What is “The Depths”?

“The Depths” is an adults-only webcomic featuring anthropomorphic creatures cast in a historical alternate-Earth setting from the 1920s through the 1930s. It features Leilani Perierre, a beautiful, brave, and savage sea otter on the Polynesian Islands in the South Pacific, and her companions Kalea and Malana. The webcomic focuses not only on their origins growing up wild and tribal on a remote paradisaical island, but also their tales of romance, mystery, and epic adventure – above and below the deep blue sea. Written in 2009 (when someone made the off-the cuff remark that Leilani would make an awesome comic book heroine), “The Depths” is actually a combination of several short stories written by the head writer and creator of the webcomic, who goes by “Leilani” in many circles. “The Depths” will cover many places, with many characters, and as the title suggests, a lot of the tales will take place in or around the water. But “The Depths” has a subliminal meaning as well. It doesn’t just relate to the endless depths of the sea – it also relates to the depths of the soul, where emotions like love, hate, sorrow, fear, regret, and rage are all too ready to erupt from within and burst to the surface.

Great, but who’s doing all this awesome work?!

P.M. Amaras (Paula) goes by a few pseudonyms on the writing circuit, but she’s actually a multi-talented writer, author, and scriptwriter. Her writing experience includes seven published non-fiction books, a published fiction novel, and a novel series destined for, in her agent’s words, the best-seller list. She has over 200 published articles to her credit, more than 100 short stories written, and is a feature blogger for the widely-popular Medium and Thrive Global websites. Her love for comics got her started helping artists write and plot out storylines for their own webcomics, and she teaches world-building to writers at various conventions. Paul “RiffRaff” Driggere, her partner in crime, also writes. He’s a natural screenwriter with a few TV credits, and has won some awards for his work. When “The Depths” story starts to meander, he’s right there to help put it back straight.

Roy_Wolverine’s background in art is largely traditional but extremely extensive. His first love is comics and animation, and he’s responsible for the character designs of some of the most popular animated series of the 1990s, including Inspector Gadget, X-Men, Biker Mice From Mars, and many others! He’s a true celebrity!

And what about the sexy cast?

Name: Leilani Hauata Perierre
Profession: Pearl diver/deep sea salvage and explorer
Species: South Pacific Sea Otter
Age: 18 years old (in 1922)
Height: 5 feet, 4 inches
Weight: Approximately 115-120 pounds
Body Type: Athletic to slinky
Fur color: Dark chocolate
Hair color: Midnight black
Eye color: Emerald
Clothes: Loincloth, sarong, sundress, bikini, anklets, bracelets, leis, hibiscus blooms, and other floral items
Loves: Swimming, diving, sunshine, sex, bubble-baths, massages, seafood, dancing, island living, diary writing, flowers, the beach, and the rain.
Hates: Crime, arrogance, thunder, being proven wrong, guns, and most technology.
Behavior and Personality: Very friendly, if a little thick-headed at times. Deeply romantic, easily entangled with her heart-strings, yet easy to anger. Will become quite wild and savage when crossed, resorting to her tribal upbringing. Intelligent and thoughtful, eager to please, and easy to please.
Strengths: Extended deep-sea diving to a depth of 500 feet, with the ability to breath-hold for approximately 15-20 minutes, a powerful swimmer, complete free-diving skills, very agile, flexible and some hidden strength, detective and observation skills, English as a second language, deep knowledge of the ocean and its denizens, most flora and fauna, and very romantic, seductive talents passed down through her culture.
Weaknesses: Affairs of the heart, not “street-smart”, prone to acts of violence in some cases, quick-tempered, foolhardy, and aloof at times.
Family: Daughter to Chieftain Sachem Ahomana (Thunder) and Malina Hauata (deceased), sister to Malana, who is adopted.

Name: David Perierre
Profession: Reporter/Investigative Journalist
Species: Black Wolf
Age: 25 years old (in 1922)
Height: 6 feet, 2 inches
Weight: Approximately 195-200 pounds
Body Type: Athletic
Fur color: Charcoal
Hair color: Black
Eye color: Yellow
Clothes: Westernized fashions of the era, suits, vests, pants/trousers, ties, fedora, swim-shorts for the water.
Loves: Writing, crime investigations, research, debates, the city life, the ocean, swimming, justice, and being in love.
Hates: Crime, loneliness, power, having too much money, deceit, injustice, and being patient.
Behavior and Personality: David is very friendly and knowledgeable, easy to talk to, well-educated, but has a tendency to show it off and talk others down. He lives for adventure without the romance, and is more comfortable being in the middle of the action, than sitting behind an office desk. His eagerness to get into an adventure often lands him in hot water. He’s brave, but impetuous, and will often act or speak before thinking.
Strengths: Strong education, related to a very powerful family in France, beyond-excellent writing skills, with the ability to snoop out a story better than most reporters he works with in New York City. Physically toned, well-built, and able to come out better than his opponent in a brawl. Courageous, always looking for answers, fights for justice whenever the opportunity arises.
Weaknesses: Acts blindly at times, prone to making mistakes with his heart and his mind, angers easily, not family-oriented, disgusted with his own upbringing in a rich and powerful family. Sometimes runs into trouble before he is ready to face it.
Family: Only son of Joshua and Chelle Perierre.

Name: Malana Hauata
Profession: Crafter/Fighter
Species: South Pacific Sea Otter
Age: 18 years old (in 1922)
Height: 5 feet, 4 inches
Weight: Approximately 115-120 pounds
Body Type: Athletic to slinky
Fur color: Light Brown
Hair color: Brown
Eye color: Amber
Clothes: Loincloth, sarong, leis, but mostly loves nudity
Loves: Swimming, sex, seafood, dancing, island living, flowers, the beach, causing trouble, and fighting.
Hates: Crime, arrogance, being proven wrong, most technology and most anything to do with Western culture.
Behavior and Personality: Arrogant, a know-it-all, thick-headed, can be romantic but not loving, easy to anger and will become quite savage when crossed, conniving, wants what she wants, and doesn’t share often. Self-centered.
Strengths: A true warrior. Many underwater fighting skills, CQC talents, can use a spear, a knife, and other weapons. She can hold her breath approximately five to seven minutes and descend close to 300 feet if needed. Very agile, flexible and strong, deep knowledge of the ocean and its denizens, most flora and fauna, and seductive when she wants to be.
Weaknesses: Prone to acts of violence and rage in some cases, quick-tempered, understands very little English, and chooses the lutrai or Tahitian tongue most. She does not like to lose.

Name: Kalea Kekoa
Profession: Shell collector/mid-wife/priestess
Species: South Pacific Sea Otter
Age: 18 years old (in 1922)
Height: 5 feet, 4 inches
Weight: Approximately 115-120 pounds
Body Type: Athletic to slinky
Sexual orientation: Bisexual
Fur color: Very dark brown
Hair color: Charcoal braid
Eye color: Violet
Clothes: Loincloth, sarong, pareo, mostly prefers nudity
Loves: Swimming, diving, sunshine, children, peace, shells, the beach, music, dancing, magic, food.
Hates: War, conflict, thunderstorms, abuse, bullying, dishonesty, and everything to do with Western culture.
Behavior and Personality: Very friendly but quite wild and savage. Peaceful, content with her lot in life. Eager to please and make friends, but wary of those who would anger her. She is not a romantic and prefers the company of friends over lovers. She will fight only if it is the final option and will resort to magic in extreme circumstances.
Strengths: Like most of her tribe, very skilled at diving and swimming, but prefers safer depths of less than 240 feet (40 fathoms) for shell collecting. She can stay underwater approximately five to ten minutes without a breath. Very agile and quick underwater. English is poor and prefers her own Tahitian language or the ancient dialect of the lutrai creatures of chirps, churrrips, and whistles. She has some knowledge of the ocean around her, but is mindful of the unknown. Loves dancing very much, and performs special rituals to bless the harvests. Her delight is taking care of the children, helping to birth others, and longs to be a mother herself one day. She also dabbles in ancient rituals and magic and wants one day to become a shaman or priestess for her tribe.
Weaknesses: Lack of English and the ways of the world, smart but not intelligent, can daydream at times and lose focus on what she is doing. Prides herself a bit too much on perfection when it comes to dancing and making necklaces, bracelets, and other trinkets from the shells she finds.

Thierry, a French detective of the Suerte in Marseilles. While his story is mostly unknown and he does not appear often, he is undoubtedly Leilani’s new love, and hopes to make her life happy somehow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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