Inner Peace (Through Superior Firepower) - Episode 001

[vintermann]

No, she isn't. Her father is "Overlord Firebaugh", not "King Firebaugh." Overlords are non-Royal leaders. Only Royals can pop Royal units. She's not even Noble.

You're right of course, how did I miss that? Anyway, then it's just as interesting, as Wanda is (as far as I can tell) the first confirmed non-noble caster. Then there may be something in this royals vs. non-royals crusade - we now have slightly more evidence that it's more than just an idiosyncratic obsession for Stanley.

[vintermann]

And Parson is the "Lord Hamster" while not even being a native of Erf. "Lord" and "Lady" is probably just something all Commanders are called.

In particular, it may be something non-noble commanders are called. Nobles have more specific titles after all (Prince Tramennis, Viscount Caesar Borgata)... but this neat little theory of mine is challenged by Lady Sylvia Lazarus, who must have been a noble (popped as warlord in Unaroyal). Maybe she got that title only after being uncroaked? Or maybe she was promoted from a regular unit, like Stanley.

[Zeku]

"One day in the country of zero, someone paid a price."

This was the creation of Wanda. What does it mean?

[name lips]

But he DOES call her "sister."

I've never been sure how family relationships work in Erfworld. I don't think all the Gobwin Knob warlords are siblings.

Does a ruler have the option of popping a son or daughter warlord even when he is not a Royal? Do they cost more than regular warlords? Do they have special bonuses other than the ability to call each other "brother" and "sister?"

[The.Healing.Mage]

First off, Parson has the title "Lord Hamster" because Parson offered it when Stanley couldn't tolerate to call him Parson. (Book 1 Page 24) Looks to me like he wasn't really being serious, and that was part of him realizing that he's most definitely not in Kansas anymore.

As far as this update goes: spawn pr0n? (Also, this makes so much more sense than her being born to an inherently peaceful ruler.) Also, "Atomic Firebaugh" made me giggle a little bit. Or a lot. Sue me.

[joosy]

Hmm.. I have always wondered about the concept of 'family' in a world without pregnancy/dna/natural death (as far as we know). I had always assumed it was a byproduct of popping a Royal unit but now we have such a scenario in a side headed by an Overlord. Hmm again.

Now I wonder are all popped (not promoted) warlords considered brothers or just royal ones? I also assumed that royalty was just another stat that would lengthen the time of production, increase upkeep, but have a unit that levels faster and has better stats. That would mean there would be non-royal Warlords and even non-royal casters. I noticed that no one referes to Maggie or Sizemore as Lord or Lady so I (once more) assumed they were not royal.

My guess? Sides run by Overlords can pop units with the 'royal 'stat.

[twhitt]

I would suggest that Overlord Firebaugh is Noble, but not Royal. In that case, he would not be a King but might be titled an Overlord. The circumstances that yield the title Regent are unknown, though if that's what a Regent is than I would obviously not be right. If it's true, though, that Firebaugh is Noble, then he could specifically pop Noble sons or daughters and non-noble members of his tribe who would otherwise not be his children.

"One day in the country of zero, someone paid a price."

This was the creation of Wanda. What does it mean?

On re-reading the update, your suggestion that it's Wanda is possible. I just don't think it was the creation of Wanda. I think that it sets the field of play in a more general sense, shaping Erf into a distorted form for which she might ultimately serve as a balance. In that event, she too has a great and terrible price; one much larger than her side could even know, and certainly more than they could afford. I don't think the update strongly reads this way, but it's possible and I like the poetry of it.

[Stevarious]

I had to create an account just to mention this.

"in the capital city of Goodminton."

Goodminton - a variation on Badminton where the object is to keep the birdie in play as long as possible.

An apt metaphor if I've ever seen it - in general, for Erfworld, more specifically, for Wanda, and even more specifically, for the narrative on the page.

[Kaed]

The dawning of the Age of Wanda begins... with a strip show. Har har har har.

I figure the Allies in question are Faq. Looking at that delicious slice of Wanda-cake hungrily.

They know how tasty she is.

But not that she's poison.

[name lips]

I had to create an account just to mention this.

"in the capital city of Goodminton."

Goodminton - a variation on Badminton where the object is to keep the birdie in play as long as possible.

An apt metaphor if I've ever seen it - in general, for Erfworld, more specifically, for Wanda, and even more specifically, for the narrative on the page.

Indeed, she seems to keep going from side to side, never leaving play. She's a survivor.

I have to wonder about the fall of Goodminton... It looks like it was going to fall anyway, but did Wanda betray them, or was she simply captured and converted?

(I also have to wonder if we're getting foreshadowing of the possibility of her being the Heir to her original side. Clearly not enough info there yet, but you never know.)

[BanzaiJoe]

If Wanda caused a disturbance in the force aka the balance of zero...
"That was no violation of Numbers, though. It simply meant that this unit carried a balance due. And though it was an astronomically high figure, someone would pay."

Then, think about how much of balance due Parson brings.

[SteveMB]

I don't think she needs to be upgraded to the Nobility in order to earn her title, she already claimed it using nothing but her innate knowledge. And Parson is the "Lord Hamster" while not even being a native of Erf. "Lord" and "Lady" is probably just something all Commanders are called.

OTOH, I don't recall Sizemore ever being called "Lord" (though that could just be a reflection of the general lack of respect he gets).

I would suggest that Overlord Firebaugh is Noble, but not Royal. In that case, he would not be a King but might be titled an Overlord. The circumstances that yield the title Regent are unknown, though if that's what a Regent is than I would obviously not be right. If it's true, though, that Firebaugh is Noble, then he could specifically pop Noble sons or daughters and non-noble members of his tribe who would otherwise not be his children.

That might be suggested by the conversation about Ansom's real reason for opposing Stanley:

"Your beef is, he's not royal, right?"
"That he isn't noble, Vinnie. You're a Count. You should know--"

The implication is admittedly a bit thin, but this seems to suggest that noble Overlords exist, and are unobjectionable (or at least less objectionable) than commoner Overlords in Ansom(v1.0)'s traditionalist worldview.

[name lips]

Some clarification between the difference between commoner, noble, and royal would be nice, yeah.

It seems to be an intrinsic quality of the unit. I assume if you had three Warlords, each of whom was common, noble, and royal respectively, it would be possible to tell the difference. Is it in their stat block? Would you need to use magic? I assume there's a mechanic in place that keeps people from simply falsely claiming nobility.

Is there a tangible, measurable difference in stats? Are Royals better than Nobles, inherently? Do they have higher stats? Faster leveling? Leadership bonuses? Are Nobles better than Commoners in the same way?

[raphfrk]

Wanda's a royal and we learned that units pop into existence in their appropriate position and they don't always just pop in the courtyard or something, interesting! I have a feeling I am really gonna like Book 0.

This is more evidence that she has much more tactical abilities than she lets on. She popped in the tactical centre of the city instead of the caster residence.

[Lamech]

The implication is admittedly a bit thin, but this seems to suggest that noble Overlords exist, and are unobjectionable (or at least less objectionable) than commoner Overlords in Ansom(v1.0)'s traditionalist worldview.

I also note that this is distinctly different from the Don's view of actual royalty being important.

Also note: When Ansom was talking to Parson he specifically called out the title of "Lord" as just being made up IIRC. This would mean that Lord and presumably its female equivilant "Lady" are in fact noble titles and therefore we ahve a noble caster. (Which would strangely fit the world view of old-Ansom for Wanda being an okay ruler.) Also if Wanda makes an okay ruler, and as Ossomer just showed the decrypted are NOT her puppets I see a wonderful friendship forming.

Note 2: Wanda was distinclty implied here to be super valuable.

Note 3: My theory that Arkentool attunement is based on lack of nobility is dead.

[Swodaems]

Does anyone find the sequence of numbers 0,1,5,48,112,6379 meaningful? We had the fibonacci sequence flung at us in an earlier update, and I was wondering if this sequence had similar meaning.

Best I could come up with was chopping off the leading 0 to get the long distance phone number 1-548-112-6379. But that is probably not right for 2 reasons. Firstly, Rob doesn't seem like the kind of person to dole out real world phone numbers encoded in his work. Secondly, even if he would embed phone numbers in his work, the 548 area code is unused.

[teratorn]

"One day in the country of zero, someone paid a price."

This was the creation of Wanda. What does it mean?

I think that was Charlie, not Wanda. I agree with twhitt that the «price» for Wanda is her side.

[MarbitChow]

Does anyone find the sequence of numbers 0,1,5,48,112,6379 meaningful?

6379 is a prime number (29 * 19), so it's not likely that there's a multiplicative component to the sequence, if there is a sequence.
I think this is just a sequence to represent a value that is increasing rapidly and without order.
The numbers may represent the thousands and thousands of casualties that occur as a result of Wanda's summoning.

[Angband]

Hopefully, there will be another Firebaugh sibling named Darren.

For those not familiar: http://daringfireball.net

[sleepymancer]

Does anyone find the sequence of numbers 0,1,5,48,112,6379 meaningful? We had the fibonacci sequence flung at us in an earlier update, and I was wondering if this sequence had similar meaning.

Best I could come up with was chopping off the leading 0 to get the long distance phone number 1-548-112-6379. But that is probably not right for 2 reasons. Firstly, Rob doesn't seem like the kind of person to dole out real world phone numbers encoded in his work. Secondly, even if he would embed phone numbers in his work, the 548 area code is unused.

On the telephone front, google says that the '01548' part is the area code for Kingsbridge in the UK, make of that what you will! I've not rang the number though :p actually, the final part of uk numbers are six figures not seven so its not a uk phone number in kingsbridge... unless the final 9 is an extension number within a building. hmmm.....