Book 2 - Text Updates 001

[Megaduck]

I think the Magic Kingdom is going to become a problem for Gobwin Knob.

The Casters have always seemed to be the elites of Erfworld. They have free will, a place to get away from the wars, and aren't enemies of each other. GK and Jetstone's casters can all come to MK and have a cup of tea and then go back to fighting each other. If one side loses, then so what? They can always retreat to magic kingdom and live as a barbarian as opposed to the regular troops that die.

The casters and Magic Kingdom have it good. They don't want it to change, not really.

Now GK is getting the Army of the Damned and is threatening to conquer the WORLD. It'll disrupt the cozy balance of power MK has enjoyed.

I can't wait to see what happens when Wanda finally kills and Dycrypts another Caster.

[Binty]

Perhaps units disband automatically after a number of turns?

Three score years and ten in our world = about 25,550 turns in Erfworld.

This would give another motivation for Overlords to have heirs.

[raphfrk]

Perhaps units disband automatically after a number of turns?

Three score years and ten in our world = about 25,550 turns in Erfworld.

This would give another motivation for Overlords to have heirs.

Maybe, it would be 32767 turns, because the Titan decided to use signed arithmetic to store age .

[DevilDan]

Haha, the dirtamancer is a rock star.

Wait, so the Magic Kingdom isn't a cabal of concealed conspirators covertly cooperating to command and control the entire world? Wow, who'da thunk it?

(Sorry if I blew anyone's sarcasm detector.)

But a few people are going to hold on to that theory anyway.

[Rogthnor01]

Not that I have ever heard that theory or believe it I could play devil's advocate and say that the real reason everyone in the magic kingdom is upset by GK rapid rise and gaining of a powerful decrypted army is because they are manipulating erfworld. GK was supposed to be crushed but know has grown to powerful and the casters have lost control. That would also be why they are upset wanda isn't coming. If they controled her they'd control GK.

[joosy]

Quadruple the arrows and they hit a precious Archon but miss the red-headed decrypted former Unaroyal Warlord??
<sigh>
<shrug> Okay - I guess I will have to increase my sacrifices to the Erfworld Titans or hire a luckamancer.


So the Magic Kingdom is a barter system AND everything has to be done manually. They woud rather have a Dirtamancer do the work but apparently it CAN be done by hand - they would just rather pay the Rands or the concept of doing it themselves is too alien or beneath them. Apparently converting schmuckers into physical objects such as structures, etc. only works within a city or in popping units for natural sides - at least with what has been established so far.

And there are Florists? I wonder what magic discipline includes horticulture within its sphere of influence - assuming they are a caster sub-type, of course. My guess would be Flower Power.. or Hat Magic (Hey, Rocky! Watch me pull a bouquet of flowers out of my hat!)
Speaking of Flower Power.. I wonder if the Hippiemancers will get involved at some point. I envision a big field of red poppies putting everyone to sleep if they do.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Quadruple the arrows and they hit a precious Archon but miss the red-headed decrypted former Unaroyal Warlord??
<sigh>
<shrug> Okay - I guess I will have to increase my sacrifices to the Erfworld Titans or hire a luckamancer.

So young, so angry ...

The arrows did not miss. Scarlet deflected them so far.

Also, a jinx on your luckamancer and may the fleas of a million camels infest the armpits of whatever animals you plan to sacrifice. Or have them bite their tongues if they have no armpits.

Finally, should this post not be in the reaction to page 8?

[DevilDan]

Florists are what Flower Power casters are called.

[Dancing Cthulhu]

Interesting update. I wonder if Sizemore ever talks to Parson anymore about how he feels. And I wonder if how he feels around Janis is down to true friendship or whether it is the effect of some hippiemancer aura.

I also find it interesting that Dirtamancy is so rare, considering how useful it would be. I wonder if there a reason why they don't pop more often.

"Bring croakamancy to the Life axis"- lamest reason for rejection ever, but in tune with the way things go. Old orders don't age gracefully.

I don't know if that is the only reason for rejection, Sizemore does mention other aspects of what is going on that are making people unhappy with GW.

But it is often how things goes, resistance to change, innovation etc Plenty of that with real world science vs. often ignorant public opinion.

It will be interesting to see it expanded upon in future in the strip, perhaps it is an ominous development - if it is changing the nature of magic in some fundamental way (it doesn't seem like it, since it is the effect of a unique item). Although the fact the "extending Croakamancy to the Life axis" is concentrated and commanded in the hands of a one person who shows no interest in debate etc with her peers might be a valid concern.

I find the idea that Stagemancers (the only school of magic with all three elements represented) are upset at the idea that a Croakamancer is using the Life axis interesting.

The fact that it's the Stage-a-mancers who strongly disliked the suggestion that Wanda was extending Croakamancy into the Life Axis is interesting, because according to the existing understanding of the nature of Magic,

Well, it doesn't say it is only stagemancers feeling upset, just that Sizemore has had debates with them that didn't go well. For some reason I imagine stagemancers might be a political class of caster (in addition to the other possible stagemancy like professions)

To be fair to me too though, it looks like their thinking is hampered by lack of information and prejudice and is not so clearly "correct" in its results. I'd be pretty un-reasonable too if a change like Erf decryption started popping round, but since we have a broader view than Erf's casters (in some aspects, anyway) we can ask whether their fears are founded or not.

I'm willing to play DA here and say they aren't.

Going on with DA their fears might be unfounded, but I'd say their frame of mind leading them to those fears isn't necessarily so. Wanda does bear some (or a lot) of the responsibility for the feelings of the MK. She clearly hasn't tried to sell any casters on her path or explain why it isn't bad, which just leaves the casters with their own observations to base their conclusions upon - and those observations can't be good - war/croak/decrypt. And of late offer peace at sword point, if not accepted war/croak/decrypt.

They woud rather have a Dirtamancer do the work but apparently it CAN be done by hand - they would just rather pay the Rands or the concept of doing it themselves is too alien or beneath them.

Well, there is craftmanship - a dirtamancer is the craft in that field. I know I could build a wall if I had to, but I suspect it would be crap, so I would hire someone with skills because they could do the job well, not because it was too alien or beneath me.

Quadruple the arrows and they hit a precious Archon but miss the red-headed decrypted former Unaroyal Warlord??

You can see her deflecting arrows, not the same thing as missing.

[atteSmythe]

For me, the most interesting tidbits in this update were that city sites are special, and manual industry is not unheard of for large scale projects. Bodes well for Parson finding trollish busy-work (though I would have expected to have heard something about it over the summer updates, if he had indeed started something).

[Justyn]

For me, the most interesting tidbits in this update were that city sites are special, ...

Yes they are.

[Danetrix]

I would imagine MK functions differently with no "capital" building site to any other place, else there would be the Warlord factor (and the money that cities run on is not used in MK, they use Rands).
I do not think there are any in MK, on the basis they were so upset with Parson being there, plus Maggie's line "this is not a place for Warlords" back in Book 1. It was like a rude shock that he was there. Even if Wanda came in right now to the MK, as much as she would be disliked for breaking things with the Decrypt special, it's not like she is hated for being a leader of troops.

I think the tone of "OMG Wanda is doing bad stuff with the magik" is a mix of (using Earth examples) that chemisty being used to calculate physics point made in this thread with the undertones of the creation vs evolution arguements mixed in for good measure.

[theseus2x]

Speculation :

As awesome as it is to see Sizemore and the MK again, I would suggest that the real reason for this particular line in the text updates isn't to give us more Sizemore (cool though he is) or more MK (since Baldur doesn't like hitting us with so much defined info to actually nail-down how the mechanics of Erfworld really work - remember "Regeneration"?)

No, I suspect the reason why we're here is so Janice can explain to Sizemore (and hopefully us) what Parson actually has to do to fix the world. (Well, or at least re-make it in an image consistent with Hippiemancy....)

[Smoker]

I found this update particularly enlightening, because now we know that Sizemore isn't at the battle with Wanda.

I suspected he might have been, when Ansom ordered the casters to mount up (Casters plural) and we all thought it was a bit strange him referring to Wanda like that. If Jack and Wanda really are the only two casters in the army, I would have pictured him more as saying "Foolamancer! Mount up! And you too, Mistress Wanda, if you please."

More to the point, Wanda was already mounted.

So maybe that was him just being Cheif Warlord, or maybe there is another non-Sizemore caster in there somewhere.

Sorry to raise up something from a previous page, but I thought it relevant to this thread also.

Thought: Heh. Maybe Scarlet is a caster

[BLANDCorporatio]

The "Casters and Warlords" bit might, might, have been habit, like you'd often say "ladies and gentlemen" regardless of the size of the audience.

PS: well, she might, again might, be a luckamancer, which would explain athing or two. But I don't think she is.

[tribble]

A Gazebo?! In the magic kingdom!? Run for your lives!

[sheepfly]

A Gazebo?! In the magic kingdom!? Run for your lives!

"It's too late. You've awakened the gazebo. It catches you and eats you."

The End.

[Smoker]

The "Casters and Warlords" bit might, might, have been habit, like you'd often say "ladies and gentlemen" regardless of the size of the audience.

Now that we know Sizemore isn't there, Im inclined to agree. There still might be a surprise caster introduction later on, but Im not really expecting it, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, back to this update. I seriously love Sizemore. I hope we get to hear/see his conversation with Janis. I wonder if they have something specific to discuss, or did he just sneak out of GK for a while because he was feeling blue?

And if the GK situation is getting him down so much, (he is losing friends, struggles to like Parson, is referred to as "the turd guy" by his overlord and is being forced to stand by while Wanda eliminates entire sides) how likely do you think it is that he will turn? I notice he still refers to Wanda as "Lady Firebough", which denotes a certain amount of respect, but seriously, that guys loyalty stat must be through the damn roof - he's having a really hard time.

[slor]

Of course the main reason that people are reacting oddly is because they are scared of him. Sizemore has gone from someone who makes paths and shapes gardens to being able to detonate entire hexes and croak all those within.

I'ld be scared of him and suspicious of the entire 'helpful, harmless guy act'. Of course with Sizemore being as gormless as he is, he doesn't realise it and thinks it's all due to the 'star players'.

[atteSmythe]

Of course the main reason that people are reacting oddly is because they are scared of him. Sizemore has gone from someone who makes paths and shapes gardens to being able to detonate entire hexes and croak all those within.

That's a good point - recall that in the first glimpse we had of the other side trying to figure out what happened, the first guess was some sort of monstrous dirtamancy trap.