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 in 88 AD in Susa, Kendal Kush is a Parthian soldier who fought her entire life against the Roman Emperors Trajan & Hadrian. Refusing to be subjugated by man and foe, she took hundreds of enemy lives before being struck down in the field of battle by a poison arrow.
Born 41 AD in Rome, Aericus is a senator masquerading as an actor to be closer to his forbidden love, a pleb Philetus, star of Virgil’s Aeneid.
Born 205 BC in Drepana, Siro was a shepherd who chased one of his flock into a temple on Mount Eryx and was sucked into an interdimensional portal to a distant time and place where he was pressed into the service of a galactic alien army.
Born 145 BC in Sinope, Zoi and her brother Pythodoris were servants of Pluto, God of the Underworld, who fought for Mithridates the Great, were slain by the Romans and sent to purgatory where they are forced to fight an endless battle against impossible odds.
Born 311 AD in Gordion, Alce volunteered to battle as an interdimensional gladiator in place of his half-witted brother, Alberic, who was caught stealing silverware. Now he fights in a shopping mall arena in a Romanesque 20th century AD.
Born 3783 AD in Londinium, J.R. is a dimension hopping playboy who frequents posh, underground nightclubs to prey on rebellious beautiful women in search of freedom through time.
Born 681 AD in Toletum, Willi was a monk entombed by invading Caliphate forces in the catacombs, where he discovered an interdimensional portal that led him to the early 21st century AD. Now he resides on Ebusus as a full-time raver and fervent PLUR warrior.
Born in 48 AD in Ravenna, Eunice is an expert knife fighter who is known to have killed dozens of men in self defense before joining the IV Legion. Loyal to Otho, she participated in the assassination of Emperor Galba, but was later forced to flee into an interdimensional portal to escape capture by Vitellius.
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 in 2169 AD in Syracusae, Zino was a logistics officer in Rome’s hellacious campaign against the Dacian vampire scourge. Now a pencil-necked attorney and accountant for the profligate Governor Mazar, Zino finds himself torn between helping his old comrades uncover the grisly murder of a cyborg pleasurebot and maintaining his precarious position in the baroque society of Neo-Carthage. The stakes are even higher as suspicions point towards his employer, forcing Zino to navigate a perilous path where loyalty and self-preservation are constantly at odds.
Born 199 AD in Cirta, Bagduda came from a tribe of futuristic warrior women who traveled through an interdimensional portal in Egypt to change the course of history by preventing the assassination of Emperor Severus Alexander.
Born 114 BC in Yeha, Betty joined Spartacus in the Third Servile War in search of her younger brother, Mussa. Upon defeat by the Romans, rather than face crucifixion, Betty was sent by Crassus to fight as a gladiator in a futuristic cybercolosseum.
Born 2010 AD in Alalia, Kael is the silver-spoon heir of a techno-aristocratic family with deep Roman and Punic roots. Restless within his luxurious cybernetic world, he sought adventure beyond his privileged life. During a voyage across the Tyrrhenian Sea with his love, Sienna Elara, a sudden whirlpool transported them to an alternate Roman realm dominated by sentient apes. Stripped of status, Kael must navigate a society where humans are subjugated, forging uneasy alliances with sympathetic apes and confronting the authoritarian simian rulers. His wit and resilience are tested as he strives to survive, challenge the oppressive ape hierarchy, and find a way back home.
Born in 144 BC in Gordion, Morys, a blacksmith, and his brother Pierpont, an accountant, were enslaved by the Romans and forced into gladiator combat. Morys was shipped off to an alternate dimension, dedicating his life to return and watch over his younger sibling.
Born 116 AD in Lugdunum, Flavia is an Antonine heiress turned flamenco dancer slash jewel thief who travels across time and space to perform at grand balls and pilfer / pickpocket at glitzy afterparties, fencing her stolen loot on the interdimensional black market.
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© 2023 RomanPunks NFT
romanpunks@protonmail.ch
Registered in Ontario, Canada
