[Comic] Shattered Legacy

"I was there. When Kralkatorrik, the Crystal Dragon, awoke. I was in the Dragonbrand." 

When I first got to Tyria over seven years ago, one of the first characters to latch onto my memory was general Almorra Soulkeeper, leader of the Vigil (technically local version of UN military). This wise old warhound has nerves of mythril and balls of brass She survived this universe's equivalent of an a-bomb and not only did she come back, but she found the strength to start an order tasked with protecting Tyria from the threat of Elder Dragons.  She never lost her cool, even when she sent us on a mission that cut deep into her family. Come to think of it, she is pretty much Tyria's ultimate Paladin - stable, stalwart defender who will protect those who can't protect themselves, no matter how terrible the odds.

And when I picked up the tie-in novels, one of them, Ghosts of Ascalon, left a very deep mark on this particular soft spot. It expanded Almorra's backstory and explained what happened that day in the Brand. The general's retelling of the events was haunting and powerful and my respect for her grew with every sentence. I began almost immediately weaving plans to commemorate that scene with a fanart of some sort, but I was always stopped by lack of skill, courage, time or whatever else it is that artwork runs on.

And now...

... and now it's finally over. This was, without a doubt, THE most painful project I ever went through as part of this fandom. The first storyboard was drafted over 2 years ago (back then mere 3 pages long, what are now pages 3,4 and 5, essentially being more of a Harthog transformation fanart than Almorra one), shortly after I became part of the Creative Partner Program, and I had been toying with the ideas even longer. I changed things around, tested out some concepts, did quite a few rewrites and sidelined the comic a lot, as it was a fun little thing I kept coming back to on the side rather than a main focus.

Unfortunately, that's when an MMO, being an MMO, outpaced me by taking a relatively obscure character and bringing her back into the limelight for its newer updates. Unfortunately, the character that came back had quite a different vision behind her and no longer glued well (or at all) with the original story concept. I made some attempts to adjust, almost scrapped the entire project thrice until I finally snapped mid-way through 2019 (GW players likely know why and when...) and axed the thing.

I could count on the fingers of one hand of a mediocre demolitions expert how many people could overturn such a decision once I make it.

One of them did.

And when the last episode gave me just enough rope tie the story in ways that hopefully fans of "old" and "new" Almorra can both enjoy, I reloaded the files and started one last, final edit. While it was no longer a work for fun and love for the character but simply work, finishing it came with its own rewards. Some more obvious, some... no less important.

Consider it my sendoff for a war veteran who taught me that some must fight so that all may be free.

Since this is my first major comic post in a while, it may take a few tries to get the rusty gears moving again (and make all the templates from scratch, since old ones are no longer usable). Planned posts for patrons are:
- higher-resolution single file download in eReader-friendly format (at least 2, looking into others)
- breakdown of the drawing process of page 3
- breakdown of the design and writing decisions in adapting an existing piece of lore & writing into its expanded version

Thank you for your kind support. You made this possible.