Inside the secret tower You uncover a strange book, inscribed on the front is “Forgotten Runes Wizard’s Cult”. As you read the literature you feel a presence, as though the words are spoken aloud to you even before you have a chance to read them. You hear a faint whisper: “we are gonna make it!” Come adventurers, let me tell you the tale of the Wizard’s Cult. 10,000 Wizards encoded in the gas of the Ethereum blockchain. Though there isn’t time to talk about them all, each wizard has a name, each name their own story. You will find lore, poems, music and more in the ancient book of lore. In this saga of The Drop Magazine you’ll find everything you need to know about the cult. We share the tale of Dotta, some say the eldest wizard of them all. We even bumped into one of the community artists Ozzz in a local tavern and got the chance to ask him a few questions. All this and more, read on if you dare!
The wizard’s cult is an NFT collection absolutely stacked with community driven world building. Launched on June 30th 2021, the collection sold out in 28 minutes and to this day remains a steady trade on the secondary market. Not convinced? Coinbase are. The wizard’s cult will feature as one of the first collections available on the Coinbase NFT platform alongside prominent NFT figures like Ghxsts. That’s a potential audience of 70
million users and with only 9% of Wizards available on the secondary market you don’t need magic to predict the future of this project. Of the initial 10k collection there are already around 450 less Wizards in the world, they’ve passed through the sacred flame to become forgotten souls. A captivating transmutation event where Wizards can risk their life to become a soul, or if they’re unlucky an undesirable.
As a matter of fact, the first day we joined the wizard’s cult to find out more about this amazing project we watched an iconic storyline unfold right before our eyes. Hedge Wizard Dotta of the Carnival, the rank 1 wizard of the collection passed through the sacred flame to become Angelic Dotta. On that day songs were sang, tears were shed, history made in the book of lore. In memorial of the great Wizard you can find his tale on the next page.
The Lore of Hedge Wizar The Carnival - A Final Puppet Show Dotta was adored by the wizards. Sure, he was a spoonbender, a tome-spinner, and a tungsten-cube-summoner, but to wizards he was so much more. Hedge Wizard Dotta of The Carnival had once been ridiculed for his puppetry. His uniqueness had always made him stand out and not always for good reasons. It took him many years to find his audience, and his confidence, but now his carnival was well attended and massively enjoyed. His special brand of magic show was a carnival like no other - mystical illusions fused with practical and impressive puppet-led stunts. Wizards enjoyed the Carnival, but they grew to truly love Dotta and his puppets. Now that the flames had arrived it was time for a final puppet show.
Beings of all kinds travelled from far and wide after word had spread about the appearance of a flame at the Carnival. Hidden away, one was forced to leave The Carnival Pass and head deep into the forest in order to reach the show. Without knowing the way, it could take some to stumble upon the clearing in which sat the magnificent tent. Tonight, the sky was clear and many lights could be seen in the forest bobbing their way towards the event. Seats rose high and back into the walls of the tent and as the stalls filled with attendees, a medley of excitement and anxiety filled the air. The Sacred Flame floated silently at the centre of the circular stage with the glow illuminating the beings around it’s perimeter. The evenings show was filled with never
before seen stunts and illusions that befuddled even the most cynical of sages. It was truly an unforgettable performance. Finally, the time had come and the crowd hushed. Dotta stood silently for a moment, the flame reflected in his trademark shades. What could he say? There was no story he could tell that might even begin to explain what was about to happen. He would always be a puppet in the larger story. He looked out onto the gathering and began to speak. He spoke to the crowd in terms practical and informative. He was transparent in his feeling that when the flames call a wizard must answer. Not all were happy, but not all were sad, and as he walked towards the flame for the grand finale his fate was anyone’s guess. Hummingbird on his shoulder and World Egg floating in slow rotation at his side, only one thing was certain; Legends never die. - Story authored by the wizard O, Artwork by the wizard Ozzz
rd Dotta of the Carnival
Q&
A
Q. What was the inspiration for this project, how did it come about?
A. Dotta: We’ve been working together for about 10 years on various projects. We’d both made NFTs individually over the last couple of years and we decided on Wizards specifically because there was so much opportunity to grow into it.
I’ve always been a fantasy nerd. I played pretend that I was Zelda as a kid, played Magic The Gathering, read The Wheel of Time, The Hobbit, watched Lord of the Rings Extended Edition straight through too many times etc. So I think we see ourselves in that tradition of Tolkien, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, but with one key difference: we encourage co-creation of the narrative. We have a saying that’s “Ours over Official, Authenticity over Authority, Community over Clergy” -- it tries to encapsulate this idea that the world belongs to all of us.
A. ElfJTrul: I’ve been a
die-hard fantasy fan since childhood. I’ve been working in animation and video games
Now you’ve got sense of the mystery and wonder surrounding this project. Let’s hear from the wizards themselves! The Drop managed to successfully perform a Séance to talk with the cult founders, Angelic Dotta and ElfJTrul.
for over 10 years, and have never had the chance to work on a fantasy project, so this was finally my chance. We also knew that this genre is extremely rich in content and that it could scale infinitely. I also think there’s something fascinating about the core tech, blockchain, and the way every token has a transaction history that is recorded for all eternity. This history can be personified as a character going on an epic journey, and that alone is magical.
Q. We were blown away
by the world building from this community, from the amazing community artists to the story tellers, did you know this project would attract such a creative group of individuals?
A. ElfJTrul: We certainly
made many design features upfront to encourage worldbuilding and creativity. The pixel art style was chosen because it’s an art form that is easier for “non-artists” to work with. Plus, because pixel art has such limited visual information, it allows for the viewers imagination to fill in all the missing parts. It is a style that stimulates creativity,
it poses more questions than answers. We also gave every Wizard a unique name that gives hints to their origins. I could talk about this for hours, but there are other things too like the overworld map, (which will be expanding) our Book of Lore, and professionally made storyboards that hint at a broader story in the Runiverse.
A. Dotta: For us, everything
is about the stories. From the outside, folks look at the community and say “diamond hands”, for us we say “Lore not floor” meaning, the “diamond hands” aren’t the goal - the goal is more about community, shared stories, playing together, dreaming together. And so if you’ve worked to develop a character and you know their hopes, their faults, their spells, their enemies and pets - all you want to do is keep building on that because it’s fun and fulfilling. We’re creators ourselves, so I think that’s part of why we attract that sort of community.
Q. The coinbase highlight
is huge and well deserved. With such a large influx of NFT newcomers discovering your project combined with the impressive amount of diamond handed owners in the collection, do you have any new mints in the works to expand the community?
A. ElfJTrul: We will certainly
be minting new character sets in the future, the Cult needs to grow. But it must be noted that we are strategizing each drop with great care and purpose. We are not just going to flood the market with Forgotten Runes characters without a strong lore and utility reason. Details on these drops will be revealed at a future date.
Q.
Beyond the initial collection, you and the team have introduced an engaging burn mechanism that fits the lore, a weekly (Wizard’s Wednesday) AmA with the community, full turnarounds for every wizard, walk cycle animations, you’ve got plans for comics, animated shorts and more. How do you decide what goes into the roadmap, is there a grand vision?
A. Dotta: We for sure are
going to provide a mainline narrative. Elf and bearsnake both have backgrounds in animation - e.g. Elf has sold shows to Nickelodeon and had pilots made, bearsnake has similar. As evidenced by our recent signed partnership with Titmouse - Titmouse was our
first choice in who we wanted to tell the Wizards story on screen. We’ve already started production on a 60-second short with them.
A. ElfJTrul: The grand vision is
to create a decentralized studio of sorts, to turn Hollywood’s approach to IP rights upside down. The Runiverse will always be a blockchain, NFT first project but we believe it can expand far beyond that to every media expression possible. Our Cult has already started this expansion, creating wizards in countless mediums. We are simply pushing this creative energy into entertainment industry at large, so that there is a seamless flow of Rune Magic from memes on Discord, to illustrations on Instagram, to an animated series on television, to worlds in the metaverse.
The Runiverse is expanding If that interview has left you wanting more, we highly recommend checking out the Forgotten Rune’s blog or catching a Wizards Wednesday recording. Though the forgotten rune’s metaverse easily stands on it’s own, the wizards will soon be integrable with other metaverses via 2D sprite sheets and perhaps in the future even rigged 3D models. This not only allows the project to expand on it’s own official Runiverse but creates a unique opportunity for future collaborations in an ever expanding space.
Q&
A
Forgotten Runes community-first focus has already attracted a number of active community artists who have in turn contributed significantly to the world building and lore of the Runiverse. We were lucky enough to interview and even colloborate on the cover for this issue with a prominent Forgotten Rune’s community artist who needs no introduction, the Sorcerer of the Sun, the illustrious illustrationist, the amazing Ozzz.
Q. As a community artist
you’re part of a group of animators, illustrators, poets and musicians who help construct and shape the lore and world building of this project. What’s the process for contributing to the book of lore?
A. I’m very happy to be part of
the Forgotten Runes community. The Book of Lore is an incredible tool for telling stories in a decentralised way, all praises to Elf and Dotta, the founders of FRWC I want to extend the shout out to every wizard that wrote lore in the Book so far, be it by commissioning someone or by themselves. There are amazing artists and creators in the community, from illustrators to musicians, writers and devs, actively contributing to make the Book each time more alive and immersive.
Q. The quality and style of
your artwork masterfully builds upon Elf’s official artwork for the project, did you learn the style before you were a Wizard or did it come from being a part of the community?
A. I work with multiple styles
and pixel is one of them. It however wasn’t a main line of work, though I really loved it. It just happened to fit perfectly in FRWC. The wizard in my pfp, Sorcerer Qaid of the Sun, was my first NFT. As I navigated endlessly through the collection crafted by Elf I chose a wizard thinking it should be a character I would like to draw/develop later. So I did a background for him, which was extremely well received in the community and that inspired me to keep going. I can say Ozzz was born
within the Cult, so it’ll always be a special thing working with wizards.
Q. What goes through your head when starting a new piece, what’s your process?
A. Regardless of it being for
myself or a commission I firstly like to have a clear sight of where I want to get. I normally imagine an atmosphere, a general feeling for the image and that’s what guides the process. Like, is it mysterious? Sober? Light? Magical? What is the feeling of this piece? That’s where I start. It influences in many decisions, from lights and shades to angles and proportions; it all works together for the final feeling of the image. So in commissions I like to receive good briefings, after all I have to capture what people have in their minds. Sometimes they’re really detailed, but the most important is the expected/desired feeling. With that in mind, I just open the gates and let it flow.
Q. How many pieces
have you created for the community so far? Do you have a most memorable?
A. It’s 15 pieces (so far
), being 5 of them for my wizards and Mafriends’ wizards. Mafriends is the art collective I run with my friend Shimeji. We’ve been minting our FRWC derivatives on OpenSea in a dedicated collection. We stay open for commissions and also look forward to work on projects that include our whole team, which has @I4nzits as 3D/animator and Choonaikos as a composer. I don’t have a favourite one. To me, each wizard is so unique and each
artwork is just the tip of an iceberg, so just I feel honoured to be entrusted by wizards owners to picture part of their lore.
Q. What’s your favourite part about the project?
A. The project brings together
two things I absolutely love: storytelling and graphic creation. Regarding artwork specifically, one of the things I like the most (to see and do) is interpretations of a theme. The infinite variations of styles and outcomes that can emerge from a single original piece is mind blowing. It’s so cool when someone posts new artwork of their wizards. In fact, that’s what has drawn me to Forgotten Runes. My first contact with the project was in a tweet Shimeji shared with me. It showed a wizard illustrated by the artist John Bivens, side by side with the original pixel artwork. I didn’t know which was the original one, the comic book style illustration or the cute pixel art. I looked deeper, found out the collection and started searching for the wizard I’d like to picture for myself right away. Then everything unfolded quite naturally… like it’s magic.
Issue #6 – Forgotten Runnes Wizards Cult was written by The Drop Magazine with support from @Dotta, @ElfJTrul, @Ozzz, @MafriendsArt & @forgottenrunes Always DYOR