In Update #21, "Mother May I? Part 2", we learn that while Shem 'Etzem's holy form may easily defeat the Bavel Macrostructure’s minions, it’s no match for Em Qeriah’s lack of seriousness. Will Shem’s hair-trigger temper prevent him from becoming the Evaluator of Names?
While this issue mostly continues the arguments and power struggles among the rising generation of Holy Tongue Society leadership and the old, it also shows how Shem can revert from his powerful, holy שום form back to his still-powerful, but baser עצם form.
Adam comes up for a good reason at the end of this update. Get ready to learn more in the next update!
(By the way, this webcomic will discontinue the numerical "Episode" system where some episodes last for multiple updates. While the next update would technically be Episode 16, this website's formatting plus ones like Webtoon and Tapas make the old system archaic. We'll just stick to numbering according to updates.)
Other news
Although it's not fully implemented, we updated the Wordpress theme to Toocheke Premium, which will allow us to use more Patreon and WooCommerce integration. If you've noticed that the site was slower recently, it's because we were trying to implement those features.
I'm hoping to ask around to figure out a way to have the site run reasonably quickly plus have our own online store and bonus webpages for Patreon subscribers only. By the way, please sign up for my Patreon! Even a dollar a month adds up...
Also, keep checking our wiki for updates. I've been adding beta sections to the Milhamah RPG storytelling game, plus there are all sorts of details about the comic there.
Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope to bring more updates soon!
Perhaps a camel can’t go through the eye of a needle, but can a “qof” monkey like Qop?
In Milhamah, Qop is the representative of the letter qof (ק), which is basically the letter Q in our alphabet. He’s a crazy ape who vibrates dizzily to loud music all day while pretending to be Adam’s big-shot producer in the Garden of Eden. His real job is to extract special shoresh roots from the earth with the eye of his giant needle, which can convert into an ax if necessary. His attributes are based on the shoresh root קוף and its larger family.
Comic and game updates
First of all, I apologize for not updating in awhile. I promise that I haven’t been lazy — just creatively pulled in a few different directions!
The RPG is gradually taking shape. New skills are up, as well as encumbrance rules. More rules will be posted soon, with a goal of having a workable rough draft by the year’s end. I’d like to publish a rulebook on paper by the late spring or summer 2021.
Behind the scenes, I’ve been doing tons of research on Hebrew shoresh roots and have used my programming skills to dig up stuff that most people couldn’t feasibly access by themselves. That info will guide how I devise the shoresh system in the RPG, the video games and the comics too. I’ll make a long blog post on it when my research is done.
I bought some manda brush pens, as I plan to do some quick B&W ink sketches of main characters and enemies for Inktober. Additionally, I’ve been planning ideas for Inktober sketches. They will help me visualize some ideas for the issue or two ahead. While I can’t promise I’ll get 31 done, I’ll show you whatever I can finish!
Thanks to some tutorials, I’ve been digging deep into the Godot game engine to learn how to program bigger projects. I’ve been independently working on an arcade game that features Shem vs. the Guf soldiers. My goal is to run a YouTube gamedev log in two weeks that shows my initial progress. Hopefully a public testing in six weeks!
Lastly, the comic is continuing bit by bit. I’ve started to sketch out the next character to appear — the serpent fish Nun!
I can’t wait to reveal more. Expect at least one more update this month!
Gaml is a boomerang-wielding camel who represents the letter Gimel. He was named by the first man Adam, in the beginning of “Milhamah” history. The two became friends, with Gaml toting around (and enjoying) Adam’s abundant wealth.
Gaml is based on the shoresh root גמל and its broader family. As such, his nature is tied to compensation and payback; ripening; concealing cloaks; a mouthful of drink; and purulence. His sentient hump is a golem, which in Hebrew means “amorphous mass” or pupa (as well as a giant clod monster). Both Gaml and his hump glitter like gold.
Although Gaml seemed to vanish from the land of Eretz after a separation from Adam, legend says he may return with the help of the Gimel foundation glyph. However, in a world tainted and corrupted by lies, Gaml’s vengeful demeanor may be too fearsome for mere mortals…
Find out more about Adam and his friends in the coming weeks. Once they’re introduced, the “Milhamah” epic will continue!
Other ‘Milhamah’ updates
Other franchise updates have been continuing behind the scenes. For instance, we recently built a presence on Pixiv, a Japanese art site, in order to gain a wider international presence.
Meanwhile, I’ve been continuing to make progress on the Milhamah RPG rules. Lately I’ve been working on getting the combat actions and skills right. Currently the rules are in an early alpha stage, so they will be greatly changed (and probably simplified) by the time I’m ready to publish them. Meanwhile, I hope to upload some special dice on Tabletop Simulator that people can use to play. While I have homemade dice at home, a digital set will likelier be cheaper and easier to roll out.
In the meantime, please tell your comic-loving friends about “Milhamah!” We’d love to have more commenters and fans over here and on our forum. Thank you for reading!
Meet Adam. You might’ve heard of him before. As in the Bible, Adam is the first man, and Ha-Shem creates him and assigns him to exercise global dominion, especially by naming the world’s creatures.
However, because the world of Eretz is shaped by linguistics, the “Milhamah” Adam differs from the biblical account in several ways, based on the roots in the אדם shoresh family.
For example, Adam is not only made from the dust of the earth. Based on the אדם shoresh root, his body also continues to take on elements of clay, soil and stone, and he has the ability to manipulate earth. The same root gives him the power to heat his body to red-hot temperatures — hence his ability to wear fire around his waist for stylistic modesty!
He has other powers too. In the “Milhamah” world, Adam was the first Evaluator of Names, a title that our protagonist Shem ‘Etzem strives to live up to. The אמד shoresh gives Adam his evaluation powers, which are similar to Shem’s in the latter’s holy form. When Adam is evaluating targets, his eyes shine like the Odem ruby he wears around his neck, and his vision has jewel-like clarity to determine the true nature of things.
Lastly, gaining dominion of Eretz has made Adam very rich, thanks to the מאד shoresh root. And that root also gives him the power to multiply his strength by many times.
So yeah, Adam is OP. His role in “Milhamah” may be a bit of a mystery, but the comic and franchise will explain more in the months and years to come!
Comic update
I’ve been hard at work making a bunch of new characters who will be revealed in the next comic update. I’ll preview each one here as I work on them, hopefully one per week. While an actual comic update for at least four to six weeks, I’ll continue to add more content in the weeks ahead. It’ll be worth the wait!
In Update #21, “Mother, May I? Part 2”, we learn that while Shem ‘Etzem’s holy form may easily defeat the Bavel Macrostructure’s minions, it’s no match for Em Qeriah’s lack of seriousness. Will Shem’s hair-trigger temper prevent him from becoming the Evaluator of Names?
While this update mostly continues the arguments and power struggles between the Holy Tongue Society’s rising generation and the old, it also shows how Shem can revert from his powerful, holy שום form back to his still-powerful, but baser עצם form.
Adam comes up for a good reason at the end of this update. Get ready to learn more in the next update!
(By the way, this webcomic will discontinue the numerical “Episode” system where some episodes last for multiple updates. While the next update would technically be Episode 16, this website’s formatting plus ones like Webtoon and Tapas make the old system archaic. We’ll just stick to numbering according to updates.)
Other news
Although it’s not fully implemented, we updated the WordPress theme to Toocheke Premium, which will allow us to use more Patreon and WooCommerce integration. If you’ve noticed that the site was slower recently, it’s because we were trying to integrate those features, and there were some technical glitches with slow image loading.
I’ll ask around to find out how to have the site run reasonably quickly with those features so we can still have our own online store and bonus webpages for Patreon subscribers. By the way, please sign up for my Patreon! Even a dollar a month adds up…
Also, keep checking our wiki for updates. I’ve been adding beta sections to the Milhamah RPG storytelling game, plus there are all sorts of details about the comic there.
Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope to bring more updates soon!
For the first time since last summer, the Milhamah: Fighting Words saga finally progresses as we get the 20th comic update, “Mother, May I?”
This latest update will be the start to Milhamah Issue #3, and it picks up right after the battle against Deli, which starts at Update #5. Much to Shem’s dismay, Tiqwah decides to meet up with Em Qeriah, a sort of mother figure in the Holy Tongue Society. But what sort of secrets does Qeriah know, and what is she hiding in her underground library?
This is the first time we all get to see the Arqah Archives. Arqah is mainly based off the ארק shoresh root, which deals with the ground and earth. And while it’s not a Hebrew pun, it’s sort of a coincidental play on words with the “Ark” of the Covenant, a precious vessel hidden in a holy sanctuary. And Em Qeriah naturally spends time down there since her shoresh is קרא, an anagram of ארק.
Putting the next scene in the archives is no coincidence. Expect to get a little backstory on Shem and the world’s background in the next few updates. But more than anything, my goal for the Issue #3 arc is to show readers a tangible Milhamah fantasy world, and not just refer to it in exposition.
Series update
So the hiatus is over, and soon you’ll be seeing many more updates to the story in the coming months, with some new character concepts interspersed. But here’s the thing — we need more readers! So if you’re reading this and think this series should take off (and acquire more resources to do so), we have a favor to ask:
Tell your friends who are into comics and fandom about Milhamah. Bring up the comic on forums and social media. Get people curious!
Join Eric’s Patreon. Soon I’ll be integrating Patreon into this website, which means I can offer subscribers extra perks and work-in-progress previews. Even if every regular reader gave $1 per month, it would go a long way toward upgrades!
Join our forum. We’re opening up posting topics to anyone right now, so let’s build a community. Discuss Milhamah or discuss cultural topics like games, comics and more. Don’t be a stranger!
So help me keep fighting to get the word out!
Milhamah: Fighting Words
Feeling silenced by the world? Join the Holy Tongue Society’s linguistic warriors as they use ancient alphabet powers to fight speech stranglers, truth manglers and a rebuilt Tower of Babel. And get immersed in a story that prizes freedom, candor and fighting back against overwhelming odds.
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Perhaps a camel can’t go through the eye of a needle, but can a “qof” monkey like Qop?
In Milhamah, Qop is the representative of the letter qof (ק), which is basically the letter Q in our alphabet. He’s a crazy ape who vibrates dizzily to loud music all day while pretending to be Adam’s big-shot producer in the Garden of Eden. His real job is to extract special shoresh roots from the earth with the eye of his giant needle, which can convert into an ax if necessary. His attributes are based on the shoresh root קוף and its larger family.
