Esoterica is a webcomic that does not yet exist by Zenith.
The story concerns a group of High School students who barely know each other suddenly falling into a strange series of tunnels under their hometown of Anywhere, USA. Somehow, all five of them make their way to the center, where they find a strange, mechanical shrine, and they're all given superpowers. Overnight, their city becomes a City of Adventure, and they have to fight increasingly strange creatures to protect the town as well as their loved ones while trying to figure out just what the hell is going on.
The main characters (which form two different Five Man Bands:
- Benedict "Ben" Andrews: Alternatively fills The Hero and The Smart Guy. Benedict is an extreme Deadpan Snarker. He's been friends with Ariana since childhood, and has a small crush on Kaylee. He also knows Hayden, but not that well. His ability is Awesomeness by Analysis; he can see various numbers and equations when he wants to, and can use them in unexpected ways. His name is not a Meaningful Name.
- Esther Kay Robinson ("Kaylee"): The Lancer as well as The Heart. She's always very cheerful, but also rather rather clumsy. She's very good friends with Ariana. She is also aware of Benedict's feelings towards her, and kind of likes him back. Her initial power is the ability to smell emotions; luckily, because their powers grow, she later becomes much more helpful to the team (as some of the powers she gets later include being able to read minds, being able to influence people's decisions, entering dreams, et cetera). Her powers eventually become too much for her, and she went Jumping Off the Slippery Slope. She's killed shortly after her Face–Heel Turn by
Benedict. - Ariana Ackerman: The Big Guy, Ariana is a Jerk Jock who, as mentioned above, has known Benedict since childhood and is Kaylee's best friend. She actually harbors feelings for Benedict, but he chooses Kaylee over her. Defrosting Ice Queen. Her power is the ability to throw objects and have them hit wherever she wants; this becomes more devastating when she realizes that she can pretty much throw whatever she wants.
- Natalie Bélanger: The Heart and The Lancer. A Shrinking Violet who didn't know anyone before the comic begins. She really, really doesn't like to talk. Her power is light manipulation; mostly, she creates several spheres of light and uses them for various purposes (shields, attacks, all that stuff). She can also fly. Her abilities are actually because she's half-angel. She's also one of the three ancient forces; specifically, she is the Horizon.
- Hayden Wilcox: The Smart Guy and The Hero; he's the real main character of the story, but due to being The Ditz and a Cloud Cuckoolander Benedict is the viewpoint character instead. He's also Obfuscating Stupidity, but that's not much of a secret. His power is the ability to create things from video games and use them in the real world. He's actually a Reality Warper whose powers are limited only by his lack of knowledge. He's also another one of the three forces; he is the Nadir.
Other characters include:
- Clyde: Inspector Javert who over the course of the series slowly becomes The Commissioner Gordon.
Lawful Neutral. - Acheron: Big Bad of the first two Hours. An Artificial Human with strange powers. Eventually undergoes a Heel–Face Turn.
- Charon: The Dragon to Acheron. A highly advanced robot who can separate himself into smaller robots.
- Bellamy: A New Transfer Student to the school, she has the ability to summon ancient creatures. Big Bad of the Third Hour, but she's an Anti-Villain and dies in a Heroic Sacrifice to stop the events she put in motion.
- Ame Jackson: Natalie's best friend. She's in love with Natalie but unfortunately she doesn't return the affections. Becomes the Sixth Ranger and eventually Kaylee's replacement once it's discovered she can control the weather.
- The Prophet: A mysterious cloaked figure; no one knows their real name. True Neutral. The leader of the Esoterica and the last of the ancient forces.
- Geneviéve: Robot Girl who becomes the Big Bad of the Sixth Hour when her (human) lover dies in a car crash, resulting in A.I. Is a Crapshoot.
The plot is separated into twelve sections, called "Hours". These Hours actually have to do with the plot; when each of them ends, The "Grand Clock" reaches the next number. It's prophecized in The Scriptures that armageddon will occur when the Grand Clock reaches twelve. The Grand Clock is watched over by an Omniscient Council of Vagueness known as the Esoterica. There's also some talk of three ancient forces.
Tropes
- A God Am I: The Prophet.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Geneviéve
- Anti-Hero: Acheron post Heel–Face Turn.
- Anti-Villain: Bellamy
- Big Bad: Each Hour has their own Big Bad. Some of the more notable:
- First Hour: Charon
- Second Hour: Acheron; it's revealed that Charon was The Dragon.
- Third Hour: Bellamy.
- Sixth Hour: Geneviéve.
- Ninth Hour: Kaylee.
- The Big Bad of the entire series is The Prophet.
- Bittersweet Ending: The real ending. The Prophet is defeated and the world has been restored, but the characters lose their powers and anyone who died is still dead (Bellamy, Geneviéve, Charon, Acheron, Ame).
- Bolivian Army Ending: The fake ending, in which the main characters are killed off one by one by the Esoterica, ending with Benedict.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Hayden.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Ariana.
- Downer Ending: The first ending.
- End of the World as We Know It
- Face–Heel Turn: Kaylee.
- Fake Ending: There are thirteen hours.
- Heel–Face Turn: Acheron.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Bellamy in the Third Hour, Acheron in the Twelfth Hour, and Ame in the Thirteenth Hour.
- Jerkass: Benedict can border on this at times.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ariana.
- The Magic Goes Away: The ending.
- Man Behind the Man: The Prophet is the leader of the Esoterica and the last of the three ancient forces, the Zenith. He's the character where I got my username from, actually.
- Mind Screw: The Thirteenth Hour, especially the first half.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Hayden.
- Parental Abandonment: Benedict's father is almost entirely absent due to his job; he transfers money to Benedict's bank account, and that's about it (his mother is dead). Additionally, Natalie is adopted.
- Physical God: Hayden.
- Robot Girl: Geneviéve. Unfortunately, she's a little too human...
- Screw Destiny: Hayden dislikes Downer Endings! So he uses his powers to make a Thirteenth Hour
- Sixth Ranger: Bellamy, introduced in the Third Hour, looks like she's going to be one of these. She becomes an Anti-Villain and eventually dies in a Heroic Sacrifice. Ame is a straight example.
