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Post by keef on Apr 15, 2019 7:09:41 GMT
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Apr 15, 2019 7:12:03 GMT
Or we're going back to visit the RotD again. Which is mostly the same thing.
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Post by madjack on Apr 15, 2019 7:13:21 GMT
Or we're going back to visit the RotD again. No, I don't think so. This smells like Loup's going to be doing some diplomatic flexing. |
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Post by brilliantgrey on Apr 15, 2019 7:16:36 GMT
That's what I'd imagine a road looks like in the ether? Maybe?
Once again, without context the title page is...less than illuminating. No one will ever accuse Tom of giving too much away before he's ready.
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Apr 15, 2019 7:36:15 GMT
They might be able to negotiate something from "Loup" in return for an Antimony resuming Forest medium status but aside from his help finding the lost items I'm not sure they could get anything useful. The RotD already has one Antimony under contract but now that there's a double they can bargain for another favor. They could at least help with finding items, or answer questions about Coyote's current status. It might also be interesting to adjust the ownership arrangement with Renard to allow him use of his body-snatching power as a backup.
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Post by zbeeblebrox on Apr 15, 2019 7:50:03 GMT
Now begin the Trade negotiations.
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Post by madjack on Apr 15, 2019 7:56:00 GMT
They might be able to negotiate something from "Loup" in return for an Antimony resuming Forest medium status but aside from his help finding the lost items I'm not sure they could get anything useful. The RotD already has one Antimony under contract but now that there's a double they can bargain for another favor. They could at least help with finding items, or answer questions about Coyote's current status. It might also be interesting to adjust the ownership arrangement with Renard to allow him use of his body-snatching power as a backup. I was thinking about the arrangement the Court and Forest had in place to supply 30 new students per year, and both how that might be affected going forward and what the Forest even gets out of it in the first place. Or why the Court even wanted/needed it. That's a good point about Rey though, perhaps this chapter title will be another one with several layered meanings? I can certainly see Loup bringing that up as a way to get one or both of the Annies into a position of importance again so he can use them as a tool. |
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Post by philman on Apr 15, 2019 8:37:37 GMT
My first thought was that it looks like a snake of some sort, but in Coyote-vision or Ether-vision. Other people's suggestion of a road makes sense too.
The thumbnail art looks like a spike from some sort of barbed blade, or a spine from some sort of spikey creature. Either that or part of a word ballon, but the latter seems unlikely for a thumbnail image.
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Apr 15, 2019 8:50:58 GMT
I was thinking about the arrangement the Court and Forest had in place to supply 30 new students per year, and both how that might be affected going forward and what the Forest even gets out of it in the first place. Or why the Court even wanted/needed it. That's a good point about Rey though, perhaps this chapter title will be another one with several layered meanings? I can certainly see Loup bringing that up as a way to get one or both of the Annies into a position of importance again so he can use them as a tool. The Court appeared to be short on manpower long before the current state of emergency. The "Exchange Program" netted them at best 30-ish new permanent residents every term but they also had a number of qualities that the Court would find desirable and their flaws are acceptable or even useful. They may have lacked skills but that means the Court would be able to train them up as whatever was needed (sort of like how the military fills occupational specialties from the bank of general recruits). The former Wood-denizens would for the most part gladly take jobs they were assigned in return for a name. They lacked financial means and family support but also lacked social connections outside the Court who might ask them questions; they'd be financially dependent, and their lack of social graces would be balanced by their willingness to accept things as they are and not question Court policies or the social order. Their innate challenges are a good reason to segregate them from the other students. They also wouldn't need to be vetted. The Court probably recruits talented people from anywhere as long as they have a needed specialty but that always brings with it the chance of being infiltrated. They're fresh blood in two different senses. First they've got remnants of whatever etheric abilities they used to have and the larger and more diverse a group of them hanging around the better the odds for making a breakthrough. Second, since you're making their bodies and choosing their genders the Court can balance itself to prevent inbreeding and keep a suitable dating pool. With the time freeze I assume all that's on hold, though. There may be a lot of refugees now who want to escape the Wood but the facilities for making bodies are likely behind enemy lines; I doubt that equipment would be high priority for relocation or guarding so it's probably trashed. I also doubt "Loup" cares so maybe he would trade a bunch of refugees, possibly any number of souls and perhaps even some who weren't so willing, to get things that he wants but I doubt the Court is thinking in that direction at the moment. I think "Loup" would be mildly in favor of one or more Antimonies acting as his medium, or pressuring the Court to make one their medium, as long as he could frame it as a favor to one or more Antimonies. If one was his medium it would mean that he could summon her whenever he pleased, but that would not really put him in her/their good graces if he overused it. Not sure what else he would get out if that arrangement. |
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Post by Eily on Apr 15, 2019 8:51:33 GMT
At first it made me think about a wall with bricks. Then I realized that the slythering makes it look like a river.
So a new frontier to replace the Annan waters maybe?
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Post by Jelly Jellybean on Apr 15, 2019 10:01:32 GMT
My unsubstantiated guess is Annies' contract with the Pomps. Does it apply to both Annies, or just one and which one?
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Apr 15, 2019 11:28:19 GMT
My unsubstantiated guess is Annies' contract with the Pomps. Does it apply to both Annies, or just one and which one? To answer that question you'd need to ask the author, a select group of wise philosophers and experienced judges, or a single bureaucrat. |
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Post by fia on Apr 15, 2019 11:30:40 GMT
It kind of looks like plant cells?
Possible contents of chapter:
1. Parley's contract with Cvet.
2. Annie's contact with the 'Pomps.
3. Annie's contract with Loup.
4. Annie's contract with Renard.
5. ..?
EDIT: Oh!
6. Tony's contract with the Court
EDIT2:
7. Kat uses her supercomputer info about Annie and Rey to program new contract magic. She either contracts with someone or fixes an existing contract.
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Post by Per on Apr 15, 2019 12:30:24 GMT
Synthetic tissue? Robot allegiance chapter?
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Post by todd on Apr 15, 2019 12:50:42 GMT
So a new frontier to replace the Annan waters maybe? If they're taking that approach, I hope they'd see it as only a temporary measure. It won't solve the root of the problem - a lot of hostile forest-folk who want to destroy the Court, and who will go on hating it, in a "boiling and festering" way. They'll eventually find a way around that obstacle. I think that the Court has to address the question of why the forest-folk are hostile to them - even if it means humbling themselves and speaking with them as if they're equals rather than a bunch of scruffy talking animals. (If with the additional problem that probably the only thing that will satisfy Loup and his army will be the utter annihilation of Gunnerkrigg - that they might have almost forgotten the original reason for this feud amid all that pent-up anger.) |
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Post by todd on Apr 15, 2019 12:55:35 GMT
My unsubstantiated guess is Annies' contract with the Pomps. Does it apply to both Annies, or just one and which one? Given the context, a contract with Loup would make more sense; at least, this would be an inconvenient time for the Guides to show up, right in the middle of a serious (and close to unsolvable) war. Could Muut and the rest please hold off until that story-thread's been resolved? (Unless maybe they want Annie to come work with them now as a means of removing her from the theatre of war and making her less able to find a solution for the problem - under the theory that if Annie's not there, there'll be less likelihood of the Court and the Forest's conflict finding a peaceful resolution, more likelihood of the Forest destroying the Court - under the theory that the Guides want the Court destroyed because its experiments could endanger all etheric beings, including themselves, and if it's wiped out, they and their kind will be safe.) |
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Post by keef on Apr 15, 2019 14:17:48 GMT
My unsubstantiated guess is Annies' contract with the Pomps. Does it apply to both Annies, or just one and which one? To answer that question you'd need to ask the author, a select group of wise philosophers and experienced judges, or a single bureaucrat. or this wonderful all-knowing forum of course!
At least one philosopher, everybody judges, and there are probably some unmarried civil servants among us...
First shot: The Annie that agreed to that contract can be said to be dead. So: The contract is with neither |
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Post by madjack on Apr 15, 2019 14:22:43 GMT
Theseus really was a jerk.
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Post by The Anarch on Apr 15, 2019 14:59:28 GMT
Looks like the Annies are going to be learning how to do the Kaioken and Spirit Bomb.
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Post by Gemini Jim on Apr 15, 2019 17:18:07 GMT
"With two of you, you should be able to get twice as much done."
- I'm not sure who the speaker is, but I wouldn't be surprised if something like this is the answer to "which one of us is under contract."
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Post by gpvos on Apr 16, 2019 8:54:01 GMT
My unsubstantiated guess is Annies' contract with the Pomps. Does it apply to both Annies, or just one and which one? As far as we know, the psychopomps need her to handle some "special cases". I suppose that only one Annie would be enough for that. It would be interesting to finally learn what the psychopomps' deal is: what do they actually get out of leading people into the afterlife? |
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Post by pyradonis on Apr 16, 2019 10:49:00 GMT
"With two of you, you should be able to get twice as much done." - I'm not sure who the speaker is, but I wouldn't be surprised if something like this is the answer to "which one of us is under contract." Or they can both work part-time. |
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Post by Corvo on Apr 16, 2019 14:24:15 GMT
The Yellow Brick Road is a tortuous path to take.
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Post by dramastix on Apr 16, 2019 19:42:48 GMT
The chapter marker picture looks a bit like the back of a dining chair to me. One that is sitting outside with the sky visible behind it. I got nothin' for why that would show up, though.
Throwing my chips in with the psychopomps being the contract in question. Just to make a complicated situation more so.
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Post by netherdan on Apr 16, 2019 20:32:26 GMT
The chapter marker picture looks a bit like the back of a dining chair to me. One that is sitting outside with the sky visible behind it. I got nothin' for why that would show up, though. It's Monky's stinger hand paw thingy. He will actually become a recurrent cartoonish villain like <someone I'll tag here if I remember> suggested |
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Post by todd on Apr 27, 2019 1:19:10 GMT
Since this chapter involves Kat's robot project - and will apparently feature her "waking up" Arthur in a new body - the "New Contract" might be the robot religion's parallel moment to the Biblical "a new covenant I make with you" - with Robot delivering that interpretation of Kat's actions in another sermon, once Annie and Kat are conveniently out of earshot (though to a much smaller audience this time than in the past).
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Post by jda on Apr 28, 2019 4:45:16 GMT
Since this chapter involves Kat's robot project - and will apparently feature her "waking up" Arthur in a new body - the "New Contract" might be the robot religion's parallel moment to the Biblical "a new covenant I make with you" - with Robot delivering that interpretation of Kat's actions in another sermon, once Annie and Kat are conveniently out of earshot (though to a much smaller audience this time than in the past). Nyet, comrade! Not smaller! Robot has been secretely gathering all tibbits and pieces of Kat's craft on the Manbotkind Project, and is learning how to do it himself. Since Robot will be on the front line when waking up Arthur, dowloading his conscience in the new body Kat was creating on Katurday, I WildSpec that he will reverse that to either upload his concience to all the robots connected to the Shield, or to preach to them as a cautive (ha) audience. Or something like that. |
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