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 275 AD in Amaseia, Thom discovered an interdimensional portal while exploring the caves behind his village. He passed to a war ravaged 42nd century Earth and was pressed into service by alien cyborg overlords.
Born in 255 BC in Hecatompylos, Helya, a direct descendant of Alexander the Great, was a Parthian emissary who learned martial arts in China, later becoming a great warrior who singlehandedly rooted out and eliminated a cohort of dimension hopping alien invaders.
Born 141 AD in Burdigala, Lur, an acolyte of the Bishop of Lyon, called out Emperor Marcus Aurelius’ stoic philosophy as heresy and was condemned to toil in the wheat fields as punishment. Despite the enslavement, Lur found solace in his love for animals and the teachings of Jesus Christus.
Born 277 AD in Petra, Ruth was sentenced to death for sacrificing children to Pluto. She opted to die by glory and face an impossibly difficult opponent to the death in the gladiator arena.
Born 315 AD in Aksum, Zosimus was cast into an interdimensional portal as a child sacrifice to the gods. Now he resides on the Roman Exocolony Proxima Centauri where his athletic prowess have allowed him to catapult to the top of the Celestial Badminton League (CBL) standings where he remains undefeated after seven hundred sanctioned singles matches.
Born in 179 AD in the province of Raetia, Luteus Duilius, a loyal soldier under the reign of Septimius Severus, was appointed as a guard of the dimensional portal at the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, tasked with arresting any inbound travelers on sight.
Born 126 AD in Colonia, Sextus is a bath house owner and sculptor famous for his phallic figurines. A follower of Bacchus, he caroused across dimensions to celebrate Saturnalia in search of new models for his exquisite statues.
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 1972 AD in Larissa, Teren was a videographer hired to shoot a routine military transport—until his footage captured something the Empire couldn’t allow to exist. Scrubbed from the records and marked for deletion, he fled with the raw files and a camera too old to track. Now he drifts between safehouses, haunted by what he filmed and unsure whether he’s chasing justice or just trying to prove he still exists.
Born in 90 BC in Rome, Cindy Cincinnatus was a loyal centurion who fought with Julius Caesar, using technology from the distant future to help Caesar defeat his enemies; however, she could not foresee his assassination and took her own life out of shame.
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 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 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 122 AD in Augustodunum, Corio was a renowned blacksmith for the Roman legion until he was kidnapped by alien cyborgs and sent through an interdimensional portal to the 28th century AD where he is condemned to fight as a gladiator in a futuristic cybercolosseum.
Born 333 AD in Nemausus, Erana transformed her estate into a beacon of hope following a devastating Vandal invasion that claimed her sight and her first husband. Alongside her second husband, former stablemaster and freed slave, she founded the Institute for the Blind and Animal Rehabilitation where those robbed of their vision walk the road to recovery by tending to orphaned and wounded animals.
Bookmark the RomanPunks Y.at page for quick access to all our links:
© 2023 RomanPunks NFT
romanpunks@protonmail.ch
Registered in Ontario, Canada
