"Novices like you don't get there is no second chance in the field! If you screw up, we die!"
Aecast is a dark fantasy comic written and drawn by IFP (alternatively IFP Artwork). Chapters are available for free on GlobalComix
, Tapas, or NamiComi.
Two hundred and fifty years ago, a red star fell from the heavens and brought with it a horrifying invasion. Humanity is dying. Demons overrun the world, killing those who venture beyond the city walls. Two girls, Hannah and Aytan, join a new mage squad formed under secretive conditions. Can their efforts turn the tide before it is too late?
Aecast contains examples of:
- Ambiguously Brown: Although the girls seem like they come from a variety of backgrounds, no actual ethnicities are specified. That said, Mina's features seem heavily Indian inspired.
- Armor Is Useless: Originally not the case, until the whole world was set on fire with the demonic invasion. People have since discarded them in favor of greater mobility since magic has been discovered.
- Body Horror: The Shenmal. Some of the soldiers who originally tried to fight back against the initial demonic invasion were transformed into faceless, pale, and hairless warped bodies (complete with wires and tentacles and grafted weapons) that seek to kill others they find.
- Calling Your Attacks: Spellcasting is done by reciting several descriptive words in Greek. While the spells aren't given fixed names per se, what a spell is going to do is clearly labelled.
- Citadel City: Humanity was quickly forced back to only five remaining megacities in the face of the initial demonic onslaught.
- Cool Gate: The glissade portal used by mages to traverse great distances. Glissades have their own ornate archway to walk through.
- Crapsack World: Entire world's been killed and everyone that survived is stuck in one of five cities. Humanity's numbers are also slowly but surely dwindling, limiting their ability to project power that much less every year.
- Dark Fantasy: Although humans have the power of magic, they are stuck in a world with demonic forces pressing in on them from all sides as well as other, nastier creatures that lurk in the dark.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture:
- The architecture appears to be influenced from a mishmash of real life places ranging from the Mediterranean all the way to Southeast Asia. Particular focus seems to be placed on India, with some Middle Eastern and Byzantine Empire influences sprinkled in as well.
- Fate Worse than Death: If Naomi is correct, people whose bodies are infested by the Shenmal are in turn transformed into them.
- Flashback Echo: Itzel upon seeing the dead body of a member of the 42nd expeditionary squad in Chapter 2, sending her into a PTSD-fueled nightmare of her own memories.
- Holding Hands: Aytan and Hannah. Aytan is nervous about going into the glissade portal to start their first mission - Hannah holds her hand to comfort her.
- Magical Incantation: The Language of Magic in this world is Greek. The girls create their spells by mentioning several descriptive words and then unleashing the spell. Oddly enough, when the mages from the all-male 42nd expeditionary unit attempt to communicate with actual Greek lettering, Mina states that they are "Old Script," or extinct languages from before the demonic invasion.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": Aytan, Hannah, and Itzel's faces when they see Valens get ambushed and killed in Chapter 2.
- Men Are the Expendable Gender: To a point. Prior to the formation of the all-girls squad, all prior mage expeditionary forces had been solely men. In this world, society frowns on women going out and exposing themselves to danger out of fear that humanity's ability to replenish itself would dwindle even faster.
- Not the Intended Use: The use of a shield staff as a combat weapon against the Shenmal. Itzel is extremely surprised when she tries to summon a shield to force one out of her way but instead disintegrates it.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Itzel in Chapter 2.Itzel: "Out! Of! My! Way!"
- Schizo Tech: Despite the world looking vaguely ancient or at least medieval, humanity clearly has access to things like teleporters, holograms, and proximity sensors.
- Sliding Scale of Gender Inequality: Sits somewhere between Level 4 (Men Are More Equal) and Level 5 (Almost Perfect Equality). The girls are shown to be perfectly capable (the older and more experienced ones, at least), while society at large believes that only men should serve in the expeditionary forces with women in a supporting role.
- Tactical Withdrawal: The 22nd squad after losing contact with the 42nd squad in the Citadel in Chapter 3. A wild goose chase would be complete suicide given the circumstances.
- The Little Detecto: Naomi's Saadahk, a magic orb that uses rocks and dust from the environment to orbit around it continuously. Incoming parties cause disturbances in the orbiting ring, which changes its shape to point out the size of the disturbance and the direction it is coming from.
- The Squad: Mages in expeditionary units are divided between 1) attack mages, 2) support mages that also double as medics and resupply officers, and 3) shield mages who guard the rest of the team.
- Void Between the Worlds: Named "Avidya" in the comic. A completely black and empty realm, people who enter it allegedly never come out. Glissade portals that don't have an end destination set show this instead.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Hannah after realizing she killed her first living being.
