Book 2 – Text Updates 005

[fjolnir]

I don't know if this was speculated or not but could portliness be an signamancy signification of garrison status, if so then parson losing weight has much more significance than previously thought...

[Dancing Cthulhu]

Hmmm, interesting. Jillian really is important to Don's plans. Really, really important. Nice to see he continues to be a smart character. His information network probably doesn't rival Charlie's, but the Don must be up there in terms of knowing what is going on.

Also - Itchy Bat (AKA Bat3). For some reason I'm charmed and interested, I hope the lil' fella will be ok.

so... the KING of transylvito can't fly, but his warlords CAN. that's.... very interesting.

I wonder what the game-logic of something like that is? are all royals members of the same root 'tribe', and thus incapable of flying, unlike some sort of subordinate translyvitan tribe that pops 'noble' or 'common' warlords?

I wondered if perhaps, for TV warlord class units if maybe they are somewhat like Archons, they can get special abilites as they level, like flight and so forth. There was that other warlord with the pet fish who also appeared unable to fly.

Or perhaps you are onto something, if TV ruling line (King, royal heir, king, royal heir) might be from non-flying stock, setting them apart from their warlords (like if the line took over TV in the distant past).

If Charlie can use the Arkendish to intercept all Thinkamancy transmissions, he must like the way Don King uses his bats to observe interesting events. It could significantly increase Charlie's ability to see everything that's going on.

If so maybe that was how Charlie was able to be so ready for dealing with Jillian, since I guess Don has probably been monitoring Faq pretty closely.

Maybe Don and Charlie are aware of each other helping Jillian, I'm sure neither one is ignorant of the effort the other is putting into Faq. I hope so, since I don't like the idea Don would have been taken in by the anti-Charlie propaganda and decide to cut out such a useful resource in fighting against GK. Outward he's with the RCII on the matter, privately he'll let Charlie build up Jillian.

I don't know if this was speculated or not but could portliness be an signamancy signification of garrison status, if so then parson losing weight has much more significance than previously thought...

I've always been interested in whether, say, an Erfworld unit's physical activity can affect their appearance. If Don King suddenly became much more physically active would he "loose weight"? Would his stats be affected? Etc Or if Stanley did less, ate more would he "gain weight", would certain stats decrease?

Eh, I dunno about you guys, but this update struck me as so much filler. We got practically nothing new other than the fact that bats have a limited broadcast range and Don can't fly.

Well first - it is a bonus, since the normal page is a little late, I'm not sure how much you want in that.

And second - Filler? Very useful filler then, at the very least. We got info on the Don's history, some of his operating procedures and, from the horses mouth as it were, that Jillian is really important to him, both as a military asset and I think as a person (sweet, cranky warrior queen is such a perfect description - go Jillian!).

This is useful stuff to know, both for the storytelling as a whole and for further fleshing out a major figure in the resistance (against GK, Decryption and what have you.

[Dr Pepper]

If Charlie can use the Arkendish to intercept all Thinkamancy transmissions, he must like the way Don King uses his bats to observe interesting events. It could significantly increase Charlie's ability to see everything that's going on.

Heh. I know what the male archons do now. They wear black slacks and turtlenecks and they sneak up behind bats and tape pictures over their eyes so the tvs can't see what's really happening.

[BLANDCorporatio]

I think Justyn is referring to the no quoting Word of God from Rob on IRCrule.

Maybe, but let's look at that text:

The ONE RULE of the room (other than don't be a dick) is that you may NOT quote what I say as Word of God. There's a lot of thinking out loud. Anything I say in there is not canon, and may be changed, ignored, or totally reversed.

This is different from "don't quote what I say. PERIOD." It means, "if I say something, don't use it as authoritative proof about stuff to happen in the comic".

It would be silly to have an implicit non-disclosure enforced on a channel that anyone could join anyway. So if anyone has interesting bits of info to tell us from the chat sessions, FOR THE LOVE OF THE TITANS PLEASE DO, and we'll understand that it was just thinking out loud and not a certain indication of anything.

[Lady Nerevar]

actually, were not allowed to talk about it at all. the channel's topic reads "Do not quote Word of God outside this channel", and that probably extends to teasing about word of god as well.

[AllPurposeNerd]

....as a resident of King County, I find this update just a teensy bit creepy...crafty Don

So which King County do you live in?

The one with Seattle?
The most Republican county in the US?
Or the one in New South Wales

It's Kings County, the one where e'ybody tawks like dat.

[theseus2x]

Doesn't mean anything unless you can get those sides to unite. Look how poorly RCC2 is doing - Jetstone had to commit a huge amount of force to bring Haggar into line. TV is getting beaten up by minor powers. You REALLY need to screw up to get people to unify against you.

(Yes, Stanley did this prior to RCC1. Parson and Wanda will keep him from doing it again.)

If they do it one at a time, there's no (obvious) reason GK can't take anyone and everyone.

Look at Napoleonic France. Invading Russia before England was dealt with. Hitler made the same mistake.

I disagree totally.

1) If RCC II fails and Transilvito switches there would basically be no opposition left, that would be quite boring. Besides Jillian would never ever work with Stanley as an ally. She would first break with Transilvito.

2) The whole Don King goes Royal because of Queen Bea's suicide would have been only a ruse, which would lower his character in my opinion. He is using his wits working against GK but he is doing it out of principle and emotion. Much more dramatic tension this way.

The world is bigger than most sides know so possible rest of world could give them a fight. Charlie + 600 archons by self is a major power and those who employ those 600 likely have several times the forces. Those sides could be united by Charlie and info from the magic kingdom.

Given no external opposition there is still possible internal power struggles, eg Stanley verses Wanda and/or assassinations of Stanley or Wanda. Alexander the Great dies and 4+ fight for his empire...

"The whole Don King goes Royal because of Queen Bea's suicide would have been only a ruse" not a given, as joining Stanley could also be a ruse in support of his "principle and emotion".

***

I doubt Stanley's going to win now, if for no other reason than the art of radish and skulls on website for book 2 would make little sense if radish disappears in beginning of book 2.

[Gez]

actually, were not allowed to talk about it at all. the channel's topic reads "Do not quote Word of God outside this channel", and that probably extends to teasing about word of god as well.

"Word of God" has a rather precise definition. If Rob says "Marbits have three lungs", that's Word of God. If he says "no comic this week, my cat ate my computer", that's not Word of God -- it has no relevance on the Erfworld plot or setting at all.

Let's go back to the original post that started this tempest-in-a-teapot controversy:

My reaction is "well, the new schedule didn't last very long either". I'd hoped that the gap between Books 1 and 2 would have been used to create some sort of buffer to prevent this sort of random delay.

It was intended to, but apparently there was more than just the artist switch from Jamie to Xin going on. I'm not 100% comfortable talking about things Rob said in the IRC here in the forums. I'll just say that bringing in Xin was not the first thing that Rob did.

It seems very unlikely that whatever he said there was Word of God. If he says he first tried to teach his pet tortoise how to draw but the experiment didn't pan out, that's not WOG. If he says he was looking for a translator to make an adaptation of BFGK in Lingala, that's not WOG. If he says he had originally scripted Book 2 to involve Parson being bitten by a radioactive marbit and becoming a weregazebo as a result, then it would fall under the WOG prohibition since it's details about plot and setting.

[BillMcD]

....as a resident of King County, I find this update just a teensy bit creepy...crafty Don

So which King County do you live in?

The one with Seattle?
The most Republican county in the US?
Or the one in New South Wales

It's Kings County, the one where e'ybody tawks like dat.

A-freakin'-men!

[Sixty]

Heh, what if this is all a plot by Rob to get more people to come visit the IRC channel! Leave hints about juicy info being on the IRC channel on the forums and he knows we won't be able to resist going!

[Nows7]

If he says he had originally scripted Book 2 to involve Parson being bitten by a radioactive marbit and becoming a weregazebo as a result, then it would fall under the WOG prohibition since it's details about plot and setting.

I'd read it.

[Dancing Cthulhu]

Doesn't mean anything unless you can get those sides to unite. Look how poorly RCC2 is doing - Jetstone had to commit a huge amount of force to bring Haggar into line.

Although that was in the context of Jetstone recovering after the loss of so many troops, and Haggar hadn't lost any, not having been in the RCCI, and probably didn't have the personal stake (revenge) or know at that stage about GK.

Plus everyone gets info differently and at different rates, I guess if news spread far and wide enough about the monster side steamrolling everyone it might be easier to find people willing to join your coalition.

TV is getting beaten up by minor powers. You REALLY need to screw up to get people to unify against you.

Do we know they are minor powers? Carpool I think sounds at least like a mid level power (and they seem smart). Jitterati perhaps, although we don't know much about them beyond loosing their natural allies was a big blow.

Plus I don't know if they were asked to join the RCCII, and we don't know how much they know about what is going on with GK.

[BLANDCorporatio]

actually, were not allowed to talk about it at all. the channel's topic reads "Do not quote Word of God outside this channel", and that probably extends to teasing about word of god as well.

Does nobody else find it a bit silly that supposedly confidential information is disseminated in a place that everyone could access? If that is indeed the valid interpretation of what that rule says?

I think Gez has it mostly right, with one correction- if Mr. Balder says on IRC that "Marbits have three lungs" then you ARE ALLOWED to post here on the forums that, on IRC, Mr. Balder set the count of Marbit lungs to three; BUT you MUST NOT use that same text as evidence for Marbit anatomy on the Wiki, or beat another forumite, member of the four-lungs camp, over the head with it in a debate.

[atteSmythe]

Maybe "don't quote the word of god" covers comic-related things and "I don't want to be a gossip" covers everything else.

[teratorn]

As I read it, Rob is just saying not to quote it as the word of God, not saying it can't be quoted, just that as long as it is not in the strip it isn't cannon, and he may change his mind.

[Rosa Vernal]

I think Gez has it mostly right, with one correction- if Mr. Balder says on IRC that "Marbits have three lungs" then you ARE ALLOWED to post here on the forums that, on IRC, Mr. Balder set the count of Marbit lungs to three; BUT you MUST NOT use that same text as evidence for Marbit anatomy on the Wiki, or beat another forumite, member of the four-lungs camp, over the head with it in a debate.

THIS.

At the risk of sounding rude, can you guys quit arguing over whether or not things that should not be taken as definite canon can be posted or not and just say what the deuce it was!? I'm pretty sure that all of us understand that it is a possible but not necessarily true interpretation of Erf things and to take it about as canon as the rest of the theorizing everyone here does, right?