Web Video / Chronicles of Syntax

”Somewhere within the Earth's population is a selection of people. Each one of them unique, holding traces of information locked deep within their DNA. They do not know who they are... but we do.”

Chronicles of Syntax is a Sci-Fi web series created and written by Susan E. Clarke. After spending several years in Development Hell and changing legal hands several times over (full history up to early 2012 explained here), it finally kicked off on a multi-series YouTube channel called, appropriately enough, The Multiverse. In October 2013, it returned with a series of shorts on the Primary Faction channel called "Fallen Angel Miniatures" in preparation for the upcoming second season.

Episodes in Season One:

1. "The One That Ran Away" (Friday, 1st February, 2013)
2. "A Fighting Choice" (Friday, 15th Febuary, 2013)
3. "Head Strong Heart Strong" (Friday, 1st March, 2013)
4. "Taking Candy" (Friday, 15th March, 2013)
5. "Carnage" (Friday, 29th March, 2013)
6. ”Sugar & Ice” (Friday, 12th April, 2013)

Fallen Angel Miniatures episodes:

1. Episode 1 (Sunday, 27th October, 2013)
2. Episode 2 (Sunday, 10th November, 2013)
3. Episode 3 (Sunday, 24th November, 2013)

This page also covers Primary Faction, the prequel audio series made while the legal rights were owned by someone else. It only has one episode, which is the basis, both plot and dialogue wise, for the first CoS episode.

The story so far is set in Present Day, where our heroine, Sian, is working to save the future. Currently, she is trying to gather a team of special people, each with a genetic mutation that gives them special powers or abilities. None of them are aware of these abilities, so getting them all together is a much harder task than it seems. Only when she has completed her task can she unlock the information hidden in their DNA, a message from the future to help stop the oncoming apocalypse.

Official website: http://chroniclesofsyntax.co.uk/

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Chronicles of Syntax contains examples of:

• Accidental Misnaming: Sian continuously refers to Heather Falkirk as "Falkon".
• Action Girl: Sian, Shia, Trystanne, Heather... basically any female is either already an Action Girl or will become one in time.
• Affectionate Nickname: Kai calls Kelly the Kelly Telly, since that's how they communicate. He also calls her awesome.
• Air-Vent Passageway: Kai tries getting out of the school this way. It... doesn't quite work. He ends up getting stuck. At the worst possible moment.
• Almost Out of Oxygen: Steven and Heather get trapped in an elevator with about ten minutes of air supply. This especially sucks considering the former's rather severe Claustrophobia.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Kai, occasionally.
• Ax-Crazy: All of the Junkyard Dogs, as well as Hugo.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: Sian and Steven seem to instinctively fall into this stance when threatened. If Kai's there, he gets shoved between them in an attempt to keep him out of danger, since he's not exactly trained yet. When actually fighting, they occasionally separate, but they never go far enough to be out of reach of the other if one of them suddenly needs help.
• Badass Boast: Kai “best technological brain on this side of the solar system” Fisher. This is only the first time of many.
• BFG: Killer, Theo's "pride and joy".
  • Fenway's Static Stun Gun might also count.
• Bizarrchitecture: The building from episode three is Bigger on the Inside, as well as constantly shifting and changing its own layout.
• Brains and Brawn: Steven and Sian, respectively. Kai is also brains, but only when it comes to technology. On the field he's just the Plucky Comic Relief.
• The Chosen Ones: A whole team of them. Season one is all about Sian gathering all the people who have been “called”.
• Claustrophobia: Steven Bramwell gets nervous after spending too long in a small room.
• Daddy's Girl: Sian does her best to help her father by locating and gathering her team.
• Dark Is Evil: All the bad guys (except for the Lady on occasion) wear entirely black outfits 24/7. James Black's name even fits.
• Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: That elevator music in the Facility in episode 6? That's the opening credits music.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Parodied.
  Kai: Do you have any kind of visual device set up on your plane?
  Sian: It's just a plane. We don't use it for sexy parties.
  Steven: There's general CCTV installed as an anti-theft device. Will that do?
  Kai: [Beat] ...I'm sorry, you lost me at “sexy parties”. What?
  Steven: I said-
  Kai: Don't worry, I got it, it's fine. We're good.
• Evil Red Head: The Lady, apparently.
• The Faceless: We never get a clear look at The Lady's face, with lots of far-away-and-dark shots, closeups of the mouth or hands, and the veil taking care of anything else.
• Face–Heel Turn: Zane
• Fight Clubbing: The Tycan games.
• Fireballs: Shia's preferred mode of attack.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Heather is a former police officer who wants to join FAN while her half-brother Zane is a Jerkass that decides to join the Junkyard Dogs.
• Fun with Acronyms: FAN, the Fallen Angel Network.
  • Inverted with the High-Frequency Wave DNA System.
  Kai: HFWDNAS?
  Steven: It's not an acronym.
  • In the first episode, we get this exchange:
  Kai: Who the hell are you guys? FBI? MI6? CIA? ADD?
  Steven: That's Attention Deficit Disorder!
  Kai: If you wanted my attention, you've got it!
• Gender-Equal Ensemble: The Junkyard Dogs consists of two females (Fenway and Shia) and two males (Hemlock and Chell). Well, there are more members, but these are the ones we get to see.
• Genius Ditz: D can be a little... out of it at times, and will talk your ears off about animals and other subjects that you probably don't care about. She is, however, cognitive, and knows nine different languages. There's a reason she's going to a school for gifted students.
• If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Sian gives Steven this speech in the first episode in regards to Hemlock.
• Impairment Shot: When near-unconscious D sees the FAN team coming to rescue her in episode six.
• Insistent Terminology: Zane is Heather's half-brother only.
• It's Quiet… Too Quiet: Steven says a version of this in episode three before falling into Fenway's trap.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Trystanne's weapon of choice.
• Left the Background Music On: The Lady doesn't take long to get tired of the ominous background music playing during her introduction. It's actually coming from a small, hand held radio, lighting up an otherwise fairly dark scene.
• Magic Genetics: Most of the main protagonists are part of a team of special people with slightly mutated genetics. This “evolutionary step up” doesn't quite make the owner invincible, but makes them much better at one or more tasks. It's repeatedly stressed that they are still human, and (ignoring special training) easy to hurt or kill. They're just slightly more advanced in some respects than most people. However, those things give them a serious advantage over “normal” humans, and can easily be classed as a superpower. They don't have any known disadvantages, either.
• Mind-Control Device: Episode four introduces creepy glowing red candy, used by the Priest.
• Mind-Control Eyes: A more realistic example in episode four - Fenway and Shia's dilated pupils are one of the things that gave Steven a hint to their brainwashed state.
• Mind over Matter: The final result of James' little... experiments on Daynah.
• Mission Control: Kelly serves as this.
• Mother Russia Makes You Strong: Fenway, the leader of the Junkyard Dogs.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: James, maybe you should have rethought making D telekinetic.
• Nothing Up My Sleeve: Steven Bramwell's weapon of choice is a collapsible sword that fits neatly under his sleeve, and can also shoot arrows, knives, and other small projectiles.
  • It's revealed in episode six that Hemlock has one of these as well.
• Not Using the "Z" Word: The creatures introduced in Episode Two are basically zombies with gas masks. Except they're not zombies, despite there being very few differences between the two. They're usually called the Bio-army instead, if not just “those things”.
  Kai: If I get bitten, promise you'll kill me!
  Steven: They're not zombies!
• Omniglot: D speaks nine languages, including Jalaa.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Sian's quite short, but thanks to her genetic mutation has Super-Strength and agility.
  Sian: He's the brains, I'm the brawn.
  Kai: Really? But you're so... tiny.
• Playing with Fire: Shia is pyrokinetic. As previously mentioned, fireballs are a particular favourite.
• Refusal of the Call: Trystanne originally didn't want to join FAN, but she changed her mind.
• Religion of Evil: Episode four has one.
• Remonstrating with a Gun: In episode two, Hugo demonstrates how he managed to kill one of the not-Zombies, using Steven as an unwilling example.

• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: It seems that the Lady knows trying to stop the apocalypse will only cause it to happen.

• Shipper on Deck: Heather for Trystanne and Theo.
• Shout-Out: Lots. Mostly from Kai.
  • Theo calls Kai Neo at one point and John Connor at another.
  • When Kai finds out about Sian and her power, he compares her to Supergirl.
  • When Sian asks him how he stopped Fenway's gun from working, his initial response is “Oh, I just used my Reflect Energy card. Anyone? Yu-Gi-Oh!? No? Okay...”
  • Kai is a fan of RENT. Also the movie Morpheus.
  • Kai likens himself to Hawkeye and Heather to the Black Widow.
  • One of us! One of us! Ow...
  • Stetsons are cool!
• Sibling Rivalry: A bit between Zane and Heather.
• Signed Up for the Dental: Kai apparently picked his school for its advanced gaming technology.
  Sian: You chose a college for the PC spec.
  Kai: Beats choosing it for the nightlife!
• Strictly Formula: Each episode in season one starts with a briefing by Kelly on a new member. The gang spends the rest of the episode getting them to join or rescuing them from the bad guys.
  • "Head Strong, Heart Strong" doesn't work this way, although it is similar, focusing a full episode on a single one of the called.
• Super-Strength: Sian.
• The Team Wannabe: When Heather finds out that her now-deceased father's last wish her to join the Fallen Angel Network, she does her best to get on the team, called or not.
• Technobabble: Kai is quite fond of this.
  Steven: How exactly did you get the plane on the ground?
  Sian: I see we'll be having a lot of these kind of conversations... I should've let the gun kill me.
• Teen Genius: Kai. D, as well. Her exact age isn't mentioned, but they both go to the same school (for the gifted, of course) so they're probably not too far apart.
• Tempting Fate: “Where are all the bad guys?” “Uh, you had to ask...”
• Torture Technician: James Black.
• Training Montage: With Trystanne in FAM episode 3.
• The Unseen: Dr. Lovat.
• Wham Episode: In episode 6, we see that D has telekinesis, that Sian is becoming more and more unhinged, and the Lady's face for the first time. Oh and it also ends with Sian and D both severely wounded and unconscious/in a coma, and the mysterious voice on the radio appears in person on the screen instead of Kelly.
• You Have Failed Me: The Lady is quite displeased with Fenway's constant failures to capture at least one of the "called".
• You Shall Not Pass!: Sian, though she doesn't actually die.
  Sian: I... am my father's daughter... and while there is breath left in my body, I will not. Let you. Past me.

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