Hey guys! Glad you all could catch the comic this week. I did fine on all my college finals, and I did a little bit of side art experimentation which you’ll be able to see below. It’s not a new character, but you won’t be seeing them in the comic, either. It’s just a very early prototype sketch for something that may or may not even happen.  I’ve got plans for a potential sequel/spin-off for the comic, but as that’s likely going to be in over 3 years I don’t know if I’ll be burnt out by then.  I feel I’m getting better at drawing Akila, as she’s the hardest character to get right, but it feels like it’s coming along easier. Speaking of her, I’ve got a little bit of new nereid lore that just randomly formed in my brain, as my comic ideas often do. To nereids, the most unforgivable crime a human can commit is ending a nereid’s life. As nereids are functionally immortal, and there are very few of them, Nereids value each others lives extremely highly. If a human kills a nereid, the queen’s equivalent of a royal guard will locate and kidnap that human, often in mere hours after the original murder. The human is then required by law to be executed, and most humans after killing a nereid only have a few hours to live. Due to nereids having a mental link and teleportation, it is *very* easy for them to track a human down, and due to Nereids being extremly gifted at mind control and other magic involving the brain, fighting them is more or less impossible. It’s my personal headcanon that even The Lady in White likely wouldn’t stand a chance against a group of nereids with proper combat training. (Akila, despite serving the queen, wasn’t one of her guards, and so would not fare nearly as well.) Akila’s skill of mind control and things like dream altering are just as powerful, if not more so, than The Lady in White, but her magic is lacking in all other areas, and would not be able to hold her own in a fight. See you next week.