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Post by arf on Aug 15, 2022 7:06:15 GMT
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Post by philman on Aug 15, 2022 7:12:53 GMT
Interesting to see that Shell was still invited to the meeting, despite being healed by Aata. I guess only we saw her renounce the shadow men, she didn't do it publicly.
Also Shell and Aata seem to be enjoying their newfound "retirement" at least!
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Post by justhalf on Aug 15, 2022 7:14:48 GMT
Is this (panel 3 onwards) a flashback of some sort? Or does it show some time after Kat told the story to Annie (at the beach), then they go to Shell and Aata to ask about this whole thing?
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Post by madjack on Aug 15, 2022 7:16:11 GMT
Interesting to see that Shell was still invited to the meeting, despite being healed by Aata. I guess only we saw her renounce the shadow men, she didn't do it publicly. Also Shell and Aata seem to be enjoying their newfound "retirement" at least! That probably wouldn't count, since it only magically healed her, not gave her a connection to the ether. I'd guess she's there to see if she's been lied to or not. Also note the comma at the end of panel 2. It's either a typo or Annie keeps interrupting Kat's story.
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Post by speedwell on Aug 15, 2022 7:16:25 GMT
"Flee the evils of this world and make their own." A subtle ambiguity from Aata there, the evils of this world being clearly insufficient.
(Also now wondering whether my husband is up for a boozy seafood lunch in Donegal Town later, hmm.)
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Post by bicarbonat on Aug 15, 2022 7:23:50 GMT
Alright, that's Maitreya off the hook re: the mysterious spook with his and Shell's "Dark Knight Rises" denouement. But [two-finger gesture to eyes] I'm watching you, buddy. The Court is really neck-deep in sunk cost fallacy and arrogance. The work of generations, with who knows how much blood and sorrow sown. All to get out of the spin. I'm guessing discarded humanity has some ghastly costs.
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Post by flowsthead on Aug 15, 2022 7:33:26 GMT
Diggin the Hawaiian shirt.
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Post by theonethatgotaway on Aug 15, 2022 8:56:25 GMT
Is this (panel 3 onwards) a flashback of some sort? Or does it show some time after Kat told the story to Annie (at the beach), then they go to Shell and Aata to ask about this whole thing? Kat's storytime has been a flashback up till now, the panels with Annie in them again are a continuation of the normal time, probably the next day. Also: "boohoo, we are the poor little victims, because we can't just oppress these dumb forest animals because there's a stupid all powerful god-creature that we made with our own beliefs of his immortality and all-powerfullness, and that's not fun, so we're gonna take all the toys, AGAIN, and run away, AGAIN! Woe is us, poor little scientists!" Man, these guys are whiners and wieners.
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heranje
Full Member
Oh super wow!
Posts: 175
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Post by heranje on Aug 15, 2022 9:19:42 GMT
"Man's endeavour to become god" indeed. For all their bluster about how this was the plan all along and everything has been leading up to this conclusion, it's hard not so see this as the Court simply giving up on its original plan and repeating the cycle of the original founders. Run away from humanity to 'seek refuge' with etheric creatures -> attempt to tame the ether and create a new world -> turns out the ether and its creatures are fundamentally unpredictable and untameable -> run away from the ether and make a new, supremely predictable world. I only hope we'll still have some ability to see what's going on in the New Court and in what new and exciting ways it goes pear-shaped. In another timeline, I'm sure a certain robo-deity had something to do with it.
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Post by blahzor on Aug 15, 2022 9:50:02 GMT
Kat ya gonna get serious fomo
Imagine a whole new planet to start another cult on accident
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Post by csj on Aug 15, 2022 10:26:55 GMT
you can tell how basic arizona secretly is by her strict adherence to K100.1-1966
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Post by mordekai on Aug 15, 2022 11:24:40 GMT
The secretive bastards who experiment on children, exploit the forest creatures, put spying devices in everybody's food, blackmail people so they work for them, and create vengeful ghost out of the souls of their own... are going to "escape the evils of this world...?"
Don't they realize that THEY are the "evils of this world...?"
And I will repeat: They are making a SHITTY sales pitch. I can't see a single reason for any intelligent, sane person to follow them.... they would move to an isolated colony controlled by a shady, morally dubious cult, they will renounce the comforts of Earth, their freedom, their families, their careers... for what? Yeah, they will explore a new planet, but then... what? They won't be able to share that knowledge with the rest of Humanity, they will file everything they learn in some archive and keep doing it until they die...
And most important... this is NOT the start of a new exciting era of space exploration... once they are there, they are locking themselves out of any chance to explore space ever again. The ones who stay at Earth have at least a chance to re-build the Star Ocean and explore other planets...
EDIT: Not to mention, they haven't given a clue about how the new colony is... the new planet could be a fetid swamp, or a snowball world, or a desert world, and it could take centuries of terraforming to make it more similar to Earth... they could be damned to spend their whole lives in underground caves...
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Post by Tenjen on Aug 15, 2022 11:27:11 GMT
Damn she got some really fantastic dresses
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Post by Bo No Bo on Aug 15, 2022 11:46:03 GMT
Love the subtle grammatical trick- Is the Court getting away from the "evils of the world" to start their own COURT, or create evil of their very own?...
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Post by justcurious on Aug 15, 2022 12:12:49 GMT
The secretive bastards who experiment on children, exploit the forest creatures, put spying devices in everybody's food, blackmail people so they work for them, and create vengeful ghost out of the souls of their own... are going to "escape the evils of this world...?"
Don't they realize that THEY are the "evils of this world...?"
And I will repeat: They are making a SHITTY sales pitch. I can't see a single reason for any intelligent, sane person to follow them.... they would move to an isolated colony controlled by a shady, morally dubious cult, they will renounce the comforts of Earth, their freedom, their families, their careers... for what? Yeah, they will explore a new planet, but then... what? They won't be able to share that knowledge with the rest of Humanity, they will file everything they learn in some archive and keep doing it until they die...
And most important... this is NOT the start of a new exciting era of space exploration... once they are there, they are locking themselves out of any chance to explore space ever again. The ones who stay at Earth have at least a chance to re-build the Star Ocean and explore other planets...
EDIT: Not to mention, they haven't given a clue about how the new colony is... the new planet could be a fetid swamp, or a snowball world, or a desert world, and it could take centuries of terraforming to make it more similar to Earth... they could be damned to spend their whole lives in underground caves...
And a small isolated colony will inevitably fall behind the scientific achievements of the vast world that they leave behind. Yes, they lead the rest of the World in some things but they will not have enough people to maintain that lead.
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Post by speedwell on Aug 15, 2022 12:31:43 GMT
you can tell how basic arizona secretly is by her strict adherence to K100.1-1966 Oh, well played. (golf clap) But how do we know the pint of lager isn't hers?
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Post by speedwell on Aug 15, 2022 12:33:58 GMT
Love the subtle grammatical trick- Is the Court getting away from the "evils of the world" to start their own COURT, or create evil of their very own?... Pretty sure I just said that
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Post by arf on Aug 15, 2022 12:37:54 GMT
So, clique of brilliant cultists run away to another world, taking their wicked ways with them. Run away again, pursued by wicked ways.
I'm getting some serious 'Forbidden West' vibes here. Just need a heroic redhead or two and... oh, wait.
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Post by todd on Aug 15, 2022 12:40:12 GMT
The secretive bastards who experiment on children, exploit the forest creatures, put spying devices in everybody's food, blackmail people so they work for them, and create vengeful ghost out of the souls of their own... are going to "escape the evils of this world...?" Don't they realize that THEY are the "evils of this world...?" And I will repeat: They are making a SHITTY sales pitch. I can't see a single reason for any intelligent, sane person to follow them.... they would move to an isolated colony controlled by a shady, morally dubious cult, they will renounce the comforts of Earth, their freedom, their families, their careers... for what? Yeah, they will explore a new planet, but then... what? They won't be able to share that knowledge with the rest of Humanity, they will file everything they learn in some archive and keep doing it until they die... And most important... this is NOT the start of a new exciting era of space exploration... once they are there, they are locking themselves out of any chance to explore space ever again. The ones who stay at Earth have at least a chance to re-build the Star Ocean and explore other planets... EDIT: Not to mention, they haven't given a clue about how the new colony is... the new planet could be a fetid swamp, or a snowball world, or a desert world, and it could take centuries of terraforming to make it more similar to Earth... they could be damned to spend their whole lives in underground caves...
As I mentioned last week, I suspect it's a case of "the power of rhetoric". Clothe your speech in grand-sounding words and many people will be deluded to follow you. (Take a look at Milton's Satan - using his "impressive on the surface" oratory to make himself appear a heroic underdog rebel rather than a petty spiteful figure whose idea of responding to being thrown out of Heaven is to trick a couple of people smaller and weaker than himself, who hadn't even been created at the time of his banishment, into sinning and sharing his punishment, so that he won't be the only one suffering.)
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Post by csj on Aug 15, 2022 13:28:23 GMT
you can tell how basic arizona secretly is by her strict adherence to K100.1-1966 Oh, well played. (golf clap) But how do we know the pint of lager isn't hers? it's casual sexism the vibe the scene will be vastly improved if she does a misato
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Post by pyradonis on Aug 15, 2022 14:04:42 GMT
So, are those two having a date, now that Aata isn't Shell's superior any more, or has Aata found a new fulfilling job? The secretive bastards who experiment on children, exploit the forest creatures, put spying devices in everybody's food, blackmail people so they work for them, and create vengeful ghost out of the souls of their own... are going to "escape the evils of this world...?" Don't they realize that THEY are the "evils of this world...?" And I will repeat: They are making a SHITTY sales pitch. I can't see a single reason for any intelligent, sane person to follow them.... they would move to an isolated colony controlled by a shady, morally dubious cult, they will renounce the comforts of Earth, their freedom, their families, their careers... for what? Yeah, they will explore a new planet, but then... what? They won't be able to share that knowledge with the rest of Humanity, they will file everything they learn in some archive and keep doing it until they die... And most important... this is NOT the start of a new exciting era of space exploration... once they are there, they are locking themselves out of any chance to explore space ever again. The ones who stay at Earth have at least a chance to re-build the Star Ocean and explore other planets... EDIT: Not to mention, they haven't given a clue about how the new colony is... the new planet could be a fetid swamp, or a snowball world, or a desert world, and it could take centuries of terraforming to make it more similar to Earth... they could be damned to spend their whole lives in underground caves...
They are not satisfied with the evils of this world, so they are going away to "make their own". But I agree, this sales pitch is utterly crappy, and I can only see people who are already completely brainwashed cultists agree to come along. Before I opened today's page I thought of all the named characters in the comic, the only one I could imagine to actually maybe agree with this BS would be Shell, after her angry speech about how the Ether is fundamentally unfair. And look, here she is, having obviously renounced the offer.
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Post by ctso74 on Aug 15, 2022 14:06:20 GMT
Not definitive, but that could be a Tiki bar.
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Aug 15, 2022 14:20:19 GMT
On reflection, I wonder if this all is part of keeping the world turning (and keeping the human condition from changing). The individual(s) responsible for the Star Ocean (users of etheric design and possessing potentially alarming appearance) are offering a one-way ticket elsewhere for some of the smartest people in the gene pool. These researchers and any potential offspring are among the most likely humans to figure out ways to "game the system" with regard to the ether. The Court almost had it with regard to capturing Coyote's power... and now they're going to go somewhere with no ether (or zero access to ether) and work on "entirely scientific" stuff..? That's a solid blow struck for the status quo, and I think a case can be made for the status quo being humans under the thumb of the ether. The individual(s) responsible for the Star Ocean may be well-intentioned, but if they're beings of the etherium who guide humanity towards reason I suspect their actual function is to "weed out" the most problematic people and keep the world spinning as it has been... under the dead-hand control of all the previous generations' superstitions and subject to all the various beings those suspicions created. I'm reminded of those entities that Anthony found and the curious procedure that they told him about... yet somehow his call reached Antimony, which may have been the intervention of those same entities. The Court got to Anthony in time to save him which may also have been their doing (but might be Surma's intervention or something else entirely) but either way in the end Anthony's quest was ended and he was returned to the Court with a big reason to stay put, lesson learned. I don't think humanity needs that sort of help.
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Post by alevice on Aug 15, 2022 14:48:41 GMT
Those are some conpelling legs-- i mean reveals!
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Post by Gemminie on Aug 15, 2022 14:49:38 GMT
The mysterious speaker continues, and Kat continues to relate what they said to Annie, saying that once the "final" group of people travel to the new Court, they'll shut down the star ocean, and that will be that. "There will be no return." I assume that to mean that there is the potential for people to return at the moment, but after the shutdown, no. Presumably this isn't the last group of people. Who decides when the "final" group will happen? Whoever's in charge of all of this, I assume – but who is that? It isn't Llanwellyn; that's been pretty well established, because someone is clearly making decisions that overrule his wishes. I speculate ... no, that's wild. I'm just asking the questions that this page raises.
We see, then, that Shell is in the audience as well, at the same moment as Kat – it's possible that Kat in the first panel is noticing that Shell is there too. Shell doesn't look very pleased – likely because she knows that Aata can't go, even though she could, but she doesn't want to be separated from him.
And then it seems that Annie and Kat have found Shell and Aata and are talking with them about all of this. Aata explains that this is similar to the founding of the Court – they were fleeing from the world, and this is just the completion of that separation. Aata adds, in a bit of a non sequitur, that revealing this isn't giving away any secrets, because the Court itself spilled the beans at the meeting. Maybe he's trying to convince himself that it's OK to talk about this now, after keeping a tight lid on it for so long.
It looks as if Aata has brought out a couple of drinks – likely for himself and Shell; it seems Annie and Kat caught them as they were about to begin a relaxing sit on the patio, somewhere foggy.
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Post by bedinsis on Aug 15, 2022 15:25:18 GMT
I am seeing parallels with the chapter Evac. In it a previously unknown entity (Loup) came with an offer to a central character to change residence; an offer that stunk all the way to the zoo.
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Post by maemae on Aug 15, 2022 15:49:08 GMT
I know there's a lot of deep stuff going on here, but the real question is -- where is Shell getting these dresses?? This red one is 10/10. I want an interlude that's all just Shopping with Shell.
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Post by Gemini Jim on Aug 15, 2022 15:54:37 GMT
So, one logical explanation would seem to be, 1) Annie rescues Kat from the Court Cult Beach Party (or Kat was rejected because she has Annie Ether cooties on her). 2) They leave the beach, while Kat goes into Ms. Exposition flashback mode, which leads to....
3) talking to Aata happens after Kat has explained everything she knows, either at the beach or at Annie's house. *end of flashback*
some unknown amount of time later, they're now investigating what happened or what's going to happen, and possibly Tom will completely skip over the messy details of exactly how the game of Star Ocean is played.
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Post by Sky Schemer on Aug 15, 2022 16:06:52 GMT
They are not satisfied with the evils of this world, so they are going away to "make their own". With blackjack! And hookers!
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Post by Runningflame on Aug 15, 2022 19:27:13 GMT
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