Scion was a Comic Book series published by CrossGen. Set on the world of Avalon, which superficially resembles a conventional fantasy setting but with high tech instead of magic, the series follows Ethan, the youngest prince of the Heron Dynasty, as he incurs the wrath of the Raven prince Bron and falls in love with Bron's sister Ashleigh, who recruits him to a movement to free the Lesser Races, genetically engineered slaves and servants in both countries.
The series has been re-collected in the following trade paperbacks:
- Crisis of Conscience
- Blood for Blood
- Divided Loyalties
- Sanctuary
- The Far Kingdom
- Royal Wedding
Scion provides examples of:
- Action Girl: Ashleigh and Ylena both kick plenty of ass.
- Aerith and Bob: For the Heron Dynasty, we have Artor, Kai, Ylena and Ethan; for the Ravens, we have Bron, Kort and...Ashleigh.
- Arranged Marriage: Between Bron and Ylena. It's all a ploy by Mai Shen, who disguises herself as King Dane.
- Back from the Dead: Ethan after being impaled by Bron. Bernd Rechts after being obliterated by Mai Shen.
- Badass Family: A majority of both the Herons and the Ravens kick ass.
- The Baroness: Mai Shen embodies the "Sexpot" variant in her alliance with Bron.
- Beard of Evil: Bron grows one as the series goes on.
- Big "WHAT?!": Ethan's reaction to hearing of his sister's impending Arranged Marriage to Bron in issue 35.
- Bounty Hunter: Exeter first appears as one.
- Color-Coded Characters: Ethan, yellow; Bron, red. As usual for CrossGen heroes and villains.
- Also Mai Shen (red, Sinister) and Bernd Rechts (gold, Dexter), with the colors that belong to their Houses in The First.
- Conflicting Loyalty: Ethan's loyalty to his family and kingdom and his loyalty to Ashleigh's cause are not always fully compatible.
- Crashing Dreams: In the very first issue, Ethan is roused from a dream of winning the yearly tournament by his two older brothers.
- Cycle of Revenge: The war between the Ravens and Herons is set off again by this.
- Dangerous Twenty-First Birthday: What sets the plot into motion.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Even though she defected from her dynasty, Ashleigh still wears black leather outfits that are commonly associated with the Ravens.
- Ylena is forced to wear such an outfit during her brief marriage to Bron.
- Defecting for Love: Ashleigh is introduced as such. Then she recruits Ethan to her slave liberation underground, and the feuding countries thing gets a whole lot less important...to them. Ethan's family is very annoyed that he has largely abandoned their war in favor of his girlfriend's social crusade, and his brother Kai doesn't approve of Ethan's choice of girlfriend.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: In issue 36, Ethan succeeds in killing Mai Shen.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Bron seeks truly excessive revenge against Ethan for his scar.
- Dragon Ascendant: Kort in Royal Wedding.
- Evil Is Petty: Bron. Prominent examples occur in issues 3 and 35.
- The Evil Prince: Bron and Kort are both princes of the Raven Dynasty.
- Fantastic Racism: The Lesser Races are not treated terribly well in Heron lands, but in the Raven lands, they're outright enslaved.
- Feuding Families: The royal families of the Herons and the Ravens.
- Go-Go Enslavement: During her brief marriage to Bron in Royal Wedding, Ylena is forced to wear a black leather outfit.
- Good Colors, Evil Colors: CrossGen's usual. Gold is good, red is evil.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Ethan and his family have the coloring; he has the personality as well, as does his sister Ylena.
- Happily Ever After: Royal Wedding ends with a shot of an older Ethan (now sporting a Time-Passage Beard) with a young son, a pregnant Ashleigh, and an older Skink and Exeter.
- Heel–Face Turn: Exeter goes from a fairly menacing minor villain to The Big Guy of the main group.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: The Ravens. Goodness gracious, the Ravens.
- And Mai Shen.
- The Hero: Ethan is the main character of the series, after all.
- Hot-Blooded: Bron has anger control problems, to put it mildly.
- I Am Not My Brother: Ashleigh says this to Kai when he gives her grief for being related to the Ravens during her and Ethan's visit to his home.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Ethan in Blood for Blood.
- Mai Shen in issue 36, courtesy of Ethan.
- Bron, twice.
- Killed Off for Real: Artor, Mai Shen.
- King Incognito: The drunk that Ethan, Kai and Ylena come across in Royal Wedding turns out to be their missing, amnesiac father Dane.
- Klingon Promotion: Bron kills his father King Viktor to gain the throne.
- Later in the series, Bron's younger brother Kort stabs Bron in the heart (Bron survives) and becomes King of the Raven Dynasty in his stead.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: What Mai Shen does to King Dane.
- Lizard Folk: Some of the Lesser Races are rather reptilian, such as Skink.
- Lower-Deck Episode: One issue follows a Lower Races slave escaping from Raven lands to Ethan and Ashleigh's haven. The main cast appears only on the last page.
- The Man Behind the Man: Bron could easily have been the Big Bad of the series, and had his own motivations (however petty) for hating Ethan...but he was only such a great threat because Mai Shen gave him powers and a lot of help in order to further her own plans.
- The Mentor: Skink, for Ethan.
- Offhand Backhand: Mai Shen does this to Kai in issue 36.
- Physical God: Mai Shen is a member of the First (House Sinister, to be precise), originally sent by Ingra to observe the conflict. Bernd Rechts is her House Dexter counterpart.
- Power Tattoo: As usual in CrossGen, Ethan has one.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Mai Shen: I will be a goddess!
- Reformed, but Not Tamed: Even after his Heel–Face Turn, Exeter is far less merciful than Ethan might like.
- Save the Princess: What Ethan and Kai set out to do after Ylena is married to Bron in Royal Wedding.
- Scars Are Forever: The scar Ethan accidentally gives Bron, starting off this whole mess. Normally, Heron/Raven technology can heal wounds perfectly with no scars; Ethan's Sigil-Bearer power allows him to inflict wounds that cannot be healed this way.
- Servant Race: The Lesser Races. In Heron lands, they have some rights, although not equal to humans; in Raven lands, they're enslaved with very few exceptions.
- Sexy Discretion Shot: Ethan and Ashleigh in Divided Loyalties.
- Slashed Throat: What Bron does to Artor.
- In Divided Loyalties, Kai attempts this with Ashleigh until Ethan stops him.
- Slave Liberation: The plot that ends up hijacking the "warring Herons and Ravens" one.
- Spirit Advisor: Artor to Ethan in Blood for Blood.
- Surrogate Soliloquy: Bron performs this with Viktor's statue at the start of Divided Loyalties.
- Swiss-Army Superpower: Ethan's sigil allows him to magically conjure an energy sword.
- Teleporters and Transporters: Mai Shen. And she uses it to rescue Bron when he loses a duel with Ethan.
- Textplosion: One issue pays homage to Prince Valiant by being made in the same style. The art was laid out sideways, formatted like a Sunday newspaper strip, and the text was separate from the art, just like in Prince Valiant. An earlier, acclaimed issue of Scion was formatted like an illustrated novel, with blocks of text, sometimes integrated with the art.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: In issue #29, Kai takes a definite level in Jerkass when Ethan visits with Ashleigh.
- Touched by Vorlons: In Blood for Blood, Mai Shen gives Bron a portion of her power with a kiss. While they're both naked in a hot tub.
- Underwater Kiss: Ethan and Ashleigh in Divided Loyalties.
- Villainous Rescue: Kort interrupts a fight between Ethan, Kai and Raven guards in Royal Wedding.
- White Sheep: Ashleigh, princess of the country where the Lesser Races are outright enslaved, devotes her life to freeing them. Her brothers paint her as a more straightforward Black Sheep and find her a convenient scapegoat for Bron's murder of their father.
- Wound That Will Not Heal: Ethan unintentionally gives one to Bron in the first issue.
