardon and Mike Hunt. America Pizza came out in 1978 and is about a group of college guys that work a summer job together at a pizza store on the beach called: American Pizza. All they do is check out girls on the beach and compete with each other to see who "gets the most puss" this summer. What may seem like an asinine movie franchise, actually has darker complexities lurking underneath it, as it is rumoured to be a money laundering scheme. Mike’s actor died from drunk driving as he was trying to emulate his character, and BJ’s actor, spiraled into depression and quit acting as he kept getting type-casted to play the same douche and wanted to be as far away from that character as possible.
Kaptain Katpilla - A popular show for children and adult stoners about a pirate caterpillar who goes on adventures in the land of ‘Alphabetica Numerica’ to thwart Willy Wiggles, the millionaire tycoon worm’s, plans to steal the alphabet and give kids wrong information about the alphabet. It is a lot like Sesame Street and Dora the Explorer.
The Prideful and the Pretty - A soap drama that Maxx’s mother, Susan, obsesses over and wants to emulate in real life. The show is just as petty and shallow as Susan, with its main conflicts being things like Dianna wearing the wrong shoes with that dress, and Russel eating his pudding with the wrong fork.
Ferris Wheel fortune - A cheesy British game show, popular among Australians. Dougal and his parents watch the show religiously.
Skippity Roo - Another Scooby-Doo clone show from the 60s about mystery-solving teenagers and their talking kangaroo. They ride around in his pouch solving mysteries. “Skippity, Skippity, Skippity, Roo!”
Bangzinga Bang - A painfully unfunny popular wacky sitcom about “nerds”.
Stewart Irvin - The alligator skater. An Aussie bloke that likes to go skating and also deals with wildlife.
People living next door to each other - The most iconic Aussie drama show. Cliche storylines that are blown way out of proportion. E.g: Martha loves Kyle, but Kyle is currently on Mars having an affair with Martha’s evil clone who is engaged to Harry and pregnant with their alien child… or so she thinks.
MUSIC
The music is that of the 1980s. With synth-pop, new wave, rock and heavy metal being the most popular genres. Glam metal is currently the most popular genre of the time, with that band Torturgazm.
Indie bands are a big thing in Swanton and Selene Valley with bands such as Nuklear Intoxikation, Sex Beest, Axe Beest, Abyss-inan, and Demolition Killer originating from there.
Torturgazm - The most popular Glam Metal band in the world. Led by Vivienne Vivacious, idol to Maxx and Jaxon. Other members include Mikki Shredz and Danny D-lite.
Nuklear Intoxikation - Craig’s thrash metal band with Makayla and Kurt. They have a surfy thrash metal sound and are one of the few bands with female vocals.
Sex Beest - Maxx’s glam metal “band” from L.A supposedly. Most commonly known as ‘Sex Bees’ due to him misspelling his own band name on his merch. The other members of Sex Beest always seem to be stuck in traffic and can’t make the gig.
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Lord Kradula Ov Khaos - The infamous one-man black metal band of Lord Kradula.
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Ouro Novo - A synthpop band from Palm Tree State, USA. Consisting of Deimos Katsaros and his fellow bandmates, Anthony and Kian.
Axe Beest / Steel Axe - A mediocre Swanton-based Glam metal band, led by Jaxon. The band Maxx ripped his music from to appear competent. The sad irony is that Maxx’s performance of the song he stole from them is more entertaining than their performance of it because it’s such a trainwreck.
Demolition Killer - Nuklear Intoxikation’s rival band consisting of Craig’s ex-girlfriend, Veronika, and former friend/band member Kurt after their split at Solaris Fest. Fronting the band is Bobby O'Sullivan, Larry's former best friend. They are a mediocre band that only formed out of bitterness and can’t get along with each other.
Abyss-inian - Makayla’s girl band with her friends, Savannah and Ivy, after Nuklear Intoxikation split at Solaris Fest.
Aunty Acid - Brad's favourite stoner doom metal band
Possessed Pestilence - Blake’s favourite death metal band.
Robin Fox - A French songstress who does synthpop.
Blunt Sabbath - A classic band from the 70s Brad and Blake were introduced to from their father, Nikolai.
MISCELLANEOUS
Maxx Suxx - Maxx’s troll merch consisting of a soda line with various flavours such as “Maxx’s berry bad music” and “Orange you glad you’re not Maxx” The irony is that his troll merch sells more than his official merch and music, and that is what’s making him money.
The Maxxy Malone of Sex Beest’s Badass Rebel Rocker Sexy Score Game - Maxx’s failure of a dating pick-up game.
Donut Worry, Brad’s Bacon - Brad’s cookbook, known for giving his recipe descriptions a personal flair. Many people find this fun, while some others like Jaclyn find this is annoying.
Yvetta: The Viqueen Princess - Yvette’s novel she tries to self-publish by leaving manuscripts all around town. It is essentially just a diary and a wish-fulfilment story about herself gushing over her “Viking-Samas” Blake and Andreas, with Maxx and Dougal as the ogre villains. Her Viking stories give cryptic hints to foreshadow things in the main story.
Totally Tabloids - The local tabloid magazine that primarily features Maxx’s dumb antics in it.
Wild Stallion - The terrible cologne that Maxx wears. It comes in a blue bottle shaped like a muscular male torso, with a horse’s head lid on top. It is notoriously known to be pungent and overbearing, just like the sex pests that wear it.
Moondale Fruity Lexia - The cheap cask wine (Goon) Maxx drinks.
King of the Rings - Yvette’s favourite fantasy novel. Dougal hates it and only pretends to like it in hopes to impress her.
Star Battle - Dougal’s favourite Sci-fi franchise, the only other thing he obsesses over besides Yvette. He continuously ruins the spoilers for other people.
Meowntain Mew. - Dougal’s favourite drink - Mountain Dew.
Meowboro - The Cigarettes Blake smokes
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eDUCATION
Beach Cliff High - The public high school in Selene Valley that Craig, Makayla, Andreas, Kurt, Jaclyn, Yvette, and Dougal
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Gum Nut High - The public high school in Selene Valley that Ivy, Lily, Larry, Veronika, and Bobby attended.
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Gum Nut Primary School - Lily's favorite haunt. She is devasted when it burns down. Ivy, Lily, and Andreas attended this primary school.
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Royal Swanton Secondary College - A prestigious school in Swanton for the rich elite. Maxx attended this school and his parents paid for his grades and friends.
GoldenShore High - The public high school Brad and Blake attended after leaving The Sun Shire commune. Both of them were social outcasts who faced bullying from their peers. Blake got expelled for beating up a student for bullying Brad.
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Selene valley
SELENE VALLEY MAP
The story takes place in the fictional town of Selene Valley, Possum State, Australia, in the year 1988. It is often joked among its residents that there are four seasons in one day. Selene Valley is a bustling location during the summer as many people from across the state flock there for the beach and attractions such as Solaris Park, SolarisFest, and the beach market. Along with newer attractions such as Maxxy Malone, the notoriously bad rockstar, and Brad Sabatini’s Cat Cafe.
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RESIDENCE
Sabatini House (D11) - The house Brad and Blake move into when they move to Selene Valley from Golden Shore in the first chapter. Brad finds Maxx hitchhiking on the side of the road and he ends up overstaying his welcome with them. Yvette later lives on their property in a bell tent.
Yvette’s tent (C11) - Yvette lives in a bell tent on the lush, green property of the Sabatini house. She is happy she gets to live with one of her Viking-Samas: Blake, and up the road from the other Viking-Sama: Andreas.
Medeiros House (C7) - The members of Nuklear intoxikation, Craig, Makayla and Kurt all live together in this house. Maxx formerly lived with them, before getting kicked out and being picked up on the side of the road by Brad.
Jaclyn’s House (F2) - Jaclyn lives on her own (Which is what she wants people to believe) She conducts her fashion business in this house out of her bedroom. The rest of the house is off-limits to visitors.
Dougal’s house (H2) - The house of Yvette’s creepy stalker, Dougal. He lives with his elderly parents in the basement, under the house. A disturbing discovery is found under the basement stairs.
Andreas’ house (9B) - The house of Yvette’s crush, and Craig’s first love, ex-boyfriend and former Nuklear Intoxikation member. Andreas is shrouded in mystery and all we know about him is told from the perspective of other characters. His house has been abandoned with no sight of him in months, with many speculating he wanted to start a new life elsewhere, leaving everything behind, while others speculate darker things.
MISCELLANEOUS PLACES
Solaris park (M7) - A solar-powered theme park by the beach with various rides such as the Ferris Wheel that looks over the whole town, the vintage roller coaster, dating back to the early 1900s, bumper cars, the Ghost train and the spook house. Makayla gets a side-job working at the park in the Spookhouse, which she loves.
Solaris Music Bowl (N9) - The venue where music concerts are held, with SolarisFest being the most popular.
SolarisFest (M7 + N9) - Every Summer, the largest Festival of the year is held on the grounds of Solaris Park and Solaris Music Bowl, with many rides, food stalls and live music to entertain guests. The Festival is free to attend. This year’s SolarisFest will be one that will never be forgotten with the final act of the Battle of The Bands show.
Seafoam Beach Market (I7) - A popular market held every weekend and every Friday night throughout the Summer. Stray cats roam through the market grounds late at night when no one is around, collecting food scraps left over.
Heathervale Lake Park (E1) - A huge park with botanic gardens and a lake at its centre. It is often the location for community events such as bake sales. There is a big playground for children, bike trails, and many BBQ picnic areas. Sometimes you will be lucky to spot a Kangaroo or Wombat there.
Garden Universe (J6) - A huge nursery selling various plants and gardening supplies. There are giant dinosaur statues out the front of the place, that attract many young children. Blake shops here for his gardening supplies, while Brad gets his herbs here and likes to look at all the nick-nacks and gemstones.
Hot springs (O4) - Located East of town amongst the mountains is a natural Hot Springs with a scenic view above the valley.
Hardware Warehouse (J4) - Iconic Australian hardware megastore. Well known for its sausage sizzles every weekend.
Campgrounds (M3) - National Park campgrounds with a scenic view of the valley from above.
The Adventure Maze (D12) - The Adventure Maze went out of business and sat there abandoned for years with wildlife and stray cats roaming around it. Brad tried to rescue the stray cats and he later bought the land and refurbished the old barn on it into the Cat Cafe and included the maze as an attraction.
Selene Valley Hospital (E5) - Maxx’s second home.
Selene Valley Station (J3) - The end of the railway line, with the next town over being fifteen minutes away.
Water Tower (I2) - The old Water Tower built in 1927 is the tallest building in town, along with the mall.
Beach Cliff High (C3) - The highschool Craig, Makayla, Andreas, Jaclyn, Yvette, Dougal, Kurt and Savannah attended. The place where Dougal first met Yvette and when Craig dated Jaclyn and Andreas.
Foody Max (F4) - The local grocery store next to the mall.
Selene Mall (G6) - Selene Mall consists of various clothing stores, restaurants and a cinema.
Red Hot Cinema - The cinemas located on the top level of the mall.
VDO dungeon - Video rental store.
D-mart - A cheap and affordable retail store giant
Vegedelica - Fruit and veg store
Wok n’ Roll - A Chinese takeaway restaurant
Pimpin’ - A pimp clothing store Maxx buys his gaudy over-priced clothes.
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CUISINE
Voyage Burger - Voyage burger is a Viking themed burger diner. It was originally built in the late 1960s. There are several different Voyage Burgers spread across the state. Voyage Burger hosts night shows every night at 7pm featuring the talking tree ‘Twigbarkoroth’ narrating a story about Voyage Burger’s burger-headed mascot “The Burger Berserker’ with a fire show and dancing animatronics. Every item on the menu is Viking-themed, e.g: Odin Rings, Valhalnilla shake, Chocorock Shake, Little Berserker Meal, e.t.c.
In recent years Voyage burger’s business has been dwindling. They are gradually all closing down due to lack of business and recovering from lawsuits. Voyage burger’s name has been tarnished since those cases.
The Selene Beach Voyage Burger (G7) - This one is one of the last remaining Voyage Burgers. They are desperately trying to improve and keep their business afloat. They have improved the food and try to bring in gimmicky ideas. Jaclyn and Yvette both worked here when they were teenagers in the early 1980s.
The abandoned Highway Voyage Burger (O1) - Located on the outskirts of Selene Valley. The highway Voyage Burger shut down in the early 1980s and has been abandoned for several years now. The owners got sued for food poisoning cases and ran out of money, forcing them to shut down. This one is the infamous one that started the domino effect of their franchise failing. Now the establishment sits there abandoned, being taken over by nature. Silly rumours spawned of it being haunted by “Viking ghosts” while others say they are the ghosts of the people who died of food poisoning, even though no one actually died.
The CatFé (E12) - a cat rescue and bistro run by Brad Sabatini and Lazaros Katsaros. It's named "CatFé" but it's technically a bistro. It features home-cooked meals, baked goods, and a separate room for the cats where you can adopt one! It also sells cat toys, treats, and goodies, as well as Keke the mascot!
Pancake Palace (E6) - A castle-themed pancake restaurant with funhouse mirrors in it. There is a big royal throne you can sit on. Every hour little animatronics run along the roof.
Wok On (H6) - A popular Chinese restaurant with good food.
Gentil Lentil (J7) - A restaurant in a Greenhouse! Everything is vegan and pay as you feel. Their food is handpicked from their veggie garden and blessed with crystals. Jaclyn gets food from here, but she only orders it take out. She would never eat in there lest she be subjected to drum circles and “loud obnoxious dirty hippies.” Brad hangs out here from time to time as he enjoys the atmosphere of the place.
Pete-za’s pizza. (H5) - Local Italian pizza place with good pizza.
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CLUBS AND BARS
Hellbent (K4) - A heavy metal and hard rock bar that Craig, Makayla, et al frequent and play gigs at. Hellbent is Craig’s domain.
Miss Behaven (H4) - A higher-class strip club where Jaclyn works at the beginning of the story. It is also where music nights are held. Maxx is signed up as the headlining act by Nuklear Intoxikation and Steel Axe as a joke and out of revenge for screwing both bands over.
Royal Hound Hotel (K5) - The classic Aussie pub. The pokies and tradies galore! It is mostly frequented by tradesmen and middle-aged men. Craig sometimes goes there for a beer and a parma after work.
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Pussy Passion - A small strip club down an alleyway. Maxx got banned for being a nuisance.
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Bluetini Lounge - A popular nightclub for those that enjoy all kinds of music. Saturday nights are rock nights. Friday night is disco and pop.
