Line #17 Webcomic/GUE


1	[[quoteright:857:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gue4.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:857:From left to right: Astrid, Mel and Will.]]
3	-> ''The Island of Grace-Upon-Earth sits upon an intersection of two of the planets magical [[LeyLine ley lines]]. As a result, it boasts an incredible diversity of magical flora and fauna. The island's namesake comes courtesy of an unknown monk. All but forgotten to history, save for his mark on the place, he is believed to be the island's first human inhabitant. He washed ashore on a shipwreck, sometime around the 11th century. And upon witnessing the islands verdant majesty (...) he concluded he'd died in that shipwreck and landed in heaven. ''
4
5	-> ''As he ventured deeper into the heart of the island, however, his tune began to change...''
6	-->-- Opening lines of Chapter One
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8	[[https://beanytuesday.tumblr.com/tagged/gue/chrono GUE]] is an UrbanFantasy webcomic by artist [[https://twitter.com/beanytuesday Beanytuesday]].
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10	Grace-Upon-Earth is an idyllic island filled with magical flora and fauna, making it both a protected national park and a minor tourist hotspot. A decision has been made recently to roll back certain federal regulations in order to expand development on the island and hopefully increase tourism for the local city. To this end, the local mayor has brought on Melrose “Mel” Haligar for development risk consultation. There she meets the local park employees, including…
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12	* Ouranos “Demon Face” Oz: Park Superintendent. A war veteran fanatically opposed to any development plans that could threaten the park’s natural beauty, and an all-around intense guy.
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14	* Zoroasterix “Astrid” [=McDaniels=]: Standoffish, sarcastic [[MrExposition Ms. Exposition]].
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16	* Will Waters: Another employee who works with Astrid. Trail maintenance specialist. Good-natured, slightly slow on the uptake.
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18	* Calbain: Green-skinned immortal guardian spirit of the island.
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20	What follows is a series of wacky misadventures as Mel tries to navigate two clashing visions for the future of the park, while also making friends with her new coworkers. Set in the same universe as Beanytuesday's previous comic, ''Webcomic/BadEnders''.
21	!!Tropes in the work include:
22	* AerithAndBob: ''Zoroasterix'' and ''Will''.
23	* AmbiguouslyHuman: A handful of characters have noticeably pointy ears, but there’s no indication they’re anything but human.
24	* AntagonisticOffspring: Mel never wanted to have children, partially due to fear of being [[Film/WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin “We Need To Talk About Kevin’d”]].
25	* BadToTheLastDrop: An exchange in chapter 4 implies the coffee in Grace-Upon-Earth isn’t any good.
26	-->'''Helzer''': Now, what’s a guy gotta do to get a decent cup of coffee around here?
27	-->'''Astrid''': A ''decent'' cup?
28	-->'''Will''': I dunno, leave?
29	* BizarroElements: Mentioned briefly.
30	-->'''Astrid's Lore Corner:''' During his time in the military, Ouranos weathered (…) every kind of elemental attack (Including the wacky ones like “dark” and “gravity”).
31	* CampGay: Hermes Pecheki, former supermodel and half-brother of Mayor Pecheki.
32	* CheerfulChild: Brock and Caesar are almost never seen not smiling.
33	* ConstructedWorld: It's clear early on that this is not our world. Weirdly, Earth concepts like Catholicism and Buffalo Wild Wings still exist despite this being an entirely different world with its own nations and history.
34	* DrivenToSuicide: The Mariner Knight from chapter 4 tried to kill himself by drowning after a lifetime of mistreatment, only to be saved by The Lady of The Lake and turned into a water-zombie.
35	* EmbarrassingLastName: Mary Fuckkill. Apparently it’s an anglicized version of the family name Fukukiru, which is Ioponese for [[DoubleSubversion “sexual murderer”]].
36	* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The United States is replaced with the Unified Central States. UCS territory is sandwiched between the uninhabitable Qanadian Hinterlands (Canada) to the north, and Vandal Texa (Texas) to the south.
37	* GeniusLoci: Calbain is the island, and if it dies so does he. He also can’t leave, which is why he’s so keen to be a tour guide- it’s a job that lets him meet new people.
38	* GreatOffscreenWar: Ouranos Oz participated in a war to eliminate monsters from the outer reaches of UCS territory. His guilt over this may be part of the reason he works so hard to protect supernatural life in Grace-Upon-Earth.
39	* InfoDump: All chapters include “Astrid’s Lore Corner”, a segment where Astrid breaks the fourth wall to tell the audience various fun facts about the setting.
40	* InitialismTitle: GUE is an acronym for “Grace-Upon-Earth”, the island where the series takes place. It’s noted in-universe that “GUE” is only used by tourists, and townies simply call it by the full name.
41	* IntergenerationalFriendship: Mel, who is in her 30s, really hits it off with Brock and Caesar.
42	* IntriguedByHumanity: Calbain is interested enough to willingly work as an employee for the park.
43	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: At the start of chapter 4, Helzer says “We’re all just characters in a story” before quickly clarifying that he’s speaking in metaphorical terms. A couple pages later, he says it’s good that there’s no complicated objects in the foreground… because that means they can fight without causing property damage.
44	* LovecraftCountry: Grace-Upon-Earth is a tiny island off of [[FantasyCounterpartCulture this setting's equivalent to the east coast]] that's stuffed full of sinister magical creatures and presided over by a mysterious ancient deity.
45	* MagicalWeapon: Brock and Caesar somehow got their hands on an “heirloom dragonskinner” and a “frostfire blade”.
46	* ManChild: Downplayed with Garth, an excitable 29-year-old camp counselor.
47	* MistakenForPedophile: In Chapter 2, Brock cheerfully claims that camp counselor Gareth Braeian “touches” him [[{{Troll}} for no real reason]].
48	* MundaneUtility: Caesar uses his enchanted “frostfire blade” to roast ants.
49	* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Ouranos “Demon Face” Oz.
50	* NoYou: This exchange from chapter 4:
51	-->'''Mariner Knight''': You're no hero.
52	-->'''Helzer''': Actually, I am.
53	-->'''Mariner Knight''': You defiled my lake.
54	-->'''Helzer''': No I didn't.
55	-->'''Mariner Knight''': And now, you will pay.
56	-->'''Helzer''': You will.
57	* OurGoblinsAreDifferent: Goblins are a magical species and a major nuisance. Oz shoots down a Buffalo Wild Wings franchise on the grounds that “we can’t introduce our native goblin population to club-shaped foods”.
58	* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: Chapter 4 establishes that mermaids are an offshoot of the primordial [[EldritchAbomination Deep Ones]] who [[HumanityEnsues took the form of attractive women]] in order to trick humans into giving them free food and protection, an evolutionary path explicitly compared to both predatory mimicry and canine domestication. Mermen don't really exist, because even male mermaids evolved to look like human women.
59	* PlaceOfPower: The island itself.
60	* RogueProtagonist: In Beanytuesday’s now-defunct comic Bad Enders, J. Helzer is pretty unambiguously the hero. When he resurfaces in GUE chapter 4, he’s still nominally a good guy, but his off-screen [[TookALevelInBadass training]] has made him kind of a pompous dick. He's eventually put in his place by Oz.
61	* RPGMechanicsVerse: Very downplayed. The setting is mostly based on normal fantasy, but there's occasional mention of things like "elemental attacks" existing.
62	* SpeaksFluentAnimal: Deconstructed in a side comic. Calbain explains to Will that he can’t speak to animals, nor can anybody, because animal psychology is just too different from that of a human.
63	* ThoseTwoGuys: Brock and Caesar, a pair of local children at the park’s summer camp program.
64	* TookALevelInBadass: J. Helzer, last seen in Bad Enders as an underpowered loser, shows up in Chapter 4 as a high-up curse hunter with complete control over his powers, including a SuperMode simply called "[[BlasphemousBoast God]]". [[spoiler:Ouranos Oz still hands him his ass, though]].
65	* UndyingLoyalty: The Mariner Knight claims that The Lady of The Lake was the first person to ever show him kindness, which is why he serves her unflinchingly.
66	* UnicornsPreferVirgins: Mel attracts a unicorn because of this, to her extreme embarrassment.
67	* UrbanFantasy: Modern things like cell phones and chain restaurants exist in a magical constructed world.
68	* TheVerse: With Beanytuesday’s previous work, Bad Enders. Bad Enders characters first appear in chapter 4.

Context Webcomic / GUE