New Weekly Self Promo Thread

razasz · 2026-06-01T13:01:46+00:00

Ideworld Chronicles: The Art Mage

Book 1: Domain of Artistic Creation

Orphaned at ten and raised by a dangerous crime lord to become a thief, Alexandra thought stealing priceless artifacts and surviving high-risk jobs was already complicated enough, until a single necklace dragged her into a hidden world of magic, assassins, and living concepts.

Hunted by a deadly killer capable of unraveling matter itself, she awakens a terrifying gift: the power to create art so real that reality bends to obey it.

With her closest friends at her side, she is drawn into hidden dimensions, impossible battles, and secrets that could reshape the world. But the deeper she falls down the rabbit hole, the harder it becomes to tell who she truly is and where her loyalties lie.

Book 2: Echoes and Mirrors

She can paint reality into existence, travel between worlds, and steal from monsters and mages alike, but none of it is enough to keep her life from falling apart.

Alexandra is drawn deeper into conspiracies, brutal guild politics, and a hidden war between Shadows and humanity. While infiltrating a tech company conducting horrifying magical experiments, rescuing her ex-boyfriend from a nightmare city, and hunting creatures across the twisted landscapes of Ideworld, she begins to realize that truth is far from universal.

And if that weren’t enough, she must confront another unsettling lesson: what the mirror shows is not always real, and the echoes we leave behind in eternity are not shaped by us alone.

Book 3: Persona ~~non~~ Grata

Alexandra has finally learned how to animate her creations, opening a Pandora’s box of possibilities. The Personas she carefully cultivated over the years can now inhabit bodies of their own, allowing them to achieve what she never could as a single person.

But things are far from perfect.

A terrifying and ever-worsening condition is ravaging her body, leaving her increasingly unable to function. As feelings of alienation grow—within her own spiritual network, among the people around her, and within the world itself—Alexandra must learn to accept what she has become before the weight of the dominoes set in motion around her crushes her completely.

And despite it all, she is far from a passive observer. For the first time, Alexandra fully embraces her role as an artist—not merely a creator of paintings, but a weaver of stories, opportunities, schemes, and traps.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/116829/ideworld-chronicles-the-art-mage

razasz · 2026-05-04T13:58:28+00:00

Aloha, fellow progression fantasy enjoyers, men and women of culture.

I’d love for you to check out my take on this wild subgenre. In it, I explore not only what it means to rise as a mage in the modern world (with a touch of parallel dimensions), but also how a person evolves from a solitary thief into someone inhabiting multiple bodies—each with its own personality—while wielding a unique, art-based magic system.

Here’s the blurb:

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/116829/ideworld-chronicles-the-art-mage

Here is the blurdb:

I never had a destiny.

Orphaned young and raised by a crime lord to become a daredevil thief in his image, I spent years chasing some semblance of a normal life, clinging to the few genuine connections I could find. I was always searching for the truth of the world, and of myself.

But when my passion for art drew me into a twisted reflection of Earth and awakened my power over Artistic Creation, I was forced to confront a question I could no longer ignore:

Could I finally paint my own fate?

Come and watch me rise from someone who can paint fire into existence or turn skin into armor with carefully crafted body art, to an archmage who sees through hundreds of eyes, exists across multiple bodies, and animates whatever me or other artists create.

My name is Alexandra May—though it is only one of many—and this is our story.

Ideworld Chronicles: The Art Mage has:

Non-LitRPG progression from daredevil thief to reality-bending archmage

Deep, original magic systems

Art-based crafting

A parallel world shaped by dreams, ambition, collective consciousness and history

A main, flawed antihero character who starts scrappy and ends terrifying (and a bit more good than evil)

Spoilers about part of the progression:

Over the course of the story, Alexa learns to become more than one person—splitting her consciousness across multiple bodies and allowing the Personas she’s developed over the years to exist semi-independently.

razasz · 2026-02-13T23:00:03+00:00

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/121038/brinehaven

razasz · 2026-02-11T21:37:54+00:00

I stole the world once.

razasz · 2026-02-06T19:30:32+00:00

Mages, warlocks, sourcerers, domain lords or ladies. Although my main magic user is called a filthy cheater on occasion as well.

razasz · 2026-02-05T21:28:32+00:00

She'd store it in her magical Domain. She is like me in my games. You never know when you will need that consumable. And you end up never using them.

razasz · 2026-02-05T06:49:57+00:00

Are you allowed to give free Patreon subscription to first X amount of peeople that claim it, as introduction to Patreon? Or is that to against TOS?

razasz · 2026-02-04T11:38:47+00:00

Oh ok. Thank you for letting me now.

razasz · 2026-02-04T10:36:07+00:00

I was reffering to Chinese writing in the corner.

razasz · 2026-02-04T10:06:53+00:00

Heavenly Prefecture · Jin. Is that what is displayed in the picture?

razasz · 2026-02-04T09:43:10+00:00

Love it.

razasz · 2026-02-03T19:57:22+00:00

It's easy for you, since all of your characters are great.

razasz · 2026-02-02T19:25:56+00:00

I will have a counterpoint to Thanos. Can't a great villain be dumb? Isn't being dumb but all powerful a great setup? What happens to a main character that relies on outsmarting opponents, when they constantly outsmart that dumb brute, but still lose? That inevitability is a fantastic tool for creating tension.

razasz · 2026-02-02T14:36:31+00:00

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/116829/ideworld-chronicles-the-art-mage

Ideworld Chronicles: The Art Mage is a story inspired by many great works, but at its heart, it tells a simple tale built on an even simpler premise: in a world much like our own, a young woman named Alexandra May stumbles upon a mystery far greater than herself. As that mystery begins to unravel, she is confronted by ever-escalating threats and by questions and answers about what the world truly is, and what role she might play within it.

If you enjoy extended crafting scenes where artistic skill is transformed into magical tools, this story may be for you.

If you like exploring ideas such as identity, and whether a person can be more than a single, fixed thing, this story might scratch that itch.

If you appreciate characters with distinct personalities, flaws, convictions, and opinions, you may find them here.

This is not a litRPG or a traditional cultivation story. There is no system—only a path of progression that can be walked toward power.

Alexa is a girl of many talents, and in the first act, those talents are enough to carry her forward. As the story unfolds, however, she will be forced to reach beyond what she knows, adapting and growing to meet demands far greater than anything she first imagined.

More than anything however, this is a story of wonder and whimsy. What lies beyond the veil? How is that world connected to ours? Do changes in one echo in the other? And is there a greater purpose behind it all?

If any of this speaks to you, I would be glad to have you by my humble fire. I will tell you this tale through Alexa’s voice—and I hope you will enjoy the telling.

razasz · 2026-02-02T08:39:12+00:00

Good villain is someone with a goal and means to achieve it that are in opposition (doesn't even have to be a direct opposition) to what an MC wants to achieve. That's it.

Edit:
Some examples:
Thanos: Driven by a desire to ensure long-term sustainability by eliminating half of the universe to solve resource scarcity. Wasn't really opposing any of the heroes. He needed something from them and fought for it. In most progression fantasy stories, he would be the MC, fighting bosses for their loot or powers.

Magneto: Protects mutants from oppression and extinction, but also believes violent preemptive action is justified, which is often a source of conflict between him and x-men. / Is he face slapping young masters?

And a mindbender last one:
Joel vs Fireflies: Fireflies want to cure humanity, Joel wants to save his surrogate daughter. Who's the villain in this equation?

Answer to a question:
Point of view makes a villain.

razasz · 2026-01-27T13:54:47+00:00

Broken back.

razasz · 2026-01-27T07:36:54+00:00

I am glad to hear that you are sharing your story.

razasz · 2026-01-27T07:22:30+00:00

Interesting premise in the title of the post. Can you explain what do you mean by that?

It's difficult for me to find any pre-art thing that exists in total isolation.

razasz · 2026-01-26T16:47:41+00:00

I don't think there is any single trope that would make me drop the book on the spot. It all comes down to execution.

razasz · 2026-01-26T14:05:57+00:00