Book 2 – Text Updates 012

[Dancing Cthulhu]

It's not a matter of money anymore. It's a matter of secrets. Once revealed, they can't be hidden again. Hamster knows the truth. And he can tell others the truth. Charlie is trying to stop this problem before it gets even more out of control.

Yesterday:Stanley doesn't trust Charlie.
Today:Stanley and the royals don't trust Charlie.
Tomorrow:Stanley, royals and imperials don't trust Charlie.
After tomorrow: Charlie is seen in a random alley begging for food.

He's losing more and more customers. Sure, he still has a lot, but if he doesn't do anything, his reputation will slowly and surely crumble.

I think it goes beyond secrets or money at this stage.

The secrets Parson has access to aren't silver bullets against Charlie. What is there that he could really reveal that would be so damaging? No, while these things are still important to Charlie he knows they mean nothing if GK isn't stopped. GK, with Parson, backing Wanda's decryption campaign could well change GK forever.

Money and secrets mean little if there are no sides anymore because everyone is decrypted (or under GK's thumb). And they mean even less if Charlie is also dead/decrypted.

[theseus2x]

Well... Parson, supposedly, should know where Charlie's capital is. That doesn't seem to be common knowledge.

[The Shadow]

I'm wondering if Parson even knows the really damaging secrets yet. Perhaps he hasn't asked the right questions.

Though it's true that the rank-and-file archons seem to have been kept mostly in the dark.

[splintermute]

You can't powerlevel without engaging in combat. And you can't control the combat losses when you're hiring out your units for others to command.

Actualy, you can do both. Money can pay promotions, it just seems to be pretty expensive, and Charlie's contracts are anything but simple. As we could see from book 1, the archons still had a lot of freedom of actions, since Ansom hadn't paid for "full service". If you don't pay full service, you can't just order the archons to impale themselves in the enemy spears.

Money can pay for promotions in rank - e.g. piker to warlord to heir - or status - e.g. garrison to field unit - but so far there's been no indication that money can pay for promotions in level. If you could, then a lvl 10 warlord like Ansom wouldn't be considered rare - any side with a moneymancer should be able to have a handful (and moneymancers themselves should be level infinity).

[oslecamo2]

I think it goes beyond secrets or money at this stage.

The secrets Parson has access to aren't silver bullets against Charlie. What is there that he could really reveal that would be so damaging? No, while these things are still important to Charlie he knows they mean nothing if GK isn't stopped. GK, with Parson, backing Wanda's decryption campaign could well change GK forever.

Money and secrets mean little if there are no sides anymore because everyone is decrypted (or under GK's thumb). And they mean even less if Charlie is also dead/decrypted.

Well, I would say that is ANOTHER reason for Charlie to want to stop GK. Hamster is curb stomping everything on his way, and that leads to Charlie losing more and more customers, be it because people don't trust him, or because they've been decrypted and now work for a side that doesn't trust him anyway.

Plus, there's a BIG difference between knowing something about your enemy, and don't knowing anything at all. The info alone won't defeat Charlie, but is a step on that direction. The location of his secret capital, his number of troops, their abilities, defenses, etc, mean that for the first time Charlie must worry about beind attacked directly.

As Hamster said, if Stanley knew that Charlie was screwing up with his marbits, he would've taken all his forces and tackled Charlie's capital hard, on a battle of mutual anihilation. Charlie may emerge victorious in the end, but it would cost him dearly.

Plus, if said archon capital is in a volcano...

[Sinrus]

You can't powerlevel without engaging in combat. And you can't control the combat losses when you're hiring out your units for others to command.

Actualy, you can do both. Money can pay promotions, it just seems to be pretty expensive, and Charlie's contracts are anything but simple. As we could see from book 1, the archons still had a lot of freedom of actions, since Ansom hadn't paid for "full service". If you don't pay full service, you can't just order the archons to impale themselves in the enemy spears.

Money can pay for promotions in rank - e.g. piker to warlord to heir - or status - e.g. garrison to field unit - but so far there's been no indication that money can pay for promotions in level. If you could, then a lvl 10 warlord like Ansom wouldn't be considered rare - any side with a moneymancer should be able to have a handful (and moneymancers themselves should be level infinity).

What he means is that the client needs to pay Charlie for every archon lost UNLESS he/she pays for full service. That means that if they DON'T have full service, they will use the archons to fight but likely pull them out before they croak, meaning that the archons see some combat but they are rarely losses. That results in a lot of high-level archons.

[theseus2x]

I'm wondering if Parson even knows the really damaging secrets yet. Perhaps he hasn't asked the right questions.

Though it's true that the rank-and-file archons seem to have been kept mostly in the dark.

He's smart. He's had time. He's had unfiltered access. Assuming he doesn't lose his nerve again, he probably knows quite a bit we don't.

Only potential problem : Vurp lied to him, and Parson probably can't fathom that. So if he plans something based on that, he could be in trouble.

[elmagnifico]

Another thing: Charlie might have suppressed his Archon's knowledge of his capitol's location using Thinkamancy. That is his specialty, after all. If the Archons have had the coordinates forcibly removed via a thinka-surgery, they wouldn't be able to volunteer the knowledge.

[DoctorJest]

Well... Parson, supposedly, should know where Charlie's capital is. That doesn't seem to be common knowledge.

Everyone keeps saying that, but I have yet to see anything in the comic or text updates that suggest this is even remotely true. There is no reason to presume whatsoever that the other sides don't know where Charlie's city is. In fact, it seems highly unlikely that this is the case, since Transylvito found the idea of Faq being veiled very incredulolus and they know about Charlie. If Charlie's city was veiled or hidden, then the idea of a second hidden city wouldn't be so hard to accept.

[MonteCristo]

Another thing: Charlie might have suppressed his Archon's knowledge of his capitol's location using Thinkamancy. That is his specialty, after all. If the Archons have had the coordinates forcibly removed via a thinka-surgery, they wouldn't be able to volunteer the knowledge.

If charlie were capable of that, then GK's archons would have far less information about charlie...
The ONLY knowledge archons in the field need to know are charlie's rules and contracts... they would not need to have any info on charlescomm, unit numbers or any of that... if charlie could suppress the knowledge he would suppress this info aswell

[BLANDCorporatio]

Charlie could cut and paste info into the Archons minds. For Disinformation.

*points to tfh*

[Hiai]

A. A rare de-veiling on my part to mention how much I've really been enjoying the current story arc. These text update glimpses into the minds of the likes of Ossomer, Slately, and Duncan Scone do a great job of fleshing out the story, without distracting from the main story line. It's a really great way of bringing the story to life.

B. I am enjoying Xin's new artwork immensely. I was worried that whoever replaced Jamie's vast talent would inevitably take away from what was accomplished, but, although the differences in style are obvious, I think Xin has done an excellent job of keeping the spirit and feel of Erfworld, as previously created, intact. Despite nit-picky things like wishing that Wanda weren't so terribly frankenstein-bride-ish, it's obvious that the story is moved in the way it should be by the artwork. I may hate Wanda's new look, but it sure does communicate her new status and attitude well, doesn't it? I just pray that her encounter with Jillian can break through the "Tool of Fate" shell she has built for herself, so that we get a little of the "old" Wanda back.

C. As far as the speculation about Charlie's motivation and abilities go: Some really great analysis so far here about Charlie's role in the current affairs, but there's one thing I want to throw in. It's been mentioned that he might want to suppress information about himself, whatever the range of it may have been discovered by Parson and/or other parties. Personally, I think it's much more likely he's motivated a great deal by a different sort of information-related dilemma: he's been the sole provider of intel for alot of sides, to his great profit.

People keep mentioning the OP nature of the Archons in terms of battle units. What they seem to be overlooking is that in the past, Charlie himself indicated to Parson that the PRIMARY use for the Archons is and has been for intel purposes. The term "full service" obviously refers to hiring Archons as use for battle units, but how many sides actually pay the exorbitant price for such use? Ansom and several others have mentioned how very expensive Charlie's units are, so how likely is it that he gets alot of work of that nature on a regular basis? On the other hand, if you sign a very limited contract for 3-4 Archons to scout and provide thinkamancy services and other various intel-related services, you can assume that the price is much more reasonable, with the caveat that any loss of an Archon unit is going to cost you an arm and a leg. Any side without much in the way of casters or thinkamancy-related artifacts is going to find the idea of hiring Charlie's services an attractive propostion, but be VERY careful to keep his units out of harm's way.

Thus, his relatively small forces, with their mobility and caster-like abilites, are scattered all over the place, filling in services to many different sides, generating a steady income for Charlie, not massed somewhere for big battle-heavy action. The 14 units he committed to the predicted fall of GK represented a substantially larger force than the norm in any one spot, and so their subsequent croaking/decrypting would have been extremely irking to him. Thus he is motivated partially by anger, and partially by fear that it could very easily happen again to any other units out in the field, which is highly likely, given the nature of his business requiring just a few scattered in many places. But, beyond all that, his motivation is extremely clear in terms of his information services: if people stop trusting your intel services based on the way it is gathered (the non-royal attunement of a Tool of the Titans), your primary business of providing intel to conflicting sides quickly disappears. Leaving your only income the costly and attrition-heavy mercenary business of using Archons as battle units alone. If he was in THAT business, then Jillian would have undercut his business far too much long ago, and he would have done his best to eliminate her.

So why is Charlie allied with Jillian, secretly or not? And why is he providing her with the kind of help she is ill-suited to providing for herself? Because it's just good business.

D. Thanks for banning plotarmour! While I have no personal animus against him, I think his way of derailing some good conversations with his negativity and insistence on pointing out the flaws in the story/plot THAT HAVEN"T EVEN HAPPENED YET, if ever, was detrimental to what these forums have become. I'd much rather dedicate my attention to one of Blandcorp's sometimes crazy but always entertaining tinfoil hat theories, or MonteCristo's delving into character motivations, or dancing cthulhu's devil's advocacy, or Kasavin's common sense analysis of events, or EVEN, god help me, the umpteen versions of "Scarlet/Wanda/Ansom/ Maggie is soooo hotttt!!!! sort of posts. At least they are ENTERTAINING, right?

[BillMcD]

ScarMagAnsoWanda?

Somehow, I don't think that'd be hot... Wanda can't afford to go any more Frankenstein-y than she has.

[Atomic]

Oi. I've been alone and bored for the past... Long time. I think I went a little bit overboard on my reply, so I used a spoiler tag to avoid WOT-Syndrome. Sorry!

Spoiler: show

... Charlie might have suppressed his Archon's knowledge of his capitol's location using Thinkamancy. That is his specialty, after all. If the Archons have had the coordinates forcibly removed via a thinka-surgery, they wouldn't be able to volunteer the knowledge.

But the thing is, did Charlie even HAVE a reason to worry about Archons giving away vital secrets/information, pre-Decryption?

#1. Torture vs. Turnamancy:
1a.) Before Wanda attuned to the Arkenpliers, what ways were there to discover reliable (or semi-reliable) information from enemy units? Torture (ala Wanda) or Turnamancy (ala Vanna). Torture is the obviously simpler way, but could easily lead to misinformation if not given by a willing prisoner or extracted from a skilled torturer. As far as we know. If it's a means of gaining 100%-correct information (as known by the prisoner), it could easily be equal to, or greater than, Turnamancy.

1b.) Turnamancy on the other hand, would look to be a pricier way to extract information (unless your side "owned" a Turnamancer), but could also lead to greater rewards. The first and foremost being the Turnamance'd unit joining your side, and the knowledge that all the information being given to you is correct... Unless the turned unit believes the information to be destructive to your side.

That could stand for torture, too... I wonder how that works...

1c.) Can non-Warlords be tortured/turned? Both seem obviously possible, but we have yet to see either done in-comic. Then again, for many sides, turning an enemy Stabber/Piker/Heavy wouldn't be worth the time or effort. Besides Charlie's Archons, what units would know the inner-workings of their side/any possible secrets?

For that reason alone, I doubt a side with a Turnamancer would even attempt to turn a non-warlord unit. Which is why, until now, Charlie's secrets have been... Well, a secret.

#3. Hiai:
I really wish you'd drop your veil more often (that sounded less creepy before I typed it, I swear!)... You're totally right about the fleshing out that the text updates have brought to the comic, about the quality of Xin's art, Charlie's use-of-archons and, of course, the banning of PlotArmour... *rimshot*

I couldn't agree more about the entertaining (and the occasional thought-provoking) posts that our fellow Erfworlders have managed to write up over the past months that I've been lurking here... The ability to weave absurd and convoluted posts without an ounce of remorse is one of the reasons I love online communities... Erfworld in particular. I tip my tin hat to all of you.

You should totally post more... You seem like you'd have a few crazy conspiracy theories trapped in your noggin.

#4. Lobot-- I mean, Duncan:
1a.) Based on this update, I get the feeling we'll be seeing more of Duncan over the course of the book, and less of Ossomer. This doesn't bode well for Ossomer, of course... But it makes me wonder how it'll play out.

Will Ossomer die quickly in the subsequent battle? Will he have a slow death (ie, not turning into dust) and a chance to doubt the Tool-istic Mandate before he dies? Will he escape? Will he turn sides? Will he kill Duncan and force me to edit out this part of my post? Will he turn out to be a veiled Saline IV, come back from the grave to extract vengeance on his twin brother, Slately? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

2b.) I'm not sure I like Duncan. Every time we've seen him/heard his thoughts, he's been as smug as a bug in a rug doing drugs (yes, I'm incredibly poetic). From his capture by Jillian, to his conversation with Ossomer, he's done nothing but ooze over-confidence... From a strategic stand point, it's a great tactic to throw off your opponent (which we can clearly see working on Ossomer), but I really hope isn't isn't so naïve as to think Jillian's forces could win in their current Charlie-less state.

When we first met Tramennis, I felt like he was an annoying child who enjoyed all the ongoing drama far too much. Up until we reached the middle of the Expository Bridge and my third or fourth read-though of all the updates/comics he was in, I didn't like him. Now he's one of my favorite characters. I sincerely hope the same about Duncan, but to be honest, I doubt it. In my opinion, he needs to be taught a lesson. Perhaps that lesson will come in the form of getting the crap beaten out of him...

#5. Lack of Archons:
This is the question I've been asking myself for the past few weeks: Where are they? Charlie's "significant" amount of Archons have gotta be in the air zone if they're going to be of any use in the battle... At least, if that's Charlie's plan.

The way I see it, we have a few possible explanations for where the Archons are hiding in the battle space...

1a.) Those pesky Megalogwiffs*. Six, eight, nine or ten. Depends on the day, depends who you ask. The only thing we know for (close to) certain is that Ossomer was wrong. I'm still leaning towards the theory that Ossomer was correct on the original count and that the Archons are veiled as those Whaley-thingies.
* I've learned how to spell 'em without consulting the Wiki-entry!!

1b.) Those FAQ Units. Each rider/mount on the Gwiffons/Megalogwiffs could easily be the Archons we're [read: I'm] looking for... But you'd [read: I'd] think Duncan Scone, among other units, would've noticed that by now. I'm really not sure if any of these explinations are believable, but this one seems like the likeliest answer.

1c.) This bad boy goes out to PlotArmour... Du Ex Machina-lite. We know the Archons are there, we just don't know how they'll help/how they're hidden. This is our current state in the comic, but is soon-to-be resolved. This point could also be classified under the "No clue"-category, but that's no fun!

2a. ) Guerrilla Tactics, part 1.
The only possible way I can see the Archons as being useful outside the battlespace (and contradicting the text update) is for their stacks to be using guerrilla tactics against Gobwin Knob... Target #1 would be Ansom and the ground forces. This would be the biggest stretch, since that's assuming the Dwagons aren't within range of returning to their hexes at the end of Gobwin Knob's turn. This seems silly and needlessly dangerous to me.

2b.) Guerrilla Tactics, part 2.
Rather than striking the ground forces, Charlie's Archons are going to strike as many cities between Space Rock and Gobwin Knob as they can. Although this is a strategically sound plan, it doesn't account for why Charlie had Archons traveling with Jillian the entire way. Unless the "significant force" (which, again, is supposed to be in the battlespace) was there solely for the purpose of protecting Jillian's armada from unwanted attention. This, too, seems needless/silly/overly complicated.

2c.) Guerrilla Tactics, part 3.
Jillian and her air force aren't at Space Rock at all. The Megalogwiffs, Gwiffins, Marbits and converted Gobwins have teamed up with all six hundred of Charlie's Archons, and are currently squeezed into the tunnels underneath Gobwin Knob... Thankfully, Wanda, Scarlet, Janis, the FAQ-Predictamancr and Jack are all waiting in the courtyard with the army of Decrypted and Dwagons. Jack is the greatest Foolamancer ever, and is simply practicing long-range double-veiling to lure them into a false sens-- Oh, wait, wrong topic.

---------------------------

I often wonder if you guys would realize when I skip from Point One to Point Three... I think I might enjoy doing that a bit too much.

[joosy]

PlotArmour is banned. We have one rule in these forums: don't be a dick. PlotArmour violated it somewhere between 15 and 25 times, and was warned more than once. Hate to do this, but this is the last reactions thread that's going to be all about shouting him down. Carry on.

Heh - that's the reason I don't post much on here. Responding honestly to some of the more asinine theories or misuses of certain latin phrases espoused here would do more than just make my keyboard run out of ink - it would get me banned. Sometimes the only option is not to play (Thank you, WarGames) as you can never really win an online argument.

Speaking of asinine theories; I once harbored the idea that PlotArmour was a puppet of the author who was deliberately stirring the pot just to see who came to his defense

[copperhamster]

Oi. I've been alone and bored for the past... Long time. I think I went a little bit overboard on my reply, so I used a spoiler tag to avoid WOT-Syndrome. Sorry!

I'm not trying to be snarky, I'm really not. Please don't take this the wrong way, but I think the word you are looking for in part of this is guerrilla. Gorilla tactics are more straightforward, involve ripping arms off and throwing things around. (Hmmm Gowilla fighting anyone?)

[Menas]

Well... Parson, supposedly, should know where Charlie's capital is. That doesn't seem to be common knowledge.

Everyone keeps saying that, but I have yet to see anything in the comic or text updates that suggest this is even remotely true. There is no reason to presume whatsoever that the other sides don't know where Charlie's city is. In fact, it seems highly unlikely that this is the case, since Transylvito found the idea of Faq being veiled very incredulolus and they know about Charlie. If Charlie's city was veiled or hidden, then the idea of a second hidden city wouldn't be so hard to accept.

Well, maybe it should be put another way then.

If there's anyone that is more likely to want the location of his cities hidden than anyone else, it is Charlie. Especially if he only has one city, because if he only has one city and it's a capital, then all anyone has to do is take it/raze it/whatever and Charlie is pretty much out of the game. Because of this, I'd say there is a LOT of good reason to believe he doesn't want anyone to know his whereabouts. It's obvious he doesn't like the idea of being vulnerable to anyone.

Charlie deals in secrets and information, and the security of his entire operation is based on others not knowing too much about what he does. Not only that, but if his trade is information, then it's imperative for him to know more than the other sides at all times, and to be able to protect that information. If people can start getting information from places other than Charlie, then he's out of business. Also, if they know too much about the way he conducts business, they can use it as leverage against him when dealing with him. Take a car salesman for instance. How much bargaining power is a car salesman going to have against you if you know exactly how much the car really cost him to put it on the lot in the first place, and how much he needs the sale in order to stay in business or keep his job? Or any other information that might motivate him to make the sale? Not a whole heck of a lot.

I maintain the belief that Charlie wants to capture or croak anyone who has access to more of his information than he willingly imparted to them himself, that has the potential to use that information against him. Like anyone in GK's forces that have the ability to obtain information from the decrypted Archons. I believe Jillian is an exception, because he is allied with her, and needs her help to take out GK. And he's been sharing information with her on his own. But if she broke their alliance for some reason and indicated she'd be willing to compromise his secrets, he'd be after her too.

[Sinrus]

Oi. I've been alone and bored for the past... Long time. I think I went a little bit overboard on my reply, so I used a spoiler tag to avoid WOT-Syndrome. Sorry!

I'm not trying to be snarky, I'm really not. Please don't take this the wrong way, but I think the word you are looking for in part of this is guerrilla. Gorilla tactics are more straightforward, involve ripping arms off and throwing things around. (Hmmm Gowilla fighting anyone?)

I wanted to say that.
And I noticed that you skipped from 1 to 3. I really did, really. Yeah.

Well... Parson, supposedly, should know where Charlie's capital is. That doesn't seem to be common knowledge.

Everyone keeps saying that, but I have yet to see anything in the comic or text updates that suggest this is even remotely true. There is no reason to presume whatsoever that the other sides don't know where Charlie's city is. In fact, it seems highly unlikely that this is the case, since Transylvito found the idea of Faq being veiled very incredulolus and they know about Charlie. If Charlie's city was veiled or hidden, then the idea of a second hidden city wouldn't be so hard to accept.

Well, maybe it should be put another way then.

If there's anyone that is more likely to want the location of his cities hidden than anyone else, it is Charlie. Especially if he only has one city, because if he only has one city and it's a capital, then all anyone has to do is take it/raze it/whatever and Charlie is pretty much out of the game. Because of this, I'd say there is a LOT of good reason to believe he doesn't want anyone to know his whereabouts. It's obvious he doesn't like the idea of being vulnerable to anyone.

Charlie deals in secrets and information, and the security of his entire operation is based on others not knowing too much about what he does. Not only that, but if his trade is information, then it's imperative for him to know more than the other sides at all times, and to be able to protect that information. If people can start getting information from places other than Charlie, then he's out of business. Also, if they know too much about the way he conducts business, they can use it as leverage against him when dealing with him. Take a car salesman for instance. How much bargaining power is a car salesman going to have against you if you know exactly how much the car really cost him to put it on the lot in the first place, and how much he needs the sale in order to stay in business or keep his job? Or any other information that might motivate him to make the sale? Not a whole heck of a lot.

I maintain the belief that Charlie wants to capture or croak anyone who has access to more of his information than he willingly imparted to them himself, that has the potential to use that information against him. Like anyone in GK's forces that have the ability to obtain information from the decrypted Archons. I believe Jillian is an exception, because he is allied with her, and needs her help to take out GK. And he's been sharing information with her on his own. But if she broke their alliance for some reason and indicated she'd be willing to compromise his secrets, he'd be after her too.

Or maybe his capital is simply unknown because he veils it constantly. It certainly worked for Faq, and some archons do have foolamancy.

[Hiai]

You should totally post more... You seem like you'd have a few crazy conspiracy theories trapped in your noggin.

Alas, poor Atomic! He knew me well! (too bad about those nasty gorillas and their arm-ripping habits).

2b.) I'm not sure I like Duncan. Every time we've seen him/heard his thoughts, he's been as smug as a bug in a rug doing drugs (yes, I'm incredibly poetic).

I didn't read Duncan that way at all. From his personal thoughts to his interactions with Ossomer, I got the distinct impression that his serenity and unflappable attitude was a direct result of Turnamancy, much like Ossomer's new outlook as decrypted, coupled with his lack of familiarity with a non-caffeinated state. If life has ALWAYS been jittery, how eerily calm would you feel after taking all stimulants away? I know that in May, after tax season starts to wind down, I walk around in a very mellow, lethargic state for a few weeks as I kick my caffeine habits. Nothing seems all that important or urgent when you haven't the energy to care one way or another

When we first met Tramennis, I felt like he was an annoying child who enjoyed all the ongoing drama far too much. Up until we reached the middle of the Expository Bridge and my third or fourth read-though of all the updates/comics he was in, I didn't like him. Now he's one of my favorite characters.

I am SO with you on this one! At first, I considered Tramennis to be a failed attempt at a witty, sarcastic sidekick-type. He seemed designed to be the comic relief, but was obnoxious to the point of annoyance, therefore failing at his job. The subsequent updates dissipated my annoyance quickly, as they revealed a surprising depth of character (surprising in the sense that comparatively little face-time established his character as one of sympathetic interest. Kudos to Balder on the masterful portrayal here).

#5. Lack of Archons:
This is the question I've been asking myself for the past few weeks: Where are they? Charlie's "significant" amount of Archons have gotta be in the air zone if they're going to be of any use in the battle

Spoiler: show

I will briefly borrow Blandcorp's tinfoil hat as I advance my theory here...I believe that Charlie's Archon are on their way to annihilate Ansom's ground forces.

After all, Wanda has left Ansom with little defense against air units, choosing instead the surgical strike against the tower, which is being delayed by her parlay with Jillian. Regardless of the outcome with that parlay, Jillian is likely to be able to bloody Wanda's nose significantly in terms of air superiority, but her ground troops are nigh invincible...when being screened by her air force. Without the air force, they are vulnerable to air attacks, and Charlie has to be thinking that keeping Wanda busy with Jillian and taking out her decrypted ground forces will slow her advance significantly, especially if Jillian can sufficiently weaken her air force to the point that his archons can reinforce Jillian after reducing the ground forces to dust. Despite his likely knowledge of Jillian and Wanda's past, he has little reason to be able to predict that Jillian would make a game-changing offer to Wanda in the manner she has, since Jillian surprised even herself with the offer. If Jillian is aware that Charlie's archons are attacking Ansom's force (no doubt with strict orders from Jillian to capture, not croak, Ansom), then it would explain her "ace up the sleeve" smugness, AND her attempt to delay Wanda with parlay on WANDA'S TURN. Remember, movement turns are not affected by GK'S turn until they are in adjacent hexes, so Charlie's Archons could very possibly be engaged with getting into position to hit Ansom's ground forces as soon as GK ends turn, with Wanda's air unit status unknown and Ansom poised to reinforce at Jetstone's capital. Also, if Charlie isn't officially allied with the RCC, as has been speculated, then his turn could very well fall BEFORE GK's, depending on if Ansom's forces are considered a different army because of its hex distance. Not sure about that, but I don't think that's been specifically ruled out, anyhow, and is far from PlotArmour's famous Deus Ex Machina. (which he used so frequently and mistakenly).

Or maybe his capital is simply unknown because he veils it constantly. It certainly worked for Faq, and some archons do have foolamancy.

Spoiler: show

For some reason, probably prompted by the Arkendish art in the very beginning of the strip, I always pictured Charlie's capital as some remote mountantop, impossible to approach by any but air units. That impression has only strengthened as time wears on, helping to explain the antagonism between Stanley and Charlie (as the only so-far revealed significantly strong and expansive airforce, Stanley and his dwagons may have been a threat to Charlie that he did something to undermine, therefore earning Stanley's hatred). Charlie's unique units, the Archons, with their high mobility, and Charlie's heavy reliance on Thinkamancy, would neither be compromised nor inconvenienced by such a setup, but their defenses would be significantly higher than most other cities, much as Gobwin Knob was once considered well-nigh impregnable. Without the possibility of seige or heavy units approaching, Charlie could relax in state-of-the art luxuries, the finest the casters in the Magic Kingdom could craft, with no need to be inconvenienced or limited by fortifications. All of his defenses would be geared as GK's tower defenses were, strictly toward flying units. With his wealth, I imagine the defensive spells would be many times in magnitude more impressive than Wanda's were when she "blew her top" at Jillian's forces.

Hey, I know I go on forever. Why do you think I usually keep veiled? lol
You asked for it!

[splintermute]

I will briefly borrow Blandcorp's tinfoil hat as I advance my theory here...I believe that Charlie's Archon are on their way to annihilate Ansom's ground forces.

After all, Wanda has left Ansom with little defense against air units, choosing instead the surgical strike against the tower, which is being delayed by her parlay with Jillian. Regardless of the outcome with that parlay, Jillian is likely to be able to bloody Wanda's nose significantly in terms of air superiority, but her ground troops are nigh invincible...when being screened by her air force. Without the air force, they are vulnerable to air attacks, and Charlie has to be thinking that keeping Wanda busy with Jillian and taking out her decrypted ground forces will slow her advance significantly, especially if Jillian can sufficiently weaken her air force to the point that his archons can reinforce Jillian after reducing the ground forces to dust. Despite his likely knowledge of Jillian and Wanda's past, he has little reason to be able to predict that Jillian would make a game-changing offer to Wanda in the manner she has, since Jillian surprised even herself with the offer. If Jillian is aware that Charlie's archons are attacking Ansom's force (no doubt with strict orders from Jillian to capture, not croak, Ansom), then it would explain her "ace up the sleeve" smugness, AND her attempt to delay Wanda with parlay on WANDA'S TURN. Remember, movement turns are not affected by GK'S turn until they are in adjacent hexes, so Charlie's Archons could very possibly be engaged with getting into position to hit Ansom's ground forces as soon as GK ends turn, with Wanda's air unit status unknown and Ansom poised to reinforce at Jetstone's capital. Also, if Charlie isn't officially allied with the RCC, as has been speculated, then his turn could very well fall BEFORE GK's, depending on if Ansom's forces are considered a different army because of its hex distance. Not sure about that, but I don't think that's been specifically ruled out, anyhow, and is far from PlotArmour's famous Deus Ex Machina. (which he used so frequently and mistakenly).

You're right that Charlie's turn comes before GK - that was the basis of the RCC 1 plan to chase Stanley to Faq. However, turn order kicks in the moment a side enters a battlespace - since it's GK's turn, Charlie's turn (assuming he's not allied with Faq, and therefore sharing a turn with the RCC 2) has already passed. If he's got something planned, his troops have to be in position already.