Wizard Wednesday Episode 46 Transcription

Wizard Wednesday Ep. 46, July 13th, 2022

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Elf: [00:00:00] It is Wednesday, we're wizards and it's time for our weekly cult meeting, wizard Wednesday. This is El and Doda and Bear, and we are exclamation point magic channeling in from the quantum downs. Um, we've got a lot to talk about today. We've got a special guest coming in on the second half. Um, we're Bears.

Got some comments about the, uh, show meetings. Oh, by the way, uh, I'm actually in Los Angeles right now in the Bear Cave sitting with, uh, Nalgene and Bear. Um,

Bearsnake: amazing. Yeah. Good to have you And Dota just left. You just, you just went

Elf: back, was there? Yep, I just got back, uh, had slammed the safe and sound, but it was really good to spend a few days

Dotta: together.

And we got, yeah, we got tons of time to hang out. We broke bread, we had food [00:01:00] together, we had some really promising meetings. We even got into some physical altercations. It was, it was

Elf: great. I, I forgot about that. We'll get into that in a little bit. Um, yeah. Conveniently. Yeah. No, it's, it's been great. We've been, uh, you know, we've been talking around about this idea of speed running a franchise and the, and the more I think about that term, it's, it's such a loaded phrase.

And I, um, It just means so much. So, so yeah, we've been taking show meetings, um, they've been going great. Um, I also want to talk about, uh, the Dow today, and I want to talk about the Wikipedia today. And then, yeah, like I said, we've got a special guest joining in the second half, but, um, I will wait to reveal who that is.

Um, so Bear, do you wanna, uh, just say a few words about, uh, the meetings we've been taking this week?

Bearsnake: Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, [00:02:00] so, so the, so the boys flew in, um, this week and we, I set up a bunch of meetings with like, really, so I, let me like, take a step back. So in order to like get a show, you can either, like, do you develop the idea?

Of course. And we have Derek, the amazing writer, which everybody, you know, and Hollywood really respects. And to walk into a room with him and have, have him in the meetings is just, is, is a really powerful statement alone. Um, so you can either like, go directly to distributors or you can go to like, not middlemen, but uh, like co-finance years or big production companies.

And so we're meeting with like the biggest companies, um, that make like the biggest movies and the biggest television shows. And talking. Can I, can I, can I,

Dotta: can I like, uh, yes, go ahead. Clarify something. So when we say distributors, the like, distributor of, like, streaming would be, for example, Netflix, hbo, [00:03:00] Amazon, right?

You can go directly to them and try to sell the show to them directly. Or you can go to folks who, um, who kind of like do this as their business. And they not only help like pay for the show, but they also help kind of like sell the show and merchandise it. And they have like a whole, their whole business is kind of like making, uh, the movie business work, uh, above and beyond maybe what you might get at a, a distributor, which would be like, just going straight to Netflix.

So, sorry, go ahead. Continue. I just wanted to make sure

Bearsnake: that was No, no, no. Yeah, it's great context. These are the people who, whose job it is to say, okay, we have a piece of ip, you know, we have Spider-Man, we have. Uh, world of Warcraft, whatever the IP is, right? They want to turn into a former television show and their job like this every day they think about, okay, we're gonna start with this series, then we're gonna go to this movie, and then we're gonna do the second season of this show, and then we're gonna do this, that, and the other thing.

And you like plan out like five, 10 years. And so these companies not only like do, said help finance the shows, but they also sort of help plan out, right? And so, you [00:04:00] know, we we're so busy here, magic Machine that it's important, um, to find the best partners to make the best possible thing. No ego, the best idea wins.

And having experts, uh, by your side is incredibly important. Um, and so we lined up a bunch of meetings with people, like I said, who really are like, best in class, best in class, um, people that make the movies that, you know, make a billion dollars at the box office and theaters and stuff like that. And so we essentially, the way these meetings go is.

Me, Doda and Elf and Derek, we come in and we pitch like the IP and what, and what, what we've done alongside the cult. What we've built, and everybody's obviously super impressed. They're used to pieces of IP having done what we've done take, you know, five to 10 years. And they just, like, their jaws are on the ground at how much we've

Elf: all accomplished and speed running a franchise,

Bearsnake: speed running a franchise, quite literally.

And, and a big part of that pitch is talking about the cult, [00:05:00] talking about how, like, the reason we're able to speed run is because we have thousands of people helping us do it by our side. Um, and so we talk about that and gives the stats and give the background and then, and then we hand it off to Derek and he, he has like written, he's essentially written the pilot episode and then outline.

So he goes through that what's important, like who those characters are. Um, What the story arcs are. Where do we go? Like what are the, like where do we go? What's the journey on season one? Where do we go? It's in the, in like the, the following seasons. And then of course, like talk about like other, other pieces of media, right?

Like, you know, the, the next seasons, films, all that stuff. And so we did that. And, and so Elfa and I have spent a lot of time in this space doing this on our own projects with our own different companies. And you know, I think the hit rate is probably like if you, I'd say like out of 50 pitches, [00:06:00] maybe like two people show interest if you're lucky.

And we already have, like, we're hitting, you know, we're hitting above 500. Uh, actually I'd say we're probably hitting close to like 800. And so, you know, it, it's, this, this process takes a little bit of time, but I have to say like, I am, I'm like over the moon. Yeah. At how people are receiving what we're doing and, and it's totally translating.

Like people can see off of the materials, off their excitement, off of what we've all accomplished together. It's just like really landing and, and I

Elf: think, yeah, go ahead, please. Oh no. One of the things that I

really

Dotta: loved about this round of meetings was like, you know, a few months ago when we were. We were talking to Derek and we were trying to pitch him on Forgotten Ruins.

And then in these meetings, you know, he was on our side of the table. And so, you know, I don't mean to speak for him, but one of the things that I observed in those meetings was, you know, um, our kind of [00:07:00] interviewees, they were, they were asking us questions and instead of like me or Alpha Bear answering, Derek would answer and Derek would give this like really rich answer about how intricate the world is, about how there's all these places that we can go with it, about how there's this really vibrant community that has this really positive energy about all these ideas that he has for where to take it.

And it was just like, it was just so like joyful to, to watch Derek actually pitch

Elf: us to someone else. Yeah. And just for those of you who might be new here, uh, when we say Derek, we're talking about Derek Colstad, who is probably best known for creating the entire John Wick franchise from scratch. Um, he's also worked on, uh, the Falcon and the Winter Soldier for Marvel.

He wrote the film, nobody, um, and a lot of other impressive things. But yeah, it's been great having him in the room with us because he's a great dude, because everybody also like in those rooms knows, uh, they [00:08:00] know him already before he even walks in. And so it's just like, like half of Hollywood isn't what, you know, it's who you know.

So it's, it's been great. One of the other things that I've noticed about these

Dotta: meetings too was, um, just how kind of like, um, forward thinking and open these people are to web three, uh, by disposition, you know, of course you always get varying degrees of like understanding, but like a lot of these people watched, um, sort of like, uh, for example the internet come and a lot of like streaming media.

Come and completely change the business. They've watched like, um, this shit from desktop to mobile and completely changed like the, how this kind of media is consumed. And so I actually think that they're like fairly open to the idea of hearing like, oh, crypto and NFTs is changing ownership. It's not like the first kind of like upend for their industry that they have seen.

And so they're like very much like, oh, if this is true, we like, need to make sure that we're a part of [00:09:00] it and we're like paying attention. I thought, thought that was really interesting.

Elf: Yep, definitely. Um, so yeah, so yeah. You know, and, and like, don't get us wrong, like Hollywood is a place where you can die of high hopes.

And so, you know, these are all, are the very first steps, but, but so far so good. And we we're very encouraged. Yeah. Um, you know, I also want to talk about, um, Just how fast the project is growing. I'm gonna use this phrase again. Speeding, running a speed, running a franchise. I've just, I've just been like, obsessed with this phrase lately.

Um, and all that it entails because it's, it's just, it's a massive, massive effort. And, um, you know, part of this effort is speaking to third party institutions of all kinds, not just these, uh, show people, but, but all kinds of people. Um, and so part of this effort is, uh, we've been building this massive deck and it's, it's got like 70 pages so [00:10:00] far.

Um, and you know, one thing that I've been loving about doing it is it's, it's been such a thorough recap of everything we've done and where we want to go. Um, and the deck is not only just about what Magic Machine has done, uh, it's also about what you all have done, um, because something that carries a lot of weight in these meetings is bragging about your community, bragging about the content that you all make, bragging about the social media activity and the Discord activity.

Um, because the cult is just so damn creative. In fact, it's the most creative nft, uh, community in the space. Hands down. Come at me if you wanna argue with me. Um, we've come at, we've come at us with photos cuz we've got 'em on our side. Yeah. We, we've, we've got the evidence to prove it. Um, so, you know, and, and we've just got, you know, it's, it's, it's like the stuff we see every day on Twitter and then it's, and then there's [00:11:00] also just a lot of these like really big initiatives that the cult has already done and is continuing to do.

Um, you know, just a few highlights, uh, that are in the deck is like, um, The, uh, the Forgotten World's Minecraft thing that Merlin made, uh, the forgotten marketplace that TV made. The Forgotten Babies Wizard Orphanage that Bill Gates and Sine are made. Uh, bit VARs. Billy's gonna get ya. R yfs comic series, the merch line by moron capital, uh, GI hoots, ros card game, Bonzo YouTube show Maples interviews, the two crows jewelry line, the nouns wizard collection that bread made.

Uh, there's so much like we cannot so much even keep track of it. We are losing track and, and, and we actually enjoy losing track, to be honest. Um, you know, and I can speak to that in a little bit, but, but basically like these institutional parties are very, very, very interested in this stuff. Um, you know, and then.[00:12:00]

To that, there's the, you know, that's just the beginning. The, the Dow has so many proposals queued up. There's so much good stuff that's being proposed, and I'm so glad we have the Dow. I don't think we give the, the, the, uh, the council enough credit for everything that the Dow is doing. So, so, you know, first of all, like, thank you so much to the council.

Um, thank you. Your work is so important to what we're doing. Um, you know, it's, it's the, the Dow is just such a crucial part of Forgotten Ruins. Um, and, and, and here's why. Um, because, so, you know, magic Machine is, you know, what we are doing is we're pushing really hard for the show and the comic and the game and all these other really big things.

Um, and, and those are great. Those are very important parts. They're, they're part of, uh, you know, speed running the franchise. But what else is a big part of speed running a franchise is the community. Um, you know, it's what the legacy world would call the fan base. Um, and so, [00:13:00] We need to empower the community, uh, in all of their own creative initiatives.

Um, and I just listed a bunch, but there's a lot more coming down the pipe. Um, and so this is where the Dow comes in, uh, because you guys will need the funds to make a comic, make a game, an animated short, a novel, whatever. Um, you propose it to the Dow. Um, and you know, I'm, you know, I I I I'm really hoping that most of you all are taking your proposals very seriously.

And, and I, and I think you are for sure, like, like really put a lot of time and effort into your proposal. And, and, and, and to that, I think like everybody who can vote, take that very seriously too. Like the votes are very, very important. Don't just default to Yes. Don't default to no. Um, and, and if you truly don't have an opinion, then you can abstain from voting.

Um, but, you know, I, I just, I just wanna touch on this a little bit. Um, you know, [00:14:00] You, you also don't have to vote in the way that you think Magic Machine would approve or disapprove. You know, I, I think we might make the votes anonymous. Um, I, I, I guess that's still a debate on whether to do that or not, but regardless, like, please never vote how you, you think me or Dota or Bear would approve, um, you know, make your vote, your own vote, your conscience, um, you know, and, and, and your vote is like your way of deciding not only what proposals get funded, but also like how the project itself shapes up.

Um, you know, it, the, the proposals that get funded have an effect on shaping the brand itself. You know, so, so these are very important considerations to make when, when you're voting, voting, um, You know, one thing, one thing that Dota and I learned very, very early on at the very beginning of this project was, was how you shape something in the very beginning has a huge effect on how it will be [00:15:00] six months from there.

And so take the discord, for example. Um, you know, as everybody knows, a discord can get very toxic very fast. And if you let that behavior run unchecked, then you really can never pull back from it. You basically just have to start all over. Um, so Doda in particular was, was very aggressive about nipping any sort of toxic behavior in the bud before it even got a chance to root.

Um, so, you know, because this is important because, you know, I'll, I'll tell you, this is yet another bragging point as we pitch ourselves to these third parties, We constantly pitch how much goodwill and warmth and friendliness we have in our community. And even Derek, who, who joined us for a Wizard Wednesday, he noticed that right away.

And, and he even mentions it in these pitches. He, he was, he was so impressed by the kindness of everybody here. Um, and so that stuff really means a lot. It's a, uh, it's a vital part of speed running a [00:16:00] franchise because a franchise is only as strong as its community. Um, yeah. And I really

Dotta: appreciate everyone like coming and sharing their opinions.

You know, I know that we've had maybe some tensions over the last few weeks, but I think that, like, one of the things that I've appreciated is that we are able to kind of like talk about it as a group. I think that like this idea that Wizards are for everyone is something that we're always going to be like working through as a community forever.

And the only way that we can do that is if we can like, Talk to each other and be civil to one another, air our grievances, um, and be able to, to just like come together at the end of it. And so, um, I'm super appreciative to especially wanna echo that to everyone of the council and to everyone who's kind of participated in the governance so far.

Um, I think we're also gonna even change a little bit how we, um, help develop the proposals. I think, you know, a lot of this is, is a learning process for us as an organization, which is like, How do you write a proposal that is [00:17:00] structured properly in terms of like milestones and like, uh, what are the sort of things we're focusing on and how do you address concerns for execution?

And so, you know, I think we're gonna work on finding ways to have more discussion, um, about proposals, more workshopping proposals before they actually go to vote.

Elf: And so, yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Jitsu,

Dotta: you've been involved in that a little bit. I think you're creating some new channels. I don't know if you're ready to talk about it, if you wanted to mention any

Elf: of that.

Yeah, I think what you said is pretty much spot on. I think conversation before we get to the actual voting part. And just last night we had a conversation about what we can do to maybe. Maintain and strengthen that idea. And it's gonna come through Discord conversation. So now we're gonna have a running, um, channel created before proposal goes to vote that everyone can talk about the proposal itself in there.

And then when it goes to a vote, we'll lock it and then we can all have a discussion in the how do main chat. And then after that, if they're yes or no, we'll either, um, we'll probably archive that so we can [00:18:00] reference it back later. So just opening up conversation at Discord, path of least resistance and we'll be able to make more successful proposals, I think, in the near future.

So yeah, that's kinda where we're at right

Dotta: now. Yeah,

Elf: and I do

Dotta: think there's a lot of questions with the Dow around like, well, what is the ongoing source of revenue? And I think some of the projects that the Dow funds, you know, the community might decide that they want revenue to come back from those projects.

Um, I think, and I know that Magic Machine for sure has plans in sort of distributing some of the revenue that we get, um, to those, to the Dow one way or another. You know, um, you know, I mentioned, I made a tweak this week where I mentioned that we think that like ultimately the success of the forgotten wounds IP means that that value needs to come back to the token holders.

But of course, like the constraints there are like, you know, inappropriate regulatory and legal framework, which we're still working through. But I think that the Dow is an important part of that. Um, whether it's director indirect, I think just, so yeah, I appreciate everyone who's been involved, the council, [00:19:00] the proposers, the people who are doing the work, the administrative, um, and, and everyone who's voting.

So,

Bearsnake: one thing I wanted to say, just as like a potential participant in voting is like, I'd love to see us make it a little bit easier to, to vote and, and like maybe I, I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but it feels like it's a little complicated to like, understand um, where the proposals are. How do you vote?

And I don't know. I'd love to, I know this is, you know, maybe I should, I shouldn't say that, but like, I just think it could be a little bit simpler for people. Cause I, I've also seen other people mention the same, it's

Elf: an important topic. I think we've even mentioned, like infographics or ways to be able to shorten that experience.

People understand what's happening. Um, yeah, I think there's, there's gonna be a lot of conversation moving forward just about those things too. So, good feedback though. Yep. Um, okay, so we have 10 minutes until our guest comes on. I wanted to touch [00:20:00] on one other topic. Um, and this has been one of my favorite things to ever forgot, uh, to ever happen to forgotten Ruins.

And it's of course the Wikipedia. Um, and, uh, yeah, I just, I I love it so much. Um, actually Matto, you just came up. Do you wanna say something about the Dow real quick? Briefly say that? Yeah, I definitely understand your concerns. We actually had, um, you know, some discussions about, you know, of the visibility of proposals and how we can make it a lot more streamlined.

And, um, think Jesse mentioned before, like we, we. Added the, um, the channels within the, the, um, uh, section of the discord. So that way it's individual channels for, um, you know, every proposal. Um, we're gonna try to think of some way that we can, you know, structure that process so that way it's like easy to manage and it does become like too cluttered.

Um, but I think that will bring a lot more visibility. Um, another suggestion that was brought up with like a announcement [00:21:00] channel within there that, you know, um, I think that's a great idea. I kind of put in like a, like a placeholder for that for now and then like kind of like discuss with everybody how we can, um, move that forward.

And I think that would be great for just kind of like, if you just wanna get the, the most up-to-date important information on like, you know, what's being voted on and deadlines and such. It'll just be one condensed channel that you can get that information from. So, Um, thank you for the feedback. We're definitely gonna keep on trying to make this a lot easier for everybody and make this, you know, fun, fun to participate, fun

Hadrien: for everybody to

Elf: join in.

Thanks, meadow. Excellent. Thanks Matt. Um, but yeah, so, uh, the Wikipedia, it's, uh, I love it. Um, it's like, honestly, I wish I had time to just sit there and write Wikipedia entries all day long. Um, sure, yeah. Cause there's, there's so much. The universe is frigging huge. Um, you know, it, it's, it's, it's yet another thing [00:22:00] that we brag about in our pitches with these, uh, other, other institutions, which is, um, you know, one question they have is like, how much world building have you done?

And my easy answer is like, well, we have an entire Wikipedia. Um, and so yeah, so the, the wiki is, you know, it's obviously in a, in a very early stage now. It's a bit experimental. Um, you know, one of the balances we're trying to find is like, how much should Magic Machine write as a baseline, and then how much, uh, should the cult members, uh, start contributing?

Um, you know, and this, this will be an ongoing experiment. Uh, so I just wanna kind of touch on the shape that I see this whole thing taking. Um, and, um, I'll use an ex as an example. Uh, like the items, the, the props. Uh, so, so I've been making lore entries on the potions and, um, the Book of Magic and the Caius and the Bag of Tricks.

Um, and so I'm trying to keep my entries, uh, very [00:23:00] generalized. Um, nothing super specific, uh, because I want my dis my descriptions to basically preserve the creative primitive. Um, you know, I want individual holders to be able to, uh, still feel the freedom to interpret, uh, these items in a variety of ways.

So, for example, um, with the Book of Magic, uh, or the Bag of Tricks, I was very careful to say that like, you know, everybody, every Wizard's book of magic is different from one another. They're not all the same book, or, or every bag is holding like different contact tents. Um, they're not all the same bag of tricks.

Um, and so, so yeah. So my descriptions are very short, very generalized. Um, it's, it's just enough for anyone to elaborate. Um, more specifically on, in the book of lore. Um, but here's where things get interesting. So somebody, I think they go by the keeper on Wikipedia. Um, they wrote out this [00:24:00] fantastic entry for, uh, the Eternal Rose.

Um, it's a beautiful entry and I, and I hope that like eventually every entry into the Wikipedia looks like this. It's so thorough, it's so big and it's so well composed. I love it. Um, but the only potential issue with this is they wrote some very specific lore, uh, which was basically tied to one wizard.

Um, and so when you read that entry, you might think, oh, well this is the story for all eternal roses. Um, And I don't think we wanna put that in the wiki because I've seen tons of other stories in the book of lore about roses that are also fantastic. Um, I think like Merlin wrote a really cool, uh, story about the War of Roses.

Um, I think Oz has done some cool work on the roses. Um, so, so how do we resolve this as the question? Um, this is sort of my take, and again, this is very experimental, but this is my feeling [00:25:00] for now, which is, I think like, what, what I'm gonna do is I'm, I'm gonna, like, at the top of every entry, I'm gonna write like, just a very generalized description of every item.

Just something very broad. Um, and then I think, I think you all, and anyone else can, can come in and below that, um, and, and, and, and peel out some more, uh, specific lore. Um, so, you know, it starts, it starts broad and then it gets generalized or then it gets specific. Um, you know, and, and I think, I think if, if you wanna write like specific entries, just like make sure, like you, you clarify that like, you know, this is the experience of this wizard with this item.

This is how this wizard has used this item in this, in this instance. Um, so yeah, I'm hoping, I hope this makes sense. I, I think I'm gonna just like go in and edit this rose entry, just like roughly how I would think. Um, it should be, um, But yeah, I mean, does that make sense? Doda is for sure. Yeah. And I think that [00:26:00] also the main thing we wanna communicate

Dotta: is that like people should be writing in the book of lore, right?

Yeah. That like, it's, it's helpful when someone sits down and writes the Eternal Rose uh, entry because then you're like, oh, great, this helps me see like how I want it to be, right? Yeah. If people feel too much like, oh, I don't know if this is approved or what EL would want, then like, no one will write anything.

And so I think it's really important that people just feel comfortable to just write that like, The way that a wiki works is almost like gardening, right? And like, you know, you come and you plant seeds and maybe we come back a week later and there are like some weeds there, but there are also flowers, right?

And so it's important to plant so that way you can like create a garden. That's beautiful. And I think that like on this issue of like general versus specific, um, we'll try to put together some lists of wikis that are really good. When that comes to mind. It's like, I dunno if you've seen like the TV tropes wiki, but it's really, really good.

Yeah. And one of the things that they do is they describe the trope up top and then they, um, they put examples down under the bottom. So like, something that came to mind for me with the rose thing is like [00:27:00] they, you basically can have like, okay, up top here's, you can actually have all the same content, but just like change even the headings, right?

Which is like, here's what has to do with all the roses

Elf: and

Dotta: then here's like an example of the roses in, you know, the order of the eternal order of the eternal rose, for example. And so, um, I think,

Elf: yeah, I think that the biggest mistake would be for

Dotta: people to hear this and think. I can get like writers too scared about adding.

You should totally. Add because that's the only way it's gonna

Elf: work. We can't put everything Agree, agree. Yeah. Yeah. Don't, don't, uh, don't let me, me, or anyone prohibit you from adding something, you know? Um, you know, if, if, if I see something that's crazy off, then I'll edit it and then if you think I'm crazy off, you can re-edit it.

You know, that's how the universe is gonna grow. Um, but I wanna super thank, um,

Dotta: everyone who has like, contributed to Wikipedia this week. Um, so I know, uh, oh man, I don't even know that I'm gonna get it one, but I know that Mags was here, has at it a lot. [00:28:00] Um, we've seen. In particular, like if it stands outta my mind, small protect who goes under A handle, fumble B has done so much the, the, the, the pages that you've done.

Small look just really, really good. Um, there's also a Handle Lore dealer. I don't know who that is, that showed up in's written some really high quality pages. Zuki, I know you've done some too, and, uh, I'm sure there's others that I'm missing. But yeah, I, I, it's just been so delightful to see everything there because it's just such a better way of discovering, um, a certain aspect of the universe than what some of the stuff we have on our website so far.

So just, yeah, I'm, I'm really loving what's becoming, I think we still have to fixate the colors and the styles and all that, and we'll get that going, but uh, it's, it's shaping up.

Elf: Yeah. Um, okay. I'm trying to find, uh, our guest, I think he's in here.

Dotta: Do you see him, Dota? No. No. Uh, so guest, if you are here, please, uh, request to

Elf: [00:29:00] speak and we'll bring you up.

He, he's logging in from the, the, the universe game account. Um, yeah. You have to do it on your phone if you're listening

Dotta: in. It doesn't work if you're on desktop. You have to, man.

Elf: Yeah. Okay. We might have a little bit of a technical hiccup for a minute before we get him in. He's, he's, he's, uh, oh, damn. He's using a desktop.

Hold on. I'm, I'm Discording. Exactly. Yeah, you gotta use a phone. Uh,

Dotta: do we have, uh, bear, did we lose Bear Snake?

Elf: Bear is sitting right next to me. Hey. Oh, he's good. He's good. Yeah. So,

Dotta: uh, we were at Bear Snakes house last night and we were, uh, divvying up our warriors and it was really fun. So you might have seen some warriors move out of our, uh, official wallet.

So the way that kind of went down is like, there were a few customs that we kind of like made alongside the honorary. Um, but then for the most part, you know, because, uh, we ended up not minting as many warriors as we wanted, we also ended up keeping the [00:30:00] big

Elf: Warriors. Oh wait, I know what, okay, sorry, go ahead.

Dotta: No, no, I'm just, I'm just saying, uh, that, that, so that's what we did. I was like really, really excited. I shared some of the, uh, the Warriors that I, uh, Uh, some of the warriors that I got this morning in secret towers, you can scroll back and they're just some really, really cool ones. Uh, but we all kind of got into a bit of a conflict over o over one really cool goblin that was a goblin with an Excalibur.

Um, and, uh, yeah.

Bearsnake: And, and so we decided, I tried to give it to Al. I did.

Cult Member: No,

Elf: yeah, he tried to give it to me and I was like, no, we should have a, a contest for this. I know. How about arm wrestling? Oh

Dotta: man. Arm wrestling

Bearsnake: says you guys. Yeah. I rarely lose arm wrestling matches. Yeah, that

Dotta: was fine. Words for bear.

Yeah, if, and so as soon as Elf said, I rarely lose arm wrestling bears like, okay, you're gonna come to my house and tell me that you're gonna [00:31:00] beat me in an arm wrestle. Uh, and so we all headed over to, uh, to, to bear's countertop and there was an arm wrestle. You know, I don't know if you guys wanna reveal who won, but you can, you can see it on chain that, that bear fascinated,

Bearsnake: it's, it's technically on chain.

You can check on chain. Who won the,

Elf: it was literally a bear versus a goat. Come on. So bear destroyed me. I was so cocky about it too, going into it. Um, but your arms are really big. You would beat me

Dotta: in an arm wrestle little easily, so I guess we know where we stand.

Elf: So it was no, it was no contest though.

And so he won the ultimate prize of a, of an Excalibur wielding goblin, which is just like quite a prize to lose. I remember. I, I,

Bearsnake: it happened and then I was like, oh, I have Excalibur.

Elf: Yeah. It was a good testosterone moment.[00:32:00]

Um, okay. Yeah. Thanks for mentioning that. I don't see, of course. Yeah.

Dotta: Yeah. I'm sure you're happy with me to bring that up. Uh,

Elf: is Dan here? He's he's almost here. I, yeah, I'm, I've got him on Discord. Um, he, he had to download the Twitter app. Oh yeah, sure. Um, but yeah, he's almost here. Yeah. I, I wanna second that though.

Small Protect. You've been making some awesome Wikipedia articles. Uh, entries. Um, it's, uh, oh, he's still downloading the app. Okay. Do we have anybody today? Yeah, yeah. Um, I don't know if we do. We'll find out. Yeah. Oh, let me, let me, lemme talk about some cult content. So, uh, one, one thing that's been standing out to me lately is, uh, Maxwell, uh, at Feckless Ma.

Um, this is a guy who has [00:33:00] taken, uh, the monstrosity that is the Cucu Dong Mania, and he's actually making some really cool things out of it. Like I, it, it appears that he might be making an entire collection of food-based wizards. Um, they're looking great. They're looking so good. I, uh, I, I love him. He's got like, some new familiars in there.

Um, it's, it's just really a beautiful collection. Um, so. You know, if the Cucu dog thing, uh, resulted in anything, then uh, this was a good result. Um, but I'll tell you some other, oh, go ahead. Oh, I was just gonna say, I, there is actually one other good thing I've seen come out of it. Uh, Oz has been making some really great, uh, Cucu monsters.

Um, and, and you know, they, They, they're pretty good. They're pretty good. They're no, uh, quantum or Boros, but, uh, they're pretty good. Oz, I'll give you that. Uh, I also

Dotta: have been super loving, uh, [00:34:00] Emily's, uh, magic cards based on, uh, wizard content. So like doing a wizard. Uh, magic, the gathering card contest is something I've wanted to do since like a year ago, probably like the month after we started.

I love Magic the Gathering, and I think it'd be super fun to do our own kind of like expansion or whatever,

Elf: and, um, uh, like a gorilla expansion. And

Dotta: one of the things that I love about these cards is that they are like, they're, you could actually play them like they're borderline cards you could use. I mean, they're pretty powerful, especially the Dota.

But, um, I really, really love them so much. I think we should do that a full on contest. Another thing that we mentioned, um, we were started talking about this morning, uh, was the idea of doing a holiday card contest. So we don't have the, um, uh, we don't have the details worked out yet. Uh, but I would love to do that.

We're like, I would love for us to print like physical Christmas greeting cards that like, you can order a pack and like get it for Christmas, you know? Uh, [00:35:00] so thinking in your mind about, you know, uh, Christmas cards we could do, you know, co balls roasting on an open pie, something like that. Right. There's like plenty

Elf: of holiday opportunities.

Yep. I wanna see them. Yep. Um, also, acid eater has done a really great illustration of her, her pirate warrior. Um, Sammy Kitty has been working on the Her ceramic horse night, which is looking awesome. Um, and then, uh, I, I, I just had something pulled up and then I lost it. Oh. Oh, here it is. Um, uh, Stevie, uh, attri dot eth has this awesome, uh, rendition of his warrior.

He like changed the helmet into this like, it's like this Vistage of this bowl. It's so cool. Um, it's a really great interpretation of his warrior. Um, uh, ATU. Hey guy. Yo, yo. Um, [00:36:00] so let's see, real quick. The morons are holding a contest, so if anybody wants our wrestling contest, uh, that we got that locked down already.

Okay, cool. Gonna win that. Yeah, we, we know Noodle Alarms has got that on lockdown, so. Exactly.

Dotta: I wanna see Noodle alarms versus

Elf: Panico, though. That might be like a contest. Yeah. Yeah. So we're, our next fashion line is going to be called the Wizard, well, wizards and fus. And we're looking for, uh, all of our favorite wizards.

Um, we already have a couple Yfu versions of Nosferatu that we're planning to put on hoodies and a couple other items, but we're looking for more hazards that want to be featured on our, uh, what, what we're working on. So, uh, if you're interested, join, join [00:37:00] Global Discord and we'll, uh, we'll, we'll, we'll be voting on them in the fall.

Listen, I, I, I almost wanna do a whole other Wizard Wednesday segment on just Nosferatu and everything you guys have done with it. Cuz again, putting together this deck, I've been like diving deep into all the, the cult content and nosferatu like what you guys have done with that is just mind blowing. Um, but like, I don't, I don't wanna get into it now cause I have so much to say.

So maybe next Wizard Wednesday we'll do a Nosferatu deep dive. Sounds good to me. I just wanted to, we wanna get the, wanna get some, the anime submissions to save in my personal hard, I mean, put on sweatshirts and stuff. Amazing. Amazing. Um, okay. Well, yeah. So, uh, I think, uh, our, our good friend TLO has finally joined.

Let me get a quick intro. This is, uh, I'm gonna butcher your last name, man. Uh, TLO EZ maybe. Um, he is a game designer and a writer, and he is the lead creative on the [00:38:00] universe game at by Sonic. So, tlo, welcome to Wizard Wednesday. Welcome

Tan. You gotta unmute yourself. Oh,

Cult Member: okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This, this is so, hi. Thank you so much for having me off and everyone. Yes. Um, my phone may act up because like, wifi has been acting up at my place, so that's why I was using my desktop, but, but

Elf: I think it'll be good. Okay, great. Yeah. So Tlo, um, you know, I've, I always tell people on Wizard Wednesday how much I love, uh, talking with you and your team.

You know, I always, this is one of my bragging points, uh, with Dota and Bear Do and Bear always have to talk about business and the boring stuff with By Sonic and I get to do all the fun stuff like talking about art and story with you and your team. Um, you know, and it's just like, you know, once, once or a few times a week, tan Nilo just pings me on Discord and he's always got these really fun [00:39:00] questions like, what does cloud cuckoo land look like?

And what's the story around it? Um, so yeah, I mean, tan Nilo, I guess, uh, let's maybe start there. Like, how much fun are you having making this game? Um, it's

Cult Member: been a blast actually, and I feel like it's a project that's grown on par with the community, right? Um, right now we got like a pretty big team, like with people all over the world, and it's like, there's like, I feel like, and maybe people in the community feel the same way, but it's this idea that.

Even though there are certain things that are set in stone, there's still so much room to explore and to just create and come up with these crazy ideas. And I feel like one of the things that I've liked the most is like our ongoing dialogue where it's like, okay, um, this is what I have in mind. And it's like, no, this is it.

This is it. And then we find common ground and then we start building. And I feel like the artists on our team especially have appreciated that. And they've created like their own things, their own assets, right? It's not like these very rigid [00:40:00] ideas that come from one person, but it's very much a, a collaborative process.

Elf: Yes. Yes, absolutely. Um, Yeah, I mean, that, that's actually very important to me. I, I really want Tan Nilo and his team to just have fun making the game, um, and to be able to have the freedom to bring their own creativity into it. Um, because I, you know, I've been working in the, this animation and video games for over 10 years and, you know, one thing I found is that when you have fun making something, when you feel more ownership over it, uh, your audience is gonna have more fun looking at it, and they're gonna feel more engaged.

Um, and so while I will provide loose guidance, um, about the universe to Tan Nilo and his team, I'm, I'm very happy to let him, uh, to add their own creations and their interpretations into the game. Um, you know, and maybe one of the most memorable things so far has been the whole ducks meme. [00:41:00] That was, uh, that was one of IL's creations.

You wanna talk about that? Um,

Cult Member: well actually it's been, I feel like the fact that you haven't been like constraining in terms of ideas has allowed us to like pass it forward in a way, right? Where it's like, I'm not being restrictive with the team either. So there's plenty of ideas that come from from there, right?

Like the doc meme was a thing where it was like, okay, majors, like people do don't have magic. How do we call them? And it was like a, like a group proposal. Then there's the light bulb frog, which I think was a, a great success as well. And it was something that, it was like, oh, I have this crazy idea. And then an artist was like, oh, I wanna draw it and, and bring it to life.

And it's like, I feel like that's how we've been rolling. And I feel like doing that really opens up the possibility that the team feels like, like they, like they own the project as well, right? Like Absolutely. When, when, when you hear artists talk about set pieces that they've [00:42:00] created or backgrounds or whatever, it's like pretty much their art and then not just like a commission piece that they have to do.

Yep.

Elf: Yeah. And you know, this also speaks to something we touched on in the beginning, which is speed running a franchise. You know, I can tell you that production goes so much slower when every little idea, every little drawing has to be approved. There's a chain of command it's gotta go through. I mean, that's, you know, that's a way to add five years to your production.

And so, you know, if, if you wanna do it in a quicker way, what you do is you just f find really talented people that you trust and then just let 'em do their thing. Um, and, and that's what Tenino and his team has been doing. Um, you know, and, and yeah, I mean, again, the ducks thing, the whole ducks meme, the ducks, like the, the idea that non-ag people are called ducks in the universe.

That was totally tan's idea. Um, you know, His, uh, his art team has just been showing me a lot of really great, um, concept art. [00:43:00] You know, something that's standing out in my mind right now is the way, uh, the concept artist drew the red Wizard capital. It's so freaking awesome. Um, I don't know, 10. Do you wanna talk about like, the concepting and just like, sort of how that's going?

Cult Member: Yeah. So what we decide, we, what we decided to do with the concepting we wanted to start because in the game, the seven wizard colors are like a very important thing, right? Like it was one of the foundations to build, uh, both the lore and like certain mechanical aspects of how the wizards are gonna work in game and certain game flows and certain, certain like mechanics that we're gonna have.

And so what we decided was to start building like the four wizards, right? Like the four wizards that, um, um, like starting with four of them, the red, green, yellow, and blue, and really give them their own identity and. Mm. From the concepting processing, the most interesting thing is that, um, we followed like [00:44:00] a principle that it was like, let, let's take one of the ruins and start building, uh, a part of the symbology of the wizards, uh, shape design and everything around that ruin.

And it really gave each one of them personality, I think would be great. Like in a couple of weeks when all four are done, sharing all four of the, of the ones that we're working on at the moment, and really showcase how different they look and how each one has like, its own

Elf: very unique personality. Yep.

And, and, and by the way, anyone who wants to come up and ask, um, a question about a game, about the game, please do so. Um, he can't necessarily answer every question, but I, you know, I'm, I'm, I, I know you guys have a lot of questions about the game. Um, I know that, uh, the, um, the demo that we put out at the party, um, was a very popular item.

Um, oh, hold on. We've got a, uh, Andy, Andy East. Um, hold on. Let's see. Uh, oh, [00:45:00] wait. Oh, Andy, are you able to speak? Yep. Hey, do you have a, do you have a question for Tan or anything else? Yeah, yeah. Um, you know, sweet definitely might be, uh, an angled question, but, you know, so lemme lemme, I'll just ask it anyway.

Um, you know, uh, what's the plan for trying to capture web two users in this game? You know, people dunno, anything about crypto? Just wondering.

Cult Member: Um, I think one of the, of the biggest challenges for the game, and it's one of the questions that we had from let go, right? It was how do we make a game that appeals to both audiences?

And one of the key things was to make, um, NFTs not be like, um, how, how, how would I put it? I wouldn't put it as like, A centerpiece of the player experience more, but more as a capstone when you finish the player experience. And what, what I mean by this is that the idea is to get players to engage with the [00:46:00] game for a very long time.

And eventually they'll discover like, ooh, these great creations that I have, I can turn them into NFTs and really like, like have my mark inscribed on them. And that's why one of the key principles of the game is that every item in the game, outside of like the base resources are, are craftable items.

Right? And so the idea beyond that is that the idea of turning something into an NFT is more about like signing something as an artist would sign an art piece, right? And it's like there's no item that would just, like, you would just get, it's all the result of like your own player activity. And I feel like incentivizing players to do that will incentivize them to understand like the value of digital ownership.

A hundred

Elf: percent. A hundred percent. And that's, you know, As someone who works in web three gaming, that's definitely the focus and which I'm glad to see, is becoming more and more mainstream, which is that the focus for the gamer should be the game. And any value, you'll [00:47:00] almost never hear me talking about money or value is always a derivative of how fun the game is first and foremost.

So I'm glad to hear that's how you're thinking about it. Yeah, and, and,

Cult Member: and I feel like that's like, it's so, it's something that we always have on our mind when we're designing systems, right? I, I can't go into much detail of course, but like, um, like, and that's why one of the statesmen that we have, like, you know, when, when Tee Games started, like it was like, oh, play to earn.

And for us it's more of a create to earn, right? Like the playing is not the, like, is not the source of earning eventually if you're talking about value, it's like it's creating items, but the playing experience is in independent of that.

Elf: Um, Lin, do you have a question or comment?

Hadrien: Hello? Hello? Can you guys

Elf: share?

Yeah. Hello. Hi. It's good here, guys. Yeah, welcome.

Hadrien: So [00:48:00] I have a question about the game. Sure. Is it, is it okay? Yeah. Uh,

Elf: I've read something about like where you can create some sort of like equipment for our Wizard and Warriors, but we all know that our Wizard and Warriors came with the default weapon. Like let's say our warrior have like some sort of, uh, sword, holy sword, whatever it is.

Yep. But is there any way that we can use our create created, uh, equipment to replace the default equipment for the,

Hadrien: our Wizard and Warrior in the game?

Elf: This like when armor, we can just replace our, our default armor for our wizard, our warriors in the game. You know? Right. That will be a quick concept. Yep.

Yep. I know what you're saying. Go ahead. Doda or, or Ola, whoever.

Dotta: Well, I was actually gonna take the conversation sideways with, around this idea of customizing. I thought he was gonna say, would you be able to [00:49:00] get a new weapon or new piece of clothing and wear it on your original N F T? Which is a different topic, but we should talk about maybe not today.

So Yeah, go ahead. No, you can answer

Elf: about, about the game, but I mean, the short answer is yes.

Dotta: Like you come with a sword if you have this sword already, but of course you can get other weapons and use them in the game.

Cult Member: Yeah. What, what I would say to that is that, um, it's still an ongoing debate on how to do that.

Because there's something that we really liked and it was like the, the ity of each one of the NFTs, right? And so we didn't want to like to intrude upon that. But I feel like I can't go into much detail, but I think we've come with a very cool solution that like will make your N F T feel special and will actually let you as a player experience, like all of the equipment and craftable items that we have.

Dotta: Wow. Yes. Thank you very much.

Elf: Really happy to hear about that. I'm sorry if it goes outta topic though,

Cult Member: that no no's good. It's good. And for me it's very important that like, um, like, and it's one [00:50:00] of our, our, our core principles, it's because the community started like, like the game is the result of community engagement from the get go.

It's like one of our key design like purposes is to have N F T owners feel like they have something unique while also being able to enjoy the content that other players can access. Right. And it's like, there's like a very thin line of balancing both things so that, um, owners don't feel cheated because players in the game have access to too many things or, or that their NFT doesn't feel special enough.

And the other one is that regular players don't feel like, oh dang, I don't own an nft, so these games not for me. So like, like I feel like the bigger answer is like, that's something that we are always taking into account in the way that we're designing the system of equipment and allowing access to both types of players, to the, to equipment, weapons,

Elf: suits, et cetera.

Dotta: Um, yeah.

Elf: Thank you very much for the

Hadrien: answer. Really appreciate it. [00:51:00]

Elf: No, you're welcome. You're welcome. Thank you. Uh, tan. So I wanted to talk a bit about the, the demo that was released. Um, You know, one thing that stood out to me was, uh, just how rich a lot of the set pieces looked, um, how big the, the map was.

It was absolutely huge. And it, you know, it's not even like done yet. Um, I wanted to ask, uh, you know, that was a really great, um, demo. What, what kinds of things can we maybe hope to see in the, like the next iteration, the next demo? Um, just maybe talk about some, I'll, I'll, I'll share a little bit of, like, we might see rolled out like

Cult Member: what my plan was with, with this first pre alpha, and then like the for future iterations, what they're gonna have.

So for, for me, this was more of setting up the mood of what the world is gonna look like. Right. Um, the music was very important for that and just getting a feel of the different biomes and like different places that the players are gonna enjoy. [00:52:00] Um, and the idea for, for the next one is to have players experience the first systems in the game, right?

Like having actually be able to craft items, uh, uh, engaging combat, right? It's gonna be a very simple, like a minimal, like an like what you would call a, an MVP version of that, right? A minimum viable version of that. And the idea is to start getting player to adjust certain systems that we're still uncertain about because we do believe that we're doing certain things, especially when it comes to like the, let's say, the item ecology of the game.

That's pretty unique. And so for us, it's very important to get the community feedback on that. So this next first release is gonna, like, hopefully, I, I can't make any promises because like schedules may change, might change, but the idea is basically to have players. Be able to participate in combat and create their own items.

And then moving forward, we're gonna have like animated creatures roam the land and start giving this world that you saw like just a glimpse of [00:53:00] like a, a living world that has movement and that has more dynamism.

Elf: I love it. I love it. Um, you know, another thing is, uh, you know, you and I have talked a lot about the different hat colors and the cultures around them and the identities that they all have.

Um, you know, this is something you and I have talked about for months. Um, Uh, tell me a little bit about how you express all of that in a game. You know, cause a game is not like a comic or a TV show where you can just, you know, spell out the story. A game is, is non-linear. It's, um, you know, we all know what a game is.

But tell, tell me how you're expressing that, that side of the universe. So one

Cult Member: of the, and I think this is something that I cannot talk about, is that one of the things that we decided, especially since the game is built by the community and it's like a different approach to storytelling, we didn't want the world to feel like traditional MMO RPGs, where it's [00:54:00] like a directive quest line that takes you throughout the world.

What we wanted was more of an emergent gameplay that has like, people roaming the land and you'd come across, um, quests here and there that tell you about the dinner politics of the cities. And eventually what we hope to have is that each city, like for example, the Red Wizard City is gonna have its own.

Its own city dynamic that players can engage with, right? And so the idea is to have, like, each city has like its own ecosystem that players can engage with, but not make it directive so that players don't feel like, oh, I need to do this than this, than this. It's more in that, in that regards, it's more like, more of a sandbox approach to storytelling.

Elf: Yep, yep. For sure. Yeah. I, you know, I mean, one of the fun storytelling vehicles for me was just like the set pieces on the map. You know, you, you look at those and there's clearly a backstory behind them. There's clearly a reason that they [00:55:00] exist. Um, you know, I, I, I think another really cool creation you brought to the universe that I never would've thought about was, um, in the Vampire Mist.

Um, you put all this like, uh, Like these nuclear ruins, um, as, as if like a nuclear civilization or nuclear structures used to be there. Um, you know, it's not something you necessarily associate with vampires all the time. Um, and you don't have to give like specific reasons why it's there, but I don't know, do you, have you wanna say anything about that?

Um, yeah, I feel

Cult Member: like, um, one of the things that I liked about the universe is that it opens the possibility to combine different ages and technological, um, levels of si civilization. And my idea with that is to make it feel like truly if there was, um, a singularity, right? And there's a massive change in the world, like the resulting doesn't follow [00:56:00] the normal rules of like, let's say social like evolution that we have, right?

And I think that's a very important space for us to explore and. And I feel like that combined with the fact that we have a map so large enables us to have like these very different areas that feel and play out very differently. Yep, yep. And, and there's also one thing that I wanted to mention and, and, and it's great that we're here and it's, um, because I saw one of the questions on the, on the Forgotten universe Twitter, that was like how to, uh, bring quests into the game.

Like right now we're, we're working mostly on systems and like game mechanics, but eventually when we start doing quests, um, there's like a very big incentive from our part to work with the community and start like this thing that I called you, like these emergent storylines, right. And have, and being able to have the community inject some of them, the stories that they have in mind into the world and be able to work together.

Elf: Yep. [00:57:00] Yeah. One thing that actually really excites me about it is, um, you know, so we, we've, we've got a map out there. Uh, it recently expanded, it was published in the comic book, um, and we named a lot of the things, and I misspelled a lot of things. But, you know, I, what I, what I would really love to see, uh, with this game is, um, you know, people are gonna be able to buy land and they're gonna be able to form their own, uh, like communities in the map, uh, in the world.

And I would love to see some of these new communities, like literally, uh, change the, the current published map. Um, you know, I, if, if you guys want to like, build a city in the middle of the wild, like maybe you can do that and maybe it'll appear on the map. Um, you know, as I always say, I want the universe to mirror the real world and real world history.

And, you know, no map in world history has ever been static. Maps are always changing, the land is always changing. And I, I'd love to see that happen in the universe.

Cult Member: Well, that's good because that's something that we've had in mind, right? It's something [00:58:00] like, um, and it's like a very fun balance of okay, the game requirements, right?

Like, because games need certain things to, to work in terms of economical ecosystems and players and societal ecosystems. And so what we're thinking is like, you know, there are center certain areas where as a team, and that, I think that's been the greatest thing, is like, okay, we need new areas that maybe are not clearly defined on the map and let's come up with our own interpretation of those.

Right? And, and I feel like because we've had like this ongoing dialogue, it's become very easy for me to say like, Ooh, I know where this could go, that it could work. And then whenever we have meetings, I feel like, like the more that we've talked, the more that we've been on accord of where the world should go.

Yep.

Elf: Yep. Uh, yeah. So we have like a minute left. Uh, tan it, it went so fast. You're welcome to come back anytime. But is there anything else you wanna mention about the game? Um,

Cult Member: Mm. I think, [00:59:00] no, just, just look forward to our next pre-release. Right. To getting involved with the world and something that's very important.

I feel like that's something that I really appreciated, um, with the, with the pre-alpha that we have, is like the understanding of the community that this is a work in progress. And so the most important thing for us for these releases beyond, um, beyond showing the game, is validating things with the community, with the players.

And like, we really were appreciative of all the player feedback and people who were involved in testing and giving us like, oh, there's a million bucks. Good report, 1,000,001, so we can make the game better for the next

Elf: release. Excellent. Excellent. Doda Jitsi, anything else? Uh, you came up here. Oh, what's up man?

Oh, hey, everybody has Laura to read. Oh, okay. Shall I go? Yeah. Yeah. Uh, ladies and gentlemen, the, uh, the [01:00:00] infamous Wizard o with, uh, a Adapt Hadrian of the Rock.

Hadrien: So this is from, uh, Haitian hair, which I haven't yet published the Book of Law. Um, but I have released the, the Art, which was done by John Car, um, I hope I'm pronouncing that right, who was introduced to the Cult by Give Ahoo.

So show out to both of those people. Um, this is the psychic. Le Haitian had ignored people around him when they said it was easy to get lost in Kaku land and set off. Anyway, whilst many understood why he was leaving, they were adamant that if he were to go anywhere, it shouldn't be there of all places, regardless.

That is where Hay Adrian went. He'd been gone for months, and whilst there'd been highs, there were also deep, dark lows. Eventually, The entertainment of the region was no longer able to distract him from the battering of his own mind. And it was time for the psychic leap. Hayden had read that [01:01:00] shifts were possible by the psychic leap and thought it was likely that this would be a way for him to reach the peace of mind He sought.

His journey was a fresh start in many ways, but he still carried the burdens of his own voice ringing between his ears For months before deciding to travel to Kaku land, Hadian had been in a depression. The depression had been blunt, and unmoving dulling his mind. Whilst he had grown accustomed to being active and introspective, the cloud that hung over him had made him Uncurious any inward seeking.

He attempted, brought forth no new insights, leaving him without hope, or course he was a librarian at the Rock that had first noticed the change in Hagen. Her attempts to keep him excited had faltered, and he was no longer visiting the library of the Rock. Whenever their path did cross, it'd come across rude and uninterested.

Thankfully, for Hadian, whilst his heart had hardened, hers had not, she did of course become [01:02:00] frustrated with him for a time. But after weeks of not seeing him at all, she grew worried and visited his home. She opened the door into his abode quietly and with caution. After three knocks on a shout and brought no answer.

Pushing through into the room, she saw Adrian curled up at the foot of his bed. The room was a mess, and his appearance disheveled to say the least. Fuck off. Adrian started without opening his eyes, it's me. She replied gently. He looked up slowly and raised her hand to protect his eyes from the light. Now streaming into the room over her shoulder, seeing who it was, his face softened and the glimmer of tears began to, well, in his eyes.

You need to get out of here, Adrian. She said what Adrian said. She clarified you need to leave. Haitian was confused. He brushed the tears out of his eyes and studied her face to try and understand what was happening. This woman who had been so kind, a true [01:03:00] friend and supporter is stubborn. Studies in the light in the library was now asking him to leave is stuck.

The rock has no more answers for you. You've read every book in the library, and I know because I've helped you. You need to explore. She continued. Adrian paused for a second, looking back down and around at the state of his room. She was right. He had been living as if he was dead for weeks. Yet, despite his trying, he had not made any progress into truly figuring out why.

Where would I go? Adrian asked anywhere. She had said after that, Adrian had set off from the Rock after a few short goodbyes and headed towards Cookland. He had been young then and what he didn't know was that it'd be a long time before he ever returned to the rock. He traveled by hitchhiking and thought many times that he would die.

Although he had traveled these lands when he was even younger, when the trails over the mountains were no longer warm by sunlight, he had twice feared he might freeze to death. [01:04:00] Thankfully, first, a 12 wheeler lorry and then a horse carriage had come to his rescue. Eventually, he had reached the boundary between Kaku land and the rest of the realm and stepped through with only a moment, hesitation to some degree.

The step forward worked time he spent in Kaku land had crumbled some of the internal walls that had been keeping his development hostage, and he felt like he had gained some idea of why he had been depressed. Now all that was left to do was to move on, and hence, he saw the psychic leap a shift now no longer merely wandering through the kku.

He wandered with intention. The beings he had met or imagined had been clear that there were no set directions that would lead one to the psychic leap, but that if one fold, then knows they might find it. If the conditions were right, he wandered and wandered and wandered and wandered, and he thought that he might go mad.

The regular concepts of time fell away and he met or imagined fewer and fewer beings. [01:05:00] All that he did meet would point him in a new direction, which he would follow until he met another, and so again, he would change his course to their tune. Although he had no way of telling if it'd been merely days or two months.

The moments between these meetings seemed to get longer and longer. Eventually, a great silence fell upon Adrian and his feet and his feet seemed as if they appeared out of nowhere to place one foot in front of another. By all intents and purposes, he was going nowhere and directionless. There was no one else to guide him.

Now, no books, no beings, no goal nor intention. Even the idea of finding the psychic leap had left him. The emptiness of his experience expanded far out and all around him was no sign of a horizon. All that was left to do was to put one foot in front of the other, and so he did hopeless. Yet Phil could resolve this, continued for some time until he collapsed.

Blinking his eyes open, Adrian saw that he was still lost. The [01:06:00] blank of the expanse seemed to have no end, but there was a noticeable.in his vision. Sitting up, squinting hard and rubbing his eyes. He saw that the dot was moving. Just a little left and right. Looking deeper, he saw that the dot also seemed to be moving up and down just a little.

the.got a little larger and he saw that it had an aura. It was surrounded by a cloud or kind of shimmering that changed colors from red to orange, to yellow, to green, to blue, to indigo into violent before blending into red. Again, curious. Haitian exclaimed out loud his first word in some time getting to his feet.

Haitian started to walk in the direction of this dot that he had by now made sure was not just something caught in his eye. They go closer and closer to each other. The dot continue continuing to be surrounded by a cloud cycling through the hues of a rainbow until the dot turned into Aha. Curious, Adrian said again.

He stopped where he was and was [01:07:00] laughing to himself on self-consciously. When the hair eventually reached, his feet crouching down, he half expected his hand to pass through what he was now calling in his head, cute, fluffy disco bunny. But instead, he was able to gently pat this little being on the head and not actually a hair.

The rabbit thought your cute Adrian said The glowing rabbit pulled away from his pets and hopped through Hadrian's legs. By the time Adrian had turned around, he saw that the bunny had made its way to the other side of a large casse in the previously flat whiteness of his surroundings. There. It was still glowing, looking back at them as if nothing had happened.

Now, sat with a great crack, separating them by what must have been at least 15 meters. Hadrian walked up to the edge of the new feature in the landscape and looked down. There was no bottom in sight. Just a slow, slow fade of white into black looking left and right. He saw no way that he would be able to walk around it.

Blinking Hadian assumed [01:08:00] that he must be dreaming and jumped in the air to see if he could fly, as he sometimes would. When he was lucid enough, he tried again, but gravity showed no sign of getting weaker, let alone disappearing. Hmm. Hadian grumbled. Now, the internal dialogue had started up again. Well, what are you gonna do?

Nothing I can do. I'm stuck. Why not jump? Oh yeah. And then fall to my death. Nice idea. Brain. Some would say more than the brain, but whatever You might make it. I'm not jumping. He took another peek over the edge and into the blackness. No, definitely not. When he looked up again, he saw the hair, but another feature had appeared A door, a pretty ordinary looking door was now unhelpfully placed just behind the hair.

He quickly spun around to check if any more doors had appeared and they hadn't. Great. So now there's a door. This doesn't make sense. Has this ever made sense? Well, not really. The door blew [01:09:00] open and through it he saw grass flowers in the blue sky. Oh, blue sky, I missed. Blue sky looks pretty nice and he'd get back to my life.

Maybe you could jump. Doesn't seem possible. Yeah. Here we are. Still wondering. I'm not sure. Well, what else are you gonna do? Adrian looked around, saw nothing more. Nothing. The hole in the ground, the fluffy disco bunny and the door. He started pacing up and down right on the edge, eyes focused on the ground, darting into the casse, and at the bunny and door.

From time to time, you're not going to be able to think yourself out of this one. Adrian. Finally, he, Adrian stopped. He looked back at the door, smiled and Ned started walking in the opposite direction. What are you doing? Voice said, after about [01:10:00] 20 paces, he stopped and turned around, ran towards the crack and left.

Elf: Did he make it? Does the end of the story? Tune in next week to find out. So was, was this the, uh, the origin story of Hadrian's Rabbit?

Hadrien: Yeah, so this is how Adrian and the Hair man, I think. Oh,

Elf: that's great. That's great. Yeah. This is the first time I've heard of a wizard, uh, going into the psychic leap. Um, that's what I like about Adrian.

He goes all over the universe. Um, that's great. Oh, thank you so much. Thanks for having me. Um, Doda, anything else? No, we're done. Excellent.

Dotta: Thank you so much. Everyone who came on.

Elf: Yes. Uh, thank you to everybody and thank you to Tamlo. Uh, [01:11:00] this has been Elf Doda Matsu Ian of the Rock with his brand new hair.

Andy Eat Lenoir Tlo and Bear Snake channeling out from the quantum downs. G N.