Dreamwalk Journal

Male bee, female wasp and female 'ooman (slightly pixelated due to boobage)

An erotic CG webcomic and Spin-Off titles by Ed Kline, co-written by Kishma Danielle until her untimely passing in early 2014, Kline continued the comic as a solo project and subsequently took Kimber C, and Lee M on board as co-writers with Bob Partridge as assistant . See below for links.

In the original story Danny and Fleur, two young women from Earth, find themselves in the strange world of Cyeatea, via a kind of astral projection called "dreamwalking". Cyeatea consists mainly of a vast forest extending vertically through multiple levels, each with its own distinctive environment. It is inhabited by numerous intelligent, technologically advanced species of insects and spiders.

Most people probably wouldn't associate insects with erotica (a fact which is lampshaded in the behind-the-scenes material), but on Cyeatea insects and arachnids have human characteristics, including prominent genitalia and Non-Mammal Mammaries. They're all naked (and technically Furry, since most species have a short velvety coat), and horny, and very curious about the "ooman" newcomers, who also happen to be naked and horny.

Another key point about Cyeatea's arthropoid society is that nobody ever harms anybody else deliberately. Predators can only survive by feeding on prey, but they only feed on surplus nutrients that have been processed through the prey's bodies, leaving the prey thinner but unharmed. Predatory insects and spiders do have stings, but they paradoxically cause sexual pleasure, rather than pain.They also temporarily paralyze prey, which adds an element of bondage to Cyeatea's sexual predation.

Started in May, 2005, the webcomic went on hiatus in the fall of 2007 and the original site eventually went down. Kline eventually began a Spin-Off strip on Drunk Duck, titled The Widow, which did not feature the "ooman" visitors, but rather focused on Cyeatean spiders' sexual predation on insects (and was therefore slightly more explicit in its sexual depictions). In January 2012, the comic went on a brief hiatus and then was relaunched under the title Nightshade the Merry Widow, now officially crediting Danielle as co-creator, rebooting and slightly RetConning the storyline. The human characters reappeared in a 2014 story.

In November 2014 the Nightshade storyline went on hiatus and Kline began a rerun of the original Dreamwalk Journal story, posting the artwork at (usually) larger size. August 2015 saw the start of a "missing scene" from Dreamwalk Journal, at the end of which a new storyline began, skipping Chapter 4 of the original story.

Sites:

Dreamwalk Journal (original site, deleted; the first three chapters of the original story ran on the Nightshade site below as of March 2015, with additional scenes beginning in August)
The Widow (no longer on TheDuck; available on ComicFury, no direct links due to NSFW content)
Nightshade the Merry Widow on The Duck (adult login required due to NSFW content): No longer updating as of April 2016. Archive links still work.
Nightshade the Merry Widow on ComicFury: Now the main site, no direct links due to NSFW content
nightshadesweb on Tumblr: Nightshade the Merry Widow archive blog (ditto).

Now has a fledgeling Characters page.

Tropes used in Dreamwalk Journal include:

All There in the Manual: The original site also featured "Danny's Journal", which gave a lot of background to the characters and events. As of November 2014 there are plans to repost it. There was also a page on Cyeatean anatomy, which was intended to be the first of a series called "What the Hell is That?", but ended up being the only one. Kline later revived "What the Hell is That?" as a Q&A feature on Nightshade, alternating with story strips.
Amazing Technicolor Population: Justified by all the different species. Between them they display all the colors of terrestrial insects and spiders, and more besides.
Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: Killing non-sentient species is justified as long as it's in self-defense. When it comes to sentients, the rules of the "great game" of life mean that predators can 'steal' nourishment from their prey while screwing them senseless, but causing injury or death is unthinkable. In Nightshade it's stated that murder and (painless) execution do sometimes occur, but extremely rarely.
Arc Words: "Good Hunting".
Art Evolution: The most recent Nightshade strips demonstrate the huge advances in CG rendering since the original 2005-7 series.
Author Avatar: Danny is based on Danielle, and her boyfriend Johnathon (mostly referred to in the behind the scenes journal entries) on Kline.
B Side Comics: In 2007 "The Laceweb" began as the first of a projected set of sidebar stories about Cyeatean predation. In the event, it was the only one of the set to appear. The story depicts in graphic detail the capture and "harvesting" of Theta the honeybee by a pair of spiders, while his mate Damiana watches and enjoys the show.
Bizarre Alien Biology: In Nightshade there's a scene in which Fescue the deep-dweller fly gets his head ripped clean off by a deep-dwelling lifeform. Then, while everybody else is trying to come to terms with his death, he grows a new head. It comes as a hell of a surprise since non deep-dwelling Cyeateans can't do that.
Bizarre Alien Reproduction: Not so much the humanoid arthropods, although some predators can force their prey to become surrogate mothers. The creatures living in the depths are another matter, however. In Nightshade a ship from the upper realm encounters some giant beasties whose males impregnate females with sperm torpedoes that use eyes for guidance. Once they avoid the females' pheromonal countermeasures the torpedoes cause the females to explode, scattering larvae with teeth in all directions. Including the direction of the ship.
Breast Attack: Some of the anthro insects get stung right in their Non-Mammal Mammaries (amongst other places), but it's a subversion because (being an erotic comic) the stings inflict pleasure rather than pain.
Buxom Is Better: Most mature sentient females on Cyeatea have big breasts, including Danny and Fleur. Since the humans are not in their original bodies, it's possible that their breasts may have been augmented to conform to Cyeatean standards of beauty.
Can't Take Anything with You: A variation involving astral projection rather than Time Travel as such (although they seem to be in the future). When dreamwalking to Cyeatea Danny and Fleur can't take anything from Earth - except, for some reason, their sneakers, Danny's glasses and Fleur's baseball cap, all scaled to fit. At one point Fleur laments the fact that they can't take a stimulating Cyeatean beverage back to Earth.
The City: Helianthus Hive, basically a single vast building constructed on (and in) the bark of a humongous tree countless miles above the ground. De facto Capital City for its part of the forest, due to the honeybees' administrative and technological skills.
Cloudcuckoolander: To some extent, Peppers. Being a fly she's not overly endowed with brains. On the other hand, she does accidentally discover a non-lethal weapon to use against the beewolf raiders, and volunteers to be a test subject for it.
- Even more so in the case of Beans, another fly, whose "heroic rescue" of a female fly from a tribe of ants ends in farce.
Contrived Coincidence: At the end of Nightshade's "Bahoogie and Beans" arc, it's implied that ant Queen Vulgia's perilous descent into the netherworld was contrived by the planet's deity so that her rescuers could discover the original ship that seeded Cyeatea - which just happened to be right beneath her when she fell.
Cool Ship: The Starwasp in Nightshade. Works just as well for exploring the deep realms of Cyeatea as it does for space exploration. SFW image, but NSFW page header image, behind filter
A Date With Rosie Palms: In The Laceweb, after Theta is captured by two spiders, Damiana is so turned on by watching their sexual predation on him that she can't help playing with herself.
- Nightshade the Black Widow can produce a special antvenin from her genitalia - the local equivalent of an instant hangover cure. Guess how she extracts it.
Deadpan Snarker: Fescue the deep-dwelling fly in Nightshade.
Deus Ex Machina: Nightshade the Merry Widow has two big ones.
- In the "Beewolf" arc, the heroes suffer a major Oh Crap moment when they accidentally destroy the Beewolves' hideout and think they've killed everyone. (Remember, on Cyeatea nobody ever kills anybody.) They are relieved to discover that the local deity has stepped in and rescues everyone at the last moment - literally a deus ex machina.
- In the "Bahoogie and Beans" arc, our heroes are baffled as to how the Redlip ant queen Vulgia could have survived a plunge into the deep realms, where the atmospheric pressure and composition should be lethal to anyone from the upper realms. It turns out they've been saved by the Living Ship that originally seeded Cyeatea with their human-arthropod hybrid ancestors. In this case, a deus ex machina.
Disintegrator Ray: There are both hand-held and (in Nightshade) ship-mounted varieties. They can only be used for defense, and only against non-sentient creatures.
Dyson Sphere: Not actually stated in the webcomic, but according to one behind-the-scenes journal entry Cyeatea is just one of numerous worlds in a Dyson Sphere. A later editorial comment confirms this.
Eldritch Abomination: The native lifeforms inhabiting the deepest reaches of Cyeatea's ecosphere are huge and deadly. Normally nobody in their right mind would go there, but in Nightshade a rescue party is sent to find an ant queen and wasp baby who have fallen into the depths.
"Everybody Laughs" Ending: Played more-or-less straight in a Nightshade storyline. At the end of a scene where Danny, Fleur and Dill join a group of students who are learning about the (ahem) ins and outs of predation, they laugh about how much of a seeing-to the "victim" is getting.
Everyone Is Bi: Since predators don't discriminate between male and female prey, there's no distinction between "straight" and "gay" sex except when it comes to reproduction.
Eye Scream: In Nightshade, during the fight with the beewolves, one beewolf gets his eye kicked out. Word of God says it's only a glass eye, the victim having lost the real one in an accident. However, since that's not actually explained in the strip, it looks uncharacteristically violent.
Filler Strips: When a new Nightshade arc was delayed in March 2013 Kline posted some concept art from another story, The Stormrunners, based not on Cyeatea but on ancient Mars. The Stormrunners was officially launched on its own pages in August 2014.
Four-Legged Insect: Most of the insect hybrids have two human arms and two insectile legs, although earwigs have four of each. Spiders have two arms and four legs. Flying insects appear to have only one pair of wings rather than two.
Fourth Wall Mail Slot: Nightshade has "Dill's Q&A", aka "What the Hell is That?", in which the honeybees' chief scientist Dill answers readers' questions about Cyeatean life and society.
Funetik Aksent: The beewolves in Nightshade are depicted as Cyeatean Valkyries, complete with horned helmets (and blonde hair) and speak with stereotypical German accents. Rule of Funny applies.
Genetic Adaptation: Although never stated directly, it's heavily implied that this is how Cyeatea's arthropod hybrids originated.
Giant Eye of Doom: The Living Ship encountered by some of the deep-realm rescue party in Nightshade has an absolutely humongous eye. And it knows what they are. Take a look here, if you dare. (SFW image, but NSFW page header image, behind filter.)
Go Mad from the Revelation: In Nightshade's deep-realm rescue story, this appears to happen to bee queen Leonurus after witnessing a violent attack by some of the nasty critters that live in the depths, though it's probably more a case of shell-shock. Cyeateans (with a few notable exceptions) really aren't psychologically equipped to handle violence at all. It's later revealed that she recovers after a healing draught and a little hypnotherapy.
Heli Critter: Cyeatean dragonflies are roughly the size of ocean liners and fly using genuine helicopter-style rotor blades. (The blades also chop up any vegetation they come into contact with, producing a salad rain for critters in the lower levels). At one point the protagonists hitch a ride in a cavity in a dragonfly's head.
- One image by Kline (not appearing on the main comic site) shows Danny and Fleur riding much smaller dragonflies (intelligence level not established) which also have helicopter-like rotors.
Hologram: "Telispheres" are large spherical devices that look like decorative light fixtures when not in use, but transmit and receive holographic images when they are. They are often used for important communications, but one is seen in a cafeteria displaying a hologram of a bee waitress.
Hungry Jungle: It's probably safe to assume that Cyeatean plants and animals are carnivorous if A) they move; B) they can't talk; and C) they aren't trying to get into your (nonexistent) underpants. Well, the last one isn't entirely accurate; actually there is a sexual component to all predation on Cyeatea, so if a plant eats you you'll probably be experiencing too much pleasure to worry about it. Fortunately many carnivorous life forms aren't fatal to sentients.
I Fell for Hours: Absolutely justified in the case of Ant Queen Vulgia, who gets dropped by a clumsy fly while paralyzed and pregnant. Cyeateans are very small compared to humans (and therefore probably perceive time as passing more slowly due to having faster metabolisms), while Cyeatea has lower gravity than Earth and a very deep atmosphere, and the air resistance increases with depth. Unfortunately so does the air pressure, as well as the proportion of toxic gases... Fortunately she's rescued thanks to a strange Deus Ex Machina.
Immortality Begins At Twenty: Cyeatean childhood generally lasts 15 years, during which time the children have no physical sexual characteristics although their parents can tell their genders. Adolescence begins during the next three years, during which time they are known as poppers, because that's when their sexual characteristics "pop" out. Their hormones kick in much more slowly, and full maturity is not reached until between the ages of 30 and 38. Barring accidents, Cyeateans may then live for 900 years, which are longer than Earth years.
In Medias Res: The original storyline begins some time after Danny and Fleur's arrival on Cyeatea, when they're already saying farewell to one of their original guides. There's no subsequent flashback; the backstory can only be found in the behind the scenes "Danny's Journal" pages (awaiting reposting as of December 2014).
Interspecies Romance: Cyeatea is inhabited by numerous intelligent humanoid insect and arachnid species, all nude with exaggerated sexual characteristics including big boobs. There's lots of sex between species thanks to Male-to-Female Universal Adaptors, some of it in the form of ritual combat, which eliminates the need for real warfare. Naturally the visiting human women also get to experience Cyeatean sexuality first hand. Although it seems that all Cyeatean arthropods have some human DNA, so whether they're really separate species is debatable.
- One Q&A strip says that different types of Cyeatean arthropod are usually mutually infertile, although there have been a few sterile hybrids.
"It's Not Rape If You Enjoyed It": Cyeatean "prey" struggle and complain at first, but they do kind of enjoy the experience, although the intensity is overwhelming. In any case, no harmful intent is ever meant or inferred.
- This Nightshade strip (NSFW behind a filter) makes it clear that some prey actively enjoy the experience.
Living Ship: The scoutcraft from the Starwasp discovers what seems to be one in the deep abyss. It's huge and apparently ancient. And it bears a United Earth Federation insignia. Turns out it's the original ship that seeded Cyeatea millennia before.
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Earwigs have two pairs of arms. Natwick the hillbilly earwig in Nightshade plays two fiddles simultaneously.
Must Have Caffeine: In Nightshade it's revealed that Theta the honeybee is a real grump until he's had his morning coffee.
My God, What Have I Done?/Oh Crap: In Nightshade, after the heroes have come up with what they think is a non-lethal weapon to defeat the beewolf raiders, they turn it on the beewolves' hideout... and it completely trashes the place with apparently fatal consequences for everyone inside. Since murder is pretty much the ultimate taboo on Cyeatea the good guys are understandably upset. Turns out everyone's alive, thanks to a literal Deus Ex Machina.
Naked on Arrival: Well, everybody, obviously, but especially Danny and Fleur who are the newcomers. Cyeateans do actually have a concept of nakedness, but for them it simply means not wearing a waistbelt. On the first page the two 'oomans have already been given belts to preserve their "modesty".
Nice Hat: Bee Queen Leonurus has a selection of very ornate headpieces, one of which can be seen in her Character page picture. They look heavy, but Word of God says they're made of "virtual matter" and are therefore weightless.
- Visiting human Fleur almost always wears her trademark red baseball cap.
- Leonurus's council of six are required to shave their heads and wear caps. One of them shows a slightly rebellious spirit by wearing his at a jaunty angle.
- Natwick the hillbilly earwig from Nightshade wears a broad sun hat, apparently made from a leaf.
- A piece of filler art for Nightshade shows the eponymous spider-lady wearing, appropriately, a fly-fishing hat (Word of God says it was apparently made for an Earth doll).
- Beewolves, as mentioned under Funetik Aksent above, wear Valkyrie-style horned helmets.
- The redlip ant King Pewbosis wears a tastefully-understated crown in the shape of gilded phalluses. His wife Queen Vulgia thinks this is appropriate for a gold-plated peckerhead like him. She herself wears a crown with a geometric design.
No Antagonist: The conflict in the plot arises from the characters' attempts to overcome natural obstacles, defeat amorous plants (and in Nightshade's "Bahoogie and Beans" arc, monsters of the deep), and achieve dominance in their ubiquitous sexual games. There are, however, a few characters, like the beewolves, who try to bend the rules heavily in their favor, making them the nearest things to antagonists in this world.
No One Gets Left Behind: In Nightshade, when Queen Vulgia of the Redlip Ants, pregnant with an implanted wasp larva, falls into the depths, Helianthus Hive organizes an extraordinary rescue effort involving their most advanced exploration vessel and risking dozens of lives including the bee Queen Leonurus and Nightshade herself. Admittedly there are diplomatic reasons for doing so, but the primary reason is to save two lives.
Non-Mammalian Hair: Most of the anthropomorphic insects and arachnids, both male and female, have hairlike stuff on their heads.
Non-Mammal Mammaries: Naturally. See Buxom Is Better above.
- The last two entries are debatable, however, since as mentioned under Interspecies Romance, all Cyeateans do appear to be at least partly based on human DNA.
Obfuscating Stupidity: This seems to be a defining characteristic of flies. It's sometimes endearing and sometimes annoying. However, some flies, like Beans, appear genuinely stupid.
Our Nudity Is Different: Except when exploring dangerous environments none of the insect/human hybrids wear any clothing at all - except for woven waistbelts, without which they consider themselves naked.
- Word of God says that in Cyeatean usage, the word naked means hot, horny and desirable - it's both a taunt and a compliment.
Plot With Porn: There's less actual porn than you might expect in the main storyline, apart from the ubiquitous nudity. There's a lot more in the spinoffs.
Rape As Comedy: It has to be admitted, the depictions of sexual predation in The Widow are pretty funny. And as mentioned, Cyeateans don't have our attitude toward sexual consent or lack of it where predation is concerned.
- A possible Crowning Moment of Funny occurs in one Widow strip, when a captive wasp has a rather... extreme reaction... to a spider's stimulating sting.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Leonurus, bee queen of Helianthus Hive. When she's not busy ruling she's happy to show Danny, Fleur and SueMac around the Hive, and in a later storyline she takes an active role in the rescue of ant queen Vulgia.
Sacred Hospitality: Played with. When a predator captures prey for purposes of extracting their nutrients, the prey are referred to as guests and treated with due hospitality until such time as they are released. Any predators that fail to treat their guests properly are shunned; in extreme cases, they may become guests of other predators until they have learned their lesson.
Scenery Porn: Vast exterior and interior vistas.
The Shadow Knows: At the end of the "Bahoogie and Beans" story, Bahoogie's shadow on a wall resembles Lord Bael... and even has a conversation with him!
- At the end of "Story Five" when the human Danny is reunited with the honeybee Theta, following Theta's capture by a predator, the shadow of her embracing him looks like Damiana the honeybee. This confirms that Damiana is in fact Danny's avatar, just as Theta is that of Danny's human lover Johnathon.
Shout-Out: Two pages of the original deliberately mimicked some shots from Forbidden Planet.
Spin-Off: The Widow and Nightshade have featured Types 4 (recurring characters) and 8 (new storyline under different name).
Sub Story: Although not actually set underwater, the scenes in the depths of Cyeatea's atmosphere might just as well take place in the deep ocean because of the intense atmospheric pressure and monsters of the deep.
Theme Naming: Many of the characters are named after plants, typically flowers.
Time Skip: In the original strip there was a long sequence set inside Helianthus Hive. Kline apparently got bored with drawing interiors (however vast), so the storyline jumped forward to a sequence where Danny and Fleur are once again journeying - and then the strip went on its indefinite hiatus.
We Will Have Perfect Health in the Future: One of the Q&A strips in Nightshade explains that missing or damaged limbs, wings or even internal organs can be replaced with 3d-printed copies.
The Woobie: Bahoogie the fly, most of the time. He's generally a decent guy but everyone seems to regard him as a bit of a harmless loser. What they don't know is he's really an alter-ego of their god, Lord Bael, so it's probably safe to asume he's behaving as he does in order to avoid being conspicuous.
- It's probably worth noting that on Cyeatea the word "woobie" has a different, and unsurprisingly sexual meaning (i.e. vagina).
You Won't Like How I Taste: Fleur says the line to her hungry spider companion. Of course, the spider doesn't want to eat her physically, just suck some of her juices. That's what "eating" means to Cyeatean predators.