“Legends of the Forgotten Runes – The Shadowkeys”

Project Lead and Team Information:

Project Lead, Coordinator, and Author: @derekthesphinx

To date, I have created interconnected lore spanning six story arcs for 45 wizards, three ponies, and a beast, totalling a word count exceeding 80,000.

These include some significant characters for the Runiverse, such as Sacred Keymaster (#777) and the Chaos Chimera beast (#1).

The first two story arcs containing 16 character lore entries are published on https://lore-arcs.vercel.app/ and the rest will be released in June and July 2022.

I have also written 140,000 words of a first draft of a fantasy book over the course of about six separate months (spread out over a few years) whilst working and studying, so I understand the work-load involved in this kind of project. [I will not be working on that project until the work on ""The Shadowkeys"" has been completed].

Personal Background:

I am an award-winning journalist and copy editor with a Bachelor of Journalism and a post-Graduate degree in English Literature. I am currently completing a PhD in Coral Reef Restoration and I have worked in coral reef ecology and the scuba diving industry for over a decade.

Project Advisors / Collaborators: @Meph1587, Magic Machine, Bisonic Inc, consultations with DAO.

I have already held discussions with Magic Machine and they are in full support of the project, and I plan to keep an open dialogue with both MM and the DAO and its board, to realise a unified vision that will see this novel hit the shelves in bookstores and light up the screens of e-readers, hopefully open the door for more novels to be published about the Runiverse over the years.

I have also spoken with Bisonic, who have agreed to collaborate with the project so that the maps in the game and the novel match each other. This means that readers will be able to play in the locations they read about in the novel and recognise features of the different locations. Likewise, gamers will read rich descriptions of the places they visit in the game. "

Summary of Project

"A Forgotten Runes fantasy novel – the potential start of a Forgotten Runes saga if the first book is a success. The novel has a working title of “Into the Runiverse - The Shadowkeys”.

The novel will include NFT wizards, warriors, ponies, or beasts owned by the community, as well as non-NFT characters.

Most of the great stories present us with an “everyman” character, who is taken from ordinary life and thrust into a world of which they were either totally or partially unaware. This allows readers to identify more intimately with the characters, discovering the world along with them. In line with this, the story will centre on two central characters, both of whom are NON-NFT characters.

I do not want the book’s central protagonists to be owned by anyone. In fact, these two central characters are EVERY READER’S PROPERTY! The reader will be better able to form a bond with the protagonists and not feel like they are reading a story about somebody else’s character/property, while still exploring the world of the Forgotten Runes. This may encourage those not already part of the FRWC to go out and secure their own NFT characters from the Runiverse.

While I already have an idea of some of the NFT characters I would like to include in the story, based on character development and fleshing out of the Forgotten Runes stories that I have already published for the Book of Lore, I would like to involve the community as much as possible in the introduction of other characters into the Forgotten Runes novel.

Anyone who wants to contribute one or more of their characters to the novel can fill in the Google form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1mRSoPxJxcnE7HkZ35NvbAIojh4s7WQpCjxv0zIjdyqA/edit

I have also set up a Discord Server that anyone is free to join, where we can communicate regarding character use and other elements of the project: https://discord.gg/TxEMvfC8

I will present a broad range of characters that represent the community as a whole, and I am looking to include at least 100 to 150 NFT characters in the story (This will depend on the number of submissions). It must be noted that the extent of these characters’ involvements will vary greatly. It may not be possible to include every character submitted in the story, and as author I reserve the right to decide which characters submitted are included. A lot depends on the types of characters submitted and how they integrate into the story’s narrative. There is also the potential for characters that only appear in the background in this book to return in later books if this first book is a success. The most important thing is that I will not misrepresent anyone's characters or do anything that they do not first agree with when portraying these characters. I will maintain an open and transparent dialogue about the use of all characters in the book.

I hope that this book can be a trailblazer for fantasy publications telling stories from the Runiverse. I discussed publishing possibilities at length in the draft proposal, but for the moment I would like to focus on the book as the project. Discussions about publishing and artwork will be held separately and will be ongoing during the writing process, most likely during the second half of the project. I will keep the DAO informed of any decisions made in this regard.

There is the potential for this proposal to seed ideas for a number of future proposals and projects involving other community members.

VERY BRIEF WORKING STORY SYNOPSIS:

The main characters are two 20-something university students, who live in Lumana, the city around the ancient fortress of Blue Wizard Bastion. Only a few Lumanai are aware of the presence of the Bastion, which is hidden from Rudimentals (Ducks) through the use of a combination of technology and magic. Magic holds a mythical status in the city. Many believe in its existence, although there is no widespread public acceptance or proof of this. Marlyn is a tech geek who spends most of his time in his basement or the Lumana University labs, where he studies AI, machine learning, and robotics. While studying he is also interning at a powerful tech conglomerate. He is shy and reclusive.

Navita works at Lumana University’s library, as well as at the student cafeteria as a waiter. She cannot afford to study at the university but is highly intelligent and is fascinated in mythology and ancient literature. She slips into large lectures when she can to learn more about these topics and she knows many people on campus because of interacting with them at the cafeteria. At night, Navita works as a low-level package-girl for the organised crime network in the city, to earn enough money to look after herself and her brother. She travels around the Runiverse delivering packages for her employers, but she is unaware of any magic going on around her because of the effects of the illusion.

When Navita is ordered to collect a mysterious package from a connection in Red Wizard Capital (known to the Rudimentals as Akuizad City), she returns with it to Lumana, to hand the package over at the tech conglomerate headquarters. Here, her path crosses with Marlyn, who has stumbled on proof that the tech company is involved in dealings with organised crime in the city and has found what he believes to be evidence of a wide-ranging criminal conspiracy.

He convinces Navita to open the package, which turns out to be a magical key that breaks the illusion’s hold on their minds. The city begins to be revealed to them as never before, which is extremely unsettling, as they start to see the presence of magic around them. The pair are drawn into the struggle between magical forces in the city, as the key sits at the heart of a wider plot that threatens to bring destruction to the Runiverse.

A mysterious figure helps them to escape from the henchmen of the crime syndicate and brings them into the Forgotten Runes Wizard’s Cult… not really a cult, but a band of rebels fighting against magical oppression across the Runiverse, in direct opposition to the wizards who control the crime syndicates.

Secrets come to light about Navita’s past, drawing her deeper into this unknown world… In a world of wizards, warriors, and mythical beasts, where the threat of the inexplicable Quantum Shadow looms over everything, Navita and Marlyn find themselves at the eye of a magical storm of epic proportions, that could decide the fate of existence itself."

Project Goal

MAIN GOAL: Publish a fantasy novel introducing Forgotten Runes characters to a wider/mainstream audience, complementing the output in other forms of media and attracting more people to join the cult and augment the value of its NFT characters. Set up the potential for more novels to be written and published by both myself and other authors within the DAO.

I feel that the creation of fantasy novels is the logical next step in growing the Forgotten Runes franchise, to go alongside the release of the animated series by Titmouse, the comic book, and the online game from Bisonic Inc.

Novels and in particular epic sagas are one of the staples of the fantasy genre. The in-depth world-building will provide an excellent opportunity to flesh out the overarching narrative of the Runiverse. The novel will open up new storylines within the Runiverse based on the NFT characters that dwell therein. Forgotten Runes novels should be produced at a world-class standard that matches the high-quality productions already underway in other media, contributing to the formation of a distinct identity for the franchise and bringing Forgotten Runes into the realm of epic fantasy fiction. I can provide this product.

I intend to build on some of the large volume of lore I have already created, as well as introducing new storylines, to explore interesting and complex aspects of the Runiverse that will really bring the world to life, and I am excited to undertake such a large-scale project.

The funding requested reflects the significant time, work, and project management I intend to devote to this endeavour over the next 14 months.

The project will benefit FRWC in a number of ways:

• Bringing Forgotten Runes to a wider audience of fiction readers and complementing the exposure already being enjoyed in other media.
• Opening the door for potential future stories and art to hopefully be produced either with or without the assistance of community funds, depending on the publishing route taken.
• Adding value to the wizard NFTs and the community as a whole.
• Offering the chance for community members to see their characters come to life in a published work of fiction.
• Potentially involving community art
• At this stage, there are a number of possibilities in terms of publishing. One possibility I am looking into is whether there can be a percentage of royalties fed back to the DAO - this will depend on how the book is published and I will continue to keep an open discussion going with the DAO regarding this.

Proposal Specification

Please note that this is a rough timeline. Responding to queries from the DAO I have already made it clear that I will not rush this work to squeeze it into a deadline - quality comes first, but it will be important to be able to track progress and report back to the DAO.

Please also note that there may be changes based on the outcomes of discussions about publishing / approaches to publishing houses.

The aim is to produce an approximately 120,000 word novel. This is generally considered to be a sweet spot for fantasy writing, based on research I have done into the requirements of various publishing houses, although many of the big epics are much longer, but I feel we need to introduce readers to Forgotten Runes with something that is not so heavy. I will complete the project over a 14-month period, planned to commence at the start of August 2022 after some time that will allow people to submit their characters, according to the following timeline:

June – July 2022: Community character submissions and discussions.

End of Month 1: Final conceptualisation, rough story structure, and deadline for community character submissions.

Month 1 – 2: Review of community character submissions; Advanced story planning and structuring.

Month 2 – 7: Writing of First Draft.

End of Month 7 (February 2023): Submission of First Draft to the Board, call for alpha readers (both from the community and from non-community members).

End of Month 8: Distribution of First Draft to alpha readers.

Month 8 – 10: Review of First Draft, production of second draft, call for beta readers (both from the community and from non-community members).

End of Month 11 (June 2023): Submission of Second Draft to the Board and distribution to beta readers.

Month 12 - 14: Second Draft review and final editing.

Month 14 (October 2023): Submit Final Draft to the Board and aim to publish by the end of the year.

Funding Requested

20,000 Euros (payable in 10% installments of 2,000 Euros a month, starting in November 2022 (or when the DAO legal entity is finalised if this hasn't happened by then). This equates to 500 hours of work @ 40 Euros /hour (roughly 35 hours a month over 14 months). I will not request funding for any additional planning or writing time (although I'm sure I will spend more time than this on the book!)

Additional Comments & Notes

I decided not to include artwork and publishing from the final proposal, as I want to concentrate on the book at this stage and these elements can be addressed at a later stage. Discussions about possibilities for publishing are ongoing and will also affect artwork and how it is commissioned/produced. People who are interested to see more about that can refer back to the draft proposal.