Man’s inhumanity toward his fellow man is a big theme in a number of stories. It is natural then to consider just how humanity would react if they encountered a fellow sapient. While we may delude ourselves in believing we’d meet them with open arms and in brotherhood, it is far more likely that unless they met us in a position of strength, we’d do everything in our power to cast them down, and force the survivors to integrate into our own society in a submissive position. Even if we encountered sapients stronger than ourselves, we’d likely work hard to overcome them, lest they decide to enslave us in turn. Indeed, it is tradition in science fiction for the alien to be used as a stand-in for our own tendency to discriminate against our own brothers and sisters in a mad attempt to assert our own dominance.

It would be impossible to sum up FarLight Saga in three short paragraphs; indeed, even a full tangent of old would barely scratch at the surface of this story. The comic starts with an attack by human slavers against the anthro-feline ra’th, an attack that devastates the last sanctuary of this ancient culture; and of Aiyana, the ra’th mother who survives the attack and seeks her son, who was taken in the raid. With that you might think you know the heroes (Aiyana, and those who come to help her), and the villains (the slavers). However, FarLight Saga is more than just a tale of discrimination and a twisted reflection of our own world.

This is a multi-faceted story where there are only shades of grey, for if the heroes succeed in their endeavor, there will be an immense (and terrible) cost to pay. It is a story where the villains actually have legitimate reasons for their actions… and a plan to integrate the ra’th into human society… partly to replace the people lost in two generations of warfare, and partly to stop the continued conflict between humanity and ra’th. Yet… at what cost? The combination of epic storytelling and truly beautiful artwork makes FLS part of a growing group of professional-quality internet comics created by a team of artists and writers working together, and a comic definitely worth reading.