Twokinds

""After losing his memory to a mysterious battle, Trace Legacy, a former leader for an organization of mages called the Templar, finds himself in the company of Flora, a girl of strange, tiger-like qualities. As Trace gradually begins to re-learn what he once knew, he soon discovers that Flora belongs to a race of people who are enemies of his kind. As friendship confects with racial differences, Trace and Flora find themselves in a situation more critical than either of them can imagine.""

- Twokinds Summary Page.

""Awkward Interspecies Romance at its best!""

- Twokinds ad banner

Twokinds is a Western Web Comic with heavy anime and furry influences. It revolves around Trace, a human who has lost his memory, and his anthropomorphic Tiger-girl friend, Flora.

Along their way, they discover that the world is in a state of near open war, with Flora's race, the Keidran, openly targeted for enslavement and slaughter by the humans, led by the murderous Templars. Meanwhile, they discover Keith, a member of the mostly forgotten Basitin race.

Quickly caught up in the politics of the world—and its gods—Trace and Flora travel eastward, interested in finding out more about Trace's past, as well as a place a Human with a dark (and forgotten) past, a misfit Keidran, and an outcast Basitin can call home.

While they may not show anything, there are still NSFW moments.

Twokinds can be read in its entirety at its home page, here

"Trace: The more I learn about my past, the more I've come to realize how better off I am now without it. I used to want to remember. But being told just made me realize the terrible person I'd been. I understand now that losing it all was the best thing to happen to me. So I've decided I'm not going to do anything to put us at risk anymore."
 * A-Cup Angst: Flora, for some reason.
 * "Their breasts... ...are bigger than mine."
 * As of the creation of this handy and somewhat hilarious chart (Warning: spoilers!) she actually does have the second-smallest breasts of the female cast.
 * A Day in the Limelight: Chapter 13 starts with the side characters from Trace's old home town, now on the run from an advancing Keidran raiding force.
 * All Love Is Unrequited: Kathrin seems to genuinely have feelings for Eric, but though he treats her infinitely better than most humans would treat a slave, he still considers her to be his property. The only thing that indicates his feelings might be different is that he released her from the mind-control spell that forces a slave to follow any order.
 * All There in the Manual: Word of God is that the Western Basitans are just as free-spirited and debauched as their Eastern Basitan cousins are stiff and prudish. Of course, we don't see anything of all that before the cast sets course back to their own lands.
 * Almost-Dead Guy:
 * Alt Text: Sporadic, and only on the most recent pages.
 * Alphabetical Theme Naming: of the rhyming variety; Flora, Nora, and Laura.
 * Exclusively Evil: Played rather humorously three different ways. Some Keidrans think this about humans, Templar propaganda says that Keidrans are. The Basitin think everyone else is.
 * Ambiguously Gay: Alaric, according to the cast page.
 * Amnesiac Dissonance: Interesting in that the only person not aware of his past is Trace, nearly everyone else is well aware of who he is/was and openly terrified of him.

"Eric: Templar laws have, in recent years, made it a crime for slave traders such as myself to free our slaves voluntarily. Trace: What? Why? What kind of evil person would make a law like th.... It was me wasn't it? Eric: Yes."
 * It's even Lampshaded here.

"Kathrin: Maybe I've been foolish. I think a part of me has always hoped one day... you'd care enough... That I wouldn't have to ask."
 * Anguished Declaration of Love: Kathrin to Eric, in this strip. Doubles as an in-universe Wham! Line and What Have I Done moment for Eric, as well.


 * Unfortunately, he remains oblivious to her true feelings, and in the end he thinks of her as a sister.
 * Animal Eye Spy
 * Animate Dead: does a telekinetic variant of this in strip 514, abusing the corpses of a few soldiers to block attacks.
 * tried to use this on, which went wrong and drove insane and genocidal. Or omnicidal.
 * Anime Hair: Trace's pointy hair...thing, commonly called Idiot Hair in Anime fandom.
 * Apologetic Attacker: Laura, when.
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking - Mike is informed by Evals that
 * Which is still a federal crime amongst the basitins
 * Art Evolution - A lot.
 * Compare this or this early page to this.
 * Art Shift: The Towers originally looked much like something you'd see in a far-future science fiction setting, nowadays though they look almost exactly like a standard issue Medieval castle turret . . . with a crystalline superstructure and a big glowing orb floating above the top.
 * Could be due to refinements in the tech, allowing them to disguise them as ordinary wall turrets.
 * Notice that this particular Tower is build on the Basitin Islands and not on the Human controlled mainland, and is build without much knowledge of the Basitin people. It might be intentional it doesn´t look like a doom fortress.
 * Anti-Magic: Dispel and Mana Sinks. Dispel shuts off mana flow or dissipates it, while Mana Sinks steal mana from who- or whatever is placed on its platform.
 * The Atoner: Keith, who, ironically, has done nothing wrong . . . mostly.
 * Author Appeal: A surfer viewing the artist's Deviant ART page will find tons of Fan Art of his own characters... but mostly Flora. If you idle in the IRC chat room long enough and at the right hours, you can sometimes catch the author chattering about why he writes the comic. He admits it was mostly personal appeal at the time.
 * Author Avatar: Tom has shown up in the comic twice. One as pizza delivery man, the other as a postman. On both occasions he was struck down by a character as soon as he appeared.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: A high-ranked Basitin is quite capable of fighting. Even the Intelligence General was capable of
 * Awesome McCoolname: Trace Legacy
 * Badass: Most Basitins, although the Dragons are happy to call them out.
 * Bad Boss: The Intelligence General kills one of his solders
 * While he was a Jerkass of epic proportions, that was probably
 * Balance Between Good and Evil: Neutral is the goddess of this—as well as the Big Bad (mostly because she's so cynical).
 * Baleful Polymorph: Trace does this twice; he turns his old boss into a wolf Keidran and makes his ex-girlfriend's annoying sister grow cat ears and a thin fur coat because she was annoying him. This kinda backfired in the latter case, as she likes the look, and she gets a hightened sense of smell.
 * Barbie Doll Anatomy: Justified with the Keidrans, their naughty bits are obscured by their fur. However, that doesn't explain why the human characters don't got anything going on.
 * Barefoot Cartoon Animals: The furry characters.
 * Battle Cry: The red haired warrior uses "In the name of meaningless battle!" as a battle cry.
 * Beam Spam: Arguably here and here. Could also be Combat Tentacles, but since the tentacles are made of black mana, they would be non-corporeal.
 * Beard of Evil: The most recent High Templar is an absolute bastard and has a goatee. Same with the Intelligence General.
 * We've seen the Intelligence General's son. The looks to be genetic. Fortunately, more of a Badass Beard in his case.
 * Bee People: Basitins, Of a sort. They lack the hive mind aspect, but they do have a really big  leader, a very rigid class system, gender segregation, an alien culture (dialing the nudity taboo up to 11), and a biological compulsion to obey orders.
 * Although recently it has been revealed that all of this only applies to Eastern Basitins. The Western Basitins at the very least do not have a biological compulsion to obey orders, and are hinted at having an entirely different culture.
 * A character sheet on the author's Deviant ART page suggests that Western Basitins are much closer to Flora than Keith -- Body Paint (or at least, "patterns in their fur") covered hippies.
 * Berserk Button - Don't hurt or threaten Flora within earshot of Trace. Seriously, don't.
 * Hurting Trace's love interests is fairly unwise period.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Post mind-wipe Trace is normally nice, friendly, and easygoing, but he used to be one of the (if not The) most powerful and feared mages in the world. Pressing his Berserk Button is a very, very bad idea.
 * Big No
 * Bishie Sparkle: Arms General.
 * Bi the Way: Natani, who's bisexual according to the cast page.
 * Kathrin, maybe, based on the les yay her and Flora had on the ship.
 * Bizarre Alien Biology: Ho boy, where to begin? Well, how about with the Basitins? They have super dense muscles, no libido, gain a pleasurable response to following orders (though, judging by Keith, that probably also has something to do them usually enlisting in their military at the age of five), are immune to most poisons, and, and they heal very quickly and with a minimum of scarring.
 * Actually, the Basitins have a libido, it's just extremely repressed and only is evident during the breeding periods. And, occasionally, while watching fights.
 * Black Speech: Anytime  wakes up, of the creepy-as-hell scrawling font variety. Bonus points for having elements of Zalgo in there.
 * Black Speech: Anytime  wakes up, of the creepy-as-hell scrawling font variety. Bonus points for having elements of Zalgo in there.

"The Tigra/Flora Paradox: If you'd hit it you're a furry; if not you're gay."
 * Blade on a Stick: Traditional Basitin weaponry is a spear or glaive.
 * Bleached Underpants: Remember when Flora and Kathrin were Innocent Fanservice Girls, with Kathrin having a healthy dose of Innocent Innuendo included on top of that? With the recent switch in hosting to Keenspot, this has been dropped off the main page—all the characters are wearing mostly conservative outfits, with only Eric having something that wouldn't be appropriate at a mall in the US (and even he is dressed as a Shout-Out to Hugh Hefner). Remembering that at least one point the comic title banner had a (nonsexually) nude Flora on it...
 * The fanservice content in the comic itself has been dialed back as well—Flora and Kathrin's Innocent Fanservice Girl tendencies have dialed back immensely, although Flora has a few excuses about it. Kathrin does go around nude still, although in the chapter post-switchover (Chapter 14), she instead wears a Naked Apron designed to minimize her fanservice content outside of a single specific scene.
 * Blood Knight: The Red-Haired Swordsman, whose war-cry is "In the Name of Meaningless Battle!!!".
 * Blue and Orange Morality: The Basitins consider nudity heinous and not following orders unthinkable, while the Keidrans literally use sex to get to know people. As one might expect, humans and Basitins think they're promiscuous, but its actually supported by their biology:
 * Bury Your Gays: Alaric was the only male character with alter-sexual connotations (that thing with Mike and Evals was just a gag). The author threw him off a bridge.
 * But I Can't Be Pregnant: Despite a doctor confirming it, Flora refused to believe that she's pregnant until Chapter 14. The reasons for this were many: The doctor who told her was a Basitin doctor—the doctor was racist (insinuating that Flora must have found some random Keidran stranger to have sex with during their trip) and also wore a blindfold because looking at her patients unclothed would be obscene. And as Flora herself noted, Keidrans and humans had coexisted—yes, she meant that—for centuries and there had never been any hybrid offspring. But she's finally accepted the truth and has now begun debating when and how to tell Trace, though she still can't figure out how they're the one couple who conceived. Unbeknownst to Flora, but knownst to us, Euphemural has decided to allow the pregnancy to occur after a long time of actively preventing such reproductions.
 * Cameo: Hero and Dianne from RPG World.
 * PenPen (the penguin) from Yosh!.
 * Can't Hold Their Liquor: Keidrans get completely smashed off a mouthful or two of normal ale.
 * Probably their hyper metabolism. It does what it's made for quick.
 * Cast from Hit Points (Not To Mention Sanity Points): Dark Mana spells damage the caster's mind(this was what led to Trace going Ax Crazy) and will eventually kill you if you keep using them.
 * The spell that caused Natani, considering the caster died using it, was most-likely something similar.
 * Catgirl: Flora, although with fur, ears, tail, claws and muzzle, she is much further down the scale than most. Helps that she looks a lot like Tigra who has an internet paradox named after her.
 * Catgirl: Flora, although with fur, ears, tail, claws and muzzle, she is much further down the scale than most. Helps that she looks a lot like Tigra who has an internet paradox named after her.

""Tragically I survived""
 * Kathrin
 * Caught with Your Pants Down: Keith and Natani repeatedly avoid this Trope. The latest instance, Keith and Natani, both naked (remember,  from the group), with Keith being paralyzed, in a inn room that was just set on fire, looks like it might be harder to get away from. Mike and Evals recently played this trope more straight. Well, sorta straight.
 * Charles Atlas Superpower: The Arms General can deflect throwing knives with his abs!
 * Keith and Alaric damaged the (stone) ground in their fight with their bare feet.
 * King Adelaide can fight Templar!Trace (who can fight gods) to a stand still despite Templars poisoning her for some time.
 * Chekhov's Gun:
 * That necklace Trace gave Flora early on.
 * Madelyn's, AKA Stalker Girl's, letter that she wanted Natani to give to Keith turns out to be
 * Chivalrous Pervert: Eric to a T. Though sometimes he does get kinda creepy. See Fridge Horror, below.
 * It's made fairly blatant that Eric is only a slave trader because it's the only socially acceptable way available to explore his Keidran (and, once he discovers them, Bastilan) fetish. He's far, far more interested in flirting and painting portraits of nude Keidrans and Bastilans than anything else—in addition, we haven't seen him buy or sell any of his slaves, so he may actually just be a slave collector.
 * Conveniently-Common Kink: Bastins have a species-wide foot fetish, according to the author.
 * Cosmic Chess Game
 * The Corruption: The author seems to be treating Dark Mana like this now.
 * Magic-wielding or tower-exposed Basitins. Magic is bad for their brains.
 * Crapsack World: When the nicest person in the setting happens to be a slave trader, you know its this. A sex slave trader.
 * Potentially, though how one could tell currently is a mystery.
 * Crazy Prepared: Alaric. From the time Keith was banished,
 * Culture Clash: Quite a few. The humans are perfectly OK with the concepts of slavery and racism, regardless of who's doing it to who; the Keidran have a blatantly different biology then the other two races and live a mostly tribal existence; the wolf Keidran apparently likes killing civilians; and the Western Basitins live in a very orderly and militaristic republic. It's really no wonder why the three don't get along most of the time.
 * Dark Magical Girl: This picture of Kathrin done by the author may be this. Not really stated.
 * Deadpan Snarker: King Adelaide has shades of this.

": Yes, I'd been told that as well. I chose to ignore it and continue living."
 * Deal with the Devil: The old High Templar asked Neutral to give her her human form back. In exchange, Neutral possessed her for a time. Flora also got the short end of the stick when she accepted Neutral's help.
 * Defeat by Modesty: An inverted example—the artist has posted a few "lost strips" on his Deviant ART page showing that Flora and Natani almost defeat the Eastern General with nudity. Not his, but Flora's -- Natani notices the general reacts poorly to her not wearing socks, so she steals Flora's clothing, leaving the general a blushing, stammering mess.
 * Defeat Means Friendship: Yeah, remember when Natani (and her brother) tried to kill the group? Now Natani has a crush on Keith and is being very lax about following her orders to kill Trace...
 * Depleted Phlebotinum Shells: Poisoned arrows. Magic-infused arrows are also the best way to take out a tower.
 * Determinator: gives us this incredibly Badass quote when informed that she was expected to have died by a mortal wound at this point.

"Keith: Huff... If it wasn't for the fact I still need you for my mission... Well... I'd probably still save your ass. But then I wouldn't have an excuse for it."
 * Deus/DiabolusExMachina: Divine help rarely doesn't end up breaking rules or getting people injured, but couldn't have happened otherwise and it's looking like a good thing currently.
 * Did I Say That Out Loud: "If he gives me trouble, I'll just kill him myself!!" ""
 * Did Not Do the Research: Basitins, when it comes to Keidrans. Adelaides and Keith are the only known exceptions currently.
 * Disproportionate Retribution:
 * Holy Crap Trace, stop killing everyone when your girlfriend/wife gets hurt/killed, not cool dude.
 * The old Intellegance General Because he didn't like the choices his friend made. And all this before the comic starts.
 * Distracted by My Own Sexy: Illusion-bent Mike was attracted to his/her own reflection in the mirror.
 * Distracted by the Sexy: Bastilins are prone to it. See Head-Tiltingly Kinky.
 * Laura had it planned until...
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: Dark Mana is very similar to Defiling Magic from the Dark Sun campaign setting.
 * Keith keeping watch for Natani. Keith's tail.
 * Draco in Leather Pants: Directly invoked. Remember that Eric is a slave trader who collects Keidrans because he doesn't consider them people, just objects of his own perverted lust? The fanbase mostly forgot, so we're forcibly reminded when  [invoked]
 * Ear Ache: Cathleen left her mark on.
 * Easy Amnesia: What sets the story in motion.
 * Everything's Better with Princesses:, who was put into an arranged marriage with a prince of another tribe. She decided not to go through with it. Unfortunately,   but then again,  , and   has screwed everything up, plan wise. In other words, princesses screw up the plan.
 * Evil Tower of Ominousness: The Templars seem interested in making a large number of these, basically magic batteries. Oh, and they cause brain damage to Basitins - a fact that they are unaware of, but that the Templars are. They also do something to Keidrans' instincts, but this has not been explored yet.
 * Eyes of Gold: Beware any human displaying this trait.
 * Raine
 * Expy: The Intelligence General looks a lot like Gnarl.
 * Fallen Hero: Trace was shown to be a fairly nice guy, before  which causes him to...snap. He tried to bring her back to life and failed, warping his mind with dark magic in the process, and then slaughtered the Master Templars, replaced them with his hand-picked acolytes, and became pretty much the bane of the Keidran race.
 * The fact that he was also experimenting with dark magic before his wife was killed would likely not have helped.
 * Fantastic Racism: Humans hate Keidrans (it's mutual) and can barely recognize the difference between Keidrans and Basitins. Speaking of Basitins, they're split up between Western and Eastern Basitins—the Easterns are the only ones we've seen so far, who tolerate humans but consider Keidrans a slave race which are insanely promiscuous at all times.
 * Fantasy Writers have no Sense of Scale: The Keidran tribes are stated to be very fast breeders (what with their views on sex is the same as a Centauri and their short lifespans) yet the largest city of the Wolf Clan (the largest tribe) is less than six thousand, even for a faux-Medieval setting that's low. Also there is a timber forest and a rain forest rather close to each other (and on the same latitude line no less). Possibly justified in that they're nomadic—so the people living in a city are the minority—and that they've been on the losing end of a war of genocide / slavery with humanity for the past few decades. The 6,000 population has been retconned to be 36,000.
 * Let's not forget Zen's hint about the race
 * Fascists' Bed Time
 * Faux Action Girl: For a top class assassin, Natani sure does suck at it, same goes for the rest of the female cast, up to the last Grand Master. For the leader of an army of magic-using knights, she sure got tricked. According to the Author, Natani and her brother have always "Managed to cause their targets to die by proxy" and never actually killed a target themselves. And the only time we've really seen Natani fight was against someone whose stomach was hard enough to shatter knives.
 * Fire-Forged Friends: It isn't the most noticeable, but Keith at one point grudgingly says something that represents this trope:
 * Fire-Forged Friends: It isn't the most noticeable, but Keith at one point grudgingly says something that represents this trope:

"Alt Text: "You can't do that! Only we can use the law to manipuate the system!""
 * Flat What: Not yet, but these faces scream it.
 * Has happened as of the latest page. Natani's reaction to Mike telling her and Kathrin about the time he was turned into a girl. It's just her reaction that seals it.
 * Foot Focus: Especially prevalent in recent chapters, while the heroes are in Basitin territory. The Basitin consider uncovered feet to be partial nudity, and it's against the law.
 * Foreshadowing: A fairly unsubtle example here
 * Only unsubtle for those aware of what is being foreshadowed.
 * Freeze Sneeze: The only thing that can get a Bastin sick is being cold and wet. It apparently clears up as their body heat stabilizes.
 * Fun Size: Basitins don't get much bigger than 5 and a half feet. They're pretty much anti-hobbits.
 * Except their King, good lord. She must be closer to seven or eight feet tall. And she's built like a brick house!
 * Funny Background Event: During "King" Adelaide's speech about her near fatal wounds, the younger Basitans are...impressed
 * Furry Surrogate: Eric. He has a huge Keidran (and Basitin) fetish, and since the only socially acceptable way to explore this in his society is to be a slave trader, well, that's what he does. It's implied that he treats his slaves far better than the average trader, and we never see him buying or selling slaves, so that may be a cover.
 * But...
 * Gambit Pileup: We know Ephemural isn't the only god who has Plans for Trace, plus Trace/The Templar's plans, plus whatever the Basitins want from Trace, PLUS the groups chasing Trace and Co., PLUS... On top of that, it looks like all the people on the Templar Grand Council are playing Xanatos Speed Chess against each other, not just the governments of all the nations and the main party. To what ends is anyone's guess at this point.
 * Gender Bender: Mike is hit with an illusion that makes him look female, but is still male. The artist does a fair amount of this stuff on his DA account. And a recent incentive has the main characters with swapped genders.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: in strip 274, looking closely reveals.
 * The Glomp: Flora and Nora, both to Trace.
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom: Angry or simply feral Keidrans and occasionally Trace.
 * Basitins that are enraged can also have these.
 * Human Templars as well.
 * Go Out with a Smile:
 * Good All Along:
 * Gorn: In one of the later chapters one of the characters gets killed off in a manner befitting the bastard love child of a Candiru asu and a hand grenade. The reaction from some of the fans was mostly positive.
 * Half-Human Hybrid:.
 * Happiness in Slavery: And How! Kathrin seems to be just happy being a type 1 slave. The fact that Eric goes easy on her doesn't hurt, either. And to a certain extent, Flora looks back on her days as a slave "with a ... fondness."(No, really) Though to be fair Kathrin and the rest of Eric's crew are treated like human servants/pets, and Flora was treated about the same way until she was disowned by her childhood friend.
 * Mike is definitely a type 3. He was born into slavery and wouldn't survive in the wild.
 * Plenty of other enslaved characters avert it, including members of Eric's crew. The comic simply seems willing to treat the subject with more shades of grey than is typically socially acceptable.
 * "Happy Ending" Massage: Kathrin's "services".
 * Head-Tiltingly Kinky: Deconstructed. The Basitin culture is so sexually repressed that an entire tavern drops everything to watch a disrobed Flora chase Kathrin (also naked) out of her room for calling her fat. It takes Trace shouting them down  to smooth things over.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: A textbook example from the local woobie.
 * Honor Before Reason: Eastern Bastilins have such a huge Lawful Stupid habit that this is often in play. They consider it more honorable to die in battle than to survive and possibly provide strategic knowledge to others.
 * Trace is pushing it for Laura...
 * Horror Hunger: Parodied. Flora jokes that she wants to taste human flesh (to set up a Reaction Shot gag from Trace).
 * Hot Amazon/Amazonian Beauty: "King" Adelaide
 * Humans Are the Real Monsters: The only semi non-morally ambiguous human is Trace after his Laser-Guided Amnesia. The necklace merchant might have been another exception, although it's not clear what his long term goals are. Actually, every species appears to be bastards of one sort or another. Humans and Keidrans are at war with each other and both rather enjoy enslaving the other species. The Basitins are outright xenophobes. Humans just get the limelight shone on their bastardness because the Templars are taking control of the human government and are actively trying to capture Trace and instigate war, and because most of the first half of the comic takes place in human lands.
 * Humans Are Cthulhu: Given the rapacious manner in which they take over and enslave Keidran villiages, most Keidrans assume humans are devoid of mercy or compassion-and even that they're cannibals (taking the D&D meaning in that they eat sapient prey). That, and they think Humans live "unnaturally long" (Humans live about twice as long as Keidrans), and can use magic with suprising ease (see next). So humans, to keidrans, are nigh-immortal magical beings who swipe the population of entire cities for to become brainwashed slaves or snack food (or even clothing, at the start of the strip, the guy Trace gets Flora from states her skin will fetch a good price). Imagine their shock when they meet a pleasant human, and/or when it's explained to them that humans are really just a sort of bald ape-creature that happens to have a slow metabolism and a mean streak. So, Flora and Katharin are pretty much iae Iae IAE HUMANITAS FHTAGN!!!
 * Which explains Laura freaking out quite well.
 * Humans Are Special: Humans are the only race that can use magic without special equipment (Mana batteries for Keidrans and brain-rotting mental conditioning for Basitin). Humans can also drain mana from the surrounding area to fuel their own spells. So, humans are pretty much the "elves" of the setting. Remembering what Terry Pratchett said about elves, that is...
 * Actually keidran can manipulate mana; they're just not very good at it, as shown when Natani tried to recharge his batteries they didn't last nearly as long the second time.
 * Hyperactive Metabolism: A minor example; Keidran have a metabolism about two times that of a human. They gain less weight and age twice as fast. This is one of the subtle hints of Flora's pregnancy; she notes in one strip that she's put on a little weight.
 * Hypocrite: Eric hates how slaves are bound by control spells, claiming it "kills them inside". He may treat his own slaves better than most slavers but that doesn't stop him from using this exact same spell on them (except Kat). Note, though, that this is the law, and he's risking his own neck keeping Kat free as it is.
 * Though even in the face of being begged, Eric showed no restraint in re-shackling Evals all because he couldn't be bothered with looking for answers the slowest way.
 * Idiot Hair: Trace and Flora, however, they fit the letter of the trope, not the spirit.
 * Imagine Keith Naked: Worked a little too well.
 * Improbable Weapon User: While fighting, Trace magically throws a wooden crate at her, leading her to observe: "You used...a crate...I mean, really...a crate? Come on..." There's also Eric's brother, who uses . . . Wait, what the frak is that? I think that's a pizza cutter of some sort. That can't be useful in a fight.
 * Innocent Fanservice Girl: Flora, to the point that the author has complained on the forums that he wants to clothe her, but she keeps slipping out of her clothes. Less "Innocent" and more "Not really needed since she has a built in fur coat", however. Interestingly enough, Flora was Raised by Humans, meaning she should have human modesty, and Natani (indeed, most other Keidran shown, outside of the feral and tribal ones) has no real interest in undressing. Perhaps a way of rebelling against her human upbringing. A better example would be Kathrin. She's a well-endowed and passively sexual catgirl that was the result of breeding for a perfect Keidran sex slave. Eric treats her more like a little sister than anything. Add this to the fact that she's poorly dressed or naked a majority of the time. These are a few examples of this.
 * Instant Fanclub: had men lining up from Lisbon to Vankarem to become her concubines just hours after appearing in her first strip, laws of reality be damned. And not only men either.
 * Definite Hot Amazon territory with that one!
 * Let's go down the list shall we? VERY tall, furry, stacked, hyper-muscular, and kind/fair? Fetish Fuel incarnate for this troper, at least.
 * Hell even people who hated the comic think she's awesome!
 * Interspecies Romance: Practically every possible pairing introduced in the comic, especially the main one, Trace and Flora.
 * Intoxication Ensues: When Flora gets drunk, she starts to speak Kitteh Pigdin.
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Trace's first wife, who's just happy Trace is back to his old, not-evil self.
 * Jerkass Gods: They're attempting to manipulate events on the mortal plane, but their methods are antagonistic at best.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Keith. Might be also a Tsundere.
 * or Kuudere. His Proud Warrior Race isn't supposed to show emotion
 * "Join the Army," They Said: page #98
 * Kangaroo Court: Zig Zagged Kieth recieves as fair a trial as expected, but anyone not a Basitin doesn't even get one.
 * Klingon Promotion: How Basitins determine the best people to be leaders. You know, the type that the rest of them are genetically programmed to obey? Nothing could go wrong with that, nope...
 * Leads to a bit of Fridge Brilliance in a recent chapter:
 * Klingon Promotion: How Basitins determine the best people to be leaders. You know, the type that the rest of them are genetically programmed to obey? Nothing could go wrong with that, nope...
 * Leads to a bit of Fridge Brilliance in a recent chapter:


 * Knight Templar: The Templars, duh. A bit lighter on the initially good goal part than most, though.
 * Lampshade Hanging: This comic page specifically
 * Large and In Charge: King Adelaide is twice the size of any other Basitin.
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia: Trace,.
 * Last-Name Basis: Nicholai "Alaric" Alaric, King Adelaide
 * Lawful Stupid: The entire Eastern Bastilin race is Lawful Stupid—they have a biological imperative to obey their natural pecking order, regardless of their own opinions.
 * It hasn't been revealed if it's true for Western Bastilins, but more than likely is not the case.
 * Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Sheik once in the first panel
 * Let Them Die Happy:

""Theoretically, it is possible to use Dark Manna to revive a dead person...""
 * Longest Pregnancy Ever: Flora - five years and counting. That's in real life only, however; in-universe the events of the strip have only taken a few months.
 * Love Confession: Unintentionally played with in recent pages. What Tom had intended was for Kathrin to express to Eric a desire to be free, but the way the dialogue is written made fans believe she was confessing her love to him.
 * Then again, given Kat's reaction when Eric does set her free (and declaring their relationship Like Brother and Sister in the process), perhaps she really did mean it as a Love Confession...
 * Luminescent Blush: They are very prominent and happen with a startling regularity.
 * Mana, and it's got an Evil Counterpart; Dark Mana.
 * Mayfly-December Romance: It is highly suggested in the series that Keidran lifespans are extremely short. Flora is 11. The oldest Keidran mentioned is 21—and he mentions that he thinks he won't live to see 25. When Trace is informed of this, he is Not Happy.
 * It takes Nora to remind him that she's alive now.
 * Meaningful Background Event: A glowing pair of eyes watching the Party in #142.
 * Mismatched Eyes: Natani.
 * This wasn't always the case. Maybe.
 * Alaric also has a possibly fogged-over left eye
 * Moment Killer: "Wait."
 * Ms. Fanservice: Flora has some elements of this, but it's more innocent than that, for the most part. Kathrin, however, was specifically bred to be appealing to human males, so she's basically a walking sexpot with a penchant for casually acting sexual and spewing out Innocent Innuendo comments. Amusingly, Flora has flat out questioned if anyone who says the things Kathrin says could possibly not understand the innuendo. All hints as of this time point to yes, meaning that Tom has managed to write a Ms. Fanservice who ALSO is a complete innocent. Amazing.
 * My God, What Have I Done?: General Alabaster.
 * Naked Apron: Done by Kathrin in this strip. Notable due to Kathrin usually wearing even less.
 * "Strange how wearing an apron can seem more revealing then nothing at all."
 * Naked People Are Funny: Both played straight and subverted, for example when an airborne drug/spell causes the various Keidran nearby to become drunk, the first thing Flora does is replace her clothing with ribbons. Later subverted, when a naked Flora runs out in public in the Basitin inn, it requires a stern, out-of-character threat/lecture by Trace to save her from the enraged bar patrons. Essentially, any time the crew are away from civilization, Flora disrobes.
 * Necromancy: Dark Manna uses life-energy as magic.
 * Naked People Are Funny: Both played straight and subverted, for example when an airborne drug/spell causes the various Keidran nearby to become drunk, the first thing Flora does is replace her clothing with ribbons. Later subverted, when a naked Flora runs out in public in the Basitin inn, it requires a stern, out-of-character threat/lecture by Trace to save her from the enraged bar patrons. Essentially, any time the crew are away from civilization, Flora disrobes.
 * Necromancy: Dark Manna uses life-energy as magic.


 * Necromantic: Trace's backstory. He uses Dark Manna to try and resurrect his dead wife. It backfires. No, not Came Back Wrong, it instead flashes back through his brain, nearly killing him and driving him mad.
 * Never Found the Body:
 * No Biochemical Barriers: Subverted, not only are there limitations on what they can eat, but the three races in the comic can't interbreed
 * Though it's implied that the
 * No Biological Sex/Ambiguous Gender: The Masks. No gender stated, no known gender, and Ephemutal has been shown using males and females as hosts.
 * No Name Given: [Database Error], who can't even get his name on the character page. Though careful analysis of the comic does reveal that his name does start with a "P", "R", or "B".
 * Nosebleed: Every main character has had at least one, even Flora.
 * Not Quite Dead: . "We were told you were fatally wounded!" "Yes, I'd been told that as well. I chose to ignore it and continue living."
 * Laura... for a while, anyway. In spite of calls for "Don't let her die!", she has since been cremated.
 * Not So Different: The Basitins pride themselves on being morally restrained. On closer inspection, their duels seem to be mate-attracting combat displays. Honestly, One almost expected to see the female lieutenant watching Keith's battle with the harbor guard to head for the washroom with a jar of petrol jelly and Keith's picture. As it was, her report on Keith's duel with Alaric was part offical document, part gushing fan-letter, and has a "disturbing number of hearts drawn on it".
 * Humans enslave Keidrans. Keidrans enslave humans.
 * Hell, Keidrans enslave other Keidrans, often under the pay of humans. Note: this is not entirely dissimilar to how the slave trade in Africa worked. There was an internal slave market, which foreign slavers ended up feeding off of and encouraging.
 * Not What It Looks Like: Used when Flora saw in the tub together. Hilarity ensues. Also used when Flora drinks milk laced with some kind of aphrodisiac. She falls asleep with Trace on top of her, jut as the entire cast of the comic bursts into the room. Subverted here, in that it rapidly becomes what it looks like.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Flora does a little at a point.
 * Oh Crap: "...oh crud... We're screwed."
 * His reaction makes sense.
 * Omnicidal Maniac:
 * Oops, I Forgot I Was Married: Amnesia Trace. His wife, Saria, did not forget.
 * Our Dragons Are Different: They're telepathic shape shifters, and rather friendly to certain people.
 * Our Nudity Is Different: Bastin always hide their feet, wrapping them from ther ball of their toes to their ankles. Word of God is they have a species wide foot fetish, and thus consider bare feet nudity. Alaric's statue of Keith has only the feet covered.
 * Our Orcs Are Different: Okay, they're beastmen, but the parallel between the Basitin and Orcs/Orks/Your favorite spelling of the Phonetic rendering Or+ hard "K"; of other works are undeniable; immune to poison, can't use magic worth a damn, enlist in the military at a very early age, and their equivalent of a Saturday-night paintball match is a long and bloody conflict. Oh, I almost forgot, the bigger ones are in charge and they're slavishly loyal to their superiors. Their honor system pretty much follows that of the Orcs from Warcraft.
 * But their sense of modesty is on the completely opposite end of the spectum. Orcs are rapists. Basitins think you're indecent if your FEET are uncovered.
 * Wait... Resistant to poison, isolated society, strict rules for decency, individually badass, Lawful to an extreme, militant, significantly shorter than humans, and unable to use magic? Orcs aren't the most apt fantasy comparison
 * Adelaide musta caused a hell of a lot of nosebleeds on her way to the court, decency or no...
 * Out of Focus: Trace's old friends. We also know next to nothing about Nora. Or the "gods."
 * Painting the Fourth Wall:
 * The character biography page. Trace has two entries, one for his current persona, the other for his original/real self, openly hostile to the rest of the cast. One of the character's name is replaced with [database error] as well.
 * Karen in the beginning of Chapter 12, which started in 2009: "It feels like we haven't done anything in four years!" Their last appearance was in 2005. It would have been Leaning on the Fourth Wall if the line hadn't sounded so forced.
 * Pardon My Klingon: In one of the early chapters, Flora breaks her foot. When Trace checks it out (by squeezing gently), she lets loose with a string of (untranslatable) Keidran phrases.
 * Pardon My Klingon: In one of the early chapters, Flora breaks her foot. When Trace checks it out (by squeezing gently), she lets loose with a string of (untranslatable) Keidran phrases.

""I, Lieutenant Madelyn Adelaide, witnessed a duel between Keith Keiser and Nickolai Alaric...and it was awesome! You should have seen it! At first Keith was all like 'oh noes!'...""
 * Person of Mass Destruction: Trace was this, to the extent it took a god to bring him down. And if Flora is in danger, he becomes it again.
 * Pettanko: Flora. She does not take it well when this is pointed out.
 * Petting Zoo People: Flora and Natani, as well as the rest of the Keidran race.
 * Pillar of Light: The results of the destruction of one of the Templar's mana towers.
 * Please Wake Up:
 * Power Perversion Potential: Keidran slaves are required by law to be magically bound to follow their owner's orders. Let that sink in. The artist has also done a small number of pics showing some possibilities for magic mishaps.
 * Power At a Price: Black magic. The mage that attacked the Magi brothers killed himself using black magic. Also Trace in the Basitin arc. "There's a reason it's forbidden."
 * Properly Paranoid: A good trait, considering the world they're living in.
 * Eric is properly paranoid of everyone around him, except for Kat, even if it might be too much regarding certain individuals. More than anything, he just wants to keep the people he cares about safe, and is willing to be ruthless if you give him reason to doubt.
 * Alaric wasn't convinced one of his plans would be enough, coming up with dozens.
 * Proud Warrior Race Guy: The Basitins (in theory).
 * Psychic Link: Natani and Zen. She's uncomfortable with it because he can poke through her memories (particularly her developing feelings for Keith), and annoyed by it because they're separated by thousands of miles and she can't hit him.
 * In a voting incentive Natani gets around this problem by making Zen feel thoughts about Keith
 * Something of the sort is how Trace beats the Ephemural-controlled Flora.
 * Punny Name: Trace Legacy lost his memory, with a name like that he really should have been expecting something like that.
 * It's always nice to have one like that.
 * Quickly-Demoted Woman: The last Grand Master was outed by Trace by using magic to make her look like a Keidran, causing the nearby solders attack her and drag her into slavery. And for some reason she doesn't blame Trace for this... (Granted, he was crazy at the time, but still.)
 * Most likely due to her possibly being aware he wasn't well when he did it.
 * Raised by Orcs: Flora, who was more-or-less raised by humans.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: King Adelaide and the Arms General.
 * Redemption Quest: Keith is sent on one by the Basitin leaders as punishment for his father's murder. Except that it wasn't meant to be possible—he was told he could come back when he had Trace in tow. Roughly equal to someone saying: "Hey, you can come home when you bring Osama bin Laden with you for tea."
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: When Trace used dark mana, the thing he summoned and him both had red eyes and when we meet Roderick (Eric's brother), he is first shown with them. Roderick is an active Templar and enemy of the main cast.
 * Red Right Hand:
 * Remix Comic: The "Panel Shuffles" on the forum.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something: Sythe, Flora, definitely King Adelaide
 * Running Gag: Any time it looks like the red-haired swordsman is going to give his name, something happens to prevent it. This even extends to the cast page, where he is listed as [database error].
 * Sad Clown: There is a pic of Evals on Deviant ART by the comic author and with Word of God about his past, he could be either this or a Pollyanna.
 * Safe, Sane, and Consensual /BrainsAndBondage: Apparently, Keith and Laura's sex life.
 * Samus Is a Girl:   plays this more straight.
 * Sarashi: Natani, as an assassin, wears them.
 * Scenery Censor: When fight each other while naked, it appears that 's tail has a will of its own and is determined to guard 's modesty no matter what.
 * Schedule Slip: Has dropped to 2 1 comic a week from it's original MWF schedule, with a few numerous long pauses, including when the author's father passed away.
 * Schizo-Tech: As pointed out on a certain forum thread, despite the author saying that this is a pre-Medieval setting many things in the comic can only be achieved with modern technology. For example, the characters order a pizza without phones or long-term sustainable farming being available. Also: bronze and architecture in a culture that's remembered when it was unevolved animals by a character who is only 2000 years old.
 * Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: The very ability to do this at all (even if it's incredibly difficult) is what makes Keith so dangerous in the eyes of the Basitins. In addition,
 * Sdrawkcab Name: Evals is slave backwards.
 * Self-Made Orphan: Keith killed his drunken father in self-defense, but got the blame because the father was a war hero and the best friend of one of the Basitin Generals.
 * Adelaide.
 * Shipper on Deck: Nora, unwittingly or not.
 * Shout-Out: The Author will sometimes reference the fanbase in alt text.
 * The Arms General is a dead ringer for Major Armstrong.
 * Flora dressed in a Rambo costume for the Jan 19 2011 strip.
 * Something Else Also Rises: Keith's example of Does This Remind You of Anything?.
 * Son of an Ape
 * Spotlight-Stealing Squad: The villiagers have fallen by the wayside. The Lower Decks Episode that was originally meant for them got snatched by the regular cast.
 * Status Quo Is God: Literally! Neutral's only motivation seems to be to maintain a constant stalemate between the three regional powers. Though it and the rest of the Masks aren't gods by standard definition, considering that they can be destroyed, or a least disabled.
 * Stay in the Kitchen: Averted with humans and Basitins. Played straight with the Keidran assassin guild; if they catch a female in their ranks, they just off 'er. Female wolf-Keidrans also seem to stay home and let the men fight.
 * Super-Powered Evil Side: in spades.
 * Sweet Polly Oliver: Natani, so very much.
 * Tap on the Head: Though this was the guy who tossed Natani hard enough to knock her out, after shattering a bunch of throwing knives with his abs.
 * Tempting Fate
 * "I can't believe I made that!"
 * "My technology is infallible."
 * Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Eyelashes
 * The Lifestream: Dark Mana works by sucking the life-energy from the earth and using it to cast shadow magic. The catch is that it will never work for anything more than the occasional cantrip, because it kills the caster before they can complete the spell they're using it for.
 * The Chessmaster: Officially, as of  And boy howdy, is it deserved.
 * Through a Face Full of Fur: Every Furry who sports a Luminescent Blush.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Flora and Natani are tomboys, Natani (on occasion), Kathrin, and Laura are girly girls. Adelaide seems to have gotten a happy medium between the two.
 * Translation Convention: Keidran speech has "<" and ">" on the ends usually. Bastilin has "and " on the ends. Human speech has no marking indicators thusfar.
 * Transsexualism:
 * Uh-Oh Eyes: If a character is dangerously psychotic, they have a red glow in their pupils. If they OD on Mana, they get Blank White Eyes. Keidrans, when drawing on the Feral side of themselves, get Glowing Eyes of Doom.
 * Bastilins can also have glowing eyes.
 * Under the Mistletoe: Invoked here.
 * Ungrateful Bastard: As stated below in What the Hell, Hero?, Eric refuses to let his slaves go even though they risked their own lives and sacrificed their chance at freedom to wait for him to return to the ship. And these slaves weren't even under a control spell at the time.
 * Then again, considering who makes the decision to wait, and that nobody wanted Eric to let them go in the first place, only to let them be bought their freedom, it's not all that clear cut. Eric even specifically made sure Kat and the slaves were ready to escape on their own if he and the others failed. Besides, even one half of the slaves aren't sure about how good an idea it is to be that free in the first place, and if both mind-controlled slaves were set free, that would leave the ship to be crewed by just Kat and Eric, making travel almost impossible. Eric's got a lot more reasons not to set them free besides being a jerk, even if that turns out to be his main reason.
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend: Possibly Kathrin. Eric likes Keidran women noticeably and Kathrin likes him. Because they're so near each other, Eric has yet to show any reciprocation for her fondness beyond treating her well.
 * Unwanted Harem: It seems Keith is quickly getting one of these. He has three girls who like him!
 * UST: Flora and Trace before they get in bed. Keith and Natani during Natani's heat all the time. Mike being turned female temporarily has revealed something similar with him and Evals.
 * Vague Age: Due to the art, all humans (save Master Mage, but even he looks too young) look like teenagers but are in their mid to late 20's (Trace is 25)
 * Valley Girl: In letter form!


 * Visible Sigh
 * Webcomic Time: The Basitin Isles story arc has gone on for almost four years. It takes place in the space of three days. This is lampshaded by Karen saying "It feels like we haven't done anything for four years..."
 * Wacky Cravings: Flora and bugs.
 * Warped Aesop: Used sarcastically in an Alt Text: "if caught in a lie, just add more lies. That always helps, right?"
 * Webcomic Time: The comic celebrated 8 years of existence in November 2011, but only a few weeks have passed in the story. Characters have occasionally tossed references to this, such as Flora in strip #285 and Karen in strip #531.
 * Wham! Episode: Keith's trial, where we've just found out
 * What the Hell, Hero?: A minor example, when a telepathic character makes Trace realize Another would be when Keith calls Trace out for calling Flora an animal in the same paragraph where he's contemplating marrying her. Considering just how very much is wrong with Trace's speech probably everyone was reading that and cheering Keith on.
 * The Keith example makes more sense when you realize  while Trace respects and cares for her.
 * Despite freedom being handed over to them on a silver platter, Eric's slaves (apart from Kat) are convinced by Flora to wait for him and Trace to return, risking going back to being slaves though making Flora promise to convince Eric to release them. He's about as grateful as you'd expect.
 * What Could Have Been: "It Could Have Been"
 * What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: "My technology is infallible."
 * With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Apparently all users of Dark Mana, especially . And ANY Magic does a number on Basitin brains.
 * The Worf Effect: The Eastern Basitin Islands Arms General does this with Natani, the professional assassin, beating her with little effort.
 * Xanatos Gambit / Xanatos Speed Chess: Ephemural's plan to unite the Keidran tribes (and when this one failed, continuing with his (her?) facilitating Flora's apparent pregnancy). There are several dozen others (Gods are fun!), most of which focusing on Trace, Flora, or one of their friends.
 * You Fail Your Medical Boards Forever: Because of a double taboo (first against nudity, second against seeking aid) the Basitin doctors blindfold themselves and navigate by ear.
 * You Look Familiar: The Templar's Master Spy does this a lot, even going as far to once change his race to a Basitin (or so it seems due to the uncanny resemblance).
 * The Master Spy´s "disguise" is so weak it´s actually very funny nobody has called him out for that. Mid-lengh brown hair, blue eyes, wears a cross-pendant and ALWAYS keeps the bandages on his right hand. So far, he´s been the shop-keeper giving trace the pendant that later decides the fight with Ephemural, an inn-keeper, he´s been a guy organizing a ship for them (altho without the cross necklass), he´s been the basitin inn-keeper and most probably the . He´s been nothing but helping Trace and the crew, which makes his goals seem kind of blurry.
 * You Should Know This Already:
 * You Will Not Evade Me: The little Keidran in the first HONF link wanted to run...
 * Zig Zagging A Trope: Keith vs Flora.
 * Zig Zagging A Trope: Keith vs Flora.