diff --git a/src/blob.S b/src/blob.S
index a23135e..19b56cd 100644
--- a/src/blob.S
+++ b/src/blob.S
@@ -1,8 +1,15 @@
     .global heliBlobDefaultFont
     .global heliBlobDefaultFontSize
+    .global heliBlobUnicodeFont
+    .global heliBlobUnicodeFontSize
     .section .rodata
 heliBlobDefaultFont:
-    .incbin "src/data/unifont.ttf"
+    .incbin "src/data/canada1500-rg.ttf"
 1:
+heliBlobUnicodeFont:
+    .incbin "src/data/unifont.ttf"
+2:
 heliBlobDefaultFontSize:
     .int 1b - heliBlobDefaultFont
+heliBlobUnicodeFontSize:
+    .int 2b - heliBlobUnicodeFont
diff --git a/src/data/canada1500-rg.ttf b/src/data/canada1500-rg.ttf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ef03b4d
Binary files /dev/null and b/src/data/canada1500-rg.ttf differ
diff --git a/src/font.c b/src/font.c
index 40e3c68..9297f90 100644
--- a/src/font.c
+++ b/src/font.c
@@ -84,6 +84,8 @@ static HeliFontMap *fontMapFirst, *fontMapLast;
 static HeliGlyph blankGlyph;
 static const char blankPath[] = "";
 static Font defaultFont = NULL;
+static Font unicodeFont = NULL;
+
 
 static HeliFontMap* createFontMap() {
 	HeliFontMap *map = calloc(1, sizeof(*map));
@@ -241,7 +243,7 @@ static HeliFontInstance* loadFont(const char *path) {
 		ftInitialized = TRUE;
 	}
 	if (ftLibrary) {
-		if (path[0]) {
+		if (path[0] && path[0] != 1) {
 			if (FT_New_Face(ftLibrary, path, 0, &fi->face)) {
 				fprintf(stderr, "helianthus: cannot load font from file: %s\n", path);
 				fi->face = NULL;
@@ -249,10 +251,10 @@ static HeliFontInstance* loadFont(const char *path) {
 		} else {
 			FT_Open_Args args = {};
 			args.flags = FT_OPEN_MEMORY;
-			args.memory_base = (FT_Byte*)heliBlobDefaultFont;
-			args.memory_size = heliBlobDefaultFontSize;
+			args.memory_base = path[0] ? (FT_Byte*)heliBlobUnicodeFont : (FT_Byte*)heliBlobDefaultFont;
+			args.memory_size = path[0] ? heliBlobUnicodeFontSize : heliBlobDefaultFontSize;
 			if (FT_Open_Face(ftLibrary, &args, 0, &fi->face)) {
-				fprintf(stderr, "helianthus: cannot initialize default font\n");
+				fprintf(stderr, "helianthus: cannot initialize %s font\n", path[0] ? "unicode" : "default");
 				fi->face = NULL;
 			}
 		}
@@ -333,24 +335,34 @@ TextLayout createTextLayout(const char *text) {
 	HeliDrawingState *drawingState = heliDrawingGetState();
 	
 	if (!defaultFont) defaultFont = createFont(NULL);
-	HeliFontInstance *f = drawingState->font ? drawingState->font->instance : NULL;
-	HeliFontInstance *ff = defaultFont ? defaultFont->instance : NULL;
-	if (!f) f = ff;
-	if (!ff) ff = f;
-	if (!f) return layout;
-	
-	if (!f->face) f = ff;
-	if (!ff->face) ff = f;
-	if (!f->face) return layout;
+	if (!unicodeFont) unicodeFont = createFont("\1");
+	
+	HeliFontInstance *fonts[10];
+	int fontsCount = 0;
+	if ( drawingState->font
+	  && drawingState->font->instance
+	  && drawingState->font->instance->face )
+		fonts[fontsCount++] = drawingState->font->instance;
+	if ( defaultFont
+	  && defaultFont->instance
+	  && defaultFont->instance->face )
+		fonts[fontsCount++] = defaultFont->instance;
+	if ( unicodeFont
+	  && unicodeFont->instance
+	  && unicodeFont->instance->face )
+		fonts[fontsCount++] = unicodeFont->instance;
+
+	if (!fontsCount)
+		return layout;
 	
 	int linesAllocated = 256;
 	layout->linesCount = 1;
 	layout->lines = calloc(linesAllocated, sizeof(HeliLineDesc));
 	HeliLineDesc *line = layout->lines;
-	line->height = f->height;
+	line->height = fonts[0]->height;
 	layout->chars = calloc(strlen(text) + 1, sizeof(HeliCharDesc));
-	if (defaultFont && defaultFont->instance != f)
-		layout->font = createFont(f->path);
+	if (fonts[0]->path && fonts[0]->path[0] != '\1')
+		layout->font = createFont(fonts[0]->path);
 	
 	// gather glyphs
 	const char *c = text;
@@ -377,10 +389,10 @@ TextLayout createTextLayout(const char *text) {
 		
 		HeliGlyph *glyph = &blankGlyph;
 		int code2 = (code == 0 || code == 10 || code == 13) ? 32 : code;
-		if (!glyph->fi) glyph = getGlyph(f, code2);
-		if (!glyph->fi) glyph = getGlyph(ff, code2);
-		if (!glyph->fi) glyph = getGlyph(f, FONT_BADCHAR_CODE);
-		if (!glyph->fi) glyph = getGlyph(ff, FONT_BADCHAR_CODE);
+		for(int i = 0; i < fontsCount && !glyph->fi; ++i)
+			glyph = getGlyph(fonts[i], code2);
+		for(int i = 0; i < fontsCount && !glyph->fi; ++i)
+			glyph = getGlyph(fonts[i], FONT_BADCHAR_CODE);
 		if (!glyph->fi) continue;
 		
 		HeliCharDesc *cc = &layout->chars[line->end++];
@@ -417,7 +429,7 @@ TextLayout createTextLayout(const char *text) {
 			++line;
 			++layout->linesCount;
 			line->begin = line->end = (line - 1)->end;
-			line->height = f->height;
+			line->height = fonts[0]->height;
 		}
 		if (code == 0) break;
 	}
@@ -637,6 +649,8 @@ double textLayoutGetHeight(TextLayout layout) {
 
 
 void heliFontFinish() {
+	defaultFont = NULL;
+	unicodeFont = NULL;
 	heliArrayDestroy(&fontCache);
 	if (ftInitialized && ftLibrary) FT_Done_FreeType(ftLibrary);
 	ftLibrary = NULL;
diff --git a/src/private.h b/src/private.h
index 3b5821e..f576acf 100644
--- a/src/private.h
+++ b/src/private.h
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@
 
 extern char heliBlobDefaultFont[] asm("heliBlobDefaultFont");
 extern int heliBlobDefaultFontSize asm("heliBlobDefaultFontSize");
+extern char heliBlobUnicodeFont[] asm("heliBlobUnicodeFont");
+extern int heliBlobUnicodeFontSize asm("heliBlobUnicodeFontSize");
 
 
 // string