Arkentool attunement and uncroaking

[Shadow of the Lotus]

The latest pages of the comic have shown some of the powers of the arkenpliers, in particular their effect on croaked units when wielded by a master croakamancer. While still within speculation, it seems as if they have some super uncroak power; possibly a resurrection. If a royal can be, well, whatever-it-is-that-Wanda-did; you'd think that, say, a simple piker who was promoted to warlord and later Heir Designate, could also be super uncroaked. If Wanda was to croak Stanley and then super uncroak him, would the arkenhammer still be attuned to Stanley? If the arkentools are really fated to belong to certain individuals, what is the effect of super uncroaking any individual who is attuned to his or her arkentool?

[Mal]

Interesting question. I would think an attuned Arkentool would cease to be attuned upon croaking. Under that condition, a Decrypted unit (still waiting for an official name, but that sounds good till then) could likely reattune, assuming the Arkentool hasn't attuned to another person.

[Mikalyaran]

I think we need more info on attunement and the decrypting before we can adequately answer these questions. That being siad speculation is always fun...

Attunement seem very much a 'will of the titans" or fate kind of thing. Ansom never attuned to the pliers but Wanda, who had been working towards this goal based on predictamancy, has now attuned to them. Stanley starts as a common piker, works his way upto heir designate, attunes to the hammer, becomes overlord and rocks the world pretty hard. We barely know anything about Charlie and the dish unfortunately.

So if Stanley were to die and be decrypted it seems plausible to me that he would be attuned. He might not even stop being attuned. We dont know that attunement requires that the unit be alive. A arkentool may stay attuned to its previous wielder until the fated new wielder comes along. Who can say? Our fine author and artist can thats who.

[CourtJester]

If fate does indeed play into the 'tuning of those legendary instruments, would fate truly let its chosen be croaked unless it fit into fate's grander scheme? The answer lies in Will the Titan: Do they want it to remain attuned, or have a new plan for it?

[kreszantas]

Stanley stated that pretty well with the way he knew that Ansom was bringing the pliers to him (he could have meant his side but that is one of the huge remaining plot questions), I think he thought it was for him personally however with Wanda's attunement I doubt she is going to willingly give them up. (along with her past speech about I have destroyed more than Parson has to get them)

[RebelWulf]

Hmm, just as a thought.

Uncroaked can still gain levels - we know this because Stanley gets annoyed at Parson for attacking and withdrawing when taking down seige units.

Uncroaked do not cost upkeep - we know this because... well, its mentioned when uncroaked are being explained. They do however, have a Decay rate. From what the Transylvito troops sing when they fight Stanley as he's going to the FAQ ruins, even they decay, and they seem to be the 'basic' troop types of Transylvito at the moment.

Now... does -everything- that a city controls have an upkeep? Farmers like FAQ had? Miners?

These new type of uncroaked - The Decrypted, dont have an upkeep and dont decay. That doesnt neccisarily mean they are any more powerful then an ordinary basic/advanced/heavy troop other then the fact all they cost is magical power (which i'm assuming recovers in each caster at turn start like MP in most games)... Then the only real advantage is that they dont cost anything to make or upkeep. Presumably Gobwin Knob is going to need 'ordinary people' to keep it functioning and thats what the main bulk of those guys will be used for.

Hmm, not sure where i was going with that anymore. oh well

[Infidel]

If fate does indeed play into the 'tuning of those legendary instruments, would fate truly let its chosen be croaked unless it fit into fate's grander scheme? The answer lies in Will the Titan: Do they want it to remain attuned, or have a new plan for it?

Yup, that's my take.

If Fate or the Titans is controlling who attunes, then there has to be a reason why someone on another side would attune. Either the arkentools are meant to be a source of conflict. Or the arkentools are supposed to provide a cause to end conflict. So by putting the tools in the hands of different factions, the Titans may be showing a desire for those factions to ally or merge.

Somehow, I think that the tools powers are there to hide a more mundane function. Somewhere in the world of Erf is a machine. Fixing that machine requires a Hammer, a satelight dish, a pair of pliers. And probably a screwdriver. And the machine can only be fixed if natural antagonists instead put aside their differences and work together.

Well, it's happened in some stories.

[Infidel]

If fate does indeed play into the 'tuning of those legendary instruments, would fate truly let its chosen be croaked unless it fit into fate's grander scheme? The answer lies in Will the Titan: Do they want it to remain attuned, or have a new plan for it?

Yup, that's my take.

If Fate or the Titans is controlling who attunes, then there has to be a reason why someone on another side would attune. Either the arkentools are meant to be a source of conflict. Or the arkentools are supposed to provide a cause to end conflict. So by putting aligned tools in the hands of different factions, the Titans may be showing a desire for those factions to ally or merge.

Somehow, I think that the tools powers are there to hide a more mundane function. Somewhere in the world of Erf is a machine. Fixing that machine requires a Hammer, a satellite dish, a pair of pliers. And probably a screwdriver. And the machine can only be fixed if natural antagonists instead put aside their differences and work together.

Well, it's happened in some stories.

[mutecebu]

There's been a number of conversations talking about how Wanda's use of the Arkenpliers seems to be much more potent than the arkenhammer. I think that one difference may be that Wanda is a Master-class Croakmancer, while I don't *think* that Stanely's a caster. Still not enough information to tell about that dish....

[atteSmythe]

There's also the balancing aspect of needing fresh bodies, so the bearer of the Pliers doesn't necessarily get to control the quality of the troops generated, unlike the hammer.