Catalyst Castle

In late 2002 a very unique show aired on television called Firefly. This sci-fi show featured strong western motifs as it followed the lives of a crew of renegades operating a mercenary ship on the fringes of space. The stories were well told, the characters had depth, and the dialog was tightly written. Unfortunately, the show was short lived at only fourteen episodes. A movie sequel called Serenity was released in 2005, and the story has also been expanded through two graphic novels. Even with the relatively small extent of this franchise, its creators have been able to depict a setting rich in flavor and texture. They've provided just enough for a creative fan to build on and imagine their own stories set in the 'verse of Firefly and Serenity.

That's why it was very cool that they released the Serenity Role Playing Game. As a fan of the setting, and of roleplaying, a couple of years ago I got some of my siblings and friends together to play. We created our own characters to crew our own Firefly-class starship and had some pretty cool adventures together. A few months ago, I got to thinking that it could be very fun and interresting to turn our adventures into a series of short stories, and even expand on them. I'm calling this new "spin-off" series Flyin'. This title is taken from an exchange of dialog between two characters in the pilot episode of the original show.

Simon: Are you always this sentimental? 
Mal: I had a good day.
Simon: You had the Alliance on you, criminals and savages... half the people on the ship have been shot or wounded including yourself, and you're harboring known fugitives. 
Mal: We're still flying. 
Simon: That's not much. 
Mal: It's enough.

To me, that exchange summerizes pretty well the main theme of the show. It's about people living rugged, dangerous lives, and barely scraping by. For many of them, if they're still flying that's good enough.

So, as I set out to begin writing these stories, I found that I was having some difficulty getting a handle on four of the characters I would be writing about, since they were invented by my siblings and friends while we played the roleplaying game, rather than being my own creations. I got the idea to draw illustrations of each of the seven main characters, and I've found that in doing so I've been able to get a better grasp on the characters. So, here below I'm sharing what might be considered an ad of sorts diplaying the main cast of my stories along with the title of the series (click for full view).