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->''"Humans are curious creatures, like newborn cubs. But, like the cubs, every once in a while, Mother lets them know where the exploration ends. Some things in this world don't need any explanation. Ceasar, even if we tried, your mere human mind can't comprehend it."''
-->-- '''Fleance'''

Pandect is a manga-style webcomic drawn by Canadian artist Dina Situ. It is currently hosted by comicgenesis and can be read here (NSFW): http://pandect.comicgenesis.com/

Existing alongside the human world is another class of persons called "Aces," who are animals [[HumanityEnsues who have earned a human soul]]. With the soul comes a human body and human speech and reason. It also carries with it the attendant problems of existing in human society, which wild Aces find especially difficult. However, Aces generally recognize that having a soul is worth the extra difficulties.

Though most Ace earn their soul by passing some test, a rare few are born Ace. Aces come in four varieties.

* Prince Aces are the highest class and have posession of a particular geographic area.
* Gladiator Aces are warriors with special powers.
* Regular Aces have no special responsibilities but may have special powers.
* Servant Aces are animals chosen by a Prince to serve them. They did not earn their own souls and will revert to animals if the Prince repudiates them.

The class of Ace is predestined: Every animal potentially has a soul of a particular class, which they receive if they earn their Ace. Even a Servant Ace could win a soul, which might even be a Prince soul, under the right circumstances.

Ace society is run by the Princes, who summon animals in dreams and give them the chance to earn their Ace. Few do. Most Aces revere a semi-divine figure they call The Mother, who occasionally grants "Legendary" rank to Aces who have done exceptional service to the Ace Kingdom. An Ace of any class may become Legendary.

The comic follows Fleance, the Black Prince of the Kingdom, who serves as the Judge when Aces have committed crimes. A melanistic Leopard, Fleance is seeking his trees, which were taken away when his home forest was destroyed. He comes to reside in a private academy run by another Prince Ace, and tries to learn the ways of humans. But the persons on whom he -- and the Black Prince before him -- have passed judgment have long lives and very, very long memories...

As of February 2011, on indefinite hiatus.
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'''Tropes Include:'''

* AnimalJingoism: Animosity between Snake and non-Snake Aces is widespread and apparently mutual.
* AnimeHair: Cat Aces have two hairspikes that resemble ears
* {{Animorphism}}: With a difference - Aces have both human and animal bodies and can switch from one to the other at will. There is no 'halfway' transformation moment
%%* CastFullOfPrettyBoys: It's a shonen-ai series
* CelibateHero: Fleance
** Fleance mentions that prior to the story he spent some time in captivity at a zoo, and sired cubs with the leopardesses there.
%%* CustomUniform: Vanessa, Cherokee
%%* CuteLittleFangs: Ice
%%* DefeatMeansFriendship: Ely, apparently
%%* DoomedHometown: Fleance's forest
%%* EarnYourHappyEnding: Heavily implied for Noah and Edgar, and perhaps for Fleance as well.
%%* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Fleance, Waka.
%%* EvilDetectingDog: Ice.
%%* EvilTwin: Subverted: Ice and Rocko use this as an affectionate term of address
* FacialMarkings: Justified: the human appearance of an Ace resembles his/her animal appearance
** By that token, Fleance's pale skin and ''lack'' of spots should qualify for this trope. Melanistic leopards do have spots, they just aren't as obvious as a normal leopard's due to the fact that the rest of their fur is also dark.
* {{Fanservice}}: All the adult characters, male or female, have perfect bodies.
** Justified in the case of Aces: WordOfGod says that the Mother makes sure Aces have superior human bodies.
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] once, when Teddy Jr. wore [[http://pandect.comicgenesis.com/d/20060722.html "Fanservice" brand swim trunks]]
* FirstLawOfGenderBending: Inverted: a female character is transferred into the body of a man. Thus far it has stuck.
%%* FriendToAllLivingThings: Rose
* HalfHumanHybrid: Averted. Aces and humans must never breed because their offspring are monsters. There is one potential exception, however..
%%* HumanityEnsues: Aces define this trope
%%* ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty: And "maturity" begins at 100.
* InMediasRes: At least a hundred years of backstory is necessary to explain the cast's current situation
%%* InnocentFanserviceGirl: Fleance, in a rare male example
* InteractiveNarrator: Dina and Ice once got into an argument; she also drops "Unsexy Facts" about biology into the occasional panel
* IronicNickname: Sobre is often drunk. {{Lampshaded}} in his first appearance: One of the reasons he's in the Hall of Shame is "I am not sober like my name."
%%* KissOfDeath: Edgar to everyone except Fleance
* KnightTemplarBigBrother: Backstory reveals that Theo played four or five different Ace empires in order to make his sister an Ace.
* LamarckWasRight: Fleance mentions having sired some cubs at a zoo in the backstory; Ice asks if any of them were Aces, and Fleance replies that born Aces are extremely rare.
* LimitedWardrobe: Especially for Ace characters, who like to dress in ways that mimic their species; humans have more variety. It's still justified in the case of school uniforms.
%%* LoveableRogue: Sobre again.
%%* MayflyDecemberRomance: Any human-Ace romance.. which is one of the reasons why they are forbidden.
* MorphicResonance: Aces' human bodies retain some characteristics of their animal forms, and they frequently style their hair and wardrobes to increase the effect.
%%* MsFanservice: Venus... maybe. Vanessa, once.
%%* MyNaymeIs: Ceasar
%%* NearRapeExperience
* NeverGetsDrunk: Edgar. Noah claims he can get drunk but will sober up within minutes thanks to his Gladiator powers.
%%* NoOneCouldSurviveThat
%%* NoSocialSkills: Most wild Aces.
%%* OfficialCouple: Noah and Edgar
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Subverted and lampshaded; when Ice asks why a half-Ace is called a vampire when it doesn't resemble, say, Dracula, Fleance replies that "vampire" is a misnomer, but one that's stuck
* PeacockGirl: Subverted and justified. Pea''hen'' Ace Venus is SharingABody with her peacock Ace brother Theo.
%%* PuppyDogEyes: Ice, of course
%%* RaisedByWolves: Literally true in Ice's case
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Most of the Ace characters are over a century old, and some are closer to 800
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: There is considerable animosity between Snake and non-Snake Aces.
* SeriousBusiness: Vanessa and kitties. She would rather go naked than wear something without a cat on it.
* SupernaturalGoldEyes: Fleance, justified since this is a natural color for felines
* ThirdPersonPerson: Edgar tends to switch between third and first person when he's nervous.[[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/20050526_8249.jpg]]
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The comic is set 20-50 years after the present day.
%%* UnreliableNarrator: Theo.
%%* UnusualEars: Averted except in chibi moments.
* VampireBitesSuck: A supporting character is savaged by the Vampire.
%%* TheVirus
%%* TheVoiceless: Teddy Jr.

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