I first started Saffron in 2023. It's gone through two versions.

The first draft was around 50 pages in the summer of 2023, and some of the pages looked like this:

And the characters looked like this:

However, I soon grew dissatisfied with the art style. I scrapped the thing in September 2023 and started again: this time it came out to 85 pages. I made some changes to this version as I made the switch to Clip Studio, and I finally started uploading the current version in April 2024. This time, it came out to 85 pages.

"Azardeh" or the Azardian Empire, comes a little bit from the Persian name "Azadeh". One of the meanings of the name is "free". It also incorporates "Azar", which is a month in the Persian calendar. Azar also comes from Zoroastrianism, the ancient Persian religion. If I was to pick a time period, it would be closest to the Qajar dynasty. I really like ancient Persia though, so I include a lot of references to that.

The fantasy empire of Azardeh is an amalgamation of many things. The characters would be speaking a form of Persian, so I plan on including Persian sayings and phrases here and there when appropriate. All of the food and dishes mentioned are native to Iran. However, clothing is definitely not historically accurate. The styles are western, with persian motifs and patterns. But I think this combination keeps the image of royalty that most people are familiar with, while at the same time infusing it with persian/middle eastern influence. And it gives me more flexibility when designing outfits, buildings, and landscapes.

Marin and Idris are, funnily enough, the only two with non-persian names (Although, the name Idris does have an Arabic origin). Marin was an original character of mine that I had before Saffron even started, and it just felt weird to give him a different name, so it stuck. In Persian, it would probably be pronounced like "Mar-een". That's how I write it in Farsi.

There are parallels to Iranian history in the story, for those who know a little bit about the 1979 revolution. It's not accurate in terms of actual events that took place, but rather the effect of authoritarian regimes on the people. The trauma that Idris struggles with is part of this.

Of course, none of this has to be known to read the comic, but I figured that some background may make things more meaningful! Ancient Persia is a very underrepresented region in media (and when it is depicited, it often isn't good), so my hope is that Saffron can be one of those representations. Thanks for reading.