Welcome back to your exclusive backstage tour of the culture of planet Thror, the setting of my upcoming graphic novel, Napoloen’s Starship, now live on Kickstarter. It’s going to be almost as enlightening as a trip to planet Thror, only without the mind-numbing spaceship journey and occasional asteroid collisions.

Today’s update is about the unique, wordless language of the ancient Throrians – the language of scents.

The culture of ancient Thror was profoundly “scentient” – that means scents, smells, fragrances, perfumes, essences, odors, aromas, and miscellaneous redolences played an immense role in the way Throrians viewed their world and expressed themselves. Scents were the main method for constructing one’s identity; they could be used to convey moods, show feelings, make specific statements, seal agreements, issue commands, connect with one another, celebrate special occasions and create atmosphere.

This diagram represents only a small fraction of the vast range of ingredients used by the Throrians to brew their scents, along with some examples of scent burners, vials, scent-bearing jewelry, and other important scent-related equipment. The shapes, colors and textures of scent vials always corresponded with the purpose and meaning of the substance contained within.

Throrians use scents like silent music, creating harmonies and rhythms. Think about some of your favorite scents and smells. What are they made of? What do you think they say about you? What do they mean to you? What do you keep them in and/or how do you disburse them? Can you imagine maintaining an entire conversation by opening and closing a set of tiny scent vials? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Tune into Bitten Apple TV’s live podcast today (July 29) at 10:30pm EST to watch the Wayward Ravens and I share some fragrant secrets about Napoleon, planet Thror and my current adventures in the Egyptian desert: https://www.facebook.com/share/E1VpcijQh7U7SnMZ/

In the meantime, if you fancy delving into an epic and dramatic tale set amid the volcanic mountains and delicate scents of planet Thror, consider teleporting to the Kickstarter for Napoleon’s Starship:

We’re 40% to our goal, but time is running fast and this book will never emerge from the crater of Kickstarter purgatory without your support. Even $1 would feed the engine of our starship and while the Early Bird rewards are still active, $10 will get you your own digital copy. The fragrances of Thror are calling for your help!