What is Afropunk?
A primer on Afropunk, Swordsfall, and what it means to build sci fantasy from a Black center.
A Word, a Movement, a Mirror
Afropunk began as the title of a 2003 documentary about Black punks inside a scene that never quite knew what to do with them. It became a festival, an aesthetic, and a word for Black art that refuses to file down its edges.
For Swordsfall, Afropunk means freedom of expression through a Black lens. It is punk in spirit and Black in voice. It is loud when it wants to be loud. It is tender when it wants to be tender. It owes nobody an apology for either.
Afropunk and Tikor
The sci fantasy part lets Tikor dream Black across time. Ancient kingdoms, divine politics, hypertrains, mechs, pirates, gods, spirits, and family drama can all share the same table. Bigotry does not get to be the default engine of the world. Tikor has enough problems without borrowing that one.
That does not make the setting soft. The world is full of coups, monsters, betrayals, curses, and very bad decisions made by very powerful people. It just means Blackness is allowed to be the center instead of the exception.
That is the work. That is the fun.
