The Generals:

Following the Elemental War, the Grand Engineer stated that all elementals who had assisted in the efforts would be honorary citizens of the city of their choosing. As most humans found this a little tasteless, the Grand Engineer then enforced his rule by declaring four of his most trusted elemental friends would act as his eyes and ears for all the cities.

As Elementals, they were less likely to be tempted by human possessions and greed. As a show of good faith that humans and elementals could co-exist peacefully, this act ultimately lead to what is referred to as the Elemental Generals.

Gears – Higher-ups wear breather masks that are intricately designed to show off their importance

Cog – The political center of the world, ripe with nobles, filled with corruption

Sprocket – Think: Steampunk hippies living in a sprawl, with the highest population of ‘free’ Elementals

On another note, Alli’s hand is starting to not cramp up! This means we’ll be able to start work on chapter 4 sooner than expected! Woo!

The Great Cities:

After Touchdwon, humanity survived with but a small fraction of those aboard the Arcs. As no electronic devices were capable of functioning within Tess’la’s atmosphere, the survivors were hard pressed to adapt the once amazing technology to more primitive times. The three crash sites eventually would become the three founding cities of The Grand Engineer.

The crash sites were built up into their current state. The Grand Engineer used simple designs in order to provide the people with a semblance of their old civilization, though limited by the technology possible on Tess’la

The three cities were called: Sprocket, Cog and Gears.

In the past forty years, however, the Grand Engineer has not been seen from or heard about except in missives provided by his courts. They always assure the people he is still around and making advancements for the good of the people.

Since his disappearance from the public’s eye, his University has become abandoned and many of his menial tasks have been shifted to his most trusted friend, Francois LaGuerre.

Throughout his years, the Grand Engineer was able to provide more and more enhancements to the way of life that helped the people of Tess’la conform to their strange surroundings.

The Grand Engineer was also the first to make contact with the Elementals of the planet and it is thanks to his ingenuity that we were able to win the war. Without his Steam Soldiers, we would have been overrun and that would have been the end of Humanity.

As such, the Grand Engineer is akin to a God. His title is said with the utmost respect and many phrases he used casually have become synonyms for different expressions.

The Grand Engineer:

The Grand Engineer, savior of humanity and bastion of hope during the Crash. When all of the knowledge bases became useless, many of the survivors believed themselves doomed to either die or survive in animalistic ways.

The Grand Engineer, a young man at the time, stepped forward and began to take charge of the situation. Through hard work, ingenuity and luck, he was capable of manufacturing primitive weapons and modifying the once great devices to work through what materials he had on hand.

Traveling with survivors, he made contact with Gears and Sprocket and assisted them in building their defenses and walls.

To note, some of the Lexicon updates are going to be rather large and may be staggered throughout a week in order for the entry to be seen completely, rather than cutting it short due to page size restrictions

Neo-Steam:

A technology long abandoned back on Earth, Steam pistons, gauges and hydraulics were all but words to most. This technology was brought back to life by The Grand Engineer upon realizing that the original systems of the Arcs were no longer functional on the planet.  The natural resources provided by Tess’la were abundant. The actual differences in energy generation and consistency from said resources were enough to provide even more of an output than originally thought possible. With this new knowledge, the human race was able to reestablish some of its lost grandeur and returns to a semblance of technology that it could survive in.

So as some of you may have heard we had quite the surprise last Friday when our little girl Zoé was born! Alli ended up having to be induced on Thursday night because she  had developed preeclampsia and at 1:49am Friday morning little Zoé blessed us by coming into the world.

We are beyond happy with her arrival. She is the sweetest most amazing thing to ever come out of us (the comic being second lol).  So far we have been very fortunate in that she isn’t constantly screaming like Alli used to when she was a baby.

Luckily, it seems as though little Zoé has taken to Jim’s attitude when he was a baby  – sleep. Little thing can sleep through Jim’s singing – now that takes talent.  Born with a full head of hair, did we mention that? Kind of explains Alli’s major heartburn since day 3 of pregnancy (The first two were due to Pizza, we’re pretty sure).

With ears pointier than her father’s, Zoé will more than likely be going first when she takes on her father in a game of Smallworld.

Not everything is sunshine and roses, however. We had quite a good amount of terror after Zoé arrived. Being induced, Zoé wasn’t technically ready for the big wide world and she suffered, like most babies, from borderline jaundice.

We thought this normal – that is, until we had to revisit the hospital after being in there for 5 days due to it.  We’ve been assured that she will be fine, but as new parents, we naturally were worried.

Hopefully, our little angel with tin foil wings will power on through this small hiccup and we can return to spoiling our baby with our attention and love (And daddy pulling at her toes to wake her up so she can be fed).

We would also like to thank the staff of the CSSS de Gatineau for their excellent service and professional application of knowledge. On top of this we would like to extend a very special thanks to Eve-anne Brousseau & Sylvie Clément for being such wonderful nurses during Alli’s labor.

- Jim & Alli

Below is exactly what is on the artistic rendition of the page:

The Recession of Technology:

Upon entering the atmosphere of Tess’la, not only did humanity take a sharp decline in populations, we also lost one of our most valued possessions; knowledge.  The Arcs that carried us to Tess’la were filled with technological wonders far beyond what we are now capable of.  With the inability to use electrical devices, humankind was set back to their roots. Without the know-how of the Grand Engineer, many more humans would have perished and the great cities would never have been created, nor would we be capable of the technology we now employ called Neo-Steam.

So, give us your questions about the world of OoME and I’ll see if I can find a way to answer them through the Lexicon.

What does this mean for OoME? Well, we’re not done. Not by a long shot. First and foremost, Alli and I discussed the media being used to output the comic and she found that the colour version of the comic, while not as old-timey as the black and white marker medium, added a certain element to the story. (Get it? Hah!) As such, further comic posts will be in colour. This has also given me a way to help you, the readers, discern the difference between being a human and being an elemental into the comic as noted in the final three panels.

From the lines fading in to different thicknesses, to the colours slowly transcending from their monotone scale to a final, full-blown reveal of Jill with her elemental hair, these panels are more to symbolize Jill’s awakening as an elemental. The extents of what is different will be revealed in Chapter 4 (Probably as Jill yelling at Lucien), but for now, I’d prefer to leave the mystery of what’s different (Other than the obvious) out there for you, the readers, to decipher.

As I promised, the Lexicon is getting worked on. More than likely, what will be happening is we’ll be updating the main page with Lexicon entries that will later be placed under their own heading.  If Alli is capable, she will provide the pages with a sketch to accompany the details being given, but this will likely only be happening sporadically.

To the fans, we’d like to extend out gratitude for staying with us for almost two years.  From the month-long hiatus to allow us to buffer to the stops all together due to pregnancy drama and the long rants that I am known for, you’ve stayed with us and hopefully enjoyed our story.

So now comes the fun part – as I am working on the Lexicon, I’d like to know what you, the fans, want to know more about. Remember that it won’t be a tell-all listing of every plot point and story arc, but more a generalized list of the whos, whats and wheres of OoME.  Anything deemed critical to the plot will not be revealed until an appropriate time, but the basics, like the world, the indigenous life and what’s happened to get the good people of Cog where they are will be provided.

As always, thank you for reading OoME and we hope to continue to enthrall you with our story.

Jim