About / FAQ

About the comic

Gaia is an epic high fantasy comic about a group of friends who unexpectedly become entangled in a web of intrigue that could result in war, or even a threat to life itself.

In recent years, tensions have begun to grow between Midgard, the leading nation since the two devastating wars at the end of the First Age, and Cania, the home country of Ilias Oter and his friends. Ilias, though, finds politics to be not nearly as interesting as his classmate Lilith Caillean, a beautiful and amazingly talented young wizard. There is just something magical about her… As the students of the “Academy for Arcane Studies and Material Arts” face the first serious test in their life, the final exams, they suddenly find themselves wrapped up in a web of intrigue and magic that could result in war, or even a threat to life itself. Now it’s up to Ilias and his friends to save what is most precious to them before time is running out. But is giving your “best” even enough when you have to deal with forces that seem to be able to move kings like pawns on a chess board?

The comic is based on a campaign which was developed by Oliver Knörzer (Novil), his mother Ute Knörzer (Milena) and some other team members as a mod for the computer game Neverwinter Nights 2 in 2004 and 2005. The project was eventually cancelled, but a large amount of dialog had already been written for the campaign at that point. The game’s content was eventually taken as source material for the comic. However, many changes have been made to make the story more exciting and to adapt it to the new medium.

Contact information

Writer, webmaster and forum administrator:

  • Oliver Knörzer (Novil)
  • Mayenner Straße 48
  • 71332 Waiblingen, Germany
  • novil@gmx.de (If you have general questions about Gaia, you should rather write a mail to me instead of Powree.)

Artist:

Second writer of Gaia’s original story:

  • Ute Knörzer (Milena)

This website is published according to German law. The legal notice (in German) contains further information about liability and privacy policies. / Die Veröffentlichung dieser Website erfolgt gemäß deutschem Recht. Das Impressum enthält weitere Informationen über Haftungs- und Datenschutzbestimmungen.

See also our privacy policy.

License

Gaia is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Creative Commons License

This means you are free to share the comic pages, that means to copy, distribute and transmit them under the following conditions:

  • Attribution: You must attribute the creators and the source of the comic page. This means you aren’t allowed to remove the creator names and the website url near the bottom of the comic page. If you want to use a cropped piece of a comic page, the same information must be put as a text next to the image. In online publications, an additional link to http://www.gaiacomic.com/ must be provided.
  • Noncommercial: You may not use the comic page for commercial purposes.
  • No derivative works: You may not alter, transform, or build upon the comic page.

“Noncommercial” means that only an insignificant amount of money is made with the publication, e.g. with ads on the website. Up to three comic pages can be posted on commercial websites without monetary compensation as well if it’s a webcomic website or if the comic pages are posted as part of a review of Gaia.

This free license only applies to the comic pages written by Oliver Knörzer (Novil) and drawn by Puri Andini (Powree). It doesn’t apply to all other pieces of content found on our websites.

Awards and reviews

Awards

Reviews

  • Review by El Santo, the author of The Webcomic Overlook:
    • “The ongoing character transformations from playful students to responsible adults are natural, believable, and never heavy-handed. […] Finally, Powree’s art is a great fit for a fantasy setting.”
  • Review by Lauren Davis, author at io9:
    • “From its very first pages, Gaia is a lively comic, both in its art and its characterizations. The characters are immediately warm and likable, […]”
  • Video review by Tyas [offline], the author of Tyas Looks At…

Short reviews and opinions

  • Review by Eishtmo, the author of Wild Webcomic Review:
    • “Gaia is a high fantasy comic from the creator of Sandra and Woo, and it’s very, VERY good.”
  • Review by Helen, the author of Narrative Investigations:
    • “A younger comic but since it seems to be both moving and updating at a brisk pace, […] I’m going to take the plunge and recommend it anyway.”
  • Review by Mint, the author of Minty Musings:
    • “In my opinion, the art is great, and although there’s only 18 pages up at the moment, the characters are already coming across well and the story has purpose and a good pace.”
  • Review by Quan Williams [Mirror], the author of The Seizure:
    • “It is a very well-crafted story with great art.”
  • Review by William Drummond, author at Musings From Us:
    • “I can’t wait to see what happens next with this online webcomic of romance, magic and suspense…”
  • [German] Review by Frank Puhl, the author of Comic-Sammler.de:
    • “[…] erstmal ist es ein Wunder, dass ein Comic mit dieser zeichnerischen Qualität, witzigen Einspielungen und zuverlässigem erscheinen völlig kostenlos gelesen werden kann.”

Miscellaneous articles

FAQ

How did Novil and Powree start to work together?

After writing two dozen scripts for Sandra and Woo, I [Novil] posted a job offer in the ConceptArt.org and DigitalWebbing.com forums in October 2008. I got over 60 replies and Powree, who read my offer at DigitalWebbing.com, was my first choice. Just one week later, we published the first Sandra and Woo strip on our website.

Can I post a Gaia page on my website / blog / forum?

Yes, you can, as long as it’s noncommercial. Gaia is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. See the Legal stuff chapter for details.

Can I translate Gaia into another language?

No, you aren’t allowed to change the English or German text of the pages. Here are my main concerns regarding fan-made translations:

  • A translation is different from any other kind of fanart in that it’s unclear for a casual reader whether the translation was approved by the creator or not. He may therefore think that it’s an official translation and get a wrong impression of the original comic if the quality of the translation is poor, which it usually is. I myself, however, have no control over the quality of the translation since I can’t understand the translated text. Nonetheless, we once gave it a try with a Spanish translation of Sandra and Woo, but another native speaker informed us a little later that the quality of the translation was indeed poor.
  • Apart from this, the lettering of fan-made translations usually looks unprofessional, casting a poor light on the comic as well.
  • It’s also rather the rule than the exception that webcomic translators lose interest quickly and translate only a few pages before giving up.
  • The translated pages are also usually published on commercial websites. While I see it as a form of advertising when a couple of pages from our comic are posted elsewhere, this is no longer the case when large parts or even the entire comic are made available there. The readers then no longer have any reason to visit our own website while the owner of the other website profits from our work.

If you want to post a Gaia page on another non-commercial website (see the License chapter above), you should provide the translation beneath the page. Posting Gaia pages on commercial websites is forbidden without prior approval.

Do you do link exchanges?

No. Each comic listed on our link page is there because I believe that it’s a good comic that our readers might enjoy, not because I had to put it there in exchange for a backlink.

Is Gaia suitable for children?

Generally yes, as long as they can handle some amount of violence.