Salvete, Amiculi!
As some of you have seen, I made the difficult decision to cancel the Sugar Creek Kickstarter on October 10, three days before the end. At 36% funding, the headwinds were simply too strong to overcome. This does not, however, kill the project! I plan to finish this horror comic on a slightly smaller scale and a slightly longer timetable than the Kickstarter imagined. Expect to see this book at conventions and for sale online in the spring or summer of 2019!
As some of you have seen, I made the difficult decision to cancel the Sugar Creek Kickstarter on October 10, three days before the end. At 36% funding, the headwinds were simply too strong to overcome. This does not, however, kill the project! I plan to finish this horror comic on a slightly smaller scale and a slightly longer timetable than the Kickstarter imagined. Expect to see this book at conventions and for sale online in the spring or summer of 2019!
Moving forward, I'd like to take this opportunity to discuss an upcoming project that shifts the Amiculus Books focus back to the ancient world. This is a story that I've been considering for some time, and that I've previewed to an extent in the News section of my website. It takes place in late antiquity, about 120 years before the events in Amiculus, and revolves around one of the lesser known pivotal moments in human history: the moment when classical paganism tried and failed to reassert itself against the rise of Christianity. This moment is heralded in a famous story of the final prophecy of the Oracle of Delphi, the Pythia, as delivered to the Roman emperor Julian.
Background: The Oracle
Priestess of Delphi (1891) by John Collier The Oracle of Delphi, or Pythia, was the most famous soothsayer in the ancient world. By the time of the events of Pythia, in AD 362, her cult had been in existence for nearly 2000 years. Its existence is believed to predate the archaic Mycenaean Greek culture of the Iliad and the Odyssey, reaching back as far as prehistoric times. At its beginning, the Pythic cult was dedicated to Ge or Gaea, the earth. The famous myth of Apollo slaying Gaea's champion, the Python, and seizing Delphi as his own sanctuary, is likely an allegory of a possible forcible takeover of the cult by Apollo's followers from its original owners.
Curiously, many elements of the old cult survived Apollo's takeover:
Curiously, many elements of the old cult survived Apollo's takeover:
- The Delphic oracle continued to be female. This was unusual, as oracles in the ancient world tended to be uniformly male, particularly those dedicated to Apollo.
- The oracle's name, Pythia, honored the fallen guardian of Gaea, rather than the god who vanquished it.
- The Pythia continued to receive her visions from vapors emanating from a cleft in the earth. This would appear to reaffirm her original connection to Gaea, rather than to Apollo.
The Oracle by Camillo Miola (1880) Many famous stories of Delphic oracles have come down to us, connected to equally famous names and events:
At the height of her power, the Pythia held the entire classical world in her sway. Yet following an earthquake in the year 372 BC, the sacred vapors began to dissipate, and the oracle's reputation faded. By AD 362, the cult was under assault by the emerging Christian religion, and was barely hanging on.
- The prophecy of Croesus, where the Pythia predicted that attacking the Persians would "destroy a great empire." Croesus attacked, and succeeded in destroying his own.
- The prediction of the Greek victory over the Persians in the Battle of Salamis;
- The proclamation that no living human was wiser than Socrates;
- The castigation of the Roman emperor Nero for murdering his mother, which resulted in him burning the Pythia alive.
At the height of her power, the Pythia held the entire classical world in her sway. Yet following an earthquake in the year 372 BC, the sacred vapors began to dissipate, and the oracle's reputation faded. By AD 362, the cult was under assault by the emerging Christian religion, and was barely hanging on.
Background: The Emperor
Julian (AD 360 - 363) By the time of his death in AD 337, the Roman emperor Constantine the Great had cemented Christianity as the chief religion in the Roman Empire. This tradition continued into the reigns of his sons, Constantine II, Constantius II and Constans, driving the classical pagan religions of the ancient world into steep decline. Constantine had formalized Christianity as the official faith in order to bring unity to a fragmented empire. Yet his sons, driven by ambition and sectarian squabbling, went to war with one another to be sole ruler.
Julian was a nephew of Constantine, and an obscure, unassuming figure in his cousins' war for the throne. He was also a convert to Neoplatonism, a philosophy that celebrated the Olympian gods. Constantine II died in battle against Constans, and Constans fell to a usurper emperor, Magnentius. Constantine's remaining son Constantius II defeated Magnentius and appointed Julian as Caesar of the western empire. Julian was a scholar, and had had no real experience in military matters, so Constantius likely saw him as a reliable lieutenant who would be no threat to his rule.
But Julian was crafty, ambitious, and a very quick learner.
Julian was a nephew of Constantine, and an obscure, unassuming figure in his cousins' war for the throne. He was also a convert to Neoplatonism, a philosophy that celebrated the Olympian gods. Constantine II died in battle against Constans, and Constans fell to a usurper emperor, Magnentius. Constantine's remaining son Constantius II defeated Magnentius and appointed Julian as Caesar of the western empire. Julian was a scholar, and had had no real experience in military matters, so Constantius likely saw him as a reliable lieutenant who would be no threat to his rule.
But Julian was crafty, ambitious, and a very quick learner.
The Battle of Strasbourg (Argentoratum), AD 357 By trial and error, Julian became a war leader of the Western legions in Gaul. He led a campaign against the Franks that resulted in a spectacular victory at the Battle of Strasbourg (Argentoratum) in Alsace in AD 357, one that must have deeply worried his cousin Constantius. In the late Roman Empire, victorious legions had the nasty habit of declaring their generals emperor.
This is exactly what happened in Luletia (Paris) in AD 360. Constantius demanded that half of Julian's troops be relinquished to him for an Eastern campaign. Julian's legions instead declared him Augustus. Constantius prepared for war, but his untimely death in November 361 left Julian as the last remaining heir of Constantine.
This is exactly what happened in Luletia (Paris) in AD 360. Constantius demanded that half of Julian's troops be relinquished to him for an Eastern campaign. Julian's legions instead declared him Augustus. Constantius prepared for war, but his untimely death in November 361 left Julian as the last remaining heir of Constantine.
The Last Prophecy
| Julian purged the palace of Christians, restored the ancient pagan temples and declared a return of the state religion to worship of the old Greco-Roman gods. The empire appeared poised to enter a glorious new Olympian age...if not for one small problem: the unfinished business of his predecessor. |  Caught in the middle: Julian, Pythia and Shapur (l-r) | Prior to Julian's rebellion, Constantius was on the verge of launching a campaign to repulse the Persians in the East. The powerful Persian king Shapur II had overrun Roman territory and had been repulsed with difficulty. Julian needed to shore up support among Rome's eastern legions and cement his rule with a victory. To do this, he planned a massive invasion of the Persian Empire in AD 363. |
In AD 362, Julian sent an embassage to the Oracle of Delphi in the interest of reviving the ancient cult, in exchange for a favorable prophecy for his reign and, ostensibly, an omen of good fortune for his upcoming war against Persia. It is at this point that Pythia begins.
An Immortal Cold War Approaching Endgame
 "Pythia" painting by Giancarlo Caracuzzo. | This story imagines a Delphic cult on extremely hard times, desperate to curry Julian's favor and survive. The esteem of the oracle has fallen so far that she is little more than a prop manipulated by Apollo's priests. In fact, it is revealed that the current Pythia, a girl named Melanippe, is a prisoner of the priests, kept docile through a use of drugs and intimidation. The vapors that inspired the Pythia's visions are long gone...until they suddenly and dramatically return in force the day of Julian's prophecy. The vapors drive Apollo's priests from the Pythia's inner sanctum. Melanippe is trapped inside, and the vapors pull her into another world inside her mind. There, five of her ancient predecessors wait to tell her the truth behind the ancient cult: that Gaea and Apollo have been at war for centuries, and that the time has finally come to kill the Olympian god once and for all. |
This story will take place in five to six 20-page installments, each one telling a story of this immortal cold war as it moves toward its climax. It will begin with the founding of the cult, with Phemonoe, the first Pythia, harnessing powers no man was strong enough to hold. It will re-imagine the battle between the Python and Apollo as a battle between two faiths, with the Pythia leading an army against the encroaching sun worshipers, failing, and then triumphing when all seems lost. It will demonstrate the empire of influence that the Pythia establishes, and Gaea's anger as she relinquishes her gifts amid a terrible cataclysm. It will show a nearly powerless oracle facing down the emperor Nero, invoking his wrath and, at the same time, earning Gaea's forgiveness. And it will end with an unassuming young woman bringing down the curtain on an ancient religion and sealing the fate of an empire.
As you can tell, I am very excited to begin work. Look for more updates as we move toward the inevitable crowdfunding campaign sometime in 2019!
As you can tell, I am very excited to begin work. Look for more updates as we move toward the inevitable crowdfunding campaign sometime in 2019!
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