What sort of mutilation are we expecting?

I'm guessing the type with intestines and all that jazz...so it's 100% kid friendly :D

- Various bad guys suffering combat injuries
- A couple ears getting sliced off
- A tail or two getting sliced off
- A couple arms getting sliced off
- At least one character who is revealed to have been neutered (not shown)

Importantly, while this story does contain all these elements, I don't intend to be gratuitous with them; it's just not my thing. They'll be there to the extent that they make sense!

That’s what I was worried about.
I don’t understand why castration has to be included. It’s such a horrible thing. Even if it’s a fictional character. Why do we have to perpetuate it? Why does it have to exist?
To show a person so tortured as to have to live without their own manhood. To show even the idea of someone’s testicles being severed. It’s just messed up. It shouldn’t exist. He can’t have a happy ending. He can’t live a life. You don’t understand the pain it causes. I do.
At the end of the day, I get it. You’re trying to tell a dark story and it’s your right to creative expression. It’s just disappointing. So many artists I can’t support because they draw something related or joke about it. And it hurts me too deeply. And I don’t understand the need to include the topic. Why not tell a dark story that doesn’t include it?
Maybe I’m just a magnet for it but I see it too often and I wish the very concept didn’t exist. Makes me sad that I just can’t follow you because I will always be reminded that such things happen in your world.
Sorry if I offended, wasn’t my intent, and I don’t mean to try and tell you what to do. Just wish to express my view on it, as I can’t cope with what happened to me if I don’t feel like I’m trying to change how the world interacts with it. It’s a subject that deserves more respect. Good luck out there.

It is absolutely your right to avoid content that is uncomfortable for you - that is exactly the purpose of a content warning <3

If it helps, though: the character in question is eventually restored by magic, and ends up living a very happy life.

If you would like to read around it, the topic is revealed near the end of Chapter 6, and resolved early in Chapter 7. And I will absolutely not being drawing the act - it's just discussed.

To address your other question - why include it at all? - that same line of questioning could be applied to every other bad and evil thing that happens in the story. And that doesn't mean it's a bad line of questioning!

The kneejerk answer is just that this is a story that involves some very bad people who do very bad things. I prefer stories where danger and evil are real, because part of the appeal of fantasy, for me, is punishing evil that often goes unpunished in real life.

But there is, of course, more to it than that. Sometimes fictional characters do bad things in order to impose some sort of moral. Sometimes it's to illustrate some subtext. Frequently, it's to set a character up for some feel-good come-uppance or revenge - or even redemption! Sometimes it's just because that's what makes sense for the situation.

Not all of the evil performed in this story is so poignantly considered. But in the case of this character's mutilation, it's all of the above.

[Vague spoilers] The bad guy neuters someone because that's exactly what a reasonable [evil] actor would do in that moment. They don't want to kill the victim, but they want to stop them from making decisions that they believe are driven by lust. But the bad guy also neuters someone because we want the reader to root against him. And it's because we want to heavyhandedly illustrate the emasculation that the victim has suffered over the course of their ordeal. Conversely, it's also to provide a meaningful beacon of hope and joy when that emasculation is later reversed and he begins to rebuild his life - and his confidence - with the help of friends, family, and rescuers.

It's also meant to drive in another character's guilt. The victim is someone very important to a protagonist, who is not personally responsible for the neutering, but very well could have been, and they know it. It's meant to spark a pang of guilt and reflection and sorrow that eventually provokes change and redemption.

It's also to illustrate, with another heavy-handed dollop of what-can-barely-be-called-subtext, that being brave ("ballsy") in the face of an overwhelming oppressor sometimes doesn't work, and you get punished for it! This is not a story where being brave has no risks, because that's not the sort of message I'm trying to send. The message of this story is that it's important to be brave even when the risk is real, and it's important to have hope even - especially - when you feel like there couldn't possibly be a happy ending left for you.

Thank you for your kindness. Truth be told many I discuss this with aren’t so understanding, which hurts. Your sincerity inspires hope that it’s worth trying.
It is comforting to know said character doesn’t have to suffer such a loss permanently. Though I hope said magic isn’t entirely exclusive to him in your world if being neutered is something that happens. To me, the idea of being neutered is so dark that it casts a shadow over the entire work if I believe it’s something that’s happening out there and most are just forced to suffer through it.
I really appreciate that you put so much consideration into the subject rather than treating it lightly. With that in mind I do find it to be much less offensive in a story. All I ask is that it’s treated with respect. Many just use it as a shock or humorous device. Testicles deserve more respect. They’re important organs.
The pain, the physical and psychological damage, the emasculation, is much more significant than most realize. I want people to respect that, I want people to see testicles as more than just meaningless lust machines, and I want people to treat castration with the respect it deserves. It’s not something to be discussed lightly.
That being said it’s clear to me that you’ve taken these things into account already. You’ve put a lot of thought into it, rather than just using it because you can. And you’ve already considered the true damage it would do to your character, rather than just treating testicles as said meaningless list machines.
I may not read your comic, I have not decided, but I feel more inclined to now, and I appreciate your intention. Thank you. And I do apologize, I know this is a strange subject and most find me or my message odd. But it’s something I have to do.

Alright then

I hope I'm not speaking out of turn here, and I don't know if it will ease any of your disappointment, but...
I think for every tragedy you could name, there is somebody out there who has had their lives touched by it, and will inevitably be hurt by portrayals of that topic. When you have trauma, and you see other people casually discussing, referencing, or even joking about the subject, it can feel cruel and it can feel terribly lonely.
Sometimes as a creator, you think about this. You consider the hypothetical people who have actually experienced what you're depicting, and you wonder if you have the right to portray it at all. You wonder what you could possibly say in response to their pain.
But ultimately, if you censor or edit everything that might potentially cause pain, then you have nothing left that you can say. You stop being a creator. Stories stop being told and we lose the ability to explore concepts through them. It's not that triggering a person's trauma is an acceptable risk, per se. Your mental wellbeing is not expendable. But I do think it is a risk that must be taken so that art can continue to exist.
I'm sorry for your pain. I don't think you're wrong to be upset by things which touch on it, and I don't think you're wrong to encourage others to treat it more seriously. Your perspective is valuable and it's good that you're sharing it.
I suppose I just want to say: even if you sometimes feel alone in your specific circumstances, you are not alone in the alienation and frustration of trying navigate a world that doesn't understand your pain. It's very difficult sometimes.

You’re absolutely correct, and I appreciate your perspective. I don’t wish to stifle anybody’s imagination or make them uncomfortable with what they wish to express. It is extremely important that art continues to exist, especially today. I just want my pain to treated with more respect. I get dark stories, I do. As long as it’s considered with intent, I get it. I just can’t let myself see it, the reminder is painful and even sensetive representations often miss a lot of the nuance, which I find frustrating.
I’m most bothered when it’s not respected. Dark subjects like this shouldn’t be taken lightly. Or joked about. I know people don’t mean much by it, but they don’t understand. Almost nobody does. It shouldn’t ever be joked about, it is so cruel, and deserves much more care.

While I'll always defend free expression, even with humour, I do often wish that we weren't so collectively casual about some subjects. The flipside of exploring disturbing or transgressive ideas is that that exploration becomes normalized, and from there it gradually leads to desensitization. Somewhere along the way it gets used for dark humor, and then, eventually, just humor. That final step never quite sits right with me. It always feels like we've lost something important in ourselves, and we need reminders to help us find it again.
So I might be repeating myself, but I do think you're doing a good thing by reminding us. And I appreciate that you do it while respecting freedom of expression, because a lot of people forget how important that is when they're upset by something. I'm sorry it comes at a personal cost, but thank you.

Thank you for understanding. I try to be lenient on dark humour. After all humour is supposed to be a vehicle to making life better, and sometimes the best way to do that is by feeling okay about bad things. But you got it exactly right. It’s when you get desensitized and dark humour just becomes humour that I hurt most. A joke can be a joke, but the true importance of the subject shouldn’t be taken out of it. That part feels disrespectful, feels cruel. The casual acceptance and lack of respect toward the subject is what I truly struggle with, and my goal is to remind people that it deserves to treated with nuance. It’s a complicated debate, and I won’t pretend I’m a genius who has the answer. I just want people to care, I guess.
Thank you for seeing me. I appreciate your candid and thoughtful approach.

Saying "Dark subjects shouldn't be taking lightly" on the internet is kinda of a difficult thing to ask. Maybe "more people should take dark subjects seriously"
but not "not take it lightly", simply because it's not possible or feasible

The epstein island is probably one of the worst atrocities man has done to each other, something disgusting and horrible, but you can open instagram and in 5 minutes you'll see a joke about that
Same with racism, genocide, and pretty much everything

When people don't suffer the things, they'll make light work of what happened no matter how horrible or genuinely sensitive it is

As long as there is a happy ending, I'm all in.

There is <3

It starts out dark, but it goes up pretty steadily from there

*grabs a lawn chair, unfolds it, and takes a seat.* Thrill me.

This is exactly what I needed to hear -- and I'm grateful for it, because I will get to follow what looks to be a great comic. Thank you!

*whistles*

Where all these triggers part of the campaign this was based off too, or are you taking some artistic liberties?

I have taken a LOT of artistic liberties with this story, but most of the scenes that come to mind with these content warnings are pretty true to the campaign. Some of the exceptions that come to mind:

[Spoilers]

- [-] Sex was often alluded to during the campaign, but we never actually played it out.
- [C5] In the campaign, Wren lost his arm before the campaign started, not the way he loses it now.
- [C1] In the campaign, it was never described why Fekkri's tail is short when everyone else in his family has a long tail. (But the explanation here would have fit just fine)
- [C4] In the campaign, Ellion was sort of a ghost-spirit-child named Elliot, rather than a sick child stuck in a death loop
- [C3] I honestly can't remember if the original faction that I based the sealung fishfolk off of were carrion-eaters or not; I might have made that up.
- [C1] Fekkri was absolutely *depressed* at the start of the campaign, but the bridge scene never happened (because it would have all happened before the campaign started).
- [C1] In the campaign, Fekkri was pretty heavily implied to have been given an eating disorder by the pirates (who flippantly explained that the reason he had to work was in order to "pay for his meals"). I don't think I'll be touching on that at all in this comic.
- [C1] Queerphobia was essentially nonexistent during the campaign. It's not super prevalent in my comic, either, but a couple of the bad guys drop some slurs for the sake of making their deaths way more satisfying for me, personally.
- [C5] In the campaign, Rikken's thing happened earlier, prior to meeting Locket.

[/Spoilers]

Pretty much everything else is pulled from the campaign.

No F/F?

I don't think it comes up during the story! There might be a few brief portrayals in the background of brothels and stuff like that - and possibly a little scene in C10 when Fekkri and Arvie figure out the sex-change spells

Yea I was wondering after you showed us their genderbent selves if their would be some lesbian action