The Countess Rises Again (Patreon)

In a Dieselpunk cold war world, the untimely passing of "the empire's" ruler, Countess Melinda Coldfire, has put the parliament on emergency mode to try and find anyone more fit to rule than the only known living heir, her insolent child nephew, who's luckily on vacation. Searching high and low through the empire's records, they find a unlikely candidate among the workers of one of the empire's many arms factories.

Silas Everton, a distant relative to the countess is approached with an offer that can't be refused, a life outside of the grueling factories and smog-filled streets, all on the condition that he allows the parliament to do as they please under his royal name. But Silas is a crafty one and counters with a condition of his own. And in the grand scheme of the whole business, it's a rather minor one.

Never one to feel comfortable in the gender she was assigned, after years of secrecy and the finest medical treatments the empire can provide, Countess Siobhan I Coldfire-Everton, makes her first public reveal just in time for the winter solstice festival. Having indulged in the finest luxuries befitting her station, Siobhan is unrecognizable in more ways than the superficial. Now truly immersed in the opulence of her royal wealth, the countess cares little for her loyal lower class subjects and turns a blind eye to the actions of the parliament, as long as her own comfort is guaranteed.

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This one was an undertaking, I kid you not. Really fun to draw of course and once again, thank you all for letting me indulge in drawing one of my own pitches ❤️

This idea of mine lodged itself so far into my brain when I suggested it that I even wrote a few paragraphs of lore for this setting to help with realizing this minicomic. I might share more about it if I get the chance to do more TFs in this setting, but the gist is that it's a real dystopia. Two national entities have been at war for so long that they've forced all other nations in this world to join. Neither side of the conflict is in any way the good guys, they're both equally awful and they shouldn't be sympathized with. The ones you should sympathize with however are the lower class workers who have no choice but to continue producing for the war economy.

As part of showing just how bad this setting is, I wanted to make the process of gender correction in this world look absolutely terrifying. Science in this world is very brute force. 

Also, my proof readers pointed out that it seemed as if Siobhan decided to turn her back on her old friends just for being deadnamed, and that's only partially true.

The full facts of Siobhan's corruption is that she was never a nice person to begin with. Her old friends would probably not deadname her on purpose if they all hung out more together after Siobhan moved to the Imperial Citadel. And since she's the countess-to-be, she's got the authority to invite her friends whenever - but she didn't! That was a choice she made.

It's like one of my proof readers said: Power doesn't corrupt, power reveals.

Final thought on this piece, after thinking it through I've decided that I'm gonna include more altersex versions of these monthly minicomics and pinups. Representation is a fun and good thing after all 🙂