Soul-Fragments (or Soul-Frags) is an original narrative concept that I created during my third and last year of university. I've been trying to build a good foundation to launch the project online. This blog post will recap the short journey I had with very early concepts of the project, and also what I plan to hopefully do with it, as well as other content and concerns around it.
The project is part personal as several characters, Rii Natsuri, Neo Rei, Lilina Nora to name a few, play different character archetypes that I can relate to some way in life. The other part addresses the reality of life, from disorders and hardships, to triumph and longevity, all while using emotions and memories as a driving force.
What is Soul-Fragments?
When you understand what bothers you, you can better tackle the problem.
The Start - Synopsis
Soul-Fragments takes place in a city named Freedom. Within, incidents born of disorder, known as disruptions, lead to a collapse in reality. It is said demons of the Fallen order occupy disrupted sectors to cause grief to everything in and around it.
The darkest enemy in Soul-Fragments is manifested through disorder. Fallen energies emerge in absence of hope, where demons begin to terrorise and cause ruin by spreading ill-omens. The complications begin, as they must be driven back by fighting fire with fire.
"Fragments" are the individuals who harbour special and exotic energies derived from their inner emotions and memories, from both enlightening and crushing moments in their past lives.
Ever since the first emergence of the Fallen, everything is no longer simple. Using their powers to combat the fallen forces of mania is much harder than it seems.
Progression - Content Plan
Expect the unexpected.
Soul-Fragments is a broad project. A linear story progression isn't the main focus, but it is more about a family of characters that will form the greater story by themselves as they become more and more developed. It's worth mentioning my fondness of creating characters because that's how the project originally started. This is ideally what will continue to bring the project forward, where each and every character in the project will have a chance to present their own story line.
Because there are so many, the characters are split into teams for reasons that will be more apparent later down the road. At the moment, a distinct few have more development than others, so I hope to balance this out a little bit as it progresses.
I also have planned to write some lore that elaborates on the finer details of the characters, such as their combat archetype, character origins and more.
For a rough plan, visit the "Lineup" below the "Projects" menu on my website.
Strike Forces
! The rosters will look incomplete. The reason is because I have written a rough bio about them, but I have not yet drawn the character cards. Below is a quick synopsis of what kind of narrative you can expect from each team.
Soulus Echo
Echoes and Origins
Left to right:
Rii Natsuri
Neo Rei
Lilina Nora
Syrus V
Yumi Lene
The main driving force of Soul-Fragments. They stand true to their emotions and memories from days past, holding fast to personal and moral values.
With everyone as their own master, Soulus Echo plays by heart, relying on perception, wits and judgement. Using their awakened senses and powers, they combat the evils that rise from within the disruption sectors where Fallen reside.
They are the main team executing offensive strike operations against the Fallen, including extermination, sector liberation, and elimination of high-threat targets.
First Guardians
Virtue and Honor
Left to right:
Mia Aria
Luna Ayame
Ari Felicia
Hikari Shirokaze
Established as a royal affiliation to protect the ideals of humanity, they serve as a boon of hope with an oath to uphold order, peace and prosperity.
Guided by Mia Aria, the First Guardians are a team of virtuous knights with a great sense of honour and valour. Luna Ayame, an amnesiac demon from another realm, took refuge in the team and soon joined their ranks despite her demonic heritage.
They are also the first responders for defensive vanguard operations against Fallen forces, including frontline defense, search & rescue, as well as sector denial.
Digital Echelon
Trial and Error
Left to right:
Selena Rei
Céles Natsuri
???
As an auxiliary unit, they are best described as operators of sorts who manage activities. They maintain the infrastructure of Freedom's anti-disruption units.
Selena Rei and Céles Natsuri are two girls with interests in technology. Soon, glitchy complications showed as the development progressed where even a third actor from the digital realm presented themselves. It is often questioned as to whether the events they go through are comedy or tragedy.
They also carry out support and covert operations, including reconnaissance, asset acquisition, and even espionage.
Challenges
There are just a few small limits to break.
Formats
The main part of how I've been adding to this project is through character cards and various art concepts that contribute to the project. This works perfectly to its broad format, but I will also be trying out other ways to develop the characters and world of Soul-Fragments.
The writing and the manga
To make a comic version to a great quality takes a considerable amount of time. This project requires a great deal of writing anyway, and since Soul-Fragments is purely a solo project, it's going to take a very long time to do all by myself as one person, especially when accounting for everything - conceptualisation, designing, writing and illustration. Regardless, I'll do my best to polish the content as much as possible!
I have been thinking about creating some short extracts on the website (and possibly Twitter) as a sort of light/illustrated novel version of parts of the projects story, but we'll have to see how it all goes.
Support
For this project to have better longevity, I'm considering opening a Patreon, or other, for anyone interested in supporting my work on Soul-Fragments, or any of my online art in general. This would make income more sustainable for me to create quality content more often in the coming future.
I also want to keep the content free to access for everyone to enjoy.
The option is yours!
That sums up the status of PROJECT Soul-Fragments.
I will be working on more content!
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