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Araknights Gothika

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Araknights Gothika is an original dark fantasy / dark sci-fi saga that is my passion project. It’s still at an early stage of development and you can put your mark on its foundations. 

What to submit?

I am calling for writers to join me on my quest to reveal the glory and the tragedy of the araknights!
I am putting together an art book featuring all the drawings I have made for the series so far.  See works here.

I want to add short texts that will bring some background, some context and some depth to the world. You can write something related to one of the images or something that is generally inspired by the series but describes some new aspect of the world that you want to expand on.

The book will form a collection of accounts of “authentic historical sources”. It is like looking through collected histories of a future world. I am looking for:

Stories

Hymns

Laments

Private letters

Postcards

Prophesies 

Legends

Ballads 

Curses

Riddles 

Recipes

Memoirs

Testaments

Testimonies

Epitaphs

...

You can choose a form that piques your interest or you're good at. 

The details about the publication of the book are still to be determined.

If you are interested in collaborating, have a look at the drawings, pick one and write some material for it. If you get some idea that comes from the series but is not really fixed to one particular drawing, that’s ok too. You can call me to give me the rough pitch or draft of the idea and ask me any questions you might have about how the world works. We can bounce some ideas back and forth and find something that will get you really excited to create some unique piece of fiction for this occasion. 

What writing style is suitable for this dark sci-fi? 

I encourage you to have fun and play with the language and the writing style. You can get inspiration from Shakesperian or Victorian English to give flavour to the knightly society. Occasional loan words from Latin, German or French that have a medieval or gothic ring to them might be a good addition. You might even decide to write the whole text in German or French, or some other language that might fit. As it is actually a futuristic setting you can mix in some cyber words or advanced scientific jargon.

Listen to Bardcore for inspiration. The Bardcore song covers change the lyrics of contemporary songs to sound “medieval”. The overall tone and impression of the work is dark and cool. As long as that prevails anything can be added: satire, sarcasm, humor, tragedy, irony, pathos, romance, drama. Exploring themes of history can be contrasted with themes of present-day life or the far future. I like to explore transhumanism, since it hasn’t been around for a long time, and that is often a lens for me to get to new angles in storytelling. 

What’s in it for you?

It's fun! It's a creative writing exercise, and an easy way to get something published in Tokyo this year. It's a chance to try collaborative creativity. You will be properly credited for your contribution, both in the book and on any further occasion or use of the material you have contributed. We can set up a call if you need to discuss further details such as copyright, co-authorship, etc. 

This is a book I am making primarily for fun, it is not for profit, so neither I nor the writers will be paid at this time. This is why this is not a classic commission, but rather a collaboration in which writers have creative freedom. It's no different than seeing a comic book and writing fanfiction for it. 

Getting submissions by many writers makes it an important project in a sense of creating a community and a kind of themed anthology. Writers will get published in this anthology, but I will bear the financial burden of printing costs and logistics for publishing and promotion. 

Who can submit?

Anyone who wants to try is welcomed to submit. The works will be selected by a small group of writers that volunteer to help with the curation process. 

How many works can you submit?

You can submit as many as you like. Depending on the turnout and the quality we will see how much of that we can fit in the book. As it is an open creative project I expect anything. You can even mix media and genres, as one writer is already writing a song with music for this series. 

How to submit?

First, send me a pitch or a draft of your idea for the story/text/work. 

I will give you a rough evaluation and some further directions you might need. You don’t need to coordinate your story details with the other writers. Each work will tell its own story. If I have already received and approved another work related to the same image you have chosen we would like to avoid overlap. You can see all the drawings here. I will be updating a list below as I receive submissions. You can send any kind of text format or file type, as long as it is readable. 

What's the deadline? 

Update: I extend the deadline for drafts to the end of October, and the deadline for the final texts to the end of November. If you can do it sooner that would be great, send it earlier. 

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Find Out More About Araknights Gothika

What are araknights? 

Araknights are giant cyborgs with monstrous spider-like heads. Half metal machine, half bioengineered giant spider monster, they look like robots in knight’s armor. The word araknight is coined from arachnid and knight, spider-knight. Heavy iron frame gives the cyborg support and towering size, the movement and reactions are aided by the spider monster inside, and the whole thing is protected by heavy armor plating. The monster is intelligent and obeys humans much like a domesticated beast would. The arachknight is driven, controlled by a pilot seated in the torso cavity. In some ways, the relation between the araknight and the pilot is like that of a warhorse and a knight. The araknights are smart and have a mind of their own, but they can’t live on their own and need the regular care and maintenance by their keepers to stay functioning. They are kept in a way that they would never in foreseeable circumstances abandon their masters or turn against them.

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The araknights are heavily featured in the art and they give the title to the book, but the world has many other mysteries and fantastical elements you can refer to, like flying monsters, robotic siege engines, bioengineered pets, levitating castles, motorized forts etc. 

The word Gothika in the title is to suggest the dark and heavy themes in the art and the stories, as well as the historical flavour. I spell Gothika with a K to give it character and to alliterate with Araknights. 

What is the inspiration for Araknights Gothika?

It is a fantastic world placed in an unspecified time in the future but reflecting an aesthetic and atmosphere of the early modern age, 14-17th century Europe. I was inspired by the history of humanism, renaissance, peasant revolts, the reformation and the religious wars, as well as some events like the English civil war. 

My drawing style is influenced by European illustrators like Albrecht Dürer and Gustave Doré. 

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This specific recipe of gunpowder, swords, pitchforks and cyborgs I like to call pitchfork-punk. It is closely related to the cyberpunk and grimdark subgenres. 

How did it begin?

Araknights Gothika began as a series of drawings I made to challenge myself as part of the #inktober Instagram challenge trend in October 2020. I was able to make 24 drawings over the course of the month and I was quite satisfied with the overall quality and detail I was able to achieve in a few hours of my free time every day. I have continued to add more drawings to the series since and now have reached the number of 36. Instagram has a 9 tiles trend where 9 images are put together for a review, so I aimed to get to 4 of those, 4x9=36. Judging that 36 is also a good number of drawings to form a zine or an artbook and I chose that as a target to reach before I go on to the next step. 

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Usually, I start working on my original ideas from the story and I just keep on adding and expanding the written material, on and on, doing very little visual art to go with it. The jump from writing notes to having something that I can share and that looks more like a production stage is difficult. This time I decided to try things the other way around. I jumped right in with detailed images and I created a visual world without even thinking about the story. Now I have enough art and I am ready for some stories. That is how it began and this is where you come in.

What is the Future of Araknights Gothika?

This book will be a fun experiment in collaboration. It will give the world some substance. Once we get the book out I want to look for ways to expand in other media, novels, comic books, graphic novels, animation, film, maybe even games. I have already played with some simple animation. My rough plan for my next step is to make a 6 chapter graphic novel series of a short, contained saga, an adventure featuring several characters that go on a journey together.

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See all Araknights Gothika drawings here.

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