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Post by bedinsis on May 15, 2017 7:03:09 GMT
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Post by Angry Individual on May 15, 2017 7:08:00 GMT
Well Kat, it's easier to have an afterlife guide already situated and versed for the eventual robot religion deaths!
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Post by gpvos on May 15, 2017 7:10:19 GMT
So what is the difference between Surma and Annie, to the psychopomps? Is there something about Anthony that made her extra special? Maybe the Omega Device was involved?
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Post by mordekai on May 15, 2017 7:44:38 GMT
Oh, Joyous Hour! Glorious Epiphany! Manifest, oh Lovecraftian Divine Sexy Robot Elohim, and hentai-rape Muut's butt with your mecha-tentacles! Amen!
Also: Kat is a smart cookie... she's the first character to smell the stink...
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Post by keef on May 15, 2017 8:50:55 GMT
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Post by Jelly Jellybean on May 15, 2017 10:44:50 GMT
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Post by faiiry on May 15, 2017 11:04:21 GMT
NOW we're getting somewhere! But what about Annie is special? And does it have more to do with Annie herself or with Anthony? (Because unless Anthony's special power was super smarts or being a jerk, I suspect we haven't seen it yet.) And who wants to bet their entire life savings right now that the arrow's behavior has something to do with Coyote?
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Post by Per on May 15, 2017 11:14:17 GMT
Kat knows so much about Surma.
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Post by rinabean on May 15, 2017 11:17:50 GMT
It's you, Kat!!!
Surma could have done anything we've seen Annie do. But we did see very explicitly Kat's mum lamenting that she (and Surma) had never cracked the robots, and wondering if Kat (and Annie) might be able to
Of course Annie is still key to it. Kat would not have become interested in spirits and history if not for Annie, and she may not have gotten interested in robots the way she has - as people. Look at the court guides on how to deal with robots and things like that. Robot was always a person to Annie from the start, and I think that's how Kat began to see that machines could be people, too.
If Kat's mum (still drawing a blank on the name - Anja?) had not been aetherically inclined, maybe she would have had that pure interest that Kat has that has enabled her to understand the robots. I doubt either is any more intelligent or driven than the other. But Kat's always had that knack for looking past things to see how they work - a totally different way than Annie and their mothers (Annie and Kat's mum both talked about looking into the aether as a kind of looking past to see the underneath - and Kat was baffled. When Annie later tried to teach Kat to be still as a way to see into the aether, all Kat could see was how the nearby humming fans worked!)
How long ago did the psychopomps know? Time works in weird ways in this comic anyway, so it's hard to know. But look at them when they meet, both loner kids of genius court worker parents, both with a magical and scientific background from their parents, both grown up in weird lonely places (the court and a hospital). Could they know then that they would become like sisters, and that they'd begin to understand the ancient secrets of the court, and go further to create new biological life??
Or was it when Annie fell? Or when Kat began a crazy scheme to save her? Or was it when they decided to do something about Jeanne? When???
I'm loving it anyway. I had kind of become a bit bored and sad with the comic lately, even though I've been a fan for so long, but now I'm properly hyped again. Waiting for Wednesday!!
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Post by phantaskippy on May 15, 2017 12:49:11 GMT
Things I think we know:
1. The court has tried multiple times to keep Annie out of the forest. When they named Smitty Medium, when they pulled her dad back, it was all to keep Annie from going to the forest. It was important enough to call her Dad away from the Omega device.
2. They knew about her cheating and sat on it. It only became a thing when they didn't like her going to the forest.
3. They are watching Kat's development with the robots, and we know her mom tried to get places with them and failed.
4. Kat sees through other beings etheric creations, saw through the ROTD, saw through Diego's arrow trap, but she also saw the ship as it really was, and entered Zimmy's world. I think she sees real etheric things, but not the smoke and mirrors stuff people create, she sees straight through the illusion.
5. Robot and the robots are willing to go to incredible lengths to have Kat keep working. She may be their angel, but they are willing to manipulate her to keep her focus on them.
6. That Jeanne episode had a bit of an Ender's game feel to it, the awakening of a leader, the coming together of a team, and the realization of the costs that could come. It just seems like we're about to start something big and fast, and now an ominous green light. . . That probably means a joke is coming and I'm totally wrong.
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Post by spritznar on May 15, 2017 13:41:35 GMT
... when they pulled her dad back, [...] It was important enough to call her Dad away from the Omega device. to me it doesn't read like he was working on the omega device when they called him back. it sounds like he was researching the device at the same time as surma's pregnancy, then after surma died he went off to find the wizard psychopomps, and he says he thought he'd escaped "the court's eye", so i wouldn't think he was still working on the omega device for them ( or doing anything worthwhile) when they recalled him... but i do agree with your main point about them bringing him back to keep annie away from the forest |
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Post by ctso74 on May 15, 2017 14:05:02 GMT
"Arrow! You are interrupting an important conversation and train of thought. It's almost, as if, you waited for that moment to create suspense and drama. Are you a theater kid, Arrow? Keep your glowy one-man enactment of 'A Separate Peace' to yourself... You were saying, Kat?"
Then again, the ominously glowing arrow could be a segue into talking about Kat's appearance in the Ether. Are we sure the chapter title is "And Then Coyote Said..." and not "Exposition!"?
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Post by Trillium on May 15, 2017 14:09:43 GMT
This and she started hanging out with Psycopomps from the time she was a child at the hospital. The early exposure may have helped her develop an affinity for the and their job. Annie had a working relationship with Psycopomps long before Kat showed up. Of course they were also training her to help her mom pass over. They were even developing a good personal relationship with Annie until her mom died. That soured things. None of the adults in this group did much to prepare Annie for the loss of her mom nor what to do with her out of the norm heritage and gifts. That however is part of children's and YD action fiction. Parents have to be removed or fall down on the job. |
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Post by Rasselas on May 15, 2017 15:01:58 GMT
Oooh, now we're getting somewhere! Curiouser and curiouser. Maybe they were trying to get at Surma, but failed? We still don't know what happened between James, Surma and Anthony. I wonder if it might be related. None of the adults in this group did much to prepare Annie for the loss of her mom nor what to do with her out of the norm heritage and gifts. That however is part of children's and YD action fiction. Parents have to be removed or fall down on the job. It's also what happens a lot in real life, because adults are fallible people. They usually have a lot on their plate, especially when shitty things happen. In a perfect world we'd have perfect parenting, but that's not where we live. At first, the only adults around her were Surma and Anthony. Surma didn't have much time to explain, and she was dying. Anthony was grief-stricken and went on his own bender. When she got to the Court, the adults around her were strangers. They didn't have the connection with Annie to prepare her for anything. Only gradually the Donlans have built a connection with Annie, who was stand-offish and introverted, and not easy to reach. Oh and I guess she had the psychopomps. They could've taught her? (Except they, of course, had their own ulterior motives.) There was Reynardine, though... But he initially tried to kill her, and things blew up between them about this very subject. Oh, and Coyote, but I'm not sure we can count a maniacal God as a responsible adult. At least he actually bothered to tell her about her nature. Poor Ysengrin, bless his soul, has done the most parenting for Annie so far... |
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Post by spritznar on May 15, 2017 15:21:59 GMT
don't forget jones!
ysengrin and jones... that's a pair...
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Post by csj on May 15, 2017 15:33:46 GMT
Eh, I think y'all reading too deep too early. However, it's obvious why someone who is literally fire is of interest to Mediums; fire is a huge part of spiritual beliefs surrounding death. Has been since probably the dawn of mythology itself. Even today (via cremation), fire can be the medium by which one passes from the material world to the 'afterlife'. All we (and Annie) presumably know is that while Surma may have helped them, she probably didn't see/consider herself beholden to them. One presumes the task of being the Court Medium - while probably mostly ceremonial like that of dragonslayer - would preclude it.
My current guess; one of her descendants was a psychopomp (might be part of being a fire elemental) and due to the whole essence transfer between incarnations, they saw both Surma and Annie as the 'same' person/being as that forebear... Given how they operate I highly doubt they'd accept anything short of total etheric death as a get-out-clause.
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Post by Sky Schemer on May 15, 2017 16:25:47 GMT
My first thought was, "What else did she lose down there?"
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Post by imaginaryfriend on May 15, 2017 20:14:26 GMT
It was formsprung that Surma never met Jeanne. Maybe the reason they didn't ask, assuming that Kat is correct about that, is because they aren't supposed to interfere and bringing Surma (or Antimony) into contact with Jeanne would have counted as interference. Muut didn't show up until several pages after Antimony had seen Jeanne (though she didn't know what/who Jeanne was at the time) and he didn't say much other than drop hints about the danger until Antimony specifically asked ALTHOUGH he must have been arranging the blinker stone gift from Mort soon after Antimony fell. Or possibly the arrow prevented the 'pomps from doing more. Or both. |
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Post by GriffTheJack on May 15, 2017 20:26:15 GMT
It's you, Kat!!! Surma could have done anything we've seen Annie do. But we did see very explicitly Kat's mum lamenting that she (and Surma) had never cracked the robots, and wondering if Kat (and Annie) might be able to Of course Annie is still key to it. Kat would not have become interested in spirits and history if not for Annie, and she may not have gotten interested in robots the way she has - as people. Look at the court guides on how to deal with robots and things like that. Robot was always a person to Annie from the start, and I think that's how Kat began to see that machines could be people, too. If Kat's mum (still drawing a blank on the name - Anja?) had not been aetherically inclined, maybe she would have had that pure interest that Kat has that has enabled her to understand the robots. I doubt either is any more intelligent or driven than the other. But Kat's always had that knack for looking past things to see how they work - a totally different way than Annie and their mothers (Annie and Kat's mum both talked about looking into the aether as a kind of looking past to see the underneath - and Kat was baffled. When Annie later tried to teach Kat to be still as a way to see into the aether, all Kat could see was how the nearby humming fans worked!) This. All of this. Kat has always been a second protagonist rather than a deuteragonist, and this volume might be where the Kat/robots thread and the Annie/'pomps/Coyote thread begin to truly meet. Besides, if we're talking about literary conventions, Kat screams "Chosen One". The payoff for that has to come around sooner or later. Before long, she's going to start birthing souls. |
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Post by Refugee on May 15, 2017 22:24:43 GMT
I'm keeping in mind that the psychopomps returned Smitty to life. That's a fairly major favor==no, that's like the biggest favor there is. Annie agreed to terms.
I have no problem with the psychopomps.
Not that there isn't something fishy going on at the Court. Not that Annie and Kat should stop asking questions, stop investigating.
But the deal itself is fair.
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Post by intotheether on May 16, 2017 2:02:57 GMT
I'm keeping in mind that the psychopomps returned Smitty to life. That's a fairly major favor==no, that's like the biggest favor there is. Annie agreed to terms. I have no problem with the psychopomps. Not that there isn't something fishy going on at the Court. Not that Annie and Kat should stop asking questions, stop investigating. But the deal itself is fair. I'm not sure "fair" is the term I'd use for it, although that might be a matter of subjective opinion on the matter. Smitface got hurt as part of a group doing a service that was heavily of interest to the psychopomps, whom were at least partially responsible for manipulating Annie and Co. onto that particular path, even if they kept on it for their own reasons. Additionally, the deal was made under duress, when the honorable thing would have been to heal Smitty without forcing shady terms seeing as he was hurt on an (admittedly indirect) errand for them, even if he accepted the quest of his own free will. I'll agree the deal is binding certainly, and not outright malicious per say. It's not as though the psychopomps threatened anyone for example. But that doesn't mean they didn't callously use a dire situation to their personal advantage when they were the ones at least partially responsible for intentionally and knowingly setting events in motion to lead to that situation. That's not exactly my idea of fair. |
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Post by Rasselas on May 16, 2017 2:38:29 GMT
don't forget jones! ysengrin and jones... that's a pair... Oh my. Imagine a child raised by those two stoics. Actually, triple wildspec: Annie is their kid. Stoic and reserved on the outside, fiery on the inside. And sometimes it gets out, like Ysengrin's outbursts! |
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Post by arf on May 16, 2017 7:20:26 GMT
I like the thinking that it's Kat they're after (although "why?" is an excellent follow up question)
Of course, after a couple of weeks, at least, why does the device choose *this* moment to fire up? Which device has done so? Diego's? Kat's? Both?
Does each device still contain something/one? (harking back to an earlier theory of mine)
All the answers will (or won't) be revealed on Wednesday.
Quick: to the arrow!
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Post by TBeholder on May 16, 2017 8:06:44 GMT
Well Kat, it's easier to have an afterlife guide already situated and versed for the eventual robot religion deaths! Indeed, Kat is assuming it's about Annie rather than circumstances without evidence. Of course, the same applies to the first assumption - that they didn't try to drag Surma in. |
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Post by pyradonis on May 16, 2017 12:35:30 GMT
Oooh, now we're getting somewhere! Curiouser and curiouser. Maybe they were trying to get at Surma, but failed? We still don't know what happened between James, Surma and Anthony. I wonder if it might be related. None of the adults in this group did much to prepare Annie for the loss of her mom nor what to do with her out of the norm heritage and gifts. That however is part of children's and YD action fiction. Parents have to be removed or fall down on the job. It's also what happens a lot in real life, because adults are fallible people. They usually have a lot on their plate, especially when shitty things happen. In a perfect world we'd have perfect parenting, but that's not where we live. At first, the only adults around her were Surma and Anthony. Surma didn't have much time to explain, and she was dying. Anthony was grief-stricken and went on his own bender. Annie grew up in the hospital. According to Reynardine, they "all knew it would happen...if Surma ever had a child", and Anthony told Donald that Surma did not want Anja to see her waste away. So they knew from the beginning and had years of time to explain everything to Annie. But they didn't. I can only imagine they were hoping to find a cure till last and spare Annie the anxiety. |
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Post by csj on May 16, 2017 16:59:36 GMT
Welcome to this week's satanic cult, Refugee Everyone is welcome. We have hettycookies |
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Post by Rasselas on May 16, 2017 17:27:59 GMT
Annie grew up in the hospital. According to Reynardine, they "all knew it would happen...if Surma ever had a child", and Anthony told Donald that Surma did not want Anja to see her waste away. So they knew from the beginning and had years of time to explain everything to Annie. But they didn't. I can only imagine they were hoping to find a cure till last and spare Annie the anxiety. It's one of those things that everyone knows, but doesn't want to face. As a sufferer of such things in my personal life, I understand exactly how people can ignore it despite it being the most glaring, obvious thing. Prepare your child for what you know is coming! No, we'd rather dig our heads into sand and pretend/hope it's not happening. I mean, you make an excellent point, it's just that this is how people work. So I'd say it's good storytelling. |
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Post by phantaskippy on May 16, 2017 21:48:13 GMT
Kat is the creator, I have no doubt the Court has been looking for her for some time. Her parents and their etheric computer are close, Kat needs to find the link to make those programs and the ether bodies like she was creating on the ship and they are back to Diego levels of crating.
Annie is a power source. How valuable is a fire elemental as an etheric power source? Would be interesting to see what she could do if properly "harnessed".
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Post by pyradonis on May 17, 2017 11:21:40 GMT
Annie grew up in the hospital. According to Reynardine, they "all knew it would happen...if Surma ever had a child", and Anthony told Donald that Surma did not want Anja to see her waste away. So they knew from the beginning and had years of time to explain everything to Annie. But they didn't. I can only imagine they were hoping to find a cure till last and spare Annie the anxiety. It's one of those things that everyone knows, but doesn't want to face. As a sufferer of such things in my personal life, I understand exactly how people can ignore it despite it being the most glaring, obvious thing. Prepare your child for what you know is coming! No, we'd rather dig our heads into sand and pretend/hope it's not happening. I mean, you make an excellent point, it's just that this is how people work. So I'd say it's good storytelling. Oh, I didn't want to criticize the storytelling. I just hope it will be addressed in-comic one day.  |
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