Book 2 – Page 71

[Beeskee]

I think the Thinkamancers (heh) are afraid that if Parson goes through the gate, the Magic Kingdom will become part of the battlefield when any two sides are at war. Right now it's neutral territory, the ONE place in Erfworld where casters of any side, even those actively fighting each other, can come and relax and not worry about being croaked while learning new skills or talking with friends from other sides. If the MK becomes part of the active battlefield, all that changes. Maybe it will change in a good way, maybe not, but that change is scary.

Imagine if, say, people gained the ability to directly kill each other through the internet. O.o; All of a sudden, google is DANGEROUS to go to.

[Dr Pepper]

Xanatos pile-ups being so mundane that they even lost their own article on TV-tropes, it clearly needs more music, in particular in a webcomic so obsessed with contemporary references. So when the subtly hinted reference to Olivia Newton-John comes along, remember that I predicted it f1rst!!11!!

Gotta be a strange twist of Fate
Telling me that Parson must wait
But the Thinkers called time out on him
Peace-- will come, for Titans' sake
But Erfworld first must break
Then croaked will be no more
When Warlord conquors War!

[Dr Pepper]

I think the Thinkamancers (heh) are afraid that if Parson goes through the gate, the Magic Kingdom will become part of the battlefield when any two sides are at war. Right now it's neutral territory, the ONE place in Erfworld where casters of any side, even those actively fighting each other, can come and relax and not worry about being croaked while learning new skills or talking with friends from other sides. If the MK becomes part of the active battlefield, all that changes. Maybe it will change in a good way, maybe not, but that change is scary.

Imagine if, say, people gained the ability to directly kill each other through the internet. O.o; All of a sudden, google is DANGEROUS to go to.

U DED?

[BLANDCorporatio]

Imagine if, say, people gained the ability to directly kill each other through the internet.

Well, they say an armed society is a polite society. Presumably deaders don't disrespect that much.

[MarbitChow]

Imagine if, say, people gained the ability to directly kill each other through the internet.

Well, they say an armed society is a polite society. Presumably deaders don't disrespect that much.

The horrible possibilities...
PlotArmour's account is reactivated for one last hurrah...
Oberon, attempting to eliminate a pesky avatar thief, with a single typo commits inadvertent suicide...
MarbitChow's name and password are anonymously distributed throughout the internet, where teenagers dare each other to log on with it and see how long they survive...
The horror... the horror...

[wykstrad]

One Xanados pile-up coming up.

A Xanados pile-up?

Indeed, and let it be known that I predicted it.

Xanatos pile-ups being so mundane that they even lost their own article on TV-tropes, it clearly needs more music, in particular in a webcomic so obsessed with contemporary references. So when the subtly hinted reference to Olivia Newton-John comes along, remember that I predicted it f1rst!!11!!

Ah-HA! But I anticipated that you would predict it, and so I infiltrated the comic with a sleeper agent to steal the Olivia Newton-Johns before you could use them!

[Digitality]

The perfect warlord spell was forged by the thinkmancers and predictmancers.

It was created by Predictamancers and FINDAMANCERS. Presumably Thinkamancy was required to form a link to create the scroll, but that doesn't mean the Great Minds were involved.
Of course, it doesn't mean they WEREN'T involved either, so interesting theory.

Findmancers? What findmancers? They're never mentioned here.

So they'd made it happen, without fuss, without hassles, and in secret. Janis had connections. She was listened to. Thanks to her, they pulled off the link-up without giving away the real aim. The Predictamancers all knew, of course. The Thinkamancers only sort of thought they knew. Hubble (the Lookamancer in the link-up) knew, but he was no trouble. And Janis knew.

So that's the predictmancers and the thinkmancers involved, and one lone Lookmancer. And one hippiemancer to make them all work togheter.

You're however partially right that the thinkmancers were kinda of cheated as the predictmancers didn't reveal all the details of what was going around.

What you quoted could be interpreted to mean that they knew/thought they knew what was going on. Not necessarily that they had a direct hand in it.

[badninja]

Nice update, not going to read all 7+ pages yet. Loved all the references and got to love the layers that keep getting piled on, this battle is going to end spectacularly! Now how will this little revelation play out?

[gameboy1234]

the man in front of the fates reminds me of the tenth doctor, david tennant. and hes grumpy about something. a time lord would equate to a fairly good predictimancer dont you think?

Good one. I think he looks a bit like Ray Bradbury. Of course it could be anyone with thick rimmed glasses like those, but there's a bit of resemblance.

[technojunkie]

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE sizemore's face in the last panel! That tortured welcome to my world look will be in my head for a while. Awesome work Xin.

[the_tick_rules]

Oh and love mr. phil. Go groundshog day!!! hopefully he's more accurate than our phil.

[madmaw]

What I've been wondering is just what sort of attack would come from a Predictomancer? Can they make things come true, sort of like forcing their will on the future? I can just imagine the whole stack of Predictamancers pulling a stunt similar to what Janice did to Jojo. Something like zapping them with an "It Will Happen" spell and the Thinkamancers are forced to comply?

The implication seems to be that they lack much in the way of direct offensive spells, Marie had to get Janis to cast a spell to stop JoJo, even though she appears to have arrived on the scene slightly earlier (or at least is standing in front of Janis) here http://www.erfworld.com/book-2-archive/ ... -06-17.jpg.

Also in the current strip, Marie states that "They don't believe we represent a threat" "They don't event believe we'd attack at all". In the context, it's open to speculation whether the 'we' she is talking about is just a stack containing Parson, Marie, Sizemore and Janis, or she is referring to the thinkamancers perception of the predicamancers level of commitment/power/organisation (maybe, and I realize I am stretching here, based on previous disagreements between the predictamancers and the thinkamancers about what Parson is doing).

[Urf]

The Thinkamancers only thought they knew what the Perfect Warlord spell would create. The Predictamancers are going to instruct them into the dreams of their philosophy: fighting Fate increases suffering.

[1Luv]

I dunno if anyone answered it yet, but hte trio in the mid-panel that look like the fates are the weird sisters from Gargoyles season 2 *nostalgia's harddd*

[zuche]

I'm not clear on why people don't see Parson's motivation here. I can understand why people wouldn't agree with either it or the decision he's made based on it, but survivor's guilt alone covers the motivation.

This is also part of what makes Parson scary. Rulers can go for a long time before war threatens them personally. Many casters seem to have that same illusion of security, as did Charlie. Parson feels he can't put others in danger he won't face himself, even when such a risk of command personnel is known to be a bad idea. The thing is, though, this war is forcing those other people out of their comfort zones. Janis may not be able to avoid bloody hands. Predictamancers are preparing to show thinkamancers what they can do in a fight for once, instead of directing it from behind (as I'm sure most thinkamancers have done as well). Tramennis has a hard road ahead of him before he'll get a chance to play to diplomacy, his best strength, again, and his father's been forced to consider a physical confrontation with the most physically impressive of his remaining sons. Don King's fight has started within his own personal ring. Gillian's still fighting a war against what her world expects her to be, but now she's got an army backing that fight.

This may not have been what Einstein had in mind when he mentioned the necessity for a "new kind of thinking", but how people think is being changed here. I feel some pity for Marie, because I don't think she understands the impact that's going to have on her yet. Not too much pity, considering how willing she's been to exact that toll and more on everyone else. (I wouldn't be surprised if Wanda was the one that eventually hands her the bill.)

[drachefly]

I would expect that some predictamancers know out-of-discipline magic, like Wanda. Don't know if that's going to be crucial, but its coming up is a possibility.

As for the greco-roman predicters: by 'on-screen' I did not merely mean that they got time in the play, but that there is a single iconic representation such that they can be referred to recognizably. There are a thousand representations of Cassandra and of course even more actual Delphic oracles…

Interesting point on Kurzweil, though.

[zuche]

There are a thousand representations of Cassandra...

I don't believe you.

[Dr Pepper]

There are a thousand representations of Cassandra...

I don't believe you.

You win all the oberons

[Housellama]

There are a thousand representations of Cassandra...

I don't believe you.

You win all the oberons

I can't decide what's worse. That you just made that reference, or that I didn't think of making it first.

[eminence_grise]

And this should put paid to the idea that Charlie was behind Jojo. Marie informs us that it would have taken Predictamancy to predict Parson's passage into MK for Jeftichew to be in position before Parson's crossing.

Marie, being a Predictamancer, views the world through a Predictamancy-shaped lens. She unthinkingly assumes that's the only way to see the future.

But Charlie has other ways of finding out what's going to happen. Such as eavesdropping on Thinkagrams.

Parson strongly suspects Charlie can do this, and LIAB page 38 (http://www.erfworld.com/book-2-archive/?px=%2F2010-08-04.jpg) suggests it even more strongly, but nevertheless Parson has been sending important information via Thinkagram, including the Magic Kingdom plan, which Charlie could have listened in on and formed his own counterplan involving Jojo. It's unclear to me why Parson has been doing this. Maybe he's actively trying to manipulate or provoke Charlie. Or maybe he just can't think of any other ways to securely communicate with units in the field, lacking access to the Hat Magic hats we've seen that also can do this.