''Riese: Kingdom Falling'' is a science fiction- fantasy 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 Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

's attention:

digital owned by NBC Universal decided to buy the broadcasting rights. The cast of ''Riese'' includes actors and actresses from other notable science fiction and fantasy television series, such as ''

Stargate ''Stargate'' (often stylized in all caps) is a military science fiction media franchise based on the Stargate (film), film directed by Roland Emmerich, which he co-wrote with producer Dean Devlin. The franchise is based on the idea of an alien E ...

'' and '' Sanctuary'' Amanda Tapping; '' Sanctuary'' Ryan Robbins 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'' Patrick Gilmore and Peter Kelamis; '' Stargate Atlantis'' Ben Cotton; ''

Battlestar Galactica ''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series), original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel se ...

'' Alessandro Juliani and ''

Smallville ''Smallville'' is an American superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produced by Millar Gough ...

'' Allison Mack. Syfy started airing ''Riese'' on October 26, 2010 with a new name: ''Riese: Kingdom Falling''. On November 30, 2010, Space announced that Riese will start airing on spacecast.com early in 2011, making Canada the first country after the United States to air the complete webseries. Riese has been noted for its usage of the

Red One Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...

. It is also one of the first live action sci-fi web series to feature the

steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era or ...

genre. Production-value wise, it has been compared to the web efforts of '' Sanctuary''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 ( Amanda Tapping, ''Riese: Kingdom Falling'' only) *Empress Amara (

Sharon Taylor Sharon Taylor (born June 5, 1981) is a Canadian actress. Biography Sharon Taylor was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theatre from Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser ...

) - 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 ( Ben Cotton) - senior magister of the Sect, he leads the hunt for Riese. *Trennan ( Patrick Gilmore) - a mid-ranking Sect member, liaison between Empress Amara and the Sect. Though Trennan must assist Herrick, he finds his methods unnecessarily cruel. *Rand ( Ryan Robbins) - leader of the Resistance. *Garin ( Alessandro Juliani) - 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 ( Allison Mack) - 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

, who purchased the broadcast rights.

TV series (2010–11)

broadcast one season of ''Riese: Kingdom Falling'', consisting of ten episodes, beginning October 26, 2010, also available on their website and

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

. Existing webisodes were recut, rearranged and renamed for the Syfy broadcast, and new footage was added introducing Amanda Tapping as narrator.

The Sect Is Here - alternate reality game

The Sect Is Here, an online alternate reality game, 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

*
The Sect Is Here
ARG website
''Riese: Kingdom Falling''
at

* {{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