Click here for an animated version.

So, this week’s comic contains the first use of magic for attack or defense. There will be more. Anyway, time for a “quick” background on Andromeda’s family and magic in general.

Andromeda’s family, the Samsons, are one of a handful of families with hereditary magical ability. (There are a handful of other ones – the Novachek family from the cave city page are one of the other examples.) Magic is passed down from parents to children, but how powerful the children is (at current best understanding) up to chance. However, one pattern emerges: If a magical couple have multiple children, the firstborn will have more power than the secondborn, and so on. The amount of magical power of the children depends on the parents – if only one parent is of magical blood, the child would be much weaker (in a magical sense) than a child whose parents are both magical. As a direct consequence of this, there is quite of bit of familial inbreeding, and everyone of magical blood is related to everyone else. (For example, Andromeda is Angus Novachek’s third cousin.) Since this inbreeding has gone on for generations, many of the current living mages descended from these long – running families are infertile, and hence unable to pass their magical blood onto a new generation. This famously became a problem when Angus Novachek, (Arguably the most powerful mage in recorded history) had to adopt a son due to his infertility. (Rumors persist that it was actually Angus’ wife that was infertile, and he had children with another woman. However, these sorts of rumors are commonplace among magical families, and currently no real evidence towards a Novachek blood heir exists. Still, this doesn’t stop people from gossiping.)

Also, if you’re wondering what magical family the OTHER known mage in the comic (Circe – Not her actual name) belongs to, the answer is simple: She doesn’t. It’s likely she killed someone for their powers, or killed a mage without realizing the power they held.

Speaking of Circe (Again, not her actual name), I really couldn’t help but draw her again just because I think her costume deserves some more artwork (because it’s just SO COOL.):

If you’re liking the look of this poster, I’ve done 5 other versions (with varying colored fire), which you can find below.

Full size downloads:

1-(Neon Blue)

2. (Purple)

3. (Neon Green)

4. (Golden)

5. (Pink)

 

Anyway, see you NEXT WEEK!