Garodar, the Volcanic Island

Once again, it’s that time of the week, and following the normal schedule, we are BACK with ANOTHER short story! There a couple of other things to mention this week as well, so let’s not waste any time and hop right into it!

Garodar

Following her visit to the Maldrezzan coastline and leaving Falador for good, Tearna finds herself visiting a landscape like nothing she’s seen before! Sitting to the south of Falador, Garodar is a volcanic hellscape defined by endlessly raining lava and fields of twisted obsidian. Despite the harsh conditions, life has managed to flourish on this island. There are multiple port cities that are built like fortresses to protect their residents from the lava, and the islands itself is inhabited by numerous volcanic creatures of every shape and size. From the small and obscure magma manders to the absolutely terrifying therazors, every corner of the island has something new and incredible to discover, and as always, Tearna is ready to explore it all!

Compared to the previous short stories, Garodar is definitely more about exploration than anything else. In present day, Garodar is much more developed and far less wild, but when Tearna visited it in this story, it was very much an untamed wasteland. The only place like it in the whole world is the volcanic range north of the Karasi, but at least Garodar isn’t populated with Raijin! That said, it has its own host of terrifying and dangerous creatures, but it has numerous mystical and friendly ones as well, such as the garalisks. If you are looking to explore a volcanic landscape and see some creatures of the more fiery variety, then Garodar is definitely the story for you!

The Southern Isles

With Garodar now released and in the rearview mirror, it’s time to look ahead to the next short story which will be none other than the Southern Isles! For anyone familiar with the Sapphire Verdict, this location is a bit like a legend. It’s mentioned over and over again as the place Sapphiria wants to see more than any other and has been described as a wonderland for ocean obsessed individuals, and it certainly fits that image. Sitting to the south of Thericia, the Southern Isles are a massive chain of hundreds of islands, each covered in jungle and wildlife. The waters are teaming with exotic species of every shape and size, and the local towns are some of the most beautiful in the world! Additionally, the isles are known for their expert craftsmen and ship builders, so there truly is something for everyone here!

After visiting such a volcanic hellscape, it’s only fitting that Tearna and the gang get to take a slight vacation here! However, whereas Garodar was more of a descriptive, explorative adventure, the Southern Isles is meant to really start building more on the characters we’ve gotten so familiar with. Not only will Tearna and Kai continue to entertain this silent thing between them, but Bren herself will get some development, and a bit of a side story that will explain her hatred for cold and her love of scalding temperatures!

Youtube

At last, we have put Scorched Earth behind us! It was a long adventure, and editing those videos took FOREVER, but it’s finally done at last with the final capstone being the jerboa death squad. With that adventure behind us, the next Ark adventure will be on Crystal Isles (There’s an island theme going on here…), but there might be a brief pause before that starts. To put it simply, I’m getting burned out on Ark after doing it for almost a year straight, so lovers of speedruns rejoice! We are probably going to be switching to a mix of speedruns and party games with friends, but Ark will almost certainly remain in the mix. Just maybe not as overwhelmingly front and center as it has been…

Twitch

We are getting REALLY close to getting affiliate at long last! Each stream, we creep closer to that follower count, so hopefully here soon we can finally hit that mark at last and start getting some custom emotes on the channel. Like I mentioned under the YouTube segment, I want to start separating myself from Ark a little bit. I do NOT want to get trapped doing one thing like some streamers end up getting stuck with, so there might be a shift here as well.

Website Updates

Potential website updates coming at long last in two ways! Number one, I want to fix some of the background stuff in the short stories section and create a new bookmarker system for the Sapphire Verdict related shorts. It’s LONG overdue for an update. Number two, I want to start experimenting with line art style comic panels. I need to improve on my line art desperately, and comics are something I’ve wanted to do for a while. Not sure when or if this will show up for certain, but keep an eye out for it going forward!

Next Week

I don’t usually do a ‘next week’ style section because it’s usually not relevant, but it is this week! Next week, the next art piece will FINALLY be released! This piece will actually coincide with Tearna’s adventure to the Southern Isles, so expect something water themed! IT also taught me not to experiment with leaving off lines... Additionally, next week will be the final update on the word count for the Sapphire Verdict, which means… time to find a developmental editor because I can’t keep trying to cut this thing! Hooray!

Conclusion

That’s all I have for this week! Couple of fun things and a lot of promise of what’s coming hopefully soon! Until next week… Cheers!