|
|
Post by rafk on Apr 12, 2023 7:22:06 GMT
Wildspec: tomorrow's panel after end of chapter is a mushroom cloud or equivalent device to depict Kat's reaction.
Wildspec: Kat is going to go all Serial Experiments Kat now.
|
|
|
|
Post by rafk on Apr 12, 2023 7:23:32 GMT
It seems to me that this is a possible violation of the Arbiter Terms and Conditions on the use of the Arrow, like duplicating the holder-body contract, so Kat would be forced to choose which one to use: her organic body or the "electronic wave" one currently in use. And they will not be fazed by Annie saying that Kat is locked out of her account... err, body. I'd forgotten about the Arbiter thing and I liked it better that way. Magical contract lawyering is an awful plot device. |
|
|
|
Post by guntherkrieg on Apr 12, 2023 9:32:43 GMT
It'll be interesting when Kat, now able to go outside her human body, manages to access the Ether. Basically horseshoe theory as applied between sufficiently analysed magic and sufficiently advanced science.
|
|
|
|
Post by blahzor on Apr 12, 2023 10:31:46 GMT
It'll be interesting when Kat, now able to go outside her human body, manages to access the Ether. Basically horseshoe theory as applied between sufficiently analysed magic and sufficiently advanced science. I think she will figure out how to convert all ether information into 1's, 0's and 2's |
|
|
|
Post by storyteller on Apr 13, 2023 3:59:17 GMT
This would fit. Robot wouldn't want to permanently hurt Kat but he's already done stuff like hijack the Cruise before. Kat has a possible problem in the workshop and has for years in story at this point.
He has been waiting for the only perfect form there is. Staying a CPU for a while was a small price to pay, for the power to integrate perfectly into the Angel's mechanical systems. Now he can make the Angel become what he always knew she could become, and make himself what he always knew *he* could become, when both are freed of mortal guise. Now, the New Age can truly begin.
And Kat being hijacked would fit Zimmy's correct but not accurate track record with her visions. |
|
|
|
Post by imaginaryfriend on Apr 21, 2023 9:51:01 GMT
TL;DR: I think the Court needs to erase the memories of most/all of the people left behind who know people who are leaving for the new world not just because of future etheric contamination but because the colony itself could disappear, mysteriously erased from existence, if they don't. Long Version: So, the Court is leaving for a new planet that they assure people is really real. Aata says that the new world needs to remain uninfected by "thoughts and rumors" and that anyone leaving for it needs to be forgotten so that stories and legends won't follow them. That makes sense, since the ether can make the impossible possible and someone left behind could follow, regardless of the distance and not knowing where it is, or otherwise contaminate their orderly paradise. I'm not even sure matter exists in the GCU. Ether, on the other hand, is undeniable. I think there's evidence that matter and ether exist on a continuum (see other much more lengthy posts I've made) but if I have to give up on one or the other I'd give up on matter by just redefining it as another form of ether. What drives the ether? In short, it's stories. In the past I've speculated that the currency of the Gunnerverse is stories. Where humans don't have answers they make them up and the ether makes it real, or real enough. Earthquake happens but don't know what an earthquake is? No problem, make up a story about an earth-shaking god or monster or whatever, problem solved. Contradictions in stories? No problem. Etheric bureaucracy, retroactive causation, time travel, alternate realities, whatever is required to fill in gaps can be made to happen. Travelling to another world itself is interesting and would make a good story. Lots of people would be interested in that. Yet the Court wants to isolate itself from the ether in order to live in a world where everything behaves according to knowable rules. Nature abhors a vacuum, it's said. This new colony that the Court is in the process of founding is going to be ethereally bankrupt and therefore a void because its status will indefinitely remain unknown to those humans left behind. People back on earth will be wondering if they're okay, if they starved, asphyxiated or froze on this alien planet, or if they prospered and built an advanced civilization based on their version of science, if they met non-ethereally attuned aliens and had adventures or mishaps. The colony will by necessity be cut off from any of these stories that it's featured in back on Earth and I think that frustration would create dangerous etheric pressure. If the pressure can't be relieved by intrusion, the corruption of the ether-free paradise, I think a catastrophic failure is a real danger. The more people wondering, the more pressure this will create. What would a catastrophic failure look like? I think it would be an etheric implosion, the reverse of a Zimmingham event. People and things inside the enclosed system would disappear until the pressure equalized... which I think would be a state where the perpetual uncertainty is or can be made manifest. Some things could and probably would remain, including cryptic clues that may be vague or lead to contradictory theories about what happened, but nothing that would leave definitive evidence of the colony's fate if/when humans eventually discover and explore it. I'm unsure if this would happen slowly or instantly but I'm inclined to think it would be fairly quick once it starts. Let me finish this insomnia-driven ramble by saying that the Court may be aware of this and have taken some sort of precaution beyond memory erasure, or perhaps they've been deceived by their backers and the new really-real planet is just an etheric pocket-kingdom, or otherwise a fraud, so this post isn't predictive, just speculative.
|
|
|
|
Post by jda on Apr 26, 2023 9:07:14 GMT
I wildspec with my little eye that the Mecha Angel /Omega is not Kat... but ROBOT.
He is the only one with Zealotism enough to go into Godhood, but has already positioned himself in the eyes of the New People as an Angel-like, made deals with the Devil (Loup), etc.
I even think Kat is Not who will kill Zimmy, but Robot somehow deflected the etheric neutrinos(?) coming from the future, so he would hide/remain invisible to the prophecies until the last moment when he will emerge from Kat's Shadow as the new OmegaPersonality.
Edit: Yes, I read too much Dune in GKC.
|
|
|
|
Post by TBeholder on Apr 26, 2023 22:36:19 GMT
I wildspec with my little eye that the Mecha Angel /Omega is not Kat... but ROBOT. He is the only one with Zealotism enough to go into Godhood How much did Coyote need? |
|
|
|
Post by blahzor on Apr 27, 2023 0:18:53 GMT
I wildspec with my little eye that the Mecha Angel /Omega is not Kat... but ROBOT. He is the only one with Zealotism enough to go into Godhood How much did Coyote need? I think Coyote only needed the ability to copy/will other abilities |
|
|
|
Post by jda on Apr 27, 2023 2:36:05 GMT
I wildspec with my little eye that the Mecha Angel /Omega is not Kat... but ROBOT. He is the only one with Zealotism enough to go into Godhood How much did Coyote need? Exccellent remark. Let me specify: The only one of the present known characters in the comic not gods theirselves already, with the Specific Technical and Robotic Zealootism enough... |
|
|
|
Post by blahzor on May 12, 2023 11:56:23 GMT
re-reading huge chunk of chapters...i'm really thinking Jones knows everything that's going to happen already and what she did the original time it happenned. including most of the stuff tht will happen in this universe and choose not to change anything in her sphere
|
|
|
|
Post by exquisitecorpus on May 13, 2023 11:33:53 GMT
This would fit. Robot wouldn't want to permanently hurt Kat but he's already done stuff like hijack the Cruise before. Kat has a possible problem in the workshop and has for years in story at this point.
He has been waiting for the only perfect form there is. Staying a CPU for a while was a small price to pay, for the power to integrate perfectly into the Angel's mechanical systems. Now he can make the Angel become what he always knew she could become, and make himself what he always knew *he* could become, when both are freed of mortal guise. Now, the New Age can truly begin.
When you put it like that, it does seem glaringly suspicious. Robot has already demonstrated time and again a propensity for megalomania. He built Kat's myth from the ground up and already acts as her prophet, and de facto leader of her cult. He's kept Kat in the dark so far about the true extent of her cult's fanaticism, and treats her like a figurehead. He interprets her actions as dogma. He hasn't been seen with Shadow--the only person grounding him--in a looong time. Why not aim higher? Why not usurp Kat's place? Why exclude Kat in his deal with Loup? Strange, no? To not safeguard the well-being of your precious, as-of-yet mortal god? And we've yet to see what causes the rest of the old overriden robots to reawaken. Could very well be Robot's doing, not Kat's. |
|
|
|
Post by TBeholder on May 14, 2023 18:26:47 GMT
Why exclude Kat in his deal with Loup? Strange, no? To not safeguard the well-being of your precious, as-of-yet mortal god? See the last panel of the previous page. That’s what happens when you roam links instead of reading in sequence. |
|
|
|
Post by pyradonis on May 15, 2023 16:19:23 GMT
Why exclude Kat in his deal with Loup? Strange, no? To not safeguard the well-being of your precious, as-of-yet mortal god? See the last panel of the previous page. That’s what happens when you roam links instead of reading in sequence. S13 asks Loup to not "interfere with the work of the Angel". We have seen that this work continues on without Kat's supervision. S13 gives instructions and connects with the CPUs found in the dirt and gives them his speech about the ocean and about how they "must" choose a new body now. The necessary machines and devices are operated by S13 and the Golems. Kat has long since been concerned with other things already - building the tic-toc, studying the structure of the matter the Court is built from, inventing the earth movers, hacking the Court, designing her new cyberimplant and so on... When has she last been seen doing any supervision or administrative work on the NP project itself? Kat's not the type for it. She always needs new things to focus on. New ideas, new inventions, new research. She happily left the repetitive and exhausting tasks to workers who do not tire - how convenient that the one who actually supervises everything has opted to stay in a robot body for now, enabling him to work almost without pause. Oh, I'm so sure that from S13's point of view, the Angel's work does not require Kat's presence. |
|
|
|
Post by TBeholder on May 15, 2023 16:52:10 GMT
S13 asks Loup to not "interfere with the work of the Angel". We have seen that this work continues on without Kat's supervision. Well, the transfers continue. But “her work” covers all sorts of things as long as it’s among her projects, and complete lack of “interference” with all of this would limit Loup to distracting her only in free time and not enough to affect her schedule. |
|
|
|
Post by pyradonis on May 15, 2023 20:36:25 GMT
S13 asks Loup to not "interfere with the work of the Angel". We have seen that this work continues on without Kat's supervision. Well, the transfers continue. But “her work” covers all sorts of things as long as it’s among her projects, and complete lack of “interference” with all of this would limit Loup to distracting her only in free time and not enough to affect her schedule. I admit my theory depends on what S13 considers "the work of the Angel". I am assuming that to him it is only that which is relevant for his religion of Robotkind Ascension. |
|
|
|
Post by exquisitecorpus on May 17, 2023 2:37:09 GMT
See the last panel of the previous page. That’s what happens when you roam links instead of reading in sequence. S13 asks Loup to not "interfere with the work of the Angel". We have seen that this work continues on without Kat's supervision. S13 gives instructions and connects with the CPUs found in the dirt and gives them his speech about the ocean and about how they "must" choose a new body now. The necessary machines and devices are operated by S13 and the Golems. Kat has long since been concerned with other things already - building the tic-toc, studying the structure of the matter the Court is built from, inventing the earth movers, hacking the Court, designing her new cyberimplant and so on... When has she last been seen doing any supervision or administrative work on the NP project itself? Kat's not the type for it. She always needs new things to focus on. New ideas, new inventions, new research. She happily left the repetitive and exhausting tasks to workers who do not tire - how convenient that the one who actually supervises everything has opted to stay in a robot body for now, enabling him to work almost without pause. Oh, I'm so sure that from S13's point of view, the Angel's work does not require Kat's presence. This. Exactly what pyradonis said. I was aware of that panel, and in fact debated whether or not to address it, but opted to streamline my argument instead, since my last wildspec post here was... not exactly short, haha. I can see the wording of the negotiation/deal going either way--maybe Kat's life is a given. Or maybe it was cleverly and nefariously excluded. I personally just like to entertain the possibility of a Luciferian betrayal because I love that trope. This whole angel thing--pretty much begging for a touch of Milton. One last unaddressed point of interpretation against the betrayal theory: perhaps Robot's idealized form is an angel not because he wants to usurp the place of the Angel, but simply because he is a Seraph--he's just hewing literally to the name of his model. |
|
|
|
Post by silicondream on May 17, 2023 16:09:19 GMT
S13 asks Loup to not "interfere with the work of the Angel". We have seen that this work continues on without Kat's supervision. S13 gives instructions and connects with the CPUs found in the dirt and gives them his speech about the ocean and about how they "must" choose a new body now. The necessary machines and devices are operated by S13 and the Golems. Kat has long since been concerned with other things already - building the tic-toc, studying the structure of the matter the Court is built from, inventing the earth movers, hacking the Court, designing her new cyberimplant and so on... When has she last been seen doing any supervision or administrative work on the NP project itself? Kat's not the type for it. She always needs new things to focus on. New ideas, new inventions, new research. She happily left the repetitive and exhausting tasks to workers who do not tire - how convenient that the one who actually supervises everything has opted to stay in a robot body for now, enabling him to work almost without pause. Oh, I'm so sure that from S13's point of view, the Angel's work does not require Kat's presence. This. Exactly what pyradonis said. I was aware of that panel, and in fact debated whether or not to address it, but opted to streamline my argument instead, since my last wildspec post here was... not exactly short, haha. I can see the wording of the negotiation/deal going either way--maybe Kat's life is a given. Or maybe it was cleverly and nefariously excluded. I personally just like to entertain the possibility of a Luciferian betrayal because I love that trope. This whole angel thing--pretty much begging for a touch of Milton. One last unaddressed point of interpretation against the betrayal theory: perhaps Robot's idealized form is an angel not because he wants to usurp the place of the Angel, but simply because he is a Seraph--he's just hewing literally to the name of his model. Or perhaps he hopes that taking on the role of the angel will enable/force Kat to accept the role of full godhood instead. Sort of an anti-Lucifer, securing dominion for his mistress whether she wants it or not. |
|
|
|
Post by Isildur on May 18, 2023 18:52:25 GMT
It'll be interesting when Kat, now able to go outside her human body, manages to access the Ether. Basically horseshoe theory as applied between sufficiently analysed magic and sufficiently advanced science. I think she will figure out how to convert all ether information into 1's, 0's and 2's |
|
|
|
Post by Isildur on May 18, 2023 19:30:20 GMT
He has been waiting for the only perfect form there is. Staying a CPU for a while was a small price to pay, for the power to integrate perfectly into the Angel's mechanical systems. Now he can make the Angel become what he always knew she could become, and make himself what he always knew *he* could become, when both are freed of mortal guise. Now, the New Age can truly begin.
When you put it like that, it does seem glaringly suspicious. Robot has already demonstrated time and again a propensity for megalomania. He built Kat's myth from the ground up and already acts as her prophet, and de facto leader of her cult. He's kept Kat in the dark so far about the true extent of her cult's fanaticism, and treats her like a figurehead. He interprets her actions as dogma. He hasn't been seen with Shadow--the only person grounding him--in a looong time. Why not aim higher? Why not usurp Kat's place? Why exclude Kat in his deal with Loup? Strange, no? To not safeguard the well-being of your precious, as-of-yet mortal god? And we've yet to see what causes the rest of the old overriden robots to reawaken. Could very well be Robot's doing, not Kat's. I think Robot does have true reverence for Kat, and doesn't think of her as a figurehead, but rather as someone who has not yet fully awakened to understanding her own "divine" importance. I think Robot believes that any present trespasses against her present intentions will be forgiven once she fully becomes her destined self. (In the event she doesn't forgive him, it may still be worth it.) I've wondered if Robot was ever given access to some sort of prophecy. It might have been a prophecy not of this timeline, but the avoided one. Or, rather, one of the avoided ones. Remember, the Norns said Kat "usually" has a mechanical bird with her. There could be a lot of bad timelines. |
|
|
|
Post by blahzor on May 25, 2023 23:35:32 GMT
ultra spec
the zimmy white spiders are different universe New People because Zimmy is Kat, Gamma is condensed Annie essence
|
|
|
|
Post by blahzor on May 26, 2023 0:21:36 GMT
Also anyone putting a theory together that Kat happened to develop the floating screen then after the shifted Annie was sent back to the court while Annie stayed talking to Loup?
|
|
|
|
Post by todd on Jun 2, 2023 0:15:27 GMT
I've mentioned this elsewhere, but a thought I've had about the Court's actions. It's struck me that the Court is often strangely inactive about many of the events going on, particularly given the surveillance it's supposedly keeping and general level of resources. They seem all but oblivious to things like Kat's robot project (which, since it grants the robots greater freedom, I can imagine the Court being not in favor of); they know that Annie and her friends snuck out (to free Jeanne) but made no attempt to interfere (beyond one member of Court security privately using it to pressure Kat into helping her - and her plan is to free the Court with her boy-friend, so she's not acting on behalf of it). Its inactivity is obviously necessary for the story, but it still seems strange, from an in-story perspective, that it's acting this way.
Then I thought about the recent revelations about how, ever since Kat saved Annie's life via the Tic-Tocs, Omega's predictions of the future had been growing increasingly faulty, and wondered if that could be the explanation. The speculation here is that the Court had been relying on Omega's predictions for a long time - long enough that it had grown dependent on them. Instead of engaging in serious thinking and planning, they'd simply consult Omega and act accordingly.
And by the time that they realize that something's gone wrong with Omega, the damage has been done. Their skills at planning things out, keeping a watch on their surroundings, etc. had grown rusty. They didn't notice Kat's project because Omega didn't mention it. They didn't realize in time about Annie freeing Jeanne because Omega didn't mention it. Omega didn't predict any of the troubles, so the Court wasn't prepared for them. They'd let Omega figure everything out and stopped thinking for themselves "What's likely to happen if we do this?"
The Court seems to have recovered enough to come up with the "move to another planet" idea, of course. On the other hand that might have been something they were planning even before Annie fell off the bridge, as part of their wish to get as far away from the ether as possible (certainly many of its components, such as the Star-Ocean, had been around for a long while).
|
|
|
|
Post by arf on Jun 2, 2023 12:12:00 GMT
Annie noticed how sparsely populated the Court was quite early on. Might the reason be that all the people that will be going to the new world have already been filtered out of her awareness? Test: who do we know that's going? Current answer: Nobody. |
|
|
|
Post by guntherkrieg on Jun 2, 2023 13:25:02 GMT
Annie noticed how sparsely populated the Court was quite early on. Might the reason be that all the people that will be going to the new world have already been filtered out of her awareness? Test: who do we know that's going? Current answer: Nobody. That would be a great twist. Imagine if there's been a whole cast of characters who stories/lives Annie doesn't remember, and therefore we've never seen. And it would parallel Coyote taking Ysengrin's memories. |
|
|
|
Post by maxptc on Jun 3, 2023 22:15:45 GMT
Okay so once everyone else turns, Robot gets a new body. Him and the other new people, Jerrek included, go super fanatic turning on humans and magical creatures alike in the name of a horffied Kat. Its pretty wild wild spec, but also seems like the last chance for this comic to end in a somewhat robot apocalypse. They can fight against magic, Robot may have access to Kat level magic, Jerrek is Loup another god figure now entwined in this religious Robot cult and almost all the other Robots and New People we have seen have questionable motivations. It's a long shot, but I would really like a Robot apocalypse.
|
|
|
|
Post by TBeholder on Jun 4, 2023 10:05:35 GMT
Wildspec: Kat is going to go all Serial Experiments Kat now. On the other eyestalk, Kat may go massively parallel. I've mentioned this elsewhere, but a thought I've had about the Court's actions. It's struck me that the Court is often strangely inactive about many of the events going on, particularly given the surveillance it's supposedly keeping and general level of resources. Who is Mr. Court? The Court isn’t one big monster with its own will, it’s a convoluted cluster of cabals, circles, cliques, clubs, companies, conspiracies and coteries.  And that’s the problem. The bottleneck resource of its chief cabal is not only less than overabundant, but may be stretched very thin whenever they have to do more than one thing at the same time, because that’s the trusted people. Now there seems to be less to do, but… they had to keep their personnel close to the exodus site and let others evacuate. Right when the robots are left in an useless state. Thus they had to take over as many new jobs as there were their members on non-essential positions, so now lots of them must either learn new jobs passably well or help those who do (while at the same time doing their own). Also, they have to manage a massive crisis like this and advance their own plans, likely ahead of the schedule. Put together, it looks like most of them were rather busy recently. Then I thought about the recent revelations about how, ever since Kat saved Annie's life via the Tic-Tocs, Omega's predictions of the future had been growing increasingly faulty, and wondered if that could be the explanation. The speculation here is that the Court had been relying on Omega's predictions for a long time - long enough that it had grown dependent on them. Instead of engaging in serious thinking and planning, they'd simply consult Omega and act accordingly. And by the time that they realize that something's gone wrong with Omega, the damage has been done. Their skills at planning things out, keeping a watch on their surroundings, etc. had grown rusty. Yes, it’s a huge temptation to outsource mental functions and allow a potentially crippling dependency in one cup, and they clearly did not resist it too much. They have surveillance (but not necessarily good threat assessment), and maybe other ways to mitigate the problem. But even if not all the eggs were in that basket, there were too many. Once they noticed its unreliability, they are in the position of sudden near-blindness. Just like the navigators in Dune when they have seen an approaching wall of discontinuity without any way to go around it… with the same response: quiet panic and risk aversion. Which is at least better than loud panic and flailing, but makes them sitting ducks for any other party with similar capabilities (in this case, Coyote). Now they need to fix it (which presumably involves gathering more data). And kick-start viable backup solutions in case they cannot find and fix the errors so quickly that it won’t matter. Then they are hit by two more otherwise insignificant crises without being able to waltz through them… and so on. Eventually, the great crisis they failed to contain, never mind solve. So they give up and opt to accelerate a plan allowing to run away from it. What else could they do? |
|
|
|
Post by imaginaryfriend on Jun 5, 2023 3:12:06 GMT
I agree that the Court probably used Omega as a lynchpin for decision-making though I'd figure in practice it was more of an arbiter between factions than a guiding light. One or more people in leadership would propose courses of action, they'd use Omega to run things forward and see what the consequences of each would be, then form a consensus based on which outcome would be more desirable (politically and practically).
[rant]The thing is, the problem with Omega first became apparent years ago when Antimony didn't die when she fell from the bridge. As an organization the Court has been unable to come up with a solution this whole time. The crisis of "Loup" attacking and the aftermath made things worse, of course, but they've very likely been faced with organizational paralysis this whole time. I've had the personal misfortune of dealing with that sort of thing many times irl. It happens when the informal power structure overgrows and chokes out the formal but no one individual or faction can actually assume preeminence. Sometimes everybody can see what urgently needs to be done but nobody dares to actually step up and do it, or even propose it out loud, for fear of what their rivals will do in response or other consequences to their own interests. Make one serious misstep and you're out, so best to not take any risky steps at all. Outside consultants can earn a pretty penny just by coming in and stating the blatantly obvious or, alternatively, siding with whichever faction will grease their palms sufficiently in return.
The Court appears to lack any formal structure above heads of individual departments and that makes things worse. At some point in the past that probably wasn't so, as it's called a court, there's a hall with a throne-looking chair, and we know there was at least one noble (Sir Young). It's true that their population isn't that big but people who are naturally better leaders should have emerged just in the general course of things over the decades. The fact that apparently nobody's truly in charge implies that there's sufficient behind-the-scenes maneuvering that anyone who could be a threat to the informal structure never gets a chance to demonstrate their capability; indeed, anyone who could be a good leader is probably singled out early and subjected to slights and low frustrations until they wear out and permanently give up, becoming peaceful cogs in the greater machine. The emergence of a decent leader would be a direct threat to the authority of the (mediocre) current leaders of the various departments, therefore mediocracy and paralysis rules the day. I suppose it's a testament to the severity of the crisis that they can even accomplish minor things.[/rant]
|
|
|
|
Post by mturtle7 on Jun 17, 2023 21:49:52 GMT
I agree that the Court probably used Omega as a lynchpin for decision-making though I'd figure in practice it was more of an arbiter between factions than a guiding light. One or more people in leadership would propose courses of action, they'd use Omega to run things forward and see what the consequences of each would be, then form a consensus based on which outcome would be more desirable (politically and practically). [rant]The thing is, the problem with Omega first became apparent years ago when Antimony didn't die when she fell from the bridge. As an organization the Court has been unable to come up with a solution this whole time. The crisis of "Loup" attacking and the aftermath made things worse, of course, but they've very likely been faced with organizational paralysis this whole time. I've had the personal misfortune of dealing with that sort of thing many times irl. It happens when the informal power structure overgrows and chokes out the formal but no one individual or faction can actually assume preeminence. Sometimes everybody can see what urgently needs to be done but nobody dares to actually step up and do it, or even propose it out loud, for fear of what their rivals will do in response or other consequences to their own interests. Make one serious misstep and you're out, so best to not take any risky steps at all. Outside consultants can earn a pretty penny just by coming in and stating the blatantly obvious or, alternatively, siding with whichever faction will grease their palms sufficiently in return. The Court appears to lack any formal structure above heads of individual departments and that makes things worse. At some point in the past that probably wasn't so, as it's called a court, there's a hall with a throne-looking chair, and we know there was at least one noble (Sir Young). It's true that their population isn't that big but people who are naturally better leaders should have emerged just in the general course of things over the decades. The fact that apparently nobody's truly in charge implies that there's sufficient behind-the-scenes maneuvering that anyone who could be a threat to the informal structure never gets a chance to demonstrate their capability; indeed, anyone who could be a good leader is probably singled out early and subjected to slights and low frustrations until they wear out and permanently give up, becoming peaceful cogs in the greater machine. The emergence of a decent leader would be a direct threat to the authority of the (mediocre) current leaders of the various departments, therefore mediocracy and paralysis rules the day. I suppose it's a testament to the severity of the crisis that they can even accomplish minor things.[/rant] Oh this portrayal of the inner Court sounds HORRIFYINGLY accurate to literally everything we've seen of them in the comic so far. Anja's computer getting dismissed as useless on the basis of a vague principle despite it's obvious utility, Renard getting singled out as an enemy to be contained long before he did literally anything remotely threatening, Antimony getting passed over as medium when everyone knew she was the most qualified candidate, Jones' power and prominence within the Court hierarchy despite (or rather, because of) her aggressively unaligned status, Tony getting randomly pulled back in against his will after years of absence and almost immediately rising to a position of significant power, Anja's shield magitech getting installed in all robots without them or her or indeed most of the Court knowing about it, Annie getting blamed for everything whenever Loup does something bad, Aata getting ousted and replaced by his longtime rival as soon as he slipped up even once...the list just goes on and on! We've been thinking of the Court as a mysterious and powerful ruler with a secret master plan for so long, when in fact literally all signs have ALWAYS pointed to a bloated, leaderless, bureaucracy in the midst of dying an agonizingly slow death...
EDIT: This has brought on a realization for me, that through this lens, "Omega" is actually probably the Elon Musk equivalent, the hotshot who's had too many sycophants' hyperbolic praise go to their head and has been made far too central to too many of the organization's systems so now they're making a series of terrible decisions that result in cascading failures across the board which they and their supporters absolutely refuse to acknowledge.
|
|
|
|
Post by todd on Jun 18, 2023 13:56:34 GMT
Oh this portrayal of the inner Court sounds HORRIFYINGLY accurate to literally everything we've seen of them in the comic so far. Anja's computer getting dismissed as useless on the basis of a vague principle despite it's obvious utility, Renard getting singled out as an enemy to be contained long before he did literally anything remotely threatening, Antimony getting passed over as medium when everyone knew she was the most qualified candidate, Jones' power and prominence within the Court hierarchy despite (or rather, because of) her aggressively unaligned status, Tony getting randomly pulled back in against his will after years of absence and almost immediately rising to a position of significant power, Anja's shield magitech getting installed in all robots without them or her or indeed most of the Court knowing about it, Annie getting blamed for everything whenever Loup does something bad, Aata getting ousted and replaced by his longtime rival as soon as he slipped up even once...the list just goes on and on! We've been thinking of the Court as a mysterious and powerful ruler with a secret master plan for so long, when in fact literally all signs have ALWAYS pointed to a bloated, leaderless, bureaucracy in the midst of dying an agonizingly slow death... Some of these actions do make sense in a twisted way. Annie getting blamed for Loup's actions, for example - it's easier to blame a student in your midst than a powerful wolf-god outside the Court, beyond your reach. Like being angry at the world but unable to do anything about it, so you kick a stone or a tree, or slam a door - or take it out on someone smaller and weaker than yourself. |
|
