You Asked, I Answered

Thank you for all the great questions last week! Let’s get into it!

Karly Gay Asks…

- So this has probably already been asked, but are there humans in the world?

There are no humans in this world— I think having them defeats the purpose of the kind of story I’m trying to tell. We all know the myriad ways humans can build (or fuck up) society, and I wanted to explore cross-species cultural/societal development without the modern baggage.

In my opinion, in this story— At best, humans show up as a dues ex machina no one really wanted, or worst, an antagonist that (presumably) has mastered the tools all the other characters are in awe of and thus, rendering the characters’ exploration of new ideas kind of moot.

- Can you tell us more about Oren's mom? Name and personality maybe?

She doesn’t actually have a name, though I imagine she’s compassionate and less prone to roam than other hares (even without the bad leg.) She has to be the kind of parent who would inspire respect, compassion and loyalty from Oren, so I imagine she has to be fairly capable, if perhaps stubborn, and a problem solver.

Anon Asks…

-If you were to do another story in the Oren's Forge world, where would it be and what animals would it feature? 

I think there is a pretty bustling world that Oren and crew live on the fringes of— after all, Oren learns how to smelt bronze from the Conclave, down south somewhere analogous with the Sonoran desert and populated by peccaries, pronghorn, prairie dogs, who are kind of the model Oren adapts for the Hollow. 

I picture the Conclave as being just the tip of many more advanced civilizations, kickstarted by food resource availability (year-round fruit/fish/insects/snakes/giant birds = win for mammals) and someone’s bright idea to make metal. Perhaps there’s a jaguar king who feeds his multi-species empire on rhea and anaconda, in a non-stop cycle of war and trade with giant otter riverfolk allied with gentle tapir craftspeople, and monkey magi who do mysterious things high in the trees while chewing cocoa, and llama’s just living their best life way up high in cloud forests.

This is all to say, I have thought about the Americas a whole lot for this story, but I have not dared to let myself think about AFRICA. I’d probably center the story around a migration, since you already have animals naturally sharing spaces/resources and it’d be interesting to see what that looks like with more conscious cooperation, planning, etc, on both the predator and prey side. It’s sort of the opposite of what’s happening in Oren’s Forge — rabbits, hares, squirrels, voles, etc, don’t really ‘work together’ or live communally and have to learn how (with the added bonus of learning to live with a marten.) African herbivores would have different issues, different societal trajectories, since they all share the same space (for instance, maybe they develop a caste system. I dunno!)

Anyway, it’s fun to think about so… yeah, probably Africa. 

TiRoSu Asks…

-Do you have a specific sort of far future in mind for this stone/bronze-age society? Like what, if any organized civilization shakes out?

Yes, in broad strokes. I know that Oren and the Hollow aren’t happening in a vacuum and other societies with different structures are forming around them, and around the globe (the Conclave, for instance, where Oren learned to smelt.) I feel like the successful societies from this time will progress into an Iron Age as they refine metal working and explore/perfect new ways to secure food, develop more permanent architecture, etc.

However, in the animal Iron Age, I think they will reach another equilibrium where everyone left is adequately fed, and technological progress will stall (at least so long as the equilibrium lasts). I’m trying to not inject purely human aspirations or trajectories onto other species--I think once everyone is in a relatively safe place, with adequate food and mild entrainment, they’ll sort of self domesticate and develop communal cultures based equally on conserving energy and ritualized shows of prowess (like weird animal sports or other artistic displays). 

I don’t think an animal world naturally evolves into a contemporary parallel with the human one, but rather into something you’d find on Star Trek. Picture a planet where the locals have ‘weird’ traditions like the mass mid-day nap everyone takes in the sun together, etc.

So… kind of like Redwall (if less rigidly European Middle Ages), or how the history of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth stretches millennia but people are still living under thatched roofs and waving swords ‘cause that works fine and they've got berry wine to drink.

I would honestly love to do a story exploring the Iron Age of the Hollow, and have thought about it a fair bit, so maybe one day!

Sarah Asks…

- Has Egg already spent winters at the hollow? What did she eat?

Yes, she has spent one winter at the Hollow. 

I get asked this a lot and while I think the answer itself will eventually work its way into the story, it isn’t a exactly a spoiler.

In short: it was pure luck. There was an early frost and a small group of geese got frozen into the lake mid migration, plus American badgers can enter torpor through the winter and aren’t very active anyway. Not very exciting, I’m sorry, but it’s also not repeatable so we’ll see how this next winter goes!

Microgrampup Asks…

- What is the age of that bobcat that Hemlock was wearing? And if it doesn’t spoil anything how was she able to kill it?

It was an adult bobcat poking around the Hollow and she fought it and killed it. I suspect there was an element of surprise that she didn’t get with Yarrow, but Hemlock is pretty fearless and unrestrained by self preservation.

Wyn Bird Asks…

- What are your favorite and least favorite types of animals to draw?

I don’t specifically dislike drawing any kind of animal, really… I can get burnt out on drawing canines or big cats, but they’re also a ‘comfort food,’ as it were. I really love to draw animals I don’t get to draw often, or haven’t drawn before, because I feel a little more engaged and less on auto-pilot, if that makes sense.

Kazekoe and Johnny Tikitavi Ask..

- What was the inspiration for the story of Oren's Forge?

The very first inspiration for Oren’s Forge was years ago, I saw a dad and his young kids crossing the street. One of the kids was scared, and the dad said “Don’t be scared, just run.” And that line stuck in my head. 

I kept asking myself about the kind of world you would need to to run, but one where you also had to resist being afraid. Eventually, it developed into the story of predator and prey, with the prey being self aware enough to want to stop being afraid. Originally, I was going to center the story around rabbits, but early on it became pretty clear an omnivore/mid sized predator was a more interesting protagonist.

Kazekoe Asks...

- Was there any part of the comic that took longer to draw than you anticipated?

Not really, from a craft/practical point of view. Prior to starting Oren’s Forge, I had a pretty good handle on making comics, so I knew fight scenes take forever to layout, big sweeping backgrounds are a pain (for me), panels with more than three characters are always slow going, etc. 

But from the emotional, personal side… The section when Rask arrives at the lake and meets Hemlock and Sprig for the first time was rough (page 67-80ish). I was at a really low point and struggling with a lot of bipolar depression and debt and self doubt. This is all before Patreon so the comic wasn’t really… doing anything positive for me, just sat like this thing I spent hours and hours on and then screamed into the void and felt tortured and bad about. I was very close to dropping it (and art in general, I was extremely burnt out), but I had a couple dedicated readers that I didn’t want to disappoint. So, I went panel by panel, page by page, telling myself after each one “once you’ve drawn this panel, you never have to again.”

I only got it done through sheer brute force and I had to drag myself kicking and screaming the whole way (it showed, too, in the original pages I posted, which is why they got the most reworking for the print version). I’m glad I kept at it, of course, because after Rask arrives at the Hollow the broader story started to unfolded for me, and I found myself reinvested in a way I hadn’t been before. Patreon also made it so I could buy groceries and still work on the comic, which, go figure, lifted a massive weight off my shoulders and made it easier to enjoy making art and comics again. Since then, I haven’t had any major slow downs or intense burnout.

(Here are a couple examples of the before/after changes for print, if you’re curious.)

Arcticfox Asks…

- Did something precipitate this "higher level consciousness" in the species considered "sapient" all at the same time (since it seems like birds and fish thus far are not)?  Natural evolution, or was there external meddling?

I don’t have a definitive answer, though it is apparent that something did change which caused a ‘shift’ into this higher level of consciousness. The shift happened over generations and I think it’s only ‘now’ that animals are starting to sense the change in the world around them, as the ‘old’ systems grow untenable. 

I think the cause of the shift is ultimately unknowable to the characters, so I’m happy to let the reader fill in their own blank. 

Personally, I’m partial to the cause being rooted in biology, but planet seeding aliens is also totally great. (If the latter is your cup o’ tea, I couldn’t recommend Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky more, it’s fantastic, and so is the sequel.)

Amethysmus Asks…

- I've noticed in your comic (Oren's Forge) that all the different species are somewhat 'normalized' in size, as in the bison/buffalo pursued by the wolves early on wasn't that much bigger than them, nor were the wolves much bigger than the rabbit. I take it that explains why the bear skull didn't looks so big, either? 

Certain animals are bigger but not to the degree they would be ‘in real life.’ I mentally class them in size groups a bit like you would in an TTRPG system— if martens/rabbits/hares are medium sized and roughly the same height, wolves and cougars are large, bears and bison are huge, mice are small, etc. This keeps everyone (roughly) in relation to one another.

Tori Sol Asks….

- You've said that Oren's Forge is meant to be somewhat based on the time between the Paleolithic and Neolithic times. Do you have any recommendations for writing stories that take place during major shifts in the evolution of civilization, particularly in different worlds than ours? What resources do you recommend for research on the evolution of civilization?

It’s hard to give a specific recommendation since there are so many angles to approach it from in fiction. It’s all speculative so nothing can really be the ‘wrong’ way, but you don’t want anything to feel forced or undeserved or random. 

I think the best thing you could do is have a wide breadth of esoteric knowledge about a LOT of different things, from biology to history to social sciences, then apply the right bits and pieces to whatever world or story you’re trying to build. To feel real, it just has to feel grounded in something, which just means you need to have a passing understanding of all the basic building blocks of society (hah, easy!) 

If you know your starting state and the approximate end goal, you can toss characters into your world and let them find the right path with the resources you’ve given them, constrained by the rules you’ve defined. It’s like Plinko, a bit. There’s a lot of different tiny bumps and random circumstance that effect the end goal, but when you see each shift it’ll feel satisfying to a reader in the end (hopefully). (And if the characters can’t seem to get where you want them to go, it’s usually something you need to fix in Act One.)

Anyway, yeah, just having a broad spectrum of random facts and history to pull from is the best way to create the individual problems or solutions on your “story Plinko board”, in my experience. YouTube is an incredible resource to chew through random topics that don’t often get covered outside of university. (So is Curiosity stream.) 

For instance, I’ve been doing a deep dive into religious historical studies recently which I think is a fascinating view into the ancient world. I recommend the YouTube channel “ReligionForBreakfast,” as the host gives really clear, insightful dives into various aspects of early Christianity (among many others.) Religion (as history) is a good lens for viewing how societies can shift and the motivations behind those shifts, from individual people to environmental causes. Once you understand the scaffolding, its easier to build your own cultural shifts, or even just posit “what ifs” that can burgeon into whole new worlds. Religion is an extra special topic because you can trace the thread to the modern era and see it in real time.

I’d also recommend the book Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. It’s a little dry, but a really good writer’s resource for world building, discussing how resources and geography effect development. Available textiles, for instance, makes a huge difference in cultural shifts or evolution.

A YT channel for history mico-dives (and trope talk) I enjoy is "Overly Sarcastic Productions". They have playlists of world history that are easy to digest and hopefully fuel you with examples of cultural shifts from history.

Looking at language shifts in transitional phase can be enlightening/good flavor for stories as the words a society uses to describe things reflect their values (or changing values). This Otherwords video goes over the history of English and some shifts, a good example of how it happens.

Sorry for the ramble, but I hope that goes a little toward answering!

Pantera Asks…

-Can you tell something more about wolf’s culture? Are their packs usually built around family (it seems all wolves in Swift’s pack are related to each other except for Red and Scree)? Or perhaps bigger packs are a coalition of sorts (it seems that Singer’s pack has a pair of leaders and a number of adult pairs with offspring). 

No spoilers, but in short, yes, more wolf culture will be revealed! The way Singer’s pack functions is fundamentally different than they way Swift’s functions. Canines are incredibly good at adapting and evolving to different environmental niches, and in an anthro world, I think that would extend to social adaptations as well.

Swift’s pack operates on the level I think most people understand wolf packs to operate— which is to say, an extended family unit.

Singer’s pack is much larger than Swift’s, and they have a main breeding pair, the Zenith, and then allow other pairs to breed. What they got going on is inspired by a specific biological thing and I will get into it… eventually. It’s fun though, I promise.

-Do the cubs need to earn their names in some specific way, do they have a ritual for this? 

I think pups get their names in different ways, and that probably varies from pack to pack/region to region. Since there’s no centralized ‘wolf culture,’ places that can afford the time/resources to develop ritual probably do it, places that are leaner and can’t spare the time/resources on frivolity probably don’t. 

On the grassland, pups get their names when “this puppy has survived long enough we think they’ll make it + they are contributing in a way they need to be recognized as an individual.”

- Another questions is: are you going to create more mini-stories in your universe like the one about Oren and the One-eyed Wolf? I wonder if you are going to share more on Oren’s past e.g. the time he spend with the Conclave — he is one of my favorite characters, so I’d love to see more of this. 

Yes! I am definitely planning on it. I would like to do another short comic between this volume of the main story and the next, and I’d definitely like to share more about Oren’s life (specifically about how he got the Hollow from the bear.) I’m also working on a little side project that will go way more into depth on a variety of topics.

- And a general comment: I loved seeing your art process when you showed step-by-step for creating comic pages. In fact thanks to that I got an idea to try to color an outline on my dragon drawings. If you will have time, any look behind the scenes will be much appreciated. :)

Thanks! I’ll put together some more panel WIPs/step-by-steps for November! 

TropiCat212 Asks…

- Will we be seeing any feline predators soon? I'd love to see other species of predators! :D

Honestly… not in the main storyline, at least not for a good long while. However, I’m working on a side thing that will feature some other predator species.

BiasMushroom Asks…

-How ya doing?

Honestly? The year had a rocky start but I’ve been doing really well the last few months. I’m really happy with the comic and I’m excited about how this volume shakes out story-wise, and looking forward to people’s reactions every week I post a page. Thanks for asking!

Pirate Asks…

- Will you show that Rask is omnivore? (Like eating berries or nuts)

Yes, more than likely, he will eat some berries/roots/gourds in the future here. Probably hazel nuts— I haven’t researched what wild nuts are available in the Black Hills region, actually. *makes a note*

THANK YOU again for all the questions, guys! I wrote them over a few days while travelling, so hopefully they aren't too scattered. I really appreciate everyone taking an interest in the world of Oren's Forge! 

New page on Monday!