Summer Update - 025

[BarGamer]

You posted the update in Site News...

Wow. The Dirtamancer page in the wiki is gonna go nuts.

So, did the two of them link up briefly in the time between Update 1 and 6? Is there something going on between the two of them?

[Mr. Goodwraith]

A good bit of long-awaited info; I especially appreciate the details about clothing and the city livery. ("Ken" - ha!!) Who needs art as long as the story keeps going in interesting directions?

[BarGamer]

What happened to the art, and the other Update 25 thread? I deleted mine cuz I was a minute slow, but afterwards I saw that the other one was gone, too?? Somewhere, a forum Mod is laughing his boop off.

[Mr. Goodwraith]

I saw you'd posted already and deleted mine, so naturally you deleted yours too. Yeah, we're definitely amusing the mods.

[moose o death]

nice update, turns out dirtamancy is indeed a good caster to have. i thought sizemore was responsible for the lavapits...not almost everything.
and it's good to finally have definite description on livery, not to mention that wanda is being thought of suspiciously by the other two.

even if parson finds a dollamancer to get a new raiment, i can't see him in anything else...maybe a better suit of armour but the twolls could do that if he asked, and it might hurt jamie's wrists. i noticed ansom eventually ditched his complicated armour for a simpler design.

[cloudbreaker]

The Big Ben design makes more sense now for some reason. And Ken dollamancer is great. I didn't catch that at first.

Edit: Also, perhaps Wanda dressed the decrypted units in her own livery because Parson's was no longer needed and Stanley didn't have any? It seems plausible at least.

[melhelix]

So... ahem... are Maggie and Sizemore in a relationship?
I am also very curious if the Craps are any good at gambling now, heh.
And hey, Parson is most definitely affected by automatic healing. Woot.

[moose o death]

off topic but what in the heck is that thing melhelix?

cloudbreaker, it's possible but she is on record as stating she's loyal to fate magic. i doubt it's as simple as they needed more decorations. these are her troops and she's making sure everyone knows it.

at the rate twolls pop at it must take a hundred turns or more to recover from a major conflict. no wonder the carpudlians pay the protection money. if they actually got into a proper fight the costs to replace the units are time based as much as they are schmukers based. this story needs to pick up some steam in a big way.

[GenuityX]

Why would Wanda's troops salute Parson? He isn't the chief overlord anymore...maybe he is just demoted to warlord now.

A city full of soldiers with unknown loyalty or intentions. Now there is an ominous feeling.

[Carlan]

He's not the chief warlord, but he's still a warlord. He can still order them around, just not with the mostly final say he had before. I suppose they could respect him for surviving insurmountable odds.

[Welf von Ehrwald]

Interesting update. To change clothes, a unit needs magic. Question: where did Stanley get his bathrobe? Did he order it from a dollamancer? Seems like a waste of resources.
And who was liked exactly? Was it a new link, only between Sizemore and Maggie? At least it sounds like that. Did Maggie lern in the Magic Kingdom how to safely disconnect a link? That would be very helpful in upcoming battles. She could temporary link up with jack, and create a limited version of the eyemancer table, that can show everything GK's units see.

[Slowness]

On comic 140 of book one, they had at least 5 thinkamancers unravel the three way link. But that link was for reactivating a volcano.
http://www.erfworld.com/book-1-archive/?px=%2F140.jpg

I think a two-way link to make some banners carrying an emblem would not be as hard to unravel as one suited to making a volcano erupt, and Maggie might have had an easier time unraveling that by herself.

And considering that Wanda has at least some talent in all of the magics, even though her specialty is in croakamancy, she could have been on standby to help unravel a simple two-way link.

Hmm, wait... It wasn't a 3-way link with Ken, was it? Maybe Ken is super-loyal to Stanly?


On another note, about the decrypted units:
I've always considered a decrypted unit to be to the uncroaked, what a demon is to be to the undead.

The undead are generally mindless, malleable, and easily controlled.
A demon is generally a strong willed, traitorous, and self serving liar, and though can usually be controlled by the magics that summoned them in most universes, especially if it's a weak demon, I can't help but remembering a few stories where a very powerful demon breaks the bond that holds it or finds a mistake in a summoning circle meant to hold them, and almost instantly goes from being the slave to the master after finding that fatal mistake.

I am not sure if it's a stretch or not, but Decrypted Ansom apologized to Hamster initially, and was a bit of a suck up. But when Stanly talked to Hamster, referencing a conversation he had with Ansom, not everything Ansom had to say was positive. I'm thinking Ansom is trying to weasel himself into some sort of position for a power-play, and the weaker uncroaked are all going to follow him.

Also, if Wanda is to be believed, these "decrypted" units are the first ever created in Erfworld. I am thinking there is some sort of extreme unrealized disadvantage associated with them due to traitorous, self-serving intent, which would make the zero-cost upkeep that much less appealing. Maybe the units weren't revived at all, but were simply regenerated, and are now inhabited by some before-now unknown demonic spirit? Or an entirely new one is created for each unit, making them that much "different"?

[shneekeythelost]

On another note, about the decrypted units:
I've always considered a decrypted unit to be to the uncroaked, what a demon is to be to the undead.

The undead are generally mindless, malleable, and easily controlled.
A demon is generally a strong willed, traitorous, and self serving liar, and though can usually be controlled by the magics that summoned them in most universes, especially if it's a weak demon, I can't help but remembering a few stories where a very powerful demon breaks the bond that holds it or finds a mistake in a summoning circle meant to hold them, and almost instantly goes from being the slave to the master after finding that fatal mistake.

I am not sure if it's a stretch or not, but Decrypted Ansom apologized to Hamster initially, and was a bit of a suck up. But when Stanly talked to Hamster, referencing a conversation he had with Ansom, not everything Ansom had to say was positive. I'm thinking Ansom is trying to weasel himself into some sort of position for a power-play, and the weaker uncroaked are all going to follow him.

Also, if Wanda is to be believed, these "decrypted" units are the first ever created in Erfworld. I am thinking there is some sort of extreme unrealized disadvantage associated with them due to traitorous, self-serving intent, which would make the zero-cost upkeep that much less appealing. Maybe the units weren't revived at all, but were simply regenerated, and are now inhabited by some before-now unknown demonic spirit? Or an entirely new one is created for each unit, making them that much "different"?

Or even nastier, regenerated and 'dominated', but re-inhabited with the same possessed memories as previous, and same intentions. So you've got an unwilling slave, who is forced to do as you say. And as Parson pointed out less than five strips after he showed up... there's a *LOT* of wiggle room in how one interprets orders...

[QuothTheRaven]

What was described as dangerous, unpredictable, and costly in the beginning is now being used more and more. Is it possible there is an addictive element to the caster's link? And if so, is it perhaps possible that the casters will find it easier and easier to do it as time goes on?

I doubt that Ansom and his ilk are likely to break control. More likely, Wanda will make a play for power and attempt to depose Stanley. Her loyalty score seems ridiculously low, to the point that she not only will, but has on multiple occasions advised her leaders (who seem to trust her way more than they should) to do things that she fully thought would destroy them. It's nice to have one of your casters attuned to an Arkentool, but consider the fact that two of the other three known tools are owned by Overlords. How long until the power convinces Wanda she needs to be the third?

[raphfrk]

What was described as dangerous, unpredictable, and costly in the beginning is now being used more and more. Is it possible there is an addictive element to the caster's link? And if so, is it perhaps possible that the casters will find it easier and easier to do it as time goes on?

That is interesting and explains why they were embarrassed about it. Using it for a trivial activity like architecture probably exceeded a reasonable risk/reward ratio.

OTOH, they did do a good job.

[opal]

I assumed they redesigned the city while they were destroying it and changing the terrain. They created blue-prints for the 'AI' to follow when Stanley order the city rebuilt.

[OneHugeTuck]

That is interesting and explains why they were embarrassed about it. Using it for a trivial activity like architecture probably exceeded a reasonable risk/reward ratio.

OTOH, they did do a good job.

Building a capital city from nothing is unlikely to be categorized as 'trivial'.

It makes sense that certain links can easily be done by two casters, and some that are much more costly/involved. Maybe a simple mind meld is no big deal....

[OneHugeTuck]

I assumed they redesigned the city while they were destroying it and changing the terrain. They created blue-prints for the 'AI' to follow when Stanley order the city rebuilt.

I doubt they would have done the redesign while uncroaking the volcano. I can't imagine that they were thinking of surviving, success, or that far ahead.

I wonder if there's some built in natural thinkamancy such that when a ruler orders payment for new construction, orders get sent to designers/casters who somehow fill/contribute to the design orders.

[Spot]

More likely, Wanda will make a play for power and attempt to depose Stanley. Her loyalty score seems ridiculously low, to the point that she not only will, but has on multiple occasions advised her leaders (who seem to trust her way more than they should) to do things that she fully thought would destroy them.

Let's not judge Wanda too harshly.

Imagine a senior commander being 100%, unquestioningly loyal to Stanley. The track record for survival of people who follow Stanley's orders to the letter, with 100% loyalty is something like 3000 deaths to 2 survivors (Sizemore and Maggie)... and the only reason that those two survived is because they had another two people with either questionable loyalty to Stanley, or who could think light years outside the box, to save their bacon for them.

Of the two, Maggie at least, has started to realize this. Sizemore, unfortunately, remains too loyal to Stanley for his own good.

Stanley is an arrogant, uneducated, unteachable, petty, ego-driven little man who thinks that he's on a legendary mission from the gods and destined to rule... but can't even figure out for himself why appointing stupid prettyboys to Warlord positions might be a bad idea. And he still can't figure it out after losing every single Warlord that he appointed... with the sole exception of the one he just demoted. And replaced. By the prettyboy loser of the last battle.

Statistically speaking, anyone who exhibits a high level of loyalty to Stanley, will not be long for this (Erf) world.

[the_tick_rules]

So where is this Ken Dollamancer?