The Annals of Hearthstone (located at www.tektoonics.com
) is about, well, the annals of Hearthstone: a fantasy world populated by various species of non-humans mostly based on Earth animals. It follows the exploits of two teams - the Range Patrol, led by Sheila Rangslinger, and the Shrike Team, led by Brom Shriker - as they fight against the Cartel, a nation bent on conquering the world.
The writer and artist, J. P. Holding, also does extensive work as a Christian apologist (see his other work, TektonTV); as such, many parts of the comic (such as the nature of prophecies, and certain aspects of the various Hearthstone societies) are influenced by it.
The annals provide examples of:
- Action Girl: Sheila Rangslinger, Annabelle Ketterling, Felicity Hornacek... most of the female characters, actually.
- All There in the Manual: Various information on Hearthstone's history, races, and other worldbuilding things can be found in an Almanac on the site.
- Always Chaotic Evil: Averted. It's mentioned that the Sk'lan were peaceful until recently. Also, it's eventually revealed that the Cartel initiative was being pushed by the elite and that many were exiled for not going along with it.
- Author Appeal: Christian subtexts, illustrations of the differences between agonistic and individualist societies, and egalitarianism between the sexes are all major themes.
- Big Guy, Little Guy: Bimf and Beamer. Also serves as Brains and Brawn.
- Happily Married: Pretty much every married couple in the comic.
- An Ice Person: Annabelle Ketterling, aka Snowdrop.
- Interspecies Romance: Some parts of Hearthstone are more accepting of them than others. One of these sealed an important political alliance over 10,000 years before the present day.
- Last of His Kind: Eidolon in the only Av'nen still living.
- Only One Name: This is a common trait of the races from the northwestern continent.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: The Ketterlings married in order to run Annabelle's business that she was set to inherit from her father, and had not been expecting to fall in love.
- Personality Powers: Inverted with the Ketterlings. The calm Brett has fire, while the easily angered Annabelle has ice.
- Playing with Fire: Brett Ketterling, aka Brimstone.
- Take That!: The drug "loftuscite" causes "euphoria combined with a sense of intellectual invincibility, unassailable stupidity, inability to admit error, hypocrisy," and makes the user ask the same question over and over no matter how many times it's answered. John Loftus was an atheist that Holding had several encounters with.
- Time Abyss: Eidolon, who is has lived for over 40,000 revolutions (years), incredibly long even for races that live to nearly 800.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: The Sk'lan have invented a device that lets them take the form of other races. Additionally, Molinist can shapeshift even without the device.
- Wonder Twin Powers: Inverted with Annabelle and Brett Ketterling; their powers are neutralized when they come in physical contact with each other, and they can only activate by staying apart long enough or by expressing certain emotions.
