Earlier this year, AIPT revealed Empiria, the ambitious new ongoing fantasy series from Rocketship Entertainment. Now, the debut issue has officially arrived in comic shops, giving readers their first chance to step into a setting where magic has evolved into something that feels surprisingly familiar.
To celebrate the launch, we’re showcasing all eight covers available for Empiria.
The series takes place in the kingdom of Empiria, a fantasy realm transformed by the widespread use of magic crystals. These crystals power everything from communication devices and entertainment to transportation and weapons, creating a setting that reflects modern society through a magical lens.
At the center of the story is Princess Mae, who spent her life studying magic so she could help the people of Empiria. Instead, she finds herself at odds with her father, whose crystal empire continues to grow while ordinary citizens struggle. Elsewhere, readers meet Randy, a punk-rock unicorn managing life in Dragon City, and Justin, an out-of-work farmer whose fortunes may be changing after a chance encounter with a mysterious woman called Petra.
According to writer David K. Wilson, those seemingly separate stories are all components of a larger examination of how a society changes when greed becomes one of its driving forces.
“The main theme of Empiria is how greed destroys a society,” Wilson told AIPT. “In order to do that, I think we need to see the country of Empiria from a few different angles. There are three main storylines that all work independently of each other and sometimes intersect briefly, but in order to get a sense of how this whole country is being affected, we need to see it from a few different POVs.”
Wilson explained that the series uses fantasy as a way to explore issues facing contemporary society.
“There is a lot of commentary about modern life, and some exploration of the misery of living in America right now,” Wilson said. “I’ve always been inspired by the way writers like Isaac Asimov wrote about social issues in a space that abstracted the issues a bit from our current context.”
The book’s magical crystals serve as a central metaphor throughout the series.
“The crystals are a sort of representation of technology, but in a magical form,” Wilson said. “They power magical devices that are substitutes for common technology like cars, TVs, cellphones, and even guns. The crystals are central to the story of Empiria.”
For Wilson, the setting grew out of a desire to tell a fantasy story rooted in present-day concerns.
“This story is really about living in the USA in the 21st century, so I wanted to create a fantasy world that has come to modern times,” Wilson said. “For me every time I turn on the news I feel increasingly like we are trapped in the first part of a fantasy trilogy where all of these awful forces are starting to combine and conspire against the good people of the world and it seems like nothing will be able to stand up to them.”
He continued, “I’m not seeing any heroes on TV. I felt like I needed to write some heroes to take to the fight against these evil forces, or I would just lose hope in our society. It really feels like the fairytale of the American dream has gone wrong for a huge swath of the population. Empiria is that kind of storybook.”
Check out all eight covers for Empiria below, and be sure to ask your local comic shop if copies are still available.
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