Inner Peace (Through Superior Firepower) – Episode 023

[balder]

New One is up.

[Whispri]

So her first step along the path of Dollamancy is taken...

On the Olive front, I really am thinking that whatever relationship they'd have had has been smashed to pieces. She might become Wanda's life's regret, but...

[Urf]

Zatanna?

[Whispri]

Zatanna?

Wanda's dressed up Gothic Lolita style, so...

[Kaed]

I'm not sure why Rob is making such a big deal about raiment change. Unless this new one has some sort of significance in the future...

I think the only thing I really got out of this is that Wanda definitely doesn't want anything to do with Olive anymore.

Though, Tommy is already starting to decay. I guess that means even with full attention uncroaked probably don't last more than maybe, 20 turns. And in the last few turns they'll be falling apart at the seams.

It's too bad croakamancers can't refresh the time. One use only for croaked units.

[badninja]

Wow so now we start to get sexy Wanda! The drawings helped put it in perspective of how the out fit looked. So the real question is how much longer will Wanda be on her original side before it ends or she gets traded away?

[Urf]

Because raiment defines community and identity in Erfworld.

What is unique about Wanda —in the entire story of Erfworld— is that she has her own livery that translates to her uncroaked and decrypted. Not only is she dynamically fashionable, but that fashion magically disseminates among those loyal to her. This entry ...and to a certain extent this volume of the Erfworld story ...is about Wanda developing her her own distinct identity. She's not Goodminton blue. The Wanda we know is red and black and has her own brand logo. We can accept that the skull denotes her Croakamancy, but the offset pink blossom... one can assume it involves one Olive Branch's Flower Power.

[Housellama]

And the love affair begins. Wanda's passion for clothing was with her from the very beginning.

Wanda knows the power of appearance. At least Mirror-Wanda does. Interesting that. Is Mirror-Wanda a projection of Wanda's subconscious, or is it Fate being sneaky? Is there a difference?

I suspect that Mirror-Wanda is Fate's sneaky way of guiding Wanda. Most of her actions thus far have been based on living up to Mirror-Wanda. Original-Wanda has chosen to take the actions that she believes Mirror-Wanda would. I think somewhere deep down, Fate has laced into her being the knowledge of who she needs to be. Current-Wanda believe that Fate will reveal itself. That the proper way will be visible and knowable. Mirror-Wanda could be the very beginning of that: Fate turning her into the person she needs to be.

[Mrtyuh]

Was this what she did to people? Perhaps she should order un-Larry to report here, to complete this set of empty shells she was creating.

Wanda used to think Croakamancy was beautiful; she seems less enamored with it now. She may now reconsider her previous stance with Olive that Motion was more important than Life. At the very least, she is seeing herself in a different light. She is less of a warm, loving person and more of cold, soul-sucking vampiress. Given natural Signamancy, her new raiment may reflect her changing outlook.

Teddy Clothespin, the Dollamancer who had sold it to her, had helped her create something out of the depths of her own desires and imagination. She looked at it, wondering if she even dared to put it on.

I was wondering if Wanda purchased her new raiment from Ken, but that wasn't the case. It isn't that I assumed there aren't other Dollamancers in the Magic Kingdom, but I did think it would have been a nice link to the present. On the other hand, Maggie and Wanda have very different taste, so it wouldn't make sense for them to shop at the same place.

"Olay,"

A spell to remove wrinkles. Very cute.

There are a few ways to interpret the significance of Wanda's new raiment. Even though it is only raiment, I think natural Signamancy applies. Wanda, who was uncomfortable with all the attention at Kiloton, is starting to embrace her sexual nature. Goodbye frumpy robes; hello loli-goth. Going forward, she will be more willing to use her sex appeal to her advantage. Sex appeal has power, and, by embracing it, Wanda is taking a step towards being the powerful woman her reflection shows. At Kiloton, Wanda refused Olive's invitation mainly because Olive's willingness to sleep with her immediatedly after Tommy offended her sensibilities; how could it have any meaning if shared so casually? The Wanda we know from Gobwin Knob had no qualms about seducing Stanley to advance her own interests. Wanda's idealism is fading, and calculating pragmatism is taking its place. I don't think it's conscious, and I don't think it's immediate, but Wanda's new raiment is a Sign; it's another small step towards becoming the Wanda we all know she'll become.

Though, Tommy is already starting to decay. I guess that means even with full attention uncroaked probably don't last more than maybe, 20 turns. And in the last few turns they'll be falling apart at the seams.

Wanda said un-Tommy would last dozens of turns, so I think your estimation of 20 turns is a little short. If we start with 24+ turns and take away the 8 turns since she reanimated him, un-Tommy has 16+ turns remaining. It took him this long to start to show signs of decay, he may still have a while.

On the Olive front, I really am thinking that whatever relationship they'd have had has been smashed to pieces. She might become Wanda's life's regret, but...

What is unique about Wanda —in the entire story of Erfworld— is that she has her own livery that translates to her uncroaked and decrypted. Not only is she dynamically fashionable, but that fashion magically disseminates among those loyal to her. This entry ...and to a certain extent this volume of the Erfworld story ...is about Wanda developing her her own distinct identity. She's not Goodminton blue. The Wanda we know is red and black and has her own brand logo. We can accept that the skull denotes her Croakamancy, but the offset pink blossom... one can assume it involves one Olive Branch's Flower Power.

I shared on my beliefs concerning Wanda's livery, Olive's Fate and their future relationship here. My opinion has not yet changed. While I believe Olive and Wanda will still have a relationship, I think any chance of Wanda truly loving and being devoted to Olive have passed. It will have a profound impact on shaping Wanda into her present self, though.

[Knight13]

She may now reconsider her previous stance with Olive that Motion was more important than Life.

Wanda never claimed that Motion is more important than Life, only that it is equally important. Olive was the one that claimed that Life is the most important element.

[Karadan]

But the treasury was dwindling. Shmuckers were tight.

I thought transactions in the magic kingdom didn't occur in Shmuckers so that moneymancers wouldn't have all the power. I figured raiments would fall under this as well. Especially considering that Maggie got a new raiment (Her safari one) at a time when I very much doubt Stanly would have spared her any Shmuckers for something as frivolous as raiments. Similarly she managed to get that mind control powder, which I also doubt Stanley would have paid for. Then again, it is Stanley.

So, have I missed this conversation somewhere else? Why do some things in magic kingdom cost rands and some Shmuckers, and sometimes the same thing can cost either/or?

[drachefly]

It's got to convert to schmuckers eventually, to pay the upkeeps. For momentary transactions being funded by sides, they're fine. Rands are for holding long-term debts between casters.

That's my guess, anyway.

[cloudbreaker]

:Snip:
Especially considering that Maggie got a new raiment (Her safari one) at a time when I very much doubt Stanly would have spared her any Shmuckers for something as frivolous as raiments.
:Snip:

They were poor three turns before Maggie bought her raiment. But when she bought her clothes, Gobwin Knob was filthy rich. And as for the mind control powder, it is entirely possible that Maggie makes it herself. It does seem to be a Thinkamancy-based magic item, after all.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Wanda knows the power of appearance. At least Mirror-Wanda does. Interesting that. Is Mirror-Wanda a projection of Wanda's subconscious, or is it Fate being sneaky? Is there a difference?

I could say Mirror-Wanda is Aspiration, which does not necessarily mean Fate even if both are about the future. But it's a cool idea nonetheless; after all Fate announces itself through signs readable by Predictamancers, maybe a naturally gifted all-rounder might see some of them.

Anyway, rather off-topic impression follows; off-topic in that it has nothing to do with Erfworld but I was reminded of this story by this update. I don't know whether it's a true story but it has a certain beauty to it.

Spoiler: show

Right, so guerilla artist Banksy is where I got it from, and it goes that near the end of WW2, after the allies had liberated the concentration camps, supplies were brought in for the camp survivors. Among the supplies was, ta-daa, lipstick. The moral of the story was not that it was a stupid mistake to send a frivolous item, as the lipstick was immediately used by the surviving women for its intended purpose. The moral of the story was that they could once again care about their appearance and reassert their humanity by doing so.

[0beron]

I thought transactions in the magic kingdom didn't occur in Shmuckers so that moneymancers wouldn't have all the power. I figured raiments would fall under this as well.
So, have I missed this conversation somewhere else? Why do some things in magic kingdom cost rands and some Shmuckers, and sometimes the same thing can cost either/or?

I think its a matter of resident vs visitor of the MK. If you are simply visiting, and purchasing a good or service for outside of the MK, you pay schmuckers because that's the currency of Erfworld. But MK casters presumably don't have much in the way of schmuckers, so they use Rands to exchange goods and services between themselves (and also to avoid the moneymancy monopoly as you mentioned).
I might even hazard a guess that in the MK, moneymancers are used to convert whatever schmuckers casters give them into rations or the like.
OR alternatively, because casters are leadership units and have purses, schmuckers in their purses might produce rations for them instead of having to eat what they grow in the MK, so perhaps casters who receive payment for something they produce just get to eat well for a while haha.

[Hyphen]

BTW, just wanted to say, Xin has nothing to be worried about. That "rough sketch" is EXACTLY the sort of thing clothing designers are forever sketching.

Having a glimpse "behind the scenes" is always interesting, just to see the thought processes that went into the designs - and these are increasingly being made public. The "collector's" editions of LotR (at 5 DVD's each! I know, I know, I played them all - sad really!) have dozens of designer drawings of orcs, wargs, Rohirrim, elves, and so on. I've just finished playing "Force Unleashed" on the Wii, and the "Jedi Holocrons" you can pick up throughout the game consist of nothing but design sketches!

Anyway, please pass on all our best to Xin and her family. Looking forward to seeing her work again.

[MarbitChow]

Because raiment defines community and identity in Erfworld.

What is unique about Wanda —in the entire story of Erfworld— is that she has her own livery that translates to her uncroaked and decrypted. Not only is she dynamically fashionable, but that fashion magically disseminates among those loyal to her.

I'm not sure I'd say that this is unique, or even uncommon. After all, Wanda's mass uncroak in Gobwin Knob Book 1 has the uncroaked appearing in Parson's livery. Maggie mentions that "when a caster creates another unit, as in golem-making or uncroaking, the caster sets the livery and other features of the unit's appearance."

Don't read too much into rainment. I think you may be drawing an equivalence between Dollamancy (rainment, livery, clothing) with Signamancy (physical changes in the person that reflect their nature) that isn't warranted.

[Karadan]

They were poor three turns before Maggie bought her raiment. But when she bought her clothes, Gobwin Knob was filthy rich. And as for the mind control powder, it is entirely possible that Maggie makes it herself. It does seem to be a Thinkamancy-based magic item, after all.

True, though with Stanley being Stanley, it still seems unlikely that he'd let her blow money on raiment. That is true about the powder, I was forgetting she would likely be able to make it herself.

A thought just occurred to me though. Maggie has been around for a long time, and thus likely has some Rands, and so could pay for her new raiment with Rands. Wanda however is still exceedingly new to MK, so very likely has no Rands (particularly because there aren't many people in MK who would need a croakamancer's services) and so might need to trade in some Shmuckers to get Rands. Kind of like going to a casino. You trade in your perfectly good money for special money so that it can be properly controlled. Perhaps Moneymancy only works on Shmuckers and not things that are worth Shmuckers. Moneymancy has no power over units, for example, despite them being worth Shmuckers. So perhaps they have no power over Rands, despite them being worth Shmuckers.

The trade might also be one way only. Say one person is in charge of making Rands, and they'll sell you Rands for Shmuckers, but will never buy them back, thus creating a closed economy and preventing a Moneymancer trying anything funny in the conversion process. Others could sell Rands for Shmuckers in theory, but are perhaps forbidden by etiquette.

One question this does bring up though, is what happens when a side pays a huge amount of Shmuckers for a spell and/or services (ala the original summon spell). We know from Jillian that a barbarian (which any full time MK resident would be I believe) has to spend all Shmuckers on units or rations or it simply vanishes. So did the people who made the spell just pop themselves a few hundred turns worth of rations? Did they convert them into Rands somehow? Perhaps I'm overthinking things, but Erfworld is such a fascinating little place.

[Mrtyuh]

Wanda never claimed that Motion is more important than Life, only that it is equally important. Olive was the one that claimed that Life is the most important element.

While Wanda did not claim Motion was more important than Life, she did express the belief that uncroaked, who have Motion but no Life, were better than a plant, which has Life but no Motion. While I certainly could have phrased it better, Wanda did seem to underappreciate the value of Life. My main interest, though, is in Wanda's view of her art. We know she is still a Novice-class Croakamancer, but she may be ready to become Adept class. All it requires is for Wanda to gain a great insight into her discipline or major class, Croakamancy or Naughtymancy. I am curious to see what insights Wanda may intuit from her apparently shifting views on her craft.

It's got to convert to schmuckers eventually, to pay the upkeeps. For momentary transactions being funded by sides, they're fine. Rands are for holding long-term debts between casters.

This is the impression I get as well.

They were poor three turns before Maggie bought her raiment. But when she bought her clothes, Gobwin Knob was filthy rich. And as for the mind control powder, it is entirely possible that Maggie makes it herself. It does seem to be a Thinkamancy-based magic item, after all.

Maggie may have also obtained the powder from Wanda's private stash, although, as you said, she may be capable of making it herself.

I might even hazard a guess that in the MK, moneymancers are used to convert whatever schmuckers casters give them into rations or the like.
OR alternatively, because casters are leadership units and have purses, schmuckers in their purses might produce rations for them instead of having to eat what they grow in the MK, so perhaps casters who receive payment for something they produce just get to eat well for a while haha.

I doubt they would need Moneymancers to convert schmuckers into rations, since that is natural Moneymancy. Upkeep comes directly from a unit's purse. If the unit does not possess provisions, that upkeep includes rations. If a unit does not have enough schmukers in its purse to pay its upkeep, it disbands. Jillian wanted to take on provisions to keep herself on minimum upkeep. Rations did not pop for the Goodminton column marching on Goodfinger, because they had supplies and a chuck wagon. I think rations that pop from the treasury are the bare minimum needed to sustain a unit, since Bogroll kept supplementing Parsons rations with pigeons and orlies. The impression I have is that it is greatly preferable for a unit to sustain itself by foraging, growing food or harvesting units instead of relying on popped rations. If a unit wants to indulge itself, it really needs to have supplies beforehand. Relying on popped rations seems to be a last, desperate measure, avoided if at all possible. The barbarian casters in the Magic Kingdom grow food precisely so the schmuckers in their purses go further in paying their upkeep. Rands can't pay upkeep. As drachefly mentioned, they serve solely as a medium of exchange for goods and services between the casters in the Magic Kingdom.

I'm not sure I'd say that this is unique, or even uncommon. After all, Wanda's mass uncroak in Gobwin Knob Book 1 has the uncroaked appearing in Parson's livery. Maggie mentions that "when a caster creates another unit, as in golem-making or uncroaking, the caster sets the livery and other features of the unit's appearance."

Don't read too much into rainment. I think you may be drawing an equivalence between Dollamancy (rainment, livery, clothing) with Signamancy (physical changes in the person that reflect their nature) that isn't warranted.

Maggie also mentioned that Stanley allowed his warlords to set their own livery. If Parson ever establishes his own special unit, I could see them using Hamstard like Bogroll did. So, I agree that Wanda isn't necessarily unique in that regard.

On the other hand, in Stupidworld, there is a saying, "Clothes make the man." You can certainly learn a great deal about someone from their clothes. While Dollamancy and Signamancy are two discrete disciplines, natural Signamancy does provide a link. If clothes speak volumes about someone in Stupidworld, they may say even more in Erfworld.

One question this does bring up though, is what happens when a side pays a huge amount of Shmuckers for a spell and/or services (ala the original summon spell). We know from Jillian that a barbarian (which any full time MK resident would be I believe) has to spend all Shmuckers on units or rations or it simply vanishes. So did the people who made the spell just pop themselves a few hundred turns worth of rations? Did they convert them into Rands somehow? Perhaps I'm overthinking things, but Erfworld is such a fascinating little place.

If a caster was payed more schmuckers than their purse could hold, they may pay a Moneymancer to convert the excess into a gem. That way, they would have portable wealth that could be translated back into schmuckers at a later date when the need arose. While the Magic Kingdom used rands to prevent the Moneymancers from having all the power, that doesn't stop others from occasionally needing the services of the Moneymancers.

[Whispri]

I'm not sure why Rob is making such a big deal about raiment change. Unless this new one has some sort of significance in the future...

I think the only thing I really got out of this is that Wanda definitely doesn't want anything to do with Olive anymore.

Though, Tommy is already starting to decay. I guess that means even with full attention uncroaked probably don't last more than maybe, 20 turns. And in the last few turns they'll be falling apart at the seams.

It's too bad croakamancers can't refresh the time. One use only for croaked units.

Well she's probably going to be staying in this raiment for some time for one thing.

Let's face it, she had the will power and the motivation to resist Olive's charms before Atomic was slain. Even if they meet again and entering the flowergirl's presence had the same effect on Wanda as it did at Kiloton, I can't see her succumbing.

That's a little pessimistic, he's only showing slight signs of decay and it's been nine turns already since his Uncroaking by my reckoning. I'm more concerned about the poor ex-Snow Golem. Maybe Wanda could adapt that Dollamancy spell for the purposes of smoothing off the snow, find some more Snow to make some legs to raise it up on, give it a scarf, branches for arms instead of twigs, power balls for eyes, the jaw of some downed critter for a mouth, a hat all of it's own... and maybe then she could give the poor thing it's motion back. Heh, maybe she could follow it up by animating a Rock Golem from a crude sculpture of piled stones. Or carefully interlocked carvings for that matter. Or maybe an Ice Golem, they must have plenty of that lying around.

That's another way in which Croakamancy is a weaker branch than most, as compared to the way a Dirtamancer or a Dollamancer can heal their Golems. Still, I was thinking that maybe she could get him some sort of life draining sword, to restore him as he damages the enemy.