Inner Peace (Through Superior Firepower) – Episode 021

[MonteCristo]

Ok, this kind of bothers me:

A hefty-looking woman in a green and yellow robe of satin, with a dark brown skin complexion

This is the second time skin color has been mentioned and the other was for Uhuru.In Erfworld, people come in a lot of different colors, so why is only one mentioned in descriptions?

The reason it is mentioned here is due to the fact that without that bit of description it would not be obvious enough to the readers that this was in fact Marie. Sure Rob could have mentioned her by name, but that would have been TOO obvious; using descriptors made the writing flow a bit better, esepcially with a duo who feels they should not be meeting wanda at this time thus wanting to limit how much they tell her about themselves

[Steve-D]

I have the sneaking suspicion that Marie just Predicted the Fall of Faq...

I wondered if Marie just had her prediction of Wanda wielding one of the Arkentools some day.

[Saladman]

I have the sneaking suspicion that Marie just Predicted the Fall of Faq, and the first thing she'll do when she returns is share her Prediction with King Banhammer. That would put this turn over seven hundred sixty turns before the present: Jillian popped over seven hundred turns ago, and it takes sixty turns to pop a royal heir. Given Book 0 has only covered slighty over thirty turns so far, Wanda still has a long way to go. The majority of it will probably be serving Haffaton.

I salute you sir, for an idea both original and to my liking. Something serious made Marie sit up and take notice anyway, and I'm not sure the prospect of picking up another caster for the bubble kingdom's philosopher's court is enough in itself for that.

Plus I've been looking for an alternative to the idea that Faq's mercs would put the boot to Goodminton and Jillian would sweep Wanda away. We never have had any foreshadowing of that, and it would be a pretty precious coincidence for what's supposed to be a world wider than most sides are aware of. I haven't understood why the idea's gained as much traction as it has.

[drachefly]

Also funny: "Raiment District."

I don't get it. It seems perfectly straightforward to me.

[ftl]

I *loved* the Diversion Beast. Followed by the Displacement, or whatever it is Jack did to make them invisible.

Such typical Jack. <3

[Gorky]

Also funny: "Raiment District."

I don't get it. It seems perfectly straightforward to me.

Garment District?

[jkosta]

Also funny: "Raiment District."

I don't get it. It seems perfectly straightforward to me.

Garment District?

We're struggling to find a joke now?

[Balerion]

What I am curious about is if Marie was deliberately attempting a prediction, or if it just came to her... There really isn't much of a reason for her to have been trying to make a prediction involving Wanda, which does raise some questions about just how in control of their magic predictimancers are. Without giving us enough evidence to say anything one way or the other of course

[The Bushranger]

Hahahaha, "Diversion Beast."

Heh. Reminds me of an incident in a comedy where someone points and says "look, a distraction!".

"Look! Is that a demonic duck of some sort?!"

[name lips]

What I am curious about is if Marie was deliberately attempting a prediction, or if it just came to her... There really isn't much of a reason for her to have been trying to make a prediction involving Wanda, which does raise some questions about just how in control of their magic predictimancers are. Without giving us enough evidence to say anything one way or the other of course

Maybe she makes a simple Prediction on every new caster she sees in the MK:

"Will that caster eventually work for Faq?"

And she got a "Yes" with Wanda.

[Kaed]

I have to admit, this younger Jack is a lot less annoying that current day. He doesn't spend so much time rambling in vague philosophies. :I

Look, a Diversion Beast! Tally hoooo

[Swodaems]

Anyone else find it odd that Wanda's list of casters that she was able to speak to only includes Fate magic casters? My guess is that Casters are meant to have the whole "I only want to converse with people who think like like I do" thing going on. It makes me wonder if she would have luck trying to speak to a shockamancer?

[El_Chupacabra]

Based on these factors:

We know Faq was successfully hidden for hundreds of turns by way of Predictamancer/Foolamancer
We know Wanda eventually works for Faq
Wanda, although not a popular caster, is getting some notoriety and success in combat -- I'd think at this point, unless her enemies and allies are wiped out, someone would want to possess her other than Faq, and would mount a search if she's not found after a battle

"I'll have a lot of wuhck to do at home, now" could mean that they expect to have to work much harder to make Wanda "disappear" into the Kingdom without others hunting her down, most likely after Jillian "rescues" or otherwise captures her in battle. This could make for a rather intense plot -- having Haffaton or whatever pursuers trying to track her to Faq with some sort of "Indiana Jones" character as a Warlord, ultimately failing -- and probably disappearing into the mountains around Faq, never to be seen again.

Of course, they could just fake a body during a climatic battle and cart her off, but it would be interesting if they had to evade capture... Depends on whether they want to stretch out the plot that way, I guess. I could see it either way -- in a world of near perpetual war, even powerful units may become quickly forgotten or written off as "lost" under the right circumstances, but given the buildup of Wanda at present, I'd think someone would be interested enough in Wanda to not casually accept her simply "vanishing".

Don't really have much basis for another speculation, but I think seeing Wanda made Marie's predictions more solid. Predictamancy may start with vaguer visions that come into focus dramatically when certain "prods" are made to the Predictamancer's environment, such as introducing people or objects involved. Metaspeculation: would Marie have predicted which Tool Wanda would have obtained if the tools had been directly seen by Marie? If Marie had been at the negotiation of the invasion of Faq -- where Wanda "sold out" to Stanley, she might have seen the Arkenhammer and mumbled to Wanda, "No, not that one", changing the entire course of the story.

[El_Chupacabra]

Anyone else find it odd that Wanda's list of casters that she was able to speak to only includes Fate magic casters? My guess is that Casters are meant to have the whole "I only want to converse with people who think like like I do" thing going on. It makes me wonder if she would have luck trying to speak to a shockamancer?

I think there's a strong revulsion for Croakamancers in general. Castors tend to hang with their own kind, surely, but it goes much deeper than that with Wanda. I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out most Croakamancers start off naively entering the MK thinking they can make allies and friends, only to later become darkly secluded, brooding individuals, much like Wanda at the beginning of Book I.

Which begs the question: will we ever see other kingdoms with Croakamancers over the course of the story?

[vintermann]

"My ah, companion and I were just discussing how unfair it is that she hasn't the opportunity to use her discipline more."

Jack said this, of Marie. It suggests that Jack has a lot of work to do, but Marie presently hasn't. How can that be? You'd think since Marie detects enemies, and Jack veils cities when they're near, they get to use their abilities equally often - Marie more, if anything.

I think Faq doesn't exist yet. How a bubble kingdom comes to exist is a rather crucial question, and one I hope to see answered in the prequel.

(If we presuppose that I am wrong, and Faq does exist in its bubble kingdom form at present, then we could have deduced that Jack was older than Wanda: obviously, the bubble kingdom gig would not work until Faq had a Foolamancer, and a rather powerful one at that, capable of veiling entire cities).

[Aquillion]

Always nice to have a cameo appearance!

Doubt it's just a cameo appearance. Remember, she ends up working alongside them in Faq at some point in this story, so her meeting with them could be very important to the plot. (One possibility is that -- later, after being captured -- she somehow uses the magic kingdom to defect to Faq via her contact with them.)

[Aquillion]

Ok, this kind of bothers me:

A hefty-looking woman in a green and yellow robe of satin, with a dark brown skin complexion

This is the second time skin color has been mentioned and the other was for Uhuru.In Erfworld, people come in a lot of different colors, so why is only one mentioned in descriptions?

The reason it is mentioned here is due to the fact that without that bit of description it would not be obvious enough to the readers that this was in fact Marie. Sure Rob could have mentioned her by name, but that would have been TOO obvious; using descriptors made the writing flow a bit better, esepcially with a duo who feels they should not be meeting wanda at this time thus wanting to limit how much they tell her about themselves

Also, races do seem to have phenotypes. It's possible that her dark skin is more noteworthy to Wanda because she hasn't seen as many people like that before, coming from a very cold, northern-themed area and a fairly non-cosmopolitan side.

[0beron]

"My ah, companion and I were just discussing how unfair it is that she hasn't the opportunity to use her discipline more."

[This] suggests that Jack has a lot of work to do, but Marie presently hasn't. How can that be? You'd think since Marie detects enemies, and Jack veils cities when they're near, they get to use their abilities equally often - Marie more, if anything.

I have a few possible suggestions. One, perhaps Marie is bored of constantly using her juice to predict unit movements and wishes she had to opportunity to use her discipline in more WAYS. Two, you could be correct that while we can (in my opinion) assume Jack to be older than Wanda, he may not be at city-cloaking level yet.

I think Faq doesn't exist yet. How a bubble kingdom comes to exist is a rather crucial question, and one I hope to see answered in the prequel.

(If we presuppose that I am wrong, and Faq does exist in its bubble kingdom form at present, then we could have deduced that Jack was older than Wanda: obviously, the bubble kingdom gig would not work until Faq had a Foolamancer, and a rather powerful one at that, capable of veiling entire cities).

The odds of Jack and Marie being on the same side, but not part of FAQ is pretty slim. Consider that when Stanley destroyed FAQ, he was only able to capture two of the at least half-dozen casters they had at the time. Furthermore, we see from Lord Firebaugh's example that even desperate Rulers are at best hesitant to trade away casters, especially ones with more "obviously useful" abilities like Croakamancy, Foolamancy, and Predictamancy. So based on these two precedents, I find it unlikely that a pair of casters would "change hands" together.

[Dr Pepper]

Ok, this kind of bothers me:

A hefty-looking woman in a green and yellow robe of satin, with a dark brown skin complexion

This is the second time skin color has been mentioned and the other was for Uhuru.In Erfworld, people come in a lot of different colors, so why is only one mentioned in descriptions?

The reason it is mentioned here is due to the fact that without that bit of description it would not be obvious enough to the readers that this was in fact Marie. Sure Rob could have mentioned her by name, but that would have been TOO obvious; using descriptors made the writing flow a bit better, esepcially with a duo who feels they should not be meeting wanda at this time thus wanting to limit how much they tell her about themselves

Then why mention it with Uhura?

[Sixty]

Faq had at least half a dozen casters?