Habitat

Habitat is a science fiction comic by Simon Roy, originally seralized in 2015-2016 in the Island anthology, then published in a collection in 2016.

Setting
Habitat takes place in a large space station or generation ship, named Soleri with a self-contained biosphere, artificial gravity through rotation, and an artificial sun. It has fallen into massive disrepair, with many of its inhabitants being reduced to a stone age level of technology, and with little knowledge of the station's origins or the case of its disrepair. Almost the entire station is overrun by vegetation, and there is at least one hull breach that has been sectioned off from the rest of the ship. Late in the comic, it is revealed that only four generations have occurred since the emergency measures were instituted. The sketchbook reveals that the interiors were meant to reflect a combined brutalist and Mesoamerican aesthetic influence, and the crewmembers' suits to have a somewhat retrofuturistic design.

Plot
The comic opens with the induction of Cho into the Habsec (Habitat Security). An old man in an exoskeletal suit (man-amplifier) uses a 3d printer to print a machete, which Cho grasps while it is still hot. He then uses it to kill a trussed up prisoner with a modified Chi-Rho symbol tattooed to his chest, completing his initiation as a trooper. On a mission, Cho captures a tenacious old man and is given a promotion, plus the old man's rectangular clay necklace as a trophy. After a piece is chipped off of the necklace, Cho notices that there is metal underneath. Chipping it all off, he finds a punch card for the 3d printer. Sneaking in at night, he prints a mysterious tool, but is discovered. The old man in the exoskeleton attempts to take the punch card form Cho, but Cho accidentally kills him with the tool, which proves to be a powerful laser beam emitter (phaser). Cho flees the scene and jumps off a bridge onto a passing gigantic robot (a "Great Builder"). A muscular woman named Mendoza is sent as part of a team to capture Cho.

The next day, Cho is discovered by a young woman (Joan) speaking a different language, and wearing a full suit and exoskeleton, who is able to command the Great Builder and easily captures him. An older engineer deliberates about what to do with him, but Cho escapes with the laser, but is then shot with an arrow by the expedition sent to capture him. Joan and Cho escape the Great Builder in a small aircraft, while the old man uses a large exoskeleton to hold off Habsec, but he is shot in the neck with an arrow from Mendoza. Joan's aircraft runs out of power before reaching their destination, so she extracts the arrow in Cho's leg and gives him a lower body exoskeleton to help walk. They find a group of dead Habsec, and are accosted by a large floating robot leading a band of civvie warriors. The robot recognizes Joan and grants her passage, but complains that despite the ship being a "euhumanist" facility, human rights are being trampled on and her congregation are being attacked, and that once communications with Rome are re-established, complaints will be lodged. A large Habsec force attacks soon after, and the robot defends her followers. Cho grabs Joan and flees the battle.

After the battle, Mendoza meets up with the captain of the ship, who tries to recruit Mendoza as his new personal head guard. He is about to execute his previous guard, but out of loyalty, Mendoza frees him and starts a mutiny. The Habsec warriors rally under Mendoza and the captain's former head guard, and fight the other crew who side with the captain. During the fight, Mendoza takes control of the captain's "warbody" battle walker and ends the battle. Habsec declares Mendoza the new captain.

Joan takes Cho via an elevator to a section of the ship without gravity, the "hub", which once had portals to other "worlds". She relates a legend that their "ancestors defied the dead of old Earth, so they sent one of their own to punish us". As she does so, a massive body with 4 arms, hands on its feet, and no definable face is seen lying dead, with two large holes blown open. One of its hands had extruded into the controls of the ship, and shut down its communications and assemblers, causing the original emergency measures. Habsec has also made it to the hub, and Joan is shot with an arrow. They are saved by Joan's elderly mother, Arda. She tells Joan and Cho to recuperate while the engineers' council deliberates, but they sneak out and eavesdrop through a vent. The council deliberates over using the new phasers to turn the tide against Habsec and retake the whole station, or do nothing and hope they give up trying to breach the engineers' blast doors. One of the councilmembers, an old woman Ibarra, opposes killing all the other crew, and mentions the "ansible", a communications device. Joan asks her about it, and Ibarra tells her where it is and how to use it.

Meanwhile, Mendoza arrives with the warbody at the blast doors and begins cutting through, but the engineers have already begun printing new weapons. The engineers ambush the raiding party and battle begins. Joan and Cho find the way to the ansible as the warbody's laser causes a hull breach. Joan puts out a distress call detailing the sorry state of the ship, and receives an immediate response. After granting the responder access to the habit's communications system. The giant body seen earlier begins to move, sealing the breach with its own flesh, and moving out into the habitable portion of the station. The ending implies that reconstruction may be possible with the aid of the giant being.

Crew
The crew of the ship have been reorganized as a ruler caste after the institution of "emergency measures", with every section agreeing except the engineers. The crew use what technology they still have such as 3d printed weapons, exosuits, etc., to rule over and prey upon the "civvies", or civilians, who they cannibalize. The crew's technology is run down, however, and many of their uniforms are composed only of torso and head pieces, and weapons such as bows and makeshift clubs supplement their more technological tools. There is tension between the Medical and Security sections of the crew for supremacy. The crew have names indicating a variety of cultural origins, and address each other using the family name first rather than the given name. Most of them (and the civvies) have brown skintones of varying shades, but not to either extreme, though one extremely light skinned figure is seen among the leaders of the crew.


 * Hank Cho a young man recently inducted into "Habsec", or Habitat Security, the military arm of the crew.
 * The Doctor an old man who uses an exoskeleton to move around, he is part of the medical section of the crew and has control of their 3d printer.
 * Fatima Mendoza daughter of the lieutenant of Habsec, a muscular woman who leads the expedition to capture Cho and his phaser.
 * Captain Eneko, the head of the medical section, and as captain, leader of the crew sections overall.

Engineers
The Engineers rejected the emergency measures and have been at war with the rest of the crew since then. While their numbers are fewer than the other crew, they cannot simply be wiped out as they retain knowledge necessary to keep the ship functional and perform repairs. Nevertheless, the other crew fear and despise them.
 * 'Joan, a young woman who despises the crew for their cannibalism.
 * Arda, Joan's mother and hardliner against the crew.
 * Ibarra, an old woman who believes that engaging in war will destroy the ship completely.

Civvies
The underclass of the ship, the civilians must use entirely self-made tools using natural materials. Most of them are Roman Catholics, and have large Chi-Rho tattoos, because powerful missionary robots are their main protection against predation by the crew.
 * An Old man, killed by Cho, carried the punch card with the phaser blueprint
 * Nun robots, powerful multipurpose robots whose primary goal is spreading the gospel, but have resorted to physically protecting the civilians. They will use lethal force to defend their congregations.