Team History
Note: This document was aggregated from the Mibera work server (Discord) being scraped. The information here reflects what was captured at the time of scraping and is subject to change. Names, roles, and contributions may be incomplete or outdated.
The people who built Mibera — from a Discord server to 10,000 time-travelling bears.
[view source]Overview
Mibera was built by a small, geographically distributed team operating primarily through Discord and Google Drive over 18+ months. The project originated from the intersection of the Milady NFT community and the Berachain ecosystem, funded through THJ (The Honey Jar).
[view source]Core Team
Jani (deepname99)
Role: Founder, philosophical architect, creative director, project lead
Jani is the mind behind Mibera's philosophical framework. He wrote the founding mythology, designed the economic model, managed IP and finances, and served as the acknowledged "pirate captain" with final decision-making authority on all key matters.
Key contributions:
- Authored the entire lore system — the Refusal, ravepill vs. clearpill, the Kaironic/Chronic time dichotomy
- Designed the Mibera Economy Model and Tributaries system for derivative projects
- Created the astrology-tribe integration ("so that we get some additional memetic surface area for free")
- Color-coded the trait spreadsheet by archetype to ensure tribe balance
- Managed the relationship with Remilia/Charlotte Fang, submitting lore to Remilia Quarterly
- Called the trait pause that prevented scope creep
- Defined THJ ownership of all IP and creative output
Influences: CCRU (Cybernetic Culture Research Unit), Hakim Bey's Temporary Autonomous Zones, Plato's Cave, rave culture history. Key insight: Mibera is not a Milady clone but its philosophical shadow.
"Mibera is Daria but on drugs. Mibera is Lisa Simpson but on drugs."
"MIBERA IS A FULLY AUTONOMOUS UNGOVERNABLE TREASURY RAVE. MIBERA REFUSES MILADY."
Active: August 2023 — ongoing
Gumi (gumibera_)
Role: Lead artist, trait designer, art director
Gumi painted every single trait in the 1,337+ collection on iPad using Procreate. She established the impressionist, no-outline, "smeary" style that defines Mibera's visual identity and managed the complex multi-layer rendering system.
Key contributions:
- Created the entire PFP art system — all body types, eyes, hair, mouths, eyebrows, shirts, hats, masks, items, backgrounds, face accessories
- Made the critical pivot from full-body to portrait format
- Managed tributary artist relationships
- Wore out an Apple Pencil nib rendering hairstyles
Style: Blocks of color over linework. Visible brushstrokes. Desaturated bodies so saturated traits pop.
"Genuinely think that this is exactly what I needed to get this style change grokking right in my damn head. Mibera has fire in her eyes, she's not just a laid back docile bear rendered in a cutesy scuffed way."
Active: July 2023 — ongoing
Tez (tez33)
Role: Creative director, server administrator, art director
Tez set up the original Discord server on July 27, 2023 and served as the bridge between philosophical vision and visual execution. He created Figma mood boards, directed the visual aesthetic toward free tekno and 80s/90s rave flyer culture, and helped define Mibera's character identity.
Key contributions:
- Built and administered the Discord server infrastructure
- Designed the Mibera logos
- Created mood boards and vision boards in Figma
- Sourced patterns from Bong Bears for shirt designs
- Pushed for the free tekno and DnB aesthetic direction
- Scouted real-life event connections (Dubai, Basel)
- Flagged potential scams in the Berachain ecosystem
Aesthetic: DIY grassroots underground. Compared Mibera to Asuka from Evangelion. Pushed for authentic rave culture references over commercial ones.
"Milady are making a 4chan. We're making a Silk Road."
Active: July 2023 — Early 2025
Fedor (puerhood)
Role: Marketing lead, documentation, trait management
Fedor was brought on specifically for marketing and became a key contributor to the trait documentation system. He managed the trait spreadsheet, proposed tribe-by-tribe reveal content for Twitter, and contributed trait designs (queasy and toothpick mouths, biting lip mouth).
Key contributions:
- Led marketing strategy and Twitter presence planning
- Managed the trait spreadsheet as source of truth
- Created the "Dots" face accessory (separated from Milady's combined crescent-and-dots trait)
- Contributed to scoring documentation and cultural context writing
- Co-designed traits with Jani (Hindu Swastika face accessory)
Active: Late 2023 — Late 2025
0xuptake
Role: Music director, cultural advisor
0xuptake curated the audio aesthetic for the project, scraping and compiling reference music from the rave and free tekno scenes. Based in Australia, he pushed for music as an essential storytelling layer rather than an afterthought.
Key contributions:
- Directed music and audio aesthetic
- Set up shared Google Drive for music and art assets
- Pushed for animated posters with music (not just static images)
- Suggested the "Ancestors" role name for early contributors (using lore terminology)
- Advocated for B&W photocopied aesthetic for flyers
"Don't think of these as memes ser — these are our Cultural icons / historical documents past/present and future."
Active: September 2023 — March 2024
Balensci
Role: Intellectual catalyst, cultural researcher
Balensci shared the CCRU (Cybernetic Culture Research Unit) Wikipedia article on August 2, 2023, with the directive: "draw heavy inspo from this." This reference fed directly into Jani's lore framework — hyperstition, accelerationism, and techno-philosophy.
Active: July — August 2023
Glooming (Kata)
Role: Designer, font specialist, cultural advisor
Kata contributed design references, suggested the "Blur" font for the rave aesthetic, and provided philosophical validation at key moments. When Jani delivered his breakthrough manifesto, Kata's response crystallized the team's sentiment:
"Jani gave us purpose."
Also provided the key observation that framed the entire derivative relationship: "We often talked about how weed is not Milady. And bera isn't Milady. This feels like the right approach."
Active: July 2023 — September 2023
Lilbobross
Role: Milady community liaison, cultural consultant
Lilbobross brought deep knowledge of the Milady ecosystem, having met Charlotte Fang at a rave. He validated the philosophical direction as authentic to the Milady universe and dropped extensive art direction references for the team.
"Jani on par with Charlotte philosophical word vomit... but I love it."
"Rave pill vs clear pill is by far the easiest way to put it."
Active: July 2023 — September 2023
Sunbera
Role: Trait contributor
Sunbera introduced the fluorescent face paint series — Fluoro Pink, Fluoro Blue, Fluoro Green, and Fluoro White — connecting 90s rave UV culture to the face accessory system.
Active: 2024
Babybera / kitcloudkickooor
Role: Music producer, event planning
Produced music for 7 editions of the Mibera Lore NFTs, working with a team of producers on the generative music aspect. Offered Miami event connections for Art Basel and conceptualized an NFT music player.
"My dudes. Been extremely fun making all this music!"
Active: September 2023 — April 2024
Gods
Role: Graphic designer, video artist, meme creator
Created rave flyers, After Effects animations, and meme content for the project. Contributed Greek mythology knowledge (Pythia, Kronos, Plato's Cave) to the lore and developed the grainy/printed aesthetic for promotional materials. Their Discord account was later deleted.
"Is like we are all Miberas like Deadmau5 is everyone that wear the mask."
Active: September 2023 — mid-2024
[view source]Additional Contributors
| Name | Role | Period |
|---|---|---|
| zksoju | Technical developer (THJ), wallet integration | Mar — ongoing |
| tian7.eth | Community/operations, validator setup exploration | Jan 2024 — ongoing |
| zergucci | Assembly support, engine implementation | Mar 2024-ongoing |
| babybera | Everything music, core stem identification | 2024- ongoing |
[view source]How the Team Formed
Phase 1: The Founding Circle (July 2023)
The project started on July 27, 2023 when tez33 set up the Discord server and pinged the initial crew: balensci, lilbobross, glooming (Kata), and gumibera_. These were, as Jani later described them, "the resident Milady x Bera aficionados." They thought Milady and Berachain had something in common but couldn't yet articulate what.
Phase 2: The Manifesto (August 2023)
On August 14, 2023, Jani delivered his "MIBERA IS THE REFUSAL" session. Gumi immediately understood the art direction, Kata declared Jani had given them purpose, and lilbobross said Jani was "on par with Charlotte philosophical word vomit... but I love it."
Phase 3: Division of Labor (September - October 2023)
The team naturally separated into domains:
- Jani — Philosophy, lore, scoring, strategic direction
- Gumi — All trait art production
- Tez — Visual direction, mood boards, pattern sourcing, server admin
- Gods — Marketing graphics, animations, memes
- 0xuptake — Music curation and audio direction
- Kata + Lilbobross — Cultural validation and design feedback
Phase 4: Expansion (January - March 2024)
The project opened up for artist onboarding and marketing. Fedor was brought on specifically for marketing. The tributary system was designed to allow external artists to create derivative works under defined IP terms.
Phase 5: The Long Wait (April 2024 - February 2025)
Berachain mainnet delays stretched the timeline from an April 2024 target to early 2025. The team maintained cohesion through this period, continuing to refine traits and coordinate tributary artists.
[view source]Decision-Making
The project operated with Jani as acknowledged leader — explicitly established on March 1, 2024 when he laid out the formal IP and governance structure. But the creative process was genuinely collaborative:
- Philosophy: Jani would post extended riffs; the team challenged, refined, and validated
- Visual direction: Tez, Gumi, and the team iterated in real-time through Discord and voice calls
- Art execution: Gumi had significant autonomy, with Jani and Tez providing philosophical and aesthetic guardrails
- Trait balance: Collaborative spreadsheet work with Jani color-coding by tribe, Gumi offering to fill gaps, and the team collectively agreeing that perfect balance was less important than authentic imbalance