A bluesky prompt opened a can of worms for me. I will go more in depth here than my public thread.
2Masters at first was just going to be shonen, MC were Randy and Renel, Jeremy was support, as he has been for years. Then the story got dark with the influence of current events, and it is no longer shonen and became Seinen, Jeremy was chosen and became the lead.
In fact, when it started, 2Masters wasn’t named 2Masters, it was a temporary old name, which I prefer to keep it private.
2Masters developed to be an multi-arc story, so besides Jeremy’s arc along side Rose’s, there are also Heart, Mosa, Randy’s, Angel & slaves group’s, Sharon’s and Joseph’s arc and involving people around them, roughly 5 arcs. Some of them have to be chopped to do volume/pacing control because otherwise I will pass on before I finish this series, given I do this part time and off work hours as a hobbyist averaging 4 pages a month??? It’s a pretty real risk.
Knowing what happened to Berserk’s creator, who passed on with unfinished epic, I decided to prioritize finishing the story, currently sketches have gone onto vol5 on patreon, it is a heavier story, somedays I am just not able to progress very well… some days I would end up doing 3 months work in 1 go.
As 2Masters is the one story where I personally use to think about current world events, history, and morality.
It took a long while to come up with the introduction paragraph for 2Masters trying to find the theme that’s perfect, easy to understand words for today’s viewers, because it wasn’t just a hero’s journey, it’s 5 different hero’s journey. Jeremy starts the journey, but dang his journey isn’t the only one that matters. With much back and forth, editing countless times, Cinna, Roxie, and I finally come to the current “world introduction” version instead of one person’s story.
“An endless war between two eternal masters, Master Yehweh of Heavens, and Master Mamon of Earth, a human can be an angel or a demon, all it takes is a change of mind in Cante, the land of Hearts.”
Instead of —-
“Follow the story of Jeremy, an Yehweh soldier trying to locate his missing father.”
or
“An ambitious Mamon prince Joseph sent his army to lay claim on Spring Valley, with backup forces too far away, a small group of misfit Yehweh soldiers rise to the challenge, meanwhile the giants of the land is being awakened amidst the chaos.”
Yes, that’s part of his arc, and their arcs… but that does not reflect the complexity of this story. lol The final synopsis was decided based on the theme of the story that really creates all the conflicts, people choose different sides, different philosophy to follow, one side wants to hoard all the power and wealth, the other want to find contentment and enlightenment in their lives, and they end up clashing forever, and ever.
I wish it was easier to do this story, but I have a tendency to do this to myself shove everything into one big thing. lol
My OCs aren’t even my true focus in this series, the world is pushing them to make the decisions they make, thanks to on going CD diary development, and old cast, they are all fleshed out enough for the world, I don’t have to think about them, my OC development and world development are separated, because both are intense and it’s hard to think them all together.
My OCs lead their arc on their own. The trouble is controlling the pacing and organizing at the end.
At least it’s not as hard as Shenshu which adds history on top of it. 😛
Now you have made it this far, enjoy the old pages, I guess? XD
I was debating if I want to show it all, but decided not to, too cringe. lol
My Old CG style, burning colors. lol
I need to get back into finishing the story. T_T
—-
Admittedly, after my depression hiatus, after multiple disappointments, 2 publishers failing, past drama, etc… Everything has changed, I can no longer work like before with no cracks, the new game series, Cante: the land of hearts, Cante Island reflect the cracks that are still there. The different medium allows me to share those cracks without hurting myself. Jeremy and Rose are the OCs that went through the cracks with me and now carry it. I am hopeful we can eventually recover and build a beautiful world for people to enjoy.
Originally 2Masters world is a large metaphor, it has evolved as well, forming a solid identity known as the land of Cante. The land of the Heart. Cante is now my “biggest” thing since it’s a world of worlds, it can expand endlessly.
The land of Cante, originally, the name was just “Heartland”, that’s not gonna work because Heartland has already been claimed by multiple titles and media. (and it will get mixed up with USA mid-west slang)
Now, it’s Native American name ( Cante, read as Chan-tey) is thanks to Erin LaVaux a Lakota member who contributed, when it comes to Fantasy, many pick unconventional names, names filtered through other older lesser known languages, I have chosen Lakota, because of multiple reasons:
- I prefer to promote the unseen, lesser known people. Lakota is a language that can use more… spotlight. Due to its tribal and sensitivity nature, if Erin is not involved, I would have not been able to use it. Because the last thing you want is fudge up the search engine for a disappearing language. 🙁 My well intended use on my media could end up being hurtful if it overwhelms the search result, its a very fine line.
- Everyone will get to learn Lakota, including me. More the merrier?
- Cante is the word for “Heart” in Lakota, and Heart in Lakota holds a really deep meaning, it’s the person in totality, Lakota’s love confession is “You are in my heart” instead of “I love you.” I find that deep and meaningful.
- I have been with the fire of the tribes and my friends for a while walking with them, witnessing their plight, and struggles, language being stolen by native wannabe, lawyers killed, land continuously being taken, promises that keep on getting broken, generational ptsd and even physical sickness that are carrying over, and personally vow to make sure they are always included in some way in my world, including the names, a fantasy tribe family that will always be part of the action, it’s just my way of saying “You are in my heart” always.
- A dream, Cante is also a land of dreams, visions, and wishes due to its setting to primary reflect emotions and display it. It will include my wishes, hopes and prayers for the people of IRL for a better, peaceful, and more beautiful future, or at least as an escape for the present times that maybe hard for a lot of us.
Side note: Cante also happens to be the word for a style of song/melody, for a different language, (spanish) also relate to the heart, which I find to be a lovely overlap, perhaps… related in someway. ^_^
