The Crystal Kids

The Crystal Kids is a web comic series written by Jeff J. Losey and produced by New Light Studios, debuting in 2011. The series follows the adventures of several youths who obtain unusual crystals that grant them unusual abilities and powers. Though the web comic launched on the 1st of June in 2011, the original story was conceived in 1996, and was the first complete story written by Jeff.

Plot
The Crystal Kids follows the formation and adventures of the eponymous team of youth: a variety of humans and genetically altered humans. The youth pursue a number of objectives in the story. To locate and keep out of enemy hands a variety of powerful crystals, also to halt the offensive of an invading force of hostiles. They also seek to help their people adapt to the rapidly changing world around them. These objectives lead them into a much greater conflict as they become increasingly involved.

Chapters
The Crystal Kids tale is broken up into 12 chapters. Thus far, the first chapter's pages are being released on a weekly basis, but has been on a brief hiatus pending migration to the new site, and is expected to resume as of December 24th 2011. The first chapter is titled Silonia: Lightning Strikes.

Lightning
Born in the Storm Unit on Silonia, the main protagonist of the first chapter of the story. Fast to act, he sometimes overlooks details as a result. Best friends with Thunder and Winter. Employed by the S.F. and working as a partner with Thunder in squad 7, Lightning's job mostly involved damage control, peacekeeping, security detail, and surveillance.

Lightning obtains the Red Crystal, which grants him powers over energy and allows him to move at light speed.

Skye
-Information Pending Release of Chapter 2.-

Catalina
-Information Pending Release of Chapter 3.-

Akira
-Information Pending Release of Chapter 4.-

Arya
-Information Pending Release of Chapter 5.-

Rocky
-Information Pending Release of Chapter 6.-

Sonya
-Information Pending Release of Chapter 7.-

Ginn
-Information Pending Release of Chapter 8.-

Thunder
Born in the Storm unit on Silonia, and Lightning's longtime best friend. Strong and somewhat clumsy at times, Thunder's actually very reliable. Partnered with Lightning in the S.F. on squad 7, he's got a sharp eye for details, and thus tends toward surveillance duties when on a mission, acting as Lightning's spotter.

Winter
A transfer from the Glacier unit on Silonia. Winter's sleight frame belies the fierce fighter she can be. Her specialty is technical operations, which she employs at the S.F., acting as an on-hand service technician and systems operator for the local biome regulator.

C.O. Magmus
Born in the Flare unit on Silonia, Magmus is a Commanding Officer in charge of the first division of squads at the S.F., and is known for his work in Intelligence, coordinating and analyzing data acquisitions.

Bolt
Born in the Storm unit on Silonia, Bolt is an unemployed delinquent. Possessing a strong dislike for authority, he tends to follow his emotions rather than reason.

Rex
-Information Pending Release.-

The Storm Unit
A residential colony on Silonia. Locals take names after related weather and electrical phenomenon.

The Glacier Unit
A residential colony on Silonia. Locals take names after ice and cold-related phenomenon.

The Flare Unit
A residential colony on Silonia. Locals take names after fire and heat-related phenomenon.

The S.F.
Silonia's special forces division. A militant subdivision of Silonia's environmental sustainment system. It is their job to protect Silonia's colonists from threats, both internal and external; especially ones that could compromise the operation of necessary survival systems.

The Invaders
A mysterious and thus far unidentified group that has recently broken into the system, having annihilated the Worldshield.

Silonia
A large but low-density extrasolar ice planet with slightly greater gravity than Earth. Located roughly in the middle of a small collection of other free-floating planetary masses in the deeps of space. Discovered by human colonists centuries past seeking resources and viable planets for colonization. It's hydrogen and helium-rich mass proved very desirable a resource. The humans who operated the colony there implemented several genetic modifications upon themselves to allow them to better function on the dark planet. These humans eventually began to identify themselves as Silonians, not only as a nationality, but eventually as a race to their own owing to their distinctive appearance. Silonian culture has developed into reason-oriented society, to the point that many of them are distrusted by outsiders for seeming manipulative or cold - under a Silonian lens, engaging and respectful.

After events which are currently transpiring within the first chapter, this extrasolar planet will have gained a significant mass and have undergone other changes which will lead to it becoming the heart of a new planetary system.

Aria
Once a significant portion of an extrasolar planet named Arteina, colonists of the planet sparked a civil war between natural humans and genetically modified humans which went awry in the worst way possible. As nuclear blasts pocked the planet, a large mass of the planet broke away and eventually formed a neighboring planet, Athlein. Natural human survivors and escapees of the war who reconstructed civilization on the planet proudly worked to restore their colonies despite the long-term difficulty it would carry to survive on it as a result of the remaining nuclear fallout. They rechristened the extrasolar mass as Aria, a song to drown out the cacophony of war. As a partial result of the war, the colonists of the extrasolar region enforced a truce upon all sides, the details of which remain a source of interstellar controversy and tension to date. Arian humans hold a very significant value for tradition and idealism. Outsiders might call them old-fashioned, or even elitist. They hold great pride in a strong pedigree and hard-working hands, and great disdain for what they perceive as "cheating", "greed", and also for "laziness". Opportunity is how they see life.

After events which are currently transpiring within the first chapter, this extrasolar planet will become the 1st nearest planet orbiting Silonia.

Athlein
An insignificant portion of what was once an extrasolar planet named Arteina. Genetically modified human survivors colonized this extrasolar mass and eventually procured resources to bring it to planetary status in its own right. Entertainment and manufacturing are key industries on Athlein. Despite the powerful unity colonists of this planet share, its society behaves as a functional meritocracy, viewed as a brutally result-oriented people. Brilliant minds seek out talents and put them to their purposes. Athlein culture holds that limitations are for the weak minded, and if you truly want something to happen, you will make it happen. Blood, sweat, tears. If life's handed you a bad hand, throw it in it's face and draw a new one. Outsiders often note that the Athlein seem to lack a sense of boundaries and can be highly aggressive - from an Athleite perspective partaking in ordinary competitive behavior.

After events which are currently transpiring within the first chapter, this extrasolar planet will become the 2nd nearest planet orbiting Silonia.

Terra Beta
This otherwise unremarkable extrasolar planet was so named because of it's uncanny similarity to Earth in terms of composition and size. At one point, it was considered to have the planet transported into appropriate range of a comparable star to Sol, but this project was abandoned after resource allocations fell through. In lieu of this, the planet was given similar treatment to Carptof, and was dotted with biodomes containing imported specimens from Earth. The planet quickly became a forerunner in artificial extrasolar ecosystems, and widely regarded as a wildlife sanctuary.

After events which are currently transpiring within the first chapter, this extrasolar planet will become the 3rd nearest planet orbiting Silonia.

Carptof
Although this extrasolar planet is poor in natural resources, its surface is more hospitable, and thus it was colonized and structured with livable biodomes for livestock and harvestable crops. Humans on Carptof have formed as a result, a mostly rural farm and ranch culture, focusing on matters relevant to their everyday lives rather than politics or city affairs. Outsiders might consider them simple, to them, they are simply minding their own business.

After events which are currently transpiring within the first chapter, this extrasolar planet will become the 4th nearest planet orbiting Silonia. Their "business" after events in the first chapter, is about to become a lot more complex.

Unda
Aside from small outposts, this icy extrasolar planet proved to be highly inhospitable to human colonization. Harsh terrain and asteroid-pocked as it's surface is, the planet is composed mostly of hydrogen and oxygen in the form of frozen water.

After events which are currently transpiring within the first chapter, this extrasolar planet will become the 5th nearest planet orbiting Silonia.

Klyvon
A gas giant extrasolar superplanet. Colonists here are natural humans dwelling in orbiting stations. The gasses that make up Klyvon's atmosphere are largely hydrogen, helium, nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and carbon dioxide, and thus have made the planet a prime resource for the extraction of breathable air for humans on the extrasolar planets. Regular trade shuttles exchange these precious resources for supplies from the other nearby extrasolar planets. Because of the sheer mass of Klyvon, nearby extrasolar planets have developed a gravitational bond to it, though not enough to form orbital paths around it.

After events which are currently transpiring within the first chapter, this extrasolar planet will become the 6th nearest planet orbiting Silonia.

Worldshield
Destroyed prior to events featured in the story. This array of small extrasolar planetoids acted as an active defense system for the small collection of extrasolar planets, monitoring incoming signals and serving as warning beacons to the colonies. It's normal function was to break down any potentially hazardous debris to prevent it from penetrating the defense systems of the colonies.

Trivia

 * In it's original conceptualization, the story centered around only 4 youths. This was eventually reduced to 3, before being expanded to 5, and finally to it's current arrangement.