''Riese: Kingdom Falling'' is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

series which debuted online on November 2, 2009 (under the title ''Riese: The Series''). The series is about a traveller named Riese, who flees across the wartorn lands of Eleysia with her wolf, Fenrir. Hunted by a terrifying religious group, The Sect, Riese must evade the assassins that have been sent to kill her and discover their true objective.

Production

''Riese'' is co-created by Ryan Copple and

Kaleena Kiff Kaleena Kiff is an American actress, producer, and director. Kiff is known for her roles in the sitcoms ''Love, Sidney'' and '' The New Leave It to Beaver''. Career Kiff began her acting career in 1980. In 1982, she appeared in the NBC comedy ' ...

, and produced by Galen Fletcher and Nicholas Humphries. Production of the first five episodes was completed on Sept. 2, 2009.Twitter / Riesetheseries: And that's a wrap...
Riese the Series' Twitter The first chapter went online during the fall of 2009 and was very successful, so that a second chapter was developed. This drew Syfy's attention: Syfy digital owned by

NBC Universal The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are ...

decided to buy the broadcasting rights. The cast of ''Riese'' includes actors and actresses from other notable

and

television series, such as '' Stargate'' and ''

Sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

Amanda Tapping Amanda Tapping (born 28 August 1965) is a British-Canadian actress and director. She is best known for portraying Samantha Carter in the Canadian–American military science fiction television series ''Stargate SG-1,'' ''Stargate Atlantis,'' an ...

; ''

Ryan Robbins Ryan John Currier (born November 26, 1972), better known as Ryan Robbins, is a Canadian actor. Early life Robbins was born in Victoria, British Columbia. Career Robbins is known for his roles as Ladon Radim in ''Stargate Atlantis'', Henry F ...

and

Emilie Ullerup Emilie Ullerup (born 27 October 1984) is a Danish actress. She is best known for playing Ashley Magnus on the television series ''Sanctuary'' and Bree O'Brien on the Hallmark Channel drama series ''Chesapeake Shores''. Early life and education ...

; ''

Stargate Universe ''Stargate Universe'' (often abbreviated as ''SGU'') is a military science fiction television series and part of MGM's ''Stargate'' franchise. It follows the adventures of a present-day, multinational exploration team traveling on the Ancient ...

Patrick Gilmore Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore (December 25, 1829 – September 24, 1892) was an Irish-born American composer and bandmaster who lived and worked in the United States after 1848. While serving in the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War, Gilmor ...

and

Peter Kelamis Peter Kelamis (born December 11, 1967) is an Australian-Canadian actor, stand-up comedian and impressionist. He is known for playing Tail Terrier in ''Krypto the Superdog'', Dr. Adam Brody in ''Stargate Universe'', Goku in Ocean's English dubs ...

; ''

Stargate Atlantis ''Stargate Atlantis'' (usually stylized in all caps and often abbreviated ''SGA'') is an adventure and military science fiction television series and part of MGM's ''Stargate'' franchise. The show was created by Brad Wright and Robert C. Coop ...

Ben Cotton Ben Cotton (born July 26, 1975) is a Canadian film and television actor. His most notable roles are on the TV series ''Stargate Atlantis'' playing scientist Dr. Kavanagh, his portrayal of "Leon Bell" in the game Dead Rising 2, Shane Pierce, the ...

; '' Battlestar Galactica''

Alessandro Juliani Alessandro Juliani (born July 6) is a Canadian actor and singer. He is notable for playing the roles of Tactical Officer Lieutenant Felix Gaeta on the Sci-Fi Channel television program ''Battlestar Galactica'', Emil Hamilton in ''Smallville'', Jac ...

and '' Smallville''

Allison Mack Allison Christin Mack (born July 29, 1982) is an American actress. She played Chloe Sullivan on the superhero series ''Smallville'' (2001–2011) and had a recurring role on the comedy series '' Wilfred'' (2012–2014). Mack was a member of N ...

. Syfy started airing ''Riese'' on October 26, 2010 with a new name: ''Riese: Kingdom Falling''. On November 30, 2010,

Space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually cons ...

announced that Riese will start airing on spacecast.com early in 2011, making

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

the first country after the United States to air the complete webseries. Riese has been noted for its usage of the Red One. It is also one of the first live action sci-fi web series to feature the steampunk genre. Production-value wise, it has been compared to the web efforts of ''

''VFS Blog on Riese
Interview with creator Ryan Copple and features a cast of top Sci-Fi actors from a variety of shows.Riese on IMDB
Coverage of Riese on IMDb It is also one of the first dramatic web series to incorporate animals as one of their cast ensemble.Riese the Series : Fenrir
Fenrir : Profile

Characters & organizations

*Riese (

Christine Chatelain Christine Chatelain is a Canadian film and television actress. She had a recurring role on '' ''The Collector' as Taylor. Originally an art student in Vancouver, she tried acting as a hobby and quickly gained roles in ''40 Days and 40 Nights ...

) - daughter of Empress Kara and King Ulric of Eleysia, a fugitive since Amara's coup. *Fenrir (Tundra) - Riese's companion, a wolf, formerly of the royal bodyguard. *The Narrator (

, ''Riese: Kingdom Falling'' only) *Empress Amara ( Sharon Taylor) - cousin of the late queen. She was a baroness until she aided the Sect in slaughtering members of the royal family, thus establishing herself as the Empress of Eleysia. *Magister Herrick (

) - senior magister of the Sect, he leads the hunt for Riese. *Trennan (

) - a mid-ranking Sect member, liaison between Empress Amara and the Sect. Though Trennan must assist Herrick, he finds his methods unnecessarily cruel. *Rand (

) - leader of the Resistance. *Garin (

) - tactical commander of the Resistance. *Aliza (

) - Rand's second in command, and the de facto general of the Resistance army. She plans to use the Resistance army to establish a people's government. *Marlise (

) - an ambitious, sadistic and manipulative member of the Sect. *Ritter - Original founder of the Sect, supposedly chosen by Goddess Sonne herself. He was the first to have the holy artifacts of the Sect fused to his body. Is said to have perished centuries ago. *Arkin - Previous Prince of Eleysia, and brother of Riese. Was believed killed in the coup that was organized by Amara and the Sect. It is later revealed that he survived the coup. *Kara - Previous Empress of Eleysia. Was killed in the coup that was organized by her cousin, Amara, and the Sect. *Ulric - Previous King of Eleysia. Was killed in the coup that was organized by his wife's cousin, Amara, and the Sect. *The Sect - This enigmatic group, now the official religion of Eleysia, is as powerful as it is merciless. Worshipping the Goddess Sonne, they believe the end of the world is coming, and the only path to salvation is eliminating all those who refuse to follow their path.
They orchestrated the coup against the previous rulers of Eleysia to place the ''Anointed One'' on the throne, using Amara as a puppet to act temporarily as empress.
Sect members are infamous for the strange relics that are affixed to both their clothing and skin. According to their lore, these holy artifacts bring them closer to their Goddess, Sonne. *The Resistance - a group whose goal is to reverse Amara's conquest of Eleysia and its surrounding countries.

Web series (2009)

The original ''Riese'' web series ("Riese: The Series") was divided into two chapters, with a total of six episodes. It was available on the creators' website and on YouTube, beginning November 2, 2009. *Chapter 1: Helmkin **1 - ''The Hunt'' (09:03 minutes) **2 - ''Fragments'' (09:09 minutes) **3 - ''Bind'' (08:58 minutes) **4 - ''Spares'' (08:41 minutes) **5 - ''Dawn'' (10:20 minutes) *Chapter 2: Vidar **1 - ''Beast'' (11:34 minutes) Shortly after releasing ''Beast'', the producers withdrew all online episodes, due to the deal with Syfy, who purchased the broadcast rights.

TV series (2010–11)

Syfy broadcast one season of ''Riese: Kingdom Falling'', consisting of ten episodes, beginning October 26, 2010, also available on their website and Hulu. Existing webisodes were recut, rearranged and renamed for the Syfy broadcast, and new footage was added introducing

as narrator.

The Sect Is Here - alternate reality game

The Sect Is Here, an online

alternate reality game An alternate reality game (ARG) is an interactive networked narrative that uses the real world as a platform and employs transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by players' ideas or actions. The form is defined by inten ...

, began on 20 September 2009 at thesectishere.com. The game centers around the Sect, the villainous religious cult from ''Riese'', existing in our world. Players must solve numerous online and location-specific puzzles in order to unravel the true objectives of the Sect.Riese the Series: Delivering Transmedia with a Side of Steampunk
ARGNet discusses Riese's ARG

References

External links

*
''Riese: Kingdom Falling''
at Syfy *
The Sect Is Here
ARG website
''Riese: Kingdom Falling''
at Hulu * {{Twitter, riesetheseries 2009 web series debuts 2011 web series endings Canadian science fiction web series YouTube original programming Steampunk television series Fantasy web series Canadian drama web series