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 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.
Born 2190 AD in Naissus, Varik rose to prominence as the head of an interdimensional conglomerate specializing in nano processors for A.I. star freighters. Secretly harbouring a licentious penchant for cyborg supermodels, he turns a blind eye to his wife Lexia’s nocturnal indulgences, as the two maintain an unblemished public facade for the good of the company and the empire.
Born in 169 AD in Meroë, Sami is a warrior priest who spent his life fighting against incursions from Roman Egypt, using the dimensional portal in the Pyramid of Amanishakheto to invoke the technological support of alien masters from a distant future galaxy.
Born in 108 BC in Tarsus, Dex was a formidable pirate who was captured during Sulla’s purges and forced into interdimensional slavery mining titanium on the Jovian moon of Io where he operates a covert methamphetamine trafficking ring.
Backstory:
Born in 92 AD in Petra, Omar saw the annexation of the Nabataean kingdom by the Emperor Trajan as a teenager. Rather than live under the Roman yoke, Omar fled into the desert and was believed to have traveled through a dimensional portal in Egypt.
Born 2172 AD in Iuvavum, Elsa is an eccentric toy-maker known for her Pet Gremlins, quirky animatronic creatures that have taken the universe by storm. She runs a toy boutique in the souk of Neo-Carthage, where her creations mock the Roman elite with satirical designs that poke fun at emperors, governors, and high-ranking officials. Each gremlin is a playful, biting critique wrapped in bright colors and mischievous grins, offering customers a chance to own a piece of subversive art disguised as a toy.
Born in 109 BC in Coracesium, Calypso was an infamous pirate queen who wreaked havoc on Roman shipping until she was captured by Pompey and sentenced to fight in the gladiator pits of Rome.
Born 2135 AD in Leptis Magna, Mordax ascended from a lowly sanitation supervisor to governor of Neo-Carthage, exploiting his addiction to vice and skill in political manipulation. Handpicked by cloned Emperor Caligula following a fabricated scandal to oust the previous governor, Mordax luxuriates in his power. Yet beneath the city, a cloned Hannibal leads a rebellion, threatening his opulent dominion.
Born 11 AD in Emerita Augusta, Iccona is a spoiled socialite who was gifted with a transdimensional vision device for her 16th birthday by her ultra-rich industrialist father. When she’s not hosting glamourous interdimensional rave parties on daddy’s metaverse yacht, Iccona competes in pan-galactic vertical scrolling shooter tournaments.
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 129 BC in Palermo, Baal is a sailor whose ship was sucked into an interdimensional portal whirlpool, sending him to the 22nd century where he became a full-time degen, dealing in politically subversive metaverse experiences that challenge the effete Neo-Carthaginian kleptocracy.
Born 375 AD in Alexandria, Anka was a temple guard and student of the mathematician Hypatia. Unable to prevent Hypatia’s murder by Christian zealots, Anka embarked on a pilgrimage through space and time seeking truth and justice.
Born 1918 AD in an atompunk dimension in Scodra, Lavinia is a socialite who avoids the sun’s warmth outside her VR sanctuary on the Adriatic coast. From her retrofuturistic refuge, Lavinia spends days browsing the latest virtual couture and nights immersed in smoky, jazz-infused metaverse lounges. Heiress to a vast fortune amassed from Queen Teuta’s legendary pirate booty, she rarely entertains visitors but is quietly enamored with a Dacian vampire she met online. While their meeting IRL remains out of reach, Lavinia’s fascination with him only deepens, tempting her to blur the line between a curated digital life and the world outside her goggles.
Born 197 BC in Nikonion, Joe was born a slave, toiling in the vast wheat fields of the steppe until one day he saved his master’s life by killing a Pontic magistrate who had come to arrest and execute him for tax evasion. Freed, now Joe lives life on the run.
Born 1 AD in Rome, Larry is a crypt keeper who sometimes takes a little extra liking to a corpse.
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© 2023 RomanPunks NFT
romanpunks@protonmail.ch
Registered in Ontario, Canada
