Codex Hyperboreanus

A tyrannical queen rules the island of Severia with an iron fist, while her loyal vizierienne struggles to persuade her that in the art of government and politics, it is better to be loved than feared. Those who challenge the views of the fickle monarch are publicly beheaded by the queen’s trusted headswoman—a talented executioner whose fame spreads as far as the mythical kingdom of Cynocephalia, inhabited by dog-headed people.

Further north, surrounded by the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean, lies the Cycloptic Archipelago, home of a reclusive empire whose power rests on a weapon way mightier than a sword: a telescope called the Scepter of Knowledge.

The second volume of Yanko Tsvetkov’s Apophenia is yet another reinvention of medieval narratives like One Thousand and One Nights, refracted through the lens of biting political satire. The accompanying illustrations are once again drawn by Tsvetkov’s creative alter ego, Alphadesigner.