Cardano NFT: Mandala Metaverse – The Cryptonomist

This week’s guest on Cardano NFT column is a cross-media, cross-chain Metaverse that aims to become the world’s first Enlightenment Simulator: Mandala Metaverse.

The previous guest our the most used NFT store on Cardano is working hard to support creators and build a great solution for users.

This initiative is a reference point for NFTs on Cardano and every week or so we will invite someone to answer some questions and give us an update directly from the Cardano community.

Considering that many of our readers are new to the crypto space, we want one mix of simple and technical questions.

Cardano NFT Project: Mandala Metaverse

Hi, glad to have you here. Introduce your team, where are you from, what is your background?

With a strong academic and experiential background in comparative mythology, the creators of Mandala are uniquely suited to be at the core of developing and producing this disruptive intellectual property. Imagine a cross-media franchise along the lines of Matrix or Avatar which is intended to actually bring about a real paradigm shift.

Currently involved in the project is Hollywood producers (including Kevin Foxexecutive producer of The Blair Witch Project), artists (incl Disney and Pixar concept artist Bruce Zick and Adult swimming/SNL artist Tony millionaire), writers (including veteran Marvel and DC writer/editor Stuart Moore), strategic advisors managers (incl Nate Jonesformer VP for digital games at Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainmentand Brooks Brownformer VP for digital development at Lightstorm/Lucas Arts), and one online beta community with over 25,000 users from around the world. Advisory board includes Columbia University Professor Emeritus Robert Thurmana longtime student and personal friend of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Thomas Geweckeformer Chief Digital Officer for WarnerMediaand Giedra Rackauskasformer president of Jim Cameron‘s Earthship and Production Manager at Titanic and Alien films, who was an early investor and advisor. Dark Horse Comics, IAMX, SingularityNet, MindMazeand LionTree are strategic partners.

What is the Mandala Metaverse? How do you implement NFT technology in your project?

Mandala is the world’s first Enlightenment Simulator: a cross-media, cross-chain Metaverse combination Avatar NFTs with a geolocation AR mobile game + AAA Unreal Engine MMORPG, live-action TV series and graphic novels (Dark Horse Comics).

Players begin a journey of identity creation and self-sovereignty to leave the Matrix by first creating an Avatar NFT. They are introduced to Blockchain basics via Mandala story: get one walletone NFT, strike and DIDs (Decentralized Identities) through The Mandala Clan app. They become a special agent, a unique part of a critical mass of sovereign individuals who form the core of a digital methanation state grounded in the power of decentralization and the value of human consciousness itself. Enter the Mandala.

Hidden in the metadata of the NFTs is a QR code which leads players down a rabbit hole for the story of a narrative driven token event called Sacrifice. Players are given the opportunity to adopt one of the oldest human rituals: making sacrifices (of choice of cryptocurrency) to The tree of life and help manifest a sharing economy based on abundance and freedom.

Mandala creates a new story for our world, woven from existing mythology and contemporary culture. It exists to connect, create an engaged audience and invite people into the story to wake up and engage in a shift in consciousness.

You build on Cardano, but also on Ethereum and Polkadot. Can you share more about this? How do these collections interact with each other?

We started building in Cardano because of the first principles outlined in Charles’s whiteboard presentation. Sovereignty, decentralization and making the world a better place are at the core, especially evidenced in the architecture of building pools with strong missions.

Collaboration with Ben Goertzel and SingularityNet to create our NPC AIs and build Mandala Metaverse side by side with SophiaVerse also led us to Cardano, along with a vision of interoperability to “gather the links” in our game. We identified three chains founded by the original founders of Ethereum that offer unique strengths and communities to create the Layer 1 substrate of a decentralized metaverse standard.

Mandala is a perfect project to actualize possible synergies – for example wood provides DIDs that connect users who can bet or play on multiple chains– and also to tell about the “tribal difference”, so that we can recognize unity in diversity on our way to mass adoption. For example, our recent coin on Ethereum, featuring the art of globally renowned artist Tony Millionaire, has been named to the Regens Collection to help elevate the culture by framing the NFT revolution as a “Regenaissance” rather than short-term flipping and greed. This collection sits alongside our Sovereigns collection on Cardano. Both invite players to become heroes in their own lives!

Ultimately, we see the Layer 1s retreating “under the hood” entirely as dApps and games offer experiences and the real power of the Web3 for less tech-savvy people to be empowered and enjoy.

What is your goal with the Mandala Metaverse?

Mandala’s end goal is not just entertainment, but something bigger, stretching from the personal to the global. Imagine a metaverse that not only simulates the individual path to enlightenment, but also the collective onealchemically marrying ancient time-tested wisdom and bleeding-edge technology to unleash the potential of human consciousness for good.

Imagine a metaverse with a modern meta-narrative and history woven from the archive of world mythologies to help inspire the global awakening that is already underway, where the world becomes the game board and you become the hero, playing your part in creating a sustainable reality for future generations and the earth, for real. Imagine for a moment a metaverse where fiction becomes reality.

Great contribution. Any closing thoughts? Where can people learn more about your project?

Mandala’s creative universe is vast and provides endless content, but the story is also relevant to the age and world we live in, and makes the audience “wake up”. Mandala originates from the need to create stories that really affect us in a lasting and meaningful way, not only during the entertainment experience. Remember the sense of realization provoked by The Matrix, but reverse that story. Instead of presenting this world as an illusion and reality as a dystopian future, in Mandala, the “red pill” awakens the audience to the potential to change things here and now.

There has never been a more urgent time for humanity to wake up and become heroes. Mandala contains the architecture and vehicle for them to engage – a Metaverse to Nirvana.

Come with us in building the world’s first Information simulator. Everyone is welcome.

Disclaimer: The opinions and views of the people interviewed are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Cardano Foundation or the IOG. Also, this content is for educational purposes, it does not constitute financial advice.