A picture of Britan Westwood, the main character, drawn by Evan Gamble himself.
The Seichi Chronicles
is a Web Serial Novel written by TheRealEvanSG, the online name of Evan Gamble. It is a Fantasy set in a different world.
Britan Westwood is a normal boy living a normal life… or, at least, so he thinks. His world starts to flip when he overhears a conversation between his father and the town mayor about terrible creatures called Asager Shells and the Hunters that fight them. When his town is horribly attacked by one of these monsters, Britan launches into a quest to find the Asager Shell that did it and avenge his home. However, bandits from the southern border, deadly monster attacks, and hatred from the general population of Upper Cambria (as well as the rest of Seichi) plagues him along his journey. To combat these threats, he, like all other Hunters, is armed with a Blessing, a power unique to each Hunter. As he rises through the Hunter ranks and slowly assembles a Hunting Team to accompany and support him, only one certainty remains: as long as Seichi and the seven kingdoms within remain divided, peace will always hover just out of reach.
It can be found on Spacebattles, fictionpress, and Sufficient Velocity. For those interested in donating to the series, it also has a Patreon page.
Tropes contained in The Seichi Chronicles:
- Arcadia: Britan's home, Thebes, is a farm town among the "Bread Basket" of Seichi, the area that supplies most of Seichi's crops.
- The Apprentice:
- Britan is an apprentice learning how to be a Hunter under Sir Hughes de Lafayette.
- Cal is also an apprentice learning how to be a Hunter under Sir Hughes de Lafayette.
- Backstory: We get a backstory from Mr. Westwood in Chapter 3 regarding a time when his mother saved him from Eagledalian bandits.
- Benevolent Boss: Mayor Tristan is this to Britan.
- Big "WHAT?!": Done twice by Britan and Cal in unison, once when Lafayette announces Britan will be living in Lafayette and Cal's home, and again when Lafayette announces the two apprentices will be fighting each other.
- Breath Weapon: Wielded by the wyvern Asager Shell in the form of super deadly ice.
- Civil War: According to an entry of the Recon Files on Seichi as a whole, the Regnum Empire is possibly going to devolve into rebellion sometime soon.
- Doomed Hometown: In chapter 4, Thebes is utterly destroyed, and everyone in it except for Britan frozen to death.
- Driving Question: Throughout the first arc of the series, the question of "Who are the Hunters?" is the main focus. Britan has only just learned about their existence and that he may have some familial ties with them, and everyone he talks to in Thebes doesn't give him a clear answer until he finally asks his dad about them.
- Eldritch Abomination: The Asager Shells. They're horrible killing machines, and can appear in any form, in any place. Their existence is entirely based upon making everyone extinct. Their only identifiable trait is a thick, red vein bulging on their backs.
- In Mr. Westwood's Back Story, an Asager Shell large enough to block out the sun killed his mother, Britan's grandmother.
- In Chapter 3, one that looks like a wyvern attacks Thebes.
- Emotional Powers: Mr. Westwood describes a Hunter's powers as being more powerful the stronger the Hunter's emotions are.
- Evil Is Petty: While not particularly evil, the three bullies who pick on Frederick encompass this. They start bullying the poor kid just because he accidentally bumped into their ringleader.
- Evil Is Deathly Cold: Ice breath is the wyvern Asager Shell's main weapon.
- Giant Flyer: The wyvern Asager Shell. It is as long as thirty full-grown men laying in a line, as large as a battleship, and has a wingspan wider than many rooftops.
- The Hero: Britan Westwood is the main protagonist of the story.
- It Runs in the Family: Being Hunters runs in Britan's family, as revealed by the fact that his dad and grandmother are both Hunters as well as Britan himself.
- Kill All Humans: What the Asager Shells exist to do.
- My Greatest Failure: It's pretty clear that Mr. Westwood's is, no matter how indirectly, being the cause of his mother's death. He still blames himself for it even today, around forty years later.
- Mysterious Parent: Britan has led his life believing his dad to be a normal merchant, but an overhead conversation reveals that Mr. Westwood may actually be much more than that. Daddy Westwood later reveals the truth about himself and the Westwood family to Britan in Chapter 3.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast:
- The Asager Shells.
- The Eagledalian bandits.
- Old Friend: It is discovered that Mrs. Hestia Chancer was this to Mr. Westwood.
- "Open!" Says Me: Mr. Westwood kicks the door to Britan's room open excitedly in Chapter 3.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Chapter 3's wyvern with a large, red vein bulging out above its spine. Also, it's evil and wants to kill everything.
- Pick on Someone Your Own Size: Although not quoted, this is basically Britan's way of getting the bully trio to stop picking on Frederick and beat him up instead.Britan: “Leave the poor kid alone. He’s smaller than you, weaker, and anyway, it was just an accident. If you have a bone to pick with anyone, make it be me for challenging you.”
- Professional Butt-Kisser: The bully trio believe Britan to be this, since he is the errand boy of Mayor Tristan. Averted in that he's actually not one of these.
- Punny Names: Seems to be a running theme with the character naming.
- The Westwoods are all named for puns revolving around Great Britain. Daddy Westwood is named Ingland, Mommy Westwood is named Europa, and their son is named Britan.
- Mayor Tristan's clerk/secretary is named Krystal Reef, a pun on the term crystal reef.
- Cal Oree, apprentice of Sir Lafayette, has a name that sounds like "calorie" when you say it fast.
- Purple Is Powerful: The main character, Britan Westwood, has purple hair. And it's not colored.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Mayor Tristan seems to be a pretty good guy. He's well-liked by almost all of Thebes, according to an entry in the Recon Files, and he is kind and well-tempered.
- Retired Badass: Hestia Chancer was such a badass back in the day that apparently whoever is behind the Recon Files is still too afraid to approach her and tell her she doesn't need to be so intimidating anymore.
- Sexy Secretary: Krystal Reef, the clerk, is among the "pretty girls" that make Britan's brain turn to mush.
- Superhero Trophy Shelf: Mrs. Chancer has some of these in her house, holding many different trophies and mementos from her adventures with Mr. Westwood in the good ol' days.
- Superpowerful Genetics: Hunters and their powers appear to transfer down through familial bloodlines. Any kid of a Hunter will have a power relating in some way to their Hunter parent.
- Sword Beam: In his rage after the events of Chapter 4, Britan unintentionally lets loose one of these from his father's knife.
- To Be Continued: Every chapter ends with a TO BE CONTINUED message inside an arrow pointing left.
- Traumatic Superpower Awakening: And how! Chapter 4 has Britan witnessing his entire hometown and father die, which causes him to go so mad with rage his powers awaken.
- Turn the Other Cheek: One major part of chapter 1 is Britan letting himself get beat up by a trio of bullies to help out a kid. He doesn't even try to attack back at them, remembering his father quoting this.
- Watching Troy Burn: Britan finds himself helplessly watching Thebes be destroyed by the wyvern Asager Shell's ice breath despite having done everything he could to evacuate them.
- Wham Episode: Chapter 3 ends with the wyvern Asager Shell, which Mr. Westwood fought off-screen with a handful of other Hunters, arriving to attack Thebes, and father and son staring in horror as it comes ever closer.
