When I heard the term "rift blade," my first thought was something like the edges of the gateways in the Wheel of Time books. A wormhole between point A and point B with an effectively infinitely sharp edge. Or the Vorpal swords from glasshouse, I suppose.
And me, until I puzzle it out and/or View gives an explanation. :D *has been on hiatus with a cold :< but is back and enjoying the plethora of new strips in the meantime! YAY!*
So View, I'm gonna throw this out here, don't need to affirm anything, but I think I got this sorta figured out at least to some point: NOTE THIS IS ENTIRELY CONJECTURE AND WILD MASS GUESSING BASED ON WHAT I'VE READ AND HOW MY BRAIN WORKS! Take it with a grain of salt, anyone else reading this. @_@;
And if you want me to take it down, toss it to you in a PM, just say the word and I'll do so; Not entirely sure if this sorta thing is frowned on, but I sorta remember some guesses of the sort from NMtG... Anyways, onto the post.
Unity is some sort of being or beings (The floating skull guys, though those seem more likely to be avatars- psychic or holographic? Unsure. Assuming the latter, because the flare zapped it, so it's at least partially technological) who can mind-slave anything that shares genomes within the galactic tree of life. Whether to just increase their power base or to 'bring everything under their control for harmony and peace in the universe (yeah right, since when is that ever the true motive?)' or something of the sort, they're taking over the minds of various species aiming to enslave the entirety of the known galaxy. Anything that gets in their way, they assassinate with those toxin darts that are otherwise guarenteed to kill anyone.
I'm gonna guess that psykers are especially weak to their machinations, because they're a unique type of psyker/have a unique strain of a psyker power /affect psykers through technomantic means that allows them to do this in some way, as demonstrated by the lines of Kax before the floating skull rebooted; or it could be of a completely technorganic origin instead of a psyker power or a technomantic power, but that would only hold if most hunters are at least partially cybernetic; This seems to possibly be the case since it's been mentioned that Kax is a cyborg, and that most of the others with him are as well.
I'm also guessing that either the Poison Monkeys were specifically created as a sort of anti-Unity weapon, or are a naturally occuring anti-Unity race- perhaps due to the radioactivity inherant in their bodies (All those rampant alpha particles would play havoc with most forms of cybernetics, I'd think) or something within their genetic code; It could even be that they imbibe radioactive substances to corrode whatever it is that Unity utilizes in beings to enslave them.
And if any of this (I highly doubt it, your stories are much better than anything I can cook up) inspires any ideas, feel free to use any of the above material. I doubt I'm anywhere near the actual plot you got cookin', but there's my WMG.
I work so hard restraining myself from asking pedantic questions about your universe's physics allll the time. I don't have so much problem with other comics....
My only thought is it's because you flesh out your worlds to the point that peripheral details are actually filled in pretty consistently in most cases. which only encourages us to ask for all your juicy world-building exposition :P
Because you really do get hammered with questions on that stuff more than most authors I'm aware of.
So the fire for the cigarettes and the blades are a dimensional rift, could you elaborate a bit more on it?
When I heard the term "rift blade," my first thought was something like the edges of the gateways in the Wheel of Time books. A wormhole between point A and point B with an effectively infinitely sharp edge. Or the Vorpal swords from glasshouse, I suppose.
That... would be very cutty.
Oooh, Swordy-Sword, why do you have to be such a sexy beast ?
The rest of us stand no chance!
That would be me. :D
So View, I'm gonna throw this out here, don't need to affirm anything, but I think I got this sorta figured out at least to some point: NOTE THIS IS ENTIRELY CONJECTURE AND WILD MASS GUESSING BASED ON WHAT I'VE READ AND HOW MY BRAIN WORKS! Take it with a grain of salt, anyone else reading this. @_@;
And if you want me to take it down, toss it to you in a PM, just say the word and I'll do so; Not entirely sure if this sorta thing is frowned on, but I sorta remember some guesses of the sort from NMtG... Anyways, onto the post.
Unity is some sort of being or beings (The floating skull guys, though those seem more likely to be avatars- psychic or holographic? Unsure. Assuming the latter, because the flare zapped it, so it's at least partially technological) who can mind-slave anything that shares genomes within the galactic tree of life. Whether to just increase their power base or to 'bring everything under their control for harmony and peace in the universe (yeah right, since when is that ever the true motive?)' or something of the sort, they're taking over the minds of various species aiming to enslave the entirety of the known galaxy. Anything that gets in their way, they assassinate with those toxin darts that are otherwise guarenteed to kill anyone.
I'm gonna guess that psykers are especially weak to their machinations, because they're a unique type of psyker/have a unique strain of a psyker power /affect psykers through technomantic means that allows them to do this in some way, as demonstrated by the lines of Kax before the floating skull rebooted; or it could be of a completely technorganic origin instead of a psyker power or a technomantic power, but that would only hold if most hunters are at least partially cybernetic; This seems to possibly be the case since it's been mentioned that Kax is a cyborg, and that most of the others with him are as well.
I'm also guessing that either the Poison Monkeys were specifically created as a sort of anti-Unity weapon, or are a naturally occuring anti-Unity race- perhaps due to the radioactivity inherant in their bodies (All those rampant alpha particles would play havoc with most forms of cybernetics, I'd think) or something within their genetic code; It could even be that they imbibe radioactive substances to corrode whatever it is that Unity utilizes in beings to enslave them.
And if any of this (I highly doubt it, your stories are much better than anything I can cook up) inspires any ideas, feel free to use any of the above material. I doubt I'm anywhere near the actual plot you got cookin', but there's my WMG.
My only thought is it's because you flesh out your worlds to the point that peripheral details are actually filled in pretty consistently in most cases. which only encourages us to ask for all your juicy world-building exposition :P
Because you really do get hammered with questions on that stuff more than most authors I'm aware of.