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 118 BC in Massalia, Alecto Ambustus grew up as a mere servant woman until she discovered a dimension hopping device in her master’s chambers. After traveling through multiple dimensions getting high, she landed in medieval France and disguised herself as a soldier in Joan of Arc’s army to evade capture.
Born 1 AD in Rome, Larry is a crypt keeper who sometimes takes a little extra liking to a corpse.
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 in 360 AD in Isca Augusta to a Roman soldier and Iceni mother, Morgaine rebelled against her abusive father, waging a guerilla war against Roman occupation until she was caught by her own half brother and sentenced to die by gladiator combat.
Born in 158 AD in Lugdunum, Liv lived as a dancer assassin during the times of Marcus Aurelius, but was cast into an interdimensional speculum by a jealous Commodus. Transported to the 26th century, she flourished as a singer soldier who spearheaded a major troop recruitment campaign.
Born in 260 AD in Palmyra, Elysia is the daughter of a wealthy priest of Sol Invictus and was advisor to Queen Zenobia. She rose to become a preeminent chronocartographer, a specialized navigator who maps the pathways between dimensions. Upon Aurelian’s invasion, Elysia charmed the emperor, offering her temporal services to immortalize him through time. But hubris brought his end, as a time assassin intervened to stop Aurelian’s power grab.
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 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 209 BC in Ancyra, Cinderella and her husband, Artox, were transported by unknown forces to the 33rd century AD where she manages his cyber x-games career and operates a lucrative gambling ring.
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 2178 AD in Toletum, Velia is a descendant of King Alaric I, though she finds that about as useful in Neo-Carthage as a souvenir from a forgotten war. A wealthy socialite with a penchant for the morbid, Velia moves through the city’s elite circles with detached amusement. While rebellions and smuggling rings swirl around her, she drifts through it all, unintentionally entangling herself in minor scandals—never quite realizing how close she comes to chaos.
Born in 168 BC in Patara, Ulix and his sister Anteia were recalcitrant grave robbers who discovered an interdimensional portal in the Harpy Tomb and were transported to an atomic age parallel universe where they were captured and forced to fight as gladiators.
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 311 AD in Mediolanum, in a steampunk parallel universe, Gnaeus is a wealthy industrialist who schemes to undermine the corrupt Emperor Constantius II by providing dirigibles and steam chariots to the burgeoning Aztec Empire so that they may reclaim the western hemisphere from the grip of Roman hegemony.
Born 151 BC in Prusa, Aulus is an autistic scribe and bastard son of Prusias II; he discovered the secret for interdimensional travel on a Babylonian scroll, but didn’t think anyone would care.
Bookmark the RomanPunks Y.at page for quick access to all our links:
© 2023 RomanPunks NFT
romanpunks@protonmail.ch
Registered in Ontario, Canada
