."It's a well known fact that people with magic tend to try to hide it and themselves. So a long time ago, when everyone else started mapping places and Here There Be Dragons became a thing of the past, they needed somewhere new to hide. Step in seven sages who created their own Small Secluded Haven called Babylon for all magical types to flock to, even at the cost of their lives.
It was a Utopia, so it stands to reason that it didn't last, and after the gates were closed to refugees, people started getting shot.
Fast-forward one hundred years after everything started going downhill, and our story focuses on our main protagonists:
- Seamus O'Shea a Border Police Officer who was once a refugee, now hunting refugees. Also happens to be a Werewolf.
- Slim, someone no-one knows too much about, and that's just the way he likes it, even after Seamus deputizes him.
- M.T., a long-suffering, Vampire, Detective Inspector and their immediate superior.
A young webcomic that recently stepped in the plot, and that plot appears to be full of bureaucracy, corruption, and murder.
Currently updates every Tuesday and Friday, the first page can be found Here. The ever-expanding Character Page can be found Here.
This webcomic provides examples of:
- Action Duo: Seamus prefers to fight with his fists or beloved crowbar. Deadeye shot Slim is shocked to discover he can barely aim a gun.
- After Action Patch Up: Would be considered an After-Action Healing Drama moment, if Seamus wasn't a Werewolf and already healing his heavy wounds by the time he reaches HQ. M.T. still patches him up though, surely because she doesn't want him dripping blood over everything, right?.
- Bizarrchitecture: Buildings in Babylon aren't so much built as magicked into being, and in a pocket dimension they prove unstable. It's not uncommon for buildings, fences, or even walls on the outskirts of the City to simply phase out of existence.
- Blatant Lies: Often invoked by Slim, on topics ranging from whether or not he stole evidence from a crime scene, to whether or not he's ever going to pretend to obey the law.
- Corrupt Bureaucrat: Hinted that many officials outside the Border Police may not be averse to taking a few underhand deals.
- Culture Chop Suey: Babylon's buildings and landmarks are magical copies from most of the world's major cities, the clashing cultures follow suit.
- Dystopia: Babylon may have started out as a safe haven for all magic users, but after the gates closed, no one comes or goes. No one aside from the smugglers and refugees, that is, and they're hunted to the death.
- Fantastic Racism: Some bars refuse to serve the undead.
- Foreign-Language Tirade: Often M.T. will slip into Polish cussing (single words, though, and no declension). This usually occurs when paperwork overflows, Seamus is hurt, or Slim exists.
- "Friends" Rent Control: Subverted: Seamus works full-time for the Border Police, and affords a small flat above a grocery store.
- Functional Magic: What else could you expect from a city populated exclusively by magical people?
- Government Agency of Fiction: The Border Police and all higher departments in the government.
- Police Brutality: More often than not, refugees caught attempting to gain access to the city are killed. In fact, it's preferred that they're dead.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Can apply to all permutations of the main three characters, with MT playing the long-suffering foil to the other's more controversial approaches. Or Slim's constant distaste for Seamus' more hands-on tack.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Seamus and Slim certainly count as this, a Type Two variety. It's entirely possible Seamus merely pretends to be oblivious to Slim's biting remarks, seeing it as the latter's quirk.
