THE TAROT RESTLESS

These images are from the second edition - the third edition has the black borders shown below.

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The Tarot Restless is a unique tarot deck set within a morbid fantasy universe in the midst of a cosmic infertility apocalypse. The deck consists of 100 hand-drawn illustrations printed on silver-gilded cards, packaged in a rigid two-part box. The accompanying text, Restless Meditations, includes a short story, new interpretations, and new functions for each card. The deck takes inspiration from numerous sources, most notably H.P. Lovecraft, extreme metal music, video games like Dark Souls and Silent Hill, as well as the work of Zdzisław Beksinski. While the first two editions of the deck have sold out, the third edition includes dozens of new cards, refreshed artwork, a fully rewritten guidebook, and more.

The goal of this work is to help guide people through traumatic experiences so that they can use their pain to foster new growth. Suffering is a part of life - with this work, I hope you use your pain to create new strength.

The Kickstarter for the first edition started with a goal of $1000 and raised $14,722.

The second Kickstarter, for the third edition, had a goal of $8,000 and raised $53,518.

You can read and watch reviews of my deck with Tarot Readings from a Bitch, Tree Talker Art, Queen of Cups tarot, and Avalon Cameron. Further articles on the inspiration behind the can be found on PC Gamer and  ComicBook.com.

Praise for The Tarot Restless:

“Incredible.” - Kristin Hayter (Lingua Ignota)

“Each card looks like someone (or thing) that would fit right into a [Dark] Souls game”- PCGamer.com

“As scary as this deck might seem, the scariest part is that it forces you to look inside yourself.Do you need this deck? Yes.”- Tarot Readings from a Bitch 

“I love it when you can tell an artist knows their shit...it's not just pretty artwork to sell a deck. There is so much tasty intention behind each card.” - Tree Talker Art 

These stories are set within a fantasy realm where the scattered remnants of the human race have arrived at an existential quandary. The gods they had worshipped betrayed them with a curse that spread across the world with the sound of a distant, tolling bell. As the sound reverberated, sickness and infertility followed. Panic spread as humankind confronted their slow extinction. In the upheaval, governing powers were quick to blame foreigners and rival nations, and religious institutions faulted unchaste women and sexual deviants. All the while, predation swelled against those whose lives were already marked by persecution – the alien, the queer, and the deformed. Decades of war, famine, and disease splintered the kingdoms and empires as the population dwindled away.

In the chaos, people sought comfort. While unrest drove many apart, it drove many others closer together. With no families to create, the pursuits of love and companionship remained as pillars of a meaningful life.

As humankind approached extinction, however, mysterious forces intervened. Devils and demons, the adverse creatures that had tormented mortals since time began, now offered strange blessings to some in their darkest hours. Gifts of ability, insight, and wisdom helped many humans survive the conflicts and dissolutions that followed the curse. Some used the gifts as weapons, swearing to bring violence against those who they believed incurred the wrath of the gods, hoping that their zeal would convince the powers to reverse the sterility curse. Others lost faith in the turncoat pantheon and used the gifts to protect themselves as the world around them descended into war.

All the while, sporadic storms of ink-black smoke roared forth to swallow up entire towns, leaving behind those that had breathed in the accursed clouds. The smoke rendered these unfortunates into listless, muttering husks, deaf and blind, minds irredeemably lost in the throes of endless night. Then, a final exterminating storm grew on the western horizon, as tall as the highest heaven and extending around the world. The storm was slow but ceaseless, cloaking the geography in a veil of suffocating darkness. 

The few kingdoms that had survived the wars fell to ruin as the ravaged diaspora of humanity fled the wall of smoke. In this mad pursuit, the final generation collapsed into fanatical cults and war bands, convulsing with the desire to undo their curse and exact revenge against their enemies. Unable to create new life, it seemed humanity was condemned to war against themselves until they were lost to the smoke. The gods remained silent on their thrones.

Each of the traitor gods resided in their own dimension, where their power was unfiltered and absolute. Yet, an even larger disaster unfolded across the cosmos. In truth, those gods were merely pawns of formless, cosmic entities who watched over the universe with silent indifference. Their work was the cycle of the creation and destruction of the universe and the preservation of souls from one iteration to another. The treachery of the gods and the scores of capricious demons were simply means to their mysterious ends. 

When one of these distant powers set into motion the utter destruction of the cosmos, the veils between reality and the terrifying outer dimensions faded. The world twisted and shattered as it merged with numberless countercosmic realms, and hosts of known and unknown deities, beings far beyond human comprehension, permeated the land. Opposite the wall of smoke, at the nexus of dimensional convergence, a continental battleground erupted in cosmic war. The traitor gods turned against themselves, realizing they had been fooled by forces even greater than they. The tattered remnants of humanity marched towards this blasted, alien plane for a chance to take revenge against the bastard pantheon. Certain death was both behind and before them, but only in charging forward did they have a chance at avenging what they had lost.

THE ZODIAC RETROGRADE

The Zodiac Retrograde is set in the same universe as The Tarot Restless. Inspired by the astrological signs, I created twelve new supernatural beasts who hold dominion throughout the realms of life, death, and beyond.

THE ORACLE INIMICAL (THE EXALTED AND THE EXTERMINATED)

The Oracle Inimical (The Exalted and the Exterminated) illustrates the most extreme points in the story of human extinction, from the first creation of life out of the anonymous dark to the final breath of the last living woman of the human race.

While this concludes the story of the deck as told by the cards, the world of The Tarot Restless is continued in a more abstract format with my ink paintings and my four player card game, THE RESTLESS.