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Post by imaginaryfriend on Apr 24, 2020 7:05:09 GMT
Looks like the job is pretty much done. I wonder if we're going to learn the names of any of the wood-shifters, or what they got paid. |
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Post by madjack on Apr 24, 2020 7:18:21 GMT
I'm going to assume the promise of 'this is probably going to help us fix the Forest, maybe?' was enough to get them to come along and help out.
Given how quick this has been, Eggs and co. probably swept all the wisps out in advance, or the ones that were dealt with in chapter 72 were all of them.
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Post by wies on Apr 24, 2020 7:44:12 GMT
Well, that was quick, and so I am expecting complications to come.
Wonder how Kat is going to play into all this.
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Apr 24, 2020 8:22:29 GMT
Wonder how Kat is going to play into all this. Hmm... by asking the Antimonies for all sorts of unnecessary details about Idra and Eggers while wearing a goofy grin? |
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Post by shadow3 on Apr 24, 2020 8:57:15 GMT
We're getting closer to the endgame.
Renard will get his original body back after being forced to come to the woods, as Loup wants him to witness true ascent to cosmic supremacy.
The lake water will instead go to Renard and empower him.
A Battle of the Gods then commences, with all of the great spirits of the world alerted to the clash.
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Post by lamissquichante on Apr 24, 2020 10:38:45 GMT
I thought the water got spilled? Obviously I was wrong... when was it mentioned what happened to the water again?
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Post by netherdan on Apr 24, 2020 12:18:01 GMT
Everything ready to give the mad god sieging the Court all he needs to become even more powerful.
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Post by Eily on Apr 24, 2020 12:44:29 GMT
Given how quick this has been, Eggs and co. probably swept all the wisps out in advance, or the ones that were dealt with in chapter 72 were all of them. You call it "dealing with the wisps", Idramore called it a fantastic date. |
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Post by saardvark on Apr 24, 2020 13:14:02 GMT
Everything ready to give the mad god sieging the Court all he needs to become even more powerful. yeah, I never quite understood why Annie and the Court are actually going through with this idea, given the strong possibility that they are only giving Loup the power he needs to overwhelm their defenses and complete their destruction.... If they refused to return the items, Loup could still attack them as punishment, but he'd be less, maybe much less powerful (he's been thwarted once already!) |
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Post by pyradonis on Apr 24, 2020 13:59:33 GMT
Oh, an Annie with a face! Everything ready to give the mad god sieging the Court all he needs to become even more powerful. yeah, I never quite understood why Annie and the Court are actually going through with this idea, given the strong possibility that they are only giving Loup the power he needs to overwhelm their defenses and complete their destruction.... If they refused to return the items, Loup could still attack them as punishment, but he'd be less, maybe much less powerful (he's been thwarted once already!) Maybe because Coyote said Loup would die when everything was returned.  |
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Post by migrantworker on Apr 24, 2020 15:01:44 GMT
Oh, an Annie with a face! yeah, I never quite understood why Annie and the Court are actually going through with this idea, given the strong possibility that they are only giving Loup the power he needs to overwhelm their defenses and complete their destruction.... If they refused to return the items, Loup could still attack them as punishment, but he'd be less, maybe much less powerful (he's been thwarted once already!) Maybe because Coyote said Loup would die when everything was returned. And yet they gave Loup back the goose bone before Coyote's revelation... I kind of understand what the motivation might have been though. Loup did promise to stop attacking the Court if he gets what he wants, and between him being as unstable as he is, the lingering damage from the earlier attack and the shield offering some battle-proven protection, removing the reasons for appearing on his radar does sound like the most expedient course of action. |
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Post by ctso74 on Apr 24, 2020 16:19:59 GMT
Oh, an Annie with a face! yeah, I never quite understood why Annie and the Court are actually going through with this idea, given the strong possibility that they are only giving Loup the power he needs to overwhelm their defenses and complete their destruction.... If they refused to return the items, Loup could still attack them as punishment, but he'd be less, maybe much less powerful (he's been thwarted once already!) Maybe because Coyote said Loup would die when everything was returned. Plus, the Court probably has some more tricks in reserve, similar to robots suddenly creating a force field. As usual, the Court seems more interested in keeping any deity out of their "business", than anything else. They're already having to deal with the absence of their robot custodians. If the Court is forced to divert more resources, to dealing with this new Forest god, they may decide his removal would coincide more with their "goals". I imagine risk-benefit analysis has a lot to do with it, and our lack of details on Court apotheosis, Omega Device, etc. makes their decisions head-scratching. |
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Post by saardvark on Apr 24, 2020 16:24:01 GMT
Oh, an Annie with a face! Maybe because Coyote said Loup would die when everything was returned. And yet they gave Loup back the goose bone before Coyote's revelation... I kind of understand what the motivation might have been though. Loup did promise to stop attacking the Court if he gets what he wants, and between him being as unstable as he is, the lingering damage from the earlier attack and the shield offering some battle-proven protection, removing the reasons for appearing on his radar does sound like the most expedient course of action. Yeah, he's been pretty dodgy about similar promises though... he promised he wouldn't attack while the Annie's were working hard to get the items, which he kept, but he did nothing to stop his minions from continuing to attack. Wisps, wooden doggies, gurdigs (apparently, since George though Idra was one when under a wispy haze...) and more... |
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Post by migrantworker on Apr 24, 2020 17:15:03 GMT
And yet they gave Loup back the goose bone before Coyote's revelation... I kind of understand what the motivation might have been though. Loup did promise to stop attacking the Court if he gets what he wants, and between him being as unstable as he is, the lingering damage from the earlier attack and the shield offering some battle-proven protection, removing the reasons for appearing on his radar does sound like the most expedient course of action. Yeah, he's been pretty dodgy about similar promises though... he promised he wouldn't attack while the Annie's were working hard to get the items, which he kept, but he did nothing to stop his minions from continuing to attack. Wisps, wooden doggies, gurdigs (apparently, since George though Idra was one when under a wispy haze...) and more... Well, he also made it clear in the last panel here that a complete end of all hostilities is not on the cards. But still, I reckon it is a deal worth risking. It's much easier to win a game when the final boss only expects you to keep a respectable distance. |
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Post by Eversist on Apr 24, 2020 18:50:36 GMT
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Post by todd on Apr 25, 2020 0:21:40 GMT
Everything ready to give the mad god sieging the Court all he needs to become even more powerful. yeah, I never quite understood why Annie and the Court are actually going through with this idea, given the strong possibility that they are only giving Loup the power he needs to overwhelm their defenses and complete their destruction.... If they refused to return the items, Loup could still attack them as punishment, but he'd be less, maybe much less powerful (he's been thwarted once already!) I suspect that it's a case of not having any other plans at present - and the hope that maybe (as some readers have speculated) giving Loup the lake water will somehow undo the events that created him and return Coyote and Ysengrin to normal. We do know that Loup leaving the Court alone isn't an option; he's stated that the Court is doing something that's hurting or threatening the Forest, which means, from his point of view, that the Court has to be destroyed. (Negotiating with it and trying to open its eyes to the harm it's - presumably unwittingly - causing doesn't seem to match his style. Not that it might make much difference, since I doubt the Court's going to give up its scientific project just because it might cause some problems for a forest filled with talking animals and "green-skinned savages" - all the more so after Loup's attack. If anything, they might respond with a "So our activities are hurting the Forest? Good! Let's turn them up full blast and wipe those vermin out!") |
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Apr 25, 2020 9:48:01 GMT
I wonder if we're going to learn the names of any of the wood-shifters, or what they got paid. Maybe just the trade: www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=2246Maybe. I think that the forest dudes would probably prefer to call it even in exchange for the loan of a few wood-shifters, so that may even be useful in this case... ...but it is sorta frowned-on in some circles to require (or even seem to require) manual labor (particularly from refugees or other displaced persons) in exchange for humanitarian aid. Usually there is money involved, the thinking being that the money paid is part of the aid and will help with economic recovery because the workers buy things that aren't included with said aid, but different cultures have different ways of doing things. My uninformed opinion is that the Court would want to compensate the wood-shifters and not make it look like they were exploiting the crisis in any way, since they could easily afford to do so even if the shifters didn't want money... but it's possible that the Court as an organization might just give zero shytes about how it looks. |
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Post by pyradonis on Apr 25, 2020 18:12:53 GMT
Maybe. I think that the forest dudes would probably prefer to call it even in exchange for the loan of a few wood-shifters, so that may even be useful in this case... ...but it is sorta frowned-on in some circles to require (or even seem to require) manual labor (particularly from refugees or other displaced persons) in exchange for humanitarian aid. Usually there is money involved, the thinking being that the money paid is part of the aid and will help with economic recovery because the workers buy things that aren't included with said aid, but different cultures have different ways of doing things. My uninformed opinion is that the Court would want to compensate the wood-shifters and not make it look like they were exploiting the crisis in any way, since they could easily afford to do so even if the shifters didn't want money... but it's possible that the Court as an organization might just give zero shytes about how it looks. Plus: Have you ever seen anyone in the Court OR the Forest using some sort of money? The Court might have paid with luxury goods or services of some kind, but as those who normally manufactured goods / performed services are busy elsewhere (upholding the shield or getting new bodies) and a lot was lost during attack and evacuation I would not be too sure how much the Court can actually offer right now. Besides, as Idra said, roofs, clothes and (bugged) food. |
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Apr 25, 2020 22:56:02 GMT
Assuming that the forest dudes had contact with other humans at some point before the Court/Wood divide (and names like "Marcus" suggest they did) they should remember money. They may not recognize its current forms but they should understand the idea of exchanging it for goods and services. They may use only trade among themselves but they have gold jewelry and even if they won't trade in jewelry for some social reasons (because its a symbol of rank in the clan or whatever) they would or should recognize that it has exchange value. They may want to hold onto money even though they can't do anything with it as a memento of what they did and in case they can use it someday. I do think they'd rather be paid in something else, though.
It's true that the Court just supplies people with things they need and may not pay them in a conventional sense. That said, they have a lot of pull with the outside world and even if the Court has no cash or holdings whatsoever (which I find difficult to believe) could probably get the government to give them a few gold torcs or trade-bracelets, or bolts of silk or whatever, on short notice. That merch would only cost a few thousand $USD which is nothing in the face of the relationship. Even assuming that they are completely cut off from the outside world they've got to have some gold, silver, and platinum on hand for experiments. If failing even that, there should be some jewelry or objects d' art in particular people's houses that could be donated to the cause or bought in return for compensation later.
The forest dudes may not appreciate it, wanting a clean slate, but I would think that the Court would want to pay the wood-shifters not only for the sake of appearances but as a precedent. Those who cooperate with the Court get rewarded. If they don't it may pass in the name of general cooperation because of the nature of the crisis but what happens after that? The forest dudes may go back to the wood, eventually, but that will probably take a while and Eggers may not be the only one who would want more... future relations. Without a crisis to compel cooperation the forest dudes will probably want to stay farther away from the Court then before "Loup" attacked/froze everything so as to hopefully avoid the next crisis.
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Post by speedwell on Apr 26, 2020 8:59:40 GMT
Call me crazy, but I get the uncomfortable feeling that we're really looking at vastly overqualified engineers/architects/sculptors doing the equivalent of pushing heavy boxes of machine parts around without a forklift. It's kind of the same awareness I have in the hospital, when a nursing intern with a heavy foreign accent expertly changes a dressing or a catheter bag and asks me a few pointed and intelligent questions about my condition, that the person is probably a fully qualified doctor in their home country. Immigrants - we get the job done.  |
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Apr 26, 2020 11:49:25 GMT
Call me crazy, but I get the uncomfortable feeling that we're really looking at vastly overqualified engineers/architects/sculptors doing the equivalent of pushing heavy boxes of machine parts around without a forklift. Possibly... but not necessarily. This is absolutely not a normal job for wood-shifters, and I feel very confident in writing that because of the size of this tree in comparison with the the buildings they normally make. It's more like having stone-masons and maybe sculptors bore a mine tunnel with jackhammers, I guess? They're used to more delicate work but they just need to make passage and brace it so that it doesn't collapse in the short term, maybe bridge gaps periodically; it doesn't need to look pretty or last, just be effective and safe. Lots and lots of shifting needed but not much finesse nor intricate structural understanding required (until they're near the glass jar at the very end of the job) means that maybe the best and brightest are not required, which is good because the best may not want to do this job. There may be social ramifications for shifters who are considered top of their profession and at least in the short term I figure there won't be much in the way of thanks or kudos from the other forest dudes. Long term they've written themselves into a Coyote story in a small way and may become famous for it, or at least remembered, but at the moment they're getting involved in Antimonies' meddling. So who showed up? The people who said yes when asked. They seem to be working together without friction and not minding being around Court folk... or maybe they're just happily following Idra for Idra-related reasons. Whatever else they are, they're probably not third-string or worse in the profession, else they wouldn't have been asked. |
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Post by Runningflame on Apr 26, 2020 17:00:13 GMT
Call me crazy, but I get the uncomfortable feeling that we're really looking at vastly overqualified engineers/architects/sculptors doing the equivalent of pushing heavy boxes of machine parts around without a forklift. It's kind of the same awareness I have in the hospital, when a nursing intern with a heavy foreign accent expertly changes a dressing or a catheter bag and asks me a few pointed and intelligent questions about my condition, that the person is probably a fully qualified doctor in their home country. Immigrants - we get the job done. Looks like Proboards ate your link. Was it, by chance, this one? I know someone who's a trained lawyer, originally from Ukraine, now lives in the US. Right now she's sitting at home taking English classes. After that, she'll have to go back to law school--she says the US legal system is significantly different from the Ukrainian one. It must be frustrating to have to build up from basics all over again. |
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Post by speedwell on Apr 26, 2020 17:37:07 GMT
Call me crazy, but I get the uncomfortable feeling that we're really looking at vastly overqualified engineers/architects/sculptors doing the equivalent of pushing heavy boxes of machine parts around without a forklift. It's kind of the same awareness I have in the hospital, when a nursing intern with a heavy foreign accent expertly changes a dressing or a catheter bag and asks me a few pointed and intelligent questions about my condition, that the person is probably a fully qualified doctor in their home country. Immigrants - we get the job done. Looks like Proboards ate your link. Was it, by chance, this one? I know someone who's a trained lawyer, originally from Ukraine, now lives in the US. Right now she's sitting at home taking English classes. After that, she'll have to go back to law school--she says the US legal system is significantly different from the Ukrainian one. It must be frustrating to have to build up from basics all over again. Yup, it did eat my link... thanks. |
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