Unicorn Jelly

Infobox webcomic|
title = Unicorn Jelly


caption = "Unicorn Jelly volume 1", color edition, featuring Uni
author = Jennifer Diane Reitz
url = http://www.unicornjelly.com/
status = Completed
began = September 5th, 2000
ended = April 14th, 2003
genre =
ratings =
preceded by =
followed by = Pastel Defender Heliotrope"," To Save Her

"Unicorn Jelly" is a webcomic by Jennifer Diane Reitz. The comic is known for its epic storytelling and retro-style computer art. (The comic was drawn entirely in DPaint 2, a paint program from 1985.)

The comic often deals with issues related to homosexuality, feminism, transgenderism, existentialism and promotes the acceptance of minorities.

"Unicorn Jelly" can be read online (free of charge) or bought in two volumes. The comic has ended, but Reitz is drawing an independent sequel, "Pastel Defender Heliotrope" (now also completed), and a related "Alternate universe" story, "To Save Her"

Plot summary

The protagonists are Uni, a creature which was originally a "slime" but mutated and became a "jelly" with a unicorn horn and a tail; Lupiko, an outcast witch; and Lupiko's adopted daughter Chou, a girl of superhuman intellectual capacity due to an infusion of crystal-life into her brain, which she survives due to the intervention of Uni.

They live in a universe called Tryslmaistan, in which triangular "islands" called Worldplates, due to the somewhat different laws of physics of this universe, hang suspended in the air, arranged in a Sierpinski pattern. Some of these plates are inhabited, and the protagonists live on the Worldplate "Gryrnu". Human society is divided into two factions, "Wiccans" and "Alchemists". (which follow and promote the philosophies of Religion and science, respectively.) Wiccans are in charge of the healing arts, farming, and "magic" (which is later revealed as merely applications of local physics and chemistry) but are forbidden to research or invent, while the Alchemists are in charge of engineering, public education, and "research" (which is revealed to be mostly strictly regimented busywork to keep the brighter minds busy, while still providing enough new knowledge and technology to allow the rulers to complete their escape project-- see below).

At first the comic is about the main characters' minor problems, but the story soon changes its course when they realize that their Worldplate is doomed. The first inhabited Worldplate was destroyed in a war between the Alchemists and the Wiccans, and the pieces of it, in accordance with the Tryslmaistan laws of physics, started falling. In doing so, they hit other Worldplates which also were destroyed, and due to the wrap-around nature of the universe, eventually fell back onto their own path. This created a chain reaction which eventually became an enormous wall of perpetually falling Worldplate chunks. This wall, called the Stormfall, is expanding, and will soon reach and destroy Gryrnu.

A small secret society composed of both Wiccans and Alchemists have known this all along, and they have been using the Gryrnu civilization as unknowing slaves to build ships which those "in the know" will use to escape the Stormfall and travel to another Worldplate. This is a process which is repeated every time the Stormfall reaches a Worldplate. The only problem is that due to the wrap around nature of the universe, the Stormfall will eventually reach one last Worldplate from which there will be no escape. Nobody has realized this yet, but Chou can see it and must find a way to escape this seemingly inevitable doom.

On the new Worldplate, Chou becomes the new leader after a power struggle, and eventual aid of the universe's native inhabitants, the Jellies, small creatures not unlike Unicorn Jelly. At one point Uni mysteriously disappears. Finally, far into the future, the people have technology allowing them to dive through the encroaching stormfall to wait it out.

Physics

The fictional universe of Tryslmaistan is home to many unique physical laws, and exists in a multiverse which also contains our universe (Mundis Mundis).

*Linovection - This takes the place of gravity. Tryslmaistan has an absolute "down", which most objects will move towards, anywhere in the universe. Objects larger than 100 kilometers across do not fall because they are overpowered by another force, Reticutriation.

*Reticutriation - Much like gravity, this force only has a noticeable effect on very large objects, such as the worldplates. Reticutriation forces objects into a three dimensional Sierpinski pattern. The worldplates are the only natural objects to get locked into this lattice, but it is possible to build artificial structures large enough to take advantage of it.

*Electanic force - A type of field which permeates the universe and provides energy for the local equivalent of "plant" life, as well as extra energy for the mobile "animal" life to perform biologically strenuous tasks such as constantly restructuring their organs.

Tryslmaistanian wildlife

Creatures native to the universe of Tryslmaistan all have a crystalline physiology completely unlike the carbon based life of earth. Inside is a viscous stew of temporary organs; Tryslmaistan life builds or dissolves organs as they need.

Crystalline life-forms are referred to as white-life within the comic. Some well known varieties of white-life include:

*Jellese - The native intelligent life-form of Tryslmaistan. Jellese look and feel not unlike slightly deflated rubber balls with two black eye-strips on one side. Although they have the ability to extrude as many pseudopods as they might need, or create inclusion spaces within their bodies, most jellese find it tiresome to do so for long. Jellese of a certain age are physically unable to accept new ideas. If forced to do so they quickly become insane and eventually die. Since young jellese are more tolerant of new ideas, the jellese are able to adapt although at the cost of the majority of their population and all of their adults. Jellese have a strong racial memory, partially because the sands of Tryslmaistan contain the neuron-analogues of dead jellese from which living jellese can faintly "feel" the thoughts of their ancestors.

*Slimes - Simple semi-sapient organisms similar to the jellese. Slimes appear like small puddles of mucus with two black eye-spots. They are the servants of the jellese. Slimes can extrude a very potent acid, with which they are able to break down and reconfigure many different compounds. Jellese use swarms of slimes to synthesize food, paper, and even entire buildings.

*Crystal Basilisk - A lone hunter, the Crystal Basilisk is shaped like a giant crystal dumbbell. It has a hard carapace with multitudes of spikes jutting out from its surface. These spikes serve as rigid pseudopods, with the crystal basilisk can walk by tumbling end-over-end, with the spikes breaking off in the ground behind it and reforming to support it when it comes around again. Crystal basilisks reproduce by impaling other creatures with its spikes. The detached spike grows within its host, eventually devouring the host from within and becoming a new adult crystal basilisk.

*Vlaxifurm - A native lifeform with a complex life-cycle; the sessile land-dwelling form produces Vlax, a drug which enables "redlife" (animals and people from Earth) to survive the alien conditions of Tryslmaistan. High doses can cause mutations, though these are rarely inheritable.

Critical response

"Unicorn Jelly" has been noted in Comixpedia, [http://tangent.panel2panel.com/tan-index.html Tangents] , and Alexander Danner's [http://www.twentysevenletters.com/fullstory/ Full Story webcomic index] . Reviewers most commonly note the wide-ranging nature of the story and the unusual character of the artwork as the most notable aspects.

External links

* [http://www.unicornjelly.com/ "Unicorn Jelly"]
* [http://pasteldefender.com/ "Pastel Defender Heliotrope"]
* [http://www.pasteldefender.com/omake%20timeline.html "Unicorn Jelly", "Pastel Defender Heliotrope" and "To Save Her" timeline]
* [http://www.comixpedia.com/node/777 Comixpedia review]
* [http://tangent.panel2panel.com/tan-ch-0209.html Tangents review]
* [http://www.masterzdm.com/enter/webcomicbookclub/full.php?cid=29 Webcomic Book Club reviews]