|
Post by aline on May 14, 2018 20:27:09 GMT
OK guys, help me out here: Why is Juliette able to openly camp out by Arthur? Weren't they going to a lot of trouble to keep their relationship hidden from the court? The Court is probably too busy dealing with the current chaos to try and find out what Juliette is doing (and as a "shadown man" she probably has a number of ways to cover her tracks). It's unlikely the Court is bothering to monitor what's happening around the robots right now, they have more important things to do. It's not really "openly" if no other human being is there.
|
|
|
Post by aline on May 14, 2018 20:17:37 GMT
I am pretty disappointed by Kat's parents. I know they are trusting her a lot, but leaving her behind in a possible war zone? Seriously? Kat is a teen, not a toddler, she's not an adult yet but well on her way to becoming one. She obviously fought hard to keep her workshop and keep doing her work. She is intelligent, she understands what is happening just as well as any given adult, and any risk she is taking here is entirely deliberate. At some point, your job as a parent stops being "add padding to the furniture and make sure the front door is locked" and starts being "support your kid's important life choices". The shield is holding up and nothing much is happening at that point. The risk is not zero, it exists, but it's a measured risk. You can't live your life and do the things that are important to you without taking risks.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Apr 25, 2018 7:39:51 GMT
I wonder - are the robots responsible for this shield, or is Anja? The robots are obviously generating this one, but it may have been programmed by Anja. She's the woman who built a giant magic computer after all, and said computer includes features to control Renard. Don used some other feature to stop Ysengrin way back. It's resonable to think she added other ways to protect the Court against an attack from creatures of the Forest if need be.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Apr 25, 2018 7:33:39 GMT
Well, that wasn't creepy at all.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Apr 23, 2018 10:24:36 GMT
That shield looks a lot like the one Anja used to protect her friends that one time when they tried to peak at some intruders from the forest.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Apr 13, 2018 13:01:53 GMT
Hmm. Can Rey possess Ysengrin? Even if he can, I'm not sure he would, because Reynardine's possessing someone would mean that person's death. Judging from how he feels about it now, I don't think Reynardine would embark on such an approach lightly. On the other hand, Ysengrin is endangering the Court, and if there are no other ways of stopping him.... Rey had better hope that they can find another solution, quickly, before the characters think of that option. Nobody is going to make Rey do this. The only one who could is Annie and she won't give an order like that. It would be a betrayal both of Rey and Ysengrin, who she both sees as friends, and of her nature, which is to save murderous ghosts of rage rather than destroy them. Rey will probably play a role though. Others have pointed this out before, but Reynardine is a trickster, whose legend is almost exclusively about fooling Ysengrin. And he has a vested interest in protecting Annie.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Apr 13, 2018 12:17:54 GMT
That's unclear, though it has been formsprung by the author that Renard couldn't possess Coyote (unless Coyote wanted to go along with it for the giggles) so I'll answer a tentative "no" since Ysengrin has Coyote's powers. For the same reason Ys can strip Renard of his gift at will. Two caveats: 1. Ys probably has to think of doing these things in order to do it so it might change things if Renard makes a surprise attack, though maybe not if it's just a matter of willpower, and 2. there's probably a limitation on Coyote's gift of power that we don't know about yet. Coyote gave Ysengrin his strength. This doesn't mean "all his abilities and skills". There's no reason to think Ysengrin's abilities are identical to Coyote's when it comes to other things than turning buildings into rubles.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Mar 20, 2018 14:32:01 GMT
That sounds like long term planning to me. He may not have known the exact day his plans would pay off, but it's still long term planning. Coyote has been around a long time and his editing of Ysengrin's memories may have been going on for literal centuries. I doubt he's as short term a thinker as he sometimes presents. I didn't say he's a short-time thinker, I said he's an opportunist. Yes, he's been messing with Ysengrin for a long time with the hope to use that someday. But I don't believe he predicted this particular outcome when he messed with his memories, or when Ysengrin dropped those seeds back in chapter 14. I also don't believe he had some grand plan to make Annie free Jeanne like some people have suggested. I'm pretty sure he saw Annie as someone who would stir things up, someone who wouldn't just do as she's told, and kept her around because of that. But he didn't calculate every little thing.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Mar 19, 2018 11:35:05 GMT
Ah, of course. Coyote keeps his word. He can't attack the Court. But Ysengrin can, and armed with Coyote's powers and edited memories, he will. That's the trick. Thinking further. This is what Coyote has been working towards. Setting up and guiding Annie and co towards the removal of Jeanne, getting the seeds in place years in advance.. what else has Coyote been patiently plotting, what other hidden pawns on the board in waiting for the moment the path was cleared for this moment? The only question is really whether Reynardine being at the Court, and everything with Surma, was a failed generation of Coyote's plans or whether it was all a very long term set up indeed. I feel that is exactly what it will turn out to be. I think Coyote is more an opportunist than a long-term-calculations player. He's been spreading potential for chaos, not knowing how that potential could be exploited later, but knowing some opportunity would probably arise at some point. He'd only just met Annie when the seeds were left in the Court back then. I'm sure he smelled some fun ahead, but he couldn't have had any master plan about Jeanne at that point. The seeds were just an entertaining time bomb that might prove useful later. And I doubt Coyote could ever have made Annie free Jeanne anyway. It happened because Annie wanted to do it. But once it happened, it became something for him to use. The same way, Ysengrin's temper and hate for humans is something he's been playing around probably for centuries. He didn't know how he'd make that particular bomb explode in everybody's face, but he knew he could make it explode whenever he found a sufficiently entertaining time and place. At some point, he decided he had all the ingredients of really cool fireworks and started mixing the powder and adding the fuse.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Mar 16, 2018 8:31:22 GMT
Actually, pre-Jeanne, the lack of a bridge didn't seem to be an insurmountable obstacle. Both sides have flight, one has a teleporter too, so it's definitely more symbolic than anything. I agree. The bridge was made on the Court's terms. It was a symbol of the Court dominating the relationship with the Forest.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Mar 2, 2018 9:10:35 GMT
One doesn't usually rip the throat out of someone you respect as a friend or significant other without knowing that they are treating you like shit already. This isn't an epiphany, just a confirmation of what Ysengrin has been suspecting for a long time. He didn't suspect, he knew. Remember him talking about how he hated Coyote, but his love for him counterbalanced that? Well, a great deal of the respect Ysengrin had for Coyote was based on the fact that Coyote was so much stronger than anybody else. Ysengrin admired that. He loved that. He took pride in serving Coyote because of that. That's why he put up with all the abuse, the mind games, the toying around. Once Ysengrin had Coyote's strength, he became the dominant creature, and all that was left in front of him was a conniving backstabbing abusive trickster, all the parts of Coyote that Ysengrin hates and despises. I can't believe for a second that Coyote did not predict that outcome.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Feb 28, 2018 12:00:13 GMT
Sooooo, running away it is. Let's hope Ysengrin decides to go hunt some rabbits instead of attacking the Court :-(
|
|
|
Post by aline on Feb 22, 2018 20:50:54 GMT
However, my bet is it's not going to be her first thought even if she had it and could resort to it, maybe not even the second thought. If she carries it with her, so far when in trouble she has not once resorted to it. It could well be that she doesn't simply know how to handle it, the reason why she was giving it to Parley in the first place is that Parley might be able to use it. That's true, but Parley wasn't able to use it. The problem with the sword is that it cuts everything. It is so ridiculously powerful that *not* destroying everything on your path is the difficult part. If they had used it against Jeanne, Jeanne might be scattered little bits of soul instead of joining her lover in the ether. Annie is a non violent person who doesn't seek to destroy even when her life is on the line. So I don't think that sword will ever be used in the... classical way that a sword is used, in a duel and everything. Annie will use it at some point in the story, now or later, but not in a fighter way. She'll use it in an Annie way.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Feb 21, 2018 14:18:23 GMT
Honestly after a page like the last one this just feels a little extra. No. Annie proposed using it against Jeanne, but they didn't. Parley only had it for like, two minutes. Given what happened, I doubt she was eager to keep it. Did we see her give it back? I don't remember. If we didn't, I'm going to assume she still has it until it's been proven otherwise. We saw Parley drop the sword, scream "Oh God! Make the sword go away!" and we haven't seen her touch it again since. I don't know if that counts as "giving back" for you, but my guess is, that was the last time she let herself touch the damn thing. We don't see Annie putting away the sword, but she's the one who bends down together with Renard, next to shadow, where the sword was dropped. My guess is either Annie has it, or Renard, because we saw him keeping it for her.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Feb 21, 2018 11:15:36 GMT
Isn't the teeth-sword with Parley now? No. Annie proposed using it against Jeanne, but they didn't. Parley only had it for like, two minutes. Given what happened, I doubt she was eager to keep it. I somehow doubt this would be Coyote's plan to get Ys killed though. That would seem a bit odd. I don't think he intends for Annie to kill him, or even truly fight him, no. She's a medium. When she uses strength, she uses it to initiate dialogue. I truly think all Annie needs in terms of strength is the means to shake Ysengrin from his rage, so she can talk to him.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Feb 21, 2018 10:26:07 GMT
Really? Where should they run to? We all know what Coyote's strength can do. There's nowhere to hide. Eglamore and Parley don't really stand a chance in that fight, and Jeanne no longer guards the river. No matter how fast they run, Ysengrin will be faster. The way I see it, there's only one option. Stand your ground.We didn't see it happen, but Eglamore said he'd get Annie another beacon, and while they probably can't necessarily outrun Ys straightaway, what is Annie going to do against a Ysengrin powered by Coyote's strength? She can call Eglamore of course. It doesn't change the fact that they can't run. Or well, they can, but then they'll die anyway. She needs Ysengrin to regain his senses, like he did when he attacked her last time and she blinded him with her blinker stone. Not that I think this tactic will work this time. But she doesn't need to beat him, really, just to break his rage. There is one thing she could use. Remember how Coyote gave that to her the same day he told her to stand her ground and to remember the "true Ysengrin"? Remember how he really didn't want Ysengrin to find out he'd given it to her?
|
|
|
Post by aline on Feb 21, 2018 8:25:04 GMT
If Annie and Smitface are still around, I'm not gonna toss them the idiot ball. I'm going to put on a ball for idiots, just for them. Big ol' dance for dummies being dumb. Really? Where should they run to? We all know what Coyote's strength can do. There's nowhere to hide. Eglamore and Parley don't really stand a chance in that fight, and Jeanne no longer guards the river. No matter how fast they run, Ysengrin will be faster. The way I see it, there's only one option. Stand your ground.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Feb 16, 2018 11:37:42 GMT
But coyote's secret is that he doesn't exist. How much strength could he have? Is that a serious question? I mean.He also created the freakin' huge Annan Waters by casually making a gigantic hole between the Court and the Forest. The ether might be born from people's imagination, but its effects on the world are very real.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Feb 16, 2018 8:27:31 GMT
Annie looks like she's trying very hard to believe everything is going to be fine. Smitty is still there with her, so everything IS going to be fine. Riiight? (Me and Annie have the same facial expression while observing this scene) For a given definition of fine. Like when he got stabbed.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Feb 16, 2018 8:09:02 GMT
Annie looks like she's trying very hard to believe everything is going to be fine.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Feb 14, 2018 13:08:01 GMT
Coyote would be the asshole to bestow powers that could render the user a potential danger to others + themselves, then turn around and say "Hey, I gave you what you wanted". If there's any mercy to be had in this sad hunch of mine, I hope Ysengrin will at least have his own mind in the end & go into the ether. That's exactly what happened when Coyote gave Renard his body switching powers. Coyote gave Renard his body switching powers, with a major flaw included (on purpose?): the power couldn't be used without killing the being it was used on. Coyote then talked Renard into using this power when Renard hesitated. The result: Renard killed a man and lost his freedom for decades. Coyote telling the whole story to Annie: "Alas! my poor cousin!" I don't think Ysengrin will necessarily die, but it's very clear nothing nice is going to come out of it.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Feb 14, 2018 11:38:08 GMT
Is there a reason you quoted half my post? I basically went on to agree with what you're advocating for. It felt a bit like I said "Looks like everybody would prefer a sandwich, so which flavor should we order?" and you answered "We really don't need a pizza, but I think what would be best would possibly be a sandwich". I quoted that part of your post to try and make it obvious that you had all convinced me about the pizza issue and I would like it if we could stop discussing pizza entirely and talk about the sandwich in more detail instead. Although it looks like everybody would be happy with a salad after all, which is fine by me.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Feb 11, 2018 23:33:49 GMT
My thinking is that having just one mod could lead to unchecked rulings on things (unless of course Tom steps in, but we don't want to make more work for Tom). On the other hand, multiple mods seem like an unnecessary amount of mods. The point is that mods aren't needed though. That's the point some are making. And I, together with a few others, am making the following points: 1) sticky threads are useful 2) actually we can need one right now 3) we can have a sticky thread person without having actual mods, as korba found out 4) do you know of any sane reasons to be opposed to sticky threads, because I can't think of one
|
|
|
Post by aline on Feb 11, 2018 20:00:19 GMT
In order to constructively contribute, which I sometimes forget about: ProBoards does indeed appear to allow the creation of user groups whose privileges can be fine-tuned by the administrator creating them.. In particular, it's possible to define a user group that only has two privileges over all regular users: to sticky threads and to move them, while e.g. modifying or deleting others' posts would remain impossible for them. I think that's a solution everybody could agree to; all that remains is to (a) ask Tom about this, (b) have a candidate that everybody (ideally) can agree on, including the candidate. (It's also a sign of a well-behaved forum that absolutely nobody wants to moderate it.) I believe those limited user group permissions are a great practical solution. Those aren't powers anybody is likely to abuse. Are there any candidates? It should be someone showing up most weeks, I think. A "sticky thread" job isn't something where one would need to react super quickly or be there all the time. But it should be someone who isn't hard to reach.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Feb 11, 2018 19:52:17 GMT
Funnily enough, it wasn't homophobic, even a year ago. Could you point the part where I cast any derision, or is the act of questioning something now derisive? I did not start this discussion to resurrect old locked threads. I don't see any positive direction this discussion could take, so please, both of you, or anyone else who feels like answering that, take a step back and think before continuing it. And if you feel the urgent need to do this, then please, please do it in pm, or at least in another thread. This is me begging you.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Feb 9, 2018 11:50:09 GMT
These events make even more sense if Coyote is following someone else's script. I'm getting a (probably overblown) hunch that the real architect of these events was Surma, via Muut. She really hated something about the court, and getting her daughter into the kind of position to perhaps begin proper reconciliation between the two warring sides would need that kind of leverage. No, that I don't believe. I doubt Coyote would follow anybody's script but his own. And I don't think Surma had the ability and information necessary to plan all this that far in advance. I think Coyote just likes taking the opportunity to mess with people and watch them react.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Feb 9, 2018 9:20:15 GMT
It really does seem as if Coyote is trying to test the limits of Ysengrin's wrath. I think the test is as much for Annie as it is for Ysengrin. Maybe even more... Annie made Ysengrin her friend. Annie released Jeanne. Annie is the forest's Medium, the one who stands in between to negotiate. And Annie knows how Ysengrin feels about humans, and that he doesn't always control his anger. I think if this game had a name, it would be "How will Annie deal with this?"
|
|
|
Post by aline on Feb 7, 2018 21:43:24 GMT
If we absolutely need to give one other (certainly no more) long-standing and distinguished member elevated rights to take care of technical issues, it should be one we can trust not to intervene on anything else; if someone cares for whom I'd nominate, EDIT: I'll name them if there actually comes to pass some kind of vote (hah). Many others would probably serve the office well; these are merely those still-standing members that I myself have a more or less vague idea of, and whom I'd wholly trust to remain far from the less-purely technical buttons that come with the green stars. I think it's not wise to give a new public office to the petitioners for its installment. I'd emphatically prefer no moderators to be added at all. The author alone ought to make the rules and enforce them here; that should not come even under the slightest risk. *shrug* There is obviously no absolute need. I just thought it could be practical, like to publish the rules-of-naming-threads in a more visible way. Tom owns the forum and he can remove moderator privileges as quickly as he can give them, it's not like anybody can "overthrow" him. I can see you're worried about people getting too cocky about their privileges, but that's easily resolved by picking a level-headed person and defining the limits of the job. As for "giving a new public office to the petitioners for its installment", let's be clear: 1) There are no "petitioners", just me. 2) I am not a candidate for the "public office" in question This forum is doing very well and will continue to do very well. I'm just discussing the idea of having people on hand for minor shuffling around, because it seemed relevant at the time. Not planning a revolution here, pals.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Feb 7, 2018 16:09:16 GMT
...also, we can't sticky threads, since Tom and GK are sorta distant IIRC. I just checked the staff list and indeed, they're the only ones and have both not logged in since 2013. I didn't even notice we didn't have mods. This place is the best behaved online community I've ever seen, and that includes a Facebook group of go players. Still, it's always convenient to have a mod or two who can move threads around and so on. Maybe we should try and ask Tom to give permissions to a couple of people. I feel we have a number of members who have been active for many years and could do that job well (Daedalus?) What do you think, should we? If the community can agree on a few volunteers, we can try contacting Tom, maybe through his tweeter account, or his patreon acccount if there are any patrons here.
|
|
|
Post by aline on Feb 7, 2018 14:36:10 GMT
Red's name is Red. Communists are called Red. If Red is dressed like a communist, it's a very sly in-joke, and probably nothing more. Har har. That, and it illustrates the fact that fairies lack a lot of the cultural background that "born" humans have. I agree with you that we shouldn't read too much into it.
|
|