Stellarscape

Stellarscape is a 2014-2015 webcomic created by tvmachine (formerly known as and credited under the names "captainrigelorion", "betaorionid", "rigel23") and sebjay (also known as zenith-star). It features Rigel Orion, an anthromorphized version of the star Rigel, as the space caption of a crew named the Orion Unit. It also featured Adhara, Algol, Procyon, Vega, Pistol Star, and an unnamed cameo of Sirius.

To date, the comic has not had an official continuation or conclusion. While there was a statement about an earlier hiatus in late 2014 and early 2015, nothing is known about the comic's current stasis.

In addition to the comic itself, the series has a multitude of other official content, though much of this content is currently lost due to tvmachine's blog being deleted in 2019. What's left of the remaining official content can mostly be found on its ask blogs and the official Bandcamp page (see External Links).

## Synopsis

The story begins in a dark, barely-lit hallway with an automatic door. A shadowed and cloaked figure opens the door, entering a strange lab with an unknown creature in a tube. The shadowed figure then flips off a switch in the lab, then turning around, surprised to see another shadowed figure (apparently Sirius, though this wasn't confirmed in the comic).

The scene then cuts to Rigel, happily looking outside a window to a starry sky. Algol, however, interrupts Rigel to inform it that there is an issue in the control room; the ship has been totally rocked off-course and orbiting dangerously close to an unknown planet. Rigel, shocked, asks Algol where the ship's pilot, Procyon, is, at which point it's revealed Procyon fell asleep due to the room temperature dropping. What happens at this point (between page 7 and 9) is currently unknown due to page 8 being unavailable.

Adhara enters the room, commenting that she can fix the issue and get the ship back on course. Rigel asks her to gently move Procyon off the controls, but Adhara throws Procyon across the room instead, though they appear to be unaffected by it. Now with a better view of the controls, she notes the controls were set to autopilot but that Procyon possibly set it as such when falling asleep. Adhara starts working on setting the ship back on-course, which Rigel thanks her for, while Algol worryingly watches over Procyon while they're asleep.

Rigel asks where the room temperature is to help Procyon wake up, and Algol responds that the temperature switch is on the control panel. Rigel requests that Adhara to check the temperature control, but Adhara accidentally switches on a loud alarm. Rigel, distressed by the alarm, has a sensory overload and screams for Adhara to turn it off, though she doesn't know how to switch it off. However, she does figure it out shortly after, causing the ship to blackout for a short moment.

After the lights come back on, Vega comes to the control room asking if everything's alright after the alarm went off. Adhara pranks Vega by closing and locking the door on them, but she reopens it when Rigel asks. Vega then asks what happened and why Algol and Procyon are on the floor, and Rigel explains the situation to Vega, though adding that Adhara has the issue under control now.

Algol finally wakes up Procyon, with the latter stating they remember piloting the ship but don't remember falling asleep or landing on the floor. Vega asks Procyon to explain themself after having fallen asleep, and Procyon apologizes and states they need to get more rest in-between flights. Rigel explains the situation again, and tells Procyon that they just fell asleep due to the temperature drop.

With everyone in the control room and safe again, Adhara invites everyone to look at a nearby planet the ship is approaching, named Blear. Vega and Adhara discuss what their mission on the planet is, with Adhara explaining that the ruler of a specific territory named Etherea has requested the crew's assistance. During the discussion, Rigel spaces out and returns to happily viewing the landscape, this time looking at Blear instead of a starfield.

The crew then lands on Blear, but are hostilely greeted with Pistol Star aiming a gun at them, who demands they "reach for the sky". Rigel nervously asks what the crew did wrong and not to shoot, with Pistol stating workers of "TGC", an unspecified organization, don't take kindly to strangers randomly showing up. Rigel then explains that it and its crew are also apart of the TGC, under the Orion Unit, and that it was the TGC who sent them. Pistol promptly apologizes for the inappropriate introduction, and introduces themself.

This is currently where the comic wrapped production, and it's not clear when or if the next pages were intended to be posted.

## Characters

### Protagonists

* Rigel Orion
* Algol Perseus
* Adhara Canis Major
* Procyon CMi
* Vega Lyra
* Sybille

### Supporting Cast

*Note: Most of these are taken either from this compilation image of the cast, or from information on the ask blog. Most of these characters did not appear in the comic, with the exception of Pistol Star and Sirius. Because much of the supplementary and other official material made for Stellarscape has either been deleted or lost to time, this is likely not a comprehensive list of the characters.*

* Sirius
* Pistol Star
* Peony Star
* Polaris
* Kornephoros
* Betelgeuse
* Rasalhague
* Deneb
* Regulus
* Aldebaran
* Hamal
* Antares
* Proxima Centauri
* Eltanin
* Arcturus
* Maynard
* Kitalpha
* Peacock
* Yasu
* Altair
* Neptune
* Pluto

## References

1. ↑ Sirius is not named in the comic proper, but comparing Sirius' cameo to other official artwork reveals a connection.
2. ↑ https://stellarscapecomic.tumblr.com/post/117594909795/yeah
3. ↑ https://stellarscapecomic.tumblr.com/post/104012646450/hello-everyone-im-gonna-apologize-to-you-all-for
4. ↑ An archived version of page 8 can be found on the Internet Archive, but it did not save the images and is thus lost.
5. ↑ While Sybille never showed up in the comic proper, Sybille was the focus of abundant official material outside of the comic (x), (x, note some posts in this link are fanart) and was apparently going to be in a relationship with Rigel (x) (x), thus implying Sybille was intended to have a significant role in the story if the series was finished.
6. ↑ https://askstellarscape.tumblr.com/post/86692072598/vega-and-altair-find-a-vulture-and-an-eagle
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 https://askstellarscape.tumblr.com/post/82105675675/do-you-beat-up-pluto-and-take-their-lunch-money

## External Links

### Official Links

* stellarscapecomic - Official Tumblr for the comic
* stellarscape - Official in-character blog for Rigel
* askstellarscape - Official ask blog
* Bandcamp - Music and soundtrack for the comic