Hexrun is a work-in-progress webcomic by Doc Bio, also known here as Metal King. Despite supposedly being work-in-progress, he's only written the overarching story.
The comic revolves around two criminal groups, the Hexruns and the Vaulters. The Hexruns are a Robin Hood-esque group that specifically aims to screw around with those higher in privilege than most, while the Vaulters are indiscriminate heisters. Sounds simple, right?
Hexrun currently features these tropes:
- Accent Relapse: Edward switches to an Australian accent when he gets emotional, but otherwise speaks with an American accent.
- Applied Phlebotinum: Materia is the raw makeup of the three matters throughout the universe, and has a number of practical applications.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Australians have skintones ranging from cyan to deep purple, thanks to their history of enmeshing magic with their bodies.
- Anti-Magic: The "Anti-Shift" is an individual prophesized to possess the power to cancel out the Shift. Edward does this to the entire universe as part of his master plan.
- The Artifact:
- Aussie's mask. Originally, the Vaulters were meant to all have masks, like their inspiration, but as designs evolved, Aussie was the only one to retain his mask.
- The Vaulters' names. Originally, there were seven of them, and they were all meant to refence the princes of Hell, but they were eventually cut down to just four.
- Tartarus. M.K was an original concept that existed before the Hexruns, and once they were created they all had curses similar to Tartarus based on the seven deadly sins. The curses were all dropped, but Tartarus stuck around due to its sheer importance to the plot. The curses of Eve and Ann-Drew were instead designated to their Souls. M.K2 references this concept more heavily in Re:World, while the Null Curse item has addons specifically to change its power to these curses.
- Background Energy Field: The Shift, the cause of many fantastical elements of the universe such as magic and stats.
- Black Guy Dies First: Due to poor planning on Doc's part, M.K dies against Edward when he goes to confront him. It doesn't stick.
- The Bogan: Aussie is a crass robber who's proud of his Australian heritage. It's mostly an act, as he's rather refined and professional in reality.
- Cerebus Syndrome: After the halfway point of "Masquerade," it'd be accurate to say that stuff gets serious.
- Cessation of Existence: Played With. When something ceases to be, it goes to the Void, and Word of God confirms that everything is either in the Void or exists, no in-between.
- Cosmic Retcon: When time is changed in a major way, it has to process everything. If the cause of the change is undone before the processing is done, it essentially snaps back, erasing the cause from existence while restoring everything else back to the original timeline. Edward experiences it firsthand.
- Crippling Overspecialization: Inverted. The Anti-Shift has trained their body to make special use of their power, while most other people haven't.
- Decomposite Character: M.K's design and character are his third iteration, according to Word of God. His second makes an appearance in Re:World.
- Eldritch Location: The Void is a heavy Patchwork Map, where absolutely nothing has far meaning and logic need not rear its head. Justified as its landscape is based on the worlds within it.
- Exact Words: The Anti-Shift cancels out the Shift specifically. Void magic isn't a result of the Shift. Ann-Drew is able to use their Void magic in a world without magic, but they only figure it out during the final battle.
- Expy: The Vaulters, conceptually, are the PAYDAY Gang, Aussie especially, as his flag-themed mask pattern references Dallas specifically.
- Fantastic Nuke: Averted. The "Exodus" Bomb uses an actual thermonuclear bomb as its base, with Void energy added on to enhance its destructive power.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: The Anti-Shift has notable limits, namely that it cannot, say, completely erase magic if it's intrinsic to a person's makeup. That said, they can very easily use it to make their enemies unable to use heavy weaponry or aim very well.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Austin "Aussie" Sydney acts like a stereotypical bogan, but as Edward Tanalov, he shows himself to be rather intelligent.
- Our Souls Are Different: Souls in this universe are named after religious figures and act as catalogues of the Minds and Forms that they have been attuned to. They also turn into stars upon death.
- Macabre Moth Motif: Cipher is a dangerous opponent to encounter, with an incredibly sharp sword and the power to disable peoples' senses.
- Nuke 'em: The "Exodus" Bomb can blast an entire planet into raw Materia. Edward uses it to empower his Anti-Shift enough to erase the Shift completely.
- RPG Mechanics 'Verse: Though not referenced to a major degree, it's definitely there, thanks to the Shift. The Anti-Shift deconstructs it, as removing RPG Mechanics from a world where they're extremely commonplace results in the most powerful fighter becoming mostly unable to fight.
- Time Crash: When a major change is made to time, the universe creates a temporary world for its inhabitants while it processes how the timeline should go. Inverted if the cause is destroyed, as the timeline immediately reverts to its prior state, barring the cause's erasure.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: Edward. That kid you bullied back in high school has a Superpowered Evil Side now? Use its power to further your own plans. There's an artifact of power you didn't know about prior available for the stealing? Take it as soon as possible.
