Book One, page 38

bravo1102 on June 19, 2017

More than any comic I have ever done this one was about the characters. No obvious parody or satire, no boobs bursting out all over, it's about the people. Which is probably why it fell so flat. Much of this scene was awful the first time around. I mean painfully awful. The info dumps were obvious, even forced and the reactions of the characters didn't make sense in light of later developments. So the next two scenes have had all the dialogue changed and even the sequence of events has been adjusted.

And so here is Searsha and Larya in their first scene together. And we see some more of the Nasnor archers. I needed a bridge to reintroduce the battlefield so I cooked up the first panel from unused extra images. Just a candid shot of the response of soldiers to the results of their handiwork. It was common in Medieval warfare for archers to reclaim arrows from the fallen to use again. At Portiers and Agincourt young boys ran out to reclaim arrows during the actual battle. So the archers go out to reclaim spent arrows.

Originally it wasn't at all obvious at this meeting that Larya and Searsha were lovers. In fact it was decidedly “meh” because I hadn't developed their backgrounds yet. Since sex plays such an important part in their magical energies, sorceresses are very sensuous women. They are invariably bisexual and since their training sequesters them in a single sex environment for a long time, many form very intimate and long lasting relationships with other sorceresses. However, these relationships are “open” and sorceresses freely move from partner to partner. In order to marry a sorceress must go through a series of rituals where she is stripped of her magic and her life of service to the Golden Goddess. In effect to cease being a sorceress. However, that is not to say that sorceresses do not have children. A sorceress can only have female children who will in all likelihood become sorceresses or priestesses. This is an entire culture with its own ideas.

Larya and Searsha have a long history together and read each other very well. After all as sorceresses they can “read” each other's aura and have learned to trust their instincts and respect each other's boundaries. But like all relationships theirs is “complicated” and they kind of have their own version of commitment.

Any similarity between this life and that of nuns may not be a coincidence. How could a life of service like this survive into our history? I have outlined a few stories with Searsha as a Medieval nun and certain orders of nuns being a latter day version of the Sisters of the Golden Goddess.