Black Moon Chronicles

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Volume 1, Le signe des Ténèbres ('Sign of Darkness'), showing the armies of the Order of Light, led by Fratus Sinister, under the Black Moon (which appears on all album covers).
Volume 1, Le signe des Ténèbres ('Sign of Darkness'), showing the armies of the Order of Light, led by Fratus Sinister, under the Black Moon (which appears on all album covers).

The Black Moon Chronicles (Chroniques de la Lune Noire) is an epic dark fantasy french comic series.

Written by Francois Marcela-Froideval, the Black Moon Chronicles is an epic story offset by liberal doses of irreverent humour and the use of colloquial modern French over the archaic language usually found in such stories.

The series, whose first episode was published in the late 80's, was also translated into German, Italian, Danish, Dutch and English.[citation needed]Following its long-lasting success in France, spin-off series were created to give more details on the background of some key characters.

Episode 5 was the last volume drawn by Olivier Ledroit, who was replaced by Cyril Pontet for the rest of the series. Ledroit was still kept on drawing the remaining album covers.

Contents

[edit] Key Characters

  • Wismerhill (from "Whispers Hill")- The main character, half-dark elven, with an unknown past and an extraordinary destiny.
  • Haazel Thorn / The Black Moon - An archmage, claiming to be a god, who extends his power through his own religion. Plots to destroy the Empire of Hagendorf.
  • Hagendorf - The current Emperor of Lyhnn, warned by The Oracle about the coming of the "Metal Hound" who will overthrow him.
  • Frater Sinister (also called "Fratus") - Leader of the Order of Light. Also plots to overthrow the Emperor.
  • Prince Parsifal - Commander of the Knights of Justice, devoted to God, allied to the Empire.
  • Methraton - The Ultimate Mage, enemy of the gods and ally of Wismerhill. Subject of its own spin-off series, Methraton.

Associates of Wismerhill (more developed in the spin-off series Black Moon Arcanas):

  • Hellaynnea - A female demon (succubus), who becomes Wismerhills lover.
  • Ghorgor Bey - A gigantic half-ogre.
  • Pile-ou-Face - An elven warrior with two magical, intelligent swords.
  • Murata - A samurai.
  • Shamballeau - A mage.
  • Pepette - A girl, only person who can control Goum.
  • Goum - Pepette's enchanted (and powerful) brother.
  • Feidreiva or Fey - A female-elf archer, 1st love of Wismerhill. Killed by the Succubus in vol.3

[edit] Volumes

  1. Le Signe des Ténèbres (Sign of Darkness, 1989)
  2. Le Vent des Dragons (Dragons Wind, 1990)
  3. La marque des démons (Mark of the Demons, 1991)
  4. Quand sifflent les Serpents (When Snakes Whistle, 1992)
  5. La danse écarlate (The Blood Dance, 1994)
  6. La Couronne des Ombres (Crown of Shadows, 1995)
  7. De Vents, de Jade et de Jais (Of Wind, Jade and Jet, 1997)
  8. Le Glaive de justice (Sword of Justice, 1999)
  9. Les Chants de la négation (Songs of Negation, 2000)
  10. L'Aigle foudroyé (Struck Down Eagle, 2002)
  11. Ave Tenebrae (Ave Tenebrae, 2003)
  12. La Porte des Enfers (The Door to Hell, 2005)
  13. La Prophétie (Prophecy, 2006)

Volume 14, as indicated in Prophecy, is to be the final album of the series.

[edit] Spin-offs

[edit] Black Moon's Arcanas

Each album tells the story of one of the companions of Wismerill in the main series. Story by Froideval but each tome has a different drawer.

  1. Ghorghor Bey (with Ledroit, 2001)
  2. Pile-ou-Face (with Fabrice Angleraud, 2007)

[edit] Methraton

Spin-off dedicated to the mysterious Ultimate Mage helping the hero of the Black Moon Chronicles, by Froideval and Frabrice Druet.

  1. Le Serpent (The Snake, 2001)
  2. Le Crane (The Skull, 2003)
  3. Pharaon (Pharaoh, 2006)

[edit] In other media

The saga is also the subject of a miniature game of the same name[1], a RTS videogame and a massive online role playing game, which however was cancelled before finishing production.[2] The Beta game testing client is available for free on Fileplanet.[3]

In january 2007 the Company AmalGame-Online Inc. restarted developing on Black Moon Chronicles. Official Homepage The open beta started at the end of february 2008.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Chroniques de la Lune Noire: Le Retour des Dieux(Asmodee Editions website - in French)
  2. ^ Black Moon Chronicles: Winds Of War (from the Gamespot website)
  3. ^ Black Moon Chronicles: Winds of War Client (from the Fileplanet website)
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