1.11.32
on March 19, 2021
at 3:00 am
and here we have: a character with a deeply personal investment in the idea of his own personal autonomy who is projecting hard, a character with zero sense of personal autonomy who understands that concept is causing his friend pain without knowing how to help, and the only character with a largely unbiased perspective on this situation who has only the barest understanding of what everyone is talking about
Finally, staying up way past my healthy schedule pays off.
Side note: wow, who would’ve thought that an ancient consciousness that encompasses and embodies its own chunk of everything that exists would have an agenda more complex than “kill everyone now”.
Falst the fourth wheeler
That implies that he’s paired up with somebody. But who? Kendal, because they’re both fighters? Erin, because they’re both new? Alinua, because they both have a troubled past? Place your bets!
Maybe he’s a spare 😛
Tess, she’s his foil, but they haven’t gotten the last member of the five man band yet.
For the Twins!
This is a fascinating character moment, especially with Red’s explanation, but I just have to say–it’s wonderful to see the gang functioning as a stellar emotional support network. I love it. It’s beautiful. They’re each comforting her in their own ways and I think I’m going to cry.
Existential crises suck, but they’re even worse when you don’t have anyone you can talk to about them. You’ve got this, Alinua, and you’ve got people who want to help you. You’re going to be okay.
Yes, because the living embodiment of the concept of Life, who has had full control over a manifestation of themselves quite a few times, would not only like to kill everything, but wants to so badly that, off the top of my head, hasn’t killed anything. Somethings not adding up
Red, I loved how you conveyed friendship with just one look. It’s like the romantic subplot trope but for friendship. It solidifies a lot Kendal’s and Alinua’s friendship.
Falst, once again, bringing the cool takes with zero context that we all need in our lives.
Life Mum, Ten-Eyes, Big Plant Lady, who will win the comment section nickname contest? Vote now on your phones!
Great to see Erin offering emotional words of support when his analysis fails, he and Alinua may not be in the same boat but they’re not far off. Nice scene of Kendal looking at her while holding her hand ( guess he’s too low down to offer a hug). Add in Falst’s outsider unbiased perspective and you’ve got a great scene of emotional support.
“No matter what THEY want, WE still get to choose!” Yep Red’s right, Erin’s projecting so hard he could supplement his expositions with powerpoint presentations. Though given their circumstances I can’t really blame him.
That’s right Collector! Your thinking is simple! Life’s own vessel said so! What you gonna do about it?
life mum
Life mum, but big plant lady is an acceptable nickname.
is it always 10 eyes? I thought it was just an unspecified large number of eyes.
I think it was just me counting the eyes and using that as a name for them in a TL;DR (I avoid the actual names in those) Someone else could have thought of it first though.
None, Cthulhu.
I just absolutely love seeing these characters working together and helping each other. Amazing job, Red.
Also, the way Kendal holds Ali’s hand to say he’ll be there to support her and everything will be alright… Their friendship is so amazing they’re gonna give me rainbows in my heart
hey, wait a minute, weren’t you meant oh, I don’t know tell falst what this gang was.
Of course not! Why waste time expositing one thing when you can induce angst about another?
P.S Spaniel ears are the best. So soft.
TL;DR: Plant elf has just contacted the emotional support hotline.
LUL.
Best one yet imo.
Also, trying to start a comment chain: who else is writing a story (in any medium) while also reading this? I have my own pencil sketched comic as well as a lot of written stuff I stopped after 20 or so pages because writer’s block.
I am! I have a comic being sketched on pencil and then redrawn digitally, but I’m also writing down a similar story because lab coats are hard to draw, and I have a mc wearing one.
Huh, I didn’t know that, Hollow, that’s really cool!
yeah, I shared a panel of it in the art channel of the Discord!
sadly, that’s the only digital evidence I can think of it that exists anymore, because I lost the file
Huh I would do mine digitally if I ever got with the times and figured out how it works haha. Nice you’re actually taking that step!
I’m writing several stories on paper (or, well Google Docs). One of them, that one being my current personal favorite, is about an agender protagonist who is the only one who can stop the antagonist, because the antagonist can’t be defeated by a man or a woman.
Oh yeah, I’d forgotten you were writing that, Lucy!
That’s awesome! I had a few Google docs, one is a mystery around a school shooting and the other is … I don’t know. Weird.
“Fool. No man can kill me…”
*removes helmet* “I am no man.”
yep, basically
my (wip) for that scene is the villain, after being defeated is all, “b..but they said no one can defeat me!”
and then the mc will go “no, she said no man or woman can defeat you. Leaves it up to people who aren’t men or woman, no?”
villain: *visible confusion”
Ah yes, defeated by your own outdated opinions of gender.
either that, or defeated by a kid. either works.
That’s a really interesting concept. I can’t even dream of something like that haha.
I’m currently writing a fantasy novel with a lot of insight from one of my closest friends, so, yes. I have no idea when it’s going to be done, but it is in the works. :]
I wish I could get more insight from my friends. They’re relatively quiet so I’m left writing blind.
I don’t write but I give lots of insight to my friend! 🙂
I have been conceptualizing a video game for years now; the current working title is “Telmarra: Civil War”, and it’s about a historian traveling around a city-state split in two by an ultra-capitalist king and a rebellion fighting against him. The historian, Nadia, aims to track down and obtain eight legendary artifacts that, if they contain the powers alluded to, would give the rebellion strength to punch through the heavily-fortified royal palace and kill the king. Lots of roaming around a beautiful city and beautiful wilderness, and I’m making the music for it myself (and, once I get a drawing tablet and some pixel art/animation software, I’ll be making the art for it myself as well). I plan on making one or two smaller games before I release this one in order to get some practice; I plan for all of them to be available on itch.io.
I’m actually working on writing a collection of shorts stories, and then after that, maybe a full length book
Those all sound awesome! I also like writing, but not too seriously, as I often abandon projects because I get distracted by a new idea. I’m almost done writing a short horror story.
I regularly spawn half-baked settings and characters out of boredom. School’s kicking my butt rn so drawing them is hard at the moment. I hate conflict so I’m not good at actually making plots though…
Would you guys be mad at the amount of comments I’ve made if I shared some stuff about my comic?
Course not! I don’t see why we’d be annoyed at all! Though maybe we should make an Aurora comment section Discord or something in the future, just to make conversations like these easier. Though something like that probably already exists…
It’s just that I think I talk too much.
From a fellow frequent commenter: don’t overthink it, it’s fine.
Ahhh, I can relate! I have ADHD and anxiety- it’s this fun mix of talking a lot and then being anxious that I’m talking too much. From personal experience, that anxious feeling is your brain lying to you. You’re doing fine, Somebody! :>
Okay.. so there’s this guy whose dad died so he fulfills his father’s dream by taking control of the country. However his rise to power is illegitimate and therefore the lawmaking body purposefully spites him by vetoing his laws. He learns he can threaten their families to make them obey and this begins a cruel dictatorship. In the meantime, a poor village suffers from a drought and many civilians, unable to pay rent for their homes, are to be collected for debtor’s prison. A family decides to run away, but they do not have the resources for all of them to go together. And so a farmer parts ways with her mums and begins her dream of seeing the world beyond the village.
Shenanigans go down and she eats a poisonous mushroom. A wandering transgender witch finds and saves her (there is magic but it’s a fading art because technology is all the rage). They become friends, find out the farmer was adopted thus throwing her in an angst pit of “my real parents didn’t want me”, adopt a dog. They find out that the mums were abducted when they revisit the farmer’s town so she can get closure on the adoption thing, this setting them on a rescue misson. But alone they cannot infiltrate the government offices. So they then visit the witch’s hometown where her parents have high status and can assist them. The witch’s parents refuse to recognize her transgender-ness. They find out the witch’s parents are raising her as a second attempt at bringing up a child who will be a magical superweapon (the first one “detonated in transit”. So now they have to stop a conspiracy AND rescue some poor mums. Oh. And also they’re all dragons.
And the story is set in AD 3620- ish because the dragons had to have a long history after being hunted to near extinction my medieval knights and successfully escaping to some arbitrary island cluster.
What does everyone think?
Very interesting!
I would gladly read this.
Thanks! I was afraid you’d all hate it, but that may just be my insecurity speaking.
By the way, I’m still in the working title phase. I was thinking “Dragonia’s Most Wanted” since the government will try to track down the main characters for “disobedience” but anyone else have ideas?
I have up to chapter 20 something ish mostly scripted but only 80 or so pages (an introduction and 2 chapters) actually drawn.
I Approve!!!!
For those who are not bored or annoyed, the main characters are: Kiramina Fox, a … Fox. Crossed with a bird. She has lived her whole life between the friendly countryside village where everyone helps everyone survive and a nice school environment and has to learn that not everyone is nice but also not everyone is horrible. Then there’s Lilian. She’s a witch and looks like a green tortoise with a ponytail and a long, striped tail. She’s neglected by her parents because they have things they don’t want her to know so she’s grown up in isolation with only books and an imaginary friend (her dead “sister”). She trusts books a little too much and has to learn that you can’t take every word on paper for what it says- outside advice can be valuable. When she “comes out” she reverses a spell that changed her appearance, reverting to her original look that’s more of a pudgy iridescent blue dragonfly crossed with a firefly. Then there’s a third main character that joins later on who’s a sea deity that blames themself and is haunted by an “incident”. Their arc will be learning the truth behind the incident as well as realizing how pushover-y they are and working to remedy that with friend advice.
Also, locations: There’s the capital at Ivory Ridge, which is nestled beneath a white colored cliff. Then there’s Drakenberg. It used to be the capital of an independent kingdom and still seethes with rage at its annexation. It’s built primarily on swampland with bridges and hover-boat transportation and still has a monarchy with little (if any) political power. Other than that there are small villages and towns scattered about and probably a few more big cities I’m too lazy to develop or name.
Oooh, Somebody, is Ivory Ridge carved out of stone? I’m imagining a glimmering pure white capital with a festering dark underbelly~ Also, this concept is super cool! Thanks for telling us! :> If you’d ever like to tell us more, we won’t mind if you wanna give us updates in later pages, right guys?
Yeah, it’s the “beautiful, pure, modern city where all the cool stuff is. Having it in the cliffside would be cool, as I’ve never drawn the full city (outside the government buildings which stand on top of the cliff to get first view of any potential invasion) I hope you don’t mind me yoinking up that idea. As for updates- sure! I’m glad my wild daydreams given pencil interest you.
Aw, I’m flattered you think it’s a good idea! Sure, go ahead~
YOINK.
Thank you.
I have like 3 stories I’m working on, 1 has actual “worldbuilding” and that’s only because it’s base on Greek mythology, anouther is named after a subreddit I like, and the 3rd is so new I only have like 4 characters, 1 of them dead before the story starts, anouther is just a side character that forges wepons for the gods.
The Greek mythology one is called “House of Olympus” and is about how Hades has a self loathing complex, Zeus and Hera are on a thin line with their relationship, Dionysus is suffering from drug abuse and alcoholism, Hermes is a workaholic who is on the verge of mental breakdown from overwork, and Aphrodite is just in it for the drama. Athena isn’t helping by interviewing everyone, all the time. Apollo is being chased by Hestia, who has a crush on him, Artemis is just chilling on the moon wondering why people call her weird for not wanting to deal with this crap. Demeter STILL isn’t over that one-night-stand that went horribly wrong she had with Thanotos that produced Persephone (I’m trying to cut down on insest so Demeter, Hera, and Hesta aren’t siblings with Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades) and Persephone is the ONLY emotionally stable one of the group. Everyone is brought together by their concern for Hades as he’s the only one that doesn’t destroy a highly populated city when you bring up their problems. It’s a slice of life/sit com style show about how everyone has flaws and we need to learn to overcome our obstacles in life.
The one named after a subreddit is called “Witches Against the Patriarchy.” It’s an urban fantasy story about a secret society of witches who try to undermine societal norms. The main character’s mom did it with a Dryad and that’s how the main came about. There’s a character in the friend group who’s father was SOOO good looking the f*cking moon desided to bring them into the sky and screw them, this created this important leader of the friend group, and their dad got turned into a star, and the character was adopted, never learning the truth, till the sun asked the moon questions, oh this happens alot by the way this is just the first time a child was produced from the affair. Then there is one character who is descended from an immensely famous witch called The Moragan who could shapeshift into a crow at will (this power was not passed down to her children) and wrote a tome called, “The Occulanore” that is used by witches to this day. This character is a descendant of Laignech Fáelad, and is part of the farthest traceable family of werewolves. Then there is the token “normal person” though “normal person” just kinda means human, not part fae/moon/werewolf, they are a punk style witch while most witches are goths. This is also an episodic style story.
And they newest story I’m making is about an outlaw with magic ice powers and the ability to shapeshift, looking for the tyrannical immortal queen who rules the frozen wasteland that is the world. The story is that 7 beings of pure elemental power lived 800 years ago, the Wind, Water, Earth, Lighting, Fire, and Life rulers fell to hubris and only the Ice ruler survived. Because they lived, the gods granted both the ruler and their daughter immortality. While the Queen ruled the world as a fair ruler for 200 years. The Queen’s (her name is The Queen, she had a proper name once, but lost it once she became immortal) soul is unique as the other rulers died, and her soul CAN sustain immortality comfortably. A mortal soul can’t sustain immortality comfortably as the soul wasn’t built the last forever. And the daughter, her name’s Elenadale, has a mortal soul, so she lived in pain for 200, then she ran away to find a way to die. For 300 years she researched into the depths of magic, pleading to the gods for mercy. She finally found that she can transfer her immortality, power, and life essence into another being, but she didn’t want to harm anouther mortal, so she carved a person out of ice, transferred her power, immortality, and life essence into it and then died. After Elenadale ran away, her mother looked but couldn’t find her and eventually became a terrible queen. The life Elenadale created was an immortal girl who can shapeshift and has ice powers, immortality, and a unique soul (unlike any seen on earth) named Ivenadale (Iven/Ivena for short) who is the protagonist. She looks identical to Elenadale except for her eyes which are white, when Elena had icey blue eyes. She is pale, with white hair, and wears a hooded cloak that is light blue with a white snowflake pattern around the hood. She was found and raised by a loving family and watched them die. After that she decided to never befriend someone who could die again. She lived life on the run and became an outcast, after 300 years, she decided to confront The Queen and make her be a better ruler, The Queen also knows of Ivenadale and wants to kill her cause she is crazy, doesn’t know her story, and hates her for being a constant reminder of the daughter she has yet to find, as cause Elena was immortal so The Queen believes she is still out there and spends all her time looking for her instead of ruling the world. The plot is about Iven’s journey to find The Queen before her guards capture her and try (and fail) to unceremoniously kill her, as if they fail they’ll probably just throw in jail and never tell The Queen at fear of being executed. The reader doesn’t know that Iven is immortal, so there are stakes that only exist on first read, but the cast that joins her will be mortal, so Iven will have to keep them alive in every encounter. I haven’t created any of the gang yet. The only other character I have fleshed out is this mortal named Everix who is known as “The Blacksmith of the Gods” as she is so good at forging wepons that the gods go to her instead of Haraima (god of the forge) to get weapons. She is generally confused why the gods think she is better than Haraima. I think she will get commissioned by the goddess Nevix a weapon for her champion, who I think will travel with Iven.
Sorry if the post was long
I’m starting to write my first full-length novel about a half-human endowed with abilities granted by the local universe god with a cybernetic right arm from 2067 who works with a four legged alien that worships a floating crystal, a highly intelligent robot with partial amnesia, a fire mage who, among other things, can summon and remotely control A-10 Warthogs made of fire, and the disappointment that is myself in order to stop a long-forgotten terror from annihilating the multiverse. Once again, I’m just starting, so this will probably change a bit as I develop lore and more characters, etc.
This is a very basic overview, so if you’re interested, feel free to ask me for any details about my story.
This sounds awesome! One question- do the characters and locations have names?
Yes for characters, but mostly no for locations. The half-human’s name is Derek Zagroff, the four-legged alien and robot are named Four Legs and Rorsche by Derek, respectively, the fire mage is Akalia Remarr, who goes by Akaj, and I am Elias Lin. The only named location I have so far is Base Aleph in Siberia, where Derek and other unique individuals are held by the Extraterrestrial Investigation and Defense Organization.
The Extraterrestrial Investigation and Defense Organization, or EIDO, is a top-secret organization formed through the cooperation of multiple national governments which purpose is to study and defend against aliens, hence its name. The reason why Derek is kept here is because he was born from a mysterious, gelatinous meteor which crashed into a Siberian forest. The meteor is actually coagulated “blood” which dripped from the wounds of the universe god eons ago, which were inflicted by the name of said “long-forgotten terror” during a battle (Right now, I’m thinking of calling it the Overseer, or the Sea of Eyes, but both those names suck).
Looks like you’re well into it! Keep going and I’m sure it’ll come out incredibly! Also those names are cool, much more so than mine (I basically use whatever pops into my head first haha).
Ooh! I have like ten previously finished awful novels under my belt, as well as maybe five in the works that I’m really excited about. I’m also maybe a third of the way done with a graphic novel, but I have no idea where it’s going, and my sister’s the only one who cares about THAT. The novel I’m really excited about is a very character-driven book about a core cast of five characters. It’s mostly just in the planning stages right now, though, because I know from experience that if I just start writing, the character arcs will be lacking. Also, the plot and worldbuilding are painfully bare at the moment. I’m also halfway done with writing another novel that has the opposite problem: almost nothing BUT worldbuilding.
Also, I keep having ideas for novellas and comic books and it’s so hard to just FOCUS on the one or two darn novels I think are actually worth writing. I mean, they’re all worth writing, but some I know I just won’t be able to write well any time soon.
I relate to the too much world building problem. I have 2000+ years of mostly filled history which branches off into separate societies plus there’s the fact that time distorts history so I have to corrupt my own history to make sense to certain groups—
I binged an old anime several months ago and realized that about 5 episodes from the end, they killed off a couple of characters who…probably did not have to die (There was like 5-10 seconds where the camera focused on the big death machine they were being mercy-killed to save them from as it POWERED DOWN) and the ending was kind of…wonky… (guy spends entire series trying to rescue family and then immediately abandons said family to run off with new GF. Um, what? “LOL yeah the rest of the family is dead now. Have fun at home alone, old man!”)
So now I’ve got a little fic going on about what if the main character had noticed that the big death machine was…you know…OFFLINE and rescued the characters instead of needlessly mercy-killing them?
The story is in a text format. I also do some 3D model rendering and I’ve played around with some stuff after making models of the characters from the series. One character is an android/cyborg/clone/something (they never really clarify exactly what he’s supposed to be) and I love using his model to play with the special effects that make things all shiny and reflective!
This is such a great page I think I’ll cry.
Does it count if there still only in my head cause physically writing is hard?
Shoot meant to reply to Somebody sorry
Well, you’re “writing” it in your head. I mean, a lot of my stories never come out on the page.
Let me use this comment for a very important purpose:
Wishing a very happy birthday to TheUnknownGame!!!!!
Last year, when it was my birthday, he was the only one who gracefully noticed the change of my name and wished me a happy birthday too. So I wanted to return the favor! Dear TheUnknownGame, you give so much to this comment section and it is very appreciated! May you have a blessed March 19th and know that (I did remember as promised) you are a very important part of this comment section! May you live ever longer and best wishes to you! :3
-Pinewing Elessar 🙂
Yes!
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to youuuuu!
Happy birthday dear TheUnknownGameeee
Happy birthday to youuuuuu!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday
Happy birthday! You made it another year!
Happy birthday, TheUnknownGame!
Happy Birthday TUG 😀
Huh. I was going to comment about this myself, but it seems you beat me to it.
Red, such a heartwarming interaction is a very nice present, as is your kindness, Pinewing Elessar. (I think I’ll also be getting Hades on Steam today, I’m excited to play that)
I am a decade older today. Kinda feels surreal, to be honest…
Happy birthday, enjoy a nice weekend of Hades.
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday! :>
Happy birthday! Enjoy the rampant bisexuality that is Hades!
Happy B-day!
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday!
Kendal: *hold friend*
Friend: *is hold*
man I miss physical human contact
me too. I just want general hugs.
Sending digital hug!
Falst: I dunno whats going on, but I still have the most sensible advice.
Scar continuity: Kendal’s scar mysteriously vanishes in the fifth panel, despite being present and accounted for in the second panel.
*magic*
And with that the ship strengthens.
the FREINDship.
Ba-Dum Tsh!
much approve.
I love how they’re having a serious discussion while Faust is there like “I am missing soooo much context”. He’s basically if someone decided to start reading at the beginning of the last arc, and didn’t bother going back to see what they missed. He doesn’t realise all three of his companions have been/are vessels to great and powerful beings (and isn’t it weird how the one god amongst those three is the *weakest* and *least* among them?)
This is such lovely character work. Also, bless Falst, the voice of outside perspective.
This is the best way to show their dynamic. Them speaking and communicating with one another so easily shows you how well their relationships have strengthened and grown over time. I love this panel. We all need an emotional support group.
Kendal and Alinua are my platonic otp
Hell yeah! Platonic otps don’t get enough attention.
me too
Yep, same here. We need more friendship fluff.
YIS. They shall have happy platonic relations forever, and the world will be better for it.
Informal gathering of the Aurora Aspec club, hehe. Also yes, I agree! I just wanna see all these characters be good friends and support each other.
Yes. Why waste time with romantic subplots when you can write truly beautiful friendships? Those are 1000000000x better.
I’m restricting romance in my comic to side characters, off the page. Perhaps they are separate the first time you see them then they reappear years later with a kid. *Shrugs* Here’s an ace with no idea how to write a good romance and not really wanting to anyway.
may I be added to the Aurora Aspec club? I’m aroace
ok but i love the character writing in this comic so much sdjgkdjshgkjsdahgk
HAND HOLDING
Platonic hand holding!
Kendal and Alinua hand holding? Oh red, you shouldn’t have!
Alinua: In distress
Erin: *Must encourage*
Kendal: *Must comfort*
Falst: *Must fix this*
Three different approaches, but each contributes.
Chef’s kiss!
For some reason I imagine Falst in this strip talking with the voice of Zuko from Avatar the last airbender. I have no idea why, but my mind seems to think it’s a perfect fit.
You have been watching too much tv.
That is… very much not what his voice sounds like in my head…
The beauty of words is that they can sound however you image be.
Now, does Kendal lack nips because he’s a god-construct, or does Red just not wanna draw them?
At the start of this comic I was enjoying reading all the witty comments people left, but in these later pages it seems people keep commenting about stuff like referring to Falst by name and talking about whoever Tess is. I’m not sure exactly where they’re getting that stuff but I really wish people would avoid spoilers like that in the comments here for new readers or those trying to just enjoy it for what it is without outside knowledge, it’s a shame to me
Kendal: *holds hand*
Me: *internal screaming*
Erin: *forceful reassurance*
Me: *internal screaming intensifies*
Falst: *using logic based off of very little knowledge but still grasping the concept perfectly*
Me: *internal screaming reaches highest capacity and kills me instantly*
I believe the Collector’s condition can be described as ‘Nucking Futs.’ It’s a technical term. Trust me, I’m a scientist. 😀
I’m already so in love with this group dynamic.
totally platonic hand-holding
Alt text: oh right, that thing that happened
Image source: simple1
haaaaaand holdiiiiiing. Dammit, I know Kendalinua wont happen, but it sure damn is cute!