Tarot based interdimensional romantic adventure

[thoththegrey]

I'm searching for an artist for my webcomic. I'll say right off that I can't afford to pay said artist so it will at least start out as a labor of love. I've got some small art/design skills so I can help with layout and even coloring, perhaps more. I want to find someone who can work with me as a partner and not an "employee". Their input will be invaluable in how the comic progresses.

I'm hoping to release the comic twice a week. My current plan is to store up two months of pages (16 of them) in advance so there's a comfortable pad. I already have 14 of those scripts written. I'm not in a huge rush but I admit to being a bit anxious.

Enough about that, though. Here's the pitch for the comic itself. If you're interested, please feel free to message me or contact me via AIM. I'm often on. My AIM id is the same as my id here.

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Arcana

A tarot based, interdimensional adventure webcomic

Brief summary of the background mythology

First, there was just One. The One was everything and all powerful. The One was lonely and in sorrow shattered into four. Each of those shattered further, creating four families of powerful beings that, together, made up the sum total of existence.

In time, they discovered that by taking of themselves and combining that essence with the essences from three other beings, one from each of the three other families, they could create entire realms of existence. The four families became Builders, trading their essences and creating their own realities to experiment and play with.

As the realities matured they became populated by lesser creatures that, individually were weak but together had amazing potential. The denizens of these realities began to dream and their dreams took shape, creating an entirely new breed of entity. At first, the four families welcomed these new ones as the children of their children but things soon turned ugly.

The new beings wanted to build as well. The four families refused to give up their essence, so the grandchildren took matters into their own hands. They became Builders by stealing essence from the four families. What began as theft grew into war. The war raged across eons and realities. None of these powerful entities, old or new, could truly die so, instead, when one was captured by the other side it was imprisoned at the center of it's reality.

Eventually, the war quieted and all that was left were dozens of realities, each with a Builder trapped inside. They did not suffer imprisonment well. Almost as one, old and new Builders alike struggled against their bondage. In time, small kernels of their essence did escape and hurtled forth into every reality like a swarm of meteors. These kernels were absorbed by the mortals who populated the various realms of existence, granting subtle but potent power.

Fast forward an unmeasurable amount of time later. The mortals in one reality postulate the existence of other realities. It took centuries but, acting together with one will, they used magic and science to create a portal that could access other universes. It worked but there was a cost. The first activation of the portal tore apart it's home reality. What was once a seemingly infinite expanse filled with stars and worlds became a few square miles of rock and ruins. None of the portal's creators survived.

Fast forward again. Eventually, mortals with the kernels of the Builders inside of them discovered that they could open the portal and step through it. No one knows who was the first but many followed until, now, an entire community of explorers and adventurers exists. Their home away from home is the Crossroads, an inn and tavern built in the ruins of the building closest to the portal.

The initial cast

Chrystalline: The daughter of a human and a dreamer (a member of a mysteriously lost race of which there is only one survivor), she grew up in the Crossroads. She's a bit of a spoiled princess.

Theresa Pierce: A young woman from a world that might be our's. She's despondent at the start of the strip but soon sucked into adventure thanks to Chrystalline. She and Chrystalline will form an instant connection, one that Theresa will deny. She's a good Catholic girl and good Catholic girls don't kiss other girls. Theresa was raised by her father and without a mother so she's something of a tomboy.

William Black: A knight from a world that suffered a holocaust, William is an anthro jackal who tends to be very dour but is a romantic at heart, though he has some backwards ideas about women. He has feelings for Chrystalline but she doesn't return them. He's the third part of the initial love triangle.

Marcus: A dwarven gunslinger. This character is still in development. He will be something of a counterpart for William, though.

Circe: A wise, mysterious woman. She owns the Crossroads and little is known about her past. She has a grandmotherly role when it comes to the younger adventurers like Chrystalline and Theresa.

Blue: A sentient blob of blue goo. Blue spends most of his time in a special suit that allows him to interact with a world designed for folks with opposable thumbs – or fingers at all. He's the Data character, exploring the human condition from the outside.

Melody Piper-Hood: The daughter of a woman who favors red and a man who plays the flute, Melody styles herself as a bard trying to collect all the knowledge of the various realities. She knows, realistically, that she can't do it but she's bound and determined to try anyway. She's also Chrystalline's mother.

Kludge: Chrystalline's honorary uncle. He's from the same world as Theresa. He's a former professor, an engineer, and something of a MacGuyver sort. These days he mostly hangs around the Crossroads. He never was very physically adept and he isn't getting younger. He and Melody are occasionally lovers.

Mandrake: A small, fairy like woman from a cyberpunk world. She serves as the main barmaid at the Crossroads.

A brief lexicon

So far, I've avoided using the specialized vocabulary that'll be established in the comic but it might help to understand it better.

Arcana: A reality. Each reality is called an Arcana and corresponds to a tarot card. So there is the Fool Arcana (which is where the Crossroads is), the Ace of Swords Arcana, etc..

Builder: The powerful beings that created the Arcana. The old builders represent the four suits of the minor arcana from a tarot deck while the new builders represent the major arcana.

Key: Someone who carries a shard of a Builder inside of them. They tend to be labeled by the type of shard inside of them. For example, Theresa is a Devil Key while Chrystalline is a High Priestess Key. Being a Key gives you a special power. Theresa can see the weakness in objects (but not people or systems).

Dreamer: A race of beings that could travel to different Arcana without using the portal by focusing their energies on a system of symbols. They vanished mysteriously some time ago and only one member remains (he was only a baby when they vanished. They left him learning tools so he could discover how they traveled but he knows little else about them). He's Chrystalline's father.

The Royal Road: The portal you use to travel the Arcana. It works like a doorway. A Key can open the portal from whatever Arcana they're in and step through to the Fool, where the portal (and the crossroads) is located. Then they can close the portal and open it again to a new Arcana.

Interdimensional Physics: What Kludge calls the technique the Dreamers used for traveling the Arcana. Since no one knows a better name, it is the commonly used term for it. Only Chrystalline and her father can perform it, however, and she's not the best at it.

The Crossroads: An inn/tavern in the Fool Arcana, near the portal. It is the base point for most adventurers. I'll be changing the name of this to avoid confusion with the webcomic of the same name.


Storylines

Storyline 1: Theresa, who has recently lost her father, is depressed and suicidal. Thinking to end it all and not wanting to make it a big production of it, she travels down into the subway tunnels, hoping to end it using the gun her daddy taught her to shoot with in a place where no one would find her. Instead, she comes across Chrystalline battling a robot – and losing. Theresa's Key power awakens and she's able to destroy the robot. Chrystalline, badly injured manages to transport them both to the Crossroads. There, Theresa learns more about the Arcana. Chrystalline, meanwhile, is healed and attempts to get supplies to rescue her mother. They had been traveling in the Tower, an Arcana where robots ruled over organics. Melody had been captured and Chrystalline barely got away, using interdimensional physics to transport herself to the Heirophant (Theresa's world). Unfortunately the robot was close enough that she brought it along as well.

Chrystalline is told to wait for her father before attempting a rescue – he should be back soon. She refuses and sneaks out, hauling Theresa along. Together, they travel to the Tower and rescue Melody. They'll likely be joined by William Blake, who wants Chrystalline to wait for her dad but will go along to “protect” her.

Storyline 2: Back safe and sound, Theresa begins to explore her new home when things go wrong. Something activates the most extreme mode of the Crossroads' security system. The system has to be shut down but, more importantly, everyone has to survive until it is. Since storyline 1 focused on Chrystalline and Theresa, this storyline exists to introduce the other characters more thoroughly.

Storyline 3: Storyline 2 will be fairly fast paced and action oriented. Storyline 3 will have the regulars at the Crossroads participating in Circe's scavenger hunt. She holds the event regularly as a way to restock many of her rarer supplies. People will be divided into groups of two and sent off to complete their lists. This might actually be storyline 4. It is supposed to be light-hearted and fun and give us a chance to explore Chrystalline and Theresa outside the context of their relationship. However, I might need a storyline between 2 and this one to better explore them together first.

Future storylines will address questions I'm sure some of you have already picked up on:

1. Whoever imprisoned the last Builder that was captured can't have been imprisoned itself. Is it still out there?
2. Related to that, how do people know about the Builders at all?
3. Are the Keys named such because they might be able to unlock the Builders' prisons?
4. What's Circie's mysterious past all about?
5. What happened to the Dreamers?

And likely others I'm forgetting at this point in time.

A note about the romance
While the attraction between Chrystalline and Theresa will be apparent from the first but it will develop over time. Theresa will be in denial about it while Chrystalline will be somewhat aggressive. It is an important part of the story but I realize that having it reach couple stage too quickly isn't the best scripting. It is more interesting if it is a conflicted (but not too angst filled) road.

A note about the Tarot connection
The tarot is in the background and provides the formation of the entire webcomic's universe. It exists in every Arcana in some form or another and that will become important as the story progresses.

[thoththegrey]

Artist found. Thanks all!