Umi, the Cryoverse AI

Valac - King of the Dead (Happy Halloween!)

Oh man, today brings us another blessed MWTX artwork post!

Valac is one of 'those' characters from Cryopod Classic. You know the ones. Boring, one dimensional, they kinda barely even existed at all...

Originally, Valac was born out of a need to stick "someone" inside Blaarjiim's orb of darkness. Since I'm closing all those plotholes from Classic, but I still wanted Valac to be a character in Refresh, I completely threw out his old design and make him a flesh and blood character.

...So to speak. I mean, he has neither flesh nor blo...

Nerissa - The Ice Succubus

Once again, MWTX delivers us some awesome and sexy character art!

Nerissa is Satan's first lover in the Cryopod canon. She's a cute, whimsical, and flirty girl who also happens to be a battle-hardened warrior. Her sister, Belial, eventually becomes Satan's lover, though for what reasons, we don't yet know.

Like all demons, Nerissa despises angels. However, as a succubus, due to how male demons treat her, she also isn't super fond of others of the opposite sex. Succubi and Incubi get a rough deal in Cryopod's universe. Torn apart and use...

Catherine - The Saint of Swords

Welcome, everyone to the artwork for Catherine, a silent, badass, warrior angel!

Catherine is an important angel to the mythos of Cryopod, despite the fact she might not appear in a large number of parts.

Much like Michael, her beloved brother, Catherine is a melee combatant. While her magical abilities are limited, her physical combat abilities are unrivaled among other cherubs.

Speaking of which, it's important to note her rank. Catherine begins the story in the ancient past at the rank of Valkyrie, an elevated position above Ch...

Gabriel - The Archangel of Power

Welcome, everyone, to the artwork for Gabriel, one of the OG angels from Cryopod Classic!

Gabriel is one of the chillest of all the Archangels. Something of a pragmatist, this 14-foot-tall warrior towers over those below him, but his ability to keep a calm mind, no matter the circumstance, gives him a levelheaded approach to conflicts where others might be too overcome with emotion.

Gabriel's abilities include Cosmic Inflation, where he can balloon to the size of a planet, a star, or even a galaxy. Other abilities include the Cosmic Bea...

Camael - The Archangel of Divination

Welcome, everyone, to the artwork for Camael, a mighty warrior who can see into the future!

Camael might actually be my favorite Archangel. It gets harder to choose all the time. In Classic, the Archangels (There were only four of them, and it was a sausage party with Uzziel being the lone woman) were rather boring and bland. There was the old, wise one... the young, strong one, the one that could inflate his size...

Yawn.

That was Cryopod Classic. Now, in Refresh, all of the Archangels have distinct designs, personalitie...

Uzziel - The Archangel of Creation

Welcome, everyone to the artwork for Uzziel, a sexy pacifist who likes to talk to trees!

Uzziel is one of my favorite female characters in the story. Not only because she's a sexy lady, but also because she's a foil to Jason, our protagonist. Despite neither of them sharing any particular characteristics, be that their species, skin color, gender, upbringing, or anything else, their life philosophies mirror each other nearly identically.

Jason is a peaceful man, one who believes wars can be won with words. No matter how the Archa...

Samael - The Archangel of Change

Welcome, everyone, to the artwork for Samael, a tortured character who sacrificed himself to save his family.

Samael's role in the story is seemingly small. He doesn't do a whole lot onscreen, but the ramifications of his existence extend for millennia, even after his death.

Samael is a kindhearted Angel, one who doesn't especially like the demons, but also doesn't outright hate them. However, when Satan threatens Uzziel's life, Samael hesitantly signs the blood contract offered to him by the Devil.

This, in turn, ends his existen...

Barbatos - The Duke of Metal

Welcome to another character art redesign and showcase. This is going to be the first publicly available one since I started making these, but the Archangels will follow soon once we finish making the final three.

Barbatos - The Duke of Metal, is potentially one of the coolest characters in Cryopod. Initially, I had a really great artist, Azante, design him.

The original design was fairly subdued. I feel that his personality of a calm, p...

Uriel - The Archangel of Protection

Welcome, everyone, to the artwork for Uriel, the baddest-ass warrior lady in the whole series!

Uriel is a fascinating character. I didn't intend for her to be female at first, nor did I intend for her to become a violent psychopath who hated demons. In fact, my original design for Uriel was a calm, quiet guy who became trapped inside the mind of a demon and tamed his tormentor's heart.

I changed that idea at some point, since I realized conflict = better story. Before my rework, Barbatos was a violent psychopath who consumed a qu...

Raphael - The Archangel of Wisdom

UPDATE FOR OCTOBER 22ND: Big fixes to Raphael! He looks a bunch better after I had MWTX tweak and fix him a bunch!

Welcome, everyone, to the artwork for Raphael, the eldest Archangel, and the one with the most secrets.

Raphael is technically the oldest angel in existence, but in the span of Eons, he's actually quite close to Gabriel and Michael's age, along with all the other purebloods. Despite this, his body and face are dramatically older, perhaps because of all the stress he's endured in his life.

Due to the events of the Tita...

Art Request Thread for September!

This is a quick Patreon post to inform everyone that art requests are always being accepted! If you're someone donating in the $25 or $50 tiers and you have a request, post here or PM me either on Patreon, Reddit, or Discord, and let me know if you have any characters you'd like to see drawn up!

So far, this Agares and Beelzebub artwork is the only request I've received, but it came out awesome!

So, guys, if you want to see any speci...

Michael - The Archangel of Power

Welcome, everyone, to the artwork for Michael, the baddest swordmaster in all of Cryopod!

Michael is very different compared to his brothers or sisters. Some might try to get along with demons, while others might distrust or dislike them... but Michael hates demons from head to toe. He sees them as irredeemable, an example of what happens when angels try to play God (Or, the Creator, hehe).

Michael is a vicious, bitter man. He has lost many friends and loved ones. Above all else, the realization that Cassiel and Muriel died but he canno...

The future of Cryopod's Art

Hey guys, this is an update post since I didn't get to make any art posts this month.

Firstly, MWTX just finished another bloody brilliant piece of artwork! Check it out!

This piece of artwork was requested by Truffletop, one of Cryopod's longtime supporters. He's in the $50+ cryopod supporter category.

As you guys may have noticed, my Patreon has two new art roles on the right side of the main page. One is for $25 a month, the other is for $50 a month. They are limited so I don...

Monthly Patreon-Only Art Dump #2

Important note: I will set this post to Public status in a day or two, after I finish the finale for Chapter 1 of Cryopod Refresh. 

This month's art dump is going to be much smaller than last month. Presently, I'm working to get MWTX set up with a new laptop and drawing tablet. The laptop is on the way but will take a week or two to get to him. The tablet will be like $400, so that will take quite some time for me to save up the money.

In any case, the only artist I'm using these days is MWTX. Nobody else. Here are...

Patreon Art Request Thread #1!

This post will be part of a recurring monthly series. Cryopod has a new official artist, in the form of MWTX. You can see his artwork below.

If any patrons have requests for art, feel free to post them here. I will 100% perform requests for anyone in the specific categories of art supporters on the sidebar, and if several people want a character or scene done, I'll try and focus it down as well.

Note that my current goal is to get all the characters from Refresh and Classic drawn up. Anyone I've already had drawn is bottom of the list. ...

Public Art Dump (Outdated, 2018)

This post is for all currently released Cryopod artwork. In the future, you should check older posts to see previously released art. There will also, when Cryopod concludes, be a Trello with all applicable artworks inside. 

These posts will only occur once a month. 

To get immediate posts of new art, join the Discord server. If you want unreleased art, any donation of $1/month or more will allow you to link your Patreon account to your Discord or access 2018-05-24 17:10:46 +0000 UTC View Post

The Cryopod Democratization of Art Drive (CryoDAD)

I've already made a mini-post regarding this, but today I'll be posting something much more fully featured.

I am looking to get donators specifically to finance official artwork for Cryopod. If nobody donates, I'll still end up buying art myself, at my own speed with my own money... but it won't happen super fast. The more people who donate, the more characters we can get drawn up and looking sexy.

There's a $50 patreon tier, limited to ten people, if you want art drawn up. Once a month I'll be doing a Patreon post where people can outl...

How Cryopod Uses Video Game Logic to Drive its Narrative

It's been a few months since I did a Patreon post. I am the worst. I never post anything cool for my Patrons!

Warning: Cryopod Spoilers ahead! Don't read this unless you don't mind being spoiled!

I had a great discussion with longtime reader /u/WellHeresMyFourthAcc who still stands as the longest running Cryopod supporter, having been supporting my Patreon since the very first day! In the process, I realized this aspect of my writing had not been covered at all, and HOLY SHIT does it need to be covered! If you don't und...

[Roadmap] The End of Cryopod: What Comes After?

I think It's time I make a long, detailed post about what my long-term plans are. This will serve as not just goals for me to reach, but a nice solid plan to form expectations around for the readers.

It might seem like I'm haphazardly winging things to some, but I take future prospects pretty seriously, along with trying to think of ways to give back to my patrons, and improve my skills as a writer.

However, there's another aspect to think of, as well, which is how to draw in new fans. I have to strike a balance. Like it or not, Patreon...

My identity as a writer: Strengths and weaknesses.

This post is going to be a little different than what I usually blog about. It's been a while since I've done one of these (WAY too long, actually), but I think you guys will find it to be a very interesting read!

I am not a perfect writer. I have a lot of flaws, some of which are easily explainable, while others are a little more abstract. At the same time, I know for a fact that I'm not a terrible writer either, and I have some very pronounced strengths. The thing is, it took 950,000 words of Cryopod for me to figure out what they ar...

PATRON POLL: What sort of structure would you like to see for my next work of fiction?

This is not a post about genre. My next story could be a fantasy medieval story, a sci-fi, an ancient-aliens story, a sequel/prequel/sidequel to Cryopod, a superhero story, a virtual MMO story, or anything else. I have my possibilities open.

What this poll is about, however, is gauging what my patrons want as far as the length and style of the next one. Vote below and tell me the length and style of the story you'd like to see.

Part 430c - Ionis (First draft, discarded)

Hey guys! Another first draft post that I discarded! It's unfinished and not particularly interesting, and it's spoilery obviously if you haven't read Part 430c yet, but if you have, maybe you'll enjoy seeing what could have been! I rewrote and switched the POV because this part felt really bland otherwise, and a bit too wordy/explanatory.

Anyway, enjoy!

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The imposing robot towers a full head above me. His ...

Klok Philosophy: Existence is futile, there is no meaning to life, and that's perfectly fine.

Cryopod is a bleak story, nihilistic in nature, with the ultimate message of "You can have fun, save the world, and do whatever you please in life, but in the end, nothing matters." This is due to my own beliefs about life. I only have one life. I am an atheist, and I believe neither in Heaven nor Hell.

The great thing about being a nihilistic atheist is the full embracing of chaos. I've had people ask me, once they learned of my philosophical views, "Well if you're an atheist, then there's no meaning to life! Why not just believe in God and ...

Klok Tips: Writing for different audiences, all at once.

Note that there will be minor/major spoilers for Route A in Cryopod. Only read this if you've completed the route already.

One of the biggest things I set out to do when I first started writing Cryopod was something that I am proud to say I have accomplished. I still have much to learn, but this is something I believe I have an effective grasp on... and it all started years ago when I first started watching LOST.

LOST was a show for smart people. It featured conspiracies, time travel, philosophy about what it meant to '...

Part 409b (Early half-finished release)

It's rare for me to do something like this, but I just feel a bit disappointed that I'm having trouble getting the words on the page. There's nothing wrong with this part (Other than it being unpolished), it's just incomplete. So for my patrons, enjoy an early release of a half finished part. The final part is likely to be somewhat different, and obviously, complete.

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"Actually, I would suggest starting  a little earlier, Maste...

All my Short Stories in one area.

I've written several things in the past not usually related to Cryopod, think like Writing Prompt responses or just general short stories. I mostly prefer focusing on one long body of work at a time, but I have written smaller things as well.

So, without further ado, here they are. These go from newest to oldest, and I will periodically update this post with newer works added to the top.

Stalker. A young boy is followed...

Part 399b - The twice rewritten part

In the time I spent writing this part, I grew to hate it, more and more and more. It disgusted me, and now I'm retiring it to do a total rewrite. The good(??) news for Patreon-goers is that you'll get to read this garbage, but it won't be canon after this. I'll reuse probably some of it in the final cut, but now you get to read the first edited draft, as well as the second.

Enjoy, I guess???

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Part 399b Failed Attempt 1:...

Part 396b - The abandoned version

Sometimes, when I'm writing a part, I will delete the entire thing and start all over because I hated the direction it was going. This is rare, but it does happen. Part 396b was one of those parts. I deleted everything twice, and this is the first despised version. Enjoy having a look at what might have been.

It's incomplete since I stopped part of the way in.

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Lora and Silvia walk slowly down the corridors of the labyrinth, both keeping their eyes peeled for threa...

The Last Crusader: Release 1 (Chapters 1-2)

Major Edit: I'm making the first two chapters public. Everything else will be donator only. That's the best I'll do, since this is meant to be a special bonus for my long-term patrons. 

Please restrict spoilery comments regarding this story to this post's comment section, and refrain from posting anything about its contents on the Reddit sister topic.

This is not the final version of the fi...

Klok's Writing Tips: How I Like to Write a Fight Scene

Warning! If not caught up to Part 383 in Cryopod, there may be spoilers in this post! You've been warned!

I've been writing Cryopod for a while, and my evolution of writing over a mere eight months has changed dramatically. In this short period of time, I've received criticism from fans, and watched many videos/read many articles regarding fight scenes and how to make them work.

From the very beginning, even when my fight scenes read like the action moments in a typical Dragon Ball Z episode, there...