World of Relics
With their souls putrefied by scorching light, the Gods and Mortals are no more. What remained are the Objects and the Relics, formerly with no will, now bestowed with the souls and minds of their deceased masters. Strong in mind and power, Relics are forever, while the Objects, weak and short-lived, will face hardship in the Game of Life.
The Project
Rise of Relics and The Mundane Realm are two fantasy xenofiction stories from my worldbuilding project, World of Relics. Rise of Relics is about a group of relics saving the world from absolute destruction after the Inversion Event wiped out all life. This event caused a sudden shift where the souls of gods and mortals rebind themselves to their owner's possessions, creating the relickind and the objectkind that now take the place of their predecessors. The Mundane Realm explores the lives of objectkind several thousand years after the events of RFR, including mysterious cities, powerful kingdoms, and ancient secrets hidden throughout the realms.The purpose of this worldbuilding project is to help develop and refine a few concepts inspired by Object Shows. I found the adventures of these living object people entertaining and interesting, but I wanted to explore the concept beyond just talking object people. A few of my favorites: ONE, Inanimate Insanity II and III, Escape from Abject Reality, and BFDI (BFB). There are many more on Youtube and other places. I suggest checking them out!
Rise of Relics
A burst of tragedy brings urgent hope.
Nikey, a wayward goddess and former thief, returns home after five years of banishment. But just before she takes a nervous step into the islands of Antiqua, the world burns. Something had gone wrong, an unrepairable break in reality wiped out all life. What remains are relickind, birthed from souls that inhabit their owner’s possessions. Now an anxious radiant trident, Nikey struggles to reunite with her family while a greater power seeks to extinguish the last dying embers of the fallen Realms.
The Artist
Rise of Relics is created by Amari Harkness (she/they). She is a graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design, with a Bachelors of Fine Arts and a major in Animation. They are a Bisexual/NB Black artist who has a love for fantasy, adventure, paracosms, and really cute cats.
Concept Art
Extras
FAQ
What inspired this project?
I started writing this Rise of Relics during the late March Covid lockdown here in America in 2020. Covid was a completely new and horrifying experience that affected everything in our day-to-day lives. Because of this, I needed an outlet for my anxiety to process my feelings about what was happening in the world. RFR was the result. My character Nikey is me trying to navigate my fears throughout 2020s and the uncertainty of the future.Because of the dark themes in World of Relics and its stories, it will be New Adult/Upper Young Adult (target audience 18-25+) and may include the following:
Fantasy Violence
Baleful Polymorph Trope (of all characters)
Themes of death, grief, loss, war, and anxiety
Scenes of destruction
Scenes of injury and pain
Body horror/gore (gods/mortals turned to stone, relics/objects injured or destroyed, zombie stone animals)
Swearing
Characters displaying severe symptoms of anxiety and fear
Why use the Baleful Polymorph trope if you are Black?
I am aware of the baleful polymorph trope used in the past to erase Black characters in animation. However, I am reclaiming the trope for my story to reflect my anxiety, fears, and hopelessness during the year 2020. I am Black and many of the characters in the story represent me. There are some changes I made to the trope to help avoid the common pitfalls that usually occur with it.
It's not just one person who is transformed. The Inversion Event destroys all life. The relics and objects inherit the souls of the deceased. This event plays no favorites and no one is spared unless they are behind a powerful seal that protects them, but this is very rare. Once outside the seal and with no protection, anyone can be destroyed by the lingering magic left by the Inversion Event.
Transformed objects/relics still keep their powers and agency. Their powers are not as strong when they were gods but can they can still fight. Adaptation to change is paramount, so the relics must survive in their new reality.
Permanent transformation. This represents the extreme drastic changes in our lives that affect us deeply. Disease, disaster, destruction, war, etc, there is no return to normal. Normal is dead and we must cope with this new reality.
Agency beyond the physical human form. Although the former gods and mortals lost their bodies, lost their world, and everything, not all is lost. The world can be still saved if they work together and do not give up. They still have their powers and each other. Their agency is not just tied to their humanity but to their determination and perseverance.
The Rule of Cool trope. I am not just going to turn my characters into just objects...I want them to be cool. Like real cool. Like levels of coolness that go further beyond cool. Like Nikey, the Goddess of Victory, turned into a flying winged trident with the power of light and fire blowing things up just because she can, levels of cool. HELL YEAH.
I had also written a post about my feelings on this trope and how I plan to use it here on my blog!
Is the Baleful Polymorph a bad trope?
No! It's a common trope found in folklore and myths. It's also popular in fantasy stories. The baleful polymorph trope is where a character is turned from their human form into something inhuman like an object, monster, or animal to be taught a lesson in humility. In almost all stories, the main goal of the protagonist in these stories is to regain their humanity. I believe that this trope still has more to offer than just its usual take. While it may have its problems, I hope that any future variations of it will build and improve upon it.
What kind of story will this be? Is it an Objectshow?
This story, and its universe, is a fantasy adventure xenofiction with a strong emphasis on worldbuilding and magic systems. World of Relics has tone and storytelling style similar to The Dark Crystal, Vattu by Evan Dahm, and Daughter of the Lilies by Meg Syverud and Jessica Weaver. (Check these out, so good!)
RFR will be a webcomic as...my style for this comic is a bit much to handle myself for animation.World of Relics was inspired by Object Shows. However, because of the darker mature themes in its worldbuilding, the greater emphasis on worldbuilding, and its target audience being Young and New adults, I don't consider World of Relics as an Object Show. I like calling it Object Xenofiction instead.This sounds really cool! How do I support? Is this project collaborative?
As of right now, I am still developing the script for the story. Issue #1 is at its final first draft and I have just begun the rough outline for issue #2. Meanwhile, I am working on research and concept art for the comic and its worldbuilding. I am open to other people working with me, but I currently don’t have the means to pay others, so I am on my own. I do have a Ko-Fi, ko-fi.com/penwrythearts, but this is a tip jar for all my projects. So if you support me on there, you will be supporting all my art projects, including RFR. The funds go to the production of my art, purchase of art supplies (including tools, software, and programs), food, and paying bills.Can I do fanart?
I am fine if you make fanart or a character inspired by RFR characters and their universe.
I created an indepth document on fanart boundaries for WOR! Check it out below!
Please respect that this is a reclamation of a trope. Don't use my reclamation of the baleful polymorph trope to discriminate against BIPOC people or to represent us as weak or non-powerful. My reclamation is about keeping the characters' power and agency while transformed. See "Why use the Baleful Polymorph trope if you are Black?" above.
I am fine with fanart or art and projects inspired by my work. However, I do not want my art to be used for AI art or to be added to a database used for the generation of AI art. Please do not use my art for any ai generated art.
Using ai generated art as a reference for art creation is fine, however, please be transparent on how it's used in your fanart (sketches, revisions, photo-bashing, etc).