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 222 BC in Carthage, Addicus, a veteran of the Second Punic War, was enslaved by Scipio’s legionnaires after losing the Battle of Zama. As punishment, he was sent through an interdimensional portal to toil as a public servant in the effete, benighted 22nd century AD kingdom of Neo-Carthage where he now languishes as a bitter, cynical, brooding alcoholic.
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 in 117 AD in Barcino, Lita displayed exceptional martial arts talents, so was hand picked to be the personal bodyguard of Hadrian; however, on his death Lita was forced to join the Emperor in his tomb. While attempting to escape, she discovered a dimensional portal which cast her to a parallel universe set in an atomic age. As an outsider, her only option was to battle for survival in the cybercolosseum.
Born 77 AD in Agrigento, Alan collects all species of birds from Africa, creates genetic copies of them and peddles the fowl replicants at his commercial aviary in Rome.
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 398 AD in a herd of nomads, Fejjer was captured by slave traders and sold to a zombie hunting legion in sub-Saharan Africa where he met a dimension hopping drug dealer with carnal knowledge of his estranged sister, Takuka.
Born 50 BC in Gordium, as a young woman Xyria was kidnapped by time traffickers to serve as a hostess in a 26th century karaoke bar in Neo-Byzantium where she learned how to make a living trading secrets.
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 in 163 AD in Barcino, Rasmus, a common thief, was caught stealing and sentenced to fight as a gladiator against Emperor Commodus. Having no fighting experience, he was easily cut down, yet amazingly he survived and is believed to be blessed with magical healing powers.
Born in 162 AD in Olisipo, Tuouta led a contubernium that was believed to be lost at sea when in fact their ship was sucked through an interdimensional portal, placing them in the Gulf of Mexico where they befriended a technologically advanced Aztec society.
Born 88 BC in Philippopolis, Rhys was a slave who joined forces with Spartacus during the Third Servile War, but fled through an interdimensional portal at the Temple of Hera in Paestum to the 1980s AD where he became a roadie for the thrash metal band, Pontifex Maximus.
Born 2 AD in Teotihuacan, Totec is a legendary Aztec gladiator whose undefeated reign spans centuries, defying time and mortality. Enigmatic and Methuselean, they are the champion of a technologically advanced Aztec civilization under Roman dominion. Totec’s countless victories in blood-soaked arenas have inspired a generation of Mesoamericans to rise against the Empire during the chaotic reign of Commodus.
Born 95 BC in Perinthus, Leo fought alongside Spartacus before being captured and forced into gladiatorial combat. Renowned for slaying the most zombies in a single bout, his moment of greatest triumph was interrupted when his consciousness was ‘freejacked’ by time-traffickers to 23rd century AD Britannia. Now, he battles in a cloned body for the Interdimensional Cybergladiator League (ICL), as part of the AlgoSaxons, a squad sponsored by the Algorand Foundation.
Born in 496 AD in Cuenca in a dimension where the Roman Empire had conquered America, not much else is known about Killa other than they are a bloodthirsty, undefeated gladiator known as the Cyberdemon who hops dimensions to challenge new foes across space and time.
Born 275 BC in Ancyra, as a child Dania was abducted by aliens and pressed into planetary defense service in a distant solar system.
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© 2023 RomanPunks NFT
romanpunks@protonmail.ch
Registered in Ontario, Canada
