Hey everyone!
We've been so busy lately! Working on a ton of stuff that we're hoping to release soon!
We don't have any new questions to answer and we don't have much to say today, so have a nice week!

Hey everyone!
Here's this week's question:

You've stated that there are other races in the world of Aikonia, but only humans seem to be studying magic at the school. Do other races (such as Bardans) lack ability with magic, or do they just have different approaches to it that aren't taught at the school?
There are other races in Aikonia that are magically inclined, but those races are either not living among the humans or not in good terms with them. The Bardans, on the other hand, can simply not master magic. Many of them have tried, but for mysterious reasons, channeling does not seem to work with them. Some think it's because of the copper in their skin, others think it's because they lack the mental ability.

Have a nice week everyone :)

Hey everyone!
We hope you had a nice week! We had three questions in the forum this week, so here goes:

According to the Set 10 post, you said that the game will be maybe over a hundred years after the comic. Why such a great time lapse. Plus, after so much time, the story would still have any significance?
Not sure what "Set 10 post" is supposed to be, but yes, the story will definitely have an impact on the game! The game's setting, as well as a lot of its events, rely on events from this comic.

If the king is openly distrustful of the council (mages in general perhaps), does that mean that the position at the castle is only given to those as some sort of punishment, like traffic duty for cops on TV?
No, not at all! Just because the King is biased against mages, that does not mean their role is not important to the Kingdom or that they consider their position as mages to be a punishment of some sort. Becoming a mage is more of an honor and the King couldn't do anything about them without a proper reason.

Hey Aikonia, I was just wondering if there are any other races besides Orcs and Humans.
Hey there! The orc-like race in Aikonia are actually called "Bardans" but, yes, there are other races in Aikonia! We'll be introducing more soon, and you'll definitely see more of them in the upcoming game! :)

And that's all for this week! We love answering questions, so keep them coming!
Thank you all and have a nice week!

Hello everyone!
Looks like there was only one new question on the forum this week:

Are any of the characters in the comic going to be in the video game?
The game is set to take place several (over a hundred) years after the events of the comic. Some will be referenced at certain points and others will be shown in flashbacks, in books, or as statues.

Enjoy this week's page! :)

Hey everyone!
We've gotten one new question on the forum this week:

"Are these characters going to be in the comics? HELP!"
This person is referring to the adventurers featured at the top of the Aikonia site, as well as one of the posters in our store. And yes, they will be showing up in the comic soon! Just be a little more patient :)

And to those of you who have the day off today because of labor day, we hope you have a nice and relaxing day!

Hey everyone!
So we've implemented a new spam prevention system and it seems to be working great so far! Let's hope it stays that way :)
And it looks like we do not have any more questions to answer on our question forum thread. Maybe next week!
Until then, enjoy the comic and have a wonderful week :D

Hello everyone!
I can't believe we've been working on Aikonia for two years now! It truly is amazing and we could not have gone this long without your support. So thank you all for being so awesome! Also, for those of you who haven't followed last week's anniversary event, there are two new wallpapers on the goodies page now! Go check them out!
And it looks like we have no questions from the forum this week. If you have any questions that you'd like to see answered in next week's blurb, go ahead and post them there!
Have a great week :)

Hello everyone!
This coming Thursday (August 16th) marks Aikonia's second year anniversary! And to celebrate that, we're going to do something different each day of the week! Some things will only be available during that one day, so make sure you check every day so you don't miss out!
We're starting out with 15% off Volume One in the store! If you were hesitating on picking up a copy, now's your chance! And now it's time to answer some more forum questions!

"How is it possible to tell that someone has a talent at casting, and should go to mage school, when in order to cast, you need some channeler to feed magic to said person in particular? Seems to me that you'd have to hire a channeller just to find out."
The difference between casters and channelers is that they have different sets of talents that allow them to go through the training they require to become mages. Channelers need more endurance and self-control, while casters need to be really smart and be able to think fast under pressure. It's similar to the difference between medical doctors and surgeons. Scouts that are sent out to recruit new students are usually either a couple made up of a channeler and caster, or a single binder like Cyril. They are trained specifically to detect those qualities in people. Sometimes, when a scout is not entirely certain about their find, there are some tests that can be made to help. Such as channeling a very minimal amount of energy to a person to see how they react. The school doesn't really allow anyone to join the school, which is why the scouts are really strict when looking for new students. That's why there are not thousands upon thousands of mages in Aikonia.

I'm looking forward to answering more questions next week! Feel free to ask your own question HERE! Have a nice week and we hope you enjoy the specials we have prepared for you this week!

Hey everyone!
For those of you that I met at this year's Otakuthon in Montreal: That was awesome, I hope to see you again next year!
We had some copies of Volume One on sale there, so thank you to those of you who purchased some :)
Alright, on to answering questions from this forum post! We only got one new questions this week:
"I am confused about Binders. In Chapter 2 page 1, it is implied that students are either Casters, Channelers, or Binders, with Binders being naturally talented at channeling and casting. However, in the biographies of the council members, it is shown that they started as caster/channeler and later learned channeling/casting. Basically, can initiates start as binders? Also, is it possible for any mage to become a binder through years of study or does it take years and natural talent?"
Alright so, technically, anyone can try becoming a binder, but doing so successfully is incredibly difficult. When we mentioned that it took a certain natural talent, we didn't mean that you'd have to be born with a unique power of some sort that allows you to become a binder, but that it requires a lot of determination, willpower, durability, and such. And no, an initiate can not start as a binder. They must graduate from their caster or channeler courses and then advance to the one they haven't completed yet before becoming a binder. It takes several years of dedication and hard work.
Feel free to ask us more questions HERE!
Enjoy the comic and have a wonderful week!

Hey everyone!
So, we announced that we'd be answering three questions from this forum thread every week! And this week, we only got three questions, meaning I'm answering all of them :)

Question 1: "Hey, I was just wondering if you had a set amount of chapters you are going to make or if you just have a basic story line that you want to complete."
The comic's story is already planned out and written. So we know the exact number of chapters its going to be, although we won't be revealing that number :)

Question 2: "I was actually wanting to know if there were any plans to do some backstory for some of the main characters. I realize the main story takes precedence, but I like knowing more about the people I'm reading about, like Solaris or one of the many students."
The first printed volume of Aikonia includes a mini comic that covers some of Arial and Solaris' backstory. Each volume we release will include an exclusive mini comic that covers more backstory!

Question 3: "Can you tell us what all cloaks are there at the academy? We've seen the Black With Blue/Red Trim for first-year students, White With Color Trim for upper-classmen, the instructors had their own color (which I forget), then there were those awesome Red cloaks that random-guy-outside-the-councilroom wore. Can we get some insight?"
Sure thing! Casters, Channelers, and Binders are universally represented by blue, red, and green trims respectively. First grade students start out with black cloaks and one trim, second grade students have a dark grey cloak and two trims, and third grade have a light grey cloaks with three trims. White cloaks are instructors, with trims colours that represent what it is they teach. And finally, purple with gold trims are council members (obviously).

We look forward to answering more questions next week! Oh, also, I (Andrew-David) will be at Otakuthon in Montreal this weekend (August 3rd to August 5th)! If any of you are going to be there, look for me! I'd love to say hi and maybe give away some stickers and whatnot!
Have a great week and enjoy the this week's page :D

Hey everyone!
So, last week I said that we started a new forum topic HERE for our readers to post questions and that we'll be answering three random questions in the blurb every week.
Unfortunately, there were no questions asked, so we have no answers for you this week. Maybe next week?
Enjoy the comic and have a nice week! :)

Hey everyone!
So, as some of you suggested in last week's comments, we're going to start answering questions here in the blurb. Post all your Aikonia-related questions HERE and we'll pick three random ones and post the answers on the next page's blurb. Also, Poor Shark's Jared makes an appearance again!
Enjoy the comic and have a great week! :)

Hey everyone!
So you've probably noticed that those blurbs haven't really been very interesting lately. Unfortunately, we've been so busy and, until our projects are ready for launch, we don't really have anything exciting to discuss or announce.
So, aside from pointing out major holidays every now and then, what kind of stuff would you like to read on here? Insights on the comic? Maybe general news not related to the comic and our other projects? Suggest stuff! We'd love to hear your opinions! :D
Thanks and have a great week!

Hey everyone!
Just wanted to say happy Canada Day for those of you in Canada (yesterday)! And for those of you in the U.S., happy Independence Day (in 2 days)!
And that's it, have a nice week and enjoy the comic! :)

Hey everyone! This has been a pretty big week for us! Some of the copies of the first volume of Aikonia are currently over at Tim's for him to sign and they'll be on their way to Katie within the next couple days for her to sign as well!
We've also been doing a lot of work on our other products (MADSOFT Connect, Project: Velyria, Me And My Dinosaur 2) so look forward to some updates from those soon! Until then, enjoy the comic!

Hey everyone!
First off, we'd like to wish a happy Father's Day to all you dads out there! We hope you had a great weekend :)
Also, the Awkward Zombie Kickstarter campaign ended last night and reached over $89,000! That's amazing!
Other than that, our projects are moving forward along nicely. We'd like it if you could check out the MADSOFT Connect forum and suggest avatar items for us to do before launching the avatars and the avatar shop!
Thanks and have an awesome week! :D

Hello everyone!
Hope you had a good week and enjoyed E3! We've had a pretty busy week, but hopefully this next one will be a little more relaxed so we can write a more interesting blurb next Monday.

Hey everyone!
Nothing much to talk about this week, we're pretty busy :(
Enjoy the comic and have a great week!

Hey everyone!
Not much to discuss this week, we've been pretty busy with our in-house projects :/
Oh, and for those of you who are in the U.S., today is Memorial Day. Not sure if saying "happy" would be appropriate here, considering what it's about, but yeah, have a happy memorial day!
To the rest of you, have a great week :)

Hello everyone!
First off, we'd like to thank everyone who's pre-ordered the comic from our store so far. We really appreciate the support and we look forward to start sending out the merchandise!
Also, Katie is running a Kickstarter campaign for printing Volume One of Awkward Zombie, so go check it out!
And that's all for today, enjoy the comic and have a great week!