I am Benoit Sokal, co-founder of White Birds Productions, author of video games (“Amerzone”, “Syberia I & II”) and cartoonist. On “Paradise” specifically, I am the author and the Art Director.

Zamarat is the third playable world in Paradise. In this world in I wished to introduce a notion of “real” politics and economy into Maurania’s global picture. I’ve used Zamarat as the backdrop to describe a country in which the natural richness of the land has been over-exploited and embezzled to the profit of a few. I also imagined a man, Harambee, for whom the idea of work is more important than the work itself. For him, “idleness is the Mother of all vices”. He does not care if there is nothing to dig for, as long as workers are still digging away. To some this is a very absurd way of thinking, but is not far off from the thinking of Stoic philosophers. It is however, far from my own way of thinking. :)

When doing research for Zamarat, I visited some of the oldest and deepest coal mines in the North of France. I discovered that the wagons used in the mines were towed by horses, resulting in a very sad life for them. The horses were brought down into the mines using special elevators and harnesses, and would then spend all of their remaining days there until their death, never seeing day light again. The horses would often become blind from life-long exposure to darkness and lack of natural light. I imagine that in an African mine, they might have used elephants for the same job…