Book 2 – Text Updates 034

[fjolnir]

This was definite filler, not to say it's bad but it's the spot to place something like this while the author gets his ducks in a row (according to his facebook update last week, we're near the end of book 2 and he was delaying to insure that the next substantive update doesn't have a plot hole you can drive a truck through) in that sense, ANY update is better than no update...

[Cyberchihuahua]

Ahem...









(Keep them coming, Rob. )

[abb3w]

It occurs to me, given the apparent display of Rhyme-o-mancy by caster Benjamin, to suspect he may be a formidable multi-domain caster like Wanda... and to worry what will happen if he should resort to Shockamancy.



On the bright side, Parson might have an easier time than most in getting Benjamin to turn against Royalty.

[Dr Pepper]

Oh ho, indeed! So Bennie the moneymancer is cashing out before Transylvito collapses. I wonder if the rhyme-o-mancy is meant to reduce the loyalty of the general population.

[fjolnir]

What general population? the troops?

[TheMutant]

I have no complaints about this update. I'm going to be smiling for the rest of the day now. X) And there's plenty of vague insinuations in this one for us to gleefully dissect and create epileptic trees from for days on end.

[AJ_Impy]

I wonder if Benjamin refers to Zephaniah as well as Franklin?

[joosy]

So Caesar may have both Benjamin AND Bunny on his side plus most of the warlords.. I sense a revolution of sorts guided by the wise words of Mrs. Silence Dogood.

[Sygerrik]

"Cancels the antsy" makes me think the purpose of this "rant" is to blow off steam and increase loyalty among Transylvitians. It makes them less "antsy" and more cool with what their King is doing. A bit ambiguous, though.

And while I do like the poem and I'm ok with the art, I feel that this is pretty insubstantial, even in a comic that tends to have lots of filler pages. But the recent spurt of updates is making me hopeful, and when Erfworld is on, it's really on. So we'll see.

[kriss]

I wonder if Benjamin refers to Zephaniah as well as Franklin?

I don't think so. Franklin was also a prolific writer and poet.

[mp122984]

I, for one, admit to being a sucker for a good upbeat poem. For that reason alone I like this page.

That said, this seems to show that the loss of confidence in the King is coming to a head. As far as his moneymancer is concerned, the King is ignoring the kingdom and pouring everything into a white elephant that is heavily disliked in Translvito. Even his own magical attempts to balance the budget are no match for the Don's spending policies. As far as Ben is concerned, the King has lost it.

The poem, as has been stated before, seems to imply that rhyme-o-mancy can manipulate emotions. The question is, whose? Himself, trying to blow off steam by ranting to himself? The warlords, trying to calm them down? Or is he going to try to push the warlords into trying to "cancel the antsy" at the source with a coup? Some interesting possibilities here.

One of the things I've realized with this page also is that a side's ruler can't "see" a unit's Loyalty. (Although I don't remember if this has been proven before.) Otherwise, the Don probably would have gone somewhere safer by now, somewhere far away from the warlords wondering if it's time for a change of management.

[Jallorn]

I'd like to bet that Benjamin is a Mathamancer, as he generally had more to do with science than money. My pet tin foil hat theory is that he's actually a dual or even multicaster, that is, where Wanda is good at casting other spells from scrolls, Benjamin can cast numerous kinds of spells on his own. Where Wanda is a croakamancer and Sizemore is a dirtamancer, Benjamin isn't either a Mathamancer or a Moneymancer, but both, and maybe more. This, of course, has no basis other than Benjamin Franklin, and my own mind, but it's still fun idea.

I also hope that in the future Benjamin does head a revolution, but not alongside Caeser, aligned instead with Parson, or at least Janis.

Also, as far as the ryhmomancy goes, Benjamin Franklin did do a lot of printing for a long time, and established the basis for America's mail system, so he is strong with the written word. Given how much he did, and how good he was at what he did, I wouldn't be surprised actually if Benjamin, the caster, isn't one of the strongest casters in erfworld.

[gameboy1234]

"Cancels the antsy" makes me think the purpose of this "rant" is to blow off steam

I was going to say exactly the same thing. However, just because this poem blows off some steam for now, doesn't mean things can't come to a head later.

and increase loyalty among Transylvitians.

I think the poem is natural Rhyme-o-mancy. In other words, it's just Ben writing a regular poem, possibly even a private one, say in a diary or something. I don't think this is a public spell or anything, it's just a look into Ben Franklin the Moneymancer's personal view point.

[Nows7]

Hmm, aparently bad spending of your treasury is enough to drop your forces loyalty.

Altough I'm still wondering why exactly the Don is betting so much in Jillian when he cold've easily taken the FAQ cities for himself and then deploy his warlord+bat swarm combo.

Perhaps mishandling of Shmuckers affects moneymancers more. The earlier Don King text update did mention that Don was getting hassled by Benjamin over calling his warlords back, thus leaving his outlying cities unsupervised.

[name lips]

to the critics:

Yes it's filler. But I'm willing to bet that it's not slowing down the arrival of the next page at all. It's not like they're sitting on a completed page, and decided to toss out this poem instead. The page will be posted when it's finished.

I, for one, enjoy a bit of filler while I'm waiting. Frankly I'm of the mind that it's the "fluff" that makes Erfworld unique and fascinating.

[Chit Rule Railroad]

Altough I'm still wondering why exactly the Don is betting so much in Jillian when he cold've easily taken the FAQ cities for himself and then deploy his warlord+bat swarm combo.

Maybe Don King is genre savvy and thinks he can give himself plot armor by doing something that begs to be explained.

OK, wrong comic.

[wonmean]

I'm really liking the look of that Ben Franklin fellow.

Hopefully he turns out to be a significant player.

Oh, also, his hair sorta reminds me of the Twins from the Matrix.

[ftl]

What ho, the kingdom and the King?
They're the same flippin' thing.

He knows: when the King goes mad, then the side goes bad.

Because there are not enough tinfoil hat theories in the world: does that indicate that there's some natural thinkamancy, that influences a units side and makes them susceptible for a ruler's attitude? Makes a mercenary ruler like Don king his subjects mercenary, or a "mentally limited" ruler like Stanley his units "limited"?

Just to go back to this - I think that this level of tinfoil isn't necessary.

When the king goes mad, the side goes bad - but it would be the case even without any natural magic, but because a mad king is going to screw up managing his side. No magic necessary - just plain old screwups will do the trick. It could be just an expression of the fact that no matter how powerful or well-off a side is, if the ruler goes mad they'll take their side down with them.

Also, just an interesting thing to discuss... this was the last erfworld facebook status before this post:

For once, what's holding up updates is the writing itself. I'm not blocked, but I literally had to plot out the rest of the issue before I could write this next text update and page. I didn't want to miss (or blow) any details. Now that I know exactly what happens and in what order, the writing should be a lot smoot...

So if that status was about this text update... there's more to it that we're not understanding if we think it's just filler, it's going to tie in pretty deeply with the rest of everything.

[BLANDCorporatio]

When the king goes mad, the side goes bad - but it would be the case even without any natural magic, but because a mad king is going to screw up managing his side. No magic necessary - just plain old screwups will do the trick. It could be just an expression of the fact that no matter how powerful or well-off a side is, if the ruler goes mad they'll take their side down with them.

Jusr wanted to say, this is correct, common sense and what have you.

But people couldn't leave well enough alone, and in some stories there is, in fact, a magical connection between the life of the king and the life of the kingdom. Which affects even things that bad rulership should not, like the weather.

We don't have any evidence that this happens in Erfworld, and besides, Erfworld is built on more recent memes rather than old Arthurian legends, but hey.

Aaaaand... Don King is added to the list.

Must be some obscure rule about female royals and super-strong pheromones. That's the only explanation I see.

Heh, Queen Bees. Well, I wouldn't add anyone to any list, they were there already as far as I thought. I'm happy that I can add someone to the Not-Liking-Jillian list, specificaly Ben. Who for once is a sympathetic AND apparently calm character to be there.

I wonder though, if the ability to lay a rhyme is mancy, does that make -

[Killer Angel]

Yes it's filler. But I'm willing to bet that it's not slowing down the arrival of the next page at all. It's not like they're sitting on a completed page, and decided to toss out this poem instead. The page will be posted when it's finished.

And I'm willing to bet that the page will be finished in short time. I hope.

Seriously, I know that sometime this kind of things seems to slow down the story and to break the tension, but it's the way Erfworld is made, so what's the problem?