A fantasy saga of young girls called to serve their people in a time of war during their ages of innocence.
What is Sorghum & Spear? Sorghum & Spear is a fantasy saga that follows a group of amazing young girls who are called upon in a time of war to become the last line of defense against the Spora; a pantheon of demons bent on destroying their people and conquering the Eternal Realm.
Our first story arc is called “Harvest Of the All-Mother”, which is an introduction to the major characters of our story as well as exploring the fantasy setting known as The Eternal Realm.
Sorghum & Spear – Book One will be a 22- page comic book issue created as the first in an ongoing sequential release.
The book printing will be done by a local printer shop with over 15 years of experience, meaning a prompt and quality product can be made minutes from our studio. This also gives us the opportunity to unlock variant covers as available through our stretch goals.
Artists
Our Art Director Timothy Geathers works on the inside panels, posters, and concept designs for the series.
Cover Artist Welinthon Nommo provides on our Exterior Art covers, many posters and concept designs as well.
The over-arching them of SORGHUM & SPEAR are that the young girls of the Eternal Realm are the keys to the salvation of their world.
Series Characters:
NAMAZZI
NAMAZZI is our main character, who carries a look of beauty and nobility, even though she was raised as a farmhand. She has a simple and honest expectation of goodness and right in the world, which lends to a bit of naiveté in her experiences beyond the sorghum fields she has always known. Namazzi is a faithful ally and friend, whose newfound abilities and responsibilities sometimes gets the better of her. Boasting superior strength, damage resistance and battle acumen, she can become a formidable
Once she comes into possession of a lost artifact called the SPEAR OF HOPE, Namazzi finds herself a beacon for intrigue and danger as the many threads of the Forever War seem interwoven into her destiny.
DEMBE
Aloof, playful and powerful, the caster Dembe wields exceptional magical talents, even for a Vodun Priestess. Gifted beyond her years, she is able to influence the elements and nature, open rifts between the Mortal plane and the Twilight Realm, and is rumored to have other Gifts yet displayed to her Overseers. She has little room for humility or formality, except when it being used to get her what she wants. Dembe is a bit arrogant given her newly discovered high status in An’Fre culture, and can come off as aloof to most. Given that Vodun is considered wild magic, whose practice is seen as sacrilegious by, her upbringing in the Spires could best be described as noble internment. Now freed from isolation, she is quickly forgetting the limitations of her earlier life and making up for lost time enjoying her new station in life.
GUHIJI
GUHIJI a member of the Tumari huntresses of the Geterap Plains, a culture of ancient hunter-gatherers who are somewhat nomadic and travel along with their traditional game of bison and gazelle. Guhiji plays two different roles in this story. She is a capable archeress, tracker and plainsrunner. She is extremely agile and physically conditioned, a bit taller and sinewy than the other girls from constant training. Her second role is she is the youngest councilwoman of the Converged, a group of representatives from each of the Queendoms of the Eternal realm. Here we find her natural grace and poise in the political arena, where she is well read and knowledgeable. Guhiji is always thinking ahead, and of others, leaving her contemplative and quiet in most circumstances. While she is a born leader, it is not a role she is comfortable in, and often defers the mantle to others. Guhiji is much more at home on the plains, and silently wishes to remove herself from council matters, even as her skill at it begins to gain her favor and fame in Ngolo Ade, where she has met with and befriended Dembe.
MARLANNA
A traveling minstrel with little information about her prior life, MARLANNAH was abandoned by her tribe in a customary Griot tradition, where she has wandered the Realm gathering stories and skills. Marlannah is a quick learner of all things, and has an eidetic memory, instantly recalling facts about current and even ancient events. She has a Gift known as Ancestral knowledge, where she can access old memories of those who have passed on into Twilight, gleaming secrets and insights on almost any cultural lore or legend. Adventurous in spirit, she is always up for exploration and travel, and fidgets when she is in one place for too long. She likes the idea of friendship, but has trouble being close to those she knows she is destined to leave. As a Griot, her role is to learn about the world and to pass knowledge from one place to another through song and story. The Forever War and her new relationships with the girls are both things that she struggles to fully embrace, though both bring her into their center of their beings.
ESHE
Know as The Mother Of All, The First Woman, and The Bright Lady, ESHE is a mystical being of great power and ancient ancestry. She is both the protector of the An’Fre women and their living deity. Her words and laws are what are know to her people as The Way of Silk And Stone, or the ruling doctrine of many of the civilizations around the holy city of Ngolo-Ade. To the Ascended of her kind, she is a resource and a bastion of hope against the encroaching Spora demons. The All-Mother has recently declares that every young woman must make their pilgrimage to the citadel to be conscripted into a final army, becoming recruits-in-training for a last stand against the fiends from the Hellwalk.
So just what is Sorghum anyway?
sorghum noun sor·ghum ˈsȯr-gəm Sorghum is an ancient cereal grain that grows tall like corn and is a highly versatile and found throughout most African, Asian and Latin countries.
In the United States, sorghum is used as livestock feed and turned into ethanol. It’s a popular crop to grow within the drier regions of the States because it is drought resistant. This quality made it a popular crop in Africa — where it has been growing for over 4,000 years. Sorghum is thought to have been introduced to America from Africa, making its way over on slave ships. Today, sorghum can trace its historic expansion from Africa into every corner of the world. Sorghum stalks and grain
So what is the connection with SORGHUM AND SPEAR? When I first started researching this project, I imagined my mighty warrior goddess, Namazzi, holding a spear high to inspire her people as they charged into battle. As I created the mythos of the Eternal Realm and the first arc began to take shape, I wanted to relate my world with something that was symbolic to much of the story; something analogous but not obvious.
I liked the idea that sorghum is an ancient and powerful thing that originated from Africa; a gift that was shared with the world. The ability of sorghum to not just survive outside of its homelands but to thrive in other cultures and civilizations, eventually becoming an integral part of their legacies unveiled a mystical attribute I saw not just of this indigenous crop, but of the indigenous people it represented as well. The “recipe” of Sorghum & Spear is that every character in our tale is growing and blossoming into something new. Within the seasons of their life harvests, we find that they are not the same, some yields are not as bountiful, and tragically not promised for all of them. Sorghum also aesthetically relates well to the shape of the African spear; from its granular tip to the long stalk below, it grants a great visual parallel of these young farm girls being conscripted to serve as soldiers in an ongoing Holy war. Sorghum as a crop and economic resource still has great relevance throughout the African continent and around the world, and as I expand our story through the many diverse histories and influences of these civilizations, its symbolism is one that can remain both far-reaching yet soundly rooted in the heritage we want to portray.
Why are you creating this story? Why is it important?
Her.
Him.
And Them.
How young people, especially young People of Color, interpret their place in the world, solidify their value systems and define their self-worth along engaging their peers in drawing their social standards occurs earlier and earlier in their lives. If there is a dearth of representation and inclusion of their identities, cultures and acceptance of who they are, just as they are, then we as a community have failed them.
While only one of a myriad of creators and collaborators taking the charge to be that difference, Greene County Creative was created to ensure social empowerment, creative growth and inclusive expression.
What the end goal?
We ALL deserve a SORGHUM & SPEAR: THE ANIMATED SERIES available for EVERYONE! While we are a book-based project, we want to make sure that hone our skills and talents to the inevitable success that will be hallmarked by our foray into animation. As a medium, it would expand our message and our imagery across the digital landscape of current communication. That level of fan engagement and creative content is a major key to unlock the true potential of this team.
We can make it. And with your support, we can make it special.
Budget Overview
Thank you for your time and attention to the SORGHUM AND SPEAR project! We have much more to share and update as our project goes forward. Stay tuned!
Project Have Hope is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization that seeks to empower women in the Acholi Quarter of Uganda by providing education to both the women and their children and assisting the women to establish business opportunities to promote economic stability and sustainability. Our goal is to provide education, at all levels, to each woman. Providing education across the board empowers women and gives them much needed tools to create a brighter future. Project Have Hope has tapped into the artistry and industriousness of these extraordinary women. The women make beautiful, colorful jewelry from paper (and other materials). We have developed markets for these individual works of art and use the revenue to fund educational and economic programs. In this way, the women are actually using their skills and hard work to help pull themselves out of poverty.
We at Greene County Creative felt it a much more altruistic gesture for this campaign to support and learn from these women’s history and heritage while drawing inspiration from their true life story to tell our fictional one.
We figured you have enough t-shirts, right?
True Seeds Of Change Tier: 40$ Pledge Tier
This Imani Bracelet (Faithful Person) is hand crafted from paper beads and is strung through a metal pin and attached to thick elastic for a comfortable fit, yeta bold design. During checkout, we will have several colors for your to choose from! Select this pledge level to make a true change in someone’s life and claim your bracelet as well as receive the Sorghum & Spear: Book One Physical Tier!
The Caster – Carved Bone Bracelet – 75$ Pledge Tier
These wrist bracelets are hand-carved from dyed squares of bone and strung together with black glass beads onto elastic loop. Actual designs may vary. Each bracelet is also packaged in a separate organza gift bag with a regional story card. The Vodun rarely share their secret ways, so claim your artifact from the Spires along with the Sorghum & Spear: Book One Physical Tier!
Timothy Geathers and Welinthon Nommo are our two amazing artists that have gifted us with their talents in creating unique art prints for the SORGHUM & SPEAR world. These 11 x 17 premium glossy art prints are formatted on heavy stock paper and delivered by flat-mail folders to ensure you are able to frame and enjoy them as the works of art they are meant to be.
As we reach our stretch goals, we have other prints and artists that will become available to our campaign. As we become fully funded, the first of which, Eshe The All-Mother by artist Sheeba Maya is set to be our first stretch goal.
Available Art Prints
Stretch Goals Art Prints
More updates and unlocks to come!
As with any creative endeavor, there is a small chance of delay before delivery of a final product. The date of delivery of all backer rewards is an estimated date that revolves around art printing, custom item creation and global fulfillment. We promise to be fully engaged and available with our backers and update our progress and expectations of delays if they should arise.