Book 2 – Page 33

[gazes_also]

What makes Parson a formidable warlord is not the unthinkable things he is capable of doing to his enemies, it's the unthinkable things he is capable of doing to his friends.

Was that Parson's personality, though, or was it his "Resolve?" Remember that he threw that away at the end of book 1...

It's definitely his personality, and he knows it himself.
He has been a successful gamer, an environment in which it is perfectly ok to be imaginatively ruthless, sacrifice your strongest units to achieve an objective or annihilate an opponent. In Erfworld he is faced with the dilemma of conducting himself in the same way, using the same vicious imagination, but here his actions have consequences for living beings with whom he can interact and form relationships. He can conceive of the plans that will win, he cannot help doing that,it's who he is.

The problem is, what ability does he have to resist doing what he imagines? By not being CWL he sidesteps that problem. As CWL he is responsible to direct GK's forces, but does he have freedom of choice to do something other than what he has imagined as the most certain and devastating way to win regardless of collateral damage?

The Sword of Ruthless make sure that he would act, but having destroyed it by choice he is responsible for his own actions. Just sulking and feeling bad about it afterwards - as he has been doing since the end of TBoGK - won't cut it. Now he must either embrace the monster he fears he is or develop a moral backbone.

The thing about his Ultimate Warlord that Stanley will never realize until it's too late is that Parson can win every battle, but he cannot win the war

[DevilDan]

How many of us would find it all too easy to think of Erf as unreal, of Erflings as game pieces? It's an almost infantilized world, with decidedly non-human creatures, parodies of and parallels to pop fiction. Pious protestations notwithstanding, we'd be likely to treat Erf as an almost private sandbox. Parson did not find it a simple task to learn to see the suffering cause by his actions — and the potential suffering that might be caused by his inaction.

Ignoring what politicians and generals do, most of us homo quasi-sapiens have it in us to accept causing pain to others, sometimes behind pale justifications.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment

That said, what is a moral choice for Parson, in the midst of a war, in a world configured for war? He cannot pursue a truce: Stanley would never accept it and surely neither would the RCC, not after this latest round of attacks and the attuning of the 'pliers.

[hizo84]

So he can swear now?

Parson broke that rule at the end of book one. He wouldnt just lose that ability in book 2....

[charles]

Why are Parson and Wanda apparently using Thinkagrams?

Wouldn't it be better to communicate with Wanda's ground through Wanda's EYEBOOK to save caster juice?

Also, I think we're about to say goodbye to jack. They need foolamancy to get through this and he's low on juice. But if a unit is restored to full hitpoints upon decryption then presuming a caster can still cast, they would likely be restored to full "juice" after decryption.

[Menlo Marseilles]

Wouldn't it be better to communicate with Wanda's ground through Wanda's EYEBOOK to save caster juice?

They haven't used the eyebooks for battle plans since Charlie proved that he could hack them in Book 1.

[cloudbreaker]

Wouldn't it be better to communicate with Wanda's ground through Wanda's EYEBOOK to save caster juice?

They haven't used the eyebooks for battle plans since Charlie proved that he could hack them in Book 1.

If only they brought the magic hats. My guess is that Sizemore has one of those out in the field or in a different city, and the other is still in the capital.

[raphfrk]

If only they brought the magic hats. My guess is that Sizemore has one of those out in the field or in a different city, and the other is still in the capital.

Also, it seems strange that they will use Thinkamancy but not the eyebooks.

[Dunham]

If only they brought the magic hats. My guess is that Sizemore has one of those out in the field or in a different city, and the other is still in the capital.

Also, it seems strange that they will use Thinkamancy but not the eyebooks.

I think Thinkamancy could be compared to a phone call, while the eyebook is more like an internet IM session, thus more accessible to be wirelessly hacked. Could be that a thinkagram could be hacked into, but it would require more than his dish.

Also, to comment on the Parson swearing note, which he has done occasionally since he destroyed the sword,
I was lead to believe that on the old site, Giant in the Playground, Rob was asked not to swear, or something along those lines. Now on his own site, he's free to do what he wants. All speculation, but I could have sworn I saw something along those lines in the erfwiki

[Lord Kasavin]

Also, Thinkagrams are done by people, while the eyebooks communicated as items. Meaning the person running the Thinkagram might be able to notice somebody trying to listen in on their thoughts, while the Eyebooks would give no such warning.

[charles]

I think Thinkamancy could be compared to a phone call, while the eyebook is more like an internet IM session, thus more accessible to be wirelessly hacked. Could be that a thinkagram could be hacked into, but it would require more than his dish.

Also, to comment on the Parson swearing note, which he has done occasionally since he destroyed the sword,
I was lead to believe that on the old site, Giant in the Playground, Rob was asked not to swear, or something along those lines. Now on his own site, he's free to do what he wants. All speculation, but I could have sworn I saw something along those lines in the erfwiki

Yes, the Giant in the Playground site is a no swearing site for ratings. It was a special privledge for the specific situation concerning Parson's dramatic statement.

I seem to recall somewhere that the ratings actually allow for a single swear word... Can't remember where I know that from.

Makes sense that Charlie might be the one responsible for the lack of eyebook use. I wonder how many of them were ever made. We've seen Parson, Wanda and Sizemore. I got the impression that Stanly had an exra one after he gave his to Parson and then proceeded to call Wanda with it from the breakfast table the next morning.

Still could use it to ask for an Archon to provide the link so Maggie can preserve her own juice.

[Aquillion]

Makes sense that Charlie might be the one responsible for the lack of eyebook use. I wonder how many of them were ever made. We've seen Parson, Wanda and Sizemore. I got the impression that Stanly had an exra one after he gave his to Parson and then proceeded to call Wanda with it from the breakfast table the next morning.

Still could use it to ask for an Archon to provide the link so Maggie can preserve her own juice.

I assume that Stanley gave Parson the one used by the previous Chief Warlord.

[raphfrk]

I assume that Stanley gave Parson the one used by the previous Chief Warlord.

Alternatively, while the table was operating, Stanley might have been able to create them as needed, perhaps with a small cost.

Ofc, if so, they should have stockpiled them.

[SteveMB]

I think Thinkamancy could be compared to a phone call, while the eyebook is more like an internet IM session, thus more accessible to be wirelessly hacked. Could be that a thinkagram could be hacked into, but it would require more than his dish.

Also, to comment on the Parson swearing note, which he has done occasionally since he destroyed the sword,
I was lead to believe that on the old site, Giant in the Playground, Rob was asked not to swear, or something along those lines. Now on his own site, he's free to do what he wants. All speculation, but I could have sworn I saw something along those lines in the erfwiki

Yes, the Giant in the Playground site is a no swearing site for ratings. It was a special privledge for the specific situation concerning Parson's dramatic statement.

I seem to recall somewhere that the ratings actually allow for a single swear word... Can't remember where I know that from.

IIRC, Rich Burlew's comment on allowing the single Precision F-Strike noted as an aside that a movie could get away with one use of the word without drawing an R rating. The main reason he OKd it was that it was an important storytelling point about Parson gaining some personal autonomy and not just a gratuitous bit of shock.

[DevilDan]

On communications: They know the Eyebooks have been hacked. Eyebooks were new technology. Thinkamancy has been around forever, surely, so it's time-tested.

I assume that Stanley gave Parson the one used by the previous Chief Warlord.

Alternatively, while the table was operating, Stanley might have been able to create them as needed, perhaps with a small cost.

Ofc, if so, they should have stockpiled them.

Stanley kept those caster pretty busy, I'm sure.

Hmm... I wonder if Parson has considered setting up "front" kingdom to hire casters, buy scrolls, etc.

As an aside, I still can't believe that it's so late in the game and GK still doesn't know the capabilities of decrypted casters!

[SteveMB]

On communications: They know the Eyebooks have been hacked. Eyebooks were new technology. Thinkamancy has been around forever, surely, so it's time-tested.

Hmmm... if Charlie has found a way to tap into Thinkagrams, he'd be far more reluctant to reveal that fact than he was to demonstrate his ability to hack the Eyebooks. The Eyebooks are a special magic item created by the Gobwin Knob trimancer table, unique to one specific side that was apparently about to be eliminated from Erfworld (making the secret moot). Thinkagrams, on the other hand, seem to be fairly common and likely to remain so -- ergo, the ability to eavesdrop on them (if he has it) would be much more closely guarded, probably limited to Charlie's inner circle of Archons who never venture into the field.

[ftl]

As an aside, I still can't believe that it's so late in the game and GK still doesn't know the capabilities of decrypted casters!

How would they know?

Decryption has, as far as anybody knows, never been done before, not until Wanda got the pliers.

Since Wanda got the pliers, GK hasn't croaked any casters. So they don't know what decrypted casters can do.

[DevilDan]

Granted, they can't know for sure what Charlie can or cannot do. But they have to make some assumptions, particularly based on their interactions thus far with archons and with Charlescomm. My assumption is that there's strong thinkamantic theory and knowledge behind Erfword's assumption that thinkagrams are inviolate. Without at least some reason to believe that, Charlie would be a far less popular fellow: If the royals suspected Charlie could eavesdrop on any thinkagram, they'd have united to take him out already.

Which is why Charlie wouldn't show this hand to as shrewd a person as Parson, wouldn't dare act on information obtained via tapping thinkagrams alone, unless he were about to capture or croak Parson. Anything else would be too dangerous.

In fact, I wonder why Parson didn't try some psy ops campaign to continue to drive a wedge between Charlescomm and the royals, to make it seem as if Charlescomm is a Toolist. I suppose Parson thought that was already the case — or he was just too busy elsewhere.

How would they know?

Decryption has, as far as anybody knows, never been done before, not until Wanda got the pliers.

Since Wanda got the pliers, GK hasn't croaked any casters. So they don't know what decrypted casters can do.

Precisely. It's just bad luck (and the relative rarity of casters plus access to the Magic Kingdom) that has kept them from croaking and decrypting at least one caster.

[ftl]

Precisely. It's just bad luck (and the relative rarity of casters plus access to the Magic Kingdom) that has kept them from croaking and decrypting at least one caster.

Not so much 'bad luck', even - this is par for the course, I wouldn't expect them to get a caster to decrypt until they manage to do something really brilliant to get one.

The only time they'd really get a chance to croak casters is when they destroy a Side - until then, the side is going to keep its casters safe and away from the battlefield. They've destroyed one Side so far - and Queen Bea committed suicide before they got to her casters.

[Dr Pepper]

In fact, I wonder why Parson didn't try some psy ops campaign to continue to drive a wedge between Charlescomm and the royals, to make it seem as if Charlescomm is a Toolist.

He did. Way back in Book 1, while thinkagramming with Ansom, Parson deliberate copied Charlie's eccentric phrase "m'kay", to try to make Ansom suspicious.

[gazes_also]

The only time they'd really get a chance to croak casters is when they destroy a Side - until then, the side is going to keep its casters safe and away from the battlefield. They've destroyed one Side so far - and Queen Bea committed suicide before they got to her casters.

Not quite, she sent her casters to TMK before she disbanded her side. Most casters stay in the capitals, so have easy access to escaping to TMK if their side is in jeopardy, so it's hard to capture one. Croaking a hired caster would be a very bad HR move - and GK is already unpopular with TMK.

It's never been clear one way or the other whether GK has more casters than the ones we know.