Champions of the Ice
is a world I have been working on
for the better part of a decade now.
Set a thousand years after the End War,
humanity has found itself trapped
in a cage of its own making on an Earth
that no longer belongs to them.
There was no alien invasion, celestial disaster,
or divine intervention.
We simply did what we do best:
allowed ourselves be divided
and used our unrivalled creativity
to make ever grander problems.
The great powers of our era
are no more.
New cultures emerged
from the ashes of the old
as the survivors sought
safe havens to call home.
Whatever environmental catastrophes
we once faced...
have been replaced
with entirely new ones.
And for every mistake we fixed...
we made dozens more.
This isn't a soap box for me to preach my personal politics from and shame
anyone who disagrees with me.
It's a living, breathing world for us to explore together,
and a love letter to every great work of fiction-
from video games & movies to books & ancient myths-
that has influenced me along the way.
It's about seeing how humans adapt
in the face of adversity
and the unknown.
And how technology might produce
entirely new branches
of our evolutionary tree.
It's about seeing how
our struggles as a species
bring us together
or tear us apart.
I won't say that this won't be offensive to anyone,
because that is a promise nobody can or should keep.
Any work of speculative fiction-
especially one that takes place in our Earth's future
and draws from our own struggles
and the things we hold sacred-
has to take that risk.
However, I'm not interested in going out of my way
to disrespect anyone from our modern day.
With the notable exception of Australia.
But even then, mockery is the highest form of flattery.
A few light-hearted jabs here and there are innocent fun
so long as we can all laugh at ourselves together.
This is coming from a very stereotypical midwestern
Yank.
Despite taking place on a world ruined
by a hundred different, overlapping apocalypses,
people in general are still fundamentally good
no matter which nation they come from.
While there will always be individuals
who are unspeakable, unforgivable monsters
that do terrible things simply because they can,
or conflicts born out of our tribal nature,
our species as a whole will always strive to be better
and help those we call our kin.
No matter the personal cost.
And maybe, just maybe, the beings we create
will learn from our mistakes
and help us to overcome them together.
Because the alternative
is our extinction.
So come along with me
into this world of
Heroes and Monsters...
of Slumbering Gods
and Ancient Evils...
Where the only thing separating
Magic from Science
is knowledge...
and the future of Mankind...
depends on someone
who isn't even human...