Wizard Wednesday Recap, 2022-07-20
Magic Machine Announcements
Today, we started with various announcements. Magic Machine (MM) will have a booth with Bliss On Tap (comic book publisher) + a street team at San Diego Comic-Con starting tomorrow. Their booth number is #5533, in case you are attending and want to say hi. Also, on Friday, from 11AM-2PM Pacific, Reilly Brown (Issue #0 cover artist) will sign copies of the comic book.
Speaking of the comic, Issue 1 is in production - the script is written! Cult members will get this issue for free as well. Reilly Brown has completed the cover for this issue, and some wizard-holders may recognize some of the characters on it…
Merch update: There is now a link to FRWC official merch on the website. The store is live and available on an ongoing basis (although some items are currently sold out). MM has big plans for merch going forward, including more apparel + other custom products. Bearsnake acknowledged the mix-up regarding missing comic books in the orders, and asked everyone to “bear” with them as the issues are resolved. The Quantum Style t-shirt has gotten visibility outside the core Cult. The comic book has also increased visibility.
Wizzypedia update: Elf shouted out Smolprotecc on their efforts in Wizzypedia (for example, the article on The Gate to the 7th Realm). Elf has also made his adjustments to the Eternal Rose page, but they are very minor, to provide the appropriate context to the lore. Dotta also shouted out Madotsuki, giveahoot, and Kel for their contributions. Elf emphasized the importance of this effort - both for knowledge preservation as the Cult grows, and for historical, archival purposes.
The pitch deck: Elf and dotta talked a little more about refining it. The sheer amount of projects that MM is engaged with, in addition to all the community projects, makes it very hard to condense the slides into something manageable. They like the term, “speed-running a franchise” because it encapsulates the broad range of activities going on simultaneously, as well as the fast pace.
Philosophy and the Forgotten Runes with Elf J Trul
Elf gave a talk on The Cave of the Platonic Shadow. This location on the map is a reference to Plato’s Cave, where people trapped in a cave are basing their perception of reality on some 2D shadows projected on the wall of the cave. After escaping the cave, they learn the truth of the real, 3D world. Elf likes the theme of this journey towards truth, starting with the shadows on the wall (eg. the Runes on the Door).
Plato also developed the theory of forms, where the physical objects in the world are reflections of the "platonic" ideal, the non-physical essence of the object. In Forgotten Runes there are questions about how to observe canon and align the disparate stories we all create. In Elf’s opinion, it’s crucial to communicate the core essence of the character first and foremost. The details add flavor & are important to the individual stories. In the meta-narrative though, MM will utilize the intrinsic essence of these characters. Even between the Runiverse game & the official TV show, the details of the locations, for example the Great Owl Obelisk, may be interpreted differently by each, but the essence is constant.
Dotta chimed in about the example of Spiderman’s leaked character guidelines, which defines the immutable aspects of Spiderman, while leaving all other details open to specific interpretations. Madotsuki gave another example - Harley Quinn. Elf mentioned the Ninja Turtles. And Nosferatu talked about the different interpretations of his character as well, and how Moron Global is providing their own memetic spin to it. Don Juan de Salvia talked about how in Mesopotanian mythology, many of the “characters” (gods) have core archetypal characteristics.
Cult Content Highlights
Elf shouted out the Arthur Mercenary of Feral Untamed's teasers, which includes mysterious live video segments. Gank Collectibles is running a contest this week as well, to win some FRWC merch.
Heroes of Cumberland teasers have also been appearing recently.
A pixel art rendition of the Penguin Capital was released by Bread, on behalf of Madotsuki’s warrior 
Fuyumi Champion of Penguins (15502). Mado described a little more about this area and Fuyumi’s story. And there may be bandit penguins as well.
Merlin's tree.io weekly Cult Content page was shared in Discord, which contains many of the pieces that were discussed. (Note: I helped collect a lot of the featured pieces 😀)
Community News
Merlin also talked about the Forgotten Worlds launch (forgottenworlds.xyz). There is a contest to celebrate the launch, with a Warrior as a prize. Although Minecraft issued an announcement today that shut down integrations of NFTs, Merlin stated that this only hampers a small portion of the planned experience, and the core game will move forward.
Elf shouted out a recent 10KTF video, where Wagmi-san was fighting a Kaiju, but wizards (among others) came to help him out.
Dotta shouted out Sharkchild's (aka Enchanter Orbus) horror books, which are available for purchase.
Job posting: There is a Magic Machine opening for a financial controller. Contact Dotta to apply if interested, as he is wrangling the team's accounts at the moment.
Lore Reading
Giveahoot read lore about the Runes trading card game. He identified one of Qeshmar’s wizards, 
Medium Apollo of the Cosmos (9846), that fits the needed lore, and they worked together to commission Ozzz to make an illustration to go with the lore.