Great Haven Lore and Discussion (and Q&A??)

Nah, you're fine! This is the kind of shit I live for

Are there many races/plants we haven't seen yet?

Well, I went through the stuff we have seen, but there is quite a bit of plant and animal life that I've designed, and I'm sure a whole lot more I have yet to design. Here's this mammoth like thing that I drew a long time ago, that may be showing up sometime soon in the story.

How is Raoul so damn cute (and did any major design changes happen while creating him?)

Heehehe! I suppose I've just gotten really good at drawing him over and over again. I drew one picture of him before I started, and added a bunch of spots, and I'm very particular about keeping that pattern consistent. I know there's one panel early on where I forgot to give him the large splotch on his nose, and I've also been getting much more specific about the shapes of the splotches - but for the most part, nothing much has changed.

What have you been most excited to introduce?

Most of the story that hasn't happened yet.

Would you be okay if someone used the settings/races for a DnD campaign?

This is a fantastic idea that I've had before. I've wanted to DM a tabletop game featuring these things, but I've always figured that I would want to create the system from the ground up - i've never gotten around to it.

What sources have you taken inspiration from?

One of my major inspirations is The Elder Scrolls, and to some extent, another adventure called Prequel. TES has some very rigid and scientific explanations for how its lore and mythology work beyond the legends that are told from person to person in the universe. And I've had a lot of people say I remind them of Kazerad. All I have to say to that is that it's very interesting.

What has been the toughest part of Great Haven for you so far?

Keeping my updates regular!!

Favourite suggestion so far?

Any time anyone tells Raoul to hug someone, it's the best

How long have you been drawing/writing?

There was a time I spent a lot of my free time on the MSPA forums, before Homestuck came around. In fact, a lot of the people here on ET are from that time. I can't really nail down the year, but that community back then is probably the one reason why I'm so into my artistic pursuits now.

How long does it usually take per update (barring massive updates like the shop one recently)?

I think most, if not all of the updates I've done so far, I think I'm capable of churning one out in a day if I start around 2 PM and continue until maybe 8 or 10 PM. That's my goal, but that almost never happens, haha. Generally, I will try to work on the weekends, and leave the rest of the week for schoolwork, but often I will procrastinate too much and overshoot my self-imposed Sunday deadline. Then I'll be spending most of my time after school trying to finish up whatever drawings I need for the update. I usually write first, then draw, then proofread.

Favourite character?

Maya. A lot of my friends like Mort, which surprises me.

Favourite environment/character to draw?

I really like to draw Rozo characters in general. As far as scenery, really desolate environments appeal to me, like really cold and barren mountaintops, so high that not even snow will fall on the rocky faces.

Is Maya vegan?

Torills are all capable of eating meat, but are herbivores by nature. Maya additionally tries as much as she can to be a pacifist, so I suppose yes, she is a vegan.

How does the level up system work? (do the increased stats only work on certain foes?)

Yes, that's exactly how it works. I do feel like I need to refine the whole stat system by a lot - a lot of it is carried over from the video game idea I originally had for Simoialand.

How combat focused will Great Haven be in the future?

That's really hard for me to say at this current point in time. It would be cool to have a combat-based segment, but I would certainly have trouble trying to conduct that.

Was there a point where Raoul became an outcast? He mentions playing with snow with his cousins at one point.

He was always an "outcast," ever since he was born. Those in his own age group never really understood what the adults meant by that, and like kids, they would still play games together and so forth. It wasn't until shortly before Great Haven starts that he was told to leave and never come back.

So does Time Magic only effect time in one spot (i'm guessing it's the former), or does it effect the rest of the world?

Time magic affects a locality of space. It would take a LOT of energy to do something like, say, freeze or reverse time around the whole planet.

What are wards?

A fountain of youth, as I've described earlier in this thread, is a highly concentrated "source" of magic. When matter is highly charged with magic, it starts to exert unusual physical properties, air turning thick like oil, etc. Stone and metal will slowly turn blue and become Mithral. In that state, the stone becomes "hungry" and tries to absorb as much magical energy as it can. Over millions of years, Mithral will hoard energy and eventually become sparsenore, which has so much energy stored that it becomes disruptive to the functions of plant and animal life. (Fungi is cool though)

To be honest I've just been making up what wards do, and hoping to come up with an explanation later.



I suppose that's all of those!