Story
Gharr, an alien researcher, gets stranded on Earth after making one too many rash decisions. He has no way of calling back for help, and no certainty that the natives are to be trusted... So began the events that later would be known as the "First Contact Incident".
About the comic
Leaving the Cradle is a story that attempts to bridge the gap between hard science fiction and space opera, somewhat in the spirit of how
Mass Effect and
The Expanse approached their worldbuilding. Laws of physics are respected (but not always followed :) ), and typical cliches of the space opera genre are avoided as well (as much as possible, anyway) - such as humongous horizontally-oriented armor-clad battleships, or green-skinned sexy space babes. In fact, there are no humanoids apart from, well, humans, among the main cast.
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FAQ
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Why is this or that isn't realistic, if the comic is supposed to be hard scifi?
The comic isn't claiming to be a hard science fiction - It has aliens and faster than light travel, after all!
The laws of physics are kept in mind while creating the world of the comic, but ultimately, if they need to be bent in order to get some element of the story to work or if the author feels it will be better for the designs or the atmosphere of the story - they will be ignored. The most obvious example is the lack of football field-sized radiators on the spaceships.
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Is this a furry comic?
[sarcasm]But of course! Haven't you noticed how every character is a talking fox?[/sarcasm]
No. The comic or the author have no relation to that subculture whatsoever.
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Are raharrs reptiles?
No. They're aliens and don't follow Earth's taxonomy rules. They aren't ectotherms, they don't have scales, they don't shed their skin, they don't have biforcated tongue, they don't drag the sound "s" when they ssssspeak.
They aren't reptiles.
The closest way to describe them based on what ecological niche their ancestors occupied would be "tree-dwelling semiaquatic felines".
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Why the city's called "N"?
It's an omage to the classics of Russian literature, some of whom defined undefined generic place where plot happens as "the city of N" or "the N'sk governorate". Western rough analogue is "the Nth floor of the building", I guess?
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Is it takes place in Russia, then?
No.
About the author
Leaving the Cradle is written/drawn/everything else by Demin Egor, more widely known as
Darth Biomech, a science-fiction fan, 3d artist and freelancer.
his hobbies include making of this webcomic, creating 3d art, procrastinating and making miniatures.
Thanks for reading!
Additional credits
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Ket-DawnAtSunset - Updated design of the Raharrian outfits.
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Glitchrr36 - A SpaceBattles.com member that proofreaded the comic in the past.
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Daniel Solovev - Updated design of the Raharrian firearms.
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Super_Weegee - Helps with editing the English portion of the wiki.
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Christina Major - New logotype of the comic.
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Darwin - A Spiderforest member that volunteered to proofread the comic.