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 30 AD in Augusta Vindelicorum, Otto is a famous drinking gladiator who triumphed in the Bacchalian games of Titus for being the only contestant to complete the centurion challenge: one hundred tankards in one hundred minutes.
Born in 111 AD in Rome, Herbertus is a soldier of the Lost Cohort, which disappeared on campaign in Caledonia. Muco and his comrades were transported to an alternate dimension where they were equipped with hi-tech weapons and armor by sympathetic druid hackers seeking new allies.
Robovid XLV is an advanced cybernetic model created by Vitruvian Systems of the Eternal Dominion that infiltrates human society by masquerading as key individuals across multiple dimensions in order to manipulate the system from within. This particular model is trained in advanced rhetoric and tuned for relentless ambition to be deployed at the highest echelons of society.
Born in 111 BC in Amaseia, Strata was a concubine of Mithridates the Great who, upon capture by the Romans, refused to prostitute herself, instead opting to fight as a gladiator where she caught the eye of a dimension hopping patrician who provided her with advanced equipment and tactical training.
Born 2172 AD in Petra, Salim is an itinerant lounge lizard now anchored to the tiki bar at Neo-Carthage’s Atlanta Hotel after gambling away his life savings and falling into crippling debt with the Red Sands Syndicate. Manipulated by Zalika Malika to spy on the governor and his associates, his drunkenness and ineptitude soon render him a liability, forcing him to flee underground to escape both the syndicate and the governor’s wrath. Eventually, he stumbles into the hands of the rebels, who pity his sorry state but recognize how his blunders can create unforeseen opportunities.
Born 288 AD, Scout was born to parents exiled to Britannia after their defeat by Probus in 278 AD. Having won multiple archery contests, she was captured by time traffickers from a Romanesque 20th century AD alternate dimension to compete as a shopping mall gladiator.
Born 2175 AD in Alexandria, Aker is a clerical assistant at the Library of Alexandria Innovation Hub where researchers have developed the “Giza Glasses”, a groundbreaking AR technology that enables wearers to temporarily inhabit bodies across dimensions. Night after night, Aker sneaks into the library’s vault to use the glasses, immersing himself in the lives of ancient pharaohs to experience firsthand the splendor and challenges of divine rule.
Born 266 AD in Trento, Uto was part of the mysterious Cthulu Cohort that, disappeared in a cave and returned as cybernetic drones puppeteered by an extradimensional alien force loyal to Emperor Diocletian.
Born 397 AD in Pompaelo and raised by bullfighters, Becky was kidnapped and pressed into service by Vandal invaders. While investigating the Temple of Alcántara, she was transported to an alternate dimension in a mid-21st century AD postapocalyptic wasteland.
Born 202 AD in Leptis Magna, Reema is believed to be an illegitimate daughter of Emperor Severus, raised by legionnaires and priests. As a rebellious teenager, she fled dimensions seeking peace, only to discover incessant armed conflict wherever she landed.
Born 89 AD in Rome, Oppius was a member of the Punktorian Guard sent through an interdimensional portal on a reconnaissance mission by Emperor Hadrian; however, Oppius preferred the alternate 28th century AD reality and never attempted to return.
Born 2025 AD in Neo-Volubilis, daughter of a textile magnate, Samia founded a clothing design empire after using an interdimensional portal to gain inspiration for fashion designs across time and space.
Born in 356 BC in Neapolis on the Crimean peninsula, Alkaia is an Amazonian warrior queen who was captured by time traffickers to battle in a futuristic cybercolosseum in the 28th century AD.
Born 2161 AD in Tingis, Sabria was sold into servitude to a Roman senator obsessed with ancient Numidian texts. He gave her a gold monocle to read for him—she used it to learn for herself. In Neo-Carthage, she moves through elite circles unnoticed, feeding intelligence to the resistance. At a cursed relic auction, she drew in Velia Vulfric—the flippant socialite with a taste for the macabre—whose curiosity she gradually turned into complicity, and perhaps something more…
Born 67 BC in Pella, Aris is Cicero’s true executioner—though the history books credit the deed to Marc Antony’s lackeys. His mind is controlled by a cabal of cyborg Illuminati engaged in time manipulation. Once it was decided Cicero knew too much and had to be extinguished, the cyborgs bent Aris to their will, using his executioner’s axe as the perfect instrument to silence a threat that could have upended their interdimensional dominion.
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© 2023 RomanPunks NFT
romanpunks@protonmail.ch
Registered in Ontario, Canada
