What's This Story About?

Well, friends, that's akin to asking someone what the point of life is. And we're all seeking to grasp that ill-defined notion, trying to get a semblance of purpose, not to feel directionless and lost with our time.

...but life is not a guided path, no. It's rife with failure, conquest, victory, sadness, loss,  humor, and, ultimately, death. Which is what you'll come to find in this series. 

And this is bestowed on all sentient beings, including those that live in fantasy. However, you should know that the cautionary tale you're about to embark on is told through the lens of perhaps the most narcissistic, maniacal, and loathsome person in the world. 

So, follow along on this journey with a few likable companions as they vanquish and pillage their foes and the world around them.

wraparound cover art

Development of Book 1:

This series has already been in the works for nearly a year, and in that time, we've been focusing a lot on the vibe or the feel of the world. We're dealing with so many established genres, tropes, and elements...all of which we've wanted to pay homage to, but also while finding a way to make it our own. 

To date, this will be our most significant endeavor, not only in terms of how much content is going into Book 1 [80-100 pages] but also with the amount of world-building leading up to the launch. 

To help you get a feel for what this will be, you can find a collection of early concepts, sketches, maps, weapons, and some of the unique rewards we've crafted especially for this project! Our illustrator, Sheevy, has also been hard at work and already roughly sketched out the first 20 pages...but first let's meet the inhabitants!

Characters:

Si'laxiem aka "Silax" - 

A being that's somewhere in the duality between a contemptible, self-serving scoundrel while at the same time having redeemable moments that seem to make you wonder about questioning his integrity...which still doesn't fully attest to the complexity of his character. 

To complicate things, he's also haunted or cursed by people he kills. Being able to commune with the dead does have its drawbacks, but there is a way to end this torment...but it'll require an act of good faith by fulfilling the deceased's last wish to settle their affairs. 

Gol'vig "The Butcher" Grimwulf -  

Oh, Gol'vig. If he didn't have bad luck, I suppose he wouldn't have any at all. He has known many plights but would eventually become cursed to a debtors' prison as a merc-for-hire. 

As you can imagine, this is how their fates intertwine...but what will it take for Gol'vig to earn his freedom, if ever? And how does one find themselves in such a situation? It'll be equal parts of hilarity and tragedy if I know anything. 

Kalamitrya aka "Rya" -

...???

Silax, Tiny Little Monster, and The Floating Soul -

a file was too large, and had to use compressor :p.

Minor Characters:

The Barbarian Queen Sketch - 

Once Sheevy sent over this sketch, I immediately knew her backstory...which somehow involves Gol'vig. How will their story unfold???

The Blacksmith Sketch - 

Still working on the backstory for her, but I have a feeling that a lot of coin gets dropped in her shop!

The Angel of Battle Sketch -

Not much is known about the mysterious Angel of Battle [placeholder name], but one thing is sure; if you're lucky enough to encounter her, you'd better hope she's on your side.

Silax's Romantic Encounters - 

Silax is quite the scoundrel and attempts to dupe some of the female patrons, at the tavern, into romantic evenings with him :p. 

The Pages:

Here are the rough sketches for the first 20 pages! I used a collage to show you the page layout when you open the book, and so the first and last sketches are standalone images. I love the structure of the story and we're only a fifth of the way there...and already so many terrible things have happened, with much more to come :p. 

The Early Work & Map:

Here you'll see the initial concepts along with some of the other art that went into developing this concept over the last year. 

Silax - The left is a model of the final design for his character; on the top right, you can see the original. I felt that he was too human and that it didn't capture the essence of his evil, so after a few changes, we got closer to what we ultimately ended up with :). 

Gol'vig - Was pretty easy because I knew at the onset that I wanted a specialty race for him, as barbarian and human archetypes are overdone. It also lends more to our ragtag crew's "evil" vibe, which is what I wanted. 

Rya - Not spoiling much about this character, but her design did change over time. From the start, I knew I wanted her to be a dark elf, so it was just refining her to fit the personality. 

The Floating Soul - This is the current visage, and she's a no-nonsense type of woman with ball-bustin' razor-sharp wit that'll tell you exactly what she thinks but in an endearing sort of way. I absolutely love the concept of this character, haunting indeed!

The Map - Thought it would be helpful to create a little reference for the size of the world, at least in this book. 

Our Other Books:

With every project, we always like to include the option to buy anything we've done over our series. I don't want to bog this down with all that content, so if you are new and want more information, you can go under my profile to see them. Vignettes is an erotica story following a couple's non-linear sexcapdes, and Akiva is our cyberpunk series where we kill a bunch of greedy politicians and CEOs; it's fun. 

Akiva Vol. 1 - 40 pages perfect bound book 6.625 x 10.25 in size.

Akiva Vol. 2 - 66 pages, perfect bound book 6.625 x 10.25 in size.

Akiva Vol. 3 - Still in production, but estimating 60-70ish pages.

Rewards:

I'm so excited about the unique rewards that we're offering with this project! You can find these in the addon section when you go to pledge. Let's start with the prints. Here are the newest ones that were created for this project, and they are stunning [well done, Sheevy!]:

Prints $10.00 ea

These come in both NSFW and SFW. Just let me know in the survey which you'd like!

These are all of the prints that we offer. And the grid that you'll use for your survey :P.

Stickers $5.00 ea

SpellBook Box [Select Tiers and Addon]  $100.00

This is one of the coolest rewards that we've offered! How cool is it that you can get your sword and sorcery graphic novel shipped inside a spellbook box?! Initially, it was designed as a dice box, but the shop owner could customize the size just for us to make it fit the graphic novel. 

It's also a bit larger on the inside, so it'll be easier to get out and can hold all 6 of our softcover books, so there's plenty of room for future books in the series!

Acrylic Standee [Select Tiers and Addon] $15.00 ea

I wanted to do something special and have seen these offered before over various projects, but they always seemed flat. So I wanted to create an illusion, per se, of an enemy losing its head. With the limited space, this was a significant challenge to get right because neither of us had worked with these before...but it turned out amazing! Below you can see the individual layers and the physical proof we got from Zap! Creatives. The base isn't that red; it's just a reflection. You can see in the video what the bottom looks like. 

Gloomshadow's Incantations of Ineffable Miseries Mini Spellbook [Select Tiers and Addon] $40.00

This is what I'm excited about! I happened to stumble across this company that allows you to make customized dice boxes in the form of mini spellbooks; how fuckin' cool is that?! Not to mention that it's made from leather and hardwood!

So I decided to use an actual item that will be found in the book "Gloomshadow's Incantations of Ineffable Miseries," for the custom art that will go over this spellbook:

Flora Daria and Lucid Belle Signed Prints  $5.00 ea

We still have some of these prints left over and just trying to clear them out. As a reminder, some of these have damaged or bent corners because they had a short journey from the printer to the cosplayer [Russia] and finally to me. Some signed prints have sold out, but you can still get copies with the Signed Digital Pack Addon. 

Digital Cosplayer Loot Drop $5.00 

This is a digital collection of all the Cosplayers we've worked with over our series, including ShannyPlays, Flora Daria, Lucid Belle, and ZoeVolf. You'll get photos, gifs, and videos from those collaborations. 

Kristine Maia Standard Reward Included W/Select Tiers

Akiva T-Shirt $15.00

Vignettes Wallpapers $5.00

Risks and challenges:

Over the years we've encountered every problem imaginable that comes with this kind of work. Some of those have included: printer getting bought out right before printing, having to fire an illustrator near the end of a book, having to fire a cosplayer for not delivering, delays, printing problems, extensions, war affecting payments and possible conscription issues, etc.

At the end of the day, we move forward and try our best to make good on all of our promises to deliver a product that you're proud of. I stay in contact with my backers with regular updates and very transparent with information, problems and solutions.