[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack

[lamythefirst]

DangerousLines is a 3D artist who tells great sci-fi stories full of lust, love and sex.

Artist's note:
"This is an idea that snuck up over the last few months, and in the last few weeks grabbed my brain and wouldn't let go. So I finally gave in and started it. The idea started off as a Star Trek mirror universe sex parody, and has grown and mutated from there. The Star Trek roots will probably be visible, but it's no longer tied to that universe.

I love classic science fiction, both hard (Asimov, Niven, Pournelle) and pulpier (Heinlein, E. E. Smith). This will lean more toward the later, in that I'm not going to do ballistics equations to plot out my space battles and technobabble will be thrown around liberally. But in the tradition of those masters, I do have a set of rules I'm following; we're not getting into midichlorian territory here.

Socially, somewhere between Kirk's voyages and Picard's, Star Trek went from trying to perfect the Federation to having already perfected it. I preferred the earlier message. In any event, the Terran Federation is by no means perfect; it's a techno-fascist fist squeezing the neck of its population. These people, these pirates, are the ones who slipped through its fingers. They're not necessarily nice or good people, but they're going to live free or die. Not that they have any choice."

[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 1:



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[lamythefirst]

[DangerousLines] Commander Athena:

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[lamythefirst]

Artist's note:
"This one was a bit of a haunted house – the crew exploring the ghost ship that will be their new home. It also really underscores how talky this setting is, and the importance, consequently, of typography. Those of you who’ve been following me since before Slushe may remember my rant on lettering and typography, and Pirates has made me really focus on it to keep the story flowing with more words per page.

Some of it’s the obvious stuff, like choice of font. I spent as much time selecting the typeface for dialog in this series as I did designing any character, and I can’t recommend Blambot highly enough for the aspiring comics artists like me. Some of it’s less obvious, like the switch to landscape for page layouts. This drives more landscape-type panel layouts, which leaves more space in the panel for dialog while skill giving you the same level of focus with a character; a landscape head-and-shoulders shot doesn’t fill the panel width as much as it does in a portrait shot.

The “special effects” were, surprisingly to me, harder than for the super-heroic stuff. Page 31 took longer than two or three other pages, and that’s not counting custom assets. In fact, custom assets make the SFX easier, since most of them have to be done in Blender and for stuff I built myself I have the Blender files already. (Unfortunately, the DAZ to Blender bridges aren’t quite there yet.)"

[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 2:



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[lamythefirst]

[DangerousLines] Lieutenant Karol:

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[lamythefirst]

Artist's note:
"This issue really made me feel two key differences from my prior work–no first person narration, and no single point of view character. Ensign Sonne emerged as the thematic focus this time, as I tried to show how the crew was organizing themselves and learning to work together. I also wanted to set the tone of the Terran Federation Star Fleet. It carries forward a lot of naval traditions from Earth, and they’re something Harding values.

Another backstory point I was trying to make is the existence and importance of the enlisted crew. This is something Star Trek has been muddled about–on the one hand, we have ensigns doing literal scut work current Star Trek series; on the other, there’s Chief O’Brien and the uniformed enlisted crew in the second through fifth movies. In the Terran Star Fleet, and aboard Phoenix, we definitely do have ratings. Their technical knowledge (be that engineering, gunnery, or cooking) is expected to be superior to an officer’s. The officers are leaders and technical managers.

I spent a lot of time finalizing the enlisted uniforms and insignia for this one. That’ll probably get its own post for those who want to geek out on it, but the short form is uniform color, and that of the badge and collar, will tell you department, and collar design will tell you rank (except for officers, where it’s on their shoulder tabs). There may be some inconsistencies with the first two issues, but I hope they’re barely-visible details.

I also wanted to bring out a number of character points. Harding, Jordan, Athena, Galens, and Riley get a few minutes to develop, and we get to meet Ali and Sonne. The Rigellians are still the traitors in the crew's midst."

[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 3:



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[lamythefirst]

[DangerousLines] Lieutenant Galens:

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[lamythefirst]

Artist's note:
"OK, that was a long one. Almost double sized! And I think the best cover I’ve done. I tried a few times to break this into two issues, but there just was no good break point–and this was originally supposed to be the B-plot for next issue. Also, a lot of exposition, but the Rigellians are a culture we’re going to see a lot of in the future, and I felt like it was important to establish the ground rules for how they behave. At least I managed to get a lot of sex in too!"

[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 4:



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[lamythefirst]

[DangerousLines] Mercedes Jordan:

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[lamythefirst]

Artist's note:
"And we are underway! That’s the end of “Fifteen Men on the Dead Man’s Chest.” An action-packed episode, if not the kind of action one normally comes to Slushe for. Nur tried to do his part to end things with a bang, anyway. Another long one, but again, it felt like it needed to be to keep the story contained properly.

The crew’s headed back to the Federation, hopefully for a happy reunion with their civilian lives. Anybody want to take money on that happening? But at least they’re not living with the threat of being eaten hanging over them constantly.

In setting up the setting, I realized that I had never seen a space opera set aboard a cloak-capable ship–essentially, aboard a submarine. There’ll be a lot of how the Phoenix operates that’s dictated by the cloak; it’s not without drawbacks, some of which the crew hasn’t discovered yet.

I played out the ship to ship combat in the wargame Star Fleet Battles, which is to spaceship combat what Black’s Law Dictionary is to English–excruciatingly detailed but very, very useful. I’ll be doing that in the future to keep myself honest on tactics and capabilities. You can see some of the game mechanics on screen on the bridge. I hadn’t realized how useful it would be, narratively, that Harding’s most recent prior assignment was as an instructor. He’s naturally inclined to explain to his officers what he’s doing and why.

One of the things I think has been lost in a general emulation of Star Wars is tension in ship-to-ship battles. Everything’s all swoopy and effects shots, and you don’t get the sense of impact on the characters you do in Wrath of Khan, or The Hunt for Red October. I hope I avoided that. In this universe, starfighters are simply not practical, and even a maneuverable ship can take a minute to come about. There’s time to breathe, and see what’s coming.

A couple of miscellaneous notes:

p 2., “Hey, Majel!”: For Majel Barret-Roddenberry, the voice of the Enterprise computer, of course. “Majel” was considered for Google’s digital assistant, before they decided on “OK Google.”

p. 14, the Tzreek “guards”: They’re saying “Do you know what’s going on?” “I don’t know; maybe it’s another drill.” Where’ve we heard that before? These guys are actually cook’s helpers, minding the larder, which is why they’re not armed."

[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 5:



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[lamythefirst]

[DangerousLines] Ensign Sonne:

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[lamythefirst]

Artist's note:
"This mini-issue was originally just going to be a scene in issue #6, but it got too long and didn’t really fit the pacing of the story. So here it is as a stand-alone. It’s an important conversation and important back story, but of course, there’s more lore.

The Terran Federation is, in theory at least, a federation of states. There is a unicameral legislature consisting of representatives of the nations of Earth, the planets and habitats of the Sol system, and the planets admitted to full membership in the Federation; of the 451 seats in the Senate, 293 are held by Earth, and 47 more by the Sol system. This body elects a President as head of state, who in turn nominates a Chancellor and cabinet to act as head of government and the executive.

There are five permanent Constitutional ministries: Finance (MINFIN), Peace (MINPEACE), State (MINSTATE), Information (MINFO), and Justice (MINJUST), plus a variable number of ministries created by the Senate and subject to being dissolved by it (including Communications, Foreign Affairs, and Colonization). Ministries are led by ministers and deputy ministers, who are themselves Senators. They are assisted by the ministries’ bureaucracies, of which the most senior officials are the ministerial Secretaries. So the Secretary of Peace is an unelected official, reporting to the Minister of Peace, who is an elected member of the Senate.

The Constitution also creates the armed forces (including Star Fleet), answerable directly to the Chancellor, not any ministry. The head of the Star Fleet is the Admiral of the Star Fleet; promotion to the position requires the approval of the Senate, but the Admiral of the Star Fleet is a career officer. The same applies to the ground forces, which are a separate branch of service."

[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack - Sailing from Seville:



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[lamythefirst]

Artist's note:
"Before the advent of nuclear submarines, diesel subs had to come to the surface fairly often to recharge their batteries; they were also much slower submerged, since the electric engines weren’t as powerful as the diesels. They spent most of their time on the surface, diving only when they risked detection. I wanted to re-create those limitations for Phoenix, since they drive interesting operational and tactical decisions, and thus drama. Enter Treknobabble!

Most people know Sloop John B. from The Beach Boys, but it's actually a Bahamian folk song. I've listened to a dozen versions while producing this issue, and there's a good reason The Beach Boys' version is definitive. The others aren't bad, for folk music, but I bet you were hearing the best version in your head when you read the page. And if you weren't... go listen to Pet Sounds!

And also, the crew enters full sexy mode for the first time. I suspect this will be popular. More about that next issue..."

[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 6:



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[lamythefirst]

[DangerousLines] Galens & Athena:

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[popexxx]

[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack - Sailing from Seville:

View attachment 36741View attachment 36742View attachment 36743View attachment 36744View attachment 36745View attachment 36746View attachment 36747View attachment 36748View attachment 36749View attachment 36750View attachment 36751View attachment 36752

HI! How does this chronological order be put?

 

[lamythefirst]

HI! How does this chronological order be put?

Just like I post it. It is organized chronologically.

 

[popexxx]

A thousand thanks

 

[lamythefirst]

[DangerousLines] Athena - Strike a pose:

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[lamythefirst]

Artist's note:
“'I’m a doctor, not a sex therapist!' Doctor Darling is going to need a little longer to work on her diagnosis, since Captain Claudia and the Spiteful interrupted things. But now we’ve had a look at the kind of person who can end up in command of a Terran starship. Marina Claudia is more the rule than the exception; hopefully you get some sense of the losing battle Harding and his cohorts have been fighting for the honor of the fleet.

This one could have gone longer, but I’ve shifted some scenes to the next issue, or to interludes, to keep the pacing in the main story right. Some of that will probably come out in the next week or so.

I did feel like after that climax, Athena was owed one. Hope that makes you Athena fans happy. I also got to drop a few tidbits about her history, and Galens’ status, in with everything else. More on those two in upcoming issues."

[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 7:



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[lamythefirst]

[DangerousLines] Now on sale!:

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[lamythefirst]

Artist's note:
"I cut this scene from last issue for pacing reasons. Just a little Aenean lore and insight into the relationship between Pvaer & Pvaesh and Athena. For the inevitable Tolkien scholar out there–I’m using the Tegwar character set, but it’s a simple substitution from English. The translations:

Page 1
PVAESH: Should I kill her?
PVAER: Why do you always want to kill other women? She’s allowed to be here.

Page 3
PVAER: You want to consider her fostered because he named her, don’t you.
PVAESH: He gave her her name! Would you let any but your dux name you?
PVAER: I don't understand why you want this, but go ahead. You will anyway."

[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack - House of the Phoenix:



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