Before posting, I already had several alternate covers to choose between, cycled through a few for a day or two later on, but none of these stuck for long.
[https://i.imgur.com/4bj49q7.png] [https://i.imgur.com/zd8r1Us.png]
[https://i.imgur.com/u1BmeHi.png] [https://i.imgur.com/UCy72IO.png]
This is the one that originally won out, the classic original 'Maelstrom' cover posted with the first chapter, and the one that I still use on my finalized-chapters doc.
[https://i.imgur.com/htlpJYQ.png]
It stuck around for pretty much all of January, as I focused on getting chapters out and building a backlog. Maelstrom was just a tiny underground story at that point, less than a hundred followers after the first month.
February came with the contest winner announcement and a deluge of new viewers. Suddenly, there was the pressure of needing to be an eye-catching icon on Rising. This one stuck for a while, in various incarnations.
[https://i.imgur.com/T1W4xEp.png] [https://i.imgur.com/Vy8QyV8.png] [https://i.imgur.com/wA9FME8.png]
This one is another favourite, the one I use on my in-progress chapters doc.
[https://i.imgur.com/r7AqRod.png]
The constant ups and downs of that Rising run led to a lot of stress which led to a lot of making new covers as an easy creative release. There were... a lot of new covers created in February. Not all of them were ever used, and several only lasted hours or days before being cycled to something new, but I do love collecting pretty shinies.
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
[https://i.imgur.com/b482Ft9.png] [https://i.imgur.com/60bmAlH.png] [https://i.imgur.com/8KECykO.png] [https://i.imgur.com/5845r8I.png] [https://i.imgur.com/4NglyfS.png]
Flipped through a few after that, but with the chaos of Rising over, IRL stuff taking precedence, and ReSystem starting to need chapters again as well, the rate of new-covers died down a bit.
[https://i.imgur.com/NNPvyDa.png] [https://i.imgur.com/47MHHwM.png]
[https://i.imgur.com/wwqLroL.png] [https://i.imgur.com/aXzQb54.png]
But I'd noticed that people were not quite understanding that this was a story about Jair and Ran, not just Jair, so I started shifting toward duo covers vs showcasing him alone.
[https://i.imgur.com/eF70zlF.png]
[https://i.imgur.com/M2RrXAA.png] [https://i.imgur.com/lpYsfnt.png] [https://i.imgur.com/RUuQ0BZ.png]
I've also been toying with a few other solo variations that may end up in the rotation someday, or may not.
[https://i.imgur.com/x1SD3e8.png] [https://i.imgur.com/lYIQrNU.png] [https://i.imgur.com/mDOealC.png]
This one was originally intended as an icon for patreon, but I liked it enough it ended up being a cover in its own right.
[https://i.imgur.com/B0ZqdN4.png]
It was requested I include one with the green, so how could I turn down a challenge like that? xD
[https://i.imgur.com/2iBg1Zv.png]
Plus there are probably thirty partially-finished ones from the archives that I could polish up at some point, but for now, that's the journey of the Maelstrom cover art. :D