Holystone
is a webcomic about pirates, political intrigue, and some refreshingly direct and consistent divine intervention.
For reasons yet unknown, the Murtell crime family has unearthed a Lost God, the first recorded to be sane and in control of their faculties. Er. By some definitions. After a series of unlikely occurrences, pirate Pheia Tessier becomes the first dedicated shaman (referred to as a "khen") of the young God of Faith, and her crew become Its "chosen" cultists. There are also interludes and side stories that touch on an ancient and disastrous war between the gods, and the mortals who got caught in the crossfire.
It updates every Saturday.
This webcomic provides examples of:
- The Atoner: Ashy, who was the God of Fire, was sealed away after its role in the god-war. Thousands of years later, Justice managed to rehabilitate it. Life disagrees.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: The way the gods view the world is heavily affected by aspect. For example, both Life and Death love their people, but Life believes that everything about life, all it's living things, positive and negative alike, is to be embraced, and Death believes that life is just a period of suffering to be eased before the restfulness of the Void.
- Everyone Is Bi:
- Or everyone is from a bisexual culture, anyway. No one blinks at the existence of gay couples or preferences, nor does there seem to be any aversion to the idea. In addition, same-sex (as well as interspecies) couples are often encouraged to raise children, either via adoption or having someone step in as a surrogate parent.
- Caroline uses this as an excuse to become closer to the God of Faith, suggesting that one of her male relatives could get it on with Its khen's wife in order to make "magical kittens."
- Extra Eyes: Being giant glowing magical animals wasn't enough. All of the gods seem to have an abundance of eyes.
- Generic Ethnic Crime Gang: The Murtell crime family. A feline crime family with some Italian overtones.
- Gods Need Prayer Badly, tying in neatly with Physical Religion.
- Homosexual Reproduction: Implied. The reason Pheia and Anabele can't have children is because they're different species, not because they're both female, and Eniko even mentions having children with a woman in a way that implies it can be done just as accidentally as male/female pairings.
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Word of God states that Pheia is a transgender woman.
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- Kissing Cousins: Eniko would be very down for this with Pheia, if not for her being married to Anabele who would not approve.
- Narrative Profanity Filter: About a quarter of Ana's dialogue. Not that the writer cares about profanity, it's just funnier that way.
- Nay-Theist: Anabele takes a rather Granny Weatherwax approach to the gods, cussing them out regularly (though, when they pull crap like stealing her shadow, you can't blame her).
- Omnicidal Maniac: "Nothing".
- Otherworldly and Sexually Ambiguous: The gods. They're referred to with the pronoun "It." Except for Justice, who goes by "Her".
- Rebellious Princess: Young Pheia Maragos was the best candidate to become High Khen of the most illustrious family in the world, so of course she ran away and married a pirate.
- Religion is Magic: If you have the potential to serve as a khen, then a god can awaken the ability to use magic within you. If you are a khen, then you become a magic powerhouse.
- Top God: The position of "High God" is meant to be this, though it's debatable whether the title comes with actual power, or if it's a political rank. Or a bit of both. It seems that this usually applies to the God of Life, but there is one very notable exception.
- The Wonka: Eniko has all the grace and decorum of a puppy on linoleum, and is the high Khen. This is roughly equivalent to the Pope in-universe.
