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Plot
The story takes place in a future Europe which is divided into the White State (the south) and the Black State (the north). Every five years they use their armies to play grandscale chess. The winner receives taxes from the loser state for the next five years and the loser king is executed. The Black State has now lost multiple times in a row and is severely impoverished. They attempt to turn the tide by having Odin (the last Black King to win) take his position as King again, and he uses two "ravens" to help him.
Characters
Lucy de Winter
The story begins with our main character, Lucy de Winter, a young woman who lives in a poor office community and works as a cleaner in the local hospital. When she's fired because the hospital has purchased a robot to do her job, she makes the desperate decision to enlist in the army, knowing she's likely to die in five years, during the next Game.
She is a pragmatic person with a strong sense of responsibility and a great eagerness to learn, awakened by the education provided by the army. Her biggest passion is medicine (which is why she's eavesdropping on a conversation between two doctors in the sketch below).
This sketch is from the first chapter. Lucy is also on a drawing I made as a concept for the first cover.
Spades
Another key figure we'll follow in the story is Spades. He is named after the Ace of Spades because of his excellent results in school and university. "What is his real name?" you might wonder. I'll tell you now: he doesn't have one. Why not? The manga will answer that question in time đŸ˜‰
Anyway, Spades is a young man with oculocutaneous albinism (no or less melanin in the skin, eyes and hair). When I was still in high school, I chose to design him like this, because I thought white hair and red eyes were cool, but Spades's albinism has grown to be more than just character design. He uses an umbrella outside to prevent his skin from burning (see cover image) and he wears sunglasses because his eyes are sensitive to sunlight. His albinism has greatly affected his life. The Black State is very ableist and albinism is not considered to be "cool" at all.
As mentioned above, Spades is known for his extraordinary intelligence and thanks to this he is elected to be the Black King's prime councillor. His role in the next Game differs a lot from Lucy's, so I thought it would be important to include his perspective. Of course, his role within the story is much larger than his participation in the Game, but I won't reveal anything about that just yet...
Charlie Allen
Charlie is een van de eerste personages die ik voor de manga heb bedacht, en ook al jaren lang het favoriete personage van mijn oudere zus. Charlie is net als Lucy het leger in gegaan, maar dan om andere redenen (die ik nu niet ga verklappen). Charlie is een warm, sociaal persoon, die lesstof niet zo boeiend vindt en vooral geĂ¯nteresseerd is in mensen. En katten… Alle katten zijn vriendjes. Charlie moet en zal hun de liefde en aandacht geven die ze verdienen.
Keith Raven
In het stukje “Plot” schreef ik dat de Zwarte Koning Odin het Spel zou proberen te winnen met twee “raven”. Een van die raven is Spades en de tweede staat daadwerkelijk bekend als “the Raven”. Ik wil ook over hem nog niet te veel verklappen, maar ik zal wel alvast vertellen dat hij Keith heet en dat hij een soldaat is die Odin “koopt” (hij koopt eigenlijk een licentie van een aantal jaar) om in het Spel te gebruiken.
Waarom wil Odin Keith? Keith is best speciaal. Hij is eigendom van Falk (de verkoper) en hij is niet alleen getraind om een uitzonderlijke soldaat te zijn, maar ook… “gevormd”. En daar heeft hij een mening over.
Nog een paar feitjes op een rij:
- Keith is geboren in de Witte Staat en zijn moeder is Vietnamees, waardoor hij in de Zwarte Staat op meerdere manieren als een “buitenlander” wordt gezien.
- Zijn kamergenoot is Charlie (zie vorige brief).
- Zijn sterkste eigenschap is zijn veerkracht.