Book 2 – Text Updates 042

[GaryThunder]

I seem to recall the second one being rather fatal.

[Lamech]

What are you talking about? Ansom is clearly fine. He was beheading princes this turn. /sarcasm

But yeah we don't know if the second fall was lethal. Bogroll was latched on to his throat if I recall, so its possible he died before he hit. He also could have been incapacitated and then croaked when he was helpless. Or even both survived the fall and said twoll latched onto throat did him in. Heavies seem rather deadly even when hitting warlords.

[John Campbell]

There is only one other known arkentool and we dunno what it is, so guessing is really hard to do.

I'm still torn on whether the ArkenSaw is too obvious.

[GaryThunder]

It doesn't necessarily have to be an actual tool. Is a satellite dish a tool?

[Smoker]

Bogroll took out Ansom and we know the twoll was much lower level because he leveled twice just from that single act. I think they're pretty safe from low level units in ordinary situations, but we've seen plenty of things that can take croak, capture or incapacitate them -- special items, large mounts, casters, siege -- so they're hardly safe.

Yes, but Ansom probably lost most of his hitpoints from the fall and not from damage from Bogroll.

Mr. Owl, how many licks does it take for a twoll to kill a high level Warlord?

A one, a twohoooo, a three...thud...a three...

The world may never know. (Whether it was Bogroll's attacks, the fall, or [most likely] a combination of the two)

Bogroll still got the credit for the kill though, since he leveled. That doesn't mean it had nothing to do with the fall, maybe the damaged caused from landing from a dismount is part of the actual dismount attack?

Or maybe Bogroll landed on top of Ansom, as a kind of "Slam" attack. Dunno.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Ansom falls a lot, doesn't he. Fell onto the wall, fell when Bogroll knocked him off his carpet, fell when Ossomer knocked him off his carpet.

Three falls, and none fatal. HAX!

Ansom must have pre-rolled all 1s out of the cosmic dice.

[the_tick_rules]

Can't Don order him to do it?

[effataigus]

Can't Don order him to do it?

Yes, he can. Also, he did!

Still being disobeyed... looks grim!

[drachefly]

Not more grim than Wanda's rebellion that produced Parson.

[Oberon]

Ansom falls a lot, doesn't he. Fell onto the wall, fell when Bogroll knocked him off his carpet, fell when Ossomer knocked him off his carpet.

Three falls, and none fatal. HAX!

Ansom must have pre-rolled all 1s out of the cosmic dice.

True enough. But the fourth fall? He didn't live through that one.

[gatherer818]

Since no one responded to my mention of Royals possibly being homophobic in addition to all their other prejudices that non-Royals seem to have many fewer of, I would like to re-ignite the HomoTram war by pointing out that while Charlie was talking to Tram, Charlie's avatar ONLY assumed forms with Rainbow colors, and Tram had a psychedelic rainbow t-shirt as well. It seems less like hinting and more like broadcasting at that point.

I'm doing a whole-comic-every-book reread right now (sorely wishing I could get the physical copy, which will have gone up in price by the time I can afford it), which is how I noticed it. I'm now more convinced of my theory that Royals are simply prejudiced. Against nearly everything that doesn't perfect match them. Unless they're trend-buckers themselves - Tram and Jillian are the only two I can think of right now that are "Royal but don't act like it", and they're both homosexual or bisexual, whilst every other Royal (and I THINK every Noble) we've met is heterosexual. Don seems less affected by prejudices than Slately (but also acts somewhat less "royal" as well - maybe the degree that Royalty matters also determines the extent of the prejudice?), but neither seemed to really care for Jillian. Slately obviously thought his son was less of a person for being "different".

I would not surprise me much to find out that Sofa King hates gays, women-as-warlords, people with a different skin color than his own, non-Royals-as-Overlords, Scorists, people who don't believe in the Titans, and a single discipline of Caster that he maybe had a bad experience with one of once a thousand turns ago.

[drachefly]

I would guess it's just an 'I would not be surprised' because he's a royal we haven't met, and it would fit the theory.

[Ansan Gotti]

Since no one responded to my mention of Royals possibly being homophobic in addition to all their other prejudices that non-Royals seem to have many fewer of, I would like to re-ignite the HomoTram war by pointing out that while Charlie was talking to Tram, Charlie's avatar ONLY assumed forms with Rainbow colors, and Tram had a psychedelic rainbow t-shirt as well. It seems less like hinting and more like broadcasting at that point.

I'm doing a whole-comic-every-book reread right now (sorely wishing I could get the physical copy, which will have gone up in price by the time I can afford it), which is how I noticed it. I'm now more convinced of my theory that Royals are simply prejudiced. Against nearly everything that doesn't perfect match them. Unless they're trend-buckers themselves - Tram and Jillian are the only two I can think of right now that are "Royal but don't act like it", and they're both homosexual or bisexual, whilst every other Royal (and I THINK every Noble) we've met is heterosexual. Don seems less affected by prejudices than Slately (but also acts somewhat less "royal" as well - maybe the degree that Royalty matters also determines the extent of the prejudice?), but neither seemed to really care for Jillian. Slately obviously thought his son was less of a person for being "different".

I totally agree. I can understand people who are arguing that Slately is prejudiced against less "manly" guys, rather than gay guys.

I cannot understand people who are arguing that Tramennis is not gay, however. Everything we've seen absolutely screams that he is. I doubt Rob is intending this point to be ambiguous, or in any way a close call.

[multilis]

"I cannot understand people who are arguing that Tramennis is not gay, however. Everything we've seen absolutely screams that he is. I doubt Rob is intending this point to be ambiguous, or in any way a close call."

Straw man, the argument is that is still *unknown* whether Tram is gay. In real life the majority of people who look and act like Tram are not gay. (In real life where baby making is important, gay means less genetic children, I think around 10% of males are supposedly more gay then heterosexual in our western society, and some of them look and act very masculine)

I have known males who were extremely fashion sense, etc, and were only interested in women. One literary example: The Scarlet Pimpernel.... red and frilly pink could be claimed more associated with "gay" than rainbows. (rainbows are associated with many many different things). So far Tram's diplomatic style seems very similar to the Scarlet Pimpernel to me (sharp brain hidden behind farce).

Wikipedia "Rainbow flags tend to be used as a sign of a new era, of hope, or of social change.", gay is only a subset of the symbolic usage, other symbolic usages also fit the story so far.

[Chit Rule Railroad]

I cannot understand people who are arguing that Tramennis is not gay, however. Everything we've seen absolutely screams that he is. I doubt Rob is intending this point to be ambiguous, or in any way a close call.

What has been depicted so far is a femme Trammenis developing a crush on the butch Jillian - a gender-bending but heterosexual situation.

[Goshen]

I cannot understand people who are arguing that Tramennis is not gay, however. Everything we've seen absolutely screams that he is. I doubt Rob is intending this point to be ambiguous, or in any way a close call.

What has been depicted so far is a femme Trammenis developing a crush on the butch Jillian - a gender-bending but heterosexual situation.

Hah! I've seen that in real life.

[gatherer818]

And as to this, why all the hate for sofa king? I don't think he has ever even actually appeared in the comic so it is a bit hard to judge who he hates and doesn't hate.

I would guess it's just an 'I would not be surprised' because he's a royal we haven't met, and it would fit the theory.

Yes, this. Royals just seem to be predisposed to be prejudiced. Maybe non-heir Royals get it less? That still leaves Jillian as an outlier, but face it, Jillian is an outlier in ANY analysis, is she not?

Ooh, it's been a while since my last tinfoil hat theory, time for a new one: If Banhammer had gotten the perfect-philosopher-prince he wanted when he popped an heir, I find it likely the heir would not have been outside the city when it fell. Maybe Fate created Jillian for FAQ then knowing she needed to not fit into the molds, thereby ensuring Fate would have a wildcard It could play when it needed to shake some things up?

[Ansan Gotti]

Well you see, other than some hippy rainbows and a generally upbeat personality, I have yet to see tram actually, you know, show interest in a guy. He seems more worried about his job right now to be honest, and so it is kind of hard to judge either way.

Let's see.

1) Queen joke. http://www.erfworld.com/book-2-archive/ ... -05-06.jpg

2) Hopping into the capital on his bouncy kanga, with Don King ironically calling it regal. http://www.erfworld.com/book-2-archive/ ... -06-16.jpg

3) Fabulously flarfing into the room, where his father hastily cuts communication with Don, apparently out of embarrassment. http://www.erfworld.com/book-2-archive/ ... -06-24.jpg

4) The sky... it's full of rainbows! For THREE PAGES STRAIGHT (no pun intended)! http://www.erfworld.com/book-2-archive/ ... -08-19.jpg
http://www.erfworld.com/book-2-archive/ ... -09-01.jpg
http://www.erfworld.com/book-2-archive/ ... -09-15.jpg

5) Fashion conscious as ever. http://www.erfworld.com/book-2-archive/ ... -11-13.jpg

6) He is "less than manly" in Slately's eyes. http://www.erfworld.com/book-2-archive/ ... us-042.png

Is any one of these observations and/or stereotypes conclusive? Probably not, although the Queen joke and the rainbows are pretty darn telling, IMO.

But collectively? Come on. This is not intended to be a close call. If people aren't seeing it, I'd wager it's because they don't want to see it. But hey, if people want to wait until they see Tramennis in bed with another guy before they believe it, fine. Just don't expect anything except "I told you so"s from a number of forum posters.

[drachefly]

It seems to me that Don was not being ironic. Don was never the one that had a problem with Tram.

[Ansan Gotti]

It seems to me that Don was not being ironic. Don was never the one that had a problem with Tram.

Even if Don was sincere, it still doesn't change the irony of him saying "regal" when the guy's actually in a kanga pouch.