Coining. What is that? Coining has many meanings, it could be linked to Coins, the feline entities from the comic; It could be tied to the metalworking practice, it could be tied to the production of coins, the medicinal practice of scraping therapy, coin counterfeiting, or many other things, its an oddly versatile term. So what do we mean by it?

When I was conceiving ideas for the writing of this comic I had begun to watch the shakespearean comedy of manners series Upstart Crow, a major inspiration for this series, especially in terms of the character designs present in the story with characters like Jashae, Alessia, Maebe, and early designs for Argent. In season 2, Episode 5 “Beware my Sting!” , William Shakespeare has a monologue boasting about the “Numerous phrases [he is] wont to coin.”

Did you catch it? There’s that word again: Coin. Shakespeare is “Coining” new phrases. This terminology originates from the idea of minting new coins, Argent’s name: Argent Edme Golding, is a reference to Silver, Copper, and Gold, the classic three currencies in games like Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder. The Coining of Argent is a double meaning, in reference to “The Naming of Argent” and how he will change the world around him; and “The Minting of Argent”, in direct reference to actual coins. Barring any major spoilers, this title is in direct reference to the ending of the story. We love to hear your stories and look forward to your reaction at the time when the title’s true meanings are revealed to the world.

A bonus idea contributed by a famous director who just so happens to be one of our most active readers: Coining can also be in reference to Argent making a name for himself, as this is a coming of age story. Though as will become apparent: This isn’t just his journey or coming of age.

Over the months of planning this comic, I ended up with rather a lot of drawings related to the coins, despite the fact that they aren’t really that major, (contrary to popular belief the title is not connected to them). So I have taken this opportunity to share some of that art, as well as the names of the other coins:

The names are shown above with their respective coins: Moa, Melanie, Moroshko, Morgoth, Macareux, and Mern. The two adult coins are Almond and Marigold.

And now for a lot of illustrations. Don’t read to much into them, or do, that might be amusing.

Here we see the puffins of the puffin circus cosplaying major characters, I believe this is the first image of the entire main cast that has been shown yet, except the very early concept art on the Instagram.

this joke was originally suggested by a friend of ours, and I (ghehphth⊙) was sufficiently amused to draw it. On a whim I decided to try and draw the characters, since Ir!s was unavailable, and i think it came out alright.

Welcome to the AQ&QA!! Here we will post answers to all your pressing coining questions after the finale of Chapter 1! Next week we will post the first 6 pages of chapter 2, and above you can enjoy a little sneak peek ;3

How Does One Become One Of Them Wingaling People? Is there an application process? – A famous director

By being born to 2 parents of “Wingaling People”. These individuals refer to themselves as Vængyr, humans have many insults for them, with Wingaling being a slur, among other terms such as Chick and Featherbrain, which Vængyr find culturally offensive. There is no application process. However, Vængyr are quite integrated into Human society and have been known to raise human children in their families. Vængyr are the natives of Kometsio and Churchland but were colonized by humans from Ireland, Somebody Else’s Probland, and other countries.

Does Abdelrahim have a girlfriend? If not is he looking? – The same famous director

He does not. Abdelrahim is aromantic but might be open to a QPR if it was someone he really loves, but for now the stress of him taking care of his Aunt Mithlia is making it difficult for his social connections.

Do Coins fight with their antlers and in what context? Do they shed their antlers? – The same famous director

Coins have been known to fight using their antlers as weapons much like deer, this is typically done in territory disputes, coins are not entirely solitary, but much like lions they form small prides (known as “purses”) and are hostile to coins of other purses trespassing.

They do not shed their antlers, the antlers grow steadily for the first year or so of life and then expand a tiny bit each year afterwards, there have been one or two cases of a coin living long enough for the antlers grow so heavy they couldn’t hold them up, but coin lifespans rarely last quite that long. The age of a coin can be judged by looking at a cross section of the antler, like rings on a tree.

Does Guinness have a sweating disorder? – The same famous director 

Yes.

Why are there bandits on the roads, does the legal system know what to do about it? – The same famous director

After the Ginger War that ended several months ago, Many soldiers in Kometsio were discharged suddenly and have been struggling to find work, in using their warfare skills to rob strangers, they are able to make a living, but will jump at the opportunity for legitimate work and doing the right thing if the opportunity ever presents itself.

Why is Mithlia like that? – anonymous

The incident.

Is this place colonized or homogenized? – The director, once more

Colonized, heavily. Alzina especially is a trading hub and the seat of piracy.

Thus the wide vocabulary and heavily emphasized expressions.

What about the Untitled Goose Game inspired the series? – Z

The spirit of chaos, The Spirit of getting along iykyk, and geese, there are geese in Coining, big geese, big dangerous geese. Big dangerous geese with fire.

On page 17, Bubbles Above, Mithlia mentioned death and how it works in their world. Even though it was only a brief explanation, love the concept! :D will we learn more of the bubbles in future chapters/panels? Do they play a big role in the story? – Z

Yes, Yes, and Yes ;3

Maybe just “yes.”

Working together on this webcomic, how do you two bring it all together as a team? Do you follow a regular structure, or is it flexible? Are some roles involved (writing, coloring, storyboarding, etc) designated for a specific person, or does it go all around? Etc :) -Z, who asks really good questions

Sometimes we flip around roles but for the most part, Ghehpthruh does the Lineart, coloring, and rendering for backgrounds and animals (plus a few characters like Abdelrahim); Ir!s does the lineart, coloring, and rendering for characters and objects; Ir!s writes the script; Ghehpthruh handles story boarding and paneling and lettering and additional light effects; Both of us do concept art; Ir!s does social media; We collaborate on the story, characters, etc :3

Some characters are drawn by Ghehpthruh too! Namely some side characters, Abdelrahim, Lunde,  and The Pirate Violinist, as well as the wings on most major Vængyr!

It’s a very tight collaborative project, our process usually starts with Ghehpthruh’s storyboarding and background art because Ir!s (me) finds it difficult to draw the characters out of context lol

Ghehpthruh generally does a bit more because Ir!s is a busy AF extrovert but we both fully support each other’s art and enjoy our work! ^^

“I wanted to add my contribution to the growing meme trend known as ‘God Fucking Dammit Kris! Where The Fuck Are We?!’ in reference to one of my favorite video games of all time, Deltarune, elements of which have greatly inspired my work with their absurdity, concepts, unique gameplay, storytelling, characters, art, and more. I love Deltarune and I felt it was only fair to let Kris and Susie get a taste of Feristhea.” – Ir!s

“Maebe RedGorge… This is a character who I still haven’t grown to know. I know parts of her story but her mind is a mystery to me, I wonder what wonders are trapped behind that emo hair. Her design is rather odd one might say but whence its transferred into the comic I’m sure it will shine, most do. For now, some things pop out: Her Halberd, taken from Alessia. Her puffling pants and tights reminiscent of shakespearean garb, her spiked slippers for added traction, her very odd belt featuring the Red-Gorge crest, her lavendar color scheme with allusions to the Saffic Flag, the flower on her sleeve, her missing arm. She needs more development and I know this. We have plans for her outside of her being gay, obviously. Its a rather small part of her character really but at the time this was most of all we truly knew about her. She needs some more passes to her design and to her world and story but from the beginning, Maebe Red-Gorge, formerly Maebe Nighthunt, formerly Maebe Nightblade, is a character who wants to exist in this story with all her heart, or at least I hope she does. Her main inspiration is Robin Hood.” -Ir!s

“Recently we went on a trip to Vancouver, and in the upstairs area of the Bill Reid Museum, I saw these shoes. A brilliant, beautiful pair of mocosans with Butterfly wings, flowers, and rainbows. And I wanted those shoes so so badly. Upon returning home we decided that for this Halloween we’d go as characters from The Coining of Argent, and so I jumped to the opportunity designing Keira. The socks she wears are a slight modification of some I already own, As is her skirt, belt, and various hair accessories. The blouse was chosen based on our last halloween costumes: Painted Verso and Painted Alicia from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I like the style and it evokes Keira’s slight gangly teen nature, its not perfectly in fashion and I think that works well for her design. The bracers will not be too hard to make and the orange and pink hair will be quite fun as a change of pace. There is one challenge though. One I am excited to take on. The Shoes. My thought is custom platform shoes, whence they are made or the outfit is made in general I will try to take an image of them, scrape location data away, and post it here! I am quite excited :3” -Ir!s

“Vega is one of the first Coining Characters I drew, after the Chibi Original versions of Alessia, Qhoticus, Maebe, and Argent, I wanted to try something in a bit of a more serious style. A few things have changed about Vega’s design over the months since I made this but not many. The wing Galaxy here was merely a placeholder taken from some older art, In the actual comic Vega’s wings are much much bigger and hold the galaxies, nebulas, and the span of the universe within their feathered depths. Vega’s eyes have also subteley changed in the comic and he is much more of a madman than this imposing statuesque figure. His disheveledness remains though. I am so excited for his introduction in The Golden Eyes to Lands Anew, I’m sure he’ll be loved, or hated, but either way he’ll make an impact, if not necessarily in his debut.” – Ir!s