Summer Updates - 037

[balder]

New one is up. Sorry for the delay but I originally wrote it from Jillian's perspective and it was too dull to live. Had to rewrite it completely.

[Kaed]

Well, hopefully we'll see more of this peculiarly arraigned city in Book 2. I'm wondering what the purpose of the outer 'wall' is.

Also Jillian and seeing what an Erfworld kingdom goes through it's infant stages would be interesting. Granted, I liked watching Parson play supergeneral but that seems to be over now, so I guess I'll settle with Jillian founding Faq

[Oglokoog]

Yeah, she's most definitely NOT going to like this.
I wonder, though, why a royal heir needs to be popped. The requirements are insane, too - sixty turns? In sixty turns, Stanley is going to have like 90 more Dwagons than he has now. Faq is going to have whatever two level twos can pop (not much, probably), a royal heir and the support of an ally who would definitely not like to see Jillian's little kingdom fall but can probably well afford to.
A win-win, right?

EDIT: You beat me to the first comment. Damn.

[Malanthyus]

Fifty rands says Vinny's body hits the ground before his head does.

[joosy]

Excellent narrative and beautiful descriptions of the city. I enjoyed imagining Vinny's flight into the city - very nice.

I imagine the outerwall isn't much by Erfworld standards because you cannot reach the city except by air or by tunnel which excludes the usual seige units. The city was 'designed' for air defense. Any ground fighting would have to be done at the garrison. Stanley would have to take another flight of dwagons to capture it again and right now everything is focused on Ansom and Wanda's rolling thunder o' doom.

The one good thing going for them is that GK is not focused on FAQ and probably won't be for awhile. Only Wanda, Jack and Stanley are aware of it and they are focused more on recapturing their cities than rebuilding FAQ.

And yeah.. once she gets the news, I think Jillian is going to have a royal temper tantrum. I envision more broken teapots in the immediate future. I do wonder what Don King's plan is. Having her pop an heir seems more like just insurance that FAQ will still stand in case Jillians' obsession with Stanley gets her croaked. If I were Jillian I would be wise to remember TANSTAAFL. Nothing is free. FAQ now owes its very existence to Transylvito and apparently Don intends to micromanage it for his own best interest for awhile. Very shrewd. Hopefully we won't get any arguments like "That was not our agreement!" "I have altered our agreement. Be glad I do not alter it any further". In any case, the initial offer was one that could not be refused.

and.. clues about Signamancy. Interesting. I had assumed that was their version of Astrology and was interesting to see what celestial images Erfworld had imposed on their night sky (Awies, Viwgo, Tauwus,Sagitawwius, etc..) Apparently its more about what your outward appearance says about your inward abilities or place in Erfworld society. "Everything is foolamancy". heh. I know some Stuffamancers who would argue against that Makes me wonder why Stanley didn't get taller to fit his role. It will be interesting to see what fantastic and unfounded speculations will proliferate on the forums about Signamancy now.

Did I comment on what creative imagery this update invoked in my sparking neurons? eh- I'll say it again. Fan-tast-tic.

I do find it a bit disturbing and hopefully not a new OCD symptom that I am now calculating GK dwagon forces based on turn numbers
So far I guess 22. Almost halfway to the original size that they had before.

FYI: for those who are wondering:
OTOH= On the Other Hand
KIBO= Knowledge in, Bull<boop> Out.

[Pentegarn]

Interesting update. I wonder if the Don thinks Jillian is doomed to die sometime in the conflict?

[Binty]

So 60 turns to pop an Royal heir - no parallel poppings. Probably can only be done in a Capital. Does a Royal present need to be present throughout this period I wonder?

Probably similar to pop a caster.

[Justyn]

FYI: for those who are wondering:
OTOH= On the Other Hand
KIBO= Knowledge in, Bull<boop> Out.

Kibo is also a Japanese word for "hope", it might not be what's intended here though.

[Gez]

And let's not forget kibology.

[moose o death]

wow sixty turns , and a fast levelling high powered heir is born. it seems the first book gave us very little insight to the length of time these kingdoms have existed. everyone thought vinny must be old for being at least two hundred turns old, but if the don's had two heirs before cesar there is at least 120 turns where only two units were made.

by the end of these 60 turns she's going to look like elizabeth.

also, this sense of hopelessness is so building towards jillian acquiring an arkentool for faster unit production. the first one "found" in the story timeline hopefully, making it the fifth and finally explaining how arkentools are discovered.

[Annatars Gift]

The last 2 lines.

Only now he was going to have to tell her Don King wanted her to dedicate the next 60 turns of her capital city's production to pop a Royal heir.

No illustration for this update.

That's a good call. Illustrating how to pop a Royal heir could have been messy.

[Lady Nerevar]

alright, so this just won "favorite update" from me. the structure of it is fantastic in and of itself, and then the end is just BAM. on top of a great story we have great world building. i just sat there smiling through the whole thing. man, this is getting good.

[HandofShadows]

Jillian being angery is an understament I think. But I wonder if she is going to take it calmly (THEN break something or someone later when no one is around).

[joosy]

... there is at least 120 turns where only two units were made.

I think we are assuming that it takes 60 turns regardless, to pop an heir. It could be a lower amount for a side with more cities or production ability (or have a 'palace' that the warlord has to walk through - )

I think a 'turn' is the equivalent of a day in Erfworld so 60 turns is only a few months. (calculating.. Gk's dwagon count would be a little over 100 at that point..)

Note: there is still no indication that Faq or Transylvito are aware of the Arkenpliers (although you would think that would be a major concern of what happened to them) much less that they are attuned to Wanda and that GK now has the powers of Decryption at its disposal. Hopefully Rob will convey the full horror that sweeps through the other sides when they realize what is happening..

[MarchHatter]

I am terribly excited how things fold out to become at the end of the 90 turns. Also I am excited to see what Jillian looks like, because its interesting that Don King, the sweaty toga vampire of the sea vampire city and King Banhammer were all big large people, do you become a big person when you rule a city or an empire. King Henry V was a pig and a huge booping guy because he ate a boop ton of food everyday, but will Jillian become Parson size?

Also any idea what The heir will be like?

[moose o death]

we have not enough information at our disposal to make the assumption popping an heir is anything but standardised. no matter what your capital is doing an heir is for a royal overlord and no city has more than one of those. so for now we can assume it's standardised as the unit can't be popped based on buildings or units present.

stanley hunting dwagons is faster than waiting for them to pop, and carpudlians avoid fighting TV rather than repopping their troops after a battle. it seems making troops is the hardest part of war in erfworld. making it odd they throw lives away so frivolously. even if the units cheap each twoll they through at a wall looking for weak points is probably costing them 2 turns of being mostly defenceless

[the_tick_rules]

So she took the job? Imust say I'm surprised.

[SteveMB]

It occurs to me that His Toolship doesn't seem to have any obvious "signs" of being anything other than a somewhat nebbishy everyunit pikeman. Perhaps it's different for non-royal Overlords, and perhaps that's one of the factors that contributed to (pre-Decrypt) Ansom's belief that he wasn't a genuine ruler.

[Graydon]

It occurs to me that His Toolship doesn't seem to have any obvious "signs" of being anything other than a somewhat nebbishy everyunit pikeman. Perhaps it's different for non-royal Overlords, and perhaps that's one of the factors that contributed to (pre-Decrypt) Ansom's belief that he wasn't a genuine ruler.

Oh, probably.

It also makes me wonder -- no one not now on the Goblin Knob side ever saw Parson, right? Ansom saw him via thinkagram and foolamancy before he died, and is now decrypted and not communicating with his former side. I don't think anyone else did; they knew Stanley had a new warlord, but not who he was.

What would Vinnie's Signamancy take on Parson be? What, to an Erfworlder, does Parson look like he's for?

[DevilDan]

I can't wait for an illustration of that city.

I guess Jill can't fight fate either. She was popped to rule Faq. (When I started reading the first sentence, for I second I thought she was pregnant.) The description of the changes makes me think of the changes that an ant will undergo as she becomes a queen.