[6] ASKBOX & FAQS

Any questions related to DEITIES Project and the characters are fair game and more than welcome, so long as they are respectful. Most of my responses will be written answers posted to the website and/or tumblr, though if your question strikes me, I might give a more in-depth response. On the rare occasion, I may also share existing or new art to accompany my written answer — but this is not guaranteed, so please temper expectations.

I encourage visitors to review the updated Askbox Guidelines before submitting new questions to either of the askboxes, to improve your likelihood of receiving a full answer.

There will [eventually] be two options to submit questions for DEITIES Project, using either of the askboxes on the project’s tumblr blog, or the project website.

On the Tumblr askbox, I keep anonymous asks marked off as a personal preference, which is why a Tumblr account is required to use it. I also default to answering most questions publicly as appropriate, but I understand any requests for privacy or anonymity. If you ever want me to respond privately to a question or comment, or to manually “anon” your name on a question before publishing, you can let me know in your ask.

On the website’s askbox, I will ask for all submissions to include your name/username; and either your website, social media, or email address. The latter options are for accountability, and a trade-off for using the website form instead of using a Tumblr account, but I will not share any private information in my response. There will also be a section where you can request anonymity, but private responses aren’t possible due to the one-way nature of the website’s form.

I previously offered the option to answer questions IC (“in-character”) during the early development of DEITIES Project — known on tumblr as Character Asks — but then found that while I enjoyed them, they were very time-intensive to craft. I’m very deliberate with how I write character dialogue, and this extends to the DEITIES cast; it can take me a long while to form an IC reply to questions that would take far less time to answer normally.

For this reason, I currently cannot offer to answer questions in-character — at least, not formally*. There may be askbox themes or events in the future that will allow direct questions where I can form character responses, but this option will remain SEALED for the time being.

Don’t let this deter you from learning more about a character, though — if you would like to ask a question about a deity listed in the cast, you may still phrase it as a general question. Meanwhile, any questions addressed towards the characters in the DEITIES cast will likely be answered OOC (“out-of-character”).

*NOTE: You may get lucky with submitting an ideal question, and where I may drop into character for an answer, but please don’t count on it — my impromptu IC responses depend on my mood, and are not guaranteed.

The 70+ different deities and demons that are listed on the Characters page are those whom I have already drawn designs of, and that I have made a place for within DEITIES Project. There are countless other Egyptian gods that I have not had the chance to include or design yet. While I have plans to get to some of them, there are others who I’m not sure whether to include, until I figure out a place for them in the project.

In either case, if a certain deity or demon from the mythology is not listed on the page, then I may not be able to answer any questions regarding them just yet — or if I do, it may be at my discretion.

Chances are you found some content that features a few OCs (“original characters”) belonging to me or some of my friends! Since I’m treating DEITIES as a semi-open world, I may cameo some OCs who are designed to fit the lore, but aren’t part of the major or official pantheon.

Some of these original characters may know the DEITIES cast and/or be familiar with them, but these interactions aren’t intended to alter the main story, nor diminish the importance of the major gods. Rather, these are the results of casual “just-for-fun” headcanons with friends, and to help flesh out the DEITIES lore and any applicable AUs (“alternate universes”). I’m also exploring options for collaborating with fellow creatives, though how this will manifest remains to be seen.

I’ll create a tag for these deity OCs in the future — both for those belonging to friends, and any created by the audience. Just keep in mind that in DEITIES Project, it’s canon that the population of other gods exceeds the several dozen from the major pantheon, so there’s plenty of room for characters to cameo and appear as minor deities.

Deities of Duat / DEITIES Project will remain focused on the Ancient Egyptian pantheon and mythology. I have not confirmed how aware or involved the DEITIES characters are with other gods in separate pantheons, nor have I have made any plans to include said gods within the story or project — save for any who were historically borrowed into the mythology and stories, like Anat, Astarte, and Yamm.

For these reasons, neither I nor the DEITIES characters can answer questions regarding those pantheons within the scope of DEITIES Project, so I’d prefer not to receive said questions in the askbox.

While I do have my own personal ships and plans for certain relationships in the project, I originally wanted to refrain from immediately confirming them, or creating a list of pairings. This is for several reasons, including:

• I don’t want others feeling obligated to “ship what the artist/author ships” — I’d rather let others naturally support a pairing based on the project art and storytelling.
• I want to avoid others feeling disappointed if they don’t see their personal ship(s) on my list, or if they don’t appear in the story.

Ever since the blog started, however, I’ve been able to share or confirm a few headcanons regarding certain relationships and pairings in DEITIES Project, which can be found in their respective tumblr tags.

Go for it! Even if it’s different from my ships or the confirmed/canon pairings, I’m open to those who want to ship certain DEITIES characters from the project. My main request is that everyone remains respectful with each other’s preferences or opinions — no need to start shipping wars please, and it’s okay to multi-ship.

Additionally, I have another personal request to recognize that — as the artist — I have my own personal canon for certain relationships and dynamics, so they may or may not match what others might support or agree with, or vice versa.

Absolutely! I’m super flattered by any DEITIES fanwork or gifts, and anyone is welcome to draw any of the character designs for DEITIES Project. You can even draw them with alternate outfits, or with your own characters included, if you’d like! Other types of fanwork are welcome as well (I’ll confirm them in more detail if and when I receive specific questions about it).

If you do draw something of the DEITIES cast, please remember to credit their designs and let me know about your work, I’d love to see the results! For any fanart, I’ll also gladly feature them on the full profile of the featured character(s), with a credit and link to your profile — just so long as the artwork is tasteful, of course.

NOTE: You can reach me on tumblr at @tenicola or @deitiesofduat, or you can submit a message with a link to your fanwork in the Askbox (if it’s open).

Since I’m not sure what or how visitors might want to be involved in this project just yet, this is an open invitation to please ask me what you have in mind!

I’m generally open to most requests and questions, and I’d be glad to allow others to participate in the world of DEITIES in some form, if I see that there’s an interest for it. And if I get the question enough times, I’ll add my responses to the FAQs for future reference.

With that said, please understand that DEITIES Project and all of its original content — the adapted designs and characters, the artwork, and the overall story — are all copyrighted to me (TeniCola). Please do not claim content from this project as yours, and do not repost or reuse any content found on this website, tumblr blog, or my other media accounts without my express permission. Thank you!

Thanks so much for your interest in supporting the project! I absolutely understand if people are unable to make monetary donations. I’m currently doing full time work, so while support is appreciated, it’s not dire — so by no means do I want to obligate anyone to donate, or feel like it’s the only way to show support.

My intention is to ensure that DEITIES Project content and the story will remain free to access to everyone. Additionally, any artwork or sketches I share in my Ko-fi Gallery will be accessible as well. I may consider adding bonus incentives in the future, or tie some currently SEALED content to milestones, but the core content will be available for everyone, one way or another.

Having said that, there are other effective ways to help support the project beside donations — including but not limited to reblogs and retweets; creating fanwork; sharing the project’s website; and participating in askbox sessions and [future] events. I’ll go into more detail another time, but all forms of support are genuinely appreciated!

Digital Media: Wacom Cintiq 13 HD + Clip Studio Paint. I also know how to use Paint Tool Sai and Paint.NET, and occasionally use Affinity Photo for retouching.

Traditional Media: Col-Erase colored pencils + Mechanical pencils for sketching. Sometimes I use ballpoint pens for inks.

I have a full [working] page of current and past resources that I rely on while developing DEITIES Project, you can find a full list on the References and Resources page.

Just like my other website for my personal OCs (ColaCanvas.com), this website for DEITIES Project is hosted entirely on WordPress.com, using the TwentyFifteen theme and some [okay, a lot of–] custom CSS. The CSS is a premium feature, but everything else on this site is available with a free plan and using the Block Editor.

NOTE: For general questions regarding how I manage my site, I’m happy to gather them for a blog update sometime! I also encourage visitors to review the available guides on the WordPress.com Support pages.

I’ll try my best to answer most questions that I receive in a timely manner, but answers are not guaranteed, and it is ultimately left to my discretion whether or not I can answer certain questions at a given time. There are some additional reasons why I may not have answered someone’s question:

1. The question is still in my inboxes, and I’m waiting for the right time to write/draw my answer.
2. Tumblr glitched/”ate” your question, and so I haven’t actually received it at all — you can double check tumblr’s support guide for troubleshooting missing asks.
3. The answer to your question — or the very mention of the question itself — is a potential spoiler that I cannot respond to.
4. The question did not follow the askbox guidelines; and/or the answer can already be found in the FAQs.

With that said, I do not mind answering most questions or redirecting others to the right pages and links with their answer — and I often do, privately! But please be mindful of both the FAQS and the Askbox Guidelines pages before submitting a new question, so that I can avoid repeating myself more than necessary — thanks!