The Creative Project
Way back here and here I mentioned a webcomic project I was working on. While mrlich got busy doing other things and isn't involved anymore, my current arteest and I have been working like crazy on it for a long time. Almost 4 years, actually! While I didn't exactly spend all my spare time working on it through these last four years, I have kept a steady pace of creative energy pointed towards it, and now, we have a substantial world, magic system, plot, and character base.
Sadly, because of the craziness two-job work schedule, I've not been able to hardly touch it in over a month (aside from a few isolated phone calls here and there with my arteest), but our web guy convinced us to switch to ComicPress (WordPress's webcomic engine), so we have a new website. It's not formally up yet, but we're working on some splash screens to rotate through while we keep hammering on it. You can go to the url, but there's nothing to look at.
The webcomic is entitled The King's Left Hand, and I frankly think it is pretty awesome. While I will admit to some bias, I also will admit that everyone I have given some details to has agreed that it sounds cool. Naturally, until we have, you know, an actual comic to show, those are just words, but it's exciting to see how much closer we are coming.
I haven't seen a plot anything like what we are doing anywhere else, and I think the path these characters will traverse will strike a chord in a lot of people. I mean, how many main characters in a fantasy story, let alone a webcomic, have {redacted text}, with one of them even being {more redaction}? They are usually {yup, you know}, which makes the level of {I bet you're really curious now} with other characters even more unusual. I know, it's really unique. If I can pull it off without any hamfisted storytelling, this will be something to write home about.
Obviously, this kind of story requires a lot more depth to the world than you would normally find, since the details of {you want a hint?} become important to the deeper storylines moving through the narrative. But throw in the mix of {I'll think about it}, {I might let y'all in on something here}, and {maybe}, and suddenly, aspects of culture that are typically ignored in nearly all fantasy epics need to be explored.
I'm frankly pretty excited about it all.
Also? We are totally creating a board game (wargame type) based on the Cultist Wars, which occurred about 20-30 years prior to the start of the comic itself, but is still having a lasting impact on the characters. It's a blast. :)
OK, fine, here's some actual info, in the form of some splash screens:
Wyrm here is a villain who appears in the Prologue. He's brilliant, twisted, manipulative, and a very dangerous enemy.
Wyverns are super dangerous critters who can be trained, but sometimes will turn and eat their riders with no warning (making them only semi-useful). 1500 years ago, during the Age of the Mind Mage, Mind Mages could mentally enslave them, and so they were common mounts for powerful wizards. Now that the DeathMind spell has brought Mind Magic (and by extension, Necromancy) to a screeching halt, wyverns are rarely used, but when they are, they tend to install fear into opponents, plus they are useful scouts. There are no other flying mounts, and airships are incredibly expensive, slow, and vulnerable, so wyverns are the only option for air scouting.
When they are young, they are land bound, but as they get a little older, their "arms" grow wings, and they become flight-capable for a time. As they get older and bigger, they get too heavy to fly, and so the joints on the wings split off and become two more pairs of legs. Older wyverns are massive, six-legged carnivores, and the remnants of their wings can be seen for a time as ragged flaps of flesh between the fore legs. They spray a nasty poison out of their mouths - it attacks the nervous system and causes paralyzation and death to whatever gets hit by it. They can be used to strafe enemy troops from above, though riders have to be cautious to keep the wind from carrying the poison back in their faces as they fly.
Background is stolen from a Magic:The Gathering card, so don't think my arteest did that himself. :)
Rider is a member of the Phoenix Guard, the all-female branch of the military.
More to follow as I decide to throw more tidbits out!
Sadly, because of the craziness two-job work schedule, I've not been able to hardly touch it in over a month (aside from a few isolated phone calls here and there with my arteest), but our web guy convinced us to switch to ComicPress (WordPress's webcomic engine), so we have a new website. It's not formally up yet, but we're working on some splash screens to rotate through while we keep hammering on it. You can go to the url, but there's nothing to look at.
The webcomic is entitled The King's Left Hand, and I frankly think it is pretty awesome. While I will admit to some bias, I also will admit that everyone I have given some details to has agreed that it sounds cool. Naturally, until we have, you know, an actual comic to show, those are just words, but it's exciting to see how much closer we are coming.
I haven't seen a plot anything like what we are doing anywhere else, and I think the path these characters will traverse will strike a chord in a lot of people. I mean, how many main characters in a fantasy story, let alone a webcomic, have {redacted text}, with one of them even being {more redaction}? They are usually {yup, you know}, which makes the level of {I bet you're really curious now} with other characters even more unusual. I know, it's really unique. If I can pull it off without any hamfisted storytelling, this will be something to write home about.
Obviously, this kind of story requires a lot more depth to the world than you would normally find, since the details of {you want a hint?} become important to the deeper storylines moving through the narrative. But throw in the mix of {I'll think about it}, {I might let y'all in on something here}, and {maybe}, and suddenly, aspects of culture that are typically ignored in nearly all fantasy epics need to be explored.
I'm frankly pretty excited about it all.
Also? We are totally creating a board game (wargame type) based on the Cultist Wars, which occurred about 20-30 years prior to the start of the comic itself, but is still having a lasting impact on the characters. It's a blast. :)
OK, fine, here's some actual info, in the form of some splash screens:
Wyrm here is a villain who appears in the Prologue. He's brilliant, twisted, manipulative, and a very dangerous enemy.
Wyverns are super dangerous critters who can be trained, but sometimes will turn and eat their riders with no warning (making them only semi-useful). 1500 years ago, during the Age of the Mind Mage, Mind Mages could mentally enslave them, and so they were common mounts for powerful wizards. Now that the DeathMind spell has brought Mind Magic (and by extension, Necromancy) to a screeching halt, wyverns are rarely used, but when they are, they tend to install fear into opponents, plus they are useful scouts. There are no other flying mounts, and airships are incredibly expensive, slow, and vulnerable, so wyverns are the only option for air scouting.
When they are young, they are land bound, but as they get a little older, their "arms" grow wings, and they become flight-capable for a time. As they get older and bigger, they get too heavy to fly, and so the joints on the wings split off and become two more pairs of legs. Older wyverns are massive, six-legged carnivores, and the remnants of their wings can be seen for a time as ragged flaps of flesh between the fore legs. They spray a nasty poison out of their mouths - it attacks the nervous system and causes paralyzation and death to whatever gets hit by it. They can be used to strafe enemy troops from above, though riders have to be cautious to keep the wind from carrying the poison back in their faces as they fly.
Background is stolen from a Magic:The Gathering card, so don't think my arteest did that himself. :)
Rider is a member of the Phoenix Guard, the all-female branch of the military.
More to follow as I decide to throw more tidbits out!