RomanPunks is a retrofuturistic, cyberpunk derivative world-building project inspired by fine art, history and the cryptopunk movement.
A total of 1,000 RomanPunk characters have been frozen in time and minted as Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum, WAX, Polygon and Algorand blockchains.
RomanPunk characters are comprised of commoners and famous individuals based on Roman history, art history and pop culture.
The basis for RomanPunk lore and backstories is exhaustively researched by history/sci-fi buff and co-founder, Punktavian.
All images are drawn by hand by woman artist and co-founder, Cleopunktra, without the aid of AI or generative tools.
RomanPunks came into existence through early minting on OpenSea, promoting on Twitter and building a Discord community through giveaways and engagement. The idea of a cyberpunk-derivative ‘RomanPunk’ theme was in our heads for years, but it was the success of the Cryptopunks that became the catalyst for project conception and launch.
After a hard working first 60 days spent networking and attracting new collectors to RomanPunks, our community had begun to flourish and sales increased. We began to offer our collectors an opportunity to battle their NFTs in a tournament bracket powered by dice rolls.
Encouraged by the tight knit community and the carbon-neutral blockchain with lightning fast and low cost transactions, we launched 'romanpunksio' collection on WAX Blockchain as the first step to expand the backstories of our RomanPunk characters and the baseline for future development of a card game.
RomanPunks integrated with Chainlink Labs to utilize VRF (Verified Randomness Function) to host a giveaway raffle for our holders. We developed a smart contract on Ethereum which guarantees true random number selection on chain and can be used for a wide range of functions that require random selection.
After much anticipation in the community, we released our first WAX NFT card 'pack' through the Neftyblocks platform, which sold out in less than a week.
We launched our Twitch channel and begun building an audience by offering numerous giveaways of WAX NFTs from our collection, as well as giving participants a chance to win RomanPunk ETH NFT airdrops for taking top spot at the end of the 'season'.
As firm believers in a metaverse future and land owners in The Sandbox, we undertook to build the RomanPunk Colosseum on 1x1 land and entered our experience "Gladiator Bloodsport" into a GameJam contest. We will continue to build the Colosseum into a PVP arena and social hub once The Sandbox offers creators the ability to do so.
Thanks to the user friendly tools offered by NeftyBlocks, we launched a comprehensive blending system on WAX, allowing our collectors to blend the common NFTs they earn in our Discord RPG up into Legendary famous NFTs through the use of blending 'coins' that can also be earned on the Discord as reward for helping to promote the RomanPunks project.
We launched the VX collection on Polygon. Each owner of an ETH NFT gets their voxel equivalent airdropped to them, and these NFTs can be redeemed for official NFTs on The Sandbox Marketplace once available.
All 1,000 original, unique 1:1 RomanPunk characters hand drawn by Cleopunktra and minted on OpenSea.
The RomanPunk WAX NFT Trading Card Fighter Pack Series II consists of 3 NFTs randomly selected from over 236 characters.
Upcoming plans for RomanPunks include:
Below is a comprehensive and searchable directory of all 1,000 RomanPunk Characters.
Born 321 AD in Sirmium, Gisel was a lover of a young Constantius II who refused to publicly acknowledge her existence. In a jealous rage, she learned the art of war, joining the forces of Magnentius. After losing in the Battle of Mursa, Gisel was enslaved as a gladiator in the emperor’s stable.
Born 470 AD in Augusta Suessionum, Nebia served as a handmaid to Queen Clotilde before her life took a dramatic turn. Encountered by a stranger from another dimension, she was awakened to her telekinetic powers and recruited for a war against alien cyborg overlords. Now, from behind a terminal screen in the dimly lit chambers of a futuristic cave stronghold, she manipulates the simulacrum of her past existence.
Born 199 AD to a wealthy druid, Cormac is a time-traveling technocratic troubadour who writes propaganda pamphlets that are propagated interdimensionally to buttress the Empire and quell revolt.
Born 2145 AD in Luxor-Thebes, Ram is a degenerate carnie who operates the “Daedalus Drop” carnival ride at the midway in the Neo-Carthage souk. This tower—a thrilling descent emulating the mythic fall of Icarus—has become a premier attraction under his management. Unbeknownst to Ram, a conspiracy is unfolding to sabotage his ride; nefarious actors intend to orchestrate a fatal malfunction to assassinate a prominent individual, placing him unwittingly at the heart of a dangerous plot.
Born 125 AD in Emerita Augusta, Mads is an ancestor of Ferdinand Magellan and a former slave who, after being released from servitude on a Roman quinquereme, became an interdimensional explorer and the first ancient citizen to visit hedonistic late 20th century AD.
Born 1998 in Dyrrachium, Dardana is a superstar singer who was abducted by time traffickers and forced to perform in Diocletian’s palace as the Emperor’s personal chanteuse.
Born in 113 BC in Philippopolis, Seuthes fought with Spartacus in the Third Servile War, lost and was crucified by the Romans. His dying body was abducted off the cross by aliens, who forced him to fight as a cybergladiator for eternity.
Born 22 BC in Colonia, a soldier and concubine of Arminius, Avis’ army detachment was overrun by hordes of the walking dead after massacring Roman legions at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD.
Born in 132 BC in Cirta, North Africa, Izara came from a tribe of futuristic warrior women who traveled through a dimensional portal in Egypt to change the course of history by tipping the balance against Gaius Marius and his Roman legion in the Jugurthine Wars.
Born 1969 AD in Lugdunum, Vivienne is a 42x Olympic shooting gold medalist and undefeated Universal Laser Tag League (ULTL) champion. A household name across galaxies and dimensions, she is known for her ironclad mettle and heart of stainless steel.
Born 55 BC in Chang’an, Kai Ren is the Qin Emperor’s first daughter and ancestral brain of the Xinhan Megacorp, a hegemonic power operated by an AI hive mind. Held hostage by time traffickers in 2411 AD Neo-Byzantium, she spends her time playing ancient CRPGs and denigrating her cyborg servant jailers.
Born 488 AD in Gamla Uppsala, Sega was a mercenary vampire slayer for the Merovingian king, Clovis I, who forbid any under his command to cut their hair. Sega never married or bore children, devoting her curiously long life to the eradication of the undead scourge.
Born in 202 BC in Carthage, Zibqet is an illegitimate child of the Roman General Scipio Africanus. Her natural fighting talents brought her to the legion along with her sister Elissa. The two eventually went AWOL through a dimensional portal and flourished as vigilantes in a 22nd century dystopian megacity.
Born in 217 AD in Caesarea, Mavis, a servant of the Temple of Saturn at Thugga, uttered an experimental incantation, opening an interdimensional portal that transported her to a parallel world set in an atomic age in which she became enslaved as a gladiator.
Born 125 AD in Ostia, Axilius was a galley slave whose ship sunk into an interdimensional whirlpool portal during a fierce storm. Transported to a 1980s AD parallel universe, he reigns as the charismatic lead singer of the thrash metal band, Pontifex Maximus. His music, a defiant cry against the elite, echoes through space time, making him an interdimensional icon of rebellion.
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© 2023 RomanPunks NFT
romanpunks@protonmail.ch
Registered in Ontario, Canada
