This is an introduction to a comic series and story I have been writing, thinking, and dreaming about for the past few years. The comic is called Magnullium 19, and it is a fictional story loosely based on real historical figures, archaeology, written history, and oral tradition.

Each one of these 19 comics follows the story of a protagonist who is a reincarnation of the same soul, who is given powers by an ancient artifact called the Glass Mask, found by the first of these 19 people at the end of the last ice age around 12,000 years ago. The Glass Mask serves as a tether between the holder, their past lives, and various cosmic entities.

The people in the stories are not genealogically linked, because the time frame and migration patterns would not allow for that kind of link. Instead, it is more of a divine fate kind of thing, where the same soul is reincarnated into these different forms, and the Glass Mask calls out to them when the balance of the world is threatened.

A large part of understanding this story, and my own personal worldview, is understanding Egg Theory. I will explain it briefly here, but I will also link a video and recommend further research for anyone interested.

Essentially, “egg theory” posits that the universe is a training ground, or an “egg,” with the purpose of teaching and incubating a soul until it is ready to become a cosmic entity. In this view, every person on Earth is actually the same exact soul, just inhabiting different bodies. You and I are the same soul, learning and experiencing through a different vessel.

Here’s a short video about the theory that explains it well. My interpretation of the theory, and the way I use it in the story, differs in some key ways, but it is still helpful as a basis of understanding.

Back to the Magnullium story with egg theory in mind. The Glass Mask gives people the ability to access all of the knowledge, memories, and skills of the people who have possessed it in the past. With this power also comes those who seek to steal it for themselves.

In this story, there is a sort of underworld that exists on the other side of portals scattered around the globe. On the other side of these portals, there are multiple societies that stand in opposition to the higher beings that created our universe as a training ground for the human soul. One of these societies is the Shadow Dancers, who are similar to demons, and have the ability to manifest themselves in the form of shadows and hallucinations in the overworld.

This underworld society uses human souls as currency, with the most pure and experienced souls holding the highest value in their soul economy. Because of this, the Shadow Dancers seek to steal the soul of whoever possesses the Glass Mask, as the souls tethered to the mask are considered a priceless thing that would make someone the richest and most powerful being in the underworld. The Shadow Dancers are unable to transition into our world without a sacrificial link, but some humans who have discovered their existence have spilled blood in order to grant them power and allow them to cross over, with the goal of stealing the soul of the one who holds the mask.

My favorite form of art to consume and create is music, so it felt fitting to kick this universe off with a bang and make something that could keep inspiring me as I continue to write. I’ll admit I got a little carried away and ended up making a 30-song project, but each track ties into the story in its own unique way. Building this world has been so inspiring that the songs just kept coming.

The songs in the album Inque represent various scenes, characters, or settings envisioned for this story. The album is split into two sections: the first half representing the overworld, and the second half the underworld.

For example, the opening song Hellbender was a song I made about an infant floating down a river on a raft made of branches. I wanted the beginning of the song to sound like gently floating in between snowy peaks before washing ashore and being found by a group of people inspired by the Washoe Tribe and their ancestors that inhabited the Lake Tahoe Basin around 2,000 BC. The end of the song picks up and becomes more energetic, and is meant to represent ashes rising from a large bonfire on the lakeside as the protagonist fights a giant beast inspired by the Ong from Washoe legends.

In the Shadow Dancer’s capital city of Ashen, there is a radio station that plays, booming through the cavern the city resides in. The song Soul Economy was made to be an example of one of the songs that would play on this underground radio station as the people in the city dance in hysteria and go about their days without sunlight.

Real life, woven in

Inque album cover variant

On top of all of the connections with Magnullium, a lot of this album is also meant to represent experiences from my real life that I have woven in with the stories and their characters. When I think about the power the Glass Mask gives the characters in Magnullium, it reminds me to stay in touch with my subconscious, childlike qualities, and remember the experiences that have made me into myself.

As I grow up and time passes, I find myself wanting to hold on tighter to some of the most beautiful moments that keep getting farther away, and these songs help transport me there. My hope is one day my music will bring back memories for other people too.

“Isles of the Blessed,” for example, represents a mythological chain of islands in the story of Magnullium, but I also made it thinking about adventuring around the beaches and cliffside caves in Point Reyes growing up. I wanted to make “Skyborne” sound like the soundtrack for one of Odin’s ravens flying above Greenland when the character inspired by Eric the Red first settles there in Magnullium. But I also made it based on the experience of watching a world class sunset from above the clouds on top of Mount Tamalpais.

Each one of these songs is about a mental image and story that I hope to translate to other people in due time. At the very least, this universe exists inside my mind at this point, and now this album exists as the first step in starting to share this translation.

To the right you can find a link to the album, a rough draft of book #12 in the series, or check out more some of the visuals from the project.