How to explain... Sacred Pie is a webcomic written by Phil Shaw, aka philbob, about three 20-somethings, Sid, Roonas, and Bob. Hanging out in their apartment one day, they're visited by a dying man called the Traveler. In his final breath, he gives them four items, a Tunic, a pair of Gloves, a pair of Boots, and a Medallion. Then his body disappears, and they take them, deciding to save the universe as he asked on the basis that there's nothing on TV anyways. The first thing they do is accidentally assassinate an alien Chancellor and try to escape. All that is just the first twelve or so pages, and it just gets crazier from there.
In short, it's a rather soft SF, mixing Space Opera, Planetary Romance, High Fantasy (with Christian overtones), vampires, werewolves, zombies, furries...
Can be found here: http://sacredpie.com/main.html
Tropes featured include:
- Aliens Speaking English: The original version of chapter 3 page 2 had an... interesting idea, that all sentient beings eventually evolve English language. Later that was changed to English becoming the galactic Lingua-franca as the most simplistic of languages of races that were in the Congress from the start. Around 2018 it got replaced by boring Translator Microbes.
- Almighty Janitor: Sanitation Guild of Tundar city has enough strength to rule the city (when they stop fighting among themselves). Instead, they choose to work under Var and avoid direct conflicts with other gangs. In the end, they may end up the strongest gang.
- Always Chaotic Evil: Grundarians, being the spawn of Lucifer. Quite literally. Jai made him bleed a lot on a "living planet", giving it his genetic material. Chrodos come close too.
- Artifact Domination: The Helmet imbues the wearer with Lucifer's pride and paranoia.
- Artifact of Power: The Sacred Objects: Gloves, Boots, Tunic, Medallion, Helmet, Gauntlet, Belt, Pouch. The Pie too, but it's a bit more complex. They were created by Lucifer at his Start of Darkness to combat Jai.
- Artistic License – Biology: Chrodos were humans that replaced parts of their body with metal for religious reasons. Several generations later, their babies started to be born with metal parts.
- The Atoner: Repenants — masked prisoners who help to keep order in the residential area of Tundar city. Angels secretly guide them.
- Batman Gambit: Lucifer infects Bob with wrath to make him kill in rage. Then he organizes his death, sending him to Hell. The goal is to lure his friends to rescue him, to get a chance to capture the artefacts they carry.
- Beast Man: Several alien species are based off animals: cats, kangaroos, canines, two insect species...
- Bottomless Magazines: Nearly everybody uses machine pistols that throw a lot of empty cartridge cases, yet nobody ever runs out.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Several times. Usually Roonas comments on something like too obvious Shout-Out or too lengthy Infodump combined with
Schedule Slip. - Cats Are Mean: Cat aliens are always minor antagonists.
- Color-Coded Characters: When Roonas gets cloned. See "Spot the Impostor" below.
- Death World: Grundar. All life forms are telepathically connected and will fight invaders. Somewhat downplayed as it isn't really teeming with life and the landing force is well prepared.
- Devil, but No God: Lucifer is an active force in the universe, but God is mostly absent from the conflict. Recent events suggest this may be through choice. Angels later prove more proactive, but they are discreet. They show up around chapter 16, but reveal themselves only in chapter 24. Also, if they are killed, the portal from Heaven opens once in 347 years.
- Evil Versus Oblivion: Rai creates chaos For the Evulz, which includes assassinations and provoking wars. Jai wants to end it all. He calls it "harmony", but it's some kind of Universal Apocalypse.
- Foreshadowing: In chapter 8, after the heroes leave, the Admiral and the masked man have a seemingly innocent conversation after having parted many years ago. They are Roonas ans Sid.Masked man: Were we ever that young and stupid?
Admiral: Yes. Yes we were. - Gag Nose: Dodlers have spheric clown noses.
- Gender-Restricted Ability: The sacred objects can only be used by men, regardless of species. This is a side effect of Lucifer creating them for his own use.
- Humanoid Aliens: The overwhelming majority. There are such things as centaurs, Armless Bipeds, slugs, snakes, but most have two arms and two legs.
- Human Aliens: Several alien races are drawn indistinguishable from humans, but they are distinctly different in-universe. Subverted for Guardsmen — they are Earthlings and the setting is the 26th century.
- Merlin Sickness: Rai only remembers the future.
- Mêlée à Trois: The politics of the prison planet Tundar is a tangled mess. There's the dictator Var with his army of ghouls, there's his Dragon with an Agenda Silve, there's Sanitation Guild that has its own internal conflicts, there are several gangs that may strike when they see an opportunity (the strongest being Cats, then Chrodos, then Green Men quickly become no weaker than the Cats, then the upstart captain quickly gains strength...) When it all comes clashing, Jacquad jailers and Guardsmen enter the fray too.
- Mouth of Sauron: Lucifer speaks through a proxy from Hell.
- Mugging the Monster: In chapter 29, after the ultimate battle against forces of Hell, Bob and Roonas left for the next mission, entered a random bar and were assaulted by armed thugs. It didn't go well for thugs.
- One-Man Army: Maur, thanks to regenerative Belt and Gauntlet that can shoot anything up to a planet-obliterating shower of nukes.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Draconis is a race of Humanoid Aliens with scales, tails and leathery wings. Satyrm look like giant fire-breathing snakes with wings.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: It's an infection that can be easily cured. However, it gives its victims heightened strength and senses for the price of having to grow fur at full moon. The children, who inherit it, can transform at will any time.
- Our Zombies Are Different: The more traditional ones result from a vampire failing to raise a ghoul. Xandurians are born dead, are buried after some ritual and spend their childhood digging their way out. They make implacable soldiers.
- Penal Colony: Prison planet Tundar.
- Put on a Bus: At the end of chapter 28 Sid stays in the Dragon Nebula to train and prepare for his ultimate fight that already happened in chapter 24, while Roonas and Bob go to the next mission.
- Shout-Out: Usually, to Star Wars. Like when Chewie seems to appear in a What a Piece of Junk starship.
- Spot the Impostor: Gets time in starting in this strip.
- Stable Time Loop: Guardsmen are commanded by much older Roonas. Chapters 1-25 is him preparing for the battle he had already fought as a footman. Similarly, Bob is The Traveller and Sid is "the man from the Dragon Nebula". The loops aren't identical, though. Admiral mentions each previous version of him having different number of fingers missing. The heroes are presented multiple opportunities to try to Set Right What Once Went Wrong, but they fear this may break the loop and result in their defeat. Also, Roonas is deliberately not given all the available information, since he won the battle knowing exactly that much.
- Time Travel: The Medallion can open portals to any place and time.
- Translator Microbes: "Babel" inoculation that allows understanding any spoken language.
- Unusual Euphemism: The Sacred Pie is a woman. A kiss is how you "taste" the pie.
- You Didn't Ask: To be let back to Heaven a fallen angel only has to repent and ask to be forgiven. Apparently, none of them tried that in some 50 000 years.
- You Shall Not Pass!: In chapter 24 a team of angels and an immortal face Rai and Jai. They cannot win, they only try to delay them.
