Human colonists struggle to survive in a new world of giant predatory birds.
Sunbird
is a Webcomic drawn by the creator of the webcomic Beneath the Clouds and part of the SpiderForest webcomic collective.
Southern Pallas imprisons phoenixes in power stations to fuel their fledgling industrial revolution. Northern Serenthia protects its cities using telepathic sunbirds.
When war breaks out between the continents, a team of Serenthine agents make a discovery that could change the course of history. Unfortunately, it changes their lives instead.
Sunbird updates on Wednesdays. The first page can be found here and the artist's website here.
Tropes:
- Ancient Grome: Serenthia looks very like this. Subverted in practice: it's politically similar to Renaissance Venice.
- Anti-Magic: Vask is a "nullhawk"- a sunbird variant that extinguishes fire and magic rather than creating it.
- Bond Creatures: Icaros are humans bonded to telepathic birds of prey.
- Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Subverted. Andraz is a large man who shoots a crossbow, Salva is a tiny woman who prefers axe fighting.
- Deadpan Snarker: Vask.
- Fiery Redhead: Salva has reddish hair, an affinity for fire, and a temper.
- Genius Bruiser: Andraz is reserved, bookish and loves the theatre- when he's not punching people through walls.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: The main characters are evenly spread across both sides of a war between continents.
- Hot-Blooded: Salva throws herself headfirst into situations and often comes out on top through sheer force of will.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Andraz is well over six feet tall. Salva is five foot nothing. They're married.
- Immune to Fire: Sunbirds and the people bonded to them can't burn.
- Kill It with Fire: Sunbirds.
- Kill It with Water: Serenthia executes traitors by drowning.
- Living Battery: Pallas uses phoenixes as energy sources.
- Noble Bird of Prey: Depending which side of the war you're on.
- Noodle Incident: Whatever happened to that mill in Kandia.
- Phlebotinum-Induced Steampunk: Pallas's fledgling Industrial Revolution.
- Power Source: Phoenixes fuel power stations for Pallas, sunbirds feed on pyrite in Serenthia. Unfortunately pyrite is much more common in Pallas, so the two countries are at war.
- Propaganda Piece: How Pallas promotes the war effort. Salva and Andraz are amused.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Two of the main characters are henchmen for the Serenthine government.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Salva and Andraz. Opposites Attract.
- The Phoenix: Apia. Phoenixes are implied to be a species, if rare, and a variant of sunbird. The original colonists likely named the species after the legend.
- The Pollyanna: Esne is a cheerful, hardworking Ghibli heroine.
