Original Placement:
Today’s Cardano NFT project is a web3 project which forms part of a fantasy world called the Elderworld: Stag Alliance.
The previous guest was a blockchain development company on Cardano helping projects mint their NFTs and create utility for them with custom solutions.
This column is where I invite NFT projects to share their stories and vision as a way to connect with and learn about the Cardano Community.
Hey, glad to have you here. Please introduce your team, where are you from, what are your backgrounds?
Hey, thanks! Glad to be here. The project founders are Ashley Crossland and Jimmi Sandham.
Before focusing on the project full-time, Ashley was a director of a design agency that worked with the world’s largest blue chip insurance companies, such as Allianz. He has been immersed in visual design for over 10 years, covering graphic design, animation, video, and web. Ashley is the illustrator of the Stag Alliance collection.
Jimmi has over 10 years of business and marketing-related roles, holding senior management positions in several businesses, including Head of Marketing at a multi-million tech scaleup. He’s been passionate about Crypto since 2017 and is fascinated with the philosophy of value, giving our project a unique edge in the market. Jimmi is a highly rated author and is writing the Stag Alliance lore and wider Elderworld literature.
Our team and partners are composed of over 15 specialists in various fields, including full-stack development, game design, marketing, community management, legal/regulatory, operations, fiction publishing, and more. We take pride in finding the right people to create unique value in the space.
Although Ash and Jimmi are the foundations of this project, there is no way we would have been able to get where we are today without the help of our multinational team consisting of Mark (our blockchain and game developer), Chris (our operations manager), Shane (our game designer), Brett (the brains behind our game mechanics and mathematics), Joshua (our game artist), Zara (our front-end developer), Shaine (our community manager), and our amazing team of legendary crypto and NFT evangelists, community moderators, and Stag ambassadors: Blacky, Liam, JDavitt and Erah. We’ve been passionate about crypto since as early as 2016/17. Together we form the Stag Alliance dream team.
What is Stag Alliance? How are you utilizing NFT technology and why have you chosen Cardano?
Stag Alliance is a web3 project which forms part of a fantasy world called the Elderworld. We aim to be as big as the likes of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Pokemon. We have 2 NFT collections. Our Portal Pass which has been distributed for free, mostly to our early supporters, and our main Stag Alliance collection which contains 7500 unique collectables and sold out within 24 hours, even receiving coverage from the BBC where Ashley was billed as one of Wales most successful artists ever.
Through combining game play and literature we are breaking the mould and doing more than just your average tokenomics. Usually, projects minting a token have to find a superficial use for it. E.g., you can stake the token to earn more tokens or income from another source, or you can use the token for merch, or to buy other things within the ecosystem, but we already have plenty of good ways to transact, e.g., $ADA, FIAT, etc. The token isn’t needed. That means its most desirable ‘use’ is selling it. And that means the token is destined to trend to zero. Unless the project can keep creating perceived value elsewhere. The token then becomes a proxy for that value. It represents that value.
The problem in the case of NFT projects, though, is that now there are more ‘things’ that need to capture the value of the project: the NFTs and the fungible tokens (FT). This dilutes the value that the NFTs could have captured on their own.
Enter our innovative approach for 2024. We’re releasing our first fantasy novel on Amazon, A Tale of the Nine Lands, as well as introducing other fantasy products capable of generating tangible economic value, we’re revolutionising the paradigm. Proceeds from these products can be converted into $ADA, with a portion shared among Stag Alliance and Portal Pass NFT holders. This strategic shift not only elevates our project beyond mere tokenomics but also sets a precedent for meaningful value creation within the NFT ecosystem. We are pioneering at the intersections of web3 and entertainment; our NFTs are digital collectibles that earn from real-world fantasy product sales.
We have worked with leading legal firms to ensure this can be done properly. This immersive experience in gameplay and a world of fantasy fiction truly captures the community’s value, with our NFTs providing access to this ecosystem. We are the first project globally, as far as we know, to meaningfully connect the economic and collectible value of our NFTs. With the support of our strong community, we are defining a new paradigm of value capture enabled by NFTs. Moreover, this way we can really begin to bridge the gap between web2 and web3 integrating users from both platforms.
We have chosen Cardano because it has proven to be reliable, employing rigorous approaches. We believe in the quality of projects on Cardano and its overall potential, surpassing other blockchains. Cardano’s offering is robust, featuring reasonably low fees, reliability as a decentralised PoS with comparatively low energy demands, and acceptable transaction speeds. With continuous improvements expected, the fundamentally sound approach at its core makes Cardano stand out, offering more than any other L1 can. This extends to the entire Cardano community and the intelligence and skills of contributors across the ecosystem.
What do you think needs to happen for NFTs to show their true potential and outgrow the labels of money grabbing/laundering JPGs?
We firmly believe that our approach is pivotal for reshaping the stereotype surrounding NFTs. The untapped potential of digital collectibles is vast, and we are confident that they can capture value in multiple dimensions. Generally, these dimensions include:
- Economic value (earning from an associated economy)
- Collectible value (akin to a digital collectible, such as a Pokémon card)
- Ecosystem value (granting access to tools, services, or products within an ecosystem)
- Community-related value (generated by a dedicated community of evangelists supporting the cause)
Our NFTs are pioneering by capturing all these types of value.
Imagine owning a piece of your favourite game or original artwork from beloved stories. Our NFTs embody this concept. By creating real-world products like fantasy books and a fantasy game that revolve around the NFTs, we enhance their collectability. Increased sales generate more economic and collectible value, expanding the ecosystem and its benefits. The active engagement of our legendary community further fuels this cycle. NFT holders can enjoy various benefits, including true passive $ADA income, as opposed to a mere token mint.
This cycle is perpetual, much like envisioning a digital Pokémon card earning income from Pokémon product sales and gaining exclusive access to the entire ecosystem. It represents a new paradigm of value, and as far as we know, we are the first project to develop it in this comprehensive manner. When faced with scepticism about NFTs lacking backing, our holders can proudly assert that ours are intricately connected to a fantasy world with tangible products. Moreover, they can even benefit from the income generated by the sales of those products.
What does the future hold for Stag Alliance? Where do you envision the project in the years to come?
The future for Stag Alliance holds immense excitement. As mentioned we strive to create a fantasy entertainment giant. We aim to create a household name as iconic as Pokémon, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, the Witcher, and Marvel. Our NFTs are meticulously designed to capture the value of this expansive ecosystem.
Recognizing that such ambitions require time and dedication, we’ve invested years in developing our vision and are delighted with the progress achieved. All Stag Alliance and Portal Pass NFTs have been successfully minted, accompanied by captivating lore and backstories for over 150 special Stags, Royals, and The Chosen One (accessible on our website, linked at the end of this interview). Our gamified platform is in active development, with the Bank of Moonstone set to be the first section released. This pioneering concept allows NFT holders to earn prestige through staking, granting them access to $ADA generated from the sales of our real-world products.
Following this, our roadmap includes the introduction of the first Enter the Portal Events, offering holders a preview of the full game experience, where they can not only explore the game but also create and earn extremely rare artifacts and potential NFT mints. The anticipation for these events is high. Additionally, our inaugural book, ‘A Tale of the Nine Lands,’ by co-founder JKF Sandham is out March 23rd on Amazon, introducing readers to the ‘Elderworld,’ a comprehensive fantasy universe with Stag Alliance at its cornerstone.
As the project expands, so will our literature and gamified platform, presenting new opportunities to generate income. This not only enriches the immersive fantasy world experience but also ensures that our holders earn a larger passive income — a true win-win scenario.
Great contribution. Any closing remarks? Where can people learn more?
Explore the Elderworld, where Stag Alliance awaits!
Find all the information you need on our website and vision paper (links below).
Or of course, join our Discord where we have a thriving community willing to welcome you and answer all of your questions 
Our Project is still young and those of you reading this are still in an unbelievably fortunate position to join us early and be a part of something huge!
The Age of Prosperity is upon us!
- Website: Stagalliance.com
- Vision paper: Vision.StagAlliance.com
- Discord.com/invite/stagalliance
- A Tale of the Nine Lands book preview: Elderworld.io
Disclaimer: The opinions and views of the people interviewed are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Cardano Foundation or IOG. Moreover, this content is for educational purposes, it doesn’t constitute financial advice.