At the start of Monster Lands there were three stand-alone stories introducing Othera, Eren, and Nixtos that tied into the first major arc with Marcus' introduction. I've enjoyed writing like that mainly because it's something that books and movies probably would have trouble doing, plus it keeps the comic in manageable chunks. This "three small stories that feed into one large story" formula will continue after this arc as well. The main characters will be:

story 1. Nadil
story 2. Adam Yi and the Elder Siren
story 3. Exris