After Dark

indefinite hiatus
comic. pages will be sporadically posted and of inconsistent quality 
post-apocalyptic fantasy
Drawn, written by, and belongs to Soi
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== Chapter 1 ==
Afterdarkpg1.jpg|1.1
Afterdarkpg2.jpg|1.2
Afterdarkpg3.jpg|1.3
Afterdarkpg4.jpg|1.4
Afterdarkpg5.jpg|1.5
Afterdarkpg6.jpg|1.6
== Chapter 2 ==
Afterdarkpg7.jpg|2.1
Afterdarkpg8.jpg|2.2
Afterdarkpg9.jpg|2.3
Afterdarkpg10.jpg|2.4
Afterdarkpg11.jpg|2.5
Afterdarkpg12.jpg|2.6
Afterdarkpg13.jpg|2.7
== Chapter 3 ==
Afterdarkpg14.jpg|3.1
Afterdarkpg15.jpg|3.2
Afterdarkpg16.jpg|3.3
Afterdarkpg17.jpg|3.4
Afterdark18.jpg|3.5
Afterdarkpg19.jpg|3.6
afterdarkpg20.jpg|3.7
afterdarkpg21.jpg|3.8
afterdarkpg22.jpg|3.9
== Chapter 4 ==
Afterdarkpg23.jpg|4.1
Afterdarkpg24.jpg|4.2
Afterdarkpg25.jpg|4.3
Afterdarkpg26.jpg|4.4
Afterdarkpg27.jpg|4.5
== Chapter 5 ==
<tabber>
|-|Setting Notes =
These are mostly for my sake
these are just rough ideas, some of them may be discarded as I write
some important stuff in here though, if spoilers are a big deal to you you probably shouldn't read this 
|-|Geography=
*Most of the world is lifeless and level earth, the towers of ruined kingdoms poking out from beneath the dust. Myth tells that a war between gods flattened the mountains and scorched the seas, that they drew almost every ounce of power, of life from the land in their conflict
*The weather seems almost spiteful towards dragonkind, and tends towards extremes. A widespread superstition is that the endling storm-spirits are eternally angry at what has befallen the world, and will swat down any dragon who dares to fly.
**In order to stop the youth from angering the sky, most dragons have their wings amputated at hatching. It takes a long time to travel between towns, and travellers usually have to carry a lot of supplies in order to make it, so banditry is back in fashion
*Jade Mountain still stands. There is snow at its peak, dark red snow. It is said that a god fell upon and was impaled by the mountain when the bomb went off. Wildlife goes out of its way to avoid the mountain, perhaps sensing that it is a dark and unkindly place
**It was the site where the Animus Bomb was built and set off
*There are a few settlements here and there, the largest of them Peacemade, the Midlands, and the underground towns of the Drought Forest. They are usually established around sites of ancient magic, abandoned fortresses, etc - a settlement without some way to protect itself isn’t long for the world.
*Peacemade exists in a place once called the Sky Kingdom. It was named for the sorcerer Peacemaker, whose gargantuan bones form the city’s foundations. Peacemaker died thousands of years before the Bomb, but his remains now provide shelter for the largest remaining population of dragons
**The main section of the city lies within the ribcage - it is thought that the latent spirit within the bones repels ghosts. Ergo, the walls are built thick enough to brave any mortal assault.
***A few districts exist outside the wall but within the ribcage, still technically part of Peacemade, who argue that there are no armies nor hostile foreign powers left in the world, and thus no reason for walls.
**Peacemade has a culture of military service, and spends lavishly on defense
**The city was built soon after the Bomb, by nomads who sought safety in a deathly world. They slept within Peacemaker’s skull, and found that no evil creatures had accosted them in the night.
**The spine has been hollowed out, and the tunnel is a den for illicit activities. It is also the only way to access Peacemaker’s skull, which houses an impossibly vivid forest, of strong oaks and the last strawberry bushes in the world. Permission from the lordly houses of Peacemade is required to visit it, which they do not give lightly 
*The Droughtforest is home to vampire rainwings, spooky
**The surface is mostly ghostly, dead trees, empty channels that may have once been rivers, and dry dirt. agriculture, hunting and gathering are all nigh-impossible
**Vampires are somewhat sensitive to sunlight - especially their eyes. So they live underground
**There were vast mausoleums carved out within the earth by previous civilizations, believed to be worshippers of Ekphor. Their mystical methods of preservation kept even the blood within the corpses intact. 
**These twisting tomb-scapes were modified for housing and storage, with many ancient works of architecture being torn down. There is a central, dome-like structure, kilometres-wide - which now forms the capital of the vampires’ ragged kingdom. The god Ekphor once went there himself to speak to his followers, and his lingering presence forces undead and cursed beings to stay clear. 
***The further from this central chamber, the less effective this presence is. There are frequently expeditions to push deeper into the complex and claim more resources. Tools, maps, most importantly, untainted bodies that can be used to feed the populace.
**Trade with Peacemade is a recent development (last few decades). Some citizens volunteer to have their corpses exsanguinated after death, and the blood sold to vampires. 
*The Midlands is a vast area, comprising what was once the Ice and Sand Kingdoms
*A place of magic that was old when the world was young
*It is a lawless and decentralized place, and the rest of the continent knows little of its happenings
*The dragons on the outskirts are beetle-riding nomads
**They have songs and stories passed down for thousands of years, and together represent the most complete archive of the world's history in existence
**They move so as to avoid ever-raging storms of wild magic, scorching the lands with lightning of a thousand different colours 
*To the North lies the Great Ice Dome, with walls a kilometre thick.
**No one knows what lies inside, but sometimes muffled voices manage to reverberate and escape through long cracks. 
*Explorers tell tales of a mirage kingdom, that becomes real to those stranded and in need of aid. 
**Probably just hearsay, but many separate testimonies that describe it in the exact same way
|-| Mythology=
*The last gods died due to the Animus Bomb
**Some died instantly, but most succumbed over the course of millennia
**The last god Ekphor, the god of funerals and dignity in death, died 30 years prior to story after getting all his affairs in order
*There are small gods left, gods of petty nothings and matter-nots, tucked away in the cracks and crevices of the world
*The creatures elder to them remain, as they always will
*Generally, the gods were still, stagnant beasts and, as such, were terrified of the dark, of death
**After the bomb, no new gods could be born, and they started to dwindle in number
**They realized that they were also afraid of dying out and being forgotten
*They sought ways to create more like them, more beings that could live for eons, deathless
**They did not succeed, but their desperate failures still haunt the world
*certain animals are capable of reincarnation, but dragons get a lifetime, nothing more, nothing less, nothing after
|-|Characters=
===Main===
Gracchus
*he/him 
*MudWing
*a workaholic mortician, a specialist in dealing with undeath, as well as a devout adherent of the god Ekphor's teachings
*a lightthief - a magician who steals residual power from the domains of dead gods - but is unusually respectful of Ekphor's memory. 
*sympathetic towards undead creatures. 
Veorfolnir 
*she/her 
*swordfighting instructor who knows a lot about the history of the world. Is believed by those close to her to be older than she looks.
*weary and tired most of the time, is defensive of her secrets and the secrets of the world
*is connected in some way to the Moon Façade, and other creatures older than the gods
Luci
*they/them
*RainWing vampire
*of a noble lineage, very respectable member of vampire society
*delivers goods to and from the Droughtforest, most importantly blood
Bajang
*he/him
*SeaWing
*owns an inn
*he'll be back later to do things
</tabber>
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Genre (Comic)
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Content (Soi-ke)
Category:Mature Content