Q.: Why "The Shadow Rangers"?
A.: Several reasons... 1) "Rangers" on this world are considered the ultimate protectors/guardians (think Tolkien Rangers rather than EverQuest Rangers). 2) Everyone member of the team has a dark secret, some darker or more secret than others, hence the "Shadow"y part. 3) Their home is Ki-rin's castle, the Keep of Shadows, so she saw it only fit that they should be named the Shadow Rangers.
Q.: What the heck is a Fligitaur? (ie. what is Damae?)
A.: Fligitaurs are a race I made up a while ago, some demented wizard named Selkcub (heh heh) liked to play god(dess) and design new races that were variants of already existing ones (variety is the spice of life!). ;) So, looking at Centaurs and Satyrs (both of which she adored), and throw in a little Fairy Dragon... You get the Fligitaur, a race of humanoids that have the bottom (back) legs of a horse, wings (and taint) of a fairy dragon, and human torso/head. Damae is a fairly ordinary looking Fligitaur, she has very little of the "taint" of fairy dragon I spoke of, other fligitaurs are far more fey than her, often with torso and head more dragon than human. Its a neat race, I like drawing them (I will post pics sometime), and they are peculiar to my worlds. If you would like to use them in yours, just ask before you do so (I will link to you ^_^).
Q.: Why don't the Shadow Rangers wear uniforms (like other manga-styled teams)?
A.: Ki-rin hates uniforms, and she's the leader of the team. The Council tried to make them wear the uniforms created for the team (yes there were ones, including nice armor for the fighter-types), but Ki-rin keeps it in a small dark closet somewhere in the back of the Keep of Shadows (Ki-rin's ancestral home, and the Shadow Rangers base of operations). Fyi, As of the current incarnation of the comic, the Shadow Rangers have been a team for 7 years (a relatively short time), with Ki-rin and Marla having been a team under The Council's direction for much much longer.
Q.: Doesn't this "bridge world" have a name?
A.: Hrm, yes... I'm sure it does... But I never bothered to think it up I guess, as it never was a big deal when writing the story. I want to find a good name for it too, not just something picked out of the air, so I guess I will update everything when I figure out what it is. Suggestions? I'm currently thinking of "Vortoi". To find out a little more about it, go to the World Background page.
Q.: What's this whole thing about being a mage of the 8th Circle (from Talax Tir in the 5th page)?
A.: To get a full description of this, look in the World Background page. Talax is 8th Circle in 2 disciplines (demon [beings from other planes, not necessarily evil as this includes elementals] mastery and necromancy) and so he is extremely dangerous/powerful. Ki-rin is an 8th Circle Mind Mage, with a general magery level of about 4th Circle (meaning she dabbled in many different disciplines for a while). Marla is a 7th Circle Healer, and 7th Circle general mage (which is really unusual, to get that good in all disciplines). Damae is a 7th Circle Music Mage (Bard). Trebor has innate powers that he has yet to tap into (but consequently makes a great focus for Marla's power, especially with his soul-sword), and Nomyr is just an incredible fighter/archer with a berserker streak. ;)
Q.: What is Trebor's "soul-sword"?
A.: Trebor's katana was left with him on the doorstep where he was found by his adopted family. He assumes it is an ancestral sword and knows little about it, except that he cannot be parted from it and it has powers that only he can access. It will appear in his hand if he calls for it, he can channel enormous amounts of energy through it, and it makes him immune to almost any type of magic. It has a name but he has never told it to anyone, and whether or not it is sentient is not known. Marla has always had the disturbing feeling that it is waiting for something.
Q.: How PG is this comic?
A.: Hrm, well for now is pretty much PG-13 I guess, in the future it will have more mature content (nudity, sexual situations, homosexuality, blood and gore [if I can figure out how to draw it], etc.) but I will warn people beforehand (maybe also provide a censored version if I have to). I don't really know Keenspace's policy on more R-rated (even X-rated?) comics, so I have to do some research first anyway. For now, just know that while Damae isn't wearing anything but a shirt, her fur (from her horse legs dammit [heh]) is thick enough to cover anything that would need to be covered. ;)
Q.: Are you Ki-rin?
A.: Actually no, though she is one of my favorite characters, and she's based heavily off one of my characters for a WoD game, so I have roleplayed her before. My character (the personification of me) in the comic will be Kyriani (as usual), who you won't see for a while. Several of my friends/family appear in the comic actually, in fact one of the Shadow Rangers, Trebor, is based off my RL brother Robert. Others I know will appear as future characters. :)
Q.: How did this all get started?
A.: (This is a long one.) I started working on this comic in its first version near the end of highschool. It was my ambition to be an artist for a living, especially a comic artist. I had this dream of going to Art School, and coming out from it a comic book artist (so sue me I was young and naive). I got to know a bunch of comic artists local to Boise ID (including a few in Seattle where I was to move to), and got a somewhat better idea of what the industry was like (and how much better everyone else was then me heh). Still, I clung to my dream, and started working on my comic (one of many actually, but definitely my favorite) The Shadow Rangers (yes its always been called that). After writing at least 5 or 6 comics worth of storyline, and penciling one full comic (~28 pages), I knew I wasn't up to the task. My art was crappy, and I was sure that my writing sucked. I have always had a self-esteem problem. ^_^;; I decided to put it on hold till I was more up to the task.
Later, after attending the Art Institute of Seattle (which failed miserably to be the things I wanted it to be... in retrospect, I should have known better than to go to a Design school rather than an Illustration school), I worked off and on on the story and the comic, especially on one particular scene (which hasn't happened in the current comic yet, but it will), testing different methods of drawing and copying by hand a lot of techniques I saw other comic artists using. Well to make a long story short, its been many years since I first started working on the comic, and now I have a medium (the web) which makes it really easy for me to tell my story and work on my artwork without having to be good enough to have a comic book publisher publish it. Though my art still isn't what I want it to be, it won't get there without more practice, and I need a project to work on to practice properly. So, here is The Shadow Rangers, perhaps not good enough to publish on paper yet, but a means to an end. ;) Besides, the characters and story have stayed with me for this long, begging to be let out, I have almost an obligation to set them free (to wreak havoc with peoples brains hehe).
Q.: Why are you such a horrible updater/artist/writer/cg-er?
A.: Heh, I refuse to directly answer this one (and no, no one has really asked me this, its just my imagination). ^_^ My life is quite hectic as I am working two jobs currently (one my paid day job and one part time job programming a demo for a small games company called Pirate Software, LLC). I also have a long commute to work, so all things together make for very little free time and energy. =/ My art is still kinda sub-par (imho), but the more I draw the better I get, so it will progress as the story progresses. :) The writing on the comic is not meant to be a laugh a page, or really deep, its a light hearted fun story, that I happen to really like (I really do have at least 30 typed pages of story in the computer, which equals at least 75 pages of comic, with more outlined for later). Coloring on the computer is really new to me, so I am still really crappy at it, but like with my art, progressing all the time. ^_^
Q.: Is Buckles Gill your real name?
A.: I get this question a ton in RL, so I will get it out of the way here. Yes, Buckles S. Gill is my legal name, is on my birth certificate. Though, a lot of my friends call me Kyriani and all of my online friends know me as Kyriani (well okay, a few know me as Rainah as well). I was called a lot of interesting variations on Buckles when I was a child (Bubbles, Buttons, Bugles, etc. *sigh*), so I stared going by Kyriani when I started playing AD&D at around age 10 (my main character I played was name Kyriani, a half elf bard), mostly because people couldn't figure out how to twist that (sometimes much less pronounce it). I swear gaming saved my sanity. ;) I became aware of the Forgotten Realms character named Kyriani in a comic book series a few years after and was again proud to bear the name of Kyriani. I don't mind Buckles as much anymore, it is unusual and so gets remembered. Unfortunately, people usually assume I am male because of my name (shortened to "Buck" I guess?), I can't tell you how many Playboy subscriptions I have been offered by mail. ;)
Please feel free to email me questions you want answered! I know its a bit early in the storyline, but as things progress they will get more complex so feel free to ask away. :) I love getting email from people who stumble upon the comic, or from my friends who read it who have feedback.
