Hello, all!
Merry Christmas! It was, indeed, a "White Christmas" in New York this year, even if there isn't much snow.
I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do a little Main Cast photo shoot. I'm giving you a little glimpse into what each character is thinking in this scene! Oh? You don't know who is who? Well. That's a problem! You should probably start the comic over with this here link and read it through! Or at least cheat and use our Characters page.
Starting from the back row.
Admiral Marcus Swiftshank: Man, it sucks to be in prison.
Biran: I'm wanna bash Goldhook's skull for dragging me into this mess, but I'm stuck next to his wife.
Pirate Queen Euphrosyne Merryweather: What idiot put me next to Alleron's two Princes? If I can get one alone, that's one less to worry about!
Prince Darius: I hope Ajax doesn't start anything dumb. I'd hate to bloody my knuckles.
Prince Ajax: You notice how us antagonists are off to stage-left? And, hell, I'm the only one who's really an antagonist! And they stuck me - ME! - in the back! I think I can take 'em all, even my coward of a brother.
Captain Goldhook: Yarrr, I dare ye, Biran. I may not recover, but Euphie'll stab ye where it hurts the most. Then she'll blow th'rest off!
Samuel: I have no idea what I'm doing here. What God stuck me in waist-deep snow?
Admiral Monica Whitesand: The testosterone is drowning me. Still, I'd love to fight that Goblin King when I'm at full strength. He's something else.
Goblin Prince Blendard: It's cold, and I want to go home to a nice warm firepit.
Habbo: My red hat matches my jolly mood! I do hope I get to fight someone, soon. My skills are waning.
Mage Victoria: Why the hell am I in the front? Do they expect me to cast a protection spell against this giant with a phone? And why aren't the rest of them freaking out about the giant with the phone?!
Goblin King Gurubunder: I'm just glad to get away. I won't be able to leave the Fortress very often, or for very long, and I hate that I swore fealty to this fool of a Prince, but maybe he's got a valid idea taking shape.
Goblin Priestess Bandihutu: Why the hell am I in the front? I can cast an Earth Shield to protect us, should this Deity staring at me with a magic phone really decide to give me a headache. But I have no idea why my combat-drunk King and the insipid Red Prince wouldn't make a move to challenge him, should he be hostile?
Otherwise, some comic news...
Yeah, it's been a year since I've published a chapter. Far more so. Oh, I also added a missing panel in Chapter 59 back in. eat to find one's own mistakes.
I've mostly been working on a Tabletop Roleplaying Game (TTRPG) called "Panimagica." It's gonna be an 'open source' game system with an SRD and everything, but that means people can create their own content for the game and even their own settings - and, thus, I miiiiighttt even 'license' the Chronicles Of Alleron setting to Panimagica (basically, taking IP things from my left hand and putting them in my right) to create a whole Panimagica setting, if it goes well.
In that way, it reminds me of this Manhwa, Ragnarok, by Lee Myung-Jin. It got turned into a video game that wound up being a hit. But they never finished the story, which was shaping up to be fun, actually.
We'll see. LOTS to do on lots of fronts.
That doesn't mean I don't think about Chronicles Of Alleron as a story, I just...Still don't know how to proceed. I talked in last years' post about my neck conditions deteriorating, and they're to the point now that surgery is a probability - if, that is, recent changes in my symptoms don't make that more complicated than the already-daunting challenge it appeared to be.
With regards to last years' post, I made a request. I asked for people to share the comic, and I heard nothing from that. Maybe that was social media de-boosting algorithms? That's very possible. Maybe it was genuine disinterest. But 164 people saw that post, so I guess it was genuine disinterest?
I dunno. It's still in that, "I'd like to work on this, but I'm also busy with IRL stuff" category. Even if that IRL stuff has changed.
I'll probably try to get a chapter out before the surgery, depending on when that is and what I need to do to make a chapter.
My warmest regards,
And all of my love,
--Jesse Pohlman
