Line #51 Webcomic/ServantsOfTheImperium


1	[[quoteright:328:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/soti_cast_8615.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:328:The [=SotI=] cast from left to right; Severus, Bob, Lyle, Aki, Brianna and Krin ]]
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4	''[[http://www.servantsoftheimperium.com/index.php Servants of the Imperium]]'' is a ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' comic that follows a team of Inquisitorial agents in their adventures across the Imperium of Mankind. The comic is based around the ''Warhammer'' RolePlayingGame ''TabletopGame/DarkHeresy'', but also takes inspiration from the [[TabletopGames tabletop wargame]], and the skirmish game ''Inquisitor''.
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6	The artistic style of the comic has often been compared to ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', with which it shares many similarities.
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8	[[AC: The main characters to date:]]
9	* Aki van Corax -- A teenage ganger who the party picked up in their adventures on Gloaming. Handy with a pistol and seems to have some medical knowledge as well.
10	* Bob -- A [[TeamPet servo skull]] the party found on a pirate moon and adopted. In life he was a pirate lieutenant.
11	* Brianna -- An [[McNinja Imperial Assassin]] and object of Krin's affections. Tends to {{foil}} Krin a lot, despite their relationship.
12	* Krin O'Kar -- A bounty hunter who serves as [[TheLancer second-in-command]]. He has a huge crush on Brianna. He is... [[GeniusDitz not very bright, except when he is]] and [[ManChild quite childish]], but is an excellent fighter.
13	* Lord Severus Hunt -- {{The leader}} of the group and a member of the [[StateSec Imperial Inquisition]]. [[CosmicPlaything The whole universe seemingly exists to prove him wrong at every turn]].
14	* Lyle -- An [[PsychicPowers Imperial Psyker]] and [[TheSmartGuy Savant]]. Lyle often serves as the StraightMan and [[TheSpock voice of reason]] in the group. By far the most [[DeadpanSnarker sarcastic]] of the cast.
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16	The comic ended on March 16, 2014.
17	----
18	!!''Servants of the Imperium'' provides examples of:
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20	* AmbiguousGender: Farseer Aerian Alathatar, being an Eldar.
21	%%* ArtEvolution
22	* ArtificialLimbs:
23	** Apparently Krin has a bionic eye, artificial heart, synthetic shin and a bionic appendix.
24	** Brianna is also heavily augmented, but it is hard to tell beneath her [[SpyCatsuit synskin]]. [[spoiler: Her [[TheUnmasking Unmasking]] reveals this to be true.]]
25	* BaitAndSwitchBoss: [[spoiler:The Chaos Magus Brianna kills then turns out to be inhabited by a daemon which manifests upon his death]]
26	%%* BeamOWar: The Genestealer Magus versus Lyle.
27	* BerserkButton:
28	** [[http://www.servantsoftheimperium.com/comic.php?comicid=48 Don't hurt Brianna when Krin's around]]
29	** For that matter, [[http://www.servantsoftheimperium.com/comic.php?comicid=11 avoid Lyle when he's ticked off.]]
30	* BigDamnHeroes:
31	** Bob saves Aki from a Genestealer with its tiny buzzsaw.
32	** The Eldar do this twice: the first one, when they kill a cultist that was attacking the group while they tried to deactivate the bomb; the second one, when the Eldar Farseer attacks the genestealer patriarch that is about to kill Severus.
33	* BlankWhiteEyes: Lord Severus's default expression, with no eyebrows and his goatee hiding the mouth. So, [[TheStoic nobody knows what he thinks]].
34	* BrickJoke: In one of the earliest strips, Lord Severus points out to Krin that if you have seven guns and two hands, you have too many guns. Much later, when fleeing from a group of genestealers on Gloaming, Severus asks Krin for one of his backup pistols, and Krin tells him that he left them behind and uses the holsters for ration bars. Oops...
35	* CallingYourAttacks: Lampshaded and Justified. Aki asks why Lyle yells the names of his powers. He says everyone but him makes a huge racket with their guns; he feels left out.
36	* TheCavalry: The Guard and the Skitarii arrive [[http://servantsoftheimperium.com/comic.php?comicid=139 just in time]] to rescue the PDF commander from genestealers.
37	%%* ClickHello
38	* ClothingDamage: Following [[spoiler:Twink's attempt to kill them]] Brianna's costume gets a number of strategic rips in it.
39	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Krin shows shades of this sometimes.
40	* CosmicDeadline: The last several strips are presented as a narrated montage with little dialogue, where events quickly move toward and past the story's climax to finish the strip at just over two hundred pages.
41	* CrapsackWorld: It's ''Warhammer 40,000'' after all, but the planet of Gloaming springs to mind, where everyone but the noble class live in eternal gloom causing them to suffer from rickets and anemia and as a result are given life-shortening drugs just so they can work unceasingly for the nobles.
42	--> '''Severus''': We really are arseholes in the 41st milennium, aren't we, Lyle?
43	--> '''Lyle''': I'm afraid so, my Lord.
44	* CurbStompBattle: [[spoiler:Brianna vs. Twink.]]
45	* DefrostingIceQueen: Brianna, as shown by the increased frequency of her eyes being round with eyelashes, as opposed to her original slitted "angry" eyes.
46	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
47	** Bob and Severus' little conversation about his "buzzsaw".
48	** [[ChurchOfHappyology "I was only one more seminar away from attaining level three."]]
49	* DungeonCrawling
50	* {{Expy}}: The quartermaster complains that Krin never gives his stuff back in one piece. Just like Q from Bond.
51	* FacePalm: Severus, regularly. Notably when they encounter fellow Inquisitor Ishara.
52	* FailedASpotCheck: For an assassin, Brianna gets out-stealthed a lot, often by people who weren't even trying.
53	%%* FalseFriend: [[spoiler:Twink]]
54	* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Severus is '''Choleric''', Krin is '''Sanguine''', Brianna is '''Melancholic''' and Lyle is '''Phlegmatic'''.
55	* FourthWallMailSlot: [[http://www.servantsoftheimperium.com/comic.php?comicid=155 For the 150th strip.]]
56	* GangBangers: Aki and Kio belonged to a gang until they were possessed by Genestealers. Krin was part of this during his youth on a hive world.
57	* GuestStarPartyMember: Aki was going to be one of these originally according to the author, but he decided he liked her so she was promoted to main cast.
58	* GunNut: Krin clearly. It may be that his taking it up to eleven takes others, who might otherwise be in this category, out of consideration. An example, just check out the panel at the top of this page.
59	* GunsAkimbo: Brianna almost always uses two pistols.
60	* HeelFaceDoorSlam: Played for laughs in [[http://www.servantsoftheimperium.com/comic.php?comicid=34 strip 34]]. A pair of dark eldar decide they don't like being evil torture-loving psychopaths and that they want to leave. Next panel the heroes machine-gun them.
61	-->'''Brianna:''' I don't know what they were talking about, but I bet it was evil.
62	* ICallItVera: Krin refers to his rifle as "Betsy".
63	* IHaveBoobsYouMustObey: How Brianna gets Krin to stop looting as the asteroid starts to break down.
64	%%* ILied: [[http://www.servantsoftheimperium.com/comic.php?comicid=13 Mentioned by name]] by Brianna.
65	* KeystoneArmy: When Lyle [[YourHeadASplode kills]] the Genestealer Magus, all the cultists and Genestealers on the planet suffer a backlash that allows the defenders to win the battle.
66	* LampshadeHanging: In issue 110, Inquisitor Hunt and Lord Judge plan to make a large military operation with Imperial guardsmen and PDF forces to purge [[spoiler:the Genestealer threat]]. They consider mapping out their forces with [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} minia]][[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything tures]] and then realize it would be an utter waste of time painting them and setting it all up.
67	* LockAndLoadMontage: Invoked by Krin, as the party goes to arm up to fight [[spoiler:the genestealers and their cultists]].
68	* LotusPosition: Brianna meditates in this posture.
69	* LuminescentBlush: Brianna's can be seen even thought her ninja mask.
70	* MachineWorship: The tech priests, [[PlanetOfHats as per usual]].
71	* MoreDakka: Krin seems fond of this. {{Lampshaded}} in one of the first strips when Severus points out Krin carries 5 guns but only has 2 hands. Although later Krin has reveals that, as he never uses his pistols, he now uses the holsters to hold snacks.
72	* NoodleIncident:
73	** Inquisitor Hunt and Techpriest Einklath have one in their past.
74	--->'''Severus:''' Do you remember the trip from Cantieus?\
75	'''Einklath:''' [[AC:Affirmative. It is why livestock are still prohibited on Deck 12.]]
76	** At one point Krin apparently shot up a zoo, if the FourthWallMailSlot strip was any indication.
77	** Then there's [[http://servantsoftheimperium.com/comic.php?comicid=167 this]], when Krin calls out Severus for TemptingFate:
78	---> '''Krin:''' "Oh, I'm sure there won't be orks all over the thing we're after." Or "Hey, we'll be safe in here." What about "This BBQ sauce is bound to conceal our scent from those sabrehounds"? That did NOT end well.\
79	'''Lyle:''' Actually, I think that last one was you, Krin.\
80	'''Krin:''' Oh yeah! Fun times!
81	* OhCrap:
82	** [[spoiler:The daemon gets a brief one of these.]]
83	** [[spoiler:When the team realize that the guy driving the car is part of the Genestealer Cult.]]
84	** [[spoiler:When the Tech Priest Gunner when he realizes that his missed shot is going to hit the moon that everyone is on.]]
85	** [[spoiler:When the Genestealer psychic realises that Lyle has managed to use an illusion of his body to sneak behind him and kill him with a PSIONIC BLAST!]]
86	* OurWeaponsWillBeBoxyInTheFuture: This is a ''Warhammer 40000'' comic, so that's pretty much a given.
87	* PirateBooty: The hoard that made up the goal of the first story arc.
88	* {{Plunder}}:
89	-->'''Severus:''' Krin, what is that you're holding?\
90	'''Krin:''' Standard-issue looting sack M'lord.\
91	'''Severus:''' Of course it is. How silly of me.
92	* PsychicPowers: Lyle is an Imperial Psyker with the powers of Illusion, Electrokinesis and [[PsiBlast PSIONIC]] [[YourHeadASplode BLAST!]]
93	* [[RealMenWearPink Real Space Marines Bear Unicorn Sigils]]: Brother Sergeant Jaegar of the Deathwatch, proud member of the Unicorn Warriors chapter. He's just slightly defensive about it.
94	* RedShirtArmy: The PDF, or as Aki calls them, [[http://www.servantsoftheimperium.com/comic.php?comicid=119 "the Imperial Speedbump"]].
95	* RockBottom: After the party was cornered by a released Daemon, who reanimated its dead cultists.
96	-->'''Severus:''' Great, [[TemptingFate could this get any worse?]]\
97	'''Krin:''' Ah M'lord? There's a huge bomb back here and it's ticking...\
98	'''Severus:''' I really should keep my mouth shut.
99	* RocksFallEverybodyDies: [[spoiler:Except for the heroes. The Dark Eldar, Cultists and the Treasure.... Not so much.]]
100	* RunningGag: It's surprisingly easy to sneak up on Brianna, which shouldn't be considering she's a trained assassin. She hates that.
101	* ShoutOut: So far ''Creator/MontyPython'', ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'', ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'', ''Film/BladeRunner'' and even [[https://m.imgur.com/gallery/PzlsQC3 memes]].
102	* ShutUpKiss: when Severus won't stop speaking while traveling to the Imperial Command post, Ish decides to shut him up with a kiss. Leads to PostKissCatatonia for Severus.
103	* SinisterSilhouettes: One has appeared in strip #130, apparently saving Severus from a Cultist. They turn out to be [[spoiler:Eldar, who are in a mission to protect Severus and his companions, as the Farseer states their survival is important to the Eldar schemes.]]
104	* TheSpeechless: Master Drade the Crusader got his tongue cut out by Dark Eldars. It doesn't seem to bother him much, though.
105	%%* StickFigureComic
106	%%* TechnicolorEyes
107	* ThisIsGonnaSuck: Lord Severus [[http://www.servantsoftheimperium.com/comic.php?comicid=147 says it]] on facing the Genestealer Patriarch after losing his sword.
108	* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks:
109	** In this case it's a gun, but Krin nails a chaos cultist with one early in the series (and then steals his, just to add insult to injury).
110	** Aki also throws a monoblade long enough to be considered a shortsword with rather impressive results.
111	* ThrownOutTheAirlock: They're called "airgates", but it's the same thing when Brianna threatens to throw Krin out one.
112	* {{Tsundere}}: Brianna seems to return Krin's affections some of the time (and has gone so far as to flash him as a reward for saving her life/[[IHaveBoobsYouMustObey abandoning loot for her]]), but at other times has punched him and threatened to [[ThrownOutTheAirlock toss him out an airlock]]. [[http://www.servantsoftheimperium.com/comic.php?comicid=106 Here's a perfect example.]]
113	%%* TwoGirlsToATeam: Aki and Brianna.
114	* WeMeetAgain: The Magus to Lyle.
115	-->'''Magus:''' So, we meet again psyker. Perhaps you wish for another lesson in psychic defense?
116	* YouJustToldMe: [[http://www.servantsoftheimperium.com/comic.php?comicid=186 Aki manages to get some information using this.]]
117	* YourHeadAsplode: Quite frequently, from various bolter headshots to Lyle using psionic blast on enemies.

Context Webcomic / ServantsOfTheImperium