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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tvtropes_6157.gif]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:Coron, in the middle of his Worst Day Ever.]] ''Live, die, repeat as necessary.''
3
4''[[http://aquapunk.co/ Aquapunk]]'' is a science fantasy webcomic universe first conceived in 2008 by Milo "Lo" Keen. It has existed in its current incarnation since 2009. It is set on an ocean planet inhabited by magitechnologically-advanced merfolk called Esani, and their modern-day golems called Nosdai. Planned to be [[SharedUniverse a series of stories set in the same world]], the only current story is ''The First Law''.
5
6''The First Law'' follows the exploits of the serf caste of the Nosdai, the Nosdai Faithful. 1,600 years before the story began, the Esani beat death. Hard. They figured out how to resurrect souls from the dead and stuff them into golems, the first Nosda. As is natural for any race of short-lived mortals, everyone freaked out, went to war over what should have been a crowning accomplishment, and ruthless industry won the day. Megacorporations sprang up and founded the nation of Noarunosd, where the rich and powerful live forever in stone bodies among the neon-lighted streets. Then a century later, some of those spare bodies started waking up on their own. As they were technically the property of the upper classes, and suffering from mass-amnesia, the unknown revenants were declared a slave caste and sent out to do what giant hulking mechanized stone suits will always do best - work and kill.
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8Coron and his squad were a regular anti-terrorist unit sent to gun down illegal mining crews between work shifts. Coron's loyalty was bought in play-money and wrestling matches, and his subordinates Aogaur and Eieron just liked fighting. But over the course of a single week, everything went wrong. Coron talked to the wrong terrorist leader, and something in him changed. Then he had a vision about children being gunned down by a Nosda.
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10Then Aogaur went mad and ripped their commanding officer's stone heart out.
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12And now they're on the run - and the gods are doing far more than watching...
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14----
15!! ''Aquapunk'' contains examples of:
16* AcheyScars: Siai is sometimes seen rubbing the light scarring around her wrists from the heavy shackles she wore in prison.
17* ActionMom: Esbe, Avimo's mom.
18* ActionPrologue: The story begins with Coron and his team on a routine mission fighting anti-state terrorists.
19* AnimatedArmor: The Nosdai are functionally stone suits of armor piloted by souls. Not quite an example of LivingStatue, however, because they only become inanimate upon death and have an internal structure.
20* CleavageWindow: Siai has one, even though Esani, being non-mammalian, don't have breast tissue.
21* ConstructedWorld: A very lovingly crafted and alien one influenced by Mesoamerican and South American cultures.
22* CrapsackWorld: Noarunosd. It's a nation where the rich can live forever in fancy {{Magitek}} robot bodies, built off the bones of a repressed slave caste and brutally crushing any dissent.
23* ConLang: ''Sennan''. The dominant language spoken through the territories under Noarunod's rule.
24** Yes, it's very fleshed out, and while it bears some similarity to English, it is almost completely original. A "Sennan 101" PDF is currently in the works.
25* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: Faithful come pre-packaged without any roots, relatives or responsibilities-- they just ''appear'' in their bodies. Naturally, this lends itself to them becoming an oppressed minority.
26* DressCodedForYourConvenience: Military, paramilitary and government personnel all have similar uniforms. Non-civilian magic workers usually incorporate the uniform into their ritualistic dress.
27* EsotericMotifs: Lots of them, though most have been made up and worked out into its own system of mysticism. Sometimes imagery is borrowed from some Mesoamerican cultures (almost guaranteed to be Mayan, as most of the comic aesthetic borrows from that anyways, though occasionally Aztec), while Western symbolic systems are typically avoided for the most part.
28* FacialMarkings: Esani have symmetrical blotches and patterns on their face and bodies. Bluer Esani have white markings, and green Esani have darker green ones.
29* FantasticCasteSystem: The Nosdai are divided between the Orosa, Nosdai animated by the souls of dead Esani who have chosen to not pass on to the afterlife yet, and Faithful, Nosdai who seem to animate on their own. The former are treated no differently then any Esani, but the latter are discriminated against and functionally slaves.
30* FantasticRacism:
31** Siai politically advocates for the genocide of all Faithful, everywhere. [[spoiler:Or so we're led to believe.]]
32** Nuos hates Faithful with a vengeance and takes perverse pleasure in killing or hurting them.
33* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The general feel of the world is unmistakably [[{{Mayincatec}} Mesoamerican/South American]] (with particular influence from the Mayans) both stylistically and culturally.
34* FishPeople: The Esani, the dominant race of the world, are a species of aquatic humanoids resembling humans with traits of tropical fish.
35* GotVolunteered: Avimo. All the time. Especially when [[spoiler:Coron rather selfishly volunteered his family to put them up for the night while on the lam.]]
36* GrayAndGrayMorality: Everybody has an agenda, everybody's done something horrible, and everybody's absolutely convinced that they're in the right. Nobody on either side of the conflict in Noarunosd has clean hands.
37* GrewASpine: Coron gets a little more brave and independent with every crisis he faces.
38* GutFeeling: Coron. Weird things happen, and he's almost ''sure'' something is up.
39* HarmfulToMinors: Siai's childhood flashback in "Torchlighter"
40* HenchmenRace: The Faithful to… everyone else. They were not created for that purpose, however, and were in fact not created by mortals at all, having appeared on their own.
41* TheHerosJourney: Coron follows each and every step.
42* HumanoidAliens: The Esani, humanoid FishPeople and the main inhabitants of this world.
43* InformedObscenity: ''"Cet!"'' gets thrown around a lot and is clearly a swear, but what it means we're never told.
44* InMysteriousWays: The gods are clearly at work to fix the situation in Noarunosd, but their ways of doing so are subtle and often inscrutable. They get less and less so as the story goes on.
45* ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne: All being the Chosen One brings Coron is a lot of pain and struggle.
46* {{Magitek}}: Magic is technology and technology is magic. Just as an example, the Nosdai are basically robots being powered by souls drawn from the afterlife.
47* {{Mayincatec}}: Averted; Noarunosd is clearly modeled on the Mayan Empire specifically, with only a little taken from other Mesoamerican cultures like the Aztecs.
48* MechanicalLifeforms: The Nosdai, in the sense that they are clearly living beings and inhabited by the souls of Esani.
49* NecessaryEvil: [[spoiler:Aluomoc claims he and the other trickster gods are this; if mortalkind always won, they'd bleed the world dry with overpopulation and unchecked consumption and pat themselves on the back for a job well done.]]
50* OceanPunk: Set in a mystical world of vast oceans and tropical lands, with a cast made up of FishPeople and themes of political strife.
51* OddJobGods: Wights, the lowest ranked of the gods, have very small and localized spheres of influence, leading to things like gods of specific buildings or gods of landmarks.
52* OneWordTitle: {{Portmantitle}}-style.
53* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: The Esani are humanoid FishPeople resembling humans crossed with tropical fish. The fact that they are not human or even mammals is emphasized a lot more then most examples, such as by the womens' lack of breasts.
54* PerpetualMotionMonster: The Nosdai. Little trivialities like fatigue or starvation aren't much of an issue after your soul is transferred into a stone robot body.
55* SkilledButNaive: Coron, Aogaur, and Eieron, from their lives as a typical Faithful. (See below.) Thankfully, they have Avimo to provide [[StreetSmart street smarts]].
56* SuperSoldier: The Faithful have regenerative capabilities and are a bit harder to kill than the average Nosda. Their special situation lends itself perfectly to lives of relative isolation in the care of the state, and education based solely on its relevance to military necessity.
57* ThereAreNoCoincidences: What seem like coincidences at various points in the story are heavily hinted to actually be the gods intervening in little ways to nudge things to a better outcome.
58* TricksterGod: Aluomoc, [[spoiler:though he has deeper motivation for it then mere "pranks". See NecessaryEvil above.]]
59* UnderwaterCity: Noarunosd, and any other Esani cities obviously.
60* WaterIsAir: Responsible for a Nosda's or Faithful's ability to move quickly underwater, and unrealistic depictions of melee combat and light, mostly. Otherwise averted whenever possible: depth issues, language, movement, clothing, dissolution of things like blood and silt, food, and murkiness can be handled at least semi-realistically without negatively impacting the storytelling.
61* WordsCanBreakMyBones: Aquapunk is based in a society run by magic and {{Magitek}}, and words have very real and physical power in that regard.

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