“Participatory” NFTs and the Shield-Maidens
I have written about the Nuclear Nerds NFT project before. I continue to be impressed with it — both from the team and project perspective…but what I’m particularly interested in is the participatory nature of the project.
They are currently building out a post-apocalyptic story with great art as the foundation (thanks, Adam Archer!), and delivering a series of comic books (to start with).
This is the roadmap for the project (and they continue to deliver).
The narrative and roadmap play out through non-dilutive drops (the comic tokens are attached to the nerd, and can be decoupled by the owner if they choose to sell it).
The story itself is built through prompts that are written by and voted on by the community. These prompts get scripted and written into the comic. This is storytelling, web3 style!
In the comic, there are even joke advertisements...and if you send in the coupon, they send you stuff like Space Punkie stickers and Invisibility Helmet magnets, along with a letter from the mysterious scientist, Dr. Homer Stupe.
Soon, they’ll be airdropping “backpacks” to each nerd, filled with items that they have scavenged in the Wastelands.
It is clear that the team wants Nuclear Nerds to be an experience for the holders and participants, as the project continues to build out.
The Shield-Maidens
That brings us to the shield-maidens.
I have never been particularly lucky with mints. If I had a super-power, it would probably be my inability to mint rare NFTs. However, in amidst my non-rare Nuclear Nerds mints, I pulled one with the “skull machete and route 66” trait.
Being a huge metal fan, the route “666” hit the right notes for me…and she just looked badass.
As part of the Nuclear Nerds project, you have the ability to write “lore” for your nerds which could contribute and influence the origin story. This planted the seed for an idea that became “the shield-maidens”.
A subset of the Nuclear Nerds community has been gathering to tell that story.
What is the purpose of the shield-maidens?
We’re coordinating a collaborative story that would be worthy of a spinoff comic.
As a consequence, I believe that we can also bring increased demand and collectibility to the “skull machete and route 66” as a trait.
What I LOVE about web 3 and NFTs is the experimentation….and I consider this another experimentation.
There are 309 shield maidens out there. It isn’t what I would consider to be a RARE trait. Can we make a more common trait within an NFT set into a rare by increasing the demand of that trait? I believe the answer to that is also YES.
What is the story?
We’re still figuring that out. The Nuclear Nerds “origin story” is still being written, so we’re early. Since this is fan fiction, we want it to align with the Origin Story…so we’re leaving a lot of mystery until we see how the Origin Story plays out some (specifically as it relates to Area 51.5).
We’re starting by addressing the following:
The machete is a skull….and a creepy, elongated skull, at that.
They are forging their weapons out of a skull! There is nothing more metal than that. Surely, that has a story behind it.
They have route 66 shields. Why? I mean, they’re not just picking up crappy garbage can lids and painting a skull on it! 😈 (inside joke…some of the nerds carry flimsy garbage can lids…but we love all nerds).
Some lore has been written for how the skull machete’s were forged:
Lore written about the shields:
…and we’ve alluded to some creatures that are being kept in Area 51.5:
In the roadmap, it looks like the shield-maidens might come in around Chapter 4, so we’ll receive some guidance from the origin story soon.
How can I contribute?
- Join the Nuclear Nerds discord. Drop your maiden image in the #shield-maidens channel- this is the absolute easiest way to be a part of this.
- Give your maiden a name and write a 2 sentence description (what is she like? what is her background?)
- Write some lore! You don’t need to be a writer. Just contribute something. Come up with a hero’s journey for your character. Come up with a way that she joins the shield-maidens.
- Contribute art! NuclearNate has contributed some great stuff already to go along with the lore (like the one for One Man’s Trash, part 2)
- Create and share Memes.
Yes, shield-maidens are meme-worthy.
Even poking fun at the Nuclear Nerds “Twelve” is fair game:
One of the purposes of the “Shield Saga” is also getting the Nuclear Nerds out on Twitter more, and in an authentic way (not just dropping into someone’s comments who is asking — “what NFT set under 1 eth should I purchase?”)
The shield-maidens can be a way to do this.
The project talks a lot about “fan fiction” like the Star Wars universe. What better way to lend credibility to that statement than to CREATE that sort of side story fan fiction, only for the Nuclear Nerds project?!
Sounds interesting? Grab yourself a shield-maiden! We’ve even started a fan site!
Join us.
