User:Zaphael/Crimson Dark subpage

Crimson Dark is a science fiction webcomic created by David C. Simon. It follows the exploits of the crew of the aging privateer ship Niobe in the middle of a war between the Republic of Daranir and the Cirin Alliance.

Style
The webcomic is a combination of 2D and 3D art. Typically, this means 3D characters (or starships) on a 2D background, but also clothing in done in cell-shaded 2D style. This apporach slows production when working with very tightly fitting clothing, since the character and clothes are done seperately, it is hard to make the two fit. Starships and space stations are done entirely in 3D, as are explosions, and astronomical phenomenon such as planets and nebulae.

Characters

 * Kari "Fury" Tyrell is an ace fighter pilot who joined up with Niobe after her ship, the Danzig, was destroyed by the Cirin Alliance.


 * Vaegyr is the captain of Niobe.


 * Daniel Qian is Niobe 's surgeon.


 * Larissa is Niobe 's pilot, as well as being married to Vaegyr.


 * Hal is the engineer, and, from the dialogue, Niobe 's gunner as well.


 * Whisper is a heavily augmented crew member, and is fittingly the augmentations expert.

Accuracy
The author has tried to maintain an accurate universe. An example of this is that a starfield viewed from a ship moving at FTL speed appears blurred and blue (from the blue shift), rather than the hundreds of stars racing past that mark warp drive in Star Trek. The universe also tends to obey newtonian physics. For example, a certain fighter is mentioned to have better acceleration not speed (which should be virtually unlimited in a vacumn) than another fighter and in one strip the characters comment that attempting to escape would do no good because the enemy ship had already built up too much momentum. However, starships seem to feature fins, and even wings on some vessels, which are obviously not required for space-going craft. The in-universe explanation for this is that they are required for FTL travel, in the same way that nacelles are used in the Star Trek universe.

Influences
The starships of Crimson Dark have been compared to those of Battlestar Galatica and the characters and dialogue to Firefly. Most of the characters seem to have a Firefly counterpart, especially the captain, Vaegyr. Both Mal from Firefly and Vaegyr were once on the opposite side to the goverment they now work under. Mal fought for the Independants and Vaegyr was born on a planet of Cirin Alliance, the antagonists of the series. Also, Firefly, Battlestar Galatica and Crimson Dark focus on the human side of science fiction (the absence of aliens goes someway towards this).