Chivalry and Knavery

Chivalry and Knavery is a webcomic written and drawn by P.T. Cooper. The comic is updated every Wednesday and Sunday. Set in a sword-and-sorcery fantasy world, C&K is a comedy/adventure featuring three highly competent but thoroughly mismatched adventurers.

This webcomic began publication in June 2005. Although it provides a continuous storyline, it's not an epic adventure like Lord of the Rings. The strip's primary goal is to be funny. While some sword-and-sorcery comics are funny because the main characters are incompetents who bumble their way through one misadventure after another, the three main characters in Chivalry and Knavery are very good at their jobs.

Ulf resolving a problem for Sir Toby

Sir Toby and Ulf can bash just about any monster to a pulp, and Kira can hurl lightning bolts and fireballs that turn dangerous monsters into smoking piles of ash. The humor in Chivalry and Knavery derives largely from the interactions between the three main characters. Although they're a team, these three adventurers all have different agendas, and they see things from different perspectives. Sir Toby wants to rid the world of evil monsters as a way of protecting innocent peasants. Kira wants to glorify and enrich herself. And Ulf just wants to kill.

Characters

• Sir Toby, who is an anthropomorphic lion (described in the strip as half human, half lion). Sir Toby is a chivalrous and valiant knight with all of the standard knightly virtues. He's strong, brave, kind, pious and honest.
• Ulf, who is a human barbarian warrior. Ulf grew up in a society which placed a low value on art and literature, and a high value on homicidal mania. Thus, his primary interest in life is killing monsters. Fortunately, he's very good at that. He's a close friend of Sir Toby's.
• Kira, who is an anthropomorphic fox (described in the strip as half human, half fox). Unlike her companions, Sir Toby and Ulf, Kira is not a warrior. She's a wizard, specializing in nature magic. The first thing anyone notices about Kira is that she's outstandingly beautiful. But Kira is in no way a dumb bimbo. On the contrary, she has a genius IQ and she was the valedictorian of her class at the College of Wizardry (as she likes to point out on a regular basis). Kira is kind and courteous to those who treat her with respect, but woe to those who fail to show the proper respect, for Kira has an enormous ego, and she is easily insulted.

Story

Kira and Toby, discussing Ulf's behavior

At the start of the story, Sir Toby and Ulf are looking for a wizard to join their adventure team. They meet Kira, who agrees to join only after being promised a double share of treasure. But the relationship beween Ulf and Kira gets off on the wrong foot, and it stays there. A continuing thread in the story is that humans (who are in the majority in this fantasy world) tend to look down on furries, so it's natural for Ulf to toss an insult or two at Kira (it's especially natural considering that Ulf has no social skills). Needless to say, however, Kira's response to any insult is not exactly pleasant. The result is that, while Kira and Ulf are members of the same team, they essentially hate each other. If not for the presence of Sir Toby, whom they like and respect, Ulf and Kira wouldn't be members of the same team for long; they'd either split up or fight to the death.

Still, the three members of the C&K adventure team manage to hang together, if only because they realize deep down that they all need each other. Toby and Ulf realize that their muscles can't solve every problem or defeat every monster because sometimes, only magic will do the job. And Kira realizes that her magic has its limitations, that there are times when she needs a strong warrior to protect her, but of course she'd never admit that, especially to Ulf!

External links

• Chivalry and Knavery